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  Ben 5:25 am on February 23, 2010 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: family, future, inspiration   

  Freestyle Your Future 

  

  I freestyle my future every day. If I were to believe in fate, external things would choose my destiny.

  Have the great people in the history of the world left it up to god to carry them?

  Even the most devout religious people can not have felt this way.

  I refuse to believe that they would be pushed and pulled so easily. It is the strength of ones vision that pushes them — the people they need help from to accomplish it are caught in the current they create.

  Believing in fate is easy… if it is outside of your hands you dont need to try. You never have to pivot or try a new approach when circumstances dont line up perfectly, you just accept that you weren’t mean to have what you originally wanted.

  That’s horseshit. You owe your nieces and nephews, if not your children in the future, more.

  Is your legacy going to be stolen by external circumstances, or are you going to freestyle your own future?

  This short post is for my family who have helped me get where I am today and inspire me to always improve and never settle.

  In other news: go for a run. Excercise helps me unlock great ideas sometimes and maybe it will help you too.

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  Ben 4:40 pm on February 22, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  When to Email from Phone and When to Use Your Computer 

  It seems fairly straightforward, but if you need to send an email that is longer than a paragraph, or if it is for a client, don’t send it from your phone.

  • The signature will look unprofessional
  • You will make typos
  • You will trade brevity for clarity

  There is something about this format that influences me at least to write things in a less effective manner. Maybe its the fact that I wrote it with my thumbs, whereas every serious piece of writing I have done since I learned handwriting in grade school was done on a full size keyboard.

  The medium influences the art, so be careful which medium you use when.

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  Ben 3:48 pm on November 12, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Entrepreneur Ideas, entrepreneurial enthusiasm, entrepreneurial spirit   

  Ways to Weather Dips in Entrepreneurial Enthusiasm 

  

  By: alexindigo

  
  If you have the goal of building something of your own (and who hasn’t?), then read on.

  You had a big idea and have completely fallen in love with it. The initial excitement lasts for awhile, but eventually the day comes when skepticism and doubts creep in. This usually happens for me on a bad day, unproductive day, rainy day, due to someone’s comments, or all of the above.

  It is nearly inevitable that your optimism will fade, and in fact it will happen more than once as there seems to be a cycle.
  
  
  
  >>Try This:
  
  

  • Eliminate irrational fears by noticing how short-term they are, i.e. this is a concern today, but is it only for today? Am I still going to be concerned about this tomorrrow?

  
  
  

  • Be mindful of the challenges that do persist and address them logically or at least acknowledge that you just don’t know how to solve them yet. It seems like 95% of the negative thoughts about my idea I have one day are quickly replaced by new optimism the next day.

  
  
  

  • If you are really down in the dumps, run a classic pro / con comparison and list the things the idea has going for it in Bold.

  
  
  

  • When possible, shift your logic from x “CANT, WONT, DOESNT work” to x “needs, requires, necessitates Y” to work.  Use the power of positive rewording to your advantage. (and it does lend a big advantage).
    
    

    The classic example: You are playing basketball and you have a problem shooting too low. You tell yourself “Dont shoot that low! Stop shooting so low! I cant shoot that low! etc..” and before you know it you have shot a complete airball that is a foot short of the hoop.
    
    Try “I will shoot higher. Next time I am going to shoot higher. I can shoot higher, and on and on”

  It really will be better tomorrow.

  Let me hear your thoughts in the comments.

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  Ben 7:07 am on September 6, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: New Design   

  New Website Design 

  I spent some time when I should have been sleeping and made some minor (but big?) changes to the blog design.

  What do you think?

  I changed the ben foden icon, header image, background, added the sociable plugin, and brought a tag cloud to the sidebar.

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  Nick is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Nick 10:40 am on September 9, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    I like it.

    Funny that i stumbled to it!

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  Ben 10:01 pm on August 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Ben Foden (4), Invest in Yourself   

  3 Good Reasons to Invest in Yourself 

  Investing in oneself is the most worthwhile activity imaginable, no matter how it is done.

  1. You Stand to See Exponentially Greater Returns.
     
     Time and money spent to better yourself, to learn new things, or to have new experiences will pay dividends in the future. We have all heard that it takes money to make money, and don’t you want to be the money maker?

  
  

  2. It is Highly Satisfying
     
     Knowing that you have taken an action to better yourself, it is suddenly easier to rest at night. We can take comfort in the fact that we are progressing towards our goals.

  
  

  3. Intelligent Treats can Help Motivate
     
     Thinking intelligently about the ways in which we reward ourself can have a tremendous impact on our productivity. It is clear that the difficulty of focusing on a particular task corresponds to our interest in the pursuit and outcome.

  Hence, prepare an interesting reward for tasks that are not rewarding in themselves. See that you develop intelligent rewards for paying off those parking tickets, that cable bill, to maintaining that workout routine and diet.

  Up and out.

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  Allen Taylor is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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    Allen Taylor 10:15 pm on August 22, 2009 Permalink | Reply

    Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.

    Allen Taylor