Mr. Hardwick is not a haughty dog-hearted clot pole who stole my idea. Instead, he is a talented, and if his article is accurate, chaotically productive, gentleman. He had no idea that his combination of subject matter and humor was exactly what I aiming for when brainstorming this blog. How would he know that one of the original subtitles of Dreaming Right was “Misadventures withThe 4-hour Workweek?
I am not at all upset that the title of his article, “Diary of a Self-Help Dropout: Flirting with the 4-hour Workweek” combines erudition with a dash of self-depreciation, even though I write that way as well.
His joke about “mini-retirement” being eerily similar to a “vacation” does not at all suck. Nor does it make me less enthusiastic about finishing my article about Timothy Ferriss’s book, even if much of it, including the “hook,” is about his made-up terminology and now the idea seems a little flat and used.
Kudos to a freedom-loving humorist who is not anything like a thieving eye-offending canker-blossom.
And thank you, Mom, for referring me to this article, which in no way contributes to my feelings of inadequacy as a writer and creator of original ideas.
“Surfing the web” is a horrible and inaccurate metaphor. The artful physicality and subtleties of catching a wave have little to do with the hunched, glassy-eyed aimlessness of link-clicking.
The information on the internet is as vast as an ocean, but the waves don’t break that clean. The staccato click of the mouse and sudden jumps from web page to web page make browsing more like “sucking on the machine gun of the internet” than “surfing the web.” Maybe, “standing beneath the mudslide of the internet” or “dumpster diving the internet” would work better.
Dream: build a website that is content rich, elegant, helpful, and filled with good writing on topics that I am passionate about.
Step 1: think about it, dream about it, talk about it
Step 2: make a mind-map about it.
Step 2.1: get distracted looking at mind-map web applications
Step 2.2: write an article about getting distracted
Me and Mind Maps
I got into mind maps a couple years ago. I started out by reading The Mind Map Book by Tony Buzan, the slightly annoying man who attempted to trademark the word “Mind Map” and is often given credit as being the inventor. Despite being annoyed by the constant capitalization (of the letters and on the idea) of Mind Map, I found the book to be incredibly useful. I followed advice which suggested that I adhere to a particular set of “Mind Map Laws” until I had made 100 maps. I’ve drawn about 300 or so, written an article about them and given several workshops on the topic.