Unexampled Venture

Extended Working Hours
If it’s something that you enjoy and love doing, you can be excited to wake up early and spend less time sleeping simply because you just can’t wait to do the work. Sometimes, it can suck up more time and cause you to sleep late because you just need to complete that one-last-thing off the checklist.

High Enthusiasm
Doing the work that you lovee can make it seems like time passes too quickly. There’s always something new to learn, some new tricks, new technique, new strategies, etc.Once you pick your head up and look at the clock, you’ll be surprise on how the hours just flew passed and the amount of energy you’ve put in.

More Learning
You are on your own now and at the beginning, almost everyone learns the bolts and nuts of the entire process. The internet makes it easy for everyone to learn and it can be pretty easy to get caught up on learning a lot of skills and knowledge.

I’ve been working on with my newly acquired knowledge and have been practicing the skills and it surely do take a lot of focus. One thing I can’t help is to keep working on something that caught my attention till I get it up and running or my interests of it dies off, whichever comes first.

Along the way of dream chasing to making it into a reality is quite a busy route. Sometimes, obstacles come along to test us if we are still on track. Well, at least, that is what I prefer to believe it as. Some amount of support, some amount of disapproval. Review the bad, take what’s good.

If it really mean a thing, if it really is worth it, if it is really what you want, then go for it whole heartedly. If you spend time trying to correct or to force change, time and energy that should be used for moving forward is wasted.

Detachment is just a word but I’ve used it to my advantage to support me and to remind me that there is more important things to focus on. Detach from what is not the focus.

Vairagya, as I’ve found, explained as being detached from fears, false identities, aversions, to help us keep the focus on leading the inner journey without being sidetracked into the pains and pleasures along the way.

It comes in handy to help remind you and give you the support when you are climbing the steep hill of pursuing your dreams. Hang on. It is worth it.

If you have some background in computing, here’s a funny little clip I found. Enjoy!

Once upon a few blog post away, I mentioned about the 30 Days Challenge that I’d completed..

It’s slightly over 30 days and today I made my first sale!

No, actually, it was on Thursday, but I just saw it.  Anyway, I am feeling the first-sale happiness boost and am absolutely happy, not so much on the amount but the result of putting in the energy and faith (and probably a dose of want-it-ever-ever-so-badly).

Here is my progress report.

Hope, this can be a tiny bit of encouragement for people who are trying out internet marketing.

WordCamp MY on the 22nd of May ’10 has brought me to wider understanding of what would take me more time to get updated on WordPress development. It’s a great sharing and learning session as I’ve learnt about WordPress 3.0 ( which is still beta as of on that day and also as of writing.). Then there is the spanking new theme, Twenty Ten . Bye bye blue header and hello to all the new functionalities. It may not be that impressive if you are a technical person who’s been hacking and writing custom plugins for all the possible things we wished WordPress has. At least, for now WordPress 3.0 will incorporate more functions and it will benefit non-technical users. You can try the new theme now if you have a blog on WordPress.com.

I’ll let the picture speak for itself so that you’ll get to know what we had on that Saturday.

As the first WordCamp in Malaysia, it’s pretty well-rounded. The event had incorporated a good enough number of topics such as SEO, plugin development, Microsoft (*gasp*) Silverlight plugin for WordPress, blogging and all WordPress related. Internet marketing may be the hype possibly around the world (not all countries yet), it is understandable that some sub topics of internet marketing was discussed on but not the whole as the event is mainly about WordPress.

So, perhaps this can garner some ideas for the next WordPress gathering (not necessarily in a year’s time) to include internet marketing and WordPress such as niche sites building and such. Here’s another picture to share. I’d say, it’s a good start for WordCamp Malaysia.

On the other note, it was speaker Naoko McCracken ‘s birthday that day and then on 27th May is was WordPress Birthday!

This is my share of the normal encounter many had come across with. I’m am obviously trudging my virtual feet in the blogging business but it is okay. I am going to take this moment as from what the title says.

I’ve been experimenting on creating a couple of blogs for different interests and boy, was I worn out. So, lesson learnt and I am getting back to this blog and take things one at a time.Also, for the posting pattern, I was having the case of the ‘read / input but no write / output’ or what it might be a possible case of Blogger ADHD.

There had been alot of input from everywhere that I am not sure what to write about. One, I’ve completed 30 Days Challenge instead. Yeah, I know I’ve mention about the 12WC, but unfortunately, I found myself drifting away due to distractions. Tsk tsk. Anyhow, I do still check out what are the tasks for the week though.

From the ground level, and after learning( and still is) thus far, I’ve come to realised that a blog is quite like a baby and it needs a balance of many things to grow. My mistake was from too much focus on certain things such as finding the right topic, decision to be strict and stay on a particular topic (that I came to utter silence or lost of interest on it), money, personal posts and theme picking.

Before I end this post, WordCamp is just around the corner!

Today marks the first day of the core WordCamp Conference, that is the WordCamp San Francisco. Last year, WordCampSF boasted an attendance of 700 people. It’s a huge event, where everyone and anyone who knows what WordPress is, gathers and talks about it. Not just the casual social networking chats of course, but also sharing of ideas and information, which makes a hellavu of a noisy and excited chatter on WordPress.

Though I am missing out on that, I am still excited as  this time around, there will be a WordCamp Malaysia coming to Kuala Lumpur on May 22, 2010. Thanks to Simon, whom I’ve just got to know and was nice to spill the beans to me. No reason to miss out on it, I guess. Anyway, I had completed my registration yesterday when the mail came along. So, I’m all set and ready to go with my WordPress can opener.

The last conference I went was yonks ago, for Creative Commons. Then I sort of went under the rocks, stayed in the dark and now that I finally looked up, I’d seen huge events going past me. Tedx Bangkok, SWSX, etc just to name a few current ones.

Okay, if you are interested, here is the link to WordCamp (*click*). You can get information such as what WordCamp is, a calendar of all upcoming WordCamps worldwide and links to all of the location specific WordCamp Conferences. Also, help yourself with the goodies (badges) to paste it up your site to show some WP love!

On WordCamp Malaysia, here’s a brief information on it

What : WordCamp Malaysia (WordPress Conference)
Where : Cititel Mid Valley, Kuala Lumpur
When : 22nd May 2010, 8 am – 5pm
How : Skip everything else and show me the REGISTRATION ONLINE NOW

For further information, here’s the link to the official website for WordCamp Malaysia. You’ll find out more on the venue, agenda, fees and registration procedure.

Phew. Oh yeah, Happy Labour Day y’all.

What if there no status allowed to be printed on name cards but your name and other details?

What if in a social gathering, you can introduce yourself but not make your job as a definition of you (ie: Hi, my name is … I am a (insert job position)).

Rewind back, in your first class in primary school, how did you introduce yourself to your friends ?

Like many people, it’s natural for me to say that too (occupation) as a description of who I am. You can catch me red -handed on my About page. Then again, I’m just curious, what if, job title do not exist. What will I say?

That would be interesting if we refrain ourselves from using our job title to describe ourselves on the first introduction to someone we just met in a social gathering.How and what would you say to truly define yourself?

For the past weeks, I’ve quite a number of things to work on. It’s exciting because there are so much to learn, it’s frustrating because the progress on the action part is not as fast as I’d want. For a side project, here’s what I’ve learned from the process so far

That One Thing

Finding a niche can be as clear as mud especially when there are too many things that I like. The next thing that can be a problem is planning too many steps ahead and trying to execute everything at once. That’s when the worry kicks about the capability, capacity, sustainability, and knowledge. The solution I found that works for me is to pick one and focus. Ignore the rest and assure that those will have a chance to come in eventually.

Planning, Goals and Strategies

It is something new and I am slowly getting a hang of it. What I’ve learnt from it is that it helps me to define ways to achieve what I want. Basically, I just write down all the “wants” I wanted

Step #1 – What I want?

then, ask

Step #2 – How and what are the possible ways to get what I want?

An easy to understand example would be by taking a look at Tim Ferris’s Dreamline,

#1 – Speak Japanese (What I want? I want to learn Japanese)
#2 – Converse with a native in Japanese for 5 mins everyday ( How can I learn to speak Japanese? I will allocate 5 minutes to practice and eventually know how to speak at least basic Japanese)

If possible, put in the fears, between step # 1 and step # 2. Getting it written and placing it somewhere makes it easier for execution.

I wanted to publish on AC ( I’ve registered an account yonks ago but never got to the next step of doing any writing. *shame*) . Since I’m in the planning stage for my side project, I included publishing an article on AC as one of “wants” I want achieve and list the imaginary obstacles I’ve thought ( atrocious grammar, uninteresting, absolutely no flair in writing, etc). The list works and I just published 2 articles on AC.Though it’s super minor of an achievement, I’m glad the list did budge me to take action.

I want to share out useful information on people and writings that can change your perception of life that can help you discover the opportunities around.

My ways to get inspired is by reading manifestos, other people’s blogs, books and joining community of people thriving and working towards creating the ideal life by their terms.

I’m glad to have stumbled upon many great sites (by equally great people behind it  ) that have helped me to learn, grow and to see things in a different perspective through life smokescreens that we have been so accustomed to.

I’d just like to share my resources and introduce you to some of their works that I personally like. I am just assuming that people learn and discover things at different timesSo, if you’ve already known them/ the sites ( no doubt, since they are making big waves already ) , continue to give your support.

People & Manifesto

Change This
This site offers a wide array of quality manifestos that are downloadable and all are in PDF format.
Some of my favourites are
Drawings That Change
Wow Factor
How To Be Creative
Misfit Manifesto

Gaping Void – Hugh McLeod
Hugh McLeod is a cartoonist whose cartoons I like very much. You can subscribe and get his cartoons emailed to you. Beside cartoons, he writes funny posts where he shares his insights about reality. Here’s one of my favourite
The Hunger

Jay Morrisey
I came across Jay’s site from this post
Why Are Office Workers Trapped In Their Cubicles
and I ended up reading his other posts because somethings he said have a close resemblance of what I’ve encounter in real life – funny but true.

AONC – Chris Guillebeau
The first thing I read from Chris Guillebeau’s site is his remarkable manifesto A Brief Guide To World Domination

Illuminated Mind – Jonathan Mead
One of the early sites I enjoyed visiting and reading. This is my favourite post that I can never forget
The Death Of Becoming Something

Location 180 – Sean Ogle
I came across Sean Ogle’s site and ended up following Location 180 until he actually landed in Thailand and still is there now. I’d recommend his post HERE on moving to Thailand and doing an internship with Tropical MBA – something to inspire you that nothing is impossible !

Seth Godin
Read Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow in my first job, then followed his other books and his posts on his blog
http://sethgodin.typepad.com

Thrilling Heroics – Cody Mckibben
While doing web designing as a side work, I read up on it and came about Cody Mckibben’s site from his post about freelance web worker. Besides that, Cody has a post that is helpful and relevant to this 12WC event too. Check this post
on setting personal and development goals

These sites are mostly on self development,personal finance and lifestyle design. Some offers nice videos such as Responsibility Project and Ted.

Self Development, Videos and Talks

• Zen Habits
• Wise Bread
• Lifehack
• Ted
• Responsibility Project
• Free Pursuit

Here are some sites that serve as a community where people who wants to share and discuss about lifestyle design, self-development, entrepreneurship goes . You can find regular updates and can also contribute as well.

Community

• Untemplater
• Location Independent
• Business Backpacker

I hope these resources are helpful and can spark something inside you to start making choices that matters to you.

The day has finally arrived and the list of tasks to accomplish for this week is given. I am excited to get started on it. Besides that, there are some pointers to useful resources to help us, participants to carry out our ideas and goals for this event. I sure feel like a child in a candy store!

More updates **