Great stories from SXSW 2011!

Ever felt the urge to do something crazy? To start a ball rolling that you might not be able to stop? (Assuming you’d want to stop it.)

Then check this out. It’s a collection of 50 stories from SXSW 2011, the people behind the stories, and the crazy (and pretty cool!) balls they started rolling.

Mighty encouraging.

I’d never heard of SXSW until last week. Guess I read the wrong newspapers.

Oops . . . . . .

(Just kidding, I rarely read a newspaper.)

Anyway, have a peek at it, and leave a comment to let me know what you think. Personally, I’m thrilled that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in so many forms. Long may it continue . . . .

Living standards to improve, as things get better!

On my way to the office this morning, barely a hour ago, I detoured via the coffee shop, as any self-respecting engineer would. Morning Mel!  A latte please.

On the newspaper rack was the Telegraph. I haven’t bought a newspaper in nearly a decade, but I always eye the headlines while Mel’s steaming my caffeine fix. This headline said, in big 72-pt font letters

Standard of living to plunge, says Bank governor.

And the thought, the very first thought that crossed my mind was, Not if Idon’t let it happen.

I find that headline irresponsible. It feeds people’s innate fears, which say, Bad things are going to happen to me that I can do nothing about. Life is going to get worse, and I’ll have to take it on the chin.

Hogwash.

Only if I think it will get worse. Only if I let it.

Attitude. Think proactive. Make tough plans. Act. Things will get better.

11 months, and all’s well . . . . I think . . .

My my, time’s been a-flitting. Eleven months since my last post. I started this thing with the greatest of intentions. Sigh. The road to hell, and all that . . . . . .

(Insert several moments of introspection and navel-gazing.)

Perhaps it’s the time of day, er, night, as I write this (post-9 pm), but as I reflect over the last 11 months, my dominant emotions is frustration. Mainly with myself, though not exclusively.

A year ago, I had just taken several deliberate steps towards a change of lifestyle, and workstyle. I quit my permanent job, and went freelance. I got a Twitter account, and started tweeting. (Check me out.) My first contract went very well, then I ditched it after three months for an even better-paying one, closer to home so there’d be no more long overnight commutes. I started this blog. I started telling people I was going to get into internet marketing.

A year on, and where am I? No blog posts in 11 months. No tweets for almost as many months. Still no money-making websites. Somehow I got lost in the doldrums again. (Remember Milo in The Phantom Tollbooth?)

Perhaps my expectations were just the foolish ones of a teenager who thinks he has the world by the tail, and all his plans will just . . . . . . happen. Whatever. Having taken the plunge, I took my foot off the accelerator a bit. The result was, acceleration stopped. Surprise, surprise.

But I think also, I am suffering from having allowed myself to be institutionalised for 40+ years. Coming from a family of scientists and civil servants, I have had few role models of self-advancement. I joined a profession (engineering) that is often given to self-deprecation. And I spent the last ten years working in an corporate environment (let’s be honest) where mediocrity was the valued norm (and was rewarded accordingly, which would be mediocrely). I am an institutionalisee. Ditching the habit of a lifetime happens about as quickly and turning around a large passenger liner (iceberg or no iceberg). Becoming free is easier than staying free.

So a year on, I am depressing the gas pedal again. I am tweeting semi-regularly. You see this blog post. I am wrapping up my last contract, and have already begun a new one. I’ve signed up to a membership site (NicheProfitClassroom) that teaches how to create and market eBooks. And I’ve begun the (painfully slow) process of creating that first internet marketing website, the first of many I intend. And I’ve read, and am now re-reading (albeit now the second edition) of Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek, which is one of the most inspiring and hope-giving books I’ve read in a while. (I also have some reservations about it, but that’s another post.) He has a great line in the book: “Dude, are you turning into the bald fat man in the red BMW convertible?” (Representing the stereotypical man atop the corporate ladder against the wrong wall.)

So here’s the invitation: If any of you see no posts for a while, any evidence that I’m losing the edge, any hint of a red BMW in my driveway, do me a favour: Post a comment below to set me straight. It need only say, “Dude . . . . . ”

I’ll get the message.