Personal Growth

Droid Apps That Have Rocked My World

I’ve had my Droid for five months now, and in those five months it has changed my life. The reason: apps.

Apps are not new. The iPhone may have perfected the distribution of them, but it certainly didn’t invent them. I had apps on my Windows Mobile phone, and before that on my Handspring Visor. In fact, you can trace apps back to the original Apple Newton PDA. (Okay, so Apple DID invent them…just not when people think they did).

But the combination of a phone, GPS, accelerometer, camera, speakerphone and touch screen have given apps a whole new life. So what apps have transformed my life? Well, besides browsing the web, reading e-mail and calling people, I’ve discovered lots of new apps. Continue reading >

April 2, 2010

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Resolutions…Old & New

Last year I tried an experiment in New Year’s resolutions. Instead of setting specific goals I wanted to achieve, I focused on the activities that might lead me toward my goals. So instead of setting a target weight, I made a resolution to exercise at least 10 minutes a day and eat less than 1,800 calories twice a week. My aim was to set low expectations and focus on behaviors rather than outcomes.

Overall, I think the experiment was a success. I ended the year with three out of my original five resolutions still intact, and while I fell off the wagon several times throughout the year, I always wound up getting back on. I also added several resolutions throughout the year, some of which also stuck, and learned lessons on keeping resolutions. Continue reading >

January 1, 2010

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A New Type of New Year’s Resolution

It’s New Year’s Day. And once again the time has come for resolutions.

I don’t remember ever really making resolutions until a couple of years ago. Since then, each year I type up my resolutions, hang them on the wall, and then promptly go about breaking them.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t intentionally break them. It just happens. But everyone breaks their resolutions, right?

Not this year. This year I’m trying something different. This year I’m going to make the resolutions work.

Looking back over my resolutions from the past couple years, I notice I tend to setup resolutions as goals, things to achieve during the year. I try to set the goals as fairly realistic, not trying to push myself too hard, but not making it too easy either.

And I think through the goals. One year my resolution list included a schedule of steps on how to achieve each goal. Another had general resolutions and then specific measurable resolutions.

This year I’m taking a different tack. Rather than focus on the destination, I’m going to focus on the journey. Little steps I can take throughout the year that lead me in the direction I want to go, but without hard set timelines or milestones toward some distant goal. Continue reading >

January 2, 2009

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Decomposing Relationships in the Age of Technology

A little over a month ago, I caved. I hadn’t joined a social network for personal reasons since Friendster, where my account went dormant days after I joined. I haven’t been oblivious. I’ve been a user of LinkedIn for years, even giving talks on how to use LinkedIn professionally. And friends had extolled the virtues of Twitter and Tribe and, yes, even MySpace. I just didn’t believe them. They just seemed, well, like…fanatics.

And then it happened. I joined Facebook innocently enough. I was looking to work a little less and connect with friends. Facebook seemed a good way to start expressing my identity and stay in touch with people I don’t get a chance to see often. I liked the Network Updates feature of LinkedIn, and heard Facebook had a similar feature. So I decided to try it.

I got hooked.

The photos, the routine updates, the snippets of previously unknown personal details discovered while browsing profiles of friends. Looking at photos of long-lost friends, photos of their kids. Listening to songs recorded, articles written, art created. Receiving mundane updates about the lives of friends I rarely have time to reach out and connect with. It all has reminded me of the value of friendship and given me a desire to foster and grow deeper friendships. And has got me thinking, what exactly is “friendship”? Continue reading >

December 1, 2008

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