My five steps

Last week, I shared the five steps that I try to live by.  I received some great feedback, but one comment in particular made me want to write a follow up.

Sounds sensible, if a bit vague. Dunno if that’s an intentional degree of privacy you want to maintain, but I’d be interested in hearing  – @grossberg

Of course while writing that post, I was trying to remain vague, so you could determine how your situations matched up.  This week, I want to revisit and detail my five steps.

Have passion

I can talk and write about things that I’m passionate about all day.  As some of you may know, I like Ruby; I’m really into testing; VIM is my favorite editor; I get huge enjoyment out creating situations that allow others to be successful.

So how do I manifest this passion?  Well the simplest answer is this blog.  I write about things that interest me, and I hope they interest at least one more person as well.  I also try to speak at conferences and local developer events.  No better way to show your passion than being the center of attention.

I’m always thinking about other ways of sharing my passion.  I think regular old video blogs are pretty corny (and I’ve tried, but they just feel like I’m talking to myself), so maybe I’ll try something different.  Or maybe I won’t because we all know that perfection is the enemy of good (or done in my case)

Have an enemy

The phrase, “Have an enemy”, invokes so passion.  In most case, I hope this enemy isn’t a person, as mine isn’t.  My enemy is the status quo.  Nothing burns me up more than doing things a particular way for no better reason of, “Well, that is how we always do it”, or “That is the way it is done”, or my least favorite, “That is the way they do it”.

Now that I have enemy to battle with, I have something concrete to base my passions on.  Of course some people have real enemies, and I’ll let them battle it out themselves in another forum.

Get some sleep

It disappoints me to see people trying to achieve success at the expense of themselves.  Maybe they work too hard, or they don’t eat correctly, or maybe they just don’t get enough sleep.  They way I see it, all that success you are working to enjoy won’t be very enjoyable if you aren’t around to see it.

So, what does this mean for the mere mortal?  It means we try to take care of ourselves both mentally and physically.  This isn’t that hard, but sometimes we forgot the simple things.

To accomplish this, I mostly try to get enough sleep.  All my kids are old enough and sleep through the night now, so anytime I’m not sleeping properly it is my fault.  When I get eight hours of sleep, I don’t dread the next day, and I make less stupid mistakes.  I’m sure sleeping enough hours is also good for your body as well, but I’m not doctor.

Smell the roses

Sometimes we get so caught up in becoming successful, we don’t take the time to enjoy the fruits of our labors.

I like mobile phones.  For years, I’ve been enamored with all things small and mobile.  Some might call this fascination a hobby.  My end goal isn’t to have the most little mobile devices, but while I’m building my little mini empire, I most definitely will be entertaining myself with phone collection.  Hobbies are great because they can give you that little mental energy boost (or break) that you need sometimes.  I suggest you go fine one.

Be happy

I’m generally a happy dude.  Of course I get caught up with the rest of them from time to time, but I generally have a positive outlook on life and everything around me.  One thing that keeps me happy is knowing that I have a great family and great set of friends to fall back on in times of trouble.  For others this might not be enough.  Happiness is very personal.  The only important thing is that you have it.

I’m absolutely terrified of the domino effect.  Sometimes I do nothing at all in fear doing something that might have a negative effect down the road.  This is especially important to me when it comes to people’s happiness.  There is nothing worse than having your cheerios soiled by someone else’s unhappiness.

So in conclusion…

There you have it.  This is a much more personal expanded list of what makes me tick.  Keep in mind, posts like these are selfish.  This is much for my own enrichment than anything else.  Seeing something print gives it a sense of permanence, so I’ll hopefully be much less likely to stray off the path.