On New Beginnings (And More About Your Host)

Now that Brett has officialy retired from productivity blogging, I’m sure long-time readers are wondering what will come of The Cranking Widgets Blog. The short answer is easy: CW is, and will continue to be, mainly about productivity. There is, however, a long answer.

What a blogger blogs about and the spin they put on topics will always be driven by their own experiences, interests and values. For Brett, this often led us outside of the realm of productivity, as evidenced by his insightful and entertaining posts about parenting, posts about tattos and posts about drinking games.

The range of topics that I discuss will most likely morph a bit while I find what feels most comfortable. So far all you’ve really learned about me is that I love productivity. If my interests and values will play into what I write about, then the only fair thing to do at this juncture is share more about who I really am and what makes me tick.  After much reflection, I’ve come up with a list of 8 things that will have the greatest impact:

1. I am an Entrepreneur

Always have been. I was the annoying kid always trying to sell lemonade, a car wash, newspapers or lawn mowing services to the neighbors. My only real job was doing office admin work when I was 15. I needed to save up $1600 so I could buy a computer and start a web development business (it didn’t really bother me that I had no idea how to program, I’d learn that later.)

I spent every Saturday and Sunday at this crappy admin job for six months. I saved everything I earned, bought my computer, then I quit. The web development business turned out to be fairly successful. I’ve since morphed it into a product-based business, and it is still my primary source of income. I also own or co-own 3 other companies.

2. I Love Personal Finance

I’ve been tracking my finances in Quicken since I was 15. Call it sick, but to this day I have a record of every single financial transaction I’ve made since then. I’ve always had a deep-seeded interest in personal finance. I’ve read dozens of books on the subject over the years. Frugality and leaving beneath your means is extremely important, but once you have the habits you just do it. I now realize my time and energy is limited so my interests and attitudes lean heavily towards increasing my income. The least you can spend is $0, the most you can earn is virtually infinite.

3. I am a Programmer and Geek at Heart

I began my “professional life” as a programmer at the age of 16 when I started my own web development company. I haven’t programmed much beyond hobby stuff in the last 5 years, but I do find the occasional coding session to be very therapeutic. Now I build businesses. I find there are a lot of parallels between building a business and building a piece of software. At the end of the day you’re trying to create something that solves a problem for many people.

4. I Don’t Work For Money

I don’t work for free either. I just find money to be a terrible source of motivation. My level of motivation and excitement around a project/business/venture is generally driven by two things: 1) Is what I’m creating going to positively impact people’s lives, or is it just fluff? and 2) What can I stand to learn from working on this project/business/product that will bring me closer to my long-term goals?

Fortunately capitalism seems to favor those who aim to help solve real problems others are experiencing and those who never stop learning… Otherwise I’d be screwed, I’m pretty much unemployable.

5. I Love Music

I am an audiophile. I have loved music as long as I can remember. I find few things in life to be more rewarding to sit in a dark room with the home audio system cranked up, immersed in what I’m listening to. It’s a huge stress reliever.

I also took up the Guitar about a year ago and find it to be immensely fulfilling. A nice side effect is it is teaching me the true definition of patience! :)

6. Defining and Chasing Goals/Dreams is What Keeps Me Going

High-level goals are what make my world spin but I’m not fanatical about it. I don’t need to write them down and see them every day. I decide on 1-3 long-terms ones at a time and stick to them. I don’t believe you should empty your brain of your goals. Everything else, sure… But a small number of big goals should always take up a little psychic RAM.

I set my first real goals when I was 18. They were very materialistic. I wanted to 1) Buy a Rolex Submariner, 2) Drive a BMW and 3) Live by the ocean. I bought a BMW when I was 23 and I bought a condo that is in a highrise about a block from the Pacific Ocean when I was 25. I stopped caring about watches so I saw the Rolex as a waste of money and eventually scratched that off the list. Looking back, every decision I made between 18 and 25 played into ultimately reaching these goals. The weird thing is that instead of feeling invigorated when I bought my condo I felt pretty empty. I enjoy where I live, but I guess that’s materialism for ya.

My new goals are less materialistic. I want to travel the world for a year and live in 11 different countries, about a month in each one. A sub-goal is to spend 2-3 of those months in Latin countries and take lessons 1-3 hours per day on Latin style guitar (inspired by these guys, street performers in Santa Monica, CA… Amazing to watch). A lot of what I’ve done and continue to do is setting my life up to make these new goals a reality.

7. Mindset is as Important as Tactics and Tips

Why I’m cranking widgets every day is as important as tools I can use to crank widgets. Some might be thinking that your goals and mindset are the same thing. I view them as enitrely different concepts. Mindset dictates what I accept as truth and what I allow to motivate me, goals dictate what choices I make and what I actually do. I find reading things that alter my mindset is just as important as reading about things that alter how I work. I can’t accept new tactics if my mindset doesn’t allow me to accept the outcome.

8. Productivity Pr0n Has Never Made Much Sense to Me

I’ve been quite happy to see some of the focus of the productivity world being shifted away from the discussion of notebooks, graph paper, GTD logo calendars and other productivity pr0n. These things are a waste of time and only give you a reason to avoid actually getting stuff done. I don’t care much about notebooks, index cards or binder clips and my attitude is generally “If something ain’t broke, please don’t fix it!” Thats not to say I think productivity systems or software is perfect, I just find most of them to be equally deficient, so why bother.

In Conclusion…

I hope you’ll continue to find The Cranking Widgets Blog a useful place to go for ideas for bringing you closer to increasing your productivity, reaching your goals and finding success. Brett has done an incredible job with CW over the last couple years and I have so much respect for everything that he has contributed to the productivity community. Like many of you, I’ve learned a lot from him over the months and years. Brett’s wit and wisdom will be missed.

On the other hand, I’m really excited about the future of the blog. I truly appreciate your ongoing support and interest. Here’s to new beginnings!


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November 14, 2008 | Filed Under Administrivia, Etc. 

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