This is me.

• 2012-08-24

  Tell everyone

  If you are struggling with getting started, you can maybe use this piece of advice:

  Tell everyone you know what it is that you are willing/going to do.

  Jep, it could be that simple. Telling a lot of people what you are going to do, forces you to actually do it. You don’t want to loose face in front of your friends, family and significant other. You don’t want to be considered as someone who is all talk and no action. No one likes to be seen as a bullshitter.

  So if you put yourself in a situation where you actually need to do the things you promised, you make it easier on yourself to do it.

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• 2012-08-19

  What are you waiting for?

  I wonder: at what point does one make a “click” in one’s mindset and finally start doing the things one would want to do?

  How much contemplation, procrastination or reading of blogposts and books does it take to finally get started?

  The funny thing is that although most of the time you know what the right thing to do is, you still remain hesitant. Knowing what you should do, doesn’t seem to be the sole necessary ingredient to get you going. If that would’ve been the truth, I guess everyone would start way earlier than they do.

  So the biggest question is: what does it take to get you jumpstarted?

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• 2012-07-29

  Motivators and advice

  I wonder if every blogger who gives advice or writes something motivational, follows her/his own advice.

  It’s easy to know what the right thing to do is.

  It’s a whole other thing to put the money where your mouth is and actually do it.

  See, giving advice to other people is easy: You should be doing what you love. You should work hard to succeed. You should do what you’ve always dreamt about. You should be a genuinely good person. You should have fun and live life to the fullest. You should watch less TV and connect with your family and friends. You should educate yourself instead of becoming an ignorant zombie. You should take care of yourself and do sports or work out. You should live a happy love life.

  You get the picture…

  But are you using your own advice?

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• 2012-07-25

  Productivity experiment

  Lots of times, when I want to get something done, I start out with checking my Facebook. I always say “just 2 minutes”. Sometimes it really is just 2 minutes, other times it becomes a longer waste of time. I actually don’t care to know what everyone is doing at a certain moment. But it’s just a force of habit, to check Facebook.

  After a long time contemplating and having talked about it with a couple of friends, I finally decided to go 30 days without checking my Facebook. Of course I am not the first to embark upon this little adventure (just check this).

  The last week and a half or so, I’ve been starting to pick up some coding (HTML, CSS and Javascript) in order to be able to build MVP’s of some ideas I have in the future. A couple of days ago, I finally started on a little project that I wanted to do for a while now. So it seemed like a good timing for me to do the 30 days without Facebook thing, to get my little project launched a bit quicker (and honestly to deal with my Facebook addiction).

  I’m curious to see what the results will be from this Facebook-free experiment. I’m especially curious to see what this will do with my productivity. 

  Maybe you could try it too?

  30 days without Facebook? No harm in that right? 

  Good luck!

  (P.S.: I could give you hand with blocking Facebook so you can make sure you won’t be able to “accidentally” visit the site)

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• 2012-07-08

  The default state

  I read this post of Chris Dixon about the default state of a startup being failure.

  And it got me thinking.

  Of course people don’t expect you to succeed. Why would they?

  If it would be easy to make a lot of money, everyone would.

  If it would be easy to quit a “normal” life (working a 9 to 5 and watching tv for the rest of your life), everyone would. 

  If it would be easy to live the life of your dreams, everyone would.

  If it would be easy to succeed, everyone would. 

  The status quo is easier than doing something new. Surely, it’s easier to follow the conventional path than stepping out of the line and doing something special. Staying inside your comfort zone is easier than doing something that scares you.

  So why would you?

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• 2012-06-29

  To do or to read about doing

  If you’re anything like me, you read a lot.

  You read blogposts, awesome books, etc.

  But at some point you have to start wondering:

  Do you want to continue reading about other people doing the things you always dreamt of doing?

  Or is it time to step up and do it yourself?

  Sure, there’s nothing wrong with reading to be inspired or to push you to take action. That’s great even. But is that what you’re actually doing? Using that inspiration to take action? Or are you just caught up in reading and living “your” awesome life through the words of others?

  (Note: Not reading and just dreaming about stuff is equally bad, probably even worse.)

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• 2012-05-31

  Ideas and work

  You know when you have a (great) idea, you’re super excited.

  You think of all the possibilities, you think you’ll be the next Zuckerberg or Branson, you think you’ll take all the competitors down and that you will rule the market.

  Well I hope so for you.

  Besides the odds not being in your favor, most ideas don’t get past that phase (the idea stage).

  An idea without execution is nothing.

  Hell, it’s less than nothing.

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