Day 21: Learn to code

Day 21: Learn to code

Computer code touches nearly every aspect of our modern lives.  Even if you don’t plan on making a living by writing it, it’s probably a good idea to at least have a basic understanding of what’s going on.  Heck, you might even enjoy it.

One [free] resource I’ve used is Code Academy.  They do a great job of breaking the lessons down into easily digestible chunks with exercises to help you understand what’s going on.

Code Academy Logo

Give it a try and let us know what you think.  You never know, maybe you have a talent for the binary?

 

Day 20: Three Books Every Smart Business Owner Should Read

Day 20: Three Books Every Smart Business Owner Should Read

A Small Investment in Time

There are many ways to improve  how you operate a business.  One of the easiest ways is to learn from others, it’s also the cheapest…especially if you use the library.  Fortunately, most great business books don’t come from Harvard and many of them could be read in a weekend.  

Obviously this list is only a start, but if you read just these three and applied just some of what they say, your business would be better for it.  Heck, I’d even have your employees read them…but maybe that’s another post?

Image of the Your Marketing Sucks Book

What books have changed the way you work?

Day 19: How to be Average

Day 19: How to be Average

Ways to be Average

Todays post is a continuation of yesterday’s theme of being realistic.  Really this is a 2-for-1 repost of a pair of posts by Zen Pencils, where he creates comics from inspirational quotes.

The first is a quote from Chris Guillebeau about 11 ways to be average.  In it, he reveals the formula for living a boring and unremarkable life.  For those unfamiliar with Chris, he is a Portland resident, author of “The Art of Non Conformity” and “The $100 Startup,” host of the annual World Domination Summit, and has nearly accomplished his goal of visiting every country on the planet.

Click the images to see the entire comic.  

How to be Average Quote by Chris Guillebeau

The Timing Always Sucks

It’s almost stating the obvious, but it’s true that for the most important things in life the timing can always be better.  To put it another way, there will always be a reason not to do something; especially stuff that really matters.   The second quote is by Tim Ferriss from his first book, “The Four Hour Work Week.”  Tim is know for his “lifestyle hacking” (among other things), and like him or not, it’s hard to ignore his ability to distill things down to their essence.  Be it a skill or life philosophy.

Bad Timing by Tim Ferriss

It’d be easy to dismiss what both of these guys are saying, if what they were saying wasn’t so important to living a life worth living.  We are not automatons whose only function is to perform some mundane task with ever increasing efficiency.

Do something Interesting…then tell us about it.    You never know who or what you might inspire.

Day 18: On Being realistic

Day 18: On Being realistic

Get out of your own way

Sometimes we get in our own way and limit what we are capable of doing to what our perception is of what we should be doing.  Often this is defined as being realistic or reasonable.  But ask yourself, when has greatness ever been achieved through being realistic?  Was it realistic for Edison to fail 10,000 times before finding a filament that would work in the light bulb?  Is it reasonable to invest your entire (considerable) fortune to sell shoes online as Tony Hsieh did with Zappos?  How reasonable was it for anyone that’s done anything of significance, to do so before they were successful?

Sometimes you just have to be unrealistic.  Sure, failure is always a possibility and so is success, but only if you are willing to be a bit unreasonable once in a while.

Being realistic is the most common path to mediocrity.

-Will Smith


Always go with your passions. Never ask yourself if it’s realistic or not.

-Deepak Chopra


Today, let’s take a step away from rational thought and dare to be bold. What’s one thing you’ve always wanted to accomplish but have been afraid to pursue?

Write it down. Also write down the obstacles in your way of reaching your goal. Finally, write down a tangible plan to overcome each obstacle.

The only thing left is to, you know, actually go make it happen. What are you waiting for?

-Matt Cheuvront


I don’t think anything is unrealistic if you believe you can do it.

-Richard L Evans


You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

-Eleanor Roosevelt

What would you do differently if being realistic wasn’t holding you back?

Reply in the comments below or send me an email, I’d love to hear from you.

Day 8: A List of Awesome Websites

Day 8: A List of Awesome Websites

Nothing taxing today, just some links I find either helpful, interesting, or informative. Do with them what you will.

  • Pixlr  www.pixlr.com It’s like Photoshop, but free…and online.
  • Lifehacker www.lifehacker.com Tips and shortcuts for making life easier.
  • DuoLingo www.duolingo.com  Learn a new language, translate the web.
  • Code Academy www.codecademy.com  HTML, CSS, PHP Learn how to build websites and apps are built, then build your own
  • 750 Words www.750words.com  That little extra motivation you need to write everyday.
  • Medium www.medium.com  Share and exchange ideas, the inline commenting is wonderful.
  • Dafont www.dafont.com  Because sometimes Arial isn’t enough.
  • Lynda www.lynda.com  Online instruction and tutorials for almost anything.
  • TED www.ted.com  Ideas worth sharing…and listening to.
  • Fora www.fora.tv  Like TED, but with greater depth.

What sites (besides Facebook) do you regularly use?