[ I’ll write a better review with some screenshots or something. But until then check out the amazing tool from Cirrus Insight for Integrating GMail and Salesforce.
Max – Time Watch
Imagine all the trouble we could get ourselves into with a Time Watch! Max – Time Watch – YouTube.
“If I wanted America to fail”
“If I wanted America to fail” – YouTube.
TE: if I wanted America to succeed:
- I would ensure that the will of the majority could never suppress the freedom of the individual.
- I would design systems that were lean and efficient, and that encouraged the best ideas to trickle up rather than allowing mediocrity to trickle down.
- I would make government transparent so that dishonest people never saw our government as a place where they could succeed.
Living a Life of Meaning in The Age of Excellence
Reading: The Age of Excellence
A wise mentor of mine responded to this article saying,
Agree with this, but I think it misses one important issue:
Everyone can be excellent at something, especially locally. A haircut in Mayberry may not (or may) be as good as one at a fancy salon in New York City, but a decent barber in Mayberry can still do just fine.
I think this is one of the major points of living a Life of Meaning (LOM) — somewhere and in some fashion, there is something that you are meant to create or improve upon. It doesn’t have to be something big, or noteworthy; but it must be big and noteworthy to you personally. Whether or not people know your name or recognize your accomplishments does not diminish their worth since the value of one’s life-work is entirely personal to the individual.
I also see LOM as a series of missions/tasks that we choose to take on — e.g. a life of meaning is the fruit of a series of challenges that we opt into.
It’s not so important to obsess over one’s “next step” as it is to constantly ponder one’s purpose in life, and the direction and acceleration of one’s movements. It is very important to not get “stuck” for too long, as the result of indecision or inaction.
On a personal note, I believe this is also how we discover and receive understanding of our purpose from God the Father. I recently realized I’ve been “stuck” in my walk with Christ because I was over-emphasizing action and decision in my work life to the neglect of my spiritual growth.
There isn’t one purpose, there are many. Constant action and decision are important to discovering purpose and meaning in every area of your life.
WordCamp Milwaukee 2012 – Hosting Talk
Are you curious about web hosting? Since I work for a Managed WordPress hosting company, I have a lot of insight into how hosting companies work and what types of hosting packages make sense for which types of WordPress projects. There are a lot of factors to weigh, including cost, usability, functionality, level of service, and the architecture a certain platform uses. With ‘shared’, ‘dedicated’, ‘virtual’, ‘dedicated-virtual’, ‘cloud hosting’, and all the rest of the esoteric terms we tend to throw around…let’s just say things can get confusing.
At WordCamp Milwaukee, I’ll be giving a no-nonsense “these are the options and the ways people typically use them” talk about hosting. If you’re a beginner or intermediate WordPress user, or you just have a burning question about hosting — come and join the discussion.
We’ll be looking at each type of hosting platform and what types of WordPress projects you might want to deploy there, and any special considerations. This will be pretty interactive, and I’ll be looking to the audience to bring questions in order to make this a truly dynamic and educational talk.
Disclaimer: It’s no secret that I believe Manage WordPress Hosting, like what we offer at WP Engine, Pagely, ZippyKid and WebSynthesis, to be an optimal solution for a wide range of projects. However, this talk isn’t about championing Managed WordPress Hosting over other types of solutions. The purpose here is to give you a broad overview of the many types of hosting platforms you could choose to employ for your WP site.
Some F.A.Q.
When and where will this Hosting Talk be given?
WordCamp Milwaukee will be held at BucketWorks on June 2nd and 3rd. You can check the WordCamp Milwaukee 2012 Website for details about the schedule and what specific room I’ll be giving this talk in.
How can I find you at the event?
Tweet at me: @traftonesler
What will you be wearing?
I will most likely be wearing a snazzy black “My Blog is 4X faster than your blog” shirt and cargo shorts.
Need a laugh and a free t-shirt? Check out the WP Engine + Automattic 5K Video!
WP Engine participated in the Worldwide Automattic 5K, and we made a pretty hilarious video to go with. Click through to see how you can win a WPE t-shirt!
Be More Curious and You Might Earn Some Wisdom
So I have had the great pleasure this past week to trade my Honda Civic Hybrid for Erica Douglass Biz’s fancy convertible (“Lil Zoom” for the uninitiated). And while ripping from 0 to 61mph on highway 620 I discovered something about how you can go about earning some wisdom: simply reach a new level of curiosity.
The speed freaks in my audience are probably stuck here asking the question, “Why did he stop at 61pmh?” Good question. Ask the car that boxed me in by using the left lane for traveling and not passing. It occurred to me — since I had plenty of time to think as that 4mph difference really slowed me down — why is this car not driving the speed limit of 65mph? To be honest, I felt the anger at them not going the actual speed limit and then realized being angry was foolish when I could seek to understand.
…being angry was foolish when I could seek to understand instead.
So I had all this extra time you see, and I decided to brainstorm all the reasons that car might see fit to A.) Not use the passing lane as intended to pass something and B.) Not drive the speed limit. Here is what I came up with:
- They’re not paying attention.
- He’s on a cell phone.
- She doesn’t pay attention to road signs and that’s why he missed the speed limit sign change from 65mph to uh…65mph.
- He’s texting.
- He just doesn’t care about any of the other drivers on the road or the fact that they’re trying to get somewhere too!
And then I realized, I’m brainstorming ideas that make sense to me. I also realized that brainstorming was making me mad because I really felt like this driver was being unbelievably considerate to not be checking their mirror to see the line of cars behind them…and huff, and puff and humph! Then I realized that I was thinking things that only made sense to me — they were things that I would do, given my current state of mind and situational factors. The fact that the car was going slow wasn’t really what was bothering me either, it was the fact that I didn’t get why someone would do that. And then recognizing that other people aren’t carbon copies of me, I tried another tack in my brainstorming:
Maybe…
- They’re distracted because of a death in the family.
- He’s on his cell phone because this is the big sales deal that will feed his family and he couldn’t pull over to take the call.
- A car was blocking the speed-limit sign when she passed it and so she literally didn’t see it.
- He probably hasn’t learned that it’s best to text and not drive, but he probably will at some point.
- Maybe the speedometer is just not calibrated right.
- Oh crap, maybe my speedometer is not calibrated right and I’m the tailgating jerk here!
It’s a lot easier to give someone grace when you dream up all the legitimate reasons for them to be doing what they’re doing. It’s even easier when you consider that maybe you don’t have all the facts just yet, or that maybe you’re wrong. Think about it, maybe you are wrong. Accept that and you’ve eliminated a lot of stress.
It’s also that attitude of seeking to understand before reacting or commenting that leads to true wisdom. So be curious, observe and brainstorm not just the what where and how of this world but also the why.
- What is the purpose behind the action that person takes?
- Would I do the same thing?
- Have I done the same thing?
- What was I thinking when I did that?
- How might other people have felt about that?
Be curious enough to want to leave the comfort of your own thoughts and try to envision other people’s. You’ll grow. You’ll have more respect for other people, and stress will fade away.
CARPE DIEM: Tyler Cowen on Economic Blogging
This is a great video on entrepreneurship and how you can get started with blogging: CARPE DIEM: Tyler Cowen on Economic Blogging.
WP Engine: How A Startup Reached $1M In Sales In Less Than A Year – with Jason Cohen | Business Tips
A Mixergy interview with the CEO of WP Engine (where I work):
WP Engine: How A Startup Reached $1M In Sales In Less Than A Year – with Jason Cohen | Business Tips.
