360aday.com

Today I was beginning to think of new names for a different business venture I’m considering. I typically go to dictionary.com then use the thesaurus. Of course I could always go to thesaurus.com but spelling dictionary is just that much easier. Based on Google Trends it would appear I’m not the only one who feels this way. Having been to the site just a day or two ago I was stunned for a moment when I was presented with their new home page. Then I realized it was in fact an ad for Adobe.

dictionary.com vs. thesaurus.com

Naturally seeing somethings of this magnitude I clicked the link but was a little disappointed to find it was for CS4 Design Standard – Student Edition. It sucks for someone who’s not a student (like myself) but the point of this post was actually to analyze the placement & ad itself.

The colors and layout of the page are wonderful and consistent with the Adobe brand. It’s consistent throughout the entire process (the landing page on Adobe has it as well) and the use of pulchritudinous in the ad copy was brilliant. I definitely had to type that in to see what it was. Overall the ad was well executed but page design lacked a little common sense. On a 1024×768 screen resolution there’s horizontal scrolling and the ad itself is almost below the fold. It’s interesting though to see this kind of “takeover” on a page that gets well over 100,000 daily unique visitors. I wonder if we’ll see more of this tactic from Adobe and other advertisers in the near future? Who do you think will be next running a takeover page like this?

There are many forks in the road as one travels through life. I for one am continually identifying them. There are also plenty of distractions along the way. New projects. New ideas. New clients. Old clients. The ever longing quest for money, freedom, time or whatever it is that drives the individual. For me, right now, I’m at a place where I need to take action.

As the saying goes “talk is cheap.” So is thought honestly. Without action, there’s really nothing. So for me now I need to take action and stay focused. That’s where the challenge comes in. In addition to holding a full-time, 40 hour a week job doing web design & development I also do my own gig outside that time and have a desire/need to be the best father I can be to an amazing baby girl. Toss in trying to be a respectable, decent partner and then add a dose of sleep! That really leaves me with very little time to work on the numerous ideas that are already in my head, let alone the ideas that seem to enter every day.

So what am I to do? It’s a matter of maximizing my time, efficiency and remaining focused. There’s being focused again. That’s where I’m at and know I need to take action so I can progress through the current fork in my road. I have a burning desire to break free from the current “9-5 boredom” while being underpaid and under-appreciated for the work I do. I’m confident that I have some multi-million dollar ideas in my head and those who I’ve shared them with see possibility as well. A few days ago on Twitter I slapped up a nice little tweet that really shows a little thinking outside the box. (If you’re trying to figure out the annual salary, just multiply it by 7).

That’s it, that’s all. At just a mere 10¢/second I can easily retire by the time I’m 32. A goal I’ve had for a few years. It’s so close I can taste it, but I need that focus. I need to focus on the four projects currently in progress…not to mention the others bouncing around. Heck, I even had one this morning while making breakfast. There’s no shortage of ideas.

I guess what I need to know is how do you remain focused? What techniques do you use to focus and how are you motivated to do “work for free” that ideally puts a LOT OF COIN in your pocket in the future? I need your help to keep me focused. You can seriously contribute to my success without financial expense or investment…just take a few minutes to leave a well, thought out comment. Please.

It’s no coincidence that today is Monday and I’m working towards freedom from Mondays. I’m currently reading the book No More Mondays: Fire Yourself — and Other Revolutionary Ways to Discover Your True Calling at Work by Dan Miller. An associate of mine had it sitting on his desk and told me it’d be the perfect book for me to read based around some of my observations and outlooks on life. So after putting my daughter to bed I’ve been doing my best to read for about an hour before sleep and look at some of the ideas and concepts. It covers a lot of information that I’ve heard and read in other places so I have a grasp on the concepts…however there are some very interesting points in No More Mondays that I have yet to find in other books. Based on some stuff that happened to a friend recently it made me realize just how insecure every job is. With the “impending recession” gloom and loom, working differently is I think the smartest way of doing things. I would encourage her to read the book as well as you. So if you’re looking for something non-technical to read that can help reshape your thought process around work/life balance and ideas, I’d highly recommend picking up No More Mondays: Fire Yourself — and Other Revolutionary Ways to Discover Your True Calling at Work immediately!

Back in December I put in for a few purchases at Amazon.ca to get some Christmas gifts for others. I hate paying shipping while being only a few dollars away from actually qualifying for free shipping (smart marketing move Amazon). So I decided to purchase Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind audio CD as well as the Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind book. I have yet to read the book but ripped the CD in iTunes and converted it to an audio book to listen to on my iPhone. It’s three hours long and I’m happy to say that in a weeks time of commuting I’ve finished listening to it and all I have to say is WOW!! I thought I knew stuff before, but I don’t…I’ve heard and read stuff before. If I truly knew it I’d be financially free already. I intend to re-listen to it again in a couple of weeks and follow through with all of the activities and exercises in the book and audio. I would definitely recommend adding this to your library.

Well it would appear that I still have a lot of text to catch up on, and to be honest, I don’t think it’s going to happen. I’m not giving up by any means, I just have all this other work to do – another excuse I know. So, I guess I just need to decide if I want to write, or sit back and relax and do nothing.

Last night we made a quick image for a concept for S2 Photography, and now we need to turn it into an actual site. It’s just something quick, and a quick concept at that. It’s done completely wrong in that its one huge image. Not even sliced up! Sorry about that if you head there, but it does look pretty cool.

So, I’m not going to write too much right now since I’ve got so much other work to do, but I will continue to write, I promise. I need to write. I need that BIG idea. I’m sure it’s only a few pints of Guinness away!?
(WC: 175)