I didn’t want to do this. I resisted, I really did. But after almost a year with HustleLife and nearly three years with The Practical Nerd, they are no longer serving their intended purposes, and it’s time for a change. So, they’re getting shut down.

What happened?

A few years ago, I started The Practical Nerd with the intention of bringing a Lifehacker-type site to a less geeky audience. The idea was that I had made my life a lot better simply by applying some nerdy ideas in very practical situations, and that anybody could do it. I wanted to make nerdiness accessible to the average person.

After a year, I learned that people didn’t need another Lifehacker. Turns out Lifehacker is still doing a great job on its own. I strongly encourage everyone to follow Lifehacker all the time, because there is always at least a great tip or two every week. But that left the Nerd on its own to redefine itself. I realized that a lot of my content was being geared toward small, achievable goals. This was excellent, and one that I pursued.

But here’s the thing: in creating that type of content, I was backing myself into a corner. The Practical Nerd, as a brand, doesn’t fit with that premise. In fact, it makes little-to-no sense to the average reader. The site did not become about nerdiness at all, and that hurt my chances of succeeding while continuing the brand.

What about HustleLife?

HustleLife was a really fun idea, and it was a project that has been great fun for me over the past year. I’ve loved getting on the phone with various exciting personalities who are doing great things, and HustleLife gave me the confidence to network much more than I have before. That will carry into future projects, for sure.

But I approached HustleLife wrong in a few areas. First, I never hired a designer. That meant that I was on my own. This is fine if I am creating an ebook or some other digital product, but not for a monthly digital magazine. That just wasn’t working for me. Second, it was a separate brand, which required a whole separate effort to build. The audience for HustleLife grew very quickly, and it is on par with The Practical Nerd in terms of numbers. I’m very proud of that.

But when I got any exposure, I had to figure out ways to promote both brands, which is incredibly hard to do, especially when your first brand isn’t that strong to begin with. Add to that the increasing pressures of creating great content on each platform, and it really wore me down this past year.

That said, I have some great content that I wrote for HustleLife that will be included in my new project (see below).

So are you done blogging/writing? What now?

Not by a long shot. Actually, I’ve put together a plan to hone in the focus of these two brands and merge them into something new. It’s something completely different in terms of branding, but the core message and my goal/vision for it will remain the same. I still want to make life improvement and goal-setting achievable and reasonable for average people, and I think I’ve got a great way to do it.

I won’t link to it yet, because it’s not live. But check my Twitter page often for updates, and I’ll be sure to link to it on this site as well before it goes dark.

What if I don’t like it?

Don’t follow me anymore – easy, right? Seriously, I am insanely appreciative of the hundreds of you that have been following me the past few years. This is another step in that process as I adjust my game plan and adapt for the future. I may lose some of you along the way. That will suck, and I’m sad to see you go (if you choose to go). But I know that I can’t please everybody, and I need to make sure that this new direction will excite me, which will in turn inject some much-needed life into the online presence that I’ve created.

Stay tuned. And thanks.

Think back to your childhood. Are you there? Good. When was the first time you broke a bone? Were you out playing a good, competitive game of basketball and you fell while sinking a killer jump shot? Were you going off a ramp you built in your driveway on your roller blades (it was the ’90s!) or your bike? Did you slam into a tree while flying down a hill on your sled?

You probably didn’t enjoy breaking that bone or dealing with that awful pain, but it’s one of those stories that you are going to keep for the rest of your life. When your buddies or your family and you are sitting around, you can all share a laugh at that one.

Me? I’ve never broken a bone.

Now, that seems like a good thing, right? Hey, I didn’t have to burden my parents with expensive medical bills or stay in a hospital. I didn’t have a moldy, smelly cast anywhere. It was smooth sailing.

But smooth sailing is boring.

When people start swapping those stories, I have nothing to share. I can’t add to the conversation. I can chuckle at friends who knocked out their front teeth while zipping around on a skateboard, but that’s about it. I’m a spectator. I’m on the outside looking in.

If that sounds like a good thing, then you are focusing on the wrong part of the story. What were these people doing at the time of their horrific injuries?

They were having some serious fun.

They were making memories. They were reaping the benefits of being a kid – they were playing sports, they were burning energy, and they were laughing. They may not look back on that injury with fondness, but they look back at the activity and think, “Man, those were the days!”

You know what I was doing while other kids in my school were out running around, shooting hoops and jumping ramps? I was sitting in my bedroom, watching television. I was lying on my floor, playing with action figures, helping the Ninja Turtles save April O’Neill, or making Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels put on the best wrestling match of the decade inside a steel cage. I was laying on my bed to see what hijinks that Archie, Jughead, and the gang were going to get into.

These were fine activities to do as a kid, and I do look back on them with fondness. But when I walk through a sporting goods department of any store, I can’t help but sigh with a little bit of disappointment in myself. I have friends who have tons of memories of the activities they were involved in as kids: little league baseball, playing basketball, hitting around a volleyball, riding bikes, and getting into adventures.

Those activities scared me as a kid.

I was afraid to be stung by a bee, even though I wasn’t allergic. I was convinced that any ground ball would bounce up and hit me in the face. I just knew that I’d fall off my bike and scrape off half my face on the pavement. I was terrified that I’d miss that free throw, and either cost the game for my team so that they’d be mad at me, or they’d all laugh at me until my face was flush with embarrassment. I stayed inside. I stayed away from adventure – because I was scared.

I don’t have many regrets in life, because I know that it doesn’t do you any good, but if I could go back and do a part of my life over again, it probably would be my childhood – not just because I had so much stinking free time to do absolutely nothing constructive, but because I let my fear dominate my life until I was out of high school.

These days, I’m in a volleyball league with some friends from church. I’m having a really great time – volleyball is a sport that I’m not entirely inept in, and it feels great to get together every week with some friends and enjoy some laughs while getting a sweat going. But it takes an active effort on my part to have fun and not be embarrassed. I’ve been conditioned since grade school to be afraid of publicly playing sports. It’s embedded in my nature now, and my friends have even sat me down and told me to stop being so doggone self-conscious.

What does this have to do with you?

Fear is a horrible, horrible thing. There are so many manufactured fears in the world that it is incredibly easy to become a wuss really quickly. The problem is, your “safety zone” is probably hurting you more than it is helping you. You might build safety zones anywhere in your life:

• You stay in that office job that you hate because you are scared of not making money.
• You avoid those people you want to date because you are afraid that it won’t work out.
• You sit on the couch and eat chips instead of working out because you think you’ll be miserable trying to lose weight.

These can be caused by anything: for me, it was caused by some pretty mean kids at my tiny grade school – I was the dorky kid in a class of about 5 kids, so nobody bothered to help me get better at anything. I was laughed at, and that was it. You might have a similar experience. You might have parents who were never impressed. You might have failed spectacularly at something and have never fully recovered.

Whatever it is – it’s time to get over it.

And the only way to get over it is to start taking steps toward doing something again. Start small – but start. If you don’t try something, you’ve already failed at it. You don’t even give yourself the opportunity to succeed.

Success is yours for the taking, but if you don’t go after it, you’ll never get it. Everybody has crap that they are dealing with, and it can be really hard to get through it. But surround yourself with supportive people – talk to them about what’s bugging you, and they might be able to help you. Once you start dealing with supportive people in your life, some really awesome things can happen. They might not even be drastic changes, but they can certainly make a huge difference in your life.

Yesterday, it was announced that he had signed with the Detroit Tigers for 9 years and a staggering $200+ million. Disregarding the argument of whether or not he’ll be worth that kind of money to a team, I was happy for him.

And yet, when you ask around, or you log onto Facebook, you start seeing the same old clichés:

• “Geez, I could use that kind of money!”
• “I’m in the wrong line of work!”
• “All that money to play a game…”

And so on.

But while I agree that athletes make more money than they are worth, I am not envious of them. Think of what that money means for a player like Prince Fielder:

• Every move he makes in public, and every comment he makes to someone is scrutinized.
• He is on the road and away from his family for over 200 days a year, not including practices, spring training, media appearances, and spokesperson deals.
• He works a lot of nights.
• He will miss a lot of family holidays – many athletes do. Want to spend Christmas with your family? If you’re in the NFL or the NBA, you likely won’t.
• He is constantly showering with a bunch of other guys.
• He takes a lot of risk – if you break your leg, you might be off from work for a little bit. If he breaks his leg, he could risk losing his entire career, depending on the nature of the injury.

I don’t even have kids of my own yet, and I can see why that life would suck. What about you? If you are at all close with your family, you’re going to be kinda miserable.

There is probably a segment of you saying, “So what? I wouldn’t mind the travel, and I’d love that kind of lifestyle!” Well, you’re probably not walking around telling people that he’s overpaid, either.

When we’re unhappy about where we are in life, we tend to be quick to point fingers at people who are somehow making our lives worse. And yet, the heads of corporations are powering industries that make our lives easier – and I’d argue better – every single day. Heck, even pro athletes are powering industries that make our lives better: without the players, we wouldn’t have games to go to or watch on TV with friends and family. We wouldn’t have that escape where we can cheer and boo who we want.

We get so focused on what we don’t have that we ignore what others don’t have, either. I’m sure Prince Fielder is happy, and he loves playing the game of baseball for a living, even if it comes with some lousy parts. He’s willing to make the sacrifices necessary to bring in that kind of dough.

Do you want to make your life better? Is there some aspect of your life that could be improved? If so, you’ll have to make other sacrifices to get there. If you’re not willing to do that, just shut your mouth and get back to work. Whining isn’t going to do anything but make everybody else cranky too.

So, 2012 is upon us, hey?

After jotting down my thoughts on 2011, I really wanted to spend some time looking ahead to this new year. In fact, I’ve been downright excited to write this post. So then, it figures that I start having problems with the site that I have to address before I can keep going.

First, the site went down… again. This was a fairly common occurrence this past year, and I don’t want to risk it happening again. So, I switched servers, which took most of last week. I figure there is no reason to slap together a new post and try to drive traffic to it if the site doesn’t work. So I waited.

Then, yesterday, I notice that MailChimp had screwed up my signup forms for The “I Can” Movement. After hassling with customer service, I decided to switch over to Aweber, which I am still in the process of doing.

So, after all of this, I am ready to start some serious writing, and the site and community should be happier for it (and if the signup form on the right side of this page looks bland, just be patient. I’ll get it jazzed up soon).

So, I find a great exercise is to sit down and figure out what you plan on doing this year. After discovering all the cool stuff I was able to accomplish last year, I was even more excited to put this list together. There’s a great mix of travel, professional, and personal stuff (much of it from my bucket list) on here that should make 2012 a rousing success. If you keep up with what I’m doing here or elsewhere, then here’s what you have to look forward to:

I’m going to totally dominate Europe this year.

This is the big one. In October, my wife and I are going to celebrate our two-year anniversary by flying into London and doing a giant figure-8 across the continent. We’ll be visiting my old college roommate in Scotland, as well as hitting up Germany, Ireland, England, Rome, Paris, and Austria. It’s going to be the trip of a lifetime.

After visiting Taiwan a few years ago, I’m doubly excited to hit another continent, as well as immerse myself in the cultures of the world – and the food!

Attend a Packer game while they’re good.

I’m from Wisconsin. That means I’m a Green Bay Packer fan. They only lost one game all season this year, and as of this writing, they are defending Super Bowl champions. In other words, they’re good. I plan on heading up to historic Lambeau Field to enjoy it in person next season.

Make $50,000/year.

This is the next income goal on my bucket list, and I think it’s very doable this year. It’s going to take a lot of effort on my part, but I look forward to the challenge. As I expand my business, this should become more and more of a possibility. I did not come close to this income level in 2011, but I am poised to make a run for it if I play my cards right in 2012.

Get 1,000 Twitter followers.

It’s not the be-all, end-all in terms of influence, but I do feel that having over 1K followers on Twitter will really give me the opportunity to spread the word about what I’m doing, as well as connect with more awesome people. One thousand is a completely arbitrary number, but it’s a big one for me. As of this writing, I’m sitting at just under 800.

Play guitar at a performance level.

I don’t have clear parameters on this yet. I’d like to record myself playing, or even hit up an Open Mic night somewhere. I love playing guitar, but I’m generally pretty bad at it because I don’t practice enough. This is the year I dedicate myself to the craft so that I can be at a level that I can be proud of for a change.

Attend a bloggers’ conference.

There are lots of these available, but I’m headed to Portland, Oregon in July of 2012 to attend the World Domination Summit. It’s much more than a bloggers’ conference, but it will give me the chance to connect with so many more like-minded individuals.

Take a train somewhere.

I’ve never really been on a train (Disney World doesn’t count). We’ll be taking it around Europe, so this should take care of that.

Run a half marathon.

Yep, last year I ran a 5K independently. Twice. Now, I’m taking it up a notch. I planned on working on this sometime later in the summer, but a friend of mine convinced me to sign up for one on May 5th. So I guess this one will be crossed off a lot sooner than I had originally planned!

Write more epic stuff.

One reason I really enjoyed the 2011 review is because I was able to write a much longer post. That’s the goal this year. I find that it will be better for me as a writer, and it will force me to come up with stuff that you guys will enjoy and be able to learn from. In my head, I’ve got this post from Corbett Barr over at Think Traffic stuck in my head.

Implement “No TV Tuesday”.

Last night, my wife and I had our first full-scale “No TV Tuesday”. We have struggled with leaving the TV on and watching “just one more” episode of something, effectively killing our desire and resolve to get stuff done. Instead of leaning on that, we are now actively not watching television on Tuesdays. The result? We got a lot done, and we spent time playing a board game instead, which was actually a lot of fun.

TV isn’t evil. As I’ve written in the past, I love TV. But it can control your life if you’re not careful. When I was hanging out with Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus when they were in town last month, Joshua said that he didn’t own a TV, but only because he knew he would watch it constantly.

It’s not as simple as saying something is “good” or “bad”. It’s about recognizing your own weaknesses and shortcomings, and taking steps to fight them. That’s what “No TV Tuesdays” are about for us.

Migrate from SEO writing into full-time direct mail copywriting.

SEO writing has gotten me out of the office job, and for that I am grateful. However, it’s not a very challenging or fulfilling occupation. With direct mail, I’ll be able to make a lot more money and work less, creating more freedom in my life while we pay down our debts. I’ve  igotten my foot in the door at several companies, but I have to make sure I perform to the highest level so that I can establish myself. Once that happens, I can ditch the SEO work. It’s a switch that I’ve been waiting to make for 6 years.

50 Guest Posts in 2012

According to Caleb Wojcik of Pocket Changed, I’ve got a little competition for this one. The only way I can grow the audience here and at HustleLife Magazine is by getting my name out there, which means I have to make guest posting a priority. That’s what this year is all about. So I’m hoping that I will be able to knock out 50 guest posts on various sites to really start gaining some traction!

Smarter consumption of information.

A lot of people feel that there is an information overload in today’s online world, and I would be inclined to agree. But I don’t think that we necessarily need to cut it all out. In fact, you can limit your information overload by having a better system of managing it. Some people will use different tools, but here is what I have:

• My Kindle + Readability. With my Kindle, I can read books anywhere – quickly and easily. This is great, but the real power of the Kindle comes from combining it with Readability. With the combination, I can find long-form content online and send it to my Kindle with one click for later reading. So instead of managing magazine subscriptions for my long-form content, I just keep my Kindle. One of my favorite places to find great content that I can read is LongForm.org, which allows me to click “Send to Kindle” and be done with it.
• Google Reader. I keep trying other tools, but Reader still can’t be beat for clean and simple feed reading. I manage a lot of feeds from Google Reader, but I don’t read everything within their interface. Sure, I will if I have the time, but if I want to batch my stuff and save it for later, I use…
• ifttt and Evernote. With these two tools, I can save links from Google Reader and Twitter that I want to review later, eliminating my need to constantly consume information. With ifttt, as I’ve written about before, I can star items in Google Reader that will go into my “Links to Review” notebook in Evernote. Then, when I see an interesting tweet or link on Twitter I want to look into, I just “favorite” the tweet and it is sent to the same notebook in Evernote. Then, I can just read them at my leisure on my…
• Netbook. With my new netbook (see the goofy picture above), I now have the laptop I’ve always wanted/needed. I can use it for quick access to links and content that I want to review, and I can use it for portable working (or blogging – which I’m doing on it now).

Having an organized system of digesting content allows me to read on my own time, where and when I am comfortable. Then, I am able to weed out the important stuff and keep my brain learning new interesting and valuable information without becoming overloaded. Oh, and the entire system uses free services, which is awesome.

Okay, what about you?

What do you want to do this year? Let’s chat in the comments section!

Thanks for hanging in there!

The result was an interesting group of experiences, news, apps, and a lot of rambling nonsense. So, in a nutshell, here’s what 2011 looked like for me:

I completed a full year of self-employment, and I’m poised for growth.

After quitting my job in 2010, I was able to make it through all of 2011 with a fairly consistent income, which was fantastic on many levels. I was afforded freedom and flexibility that you just don’t get with an office job, and it’s been wonderful for my marriage. In July, I was able to further my copywriting expertise and I am now cracking into the direct mail market, which is one of the most competitive and lucrative markets available to copywriters. I’m gaining some traction, so 2012 is fixing to be an exciting year professionally!

The Month of Brogan was upon us in the spring.

I kicked around other names: BroganMania, BroganFest 2011, etc. In the end, I almost met Chris Brogan, and because of that, I had a huge surge in traffic in March. Using that experience, I was able to get a guest post up on ProBlogger, which led to a crap-ton more traffic. I learned that Chris is a very giving fellow, and I was (and still am) very thankful that he shared my story with his thousands of readers. Now, I just have to actually meet the guy.

Wisconsin sports in 2011 experienced unprecedented success.

For the first time in almost three decades, the Milwaukee Brewers won the pennant. They made it to the National League Championship Series, and came within a game of making it to the World Series. As big of a bummer as losing was, the truth is that baseball in Milwaukee hasn’t been this fun in a very long time. On the football front, our beloved Green Bay Packers not only won the Super Bowl, but they only lost one game in 2011 (stupid Kansas City Chiefs!). They dominated the game all year, and it was so much fun to be a part of it. Now, we’re pulling for a repeat championship. Being a Wisconsin sports fan was truly a good time all year, after so many decades of pitiful teams.

I wrote some pretty good stuff here.

Here is a listing of ten of my favorite posts of the past year:

• 20 Average Goals from Extraordinary Achievers
• Dust Yourself Off and Keep Fighting
• Go Home and Get Better
• “Get mean and go do it.”
• Use Your Pain to Fuel Your Fire (a tribute to a lost friend)
• “The hard is what makes it great.”
• 34 Things You Probably Don’t Know About Me
• 7 Reasons Why On-Demand TV Kicks Cable/Satellite TV Square in the Teeth
• Six Lessons About Hard Work and Persistence from My Six-Year Old Nephew
• Stop Complaining and Make Change

And you enjoyed some of it, too.

Here are the top 5 most-read posts this year, according to Google Analytics:

• 20 Average Goals from Extraordinary Achievers
• 9 Reasons Why Being a Nerd is Awesome
• How Almost Meeting Chris Brogan Led to Personal Growth
• 4 Movies to Fight Your Feeling of Hopelessness
• Why You’re Not Getting That Promotion/Guy/Girl/Life

After a ten-year hiatus, I returned to competitive distance running (and ditched my running shoes).

I signed myself up for a 5K race in May, and completed it in decent time, crossing something off my bucket list (see below). Then, after announcing my retirement, I signed up for another race in September – and ran it barefoot. Now, I’ve added a few more running-related items to my bucket list, and I plan to run a half-marathon in 2012. I’m loving every minute of it.

I started my bucket list, and I crossed things off like a madman.

• Stay at a Disney resort (October 2011)
• Tour the White House (September 2011)
• Take Amanda to Disney World as a couple (October 2011)
• Run a 5K independently. (5/21/2011 – 25 minutes, 10 seconds)
• Get 100 HustleLife subscribers. (October 21, 2011)
• Ride a horse. (October 21, 2011)
• Take a hot air balloon ride. (October 21, 2011)
• Go jet skiing. (August 13th, 2011 – Castle Rock Campground)
• Brew a drinkable beer. (July 2011 – Thank you, Mr. Beer!)
• Run a 5K barefoot (9/10/11 – 27:04)

My gadget crush on the Kindle grew, and I read some awesome books.

Last Christmas, my wife bought me a Kindle (now called the “Kindle Keyboard”). It has rapidly become my favorite gadget. I love reading anyway, and now I don’t have to hold open a big book or read in awkward positions. Instead, I can just focus on the reading, which I love. A few months ago, I discovered the usefulness of my Kindle email address, where I can send documents to read on my Kindle. If I see a cool article on the Web that is really doggone long, I can send it to my Kindle to read in bed later for free. Also, I signed up for a weekly article from SendMeAStory.com (a similar service is Delivereads), and they send me a cool feature article (usually topical) from a publication of the last 25 or so years, formatted for my Kindle. I just flip on my Kindle and it downloads! Add to that the free books to Amazon Prime members at the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, and this gadget has become my #1 source for content in the past year. Love. It.

A few of my favorite books this year include:

• Accidental Genius by Mark Levy
• Born to Run by Christopher McDougall
• The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
• Do The Work by Steven Pressfield
• The Last Lecture by Randy Pautsch
• The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

I failed to start a few series of blog posts.

I love blog post series, so I wanted to start some of my own. Given that this site focuses on small goals, I tried to create a list of 237 small goals. Unfortunately, nobody really seemed all that interested in the list, and it died a quiet death at #14. The same is true of the Cool 30, which was a Thanksgiving-related series I started. I didn’t make it a priority, and it died. Both of these are pretty public failures, but hopefully I will learn from them when I put together my next series effort.

Some awesome connections were made, and I met up with quite a few people as well.

This was the year that I finally was able to pound the pavement and meet with some really cool people that I had been following for years. I met Milwaukee restaurant guru Joe Sorge earlier this year on the same day that I shook hands and chatted with author and respected entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. Impossible-doer Joel Runyon moved to Milwaukee for a few months, and I had the privilege of getting to know him while he was here, and he connected me with a ton of other interesting people as well, including Josh and Ryan over at The Minimalists just last night. I was also able to meet up with J. Money of Budgets Are Sexy and Love Drop (see below) when I visited Washington, D.C., which was a load of fun as well. Sean Ogle of Location 180 started a new community called Location Rebel, and I was honored to be interviewed as an expert on building a location independent business, which also gave me the chance to meet Sean (via Skype). Through HustleLife (also see below), I have been able to connect with new people every single month, which has been incredibly rewarding.

I did some pretty awesome traveling.

From touring the White House in Washington, D.C. to strolling down Main Street, USA in Walt Disney World, I got to see some cool sights of the country. Add to that my buddy’s bachelor party in Chicago, and I got around a little bit this year!

HustleLife debuted.

In May of this year, I launched HustleLife Magazine – a free digital magazine dedicated to helping people achieve their dreams by rolling up their sleeves and getting to work. With interviews and other resources, it has become one of my favorite projects to work on. I’ve been very blessed to interview plenty of great people this year, and I’m looking forward to talking with many more. In October, the subscriber count grew to over 100 people, which is really humbling and way awesome.

Some cool apps and online services became essential tools in my life.

Don’t tell me the internet is a waste of time – I’ve discovered plenty of great tools and resources that I use every day:

• XBMC (XBox Media Center) – This is on our home theater PC, where we stream lots of shows and movies to our television in a slick interface.
• Netflix – Yeah, it got some bad press this year, but it is a serious resource for great TV shows, movies, and a ton of brilliant documentaries. And a lot of the content is in HD, which is just a bonus. It’s the best $8 a month that we spend.
• Google Reader – I tried Feedly, I really did. But Google Reader continues to be a clean, simple, and useful resource for my blog reading.
• ifttt – Many of these tools are run through ifttt, which lets you connect different web services with hundreds of uses. It, for example, allows me to automatically save certain items into my Evernote account for later reading with one click. A very powerful and underutilized tool.
• Evernote – Post ideas, magazine plans, ideas for stuff I can do later, future projects, current projects, recipes, blog posts to read, gift ideas, shopping lists, quotes, book excerpts, store hours. You get the idea?
• Amazon Prime – We used the trial to quickly get a wedding present for my buddy and his wife. At the end of the 30 days, we decided to drop the under-$80 for a year’s worth of the service. We’re never looking back. Prime gives us access to the Kindle library (from above), as well as unlimited two-day shipping on anything Amazon keeps in its warehouse. Virtually all of our Christmas shopping was done through Amazon this year, and we are even starting to order grocery items from there to save money. They even have a streaming library of TV shows and movies (still small, though) included in the service.
• Google Music – My new favorite way to store my music. With my Android phone, I can just stream my entire library to my phone through the data connection instead of carrying around another MP3 player or having to sync devices.
• Twitter – Networking made simple. Most of this review would be impossible to achieve without Twitter. Seriously.
• Endomondo – I don’t run without Endomondo anymore. It got me through my race training, and I plan on using it for my half-marathon training next year.
• Google Maps – With the turn-by-turn Navigation feature, I don’t get lost anymore. Heck, I used it to navigate the public transit and walk to destinations in DC. Must have, all the time.

My fellow bloggers knocked it out of the park this year.

• The Art of Nonconformity – Chris Guillebeau just kept doing his thing, inspiring a kerbillion people while he traveled the world. Favorite post this year: Second Chances
• 11 Points – A hilarious series of “Top 11″ lists. Yeah, that’s really all it is, but it’s really funny and cleverly written. Favorite post this year: 11 Worst Movie Posters of the 90s
• Advanced Riskology – Tyler Tervooren takes a really smart approach to risk, and it allows him to do things that others are afraid to do. Favorite post this year: 9 Tricks to Avoid Becoming a Mistrusted Hypocrite
• Blog of Impossible Things – After saying so many nice things about Joel, he’d probably be offended if I didn’t include him. Seriously though, Joel has accomplished so much in the past couple years, and he’s a very cool dude to know. Favorite post this year: Choose Doing
• Lifehacker – Half of my life is based on Lifehacker. Full of insanely useful tips every day, it is my #1 source for information. Favorite post this year: 50 Free Apps We’re Most Thankful For
• Location 180 – Sean Ogle, as mentioned before, is killing it with great business advice here. Plus, in his travels, he occasionally has some gems for life advice too. Favorite post this year: Inquiring Minds
• Nerd Fitness – Talking to Steve Kamb was one of the most fun interviews I did all year. His site takes a “nerd” approach to fitness, and he has uncovered some interesting stuff. His posts are always well-researched and thorough, and they are a lot of fun to read too. Favorite post this year: Simplify the **** Out of Everything
• Sensophy – I think Jacob Sokol is awesome. If nothing else, I want his office walls. I’ve chatted with him a couple times this year, and he is truly dedicated to finding his way in the world. Favorite post this year: 3 Things That Optimistic People Do Differently
• The Art of Manliness – A perennial favorite, I love what Brett McKay is doing here. With AoM, he is helping guys understand what it really means to be a man, without the stupid barbarism or the foofiness that comes with today’s guy. Old-fashioned and respectful – that’s what it’s about. Favorite post this year: Lose With Dignity. Celebrate With Grace. (Part II)

Love Drop was one of the most fulfilling moments of my entire life.

I met J. Money in DC as stated above, and he mentioned his business partner, Nate. Nate was from Milwaukee, and they ran a cool thing called Love Drop – where they raise funds for a needy family every month and then do a big “love drop” of gifts to help them right the ship. So I started following Nate on Twitter. The next thing you know, Nate’s looking for a family in Milwaukee to do a drop in December. I connected Nate with my former pastor, who operates a church in a rather needy area of Milwaukee. Diomi and Nallee were selected for Love Drop’s December push, and I was invited to join them when they bestowed the gifts on the family.

Watching Nallee try to comprehend that the piles of gifts were all theirs, or watching Diomi and her children embrace in tears when it’s announced that they are getting two new beds and a washer and dryer (they had been doing laundry in the sink and line drying in their apartment) were hard for me to sit through without losing it myself. Among thousands in gift cards and food, Diomi received tons of new dress clothes and a phone so that she can go to job interviews, and career coaching and counseling for free. Nallee, who had one school uniform and no socks (in winter – in Wisconsin), got plenty of socks, and five new uniforms. To be a part of helping a really needy family get some help is something I’m going to hold with me for the rest of my life.

It was announced that Arrested Development is returning for a new run of episodes and a movie.

The new season will be filmed and released exclusively through Netflix. It was officially the best year ever.

I hope your 2011 was as awesome as mine was. Next week, let’s get together and plan out what we’re going to do in 2012! Happy New Year!

“We talk all the time, toughness is doing the right thing in life. That is what we talk about. If that is the case, you are being provoked, this or that, true toughness, you walk away from it. You take your ass whipping and you go home. You get better.” - Mick Cronin, Basketball Coach, Univ. of Cincinnati

Turn on a TV show or a movie, and you might see somebody standing up to the big bully and punching his lights out. You might see people on the news sitting in the streets, complaining about the hand that was dealt to them.

But the world is changing.

It is starting to no longer reward people who follow the system. It is recognizing that “fighting back” isn’t really the point anymore. The true test is what goes on inside of you.

Here’s the thing: the world doesn’t owe you crap. It doesn’t care if you went through college and graduate school. It doesn’t care that your feelings are hurt, or that you’re frustrated. It’s not going to throw a winning lottery ticket your way, and happiness won’t fall into your lap.

Do you have something you want to do? Go do it. Nothing is impossible out there. Did you try and fail? Then do what Cronin says here: take your ass whipping, go home, and get better. Mick Cronin instantly endeared himself to me with his press conference after his players were involved in a brawl against another school. He reveals in the conference that he is going to be kicking players off his team, and he made them take off their jerseys until he decided they were worthy to wear them.

In this age of “everybody’s special and good”, Mick Cronin is a breath of fresh air. Fix your attitude, and you can go places.

I featured the clip below in a podcast a long time ago (side note: remember when I tried doing podcasts?), and it still pushes me to get after my goals. Paul Heyman ran a wrestling promotion in the Northeastern United States for a handful of years. If you are not a professional wrestling fan, you don’t have to be to enjoy this clip and be inspired by it. His promotion failed, but his legacy lives on:

Take a few lumps. Get your ass kicked. Then let’s all go get better. It’s the only way we’re going to survive in this world.

“Rights have to come from somewhere, and they come from the community. In return, all of us have a responsibility to the community.” – Randy Pausch

What value do you provide to the world?

This is the fundamental question that nobody is talking about. Everyone wants to talk about rights, especially in America: the right to free health care, the right to “good” jobs, and so on. You can’t say anything constructively criticizing anyone today because they have “rights”.

Okay, but what about the value you or they provide?

When this country was founded, three human rights were established: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Life is an easy one: we have a right to live. There’s no debating that. Taking someone’s life from them is a crime, and it is punished severely. Liberty means freedom – it means that we have the right to choose how we want to live our lives and what paths to take.

The pursuit of happiness is something that many of us misunderstand. A lot of us think that it means we have the right to happiness. However, happiness is not a right. Happiness is a reward. We don’t have the right to a happy life. We have to work for that.

Think of World War II: the entire country worked toward keeping Hitler’s regime from taking over. Soldiers went to war, families stayed home and supported the war effort in their daily lives. They rationed their own supplies so that the soldiers could have what they needed to fight. That was a generation that understood their rights were not just given to them – they had to work to support them.

There is endless protesting in this country because things feel unfair. But what is protesting doing? Sitting around telling people what they’re doing is wrong is not the way to make changes. You have to create change. You don’t have a good job? Get a crappy one and work your way up. Demonstrate your value to employers.

You don’t have the right to a job. Employers hire based on what value you provide to the company. If you can’t demonstrate any, other than a degree that you have, then the employer certainly has the right to hire somebody else.

The beautiful thing is, we have the right to pursue happiness.

That’s a cooler freedom than anyone realizes. I’ve been building my business for over 5 years now, and that’s me pursuing happiness. I don’t have a right to make any client give me their business. It’s up to me to pursue it – it’s up to me to demonstrate to them why I’m a better choice than the thousands of other copywriters they could hire.

Randy Pausch, quoted above, wrote an excellent book I recently finished called The Last Lecture (affiliate link). In it, he talks about his childhood dreams and how he achieved them. The basis for the lecture is that he is dying of cancer.

The beautiful thing is, Randy never gave up on life.

He knew he only had months to live, and he worked hard to not only make sure that his wife and children were going to be taken care of, but also to enjoy the rest of life while he could. It was something he worked at – something that he didn’t feel he had a “right” to. Not only that, but he spent his time providing value for so many other people, especially his children.

It would have been really easy for Randy to curl up and wait for death. He could have tried to enjoy himself with little regard for others, and nobody would have blamed him. Instead, he worked out and exercised every day to keep himself feeling good, and he provided tons of value to so many people through his lecture at Carnegie Mellon University and his book before his death on July 25, 2008. I highly recommend both.

His quote above is one of my favorites from the book. Randy understood that, when you have a right to something, you also have a responsibility to the community for providing that right.

Sitting around demanding your “rights” is not providing value. You are not helping the community. You are just complaining until you get your way. Get out there, work hard, and try to provide something to the community, whatever that may be. Once you start giving, you’ll start getting.

The idea was to take time every day in November to post about something that I was thankful for. It was going to be a series of 30 posts with a picture of whatever I was thankful for, along with a short little blurb. It sure didn’t happen.

In fact, because that was my plan for all the posts for this month, I didn’t really post much else in November. That’s what we on the interwebs call an “EPIC FAIL”.

Truth is, life got in the way, and every time I cleared off some work from my plate so that I could get it done, something else took its spot. I didn’t give the Cool 30 the priority it needed to work. I was planning on spending all day cranking them out today, when I received a last-minute assignment to work on this morning, and I quickly realized that slapping together another 20 or so posts out of nowhere wasn’t going to do anybody any good.

The Cool 30 was a failed experiment – and that’s okay. I still made the list for myself, and it was a good exercise for me to even think of 30 things that I’m thankful for. So I’m happy about that.

That said, we’re coming back next week with our regular posting schedule and lots of fun stuff. Check back – and sorry for missing this opportunity.

This post is part of an ongoing series this month called

This is not a cheap plug – this is something I really am thankful for!

Around the turn of this year, I discovered a very cool digital magazine called In Treehouses by Thom Chambers. There, Thom covers digital publishing, with the advent of new and different ways to provide content and distribute it to others, including (but certainly not limited to): different types of blogs, Twitter, Tumblr, digital magazines, and ebooks on the Kindle. Fascinated by this, I decided to do something that I had wanted to do for a very long time: start a magazine.

I’ve loved magazines since I was a child, but it takes a lot of capital to start one. Instead of going the traditional route – lining up writers, designers, and advertisers – I decided to roll up my sleeves, set a deadline, and start one myself. Next week, I’ll be releasing issue #7 of my little monthly digital magazine, and in the process, I’ve been able to experience some really cool things:

• I’ve gotten influential people on the phone for interviews. This is by far the coolest part of the job. It’s one thing to send somebody you follow an email or a tweet saying you want to chat, but it’s a whole ‘nother beast to say, “Hey, I want to interview you for my magazine.” I’ve never been turned down for an interview request so far, and I’ve loved getting “on the radar” of so many people. It’s been a great networking opportunity!
• I’ve learned the basics of design. HustleLife is by no means a designer’s dream. I’ve seen lots of digital magazines sprout up, and frankly, their design blows mine out of the water. However, even though the design is simple, it’s fascinating to me to learn how to put it all together. I use Scribus, a free desktop publishing tool, to do it, and I’m very proud of the results so far.
• I’ve gotten the opportunity to potentially influence over 100 people. Last month, my subscriber base grew to over 100 people. These aren’t family members trying to support me – they are people who heard about it, saw it, and decided they wanted it every month. I’m very proud of that fact, and it’s very encouraging as I move forward.