Happy Mother’s Day to my amazing wife! Kids were super excited to give her breakfast in bed.
Congratulations and Thanks!
A “little” side project that some of you know about, Blogging Meetup (formerly Bloggers Meetup), got some great news when it was featured on Wordpress’s own Daily Post article talking about ‘Stay Supported with a Blogging Group’. That was very exciting news for me and my co-founder Amanda of the project. For what started out based on some comments in a Blogging 101 course back on February 19, 2016, is starting to really grow, grow, grow.
It is always a great feeling to know that something you have created is actually working, bringing people together, and having people find the end result useful. In the same time, I hope every member of the Blogging Meetup is just as excited as we are as it couldn’t have been done by ourselves. It is every one that participates, encourages, supports each other, and talks to others about the Community. Honestly, it would not/could not exist without all of the members doing those things or keeping conversations going. Even if you aren’t someone that participates in an active discussion on the site, I am guessing/hoping every now and then you have used the Index to find a new blog or clicked on someone’s Blog liked on the chat page. Participation doesn’t need to be always commenting on the site as discovering other blogs is a big part of the whole experience. That is where the Community effect comes into play and that is why I feel like we are doing something right.
So I want to give a big CONGRATULATIONS and virtual HIGH FIVE to everyone that has been, is currently, or in the future is planning on being involved in the Blogging Meetup Community. This is still only the beginning as we continue to grow and try to figure out what works, what doesn’t, and the bigger question of what’s next.
One final note, I think there is a huge opportunity in the near future for the community to help support people taking the On-Demand Blogging U Courses. We have bloggers of all different types/skills in our community and as I wrote this morning on the Blogging Meetup, a big factor I joined those courses was for the Community.
Very peaceful early morning run around the lake
Broken wheelbarrow.. The Boo doesn’t like to waste so she has repurposed it.
Busy week for this kid.. Music Concert and Star of the Week. So proud of him and it is time to celebrate with ice cream.
What’s success anyway? - Chris Sacca
Seeing how it is getting close to that time of year again for College Graduations, it reminded me of this video I saw a while back where Chris Sacca gave an awesome Commencement speech to the Carlson School of Management back in 2011.
“What’s success anyway? Is success about making the most money? No, money for the most part turns people into jerks.” - Chris Sacca
There is so many good words of wisdom in the video that I wish I could have heard that exact advice when I was leaving school. However, fast forward to today and I think the advice is still valid and the points that he is talking about are applicable no matter where you are in your life.
“It all comes down to Happiness. Happy people get jobs, happy people create, happy people win, happy people fall in love and raise family’s, they lead and change the world. Happy people get what they want because often happy people realize they don’t actually need much more than what they have and appreciate what they got. Happy people are contagious.” - Chris Sacca
I would really suggest you watch the whole video as there are a lot of good quotes and thought-provoking topics he touches on. Four of the points stuck out to me as they are still so applicable today with everything happening in the world and how technology is continuing to change the way we do things and interact with people. In the simplest form his words of advice and ultimately a way to be successful is Be Present, Be Helpful, Be Ethical and Be your Weird Self.
*via Chris Sacca at University of Minnesota, 2011 : The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever : NPR*Another one of my favorite quotes from the video was that around GPA as I also share the same view-point as him. Hope you enjoyed the video.
“Your GPA only matters to people who have no other reason to find you interesting.” - Chris Sacca
Early morning run in the rain.
Girls were doing some “homework” tonight
Let’s go Wild!
Popcorn and Movie night for the kids
Went on an afternoon run while the big kids biked. Thankful for the uphills so I could catch up to them.
Fun morning at the Zoo
Quote of the Week - 04/18
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” - Dr. Seuss
**Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe**
Posting Frequencies, Schedules and Drafts
Lately, I have not been finding the time to write much on here or even remember to post something that I have found interesting. However, that is not to say I haven’t started a bunch of different posts from time to time (this is one of those).
Today after looking back and removing a couple I still have 24 different draft posts waiting for me to either look at again and finish my thoughts or probably just delete them because I don’t know what my original intent was. Since most of the time, my blog is just about random thoughts and things that I find interesting it is easy to quickly capture it in a blog post for a later point in time with the “Press This” bookmarklet. Also, if I have an interesting thought I want to share I can jot down a couple of notes and then pick it back up when I find time. Since the theme of my blog is less of a daily journal and more of a place I keep interesting things and thoughts, I never feel the need to have a specific real-time event to post or something that happened to me recently. Particularly, because most of what I do on a day-to-day basis probably isn’t the most exciting and it would kind of get repetitive though I know there are moments in each day I will cherish.
With so many Drafts started you might be wondering why I don’t find time to push the publish button more often and I think the reason is frequency. A lot of times, a week will go by when I have lots of thoughts and interesting things I find and then there will be weeks I don’t have as much to say or share at all. My problem is the times that I have a lot of things I don’t want to overload my blog with 10 posts in a week as I know the next week I might not have anything. My intention is then always to posting some of what I found the next week or sometime after that, but it never really happens. Hence, it would be smart of me to schedule some posts to automatically be posted out in the upcoming week(s). One of the reasons I am hesitant to do that is that I keep thinking I might find something more timely relevant that I want to share and don’t want to post too frequently. Another reason is that I really like to hit that publish button even though it gives me multiple chances to review and re-review that probably take away more time than necessary to get my thoughts published. I am still trying to work on a sustainable habit of writing/posting. I am trying to find a groove that works but sometimes I feel like I have thought block and can’t think of much to say or don’t really want to share anything I have already. I have thought the scheduled posting route might be worthwhile but haven’t taken the plunge on it yet.
If you have made it this far thanks for listening to my random thoughts and of course I have a question for you. I am curious to find out how other people manage their blogs in terms of scheduling, frequency, and/or surplus of drafts? Also, for bonus points do you have a goal in mind as to how many posts you try to write/share in a given day/week/month?
Happy Birthday to my amazing wife today!
Mommy and The Boo swinging at the park this afternoon
Dinner with the girls last night.
