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September 23, 2010 By Andy Traub

Poems for Doing Something

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Here are a few thoughts I’d share with you today about taking action, about doing something. Allow me to start with a poem called “Writer Waiting” by Shel Silverstein from “Falling Up”.


Writer Waiting
by Shel Silverstein

Oh this shiny new computer-
There just isn’t nothin’ cuter.
It knows everything the world ever knew.
And with this great computer
I don’t need no writin’ tutor,
‘Cause there ain’t a single thing that it can’t do.
It can sort and it can spell,
It can punctuate as well.
It can find and file and underline and type.
It can edit and select,
It can copy and correct,
So I’ll have a whole book written by tonight
(Just as soon as it can think of what to write).


We all know Shel Silverstein was a genius. This book was published in 1996 so obviously computers were out.  But could he have known the advancements that we have these many years later and how easy it is to create content on a phone, on an iPad, a digital voice recorder and on your computer?

There’s so many different ways that you can create content, so many different tools.  There are so many different ways to record, to pull down those ideas.  Yet the most common problem that I see, and that frankly I experience myself at times, is the gap.  There’s an enormous gap between the ability to create content and actually creating the content.

The ideas that could become action, that might follow, but often do not. What’s the solution? For some people it’s a schedule. For others it’s an accountability partner. For others, it’s demand.  People simply demand it, they expect it, they request it. Remember this, in the spirit of Shel Silverstein, that just because something can do it, doesn’t mean it’s going to do it on its own. You are capable of greatness! You are capable, as Seth Godin would say, of being a Linchpin. Of being unique and different and bringing something completely special to those you have an audience with.

Whether that audience is your own children, other people at your work, or the world which is now so easily accessed through the internet… Whatever and whoever your audience is, you are capable of reaching them in so many different ways and so many different forms.

And yet, so many of us, don’t do anything.

You have what you need.

Most of us have what we need.

Let me give you one more thing that can help you get to writing that book, to creating that song, to creating that piece of art that’s inside of you right now, that’s just an idea, that’s just potential.

And what I’d like to give you is permission. I think someone wants to hear what you have to say. I think that there are going to be critics, no matter what you do. But if you do nothing, you definitely don’t have to worry about the critics. If you do nothing that’s very safe because no one will care. Except that you know what you’re capable of.

So my encouragement to you is…you have the ability, you have the idea, you have the tool. You just need to give yourself permission and take action. Let me end with another poem by Shel Silverstein. This one’s called Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda.


Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda
by Shel Silverstein

All the Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin’ in the sun,
Talkin’ bout the things
They woulda-coulda-shoulda done…
But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All ran away and hid
From one little did.


The thing that will make it so much easier for you to get past your woulda, shoulda, couldas, and we’ve all got them, is doing something.  Just one thing will dispel the fear and the doubt and the worry and the excuse that comes with woulda, shoulda, couldas.

Tell me what you want to ship in the comments. Write it on your own blog. Sing your own song or whatever you’re going to produce. Whatever it is, do something. It will not be perfect the first time. Nothing you do will actually ever be perfect. Perfection is a lousy excuse.

Go do something.

Something.

Filed Under: advice, Attitude, Audio, organizing, Productivity, Social Media, Solopreneur, Tech tools, Uncategorized

June 29, 2010 By Andy Traub

Gmail Master Tips #1: How to search for messages with attachments

Gmail is my go to tool for email and it should be yours too. If it is then you may not know the true power of its features so here’s a good one. Have you ever wanted to search for a message from a friend that you know had an attachment included but found yourself sorting through dozens of messages looking for the small attachment icon? This video explains how you can search for messages with attachments using an advanced search term in your gmail “has:attachment”

So try it out and let me know if it works for you OK? If you’ve got more Gmail questions then you can email me at [email protected] and I’d be happy to help you out. I’m a few days away from releasing “Mastering Your Gmail”, which is an hour and ten minute tutorial. Stay tuned for that as well.

Filed Under: Gmail Ninja, organizing, Productivity, tutorial, Tutorials, Uncategorized Tagged With: gmail, how to, Productivity

June 26, 2010 By Andy Traub

How to add To Do List Templates in Basecamp by 37Signals

For those who use 37signals’ Basecamp service to manage projects this tip might save you some time. If you have repetitive processes for clients/teams you can create templates of to do lists and import them to projects with just a few steps. Here’s how. Let me know if it works for you and specifically what lists you’re automating.

Filed Under: jason fried, organizing, Productivity, software, Tech tools, tutorial, Tutorials, Uncategorized Tagged With: 37signals, basecamp, entrepreneurs, how to, Productivity, Tech tools, to do lists, tutorial

June 22, 2010 By Andy Traub

Highrise WordPress Form Plug-in

I found a sweet plug-in for WordPress that allows you to have visitors plug in their information and it automatically populates in your Highrise account. I hope it helps. If it does leave me the link to your site so I can check yours out. (WARNING: My plugin is creating multiple duplicates of people who enter their information so I”m disabling it for now until I get some answers on how to fix it! I’ll update this post when I have more news.)

Filed Under: Highrise, jason fried, organizing, Tech tools, tutorial, Tutorials, Uncategorized, wordpress

June 10, 2010 By Andy Traub

How to use Instapaper with folders

Let’s say you surf the web often and come across helpful articles and are looking for a way to capture them for future reading. That’s why there’s Instapaper. It’s an incredibly easy method for capturing content for future reference and you can even sort those articles into folders within your instapaper account / ipad / ipod app. Here’s a video preview.

Do you use Instapaper or a different service/method for capturing content to read later?




Bonus: By request…
How to reorder folders in Instapaper

Filed Under: ipad, organizing, Tech tools, tutorial, Tutorials, Uncategorized

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