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Ridiculously Useful Guide to Earning a Living from Your Passion

Amanda — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 15:34:06 +0000

I have to admit I was there, only a few years ago, and three years later I’ve successfully done it, even if I’m a bit battered from the attempt.

It’s not easy — I’ll tell you that up front. If you hope to make a quick buck, or a fast million, you’ll need to find another guide. Probably one with lots of flashing ads in the sidebar.

So you have your passion picked out? Here’s how to turn it into a living.More of this…

Unconventional Ways to Release stress and Tension

Amanda — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:26:22 +0000

As we move through our daily routines we are often faced with obstacles and challenges which can lead to some degree of stress and anxiety. So to become more relaxed and free of tensions it is important to break away from your ordinary routine and find ways to de-stress. This process can be very simple or more in depth, but why not try something new and different? Here are 8, not your everyday ordinary, ways to de-stress and release tensions.

To be white is to be an Angel. To be black is to be a Devil. To be gray is to be a Human.

Amanda — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:31:50 +0000

Humans are of varying shades of gray. Their personalities are a combination of white and black, godliness and deviousness. To expect a human to not have any flaw would be to expect that human to be an Angel. Humans are not Angels. To condemn a human as all evil is to condemn that human to be a Devil. Humans are not devils.

I am not talking about the minuscule percentage of rare humans who by their deeds have become comparable to Angels or to Devils. I am talking about the large majority. People like you and me. Most of us do things that may not be right. But we also do things that are right. Sometimes we do things that are evil. But many times we also do things that are kind. We have our weaknesses, but we also have our strengths. We may fail in many endeavors, but we also have many victories. We are human; a mix of white and black; a shade of gray.

So forgive yourself for all your weaknesses, failures and evils of the past. You are just a human. You are bound to be gray. Strive to be a lighter shade of gray.

Via: letstalkinsights.com

Yet another post:

Awareness changes your view of life

Amanda — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:27:21 +0000

Many readers find my insights thought provoking but find it difficult, if not impossible, to live by them. They ask me if I really live by what I share. My simple answer is no. If I were able to perfectly live by all insights that I share, I would become too perfect to be human. So I don’t live by them, but I do strive to live by them. I consistently practice living by them. And this practice would continue through my lifetime. There would be times when I will fail, but there would also be times when I will succeed. With practice, the number of successes is likely to increase.

Awareness and practice are the keys. The purpose of sharing my insights is to increase awareness of some new perspectives to life. Once you are aware of something, it changes the rest of your life, whether or not you do anything about it. And if you do decide to practice it, the change is more dramatic and faster.

There was a time when smokers were not aware of the ill effects of smoking. Now it is a well known fact that “smoking kills”. Do people still smoke? Yes, they do. But I am sure people who are aware, smoke less than they would have otherwise. Most of them discourage their children from smoking. The awareness also motivates many smokers to practice giving up smoking. Some are able to give up smoking easily. Some practice for a long time before they are able to give up. And there are those who constantly practice and reduce the number they smoke, but are never able to give up.

If any insight touches a chord in you, practice living by it. Do not give up if you fail a few times. Keep practicing and you will see the difference it makes to your life.

Via: letstalkinsights.com

Yet another post:

14 Simple Tips for Super Fast Web Browsing

Amanda — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:20:34 +0000

As someone who does most of his work on the web, I’ve developed some habits to allow me to work quickly, without distraction, so that I can get my work done easily.

When I see others browse the web, it sometimes surprises me how far behind they are, and when others see me browse the web they’re surprised at how quick I am.

I’m not bragging — I know there are web monkeys faster than me. But I thought I’d share some of my tricks for the masses, in hopes that it’ll be of some use.

First, understand that everyone has their own personal style of browsing, and I don’t think you should adopt every tip below. This is what works for me. You probably won’t like it as much.

Second, understand that my philosophy is one of minimalism: I don’t like a lot of bells, whistles or distractions, and I like fast, lightweight programs that aren’t bloated or slow. I also like to work quickly, using the keyboard mostly, so that I can get my work done without friction.

So here are my tips — some of these will be old hat for web veterans, but they bear repeating.

Use a fast, minimal browser. First, if you’re using Internet Explorer and you don’t absolutely have to, please do yourself a favor and switch right now. It’s bloated and slow, insecure, and doesn’t render the web correctly. If you can’t switch, please start educating your IT or HR department about modern, standards-compliant browsers. Second, I’ve long been a fan of Firefox because it’s generally awesome and extensible, but lately I’ve switched to faster and lighter browsers that do what I need with a minimum of bloat. So on the Mac, that’s been Opera and lately Camino. Both are great and do what I need. On the PC, there’s no contest — it’s Google Chrome, as it’s the fastest I’ve tried.
Use tabs, not windows. This should be obvious but many people still open a new window each time they’re going to a new site (including my mom). Instead, configure your browser to open new tabs instead of windows. When you are reading a post, for example, and want to open a link in a new window, Command-click (on a Mac) or middle-click (on a PC) should open the link in a new tab. Now you can switch between tabs without needing to find where each window went.
Learn keyboard shortcuts. Again, this is obvious to most web monkeys, but it’s so much faster that you need to take the time to learn the shortcuts. Some common examples (using Mac shortcuts): Cmd-T to open a new tab, Cmd-L to go to the browser’s location bar (to enter an url), Cmd-D or Cmd-K (depending on the browser) to bookmark, Cmd-K (on some browsers) to go to the search engine box (the Google box), Cmd-W to close a window or tab, and so on. Each browser and OS have different shortcuts, but you can easily learn them by looking at the shortcuts in the menus of the browser. It just takes a few minutes to learn them, and then you’re golden.
Set up keyword bookmarks and speed dial. Most browsers have keyword bookmarks, and it takes just a few seconds to set up each one. Basically, for all of your common sites, you’ll want to create a bookmark, and then go to the bookmark and enter a keyword for quick access to that bookmark. To do this, go the the Properties of the bookmark and set the keyword. I recommend short keywords — common ones for me include “gm” for Gmail, “rd” for Google Reader, “cal” for Google Calendar, “bog” for my bank website, “tw” for Twitter, “st” for my blog’s stats, “post” to create a new Zen Habits post, and so on. Speed Dial is an Opera feature that other browsers seem to be copying — you set up your 9 most oft-used websites into Speed Dial, and then can go to any of them with the press of a key (i.e. Cmd-1 for Gmail, Cmd-2 for Twitter, etc.).
Set up keyword searches. Same as above, but these are saved searches you might perform commonly besides a regular Google web search. Examples might include Amazon, Wikipedia, Wiktionary, IMDB, Ebay, and Flickr searches. For each saved search, you’ll have a keyword, and then you can just search from the location bar (Cmd-L to get there) — for example, “im alyssa milano” will search IMDB.com for Alyssa Milano (once you set it up of course).
Set up keyword bookmarklets. In Firefox and a couple other browsers, there’s the ability to create javascript bookmarklets that have some kind of functionality — for example, a bookmarklet for Tumblr (to create a new post from the page you’re reading) or Instapaper (to bookmark an article for reading later) or Twitter (to tweet a page) or is.gd (to create a short url for a page), and so on (some good examples). Other browsers (Opera is an example) don’t allow you to drag and drop a bookmarklet into the bookmarks toolbar, but you can still create them: 1) create a regular bookmark , 2) copy the link url of the bookmarklet using Control-click or right-click, 3) paste this url into the regular bookmark in your bookmark manager (Cmd-B in Camino), and then create a keyword for this bookmark. Now, if I want to create a short url for a page, I go to the page, press Cmd-L (to go to the location bar) and type “is” and press enter — and instantly have a short url. This works for any javascript bookmarklet.
Fast online bookmarking. Beyond creating keyword bookmarks for common sites, searches and bookmarklets, I like to bookmark resources and pages to be read later using online tools. In the past I used Delicious (for bookmarking resources) and Instapaper (for reading something later), but these days I use Pinboard (by the writer of the excellent blog, Idle Words). It’s in beta, but it’s fast, and has both bookmarking and to-read features. Using a service like this allows me to access my bookmarks from any computer.
Block Flash. Adobe’s Flash format is everywhere on the web these days — popular sites like YouTube depend on it for video, and you’ll find it in ads everywhere, and some entire sites are built on Flash. It’s annoying, frankly. Flash is slow, and I prefer to turn it off by default … but have the option to turn it on if I want to watch a YouTube video or something. In Camino, it’s simple — just turn it off in the preferences. In other browsers, you might need a plugin or extension to turn off Flash but give yourself the ability to turn on Flash elements with a click.
Distraction-free reading and videos. I love reading without the distraction and clutter of most sites. So I use two bookmarklets: Readability for reading articles, and Quietube for viewing videos.
Turn off most extensions. Firefox is great for all its amazing extensions, but if you use a lot of them they can cause the browser to get slow and bloated, and often buggy. So when I do use Firefox I turn off almost all extensions (except Google Gears for offline access), and on Camino I use none. It makes for much faster browsing.
Don’t have a million tabs open. This is a common web-surfing mode for a lot of people, but it slows down the browser. I tend to open lots of tabs at times, but when things get too cluttered I bookmark them for later reading (using Pinboard) and then close the tabs, so I have only two or three open at any time.
Clear most of your toolbars. I like minimal toolbars, so I turn most of them off on the browser and remove most buttons, so the content is all there is.
1password or KeePass. Good tools for easily storing all your passwords — otherwise, you’ll either have to remember them all or use the same ones over and over (not very secure).
Tuning out the Internet. When I need to do serious work, I try to remove distractions by closing the browser to do actual work. If I find myself opening the browser too much, I’ll use a utility (such as Freedom) to shut off the Internet altogether.

Via: zenhabits.net

Yet another cool stuff:

Live a Multiple Life

Amanda — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:47:20 +0000

For you to be at peace with yourself, you need to be at peace in each of the multiple lives that you are living.

We live multiple lives in our lifetime. Whereas at a subconscious level we are aware of it, we seldom look at it from this perspective. We broadly categorize our activities and environment as personal or professional based on whether it is home, friends, work or non-work related.

I want you to consider for a moment that the differentiation in your personal and professional life is not only external but is internal as well; i.e., you are a very different person in each life. In fact, if you isolate your personal and professional life and look at yourself from a third person’s perspective you will see two very different individuals.

I would also encourage you to observe carefully and identify the multiple primary lives you are leading, rather than just classifying your activities as personal and professional. For example, I live three primary lives; a family life, a product manager’s life, and a writer’s life. I am a very different person in each of my three lives. My focus is different, my way of dealing with others is different, what defines my success or failure is different, what excites or depresses me is different and the way I conduct myself is different.

As a family person my focus is primarily on the well being of my family, taking care of financial and emotional needs, making sure that my child grows up to be a fine individual, going for holidays and outings, celebrating festivals with extended family and friends, getting a life insurance to help my family even after my death (something that you only do for your family), building assets for post retirement security, etc.

As a product manager, my focus is on ensuring long term sustained revenue and growth of my product. Understanding customer needs, competitive landscape and emerging technologies. Speaking at conferences, listening to customer complaints, reviewing product bug list with quality assurance and engineering. Defining the future roadmap for the product etc.

As a writer, my focus is to deeply observe life and people and to share thought provoking insights through my writings. Interacting with readers, from over hundred countries, having extremely diverse backgrounds and cultures. Discussing feedback and comments. Marketing and promotion to reach potential readers. Learning technologies that help me make my blog more attractive and pleasant, etc.

For you to be living powerfully, you need to make progress and be at peace in each of your multiple lives. Making progress in one life at the cost of others will lead to unrest. You need to balance your time and energies between each of your primary lives. Identify your primary lives and evaluate each life in isolation. Do what it takes to be at peace in each of your life.

Via: letstalkinsights.com

Yet another post:

Truth Without Context Is Nonsense

Amanda — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 02:06:25 +0000

Any truth about a reality is valid only in a given context. In all other contexts it is not likely to make any sense.

There may be many different truths to explain any reality. Each truth makes sense in a particular context, but is normally nonsense in other contexts. Despite all good intentions, we often have serious disagreements regarding reality with others in our personal and professional life. Each person in the disagreement feels that he/she is saying the correct thing (truth), whereas others are talking nonsense. It is important to understand that it is possible that most people in the disagreement are actually speaking the truth; however their truths make sense in different contexts.

This insight became very clear to me recently while playing with my 23 month old toddler. One of her favorite toys is “Piglet” (of Winnie the Pooh fame). It is a stuffed toy made up of soft pink fur. She used to call it “Piggie” till a few days back, however nowadays she is very confused about what it is. We told her it is ‘Pink’, while trying to teach her colors; we told her it is ‘fur’ while trying to make her familiar with textures; we told her it is “Piglet”, while she was watching “Winnie The Pooh’ cartoon; we told her it is a stuffed toy; and we also told her that it is soft and cute.

Each of this is true about her ‘Piggie”, however if she points at her “Piggie”, and asks me what it is without any context, I am at loss of what to say. It is so many different things depending upon the context. It is a Pig, it is the cartoon character Piglet, it is a toy, it is a stuffed toy, it is pink, it is soft and cute, it is fur, etc.

Most of us adults deal with far more complex realities than what my toddler is dealing with. Therefore whenever in disagreement, it is very important to try and understand the context in which each person is talking. Most disagreements would disappear if (a) you could step in the other person’s shoes and see their context, and (b) take efforts to make sure that others see your context.

Via: letstalkinsights.com

Yet another post:

Practice Makes Perfect

Amanda — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:15:27 +0000

Practice makes perfect. Perfection is a moving target. Practice is continuously challenging your limits to gain perfection.

Consider you are new at the game of darts. Initially you start throwing darts from a ten feet distance. Assume that your darts land fifteen inches away, on an average, from the bulls-eye. This is your limit as a beginner. You can challenge this limit through practice which enables you to progressively decrease the average distance till you start hitting the bulls-eye consistently. This is perfect, but only when the dartboard is ten feet away. To gain perfection at hitting the bulls-eye from twelve feet, you need to challenge your limits further and practice more. Putting a blindfold on one eye will challenge your limits even further. And so on…

Practice helps you gain perfection. However, perfection is a matter of definition that changes with each milestone that you achieve. Each milestone is a limit that you set for yourself. Each new definition of perfection forces you to challenge your limits yet again, and continue practicing till you reach the next milestone. It never ends, and there is no final limit.

Via: letstalkinsights.com

Yet another cool stuff:

How to Rise Creative Idea

Amanda — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:38:35 +0000

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

Creativity is the ability to create / creativity. There is no single statement can be accepted in general about why a creation arises. Creativity is often considered to consist of 2 elements, the First: Fluency is shown by the ability to produce large amounts of problem solving ideas smoothly and quickly. Second: Flexibility, which generally refers to the ability to find the idea of different and unusual to solve a problem.

The term creativity is used to refer to the ability of individuals who rely on the uniqueness and skill to generate new ideas and fresh insights are very valuable to the individual. Creativity can also be regarded as the ability to be a good listener, who listened to ideas coming from the outside world and from within ourselves or from the subconscious. Thus, creativity is defined more precisely as an experience to express and actualize one’s individual identity in an integrated manner in the close relationship with oneself, others and nature.

WHY HUMAN creative?

Psychologists disagree about the basic needs and motives that people have to be creative. Nevertheless, the rewards and tangible rewards that can be observed can be identified as human motives to create. Humans are becoming more creative will be more open-minded to the idea itself and the ideas of others. Although some observers have felt that sense of humor, the human need to create comes from a desire to “live beyond their capabilities”, but research reveals that human creativity is due to basic needs, such as: security, love and appreciation. They are also motivated to create the environment and the benefits of creating such a more pleasant life, confidence is greater, the joy of life, and the possibility to show their best ability.

BARRIERS TO BE MORE CREATIVE

Habit:

Habit is a reaction and response that we have learned to act automatically, without thinking or make decisions in advance. Usually it’s difficult and uncomfortable to change a habit, no matter the habit is good or bad.

Time:

Busyness is one reason for people to not be creative. On the other hand, there are people who have the time to become more creative to find the time from the same 24 hours available to everyone.

Flooded with problems:

Some of us feel that we are dealing with so many important issues where we do not have enough time and effort to overcome some problems in a creative way. We then ignore all the problems and did not want to manage it with our brains.

No Problem:

We are problem solvers being constantly confront and solve some problems. If we solved the problem automatically or according to custom, then we will never know the problem and we feel that we will never have a problem.

Afraid of Failure:

Failure may take the form of exile, criticism, lost time, lost revenues, or an accident. However, better to fail than never try at all.

The need for an Answer Now:

Humans do not want to have trouble because they do not pick the one right answer. When a problem presented, we directly provide a solution. Only if the first solution does not work, then we want to try another way.

Mental activity is difficult Directed:

Many of us find the fact that physical exertion is much easier than the mental exertion. We are implementing our work during the period of time long enough with only a little thought.

Afraid to Have Fun:

Part of the process of creative problem solving include activities that are relaxed as if playing games, but the thought and considered seriously. Perhaps we ketidaksempatan to relax at the time resolve the problem has something to do with the magnitude of the problem that we face or the insecurity that we feel when faced with a problem.

Criticism of Others:

Accidentally creativity is often hampered by the criticisms of others. When a new idea is introduced, most of these ideas are often broken and ransacked other people. Indeed sometimes it is important to help people to stay grounded in reality, but should the criticism can be a driving force for the improvement of your own creativity.

HOW TO RISE CREATIVE IDEA?

Quantity of Ideas:

Creative techniques in varying degrees rely entirely on the first development of the idea as a way to get a good idea and the creative. Human tendency to get ideas, solution, or the first explanation that comes and sticks in the mind is a big loss for creativity. If a small problem such as what is served for lunch, then the approach might be appropriate. However, if the problem of where we want to get a new and original solutions, so we need a lot of ideas to choose from.

Brainstorming techniques:

Brainstorming technique is probably the most used way, but also a creative solution technique that not many understood. Many people use the term brainstorming to refer to a process that produces a new idea, or use the term to refer to a collection of problem-solving process. Brainstorming technique is actually generating activities ideas that try to overcome all obstacles and criticism. These activities encourage the emergence of many ideas, including ideas which deviated wild, and dare to hope that these ideas can produce good ideas and creative. This technique tends to produce an original new ideas to increase the number of conventional ideas.

Synectic:

The analogy has long been used as a tool for the creative process. Synectic is a method or process that uses metaphors and analogies to generate creative ideas or a fresh insight into the problem. To stop the old habits and old ideas and to introduce the relaxed atmosphere in the excavation process of an idea, then the process of trying to make synectic a “foreigner” to “friendly” and vice versa.

Destination focus:

Dr. Maxwell in his book Psycho Cybernetics describes the methods to achieve the expected results creatively. The book describes the experience of forming a new pattern of automatic reactions through imagination. The trick is to act as if what is wanted will happen tomorrow, this has happened now. If the process is done repeatedly, then your mind will be focused on the goal in question and involve automatic servo-mechanism you.

Yet another cool stuff:

I Have Nothing

Amanda — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 12:44:58 +0000

I guess all of us sometime said that, but, when you think you have no money, you have nothing, Consider it:

How much the of the value of your body? your organ? Priceless, no no, please mention the price of your every organ. What? ow, speechless? OK, this is the price of your organ in the black market:

Heart: USD 150,000
Liver: USD 50,000 – 150,000
Pancreas: USD 45,000
Kidney: USD 10,000
Skeleton: USD 35,000

You have much more organ than just that, right?

What about your brain? If Bill Gates will pay USD 1,000,000,000 for his next dinner, and for his special menu that he want is your brain, Will you sell it?

Yet another cool stuff: