Matthew Lang

The main reason people don’t try to do work they love, don’t even look for it, is because they don’t think they’re good enough. That’s hogwash. We’ve been bamboozled and hornswoggled into believing we are insufficient, that it’s scary to fail, when neither is remotely true.

— Tick Tock by Zen Habits

I'll be honest here, I'm not a very confident person and that is perhaps why I face the freelance career with a sense of trepidation. It hasn't helped that in the last two weeks I've been unsuccessful in a few job applications. It's only a few however, at least it's not hundreds.

The bottom line: pick a few things to do well, do them, and don’t quit.

Great advice from Adam Keys.

Then check out Nicholas Bate.

via FGGT

This isn't just today's required reading, but required reading for the whole of next year!

... are you a dreamer or a finisher?

I was dreamer until this year. I actually finished a product in terms of it shipping it for the world to use, but no product is ever finished. The journey continues.

Since I got made redundant last week, I've had an opportunity to look at the path of my career and determine the right direction I want it to take for the future.While there is things I want to do and technology I want to work with, I also have existing skills that can land me a decent permanent job.So on one hand, an insecure future working with new technology and on the other hand, a secure future working with existing technology.What choice to make?

... Zombie Style.

Who thought that zombies could be so educational?

... Productive.

It's been a busy week of interviews for myself. Made easier from the fact I have simple plan like this.

Don't let uncompleted projects gnaw away at you.

... with Nicholas Bate.

Well I'm naming it this anyway.

Thanks E.

An old post from the svn blog at 37signals but a reminder that not everyone's number one concern is the big project at work.

That’s why I like working with the family man or woman. They come in as a cold bath of reality. When people have other obligations outside of work that they actually care more about than your probably-not-so-world-changing idea, the crutches are not available as an easy way out, and you’ll have to walk by the power of your good ideas and execution or you’ll fall fast and early. That’s a good thing!

— Hire Family People by 37 Signals

Kurt Harden has a list of apps you can use without a phone.

This weeks news has me looking at my career differently for the first time in 15 years.

Knowing this, allow yourself one day to be grateful for exactly where you are. In this very moment, you are right where you need to be. You have everything you need. Delight in that. Recognize where you’ve come from and send gratitude to those who have helped get you there.

More money, a better job, important responsibilities, a patient spouse, a new car, meaning, freedom, flexibility. Reasons differ, but the drive is the same. The quest for movement, for change, for different.

— Gratitude by Project Exponential

Yet again, I feel like NB is watching over my shoulder. Highly relevant for me given the circumstances.

via FGGT / Photo by Father Tu

... with Adam Keys.

No fancy hacks or software here. Just straight forward tips that anyone can do.

I've managed to write 3 posts over 3 days for my blog, but the writing well is running dry with ideas.Anybody want to see something on the blog that I haven't written about before? Contact me.

Bad news.

Got paid off this morning.

Good news.

I now have an opportunity to carve a career that will benefit me. A career that will interest me, let me work on the things that interest me the most.

There's freelancing, contracting, consulting, writing, coding and product building. Lots of opportunities ahead, but decisions need to be made sooner rather than later.

I have a young family to think about, so while I would like to do all the things above, I need to be realistic.

I'm going to start exploring these opportunities one at a time over the next week. No rash emotionally fuelled decisions.

This is an opportunity that can't be missed.

Good to see independent bookshops fighting back but I suspect that this will only be a short lived response. It will be interesting to see if people vote with their money though.

Ever get an email marked as important and then proceeded to wonder why it is so important?

I get them every now and again at work, but what amazes me is that people still send email and mark it as important. Do you really think that little red flag you put on it will automatically kick me into state of tunnel vision, where I stop until the issue in the email is resolved? Be honest, how many times have you received an important email asking you to complete a task and deferred the work to later rather than doing it now. It's not your fault. You know the task is important, but how important is it really? I think we can all agree that most of the time, it's not that important.

Email doesn't convey how important a task is because there is no tone in an email to indicate this. Also, we've lived with email so long now that we question every important email that comes into our inbox. How important is it really?If something is so important why waste the time on an email that may or may not get actioned? That little red flag called 'important' doesn't have any magical powers you know.

If you're about to send an email with a task that you think is important, then stop.

Discard the email and find the phone number of the person you wanted to send that important email to.Phone this person, discuss the task at hand. Provide that person with the all the necessary information that they need to complete the task.

Not only are you conveying how important the task is but you can also clarify any details that you might be asked about it.Next time you're mouse hovers over the important flag, decide whether the task is so important that it warrants a phone call. Most of the time it won't be that important, but when it is important, you'll be glad you conveyed the importance of the task yourself rather than relying on a dumb machine to do it for you.

I've always had a side project going for the last few years. Whether it was a blog, a bit of code or some writing, there's always been something there for me to do. The reason why wasn't really clear to me until I read this:

The Grind is the problem that you beat yourself up over solving every single day. It’s the job you’re in, or the business you’re building. The Grind gets our best hours, our fullest attention, and the whole of our willpower.

Which leads me to the this question: If the company or organisation you work for allowed a percentage of time to work on side projects, would the grind become less of a grind?

— The Grind and Why We Need Side Projects by Rocketr

... that is every Twitter user at the moment.

A well written post by "love him or loathe him" DHH on how Twitter now amounts to nothing more than a corporate advertising stream backed by a ludicrous amount of funding.

That funding has to be paid back and unfortunately Twitter's users are the ones that are going to pay the price for it.

With every story like this I get closer and closer to deleting my account. I'm so close now to just hitting that 'Delete' button.

These are fantastic recruitment posters for the Rebel Alliance.

via Distracted By Star Wars