Why Should YOU Listen to ME?

I feel a little awkward giving advice to others. What do I know, I’m just a kid. I’m only 24, no outstanding IQ, not an extraordinary work ethic. I don’t possess anything outstanding that indicates you should listen to me any more than you listen to the next guy. So why should you listen to me? I’ll tell you why: good ideas come from everywhere.

And I mean everywhere. If you limit yourself to only listening to ‘the experts’ then you’re hurting yourself. You are limiting your intake of ideas. You’re lens for looking through the world is narrower. Good ideas don’t just come from ‘experts’ they come from everywhere. Here are a few examples:

The Young

Sure they don’t have the wisdom and their knowledge is limited, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have great ideas. They’re views are pretty simple. They can sometime confound us with pearls of wisdom that we overlook. We make things so complicated sometimes it takes the voice of innocence to wake us up.

The Old

One of the greatest atrocities I see is the treatment of our nation’s elderly. They should be revered. They have great reservoirs of wisdom, and it would only be prudent of us to listen and listen intently when they speak. Albus Dumbledore said “Youth cannot know how age thinks and feels.” One way to find out is to ask and listen.

The Rich and famous

The rich and famous have a unique knowledge of things. They get the opportunity to be around people, places, and things that the rest of us can only dream about. And they’re not as inaccessible as you would imagine, try sending them a letter, I’d bet you got a response.

The Poor

Just like the rich, the poor see things the rest of us miss. What we take for granted some people don’t even consider an option. They have life experiences that have taught them better than any blog or text book you or I could lay our eyes on. If we don’t listen to them, then we are the poor ones.

Everyone is a fountain of information. Everyone has ideas and opinions that when shared could spark some interesting discussion. All you have to do is listen carefully enough. Don’t limit your sources of information just because of labels. I don’t know everything, but what I do know, I am going to share. You can not listen because I’m a little green around the gills. In the end, that’s your loss. Not mine. Widen your horizon by listening.

Who do you get your good ideas from?

You’re Not as Smart as You Think

Nor am I. We are not as good as we think we are. Most people think they are smarter than the average. Most people CAN’T be smarter than the average. Look at the guy in the desk next to you? Do you think you are smarter than him? Odds are you aren’t. I’m not saying you’re a dim bulb, you are probably very smart. However you must face the fact that you aren’t smarter than everyone, and in certain areas you are at the wrong end of the smart spectrum.

There is nothing wrong with others being smarter than you. The sooner you accept your limits, the sooner you can begin to move beyond them.

Comparing Apples to Oranges

Question: why do we feel the need to compare and compete? Why do you and I have to be the ‘est’? Maybe settling for ‘good’ isn’t a bad thing. Face it we only have so much time in the day to learn, and each of us is naturally better at some things than others. So focus on the things you are good at. When we compare ourselves to someone else we are comparing apples to oranges.

I am good at A and you are good at B. You can say you are better at B and A, and be wrong. No one else is like you. There are so many different variables to our personality and character that it is impossible to compare apples to apples. Do yourself a favor, don’t compare, you’re only setting yourself up for a let down.

Another detriment of judging other people is not giving the other person enough credit. They are skilled and some of those skills are better than yours. If you write them off as inferior you’re less likely to harness those skills. This is a negative for us, in life we need all the help we can get. The closer we can find their actual skill the better off we’ll be. I find it a lot harder to judge other people when I have a biased toward myself. We need to get rid of the bias to get a fair evaluation.

Comparison vs. Unison

Truth be told you and I together are smarter than you and I apart. So why compete? Why not work together? Instead of competing against each other, let’s work together. I can use the help, I’m sure you can use some help too. So let’s stop trying to one up each other, and team up. Working in unison we will get a lot more done.

Look at any worker’s union. Alone a worker is pretty powerless against a big corporation. But with other workers beside him, he harnesses all of their power and resources. Working together they get a better deal than they ever could have apart.

You’re not as smart as you think you are. They aren’t as worthless as you think they are. Every person on this earth has value. And you best be damn grateful; they could be your link to a better, easier life.

What Matters Most

I know, I know a whole lot of little things

And even though I confess them one by one

She would still be gone

Her eyes are blue, her hair is long

In ‘64 she was born in Baton Rouge

Her favorite song is “In My Life”

I memorized her every move

I knew her books, her car, her cloths

But I paid no attention to what mattered most

-“What Mattered Most” by Ty Herndon

What matters more your dreams or your eye color? Your favorite food or your dream job? The music you listen to or your memories?

What matters most is what a person is on the inside. What a person thinks, feels, dreams are at the core of their being. You can read all the myspace surveys about a person and not know anything about them.

You want to have true connections with people, find out what matters most.

1000 Visitors: You Guys Rock

Tuesday December 16, I reached the 1000 visitor mark to the site. I know it’s a really small number, but big accomplishments come in small sizes. I’ll take what I can get. I’m going to give you guys a breakdown by month so you can compare. I’m always curious how others are doing. I’m sure you guys are. So here is my breakdown since I started:

To get an idea of my posting rate here is the breakdown (done manually I wish WordPress offered this)

You can see I have had runs of consistency posting wise and the readers follow. I’m not quite sure why may is such a spike as that is when I fell off. I think that is when my April article were really circulating well, especially this one, which is my all time leader in hits. If I could work with WordPress, something I’m not very good at, I would have my ‘top posts’ be of all time, not within the past few days.

All in all I am really stoked. I’ve still got two weeks of post lined up, and the ideas keep coming. Hopefully you guys are enjoying the blog as much as I am enjoying writing it.

Blogging Hack: Ideas for Stats

Who else is a stat-a-holic? Since I started blogging I’m more consistent at checking my stats than I am at writing content. There is little chance that I am going to suppress my urge to stat watch. It’s too tempting and whenever I post an article it’s just a button away, I’m not nearly strong enough to resist. If you can’t beat it, then turn it into an advantage. So now, whenever I get the urge to check my blog stats, I must come up with one article idea first. It’s my ‘fee’ for checking my stats. I can look for as long as I want, but I must come up with one idea first. I think it’s a fair trade off, and it turns a negative habit into a productive habit.

Poll: How am I doing

It’s been over a month, I’m still writing consistently, and seeing steady increases in readership. It’s time to get some feedback. What do you like, what don’t you like? Do you have post ideas you’d like to see? Any ideas, suggestions, or comments you have post them in the comments. Positive, negative, lay it on me. I’m writing for you so your say means a lot to me.

Accept the acceptable

God, grant me the serenity

to accept the things I cannot change;

the courage to change the things I can;

and the wisdom to know the difference.

I’m having a hard time recently at my work. There are more and more process being introduced that are flawed. I mention the flaws to my superiors but it appears to be falling on deaf ears. I am getting increasingly angry about these processes. They make my job more tedious and I loathe tedious things. I don’t know why they aren’t being changed, but they aren’t.

I realize I can’t change everything. These processes are out of my hands. I have to do them or lose my job (which I don’t want). But it is so difficult to accept. It is hard to know that something is wrong, yet you are powerless to do anything.

Sometimes, especially when your life is in another’s hands, you have to do what you are told. You have to ask yourself if that is acceptable. For me it is, as long as they keep sending my pay check I will gladly do what they want. I know my overall picture, and in the grand scheme of things, these new processes are only an inconvenience. I can deal. Is the value you are getting worth your inconvenience? Sometimes it’s not going to be, then you need to make a change. Otherwise, do as I do, follow the words of Thich Nhat Hanh “Smile, breathe, and go slowly.”

My Experience with Carpal Tunnel/RSI

I, like so many, use the computer on a regular basis. My current job is 100% computer, and my previous job, was 90% computer. This doesn’t count the fact that my major in college was computer information systems. So imagine my dismay when in the spring of 2007, only a few months into my new job, which I loved, I started to experience forearm and wrist pain.

Obviously this made me nervous, I had heard about CTS/RSI, but I was only 22! So I did what any young person would do, I ignored it. I figured it would go away. It didn’t. I knew what it was, no sense in going to the doctors though, they always tell you what you already know. So I tried to modify my work station. New Keyboard, several new mice, new chair, I tried it all, still nothing.

Finally, after a long vacation in winter 2007/2008 didn’t help, I gave in. I went to the doctor. I told her the symptoms, she told me what I already knew (without so much as coming near me to poke or prod btw) CTS/RSI. She thought maybe arthritis, but I thought that was ridiculous because I didn’t have the symptoms she said were normally associated with arthritis. So she filled out a prescription for a pain reliever, which I didn’t take, I’m not sold on drugs as an answer to any problem, and assigned some physical therapy which I did take.

The physical therapy was for a few weeks, and it did help a little bit. It was mostly muscle strengthening exercises as well as some stretching. I’m not sure if the PT helped or the fact that we were slow at work was the cause of decreased pain because once we got more work in, I started to feel more pain, and I wasn’t going back to the doctor.

I finally found my answer. I knew if I wanted to continue to work with computers that I needed to find something to ease the pain. I knew it wasn’t severe pain but if left lingering it could cause damage. I finally found one that solved my issue in May of 2008. Zero Tension Mouse.  I read a review about it and decided to give it a try. I found one on Ebay for $60, so I bought it. It’s a vertical mouse so it took some time to get used to. After a while though I started to feel relief. My wrist hurt less and less until now I sit here today with no pain at all.

Note to Others

I think CTS/RSI is far more prevalent than statistics show due to the same attitude I showed. It sucks, and it’s scary. But it needs to be addressed. People walking by my desk always wondered why I switched mice, I tried 2 before ZTM. I said it was because I liked gadgets. I lied. Partially because I don’t want to share my personal issues, but also because it’s tough to explain to others how a 22 year old could have CTS/RSI. There should be more open and honest discussion about the issue. I’m grateful I have found a solution that works for me. If you have CTS/RSI, try a vertical mouse, ZTM is hard to find as you can see by their website, but check ebay periodically it shows up occasionally. Or you can search for other vertical mice, which there are plenty.

Do you have a CTS/RSI story to share?

Want to Make a Million Dollars?

Ideas are worth gold. Notebooks are good for jotting ideas. However, storing your ideas in a notebook is like storing money in the coffee can in the cupboard, not very effective. Do something with your notes. Turn them into action.

We fill notebooks with ideas, and the ideas stay in the notebooks. Shame on us. Notebooks are not closets, they don’t  store things. They are lousy filing systems. When you are done with a sheet of notebook paper tear it out, and put it in your inbox. Process the ideas on the paper. Use the ideas.

In today’s world ideas are king. And instead of having yours work for you, they are being wasted. STOP! Stop wasting your most valuable asset. Take out your old notebooks, read through them and turn the notes into actions. Put them in your inbox. Process them. Use them. Those notes contain ideas which are worth a million dollars.

Why do you have a million dollars in a coffee can in the cupboard???

Future vs. Now – A Fight to YOUR Death

Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. – Marcus Aurelius

We must find a balance between living for the future, and living for today.

Living for today.

Go out. Have fun. Spend your hard earned money. Do what makes you laugh and what you like to do. You might die tomorrow, and if you do, at least you made today memorable. Say ‘I love you’ to loved ones. Hell say it to every one. Hug, kiss, play, laugh, grow. Enjoy yourself. Splurge a little bit. Treat yourself. Do what you’ve been holding off until later. Take a trip. Call an old friend. Live for today, you may not be around tomorrow. Don’t screw this up; it’s your one and only life.

Living for the future.

Have a goal. What do you want? Begin with the end in mind. Save your money for a rainy day. Save and plan for that cruise. The laws of sowing and reaping are working for you. If you sow now you will reap a more bountiful harvest later. The laws of compounding are on your side too (no it doesn’t just apply to bank interest, trust me). Exercise so your body will last longer. In the future you have a family, a house, and a family pet waiting for you, make sure to take them into account. It will be a most wonderful life.

How will you achieve both of these scenarios?