Happy and Blue 2

It’s somehow odd that when you finish a major renovation in your home that it seems to create more work.
After redoing the walls and ceilings of my house I now need new flooring, some kitchen renovations ,bathroom renovations, blah, blah, blah..

And will it end when those things are done? Not likely. Kitchen renovations lead to changes in my dining room. Dining room renovations require deck renovations. Deck renovations require…….

The point is that nothing is ever really complete.
I picture people in Heaven spending time changing curtains on their cool homes.
And people in Hell just renovating their shacks and never finishing anything.

Our sites are just the same for a lot of us.

Some people seem content with their site. They just make little changes here or there occasionally. They are in Heaven.

Other people are in site Hell. We don’t like our site design. Nothing seems to fit the way we want. Our posts are all over the place. We lack direction.

But whether we are in site Heaven or Hell we still need to change things on our sites. The internet will continue to evolve whether we want it to or not.

Most of us fight change whether vocally or just in a subconscious level. Things that worked in the past are what make us feel comfortable.

We repeat what isn’t working over and over again without getting results. Often we deny to ourselves that the reason is because we need to change. We even defend our lack of action to others.

A while ago I wrote a post titled Business is Ruining Online Writing ..
In it I said that business had taken over blogs to the point where the old style personal blogs had fallen by the wayside.

I stand by that statement. Business ruined personal blogs for the most part.
There are still personal blogs on the web but there are far less than in the past.

But, business hasn’t ruined writing or blogging.

The writing has evolved. There is far more information available than there was in the past. And there is an increased openness as a result.

The blogging medium evolved as business found ways to exploit it. And it will continue to evolve as new and different avenues of connecting with potential customers are developed.

My Space changed blogging. Facebook changed blogging. Twitter changed blogging. Google Wave or an offshoot will change blogging.

And as someone running a site we need to change with it. Wallowing in self pity or fighting change won’t lead us anywhere. We need to adapt to the changing environment or accept what we have now and be content with being left behind.

So, what do you think about change?

Why does it matter? It’s not like the content between the major points is interesting anyways. To skim is to save valuable time. For something or other. Probably more skimming. It isn’t that it helps us learn anything. For the most part we just like to think that we understand fully what the author has written. Even though we are likely to have totally missed what the author is really saying.

Why does it matter? It’s not like what our friend or family member is saying is interesting anyways. If we think about something else while they talk. Not listening saves us valuable time. For something or other. Probably to listen to our own thoughts. It isn’t that it helps us learn anything. For the most part we just like to think that we are understanding what the friend or family member has said. Even though we don’t.

Why does it matter? It’s not like helping someone in need really makes a difference anyways. To help is to waste our valuable time. Which we need to learn about our life. It isn’t that helping others teaches us anything of value. For the most part we think if we help others when will we have time to get help with our problems. Which is the wrong way to think about helping.

So your question is:
Why does it matter? It not like……

“How do trackers become more successful at finding people than others?” Billy asked his Grandfather.

“Successful people take one more step” replied his Grandfather.

Billy was used to his Grandfather talking in riddles so he thanked him, for nothing he thought, and headed out with the trackers to look for his sister.

“It’s hopeless” said one of the trackers as he headed back toward the village.

This is how the day had gone. Wandering. Trying every trick they knew. Calling out. Looking for signs of birds flying up at the sound of something that startled them.
Checking for footprints in the mud and broken branches on the trees. A bit of cloth caught on something. Anything.

But they found nothing new. No secret to unlock the mystery of where the little girl had gone.

“Hopeless” said another as he to left the ever dwindling group and headed back.

A few pushed on. Aimlessly. Trying this or that without success.

And then, it started to rain.

“It’s over.” said the last of the trackers to Billy. “Come on. We need to go back to the village.”

Billy sat on a nearby stump. “I’ll be back there in a minute” he said as the last of the trackers left him and headed back towards home.

Billy thought about the day. How it had started when his sister wandered off.
How the trackers had come to search for her.
How they had showed him what to look for even though they somewhat mocked him for being just a boy.

After all, how do you teach someone what you know when they are just starting out.

Billy tried to take it all in. He tried to follow the lead of the trackers. Not become overwhelmed with what they were saying.

But, it was hard. There was so much he didn’t know. So many different ideas.

All he really knew in the end was that he wanted to find his sister.

So, instead of turning around and going back towards the village Billy pressed on.

And when he thought he couldn’t do any more he remembered what his Grandfather had said to him.

Successful people take one more step.

And in that final step he found his sister. Curled up under a pine tree, Shaken and afraid but safe.

He picked her up, hugged her tightly and took her back to the village.

“But how could you find it when the trackers couldn’t” everyone asked.

“I just decided to take one more step” was all he said.

So, the question for you is:
Is there one more step holding you from success..

As noted in another post and probably in some of the comments I’ve left on other sites I’m renovating my home.
Yesterday was an exciting time here.

After 3 days I finally got my bathroom finished to the point where I could take a shower.

If anyone noticed a funny smell here or in their comments during the 3 day no shower time please be assured that it should go away now.

Or if you visited here and thought “These posts stink” or “Glen’s comments stink” please be advised that this will change immediately.

Thank you for your patience..

As with most things in life there are leaders and there are followers. Leaders are leaders because they run at the front of the group. Followers are called followers because they run behind the leader.

So it was with the buffalo herd. The leaders decided the direction. The rest of the herd followed behind never questioning the leaders choices.

Being at the front of the herd is a good place to be at times. When you are a buffalo anyways. You get the best food. Before it is trampled by hundreds of others that follow.

You get the best view. Not butts for you to stare at. You see the horizon.

You get the first drink of water, the first view of danger, the best place to sleep.

But, being part of the herd is good to. You get led around to places to eat and drink and sleep and you really don’t have to do much. If there is a threat you just have to be able to run faster than one other buffalo to survive.

And the best part is you don’t have to make decisions about anything. You just have to follow.

On this particular day there was danger.

The leaders began running and one by one the other buffalo joined in.

They ran across the open field and then down a hill and along a path into some trees.

It was in the trees that one of the buffalo decided he had run enough.
As soon as they turned a corner he hopped off the trail and stood quietly in the trees.

The danger ran past him. As it turned out it wasn’t really anything dangerous. Just some really loud rabbits that had startled the buffalo and then when they saw the buffalo running had thought there must be a fox in the area so they ran too.

The lone buffalo chuckled and ran to tell the herd what was happening.

But when he caught up to the herd no one would believe him.
The leaders wouldn’t make such a mistake they thought.
And if the leaders kept running there must be a reason.

Eventually he worked his way to the front of the herd and up to the leaders.
And he shared what he had seen with them.

So, the leaders stopped running. And the herd stopped running.

And when the buffalo went to return to the herd the leaders told him to stay with them.

Sometimes by stepping away from the herd we become a leader.

So your question is:
What are you doing to separate yourself from the herd? ( I guess if you’re human you could be separating yourself from the crowd if you want. Crowd is a more human term.)