I’m not sure what your motives are for blogging, but if you simply want to increase traffic to your site you can follow the steps below.
Now people who are trying to increase traffic on their blog will Google and visit your blog. Thanks for stopping by.
There are tons of books out there that I want to read. Any time I go into a bookstore, or read someone’s blog, I have another 2-3 books to add to my “to read” list. Right now I have about 15 books sitting on my shelf waiting for me to engage them. The two primary problems with reading all that I want, are that books are expensive and that it takes a lot of time to read (for me).
One of the ways I cut down on my reading list and save some cash, is by attending, what Zig Ziglar calls, “Windshield University”. At Windshield U, you take advantage of your driving time by listening to audio books, roundtable discussions, or lectures & sermons. For example, I borrowed the book Honors Reward from a friend. Then Wednesday, before I spent two hours on the road, I thought that I may be able to find a free podcast/audio file of the book online. And sure enough I went to the author’s website and found a 3 part sermon he had delivered on the topic. So I download the files to my MP3 player and before I was home yesterday I had one book marked off my list!
Most writers/speakers don’t waste motion with their work. Often sermons are turned into books, and books are turned into sermons. So the next time you are tempted to buy a book on Amazon or borrow yet another book for your list, look for audio podcast by the same title and author. Sure you’ll still want to read the best books, but free audio downloads could save you both time and money.
I just finished the 4-Hour Workweek (Thanks for the book RR) and it was a very interesting read. My motives in reading the book were not to create automated income (though that would be nice), but to explore Timothy Ferriss’ ideas on Lifestyle Design (LD). Basically his thesis is that there is a segment of the population that is emerging as the New Rich (NR). Because of technology the NR can create/find jobs that allow them to work from anywhere in the world and require less of their time than a traditional job. While the book is not distinctly Christian, his insights into prioritizing life can be useful for anyone who desires a mid-course correction.
In one section of the book, he exposes how most of us get into a Work-4-Work sake mentality. When we get into this mode (most Americans) we fall to engage in the things that are most meaningful to us. I really enjoyed this quote below,
John I’d love to talk about the gaping void I feel in m life, the hopelessness that hits me like a punch in the eye ever time I start my computer in the mornings, but I have so much work to do! I’ve got at least three ours of unimportant e-mail to reply to before calling the prospects who said ‘no’ yesterday. Gotta run!”
I also love his ideas concerning a low-information diet (now if I could just implement them). This book will motivate you to look away from the 1000 trivial distractions that come at you every day, and look to the things that will mean the most to you at the end of your days. Check out his blog here.
I’ve been utilizing David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) work-life management principles for the last two years. The primarily philosophy of this system has to do with getting everything out of your mind and into a system that allows you to set actionable on all of your thoughts. It can be a pen and paper based system, or a digital device. A few weeks back I noticed that I could enter an email address in for a contact in my cell phone. After a few test I realized I could send a text message to any email address via my cell phone. {No I do not have an I Phone!}
So I created two contacts; one call “NOTES Work” and the other “NOTES Home”. I assigned each of them the corresponding email address. (Note you may need to assign a dummy phone number in order to be able to add the email address). Now when I’m “running around” and have one of my ADD brain blurbs, I can send myself a text and it will be waiting for me (in my email inbox) when I get back to my office. You can also use this system when others ask things of you. Stop trying to remember it all and send it on ahead, to yourself. Then when you get back in the office (or home) you’ll be reminded of it and can Get It Done. It’s kind-of like having virtual sticky notes.
OK if you are not responsible for buying eye glasses for you or someone else, you may skip this one. Man do I have a deal for you! A few weeks ago I read a blog on 43folders about purchasing prescription eye glasses online. After reading the article I knew I would be needing a new pair soon since my old ones were getting scratched-up so I thought I’d try it.
Quick Background: When I was a kid I was a pretty decent baseball player. However, the older I got the worse I got at hitting. In high school I played left field but I could not, as the old saying goes, “hit a bull in the butt with a base fiddle.” (Looks funny typed out) Anyway after going 1 for 40 my senior year I decided to get an eye exam and they confirmed my suspicion. I could not see or at least that is what I still blame it on.
Last week I went online and entered my prescription. You’ll need to get an updated one if you haven’t had one in the last two years. The only other number I had to enter was my pupil distance in millimeters. I printed a millimeter ruler that I found on the web and had JJ stand arms length away (this is what they suggest) and measure the distance. I placed my order and about 5 days later I received these new rimless glasses pictured above. Here is the best news of all I paid $66 for these glasses and they are as good, if not better, quality than the last one’s I purchased last year for $286! So as I “see it” I saved a smooth $220! So if you need glasses I highly recommend ordering them online and removing the middle man. There are several of these eye glass stores online, but I ordered mine from www.eyebuydirect.com.
