Jul
26
Randy Pausch died yesterday
Filed Under Philosophy of Life | 1 Comment
Dr Randy Pausch, about whom I wrote in this post, died yesterday of complications from pancreatic cancer. He was 47 years old. He left behind a wife, three small children and two major legacies: his academic work, and his famous Last Lecture.
“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”
Dr Pausch knew he was dying, and he prepared for it as well as he could. He got all his affairs in order, lived as well as he could physically and emotionally, and he created a legacy. He didn’t go down without a fight. He kept living, even though he was dying.
His Last Lecture has been seen by millions of people all over the world. It has been made into a book which has been translated into over 30 languages. His message was simple:
Live life while you have it. And leave a legacy of that life.
What about you?
What are you doing today to create a legacy?
What will you do tomorrow to enjoy life and help others to enjoy theirs?
What will you do next week that will have a positive impact upon the world around you?
There’s a Chinese proverb that is appropriate here:
Be not afraid of growing slowly.
Be afraid of standing still.
Thank you, Dr Pausch, for your life and your philosophy. My heart goes out to your family.
Donations can be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, 2141 Rosecrans Ave., Suite 7000, El Segundo, CA 90245, or to Carnegie Mellon’s Randy Pausch Memorial Fund (www.cmu.edu/giving/pausch). If you can’t donate to either of those, please donate what you can to any cancer research organisation near you.
Jul
9
My neighbour died last week. It was totally unexpected. The family, obviously, is shattered.
So am I.
I discovered some interesting behaviour on my part the day I heard about his death. I went shopping - a normal, weekly grocery shop. But I found myself buying more - stuff - than usual. It was as if, the more stuff I brought home, the more it affirmed that I was still alive.
I bought a couple of books that would normally be out of my price range - but I might be dead tomorrow, and if I buy them now perhaps I’ll get the chance to read them before I go. I bought a bunch of magazines that I would normally only leaf through in the store. I bought some brightly coloured wool, with no particular pattern in mind, but I bought it because it was there, and bringing it home showed that I’m still here. It was as if the more stuff I have, the less chance I have of not being here to deal with it tomorrow.
That’s a strange reaction, and it surprised me.
What also surprised me was the depth of emotion I’m feeling. I didn’t know the neighbour well, but he was a reassuring presence every day as he drove past to or from work, and he had done some work on our property for us. Now he’s gone. The news shocked me to my core, and brought back memories of my father’s death two years ago. It’s as if the neighbour’s death was the catalyst for me to grieve all over again for my father.
But the biggest reaction I had was “What a waste”. Every time someone or something dies, the world is different. The person’s knowledge is lost, not to mention income, influence, skills and a range of other things. How many people die each day, not having fulfilled their potential? (I’m not saying my neighbour was one of them.)
Death is the ultimate wake-up call. Over this past week, I’ve also been thinking about what I’m doing with my life. Am I filling each day with worthwhile actions? Am I happy? Do I make other people happy? Am I healthy? Am I doing everything I can to stay healthy so I can be on this planet for as long as possible? Am I achieving my goals? Am I passing on my knowledge?
Don’t let your knowledge die with you. Find ways to teach others what you have learnt.
Don’t let your song die with you. Share yourself and your talents with the world.
Become who you really want to be.
Do what you really want to do.
Coaches often suggest to clients that they think about their funeral. Who will be there? What will be said about you? What will be on your tombstone? What do you want your legacy to be? Once you know that, you can do whatever is needed to make it happen.
Start now. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
Work out what you want, how to get it, and go for it. Get help.
Don’t wait until you hear of someone’s death before you start to live. You may not get another chance.
R.I.P. Bernie.
May
23
Why do people spam?
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
When I started this blog, I installed Akismet, a spam catcher. I’m so glad I did! When I logged in today, there were 68 spam messages in the Akismet buffer. They are not the usual spammy messages I get via email - you know, the ones that want you to buy replica watches or enhancement products.
No, these spams are different.
Typically, they are over 20 lines long, with a garbled header, lots of links, and text that makes no sense whatsoever.
It takes time to skim the list and delete them. If I didn’t have Akismet installed, and the comments got posted to my blog, what would people think about me and the value of my blog?
Are these spam messages generated electronically, or do people actually sit down and write this garbage and send it to unsuspecting blogs? Why would anyone bother? What do they get out of it?
What is their victory?
Beats me.
May
21
Most countries in the world use number plates to register their motor vehicles. They have different names in different countries: in Australia they are called number plates.
Yesterday, I blogged about how I use number plates to help me learn Russian numbers.
Today, I’d like to talk about other ways to use number plates to help learn a foreign language (actually, come to think of it, you could also use number plates to teach your kids the letters of the alphabet and the numbers in your own language).
Cardinal Numbers
Yesterday’s exercise was to say each numeral out loud in the language I’m currently learning, as individual single-digit numbers. So, ASM 387 became three, eight, seven in the target language.
Once you can do that without thinking, pausing or stumbling over any of the numbers, try saying them as whole numbers. So, ASM 387 would become three hundred and eighty-seven in your target language.
Ordinal Numbers
Now you can say numbers in their cardinal form, use the numbers you see on number plates and street signs, and put them into their ordinal form (a cardinal number, in language learnig contexts, is the counting number, e.g. one two three … forty-four; an ordinal number is the number attached to a word, e.g. the fifth element, the fourth dog etc.).
So, 387 would become the three hundred and eighty-seventh something.
Learn the alphabet
The next thing to do with number plates is to say the letters of the alphabet out loud.
So, using the example above, you would say ay, ess, em, or, in Russian (the language I’m currently learning), ah, ess, em.
Make words
Next, use number plates to make up words in your target language using the letters on the number plate.
So, for POT, if I was learning Russian, I would immediately say ROT, and translate it as MOUTH. For ONO, I would say the word ano (the Russian pronunciation), and the English translation IT. And so on.
There’s a story about a famous Egyptologist who reinforced his ancient Egyptian learning by doing this, and one day he observed to the person who was in the car with him that the number plate of the car ahead was very rude in ancient Egyptian!
Make sentences
Now that you can say numbers confidently, in both single digits and whole numbers, and can say the alphabet, and recognise short words in your target language, see if you can make the number plates into sentences in your target language.
Remember, if you are driving, make sure you do this safely!
Take the number plate we used above: ASM 387. You could create the sentence “Andrew sang Monster Mash three hundred and eighty-seven times”. Huh? That doesn’t make sense, I hear you say! Well, it doesn’t have to make sense, as long as the grammar and vocabulary are correct. For this example, I couldn’t think of a sentence in English that made sense using ASM, but I could think of a sentence that used one of the letters twice. That’s okay. We’re not looking for sentences of only three words, we’re looking for sentences that we can form with the vocabulary and grammar we already know.
[By the way, creating sentences using this technique is a recognised way of starting to write a story. It gets the creative juices flowing, and it can be as silly as you like, as long as you can create a story from it. Pick three words, and either use them to start the story, or make sure you use all three words somewhere in the story.]
You could also take the numbers first and add words from the letters: “387 alligators swimming …” I can’t think of a word starting with “m”, so I’ll substitute one starting with another letter: “strongly”.
Now, how do I say that in Russian?
May
20
Learn a language while shopping
Filed Under Learning a Language | 1 Comment
I drove to the shops yesterday to do the grocery shopping. Yesterday’s Russian lesson was about numbers - we were introduced to how to say the numbers zero to ten in Russian. I know those numbers in Polish, and can rattle them off without thinking about them in that language. I discovered that this was helpful to learning the Russian numbers, because there are similarities.
Anyway, as I was driving along, I started trying to translate the number plates into Russian. Since I’m currently learning numbers, I didn’t look at the letters on the number plates, but I did concentrate on the numbers. Every time I saw a new number plate, I said the individual numbers in Russian.
For instance, for the number plate ASM 372, I would say tre, sem, dva.
Every time I saw a phone number, I would say the numbers in Russian. So 024367985 became noll dva chetery tre shest sem devyat vosem pryat (that’s not a real phone number, by the way).
Then, as I was driving or shopping, whenever I saw a written sign, I would rack my memory for the Russian word. Since I’ve only been learning the language for a couple of months, I don’t have a huge vocabulary yet, so there were only a few words that I actually had been introduced to. However, this technique did a couple of things:
- It kept Russian firmly in my brain - if I’m thinking about Russian and words in Russian, I’m actively reinforcing my learning.
- It told me which words I have been introduced to but have not yet mastered. When I saw a word in English that I knew had been on a vocabulary list, but I couldn’t remember the Russian word, I wrote it down in a notebook to look up and memorise when I got home.
Of course, there are a couple of potential problems with doing this while you’re driving, not the least of which is that your attention can be diverted from the traffic. Please, if you use this technique, do it safely.
In a future post, I will talk about how else to use car number plates to help with your language learning.
Apr
23
I’m learning Russian!
Filed Under Learning a Language | Leave a Comment
I just enrolled in a university course to learn the Russian language. That’s pretty exciting.
I’m enrolled by distance, which means I don’t attend classes. The lectures are recorded, and the study materials are posted on the university Blackboard web system.
Obviously, this poses some problems in the learning, as I can’t ask questions during the lecture. Also, I don’t get the benefit of attending the tutorials (where new material is sometimes introduced, so I miss it), and the university doesn’t provide additional material for distance students.
However, I’m enjoying learning a language again. This will be the ninth language I’ve studied, apart from my native tongue.
I’m planning to write some blog posts about techniques I’m finding helpful in learning Russian. I’d love some comments on what techniques other people use for learning a language. I’d also love to get links to helpful resources, including books, software, audio programs, websites and blogs.
Mar
24
Working to a deadline 8: use a system
Filed Under Project Management, Editing Strategies, Productivity | Leave a Comment
A system? Not a system! I can’t use systems!
Yes, you can. Systems are invaluable for getting stuff done. They are especially important when you are working to a deadline. They help you plan the project, they tell you what still needs to be done, and they tell you what to do next.
For instance, for the editing project I’ve been talking about in this series (I finished the project, by the way, on time, and the client was ecstatic with my work), my system was:
- Print out all emails pertaining to the project
- Start a file for everything related to the project
- Keep track (see this post)
- Use checklists
- File all the stuff when the project is done so that I can refer to it again if necessary (for instance, if the client wants changes or disputes what we’ve agreed, or if I have a similar project in the future).
Without the system, I don’t know where I’m up to, and I don’t know what is still to be done. Having everything in hard copy in the one place I find is much better than having to boot up my computer to find stuff.
The beauty of this is that, once you’ve figured out a system to get a particular task done, you can use that system again and again for similar tasks. Tweak the system as you go, so that it is the best system for you.
Studies have shown that people who use systems get more done.
So what systems can you come up with?
Feb
22
Dr Randy Pausch’s philosophy of life
Filed Under Philosophy of Life | 1 Comment
If you haven’t heard of him before, Dr Randy Pausch is an inspirational academic who is dying of cancer. His Farewell Lecture is something you need to see.
Some of the things he says in this lecture are:
- The brick walls that are in our way are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out: they are there to give us a way to show how much we want it.
- Live with integrity.
- Choose to have fun (even when you’re dying).
- Be a Tigger, not an Eeyore.
- When you screw up, apologize.
- Apologize properly.
- People are more important than things.
- Learn to work and play well with others.
- Show gratitiude.
- Don’t complain: just work harder.
- If you live properly, the dreams will come to you.
Go and watch this amazing, inspirational, incredible lecture now. You will not regret it.
Once you’ve watched it, I’d like you to do two things:
- Send it to everyone you know, and
- Donate what you can to cancer research.
The lecture is here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=_tIyt8oSLVs&feature=bz301
I’d be really happy to hear what you think of the lecture, and that you’ve done those two things. Please let me know you have done so by leaving a comment.
Feb
6
Good advice not just for freelancers
Filed Under Productivity | Leave a Comment
I’m overwhelmed. I have so many projects to do, and so little health and available minutes to do them in. And of course, everything not only piles up and up and up, but also takes far more time than I think it should. I started this blog with enthusiasm, thinking that January would be a good month to really get into the swing of blogging regularly, and look - the last time I blogged was January 24!
It’s all very discouraging.
I keep telling myself what I tell my coaching clients:
- Take it one step at a time
- Focus on one thing at a time
- Do the best you can in this moment
- Don’t let the guilt trip you up
- Plan your schedule
- Schedule your plan
But do I pay attention to myself? Sometimes.
So in the midst of all this angst it was really refreshing to read this very helpful blog post from FreelanceSwitch. When I read it this morning, I had an immediate response of relief. It’s okay. Just do what you can. Really take it one step at a time, and it will all eventually come together.
Breathe.
Jan
24
One of the most useful strategies I’ve used for this particular project, and one that I will use again, is keeping track.
Keeping track of what, you ask?
Keeping track of whatever will help you (a) reach the goal and (b) reach your next goal.
For this current project I have been keeping track of:
- the hours spent on the project: it is essential to know this, so that I can charge the client for my time.
- the number of pages I have edited per hour: I seem to be averaging five.
- the number of pages I have proofread per hour: this one is not as simple to quantify, because I was not doing my usual thorough proofreading because the time was running out. I definitely need to note how many pages I proofread on my next job.
- the amount of time I spent formatting the document. This particular one had issues that I hope I don’t get again. Unfortunately, I didn’t note specifically which bits were formatting and which bits were editing. I’ll need to do that next time.
- extraneous items that need to be included in the invoice at the end of the job, such as the cost of phone calls, postage etc.
For larger projects, or multi-faceted projects or projects that need a lot of resources or take a long time, you would need to keep track of some other items:
- who’s doing what
- when each phase needs to be completed and how on track you are
- problems/delays
- what’s been done
- costs
This is only a very short list of what can be tracked on a job.
I keep track of my projects using an Excel spreadsheet I developed some years ago. I plug in the date, the time I start work, the time I finish work, and a short description of the work. I can also track what has been sent off and when, and interim payments, and I can see at a glance what my productivity is like by using graphs.
Someone else who uses spreadsheets to keep track of business stuff is Gayla, of Mom’s Gadget. Have a look at her blog entry on how she uses spreadsheets.
What else do you keep track of, and what tools do you use?