50 things I didn't know last year

1. How to re-think your perspective

   Kathleen Bright: Not ‘I need', instead ‘I want' or, How to get things done, changing your perspective. Don't forget to focus on how much you want to do what you need to do. If you're prone to procrastination, get as much help as you can, including changing the way you think about your goals.

2. David Seah: Productivity through Discomfort. Stepping outside your comfort zone is a great idea! Plus, the only way to test your limits is to keep going until you fail. This is also the only explanation or justification for the crazy amount of stuff on my to do list. :)

3. Failure

   Failure is okay!

4. Kathleen Bright: Power of three: Goal-setting: Business (3 of 3). Really, failure is good. Failure is proof you tried.
5. Kathleen Bright: Power of three: Goal-setting: Studying (2 of 3). Conquering failure is difficult because of fear.

6. Fear

   Mind Petals: Fear Based Decisions are the Wrong Decisions.

7. Yes, it's hard to face your fears, but it's worth it.

8. Help

   If in doubt, say thank you.

9. Keep saying it.
10. Watch (or read) The Secret for some inspiration, including why saying thank you helps.
11. You can get 'The Secret' free if you hurry, because I think it's that great and I want you to see it.
12. Tubetorial: Back Up Your Blog or Risk Losing It All. It happened to me, it could happen to you too…

13. Making money with blogging is not a quick fix

    In order to make money you need to have a product or service that people want to buy.

14. Products can be easier because they're usually tangible.
15. Content is an example of something that straddles the product/services divide.
16. Yaro Starak: Can professional blogging be a sustainable business model? In order to be successful, (some) people need to love your content.
17. Tom Peters: Love Thine "Enemy"! It's Good Business! Love is important in all areas of life, including business.
18. Dazzlin' Donna: Becoming an authority. It's important for bloggers to participate in their niche communities. Plus, you should participate out of love for your niche.
19. Pamela Slim: Create your media plan for 2007! Planning is important.
20. But acting, a.k.a. execution, is even more important.
21. Especially if you're prone to procrastination.

22. Personal life lessons

    Life gets more and more complicated each year. Well, mine has so far!

23. Love is sometimes the problem, as well as the solution.
24. You can get too much of a good thing, e.g. education and academia: Being a student isn't all it's cracked up to be.
25. Entrepreneurship is for me!
26. Escape is the best idea I've ever had – i.e. moving out of my parents' house – I just need to implement it.

27. Goals

    It's easier to refrain from spending than I first thought.

28. How to Set Goals for the New Year. Just remember to have clearly defined goals so you can't wriggle out of them (which tends to be a problem with many New Year resolutions).

29. Health

    Kathleen Bright: Power of three: Goal-setting: Health (1 of 3). Health is important for everyone, including entrepreneurs.

30. Mind Petals just emphasised the importance of health too.

31. Happiness

    Kathleen Bright: How to be happy, or Why you're sad and how to fix it. Happiness is an interesting topic.

32. You are the only one who can make you happy.
33. Other people and things can help or hinder, as you will it.
34. Steve Pavlina: Making Decisions That Stick: "Once you reach a certain level of conscious development, you gradually de-couple your happiness from external events. You loosen your attachment to circumstances and learn to feel good regardless of what happens."
35. On Philosophy: The Good Life. Some people think that the pursuit of happiness is a bad idea.
36. Needless to say, I disagree.
37. I find that music really helps me to change my mood and would love your suggestions for happy music.
38. Making myself happy and making others happy are the two aims that define my life.
39. Entrepreneurship is my tool to achieve these aims.

40. Wealth & money

    Steve Pavlina: Making Money Consciously. Being wealthy is not the same as being rich.

41. It's hard to remember that when you're poor.
42. Being frugal is an excellent way to remind oneself of the unimportance of stuff.
43. Being a student helps you to be frugal because there are few other options. :)
44. There are lots of useful site out there that can help you be frugal.
45. Get Rich Slowly: Debt elimination is possible, even for students.
46. Life Coaches Blog: Saving your money can become fun, even addictive!
47. Mind Petals: If you want to be rich, make it one of your goals.

48. "Energy flows where attention goes"*

    John Richardson: Goals: Create The Gallery of Your Life. Don't forget to intend your goals. Visualisation is one powerful method for achieving. *From 'The Secret'.

49. Steve Pavlina: Manifesting Intentions Without Resistance. Role-playing is another good way of doing that.
50. Lorelle VanFossen: Blog Challenge: What Have You Learned This Year? Blogging challenges are great for writing ideas and for extra traffic. Thanks Lorelle!

Books: My reading habits, likes & dislikes

Questions from Booking Through Thursday's October meme entries.

26 Oct: Do you make notes in books as you read them? Why or why not? If you do, do you make notes only in certain kinds of books or all of them?

Yes, sometimes. Only in pencil and only in books I own. Usually only if the book is not new though – for this reason I much prefer pre-owned/second-hand books to new ones. Yes, I'm odd like that. I make notes in books for my academic course books.

12 Oct: Do you read in bed? For how long? Do you fall asleep reading? Will a good book keep you up all night? Where do you keep your night time reading? Do you have a special table next to the bed? Are there many books there? Do you keep books there that you aren't reading (finished or unread)?

I do sometimes read in bed, but I tend to fall asleep as soon as I'm tired. (I got in to the habit of talking until I fell asleep and now my body seems to just switch off when it needs to, quite a nifty trick).

I used to read a lot more in bed and would sometimes stay up all night reading. o_O

I keep my night time reading on my bed – I have a double bed, over half of which is covered with stuff. I have tonnes of stuff on my bed, including books I'm not reading.

5 Oct: Do you read short stories? Why or why not? What do you like and dislike about short stories?

I do sometimes read short stories, usually collections. I love stories that are perfectly self-contained. I dislike it when I get to the end of a short story and want to carry on reading. Another thing I like is when the story's bad, but it's over soon or you have no chance to get heavily invested in the book and thus can easily abandon it.

So, what are your reading habits?

New way of implementing my future plans for freedom & independence

No matter how self-aware, how happy you are with your life, locale, and person, there is always room for improvement. What do you want to change? What, who, where, when, or how do you wish you were…?

I Wish I Were…

Independently wealthy, successful businesswoman (EthicalBeads.com); seamlessly & effortlessly balancing my work, study & social lives, happy & healthy and finally FREE (i.e. no longer living with my parents).

Luckily, this isn't all just wishful thinking or some idle daydream because my business partner has suggested a getting-things-done-esque method, which I think might work well. It's called CVS to BVS (Current View Situation to Better View Situation).

I'm going to work through it tomorrow and share the results of my labour here on Monday. So, look out for it!

5 things you didn't know about me and would never have thought to ask

One of the things I liked about personal blogging was posting my answers to interesting memes (usually quizzes, sometimes something more pointless). Why give that up just because I've switched my old personal blog for something a little more upmarket?

In the spirit of continuing my explorations of different types of blog entries, I present (with my answers in bold):

Tuesday is Chooseday asks…

Would you rather:
1. Have five years of pretty severe bad luck knowing you'd have relatively good luck for the rest of your life OR have your bad luck spread throughout your life?
   Knowing when it would be over would make it easier to bear, I should think (assuming I survive it…)
2. Mix everything you drink with sour cream OR squirt lemon juice on everything you ate?
   I'm not a big fan of sour cream, sometimes I have it with nachos or fajitas, but it would just be too weird with anything else and it would ruin desserts completely. Lemon juice wouldn't actually be that bad.
3. Cluck like a chicken whenever a phone rang OR lick your lips whenever somebody mentioned food?
   At least licking one's lips when talking about food is pretty natural. If you start randomly clucking, people tend to notice and have you committed.
4. Only be able to hold your head straight up, as if looking at the sky OR only be able to look down towards your feet?
   Originally, I thought I'd prefer to look up. However, I have an almost obsessive habit of looking where I'm going to avoid stepping in things, so it's a bit of a no-brainer really.

Hmm, that was moderately fun. Must try again! What do you reckon?

5. Bloginality says I'm an Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Perceiving type…

"As a weblogger, you have wonderful words to express your feelings because of your idealism. Because you don't like conflict, you may be likely to make one list of links and leave it for a long time without updating for fear of offending."

I am very idealistic, it's true and my bookmarks grew so unwieldy I switched to del.icio.us at the first opportunity. :) Team Technology says I'm INFJ (Introverted, iNtuitive, Feeling, Judging).

With thanks to The Daily Meme, for making my meme-locating so painlessly easy.