First comment!

Tim Green aka atoach

Yippee! A milestone for an amateur blogger. So far I have had zero interaction on my blog but today, 26/05/2010, I received my very first comment.

The comment was on my 'making money from the internet' article. It came from Nicole from Rent-A-Coder which offers an alternative to Elance.

I've had a quick browse through and this is definitely a site I'm adding to my arsenal. Most of my programming skill has depreciated due to lack of use and this was partly due to not being able to get any full term work in the area. This pushed computer programming into the 'hobby' arena and eventually into the 'graveyard'. Had I come across the site earlier I could have sourced jobs that could have maintained my interest and helped me improve my coding skills.















One thing is certain, I'll definitely be getting back into programming. As soon as I complete one of my 'top 3' goals, brushing up on programming will be the next goal added to replace it!

Learning Through Blogging

Learning Through Blogging

photo by dbdbrobot

The above post (follow the heading) from Freestyle Mind is a very good one on the reasons for blogging.

In just the few months that I've started blogging I've felt the difference in both the way I think through issues and the way I feel. It's like when I read the article, normally I'd read it and move on to the next thing, however, because I have a blog, I read it, thought about it and blogged it. In the process of blogging it I thought about it some more and subsequently retained more of it in my long term memory.

I like the way the issue of making your thoughts and goals public was covered. On of the most difficult issues with blogging is what you do in the event of failure. You've just gone public and said you'd do A,B and C and fail publicly. Failing in public is much more pronounced and embarrasing than failing in private, hence choosing to go public is difficult.

At the end of the day however, knowing your thoughts and goals are public is a good motivator to spur you on and push you into giving that extra effort to accomplish your goals. I have been a bit sneaky in that although I do blog publicly, I have not made any efforts to make my blog public. It is open for those who stumble on it, but is not optimised to get a huge readship as I'm still feeling my way around.

At the end of the day, blogging is a good medium for actively thinking through your ideas and aiding in putting theory to practise. I also feel it is a good stress reliever as you get to air out your views and indirectly learn to deal with stress in the process. Most of all however, it enables you to learn more about yourself!

Making money from the internet

Phew, my little tiger has finally dozed off giving me a small window to put in an article.

It is really amazing how demanding little babies can be. The challenges I've faced being home alone with little Ethan actually had me toying with the idea of blogging on parenting, it's trial and tribulations, but I've thought better of it! I might pursue it as a future project ;-).

But honestly, I had so much planned to do (link to a sketch by Lev Yilmaz, I really enjoy his work) and got none of it done! The lil' critter was up at 5am and remained relatively active for most of the day. Everytime I thought I had a chance to do some work (primarily concentrating on college assignments) the lil' critter always found a way to grab my attention.

 

photo by daveynin

Anyway, on to the subject of this post. I have been assessing my goals and 'debt reduction' is currently at the top of the list. I feel the plans put in place are achievable and that I will attain my goal of being totally debt free (with the exception of a mortgage, should I chose to take one) within the timeframe set out. I however got to thinking on the subject of money and a conversation with an acquaintance came to mind. He spoke about how a regular job was a disadvantage in that you had to turn up and do the work in order to make money whereas owning your own business did not necessarily require you to be present to make money. The current approach I've taken on debt reduction is based on saving and reducing costs.

photo by photos8.com

In addition to reducing expenses and saving , debt reduction can also achieved by increasing revenue streams. This got me to thinking about the internet and how it must be possible to earn an honest income. When I first started writing this blog I subscribed to AdSense and amazon associates (and now infolinks) which I'd hoped might make money from the clicks generated. Unfortunately, I've only just started blogging hence do not have much of a reader base. Also, the ads from Google AdSense tended to clutter up the blog so I've unsubscribed.

Other interesting potential sources of online revenue I've found include Elance (you can be a freelancer, in a variety of jobs), Freelance switch, Mechanical turk (which pays for doing HIT tasks). There are also a number of other avenues revolving around selling advertising space on your site, subscribing to an affiliate program such as Amazon e.t.c. Having looked at these alternatives I felt it best to lay them aside for now. I plan on building a web server in the near future and such ventures I feel will be better explored on sites I host myself.

So  for now, I think I'll focus on freelancing (Elance), in particular writing jobs and human intelligence tasks (Mechanical turk) and see how that goes. Elance is also particularly interesting in that I could look into programming jobs (Java and Python), but I'll have to see whether I have the time to invest.

Anyway the lil' critter has just woken and is fighting for my attention.

Catch you later!

Hundred Goals’ Blog Carnival #2 � Hundred Goal$

Hundred Goals’ Blog Carnival #2 � Hundred Goal$

First obstacle to fitness plan

 by The U.S. Army

I recently blogged about my first obstacle to my well laid financial plan, well I now have my first obstacle to my fitness plan.

To be honest, it's not really my first obstacle as I had a prior hiccup. This time, I had a planned session for Thursday but upon returning from college I was simply too tired and did not feel up to it. To compensate I'd planned on visiting the gym on the Friday, but little Ethan was just so demanding I just did not get an open window! So, as you can imagine I moved the session to Saturday, but then the weather was so gloomy and the gin and tonics I'd had the previous night (Friday) left me feeling somewhat lethargic and depressed so once again I moved my session to Sunday. Unfortunately due to working the Saturday night, I was totally shattered Sunday morning and slept through the early part of Sunday.

Good news is I've finally managed to get my session in today (Monday). The session wasn't too bad though I must admit I was not too happy with my squat. I added 5kg in weight, but after starting felt the weight might be a bit too much unaided. To compensate, I ended up doing 1/2 squats instead of going through the full range (the strong lifts program does not allow regression, and advocates sticking to a weight until it's mastered).

Learnings and Corrective actions

I am proud of the fact that I have forced myself to get back on track (really didn't feel like going today), but this doesn't negate the fact that I did not follow the plan. Going forward I need to ensure I get to the gym on my scheduled days regardless of weather or mood even if I just sit out or do light work.

I also need to be careful on the rate of weight increments as I want to ensure steady continual improvement. Often after the first set I'm tempted to load on the weight (a consequence of a previous training regime that consisted almost entirely of pyramiding i.e light weight for warm up followed by progressively increasing weight at reduced reps).

Another reason for careful increments is a previous knee injury (karate, affects squat), lower back injury (diving, affects squat) and bum shoulder (don't know where this one came from, affects bench press). None of them have presented any problems thus far and I attribute it to maintaining good form and not loading too much weight.

How to Finish What You Start - by Dumb Little Man

How to Finish What You Start - by Dumb Little Man

One of the biggest problems I face is finishing what I start. I have numerous projects in various stages of completion. As well as the advice given in the above article, I've come to the conclusion that in order to finish what you start you also need to limit the number of items you get involved in.

Keep your list short

Ideally I believe one should have no more than 3 big goals going at any one time. Through experience I have found that having too many big goals going at the same time often results in none of them being completed. For goals to be achieved, constant focus needs to be applied on a regular basis and this an only be achieved with a short list.

Do one thing at a time

                  Image courtesy of Simon Stapleton (www.simonstapleton.com)


I am a big fan of multi-tasking, but just like having too many goals going at the same time doing mutiple things at once often results in something being left out or not being done to the required standard. I have come to the conclusion that when having many 'mini-tasks' it's better to attack them individually, finish them off then move on to the next. By concentrating on each individual task, you ensure it's completed to a reasonable standard. Also, the satisfaction of ticking off individual tasks one at a time provides a confidence boost. Having mutiple open ended 'mini-tasks' (a by-product of multi-tasking) tends to be discouraging and makes it much harder to finish off a project.

Involve others

 

Involving others in your goals has 2 benefits. Firstly you get the advantage of collective community knowledge. The more people you get involved in your projects the more likely you'll be able to complete them as it is likely that someone within the collective has been through what you are about to do or has knowledge that is beneficial. Secondly, there is the embarrassment factor in the event you fail. That embarrassment factor could provide the necessary motivation required to finish off what you start. That is one reason I find writing this blog could be a major factor in ensuring I achieve my goals.

Hard work and perserverance

At the end of the day, nothing beats plain old hard work and perserverance. A keen desire to complete the project/goal/job and putting in the labour/mental effort to complete the job is an absolute prerequisite to finishing off what you start!

Life and the hill analogy

Have you ever noticed that when things start to go wrong they tend to have a snowball effect i.e one negative thing links into another, which escalates into another until eventually you have so many things going wrong at the same time?

The Hill

As you can imagine a number of things have gone wrong, forcing me to reflect on the subject. I have come to view life like climbing a hill (or mountain if you wish). Any positive progress i.e going up, requires effort and happens slowly. One has to plot one's route upwards and find the best way to the top. Regardless of the plan and route, however, one has to put in the work to progress and move up.

                          Photo by Joe Schlabotnik (http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik)

When one slips, however, one could easily end up in free-fall and it doesn't take much effort to continue on the downward slope. In fact doing absolutely nothing potentially results in an increased speed to the bottom. Probability is that it could potentially take more energy to stop a 'free-fall' than it would to continue on your upward climb.

By using the hill analogy, one get's a bit of a clearer idea of how negativity gains momentum if you allow it to. The hill analogy also shows that doing nothing when things go wrong has the propensity to make things even worse as you slip closer to the bottom. It also shows that effort and willpower are a definite requirement for moving upwards or even for simply stopping a 'free-fall'.

Life

Just like the hill, life has a number of forces that affect your journey. There will be a lot of obstacles in your journey to the top, but one of the most important things to keep in mind is that when things go wrong, immediate postive action is required to get you back on track. Continuing with negativity or doing nothing have the same result i.e hastening your fall to the bottom. Though one may feel the 'ostrich effect' i.e burying one's head in the face of adversity is the best approach, this is rarely the way forward!

Photo courtesy of Sonja Jefferson (http://blog.sonjajefferson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/image/PDHeadInSand.gif)

Like most things in life, it takes a lot of energy to do something constructive but a much lower proportion of energy to negate your hard earned gains! That's why it's easier to 'free-fall' when things go wrong.

How to Get Out of Debt

How to Get Out of Debt

Another tool to add to my arsenal.

The snowball effect sounds quite attractive, but I think I'll stick to tackling the mostly costly first.

First obstacle to financial plan

Yesterday I bumped into the first blow to my carefully laid budget plan.

Lack of Discipline

One weakness I've immediately picked up is a lack of discipline. I blew close on £80 on online poker. Believe me I felt sick after and suffering bad beats didn't help any (AA cracked, flush beat by higher flush e.t.c). Really brought back the feeling that online poker is rigged, anyway, that's beside the point, I broke budget and played on impulse, a total no no. This is something I have to think deeply about and what actions I need to put into place to prevent future occurrences. For now, I've decided to limit myself to only playing freerolls online and reducing my live sessions to 2 per month (except for July when I intend putting in a few more sessions).

To cover the £80 I will be forced to for-go cashgame sessions (usually play on Fridays) and focus only on the one tournament game a week, for the rest of the month. I was already close on £60 up for May due to my last cash game session so the silly unplanned session has given me a deficit of £20. I'm still tossing to see whether to play the remaining 3 Friday live tourneys and potentially make some cheddar (as Tony would say) or just sit out and make a potential saving of £40. Will keep you posted.

Anyway, the main point of this post was lack of discipline. If I'm to realize my goals I need to stick to the gameplan otherwise I don't see myself making it!

YouTube - 3 Basic Types of Friends

by Hot Rod Homepage


YouTube - 3 Basic Types of Friends

One base that needs to be covered in ensuring a successful life is carefully choosing the people who surround you (for those you can chose) and understanding the motivations of of those you're stuck with (for those you haven't chosen for yourself).

T.D Jakes sermon nicely and powerfully covers the types of 'friends' you encounter in your life. By understanding their motivations you'll be better placed to leverage the relationships to your best advantage and reduce any future heartache.

Really powerful sermon!

Your Past Will Become Your Future – A Must Read : Mr. Self Development.com

Your Past Will Become Your Future – A Must Read : Mr. Self Development.com

Really interesting article. I've been toying with the idea at the back of my mind for a while now.

What it really boils down to is that if you continue doing the same things you will continue getting the same results. I've looked at some areas of my life that I've been trying to change and the only reason I fail is because I doggedly keep applying the same solutions instead of trying alternatives.

Anyway, what the article clearly brings out is that you can determine with a fair amount of accuracy where you'll be in a years time, simply based on your past activities!

Fitness goals - 05/05/2010

Started on my fitness goals in earnest. I blogged about the program I intend using here.

I have concluded that there might be an advantage in having a couple of 'before' shots taken so that I can visually monitor my progress over time. I'm not too comfortable posting photoes of myself up, but I figure there are more benefits then there are disadvantages.

One lovely boost to my training program was my gym subscriptions were halved. Yey to Everybodys gym! Two goals working in synergy i.e debt reduction and increased fitness!

Finances - 05/05/2010

Okay I've finally got down to completing an open office spreadsheet to act as both a budgeting as well as a debt reduction tool.

Projections for getting rid of ALL debt by the end of the year (May 2011) appear to be fully achievable and with a bit of discipline and following the game-plan set out within the spreadsheets I should be sorted assuming there are no major life changes.

Two events, my trip to Poland in July and my planned trip to Canada in October will affect my current plan, however, I'm confident the necessary adjustments will be made closer to the time.

Areas of focus (May)

Regular posts

Okay I've gone into the tank and thought about how I need to start tackling my life.

First things first, there are numerous works of literature out there praising the benefits of keeping a journal. As this blog is in actual fact a journal, the first thing I've decided is to write something at least once a week (though I will aim for once a day). By writing I feel I will be better able to explore my thoughts, experiment with new ideas and generally improve myself.

One thing I have to be conscious of is how to be 'public about my private thoughts' and yet remain private. As much as I want to share and help anyone benefit from my experiences (as well as benefit from theirs, for those who would be kind enough to leave comments) I do want to maintain a fair share of my privacy (I am after all quite a private person, more of an introvert that an extrovert!). I figure I shouldn't have any issues if I just blog on the general ideas and leave my personal specifics out, unless including them is absolutely necessary.

Choose 3 main areas to focus on
 
Based on an idea I picked up from my boss (relating to a totally different field). I've reviewed current issues in my life and from the list of issues generated have selected 3 areas to focus on this May. The areas are:

1. Finances
2. Health and Fitness
3. Study

The current state of my finances is diabolical. I have no idea whatsoever on what's going out, what's coming in how much I owe or how much is owed to me. This as you can imagine is a recipe for disaster! By the end of play this week I intend to sort out a clear budget to see where I stand. I will post on the process in the next few days.

With health and fitness, this was my first area of focus when I started this blog.  I will be continuing on the work started, but adding a bit more planning and focus.

I've been having issues with getting college assignments done and I feel it is simply due to not allocating adequate study time (both for actually completing the assignments as well as actual learning the material presented!). Over the coming days I intend coming up with a workable plan to ensure I get the assignments done on time and of as high a stanadard as possible.

So once again, I'm back to the drawing board to plan on the best way of tackling the above 3 issues!

I'm back

So, I've been browsing the web and have realised that I haven't posted for quite a while. I'm really slipping.

Truth is I've been really pre-occupied the last few weeks. There've just been too many changes all happening at the same time. In the last few weeks I've had to contend with changes at work, changes at home and changes in my general social life.

Another problem is/was simply having nothing to write about. Even this post has been forced out. I couldn't even come out with a title! Anyway, I'm back, and hopefully on track.

My first objective is to clear up all clutter (both physical and mental) and come up with a clear plan on what it is I want to do going forward. So without much ado, I'm off to the drawing board!

A start - the gym

Okay so I bit the bullet and I'm back from the gym. As mentioned earlier, I'd decided I'd use the Stronglifts 5x5 program and start from the bottom and work my way up.

Ironically, just as I decided to put more effort into the gym I've been feeling 'under the weather'. I slept through most of yesterday (Sunday) due to feeling feverish and still felt a bit woosy and achy today.

Two things struck me immediatedely upon entering the gym:

1. The number of people present (gave myself the 11am-12noon slot)
2. The equipment I'd intended using was all occupied
3. I suddenly felt the itch to start off where I'd left off and dump the 5x5 program

So I loitered around for a few minutes deciding what to do and finally decided I'd just have to work my way around the fact that the equipment I needed was in use. My first workout plan involved squats (squat rack taken by one monster of a guy, geez the man must have been close on 7 foot tall), bench presses (all benches taken), incline rows, press ups and reverse crunches. As, I was starting light I figured there's be no need for the squat rack as the weight would be big enough to cause any problems, so I just loaded up an 'E' bar, found an empty space and got on with it! By the time I'd completed the bench was free, and from there on it was plain sailing.

On a different note, I'd forgotten how intimidating it can be returning to the gym. There were some real 'monsters' in there and I must admit I felt rather silly concentrating on form with light weights. Had actually chosen the 11am-12 slot with the opinion it would have the fewest attendance.

So how do I feel now? Really good! Am about to log my session into a spreadsheet followed by a light snack then hit the sack!

Bodyfat

Okay, was hoping I would get Ethan to sleep, so I could start on my masterplan to an improved life, but as fate would have it, just after he'd dosed off and I thought I could get on with planning a better life the lil' bugger decided he wasn't having any of it and he's now wide awake again. The story of my life!

Anyway, one facet of my life I've decided to start working on is my general physical fitness. My wife (Kinga) has continuosly been on my case as to why I keep paying my gym subscriptions when I never attend. My response as always is that I will be going and am just resting ;-). It has become obvious that if I don't make the effort, all those subs will simply be going on waste, so I've decided enough is enough. I'll not cancel the membership as she requests but instead I will start making use of it.

One of the first things I've done is first of all log my current stats so as to effectively trend my progress. The first thing I've done is attempt to get my bodyfat levels. I'm not sure of it's accuracy, but the first site I found for measuring bodyfat was http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home-body-fat-test-2774-143.html?ic=4004 which claims it's method is accurate and calculated my bodyfat percentage as 19.5%.

If the data on the site is anything to go by, my bodyfat level isn't too bad, considering the fattest person tested was at 55% and the average American was at 22%. Their table however puts 'African-Americans' at 12% bodyfat and considering I am of African descent, this means I fail in comparison. As you may then imagine, my target bodyfat percentage is 12%. I have no clue at present as to what rate I can comfortably reduce bodyfat, but I figure I should be able to accomplish my goal within 1/2 a year. (My cousin is getting married in October, so hopefully my goal should have been achieved by then).

Well, that's it for now, Ethan has decided it's time I refocus my attention on him, so till next time ta ta!

Hiya!

A big hello to all out there. I've been meaning to set up an online presence for a long time, but just never got round to doing it!

I was always waiting for inspiration, with the view that to start blogging I'd need something big to write about.

I've since come to the realisation that if I don't just 'bite the bullet' and get on with it this project will never take off. So here I am with my 10 month old son (Ethan) and with his help (he taps a few letters into the keyboard every few seconds, which I have to correct) have written my first post.

Things are a bit hectic at the moment, but rest assured, I will soon be posting a few more details on what direction this blog will take. in the meantime, thanks for visiting.