The Power of Paucity

My nephew moved to town. Most every physical thing he owns fit into the rental truck that he drove from Wisconsin, where he just graduated college, to Colorado, where he’s starting out the next phase of his life. Yesterday, we unloaded the truck into his new apartment. He has no job, no debt, and no outside expectations. And we adults are jealous. While he and his girlfriend are anxious to accumulate, there’s a part of the adults in his life that longs to be back to the simplicity of starting anew.

It’s not only the simplicity we crave. It’s the feeling of having nothing to lose. By having nothing to lose, the biggest obstacle to action is removed. He can honestly say: “What’s the worst that can happen?” If we start a new business, or quit our jobs, or travel more, or work more, or work less – what’s the worst that can happen?

The thing is, we call can do that.

Say Yes

I’ve challenged myself to say “yes” more often.

I am defaulting to “yes” and rarely saying “no”. Whether to personal or professional opportunities, I’ve come to realize that reasons I give myself for saying “no” are just excuses to stick with the status quo.

Here’s what seem like some reasonable reasons to say “no”.
* Focus. “I need to stay focussed on one thing. That other thing you want me to do will make me lose focus.”
* Time management. “I don’t have time to spare.”
* Commitment. “I won’t be able to give it (that new thing) the time it deserves.”

Saying “yes” has less impact to focus, time management, and commitment than is first imagined. Here’s why.

Book Review: Blog Blazers

Here’s the book that has gotten me interested in blogging again.

Just like a good blog, “Blog Blazers” is full of timely information written in a very readable format. The question and answer format is surprisingly effective and Stephane Grenier presents the expertise in a very practical, actionable, motivational, and entertaining format.

Whether you read “Blog Blazers” from front-to-back or jump around to your favorite bloggers, each page offers actionable advice that you can use to immediately improve your efforts. If you do not have an active blog, the discussions on the benefits of blogging and the supportive advice of successful bloggers will make you want to kick start your efforts straight away. Its actionable (“5 best tips for blogging”) and motivational content makes the book a valuable read.

I was impressed with the quality of bloggers interviewed. The focus of the book is how to be _successful_ at blogging and the success of its subjects is impressive. Bloggers that I have read for years such as Eric Sink and Seth Godin are interviewed. It’s like having a direct line to the top bloggers.

The variety of bloggers is also a pleasant surprise. Being in the technology business, it is easy to forget the limitless range of subjects upon with successful blogs are based. “Blog Blazers” interviews include business and software blogs, but also include interviews with bloggers of topics such as weight loss, fashion, parenting, and finance.

Though the author and the bloggers interviewed in “Blog Blazers” present their advice better than I can summarize it here, I will list a few of my favorite take-aways. First, “get started”. Obvious advice, yet a reminder that is evidently required because many of the interviewees mentioned it. Secondly; like any writing, blogging requires writing skills. Do not worry about SEO, ads, or monetization until you have the writing down and honed. (Blog Blazers has plenty of advice on how to write better as well). Third, be consistent and persistent. Successful blogging is not (usually) a result of overnight success.

Start

There web and bookstore shelves are full of authors and advisors urging us to produce instead of plan, to do instead getting bogged down in deciding. Some urge readers to “Ready, Fire, Aim.” In The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki says

GET GOING.
Start creating and delivering your product or service. Think soldering irons, compilers, hammers, saws, and AutoCAD—whatever tools you use to build products and services. Don’t focus on pitching, writing, and planning.

The planning is not the start. The deciding is not the start. I often fool myself into thinking I am starting something, when actually I am working on the stuff I think I need to do in order to start. In most cases, I’m wasting time.

For this blog, the 20 minutes I spent looking for a great WordPress theme could have been spent starting this post.

For iPhone development, the 30 minutes I spent looking through a short stack of iPhone development books, trying to decide which to buy, could have been spent actually starting iPhone development.

Don’t worry about the details just yet. Right now, today, Just Start.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

New Product Blog

I have moved the PlaybookIQ blog to the Synap Software servers. The PlaybookIQ product blog is now at: http://synapsoftware.com/crm.

Rails Rumble

Rails Rumble is a “48 hour design/develop/deploy competition”. The 2008 Rails Rumble is the weekend of October 18th and 19th (GMT) and the Rails Rumble blog is now online. The organizers explain the rumble this way.

For those of you who weren’t involved last year, the Rumble is a 48 hour design/develop/deploy competition. Basically, you get one weekend to exploit the awesome power of Ruby on Rails to create and launch the best web-based application that you can. Then, the general public gets to vote for the best by rating them in a number of different categories—design/aesthetics, completeness, uniqueness, and overall usefulness. The winners get some pretty great prizes, thanks to our sponsors (who will be announced shortly).

Oh yeah, it’s also a lot of fun . . . Really! Think of the event as a miniature startup incubator, and use it as an excuse to deliver a v1 of that idea you’ve been sitting on for 6 months. Or, if you’re new to Rails, use it as an excuse to test drive a new technology and see just how far you can get with it in a very constrained timeframe.

Find out more at their blog and stay tuned to Rails Rumble on Twitter.