defragment.me

Paulo Coelho & his inventory of normality

Paulo Coelho decided to conduct a survey among his friends about what society considers to be normal behavior, and ended up with a list of 47 items, which includes:

• 8) Ridiculing those who seek happiness instead of money by calling them “people with no ambition”.
• 12) Criticizing everybody who tries to be different.
• 39) Putting off doing the most interesting things in life until you no longer have the strength to do them

Re-thinking life & success

Came across two articles about life’s priorities and defining success:

• Leo Babauta asks what would you do if you only had a short time to live?
• while Jonathan Mead writes about success becoming meaningless

Personally, these articles are not really fresh material, these are concepts I I try to live by in my life – my favourite question to myself when I make major decisions is, “What if I am going to die tomorrow?”. It never fails to help me prioritize and puts things in perspective a little.

However, it is just *so* easy to get caught up in the pragmatic drills of life, simply trying to survive, and forget your original objectives. These articles serve as a good reminder from time to time.

She follows her heart (to Mexico)

Beautifully written article about following one’s heart, which in this instance, the author follows her heart, uprooted from her safe, secure lifestyle (and her husband), and moved all the way to rural Mexico.

The magic of the Universe didn’t die in me the day I took that leap. It didn’t emerge to help me make a change in my life just to simply return to its hovel of silent oblivion. No, this vibrant, energy-filled quality within each and every one of us, something that begged to once again inhabit its rightful home after so many years in hiding, surprised me yet again. The more I honored it, the clearer it spoke. The more I listened, the more obvious it became that it was a vital part of me, that without it, I was not, could never be, whole. It didn’t exist for one time assists. It wanted season tickets, to become a necessary, everyday part of my whole.

Makes me want to do the same. Not to Mexico probably. Just anywhere else that is near the oceans and the forests.

Inauguration speech written by 27 year old on a caffeine high

Interesting snippets from the article:

Jon Favreau, 27, is, as Obama himself puts it, the president’s mind reader. He is the youngest chief speechwriter on record in the White House, and, despite such youth, was at the centre of discussions of the content of today’s speech, one which has so much riding on it.

That skill had been put to almost daily use in the 18 months of brutal campaigning on the presidential trail. Favreau would be up most nights until 3am, honing the next day’s stump speeches in a caffeine haze of espressos and Red Bull energy drinks, taking breaks to play the video game Rock Band. He coined a phrase for this late-night deadline surfing: “crashing”.

Such brilliance in a young mind, with the gift to inspire and touch the hearts of millions.

Obama finds voice in books

I have attributed a lot of my own growth and healing process through reading lots of books, on a wide variety of topics, picking up bits and pieces from them and forming my own worldview. Apparently, I have this in common with President Obama.

Happy inauguration day. :)

Think your life was crap? Watch this.

Tim Ferriss shared an absolutely inspiring and touching video with us.

There is a reason why imperfection exists in this world.

The Single Secret to Happiness

Leo Babauta titled his post ‘The Single Secret to Making 2009 Your Best Year Ever‘ but I think it may as well have been ‘The Single Secret to Making the Best out of the Rest of Your Life’.

Quoted from his article:

Can you look at the gorgeous sky, and realize what a miracle it is? Can you look at a sunset, a forest, a flower, a child, and realize the miracle of each of these things? You probably can, if you take the time to look at them fully.

True love does exist after all

Quoted from Scientists discover true love:

Scientists have discovered true love. Brain scans have proved that a small number of couples can respond with as much passion after 20 years as most people exhibit only in the first flush of love.

The findings overturn the conventional view that love and sexual desire peak at the start of a relationship and then decline as the years pass.

I’ve personally always believed this to be true, because I have seen and felt for myself – Old couples with greying hair, holding hands, and looking at each other with that look.

So while I applaud the honesty of Steve Pavlina’s new experiment, no, I do not agree with him about marriage being an useless institution. I feel there’s something very special to actually desire to spend the rest of your life with only one person. That does not mean I do not agree with open relationships, I guess I would rather be in an open relationship than to have any shred of doubt about my relationship and commiting myself to anyone because society tells me to.

Freelance reads last month (dec 2008)

• Natalie Jost offers some great advice to those working from home.
• Nathan Smith interviewed successful freelancer Jesse Bennett Chamberlain (of 31three, who designed Expression Engine & Campaign Monitor)
• On the economy: Recession tips for web designers & Differentiate or die in a downturn
• Sometimes that extra or personal touch goes a long way: How These Businesses Made Me A Customer For Life

Stuck on Outcomes

Many of us do know that the process is always more important than the outcome, but in reality, this is easier to preach than practise. I find myself guilty of it very often, allowing myself to get too attached to a certain number, date, or result.

Slade Roberson writes about himself getting stuck on outcomes , at a time of the year when many people are writing about their goal-setting and resolutions.

…that singular-minded Goal Setting Getting Things Done Playbook has never done a damned thing for me. I wasted three decades of my life believing I was a failure for not “following through,” until I discovered that I am a Scanner…

I can totally resonate with the above quote, for reasons which I have written in my previous post.

Why do we feel inadequate when getting to know about someone else’s accomplishments, or when the same tried and tested solutions (i.e. the gtd system) on the rest of the world do not work?

We are all unique individuals, we should learn how to embrace our own unique journeys, processes and accomplishments.