Today is day 18 of my 30 day challenge.

I wish I could say that I was as far along as I’d like to be with writing my book but what’s more important to me is knowing that I’m making progress.

The two biggest parts when undertaking a task like this is i) to start and ii) to keep going.

What about finishing? The truth be told, I don’t think there is ever a point when you finish. There’s always room for improvement but it’s just deciding when to finish for the moment. It’s something I’ve learned through doing stand-up comedy. A routine is never truly finished, you just keep making it better and edit as you go.

The problem with a book is that once it hits the printing press it’s a lot harder to amend.

To start is not the hardest part. Most people can usually begin a task okay, but then they stall because the gravity of the task pulls them down, and they eventually let the endeavour fall to the wayside.

There are two reasons for that; i) it was an endeavour that truly wasn’t for them, or, ii) once the reality sank in, laziness, procrastination or the need for perfection stopped the momentum in it’s tracks.

Procrastination and laziness are just poor habits but the last part, the need to perfect from the beginning, is a much more subtle force.

Whilst I’ve been writing, the need to perfect as I’m going along has been slowing me down. I realised that when I was stuck at 6000 words for a few days. I was just editing rather than writing.

The editing can always come later. You just have to start and keep going. Even if what you’re writing is absolute pants! It doesn’t matter, what matters is you write and get the content on paper. Get your ideas down no matter how rough it may be, just get them down.

How To Start

Start! Just Start! If you’ve always wanted to write a book, start right now!

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the exact direction of the book, or what it’s going to be called, or how sexy you’ll look on the back cover, or how rich you’ll become! Just get a pen and paper, or for those of you living in 2012, grab your iPad or Laptop and just begin!

Go and do a 1000 words, or write for 30 minutes; whichever comes first.

How To Keep Going

Keep Going! Don’t be tempted to constantly reread what you’ve already written. Even if you duplicate your work you can always amend it at a much later stage. Once you’ve written a 1000 words, take a short break, stretch your legs, have some water and then start again or repeat the next day.

Yes, YOU DO HAVE THE TIME! If you don’t you must make the time. If you let one thing get in the way you’ve started a new habit of letting excuses get the better of you. And each time you do it the habit gets stronger.

Keep going, and going, and going. As you write more and more, the more you’ll want to write. More will emerge from your mind than you ever thought possible. If you say you’re going to write a 50,000 word book you might think that you don’t have the ability to pull it off. Keep going and before you know it you’ll be at 10,000 words, then 20,000 and so on.

Don’t focus too much on how much you’ve written. At this stage it’s more about cultivating the gorgeous and sexy habit of starting something and keeping it going.

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Have you ever wanted to start something. Did you let small excuses and poor habits of laziness get in the way? You can start right now, this very second! Go on…and let me know how you’re getting on.

P.S. This article was written in just 22 minutes; the fastest I’ve ever written a post in. It may not be perfect; it may have one or two errors. Who cares?! I started and I kept going. I can always perfect it later.

When you live in a busy city, things tend to happen very fast. Whether you cause them to happen, or whether they happen to you, either way, time becomes a precious commodity.

Because there is always so much going on along with the perception that there is less time to do it in, we can often become very reactionary i.e, we we almost lose the ability to think before we act.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Vicktor Frankl

The famous quote above tells that we do have a choice but if we offer ourselves the opportunity and the gift of time to consciously choose then our reactions and habits will take over.

Lets look at this more closely and use an analogy.

You have somewhere you need to go. It’s 30 minutes away and you only have 20 minutes to get there. Already you’ve set yourself up for disaster. It means you’re going to be rushed, you’re going to be driving by the seat of your pants to make it there in time.

That means you’re going to take chances, perhaps jump the odd red light, maybe even cut some over drivers off, not thinking about their journey, just that yours is a priority.

You’ll be taking risks, reacting to everything and to top it off, you’ll arrive at your destination not feeling too good because of the stress of trying to make it there in time.

Lets reverse the situation, you have somewhere to be. It is 20 minutes away and you have allowed yourself 30 minutes to get there. You can cruise on your journey and even enjoy all the sights and sounds.

You don’t have to try and jump any of the lights, you even have the time to let some drivers go ahead of you. If you encounter a bit of traffic you won’t be too concerned. You arrive peacefully and relaxed. You were consciously able to make better decisions, all because the PACE of your journey was totally different.

And that word is the key. PACE. Living in a city is not easy to change the pace of our lives but if we plan better, and allow more time, then we would be able to live more consciously and not just constantly reacting to the events that occur around us.

Furthermore, have you ever noticed the uncanny amount of green lights you get when you have more time? (And vice versa!)

Living in the city, I notice straight away how much more peaceful and relaxed people are who from outside the city. In fact, it’s usually the first thing I notice. They’re even better drivers than city dwellers.

Country people will often even comment on how people who come from the city are barely able to sit still and just kick back.

To stop being the kind of person that lives very reactionary to unfolding events and rather be someone who lives more consciously, you need to take a good look at your pace of life and how you fill your time.

Do you actually schedule in chill time for yourself? Or is your calendar so full that you barely have the time to take a dump?

Give yourself time. Allow yourself to have a window of comfort. Just because you get invited to three different events on the same day, it doesn’t mean that you have spread yourself so thin and get to all of them and hardly enjoy them while you’re there because you’re thinking about the next one you have to get to.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with short-cuts.

To keep from being a person who is always living in reaction to events, give yourself time, when you do that you’ll have more time, your pace will slow and between the stimulus and response you’ll be able to make more wise, and conscious decisions.

“No one can see their reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see.” – Taoist Proverb

Here is a extremely powerful idea you can try right now: Blog your unedited thoughts.

I had this brainwave early this morning and only while doing it, I realised how powerful it was going to be. There are so many applications to this and I’ve already had another extended idea to branch out from this.

I suggest you only continue reading if you really want to genuinely experiment with a process that I consider to be one of the most powerful writing tools I’ve ever conceived.

Why Unedited Thinking?

I had this idea after I had my Egg McMuffin from Macdonalds. (Whoever said junk food was bad for you is wrong!)

I was just about to sit down and continue writing an article I’d started yesterday but I was hesitating because I felt like the words and writing were becoming too edited, to the to point you were not going to be reading ‘me’ as such, but very much an edited version of me. Then I asked myself why?

My thoughts do not always need to edited to the point where I am almost eliminating who I am from the writing. In fact, I realised the total opposite is true. Below you are about to get a real taste of ‘Amit Sodha’. (And perhaps the remnants of an Egg-McMuffin too!)

You are going to hear the ramblings of a genius in the making! I’m so excited about this, I’m almost ready to explode! This morning has been a massive turning point for me. I awoken to an endless stream of wisdom.

I would describe the process as fearless writing. It’s writing without reservation or fear of being judged.

It’s amazing how much came out. Sometimes I’m conscious about how much I write in an article, I feel like I’m cheating people if I don’t write 700 words but on the flip side I don’t want the writing to also just be fluff to fill up the empty space.

So I was shocked to see that my unedited word count hit almost 700 in just a few short minutes. I didn’t do it today but I realised that could extract genius ideas from those ramblings.

I paid attention to the mundane thoughts and realised there is potential value there. If you record as you go along you’re more likely to capture those flashes of inspiration.

Below, block quoted, you can peruse the thoughts I wrote down literally as soon as they entered my head. It was actually not as easy to do as you may think. The thoughts were quite jumbled and my spelling was terrible so I had to do some spelling and grammar corrections just to make it readable.

Un-Edited Ramblings

Here just at this moment I decided to write every single thought that was running through my mind, no editing, just to see simply what would pop out as I sit in with the keyboard at my fingertips.

This is truly a bizarre place to be in, it’s like kind of being naked, right now anything could pop into my mind and yet I’m going to choose to get it down unconsciously.

Just then I had a flash of this finished piece. The whole idea was inspired by the thought that often when I think something in my head it sounds so good and yet when I then try and get it down it never quite sounds as good as it did in my head.

Just then I had a flash of inviting people to join with me in the experiment. It’s already intriguing me and I’m pretty excited but this new potential paradigm. I don’t expect it to become a thing I’ll do all the time as editing can be import to perhaps be more succinct. and to the point.

I woke up really early this morning for some reason after only about 4 hours of sleep. I find that when I start training hardcore, (which I’m doing right now for the marathon) ( I just took a sip of water) It always seems to mess with my sleep in the early stages. Although I don’t mind, I’m feeling quite fresh and since my family went to Macdonalds without me and got some Egg McMuffins and didn’t get me one I decided to go and get some before the rush hour. (okay okay I confess I had a donut and some hash browns too! )

I have been telling people that I need to lose about 5 stone for the marathon but that Egg McMuffin sure didn’t help my case. I see my glass of water and I take another sip because I’m conscious the fact that I need to stay hydrated and the fact that my recent dry skin is probably attributed to my poor water habits over the festive period.

I just had a brief moment where I was stuck for thought and I’m experiencing it right now again because I’ve not in that place I sometimes get to where things just flow out.

I just had a momentary flash in my head of going on a search for a picture to use in for this post and I also thought about linking to loads of other blogs to hopefully get some exposure to this idea as I think it’s got real potential.

I think and I’m sure in some way it’s like an exercise some actors may do or impromptu comedy where they just act out what’s going on in their head in that moment. I just had the idea of calling this post ‘welcome to the school of unedited thinking’.

I genuinely this is a really powerful exercise for combating writers block and I just had a thought about how cool this idea is and how popular it’s going to make me.

Wow I just had a flush of good feeling, I’m guessing kind of like how women have hot flushes and so kind of like that. I just thought about a girl I really like at the moment, going to be meeting up with her soon.

I always picture how dates are going to go before I go on them but they never end up going quite the way you expect.

I just thought about one of my favourite comedians, Jimmy Carr, and I was thinking this is what it must be like to be them, they seem to be so natural in their thinking and this truly is a skill I want to cultivate and I’m now thinking about frequency, should this be a 7 day experiment or should this be oh wait I lost my chain of thought and started thinking about who I could link to and get to experiment I just thought about Jonathan at Advanced Life Skills and Robin at Naked in Eden now Zeenat at Positive Provocations and Steven at Change Your Thoughts (dude, this would be so awesome as part of your mind alchemy program) and now back to thinking about frequency and not sure about that.

OK just had a thought about job hunting. I was thinking recently maybe I should really settle on one thing or the other like going for a job or going all out and forming my business and I just then I thought about how long this piece was getting and then it occurred to me how much I can write without thinking, it’s not about length but it’s strange that my word count is already showing 761 words so easily and this is all in the space of about 20 minutes.

I stopped there because you can clearly see that I could’ve continued for a long time.

When You Leave A Comment

If you’re about to leave me a comment I would love for you to leave a comment of unedited thoughts. Write exactly what is on your mind. Do not edit spelling and grammar until later. I just wanted to hear your genuine thoughts without any fear or reservation.

Your Turn

I encourage you to try this as an experiment. If you are a fellow blogger I would love to get to know you and understand you better. What better way than this?

I want you to get naked with me! (Not in a kinky way….but if you’re that way inclined… )

Here are some of my favourite bloggers who I’d love to try out this experiment with me who I definitely think will have some interesting, naked and unedited thoughts.

There are about a zillion applications to this exercise, maybe you’ll come up with something I’ve not thought of? If so let me know!

Sibyl at Alternaview

Jarrod at Optimistic journey

Ryan at Cash with a true conscience

Roman at Optimistic life

Fatima at Expressive wellness

Barrie at Live bold and bloom

Tess at The bold life

Imran at Imran Yusuf

Steven at Change your thoughts

Jonathan at Advanced life skills

Arvind at Make it happen

Eduard at People skills decoded

Hulbert at From bottum up

Phil at Less ordinary living

Rob at Mind adventure

Zeenat at Positive Provocations

Armen at Timeless information

Nea at Self improvement saga

Baker at Baker the brand

Desree at Be the change

Ramaa at Right brain blogger

Drew and Caroline

Lisa at Getting to zen

Angela at Powered by intuition

Sandra at Always well within

Marianne at Free range humans

Geordie at Personal development x

Andrea at Brite talk

JD at Sources of insight

Kaushik at Beyond karma

Farnoosh at Prolific living

Nadia at Happy lotus

Ingrid at Nitty griddy

Tim at A daring adventure

Evelyn at Abundance tapestry

Ayo at Discovering purpose

Amie at Amie Sugat

Preeti at Happy heart and mind

Stuart at Unlock the door

Dandy at The reflective self

Jennifer at Everyday bright

Tristan at Blogging bookshelf

JK at Hustlers notebook

Bryan at Elevation life

Srinivas at The skool of life

Robin at Naked in eden

In July, Darren from Problogger posted up a 7 links challenge for bloggers. Several of my blogging friends have taken up the challenge and I wanted to get mine up too.

If you’re a blogger, take up the 7 links challenge for yourself.

1. My First Blog Post

My first blog post was very original and had an original name too; I called it, ‘My First Blog‘! As you will more than likely be able to tell I really didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I did however put that up in December 2005 and so I am somewhat a grand-daddy of personal development blogging; where’s my false teeth, pipe and slippers?!

2. The Post I Enjoyed Writing The Most

I loved writing 10 reasons why you should start playing badminton. I didn’t take that one too seriously and I just had lots of fun with it. Badminton is still my favourite sport and I still play at least 3 times a week. I’m determined to give badminton the same kind of status as tennis and hopefully the same kind of prize money too!

3. A Post With Great Discussion

My post about University being pointless was by far my most controversial. Although the discussion here was intense, the discussion on Facebook was far more intense and I even had a few people de-friend me as a result. There were some people who were seriously offended by it.

4. A Post On Someone Else’s Blog I Wish I’d Written

Arvind wrote this guest post on virgin blogger notes on 12 reasons why bloggers make the best lovers – in my opinion, the best blog title of all time! I’m so jealous and I so wish I’d written that one!

5. A Post With A Title I’m Proud Of

Lets face it, any article with ‘Orgasmic‘ in the title has to be good! This post was fun, again something not to be taken seriously, just for a giggle and to do something that hasn’t been done before.

6. A Post That I Wish More People Had Read

I put a huge amount of work into this article but I published it before I put much more effort into promoting my blog and so it never got that much attention. The core principles of life is a key to all of us. It is the basis for being mindful and has the fundamentals for living more consciously.

7. My Most Visited Post

Perception Vs Reality – still my number 1 hit article from Google. It’s a popular search string and my article is at the top! (Queue the superhero trumpet music!)

Happy new year everyone! It’s the beginning of a new decade and I thought why not start it with a kapow! No doubt this will a be a time when you are considering many life changing options and investigating which choices and decisions to make that will shape your future.

I’ve said before that in order to decide where you’re going it’s a good idea to take stock of where you’ve been and where you are today; in essence, look at how far you’ve come already. How far ahead are your goals and resolutions? If you’ve only planned ahead for the year, you’re probaby likely to fail. Try planning resolutions and goals that tie into you life for the next 5, 10, 15 or 25 years.

I’ve come before you today to tell you that, if you’re a student getting ready to send out all those thousands of university applications, or if you’re someone considering going to university later in life, then I recommend reading this post first. Why? Because I believe, that in some way, university for some can be a complete waste of time.

Here’s why…

I Was A High School Dropout

When I was at school, I was, how shall I say it…rubbish! I would go through phases where I would be an A-grade student but most of the time I would burn out quickly, and just end up going back to my old ways swinging on my chair and staring out the window drifting into a wonderful daydream. I left school with one GCSE grade C, and had three other low level passes. I was gutted, but not surprised.

I then wasted 3 years in college re-sitting exams and trying different subjects. I did get an A in drama! I loved drama and I realised from a much younger age that I was talented and had a shot at being the next Robert Deniro after I played a gangster called Rocadura in a play called Pedro’s Revenge. However, because of family and cultural pressure, I couldn’t take that path. I was encouraged to go find a job in an office and do the ‘sensible’ thing. I’m glad I gave up on studies though because I was, quite frankly, crap at it.

I started a job and decided that I would start university as a part-time mature student. I chose Business Administration as my subject but because I’d moved to a new home, it meant that in the space of one day, I needed to be in three different parts of London desperately trying to get to each place on time. It just wasn’t practical to continue so, after just six weeks, I left university.

Then, about five years ago, I started discoveriing my various talents and my path started becoming clearer. It started with coaching and blogging. Then they evolved to include radio, working with children, badminton, writing and comedy. It was two fold in that it was as if a gentle hand was guiding me onto the things that I already knew deep down that I wanted to do, and experimenting to see what I liked and was good at.

I’m grateful now that it all transpired that way because I don’t think Business Admin would’ve really helped with my broadcasting, or stand-up comedy for that matter. Because of all the things I do now I have a clear idea of where I want to go in life. I am aligning my goals and values to things I want to do so making a choice now will be that much more informed.

You Can Learn Whatever And Whenever You Want

I now read and learn about all the subjects I enjoy. I don’t have pieces of worthless paper telling me that I’m qualified to do a job. Most of the time those pieces of paper are worthless because:

1. Most qualifications are created by ordinary people, just like you or me who, through experimenting create these study programs. What made them so special? Nothing, they learned and documented it for other people to follow. Anyone can do the same. Just because you have a piece of paper certifiying you for a job it doesn’t necessarily qualify you. Demonstrate that knowledge in the real world and in your life.

I understand that there is a need for accountability but with all this litigation culture if your ass is gonna get sued it will regardless of whether you have qualifications or not.

2. Ask anyone how much they actually remember of their university studies and see what responses you get. There’s a simple reason that a lot of people don’t remember and that’s because they chose subjects that they weren’t passionate about and did not continue studying after they left. They think: ‘I did what I needed to pass and now I can leave it behind.’

How To Make An Informed Decision About What To Do

There is no point in choosing a degree just because you like the sound of the title. There are literally hundreds of thousands of options out there so choose wisely. Take time out to meditate and find out what you would really enjoy doing for the rest of your life. Choose a study course for life.

If you really do have to go and you decide that you want to do a course that is relevant to your chosen vacation vocation then find out exactly what that vocation involves. Don’t just go into something blindly. Are you sure you really want to spend the rest of your life cooped up in front of a computer screen? For some people that may be their idea of hell; others might relish each moment of it!

The Financial Paradox And Value Of Education

University education in the UK used to be free and then they started charging fees. Paradoxically, after the fees were introduced, universty admiissions have been consistently going up. Upon completing university students are now, on average, about £35,000 in debt. The adult portion of their commences with a huge financial burden.

A degree is also not worth what it once used to be. As Sir Ken Robinson mentioned in his amazing Ted Talk that we’ve gone through a process of academic inflation. You may have a degree but you will, without a shadow of a doubt be asked when going for jobs: ‘What experience do you have?’ Did your bachelors give you any experience that you know of? (And that doesn’t include the skills of lifting salt and pepper shakers from your local pizza joint!)

A university degree won’t help you stand out from the crowd. When you go for a job you’ll undoubtedly be up against people with similar levels of education to you, but in order to get ahead you have to be smart in demostrating that intelligence and passion.

So you’ve studied for 3 years and what have you actually achieved? The truth is that you memorized a lot of information but applying that information was not part of the learning process. We told that we need to study and get educated in life but as we’ve seen over and over again that education is not the only path that one need take. There are many paths so get clear about yours first.

Oops

A large proportion of graduates that I’ve spoken to have a problem. They complete their course, pass with honours, but realise that the course they did has nothing to do with what they want to spend the rest of their lives doing. Ok, so £35,000 later you’ve now decided that you did something that will give you very little in the overall blueprint of your life. Oh crap!

After that one of two things happen; they either go back and do further education or they get a job because they can no longer financially afford to be without one so they settle for what they can get.

Here’s How I Would Do It

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I’m hoping I can pass on what I’ve learned to my children and to all the young people who are stuck and not sure what to do.

If I could travel to the past and meet my 13 year old self then here’s what I would say to me:

1. Learn about money and be prepared financially. You’re never too young to learn about creating wealth and you can even begin from a very young age. Find a fun way of making money. What do you have the most fun doing? Can you think of a model for that fun activity that could generate an income? That way if you chose to go to university then you can start life without a mountain of debt.

2. Don’t just go straight into each step of education straight after the other. You have a lifetime to decide so take some time out and try different things. Who knows what you might stumble into. Explore your creative side as creativity is a much needed commodity in the world you’ll be growing into.

3. In a 12 round bout, experiece would KO a degree in the first round. The best way of getting experience is just doing it. Start a business and don’t worry if it fails. Find a model that works and continue using it. Learn how to create a viral tipping point and use those skills to enhance any area of your life.

4. Next weeks lottery numbers are…

The Upshot

Young people go to university often because they are given the false belief that it’s the best way to begin life. No! There are hundreds of ways so find the way that suits you best. You can study at any point in life you choose so don’t do it at such a young age. Go on a journey of self discovery first to see and then choose a course whose teachings will stay with you and be used for life.

It’s just over four years since I started this blog and although it started in a fairly different direction to where it is headed today, there has been so much I’ve learned since it’s inception. When I started, blogging was still in a much earlier stage than it is in today, and there definitely weren’t as many blogs of this nature and mirroring other successful blogs was not as easy.

If I was going to restart this blog today naturally I would do it in a very different way I did to 4 years ago. The value of the experience gained would now be priceless in making sure I didn’t make the same mistakes I made in the past.

Since you began blogging what have you learned? Have you kept a note of what all the things that you’ve gained? I decided to write some of those things down and share them with you. Feel free to share your learnings here too.

1. Site Name And URL

When I first started blogging I wanted to get the URL thepowerofchoice.com but that was not available. Amit means ‘unlimited’ or ‘without limit’ and so I decided to go for unlimitedchoice.org. Some people say it’s good to use your name and some people say it’s good to have the name of your site as your URL, or something catchy. Whatever you choose make sure it suits your needs. I also have amitsodha.com which redirects to this blog. Since I want to build myself as a brand it seemed like a logical step to me.

If you’re a bit lost have a look at some of the most popular blogs and see what they’ve done and which ones tie in what your ultimate result. Two of the most popular are also two very different kinds of blogs. If you look at Steve Pavlina’s Blog and Leo’s Zenhabits you will see that they are both equally popular but both are very different. I don’t think there is a fixed formula for success but there are certain key ingredients which need to be adhered to in order to get to that level.

2. Choosing Your Blogging Platform

Whether you go for blogger, typepad, wordpress hosted or your own hosted blog make sure you go for something you’re comfortable with. If you’re not confident technically then go for something like blogger or a wordpress hosted blog. Even though I’m fairly technical, in the ways of the web I’m still just about learning to walk. You have to know that having your own blog using your own webhost leaves you wide open to potential threats.

My prime experience is with using wordpress or blogger. The great thing about blogger (or other free bloggin’ services) is that you don’t have to maintain it; that’s all done by Google. I love wordpress and I love the fact that it is so versatile. Nowadays it’s so easy to keep up to date with just a click of a button that it should prevent the most common forms of hacking and spamming.

I remember in the early days I left my wordpress on 1.5 well after 2.0 was launched and I paid the price. My blog and database got hacked to pieces and it was only when I was getting next to zero hits that I finally noticed. Thanks to the help of a friend he helped me clean up my database and then I did a fresh installation. I learned a lot through that process and it gave me a lot more confidence in maintaining the blog.

Just last week while I was in India and after using a pc at an internet cafe my blog got hacked again and my webhost shutdown my website, and to top it off, it also happened on the day when I had more hits than ever before; the momentum got killed. I had to get them to do a restore which worked and did the job and I only lost one post (the ‘Shantaram’ post which I reposted yesterday but I lost the comments).

I changed all my passwords and as a result increased my security. Once again, through the process I learned loads but it also served as a reminder that my blog is still vulnerable. All I can do it keep it up to date, do regular backups and try avoid using dodgy internet cafe PC’s. Next time I’ll just pay extra for data allowance on my mobile!

3. Choosing A Webhost

The first webhost I used was terrible although I ended up using them for the better part of 3 years. They were only open 9-5 for technical support queries on weekdays and they once took my site offline on a Friday night so there was nothing I could do about it until the following Monday. They did that quite often because they said my blog was crashing their server. They said a script on my site was causing problems. The truth was that they were using an older version of MyPHP which was the problem. Once I moved to my current host I had no further problems.

My current host is very good and they do a fairly good job of providing support. They have a live chat facility on their website and it’s active 24/7. There are better ones out there and there are plenty of sites out there that will give you the reviews you need to decide which host to go with. Have a good look around and go for one that gives a good price and serves all your needs.

It’s very difficult to supply a criteria for selecting a webhost. The best thing is look at the review websites and peruse the reviews. Find out which ones are the best and ask other bloggers which one they use and what they’re like. From a technical perspective all the big hosts offer very similar packages and are pretty much on par with price.

4. All That Technical Doo-Dah

As with point two it takes time to get to grips with all the technology. I remember when I first heard about widgets.(?) I thought widgets were something in a beer can! Then there’s plugins, SQL databases, config files, .htaccess files, and plenty more to get your head around. The best way to get around this all is find someone who’ll help you understand it. Start playing around and anything you don’t understand get someone to explain it to you or look it up.

I never fully understood permalinks before and in the beginning I went for the numbering system. About 6 months ago I opted to change them but I knew that it would cause and SEO problem. So I found a plugin that sorted all that out. Now I have a permalink structure that is better but, it’s not the option I should’ve chosen.

The problem with it is that I have the category and then post name. Now as I’ve been updating my categories, the permalink changes. I think the safest one is the date then postname. That’s my opinion but you can customise them the way you want. Get some help with this from someone more experienced. Don’t make the same mistake I did and think carefully before making your selection.

5. Making Your Blog Look Pretty

Originally I used free themes for my blog. I found some good ones which were functional and served their purpose. Now I’ve invested in Thesis and there’s no way that I’d go back to using free themes. It’s just too damn good! I’m still a complete beginner and noob when it comes to customizations and so fourth but Thesis just makes it easier. It has so many possible customizations built in and then to top it off you can add your own.

If you don’t want to pay for Thesis then fear not because there are some decent free themes out there. The great thing about wordpress is that you can see a demo of theme before you apply it. My personal favorite of the free themes is iNove which you can see in action here. I’ve seen other bloggers use some half decent themes which they’ve customised and made them look pretty slick.

It won’t be long before Thesis hits a tipping point and then more coders create themes to buy of a similar nature. The last thing I’ll mention about Thesis is the support; you get some great support and free upgrades. A lot of free themes will get outdated with newer versions of wordpress. My free themes lasted a long time but the cracks formed with each new release of wordpress.

6. Developing Your Own Shhtyle

Over time you’ll learn to develop your own style of writing. It takes time but eventually you’ll get to a point where you’ll find that you’re writing naturally and nothing seems forced. You’ll need to experiment a bit in the beginning and not be afraid to get it wrong and in fact, getting it wrong can be a blessing in disguise. It might even encourage discussion and get the comments rolling in.

You have to of course decide what you’re going to blog about! (Generally that helps!) Have a look around the blogosphere and see if something sparks a new idea in you! While I was in India I came up with a new business idea; not the same thing the principle is the same as you never know when inspiration will be sparked within you.

And Finally…

If things don’t go to plan remember that you can always try something else. People are leaving old blogs behind and starting new ones all the time.

I’ve decided to take a week-long sabbatical from communications as far as my day to day requirements will allow. The things I’ve decided to forego as much as possible are in the form of my Blackberry, all IM’s, Facebook and Twitter. I’ve got myself a spare number which I will carry with me in case of emergencies. I will also allow myself to check email (I’m going to try for just once a day but that may not be practical), do daily short blog posts and use my Google docs. I will also use it as much as my work requires me; but no mindless surfing.

The Right Time

I’ve been meaning to try this for a while and I always found myself saying that ‘now isn’t a good time’. How often have you used those words? I’ve realised that those words are the biggest excuse that humanity has conjured up and it basically is just an illusion. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again that if something is important to you, you will make the time. If you aren’t making the time for something you’ve got to be honest with yourself and understand that it’s most likely because it’s not important to you.

I realised that in all honesty there will never be a good time to do this experiment. I just either have to do it or decide not to! I also decided to keep well clear of people who don’t understand this simple concept. They can be such a drain, will always make excuses and are almost always guaranteed to let you down.

The Experiment

I decided to do this to see what it would be like without instant communications. We almost don’t have the opportunity to miss people any more. On my blackberry I usually have my MSN on, Gmail chat, Facebook and of course Blackberry Messenger. I think most people have the false belief that all these communications tools will enhance our lives. While I do believe that to a certain point they do provide some level of enrichment I do think there is a saturation point. There is a point where it can all become a bit too much. I enjoy emailing and I need some line of communications to all the projects I’m involved with and so email with serve that purpose fine for me for the next week.

The challenge I face now is that I know that people are used to getting an instant response from me and so to go cold turkey not everyone will understand. So I may cheat just a little and check my phone once a day for any urgent text/messages. I wanted to see what it would be like just going back to the basics. The simplicity of just calling and emailing people is giving me a bit of a buzz. I’m looking forward to seeing how this experiment goes and I can already see the benefit it’s having on me. I already feel so much more focussed and lighter already; it almost feels like a kind of detox! It’s not easy! I can feel the urge to switch on my phone again out of sheer curiosity to see who’s messaged me but I’m going to stick to this as much as I can.

If all goes well I may stick with this format from now on. I’ll continue to use my phone but I’ll most likely stop using IM’s and totally cut down on FB and Twitter. My blog automatically updates them anyway so there’s nothing I need to do there. I’m not sure how its going to work in terms of promotion or the radio and comedy but I’ll see how it goes in the beginning and take a good look at how I can handle those scenarios.

I would love to hear your thoughts about all modern communications and what you think about my experiment. Feel free to leave a comment.

I’m going to Amsterdam for a few days for yet another stag weekend! I will be back on Sunday, however, if I get the chance to put up my daily wisdoms upon stumbling into an internet cafe, I will do, if I cannot find one, I promise that they will be back soon!

We live in a world where we’re surrounded by masses of technology, so much is expected of us, we have more responsibility than ever before, our time is precious and not only is more expected of us, we’re expecting more of ourselves. With all of this in mind, it’s no surprise that illness, both physical and mental, is prolific throughout society!

There is so much for us to juggle that often we just become bogged down and find that joy eludes us because all we can do is think about the next thing that we have to doing or the next event we have to be at. I’ve noticed though that many people use the term: “I’m busy” not because they have too much on their plate, but because the things that they do choose to undertake are badly managed and that is what causes the “BB syndrome” as I call it. (BB= Busy Bee) I’m completely guilty of it too! It almost became an excuse so that I could get out of doing things or seeing people just because I wanted a bit of time to myself.

When we get to that stage where we begin feeling overwhelmed, we try and find solutions, but because we’re used to living in a complex world with complex systems, we think that the solution must also be complex. And then what happens? Because the solution you’ve formulated is so complex, you end up giving up and going back to suffering from the BB syndrome. It’s easier that finding great management strategies, but if no action is taken, all your time and energy is gobbled up by churning over all the things that you have to attend to, rather than taking action.

I was in a situation quite recently where I wasn’t enjoying my job. It was really frustrating me as I love working in I.T. in general, but after I got promoted just over a year ago, things went downhill and I really started to feel quite depressed when I was at work. Ironically, I was finding that everyone else around me was busy and I had nothing to do which really frustrated me! Even though it gave me time to blog and do various other things it was still a bit soul destroying being in place where I earn my livelihood and finding no fulfillment in what I was doing.

I’d had enough! I was so frustrated and I just could handle it anymore. I was on the verge of quitting but first I asked myself, what can I do to turn this around? I tried a few things like getting more involved with some of the other teams, but that didn’t help. I tried making work for myself but that didn’t help. I tried all sorts of things but nothing was getting results. But then I came up with a relatively simple plan, I had no idea if it was going to work or not, but it was so simple that I new that trying it would be easy and hassle free. Deep down I knew I’d found the answer to turn my situation around, but I put that feeling aside and just tried it out.

I formulated a simple strategy for gaining greater fulfillment at work. It wasn’t a supremely complex 50 point plan or didn’t involve taking drastic or massive action, all it took was a simple goal, a very simple strategy that turned things around.

My strategy was simply this:

TO LEARN ONE NEW THING EVERY DAY! Would I be able to manage it?

To clarify; it didn’t have to be anything technical, I didn’t have to learn the complete working of a particular piece of hardware, nope, nothing like that, I just wanted to learn the simple stuff every day. Recently we installed a brand new VOIP (Voice over I.P.) system and that was a huge project, of which, I only had a small part. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get my hands dirty in all area’s of the project, so I decided that whatever I do get involved in, I will make sure that I learn something new from it everyday.

One day, I had a real headache of a problem, A Cisco network switch kept crashing when we switched it on. At first, I thought it was faulty cable, so I changed all the cabling. That didn’t work! Then I thought it might be a faulty GBIC card (A fibre optic component of the network switch). I changed it, but that didn’t work. Then I thought that port itself was faulty so I plugged the GBIC into a different port, that also didn’t work! Then I thought the fibre uplink going in the port of the PASSPORT (A giant core network switch) was faulty so I plugged it into a different port, that still didn’t work!! I then thought: “There’s only one thing left that it can be!” That was that the Cisco switch itself must be faulty. I swapped that too and guess what? It still kept crashing!!! This whole process of elimination took me two days in total, by which time 90% of my hair had turned Grey, but I was not licked yet! I thought: “Let me plug each network cable into the switch one by one and see what happens?” I did that and found that one particular cable caused the switch to crash! BINGO! At least now I knew that it was something plugged into the switch that was causing the problem! (Something that I thought initially but dismissed!) It turned out that someone had double plugged one of the VOIP phone into the wall ports and that was causing a loop which shutting down the port on the PASSPORT! (I promise no more techical jargon from this point onwards! )

So, I learned something new, actually I learned two things: 1) To trust my gut, and 2) That if that happens to a network switch in the future to try that avenue first!

Even though it was a stressful couple of days, that simple strategy made me feel more relaxed less stressed and also gave me greater confidence for the future. It took my focus away from the stress of the problem and put it onto what was good about the problem.

So in a nutshell, my simple strategy became applied in two ways. At the beginning of my working day I ask myself: What new thing can I learn today? At the end of the day I ask myself: What did I learn today? This extremely simple strategy turned around my entire feeling with regards to my job to the point where I now actually look forward to getting to work everyday. I’m now enjoying my job much more, I feel much lighter at work and even though it’s much busier, I’m not feeling the stress of it.

There we have it, the greatest transformation can come from the most simple strategies. It doesn’t take a major change or a huge 50 point plan or jumping off a cliff to find a solution. All it takes is one SOS and you’ll find the world around you transform in your favour. So let me ask you, what area of your life are you struggling with and what is the most SOS that you can think of to turn your situation around?

Happy hunting.

I know I’ve been very quiet as of late and I humbly apologise to those eagerly awaiting my pearls of wisdom!

I’ve been very busy at work for the past few weeks and I have also been very busy and active in my social life, playing badminton (I’ve got my first league match of the season this Saturday), networking, life coaching, being life coached, dating, etc….you know how it can be for a 29 year old socialite!

I’m asked on many occasions how I bring balance to my life considering the amount of things that I do. Well, the truth is, I don’t always do it so well. I’m not perfect, and I don’t always manage to manage the tasks I choose to undertake as well as I’d like to. I do however do a few things that are a must when it comes to making sure I don’t bite off more than I can chew!

1. Get A Calender

If you don’t have one, get one! Whether it be of the paper variety or the electronic kind, get into the habit of using it. I use a obile phone/PDA and I sync it with my PC every day to keep my calender as up to date as possible.

2. Keep A Task List

I know Tony Robbins would probably shoot me for saying this, but I tried his OPA method and I realised that it was too much for me, I don’t need such a powerful system as yet, just a general daily to do list is quite sufficient

3. Keep A Jotter

Have something you can make notes on always to hand! If I’m near my PC I’ll quickly draught and email with notes or more recently I’ve been saving any random thoughts as blog draughts and work on them later as needed. Or I make notes on my PDA. Always have something to hand you can make notes on as creative thoughts tend to emerge as the most unexpected of times.

UPDATE:
Michelle has kindly offered me a link to one of her aticles about how to make the most out of your to do lists without becoming drowned in them.

I saw this post on Steve Pavlina’s blog today and decided to do a quick blog post regarding this. Firstly, for anyone who comes here regularly, if you haven’t been there already, go to his site and read through Steve’s articles. He is an absolutely unbelieveable writer, focusing primarily on personal development but what he does write is very clear, concise and easy to follow.

Steve’s blog is rated at the 147 mark on Technorati and he gets along the lines of 1.3 million visitors a month…something tells me that he must be doing something right! His gentle yet firm guidance and directions are reaching people all over the globe and helping countless people. Like I said, if you haven’t already, then go along and visit his site and read some of his articles. If, like me, you snooze the alarm clock 30 times a morning before you get up…then may I suggest that you make a start by reading his aritcle on How to become an early riser!

I personally think technology is great, there are so many wonderful things that you can do with it. I love my iPod because I can carry all my favourite music where ever I go. I love blogging because it gives me a chance to exchange ideas with people across the globe. With my computer it’s easy to keep in touch with friends and relatives and of course that love hate relationship that we all have with our cell phones!

Albeit that technology can be beneficial but it is not the be-all and end-all of our lives. The question also arises on how long before we hit a metaphorical reality of the Teminator and The Matrix? (or are we already there?) We must not forget that there is so much out there other than technology.

Technology can lead to immense stress and so it’s worth remember that there was no T.V. at some point in the past and that people used to live much simpler lives. There are so many other wonderful things in the world that could be experienced other than what is in your bedroom, do not become alergic to nature!

Think about this…

1. What would you do if there was no blogging?

2. How would you communicate with people without phones or cell phones?

3. If there were no T.V. what would you do for entertainment?

4. When was the last time you went out for a walk, just for some fresh air?!

5. If a massive EMP wiped out much of the worlds electrical devices, would you still be here and would life still go on?

6.Would you get bored without technology or would you find other things to do?

(A huge thanks to the following bloggers for the ideas and links – graham, upon us all a little rain must fall, Twiss, and at face value)

Being a former compulsive procrastinator, I know how hard it can be at times to get things done and how hard it can be to motivate oneself to complete any task, whether it was assigned to us, or self appointed.

I believe that writing things down plays a big part in overcoming the bulky tasks that might come your way. It has to be a conscious process in order for it to be effective.

To elaborate: Writing a task list on the Monday of each week to plan your weeks activities is a fantastic way of showing your mind that even though you may have a lot to do, tackling one task at a time makes them much more digestible. The trick is to trick the mind!

It’s like when you have to study for an exam; because your mind thinks that you have to read an entire book to prepare for the exam, straight away the body and mind give up before you’ve even started! Your mind is saying ‘lets do this’ and you body is going off to do something totally different!

Straight away, you’ve caused yourself a problem by bombarding yourself with a massive task. The best way to overcome this is to break down the task into much smaller chunks and then give yourself a reward when you’ve completed each stage. E.g. “I’ll read for half an hour and when I’m done I’ll go grab a coffee and relax for 10 minutes.”

The tough part is knowing how to get back to doing what it is that you need to do. Keep your task list with you! I write mine down on an A4 sheet of paper and keep it in my wallet or shirt pocket so that I can refer to it regularly.

Repeat the process from the beginning, set yourself a small goal, say 30 40 minutes of solid or reading or whatever the task may be, and then reward yourself with a short break. KEEP REFERRING BACK TO YOUR TASK LIST! The key here is to trick yourself into thinking that the task that lies ahead of you is only a short one and once you’ve completed that short term goal, give yourself a small reward.

I especially find this a fantastic method when it comes to the spring cleaning. I have a nasty habit of bombarding my mind with all the things that need to be done and then eventually I just give up because my body and mind get overloaded with requests and just cannot cope.

What you also need to do, is change the type of thoughts that you have when faced with a task. Think; “I choose to” as opposed to “I must” and “I can be successful if I…” instead of “I’ll never be able to”. The best way to do this is through meditation.

Spend some time in a quiet place that you find relaxing and maybe put on some music if you wish and begin the process of changing the less productive thoughts as illustrated above to more constructive and powerful ones. Thinking is a habit just as much as the way you drive or the way you style your hair. It is habitual and like anything else, can be changed, for the better, with conscious effort.

To Summarise:

1. Keep a task list with you. A huge pad is probably not a good idea, use loose sheets of paper and scribble on it regularly. Of if you are a high tech bod tap it into a note on your iPhone or record a voice note. It’s too easy these days!

2. Cross tasks off one by one and only do one at a time. If one cannot be done, for whatever reason, move onto another quickly.

3. Reward yourself when you’ve completed tasks. Ask someone to do a bet with you that you’ll complete your tasks. If you do, they give you a reward like a massage or a free ride. If you fail, you owe them a forfeit! Make it fun!

4. Use meditation to get clarity on what really needs to be done and to keep you on track.

5. Update your list regularly and cultivate that habit until you no longer have to think about it.