the terminal man.

The man had just touched down in Toronto, after a week’s vacation in Cuba with his lovely wife.  He had brought with him the latest and greatest book from a well-known bald-headed blogger, some little tome about “clans” or “hordes” or something like that…

Anyway, he had read the book with great interest, while he sat on the beach under an umbrella, sipping many, many cups of Cuban rum and the local version of Coke.  He had feverishly taken notes as he reflected on the words, and with the clarity of thought that comes with unplugging from the world, he had tried to figure out just what the hell kind of “gang” he was supposed to lead.

Of course the book never told him how to do that!

Details, details…

As the man was preparing for the “stop-and-go pedestrian traffic” that always seems to accompany the deplaning process, he noticed that the woman seated beside him had become quite agitated.

She had been fine for the entire flight, and now, it seemed as if she was about to explode with nervous energy.  She was almost shaking as she searched frantically through her handbag.

The man asked, “Is everything okay, ma’am?”

“My BlackBerry!  I CAN’T FIND MY BLACKBERRY!”

(“Umm, okaaaaaay…”, the man thought to himself, “Best.  Electronic leash.  Evar.”)

A few weeks later, it started to make sense.  The man enjoyed all things technological, and he loved to help people understand them, and how to put them to use to do what they needed to do.

“Right tool for the job”, he always said.

And one day, as he was daydreaming at his day job, he thought to himself, “Technology should enable us, not enslave us.”  That would be the cornerstone of his mission, somehow.

To help people make the best use of the technology available, and not be encumbered by it, or even ruled by it.

Yet, he stumbled along, unsure of what to do with it or how to do it.  He was perpetually distracted.  He had fallen victim to the technology himself…

And so, he decided to unplug for a while, to return to the clarity he had enjoyed on the beach in Cuba.  He pretty much stopped blogging, only left sporadic comments on a few blogs he enjoyed reading, and did his best to escape from that damned tweetie bird.

Eventually, it worked.  Something clicked, one day in late December.

He knew.

He set forth on a path, to work on not one, but two projects.  For you see, the two projects were intertwined because of who the man was, and who he knew.

The first project would ultimately come to serve the second, which was ironic, since both had existed all along, and the man had done all he could to ignore the second, while searching for the first.

–

Hello.

I have been working very hard on a couple of projects for the last little while.  The first started to take shape in my head mid-last year, though I did not know exactly how to get it going.  I needed to figure out the “who” – who would it serve.  The who turned out to be someone (many, many someones, actually) I already know.

Though I am not ready to reveal anything yet (mostly because blank web pages under construction are terribly boring to look at), this is where you will find news when it becomes available.

I had a funny thought tonight while I was out walking my dog.

No one ever tells you when your 6 week journey will start.

I thought I knew, I thought it had started a long time ago, and it turns out that for me, it really only started in late December of 2009.

I guess that’s why people say, work hard – keep trying to figure out what you want to do – one day, it will all become clear.

–

I promised Wendi I’d write a new post soon, so here you go Wendi!  Better late than never…

6 weeks 2 days.

That’s how long it has been since I posted.

You know what’s happened since then?

Lots.

I spent a lot of time with my wife and children, drinking wine in the sun, and we bought a puppy.  A yellow lab named Walter.  He’s really cute – just ask Uncle Friar.

I spent a lot of time thinking about important stuff, where I want to go, what I want to do – it became very clear – and I’ll be sharing that soon, at this space.  Very soon (as in, sooner than 6 weeks 2 days!)

And my number of subscribers at this blog stayed pretty much the same.

(Thanks for not running away, folks.)

The lesson here is that we can go away when we need to go away, spend time thinking about stuff, and come back.

Technology need not enslave us.

Things will take care of themselves.

What did you do over the last 6 weeks?

(PS – I’m not picking on Dubya, I just liked the picture…)

i am what i am, i am who i am. a guest post by eyeteaguy.

Eyeteaguy and I have known each other for a pretty long time (back to 1992, in fact).  He was moving into the house where I was living in my last year of university.

I remember it well.  I was out on the front porch, drinking beer with a couple of other friends, and here comes this old Subaru wagon.  It backs into the driveway, and out steps Eyeteaguy (though at the time, he was Polisciguy).

I asked him if he needed a hand moving his stuff in, and he said no, so we didn’t help him!  What a bunch of assholes we were…

I think we eventually did give him a hand, because it was a pretty hot day, but he might tell you otherwise…

Yep, he’s a pretty cool guy.  He didn’t care for my music at first, but one day I caught him tapping his foot to a Napalm Death song, and a few years later we went to see a Kyuss concert together.

Best.  Show.  Evar.

(Stoner rock FTW!)

As I said, it was my last year of university.  After my last exam, I bought a case of beer.  Eyeteaguy and I sat in the basement that night and drank 24 pints of beer.

He met his wife to be at my wedding in 1998.  That’s a pretty cool thing, because she is pretty cool and I was happy about that.

I lived beside him for about a year, five years after that, until the job I was in at the time went south in a bad way, and I moved back up to Splat Creek.

I really miss living in the same city as Eyeteaguy.

He’s the reason I started writing my blog, actually.  He said he’d kick my ass if I didn’t start writing… he has really big boots.

And he looks nothing like Popeye.

He gives me shit when I need it, always makes me smile because for some reason he understands what the hell I’m talking about, and I owe him a visit (I’m coming down soon, the GTI needs to stretch its legs a bit).

Some of you may already know him from his blog, or Friar’s blog, or even Kelly’s blog, but for those of you who have not met him, may I present -

Eyeteaguy.

–

I apologize… for nothing. I’m sorry if the way that I am….. bugs you.

And that is the truth. After reading this you should take away two messages.

1. Self help people can’t help you.
2. Accept who you are and stop try to change yourself, because you can’t.

All these self help people are as screwed up as you and me. They are writing to justify themselves, their actions and sometime to line their pockets. Take note, there is nothing wrong with you. Say it with me. “There is nothing wrong with me” Feel better? I do. You know why? Its because you can stop trying to “fix” yourself, “improve” yourself, “fulfill your potential” now. You are who you are, accept it, because you can’t change it. Think you can? Well you can’t, you are like a rubber band. You can stretch for a while, change shape but when you get tired, and you will, you will go back to your original shape. So enjoy your shape. Take what you are and move on. Live life as you are, not as you want to be. You will get further.

I have spent so much energy “growing” myself, “molding” myself. And I am the same. The only difference is that I was miserable because I couldn’t change and felt that I should. Well I can’t and now I don’t want to. So I won’t.

Guess what? I feel better now than after every single self help course I have ever taken or read. You want to know why? Because there is peace in acceptance. This all sounds like self help mumbo jumbo right? Maybe it is but it is also the truth. Accept yourself for who you are because if you don’t NO ONE ELSE WILL!

It is so hard being someone else. And when you stop, or change or quit all those people you deceived will not like you anymore because you caused them a great inconvenience because you made them change their mind about you.

I have friends, good friends. They are good friends because I accept them for who their are. Even their faults…. especially their faults. I do not judge them, I accept them and live my life with them. I do not try to change them because that is harder than changing yourself.

Its like playing poker. You get all the cards you want except one. So use your “power of positive thinking” to “realize the card it wants to be”. Does the card change? Nope. Play it, trade it. Win or lose with it. Its a fun game and if you are not having fun stop playing.

So just accept who you are, accept the others around you, stop trying to change yourself and everything around you and just live. Peace will descend upon you as long as you stop judging yourself.

Now piss off and go do something you enjoy. I won’t judge you for it.

–

There it is.

the cynic.

Tonight I sit in the comfy chair (Confess!  Confess!  Confess!) with a nice glass of red wine and a fire by my side.

I want to talk with you about a word, and tonight’s word is cynic.

A cynical person is often seen as a skeptic or a pessimist, and I have been called a cynic on many occasions, both professionally and personally.

I am proud to have been called a cynic on each of those occasions.

That’s right.

Proud.

For you see, there is more to the word.

If we have a look at the history of the word cynic, we see that the Cynics were a group of philosophers from ancient Greece.

One of the greatest influences on the Cynic school was Socrates, who was known to profess a disdain for general opinion.  Perhaps this is from where the modern connotation of the word springs, disdain for general opinion.

Is there anything wrong with having disdain for general opinion?

Is there anything wrong with thinking differently, with challenging the status quo, with taking the road less traveled?

I guess that is for each of us to decide.

But I’ll say one thing, I am glad that there are those who have chosen and choose to think, speak and act differently, because if they had not and did not, I believe the world would be quite different now.

We would likely be under a different flag.  Living under oppression.

Why do some people choose to be this way?  What is it that drives them?

I think many of them follow the fundamental principles of Cynicism:

1. The goal of life is happiness which is to live in agreement with Nature.
2. Happiness depends on being self-sufficient, and a master of mental attitude.
3. Self-sufficiency is achieved by living a life of Virtue.
4. The road to virtue is to free oneself from any influence such as wealth, fame, or power, which have no value in Nature.
5. Suffering is caused by false judgments of value, which cause negative emotions and a vicious character.

I cannot say that I am currently doing each and every one of these things, but as I was reading the words, I thought to myself that I am, consciously or unconsciously, striving to move in this direction where possible.

And as I read more than a few of the “A-list cool-kid productivity and self-actualization bloggers” today, it seems to me that quite a few of them are also doing this.

It does not seem like such a bad way to live, really.

Perhaps if more of us were cynics, we would not be experiencing this “financial crisis“, which was made possible by the legions of sheeple controlled by the wolves.

The more I read, the more I come to think that there is nothing new under the sun.

(Ecclesiastes 1:9-14 NIV) What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. {10} Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. {11} There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. {12} I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. {13} I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! {14} I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

I never knew that this was from the Bible.  This is the power of thinking, of questioning, of learning.  Now I can share this knowledge with others.

Anyway, if you have a look at the five fundamental principles of Cynicism and then put a modern flavour to them:

Point number 1 – environmentalism.
Point number 2 – choosing self-employment, and using positive visualization to help achieve this.
Point number 3 – staying true to yourself.
Point number 4 – do what you love, and the money will follow.
Point number 5 – do something that creates true value.

These are my own interpretations of course, and I know you may have other thoughts on this.  That is okay.  In fact, it is great if you don’t agree with me.  I am counting on it.

Individual thought patterns.

The world’s future depends on it.

The great things that we have were achieved not by greed, not by doing what everyone else was doing, but by doing the right thing, and by belief in one’s self.

We know how to do this.  There is nothing new under the sun.  We have strayed too far perhaps, and it is time to return.

I am a cynic.

And I am damned proud to say that.

viking fridays – a story of give and take.

Guest post by Jack.

Hello.  My name is Jack.  I work at The Factory.

Today, I am going to tell you a story of give and take.  The story doesn’t involve any Vikings, but it is Friday, so I had to call it something, right?

First, let me tell you a couple of things about me.

I get shit done.  My thoughts are very non-linear, probably bordering on insanity.  I work in bursts, and when I am working, I am extremely effective and efficient.  In between bursts, I tend to take breaks where I will do something completely different.

So, I might work on a task for an hour, and then read about some new computer technology that will help me do my job even better.  Or I might work on my blog – have you heard of it?  It is called Project Mayhem.  Perhaps I might even stop by your blog and say hello, talk about 20-foot tall inflatable gorillas, and so on.

I know I probably shouldn’t do that, but I figure it is give and take.  Give me some leeway to dick around a bit, and I will answer phone calls and do work after hours and on the weekend – free of charge, I might add.

Anyway, like I said, I get shit done.  I get more shit done by 9:00 am than most people can do in two days.  I believe in ROWE – Results Only Work Environment.

The Factory, however, is stuck in the 1950’s – they are a TOWE, or a Time Only Work Environment.  Thus, they don’t really care if you are effective and efficient – they just want to know that you are working *only* on *their* stuff, 8 hours a day.

If you get your shit done by noon, they don’t want you to take the afternoon off to be with your kids.  Fuck no, they want you to find something else to do, because everything has to be done yesterday.  Holy shit, we can’t have happy, well rested employees now, can we?  We don’t pay you for what you get done, we pay you for how many hours you push The Wheel of Pain.

The old boys say The Factory used to be a great place to work, and they even bought you a lobstah once in a while.

But not now.

They won’t even give you coffee at meetings.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the place where I get the oil changed on my car gives you free cappuccino and croissants while you wait.

Right now, you’re probably thinking, “Jack, get to the fucking point.”

Okay, like I said, this is a story of give and take.

Yesterday we got a new internet filter at The Factory.

We can’t afford to fix the fucking stairs, but we got a new internet filter.

I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise.

Priorities, you see.

Somebody, somewhere gets to tick a little box beside a list that says:

1. Install new internet filter
2. ???
3. Profit!

Congratulations, morale-killer.

Here’s where I get to the punchline.

I have given freely of my time in the evenings and on weekends, and missed time with my family.

You have taken away flexibility that helped me to do my job better and made it somewhat tolerable.

Unfortunately, in spite of Tyler’s best efforts, I cannot access my blog anymore nor the blogs of some of my friends, or anything to do with Google (so, Docs, Gmail etc.), or any social networking during business hours.

I am Jack’s inflamed sense of rejection.

This means I won’t be able to talk to you anymore during the day, so I must apologize – it is nothing personal.  I’ll still talk to you at night, and on weekends.

That’s okay though.  As Tyler says, you’re not your fucking job.  And like I said, I get shit done.  And just think of all the shit I’m going to get done by completely ignoring work, when I’m not at work.

What’s that?

I’m sorry.  My cell phone doesn’t ring after the end of business hours anymore, and oh, the firewall on my home network won’t allow connections to the VPN anymore.  It must be a problem with my ISP.

One more thing.  There’s a new rule of Fight Club.

Do not talk about The Factory, until you no longer work at The Factory.

Which won’t be long, because when I put my mind to something 100 percent, I get shit done.

I am Jack’s smirking revenge.

Up until now, I’ve just been fucking around.

viking mondays? courage.

What’s this about Viking Mondays?  Well, you know what they say about best laid plans.

Who are they anyway, the they in “they”?  Probably best not to know.

The positive way of looking at a late Viking Fridays post is that you’ll get TWO of them this week.

Anyway…

I thought I’d share a quote to start off, a quote from a pretty smart guy.

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

Who said this, why, none other than Albert Einstein!

And what the heck does this have to do with the Friartoon at the top of this post?

I think snowmen (snowpeople?) are cool – bad joke – but really, they are fun to build and nice to look at.  They also tend to start melting pretty much right away and so you have to keep adding snow to them if you want them to stay intact.

And of course, you have to build a new one each winter because of good old Mr. Summer.

Maybe you know someone trying to start a business or do something new.  The question to ask might be, “is it working, or are you just constantly rebuilding a snowman every winter?  Did you leave your slave cube, only to build up the same walls in your home office?”

There’s a good chance that a lot of people have complicated things to the point that they should consider chopping the snowman in two and going off to find another way – a simpler way.

Two things got me thinking about this.

First, an interview with Cory Doctorow on Writing in the Age of Distraction.  Cory is a published author, and right here in his interview he tells you a bit about how he writes.

He doesn’t spend endless hours pounding away at his keyboard – nope, maybe 20 minutes a day (say, a page or two).  He doesn’t use a fancy program to do it, just a plain text editor.  And he doesn’t starve himself of information by locking out the internet (except when he’s writing, of course).

He ends up with more than enough material for a book each year this way – do the math.

A lot of the folks I’ve met during my blogging adventure are writing books or want to write books.  Here it is, you can do it even if you have a full-time job.  Very simple – just a few minutes a day.

Perhaps we won’t all be as successful as Mr. Doctorow – but if we don’t even put in 20 minutes a day, we certainly will not have any chance at all.  So get writing, or painting, or whatever.

We can do it, and we can do it without burning out.  We can still watch TV and play on the internet and write the next bestseller.  It isn’t complicated.

Twenty minutes a day.

Do it with exercise too.  You’ll thank yourself.

My second example is from a different perspective.  I’ll illustrate with another quote.

Genius is one per cent inspiration, ninety-nine per cent perspiration.

Thomas Edison said this – makes sense, right?

Well, yes and no.  Hard work is often rewarded by success.

But what if your idea sucks?  What if no one cares about what you have to sell?  What if all you did was reinvent the wheel?  You left your cube and then tried selling exactly what your old company sells?

If no one needed a lightbulb, Mr. Edison would have been screwed I guess.

So what’s my point here?  Perhaps it is to spend a bit of time thinking about what you’re going to do before you actually do it.  And it goes back to Einstein’s quote.

Keep it simple.  Move in the other direction.

A real-world example to illustrate, from Inc.com.

Markus Frind runs an online dating company called Plenty of Fish.  He only started five years ago, with no experience, no money.  It is the biggest dating site in the USA today.

(Now don’t get any ideas, I wasn’t cruising the dating sites!)

He works about one hour a day, and makes millions.  The web site is very simple and even has distorted pictures that look silly – but who cares?

It works.  The idea is to be simple, which was also different from what everyone else was doing.

He has a blog too – very simple, no custom design or dedicated domain name.  He could easily afford a custom design and hosting service.

But who cares?

It works.  It gets the point across.

Simple.

Again, this example is probably a bit of a special case and this might not work for everyone, but that’s okay – the point is clear.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about these two examples anyway.

What could you do with the courage to move the other way, using simple tools and a great idea – a different idea?

Probably a lot more than you could working yourself to death with a mediocre one that already exists, overcomplicating it as you go along.

Your assignment for tonight is to sit down with your favourite drink.  Decide if your current path or idea is a good one, one that you feel good about.  If it is, can you simplify it?

If you don’t like the way things are going, find a new way – a better way – and keep it simple.

Like Apple used to say, think different.

This message will self-destruct on December 21st, 2012.

ultimate self-help tool – free for a limited time!

That’s right folks, starting today I am giving away the ultimate self-help and personal productivity tool, absolutely and positively free, no strings attached.

But ACT FAST! because this is a limited time offer – that’s right!

After December 21st, 2012, the price will go up to 1 billion, gagillion, fafillion, shabolubalu million illion yillion…yen.

Remember that date folks – December 21st, 2012, when the world will either end (thanks to the Mayans!*), or the price will go way, way up.

Believe me, that’s a heckuva lot of yen.

Not even Bill Gates has that much money.

So ACT FAST! or be disappointed.

Anyway, enough snake oil – as The Wolfman says, “TTCB – Time to Take Care of Business.”

The ultimate self-help and personal productivity tool is:

YOU.

I have to remind myself of that often as well, as I sometimes forget.

People already have all of the resources they need.

We can read all the books we want to read, talk to all the gurus, and it’s all great stuff, it really is.

But if we do nothing, then we get nothing in return.

That’s it.

That’s why it is up to YOU.

Why is it true?  Well, let’s ask our good friend Tyler Durden:

It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we’re free to do anything.

And if you ask a person who has lost everything and then rebuilt from scratch, you’ll know it is true.  The only thing that person had to help them was themselves (okay, and maybe some help from family and friends, but technically, that is part of you, in a way).

It doesn’t mean it was easy for them, but then again, what is easy?

Just for fun, I’ll share with you a little something I stumbled across over the holidays.  A little island named Tristan da Cunha, in the south Atlantic Ocean.

About 270 people live there – everyone is a farmer, and most people also have other jobs – because if they don’t do it, no one will.

They didn’t have TV there until 2001.

A ship comes from Cape Town once a month.

These people don’t need an ass-kicking machine like the one in the picture above.

If something needs to be done, they just do it.

And so can YOU.

If you need a little more encouragement, here’s a new blog I discovered not too long ago – Project: Complete.  Food for thought to help you get going.

Now get going, and kick some ass.

But… don’t forget to have fun along the way!

–

(*Just kidding… the idea that the world will end according to the Mayan calendar is considered by scholars to be a misinterpretation.)

week 6 – final exam.

(This is very late… sadly, I have been suffering from The Black Death for a while, and I had to take care of myself and family matters first – but I’m back with a vengeance!)

So, I survived the whole 6 week game relatively unharmed (so long as that guy with the gloves stays away from me!), and I really appreciate everyone following along with me – thank you all for the support and encouragement.

Do I dare give myself an A+ for the final week?

Let’s review my goals for week 6 to find out.

In week 5, I stated that I wanted to do the following in week 6:

• Writing – I really need to work on this, as the online magazine soft launch is this week.
• Exercise – no brain, no pain.
• Time with family.
• Thinkfest with Friar – natch.
• Keep on looking for a new Factory – one more good opening closes tomorrow.
• Niche blogging in the background – keep an eye on this, do some brainstorming.
• Draft the text for a sub-page to my Hire Me page – the final piece I need to do to be registered with Ubuntu Linux.

First, I didn’t write each and every day – I did some draft posts for the online magazine, but didn’t feel anything was ready to publish.  I was just too sick to be confident that I wanted to publish it.  I am feeling a lot better now and will be back on it shortly to get into a good routine for posting.  So I give myself about 50/50 here.

On the other hand, I *did* exercise each day with my kettlebells – no matter how bad I felt, I did some lifting.  I refused to let this one slide, as it makes me feel pretty damned good.

And I think I deserve top marks for family stuff – we spent most evenings reading, we went to our kids’ Christmas pageant, we had a movie night, and we had an early Christmas dinner with my side of the family.

Friar and I had our usual Thursday night, and we chatted a bit about our plans.  Admittedly we have been mostly talking rather than acting, so we resolved ourselves to push forward with our ideas in the New Year – stay tuned for our consulting idea.

I applied for one other position in my field, and then out of the blue, I was contacted regarding an interview for a job I applied for back in October.  It isn’t a nookular engineering job but it is something I have always found interesting, and I know I could really shine in that area.  I took a chance applying, and it paid off.  Once I have more details, I will give updates here.

My “co-conspirator” for the niche blogging should be back home soon and we can get going on that – I am very excited!!!

And I did do some work on the draft text for my Ubuntu Linux page – but I did not complete it.  I will announce it here once it is ready.

Sadly, I got very sick over the holidays and so I had to focus on family stuff, and getting better.  This is why I haven’t posted for a while.

So will I give myself an A+?

No, I’ll save that for later – I think I can always do better, so for the final week I give myself a straight A.

Though I won’t give weekly updates here anymore, I will post progress on various things from time to time.

The game is far from over.

I will continue along this path and my accountability partner will keep an eye on me.  Thanks for your help on this Wendi.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone for spending time with me here in 2008 – you have enriched my life more than you know.

May 2009 bring all of you happiness and success in everything you do.

report card, week 5 – at war with eurasia.

Or was that Eastasia.  I guess it doesn’t matter, so long as Oceania is victorious!  Brother, did you hear that the chocolate ration has been increased to 20 grammes?  Doubleplusgood, that!

The story of 1984 reminds me of a certain Factory… where we hear more from the national newspapers than our own internal channels… anyway, back to my own version of reality, as I bend it to my will with iron hands!

Late as usual this week (probably a good thing, as I’ve been busy!), so I’ll have to try and be early with my report for week 6.

How did things work out for week 5, then?  At the end of the week 4 report, I posted the following list of activities for week 5:

• Writing.
• Exercise.
• Time with family.
• Thinkfest with Friar.
• Get those job applications out (first one is due next Monday!)
• Niche blogging in the background.

Well, I don’t think I’m quite ready for an A+ yet (let’s save that for week 6).  I did a good job, though.

I wrote every day but Friday (work Christmas party for my wife) and Sunday (bad fever and cold, which I still have).

In spite of my illness, I did manage to exercise every single day.  I figure even if I only do one set of weights, that is better than nothing, and it always seems to make me feel a bit better.

For family time, we mixed it up a bit, lots of reading, some games, coffee & donuts one night, and a First Communion prep for our oldest.

The thinkfest with Friar was a good time, though this week it was more of a down time (hey, we all need a break) and we watched Trinity and Beyond, aka The Atomic Bomb Movie.  Hey, it is narrated by William Shatner, how cool is that!

What else would you expect from a couple of nookular engineers?

I got one job application out under the wire for Monday, and another one will be counted against week 6 so long as it goes out before the end of Wednesday this week.

My partner for the niche blogging left for Europe on the weekend and will not return home until after the holidays, so we will continue along as best we can until she is back in her realm.  We will be brainstorming some ideas until then.

How do I feel overall?  Well, pretty good – I did a good job, but I can do better.  The biggest hurdle was getting my details back out into the job market, but now that I’ve done that, I will continue.

So perhaps I can give myself an A this week.

What about next week?

A bit more of the same, with some minor tweaks:

• Writing – I really need to work on this, as the online magazine soft launch is this week.
• Exercise – no brain, no pain.
• Time with family.
• Thinkfest with Friar – natch.
• Keep on looking for a new Factory – one more good opening closes tomorrow.
• Niche blogging in the background – keep an eye on this, do some brainstorming.
• Draft the text for a sub-page to my Hire Me page – the final piece I need to do to be registered with Ubuntu Linux.

Can I do it?  Yes I can!

(Hey, if Bob the Builder can do it, this Viking sure can.)

So why the 1984 reference anyway?  I guess I always figured reality is what you make it.  And maybe it doesn’t matter if you’re struggling against the forces of Eurasia or Eastasia, so long as you fight the good fight.

So that’s what I intend to do, fight the good fight and make my own reality.

Oh, and love Big Brother.

(Image credit: Nineteen Eighty-Four, Umbrella-Rosenblum Films)

fail to succeed – report card, week 4.

Fail early, fail often.

That’s what it says at the top of this blog.  The words will mean something different to every person who reads them.

To me, it means, “fail to succeed”, or rather, “fail, in order to succeed”.

Think of it as the 80/20 rule applied with a twist.

Look at the things you have in front of you, that you want to do.

That you think you want to do.

Cut 80 percent of it, the 80 percent that probably won’t get you where you really, really want to go.

Intentionally “fail, in order to succeed”, although you’re not really failing – you’re just choosing not to do it.

Work at the 20 percent, and re-evaluate that as you go along.  You may be able to cut 80 percent of that as well, and 80 percent of that.

Eventually, you will be doing only the important things.

I am doing this right now, as I go along on my current path, constantly evaluating and re-evaluating the importance of what I am doing.

Back in November when I started this 6 week exercise, I had some intentions in my mind of participating in NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month.

About three or four days into November, I chose to “fail” NaNoWriMo, so that I could succeed at other things that will really, really get me where I want to go.

And I don’t regret it one bit.

I am proud that I chose not to do it, actually.

I suppose in a sense I “failed” to do much here other than report on all the other stuff I have been doing, which is why I thought I’d explain it in this way.  I am certainly not ready to give up on this blog yet; it has lots of potential I believe – and in no small part due to all of you.

So thank you once again for coming along for the ride.

Anyway, to the report – how did I do after last week?

• I continued to write every day as best I could (missed one day – oops).
• I exercised *every single day* (yeah!).
• We also either read to our kids or at least did something interactive with them.
• (Which reminds me, I’m getting them that game Sorry! for Christmas – I can’t wait to say “Sorry!” all the time… they’re gonna hate me by the end of the holidays…)
• Thursday and Friday were both Thinkfests at Friar’s house, and we’ve refocused our efforts a bit – things should start to really move now.
• I updated some of my paperwork for my NZ immigration, and so now I’m just waiting for one more piece.
• Job applications – I have two cover letters drafted at home right now – granted, I didn’t send out anything yet.  However – I have a really good shot at these, in my field, and it is worth taking the time to get it right rather than just sending them out quickly (“fail, in order to succeed”).
• On to niche blogging – I will have the pleasure of working on a new blog with one of the great people I have met at this place!  I won’t spill the beans quite yet because we’re just getting things set up, but stay tuned – I am very excited about it!!!

I’m not sure if this qualifies me for an A- yet.  Almost, perhaps.

Maybe I will ask the Technoviking.

(He failed to put on a shirt so that he could succeed at making the music dance to him!)

For this week (which has already started… late report again, bad Brett…) – more of the same!

• Writing.
• Exercise.
• Time with family.
• Thinkfest with Friar.
• Get those job applications out (first one is due next Monday!)
• Niche blogging in the background.

(Wendi, did I miss anything?)

Can I do it?

Hell yeah!

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