Powered by MailChimp
Are you holding on to something with the blind hope that things will fall into place? It’s easy to fall into that trap. I’ve run a marketing business for over a year, and I’ve always just been ONE client away from success. Guess what? That client hasn’t come yet.
Where was The Practical Nerd last week? He was on the job hunt. Finally, I managed to get in at Kohl’s Department Stores. I now work, second shift, in their customer service department. Is it glamorous? Nope. Is it what I want to do the rest of my life? Nope. But that doesn’t matter sometimes. My dreams have to be put on hold.
There’s an idealistic attitude among many people that they feel they can think their way to success (have you ever read The Secret? That’s pretty much it). Thinking can absolutely affect your success. If you think about it, it can really happen. But you have to do more than think. You need to take the necessary steps to position yourself for success. And sometimes, that means putting your dreams on hold.
My dream is to be a home-based businessman, not unlike what I had been doing – just more successfully. Am I giving up on that dream to work in customer service? Not a chance. In fact, I now have a job with some advancement potential that, while taking a lot of time out of my day, allows me to focus on getting quality work and quality clients. It allows me to relax and do what I love for the love of it, and that includes The Practical Nerd. No, I won’t have the hours and hours I used to have every day to work on my business. But it’s okay. You have to roll with the punches.
After I got this job, I was reading in bed at night, and I came across this beautifully-written excerpt in Scratch Beginnings by Adam Shepard (the true story of the author dropping himself in a city to live in a homeless shelter and build his way up from the bottom). At this point in the story, he has lived in the homeless shelter for a little over a month, and he has yet to sit on the disgusting toilet there. While a little bit uncomfortable to think about, it actually dovetails into a very valuable life lesson about changes:
But, I suppose, we adjust. And that’s what I was forced to do on day forty-two. Without volunteers to prepare dinner, Robert and a few other shelter inhabitants had whipped up a soon-to-be-infamous concoction of chipped beef with shredded cheese and a side dish of green beans with gravy. It was delicious, no doubt, but the line started forming to use the toilets before everybody had even been served their evening meal. One guy even ate his meal in the bathroom line, knowing that it was going to go right through him. And there I was among them, defaulting on my vow that my cheeks would never touch the stained porcelain lavatories at Crisis Ministries. We adjust. That’s what we do. We seize the opportunities that are given to us, and we adjust to make up for what is kept from us. In some cases, and certainly in the case of the toilets on my forty-second day at the shelter, we don’t have a choice. We embrace change or we fight it off. In the end, it is said, change makes us stronger. Even if we deny the change and retreat back to the norm, the experience has helped us to grow and understand what is on that other side, and it has given us the freedom to make more informed decisions in the future.
But, I suppose, we adjust. And that’s what I was forced to do on day forty-two. Without volunteers to prepare dinner, Robert and a few other shelter inhabitants had whipped up a soon-to-be-infamous concoction of chipped beef with shredded cheese and a side dish of green beans with gravy. It was delicious, no doubt, but the line started forming to use the toilets before everybody had even been served their evening meal. One guy even ate his meal in the bathroom line, knowing that it was going to go right through him. And there I was among them, defaulting on my vow that my cheeks would never touch the stained porcelain lavatories at Crisis Ministries.
We adjust. That’s what we do. We seize the opportunities that are given to us, and we adjust to make up for what is kept from us. In some cases, and certainly in the case of the toilets on my forty-second day at the shelter, we don’t have a choice. We embrace change or we fight it off. In the end, it is said, change makes us stronger. Even if we deny the change and retreat back to the norm, the experience has helped us to grow and understand what is on that other side, and it has given us the freedom to make more informed decisions in the future.
That’s beautiful – and true. Change isn’t always pleasant, but it makes you stronger, and it may give you a better opportunity to work toward your dreams down the line. Don’t give up on your dreams, but don’t let them consume your life either.
Get great, practical advice sent straight to your inbox every week! For more information on The Practical Nerd Rules for Life, click here. Plus, learn how you can get a copy of my FREE ebook!
Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.
I’m going through a few changes in my life right now. Last week, I had to spend all my free time attempting to secure full-time employment. That way, the pressure can be taken off my business (and my blog!), and I can start working on it the right way. It’s a bitter pill to swallow at times, but it’s what I needed to do. I have a post I really want to write about big changes in your life, and I was going to write it last night, but instead, everything fell into place, and I wound up asking the love of my life to marry me.
Living in this technological world, we needed to tell everyone in our families and our closest friends before it hit Facebook. So we spent the night driving to houses and making phone calls in the car. I’m still a little exhausted, but it was worth it. I trust you can understand.
Tomorrow, we’re getting back on a regular posting schedule. See you then!
Recently, The Practical Girlfriend told me that she was listening to some stand-up done by Jeff Foxworthy and thought he was hilarious. This was great news to me: Foxworthy ranks pretty high on my list of favorite stand-up comedians (that list also includes Bill Cosby and Jerry Seinfeld). So the past few days, we’ve been listening to some of Foxworthy’s best stuff and laughing our butts off. It actually struck me that Jeff Foxworthy, while known for being a one-trick pony (“You Might Be A Redneck…”), is actually incredibly versatile, and he has employed some great strategies to stay successful all these years.
If your dog and your wallet are both on a chain… you might be a redneck. If your dad walked you to class because you were in the same grade… you might be a redneck. If somebody yells “HOEDOWN!” and your girlfriend hits the floor… you might be a redneck.
If your dog and your wallet are both on a chain… you might be a redneck.
If your dad walked you to class because you were in the same grade… you might be a redneck.
If somebody yells “HOEDOWN!” and your girlfriend hits the floor… you might be a redneck.
The Redneck jokes are what Foxworthy is most known for. If you ever hear his later live albums, the crowd goes insane when he starts going into them. The thing is: they’re funny to a lot of people, myself included. He clearly tries to make them very funny, and he has never seemed bothered by the idea that they are his staple. In my opinion, he’s got a lot of other bits that blow his Redneck stuff out of the water, but if you know you’re good at something, use that to establish a foundation in your life. Get better at it every chance you get. Then you can branch out to do other things. One step at a time!
[on his vasectomy] The procedure’s not too bad – the worst part is, they stuff the front of your pants with about 40 pounds of gauze. Walking from the doctor’s office to my car, I was invited to three proms! “Leave me alone, my wife’s waitin’ on me!”
Sure, the idea of a businessman being cold and all about business is appealing. After all, it’s not much of a challenge. But the truly happy know how to get personal with the people in their life. Be honest and upfront with them. Establishing that trust is the key to success in life. Stop holding back from your friends and family and allow yourself to communicate openly with them.
[on his sitcom] They originally set it in Bloomington, Indiana because they didn’t want the show to be “too Southern”, and I’m like, “Have any y’all listened to the way I talk?”
He’s written books. He’s released DVDs. He had a sitcom. Heck, he even has his own beef jerky:
Jeff Foxworthy doesn’t just make money running around doing Redneck jokes. He has done a host of different things, most recently being the host of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?. Foxworthy takes risks, and they don’t always pan out (Blue Collar TV, anyone?). But he’s out there, always attempting to find greater and greater success in his life. It’s smart, and it ensures a little more happiness in his life. For us, that means learning a new instrument, taking up a sport, reading a new book, or making new friends. Trying new things is one of the great joys of life.
[on taking his family to Hawaii via airplane] They’re my family, I love them, they just don’t get out much. When we got on the plane, I asked my mom, “Mom, would you like to sit next to the window?” She said, “Oh, I better not, I just got my hair fixed.”
My family is known for making fun of each other. It’s what we do. And there’s nothing wrong with that! But make sure that you (and they) know that you love them first and foremost. Respect your family, regardless of how much they might drive you crazy. Foster a strong relationship with them, and be there for them, and they will be there for you when you need help and support.
[when accidentally giving a sperm sample instead of a urine sample at the fertility clinic] I have never been so embarrassed in my entire life! And my wife told eeeeeeeeverybody! My own mother walks up to me and says, “Heard what you did in the cuuuupp!"
We all have embarrassing moments. We all screw up. We all look like idiots. Laugh about it already. Life is so much easier to go through when you’ve got a smile on your face. Stop being so glum and down. Pick yourself back up, dust yourself off, laugh at what happened, and move on.
Country music is about new love and it’s about old love. It’s about gettin’ drunk and gettin’ sober. It’s about leavin’ and it’s about comin’ home. It’s real music sung by real people for real people, the people that make up the backbone of this country. You can call us rednecks if you want. We’re not offended, ’cause we know what we’re all about. We get up and go to work, we get up and go to church, and we get up and go to war when necessary.
Foxworthy said the above statement at the 2007 CMT Awards. He’s not ashamed of being a “redneck”. He is proud of who he is and who his family and friends are. If you’re not proud of that, you need to make some changes in your life – now.
I heard about Clicker through a different blog (which I wish I remembered) that was discussing the ever-growing library of online content for everybody to enjoy. After all, there are tons of sites out there that are streaming television shows, full movies, music videos, and original web shows. The sheer volume of content is remarkable, and none of us have been able to truly see the scope of it.
Enter Clicker. Clicker pulls in all that content into one place for your viewing pleasure. This takes out all the surfing, all the searching, and all the hassle associated with finding good online content. Here’s how they describe it:
Clicker is the complete guide to Internet Television. Our mission is to make it simple for you to find the right show, right now. As massive amounts of programming move online, consumers entering a world of infinite choices, all on-demand. Great! Finding the show you want to watch? Painful. Thousands of episodes from thousands of shows are housed on thousands of different sites, mixed among billions of random clips and videos. Clicker catalogs all broadcast programming online, along with TV-quality Web originals, from these silos and delivers them in one seamless, organized experience so you can easily discover what’s available to watch (and what isn’t) online, where to watch it, and what’s worth watching.
Clicker is the complete guide to Internet Television. Our mission is to make it simple for you to find the right show, right now.
As massive amounts of programming move online, consumers entering a world of infinite choices, all on-demand. Great! Finding the show you want to watch? Painful. Thousands of episodes from thousands of shows are housed on thousands of different sites, mixed among billions of random clips and videos.
Clicker catalogs all broadcast programming online, along with TV-quality Web originals, from these silos and delivers them in one seamless, organized experience so you can easily discover what’s available to watch (and what isn’t) online, where to watch it, and what’s worth watching.
Pretty cool, huh? I was fortunate enough to get an invite to start using Clicker, and I am very pleasantly surprised. The site is very easy to use, and it has links to everything from the latest TV shows, to classic shows and movies (even organized by decade!), to documentary features.
To the left, you’ll see just one of the places you can search through the content. There’s also a search box, and various ways to break down the shows and movies by category.
The other great thing about Clicker is that it eliminates that conscience factor. Streaming video online sometimes can fall into a pretty grey area when it comes to legality. While sites like Surf The Channel can help you find almost everything, much of it is technically illegal to be on there, and limited in how much time you can spend watching it (not to mention varying in quality). Clicker only aggregates the official streams, from network websites, Hulu, and a host of others. That means that not only are you getting the highest-quality videos that are available, you are also getting 100% legal content.
Clicker is currently invite-only, so you’ll have to sign up with your email address and then wait for them to get back to you.
But WAIT: We’ve got FIVE Clicker invites to give away, FOR FREE! Just click here to IMMEDIATELY sign up and start using Clicker! It’s a slick service, and it’s one more step towards creating a world full of all on-demand content (the way it should be!). There are only five invites available through that link, so if you use that link and sign up, leave a comment letting us know.
If you don’t get there in time, sign up for an invite to be emailed to you anyway. It will be worth it. Clicker is aiming to be the one-stop shop for your streaming video needs, and so far it deserves a giant thumbs-up from me!
The Perfect Breakup? [Stepcase Lifehack]
Know why. Before you act, do a little self-reflection. It’s easy to say “It’s not you, it’s me” but a lot harder to mean it if you don’t know what about you “it” is. You don’t have to tell your soon-to-be-ex everything, but you should at least understand for yourself. Be honest. While you don’t have to unleash a torrent of insults on the person you’re breaking up with, at least be clear about the main reasons things aren’t working for you. And don’t lie about remaining friends if you have no interest in this person as a friend. It just drags out the inevitable. Don’t drag it out. It can be scary to tell someone you’re not interested in seeing them any more. So scary, in fact, that you don’t – you just act colder and colder, find excuses not to see them, start picking at their weaknesses, putting them through the wringer while you build up the courage to do what you need to do. You’ll both be happier if you make a clean break sooner rather than later. Be gentle but firm. There’s no reason to be hurtful, no matter how bad things are going. But do be clear that this is not an ultimatum, an invitation to improvement, or just another argument – this is The End.
They've also got tips on being the one broken up with, and handling the future of the relationship, if there is one. It's a great read, and something I wish I would have had years ago. Check it out!
Posted via email from tommeitner’s posterous
