Posts filed under 'General'
Today is my third day working at a standing desk. I had originally thought I would stand for a couple of hours - until my laptop battery died - and then switch back to my desk.
That was five hours ago. I’m still standing, and I’ve gone to get my AC adapter for my laptop! I’ve only sat down today to eat lunch. I have to say I feel like my energy levels are much higher while standing, and it’s much easier to not let myself be distracted by sitting back and reading blogs and catching up on the news.
One thing I have noticed is that my back feel fine - there was some tightness in my lower back initially - but my feet don’t like standing on the hard floor. My office has thin carpet over concrete floors, so I need to go track down a rug or something with a little padding on which to stand.
June 2nd, 2008
I had an interesting thing happen today, someone used the contact form on this web site and asked me if I would be interested in selling a blog posting and/or a text link.
I’ve written in the past about building passive income streams, so I was interested to learn if the products or services this person wanted to promote would align with my own values for this site. I replied back and asked what they were selling.
The reply that came back was…payday loans.
They even prefaced their reply with, “I appreciate that your stance on our industry may be negative, but assure you that we are not out to editorialize or sway you in any way.”
Fair enough, we can agree to disagree on the “benefits” of payday loans, but what really made me stop and consider the state of paid-for-post blogging was this next sentence:
“To be frank, even a post about reasons to avoid payday loans would probably prove beneficial, while of course not vilifying our company in any way.”
Wow. They were offering me the perfect out, I could write a don’t-use-payday-loans post and still get paid - how could I say no?
Payday loans are a blight on the communities they’re in, and the fact they’re not illegal puzzles me (I know why, they spend a lot of cash lobbying for exclusions from usury laws). They put the people they purport to help into a cycle of near eternal-debt and the rates they charge are more than usurious. I don’t think it’s possible to over-vilify these companies!
I’m not naming companies or providing links, but their web site lists the APR on the loans at between 507% and 1304%. And that’s if you pay the loan in full when it’s due! If a “borrower” doesn’t pay the loan in full and makes minimum payments, the effective APR is even higher!
I certainly want to monetize my site and produce supplemental income, but I won’t do it at the expense of my beliefs and principals. What’s scary is that they would have been fine with a “negative” post, and I could have written this post and gotten paid for it. That seems to me a bit dishonest on everyone’s part; mine, the “advertiser’s”, and yours.
How about you? Is your conscience worth a little cash; even if you could “get away” with it?
January 28th, 2008
This is a unique article - a bit rant and a bit non-productivity - but I’ll try to bring it around to the purpose and mission of this site, but forgive me if it misses the mark.
Over the last few months I’ve been working hard to improve my frugality. I’ve never before been described as frugal or any other word approaching frugality. But back in the fall I just decided that too much of my money was going out the door on dumb things, and that I worked too hard to be stupid with my money.
So I’ve been evaluating how and where I spend money, and one of the things I decided to do was scale back the programming package I have with Dish Networks. With the writers on strike (and the sad state of TV in general) my wife and I haven’t been watching nearly as much TV, but we’ve been paying through the nose to have it!
So I logged on to my Dish Network account online to downgrade my programming. Simple.
At least I thought it would be simple until I couldn’t find a way to actually downgrade my programming, only ways to upgrade my programming (and spend more money)!
I called Dish Network’s customer service number and navigated through their automated system. I punched in #2 to “change my programming” and listened as it asked me to dial various numbers to upgrade to “Americas’ everything-pack” or “Dish Latino”. Upgrade, upgrade, upgrade - not an option anywhere to downgrade. I was aggravated. So I dialed zero to see if it would connect me to an operator, but it told me it wasn’t a valid option!
Not only could I not downgrade my package, I couldn’t even get to an operator for help! I hung up and called back (and was again greeted and told I was “one of Dish Network’s most valuable customers“) and started hammering the zero key; eventually I was connected to a service rep.
She was in an Indian call center (or a call center that only employed Indians) and told me her name was “Sally”, and asked how she could assist me. I told her I was trying to downgrade my service to save a little money each month, and I couldn’t figure out how to do it either online or on their automated call center. She told me it was only possible to downgrade service with a live customer service agent, so I asked her to please downgrade my package.
She said she was happy to help, and notified me there would be a $5 fee to downgrade my service!
I asked her if there was a $5 fee to UPGRADE my service and she assured me there wasn’t. So I said, “I don’t want to pay the $5 fee to downgrade, I’m trying to save so money each month, but I want to keep some of my satellite services.”
She then told me that there was no exception to the $5 fee on downgrading services.
So I asked to “please” speak to a manager or supervisor. She re-iterated the $5 fee was non-negotiable.
I demanded to speak to a supervisor and she folded and told me she would make a one-time-only-never-ask-again exception and waive the $5 fee.
So at the end of it all I accomplished what I set out to accomplish, but Dish Network why are you making it so difficult for customers really manage their account? See - the thing is I really like the service I get and I recommend Dish Network to a lot of my colleagues, co-workers, and friends. But when trying to do something simple like downgrading my service - and it being such a pain in the heiny - I really question if I should even keep the service at all!
Shame on you Dish for not really taking care of your customers. You were inches away from losing a customer entirely. And the next time I have to argue with a CSR to make a change to my account you probably will lose a customer.
Corporate America - why are you letting customer service just go down the toilet? Sure - there are a lot of sub-par companies out there who don’t care about service, but why are even the “good ones” starting to suck now? Please re-evaluate your policies and views and attitudes towards customers and customer service because if you don’t, one of these days (and I believe it’s coming sooner rather than later) you’ll see a major backlash by your customers.
January 11th, 2008
A co-worker and I were recently talking movies. Specifically what we had coming from Netflix. I mentioned a few movies he wasn’t familiar with and he asked if I knew of any way to “share” my Netflix queue so he could see it too.
I said I didn’t, so we logged into my account to see what options were available. It was then when I noticed the “Community” button where I was able to invite my friend, and we could see each others’ queues. Very cool.
So if you’re curious what I’ve watched, or am getting ready to watch click over and become my Netflix friend.
I’m always into seeing new movies, and would love to see what you’re watching too. Sure, it’s not a tip that will boost your productivity into the stratosphere, but taking a break every now and then to watch a movie is sure good for your creativity. At least that’s what I keep telling myself!
October 25th, 2007
If you’ve been intermittently successful getting to the SuccessMinders.com of late, it may be because you’re using the new Microsoft web browser, IE7.
It was recently brought to my attention that the web site would not load under IE7 - displaying the message Internet Explorer cannot display the web page and recommending you check your network settings.
The problem - which has now been corrected - resided in a WordPress module that apparently doesn’t play nicely with IE7.
Fortunately this plug-in was non-essential to the site or its back-end functionality, and I’ve disabled it until I can debug the root issue causing the site to appear to be offline under IE7.
Thank you reading - and if you’ve been using IE7 and missing the site, SuccessMinders is back!
January 17th, 2007
If you have a few minutes I encourage you to check out Erik Vossman’s site, “Can you become good at everything?” It’s an interesting collections of articles from one ambitious person - you really get a sense of excitement and passion about life in his writing.
I highly recommend reading about his personal battle against cancer; it’s a powerful story.
February 16th, 2006
Day 1: 2/7/06
I took my first power nap from 2:28pm - 2:48pm - the time seemed to slip by very quickly. At first I thought taking 20 minutes out of my day would feel like forever, but that wasn’t the case. The “nap” was over before it felt like any real time had slipped by.
I took this power nap while seated at my desk chair. On thing that struck me after it was over was how much tension I had been carrying in my shoulders and back. I felt like a lot of it had melted away and I felt much “looser” and less “knotted up.”
I was shocked at how deeply it felt I had gone. I almost felt as if I had actually been asleep for the 20 minutes, but to my knowledge I didn’t actually fall asleep at any time during the power nap.
I did the Pzizz “Energizer nap” with the voice guiding throughout the entire course of the session. While I did notice the voice while relaxing, now that I’ve been “awake” for 4 minutes (2:52pm) I am a bit fuzzy on what was said. It was there, but not in a distracting way. It was very soothing, warm and relaxing.
Update: It’s been an hour since my power nap and I notice that I feel a lot more invigorated this afternoon than usual. It is a placebo effect or a benefit of the power nap? Time will tell.
Day 2: 2/8/06
I took my power nap about an hour earlier than yesterday - I slept poorly last night and had been feeling groggy and a little “off” all morning. After my 20 minutes I felt better, and much more relaxed; it had been a stressful morning.
I came close to actually dozing off this time - I caught myself doing the head-bob that has plagued us all at one point in our life in a deathly boring meeting or class. But the nice thing was that I was able to let myself go and really settle down.
Near the end of my power nap the program brings you back out of your relaxed state and at this time - when the pattern of sounds changed - I felt a wash of energy and “buzzing” flow over me. It was a fairly abrupt switch, I was very near asleep, but I came right up and became alert almost instantly.
Afterwards I felt that “warm-all-over” feeling you get after a really good nap - you’re not 100% back in the real world yet, and you’re still perceiving things through a fuzz of rest and relaxation.
At this point I’m not ready to admit that all of this has been achieved by the Pzizz software program. It’s certainly relaxing and the music program is well scored and pleasant to listen to. Before my trial is over I will perform some control naps without using a Pzizz audio program to see if I achieve the same effect on my own.
I’m still surprised at how quickly the 20 minutes seemed to go by. Normally it feels like I can’t get 20 free minutes at work without some distraction, but during my nap the time just flew by and the building didn’t burn down without me being “in the mix” for 20 minutes.
Day 3: 2/9/06
I was a little later with my power nap today and it wasn’t as easy for me to get into. My mind didn’t want to settle down and I had several projects that I thought would interrupt my relaxation.
I think because of this today’s session was as relaxing as previous sessions. I felt more like I was forcing myself to do it than I wanted to do it. I do feel more refreshed and relaxed now - after my power nap - but it wasn’t as good as the past few days.
I did notice that today my mind wandered significantly more. Maybe it’s because I didn’t feel like I was a “deep” in my relaxation, but I had some extremely non-sequitor ideas ebb and flow throughout my power nap. The odd thing is that at the time they were vividly clear and I can recall thinking, “What an odd idea…” but just moments after my session I can’t clearly recall any of the ideas.
I’m wondering if this is a rare glimpse of my subconscious by my semi-conscious mind? If so, then I think the prudent thing to do is actively work on planting positive suggestions and see if that will lead to more easily (or effortlessly) setting positive habits.
Update: I feel more “fuzzy” this afternoon that I have the last few days. I don’t know if it’s because today’s power nap wasn’t as good - but I definitely notice a difference this afternoon.
Day 4: 2/10/06
I can say that taking 20 minutes out of my day to rest and relax does indeed make a difference in the way I feel. I’ve been so busy today that I didn’t make time to take my nap.
I could have forced the time out of the afternoon, but I let other issues take center stage. This is why making new habits is so difficult for so many people; when the pressure is on the potential to abandon new behaviors for old habits is strong.
In fact, as I sit here and write this I realize I need to go ahead and take my nap - I’m a little cranky and my eyes are stinging a bit. If I don’t make this habit stick, I’ll be upset with myself. I’ll be back in 20 minutes!
Update: Taking a break was just what the doctor ordered. I feel immensely more relaxed and refreshed. I can tell that my breathing is more even and my eyes aren’t stinging at all now.
Day 5: 2/11/06
I’ve been reading some resources on self-hypnosis and autosuggestion.
I’ve decided that I want to enhance my goal-seeking habits through autosuggestion. I have no problem setting goals - I like the energy that’s involved in creating an idea. I tend to stumble in the details of achieving all my goals. I have to constantly remind myself to review my goals.
I’ve found some “scripts” online that detail with autosuggestion for goals, and I’ve modified it for myself. Here is the script I’m going to try out:
I am self-confident and I consistently accomplish my goals. I am surrounded by potential opportunities, and I can accomplish any to which I set my mind.
My only limitation is my imagination and I now let my imagination go free. I am crystal-clear about what I want out of life.
I easily and effortlessly review my goals on a daily basis, and adjust my life as needed to achieve my goals. I stick with my goals until I have achieved them.
I allow only positive and winning thoughts to flow through my mind. I am filled with optimism and enthusiasm and I strive to be an inspiration to others in my life.
I’ve tried to keep my script fairly short so I can spend time reflecting on it without having to much to cram into my mind or memorize.
Update: Keeping my script held in my mind proved more difficult than I thought it would. I felt like I didn’t really keep it focused, but part of the power of autosuggestion and self-hypnosis is that you are programming your subconscious mind - time will tell if this does indeed work.
Since today is a Saturday, it was already going at a more relaxed pace than a normal weekday would for me. So after my nap I felt extremely refreshed. I could have used an extra 20 minutes!
So far I’ve been happy with the results I’ve had over the last five days - forcing myself to take time out of my day exclusively for myself to rest and relax has made me feel much more productive and stress-free during the day.
I’ve been using the Pzizz software program during my power naps - and so far I’ve been happy with the results. But I’m not ready to admit that it’s a must-have piece to getting a refreshing and relaxing power nap experience. I’m going to have to try some control experiments and see if the experience is the same.
Next week I will continue to take power naps during the day, but I will use no audio program and I will use a CD I have of relaxing nature sounds. I’m curious to see if I get the same level of relaxation and refreshment.
February 13th, 2006
It occurs to me - after posting about a specific product related to power napping - that you have no earthly way of knowing if I’m a shill for any service or product providers.
It’s a problem that the entire Internet is struggling with; who is legitimately posting about their experience with a product or service, and who is paid to post about products and services?
Other than the articles I write here at this web site, you don’t know me from Adam. Hopefully you’ve received good value from these articles, that’s my hope anyway.
About the only thing I can offer is this pledge to you, my reader: I will always disclose any relationship with any company about whose products or services appear on this web site. If I’m reviewing a “freebie” product I will disclose that fact beforehand (yes, I’ve been given “freebies” to review for my opinion on this web site; no, those articles have not been written yet).
I believe that you should be able to read an un-biased (or biased if I love the product) review and know that I’m writing it because I found the product or service really useful.
February 11th, 2006
I’m very happy to announce a new resource here on SuccessMinders - our own development and achievement newsletter. It’s full of information and encouragement to help you set goals, get motivated, build positive habits, grow your productivity and help you find your ultimate goal in life.
If you like the content here at SuccessMinders, please consider signing up (you can do so in the section “Newsletter” at the right).
It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s FREE and my promise to you is that I will never share or sell your information, it will be kept strictly confidential. You can un-subscribe any any time, right from the newsletter, with no hassles.
If you’re looking to add an on-line newsletter or mailing list service to your own web site, I suggest you check out Lumasis.com and ask Jamie about his new service, EZQuickList. He’s a dear friend of mine and will provide you with an excellent service at a great price.
January 26th, 2006
