Welcome to Sweet Shit Saturday #002, where we kick back and relax a bit. You and me, just chillin, hangin out. Cuppa tea maybe?
This past week was Songkran, celebration of Thai New Year. In Chiang Mai it’s essentially a 5 day water fight. On the one hand, this is awesome. On the other hand, if you just want to go get some food, it can be a challenge. :)
Speaking of food, the 2 veg restaurants by my apartment closed during the Festival, so I had to sneak around Ninja Gajda(n) style if I didn’t want to get soaked. It’s 100F/38C outside so it wasn’t really an issue because, for the most part, I did want to get soaked. :)
In other news: my 7 day no facebook/twitter trial went well. I didn’t get much more done than any other week, but it was Songkran, and who knows if I’ll ever be in Thailand for that again.
To be honest, after stepping away, I’m beginning to realize Facebook/Twitter are almost complete wastes of time. I was talking with a friend a few days ago who had a huge following on Twitter. ~25,000 followers. These were legit followers too since he wasn’t following many people. One day a month or so ago he up and deleted his account and he says it’s one of the best things he’s ever done.
Here’s the thing: Most of the bigger Twitter users (sometimes only bigger in their heads) ignore everybody (one-way communication; they don’t give a shit about you) and everybody else I connect with on twitter I probably already connect with outside of twitter in some way.
From here on out I’m going to drastically cut down on Twitter usage. I’ll login once or twice per day for 5 or 10 minutes, and see how that works. Most of that time will be spent replying to @KarolGajda public or direct messages and reading the first page of my twitter feed (20 Tweets). If you want to keep me busy for those 5 or 10 minutes I’m here: twitter.com/KarolGajda
I’m shutting out Facebook even more. I probably won’t login unless somebody sends me a message or in case I need to contact somebody and for some reason don’t have their e-mail/phone #.
My next 7 day trial, which is going to be my most difficult of all: cut down on checking e-mail. I’m going to timebox my e-mail twice/day. I think 20 minute timeboxes will be sufficient, and I will find out soon enough.
On to the sweet shit!
(all links open in a new tab/window)
15 Time Boxing Strategies To Get Things Done by Luciano Passuello
You know I wasn’t going to leave you hanging. This is a great article on timeboxing and if you’re looking to be a little more productive it’s worth a read.
Stuff and Happiness by Abhishek Mukherjee
“It is simple to be happy but so difficult to be simple.” Profound. If you liked that you’ll like the rest of the article.
Don’t Read This Blog If You Want To Be Ordinary by Everett Bogue
This was Everett’s own Finding Your Right People. Much like me, he discovered that his readership actually went UP after posting it. Funny, and awesome, how that stuff happens.
How To Turn Weaknesses Into Strengths by Srinivas Rao (on Jeffrey Tang’s ArtofGreatThings.com)
I’ve been doing an informal study for most of my adult life and I’ve found that 90% of entrepreneurial people are ADHD. Srini explains how to turn what you think are weaknesses (such as ADHD) into strengths.
Interview with Jeffrey Tang on BlogCastFM
Jeffrey (ArtOfGreatThings.com) and I did the inaugural A List Blogging Bootcamp (<– case study I wrote) together last August and since then both of our blogs have gone on to show nice signs of life. :) In this interview Jeffrey talks about too much good stuff for me to give a decent summary so you’ll just have to check out the greatness for yourself.
How To Add 10 Years To Your Life: The Do’s and Don’ts by The Daily Minder (top secret Mr X!)
I don’t know who The Daily Minder is. If I did I would shake his or her hand. This is a great article.
One Month Into My New Anywhere Lifestyle by John Bardos
I know exactly where John is coming from when he states: “I hate being in a constant state of movement and always rushing to the next destination.” I’ve already stated my feelings on that topic a few times so I won’t go into it again, but read this article for John’s take on it.
That’s it for this week. Comments/questions/wanna get married? You know what to do …
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P.S. My apologies to Ally Beal for calling her Abby on Twitter. It was my first timebox on twitter and I guess I was a little rushed. But no excuses. There is nothing worse than calling someone by a name that is not theirs. :)