Music Monday :: Saul WIlliams "Patience"

Since I've found it difficult to update recently, this Music Monday will have a bit more substance than some of the previous, hooray!

Without further ado, here is "Patience."



I'm such a Saul Williams groupie. I haven't found one thing he's touched that I don't like. I aspire to be like him. And I absolutely love his new album, Volcanic Sunlight. True to the rumors, it IS different than what he's done in the past, but IMO what he does just keeps getting better. His older songs age well. Just. AWESOMENESS.

Lots of words go here about the song, but I don't have time to form them into coherent text.

"It's getting harder to maintain"

My favorite post on Technicolor Typecast so far is How to Be Successful in Five Easy Steps (Or at Least a Pretty Good Cosplayer). I mean, it's so problogger-y. (I guess. I don't really know much about problogger.) Its so awesome, that I inspired myself when I wrote it.  Still not sure if its the best advice though. Gimme a break, I'm shooting from the hip, here.

I realized it directly conflicts with awesome truth/transparency. Which I try to value and uphold. But I also value finding yourself, and doing what makes you happy. Sometimes it seems like sticking to 100% truthiness is contraindicated to grabbing life by its balls and living, doing what your soul tells you is right. Not that I'm saying you should lie. But, for example, for someone like me with social anxiety, I'm tempted to just create a temporary alter-ego in order to get used to talking to people. Telling the truth, if you're not a good storyteller, has a tendency to be boring, and if you're talking to an acquaintance or a stranger... I don't know. Perhaps white lies and exaggerations and completely made up shenanigans could come in handy.

Also let me mention Sam Spurlin, and something he said on Twitter that resonated with me. Actually the internet is really unreliable at this place, so no exact quote will be given. But it was something about finding your passion... people (like me) who are uncertain of their passions tend to look inward to find their passion, however, you might be more successful if you create your own passion. Get out there and do stuff that sounds fun, and who knows, maybe you'll end up being passionate about it.

Well, I don't remember exactly where I was going with this whole post and I must be going soon. Somehow this is all related to this poem from Maya Angelou that I strongly identify with. So, hmm.



My conclusion is to be reached in the future. Draw your own conclusions. I keep trying to oversimplify these things. Or perhaps they are simple and I'm complicating them. Or maybe things just are, and they will be what they will be regardless of how anyone will label them.

Fo the chillins, yo.

How To Be Successful in Five Easy Steps (Or At Least A Pretty Good Cosplayer)

NUMBER ONE 
Pick Your Persona

What's your version of the ultimate person? How do you envision yourself in your dreams? Take some time and think about it. Don't worry about whether or not it's possible or affordable. Just allow your imagination to do the work.

NUMBER TWO 
Pretend

At first, just play with your imagination. Envision yourself as that ultimate person - how epic it is, how awesome it feels.

NUMBER THREE
Imitate 

Next just carry yourself as if you are that person. Reptile doesn't have horrible posture. Goddesses aren't going to take shit from peasants and they deserve respect. Girls from Command & Conquer (I'm guessing?) don't eat at McDonald's or sit on their ass all day. Chances are the persona you picked has at least some self-control: Use that to help motivate yourself - whether it's some sort of training or keeping yourself from "just one more."

NUMBER FOUR
Refine 

This can take as much time as you want it to. The more time you spend, the more successful you're likely to be. But don't get too caught up in perfection. Just play. Don't give up your day job (or your "day persona") just yet.  Get support from your friends, strangers on the internet, or groups in your area.

NUMBER FIVE
Take Off Your Mask

With all the hard work and dedication you've been putting into your persona, you can slip into it easily. No longer is this persona separate from the real you - they never were. This ultimate human being has always been a part of you - you just brought it out. Take off the "unsuccessful self" mask. You are now who you've always wanted to be.


-

Every Day I'm Hustlin'

Katt Williams Stand-Up - Every Day I'm Hustlin'

So, I think the decision to make blog(s) was a pretty fuckin good (PFG) idea. I'm constantly sprouting with ideas of blog posts... oh, if only I could just get them all out onto the screen. I'm not having a hard time writing, I'm having a hard time finding time to write.

Every day, man. Every day.

I slacked on this blog yesterday. But to my credit, I did make a post on the other:  How TV Ruined Your Life.

For some reason, I didn't really think blogging would be a part-time job, LOL. If I want to be successful at it, however, it IS. Especially with me being a bit of a perfectionist. It's a good opportunity to hone my skills though -- realize that getting something done with flaws is better than not getting anything done at all. The world moves too fast to be perfect. Ideas spread like wildfire. I love being on the cusp of things. And I love being part of it.

On having a successful blog/living your passion, I read a couple of articles and watched a couple of videos today. I'm excited to share them!!!

I've been reading a lot about finance and entrepreneurship (holy fuck, I spelled that right, first try), despite my marked disinterest in becoming rich and powerful. These people don't just share mindless drivel about dollar signs, surprisingly... although they do talk some. I think the insight that I find is worth sifting through the (shockingly few) superiority complexes.

Fred is a venture capitalist in NYC, and recently in his blog he shared a little personal story on how Risk and Reward are Not Obvious (a commenter or two suggested the title should have read: Follow Your Heart, Not the Money!) It's a pretty good post, but the real gold is in the comments. I'm just going to share some of the stuff I liked:

Alex shared a quote:

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."
-Confucius

JLM says:

One of the most exciting things about life is the myriad of choices and interesting things one can invest their own time and capital in.I think we all have 5-7 "careers" in us if we are willing to follow our instincts and roll the dice.This is enhanced by the further opportunity to do if for others, or to do it with others or to do it on your own. It is further flavored by whether you are single, married or have a family. This is a huge impact on how we view the world. Each phase of our lives can be new, refreshing, energizing and rewarding.

Charlie Crystle says:

If you do what you love, risk becomes palatable. What hasn't been palatable to me is working on someone else's vision or passion, despite the offers and opportunities, even though that would make parts of life a lot smoother. I've become passionate about reducing noise in daily life, and the reward is the daily progress and knowledge that I'll help people in some way through the work.

Matthew A. Myers points out:

Money's just a concept. Money is just people's time. :)

LIAD exquisitely puts it:

No-one on their death bed ever wished they had chosen to earn more money at the expense of a more meaningful and fulfilling life.

FAKE GRIMLOCK (the giant robot dinosaur) is rather insightful:

DO WHAT YOU LOVE SMART. UNLESS YOU LOVE SIT ON COUCH. THEN JOB YOU HATE BETTER OPTION.

Fooducate quoted a Robert Frost poem:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

bwertz says:

I always thought that the best way to take decision was to follow your passion and do what you really wanted to do - the monetary aspect usually follows.

Another fantastic quote from Pascal Emmanuel-Gobry:

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." -- Douglas Adams (of Hitchhiker's Guide fame)

There are many other great comments, but I'm going to end with the video that pankaj013 shared: Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Speech. Whatever your feelings on Steve Jobs, he didn't even graduate college, and he's speaking to STANFORD graduates. Wow. It's pretty funny how he basically tells them they have wasted so much time already, lol. Great speech, though... especially the first 5 minutes.

Feels Bad, Man

My son is the worst player on his basketball team.

He played his first game today, and he just doesn't get it. He's only 7 years old, so it's not that big of a deal. Our car broke down a couple weeks ago (Of course it was FINE until it was time to take him to his second practice and then it wouldn't start), and we didn't get it fixed until after his third basketball practice, which he also missed.

Then it was time for game 1, and we had just gotten our car back from the shop. Obviously he didn't play, but I did take him to at least see his team members again and watch how a game works. I don't think he's really ever watched a basketball game before(!). The coaches had already forgotten who he was, and then when I took him to practice last Wednesday, the coaches still didn't remember him. *sigh*

Practice on Wednesday was horrible. Well, the drills went okay. But when they played a practice game, he didn't seem to even really know they were playing a game. When they had to run to the other side of the court, he would slide on his knees, every time. *facepalm*

Part of his difficulty, aside from missing 2 practices and a game, is that he's homeschooled.  Technically unschooled. Meaning he learns what he wants, when he wants. It's not structured, AT ALL. (I mean, unless he asks us for it to be.) Usually I think of a basketball team full of 7-year-olds to not be very structured at all -- and his team isn't, especially compared to the other 2 teams they have played -- but it's still WAY more structured than anything he's done since he went to Montessori School when he was 3.

We were totally not anticipating that.

Since we are strange parents, I mean, we are unschooling, we believe there is a lot to be learned from video games. So we ran out and got NBA 2K11. We saw it had great reviews, so perfect! He's only got to play it once before his game today... and when you don't know sports very well, the sports games these days are a little overwhelming. *sigh* He plays Starcraft though, so I know he can figure it out. We just don't have a lot of time, and I certainly don't want to push him too hard and make him hate basketball. Because basketball is awesome.

I'll grab some basketball videos for him to watch and have him play NBA 2K11 some more (playing video games is something usually reserved as huge prizes, so he should be a little excited, I hope) and hopefully we have time to play with him without getting too frustrated.

This is on top of all sorts of other random stressful things that have been occurring in the past couple of weeks, and I'm starting to question whether or not I'm doing things "right." Maybe unschooling isn't the best idea, maybe I should keep my job, maybe I can't do any of it....

Everyone has those types of thoughts, I know I'm not alone.
What do you do to get yourself out of a rut?

Today, I'm going to watch one of my favorite Alan Watts videos. I freaking love Alan Watts- listening to recordings of him or reading his books usually instantly makes me feel better. This short little cartoon is produced by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. =D



I feel better already. =)

So what is my passion?

I keep talking about how I've found my passion in life and, unbeknownst to me, I've been doing it all along! But I haven't told you what it is.

Why?

Well, it's difficult to explain. My passion hasn't turned out to be so cookie-cutter. I don't mean "cookie-cutter"  in a bad way, I mean it just wasn't so clear. Like knitting, or rebuilding muscle cars, or cultivating mushrooms to save the world (although those all sound like fun!).

I suppose the most simple way to put it - my passion is being myself.

Let's go back to that quote that I keep mentioning and break it down:
"I've been so busy doing what I really want to do that I don't have time for what I think I want to do."

The whole time that I was searching for my passion in life, I thought it was going to be another mask I'd have to wear. Like, The Knitter or The eBay Seller or The Organizer. It's the thing I thought I'd want to do, that I needed to prepare for. I figured I'd have to be 100% proficient in whatever it was that I picked before I could make a profit.

And sure, that's how the world works, right? You go to college to become proficient in what you want to do with your life, so you can make money! I knew I didn't want to go the college route, though. It's so rigid, and I've always known passion was fiery and unpredictable; often, forcing yourself to enjoy your passion will just squelch the fire.

That's the brick wall I kept running into. How am I supposed to force myself to stick to my passion long enough to make a profit if I know that the act of forcing it will likely just make it a chore, just like any other job?

The thing is, I think... if you really want to be successful in doing what you love, you gotta have faith.

And I'm not talking about religion. I'm talking about faith in yourself. Faith that you can make it. Faith that everything will be okay. That's something I think our society is lacking in these days. Everyone is so afraid that they will fail or they won't be good enough. The thing is - all of the people who have made themselves successful - they felt that fear, too. But they didn't let fear control the decisions they made, and they didn't let fear keep them in a cubicle.

And that's what I'm striving for. My passion is all the things I've mentioned. It's being an incredible mom. It's being a magnificent partner. It's unschooling. It's simplifying. It's learning new things. Tasting new tastes. Testing new ideas. Nourishment. Taking care of myself and taking care of others. There's an endless, ever-changing list! Not just one thing.

My passion is so many things all at once. They are all me. This whole time, all I needed to do was just be myself.

How merely being myself is going to help me quit my job is something I haven't quite figured out yet! I suppose that will be my leap of faith once I've put together an adequate safety net - enough money for my family to get by for 3 months. That's about $2,500 for our family of 4. Luckily, I'm not interested in getting rich, so we don't need too much money (and we're slowly working on going moneyless).

Here are a few relevant links about doing what you want with your life:

Ash from the Middle Finger Project recently wrote about tenacity and humility and risking failure in Argentina (and all over the world):
Argentina + An 11-Year-Old Boy + Greatest Business Asset of All

Another feature I LOVE on the Middle Finger Project - Fear Exposed. This week Elisa tells us how being herself got her a Forbes.com column:
Fear, Exposed -- Featuring Elisa Doucette

Last but definitely not least, Nina Yau from Castles in The Air has overcome some fears and the comfort of "playing it safe" and is in Taiwan living her dreams! Yay, Nina! =D


Live From Taipei, Taiwan: Living Your Dreams from Nina Yau on Vimeo.

Tathata

I was listening to Alan Watts last night as I was falling asleep (I like the thought that positive words affect our subconscious while sleeping :), and I heard something awesome. Unfortunately, I'm unable to find the audio on youtube; however, if it were on youtube, I'm sure it would be stuck in the middle of a long video anyway. Although I think everyone should hear every word Alan Watts has ever recorded, I'd like to get straight to the point. So here it is in text (I found it on Google Books):

Actually, some of the words that the Buddhists use for the basic energy of the word really do not mean anything at all.  The word tathata, which in Sanskrit for "suchness" or "vastness," really means something more like "da-da-da," based on the word tat, which in Sanskrit means "that."  In Sanskrit existence is described as tat tvam asi, "Thou art that," or in modern American, "You're it."  But da-da is the first sound a baby makes when it comes into the world because the baby looks around and says, "da, da, da, da, da."  "That, that, that, that, that!"  Fathers flatter themselves and think their baby is saying "da-da" for "daddy," but according to the Buddhist philosophy this entire universe is one da-da-da, which means then thousand functions, ten thousand things, or one suchness, and we are all one suchness.

This is especially relevant to me because we have a 10-month-old baby, and just the other day I was listening to him saying "Da-da-da, da, DA," and suspecting that maybe he was just trying to say "That!" Now I know why!

(Random baby saying "da-da")

Here is the book quoted above on Amazon. One of my life goals is to read every Alan Watts book (progress of which has ground to a halt in part because of said baby!). So I definitely recommend it!

The Evolution of Blogging

I was planning on my next post to be about what I've found my passion to be, or perhaps about why I'm SO DONE with my job, but I came across something that thought I'd like to take a little break to share.

One of the most influential people in my life (now that I think about it, there is a HUGE list) in the past few months has been Everett Bogue. I've been reading his blog, Far Beyond the Stars, for a while now and I've been into it the whole time. He's gone from just quitting his job at New York Magazine to owning less than 50 things, all while blogging about it and writing e-books in a way to earn enough money to travel all around the U.S. When I found out he was unschooled, it all made sense how he had become so successful so fast! Now he's getting into the deeper part of life and what he does, and what he's saying is still making perfect sense (to me, at least).

Anyway, I've started following some people who are kind of new to blogging, and I thought I would share what Everett had to say in his most recent post: How Blogging Evolves(ed). (Since he has a Creative Commons license, I'm going to go ahead and copy the whole thing - but be sure to visit Everett's website and see what else he has to say!)

Blogging is in transition.

Many of us who have practicing blogging for awhile are becoming incredibly aware of the limits of the web as a medium for communication. 

We have so much inside ourselves that we want to communicate, but our ideas end up getting caught in a technology that hasn’t changed very much since I was a teenager. 

Yes, blogging has definitely gotten more widgets — but the most important decisions I usually make on my blog is turning all of the little functions off. Essentially many of us are blogging in the same way that we did ten years ago. The only difference is how we get the blog posts out, which these days is mostly by Twitter. 

I turned off the Facebook ‘Like’ button, because as much as I loved the large number on the top of my posts that resulted from people pressing it, the actual traffic to my site was negligible. This is because Facebook wants Facebookers to stay on Facebook where they can be shown ads and click ‘Like’ on photos of girls/boys they will never sleep with. 

Regardless, all of the smart people I know are leaving Facebook anyway. 

Blogging needs two things to make it more successful as a platform:

1. Bandwidth.  Bandwidth is a term that we cybernetic yogis use to convey the depth of an information transfer between two humans. F2F (face to face) is universally the highest definition, holograms are the next (but are kind of hard to find in the world right now — soon enough) next is 3d video, video, still photos, audio, and then finally text. 

Blogging tends to find itself in one of the lowest bandwidth ranges — text. The good thing about text is the low bandwidth means that it can travel much farther and faster than higher-bandwidth creations. A tweet can be read by 5000 people instantly, a blog post by 2000, but a video will probably only be played by 200, and F2F only conducted with one person at a time. 

This results in an ecosystem of how we interact on the web. As my blog grows in popularity, my threshold for F2F has grown with it. Whenever I say ‘Wheels down in X-city’ I commonly get dozens of requests to connect — hardly any I can answer because F2F takes an incredible amount of energetic power, especially if it’s a one-way conversation. 

2. Dimensionality.  Dimensionality is how smart the blog is in relation to its readers. For example, not everyone who comes to my work is in a place where they want to read about cybernetic yoga. They might want to time-travel back to when I was writing about how to reduce your possessions to less than 100 things. 

This is where the intelligence of the web itself needs to evolve, I’m not sure how much blogging or even my own ability to curate the content can correct for the huge variables involved in breadth of the knowledge that readers who stumble across this blog may have. 

To generalize, my blog used to have some pretty solid content for 20-somethings who were uncomfortable with their jobs — but over time my content has shifted to a place where I imagine my core audience is centered on Silicon Valley futurists. 

What if people who needed my ‘how to quit your soul-sucking job’ posts could get be shown that content instantly? What if the people who really needed to declutter a desk could be shown that content instantly? What if the people who want to learn mental cybernetics could be shown that content instantly? 

A lot of the tension surrounding my blog right now is the fact that decluttering-desks people are accidentally stumbling across posts on mental cybernetics. Not everyone is in the same place, it’s a big leap from clutter to maintaining your 3rd brain. 

I think blogging systems will need to learn to adapt to this level of dimensionality if blogging is going to evolve. 

– 

I’ve been blogging on Far Beyond The Stars since October of 2009, since then my strategy has changed a lot. I’ll take the rest of this post to point out some ways in which I’ve changed my blogging strategy. 

1. Business strategy entirely F2F (face to face).  I used to get my blogging knowledge from places like Problogger and Copyblogger, which I’m not linking to, because after a few months of experimentation I realized that almost everything those sites teach you is wrong. Everyone still thinks those sites are popular because 80% of bloggers have been trained (like little blogging puppies!) to suck up to established authorities in the off chance that they get linked to by an ‘A-List blogger’. The reality is that when I was linked to by Problogger last month it resulted in a grand total of 34 click-throughs. 

If I do need intelligent advice on getting traffic to my blog, I commonly will buy Corbett Barr three beers or some good Scotch and ask him his honest opinion about my blogging strategy. The next best thing to buying Corbett drinks is reading his blog. 

The lesson here is that all of my learning these days is not being done from blogs, instead I’m reaching out to people who I respect in real life. The highest bandwidth is real life, so if you want to learn how to blog successfully, the #1 strategy that you can employ is to meet a successful blogger in real life. Obviously this is hard to do, I commonly get upward of dozens of requests for drinks when I land in any city. 

Start by reaching out to bloggers who are around your same level and in your city. For example, one of the first bloggers I met up with was Ash Ambirge in New York — now we’re both rockstar bloggers. Why? Because we supported each other until we found success.
Getting access to a rockstar blogger/entrepreneur F2F is difficult, but can upgrade your success at an incredibly fast rate — if you’re open to their suggestions. 

2. Stopped caring about stats.When I first launched my blog, I was obsessed with how many people read my blog posts. I’d click on google analytics three times a day (even though it only updates once a day!) I know, it seems silly now. Anyway, now I don’t care about stats so much. 

I’d rather have a small group of enthusiastic readers than a large group of confused readers.
When you write for the masses, you end up writing stupid posts that no one cares about. One of the most surprising elements of transitioning from writing about minimalism to writing about augmented humanity/the cybernetic yogi lifestyle is that my blog traffic has actually gone up (though, I’ve only checked it once this month). 

Why is that? Because blogging success comes from pushing your own personal edge. Too many young bloggers are trying to write what they think other people want to read, instead of writing work that actually challenges themselves. 

Culture exists on the fringes. The center is boring, and secretly everyone wants out of the mediocre middle. 

3. Pushing audience interactions to higher levels.Many blogs will encourage you to ‘join the conversation’ in a place called “The Comments”. 

“The comments” is where your good ideas and time (your most valuable commodity) goes to die. The reason for this is no one actually sees comments, because it’s generally assumed by the majority of smart Internet users that the commenting section is a place where the low-life of the Internet go to play. 

Many people go straight to the comment section of larger blogs and post a “me too!” comment, because Darren Rowse told them that posting comments on other blogs is the #1 way to build your blog audience on his aforementioned blog that should be re-titled Unproblogger.com
There are two more important ways to “join the conversation” (whatever that means.) These two ways are guaranteed you put your interaction in a space where others can actually see it. 

1. Respond on Twitter. “The most awesome cybernetic yogi I know is@evbogue! Here’s a link to his blog post –> TK TK url” or perhaps “Wow,@evbogue has really gone off the deepend and I don’t even understand what he’s talking about anymore.” Can really do wonders for how many people see what your opinion is. This way all of your followers can see it, and check out whether I’m really awesome/lost it themselves and weigh in on Twitter. When your followers see you responding to creators on Twitter, they will learn how to respond to your creations on Twitter, thus bringing more attention to your work! Yay! 

2. Respond on your blog. If you read something online that really blows your mind, one of the most powerful actions you can take is to respond on your own blog. This can be as simple as linking to a post “this post made me think.” or can be a 2,000 word exposé building on the awesomeness of the material that you’ve been reading. They call it The Web for a reason, there are hyperlinks connecting everything. If you avoid hyperlinking out from your blog, no one will ever know your blog exists. 

Both of these are what I consider ‘high-level’ interactions on the web. You know how in the middle ages all of the kings and royalty had great parties in the castles while all of the serfs got to sit outside the castles and live miserable lives? Twitter and blogging = building castles. Dwelling in comments or on Facebook = rolling in mud while we giggle at you from the castles. The good thing about modern day royalty is you don’t need to be born into the castle to stay there, all you need to do is launch a blog or sign up for Twitter. 

A good way to start using Twitter is to follow me, and then follow everyone I follow. It’s a small list. This will instantaneously flood your brain with useful information, and you can change your follow list from there as time goes on and you discover more awesome people on Twitter.

I think a huge part of the reason I have been so excited about this blog is because of Far Beyond the Stars and joining Twitter and seeing what all the other insanely intelligent people have to say. I actually feel hopeful and confident about the future, even though I'm planning on quitting my job soon. =D

First! -or- Why I Started This Blog

Welcome to the new blog!

I've been into this whole minimalism thing (link is for humor), getting rid of excess stuff, not wasting so much, etc. I was reading blogs like zenhabits and Far Beyond the Stars... and I got to thinking: I don't like my job! Imagine that, someone who doesn't like their job!

So, I started racking my brain: How could I quit my job, but still generate enough income to pay the bills? What am I passionate about? How can I sell that, whatever the hell it is? I was coming up with a bunch of things, but nothing I felt like I could really make any money on in the short-term.

I was stuck. I don't like my job, but I can't seem to make a living any other way. I don't want to just have a job. I just want to do stuff that resonates with my being. Not willingly slave most of my life away just so I can have a couple days off at the end of the week. I just don't think that's what humans are built for. What can I do???

And then it hit me.

I hate to talk about Facebook... but this is how it really happened. I came across a post during the holiday season by my Godmother's Mom (who is in her 80s by the way) that goes like this:

"Bill Vaughan was also Burton (Hilliard?) in the Better Homes and Gardens or one of those magazines. In one of those columns he said, 'My wife is so busy doing what she really wants to do that she never has time to do what she thinks she wants to do.' I've never forgotten it and you won't either now that you've heard it." (The link she posted by the way is Bill Vaughan's 'A Story of Christmas.')

To be historically accurate, here's what I said:

"You may be right about that quote! It feels like it's going to be rather unforgettable."

And it just sat and stewed for a while.

As I sat working at my desk a week or two later, I was going over it again in my head, relating it to my job and work and money. I had thought of that quote every couple of days. I don't know if it was only unforgettable because I had labeled it that way or what, but it kept popping up. Then came the moment of clarity.

I am already doing what I really want to do.

I really am already doing what I really want to do.

And that's all I need. So why not tell people about it?


What about you? 
Do you have time for the things you really want to do, or are you already doing them?