So what have I learnt by forcing myself to meet Seth's 7 posts in 7 days challenge? It's about priorities. It's about lifestyle and it's about weighing up options consistently.
The schedule you commit to is driven by what priority you give to writing and how important you define writing in public to be to your career.
When attempting to meet the YourTurnChallenge, spending 30 minutes at work to post because I'm determined to meet the challenge, seems justifiable. That's not sustainable but it does illustrate what level of commitment you need to make in order to achieve your goal. I think the key is deciding what the goal is, and why, then really understanding that no matter what the goal, and what the regime,mit is going to take strict committment and adherance to thc regime.
Showing posts with label YourTurn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label YourTurn. Show all posts
Monday, January 26, 2015
Saturday, January 24, 2015
Getting unstuck - Just keep swimming.
So, for Day Five's post I found myself a little stuck! I resorted to the list of questions for inspiration. I was stuck. So the question says...."what advice would you give for getting unstuck".
That would be "read the questions..." right?
But next week, when I'm stuck again, the questions will be gone - that's tough!
Anyway, being unstuck is temporary. This week, Seth's #YourTurnChallenge has provided the motivation and drive to actually write, and post daily. It's been great. In doing so I've also either discovered or re-discovered so many tips about drive, motivation, shipping and failing, but I'm still a long way from solving that problem, or creating the habit of turning up again, and again and again, and shipping again and again and again... Then it occurs to me, you never solve that problem.
It's like running into a patch of form in your favourite sport, or a run of luck or whatever.
It's temporary.
You're only as unstuck as your current streak - blog posts, exercise days, wins, shipments, whatever...
It might sound a bit pessimistic to say you can never win - you can never solve the problem - this is not a game, but it's also means, you can never lose. It's all tempoary. The sun will still come up tomorrow.
So, while I've had to resort to the YourTurn questions to get some inspiration, this doesn't alter the fact that I'm learning a valuable lesson about what commitment it takes to do something as simple as submitting post every day for a week. It takes physical action as well as a mental commitment. It's all very well to tell yourself you can do it - and you'd be right, you "can" do it, but executing, there's the key.
So my advice on getting unstuck is to remember, you can get unstuck as easily as you can get stuck. Start small, and keep going. Like Dory says, Just keep swimming.
That would be "read the questions..." right?
But next week, when I'm stuck again, the questions will be gone - that's tough!
Anyway, being unstuck is temporary. This week, Seth's #YourTurnChallenge has provided the motivation and drive to actually write, and post daily. It's been great. In doing so I've also either discovered or re-discovered so many tips about drive, motivation, shipping and failing, but I'm still a long way from solving that problem, or creating the habit of turning up again, and again and again, and shipping again and again and again... Then it occurs to me, you never solve that problem.
It's like running into a patch of form in your favourite sport, or a run of luck or whatever.
It's temporary.
You're only as unstuck as your current streak - blog posts, exercise days, wins, shipments, whatever...
It might sound a bit pessimistic to say you can never win - you can never solve the problem - this is not a game, but it's also means, you can never lose. It's all tempoary. The sun will still come up tomorrow.
So my advice on getting unstuck is to remember, you can get unstuck as easily as you can get stuck. Start small, and keep going. Like Dory says, Just keep swimming.
Friday, January 23, 2015
Apps you can't LIVE without?!
I just read a list of 36 killer apps you shouldn't live without - seriously, 36?! and heaps of them double up, performing the same as others in the list.
Here's a list of 5!
Evernote - record everything, to do lists, scan documents, diaries, links to web sites, take it everywhere, phone, tablet, PC, whatever. This is the last app I would remove and the first app I pay my annual subscription for.
KeePass - great secure way to store passwords for the plethora of accounts, we need to log in to these days from network to your electricity account....when combined with Dropbox, Google drives or someother cloud storages, you can take it anywhere...and there's mobile apps for it too. Invaluable.
Trello - organise anything....
GMail - these days you have to have webbased email - give up that ISP email address you've had and never change your email address again. (I've had mine since 2004!)
Teux Deux - it's kind of like my scratch pad list, before items get promoted to full on Trello Cards!
These are apps that I would and do pay for, and you know what? If I was pushed, I do believe I could in fact "live" without them, but they make life that little bit easier.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Game Changer
I loved my first ASUS (Android) tablet. Still use it daily after nearly three years. It's mainly a social tool though for Facebook, Email, and then some Evernote.
At work I develop on a desktop computer and have a development laptop which I take home, for all that after hours stuff I do! I remember not that long ago, when we were debating whether you could develop satisfactorily on a lap top!
Yesterday however, my 4 (and a half) year old work laptop was replaced - yep - with a Surface Pro 3. It's an i7, 8GB RAM and 256Gig Hard Drive - and it works like a tablet, and like a lap top.
It comes with a 12 inch screen, which makes for some pretty small fonts at times, but considering we also got the dock, I can hook it up to a couple of monitors and all is good.
I guess this means I'll end up doing a bit more work at home in the near future - well considering what I'm supposed to be shipping over the next 12 months, that's to be expected.
As exciting as new toys are, it's now time to squash that lizard brain and get on with using the newtoy tool, to ship today's work!
At work I develop on a desktop computer and have a development laptop which I take home, for all that after hours stuff I do! I remember not that long ago, when we were debating whether you could develop satisfactorily on a lap top!
Yesterday however, my 4 (and a half) year old work laptop was replaced - yep - with a Surface Pro 3. It's an i7, 8GB RAM and 256Gig Hard Drive - and it works like a tablet, and like a lap top.
It comes with a 12 inch screen, which makes for some pretty small fonts at times, but considering we also got the dock, I can hook it up to a couple of monitors and all is good.
I guess this means I'll end up doing a bit more work at home in the near future - well considering what I'm supposed to be shipping over the next 12 months, that's to be expected.
As exciting as new toys are, it's now time to squash that lizard brain and get on with using the new
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Don't break the chain
It's like the universe is conspiring to help me.
Just before Christmas I came across the "No More Zero Days" movement - doing something, one thing, no matter how little, that contributes to your goal, to a new habit and to your progress. No matter how little you end up doing, just do at least something, not nothing during your day - no "zero" days.
Then Seth Godin presents me with the #YourTurn challenge and today I find this, from Jerry Seinfeld, about turning up regularly and never breaking the chain of positive behaviour when forming a good new habit. Day after day after day, inch by inch by inch.
This theme has presented itself to me regularly and increasingly in recent times and it's something I know deep down is true and necessary - for posting content, work, exercise, eating better... pretty much anything worth improving on.
I am reminded of that story about the guy on his roof in a flood...
So the universe has sent me numerous cues on how to improve all the things I've vowed to improve on, from "No More Zero Days" (the row boat), Seth (in his speedboat) with the #YourTurn challenge to help build the writing / posting / "turning up" habit and now it's Jerry Seinfeld (in a helicopter) highlighting yet again the importance of regular, never ending, incremental work towards any and all of your goals.
I'm placing a lot of faith in my week of posts and its ability to form better more regular writing habits for me and I hope I'm not pleading with Seth, or Jerry, next week asking why they didn't help me. It's time to accept their help and help myself.
As the Seinfeld article points out, this habit of continually turning up, day after day works for all habits, and it's very much what I need for my work projects, my exercise, my eating habits and my writing and content.
Just before Christmas I came across the "No More Zero Days" movement - doing something, one thing, no matter how little, that contributes to your goal, to a new habit and to your progress. No matter how little you end up doing, just do at least something, not nothing during your day - no "zero" days.
Then Seth Godin presents me with the #YourTurn challenge and today I find this, from Jerry Seinfeld, about turning up regularly and never breaking the chain of positive behaviour when forming a good new habit. Day after day after day, inch by inch by inch.
This theme has presented itself to me regularly and increasingly in recent times and it's something I know deep down is true and necessary - for posting content, work, exercise, eating better... pretty much anything worth improving on.
I am reminded of that story about the guy on his roof in a flood...
It had been raining for days and days, and a terrible flood had come over the land. The waters rose so high that one man was forced to climb onto the roof of his house.
As the waters rose higher and higher, a man in a rowboat appeared, and told him to get in.
"No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me." So the man in the rowboat went away.
The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.
The waters rose higher and higher, and suddenly a speedboat appeared. "Climb in!" shouted a man in the boat.
"No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me." So the man in the speedboat went away.
The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.
The waters continued to rise.
A helicopter appeared and over the loudspeaker, the pilot announced he would lower a rope to the man on the roof.
"No," replied the man on the roof. "I have faith in the Lord; the Lord will save me." So the helicopter went away.
The man on the roof prayed for God to save him.
The waters rose higher and higher, and eventually they rose so high that the man on the roof was washed away, and alas, the poor man drowned.
Upon arriving in heaven, the man marched straight over to God. "Heavenly Father," he said, "I had faith in you, I prayed to you to save me, and yet you did nothing. Why?"
God gave him a puzzled look, and replied "I sent you two boats and a helicopter, what more did you expect?"(Not that I'm religious at all but hey, it's a good story),
So the universe has sent me numerous cues on how to improve all the things I've vowed to improve on, from "No More Zero Days" (the row boat), Seth (in his speedboat) with the #YourTurn challenge to help build the writing / posting / "turning up" habit and now it's Jerry Seinfeld (in a helicopter) highlighting yet again the importance of regular, never ending, incremental work towards any and all of your goals.
I'm placing a lot of faith in my week of posts and its ability to form better more regular writing habits for me and I hope I'm not pleading with Seth, or Jerry, next week asking why they didn't help me. It's time to accept their help and help myself.
As the Seinfeld article points out, this habit of continually turning up, day after day works for all habits, and it's very much what I need for my work projects, my exercise, my eating habits and my writing and content.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
My Little Golden Book
When I was a really young boy, I loved a "Little Golden Book" called "Danny Beaver's Secret". No-one wanted to help Danny build his pool; "too hot, too tired, too busy, you'll never do it." In the end, when summer came, they were all happy to swim in it though....
I would ask my Dad to read it to me every night, night after night after night. One night at about the age of 2 or 3, he found me "reading" it to myself, the way plenty of kids that age manage to do, completely by rote, turning the pages at pretty much the right time, reciting my beloved story - that's how well I knew it.
It's so easy to be negative. It's so easy to say, "that will never happen" or "you can never do that..." and is it ironic and pessimistic of me to say you will probably be right, most of the time.
What a downer of a meeting I've just come from, hearing team members scoff when you bring up dates that you're planning to release things by. And if I'm completely honest, they've probably just acquired these negative (realist as they like to call it) attitudes over years and years of being let down by over optimistic schedules and grandiose plans.
Right now I feel a bit like Danny Beaver - I'm drawing close to the end of a mega-development project that will be the springboard to the next 10 years at this company - many think it's never going to happen, but I bet they will all "be around for a swim" later this year, when it does! So like Danny, I will not give up, and when I'm done, I'll welcome everyone in!
It's so easy to be negative. It's so easy to say, "that will never happen" or "you can never do that..." and is it ironic and pessimistic of me to say you will probably be right, most of the time.
What a downer of a meeting I've just come from, hearing team members scoff when you bring up dates that you're planning to release things by. And if I'm completely honest, they've probably just acquired these negative (realist as they like to call it) attitudes over years and years of being let down by over optimistic schedules and grandiose plans.
Right now I feel a bit like Danny Beaver - I'm drawing close to the end of a mega-development project that will be the springboard to the next 10 years at this company - many think it's never going to happen, but I bet they will all "be around for a swim" later this year, when it does! So like Danny, I will not give up, and when I'm done, I'll welcome everyone in!
Monday, January 19, 2015
Day -118 (and Day 1)
Today is Day +1 of the #YourTurn challenge is also Day -118 of the #HelwigsInUSA - something I've just started to go a little bit public with and something which is really in the forefront of our collective minds at our place right now.
When you've been telling yourself formonths years the importance of regular posting and content, and failing or succumbing to the Lizard Brain for just as long, then Seth Godin calls you out in such a blatant (how dare he see inside my head) way, you cannot shy away.
So here we are, Day 1 on the #YourTurn challenge and Day -118 of our great family adventure of 2015. We've been planning our US trip for a few months and finally settled on something affordable and yet still totally exciting for the four of us. We'll be at Disneyland, LA, and Hawaii this May! The kids can't wait for Disneyland, the grown ups are quietly looking forward to the Maui resort for those last 7 days.
I'm now working through the best ways to document our adventure. With the plethora of social media options available, I want to spend the time to get this right. I don't want to flood my friends' news feeds with show off pictures of us at Disneyland etc, but I do want to update them just a little. I don't want to hide everything we do away in my DropBox folder either. I'm searching for that easy balance between Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, my blog, and simply storing all the photos and thoughts somewhere, for my own person record.
I don't want my the recording of the holiday to take over from the enjoyment of the holiday, but I do want to stay a bit "social" while we're away. The regime will need to be easy to follow on the run, mobile, remote, whatever, and thorough enough for my own personal enjoyment, years from now. My current way of thinking on this is daily blog posts (travel journal) all photos to Drop Box folder, every two or three days, a highlight photo post to Facebook. Then, using IFTTT, automatically Tweet all Facebook posts and automatically "Instagram" all Facebook photo posts...
Of course, I'll also need to have developed some really good, regular posting habits, so thanks Seth and Winnie for the #YourTurn challenge and bring on May.
When you've been telling yourself for
So here we are, Day 1 on the #YourTurn challenge and Day -118 of our great family adventure of 2015. We've been planning our US trip for a few months and finally settled on something affordable and yet still totally exciting for the four of us. We'll be at Disneyland, LA, and Hawaii this May! The kids can't wait for Disneyland, the grown ups are quietly looking forward to the Maui resort for those last 7 days.
I'm now working through the best ways to document our adventure. With the plethora of social media options available, I want to spend the time to get this right. I don't want to flood my friends' news feeds with show off pictures of us at Disneyland etc, but I do want to update them just a little. I don't want to hide everything we do away in my DropBox folder either. I'm searching for that easy balance between Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, my blog, and simply storing all the photos and thoughts somewhere, for my own person record.I don't want my the recording of the holiday to take over from the enjoyment of the holiday, but I do want to stay a bit "social" while we're away. The regime will need to be easy to follow on the run, mobile, remote, whatever, and thorough enough for my own personal enjoyment, years from now. My current way of thinking on this is daily blog posts (travel journal) all photos to Drop Box folder, every two or three days, a highlight photo post to Facebook. Then, using IFTTT, automatically Tweet all Facebook posts and automatically "Instagram" all Facebook photo posts...
Of course, I'll also need to have developed some really good, regular posting habits, so thanks Seth and Winnie for the #YourTurn challenge and bring on May.
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