The result was an interesting group of experiences, news, apps, and a lot of rambling nonsense. So, in a nutshell, here’s what 2011 looked like for me:

I completed a full year of self-employment, and I’m poised for growth.

After quitting my job in 2010, I was able to make it through all of 2011 with a fairly consistent income, which was fantastic on many levels. I was afforded freedom and flexibility that you just don’t get with an office job, and it’s been wonderful for my marriage. In July, I was able to further my copywriting expertise and I am now cracking into the direct mail market, which is one of the most competitive and lucrative markets available to copywriters. I’m gaining some traction, so 2012 is fixing to be an exciting year professionally!

The Month of Brogan was upon us in the spring.

I kicked around other names: BroganMania, BroganFest 2011, etc. In the end, I almost met Chris Brogan, and because of that, I had a huge surge in traffic in March. Using that experience, I was able to get a guest post up on ProBlogger, which led to a crap-ton more traffic. I learned that Chris is a very giving fellow, and I was (and still am) very thankful that he shared my story with his thousands of readers. Now, I just have to actually meet the guy.

Wisconsin sports in 2011 experienced unprecedented success.

For the first time in almost three decades, the Milwaukee Brewers won the pennant. They made it to the National League Championship Series, and came within a game of making it to the World Series. As big of a bummer as losing was, the truth is that baseball in Milwaukee hasn’t been this fun in a very long time. On the football front, our beloved Green Bay Packers not only won the Super Bowl, but they only lost one game in 2011 (stupid Kansas City Chiefs!). They dominated the game all year, and it was so much fun to be a part of it. Now, we’re pulling for a repeat championship. Being a Wisconsin sports fan was truly a good time all year, after so many decades of pitiful teams.

I wrote some pretty good stuff here.

Here is a listing of ten of my favorite posts of the past year:

• 20 Average Goals from Extraordinary Achievers
• Dust Yourself Off and Keep Fighting
• Go Home and Get Better
• “Get mean and go do it.”
• Use Your Pain to Fuel Your Fire (a tribute to a lost friend)
• “The hard is what makes it great.”
• 34 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me
• 7 Reasons Why On-Demand TV Kicks Cable/Satellite TV Square in the Teeth
• Six Lessons About Hard Work and Persistence from My Six-Year Old Nephew
• Stop Complaining and Make Change

And you enjoyed some of it, too.

Here are the top 5 most-read posts this year, according to Google Analytics:

• 20 Average Goals from Extraordinary Achievers
• 9 Reasons Why Being a Nerd is Awesome
• How Almost Meeting Chris Brogan Led to Personal Growth
• 4 Movies to Fight Your Feeling of Hopelessness
• Why You’re Not Getting That Promotion/Guy/Girl/Life

After a ten-year hiatus, I returned to competitive distance running (and ditched my running shoes).

I signed myself up for a 5K race in May, and completed it in decent time, crossing something off my bucket list (see below). Then, after announcing my retirement, I signed up for another race in September – and ran it barefoot. Now, I’ve added a few more running-related items to my bucket list, and I plan to run a half-marathon in 2012. I’m loving every minute of it.

I started my bucket list, and I crossed things off like a madman.

• Stay at a Disney resort (October 2011)
• Tour the White House (September 2011)
• Take Amanda to Disney World as a couple (October 2011)
• Run a 5K independently. (5/21/2011 – 25 minutes, 10 seconds)
• Get 100 HustleLife subscribers. (October 21, 2011)
• Ride a horse. (October 21, 2011)
• Take a hot air balloon ride. (October 21, 2011)
• Go jet skiing. (August 13th, 2011 – Castle Rock Campground)
• Brew a drinkable beer. (July 2011 – Thank you, Mr. Beer!)
• Run a 5K barefoot (9/10/11 – 27:04)

My gadget crush on the Kindle grew, and I read some awesome books.

Last Christmas, my wife bought me a Kindle (now called the “Kindle Keyboard”). It has rapidly become my favorite gadget. I love reading anyway, and now I don’t have to hold open a big book or read in awkward positions. Instead, I can just focus on the reading, which I love. A few months ago, I discovered the usefulness of my Kindle email address, where I can send documents to read on my Kindle. If I see a cool article on the Web that is really doggone long, I can send it to my Kindle to read in bed later for free. Also, I signed up for a weekly article from SendMeAStory.com (a similar service is Delivereads), and they send me a cool feature article (usually topical) from a publication of the last 25 or so years, formatted for my Kindle. I just flip on my Kindle and it downloads! Add to that the free books to Amazon Prime members at the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, and this gadget has become my #1 source for content in the past year. Love. It.

A few of my favorite books this year include:

• Accidental Genius by Mark Levy
• Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
• Do The Work by Steven Pressfield
• The Last Lecture by Randy Pautsch
• The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

I failed to start a few series of blog posts.

I love blog post series, so I wanted to start some of my own. Given that this site focuses on small goals, I tried to create a list of 237 small goals. Unfortunately, nobody really seemed all that interested in the list, and it died a quiet death at #14. The same is true of the Cool 30, which was a Thanksgiving-related series I started. I didn’t make it a priority, and it died. Both of these are pretty public failures, but hopefully I will learn from them when I put together my next series effort.

Some awesome connections were made, and I met up with quite a few people as well.

This was the year that I finally was able to pound the pavement and meet with some really cool people that I had been following for years. I met Milwaukee restaurant guru Joe Sorge earlier this year on the same day that I shook hands and chatted with author and respected entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. Impossible-doer Joel Runyon moved to Milwaukee for a few months, and I had the privilege of getting to know him while he was here, and he connected me with a ton of other interesting people as well, including Josh and Ryan over at The Minimalists just last night. I was also able to meet up with J. Money of Budgets Are Sexy and Love Drop (see below) when I visited Washington, D.C., which was a load of fun as well. Sean Ogle of Location 180 started a new community called Location Rebel, and I was honored to be interviewed as an expert on building a location independent business, which also gave me the chance to meet Sean (via Skype). Through HustleLife (also see below), I have been able to connect with new people every single month, which has been incredibly rewarding.

I did some pretty awesome traveling.

From touring the White House in Washington, D.C. to strolling down Main Street, USA in Walt Disney World, I got to see some cool sights of the country. Add to that my buddy’s bachelor party in Chicago, and I got around a little bit this year!

HustleLife debuted.

In May of this year, I launched HustleLife Magazine – a free digital magazine dedicated to helping people achieve their dreams by rolling up their sleeves and getting to work. With interviews and other resources, it has become one of my favorite projects to work on. I’ve been very blessed to interview plenty of great people this year, and I’m looking forward to talking with many more. In October, the subscriber count grew to over 100 people, which is really humbling and way awesome.

Some cool apps and online services became essential tools in my life.

Don’t tell me the internet is a waste of time – I’ve discovered plenty of great tools and resources that I use every day:

• XBMC (XBox Media Center) – This is on our home theater PC, where we stream lots of shows and movies to our television in a slick interface.
• Netflix – Yeah, it got some bad press this year, but it is a serious resource for great TV shows, movies, and a ton of brilliant documentaries. And a lot of the content is in HD, which is just a bonus. It’s the best $8 a month that we spend.
• Google Reader – I tried Feedly, I really did. But Google Reader continues to be a clean, simple, and useful resource for my blog reading.
• ifttt – Many of these tools are run through ifttt, which lets you connect different web services with hundreds of uses. It, for example, allows me to automatically save certain items into my Evernote account for later reading with one click. A very powerful and underutilized tool.
• Evernote – Post ideas, magazine plans, ideas for stuff I can do later, future projects, current projects, recipes, blog posts to read, gift ideas, shopping lists, quotes, book excerpts, store hours. You get the idea?
• Amazon Prime – We used the trial to quickly get a wedding present for my buddy and his wife. At the end of the 30 days, we decided to drop the under-$80 for a year’s worth of the service. We’re never looking back. Prime gives us access to the Kindle library (from above), as well as unlimited two-day shipping on anything Amazon keeps in its warehouse. Virtually all of our Christmas shopping was done through Amazon this year, and we are even starting to order grocery items from there to save money. They even have a streaming library of TV shows and movies (still small, though) included in the service.
• Google Music – My new favorite way to store my music. With my Android phone, I can just stream my entire library to my phone through the data connection instead of carrying around another MP3 player or having to sync devices.
• Twitter – Networking made simple. Most of this review would be impossible to achieve without Twitter. Seriously.
• Endomondo – I don’t run without Endomondo anymore. It got me through my race training, and I plan on using it for my half-marathon training next year.
• Google Maps – With the turn-by-turn Navigation feature, I don’t get lost anymore. Heck, I used it to navigate the public transit and walk to destinations in DC. Must have, all the time.

My fellow bloggers knocked it out of the park this year.

• The Art of Nonconformity – Chris Guillebeau just kept doing his thing, inspiring a kerbillion people while he traveled the world. Favorite post this year: Second Chances
• 11 Points – A hilarious series of “Top 11″ lists. Yeah, that’s really all it is, but it’s really funny and cleverly written. Favorite post this year: 11 Worst Movie Posters of the 90s
• Advanced Riskology – Tyler Tervooren takes a really smart approach to risk, and it allows him to do things that others are afraid to do. Favorite post this year: 9 Tricks to Avoid Becoming a Mistrusted Hypocrite
• Blog of Impossible Things – After saying so many nice things about Joel, he’d probably be offended if I didn’t include him. Seriously though, Joel has accomplished so much in the past couple years, and he’s a very cool dude to know. Favorite post this year: Choose Doing
• Lifehacker – Half of my life is based on Lifehacker. Full of insanely useful tips every day, it is my #1 source for information. Favorite post this year: 50 Free Apps We’re Most Thankful For
• Location 180 – Sean Ogle, as mentioned before, is killing it with great business advice here. Plus, in his travels, he occasionally has some gems for life advice too. Favorite post this year: Inquiring Minds
• Nerd Fitness – Talking to Steve Kamb was one of the most fun interviews I did all year. His site takes a “nerd” approach to fitness, and he has uncovered some interesting stuff. His posts are always well-researched and thorough, and they are a lot of fun to read too. Favorite post this year: Simplify the **** Out of Everything
• Sensophy – I think Jacob Sokol is awesome. If nothing else, I want his office walls. I’ve chatted with him a couple times this year, and he is truly dedicated to finding his way in the world. Favorite post this year: 3 Things That Optimistic People Do Differently
• The Art of Manliness – A perennial favorite, I love what Brett McKay is doing here. With AoM, he is helping guys understand what it really means to be a man, without the stupid barbarism or the foofiness that comes with today’s guy. Old-fashioned and respectful – that’s what it’s about. Favorite post this year: Lose With Dignity. Celebrate With Grace. (Part II)

Love Drop was one of the most fulfilling moments of my entire life.

I met J. Money in DC as stated above, and he mentioned his business partner, Nate. Nate was from Milwaukee, and they ran a cool thing called Love Drop – where they raise funds for a needy family every month and then do a big “love drop” of gifts to help them right the ship. So I started following Nate on Twitter. The next thing you know, Nate’s looking for a family in Milwaukee to do a drop in December. I connected Nate with my former pastor, who operates a church in a rather needy area of Milwaukee. Diomi and Nallee were selected for Love Drop’s December push, and I was invited to join them when they bestowed the gifts on the family.

Watching Nallee try to comprehend that the piles of gifts were all theirs, or watching Diomi and her children embrace in tears when it’s announced that they are getting two new beds and a washer and dryer (they had been doing laundry in the sink and line drying in their apartment) were hard for me to sit through without losing it myself. Among thousands in gift cards and food, Diomi received tons of new dress clothes and a phone so that she can go to job interviews, and career coaching and counseling for free. Nallee, who had one school uniform and no socks (in winter – in Wisconsin), got plenty of socks, and five new uniforms. To be a part of helping a really needy family get some help is something I’m going to hold with me for the rest of my life.

It was announced that Arrested Development is returning for a new run of episodes and a movie.

The new season will be filmed and released exclusively through Netflix. It was officially the best year ever.

I hope your 2011 was as awesome as mine was. Next week, let’s get together and plan out what we’re going to do in 2012! Happy New Year!

This post is part of an ongoing series this month called The Cool 30.

You know how, when you work for a company, you can set up your paycheck to be directly deposited into your bank account every payday? Well, when you work for yourself, you can’t really do that. All the deposits that I get from clients, along with the checks those who insist on paying me with checks, are all put into a separate checking account – for record keeping purposes.

So, every few days, or every week, I have found myself writing a check to myself and going to the bank to put it into our personal checking account. This is quite annoying, but direct transfers take days, and who wants to wait 3-4 business days to get their money?!?

When we opened a Chase checking account around the time we were married, I was very excited to learn that Chase ATMs outside the branches take check deposits, and they deposit them immediately into your account. This was great, because I at least didn’t have to get out of my car!

But once we upgraded to Android phones, we are able to enjoy Chase’s QuickDeposit feature, where I can write a check to myself, sign it, and take a picture of it to send to Chase through their mobile app. The check is deposited the same day, and I can shred the check afterwards. So now, I don’t even have to leave the house!

But wait, it gets better: my business account is hosted with Charles Schwab Checking, and also includes remote deposits through their mobile app. So now, when those stubborn clients send me paper checks in the mail, I don’t have to mail them in to the bank or transfer them from the Chase account. Instead, I can snap a picture of those checks and deposit them right away too!

Remote deposits save me time and gas, and they are incredibly convenient. That’s why I think they’re cool.

If you’re new here, you should know that I quit my job in November to work from home. It involved taking on a little bit of risk, as my business wasn’t quite at the point it needed to be, but my wife insisted I do so after we got married and she realized how wildly unhappy I was while I was there. By the grace of the good Lord, clients came in and I built myself a nice little stable of 3-4 clients who sent me regular work.

But over the past month or so, something changed.

I noticed my workload started dropping, and I didn’t have a full pipeline of work anymore. In fact, I had one steady client left. Some of the others, while happy, stopped contacting me altogether (which, by the way, is my number one pet peeve of dealing with businesses – blowing people off is stupid and unprofessional).

In my past foray into self-employment, I wouldn’t have noticed this until I ran out of work. Then I would panic, try to hotshot my way into some more clients, and tank the whole thing over the course of a couple of months, while at the same time draining our bank account and making us generally miserable. Heck, last time it happened, I got kicked out of my apartment for not being able to pay rent.

Fortunately, this time around, I developed a tracking system and spreadsheet that always gave me a clear picture as to what work I had coming, what I’ve made for the month, and where I need to be. So before I ran completely out of work, I could see that I had to go out and get some more clients.

All I needed was one or two clients to make our budget.

But I didn’t set out to get one or two clients – because that’s impossible. I can’t make “getting one or two clients” a goal. It depends on what other people do, and I couldn’t make anybody listen to me, so I set a different goal based on past experiences: I would send out 20 emails a day to firms offering my services. That would generate leads that I could follow-up on regularly and eventually get some work.

My work screeched to a halt. I ran out of work, so I had about a week or so where I didn’t have any active projects. Based on the numbers I had, there was no need to panic yet, as we were still on pace for our budget. When my wife could tell I was getting frustrated about it, she always gave me a gentle reminder: “Hey, you know that you’re going to have weeks like this every once in a while, that’s just part of doing this, remember?” But since I had extra time, I upped my output to 40 emails a day, and for two weeks, I spent every morning writing emails with music blaring to keep me from going insane.

After 10 working days, I had sent 325 emails.

It generated over 20 leads, but no work. And then, on Thursday and Friday of last week, it blew wide open. I have emails and calls coming in at all times of the day and night, and throughout the weekend. Those leads are sending me sample projects to see how I do, and 3-4 are promising steady work if all goes well. Paying work is coming in, and the immediate financial stress has been relieved.

In other words, the system worked.

But there’s a reason it worked. Like I said earlier, I had to make “20/40 emails a day” my goal. I couldn’t make “getting one or two clients” my goal because that’s not something I can achieve. That depends on the potential client. The reason the system worked was because I focused on what I could control, and I based the system off of a few factors that you can apply to your goal-setting:

1. I knew I could achieve it. It would take some effort, but it was something that I was capable of accomplishing.
2. It was specific and measurable. I keep a spreadsheet of all the firms I come into contact with and my correspondence with them. I track notes and dates, and when I need to contact them again. I continue to follow-up with leads every day, trying to generate more and more work. There are numbers and dates attached to everything I do, so that I can be clear as to whether or not I’ve accomplished it.
3. I knew it would generate results. I’ve done this before and I know what works. I watched the results of the campaign as I did it, so I knew it was working. I focused my energy only on actions that would lead to results.

You can’t make it your goal to get a certain number of customers. You can’t make it your goal to lose a certain number of pounds. You can’t make it your goal to win the lottery. Why? Because these are things that have other factors that you can’t control.

You can, however, make it your goal to accomplish a certain number of marketing activities per day that will lead to getting customers. You can make it your goal to exercise a certain amount and eat healthier, both of which will lead to losing weight. You can focus on achieving more at work to stand out from the pack and get a promotion that will lead to making more money.

There’s a difference between goals and results.

Setting goals is an awesomely-powerful thing. But you need to focus on the right stuff. Goals lead to results. You can’t make results into goals. If you accomplish your goals, you will enjoy lots of great benefits, but you have to focus on the action, not the result.

What do you think? Do you find that focusing on the results you are expecting frustrates you out of achieving your goals too, or do you disagree? Let’s talk about it in the comments!

You just got home from a long day at work, and you feel fried. Your brain is running on fumes, and your body just wants to collapse on the couch. You want mindless entertainment, and fortunately, you’ve got hundreds of channels to choose from. You sit down, and from about 6:00pm until 11:00pm, the TV is on. Sound healthy to you?

I hear people at the office talk about Bachelor Pad and other pieces of garbage like that. I hear them spend 10 minutes talking about Twilight and what the celebrities are up to. In my mind, all I can think is this question: “Isn’t there something better we can do with our time?” I’m a self-admitted TV addict, but my TV watching has tapered off in recent years. And with the average cable bill running $75-$100 a month, I think it’s time we staged a revolution. Too often, we have let networks tell us what to talk about, what to buy, what to eat, and how to live. I say we turn off the TVs and start doing something. Here are some great alternatives that will make your life more fulfilling and, let’s be honest, healthier:

Have a conversation

Yoga/Pushups/Situps/Gym/Running/Walking/Get Off Your Lazy Butt

Expand that brain of yours

Start a side business

Read a book, or twelve

I don’t feel bad for people who are drowning in debt – and I don’t expect sympathy from people regarding my debt, either. But people who are constantly on edge or stressed out might reward themselves with a vacation because they’ve been so stressed out lately and they’ve been “really good” about not shopping so much. But are those breaks deserved?

Another example: somebody is trying to lose 25 pounds. They work out every day and eat right. After a few weeks, they’ve lost 3 pounds and they “reward” themselves by going out to eat for fast food.

A personal example: I am spending long hours rebuilding my business when I am not at the office. I am sending emails, sales letters, making follow-up calls, and doing everything in my power to get the ball rolling again. Do I deserve a day off?

My argument is no. Why?

You haven’t accomplished your goal.

Rewards are for people who accomplish something. If you haven’t accomplished your goal, you don’t deserve the reward. If you are struggling to get a job, all your energy in all your free time needs to be dedicated to getting a job – pounding the pavement, sending resumes, calling everybody you send resumes to, getting in every interview possible, reading recent books about how to get a job… you get the idea?

Are you tired? Start figuring out ways to work smarter and not harder. Maybe you aren’t maximizing your effectiveness. Or maybe you are just putzing around too much and need to get serious. Eliminating these little rewards and focusing on the goal may give you a kick in the pants to start making real progress instead of “kinda-sorta-doing it”.

The reward pushes you farther away from your goal.

Eating a big unhealthy meal is calories that you have to work off. Taking a day off from the job search or building the business means one more day you have to spend unhappy in your professional life. Splurging on something because you have been paying off debt means slowing down your debt repayment, and keeping you in debt for longer.

You’re not taking solace in a job well done.

There was a time when the joy of hard work was the knowledge that you accomplished something. When I send out a batch of emails after working on them for a couple hours, I can take a second to revel in the fact that I just made contact with a bunch more businesses. I just got another step closer to my goal.

Instead of the need for a “reward”, start taking joy in your work. It’ll be much more fulfilling, and it will really motivate you to keep pushing towards your goal.

You’re letting somebody else reach your goal before you.

When you are running a race, you’ll pass checkpoints: parts of the race that remind you of how far you’ve run. If I’m running a 3-mile race and I reach the 1-mile checkpoint, I can’t stop and get a drink of water. I can’t take a nap because I’m tired. If I do, everybody else will pass you and reach the finish line first.

If you are currently in the middle of a job search, every day that you spend sitting around is a day that somebody else is getting a job. You know why? Because they spent their free time differentiating themselves and aggressively marketing themselves. They got the job while you were sitting around.

Every day that I spend doing nothing is a day when a different freelance copywriter or marketing firm gets the client I wanted. I can’t stop running the race just because I’m a little tired. I might as well not be running the race.

In the end, you do need to take breaks – but make them small ones. Physically and emotionally, you don’t need the whole day off – go take a walk for half an hour and then get back to work. You don’t need a big unhealthy meal – but you can reward yourself with a small piece of cake or something for dessert. The problem lies in getting carried away with your rewards, and turning them into reasons why you’re in your mess to begin with.

Look at the cute li’l sunshine! Awwww….

As I type this, it’s Monday morning, and the beautiful sunlight is streaming through my tiny window. It’s the only taste of sunshine I’ll get today without sitting in a car driving to work at my windowless cubicle. I like to think of moments like this as motivation to keep plugging away at the business. It’ll get there…

Here are some of my favorite stuff from around the Web this past week:

Gettin’ crap done

Yes, the little-mentioned “GCD” techniques. I’m always about looking at different ways to approach my workweek.

• 8 Small Habits That Make My Daily Life Simpler, Easier, and More Effective [The Positivity Blog] – The beauty of tips like these is that they don’t require a complete overhaul of your life. I already took time this morning to declutter some stuff (#4), wrote down my goals for the week (#5), and I spent my Saturday morning doing my week’s worth of grocery shopping (#2). Boom.
• on economy [mnmlist] – When you see the word “economy”, you immediately think of government spending. That’s the curse of being an American. Economy actually refers to how effectively you make the most of stuff – and it goes beyond money. Leo shares a few simple words that encourage economy in every part of your life.
• 9 Simple Tips for Getting Rid of a Bad Habit [The Positivity Blog] – Yup, another one from TPB. Destroy your bad habits by involving others, focusing on one at a time, and letting yourself feel a little bit of pain (news flash: pain is okay sometimes!).
• The Hard Truths About Building Your Own Success [Dumb Little Man] – The beauty of following blogs is that, every once in a while, you’ll come across a great post that will totally hit home with your current situation. This one was mine.

Make your body happy, and make your mind happy

What’s life without happiness? Answer: a big ball of suck. Take care of your health and your happiness with these articles:

• How to Be Kinder: 11 Fine Tips [The Positivity Blog] – TPB is just knocking it out of the park this week, folks. If you don’t think you need to be kinder, chances are you need to. Part of being happy is sharing in the joy of others. Life ain’t just about you, my friend. Follow these tips to be a more pleasant person to be around.
• 7 Superpowers You Act Like You Have But Don’t (And How That Messes You Up) [Dumb Little Man] – After re-reading this one, it may be my favorite of the week. Everybody pretends they have these, but you just don’t think about it. Mind control? Precognition? Time travel? I’m guilty of these. What a creative article!
• Getting By Is Worse Than Failing [Location Independent Professionals] – I do a lot of guest posting at this particular blog, and it is geared towards entrepreneurs, but this is great advice for everybody. Taking those risks and falling down a few times is infinitely more beneficial to you than just “getting by”.
• 7 Life Changing Lessons Learned From Walt Disney [Dumb Little Man] – Want to ensure that I’m going to read your article? Put “Walt Disney” in the title. The guy had an incredible attitude about life and business.

Buying stuff and selling stuff

In other words, the art of personal finance:

• Going Up? [The Simple Dollar] – Ah, the age-old argument of “good debt” versus “bad debt”. This is a great article that quickly summarizes the good and the bad (hint: pretty much anything on a credit card is bad debt, and a house isn’t always good debt, but it can be). This article also shows a startling difference between what you want and what you need.
• 8 Life Landmines That Will Blow Up Your Financial Plans [LiveCheap] – We all know disaster will strike us at some point. This article aims to make us aware of these moments, react to them, and proactively live life to prevent these things from happening (or lessening their blow).
• 10 Things You Should Never Pay For [LiveCheap] – It actually kind of scares me how many people pay for this stuff.
• 7 Ways My Clunker Is Smarter Than a Hybrid [Wise Bread] – News flash: hybrids are “better” cars because marketing campaigns are designed to convince you of that fact. Save your cash.
• Fifteen Great Websites That Saved Me Money in 2010 [The Simple Dollar] – Some of these are obvious (Craigslist), but some not so much (Yard Sale Treasure Map). And I’m heading over to PaperbackSwap today to sign up.
• ClickFiller Finds the Best Possible Amazon Filler to Net You Free Shipping [Lifehacker] – I am a huge fan of Amazon, and their free shipping for most orders over $25 is just the icing on the cake. If your order is close, use this tool to put it over the top.
• Four Atypical Things to Do Before You Consider Buying a House [The Simple Dollar] – Figure out why you’re buying a house is a great tip. A better tip is to save like clockwork for two years to get you used to a mortgage. My favorite tip is to start fixing stuff – because you’ll have to.

“Feed me, Seymour!”

Little Shop of Horrors? Anyone?

• 10 Cheap Shortcuts to Making Cooking Oh-So-Much Easier [Cheap Healthy Good] – It amuses me that people think cooking is a lot of work.
• How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Seasonal Produce [Cheap Healthy Good] – Since I started buying from a CSA, I’m learning the value of buying seasonal. There are some great tips here.

Nerdy Stuff

Because that’s why this site exists:

• 8 Reasons To Use Google Chrome As Your Primary Browser [Dumb Little Man] – I wrote a while back about my painless switch from Firefox to Chrome, and I still stand by this browser as the one to beat.
• Five Ways to Make Productive Use of Foursquare (and Not Be Annoying) [Lifehacker] – I know a handful of people that are using Foursquare. It’s an intriguing tool, but it’s too easy to be annoying with it.

There you go! Have any links you liked from this week? Share ‘em, or send them to me for next week’s Pile!

The vast majority of American workers spend their days under fluorescent lighting with identical desks and uncomfortable chairs. They spend their days dreaming of raises and vacations, and consider themselves indentured servants with no opportunity to grow.

Bull.

Sure, sometimes you may be bogged down by the system at work, but that doesn’t mean you can turn into a whiny teenager. Chances are, if you are working full-time in an office, you’re old enough to be told this: act your age. The thing is, once you start carrying yourself like an adult, things start to swing your way.

Clothing

I am appalled by how some people dress in the office these days. You might as well come in pajamas. You may not know it, but people may be paying more attention to you than you think. So just because you threw on a tie for that interview doesn’t mean people automatically think you are a professional. You’re going to have to carry yourself like that more often. I’m a fan of wearing ties. I just am. Many days, I feel very confident in myself when I’ve got a tie on. There’s no shame in that. If your coworkers are making comments like, “You’re making us look bad!” and calling you a brown noser, that just means you’re doing it right. It means they feel threatened. They might laugh at that insinuation (and goodness, you don’t walk up and say that to them!), but it’s true. That’s their way of going on the defensive. Let them talk. You’re an adult now – stop wearing pajamas and t-shirts everywhere.

Getting down to business

Some people are shocked – SHOCKED – at the thought that they are expected to work when they are at work! I don’t know how many times I hear people complaining that their boss said they walk around too much, or talk more than they should. If somebody else notices how much you talk and not do work, then you are talking way too much. Stop and say “hi” to somebody when you walk by their desk – that’s cool. And you should, you’re a team, after all. But you’re not there to socialize. You are there to work. So hit the grindstone. You weren’t in class to sit around and talk, you were there to get work done. It’s the same lesson here. The people who goof off go nowhere.

Whiners don’t get promoted, but squeaky wheels get the grease (there’s a difference)

The office environment is not perfect – politics, stupid policy changes, and clashing personalities are everywhere in the workplace. So how do you approach these situations? Do you go to a friend’s desk and spend ten minutes complaining about it? If you do, you’re stamping your ticket to Nowheresville (I like that phrase – I should use it more often). Putzing around whining to your peers will not change a single thing, and it will just make you angry – and annoy the people around you. Nobody wants to hear you gripe.

At the same time, you may find yourself in a situation that warrants a legitimate change. Here’s how to get that change to happen:

1. Arm yourself with factual reasons why you want this to change (not “I don’t like this” or “This is annoying”, but more “This is how this is negatively affecting the workplace”…).
2. Start a dialogue with somebody who can make that change happen – don’t try to just push them to change it right away.
3. Offer up a reasonable solution to the problem, don’t just ask that it be changed.
4. Follow up with the situation.
5. Do all of this with a concerned, genuine tone, not a whiny tone.

To get people to like you while avoiding the dreaded “sucking up”, just be sincere

I’m a generally-liked person at work. My bosses and supervisors listen when I bring something up, and we all tend to share a laugh at one time or another – or at least I laugh. Not all my jokes are that great. But anyway, on the outset, I look like I’m sucking up hardcore to these people, but there’s a very big difference between what I’m doing and sucking up:

I’m being sincere.

Even if you don’t particularly care for someone, ask them questions and show an interest in how they are doing. Share a quick laugh with them, if possible. Connect with them on their level. And don’t just do it to “get ahead” – do it to be a positive influence on the work environment. If you are beat down by the system, try to approach it with a positive attitude, which goes along with…

Just like in life, it’s not what happens to you, it’s how you take it

Everybody gets dealt a bad hand in life, and in business. If you have a bad day and people can see it when you walk past, you’re not going to go very far. Muster up the ability to smile – it’s usually not the other person’s fault you had a bad day. And remember, if it is, you can approach it respectfully. Ditch the whining and the “woe is me”. I don’t care how late you have to work tonight. This is your job. Generally speaking, management has to deal with a lot of crap, too. And if you are a low guy on the totem pole and you can’t handle that stress, then you won’t be in line for a promotion. You’ll have the reputation that you can’t handle the responsibility.

Want more responsibility? Ask for it

When emails are low at work, I walk around and ask supervisors if they have any extra work to do. I don’t sit around and surf the internet. When you’re a kid, it’s like asking for more homework. When you’re an adult, you know better – those that are willing to work can bring a great attitude to a better position. You’ll get more work, and you’ll be pretty tired at the end of the day, but that positive, gung-ho attitude will take you places.

Stop resenting management

It amazes me how quickly the public turns on somebody successful. We live in a free market, and if a company is paying an executive a ridiculous bonus, fine. That means, A) the vast majority of these executives earned it, and B) the company is doing well, so they should be rewarded for their work. Just because you get paid $12 an hour doesn’t mean a thing. You may be annoyed from time to time, but let it be. These are the people in charge, and just because you don’t like them doesn’t mean you should be defiant to them. If they are doing something that is actually affecting the work environment, then you need to do something about it. But spending your days being snippy at them and victimizing yourself will just guarantee more days being snippy at them and victimizing yourself.

I don’t think I’m being ridiculous with any of these suggestions. The fact is, in America today, you’re lucky to have a job. Just today, one of my brothers got laid off, my buddy’s friend is close to losing her job, and one of his coworkers got the boot too. If you want to be invaluable enough that they will want to keep you even when business is down, you better work hard and take some pride in yourself. Respect the people around you and they will respect you back. Then you can work your way into the position that you want.

The world is abuzz about the pending iPad and it’s pre-orders. Everyone is talking about the Microsoft Courier. You love your iPhone/Droid/Blackberry. You constantly search around for bigger, better devices that will do almost everything in the world. In this “buy-buy-buy” haze, have you forgotten the love for your laptop?

A laptop is a versatile tool. When people talk about user experience on new gadgets, they distract people from an important point – you already know how to use a laptop. A laptop can fit in a small bag and go anywhere you want it to. It’s never as flashy or as impressive as one of these new gadgets, but are you just paying for the flashiness? The status? Aren’t we over that in this country?

Over the past few years of developing into the Nerd that you see before you today, I learned how to push a laptop to do almost anything. It boasts an impressive array of features that we’ve all forgotten about. Today, I want to remind you of all the things your laptop can do, and hopefully inspire some of you to hang on to that relic instead of swiping that credit card for another gadget purchase, or dipping into your hard-earned savings. But first, here are the specs on my laptop, so that you know I’m not talking about some super-laptop that you can’t afford:

This is a dual-core, 1.60GHz Toshiba Satellite laptop with 1.5GB of RAM. It has an 80GB hard drive. I bought it with Vista and downgraded to XP about a year and a half later. This setup cost me about $700 when I bought it in 2007, and a quick search on Newegg.com pops up a computer with twice as much memory and a hard drive FOUR times as large as mine for under $400. Honestly, this computer blows mine out of the water, and it cost almost half as much as I paid for mine.

So here’s the list, in absolutely no particular order. I sat down and jotted down all the things I can use my laptop for, so this is a “stream of consciousness”-type list. A quick editor’s note: I’m not dumb. This list assumes moderate maintenance (i.e., running CCleaner about once a week, having a free antivirus application running at all times), Windows XP (though you don’t need XP for most of this stuff), and a decent internet connection.

1. An e-reader

It’s the flashiest feature of them all right now – read books on a screen! The iPad will have books! Well, you don’t need to buy a new gadget for this necessarily. Barnes And Noble and Amazon both offer free software for reading books on your computer, so if you want to buy ebooks, go right ahead! Better yet, visit Project Guternberg and download over 100,000 free ebooks from the public domain if you want.

This is probably the feature I use the least, since you can’t compare the ease on the eyes of a book compared to an LCD screen. This is one place I think the iPad will fail, and why, if you’re a heavy reader, I actually would recommend getting a dedicated e-reader. The e-ink technology is much, much easier on the eyes.

2. A portable television

I’ve written at length about how you can use your computer as your television, and even hook it up to your TV. But also, for quick show-watching on the go, just visit a site like Hulu. I subscribe to a lot of shows within Hulu and they post to my queue the morning after they air. So, all I need to do is log in, go to my queue, and click “Play”. Boom.

If you’re looking to watch live sports, start getting to know TVAnts and StreamTorrent. Plus, this method ensures that you get out-of-market games, too.

3. A pretty good gaming machine

You hardcore gamers looking to play graphics-intensive games will probably want a powerful desktop, but laptops can handle quite a bit too. Plus, if you’re a casual gamer (like myself), you are just looking for simple games to pass the time, in which case, there are plenty of great gaming sites out there like this one.

4. Your new teacher

Miss college? Want to learn a new skill? There are lots of great places online to see and hear lectures and lessons taught by fine professors from all over the country. Looking for something a little more fun? Learn guitar (see link above) or build something cool at Instructables. There are endless possibilities for what you can learn through your laptop.

5. Your complete photo album

When I go to my grandmother’s house, looking through pictures involves emptying a cabinet full of old albums and sitting at the kitchen table while everyone crowds around them and tries to see what’s going on. Nowadays, all those pictures (and more!) can be stored on your laptop. Back them up to a site like Picasa (my favorite) and tag, organize, and share them with everyone forever.

Bonus tip: set your screensaver to pull pictures from the folder on your computer where you keep all your photos, and your monitor becomes an instant digital photo frame when not in use.

6. Your radio

Talk radio, comedy stations, music of all types and genres – internet radio is fantastic. Set up a Pandora station for customized listening goodness, or listen to hundreds of live radio stations on iheartradio.com. Take it with you.

7. Your complete music library

The local version of the previous tip. Imagine: no CD towers to buy, no cases to spend half an hour opening. Download music from iTunes or Zune Marketplace or Amazon. Store them on your computer (and back them up, of course). Rip your current CD collection and then pack away those discs in a bin somewhere. You can listen to any music at any time, anywhere. It’s a beautiful thing.

8. Your map command center

It doesn’t matter if you are biking, running, or driving a car – sometimes you just need directions. Now, you can type in any location or address into sites like Google Maps or MapQuest and you know exactly how to get anywhere. You no longer have a need for a big paper map that takes up half the front of the car. Just search, print, and move on.

9. Note-taker and organizer

If you want a laugh, look at my notes from high school and college: they’re messy and smudged (I’m a lefty), completely disorganized, and a total failure. Today, with services like Evernote, you can organize and tag your notes, and they won’t be smudged or unreadable. Heck, you can even just use a word processor to get the job done if you want. Just pull your laptop out of its bag and get to typing.

10. Complete database of knowledge, regardless of usefulness

Remember how embarrassing it was to go to a bookstore or a library and pick up one of those stupid “For Dummies” books? Now, you don’t need them. I’m amazed they’re still on the shelves at all. There is no longer an excuse for not knowing something. You can Google it, you can Bing it, you can even Ask Jeeves if you want. Get your plumbing/cooking/health questions answered just by typing your question into a search engine. For facts (mostly accurate), hit up Wikipedia.

11. Your calendar of events

I use Google Calendar, but you can use whatever you want. All the things going on in your life can be chronicled, and you can have reminders sent to you straight from your calendar. Stop missing those anniversaries/birthdays/whatever.

12. An address book

My mom kept an address book for years. When I needed a phone number, I needed to go to the closet, pull it out, flip to the section with the first letter of their last name, navigate through old, crossed-out addresses and skim through until I found what I was looking for. Now? I just sit at my laptop, open up Google Contacts, and use the search box to find the entry with the person I’m looking for. You can use Outlook or something else if you want. But have a backup of all your contacts, and you can search them easily at any time.

13. Your weather station

Hop on Weather.com and enter in your zip code at the top of the page – severe weather warnings, detailed forecasts of the next couple of days, and extended 10-day forecasts all come up. You can watch the live radar if you want. Do this stuff for monitoring the weather of your next vacation destination. Turn off the Weather Channel and put down the newspaper.

14. Your professional presentation tool

Ever notice how you don’t see presentations done with big poster boards anymore? That’s because you just need to load that PowerPoint presentation and plug your laptop into a projector. It looks slicker, makes you look good, and was easy to do with your laptop.

15. Your new checkbook

Wave “bye-bye” to adding and subtracting errors. A complete money management system can be had on any laptop. Need to share it with your husband/wife? Use a free online service like ClearCheckbook or share a Google Doc. The math and tracking is done for you – all you need to do is enter in those transactions.

16. Call anybody, anytime – even by video

VoIP technology continues to advance. I run a Skype phone line with a little headset for business. Want to video chat with somebody like you see in the movies? Get a cheap little webcam and you can all you want. I used to video chat weekly with my then-girlfriend while she was in Taiwan. You can now talk to somebody and see them, regardless of where they are. Powerful stuff.

17. Keep in touch with all of your friends, all the time

High school reunions are becoming obsolete with sites like Facebook. We all know what we are doing, all the time. That’s lame sometimes, but it comes in handy. For example, I have friends all over the country, and I can stay a part of their lives through my communications on Facebook. When done correctly, Facebook can enhance your personal relationships, and you can share joys, sorrows, and laughs with people every day.

18. A retro gaming system

Here’s where the fun starts! Do you miss the Super Nintendo? How about classic Nintendo? Sega Genesis? Hop over to your favorite search engine and type in “SNES emulators” to find a program that will play old Super Nintendo games. Download it, then search for “SNES roms” to find and download the games. Plug in a USB controller and you’ll feel like you’re 8 years old all over again!

19. Sports/News Central

Whether you do it in an RSS feed reader or you just visit a site like CNN or MSN, the headlines are always updating and keep you in the loop at all times. Hit up ESPN for live scores of all of your games. Then, cancel your newspaper subscription. I mean, like, NOW.

20. Your recipe database

When I cook, I just put the laptop on the kitchen counter. I don’t need a shelf of cookbooks (although I do still have a few). You can store recipes in Evernote or use a service like Supercook to manage your inventory of recipes. It makes your cooking life a lot easier, and you never have to remember which recipe book that breaded chicken recipe was in.

21. Track your workouts

DailyMile lets you map and save your runs. DailyBurn allows you the ability to track any type of workout, and even track your nutrition levels. You don’t need to keep a paper notebook or print out a spreadsheet. Type it in, submit it, and move on with your life. Slick, slick, slick.

22. Business-builder

Build a website, run a blog, connect on Facebook/Twitter, design brochures, write copy… the list goes on. Take notes during your meetings with clients. A laptop computer offers the flexibility to work anywhere you choose, provided your business can pay those bills. A laptop, in my opinion, is an absolutely essential tool for business-building today.

23. Create CDs and DVDs

I remember back in 2000 when I first learned how to burn a CD. It took forever. Now, I use CDBurnerXP, but you can use just about anything. Put those home movies on a DVD. Make that mix CD for your friend (or that girl you like). It only takes a couple of minutes, and you can do it right from your laptop.

24. Stream home media anywhere in the house

XBox Media Center, now on the original XBox, PCs, Macs, and Linux machines. All your movies and music on any TV in your house, from your computer.

25. Portable CD/DVD player

Again, another invention that I am shocked is still on shelves: the portable DVD player. Instead, play this stuff on your laptop when sitting on the plane or when you’re supposed to be paying attention in class. Chances are, your laptop can handle any kind of DVD, too.

26. Your to-do list

Google Tasks or Remember The Milk, or about a dozen others. Ditch the paper to-do list and type it up in your laptop. Want to keep it simpler? Open up a little Notepad document and bang out your list.

27. The answers to your minor medical questions

I’ve always been a big fan of WebMD, but there are other ways to get medical questions answered, too. This is not a substitute for a doctor’s visit, of course, but it can help you diagnose minor situations instead of paying that co-pay to be told those lumps on your throat are just leftover food scraps. [Note: this is not a good tip for hypochondriacs.]

28. Your shopping mall, all the time

Want to buy anything? Put your shoes down. Stay in your pajamas. Open up your laptop and get to Amazon. Search for whatever you want, and they’ll have it. Oh, and it’ll be cheaper, too.

Okay, so some of these are obvious, but it helps to have them here. Your laptop is a remarkably strong piece of technology. I would think twice before you ditch it to use some fancy-looking thing that only does two or three things on this list.

What do you use your laptop for?

(If you can’t see the “play” button, click the title of the post!)

Click the ol’ “Play” button at the top of this post to learn how success in life can be compared to flossing those pearly whites of yours. Also, make sure you click to hear my favorite lead-in song yet, courtesy of Steve Martin. As always, if you can’t see the “Play” button at the top of this post, just click on the post title and it should appear. Thanks for checking in!