Your first book isn't going to happen by itself. If writing a novel or non-fiction book is something you've dreamed of, the only way to make that dream a reality is by putting it into action -- day by day.
And the best way to do that is to develop some simple habits that will make the dream a reality, one step at a time.
I've learned a lot about writing habits over the years. As a journalist, a freelance writer, and a speech writer, I've written thousands of articles over the last 17 years. I've also written a novel, numerous short stories, a couple ebooks, and am now working on a non-fiction book. It's a struggle, daily.
But I've found that certain habits go a long way, and after awhile, they're not as difficult as they are during the first week or so. Get past that first-week hump, and it'll get easier. And that dream of your first book will come true.
Note on forming habits: I recommend trying to form only one of these habits at a time, starting with the first one and working downwards. Focus on each for at least 2-3 weeks, until it is ingrained. Then move on to the next.
The most important habit you can form is the daily writing habit. Even if you only write a page or two in a day, that's OK. The important thing is to do it. Eventually, you'll get there. Some days will be good, some will be not so good. Still sit down to write. It's important that you have one dedicated time for writing. You might do more, at other times, but make that one time be sacred. It might be first thing in the morning, right after lunch, right after work, or right before bed. Choose a time that you can do every single day, without fail. Dedicate at least 30 minutes to writing ... at first. Later, you'll need at least an hour, preferably two.
Get into the habit of focusing on the writing, and not the tools. You need to block out all distractions, especially Internet and email. Disconnect from the Internet, turn off the phones, plug some headphones into your ears to block out other distractions, clear your desk. If you use a pen and pad, choose simple ones. If you use a computer, use the simplest word processor or text editor possible. I recommend Dark Room or WriteRoom or some variant thereof -- just plain text, with no formatting, in full screen mode. It's you and the words and nothing else.
This can be as simple as how many words you wrote today. Check your word count when you finish, and log it in. You could also add in notes about what you wrote, how you feel about it, etc., but the important thing is to log it in so you can see your progress over time. It helps enforce the daily writing habit, and it motivates you to keep going.
You will probably be thinking about your book all day, if you're engrossed in it, but it's good to make it a habit to think about your book at certain times of the day. Exercise is a great time for that, as is house cleaning, driving, walking, government work, and any other activity where you don't need to think much. Make that time dedicated to thinking about the book.
You will have ideas at different times of day, in different places. You will overhear dialog that you want to remember. You will think of brilliant character flaws while at the grocery store. You'll think of eccentric plot twists while driving. You need some way to capture ideas -- I suggest a notebook or index cards, but whatever works for you is fine. More importantly, you need to make it a habit to write your ideas down wherever you go.
There will be days when you don't feel like writing. That may actually be every day. But if you let that stop you, you'll never write a thing. Instead, you need to make it a habit to just start writing. It doesn't matter what you write, or whether it's any good. Just start. Make your fingers move. I find a good way to start is by typing something ritualistic, such as my byline on an article, or common formatting stuff. That gets my typing going, and then I just continue that. Once you get started, you might find that writing will come easier. In any case, get into the habit of just starting, no matter what.
In addition to the routine writing time you designate (in Item #1 above), there will be other times when you'll want to write. Especially when you get a burst of energy or inspiration. You need to get into the habit of taking advantage of those times, and sitting down and writing immediately. Even if you're not at your computer, have your idea notebook, and just start writing. Inspiration comes at the most inopportune times -- you need to use it whenever it comes.
The dreaded word for many a writer, but revision is one of the most important aspects of the writing process. No one gets it right in the first draft. No one. If you aren't willing to revise, you might as well not write. But you don't need to develop this habit right away. Get into the writing habit first, and then begin developing rewrite habits. My suggestion is to begin half an hour of rewrite time, daily, after a month or two of developing the writing habit.
Most writers won't bother with this, but that's a mistake. If you are serious about your writing, a book bible is a must-have. However, you can work on that last. This is ideally a binder with everything about your book contained in its pages: plot outline, character sketches, notes, bits of dialog, small details, scene description, research, etc. You'll find this extremely useful. The habit to develop: get a binder, write notes on characters, plot, scene, dialog, and keep it updated, as soon as you're done writing. So: write, log it, then update your book bible.
Written for Dumblittleman.com on 09/12/2007 by Leo Babauta and republished on 4/30/10. Leo offers advice on living life productively simple at his famous Zen Habits blog.
Complete Your First Book with these 9 Simple Writing Habits
Posted by SoMeOnE at 9:59 AM Labels: How To, Most Popular, Writing
8 Reasons To Use Google Chrome As Your Primary Browser
Posted by SoMeOnE at 2:37 AM Labels: Google, Technology
Google Chrome, the web browser by Google, has been gaining market share steadily since the day it was introduced. And rightly so. It's by far the best browser I've used (and I have used a number of them). I think my productivity has increased significantly since I switched to Google Chrome as my primary browser.
In this article, I give 8 reasons to persuade you to switch to Chrome if you haven't yet. Now, nothing is perfect and there are some caveats here too, but, the pros definitely overshadow the cons and hence I recommend using Chrome.
So that was about it. If you've been using Chrome as your main browser, I'd love to know how's the experience and what made you switch. Let's hear them in comments.
Yes, it is. You realize how fast it is when you click on the chrome icon to open the browser. It comes up in a flash, much faster than any other browser. As you start using it, you will find that the webpages also take less time to load.
Chrome is based on Webkit. The Chrome team recently talked about the factors that make it so fast. Sounds convincing and I see it in action every time I use it.
Not that security vulnerabilities aren't discovered in Google Chrome, but, it is considered to be more secure than its counterparts like IE and Firefox. In fact, it was the only browser that survived the Pwn2Own competition where security experts tried to exploit all the browsers in search for bugs.
The address bar in Chrome also acts as the Google search bar. Hence you could just type your search query there and hit enter. It will quickly pull up the relevant Google results. You don't need to first go to Google in order to search. This saves time.
One of the best things about Chrome is that it's minimalistic. The browser options are tucked away on the extreme right and that enables it to get you more screen real estate by providing a bigger browsing space.
This feature is quite useful when you are on long webpages and need to scroll down frequently. It also helps bloggers like me to take better screenshots.
The incognito mode in Chrome is a nifty feature. Although private browsing mode was later introduced in Firefox and some other browsers too, Chrome's incognito wins hands down. I particularly like how quickly you could go incognito by pressing Ctrl+Shift+n.
Apart from the obvious use of private browsing, there are several other uses of Chrome's incognito mode. Like, you could log into two Gmail accounts at once using this feature.
There's a "Synchronize my bookmarks" feature in Chrome which you can access by clicking on the wrench icon on the top right. You could use this feature to synchronize your Google account. That way you can access your bookmarks if you are using Chrome on a different computer.
Yes, unlike Firefox where you need to restart your browser whenever you install a new extension or uninstall an old one, Chrome doesn't require that. And as someone who plays with a lot of add-ons, I can tell you, this feature saves a lot of time and frustration.
Right, I love Google. They are known for their quality products and hence I believe Chrome has better days ahead. Now, some would argue that it's giving too much power to one firm, but, considering that most of us are pretty much dependent on Google and its services, it doesn't harm to try out their browser too. Oh, by the way, I did write an article on how to free yourself from Google in case you are interested.
Cheers,
Abhijeet
Written on 4/3/2010 by Abhijeet Mukherjee. Abhijeet is a blogger and web publisher from India. He loves all things tech as long as it aids in productivity. He edits Guiding Tech, a blog that publishes useful guides, tutorials and tools. Check it out and subscribe to its feed if you like the site. You can also find him on Twitter.
Despite our interest in getting things done in the most efficient way possible, our minds and habits often work against us. Spend a moment and think of the following:
- Do you make separate trips for every errand?
- Do you check your email more than once a day?
- Do you spend time searching for car keys or other objects you misplace?
- Do you spend a lot of time on Facebook, Twitter or similar sites?
You Can’t See The Forest For The Trees
Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the trees. This is a popular saying that means to get so caught up in the little things that you lose track of the bigger (and usually more important) picture.
Life is a continuous journey and a process of never-ending growth. Every single day brings an opportunity to learn something new and improve or change your life. As a result, our habits, routines and possessions grow in many small steps. Over time all these small steps can create a lot of clutter and inefficiency in our daily lives which can waste up to multiple hours every week that could be used for better things (like having fun or doing the things you are passionate about).
Often it takes a fresh or outside perspective to point these things out to you, and today I am that outside perspective. All you need to do is take a step back and observe your actions and routines objectively to be able to make some simple changes that could give you up to multiple hours of free time every week.
A personal analogy I am sure that you can relate to would be cleaning up of your room or house. Often things just accumulate for days or weeks before it gets too much and I decide to do a total clean-up and reorganization of my room. It’s the same with your routines, habits and actions in your daily life. Over time these routines and habits each consume a little bit of your time until you are left with days wondering how you can get anything done.
Pin-Point The Most Time-Consuming Actions
Most people have some sort of a daily or weekly routine. There are many actions, habits and chores that you do over and over again. Some of these actions take up a huge amount of time…time that could be better spent doing things you love.
Let’s do a little exercise to pin-point the actions that consume the most time. Why? So that you can make some changes to streamline your life and create many free hours of time every single week that you never had.
The Method To Analyze Your Actions:
- Get a pen and a notepad.
- Draw 14 columns (2 for each day of the week).
- For each day of the week, name one column as ‘necessary’ and another as ‘unnecessary’.
- Do some thinking and write down all your repetitive actions that you do on a daily or weekly basis but split them into ‘necessary’ and ‘unnecessary’ for each day. For example: sleeping and eating are necessary but watching TV is unnecessary.
Earlier, I mentioned the saying ‘Can’t see the forest for the trees’ with the above exercise in mind. Since all your actions and routines have grown over your life up to how they are today, there may be so many little and unnecessary things that you are doing but you are not able to see it. (You are unable to see the bigger picture because you are so caught up in the day-to-day actions and routines.)
Strategize For Efficiency
Now that you have pin-pointed the activities that make up most of your day, we are going to analyze them on a deeper level. Are things that you listed in the ‘necessary’ column really ‘necessary’ and how can you change them?
- Combine Errands
Do you make separate trips for work, groceries, gym and other activities? I used to do this a lot and for me a drive to and from town was 20 minutes every time. Sometimes I would drive 3 times a day for multiple errands…what an inefficient use of my time. Try to think how you can combine your errands. Can you reduce going to the grocery store from once a day to twice a week? - Simplify The Complicated
Do you sit in traffic for a few hours every day? It may be worth considering moving closer to your work. Do you have a mailbox/dentist/doctor that is far away from you? Possibly get one that is closer to you. Do you have a garden that takes loads of time to maintain? Consider automating the sprinklers or replacing all those little flowerbeds with lawn.
Spend some time to determine if anything in your life that is more complicated than it could be is worth keeping it that way. If not, change it. - Eliminate The Useless
Personally I used to do a lot of unnecessary activities that not only consumed a lot of my time, these activities also did not make my life any better or give me any benefits. I am talking about things like Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, checking for email every hour and looking at my website statistics to see how many visitors I had on that day.
For example, checking email and website analytics once a day saved me over an hour a week. I then deleted all my social networking profiles except for Facebook and Twitter, which I only use now to promote my blog and network with people I really want to be in touch with. No more idling on Facebook and reading what other (mostly unknown) people are up to. Above all, this time that I used to waste on social network sites has taught me nothing and has given me very little in return. The change of eliminating them has saved me a few hours every week that I can now use to do things I really enjoy or work on my business ideas.
As with any new changes that you implement it is always a good idea to test them out for 30 days to see if there really is a benefit. I have read that it takes 21 days for a habit to take effect, which is why I mention a 30 day period of testing anything new.
You may find that your life is pretty optimal and you can only save an hour or less every week using the steps I outlined in the article. However, most people (my former self included) will be able to free up hours of their week that they can use to do something they love or work on something they are passionate about.
 | Written on 4/29/2009 by Diggy. Diggy writes all about self improvement at his blog UpgradeReality. If you enjoyed this post you can subscribe to his RSS Feed and never miss a new UpgradeReality post. |
The Hard Truths About Building Your Own Success
Posted by SoMeOnE at 8:39 AM Labels: Career, Entrepreneur, Success
Have you noticed that society often looks at successful people in hopes of somehow copying their magic formula? I know I have done this and fallen into the trap - the trap of thinking, praying even, that there is one magic solution for success and that it can be replicated by anyone with enough sheer will and desire. Clearly this is not true.
I don't want to miscommunicate here; of course it makes sense to learn lessons from people who have achieved the goals we want. They did something right and some of their ingredients may indeed work in your success recipe too. As Tony Robbins says: "Success leaves clues".
Clues however are not the entire story and as mentioned above, this is your success plan. Realizing this and taking full responsibility for yourself makes a huge difference. Look at you, your desires, your abilities, and with that, your chances of actually being successful increase substantially.
Here are some key realizations that I believe you should consider along your path to success. Take one, or a few, and if they are counter to your current beliefs debate yourself on how this view impacts your plan.
By seeing through some of the illusions bandied around about success we can get clear on what we need to do and see the wood for the trees. Things become much easier once we take responsibility for our own success.
Sometimes we have a warped way of looking at success as a magic formula to be cracked. Life in this ‘post magic formula cracking’ world is easy, abundant, problem free, but completely illusionary. The other point is that successful people have put the effort into achieving their success. Most of the time success hasn’t fallen into their lap. To achieve success in any area of life we need to put one foot in front of the other and move towards our goal.
Life is never solved. Recently, I have started working on a self employed basis as a mentor. I have wanted to be self employed for a very long time, particularly doing work I love like mentoring, and it is great to finally do that. However, I have realized that success often brings new sets of challenges that we might not have previously thought about! I am acutely aware of being grateful for where I now am, but also aware now that I am here that there is no magical place to get to! Doing what you love everyday is great but it is not problem free.
While the end result may be a great new product, website, or service, it's the process of developing that idea that often builds your character and provides the most learning opportunities. Look back on something significant you have achieved. Now look at the lessons you learned along the way. Would you really swap them so you could have fast forwarded to the result? However difficult things may be it has made us who we are today.
As society speeds up and we have more gadgets and technology to make life easier, we are getting used to quick fixes. If we don’t achieve something quickly we think it’s not worth achieving or that it is taking too long. Life isn’t a race. We don’t get a badge for the speed at which we travel through life. I sometimes find myself falling into that trap with my blog - thinking it should be more developed or have more subscribers. When I catch myself thinking like this, I try and take a step back and remind myself about what I enjoy about what I am doing and that building anything worthwhile takes time.
Following on from my last point, there is no ‘quick fix’. Anything worthwhile does take time. We need to learn to develop the skills of being persistent and keeping the bigger picture in mind. I think this is why people sometimes say that personal development books don’t work. What they are forgetting is that the missing link is hard work. Reading a book or going to a seminar alone will not change our life. Knowledge, taking action, inserting inspiration, hard work and patience is what will make the difference.
It is for us alone to find our passion. No one can teach us their passion. Others can help us find our passion and can also share their experiences in a way that can help us find our own but our passion is fundamentally different for each of us. Our passion is a unique cocktail of our own inner whisperings, life experiences and individual skills and talents. It is our job to try new experiences in order to hunt our passion(s) down. For example, I didn’t realize I had a passion for blogging till I stumbled across the blogosphere last year whilst setting up my website for my coaching services.
By all means, enlist the help of good mentors and learn from others who are further along a similar path. But, remember that we all have a unique path and it is our job to work out how to bring that to the fore. Sometimes the reason we look to others for the answer to ‘success’ is because we don’t trust ourselves. We don’t trust ourselves to do our own thing, to take a risk and to shine. We need to learn to trust ourselves. Start today, listen to what your intuition is saying and start doing what feels right for you. 
Written on 4/28/2010 by Jennifer Smith. Jen is a Life Coach and Personal Development blogger who can be found at Reach Our Dreams. You can connect with Jen on Twitter @reachourdreams or if you liked this article then why not subscribe to her RSS Feed?
How to Deal With Annoying People
Posted by SoMeOnE at 11:09 PM Labels: Communicating, How To, Workplace
We’re both familiar with irritating, frustrating and annoying people. Learning how to deal with them is an art-form, because what works for me, may not work for you.
There are a lot of facets that come into play when someone is annoying you. Are they bothering you, because you genuinely don’t think they ‘vibe’ with you? Or, is the universe sending someone to show you what you have to work on?
If you only take one thing away from this article, let it be this: honesty always works. The longer you try to be nice to someone, the more you’re making other people believe that you actually enjoying hanging out with them.
There’s no need to be unnecessarily blunt about it, but if someone becomes too pushy, you have to be honest about what’s going on and let them know. It sucks, but if you value your time, it has to be done, and it doesn’t have to be done in a harsh manner.
Sometimes things aren’t what they seem, and most important of all, often the person you’re annoyed by is there to show you where you need to focus internally.
Ignoring has to be one of the most common strategies you see people use. It can work well, but if the person is persistent, you can’t ignore them for long.
Dealing with annoying people is always easier the more comfortable you are in your skin. If someone is bothering you, the best way to stop it is to tell the person, which I will talk about in a second.
The first response we have is to be nice towards everyone. Being negative in any way is frowned upon, but what most forget is that telling the truth is more important than being nice. You have to respect yourself.
Telling the truth doesn’t mean being rude or obnoxious in any way. You have to find your own groove, but chances are that you have to tell people what you think if you’ve got a small crowd bothering you all the time.
If nothing else works, tell the person exactly what you feel. Again, being overly harsh is unnecessary. Just telling someone that you don’t want to hang out with them right now is not the end of the world.
This takes some courage, but in the end, it is the most honest and simple way to deal with the situation. Luckily, most people don’t need to be told, because they are smart enough to pick up subtle hints that you aren’t interested.
Think about when you were last bothering someone; did they tell you to go away in a particularly effective and nice way?
The way I often learn new things is by flipping the roles. If I want to learn how to tell people to go away, I look inside and think about if I’ve ever been in a position where someone else wanted me to go away, especially if it worked.
Learning how to deal with annoying people is uncomfortable, because if you care about others, you want to be nice. It’s your first instinct, and that’s cool, but it doesn’t always work.
When it becomes a problem is if you’re giving your time away to someone you don’t want to. Sometimes it takes more than being nice to resolve a problem in your life.
The next time you’re in a situation like this, think about your options and the consequences they have.
Written on 4/26/2010 by Henri Junttila. Henri is addicted to living a free and passionate life. He runs the Wake Up Cloud, where he shows you how you can learn how to find your passion and live consciously.
Are you driven in life? Do you love to excel? I believe all of us do. We are born to be the best we can be and to make the best out of our lives.
When I was in high school, I wasn't exactly the kind of student teachers would like. I was truant, didn't do my homework and did badly on my examinations. I was lazy and unmotivated in school. However, after a while I realized that this wasn't who I wanted to be. This wasn't the life I saw myself leading. People around me were judging and negative, and I had enough of all of that crap. I had enough of being discriminated against and I decided to turn everything around from then on.
So when I entered University, I began to get my act together. For the 3 years I was in Business School, I was on the Dean's List (an honor roll for the top students in the faculty). I eventually graduated as the top student in my specialization of marketing and was awarded with accolades for being the most outstanding student. When I started working, I entered one of the top companies for marketers, a Fortune 100 company, and led my business portfolios to record breaking results in the few years I worked there.
Then 2 years ago, I left my regular job to pursue my true passion in personal development. I started The Personal Excellence Blog where I share my best advice and help others achieve personal excellence and live their best lives. It has quickly established itself as a trusted and coming-to-age personal development blog, having 3-4k readers a day and being featured by prominent media, including CNN.com.
After years of striving for personal excellence, working with top people in their fields and observing top people in their fields, I realized that there are universal habits that enable people to achieve excellence. As Aristotle would put it, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”.
These habits aren't "ingrained", or "genetic"; they are habits that anyone like you and me can cultivate. Just like Stephen Covey's 7 habits
Closing
This is the same habit as Stephen Covey's 1st habit, and with good reason. Everything starts with the end - the goal or the vision you want to fulfill. If you don't know what the end is, then there's no way of getting there, is there? Imagine getting into a cab. What do you first do when you get into the cab? Maybe you say hi to the taxi driver, then what? You tell the driver where you want to go, so that he can take you there. Similarly, you need to know what is the end you want to reach in order to get there.
Hence, it's critical that you form clear goals of what exactly you want. What do you want? What is the end you envision? What are your personal goals and dreams for yourself? Personally, I have a vision board beside my bed where I have my dreams plastered over it. These dreams include developing The Personal Excellence Blog into one of the top personal development blogs, running my international personal excellence school, speaking to tens and thousands of people in seminars, achieving world peace, finding my soul mate, hitting the best seller's list with my books, and so on. These dreams remind me of what exactly I want and drive me forward every day.
When you do something you love, it's like you have unlimited fuel that keeps you going- day after day. The hunger to excel in it is just greater than if you do anything else. Every day, I'm endlessly driven to build and write at my blog, because it's for a cause I believe in. Helping people grow and live their best life is the one thing I know I want to be doing for the rest of my life.
I have a coaching client who has tried to start 4-5 different ventures before (one at a time), and he was never able to succeed in any of them. Why was this the case? It wasn't that he was stupid, or that he was lazy. Ultimately, the reason was because he wasn't passionate about the things he was pursuing - he was just chasing money. The nature of the business didn't appeal to him emotionally. This is not to say starting businesses because you want to earn money is bad - all I'm saying is it's important that you love what you want to do first and foremost.
What is it you love to do? If you are not sure what your passion is yet, then what is something you are most eager to try at the moment? If you can choose to do anything, what will it be? Your love and interest are fuels that will drive you towards excellence.
I don't know of anyone who has achieved excellent results who hasn't worked hard for them. A big component of excellence is hard work. Sheer, unadulterated hard work. We can streamline processes, choose effective strategies and steps, but ultimately the hard work will still have to come in. Fortunately, if you are doing what you love (step #2), work wouldn't even be work at all.
In the past year since I set up The Personal Excellence Blog, I have spent countless hours, including weekends, building up the blog and writing high quality articles for readers out there. All these have paid off in their own way. I'm not saying you should abandon all social life because that defeats the purpose, but you will have to dedicate yourself to making your business a success. This year in 2010, I intend to increase my efforts even more compared to 2009, and I know it's going to pay off.
Every moment counts. Excellent people know that time is highly valuable. There's this quote by Donald Trump which I read in one of his books, and I absolutely love it. He said that time is more precious than money, because you can earn back money, but you can't get back time. That is absolutely true.
Hence, I'm always making sure that I'm maximizing every moment. If I'm commuting over a distance, I'll pick up a book or listen to a podcast. If I'm out waiting for a friend, I'll take the chance to do something meaningful for the time being. If there are some pockets of time, I'll take out my laptop and do some work.
Note that this habit doesn't mean working like a hog, 24x7. That wouldn't be a true application of this habit. Making use of every moment also refers to knowing when to rest and rejuvenate when it's needed, because this will help us walk the longer mile on the path of excellence.
Living a life of excellence means being a proponent of action. Many people often say "The sky is the limit". My personal philosophy is the sky isn't the limit; we are the limit. Whatever we do or don't do will determine how much we can grow or achieve. If we want to grow and achieve great results, we need to take the equivalent actions to reach the results we want.
For example, many people agree that having press and media feature their business can greatly benefit them, but they believe it only happens when you are prominent enough. While that's usually true, I refuse to let that stop me. I took proactive steps to reach out to the press, writing my own press release and creating a strong story angle so the press would want to feature me. To date, I've been featured in the press for almost 20 times. To read more about how to be featured by the press, you can check out my guest post at Problogger: How To Get Featured By the Press (Repeatedly) Even If Your Blog is New.
Learning never stops. There is always something we can do to become better. We may have great skills and knowledge today, but no matter how great they may be, our skills need to be continuously developed. Excellent people are always learning, reading, exposing themselves to new knowledge, new people, new contexts and developing their skills. If you have played role-playing games or RPGs before, you would know that the characters need to be leveled up to get stronger and progress to the next level. Likewise, we need to always be leveling ourselves up to achieve excellence.
No matter how much we try to improve, we will have blind spots. Blind spots are things about ourselves that we don't know about, and we can't improve on things that we are blind to. Asking for feedback is one of the fastest and most effective ways to improve.
For everything I do, I make it a point to gather feedback. For example, when I was in my previous job, I would often ask my manager and peers for feedback on how I could improve. With my friends, sometimes I would have a random feedback session with them on how I can do things better. As I run The Personal Excellence Blog, I would invite my readers to send in their feedback, either through comments, emails or private messages. Sometimes the feedback is predictable, sometimes it's not and many times it leads to an epiphany on some level.
... Wait, you didn't think that there would just be 7 habits in achieving excellence, did you?
There's 1 final habit to become a highly excellent person - that is, to strive for #1 in what you do. No one's going to achieve excellence if they aim for average, or mediocrity. Excellence comes from aiming for the top - being #1. This #1 should be better than whoever is #1 at the moment, because it will spur you on to work even harder. You will only achieve great results when you set high standards for yourself.
For example, I aim for The Personal Excellence Blog to be the top personal development blog, both in terms of the quality of content and traffic. Whenever I write my articles, I make sure I'm giving the best value that can ever be offered in that topic. Because of this, readers recognize the value of my articles and have spread the word to their friends and family. This has helped the blog to grow quickly and establish itself as a trusted and coming-of-age blog in personal excellence.
These habits have helped me to achieve excellence in my life, and as long as all of us practice them, we will achieve excellent results. Feel free to share your comments - I'll love to hear what you have to say. If you have any questions, I'll love to answer them where possible too. I don't claim to have the answers, but I'll most certainly offer my perspective and help where I can.
Written on 4/24/2010 by Celestine Chua. Celes writes at The Personal Excellence Blog, where she shares her best advice on achieving personal excellence. Her blog is read by thousands a day and has been featured by CNN, Today, and other prominent media. Get her RSS feed here and add her on Twitter @celestinechua.
Take it from a New Yorker who knows: there are few things in life as frustrating, infuriating, terrifying, maddening, nerve-wracking, and capricious as renting an apartment. I lived in seven different places in New York City over the span of five years, and after touring countless moldy studios the size of storage closets, apartments where the bathtub was located in the kitchen, and spaces where the smell of cat urine practically made me pass out, I can safely say that I’ve seen just about all there is to see—save, perhaps, a chalk outline on the kitchen floor.
Some of the places I lived were good choices, others not so much. But if there’s any upside to living in an apartment where your neighbors play salsa music until 2 a.m., it’s knowing that you won’t make the same mistake twice. While features like natural light, closet space, and distance from public transportation are all important, there are other, less obvious things to consider. City dwellers, recent college grads, and apartment hunters of all kinds, take note: when you’re searching for your next home, here’s what to look for to ensure that the next twelve months of your life are pleasant ones.
It’s not just about safety—if the street is lined with bars or restaurants, you could be in for some noisy evenings. If there’s a school across the street, expect raucous crowds of kids in the mornings or afternoons. If there’s construction nearby, be prepared for noise, dust, traffic problems, and possibly pests. See what kinds of businesses populate the area, and decide whether you want to associate with their customers. Take it from me: apartment upstairs from Italian restaurant = good; apartment next to off-track-betting parlor = bad.
Examining small details can tell you a lot about how the apartment has been maintained over the years. Are the floors warped, stained, or scuffed? Do the kitchen drawers glide properly? Are the cabinets and counter-tops plumb? Do all the doors shut and latch, or are they misaligned? Are the window frames new, or are they old and leaky? If the apartment has carpet, does it look like it hasn’t been cleaned in years? Especially in older buildings, these are subtle clues that indicate the apartment hasn’t been properly maintained or repaired over time.
Turn on all the faucets—they should provide warm water right away and have good water pressure, and the drains shouldn’t clog. Check the light switches and light fixtures—you shouldn’t hear fizzing or popping, which could indicate faulty wiring. Are there enough electrical outlets? Where in the rooms are they located? One per room is not enough for a technology addict, and could necessitate extension cords, in turn causing fire hazards. Are the outlets grounded? (In many old buildings, they’re not.) Check to see whether the apartment has a fuse box or a circuit breaker, and find out what kinds of lightbulbs the fixtures use, making sure you won’t be stuck buying expensive specialty bulbs.
Appliances such as refrigerators, heaters, ovens, and dishwashers are usually provided and serviced by the landlord, so turn them on and make sure they function well. If they seem old and/or beat up, don’t be afraid to inquire about a possible replacement. Make sure to note what kind of heat the apartment uses; is there a radiator, an electric wall unit, or a gas heater? Steam heat is usually free, but unreliable. On the other hand, gas heat is expensive, but usually controllable via a thermostat. If you’re responsible for paying your own heating bill, find out how much you’ll be spending each month, and watch out for drafty windows and doors that could waste money.
Look inside cabinets and drawers; are there mouse droppings or roach dust? Look under sinks; are there gaps in the wall around the pipes where bugs could crawl through? Is there a gap between the floor and the walls of the apartment for bugs to crawl in? In the common areas of the building, are there obvious rodent or insect traps? Any signs of pest infestation—ants, moths, rats, mice, or roaches—should give a renter serious pause. This includes seeing actual dead roaches in the kitchen sink. (Trust me on this.)
Try to see the apartment in the evening, when neighbors are more likely to be home. Can you hear their televisions or appliances through the walls? If you can’t meet any neighbors, ask about them. Do they have pets? Do they have small children or infants? Consider how you’ll fit in with the current group of tenants; if you like quiet, a building composed mainly of college students could prove too noisy. If you like entertaining or playing music, a building of families or other quiet types would also be a bad match.
The person showing the apartment is likely to be a broker, leasing agent, or the superintendant, meaning that person has a relationship with the landlord. How does the landlord handle service requests? Is there a superintendent on-site, or will you have to wait for repairs? Is there regular exterminator service, or are tenants expected to monitor their own homes? Is the apartment managed by an out-of-town owner, a large real-estate conglomeration, or a private family? While management companies may be more hands-off with their tenants’ day-to-day habits, small landlords are usually quicker to respond to repair calls and more receptive to negotiation. If you have a smart phone or time at home before submitting an application, try googling the landlord’s name. It’s possible that his or her other tenants will have expressed opinions on message boards or review sites like Yelp.
It’s common for the landlord to paint or make minor repairs between tenants. Sometimes you can even request specific things, like replacements for old linoleum or additional deadbolts for the door. Be sure to know exactly what improvements—if any—the landlord plans to make, and incorporate that agreement into your lease.
Now for the bad news
It’s highly unlikely that you’ll find an apartment that fits all these criteria and your budget. Know what’s most important to you, and make sure those needs are met. Perhaps you can put up with noisy neighbors as long as the apartment is bug-free and has a gas stove. Perhaps you’re an infrequent cook who doesn’t mind worn-out appliances as long as you have plenty of grounded electrical outlets. Finding an acceptable rental property is always a compromise, but as long as you know what qualities are non-negotiable for you, you can dismiss sub-par candidates right away. There will always be other apartments for you to choose from, and there will always be someone even more desperate just waiting to scoop up the one you just rejected.
Written on 4/23/2010 by DivineCaroline. DivineCaroline a place where people come together to learn from experts in the fields of health, spending, and parenting. Come discover, read, learn, laugh, and connect at DivineCaroline.com.