Posts About Inspiration

I’ll be first to say that time is my most precious resource. If I’m not using it as wisely as possible, I feel guilty. If I perceive anything to be a waste of time, I feel anxious and irritated.

Being 28, I didn’t feel this a few years ago. But now I just can’t seem to be bothered by anything that takes up my time.

This can be a flaw. The worst thing that’s happened is that I hadn’t tried much new lately. But I finally cracked open David Allen’s Getting Things Done, and it was terrific reading up on some refreshing new ideas.

Have you been putting off trying something new? What can you do to push yourself to try it out?

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I love this:

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit.

- Harry S. Truman

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There are a few good reasons to check out Paul and Marcus at the Boagworld Web Design Podcast, even if you’re not a web designer. Read on to find out why.

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I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I’m a Healthy Self-Knowing Builder

I’ve been a fan of 43 Things for a while. On their site, you add your goals—no matter how big or small they are—and 43 Things connects you with a community of people who are trying to accomplish the same goals.

They added a simple quiz to their site today. I liked how simple it was to get an amusing answer. It was just a matter of checking of some check boxes of things that I’ve accomplished in my life. In exchange, they let me know about their new book and gave me some code that I could paste in my blog to help spread the word.

A very nice branding opportunity and a way for them to get the word out about their new book. And it was set up in a format that would resonate with their audience. I like it.

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We’re entering a tough time. Entrepreneurs especially are going to need to be tough. You are going to need to be polished. You’re going to need to be bold and trustworthy.

Those who aren’t able to deliver on what they promise will be outed first. We’ve been in a time (especially in tech circles) where floaty people have been talking a good deal. But when it’s time to create something remarkable, that’s when the true winners survive and thrive. The fluff needs to go.

America has thrived for years on creativity, hard work, and innovation. It’s what makes us. Sure, people in other countries will do some of the jobs that we don’t really want to do anyway. And other countries have technical chops that far surpass ours. But the creative people who can implement their ideas will be the ones who keep this country going.

What do you do if you’re a member of that floaty circle of people? There’s something holding you back. Discipline. Drive to learn what you don’t know. The desire to challenge yourself in order to grow.

What do you need to learn in depth? How can you challenge yourself to push through to the next level? You probably know the answer. Stop holding yourself back, or else walk into extinction.

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Jason Fried, founder of 37signals, speaks at Business Innovation Factory about openness and how it’s benefited his small business.

Take some time to watch this video over the weekend. It’s only 15 minutes and could give you some new ideas on how to run your small business.

(Hint: The Internet gives you much of the power that you need to execute this strategy.)

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A couple weeks ago, I participated in a podcast about development frameworks for ColdFusion. I represented ColdFusion on Wheels, the open source project that I contribute to.

If you host a community and put some hard work into it, you will start getting attention. It took me about a year, but it’s finally starting to pay off. I’m hoping that more interviews and exposure will follow. And I got to share some time with some true experts in my industry.

Why not resolve to do this yourself? What kind of tribe can you start to get the conversation started?

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Web registration forms are important. These forms are often an early part of your visitors’ experience on your website. If these forms are too cumbersome, your visitors will remain just visitors, instead of going to the next level in the relationship. I’ve noticed some cool innovations in registration forms, so I thought I’d be nice [...]

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Yesterday, Seth Godin spoke to over 2,000 listeners about the principles of his new book, Meatball Sundae. If you’re in business and haven’t read any of Seth’s work, you need to start now, grasshopper! Instead of trying to recap it myself with few notes, I’ll have to defer to Chris Hoskin’s recap of the webinar. [...]

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When you start an online store, sales will start out slower than you could imagine. If you’re off to a slow start in your e-commerce venture, rest assured that it took Amazon 7 years to report a profitable quarter. Who else had to hang in there? An archived Google Answers topic shows that these companies [...]

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