Ramblings
Why New Years Resolutions Suck [For Some]
We all do it. We come to a new year with high hopes. We’re going to turn over a new year and take the world by storm – next year.
Then, the year goes by. Perhaps there was a momentary burst in activity in January. The obligatory visits to the gym. Maybe write a few more blog posts than usual. But then it settles back into the status quo.
Come December and – oh hum – life looks pretty much the same as it did last year. But, dammit, next year…. next year is going to ROCK! This time you mean it!
Sound familiar?
The First Problem – Timing
It is completely unnecessary to wait until the calendar year changes over to make changes and do productive things in your life. So, why wait?
Time is just a continuous stream of arbitrary nothingness. Seriously, time is really in the eye of the beholder. It is not a fixed quantity. And it keeps going. The fact that the calendar flips from December to January means nothing except for the significance we ourselves assign to it.
With that in mind, why wait? If you want to accomplish things in life, for God sakes, don’t put it off until “next year”. Start now!
The Second Problem – Ourselves
When we make resolutions, it is just more shiznit on top of a pile of last year’s shiznit.
* Yes, “Shiznit” is a word. Snoop Dogg said so. 
In other words, you made goals for yourself. Some of those goals may have failed, but they are still your goals. Here you come with a new year and more goals. Those new goals don’t overwrite the old goals. They just pile on. Yet, we know that those old goals failed. The new goals will probably fail too, right?
You know what we say about people who commit the same mistakes over and over again and expect different results, right?
That’s right – they’re crazy.
So, why do so many people do this every year?
Obviously, hoping isn’t enough. Something has to change.
In order to get something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done.
Most people are apathetic about New Years Resolutions because of their past failures. And for those people, new years resolutions kinda suck.
My viewpoint is that the answer to that is to change something. Do something you’ve never done. As Nike says, “Just Do It.”
The only person who can REALLY deny you something is yourself. Think about that for a moment. If somebody tells you you can’t do something, what power do they REALLY have? If you really think about it, you’ll find they have no power at all. The only power they have over you is that power you’ve GIVEN them.
So, don’t get reasonable. Take your power back. Do something different than you’ve ever done in order to get different results in 2010.
Next year, resolutions won’t suck. They’ll mean something.
Tomorrow, I’m going to share with you a practical strategy for goal accomplishment. This is something I want to share with you as we wrap up 2009 and head into a new year. So, I’ll see you tomorrow, right here on the blog. 
Is It Just Me? [Social Media Gripes]
In this line of work, I see a lot of things. We all do. And some of those things are annoying.
So, I’m going to spill 10 gripes of mine when it comes to social media and blogging. You know, just to get it off my chest.
- Calling yourself a social media expert is like saying you’re an expert in talking. It is just human interaction like we’ve been doing since we rubbed two sticks together and made fire. I know “social media” is a buzzword these days, but let’s just be honest here, shall we?
- Foursquare? Mafia Wars? I could not possibly give less of a sh*t.
- People who tweet quotes all day bug me. It tells me you cannot come up with an original thought on your own.
- I always get a little chuckle when I get an invite on Facebook to be a fan of the person who just invited me. OK, I understand why they’re doing it, but you gotta admit, it is ironic.
- Facebook. Your interface is frickin UNGODLY. Were you spiked on weed when you thought up that interface? Why does stuff have to be so hard to find?
- The people who fail to find value in Twitter are the ones who are socially inept in real life. Twitter is a platform. If you have nothing to offer on that platform, you’re hosed. You’re the problem, so stop saying that Twitter has jumped the shark. It hasn’t.
- People who declare email dead or blogging dead are idiots. We go through this circular wave of people declaring various things dead. Lately, its been blogging and email. Yeah, right. It is a shallow ploy for attention. Or perhaps trying to explain failure.
- To those bloggers who think that there is something wrong with making money as a blogger, that blogging is pure and that you are sacrificing your honesty to violate this pure medium with financial aims – bullshit.
- People who think there is a difference between a blog and a website just crack me up.
- People who say they don’t have time to tweet really don’t get it. How long does it take to type 140 characters? I mean, seriously.
So, do you agree with this? Disagree?
The Downside Of Self-Inflicted Ignorance
I had a small exchange over on Twitter this afternoon that moved me to write an impromptu blog post. This post is NOT an attack piece or anything personal AT ALL. It just brought to mind an idea I feel is important.
I have been working on tightening up the funnel over on PCMech.com. My goal is to drive more readers onto the email list. This is, of course, always good for business.
One of the many things I did was create a simple squeeze page to drive people onto the list. I sent out a tweet about the squeeze page. In response I get this on Twitter:
Hope you’re not trying to turn into a gimmicky internet marketer! Saw your tweet yesterday about Product Launch Formula!
Yes, the day prior, I sent out a single tweet about Jeff Walker’s Product Launch Formula. I did not use an affiliate link. I just really like PLF. I consider PLF to be a must-have for any serious online businessperson.
So, the fact that I talked about PLF and made a squeeze page puts me into the same category as a “gimmicky internet marketer”, apparently.
Then, I got this tweet from the same person:
Well, I respect you as an expert of sorts, but not for using "internet marketing products"!
Huh? So the fact that I learn from those who came before me is a bad thing? A gimmick? By using “internet marketing products”, I have managed to almost double my business in the last 2 years. I’m on track to break the $200,000 mark in revenue for 2009 – as a BLOGGER.
Put more accurately, as a BLOG MARKETER.
The knowledge to do that doesn’t come through telepathy. That knowledge doesn’t spontaneously combust into my head while I sleep. Of course I study other people’s teachings!
What motivated me to write this post, however, was my strong belief that this attitude of natural distrust is one of the most concrete barriers to one’s success that you could ever have.
I have no idea if this person has an aim to build a business or not. But, the attitude exhibited is one of an employee. A person who will always be an employee.
That kind of knee-jerk reaction is one which keeps you from learning new things in life. It effectively bars an entire field of knowledge from you, which you know nothing about, all because you’ve concluded that it is all a big bunch of BS.
The Important Message
Always be willing to learn new things.
The moment you write off entire subjects that you have never personally inspected, you are just sealing your fate exactly where you are right now.
The moment you take somebody else’s judgment of a subject (one which they probably never inspected either), you’re just allowing THEIR stupidity to rub off on you.
The opportunities lost because you jumped to a conclusion rather than personally inspected something could be mind-boggling.
And that is why I decided to write this post. Small things lead me to a larger idea. And, like a good little blogger, I thought I’d share with you.
Peace out.
An Observation About Your Personal Power
I got an email from a reader. I’m going to leave names out of it and I’m not even going to quote the whole thing. But, it really brought something to mind for me.
I am a big believer in the idea that the only person capable of improving or messing up your life is you. Nobody else. You get what you expect to get.
This email I got was unfortunate. I don’t want to quote the whole thing (out of respect), but I want to point out a few things in the email.
This blog stuff is way over my head, I don’t have anything to talk about that anyone would be interesting in listening to.
If you have decided that that is true, then it is.
I am disabled and house bound, and am so sick most of the time I can just barely check my email….. I am just an old wore out jack of all trades and master of none. I live on Social Security Disability, and my Wife works Two different jobs most of the time. We are just broke Christian simple people waiting to go to Heaven.
I have to be careful here. I understand that some people are in dire straights and that life can be an uphill fight. We all understand that. But, look at this from a standpoint of personal power. This statement is full of self invalidation.
Forgive me, if I am taking advantage of you by seeing your daily tips. If you would rather I unsubscribe, you just don’t hesitate to tell me.
This is the first time I’ve ever had anybody apologize for reading my blog and being a subscriber to my mailing list.
What stands out to me here is an apparent self-degradation. He is propitiating to me for no reason. Almost every statement in the email is a statement of weakness and invalidation of himself.
If you go around saying bad things about yourself, they’ll manifest in real life. You get what you put out there.
I fully believe that the only way that you can become the punching bag of life is if you make the decision to allow yourself to be a punching bag. Things don’t just happen. They’re made to happen.
Call it the Law of Attraction if you like, but you get what you put out there. And what really tugged my heart strings about this email was that he is bending over backwards to lessen his own personal power, to be smaller, and in his own words, just waiting to go to Heaven.
You get what you create. Your life is the result of your own self-determinism. I don’t believe in luck. Go out there and make the life you want.
Why I Have a Man Crush On Chris Brogan
…in the most professional way, of course.
I had the opportunity to meet Chris Brogan at Izeafest in Orlando. Actually, he and I had met in the past in other cities, but didn’t have the opportunity to talk much at those times. On the first night of Izeafest, when most others took off to Busch Gardens in Tampa, I stayed behind and had the opportunity to have dinner with Chris Brogan, Liz Strauss, Warren Whitlock and his wife.
When I approached Chris, he greeted me by saying, “Hey handsome!”. Was he hitting on me? It became an ongoing joke, with both Chris and Warren referring to me as “handsome Dave” for the length of the conference.
In short, however, I was really impressed with Chris’s sincerity and truly caring about the people he talks to. Chris does a lot of traveling and speaking. I’m sure that he is used to getting barraged with people at conferences who want to talk to him and get their picture taken with him. It would be easy to get big-headed in such a position, but Chris is as real as it gets. The dude is FUNNY, too. Absolutely hilarious.
Chris has a lot to say, and you can also read his book Trust Agents for more on what he spoke about at Izeafest. That said, just by watching him, here are some takeaways:
- Be personal. People like you when you care about them.
- Be sincere. People hate fakers.
- Be real. People don’t like self-important dweebs. In fact, I recently booted a dude from my Tampa meetup group because he was an absolute ass.
- Be helpful. Chris has this nailed, and he does it in a truly funny way.
I enjoyed hanging out with Chris and that impression lasts a long time. Think about that when you deal with others, whether it be in person or even via your blog. After all, ultimately we are all in the people business.
Why The Law of Attraction Is Incomplete
I was discussing the “Law of Attraction” the other day with somebody and it occurred to me that something was missing.
First, what is the law of attraction? From Wikipedia:
According to proponents of this law, thoughts have an energy which attracts whatever it is the person is thinking of. In order to control this energy to one’s advantage, proponents state that people must practice four things:
1. Know exactly what you want.
2. Ask the universe for it.
3. Feel, behave and know as if the object of your desire is already yours (visualize).
4. Be open to receive it and let go of (the attachment to) the outcome.Thinking of what one does not have, they say, manifests itself in not having, while if one abides by these principles, and avoids “negative” thoughts, the universe will manifest a person’s desires.
No doubt there is truth in this. I am a big believer in the saying “Thought is boss”.
In short, you will get what you focus on. If you focus on scarcity, that’s what you’ll have. If you focus on success, you’ll have that. The Law of Attraction is very much like creating a mental postulate. A postulate is something which is assumed true, taken as self-evident. So, mentally, you are creating a postulate. It is true because you say it is true, and you operate as if it is self-evident.
The problem (as I see it) with this law of attraction as stated is that it seems a little too new-age. And what I mean by that is that it focuses on mental outlook. What is it leaving out?
ACTION.
It reminds me of the spoon-bending scene in The Matrix. All this effort is spent on bending the spoon with his mind. The kid says: “You’ll see that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.” That’s cool, but why not just grab the spoon in both hands and bend it?
It doesn’t make for good Hollywood movies. It doesn’t make for large audiences of people attracted to the mystics and the powers of the mind.
But, it is intensely more practical, don’t you think?
The mind – you – is a creator of intentions. It is a creator of new realities to your world and your life. You can either focus on the power of the mind and try to WILL things into existence, or you can use the full package of you, keep it simple, and take action.
In other words, stop focusing on new age mind tricks, get up off your ass and do something to make shit happen. You don’t THINK things into reality, you CAUSE them to become reality.
I guarantee you the universe will manifest your intentions when you do that.
You couple the Law of Attraction with the attitude of taking simple, effective action and you’ve got yourself the ingredients for anything you’d ever want in life.
Now, go get something done.
Beware of Free Speech Infringement [Soapbox Talk]
Do you think the U.S. government is beyond the desire to control free speech?
Is it alarmist to say that there are people in our own government in the U.S. who would praise media control like we see in Venezuela, Iran and China?
And why would a blogger like me, a guy who doesn’t talk about politics, even bother to write a post like this one? It is certainly not ordinary for this blog.
There are some concerning movements within the Obama administration that I believe could be direct threats to free speech.
Free speech goes right to the very heart of what it is I talk about all the time – blogging. I believe that bloggers form an army of citizen reporters. Not all bloggers get it right. Some of them are downright nuts. But, in a country with free speech, that is par for the course.
A Sign Of Things To Come?
Today, on CNET News, a story came out about a proposed bill which will give the President control over private computer networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency. From the CNET story:
The new version would allow the president to “declare a cybersecurity emergency” relating to “non-governmental” computer networks and do what’s necessary to respond to the threat. Other sections of the proposal include a federal certification program for “cybersecurity professionals,” and a requirement that certain computer systems and networks in the private sector be managed by people who have been awarded that license.
Some would argue that this is about protecting infrastructure. But, do you trust the government with authority over private networks? Remember, this is the same government who consistently gets failing grades on cybersecurity. Not only that, who defines what this “emergency” is? And what constitutes a “critical network”?
“A Senate source familiar with the bill compared the president’s power to take control of portions of the Internet to what President Bush did when grounding all aircraft on Sept. 11, 2001.”
What the hell?
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It Is About Lifestyle Design (Part One)
One of the most powerful overall concepts which came out of Tim Ferris’s 4 Hour Work Week was the idea of lifestyle design. The concept might have existed previously (I really don’t know), but it was Tim’s book which first brought the concept into my own world.
Lifestyle design is simply creating the life that you want and doing the things which are necessary to empower you to have the life you want.
For me (and many, I assume), the beauty of internet business is that is empowers lifestyle design.
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The Difference Between Me and Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is, as you probably know, the guy behind ProBlogger. If you are interested in blogging, then chances are you know who Darren is. He is considered to be the creator of the concept of professional blogging.
Darren is a stand-up guy. He knows his stuff and he is a super nice guy. I had the opportunity to meet him and talk to him for awhile at BlogWorld last year, and I expect I’ll see him again at BlogWorld this year. I believe he’ll be at Izeafest as well, so I’ll see him there for sure.
There is a fairly fundamental difference, though, between Darren and myself…
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The Society of Mediocrity And Your Role As a Blogger
You probably wouldn’t expect a title like that for a blog post on this site. But, for a moment, I’m going to step atop my soapbox and share opinion on our society. And what’s more, I want to share what I think we, as bloggers, have as a responsibility that goes way beyond traffic and money. Click Here To Continue Reading »
I'm David Risley. I've been making my living as a blogger for over a decade. Blogging is my business and how I support my family. With this blog, I'm just gettin' REAL and telling you how this business works. 
