Friday, January 22, 2010

Course Correction

LOL

Okay, I just have to laugh at myself. Here I am, promising daily updates and it takes me a week to post another one. I have had some personal issue occupying my time and thoughts but moreover, I had a feeling of disconnect with my website ambitions.

As a consquence, and taking a lead from my spiritual being, I focused on finding my joy, while letting the thoughts of where to take my website, and other ambitions percolate in the back of my mind. In time the answers, to the questions I didn't even know I had, came to me.

While I do have a very firm desire to really build up my website, make a decent living from it and use it to reach thousands, if not millions of people with a message of hope, it is not my primary purpose in life. I will do it, one day, in due time. But for now I need to focus on my writing career, on my budding relationship and on my current source of income.

Turning this blog into the full-blown website I envision would be a full career in itself and not a hobby. While I'm happy to leave my current career path as a civil servant, I would not ultimately want the development, marketing and maintainance of this site to occupy my time so much that it takes away from my writing and relationship. And if I am to do it justice, then that's exactly what would happen. Not forever but for a considerable period of time until I was earning enough to hire additional support staff.

Now that might be limited thinking on my part but the bottom line is this: My purpose is to write and reach people through my writing first and foremost and that is where I need to focus the bulk of my attention. I will continue to blog and develop this website in my spare time.

Coming to this conclusion has really put my mind at ease and has put the 'joy' back into working on this blog.

I look forward to having fun, implementing much of the functionality I have been planning and working on, without going crazy trying to make a 'professional' site. More of a personal journey we can share together.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Show Me The Money - A New Beginning

It's been a while since I last blogged and for those of you that look forward to your regular dose of inspiration I apologize for not being more judicial in keeping up with my routine here.


Initially the holiday season played havoc with my schedule, followed by illness and finally a general cavalier attitude as I finished my 100 Day Start Fast / Finish Strong Challenge on the 4th and am began it again on the 11th. (See my Challenge end write-up here) So for those intermediate days I felt like taking a break from pursuing goals including web development.

As this is my first post of the new year, I'd like to take the opportunity to start the year off right with a theme for the year.

I have seen many other similar sites doing the same and thought it was a great idea.

In particular this is in response to feedback I have received that while the various articles I write are all well and good, what really makes my blog interesting is my own personal experience as it relates to those subjects.

Therefore the theme for this year is:

Show Me


Instead of just giving advice, I will instead blog about how I myself am utilizing such insights and the results I'm achieving or have achieved because of it. I will continue to write some article pieces as they do have merit (specifically finish the series I'm in the midst of) but will focus more on my personal journey in future.

This dovetails very nicely with my plans for the year. In reflecting on my accomplishments over the last decade, as we start a new one, I realized that the last 100 days had been very productive and if I had maintained that degree of focus throughout the entire decade my life would be radically different than it is now.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle

The trick is to make that attention to goals a habit not a one off. The only way to create a habit, is to routinely repeat the behaviour until it becomes second nature. Common thinking is this takes about 21 days. However a success driven mind is not one encompassed in a single behaviour but a large collection of behaviours. The 100 Day Challenge is very useful in learning and developing those behaviours, and in keeping you focused on your goals.

Therefore I have committed myself to repeating the challenge 3 times this year. There's 365 days in the year and for 300 of them (at least) I will be focused on goal completion. I am also reading Anthony Robbin's Awaken the Giant Within three times this year and alternatively, Napoleon Hill's Think & Grow Rich.

All three are not only great motivators but are also packed full of common sense, practical, simple ideas for bettering your life. While it's great to keep 'The Secret' and it's kin in mind, success begins and ends with action and so I'm choosing those tools which best inspire immediate and prolonged action.

My goals for the 100 Day Challenge are far less grandiose this time around but are sub-sets of larger more ambitious goals.

I encourage you to join me.


It's always better to have a friend or friends to do such a Challenge with and I'm thrilled my Challenge Buddy from the last go-round has also signed up for another go. We keep tabs on each other and occasionally challenge each other or inspire each other when getting discouraged.

The price is a very reasonable $149. Furthermore if you sign up, not only can you use all the resources available through the 100 Day Challenge website and forum but I encourage you to post your experiences here as well, through the comments section or by e-mailing me and I will be glad to help keep you motivated as well.

For more details on the 100 Day Start Fast / Finish Strong Challenge you can review my experiences on last year's challenge at prestonspathtoprosperity.blogspot.com, wait for my upcoming review, or just check out the site.

All the best to you in 2010!