We don’t usually remember mundane things. Repetitive tasks somehow tend to blend together as we remember only general, global ideas. Need proof? Just ask yourself what you did in a given day in the past. Let’s say… April 27, 2001. Most people(me included) will fail remembering anything from that particular date, so they’ll just use the general information about that period, as well as their common-sense, to extrapolate what they might have been doing on that particular date. Me, I was in the last semester of my second year of college, so I probably studied, or worked on the numerous homeworks and projects. I was also, probably, spending time with my girlfriend from college. Nothing more comes to mind, though. On the other hand, what about February 17, 2000? Well, that’s a lot easier – it was my birthday, I visited my grandfather in the hospital, and it was the last time I saw him alive(he died one week later, may he rest in peace). I even remember a few of the things we talked about, and how one of the hospital roommates did a magic trick with a cigarette. What about December 31, 2007? That’s even easier – it was the date I proposed to my lovely current wife, and I can remember a lot more things from the date, including moments from the New Year’s party afterwards.

This was a long paragraph, meant only to prove a point – we don’t usually remember every single step and every single breath and every single thing of an otherwise ordinary activity. Instead, we remember our lives by key moments, by the moving discutions, by extraordinary events. Key events create anchors in our memory and define our perception of time. Time seems to stretch when we do memorable things, and dim until vanishing from our memory when we do ordinary ones.

This is why the latest project of this guy, a BBC News journalist, seems so intriguing to me. Matt Danzico is taking on an interesting self-experiment this year: he tries to prolong his perceived life by putting himself, each day, through a new or uncomfortable experience. In his own words, research suggests that while having new and unusual experiences time seems to go slower, while during ordinary and casual ones time seems to go faster(we are talking about the backwards perception of time past). Matt’s experiences range from boring and simplistic ones(look at paint drying, eating left handed, etc.) to the more exciting(jump from a moving car), and he tries to time each one of them using a chronometer, but without looking at it, thus being able to compare his afterwards estimations with the actual time spent.

I haven’t read all his experiences(and likely never will), but I did enjoy jumping at the end of some of them and compare his estimations with the chronometer’s results. The differences between perceived time and actual one are mind-blowing(for some experiments there’s a gap of over 50%), and I think they are a great indicator of the human incapacity of accurate time estimation.

I end this boring post by recommending each of you to try and experiment new and even uncomfortable things, like Matt does. Not one each day, since in my opinion even an ‘unusual’ routine ends up being just this – a routine, but at least once each week. Do memorable stuff, to remember this year by.

Have a long perceived life!

Photo credits: Jinto!

Forrester: What are you doing?
Jamal: I’m writing.[...]
Forrester: Is there a problem?
Jamal: No. I’m just thinking.
Forrester: No thinking. That comes later. You write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is to write. Not to think.
[...]
Forrester: Start typing that. Sometimes the simple rhythm of typing gets us from page one to page two. When you begin to feel your own words, start typing them.
Forrester: Punch the keys for God’s sake! Yes! You’re the man now, dog.

Sean Connery as William Forrester, a character inspired by J. D. Salinger – Finding Forrester

“When asked ‘How do you write?‘ I inevitably answer ‘one word at a time‘”

Stephen King

The year was 2005. I was having my lunch on a bench in the Trocadero Park, at the shadow of the Tour Eiffel. Hordes of tourists were bustling on the esplanade, photographing the breathtaking view. Me, on the other hand, was quite unimpressed by the view for which tens of millions fly to France each year. I had seen it hundreds of times. I was working at less than half a mile from the glorious symbol of Paris, in a software company providing the trading floor software for most of the banks in the top 50 world. Living and working there, in the 16eme Arrondissement, the poshest quarter of Paris, showed me that everything is possible; even for a Romanian geek born in the last decade of the communism regime and whose parents’ salaries were less than $200 per month. Me, on the other hand, had gotten my raise and, at age 24, was earning monthly more than both did in 1 year.

The occasional Bordeaux bottle of wine and Brie cheese. Rollerskating on the shores of Seine. A secure, well paid job. Some would have thought it was the perfect life. Me, I felt it as a glorious golden cage which was sucking the life out of me.

Maybe it was the late work hours with lots of overtime. Maybe it was the corporate life and the monotonous routine. Or maybe I was craving for adventure, for independence, for freedom.
It was a hard choice but I eventually made it. A few months later, on April 13th 2006 I left France, returning to my home country. I had no plans for my future, no safety net. All I knew was that I didn’t want to work ‘for the man’ anymore. This was the start of my second life and the best decision I ever made.

It’s 2011 now, 5 years since my departure. I haven’t had a ‘classic’ job since. I don’t think I could ever go back to being a normal 9-to-5 worker. The tree of independence has grown much too big, its roots are way too deep inside me. I wake up at the time of my choosing, go to sleep when I want(well.. or when my wife wants me to ), I work from whatever location I desire. As long as I have an Internet connection, I can work. I am my own boss and love it. There are ups and downs, and once in a while the occasional emotional roller-coaster. But overall I feel happier and more alive than I had 5 years ago. Independence rules.

It’s easier than it looks. All you need to do is start letting go of your fears. Being a freelancer, self-employed, small entrepreneur or indie developer is now at everyone’s reach. You don’t need to be a software programmer. You don’t need to be a talented writer. You don’t have to be an uber geek. But you can still be your own boss. There are countless opportunities for those who seek them.

Now, when I have the occasional wine and Brie cheese, or when I visit foreign countries, I can finally enjoy myself. The difference from 5 years ago is that, now, I actually love my life and enjoy my work.

Are you happy with yours? Do you enjoy your work? If not, what are you waiting for?

• The official Self Help Classics website
• For latest news about Self Help Classics, please go to our Facebook app page and “Like” it

By teaching better ways to use your computer, recommending new software tools that make your life easier, or suggesting ways to improve your personal mindset or lifestyle, this blog was all about improvement: personal improvement and technological one alike. This is why, although self-promotional, I won’t shy away from recommending you my latest creation:

The Self Help Classics iPhone E-book collection

Created using my own personal iPhone ebook software (TouchBooksReader), this unique ebook app collects the major classic masterpieces in the fields of Self Help, Personal Improvement or Productivity and delivers them to you in a low-price high quality iPhone and iPad ebook app format.


So far, Self Help Classics contains over 27 volumes, including:

• Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill – the biggest seller of Hill’s books, selling over 20 million copies worldwide, and probably the most successful motivational book in history
• The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and Joseph Berg Esenwein – a best-seller in all its re-editions, since 1915 to the present. Learn how to talk to conferences, how to sustain presentations and to become a captivating and charismatic speaker.
• The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles – has been cited by the author of the bestselling The Secret as a primary source
• The Master Key System by Charles F. Haanel – developer of the Law of Attraction theory, which has been acknowledged as one of the primary sources for The Secret.
• Benjamin Franklin‘s The Way to Wealth – a famous essay written in 1758 for the Poor Richard’s Almanac
• Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell – originated as a speech, one of the most successful in its times, delivered over 6,000 times around the world. It became a short book the success of which financed the creation of Temple University

And here comes the fun and really interesting part:

1. there’s a SPECIAL SALE for the first few days of the app launch: $0.99 instead of the regular $2.99! Don’t miss it, it’s a limited time offer!
2. In the following free updates I’ll be adding to this impressive pack other classics about success, self improvement, wealth, business or entrepreneurship. This is where you can join in: either by using the TouchBooksReader contact form or by leaving a comment below, you can suggest any number of major works to be included in the Self Help Classics collection. The one criterion is that you recommend real classics – we only want to publish great classic works that stood the test of time.
   
   The authors of the first 5 comments will automatically get free promotional codes for downloading Self Help Classics on their iPhone/iPod Touch.
   
   The best 5 suggestions will receive promo codes for both Self Help Classics and the fairy tales ebook Wonderful Stories Collection.
   
   Even if you don’t have a iPhone / iPod Touch, you can still join in the discussion and share your ideas.
   
3. Also, promotional free access codes will also be given to the first 10 bloggers who blog about Self Help Classics (at their choice, one promotional code for any of my iPhone ebook apps)!

What do you say? Care for a comment or suggestion?

Update:
It just came to my attention that the aforementioned promotional codes only work in the US version of the AppStore. Sorry to my non-US readers out there.

Learn to be in the here and now, and experience life as it’s happening, and appreciate the world for the beauty that it is, right now. Practice makes perfect with this crucial skill.

Maybe happiness isn’t something you should aim for. Maybe happiness isn’t something you need to work at.

Maybe happiness is just like sunglasses.

Happiness is a state of mind. You shouldn’t leave in the pursuit of happiness. Instead, happiness is all around you.

It’s in the simple things, in the delicious taste of a fresh fruit, in the silent peace of countryside evenings. In the flapping of a butterfly’s wings, in the curly smoke floating out of a cigarette, in the smile of your loved one, the voice of your kids. Reaching happiness is just a matter of changing your point of view: change the way you look at the world.

Instead of focusing at the future, desperately waiting for it, just focus on the present and the beauty it gives. Instead of craving for the past pleasures, enjoy the current ones.

What are you waiting for? Put on your happiness sunglasses and enjoy your holiday!

In my freshman year of college(Computer Science) I was just discovering the Internet and the vast information one could get from it. Those were the days of MsDOS, Windows 95 and Windows 98, and my geek hobby back then was to subscribe to e-zines of the underground computer virus geeks. I never learned to build a computer virus(it’s bad, evil and it turns you into a criminal) but, being young and restless, I enjoyed reading how one could conceive such software that resembled most to real life-forms – the smallest and code efficient possible, which could replicate, mutate and propagate around. Nothing much stuck with me from that wild age except for a broader understanding of computers, operating systems and assembly language and, completely unrelated, the tale of one of those virus developers.

The guy was stuck at some point trying to understand how to work around the limitations(security) of Windows 98; he had tried all ideas that came to mind, and was starting to get desperate and frustrated. Yet, at one moment, he decided to just lay back. Closed the monitor, closed his eyes. Tried to think of nothing. Quarter of hour later he was coding furiously and excited. His (memory quote) computer coding Zen had struck again.

Without naming it, I’ve been using this method since highschool; now, in my computer programmer existence, I use it more than ever. Whenever I’m facing a bug I can’t understand, whenever something eludes me no matter how hard I try or how much documentation I read, I will stop.

I breathe, I take a walk around the office, get some water from the watercooler. Chat with friends. When coming back to my computer, 10 minutes later, I close my eyes and try to think of nothing. Call it Zen meditation if you prefer; call it  yourKitKat moment.

I prefer to call it Seiza – the seated 1 minute meditation before martial arts training. Letting my mind free of all thoughts is just what we perceive on the outside; on the inside, our subconscious keeps working, freed from the outside stimuli and conscious noise.

More often than once, stepping back is all it takes to solve even the biggest problem.

[photo courtesy of Flickr]

Second of all, I’ve been a lying bastard in 2007 and have blogged extremely little over here, leaving all you faithful readers just hanging and desperately waiting for more insightful, funny, informative or simply original articles.

Third of all, given that this is the best time for New Year resolutions, here’s my question/story for all of you:

How much money would you want in order to NEVER WORK AGAIN?

Let’s pretend I’m a rich bastard that can give you a fixed amount of money, with only one condition: you MUST NEVER work again. Not even for charity, not even for your own freelance gig, not even to help your spouse around the house or to take gardening as a hobby. Would you agree to such a deal? If so, what would your price be?

If you’d never agree to this(as I, for instance), please think a bit about your reasons. I know mine, and I’ll disclose them although I might influence your silent answer:

I like too much doing stuff. I take the most excitement in actually doing something useful, and the feeling of meeting my job deadlines is too good to give up. This is also the reason most successful people have always a hard time quiting their jobs: work is fun and without it we’d be bored to death.

Think about it.