I’m calling it quits for a half-year on this blog. Back on July 1, maybe … Hit me up on Twitter @robertcollings if you want to connect or shoot the breeze. Ciao for now and keep well.
UPDATE: I’ll post pix of my culinary expeditions on my Tumblr.
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Review: my Year With No Beer #ywnb
In late 2010 I set myself the challenge of not consuming alcohol during 2011. I’m chuffed to say that I achieved my goal. Perhaps importantly it was easier than I had expected—which means anyone can do it!
I hope the following outcomes from my experience will inspire you if you’re thinking about meaningful change in the New Year:
- My physical health improved. (I didn’t have a single day of unwellness during 2011.)
- I experienced significantly improved mental health. (Any self-doubt I had is completely gone and I’m plain and simply happier.)
- And lastly in a nod to Seth Godin, I became significantly more focused and I now ‘ship’ without fail.
My hope is that if you’re experiencing any unwellness, or perhaps if you haven’t achieved the things you wanted to achieve in your life, that you’ll take inspiration from my Year With No Beer and give it a go in 2012.
Hit me up on Twitter @robertcollings if you want to chat about your #YWNB. I’m doing it again.
On the Maron/Lefsetz emails
The title of this post could easily have been “Lefsetz doesn’t get he’s the problem”. First up, read this email exchange between blogger Bob Lefsetz and comedian and podcaster Marc Maron.
If you don’t have time to read: Maron offers 50 of the latest podcasts for free and a paid archive via an iTunes app and in-app subscription. Lefsetz linked to a paid archive interview, Marc let Lefsetz know and Lefsetz went off on his ‘recordings should be free, it’s about exposure, make up the money on the stage’ rant.
What Bob doesn’t seem to understand is that the reason some of his readers won’t pay to listen to Maron’s podcasts has less to do with Marc’s business model and speaks more to his authenticity as a tastemaker, or possible lack thereof. Interestingly Marc suggested that his business has never been better.
I believe it’s important as an analyst to live one’s assessments as much as is humanly possible, otherwise we’re no better than a clanging gong. And people get hurt …
How to live each day like it’s your last
We’ll often hear motivational speakers, self-accredited gurus and even the odd spiritual leader say that we need to live each day like it’s our last. But what does that really mean?
I think I have an answer, for me anyhow.
The obvious response is that we’d live our life doing what’s important to us, whether it’s giving those we love a big hug, or sitting on a beach, or partying like there’s no tomorrow. But I don’t think that’s it, not the least because it’s unsustainable whichever way we look at it.
For me living each day like our last is to constantly ask ourselves, “if this was my last day on Earth, would I be doing ‘this’ (insert action, thought, etc) at this very moment?”
Would I be watching TV? Playing games on the cellphone? Chatting aimlessly on Skype? Avoiding doing the work that needs to be done? Treating myself and/or others like shite? Writing this blog that almost no-one reads …
Whatever the answer I can guarantee that for most people there is a lot of stuff in their life that doesn’t need to be there.
So if you’re not achieving the things you know you can (or really want to), perhaps it’s time to work out what’s in and what’s out?
Using technical proficiency as an excuse for not shipping
In another exemplary post today (Self truth (and the best violinist in the world)) Seth Godin today considered a frequent failing of many who use technical proficiency, or lack thereof, as an excuse for not shipping. He wrote:
The quest for technical best is a form of hiding. You can hide from the marketplace because you’re still practicing your technique. And you can hide from the hard work of real art and real connection because you decide that success lies in being the best technically.
Sadly Seth’s post resonated and I know exactly what he’s talking about. What I have learned is that for those of us who hide behind perfectionism, if we can build something to even 70% of what we consider acceptable, it’s probably so far ahead of what most people consider okay that it’s quite safe to let go.
Expectations
Two posts on expectations in the past week or so interested me. One from Seth Godin, The paradox of expectations, and the other from soprano and author Lisa Bell, 1% expectation.
Godin argues:
Low expectations are often a self-fulfilling prophecy… High expectations, on the other hand, will inevitably lead to disappointment… Perhaps it’s worth considering no expectations. Intense effort followed by an acceptance of what you get in return.
Bell writes:
Imagine if we only expected one per cent change in effort from our children daily. Only one per cent change in effort from our partners when they walk through the door at the end of a hard day… Would it immediately take away the unnecessary, unrealistic stress that we place on our family life to expect 110% from everyone on everything 365 days of the year?
Godin suggests that in our work we abandon expectations entirely to focus on the work itself, entirely. While Bell, taking a view on interpersonal relationships, asks us to change our expectations of others, which invariably means we need to change the expectations we place upon ourselves.
Would freeing ourselves from expectation, working hard and accepting that things are as they are, profoundly and positively impact most people’s lives?
The dichotomy, if there is one, is that this doesn’t mean we abandon planning or move through our life without a vision. But there is clearly a difference between living life in the present and not.
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