At the moment I am facing a crisis.  I have ‘brain freeze.’  To overcome it I intend to try and publish a series of micro posts for the next little while.  The main culprit is work and pressure.  There is no pressure as such at work only the bits where they make me work.  That was a bad joke.  I must allow the free flow of creativity to continue for the betterment of myself and the nation.  So my plan is post short more frequent posts and write the longer ones a bit later.  It’s either this or I stop and I can’t do that because I am having too much fun.  This is another one of my ‘creativity’ ideas.  Let’s see how it works.

Alright so I waited 160 odd posts before I spoke about cricket. You have to know when it’s time to quit something. Here are two examples from two of my favorite cricketers.

Justin Langer

I was listening to an interview with Justin Langer the other day and he said after hearing how excited Matthew Hayden was about an up coming series. I remember him saying, “How am I going to get that back?” I felt when I was listening to this that he had lost the burning ambition to play cricket for his country. This is important. This doesn’t mean that if you lose the desire to do something that you should quit. I have lost the desire to do exercise plenty of times but I know I need to be doing it! I mean, when the passion slips out of what you do for a living… I am sorry … but you need to go do something else. Again, this is what living through the heart is all about. Don’t quit your job just yet, take stock of where you are and think it through.

Knowing the time to quit: Adam Gilchrist

Recently Adam Gilchrist shocked the cricketing world by announcing his retirement. When it came time to explain his decision he said, “I just knew”. What did he mean? He meant he felt inside that it was time for him to move on with his life. I have felt this often in my life and most of the time it has worked out well for me. There is a difference between feeling like it’s time to quit and knowing it. Knowing is a inner sensation that lets you know that it’s time. The feeling may be reactionary because of pressure or some thoughts that may be occupying your mind. Knowing is a deeper ‘heart’ thing that comes to you. Here is a simple test you can do to see if what you are feeling is coming from your sub-conscious or somewhere deeper.

When you think about a change in your life are you convinced or are you talking yourself into it? If you are talking yourself into it the chances are you are ‘trying’. You never try to do something of the heart … it just is. You can’t be something you already are! You can’t reason out the heart … it just is. Pay good attention to it!

The point here is that these two cricketers made choices not on an emotion but on the heart. The head and the heart often conflict but ultimately the heart should win out. If you follow this I believe you are heading to a good place!

This is part of an on-going conversation I am having on the heart

A colleague of mine, Jenine Beekhuyzen, at Griffith University is about to launch an exciting book project called, ‘Tech Girls are Chic, Not Geek‘ which is about the reality of women working in Information Technology industries.   What makes this book great is two things:

1. It’s shows the reality of women and their role in the IT workforce and

2. The book is being released on my birthday!  Yes… it’s March the 8th International Women’s Day.  No, I am not a woman.

Navigate to techgirlsarechic.org to find out more information.  The book is so hot at the moment that there have been 1000 pre-orders for it from IBM and other interested people.   I have posted this here because I think it’s an interesting concept and well worth a look.  By the way, this is not a sponsored post.  Check it out.

Woolworths has always been a fairly heartless conglomerate, I thought, since they decided to demolish some bushland at Maleny to build a supermarket that nobody visits. However, this morning I was surprised when I went to fill up the Falcon and discovered 10% ethanol fuel with a short description next to the bowser on why they use the fuel. The price was cheaper too which is good considering my Falcon chews it up around the city.

A decision with heart

Strategically this is a good move for Woolworths because it shows that they don’t just bulldoze bushland they are prepared to invest (with Caltex I might add) in the distribution of cleaner burning fuels. So why is this a heart decision? Making a choice for the environment is jumping on the bandwagon but it’s still good to see it actually happening. This planet is suffering thanks to us so we need to do something about it. Industry leaders like Caltex and Woolworths have shown us the way and I think it’s interesting that they are out in front of the pack. Good on you.

A heart choice for Ford

I think Ford need to follow suit here. I have had some problems with my Falcon but one of the biggest that will stop me from buying another one when I trade up is the cost of fuel and the damage such a car can do to the environment. Something happened to be when I had kids I got soft. How about it Ford… make a Falcon that’s fuel efficient that runs of clean burning fuel? Surely we have the technology to do that now? C’mon give it a good ‘Aussie’ go.

There was been a lot of hoo hah about digg in the last 24 or so hours. Like most people I am sure we don’t want to be unproductive when it comes to life. However, I must admit to having Diggitis from time to time. Last semester I was teaching Mobile Workforce Technologies and some IT students (if you are reading this I had a great time) pointed out my stumble bar, I was caught out. I frequently used the web in that course because it’s about the leveraging power of social media, blogging, wikis and so on and the social ideas that underpin them. Come to think of it I probably should be talking about it on this blog a bit more shouldn’t I? As the title suggests the subject was all about how ‘mobile’ technologies influence the way work is designed and implemented. We used a wiki to make students write their own textbook about the world of mobile technologies. Although, towards the end it became more about educating people about online collaboration and co-learning but that’s another story. Sorry, tangent!

Anyway, the students pointed out to me that I had a stack of tools on top of my browser for stumbling. I have since cleaned it up. I can tell you that at the time I had just become acquainted with stumbling and it’s very addictive.

Do you have Diggitis?

I sometimes get it. It’s a hypnotic state that induces people into random clicking of most of the trivial information that makes the Digg front page. I have to force myself to do something else. If you get Diggitis I can tell you that you will have to work very hard to break out of it. It’s no wonder these sites become popular. For me, I don’t use Digg all that often, I prefer Stumbleupon myself. I guess you could call that Stumbleitis. I don’t really want to say ‘Reddititis’ because it sounds like a serious disease or deliciousitis either for that matter but you get my point.

What can you do about it?

The main thing you can do is be positive and set targets. The key thing to note is that whilst you are doing it you may find yourself running out of time to do other important things. If you are digging at work, or stumbling or whatever, the chances are you should be working. Here are three things you can do immediately that will reduce the amount of time you spend on social media sites:

1. Set daily goals: The reason we end up aimlessly clicking is because we are unsure of what our daily targets may be. It’s important the you keep a close eye on what you are doing and make sure that you are happy with your daily tasks. If you aren’t then spend 5-10 minutes making a daily list of what you need to do that’s very important. Take a piece of paper and stick it in front of your computer.
2. Give yourself a time limit: When you start on a site set a time limit of two to three minutes and then switch it off. Don’t fall into a Digg trance. By setting yourself reasonable limits and time to do it you will free up a small amount of time to enjoy it whilst not sacrificing the majority of productivity.
3. Use your imagination: Imagine what it’s like to fired. Really think about it. Can you see what it looks like? Good remember that next time you spend more than your allocated time stumbling!

The key thing to hold in your mind is that stuffing around on social media is fun, entertaining and interesting. However, you have to get things done in order to be successful. Very few people are successful on the basis of not working. Almost everyone who is someone worked at least somewhat to get there. So, I recommend moderation in stumbling and digging. If you don’t you will you be stuck with Diggitis.

According to this news article the latest round of research is telling us that Australia has 18 cities out of the top 50 least affordable cities in the entire world. The shocking statistic for me was that the place where I grew up, the sunshine coast, is the 2nd least affordable in Australia and the 7th least in the world! I was gobsmacked! This was the place where my parents bought a house for five figures in the early nineties. My how times have changed. The average style of home is somewhere in the $550,000 range and that’s not even that close to the water. I remember when Mooloolaba was a bum haven with a shop that sold bongs. Not so anymore.

One positive for me is that at least the world’s most expensive city wasn’t in this country. It’s actually Los Angeles. For residents of L.A. I am sure this is an honour they could do without. We aren’t too far off with people on the Sunshine Coast having to pay more than 8 times what they earn to get a mortgage. To be honest, I will continue renting … for the moment.

Unless you have been living under a rock you would have noticed the LOLCAT phenomenon.   You can see the LOL version of this website by clicking below.  I know it’s lazy but it’s Sunday so what can I say?

Special thanks to Alison for this one:

 http://lolinator.com/lol/lukehoughton.com/