I'm writing this based on my experiences with abandoning my blogs, and my experiences returning to them. I'm writing to help you (and also future me) get on with things when you really don't feel like it. I'm really interested in other people's methods, this is a very real & present issue for me; please leave your tips & recommendations in the comments, useful links very welcome.
How many times have you heard "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration" or variations on that theme?
Motivation waxes & wanes, but – as I keep realising – you have to persevere whether you feel motivated or not. Sometimes I'm full of creative energy & sometimes I'm just not; I have to carry on regardless. Well, I say I keep realising it; I'm wondering if this time I've actually learnt the lesson or if it'll be coming round again in my future… I am trying. :)
There are some things I do that help me keep my creative energy, I find them especially useful to implement just as I feel it starting to slip away:
Making lists of my achievements
Checking my motivations
Getting inspiration from other people
Writing down ideas as soon as I get them
Logging off
Making lists of my achievements
How I do it: I make a list each month using Ta-da List (it's free & simple). I update it many times each day. I find I forget what I've done if I don't write it down, which leads to despondency. Plus, this way I have a record I can look at when my self-confidence is flagging. Hurrah for Aide-mémoires of My Awesomeness!
Examples of stuff I put on the list
Solicited feedback from Chiz [on my websites]
Started using Google Webmaster Tools for [my websites] BP, IWH, KB & MMM
Decided not to go to Inferno [club night] & cancelled dancing with Helen C – need rest
KB: Updated [website]: Added quotations from others about me
Newly created Incompetent Chef [blog] – from Idea to Implementation – wrote about guacamole http://incompetentchef.tumblr.com
Checking my motivations
Sometimes I feel resistance to doing something because I don't really want to do it. I worried that this might be the case with regards to blogging – in which case, it would have been a good idea to stop, there's no point in posting without passion. I did a lot of thinking about it & every time I came to the conclusion that I definitely don't want to give it up. I made a list of my reasons & that was useful. It's helpful because it gives me direction too – if I'm not sure what to do next I can have a look at my reasons & let that guide me to the next action.
Work out why you started blogging, work out why you stopped, work out why you've not started again. Work out if you still want to blog & why / why not; perhaps the reasons you don't want to blog are not inherent to blogging: Maybe a change of platform or someone to help you with site administration would fix things. I find meditating & journalling helpful for working things out. Write stuff down!
Reasons I blog
I have something to say that I want to share with other people to help them
I'm vain & full of self-importance; I want people to read stuff I've written
I want feedback on my thoughts
I read something & want to respond to it – I start writing a comment & then realise it's ridiculously long (from little comments great articles grow!)
I want to become (more of) an authority on entrepreneurship; blogging helps me direct my learning
Getting inspiration from other people
Hang out with life-affirming people who have high levels of energy, motivation, positivity, bounce, creativity etc. Socialise with inspirational friends. Read awesome blogs. Listen to inspirational songs.
Carry a little notebook for those snippets of entries that come to you. I have a journal that goes nearly everywhere with me. It applies online too – bookmark & tag when you run across things that inspire or speak to you. I use Delicious & Google Reader; there are so many great tools out there.
In addition, I find it really helpful to write things unrelated to my blog. I write other blogs about feminism, sexuality, vegan cooking for beginners… I have a few personal blogs in which I write the usual self-absorbed rambling & whining. I write poetry, I write short stories & flash fiction, I write complaints to businesses, I write thank you cards, I write lists of so many things… It's all good practice. Even though I write all these things, and have been a writer for longer than I can remember, I still felt trepidation upon returning to Inspire With Hope. I dread to think how much worse it would have been if I hadn't been writing all this time. If you don't write much; start now. (The comment section of this entry would be a good place to begin… :))
Logging off
Eliminate distractions – I like to believe that I'm self-disciplined enough to stop checking email, LiveJournal & Twitter all the time (and I'm working on that!), but I'm not. Log out of IM. Go offline. Remove the temptations – sign out, close the tabs, disconnect.
…And that's how I wrote this post.
Now I'm off to read some comics, because treats, rewards & relaxation are also important aspects of being & staying motivated.
It's always difficult returning to a website after a break, probably more so after an unplanned one.
Life has been introducing me to new iterations of complexity and I've only recently felt ready to start making sense of things. I didn't want to return without resuming my regular schedule (every other day), but I just can't write that frequently any more. I have too much going on in my life to do that, especially as I'm successfully challenging my issues with motivation and procrastination to re-discover my passion for creativty.
Consequently, I'm returning for once-a-week updates until I have more time to say all I have to say. This will allow me to concentrate on my web design projects (get in touch if you're looking for a web designer, or know someone who is) and to improve All Things Bright (let me know what needs changing).
Achievements
It's not as if I haven't been busy; here's a summary of my latest achievements, as well as some information about what I'm working on at the moment.
Graduate Fashion Week
I recently completed work on a project that was on exhibit at Graduate Fashion Week. It's a website called Subcultures: Fashion & Music Trends, a collaboration between myself & Melissa Taylor.
Photographs to follow shortly – look out for them next Wednesday!
Women in Media
In February 2007, Sali from Women in Media interviewed me and the resulting profile is now online. I feel truly blessed to be recognised as a woman in a successful media and technology career, especially as I don't feel that way most of the time. I hope that the fact that I can achieve this will encourage and inspire other people, because if I can do it you surely can!
Here's an excerpt:
Describe your job/role?
I run a blog about personal entrepreneurship. I'm starting my own business and writing about my experiences, focusing on 'personal' aspects – how my business affects the rest of my life, how my friends influence and inspire me, how other people can get started out.
What is the best thing about your job?
I love the fact that by doing something that I enjoy, it inspires other people. It means a lot to me that I can create and share that kind of value. I have to admit that I love playing around with the design and code for my site too.
What attracted you to it?
I've always enjoyed writing and geeky stuff (like making websites) – when I was at school I taught myself web design. Combining the two happened naturally, it feels almost inevitable that writing and web designing would come together.
I'm actively looking for web design, web development & site administration or web management work, to that end I've been revamping my portfolio. It's by no means complete, but I wanted to let you know about it now.
All Things Bright is dedicated to the topic of Personal entrepreneurship, so every entry here is in some way connected to that. What do I mean by personal entrepreneurship? Many things, including the personal and human sides of being an entrepreneur, my experiences with enterprise and social entrepreneurship (which involves seeking to improve the lives of those less fortunate than I am).
Today I bring you five links focused on linking the personal and the entrepreneurial, it's the human side of business:
Notes: You can get inspiration from the strangest places, including random words. Today's entry is brought to you inspired by the word 'ducks', courtesy of Dave (thank you!)
On 29th December 2006, I made some important goals for 2006. I've already modified and developed them, which is great because it's important to keep re-evaluating, so I'll be doing this once monthly.
My big goal for 2007: Escape with Courage
In 2006, I said it was Debt-free by December 2007 (excluding student loan). However, on reflection, this is a negative goal because it focuses on something I don't want, namely, debt. So, I've re-worded it to concentrate on something I do want, in the right spirit too: Financial abundance.
2007 is my year of independence
Financial abundance and all kinds of independence
Spatial independence, financial independence, personal independence. For this I need courage, so I'm doing things a courageous person would do. I'm going on my first mini-break without my parents next weekend. Scary & exciting.
I've succeeded in not buying clothing this January (not including my uniform, which I overlooked when setting goals) and am continuing to avoid spending on clothes and clutter in to February. Hurrah!
Student frugality
Being more frugal when it comes to eating out remains a challenge. However, my awareness of how much I'm spending is definitely growing and I feel more uncomfortable when spending a lot on food. I've even taken a packed lunch in this week!
KathleenBright.com
I'm working on exactly what kind of work I want to do, in addition to entrepreneurship: My thinking is that I want to raise capital via consultancy services etc before launching my business as planned upon completion on my postgraduate degree. To that end, at the end of February I implement, and in March I launch, KathleenBright.com. Exciting!
How to be vegan
I have a new challenge for February – becoming vegan. One of the things I want to be true this time next year is this: I'm a vegan healthnut. All I can do to achieve this it to act now, so I am. I'm currently vegetarian, by March I'll be vegan too. Wish me luck!
In addition, increased awareness about what I'm eating helps to keep me on the right path of a) spending reasonable amounts on food, especially when eating out and b) eating healthily. Brilliant when goals come together like that.
Beginners' steps, by a newbie vegan wannabe
Stop eating and drinking obviously non-vegan products Yes, lots of things have dairy and eggs in (like cakes) and it take a lot more effort to avoid those, so start with the easy things, like cheese.
Use dairy-free & egg-free alternatives and substitutes (e.g. soya milk, tofu instead of egg). Use the Internet to get help from a variety of helpful resources, e.g. VegFamily Magazine
Go to restaurants that specify what's vegan – vegetarian restaurants tend to be very good at this, e.g. Food for Thought.
6 essays, 27th February
Studying & my MA Ethics & Philosophy of Religion
It's still difficult, but I do want to succeed, so I'm just getting on with it. I've started actually writing my first essay too, so that's all good. My goal here is to continue as I've started: Forging ahead with dedication and conscientiousness.
I'm writing about education, yet again and with good reason.
My essay deadlines are creeping closer and closer. This time procrastination will lead to failure (er, again). So, I'm tackling my tendency to procrastinate.
My two main areas of focus at the moment: Studying and Entrepreneurship. Each has its challenges, for example, I'm working on breaking down the massive goal of 'doing Ethical Beads' in to daily tasks. Each has its rewards: Writing for All Things Bright is a reward in itself, knowing I'm helping people is brilliant and getting feedback makes me grin inanely. :)
The biggest challenges? Time and fear, which are intimately connected, especially as I tend to procrastinate out of fear, thus leaving myself less time. Doh!
Lately being cold has been enough to stop me from acting. This is actually a big problem for me, as my parents switch the heating off when they go to bed, but I tend to work better at night. Aagh! I'm tackling it by slowly adapting to working earlier (e.g. by going to bed earlier to ensure I get enough sleep), although it's cold in the mornings too – roll on Spring! Isn't that terrible though? To let being cold defeat me.
So, what I need to do is, well, just get on with it – there are no shortcuts. In the long run, getting on with it now will mean I save time anyway, so better get to it.
Essay-writing, what's to love?
Well, quite a lot really. I've chosen topics in which I'm genuinely interested. For example, virtue ethics is about working out the best way/s of living one's life, how to be a better person and becoming wise – fascinating! These are all topics I explore, out of choice, at All Things Bright. So, I'm going to synchronise the two activities (essay-writing and blogging) more and thus cut down on the amount of work and 'work'.
Update: I almost forgot to mention that in my next entry I'll be bringing you up-to-date on my goals, which will also serve to give me something to measure my success against. 27 Jan
In June 2006, I started writing & publishing a blog dedicated to documenting my entrepreneurship mistakes so that others could learn from them and so I could remind myself that it's important to make more mistakes.
In October 2006, I had to take a break from Make More Mistakes because I didn't have time to continue with it. I promised to return to it in January 2007.
It's a very personal entry about my struggles with my postgraduate programme and the uncertainty of success. However, it is also a very hopeful entry in which I discuss different methods of tackling doubt and getting back on the right track, as well as the many important lessons I've learnt so far. Here's an excerpt:
The requirement to tell my parents if I were dropping out and the fact this might have made moving out more urgent has really helped me to bring ‘Making my Escape' to the forefront of my mind. It's now more pressing: I'm getting on with it instead of procrastinating. [...]
In addition, thinking about quitting has highlighted the importance of finding alternative sources of income. So I'm working really hard on that too: Ideas & Potential Solutions for my Fiscal Challenge. (Please do send me suggestions; I really appreciate your help).
Writing and managing so many sites (three, shortly rising to four) is very challenging. Maybe that'll be the subject of another entry! In the meantime, I'm continuing with decluttering and working on spring cleaning All Things Bright too. So, as usual, do send me suggestions.
Currently, the biggest practical challenge is trying to make myself get enough sleep. Must stay healthy!
Thank you, my lovely readers!
I'd also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to my readers and commenters. I really appreciate you and it's always lovely to hear from you. I'd love to know how you find All Things Bright, but mystery or not, I'm really pleased to have you here!
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. :)
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.
But acting, a.k.a. execution, is even more important.
Especially if you're prone to procrastination.
Personal life lessons
Life gets more and more complicated each year. Well, mine has so far!
Love is sometimes the problem, as well as the solution.
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.
Entrepreneurship is for me!
Escape is the best idea I've ever had – i.e. moving out of my parents' house – I just need to implement it.
Goals
It's easier to refrain from spending than I first thought.
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).
Other people and things can help or hinder, as you will it.
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."
Steve Pavlina & Paul Graham have shed much light on the myth about money being evil. Money is not evil, but neutral. See my entry – Speedlinks: Money – for links to their articles & more, plus my mini-reviews.
As part of my dream to be financially independent, I have the goal of changing my attitudes to money. One important thing I've learnt over time is that it's easier to get rid of negative beliefs, actions etc (e.g. fearing becoming rich might change me in to an ogre) by replacing them with positive ones (e.g. realising money can & does achieve much good).
I'm intending money to come in to my life & I'm creating wealth; I'll use my money to make the world better. My project to use money for good is Ethical Beads.
Aims of Ethical Beads
Raise awareness of the ethical issues involved in bead & jewellery manufacture.
Make it easy for ethical consumers to purchase ethical beads & jewellery, thus:
It's a long-term project, the first steps are identifying ethical suppliers & researching ethical companies & others, spreading the ideas and building a community of like-minded people.
The baby steps are searching for suppliers & researching so-called ethical companies & their 'initiatives' (esp. Ethical Trading Initiative & Fair Trade Federation), finding supporters (via blogging, blog/viral marketing.
Pretty brilliant goals to start the new year, I think!
In related news, watch The Secret, an inspirational documentary film, online for free and achieve your goals: Believe it and you achieve it. No gimmicks! More info. I just watched this and I feel brilliant: Energised, happy, ready to tackle anything. Much recommended.
Lessons from life or, Things I've learnt this year
Fear is a motivating factor in many of my actions, or rather, in many of my reasons & excuses not to act.
Action points
Continue self-awareness of when I'm feeling fear and why.
Change goals and actions in the face of rational fears to address valid reasons for not acting.
Act in the face of irrational fears to diminish fear and accomplish my goals. [link: see Shyness post].
Dreams: Over-arching aims & big goals for next year
Debt-free by December 2007 (excluding student loan)
Because financial independence is something I dream about and it's the one thing that would make the most positive difference to my life.
Difficulties
Clothes: I love shopping, especially with all those sales! I acknowledge that sale shopping is about the positive feelings in finding bargains and 'winning' against shops (especially over-priced ones). However, I don't want to spend all my money on clothing, there is much more to life! So, spend in the sales, fine, but no spending on clothes at all for the first 30 days of January.
Eating out: Represents more to me than just food; it's socialising, spending time with friends, meeting new people, trying something new, having something familiar… I don't want to stop eating out, so I think the aim is to discover interesting and reasonably-priced places and return. For example, I liked the Mongolian Barbeque restaurant, so I should definitely go back there. In addition, there's a vegetarian restaurant I love, Food For Thought, which I've been reluctant to write about because it's already so popular that it's often over-crowded (victim of its own success) and my review would be positive, possibly making it more so!
Goals: Action points
Save: Nurture passion for student frugality & saving As a full-time student, I have good reason for being poor and for not splashing out. When will I next have excuse to be stingy?!
Change attitude to money On one level I know that money is not all-important, that wealth is something one creates, that money has merely exchange value etc. I need to gather these thoughts in to a single coherent, all-encompassing & empowering belief about money, something that inspires me to save and not spend.
Change attitude to shopping Buying clothes for myself means I have less money for eating out and therefore for spending money on myself and others (spending money on others because they thereby get the benefit of my company). So, eating out is more desirable all-round.
Focus on more important things Like my MA, my business (Ethical Beads), friends, good living (i.e. above all things meaningful living, but also happiness for others: giving/ethical/benevolent, happiness for me: pleasant/enjoyable/healthy – in doing all these at once, I achieve the ultimate end of life).
Studying & my MA Ethics & Philosophy of Religion
Difficulties
Procrastinating. Out of fear? Fear of failure? Laziness?
It's hard!
Essay-writing, blah
Goals: Action points
Change attitude to writing essays, on some level I want to write essays… bring that out more.
Just get on with it! Start earlier too.
More self-awareness (reading & reflecting) to identify and face my fears.
Entrepreneurship & professional blogging
Difficulties
Making time
Facing my fears of failure & success
Goals: Action points
Work on All Things Bright & Ethical Beads. For details, see my forthcoming entry on Sunday, New Year's Eve. Update: Review of design & content, 31 Jan
I hope you find this study insightful and useful. Do let me know your thoughts. Any skills I've missed?
Skills to cultivate:
Student frugality
Self-motivation
Inner strength
Student frugality
Why?
I'll still be poor when I finish studying and start entrepreneurship full-time.
I need to raise capital and the best way to save money is not to spend it in the first place.
Money-management is an excellent life skill to have and will prevent me frittering away my millions when I make them.
How?
Hmm, good question. I tend to scrimp and then blow it all, usually in an emotionally-motivated shopping spree. So, cultivating better mental health would help enormously.
I'm subscribed to some excellent money blogs too, so I should definitely take their advice instead of just reading. See Get Rich Slowly & Art of Money for some tips.
Self-motivation
Why?
At the end of the day, you only have yourself and I only have myself. Sure, we both have lots of friends and colleagues who provide support and advice, but only you will put the wheels in motion.
Being a self-starter means you can conquer whatever obstacles stand in your way when things are tough. It means procrastination becomes a thing of the past. It means you turn in to Action Wo/Man.
How?
Sometimes I bully myself in to it. When that doesn't work, I try going over the reasons why whatever I need to do is a good idea and reminding myself that ultimately I'm choosing to do it.
Really, the only way to do it, is just to do it.
Inner strength
Why?
It's related to my earlier point about the necessity for better mental health. When you're a strong person, you become more resilient; it's much harder for other people and things to hold you back. See Don't Take It Personally! by Elayne Savage for more about resilience.
How?
I'm starting to see a link between mental health and physical health. I know that when I go walking or dancing I feel more alive and there are scientific studies floating around that support what people keep saying: Exercise is good for you and makes you feel better.
I could really do with some help on any and all of these. Please do let me know your suggestions: Just leave a comment or email me. Thanks!
I'm currently a full-time student. When I leave university, I'll probably have very little money. I'm trying to decide whether I should get a job when I finish or whether I should embrace my poverty and do the entrepreneurship thing anyway.
I'm 90% determined that I should resist the pressure to 'just' make money. (No doubt the other 10% will follow by the time I've been in part-time employment for another year, especially with all these entrepreneurship resources I keep reading… :))
Over time, there will be periods where I'll be working for myself indirectly, i.e. officially employed. The key point is that no matter what I'm doing, it's crucial for me to maintain my entrepreneurship mindset. Cue this (growing!) collection of resources.
Resources to ensure you get the most from employment
In the meantime, skills to cultivate:
Student frugality
Self-motivation
Inner strength
Watch this space: In my next entry, I'll explore these: Why they're important and how I'm going to master them.
I love reading. I love the Internet. Cue the entrance of blogs and bam! Every spare second I didn't have, gone. But that's okay because I derive massive value from my favourite blogs and now I want to share that with you. Hence this entry.
I mentioned this to a friend who said, "Favourite blog posts are good, because they'll boost your Google Pagerank. All those famous blogs with pingbacks to your site." Heh, not quite was thinking (well, okay, who am I kidding?! Of course that's part of it). My main motivation is to share these brilliant resources because I'm always raving about them. I'm also interested to make a note of my favourites so I can see if/how that changes over time. I'm also including links to my top three favourite posts from each of them to give you a taster.
10 reasons you should never get a job "Have you noticed that employed people have an almost endless capacity to whine about problems at their companies? But they don't really want solutions – they just want to vent and make excuses why it's all someone else's fault."
10 myths about self-employment "Self-employment is much riskier than getting a job… Employees take the biggest risk of all. You learn how risky it is when you unexpectedly hear the words, 'we're letting you go'."
10 ways to become more conscious "What does it mean to become more conscious? It is the progressive realisation of conscious mastery over your mind." Here's how to attain it.
Trizoko Much advice for management, general well-being and more. What distinguishes this blog for me, is the style in which it's written. Each post starts off with a popularly-held myth or similar, continues with evidence to show why the myth is false and ends with a one-sentence summary of action to take. Brilliant.
How to rock your customer service: "Most businesses think their customer service rocks; but, the reality: they suck, and don't-even-know-it." Another thing I like about this post: Published it on my birthday. I'm recognised as providing the best customer service at work (I even won an award!) How did Andrew know?! :)
Why most politicians suck as leaders: "The best politicians are nothing but the most 'charismatic' bastard sitting on his/her ivory tower hawking their ideas like they mean something."
2 rules to stop procrastinating: "Fear drives us to procrastinate by viciously trapping us from taking action." How true this is! I'm still struggling with my fears, but I overcame them enough to write my essays.
Copyblogger Brian is truly brilliant. One thing that distinguishes his posts is how much he draws upon different areas of life, for example, he looks at history to find guidelines for writing for the Web. Ingenious. He's also a very good writer himself, which helps when you're writing about writing… :)
Don't take this advice about online marketing! "Advice is a tricky thing, especially when dispensed en masse. The answer to most things, if we're being honest, is it depends…" Includes links to some of his other excellent posts. Go, read!
Don't sell… teach "Using educational copywriting to begin relationships that lead to sales… Tutorial Marketing"
Pez Dispensers and Living the Big Lie "Origin stories are hugely important… Lying is easy, it's living the lie that's hard… revealing that the story is not true… blows it."
See also:
Escape From Cubicle Nation Pamela Slim is passionate about helping entrepreneurs start businesses. She's really supportive and also does a podcast, which I'm listening to as I write this.
ProBlogger Blog Tips Darren, ProBlogger, has a finger on the pulse of pretty much everything happening in the blogging world, so he's great for news on things like AdSense, Amazon Affiliates etc. Saves tonnes of time for me research all these things directly, then I can just drill down on the stuff that's most relevant to me. Yay!
Creating Passionate Users Ostensibly, how the brain works and how to exploit it for better learning and memory; but that stuff is presented in a really accessible and interesting way. Plus, they talk about other stuff too, like how to get your users to love you.
Art of Money Robert Kiyosaki [aka Rich Dad] appreciator, Jon, shares the ways in which he's stretching his financial mindset. I particularly love this post on Internet Marketing
Paul Graham Brilliant essayist, amongst other things; he's also the author of one of my favourite books, Hackers & Painters
Publishing 2.0 What you get when you mix media & technology, which is enabling ordinary people to control, participate in, and become media.
I hope you enjoy these recommendations and find them really useful. In my new capacity on the committee of King's College London Entrepreneurs I'll be sourcing lots of helpful information about entrepreneurship, so do let me know what direction would be most beneficial for you.
I've believed for a long time that having a team of inspirational people behind me really, well, inspires me. (Sorry, not all of my thoughts are mind-blowing breakthroughs :))
Plus, lots of people have asked me about entrepreneurship: How does one get started? Where to go for advice? Who can help out?! To that end, here's my hand-selected team; I hope you find them inspiring too:
Steve Pavlina, Personal Development for Smart People Master of the manifested intention, personal development guru and a hugely successful entrepreneur to boot, by public standards and his own.
Pamela Slim, Escape From Cubicle Nation So supportive and so passionate about helping people to start their own businesses. Her podcasts are brilliant, easy to listen to and packed with information. I'll be writing about them shortly.
Jon J. Symons, Art of Money Down-to-earth, completely willing to engage with his readers and listen to feedback. It's very encouraging to read his blog.
Brian Clark, Copyblogger Brilliant contemporary, non-fiction writer. Top of the RSS subscription, along with the other greats above.
Emily Dickinson (ref: Wikipedia) Sticking it to convention to be truly original, superficially through just uncommon punctuation usage, but really through so much more. Plus, amazing output! Beautiful poetry. Oh, and independent too, brilliant.
Bonus: Cheshire Cat, Alice in Wonderland (ref: Wikipedia) Big grins now! The Cheshire Cat has much to teach us about leaving a lasting positive impression, as well as his immortal words — If you don't mind where you end up, "Then it doesn't matter which way you go." (Implying, quite correctly, that if you do mind, you'd better decide).
I'm considering writing extended biographies, especially something on the Cheshire Cat. I'd love to do some investigative journalism and research on him and on Alice in Wonderland (my favourite book) generally. Oh, and some sort of comparative literature on Emily's stuff.
I recently read a post about entrepreneurs who introduce themselves as people who hate their current jobs and are trying to get something started on the side if only they can get funding. Thus, unintentionally & unconsciously putting off any potential investors etc. (If I could find it again, I would love to share it).
So, I thought about what I would say instead. (In the end, it's all about how you sell yourself; it's all marketing).
What do you do for a living?
I'm a serial entrepreneur; I start and run businesses for a living. My latest project is saving the lives of bead crafters and protecting the environment by providing handcrafted quality jewellery to fashionable, ethical consumers at sustainable prices. I'm currently recruiting passionate, caring people for the purposes of researching and sourcing, as part of the Ethical Beads team.
Oh, and I'm a new media journalist too: I run this popular entrepreneurship site, All Things Bright.
Incidentally, the latest way of determining blog popularity is by number of subscribers. Currently, I have approximately 20 RSS subscribers and rising. (Hurray!) If you haven't subscribed, now is the time to do it. :)
Change things now.
All this whilst I'm a full-time postgraduate student!
So, what do you do for a living?
What do you want to do after university?
Make money. Save the world. Everything.
What do you want to be 'when you grow up'?
Rich/wealthy. Sorry, that's the facetious response (although it is true as well).
In this entry, I'm exploring why I'm sad, how to be happy and my thoughts about what I want to do in my life, where I want to go and how I want to get there. I hope you find it informative too. To that end, I've included some links to sites I've found useful, with brief summaries and/or reviews.
Career, life plans, aspirations, hopes & dreams
Aside from the seemingly obvious, what do you absolutely, totally, without-a-doubt, enjoy–no, love–doing? Something that just sends shivers through your spine when you talk about it?
If you're not overwhelmingly emotionally-connected to your business, you're in the wrong industry.
For me, entrepreneurship is the only way to go. Entrepreneurship, to me, means I'm completely in charge of where my life goes, the buck stops at me, it's my responsibility to make sure I do everything that needs to be done or delegate it to the right people.
For me, it's important that I get to do a massive variety of things. At the moment, the things I most love doing are being on the Internet, talking to people, writing, thinking up new ideas, playing around with new ideas and just generally being creative. Hence, All Things Bright.
For me, I've got to be highly stimulated by something in order to be passionate about it. I can work really hard on a project 'if I have to', but my best work definitely comes out when I desperately want to be working on it. Why's that? Because my creativity pours out when I'm loving what I'm doing.
Gratitude, or How to be thankful
Dwelling on things that have gone well can help pick you up, he says. "You have to thank your lucky stars about what goes right on a daily basis. Whenever you get the feeling of being negative about things, just take a moment out and remind yourself of the stuff that has gone well. It could be anything from a conversation to your garden looking nice, or that it didn't rain on you when you were out on your bike. It's an extremely powerful technique.
I had been thinking about writing an entry about things for which I'm grateful, but I thought a list would make pretty dull reading for you.
However, reading the article I've just quoted above, I'm re-convinced it's a good idea. By breaking up the list in to bitesize chunks, it'll be easy to make it interesting and/or insightful. Consequently, I'm going to write on this theme each day at 43 things.
I'll be doing this every day for the next 30 days (and then I may carry on). The first one is: Thank you for friends. In future, you can read these at Say thank you, by Kx; they also appear in the Thanks box, in the sidebar to the right, between the Subscribe and Pages boxes.
How to be happy: Useful links for you
Depression Cure: How to be Happy!
1. Place conditions on your happiness leads to unhappiness.
2. Blaming others leads to unhappiness.
3. Decide to be happy.
I can easily accept that 1 & 2 are true; but 3 seems a little tricky.
The Guardian: Why do some people enjoy life and others don't? (How to be happy)
"Positive psychologists believe optimism can be learned, that we can teach ourselves to see a half-empty glass as half-full. All we have to do is spend time mulling over all the things that have gone right for us, rather than dwelling on what has gone badly."
Trizoko: How to Best Spend a Minute
"When you think of one thing that makes you thankful, another sucka pops up. And another, and another, and another — until you fully appreciate what a sweet life you really have."
eHow: How to Be Happy
"Happiness has different meanings for everyone; we each have to define and seek it for ourselves." Step-by-step instructions on how to be happy!
