Resources

Web design for different skillsets & varying levels of competency

• Kx's Web Design 101
• Kx's Web Design Intermediate
• Kx's Web Design Advanced

So there you go!

Please do comment or email me; I'd really like that.

If you'd like to add to this resource so that we can all benefit, please tag links in Delicious with both "for:inspirewithhope" + "web-design-101". I'll add useful links to the relevant places in Delicious. (Delicious is an online bookmarking tool that allows you to easily share bookmarks with other people, especially other people who are also on Delicious. It's free & there are lots of Firefox add-ons and other tools for it – do ask if you have any questions).

If you'd like to read more about web design, including excellent web design resources on Twitter, do read what is web design? It includes most of the rest of the content that was originally in this article. (I edited Web Design 101 on 10 February because it was too long).

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I recently read a brilliant article, which stated, "The creative myth leads people to waste time waiting for lightning instead of working hard and relentlessly."

Eureka!

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.

Awesome blogs: My personal favourites

• Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog
• Copywriting Tips for Online Marketing Success From Copyblogger
• Trizle: Rock Business

Writing down ideas as soon as I get them

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.

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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.

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If you're struggling to face your fears then you clearly need more courage, just as I do. But how do you get to be courageous?

Start doing things a courageous person would do. (For the moral philosophers amongst you, this is the kind of thing Rosalind Hursthouse suggests in On Virtue Ethics).

On a related note, I explored fear-based decision-making earlier this year. So, if that's what you're worrying about, do read that entry and let me know how you get on.

Resources

• Trizoko: 2 Rules to Stop Procrastinating: Fail little & often
• Steve Pavlina: Identity shift required (podcast): In order to get to where you want to be, you probably need to change. If you didn't need to change, you'd already be there. Start now! Just take the first step.
• Escape from Cubicle Nation: Stop playing small (podcast): As I've said before, it's about acting more confidant until you feel more confidant. You don't have to be shy anymore.
• Some fears are reasonable and necessary. It's important to be aware whether the ones you're worrying about are good ones or not. The distinction is similar to that between good & bad procrastination
• Accept your increased probability of success and come to terms with the consequences of succeeding.

In my next entry, I'm sharing my review of my goals for the year: I've modified my intentions significantly already! My biggest fears at the moment revolve around my essays and my business; I'm tackling them by playing big! Check back on Saturday for details in my latest entry or subscribe to the web feed so you don't miss out.

Update: See 2007 goals reviewed, January, 4 Feb

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Making time

• Stop doing things that waste my time.
• Optimise and be more efficient with the things I do.

I'm being strict about how much television I watch: One hour a week for Desperate Housewives (what can I say? It's my guilty pleasure).

I won't even have television in the background because I tend to get distracted by it, sometimes being tempted to start watching it instead of doing things.

I've downloaded an egg timer program called Minuteur (Mac app), which is helping to jolt me out of procrastination. By default it makes a ticking noise, this is good because it reminds me that time is slipping away and I'd better not waste it!

I've been reading some articles about procrastination and the best advice I've heard includes:

1. Eight minutes as a suggested period of time to work dedicated to one specific task. When that's up, you can do another burst if you want and so on.
2. 'Fill your hands' when tidying: Grab a handful of stuff and rush around putting things where they belong – stops you from worrying about where to start and encourages you to just get on with it.
3. When working, sometimes you'll become aware that you're daydreaming. When you do, make yourself switch back to working. As you do this more you'll increase your awareness of when you're procrastinating and encourage yourself to stop.

Some excellent articles from lifehacking, productivity etc. blogs:

• LifeDev: How to use Twitter as a productivity tool
  I use Twitter (Bright Achievements) to record my successes, so as to increase my self-confidence and maintain a record of what I've done. LifeDev shows how you can use it to increase awareness of you procrastination.
• LifeHacker: Get rid of clutter with the container method

What do you think? Any articles to recommend?

No related posts.

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.

You too can "Say No! to Procrastino."

Studying & Entrepreneurship

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'.

Resources

• Daily PlanIt: Why We Procrastinate
• Trizoko: 2 Rules to Stop Procrastinating
• 43 Folders: Motivation to do things you dislike

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

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If you've not been as successful as you'd like, don't let dates rule your life: You can have a fresh start whenever you like. If you have goals or resolutions, re-evaluate whether they're important to you. If they are, decide today that you're achieving them and stick to it! For some practical help, see some of my earlier entries: How to achieve your goals.

If you're on track or can see where you've improved, join me in recording your achievements. It'll re-awaken your drive to succeed and boost your confidence too. Incidentally, some people use Twitter to mention what random things they're doing at that very second, I use it to record my achievements.

I've made a lot of changes in my life recently. Some of them are good habits that were gradually developing a few months ago, but with the progress I've made I think my old self would be shocked.

Some of my recent achievements:

• I love fruit and veg! I'm actually going off chocolate and chocolate products (especially the cheaper, chalkier stuff). I eat apples as a snack. I enjoy broccoli and peppers especially, although potatoes and baked beans are still my favourite vegetables. Sometimes I opt for fruit salad instead of cakes, just because I want it. I'm vegetarian and I like it. I'm cutting down on milk and eggs too. I don't think snacks are evil though; I still enjoy cookies & ice-cream.
• I'm tidying my room. Over five bin bags of rubbish and about four massive bags of clothes to charity later, my room still looks, well, a mess. But I know that it's better than it was and I'm still working on it.
• I'm more dedicated. I always thought I was one of those people who wrote my goals down (very important, all the productivity gurus, personal development coaches and lifehackers will tell you so!). But I realised that I was occasionally writing bits and pieces on scraps of paper and never doing anything about it. Nowadays I'm doing lots of 30 day experiments, as well as reminding myself how to keep on track by reading books like Eat That Frog and people like Steve Pavlina.
• I'm getting eight hours of sleep each night. This one is taking a lot of work and I'll need to work harder to be more consistent with it, but I'm getting there.
• I'm using The Secret (also known as intention-manifestation and the Law of Attraction) with greater and greater success. For example, I intended £700 to come in to my life unexpectedly in January and beat that a week or two ago.

I'm doing more to enjoy my life too, especially keeping in touch with my friends, meeting new people and going to the cinema. Next on the list is making the time to read more (including books for study and books for pleasure) and, eventually, studying marketing in a more structured way.

All Things Bright is enabling me to get in touch with even more people. Hooray! I always love hearing from you, so do get in touch.

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As far as I can recall, I first came to the belief that it's possible to make oneself happy when I read that in addition to being an expression of happiness,  the physical act of smiling tends to make you feel happier too. I experimented with it a little and it worked. I have no idea where I first read this, but something like this:

We've talked before about how scientists know that smiling produces physiological changes in your body. And thanks to mirror neurons, we know that seeing someone else smile or laugh can trigger the same neurons reponsible for making us smile.

Creating Passionate Users: Who'd you make smile today?

7 steps to happiness

1. Decide to be happy
2. Listen to music
3. Say thank you
4. Be healthy
5. Get inspired, creative and passionate
6. Do what you like
7. Discover (or create) your purpose

Plus, Realise when you don't want to be happy

1. Decide to be happy

I've read lots of articles about how to be happy. When I was feeling particularly down I sought out relevant articles and used what I found to write one myself: How to be happy, or Why you're sad and how to fix it.

Steve Pavlina's tips on becoming more confident work for becoming happier too. (For example, I use music a lot to make myself happy). I think this is because happiness and self-confidence are inter-related. If you're self-confident, you're happy to be you. So, increasing your confidence will increase your happiness too. See StevePavlina.com Podcast #012 – Building Confidence.

Creating Passionate Users: Angry/negative people can be bad for your brain: In this controversial post Kathy discusses the facts about happiness. What you choose to do with that information is up to you. Actually, it's not controversial, just had some bad reception, especially from people who didn't read it very carefully.

2. Listen to music

I have a 'feel good: happy' playlist, which won't be very helpful for you unless you already own that music or are willing to spend money on it. So, I'm offering £5 of iTunes credit to the first person who asks for it in a comment to this entry, that will at least get you started.

In addition, I really want to know if you create or know of free & legal 'happy' music and where I can get it. Unique marketing opportunity, so do let me know! I'm interested in uplifting music, upbeat tunes, happy & inspirational lyrics… that sort of thing, humorous ones too. Please get in touch.

My 'feel good: happy' playlist

I have three 'feel good' playlists: energy, happy and inspire.

Energy: For when I need/want to stop procrastinating and just get on with it. The best track is Disturbed: Liberate, which is a hard-hitting rock/metal tune, with strong beats and baseline.

Happy: For when I'm feeling a bit down or mopey. Lots of cheesy pop tunes here. The best track is Suzanne Vega: Book of Dreams, which is really light & upbeat.

Inspire: For when I need/want more confidence. There are some really thoughtful songs in there too, to remind myself about how beautiful the world is, how brilliant human beings are, the strength of potential, things like that. The best tracks are R. Kelly: The World's Greatest, real ego booster! Christina Aguilera: I Will Be, which is about being strong & independent and Twista ft Faith Evans: Hope, which is really sweet, it has some sad themes but the triumph of the human spirit really makes me smile.

3. Say thank you

Kathy Sierra calls it a 'smile journal':

Try to write down every little thing that caused you to smile when you interacted with a product or service or person, and look for a pattern (or at least some ideas you can use)… If the notebook is nearly blank at the end of two weeks, time to rent some Monty Python.

Creating Passionate Users: Who'd you make smile today?

Being optimistic helps you to be happy and saying thank you helps you to be optimistic.

4. Be healthy

I've written about this a lot recently, especially in Power of three: Goal-setting: Health (1 of 3)

Mind Petals: A Healthy Entrepreneur Is A Wealthy Entrepreneur David Askaripour wrote this with entrepreneurs in mind, I think because we're more likely to let our health suffer, but it's relevant for everyone: If you want to be successful, you need to be healthy. (Incidentally, I disagree with his definitions: I agree that true wealth is about more than money, but I think happiness is a better word for 'having it all', because I associate happiness with more than 'just' pleasure. Hedonism is not happiness. Never mind, the language doesn't really matter: He calls it wealth; I call it happiness).

5. Get inspired, creative and passionate

I've no idea how much this will be true for other people, but I will abstract as much as I can: I identify as a creative and I really value creativity, so feeling inspired and creative infuses my perception of myself with happy feelings of confidence, self-worth and such.

What are your passions? What do you value? Do you know? If you don't, focus on finding out. If you do, nurture these in yourself.

See: eMoms at Home: Why do Entrepreneurs Need Inspiration?

6. Do what you like

I love singing & dancing. I can't do either well, but that's okay. I love spending time with my friends too. I love feeling productive. I love helping people to be happy. What do you love doing?

7. Discover (or create) your purpose

Get started with this excellent article by Alvin Soon: Life Coaches Blog: Start Your New Year In The Best Direction. Then continue with anything and everything by Steve Pavlina; slightly tongue-in-cheek, but I do find him very helpful; try his podcast #015 – What Is Your Purpose? which I recommended in my last entry too: Stability, security, sortedness: How to feel certain, or How to be okay with uncertainty

Bonus: Realise when you don't want to be happy

Sometimes I don't feel like cheering up. Sometimes I just want to mope. Sometimes I don't want to be happy.

Usually when that happens I'll listen to my 'sad' playlist (mostly schmoopy lovesongs, e.g. Easther Bennett: First Time Ever I Saw Your Face) to get it out of my system or I'll get away from myself for a little while, e.g. by sleeping. (Chris Hamilton has some more suggestions for how to get away from yourself, read his excellent book, Living Philosophy).

It's okay not to be happy all the time, the important thing is to be happy when you want to be happy.

I really hope this entry helps you; please let me know how you get on.

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I don't write about romance & related topics on here very often (never before today actually), but I want to note two things:

1. The idea of 'settling down' in the manner typical of most of the world (i.e. marriage) is not my ideal.
2. However, there are some things I like about that idea that I'd appreciate having now.

Chief of these is the stability involved, the certainty (or illusion of it, perhaps), knowing – as Will put it – that one area of my life is sorted.

Reflections: Happy with (some) uncertainty

I'm happy to spend the rest of my life deciding what to do with it. (I think very few people share this feeling). However, I'd really appreciate having something reliable somewhere in my life. In the past this was a role imperfectly played by a best friend figure. I say imperfectly because, blessedly, I never managed to completely rely on anyone – just as well, otherwise it would be much harder to adjust now.

For a variety of reasons, it's untenable for anyone to hold that position now. For example, not having the benefit of an institution where I, along with my friends, must spend over seven hours of each weekday in one place means I just don't see any one person nearly as often as I used to see school friends. (Incidentally, this is what I've found is the hardest thing to adjust to socially since leaving school; 4.5 years on I'm still adjusting to it).

All of this leads me to believe something you may have anticipated already: The only person you can truly rely on is you. This needn't be distressing or depressing, because you're always with yourself, you can't let yourself down by not turning up, for example. It probably means you need to get to know yourself better though. I'm sure this is true of myself, even though I know myself well, after all, there's that picture of the self where 90% of ourselves is unknown to us.

I find that the challenge is knowing I'm becoming myself, accepting that with good grace and yet still being happy to rely on myself, even though I'm 'in transit', so to speak. On with the practical advice!

Solutions: How to feel sorted; what works for me

I'm not always happy.

Many people ask me, perplexed, 'How come you're always happy?!' I'm not. However, I do have a very strong belief that I can make myself happy, so I'm (almost) always happy or in the process of making myself happy. I'm currently writing an entry 'How to be happy' in which I give practical advice based on my personal experiences, look out for it this Saturday.

The reason I'm happy with taking my time to work out my life's purpose is because I have some pretty clear ideas about how I might do that. I'm answering the question 'What shall I do?' as I move through life, I don't feel the need to answer it definitively, once and for all at one point in my life (e.g. now).

So, here's what works for me: Knowing what my purpose is or, rather, working on finding out & creating it. Steve Pavlina has some excellent ideas on how to do this, I particularly recommend you listen to his podcast: #015 – What Is Your Purpose?

Dedication: Rachel, thank you for inspiring this entry.

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