Matthew Lang

I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

I wish I hadn't worked so hard.

I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.

I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

I wish that I had let myself be happier.

— Five Regrets of the Dying With Tangents by Buster Benson

Wouldn't it be nice if you could live your life with no regrets? I already have a couple of regrets at the moment on this list, but I'm still young enough to turn these around.

via blog.chasejarvis.com

via Smashing Magazine

I wonder if Nicholas Bate know's about this? It would tie in nicely with his Be Bold 101 book.

Productive Brainstorming Requires that you Separate Creative Thinking from Critical Thinking

via thestartupdaily.com

I had first hand experience of this productive brainstorming at the weekend when I was collecting some ideas for a journalling application. The problem was that each idea I had was quickly followed through by my more critical side asking "How would that work?". As soon as I had an idea I would quickly invalidate it by thinking that it would be too difficult to implement. You're not going to get any ideas by doing this.

Looking back I should have simply put my ideas down first without giving them a second thought about how they would be implemented and then let them incubate.I do this quite a lot with a blog on mind mapping, but it's something that I had forgotten about at the weekend when I was trying to be creative and generate some ideas.Let your ideas grow in your mind for a while before applying the critical thinking to them.

I would recommend at least a few hours or even a couple of days between creative thinking and critical thinking.The time when your ideas are in an incubation period can give you a chance to reflect on your ideas. This isn't time when you should be thinking about the critical aspect of your ideas, instead it's just a time for the ideas you have, to sit and do nothing.While they're doing nothing you might trigger a thought to a more refined idea. Then again you might not.

You don't lose anything here but it does mean that when it comes to the critical evaluation of your ideas, you'll be familiar with each of the ideas you originally had and you'll be ready to apply some critical thinking to them.

Another great find from Swiss Miss.

via swiss-miss.com

Last year I did a favourite four of 2010. I listed my favourite blog, book, tweeter and podcast. This year I am trimming it down to just my favourite blog and book.

The reason I am skipping the favourite tweeter is that I am no longer gaining much value from Twitter like I did the last year. I'm starting to see that some people are posting stuff more to do with their personal life than what they're up to with work and projects. Yeah it's nice to hear that someone has just met the love of their life, or seen their kid take their first steps, or something else along those lines, but in 2010, I was spoiled with people who were tweeting some really good stuff. In 2011 this didn't happen so much. I'm as just as guilty as the next person of this.

The flip side of this is that I have started to see more of a benefit in reading blogs again. There was a lot of talk of social networks becoming the blogs of this decade but I don't see it happening. While I'm still subscribed to just over 200 blogs and feeds, I'm managing it easily on a day to day basis.

I used to listen to podcasts alot. However since moving to a new job, I haven't much time to tune into the podcasts that I used to listen to. Maybe this year I'll get back into catching my favourite podcasts again.

Favourite blog

Nicholas Bate has done it again. Last year his blog was my daily recommended reading. This year, I stand by his blog again as being recommended daily reading. His
Instant MBA book and series was a great read and his current series on strategies for success is brilliant.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Nicholas will produce this year. His blog just keeps getting better and better.

Favourite book

Patrick Rhone's book, "Keeping It Straight" was my favourite book of the year. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the different sections of the book and the way in which it was written was brilliant. I found it to be quite similar to Stephen King's book "On Writing".

You can find a more detailed review of it here.

There we go, my favourite blog and book from 2011. What's yours?

Declare war on passivity.  Hush the inner voice that insists you’re over the hill, past your prime, unworthy of attaining those dreams.  Disbelief is now the enemy, as is the notion of settling.  Get hungry — hyena hungry.  Get fired up.  Find your backbone, and your wings.
Flap ‘em.  It’s the only way you’ll be able to fly.

— Declare War on Passivity by David Kanigan

At the end of the day, plan tomorrow.

Travel light. Regularly empty out the bags and wallet of the accumulated debris.

Write down their names. Nobody minds at all.

Look for the best.

Plan 'down' time as specifically as 'work'

via blog.strategicedge.co.uk

There are hundreds of books on self-help, productivity and organisation. You could spend a fortune on these or just use this list. Click through for the rest of Nicholas Bate's fantastic list for an easier life.