It really is time to declutter our life

When Fanfan and I were trying to work out what to take with us to Melbourne and what to dump or sell, there was still so much stuff that we couldn't make a decision on in the short time we had available, so we just took it with us. Now that we're here in Melbourne, we're going to be selling more stuff or throwing it away. We really need to become minimalists.

No, this isn't our place. It's just a photo I found.

There's a lot of stuff that we both carry around with us because of the memories that they're associated with. We treasure the memories, so we treasure the associated 'stuff'. But the association doesn't need to be physical.

All those things that are simply sentimental will be thrown away or sold - but we'll take photos of them first! That way all the 'stuff' will be stored electronically, on our phones and in the 'cloud', and we won't need to physically carry them around with us any more.

I've got a million printed photos from my past (back in the days before digital cameras and digital photos) that I've kept in photo albums or just in a couple of plastic bags full of photos. I'll be taking photos of all my photos and then throwing them all away.

Books are another tedious thing to carry around. I've thrown away most of my books over the years, ever since the Kindle came out and I could buy the digital versions and keep them available electronically. It's going to be time for Fanfan to start doing the same. She can keep the books she really wants, and throw out the ones she doesn't. And from those that are kept, slowly buy the electronic versions and throw out the physical copy, so that the only ones that remain are the ones that she can't do without, and which don't have electronic versions (yet).

Clothes. There's more clothes than we know what to do with. And because I've lost a lot of weight over the past few years, most of my clothes no longer fit me. I could do with new clothes that are couple sizes smaller. And then there's Fanfan's clothes. Being a girly-girl, she loves having dresses and shirts she doesn't actually wear, along with a dozen pair of shoes. Maybe more.

It all has to change. This move has shown us we simply have too much stuff for two people who move around a lot, so we have to get serious about becoming 'minimalists'.

Minimalism is also known as 'simple living':

Simple living encompasses a number of different voluntary practices to simplify one's lifestyle. These may include reducing one's possessions or increasing self-sufficiency, for example. Simple living may be characterized by individuals being satisfied with what they need rather than want. - wikipedia

Do any of you practice 'simple living', or minimalism? Do you have any tips or recommendations for me? Maybe you'd like to share your own story of what led you to becoming minimalist in your own life?

When the journey goes bad

I wanted to promote what I'm doing with The Journey Files, and I'll be doing this promotion on a weekly basis. Each week I'm doing a new article sent directly to subscribers that provides updates, insights, observations and information which just might help you with your own life journey. If you're subscribing to it, that is.

My next article being sent out in a few hours is called When the journey goes bad. This is the first paragraph from it:

Yesterday I wrote a blog post called It's been a nightmare! I wrote about the trials and tribulations I've experienced with the move to Melbourne since my last post to The Journey Files a week ago. I'm not gong to go into it all over again, but I wanted to talk more about how to deal with the stress when things go bad.

If you want to read it, and other articles that I write, I encourage you to subscribe. It's on a 'pay what you want' basis, and your paid subscription will be helping to support my writing.

More information on The Journey Files and how you can subscribe is here. Thank you for your support!

It's been a nightmare!

The nightmare began before I even got to Melbourne.



First it was the movers who let me know the day after they picked up the furniture that they had underquoted me and it was my responsibility to pay the difference. They would hold the furniture until I paid their new invoice. Or, "If you want to see your furniture again, you better pay our demands." We had originally paid them $600 to move the furniture, in accordance with their quote - but after they had our furniture they wanted $1600 more.

After quite a terse phone call to them that was essentially 'WHAT THE HELL!', it was clear this was their usual style of business and they weren't interested in deviating from their position. I had no choice if I wanted to see my furniture alive again.

The drive to Melbourne was uneventful, although it rained all the way down. A constant downpour that began when I left Canberra, went with me on the 8 hour drive to Melbourne, and didn't stop until the day after I arrived in Melbourne. An omen of things to come?

Upon arriving at the new house (an apartment, actually) the first thing I noticed was that it was somewhat different to what I had applied for.

Our new home was not the home I expected it to be.

I'd been in a rush, looking at a lot of places in one day in a short amount of time. This apartment had maybe 20-25 people walking through it. It was crowded. I had difficulty seeing all of it, so I spoke to the property manager. "Does this have ducted heading and cooling?" She said yes. "And two bathrooms?" Yes. "And a laundry?" Yes. What I managed to see of the property was great. I was happy with it. I left, heading off to the next place. When applying for it, I reviewed the details and photos. I was reminded of what I'd seen, and was happy with the application.

But now, upon having a good look around, it was obvious the property manager had been confused, probably stressed from having to deal with so many questions.

There was only one bathroom and one separate toilet - not two bathrooms. There was no ducted heating or cooling throughout the apartment as I thought, there was only one reverse-cycle airconditioner at the front end of the apartment. And the laundry? A fucking cupboard in the hallway.

My heart sank. This was not the home I thought it was.

And then I went to turn on the light switch in the bathroom. It didn't work. More light switches, and I discovered that there was no power. The property manager hadn't done what I had asked them to do - make sure the main power switch was turned off - so the power company was unable to connect the power for my new account with them because the power switch was still on, which meant it couldn't be reset and reconnected. The property manager apologised, and said they would review their procedures. That wouldn't help me though.

Lucky for me I had a friend I could stay with overnight. The power company said I needed to be at the property from 7:30am until 5pm so that an electrician could come out and make sure the power could be connected. And no, they don't do phone calls. If I wasn't there, they said, then it was likely the power wouldn't be connected.

So I went back to the property at 7am the next morning, and waited. And waited. There was no power, so I sat here and twiddled my thumbs, intermittently using my phone as a hotspot for my laptop.

By 4pm I called for an update. They said the electrician was probably busy and I'd have to wait until 9pm. WHAT?! "If you're not there when he arrives, it won't be connected." And what if he doesn't show up, I asked? "Oh, he will. But if he doesn't, then you'll have to come back tomorrow and wait again." So I waited until 9pm.

He didn't show up.

Fourteen hours I sat in this apartment with no power.

I went back to my friend's place for another emergency overnight stay. Thankfully he and his wife were very understanding and supportive.

I went back again the next morning - yesterday morning - prepared for another long stay in a house with no power. I got there at 7am and the power was on.

The. Power. Was. On.

And it was turned on without me needing to be here, and between 9pm and 7am.

This kind of shit just makes me want to fucking yell at people.

But anyway, with the power now on I was able to connect the modem to the phone line so that I could use the internet that I had been assured was connected two days prior.

Except it wasn't connected. No dial tone, no ADSL signal for the internet.

I called the telephone / internet provider (Telstra), who proceeded to assure me that it was working fine as far as they were concerned, their diagnostic tests confirmed it, and the connection had been completed.

"And yet here I am with no internet and no dial tone for the phone. So I'd say you're wrong," I said to them.

They're looking into it. They'll get back to me soon, hopefully early next week. A specialist is investigating.

I went out to dinner tonight with Fanfan. We got back home, and the swipe card didn't work to get into the apartment. It was the only way to get into the apartment. There's no key for the door, so there's no spare key we can leave lying around. And the card wasn't working.

At this point I looked at Fanfan and I said, very quietly, "I'm really, really angry. Everything about this move to Melbourne has been fucked. Nothing has gone smoothly or to plan. Everything has just been fucked. I've NEVER encountered anything like this in my life EVER." And I've moved around to a lot of different places, cities and even countries in my life. This has been the worst experience of them all.

And then the swipe card worked and the door opened. We went inside and had a cup of tea. And now I'm writing this to you.

It's got to get better, right?

Journeys can be so frustrating at times.

Today I'm cafe hopping around Canberra

This past week has been really hectic, but thankfully all that is over. All the hard work has been completed, and today I'm sitting in cafes. Different cafes, because I'll be catching up with one or two friends here and there, but I think I'll be coming back to this cafe I'm in right now, as I'm writing this. It has free wifi!



It's been one of my favourite cafes over the past few years, because it's a good cafe, and very convenient while I've been working at nearby locations.

But anyway, back to the hectic move...

Fanfan (my wife) has been awesome. She's done most of the packing, while I've done all the organising of the move. I know how stressful it's been for her, but she's been calm and happy and purposeful all through the stress of it all.

And having her manage all the packing while I've sat around on the computer has been really awesome. I can't do all the packing myself - if it was up to me, I'd organise for the movers to do the packing. An extra cost, but for me and my disability, one that I'd have to pay if it was just me.

But it's not must me any more. I have a wonderful, loving, supportive wife who completely understands my limitations. And so she does all the work that would probably put me in hospital if I were to do it, while I do all the organising of finding and securing a new house, managing the utility connections, organising the movers, and paying all the bills. I do the 'big stuff', as she calls it, while she does the little stuff.

It's great being part of a 'team'. We work together according to our individual strengths and weaknesses, and I love it. Her too. :)

I'll just pause here while I head off to another cafe.

Six hours later... I'm over today. But at least the final tenancy inspection is over with. All I need to do now is look forward to an 8 hour drive tomorrow, ending with another tenancy inspection at the new house in Melbourne....

You know what? I'll be glad when this week is over.

The top 5 searches that bring people here

Search engines are probably the most popular resource on the internet. Any question that a person has, or a problem they have in their life, the search engine is the tool of choice to help them find the answers they're seeking.

I saw this morning in my blog stats that the top 5 search queries bringing people to this site were the following:

1. what is a zeta male


2. zeta male


3. my journey through life


4. worry about things that might happen


5. how to know if you're indigo

Maybe I should do more articles on being a zeta male? Definitely more on life journeys and indigo adults...

There are people out there looking for answers, and for help. They're looking for clues and solutions to the problems they have in their lives. And they find their way here, because they're looking for answers related to the things that I write about.

It pains me that I don't have enough to help them with, because I'm still seeking answers myself.

But I hope people will hang around, and that they'll sign up for my updates and connect with me, so that we can journey together through our individual and unique lives, and maybe even share with each other the answers that we find along the way.

The Journey Files now uses PayPal too!

One of the things I was aware of when I set up The Journey Files with the system that gathers 'pay what you want' subscriptions was that it only worked with credit cards, and didn't allow PayPal integration. At the time I decided that was good enough.

But thanks to Cranky Jim in the comments section, I was encouraged to add PayPal support as well.

So I spent an hour or two looking for a solution that would allow interested people to 'pay what they want' with PayPal, and have their email address automagically added to the Mailchimp mailing list.

I eventually found a solution that I created, implemented, and tested. It worked! The test allowed a friend of mine to subscribe and be automatically added to the mailing list.

So Cranky Jim, now you can sign up using PayPal. Thanks for the support, and the encouragement to integrate other solutions into the same system, to increase the opportunities for more people to subscribe. I'll buy you a beer or something when we catch up in Melbourne!

Now to set up similar integration to automagically unsubscribe a person from the mailing list when they cancel their subscription....

Update:

I found that the integration adds ALL those  who use PayPal to pay me for anything, and it doesn't differentiate between the different payment methods or reasons, and there's no way around that. So I've had to disable the integration and will just add people manually when they use PayPal. I'm ok with that.

How to add a photo of yourself to your comments

So after playing around with the commenting system the other night, which I discussed in I have a new commenting system, I left it for a couple days. You know how it is - you spend lots of hours on a problem to find a solution to it, and when you finally implement a solution that works, you just want to walk away from it for a while and move on to something else.

But I was commenting tonight with good ol' Cranky Jim when I realised something was missing. A photo of myself.

It looked a bit bland and boring with no photos, just like Cranky Jim's. So I went about adding one, and after doing it, thought you might like to know how to do the same.

If you look at this image of the comments, you can see that my photo is there, but that's because I resolved that issue (I love finding problems and implementing solutions!).



By the way - you don't have to add a photo of yourself, but it would be great if you did. I love seeing the faces behind the words of those who join me in discussions here.

How to add an image to your comments

(Click on the images to expand them.)

1. Go to gravatar.com - that's the service provider for images integrated with Wordpress blogs.


2. Create a new account (unless you already have one)



Otherwise you can log in with your current account details or a Wordpress.com account if you already have one.

3. Create your new account details - make sure you use an email address that is normally associated with the comments you make on blogs! That's the most important part of this exercise.



Once you've submitted an email address, a username and a password, you'll then have to activate your new account. Make sure you do!



Doing this also gives you your very own brand new Wordpress.com account, just in case you ever want to start blogging one day.

4. Sign into your new Gravatar account

Use your new username and password to sign in and then you'll reach your profile screen where you can manage your Gravatars. Yours will look like this, but with your own email address:



 

5. Click on the link to add a new image

Find the image wherever you have it stored, or take an image with your webcam.



 

If you're selecting a file from your computer (the most common method):



Click on Next.

You'll be able to crop your image to your preferred dimensions.



 

Your image will look much better than mine.

Click on Crop and Finish when you're ready.

Now you'll need to choose a rating for your image, just in case it's not meant for innocent young eyes like mine.



 

6. You're finished!

Finally, you've finished the process. It's not that involved, really, and shouldn't take you more than a few minutes or so. Very easy.

Your image is now associated with your email address, and every time you leave a comment on a WordPress blog or any blog that uses Gravatars (most do), your image will be right next to your comment. Woohoo!

7. "What if I comment with more than one email address?"

That's fine, you can actually add other email addresses to your profile, and even other images.



 

When you have multiple email addresses and multiple images added, you select an email address and then select an image, and that image is thereafter associated with that email address. It allows you to use different email addresses and images on different sites, for different reasons - all from the one Gravatar account.

I hope you've found this helpful!

I'm excited to announce....

My premium content mailing list is now available! I've called it The Journey Files, and I've got this promotion for it in my blog sidebar:

PAY WHAT YOU WANT!

The Journey Files are weekly updates, insights, observations or information which have helped me improve or enhance the experiences of my life's journey. Maybe they'll help you with yours too. I'm writing these articles for subscribers ONLY - they will never be made available on this blog.

I invite you to subscribe to receive your weekly emailed article. You pay only what you want to pay - $1 or $100 (per month). I don't mind! I'll just be grateful for your support.

Click here for more information and to subscribe

It would honour me if you helped support my writing and signed up for a paid subscription. If you pay $1 or $100, I won't mind! The choice is yours, and I'll be grateful for whatever you choose.

You don't understand 'Pay What You Want'

I was doing a bit more research tonight into 'Pay What You Want' (I talked about it over here in It's time to step outside the wire) and I found your website where you created a course that you were offering with the 'pay what you want' model. I was interested, so I read some more.

You were pricing 3 different elements of the course - $97, $147 and $297. You promoted the 'pay what you want' method for a reasonable amount of your promotion page, but then you finished with words to the effect of:

"I will always reserve the right to turn down your offer to pay what you want if it doesn't match what I consider its value."

At that point I laughed. You lost me. You don't want people to 'pay what they want' at all! You want people to pay what YOU want. It looked like all you were doing is trying to cash in on the 'pay what you want' interest out there.



Allowing people to pay what THEY want allows more people to access your product or service than would normally be able to. If you're selling something worth $500, for example, you're only going to get reasonably wealthy people buying it. But if you allow people to pay what they want (what they can afford or even choose to pay), even if it's just $1, you actually end up with the potential to increase your income.

You encourage people to pay you for the value that you're creating or providing.

Not only that, you increase your exposure to more people by allowing more people to buy what you're offering, especially those that might not normally have been able to afford it.

This results in more clients or customers appreciating what you're doing. More people talking about you. More people promoting you. More money being made by you.

And if you offer something of value, then you encourage them to buy more from you, to pay you more next time, and to reward you for the value you're giving them.

But when you disguise a fixed price as 'pay what you want', you make me laugh. You obviously don't get it as you remain fixated on your fixed price. It makes me feel that you don't trust the model well enough to just let go and let people pay you what they think you're worth.

And that's likely part of your problem - what you're worth. You don't see your own worth.

Maybe you don't think you're worth very much at all, so you're afraid they'll confirm that. Be holding on to some form of 'fixed price' control, you feel like you're controlling the value others might see in you, because you don't see that value yourself.

And yes, in talking to you, I'm talking to myself. I'm seeing in you what I need to see, so that I can see the value in it for myself.

I thought last night about offering web hosting services to a business client when I was creating a proposal for them, but I ended up offering three package deals they could choose from. They ended up choosing the cheapest of the packages. It was still a win, but...

What would have happened if I offered my services without a price, and instead offered it to them via the 'pay what you want' model? They may have paid even less than what I originally wanted.

But they may have paid more.

If a potential client or buyer sees value in what you're offering, they might just pay you more than you thought they would.

But you have to be providing value for them to see it themselves and pay you accordingly.

I think so few people in this world today provide anything of value any more, that if something comes along that forces them to actually provide value, they fear it. They don't want to do the extra hard work to provide the real value in their work, when they can rely on fixed prices as an attempt to justify the value.

"Look, see? My work is priced at $500 - that's its value!"

I really like the idea of saying, "Pay me what you feel it's worth to you." Because that encourages me to work harder.

I've enjoyed working as an IT contractor this past 7 years, because it's paid me high amounts of money in exchange for high expectations from the clients for quality of work and exceptional performance. I've had to earn the high income. I've had to prove my value, every single day, or I'd get fired. My contract would be terminated. I had to avoid that from happening!

It was hard work, but I loved that approach. I loved the inspiration and incentive to do the best that I could.

And I can see that Pay What You Want is another element of that, to inspire and encourage me to do the best that I can, in order to encourage my clients or customers (or subscribers) to pay me MORE of what they want, because of the value I'm giving them.

We all end up happier as a result. Win-win. And that's why I intend doing things with Pay What You Want.

I'm going to be revising my proposal to the business client, who has already accepted the fixed price contract. But I'm going to offer it to them again with the new conditions, that they can pay me what they want. They know what I originally wanted (which they accepted), but I'll offer them the opportunity to get it cheaper.

In regards to hours spent working for them to provide them with services, paying me a cheaper rate may encourage them to give me more hours of work than they would at the previous rate. I could end up earning more as a result. (For example, $80 an hour x 10 hours is $800. But $60 an hour x 20 hours is $1200...)

It's all about the value of what you're providing. Fixed prices creates stagnation, while uncertainty creates inspiration, hard work and growth. I love that.

I have a new commenting system

I  have a new commenting system set up now because DISQUS has been a mighty pain in the ass. I've noticed some significant problems with it recently, which I haven't been able to resolve, and I've also had some users let me know they've had problems with it too.

So after today, I've gotten rid of it.

I was noticing two main problems. I don't know if there were any others, but these are the problems that were of concern to me.

1. Failing to load

When viewing a page, the Disqus comments at the bottom of the page just wouldn't load. There would be either nothing there, or it would convert back to an unformatted text-only version of current comments, with no functionality to leave any more comments. This was an intermittent problem usually resolved by refreshing the page. But most visitors aren't going to know they should refresh the page....

2. Comments from one page showing up on another

There was some kind of mismatch of identification occurring between some of the posts - and they weren't even similarly named! Comments from one post were showing up on another post, as if they were that posts's comments - but they weren't.When I looked into the database to try and find it, the database was showing the correct comments for the correct page, but Disqus was still mismatching them.

It was a huge mess that I couldn't fix.

I was probably to blame for this problem occurring in the first place. It's all my fault. In the past I've migrated this blog from WordPress to Ghost and then back to WordPress again, and I've migrated the Disqus system along with it. When coming back to WordPress I had to manually reconstruct the blog posts. I checked and tested Disqus at the time, to make sure it was still working properly, and it seemed to be. But it's just gotten worse over the past couple of weeks.

So I'm over it. It's out.

I'm now using the commenting system built into the Jetpack by WordPress plugin. It allows various forms of login functionality using different social media profiles, while maintaining the comments in my standard blog database.

Instructions

So here's some instructions for how to use it. I know some of you will need these instructions! But it's pretty simple, so you shouldn't have any problems.

At the bottom of a post you'll see this:



When you click inside the box that says 'Enter your comment here...' it expands to this:



You'll notice a number of various options at this point. You can simply insert your comment, followed by your email address and your name (to help me know who you are!) and that's all you need to do.

Oh, you also need to make sure you click on Post Comment when you've finished writing your comment....

Alternatively, you can sign in with any of the other options represented by the small icons - Wordpress.com users, Twitter users, Facebook users, and Google+ users.

Once you've signed in with your chosen account, it should remember it every time you come back to this site and want to comment again. (Unless you delete your browser cookies or use a different browser, in which case you'll have to sign in again.)

I apologise for any inconvenience

I'm sorry that I'm causing this complication in your daily routine. I know it's a hassle to have to log into your accounts again just to create a new comment, when you've already done so in the past. I appreciate your patience, and I hope you can forgive me.

I also hope that this resolves any further issues with the commenting system, and it continues operating as normal in future.

UPDATE

Some further investigation into the database discovered two posts affected by a crossover. The comments on 'post A' were showing on 'post B', and post B's comments were showing on post A.... I fixed them manually, by modifying the code in the database.

I don't know how many other posts are affected this way, but if you find any posts where the comments don't seem to match the post content, PLEASE let me know and I'll be able to investigate and fix it.

But I'm still not going back to Disqus.

I have some great friends

One of the things that's become clear to me now that I'm leaving Canberra and heading off to Melbourne is how close my friends are. Some of them have expressed their sadness that I'm going. One of my friends told me that I'm the only real friend he has in Canberra, and when he found out I was leaving, he cried.

I cried too. I'm touched by the quality of friends I have in my life. I'm sad that I'm moving on. Most of these friends have been close to me for over 17 years now. Some of them are reasonably new, and yet the quality of our friendships are the same - deep, authentic, and heartwarming.

They honour me with their feelings, and with the connections they wish to maintain with me. I'm privileged to have such wonderful friends in my life. For as long as I've known them, they've always been there for me, and I think they always will be.



They're all good people, who I've been happy to continue being friends with. Every single one of them. They've made an effort to be part of my life, just like I've made an effort to be part of theirs.

I'm going to miss them when I go to Melbourne, but I know from experience that the internet can maintain strong friendships, and sometimes even enhance them.

One of my good friends today was only an acquaintance when I moved to New Zealand in 2000, but via a mailing list I created to keep in touch with my friends, he and I became much closer through the emails we shared with each other. When I came back to Australia in 2007 we had become very good friends by then. All because of email, and our communications with it.

So to try and do what experience has shown me actually works, I set up a Facebook group last weekend, and added all my close friends to it. Those who are on Facebook, at least. Using the group, I'll share with them various updates and stories that I want to share with them, and hopefully they'll share their own updates and stories, and together we'll maintain our friendships despite the distance between us.

That's the plan, at least. Time will tell if it works or not.

I have some great friends. I'm thankful for that.

David, Ken, Garrie, Damien, James, Ella, David, Peter, Andrew, Nick, Stephen. I can't make all of you first in the list, but you're all first in my life. Thank you for your friendships. Make sure you keep in touch. You'll always have my love, and my gratitude.

Let's build The Journey Network

Many years ago, back when blogging became popular, bloggers created blogging networks and blog rolls, where they promoted their favourite blogs on their own blog and helped build a community of like-minded blogs and bloggers.

Many of us have forgotten that over the years. I know I have. It's a mistake. We're not islands, and we should never think we are.

We need to be part of a supportive and like-minded community that encourages and inspires us to write, to grow, to share, and to be part of something bigger than ourselves. It's how we can become better writers, and better people.

So I want to get back into that practice, to build a network of like-minded blogs.



If you have a blog that's about YOUR journey, in whatever form, then contact me to have your blog added to the network.

I'll review it and if I think it's suitable, I'll add it. And you should add mine. And we'll build a network of blogs, bloggers and their followers. We'll share content. We'll share readers. We'll all journey together!

Here's the topics that your theme might be about that will fit into this network:

• Personal growth


• Spiritual growth


• Developing as a writer


• Travel blogging

If you're not sure if your blog fits the theme or not, get in touch with me and we'll talk about it.

I'm going to call it The Journey Network, and once I have at least one blog that wants to join this network, I'll create a dedicated page for it, accessible via the top menu.

I'll also add a special RSS feed to the sidebar, to show recent posts from all members of the network.

One of the requirements for being part of the network is to do the same, to have a dedicated network page that lists all members, and an RSS feed to share recent posts from the network.

It's going to take a bit of work, but we used to do this years ago. And building a strong and enjoyable community is going to take work. But I think it's going to be worth it.

So get in touch if you'd like to be part of The Journey Network.

It's time to step outside the wire

I'm going to be taking the plunge over the next few days and will be establishing a premium mailing list with weekly updates planned to "help you make better choices to create a better life for yourself".

I was reading a blog post this morning that really inspired me. It was a guest post by Tom Morkes on Jeff Goins' blog and called What war taught me about writing.

Tom was comparing being a writer to being in the army. Interesting comparison, but what was inspirational were these particular quotes:

"But unless you write – unless you publish – those who need your work are left without your contribution to the world.

In a very real way, the people depending on your work need you to be vulnerable and exposed on a daily basis. Your job, as a writer, is to go outside the wire and publish your work."

---

"Take risks daily: write and publish stuff that matters for the people who matter."

---

"Three simple but powerful lessons:

1. Go outside the wire and publish your work.
2. Take risks daily with your writing.
3. Remember why you do what you do."

After reading the article I was inspired to 'go outside the wire'. Like a soldier risking their life every day they step outside the wire, the least I could do was step up my writing and put myself out there where I'm vulnerable.

One thing led to another and I found that Tom Morkes is also a heavy proponent of the Pay What You Want method of receiving payment for services or products.



I've seen this model in use before, and I've seen others using similar models for their eBooks and downloadable courses, as well as subscription models for premium articles.

I decided to 'go outside the wire' and start my own premium mailing list for substantially better material than what I'm currently doing.

I know what I'm capable of, because I've been there before. With my Thinking Wisely website in 2012 I was doing articles that were designed to help people make better choices. It worked out very well, but the articles were being published for free, and I was pushing an article a day.

I learned from that experience, and what I learned is that writing quality articles of that nature every single day is incredibly difficult, to the point that I burnt out after about 4 months of it. But in that time I'd written over 100 articles.

This time around I'm going to be writing one article per week, and spend my time during that week making sure the article is of exceptional quality.

It's going to be called Join The Journey (if you have any ideas of your own about what it could be called, please add them to the comments below), and invite people to join me in this journey we share, to support me with their subscription, and to receive premium content that's never going to be available on my blog - at a price that anyone can afford.

The subscription will be offered at a minimum of $1 per month. Cheap! It should allow anyone and everyone to sign up for it. Subscribers can pay more if they want to, and it's my hope that they do, but it will be worthwhile for me to just get people subscribing, even if it's for $1 a month.

The onus will be on me to create the best writing I can, to justify the money people are spending on me, and to also provide an incentive for people to increase the value of their subscription in exchange for the high quality material I'll be producing.

I need to 'go outside the wire', or 'step outside my comfort zones' if I'm going to achieve the successes that I want to achieve. If want to be a paid writer then I have to start being a paid writer. This is a good start.

I hope you'll join me in my journey when I start offering the premium subscription within the next few days.

I've achieved a big weight loss goal

Back in 2008 I was 103kg (226lbs). It's the most I've ever weighed in my life. I didn't realise I'd let myself get fat until some friends at the time talked about how concerned they were for my health. I felt a bit indignant at the time, but I decided it might be a good idea to start losing weight.



Interestingly, in 2005, I weighed 86kg (I mentioned it in a blog post back then), so it had taken me 3 years to put on 17kg - almost 6 kg a year. Easy to do when you're not being aware.

I'm currently at 86kg again, but my goal with my weight loss desires was to reach 85kg. On Saturday (two days ago) I weighed myself and I'd reached 85kg. Yay!

I fluctuate up and down, sometimes by up to 2kg on a daily basis, depending on what I've eaten. It's weird, but the fluctuations have been steadily going downwards over the years.

This has also been without exercise. I've managed to lose 16-17kg in 4-5 years without any exercise whatsover. And no fancy diets either.

My secret? Just eat less than what I used to. And be more aware of what I'm eating and drinking. And be thankful for Fanfan's help along the way over the past couple of years.

[Tweet "Behind every great man is a great woman"]

Having a great woman supporting you is fantastic inspiration and motivation to keep on doing the right thing. I'm thankful for the support she's given me.

I just realised that I gained most of my weight during 2005 - 2008, which was coincidentally when I was in a relationship that was far more of a struggle than it was worthwhile. It obviously had a significant side effect with my weight. Signs of depression maybe?

But anyway, it's great that my weight is getting better for me now. I'm really happy about that.

So now that I've reached 85kg (I know, it's 86kg today, but I know it'll continue going downwards), my next goal is 80kg (176lbs). And then?

And then I'll start working on my fitness. Since I'll be carrying a lot less weight it'll be that much easier for me to do exercise.

I never had a deadline for my weight loss. I just had a desire, and I carried through on that desire. I've ended up losing about 3kg a year as a result. I think it'll be good to set a deadline for the next 5kg.

My deadline to be 80kg is Christmas this year. And then I'll enjoy Christmas Dinner!

Let the countdown begin.

I invite you to join The Tribe of Men

I woke up this morning inspired to do something relating to 'tribes'. My interest in tribes, and my blog post about it yesterday, as well as a conversation I was having online with a woman that supported my anti-feminist and masculist points of view resulted in me deciding to do something that brought it all together.

So I created a new community on Google Plus and called it The Tribe of Men.



You're invited to join it if any of the following is aligned with your beliefs and values:

MEN - do you feel as if 'being a man' is a relic of a bygone era and something to be ashamed of or even punished for? Are you seeing human rights for minorities and women's rights for women, but a significant lack of men's rights, when you believe there should just be human rights for everyone? Do you see a system turning a blind eye to men's issues in favor of women's issues (particularly in relation to laws and attitudes around domestic violence) and believe that's wrong? Do you believe in equality, but are frustrated because you don't see it and you want to?

WOMEN - do you feel it's wrong for non-feminist women to stay silent as they watch feminism increasingly criminalize masculinity? Do you believe more women should stand up and add their voice to those men who are calling for equal rights because you see the pendulum has swung too far towards feminist demands? Are you wanting to encourage men to be the men they were born to be and ignore feminist attempts to discourage their masculinity?

Join this community and add your voice! All men and women are welcome to join this tribe of men.

This community is for men to feel comfortable being men, to share what's important to them, and to be supported. It's for ALL PEOPLE who believe both men and women should stand together to strive for equal rights, not just women's rights. It's for those who believe that men being masculine and women being feminine is the way things are meant to be, and are essential for the healthy development of relationships, families and their children, and the continuation of a strong and cohesive society.

We need to be embrace our differences and our individual and unique strengths, while supporting each other. We need each other, and our children need need us to work together with love and support. We don't need to find ways to be better than each other, but we do need to find ways to support each other.

Join this community if you share these beliefs and values. Share this community with your friends who share the same values. Help it grow. Help it be of value to those men who need it, and those women who value men, and those people who truly value equality.

(Make sure you avoid anger. It doesn't help. Anger and hate-filled words can be used against you or this community. By all means, share frustration if you feel it, but don't make statements that can be used against you or your fellow community members. Try to keep it constructive and positive.)

Do you know your tribe?

One of the things that's been of interest to me over the past few years has been the concept of 'tribe'. Tribes aren't new, dating back thousands of years. But 'modern tribes' have been redefined by Seth Godin as:

“A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. For millions of years, human beings have been part of one tribe or another. A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.”

In that context, the connections we have in social media are our 'tribes', and the different circles of people we have are the different tribes that we're part of.

I was reading an article the other day about tribes: How Finding Your Tribe Can Be The Key To Finding Your Ideal Career. I was quite interested in the idea of looking at my friends and seeing the common pattern of interests between them and me, and seeing how we form a 'tribe' based on those shared interests.

Different friends share different interests, and are often in different circles as a result. My interests are quite broad, and so is my range of friends. I'm not sure if I can call them tribes though, because there's no defined and purposeful leadership in any of them, and that's an important element.

It's something that interests me, but I know I'm not a leader. I don't have the interest or desire to lead others. It feels like something I absolutely want to avoid. Too many complications.

But I do enjoy the idea of empowering others to communicate.



 

I enjoy getting others talking and sharing their thoughts and feelings on what interests them. I enjoy getting people participating in conversations. I enjoy encouraging people to expand their horizons and step outside their comfort zones.

But I don't actually want to be a leader. Maybe someone else can lead, who is inspired by what I write and promote. That would be cool.

Interestingly, in an online game called Eve Online, that I've been playing since 2006, I've always chosen the leadership path. I run my own corporation and my own alliance of member corporations. It's what feels best for me. I'm acting as a leader in an online game, just not in real life. I lead my tribe in a virtual reality, but I have no such leadership aspirations in reality.

What's your tribe? Do you have one or many, or none?

 

I found a place to live in Melbourne

I've never looked at so many houses and apartments and townhouses in my entire life! But the good news is that after 4 solid days of searching, I was finally able to secure a place for us to live on Tuesday last week. By 5pm that day, the paperwork was signed, money changed hands, and by 5:30pm I was driving through the night on my way back to Canberra.



It was a good drive, only 7 hours including a few stops for petrol and food. I got home by 12:30am Wednesday.

And I've been recovering ever since.

I didn't realise how intense it was to be so focused on house hunting for 5 days straight. All of my waking time was spent on the computer looking for a place to live, or driving to inspect them, or talking to real estate agents.

It was pretty draining! But I'm glad it's over.

In a couple weeks from now, I'll be moving down to Melbourne to start a new chapter of my life. I'm quite looking forward to this new journey.

The only drawback to it is that the location doesn't have high speed broadband, so my internet usage is going to go backwards about a decade....

Ah well. In a year's time we'll find a new place to live, and it will be easier for us to find somewhere that is more appropriate. Until then we'll just make do.

The truth is out there

The other day I wrote a summary of the events behind the recent crisis between Russia and the US, centred in Ukraine (I want you to have a better perspective about Ukraine). I've had some good feedback from various people about it, which has been pleasing. But I know that sharing the truth about what's going on isn't going to change anything.

"The world will be what it wants to be." - The Dao

I know that knowing the truth and sharing it changes nothing, but I'll continue to do it every now and again.

People in the western world are going to support the US because they're too lazy, ignorant and afraid to do any thinking for themselves. They're more interested in allowing themselves to be led by manipulative media and governments because it's easy. They don't have to think, and they don't have to do anything.

The internet is a resource for providing us with all the history and the knowledge of mankind. Everything that we've achieved is at our fingertips. With all that knowledge available to us, we could do more to change our lives, and change the world.

But we share photos of cats instead.

All the knowledge of mankind is meaningless if no one does anything with it. And sharing the truth about something is also meaningless if no one cares.

It's why I stopped sharing the truth about politics and current affairs about 14 years ago.

Back in the mid-90's I started a website devoted to publishing stories that the mainstream media didn't want to touch. My 'about' page had this:

Not everything that you read about in newspapers, or see on TV, is actually true, and much of it is more disinformation than information. The people who control your lives... er... I mean, who inform you of what's happening in your life - well, the less you know, the happier they would feel. I've decided to make it my personal mission in life to peacefully enlighten as many people as I can. This means YOU.

But after doing it for about 5 years, I ended up giving it up and leaving it behind. I realised that no one cared. No one wanted to know the truth. They just wanted to have the illusion maintained where they wouldn't actually have to think about anything meaningful.

And it's just been getting worse ever since.

I've always kept my eye on current affairs and global events over the years. I've always seen what's going on - something I termed the 'dance of politics' some years ago - but I always kept it to myself, because most people have absolutely no interest in truly knowing the truth of the reality they're part of.



The truth is out there - if only people were interested enough to see it. If only they cared more.

But they aren't interested, and they don't care. And it saddens me. And occasionally I'll be frustrated enough by what I see that I'll write about the truth as I see it.

But my voice echoes down the empty valley. Everyone's off watching TV. Cooking shows are popular lately. Mindless, meaningless entertainment.

They can have their cooking shows. I'll stick with seeking knowledge and knowing the truth. My life feels more meaningful that way.

I want you to have a better perspective about Ukraine

I want you to have a rational and objective perspective about the situation in Ukraine that's not being led by US propaganda (eg. all our news comes from America, of course it's going to tell you only what you're supposed to think).

I want you to take note of history, rather than in-the-moment media sensationalism designed to inflame your senses, sell news, and get you to support certain government agendas.



The US is claiming Russia is violating international law by invading Crimea and Ukraine, but what was the US doing when it invaded Iraq and Afghanistan? What was it doing when firing missiles into Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia? There are many flagrant violations of international law that the US has engaged in, but - it doesn't want you to remember those.

Russia has stated that its recent (currently non-violent) actions are to safeguard the interests of the Russian people within Ukraine. What did the US do to protect US citizens during times of turmoil in Grenada (1983), Panama (1989), and Haiti (2003)? The US has often sent in troops to other countries to ensure the safety of their own people, but are now complaining about Russia doing the same thing.

But let's get back to that perspective thing.

I'll use quotes from mainstream news sites so that you feel better about what you're about to read.

US a full partner in Ukraine debacle - From the moment the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the United States has relentlessly pursued a strategy of encircling Russia, just as it has with other perceived enemies like China and Iran. It has brought 12 countries in central Europe, all of them formerly allied with Moscow, into the NATO alliance. US military power is now directly on Russia’s borders.

It's important that you try to understand the geopolitical pressure that the US has been applying to Russia for more than 20 years. All of those countries around Russia that have joined NATO, they all have US military bases in them now. Russia is surrounded by US forces and missiles aimed at them, and the only reason the US hasn't attacked Russia outright is because of Russia's nuclear weapons. The US is stupid, but not that stupid.

Here's another very important quote from the above article:

Some policy makers in Washington have been congratulating each other for a successful American-aided regime change operation in Ukraine. Three factors converged to produce the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych. First was his own autocratic instinct and utter lack of political skill, which led him to think he could ignore protesters. Second was the brave determination of the protesters themselves. Third was intervention by the United States and other Western countries — often spearheaded by diplomats and quasi-covert operatives who have been working for years on “democracy promotion” projects in Ukraine.

I had heard prior to Russia's recent actions that the protesters in Ukraine were receiving support from the US, which made me think that it was yet another US-sponsored attempt to destabilize a country in order to create civil turmoil and install a US-friendly puppet government in place. They've done it before, they'll do it again. It seems I was right.

And lo and behold, a US-friendly leader is put in place after (ex)President Viktor Yanukovych fled for the hills (Crimea, actually). And that's when Russia acted to protect their friend and asset.

Stephen Cohen, "Russia and Cold War expert", had this to say to CNN in a recent interview:

One last point, that so-called economic partnership that Yanukovych, the elected president of Ukraine did not sign, and that set off the streets - the protests in the streets in November, which led to this violence in and confrontation today, that so-called economic agreement included military clauses which said that Ukraine by signing this so called civilization agreement had to abide by NATO military policy. This is what this is about from the Russian point of view, the ongoing western (ph) march towards (ph) post Soviet Russia, Putin had no choice, and he has no choice, and if you put him in the corner, you are going to see worse.

So the US was trying to include military clauses into an economic agreement, forcing Ukraine to abide by NATO military policy (which would probably include the establishment of NATO military bases in Ukraine) and when Yanukovych  didn't agree to letting NATO into Ukraine, suddenly there's US-supported riots in the street.

The result of that was that Yanukovych was forced to flee, and a US-friendly leader was put in place who immediately called for NATO aid.

Not only that, the new leadership immediately overturned the laws that made Russian the primary language in Ukraine. This is also important, because there has been a lot of anti-Russian violence and harassment over the past few years, and this is another element of it.

How do you think Russia should have responded? 

Here's some more information for you to consider:

The Ukraine crisis: John Kerry and NATO must calm down and back off - Both John Kerry's threats to expel Russia from the G8 and the Ukrainian government's plea for NATO aid mark a dangerous escalation of a crisis that can easily be contained if cool heads prevail. Hysteria seems to be the mood in Washington and Kiev, with the new Ukrainian prime minister claiming, "We are on the brink of disaster" as he calls up army reserves in response to Russian military movements in Crimea.

Were he talking about the country's economic plight he would have a point. Instead, along with much of the US and European media, he was over-dramatising developments in the east, where Russian speakers are understandably alarmed after the new Kiev authorities scrapped a law allowing Russian as an official language in their areas. They see it as proof that the anti-Russian ultra-nationalists from western Ukraine who were the dominant force in last month's insurrection still control it. Eastern Ukrainians fear similar tactics of storming public buildings could be used against their elected officials.

America wants to have Ukraine in their back pocket, and be able to continue tightening their military stranglehold on Russia with more NATO bases. Of course they're going to get hysterical when Russia doesn't let them. They're like schoolyard bullies that only know how to throw tantrums when they don't get what they want because someone as big as them actually stands up to them and tells them to piss off.

Here's some more from the above article:

Kerry's rush to punish Russia and NATO's decision to respond to Kiev's call by holding a meeting of member states' ambassadors in Brussels today were mistakes. Ukraine is not part of the alliance, so none of the obligations of common defence come into play. NATO should refrain from interfering in Ukraine by word or deed. The fact that it insists on getting engaged reveals the elephant in the room: underlying the crisis in Crimea and Russia's fierce resistance to potential changes is NATO's undisguised ambition to continue two decades of expansion into what used to be called "post-Soviet space", led by Bill Clinton and taken up by successive administrations in Washington. At the back of Pentagon minds, no doubt, is the dream that a US navy will one day replace the Russian Black Sea fleet in the Crimean ports of Sevastopol and Balaclava.

...

The deposed Viktor Yanukovych, for all his incompetence, corruption and abuse of power, was the first president to oppose NATO membership in his election campaign and then persuade parliament to make non-alignment the cornerstone of the country's security strategy, on the pattern of Finland, Ireland and Sweden. NATO refused to accept it. As recently as 1 February, before the latest crisis, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the empire-building secretary general, told a security conference in Munich: "Ukraine must have the freedom to choose its own path without external pressure." The implication was clear: if only it were not for those beastly Russians, Ukraine would be one of us. Had Rasmussen said: "Ukraine has chosen nonalignment and we respect that choice," he would have been wiser.

 

The Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership Between Ukraine and the Russian Federation [link]

In 1997 Russia and the Ukraine came to an agreement after 6 years of negotiations about how they were going to manage their relationship moving forward.

Article 7 of the Treaty outlines the following:

In the event a situation arises that, in the opinion of one of the High Contracting Parties, creates a threat to peace, disrupts the peace, or affects the interests of its national security, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, it may propose immediate consultations to the other Party. The Parties shall exchange the appropriate information, and where necessary take coordinated or joint steps, in order to overcome such a situation.

Article 11:

The High Contracting Parties shall take all necessary steps on their territory, including the passage of the appropriate legislation, to avert and curtail any actions that are an instigation to violence or violence against certain individuals or groups of citizens based on national, racial, ethnic or religious intolerance.

Article 12:

The High Contracting Parties shall ensure the protection of the ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and religious originality of national minorities on their territory, and create conditions for the encouragement of that originality...

Considering the nature of the treaty between Ukraine and Russia and their agreed contractual obligations to each other, Russia has done nothing to violate any international laws. They are protecting their interests and responding to their treaty-based obligations exactly as any other nation would in the same situation.

Also, within the contractual arrangements they have with Ukraine, Russia is allowed to have 25,000 troops stationed in Crimea - it only has 16,000 and it's had that them there for some time. But western media is stating that Russia has 'invaded' Crimea with 16,000 troops. In fact, the new US-sponsored leadership of Ukraine has even made similar hysterical cries about troop movements in Crimea. But those troops have always been there.

The only reason I can see for these hysterical and untrue claims is that it's part of a plan to initiate anti-Russian hysteria and get the ignorant people of the western world on the side of the US.

When you actually look at history and actions of all the 'players' over the past 20 years, and you take an objective look at what's going on and why, the reality is completely different to what most of the US government-sponsored media would have you believe.

Don't let your reality be determined by western media propaganda. Don't let yourself join in on the hysteria and become part of the problem. If you're interested in something that is happening 'in the moment', start doing research and take a look at how history has led up to the particular scenario in question - whatever it might be. You will find truths that your mind-controllers would rather you didn't, as they try to get you back to watching mind-numbing 'entertainment'. Keeping you with a numb mind is their goal. Don't let them succeed.

“In a way, the world-view of the Party imposed itself most successfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding they remained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swallowed did them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn will pass undigested through the body of a bird.” - 1984, by George Orwell

 

I'm so tired

I went to 8 different open home inspections today, trying to find a rental property that Fanfan and I could live in when we move down here to Melbourne. You know what the worst part about viewing all those properties was?

The traffic.



Heavy city traffic and I don't get along very well. We have a unique hate-hate relationship. I'm all in favour of more relaxed driving styles, and it frustrates me that I can't get that in the large cities.

But sacrifices need to be made to move forward in life. I've been enjoying the more relaxed driving in Canberra and other areas of Australia and even New Zealand in my past - now it's time to try out big-city living.

As long as we can structure our life in such a way that we don't need to do a lot of peak hour driving for hours at a time, every single day, I'm sure we'll be fine.

Back to the properties...

By mid afternoon, when the last property had been seen, I still hadn't found a place that I was happy to apply for.

We're trying for cheap properties, 'cause we don't have that much money. But 'cheap' in a big city also means 'and nasty'. Cheap and nasty. That seems to be the standard.

From Monday I'm raising the bar. I think that looking at properties $50 more a week than what I've been looking for so far will make a big difference.

When I got back to my friend's place (more on that shortly), I was so tired from all the driving and the property viewing and the driving... I had to have myself a nap before dinner. And right now I'm completely knackered. It's not even 11pm and I'm falling asleep while typing this...

I'm not staying at AirBnB now...

The other day in my post, I'm going to Melbourne this Friday, I wrote this:

I booked a room with someone on airbnb.com.au tonight. I’ll be staying with them for 4 nights, but I confirmed with them that they’re available beyond that, just in case I can’t actually secure a house this weekend.

But then as I was travelling down to Melbourne yesterday (Friday), I talked to my friend Scot about catching up with him while I was there, and told me that I could stay at his and his wife's place. Woohoo! That would save me some money! So I cancelled the AirBnB accommodation and spoke to my planned host and apologised for any inconvenience I might have caused him. He was pretty cool about it, so that was good.

It's good to be here. It's good to be in Melbourne and being so busy searching for houses, and coming back to friendly and familiar people that I can spend time with. I'm very thankful for that.

I'm using Windows on my laptop again

I'm also thankful that my friend is a bit of a tech-head like me, so that when I got sick of some problems I was having with my Linux OS on my laptop (Xubuntu) tonight, he got out his DVD of Windows 8.1 and I reformatted my laptop and fixed my problems. I'm back on Windows now, where things 'just work'. Compared to Linux, that is.

I need some sleep. Goodnight!