DISQUS

OK, I'll admit. I skipped the whole article and just posted this comment. If you didn't cover this already Sid, you can add it to your list to reduce that time online.... :)

Great article Nathalie. I really hate the word 'busy' as it is primarily used as an excuse and not when you are really doing something more important.

Sounds like a good audio program as well, thanks for pointing it out!

I like the points about needing solitude to discover yourself. It's so true and actually quite scary knowing so many people are actually scared to be by themselves for a good length of time. My gettaway is to be alone riding my mountain unicycle in the mountains. Plenty of time to reflect and inner thoughts with no one else around...

I would personally try to hand it out to every person I could who truly needs it in the poverty strictly countries. Travel more of the world and help spark building better homes and communities in places that don't have that. That much is hard to contemplate really, there would be so many things to help others do where they are limited only because of cash.

It'd be cool to try to give it all away actually to strangers with no mass foundation to pass it through, but truly only giving exactly what every person you encounter needs to achieve there dream, when they DON'T know you have the money to give in the first place. I always love to find out people's dreams, and those who are willing to share them, deserve the helping hand. It'd be a ton of fun to do that also!

Nicholas, I had never gone through you're sleep logs before and can say as a minimum, I am very inspired! I am a big believer in working on quality sleep patterns to reduce sleep but I have never taken it anywhere near as far as you. I dropped an 8 hours sleep pattern to 5 hours just by getting a better sleep and by pushing my dreams to be activated quicker by memory and pre-sleep activation(visualizing) which as you obviously know, gets you to REM faster so you get a better sleep in less time.

Anyway, great stuff and an interesting series of logs about your experiences here, it's intriguing and quite helpful!

Great tips here Nathalie and certainly at the appropriate audience as I'm sure many of your readers spend a lot of hours in front of the computer. Not that I'd know anything about that...

Also, the monitor you use can contribute a lot to eye strain. It's placement, it's brightness, how high it is compared your your body posture, etc. All useful things to consider and look up when trying to eliminate eyestrain.

Nice article and guide Sid. I would add one idea to that of practice and it's to do podcasts, guest interviews or something else like that online. I just did one recently and was quite helpful as practice.

I'm learning spanish online in a community where people upload readings and quizes to mark each other, listen to each other, etc. I wonder if there is something like that for practising giving short speaches online?

Not to pick on you Juliet, but for research, don't you generally stop researching when you find that golden piece of information? That makes it always in the last 20% of the work. I'm not so sure the principle could apply here because of this.

I would suggest however, that if you were able to find the best info in the first 20% of the work, you likely would be able to apply the principle. Problem is with research until you have more to compare to and understand, that other 80% of context is needed to recognize it.

Daniel, great tips here. I think the limo/cab one threw me off a little though. How about riding your bike instead and not only save some money, but some resources. OK, maybe that's off topic. There are certainly a LOT of ways to keep your mind off this though.

Great list of items Daniel. My comment however is that I don't think such an exhausted list is needed for your title. It's a great list, just bigger than the title you gave it!

Many people could pick one of those and it's enough for a smile. For me, it's #7. Servant hood. I could do without all the others and still have a smile as long as I have servant hood.

<abbr>Mike King´s last blog post..Being Your Best in the Worst of Times</abbr>

Great article. Its too bad more people cannot look to shift away from consumerism to things that have more lasting impact in their lives. Even striving for that, its hard to make it a reality in today's materialistic world. Great article, full of ideas!

Hmm... That unwilling mindset is something that unfortunately is taught in school, encouraged by parents, advertised continuously on TV and internet and visible in our lives continually everyday. People are encouraged to be safe, NOT take risks, and to be comfortable with their lives from a young age.

We need to change this mindset to encourage people to take risks, determine and go for what matters to them, no matter what!

Great article Jephthah!

Thanks Daniel for the mention and this kind of post just re-enforces to me the value of the networks and friendships you can build while blogging. Its more than just the content that is for sure and I'm wishing every day the world was smaller so I could meet in person the many great people I cross paths with here online.

I agree with Leo, its a great idea for a post as well, you are certainly on my list as well! I also have a few blogs to check out that I haven't yet connected with...

Never thought to call those things loser talk, but I think its catchy and funny. Thanks for sharing.

I just finished reading Lee Stroble's "A Case for Christ" and he explores many views and debated questions about the truth of Christ and his resurrection. I had no doubt in my mind because of experiential evidence in my own life that he was resurrected and the book hammers all the skeptics views from a journalistic view with interviews of experts in every area of question. I'd highly recommended this book, as it has strengthened my faith in Jesus and his resurrection even more!

So true. Great for the personal stories and reflection here on passion. It is much ignored in this world. I like your point that you can't fake passion. So true indeed.

Great post with many areas that demonstrate ways to develop excellence. One comment I have, is that you mentioned at the start that you have to love the thing (or tell your self you love it) you want to be excellent at. I definitely don't agree with that.

Excellence is more of an attitude and you said it yourself, "Let’s have excellence in us." You can develop an attitude of excellence and excel at things you don't even like doing once you develop the dedication and process required to do so well. I can tell from the rest of your post you think that way as well, it was just something I picked up on...

Keep up with the great articles!

Wow, what a great monstrous post Daniel! Huge set of areas to comment on but the main thing I read the article for was the art of smiling! Its amazing how little it is used, yet how effective it is to improve your own and other's day around you.

One note, you mentioned smiling is contagious. True, it actually triggers chemicals to release in your mind. Frowning or sadness on the other hand isn't quite the same, it can stop the chemical release if you stop smiling but it doesn't do anything directly. That is your mind's thoughts only that can turn your mood more negative. So, using that to one's advantage means no one else really needs to affect you or make you down. Thought its a nice tidbit to know, great post and keep smiling!

Thanks for the tips and useful tools in your post. I've been hoping for an xobni invite for a while so would love one if you still have any. Thanks...

I would love one of those invites for Xobni if you still have any. Thanks for the recommendation to try simplyfile as well. I hadn't used that one yet...