Two of my favourite topics, good coffee – and information!

Coffee first… I much prefer the taste of percolated and shop bought coffee.

When I set up the coffee percolator the other day I missed adding one of the parts that is absolutely critical to make good coffee – the filter.  Impatiently I waited, wondering why the coffee was taking so very long.  Yes really, it was so slow… I wasn’t just being an impatient coffee drinker.

I turned off the coffee maker and pondered on it for a moment as I swished the very dark and grainy coffee around in the bottom of the pot.  It looked very much like a swamp would look when it’s got a lot of algae… except that it was brown.

My first thought, “Oh no, my coffee machine is broken!”  I very quickly decided that nah; that absolutely could not, would not be the case and blindly went in search for the problem.

Oh dear… you have probably guessed it by now…

I had forgotten to add the plastic filter insert to the coffee percolator. That explained it.  That would definitely, 100% be the cause of dark brown coffee with chunks in it.

Rather than wasting it, I offered it around to all my family (lol, no way!!!).  Nah, I ended up disposing of the whole 10 cups (and what a waste of coffee that was).

Mmm, now to start again… add the filter… watch the coffee as it streams through to make sure it’s doing what I want for it to do this time.  Looks good… and tastes perfect!

Your probably wondering what any of this has to do with filtering information?

Think about the masses of information on the web – and offline as well actually.

Every single day we are provided many opportunities to stumble upon more and more information.  Some is really good information… some is useless… and some really just shouldn’t be out there.

Imagine if you were to take all this information in as the absolute truth.

When I ponder on this I think that I’d be a pretty mess up person if I took in all information as the absolute truth.

• I would have likely freaked out from information overload by now.
• I probably would have felt very down in the dumps having taken on everybody elses worries and their fears.
• I would probably be a hermit.
• Most likely I would be extremely paranoid about issues that people ‘hype up’.
• I wouldn’t have enough time in the day to fix everything that was wrong.

It can be simple for any of these things to take over in your life… particularly when it comes to information overload, because there is so much ‘information’ out there.

Remember that yes, there is a lot of good information on the net – but at the same time remember to:

Filter, filter, filter!

Like coffee, the critical part when you stumble upon new information is to filter this information.  Decide whether it is important to you… to your growth… your understanding… your journey.  If it is not important to your journey, then you will not be needing it – so you are free to discard this information if you choose to.

Many people’s brains automatically filter some of the useless information anyway (the info that it believes we no longer have a use for), to make room for more information.  If your brain is filtering the wrong stuff, then you might want to think about retraining it to filter the right stuff.

So the question again…

• How much of the information that you have found today will help you tomorrow?  Absorb it!
• How much can you discard?  Discard it!

Anyway, must be time for another coffee.

There are a good many people who have consciously made the decision to set up an online business for the flexibility that it has on offer.  It might be so that they were able to spend more time with family and friends.  It might also be so that they could spend more time or money on their hobby, or maybe it is so they are able to travel the world without time limits and really absorb the culture, scenery and experiences that the country has to offer.  The vision for their online business might be to do what they love while earning enough cash (and maybe a bit extra) through their business to fund those activities or adventures that interest them… or simply to balance their budget and provide more flexibility and balance to life.

Today, I would like to talk about those who seem to constantly have the travel bug… they just can’t seem to be able to shake it… and they might have pondered on whether there was a job that offered flexibility to those who wish to travel and constantly enjoy new experiences, without the need to organize a working visa, or having to return to their home country in order to earn more money ready for the next trip.

If a person is willing to put in the hours required to establish a professional blog it can in the longer term provide them the opportunity and flexibility to travel and at the same time do those things that they have always wanted to… always dreamed of doing, without the restraints that come with a job which must be completed on-site and within set hours.  An online business could be the ultimate to those who seem to constantly have the ‘travel bug’ if set up right.

Founder and Chief Editor, David Lee started GoBackpacking.com back in 2007 when he decided to trade his stable lifestyle and well paying job for the unknown, because of the experience and fun that it had to offer.  David’s plan was to backpack around the world and tell everyone about his adventures… a bit like a travel journal I suppose, he has already visited 22 countries in 20 months.  A couple of weeks ago he returned from his first press / social media trip, it was to Rwanda.

Owning an online business means that a person can work from just about anywhere… as long as you have a laptop, access to electric (to charge your computer) and an internet connection (to upload and update business information).  For example, a year from now… if you are a motivated type of person and decided that you did want to take the step toward professional blogging, then there is a possibility that a year from now you might be sitting at a cafe or a hotel room in Europe… or maybe Germany… or how about China; sharing with 100’s or even 1000’s of readers this awesome adventure that you went on just yesterday.

Thinking of Traveling?

So maybe you are thinking of traveling soon, and are interested in reading a bit more about David’s travels… which include tips and hints for traveling, information and experiences relating to the places that David has been, information about budgeting and all of those other things you can think of that could relate to travel.  If so, you might like to check out David’s blog, GoBackpacking.com.

Interest in Becoming a Successful Travel Blogger

Maybe you have the travel bug yourself, and have decided that you have a real interest in this particular niche area.  Maybe you already travel and have been blogging for a while… maybe it is set up as a professional blog but you would like to establish this blog more successfully, or maybe you had originally set it up for fun and would now like to look at monetizing on it.

If this is you, then you might like to consider visiting Travel Blog Success which is a training program written by David Lee.

How can David benefit Travel Companies?

Travel Companies might consider sponsoring David’s ventures and adventures in some way, shape or form.  Some things to consider are the Go Backpacking advertising or review (see the ‘advertising’ page on his blog)… and of course the possibility to offer travel opportunities in return for coverage through Go Backpacking and through other social media.

If you’ve seen the movie Sliding Doors and you understood the concept, then you are likely to understand the concept that I am about to explain.  This movie is about there being two sides to every story and also helps us to understand that things can very easily change… doors open and close all the time.

It is basically to say that if we were to get up 5 minutes late (as an example)… then who knows, that 5 minutes might be the cause of that series of unfortunate events that followed.  It could invariably be the difference between catching or missing the train, not because you were necessarily running late, but because various stumbling blocks were put into your way because of the time that you were passing through.  You missed it by only a second, which then is then likely to have a major effect on the upcoming events for the rest of the day.

If you think about it, this concept can be applied to many parts of our life.  If you ponder a bit on the broader concept surrounding this one, then it will help you to understand what I am going to speak on next.  I would like to discuss today the concept that life is always subject to change.  This applies each and every moment according to the decisions and choices that we make.

In particular I would like to discuss a bit further those things that have impact on our lives, that are subject to change… those things that are either going to catapult us forward, or hold us back in business and also in live:

Those Surrounding Us
By those surrounding us, I am referring to those closest to each of us, and those who have the most impact and influence on our lives.  For you this may be family, friends, colleagues, clients, mentors, or maybe another person in your life.  We hear what they say and see what they do and it continually makes us question things, and therefore shapes us as a person.

Our Emotions
Our emotions… our joys, our struggles, our excitement, our fears… where we are at right now in life.

If we have just pulled through something we are likely to be looking forward and making the appropriate changes so that we can improve on the outcome next time.  On the other hand in the times that we are really struggling with something, then we are less likely to be looking forward and more likely to looking back into the past.

Stability
When you read this heading you probably thought huh, stability?

My thought is that sometimes stability can have a direct effect on what we feel and where we are at right now… on our emotions.  When things are stable in our lives and in business, then we don’t necessarily want it to change – so we might do things to try prevent it from changing, when really what maybe we should be doing is reevaluating our current situation and moving forward into the unknown (hopefully you didn’t cringe to much when I said that).  To put it into perspective, if we were to stay ‘comfortable’ all the time, would we be likely to grow, to become better in what we do and in who we are as a person?

Change
You might be a person that absolutely loves change, on the other hand maybe you absolutely loath it and will do anything to put the breaks on to prevent you from having to move out of your comfort zone… maybe you are somewhere in between.

I think for a good part of my life I have fostered a bit of a love-hate relationship to change.  I love the excitement and momentum that change brings.  At the same time I sometimes might dislike the feeling of not knowing, of something being outside of my control.

We are on a journey, and for most of us what we continually work towards is to achieve balance in all aspects of our lives.  So to achieve more balance in this area, I am working toward developing a bit of a friendship type relationship to change.  I’m sure that you have probably read or heard the following quote time and time again… it is one that really sticks in my mind always:

“Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
–  Saint Francis of Assisi (from QuoteWorld.org)

Some things are out of our control, and will either change or stay the same no matter what we do to try and control them.  Sometimes we are able to guide things in the direction that we want for them to go.  If there are things in your life like this and you feel that there might be a really positive outcome if you do get in there and get your hands dirty, then what is your excuse?

In the same breath I say both don’t worry about the concerns of yesterday or tomorrows, but do remember to do your goal setting and business planning for the future.

Get in there, get your hands dirty and embrace the journey that life has in store for you.

I am absolutely loving life at the moment. There are so many chapters in life that have really shaped me; plus right at the moment there are some real challenges to speak of – the really positive, forward thinking and forward moving type of challenges.

Toward the end of last year and at the beginning of this year I had been pondering on short-term and long-term goals and plans. It has been really awesome having a good think about where I am at right now and where I am heading.

Have you ever blown on a flame to get it to ’spark up’ or burn a little better?  To some blowing on the flame might seem like a really strange thing to do… maybe your thought immediately was, “Wouldn’t doing this blow the flame right out?”

With a larger fire it doesn’t make the flame go out; actually it does quite the opposite.  If you have a wooden fireplace or stove then chances are that you probably have used this method to get the fire burning really well before.  Air is an essential requirement to keeping a fire going, without air the flame would be stifled and go out. This is similar to our lives. Without the thoughts, ideas and choices that we have along the way, the flame would most likely become only a faint glow.

So did have you taken the time needed to refuel your flame…, maybe at the beginning of the year, or maybe even more recently?

As things change in our lives it is important that we reflect on whether the changes that we have made are working for us, or whether we need to maybe consider further change to get things running smoothly once again. For example, if a new client had just recently, or was about to engage your services, would you revisit and revise your current goals? To me, it is of utmost importance to revisit both business and life goals and ideas on a regular basis, especially when a major change of any description has come into my life.

There are other factors in feeling good about ourselves, not just goal setting.

I think that a very important one of these factors is being confident enough in ourselves to be ourselves.

In our particular family, we realised that one of the major factors… one of the things that we were really starting to miss was those fun activities that we used to do outside of school and work time. Paul has just recently gone back to playing social badminton, I have taken up Tai Chi and our our eldest child has started to learn tennis. It is really wonderful. This type of recreation has already really bought back our balance, zest and joy for life.

Another very important factor is to do with the things that are happening in our life today.  Maybe also those things that we have held onto from the past, and things that we are worrying about that haven’t even happened yet.  In pondering on this, the important thing really is to make sure that we are living in the moment.  Make sure that we are not worrying about the past and not worrying about the future, but that we are enjoying the moment… enjoying the here and now.  Of course we must think about the future of our business, our goals.  We shouldn’t however need to start worrying about things that ‘could’ happen, things that might go wrong.  This worrying and negativity is likely to pull you back rather than encouraging you forwards.

I’ve probably missed a couple of things here that throw out life balance etc, but that’s not really the point of this post.  The point of this post is to help you to really understand the value that your current mindset holds.  I have found that once a really positive mindset and approach is being cultivated, that things in our life start falling into place a lot better.  This has proven to be right in situations in my life time and time again.

Maybe it’s just me that finds it to be quite stressful reading some (not all) newsletters and sales pages; or maybe you’ve had some similar experiences… I don’t know?

Both my personal and business experience tells me that [big breath] the “sign up right now, there is never going to be another offer like this, you are going to kick yourself if you do not buy it NOW” type of request that tenses up our shoulders and throws the butterflies around in our tummy are so not worth those feelings.

I have come to learn that when a person uses a sales pitch like this, there is a probability the person on the other end of the computer is trying to make you purchase with your emotions – on a whim!  This person really, really, really doesn’t want you to purchase with your brain, because there is a less likely chance of a sale right now.

With this tactic, these people might capture an instant sale with a good many of their customers, but I question how many customers will be repeat customers and whether there might be a bad taste left in the mouth if I was to knowingly push a sale onto a customer?

Got some thoughts on this?  I would love to hear your thoughts on how to best retain clients, and whether you would consider the “you must buy right now” sales pitch to be moral.

For my own benefit I tend to steer clear from sales people and business entrepreneurs who excessively pull heart strings in order to make their sale.

What type of newsletter / sales letter will I read?  I know for a fact that some of the newsletters I subscribe to are from business entrepreneurs who make a lot of money through their business.  Through reading their newsletters and sales pages I have decided that there is really no need to get a sale by scaring clients into making that next purchase.

I have come to the conclusion that the most important thing is to offer good quality product and services that clients would want to, choose to buy and that the sale built on trust is much superior to the sale built on fear.

A deadline can be a really positive thing.  There have been plenty of items that I have signed up for that had a deadline, but there was definitely good opportunity for me to go away, have a good think about it, then choose to come back and make the purchase on my own terms?

I have always been taught that if it seems too good to be true, then it probably is.  I was taught to be cautious of get rich schemes and that as a general rule we need to work hard – at least to start with, in order to achieve and sustain success.  So when it comes to the topic of “Making Money Online”, I tend to look for advice that is in line with the much slower paced “You can make money online if you set your business up right ” mentality.

As a customer yourself (and possibly also business entrepreneur, sales person, or marketer) what are your thoughts when it comes to newsletters, sales letters and the like?

I was brushing my sparkly teeth just a moment ago, getting ready for bed.  As I finished up I found myself standing at the sink pondering the thought of just how important it is for us, especially busy business entrepreneurs, to take good care when it comes to our health and wellbeing.

This afternoon, after a busy day in the office, I headed off to the dentist to honour my pre-booked dental appointment.  My dentist did a good check over and clean of my teeth for me.  It had been a bit too long since I had my last check and I realized this while I was there.

It might be uncomfortable getting these types of checks, and yes, it does take up invaluable time from your day – but as I see it, it is absolutely essential to attend health checks and specialist appointments on a schedule, or as the need arises.  It is really important to your family, to your business and most importantly to yourself.  I’m sure that you have heard all the raves about how important it is to eat right and exercise.  Well guess what, this is no different.

Take care of your body, it is one of your most important assets and it will thank you for it later.

Anyway, it must be time for me to go get some shut eye now, ready for another busy day.  Oh, and before I head off to bed, maybe I should write myself a note to contact my optician in the morning to schedule an appointment!

Cheers to a long and happy life for the all of us… good eyesight, and and of course bright and sparkly teeth

You might know the saying ‘Stop, Revive and Survive’. It’s a well known motto in Australia that reminds us not to drive when we are tired. It reminds us to periodically stop, have a break, stretch and maybe even stop for a coffee so that we can last out the journey.

This motto made me think of work. In particular it made me wonder how many people sit there for 12 hours a day or longer, in front of the computer without barely a break. It also made me wonder how many people work seven days, burning the candle at both ends so to speak. We can sustain for a time, but where does this leave us long term?

It is important for our health in so many ways to take a periodical break.  It could be to break for morning tea, lunch or afternoon tea.  It might be to go for a walk to the post office to post or maybe collect the mail, or to drop by the corner store to stock up on our milk supply… after all plenty of exercise and fresh air is great for an active brain!!

You are probably thinking here, but wouldn’t this mean that I would be procrastinating?

Actually it’s not procrastinating at all to stop and take a bit of a break from work.  It’s actually a really positive thing done in the right way and for the right reasons.  Using the following excerpt from Wikipedia to help support my argument:

“Procrastination refers to the deferment of actions or tasks to a later time. Psychologists often cite such behavior as a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting and/or completing any task or decision. ^[1] There are three criteria: for a behavior to be classified as procrastination, it must be counterproductive, needless, and delaying.^[2]”

1. Anxiety is not associated with this conscious choice.
2. It is not counterproductive, actually is should increase your productivity in the times that you are working.
3. It is not needless, it is important to take a break.
4. Although you could argue that taking a break is delaying, I would argue that it is not if you do it in the right way.  I offer my argument in more detail in the next couple of paragraphs, below.

It is interesting that the word ‘delaying’ is used to describe procrastination… it is true to a certain extent, but if we let it, this one word could make our lives all consumed with actions and activities, day in, day out.  I see it as being extremely important to both our mind and bodies to take a scheduled or sometimes even an unscheduled break.

If you have established a flexible routine, then you have made the conscious decision to take  a periodical break… to ‘Stop, Revive and Survive’.  We all need to eat, drink, exercise and breath some H2O to stay healthy do we not?  The trick is to not make this break all consuming of your day – in other words plan in a time that you are to clock in again.  When that time comes around on the clock, don’t procrastinate, make the conscious choice to get back to it.

I have some of my best ideas when my brain is taking a break from it all.

Now, I would like to wind the clock back a bit to first thing in the morning, as we first get up.  Plenty of people I know have made it a point not to rush into the day.  This is circumstantial for some.  If we have deadlines, or have to be someone at a certain time, then it might not work so well.  If you do have the opportunity to do this, then you might want to consider trying it. 

For me, in the morning, the most important thing is that I get up at a regular time each day – my body clock thanks me for this. 

You might decide to start the day by reading the paper, reading a good book or something else that interests you while you eat your breakfast and have your morning cuppa.  Others go for a jog or a bike ride before they even think about having breakfast, this gets their metabolism working really well.

All these mentioned can be really healthy things to do, the trick is to find something that relaxes you but also gives you a kick start ready to face the big day.  And the other important thing is to make sure there is some sort of start and a finish to this activity… not to rush you, but more to ensure that you don’t stay at that point, doing that activity for the whole entire day (imagine that, lol).

It is also very important to our health that we allocate at least one ‘Stop, Revive and Survive’ day in a week where we barely (if at all) turn on the computer. If we schedule in a break for ourselves then it actually increases focus on those days we are working, which invariably means that our output will be better and we achieve more and better results on the days that we  do work.

Being the beginning of a new year, now, is the perfect time to reevaluate what we do and how we do things.  This includes how we care for ourselves.

My question to you.  Does your current routine allow a rest period for your body and your mind, your two most important assets?  Does it allow for you to enjoy and sustain the next 10, 20, 50 years (whatever it is for you) both in business and also in life?!

Cheers now to longevity, good health and to a really good solid foundation in the years to come.