1. Steve Jobs said: “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

Innovation has no limits. The only limit is your imagination. It’s time for you to begin thinking out of the box. If you are involved in a growing industry, think of ways to become more efficient; more customer friendly; and easier to do business with. If you are involved in a shrinking industry – get out of it quick and change before you become obsolete; out of work; or out of business. And remember that procrastination is not an option here. Start innovating now!

2. Steve Jobs said: “Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected.”

There is no shortcut to excellence. You will have to make the commitment to make excellence your priority. Use your talents, abilities, and skills in the best way possible and get ahead of others by giving that little extra. Live by a higher standard and pay attention to the details that really do make the difference. Excellence is not difficult – simply decide right now to give it your best shot – and you will be amazed with what life gives you back.

3. Steve Jobs said: “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.”

I’ve got it down to four words: “Do what you love.” Seek out an occupation that gives you a sense of meaning, direction and satisfaction in life. Having a sense of purpose and striving towards goals gives life meaning, direction and satisfaction. It not only contributes to health and longevity, but also makes you feel better in difficult times. Do you jump out of bed on Monday mornings and look forward to the work week? If the answer is ‘no’ keep looking, you’ll know when you find it.

4. Steve Jobs said: “You know, we don’t grow most of the food we eat. We wear clothes other people make. We speak a language that other people developed. We use a mathematics that other people evolved… I mean, we’re constantly taking things. It’s a wonderful, ecstatic feeling to create something that puts it back in the pool of human experience and knowledge.”

Live in a way that is ethically responsible. Try to make a difference in this world and contribute to the higher good. You’ll find it gives more meaning to your life and it’s a great antidote to boredom. There is always so much to be done. And talk to others about what you are doing. Don’t preach or be self-righteous, or fanatical about it, that just puts people off, but at the same time, don’t be shy about setting an example, and use opportunities that arise to let others know what you are doing.

5. Steve Jobs said: “There’s a phrase in Buddhism, ‘Beginner’s mind.’ It’s wonderful to have a beginner’s mind.”

It is the kind of mind that can see things as they are, which step by step and in a flash can realize the original nature of everything. Beginner’s mind is Zen practice in action. It is the mind that is innocent of preconceptions and expectations, judgments and prejudices. Think of beginner’s mind as the mind that faces life like a small child, full of curiosity and wonder and amazement.

6. Steve Jobs said: “We think basically you watch television to turn your brain off, and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.”

Reams of academic studies over the decades have amply confirmed television’s pernicious mental and moral influences. And most TV watchers know that their habit is mind-numbing and wasteful, but still spend most of their time in front of that box. So turn your TV off and save some brain cells. But be cautious, you can turn your brain off by using a computer also. Try and have an intelligent conversation with someone who plays first person shooters for 8 hours a day. Or auto race games, or role-playing games.

7. Steve Jobs said: “I’m the only person I know that’s lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year…. It’s very character-building.”

Don’t equate making mistakes with being a mistake. There is no such thing as a successful person who has not failed or made mistakes, there are successful people who made mistakes and changed their lives or performance in response to them, and so got it right the next time. They viewed mistakes as warnings rather than signs of hopeless inadequacy. Never making a mistake means never living life to the full.

8. Steve Jobs said: “I would trade all of my technology for an afternoon with Socrates.”

Over the last decade, numerous books featuring lessons from historical figures have appeared on the shelves of bookstores around the world. And Socrates stands with Leonardo da Vinci, Nicholas Copernicus, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein as a beacon of inspiration for independent thinkers. But he came first. Cicero said of Socrates that, “He called philosophy down from the skies and into the lives of men.” So use Socrates’ principles in your life, your work, your learning, and your relationships. It’s not about Socrates, it’s really about you, and how you can bring more truth, beauty and goodness into your life everyday.

9. Steve Jobs said: “We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?”

Did you know that you have big things to accomplish in life? And did you know that those big things are getting rather dusty while you pour yourself another cup of coffee, and decide to mull things over rather than do them? We were all born with a gift to give in life, one which informs all of our desires, interests, passions and curiosities. This gift is, in fact, our purpose. And you don’t need permission to decide your own purpose. No boss, teacher, parent, priest or other authority can decide this for you. Just find that unique purpose.

10. Steve Jobs said: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

                          

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Personal

Family

Although I think I'm pretty good in this department, supporting my wife when she needs it (most of the time), and spending quality time with the kids, I think I can improve.  There are times when we say we'll do things with the kids but then circumstances do not always allow it.  For the next year, I will try my best to do everything I say I will do with/for my family, or at least think before replying in the affirmative, making sure that circumstances will allow for what we want to do.

When anyone asks you to do something, the easy way is to just say yes at the time, because you're busy with something, and you don't want to break your attention span.  But if you spent 2 seconds thinking about it, you would have known that you're making an empty promise.

Sport

I've been lazy this year with my training (cycling), but am upping it a notch in 2010.  I want to get onto a podium at a race at least once this year, I'm not fussy which one, but last time I was on a podium was in 2006 (provincial time-trial).  I also want to complete the 2011 Iron-Man (3.8km swim, 180km cycle, 42.2km run)

To accomplish this, my training program needs to adjust, and I need to shed some extra weight I've been carrying around since I quit smoking (7 years have flown by).  My goal here is to lose 10kg by the end of March, a healthy 1kg per week.

How do I approach this?  Easy, I have to be a diet nazi.  Lots of people think that with the amount of training I do, there should be no problem in losing weight, but the fact is that your body adapts to your environment.  Even spending 8+ hours on the bike per week does not automatically guarantee me to lose weight.  The only way is to consume less calories than what you burn, consistently.  I've signed up for a pro account on dailyburn.com, and am religously tracking everything going into my body, as well as the amount of calories I burn.  One thing I have learnt about dieting is that you should not deprive yourself of your favourite tastes, that just sets you up for failure.  So I'm allowing myself a cheat every few days, with some rules attached.

1. if I skip the meal before the cheat, the cheat is not allowed,
2. portions have to fit in with my overall calorie intake each day.

I've started this already and have lost about 3 kilos in the last 3 weeks, so fo the next 3 months I'll try to get used to that permament hungry feeling while my body burns up the extra weight.

Another thing I have to do is be more scientific about my training program, for 2009 I did a lot of aimless riding, but not much targeted training.  This will change for 2010, I'm busy developing a training program that will probably run in 5/6 week segments.  As soon as am done with that I will post it here as well.

Hobbies

Writing

In the last year my twitter usage has increased dramatically, and my blogging has decreased.  One reason for this was the amount of time available, but also the fact that I've started getting quite good at saying things in 140 characters or less.  If you know me personally, you'll know that I'm not really one for a lot of small-talk, and normally say things in as few words as possible, sometimes totally confusing my audience, and other times properly offending them because of a misunderstanding.

So for the year ahead I need to change that, and start talking in paragraphs not just sentences.  I want to increase my readership on all my blogs (yes I have more than 1), this site being my first project, target for the first 6 months being 500 regular readers, for the others I'll be happy with 250 regular readers each by end of June.  Exactly how I'm going to accomplish that is not entirely clear, but I'll start by posting more often, and making sure that what I write is what people want to read.  The only way for me to confirm that is for people to start commenting on my posts, even if you need to be nasty about my views.  I enjoy a good debate.

Instead of doing what I've been doing all along, blogging in spurts and then letting it sit idle for weeks/months at a time, I'm now going to start scheduling posts to go out on a regular interval, with an absolute minimum of 2 posts per blog per month.  That's a total of 6 posts per month, which should be easily accomplished.

Photography

To force me to do these, I've already started the Wordless Wednesdays posts, and will be doing one every week, using my own photos only.  I also want to participate in one or two photography communities whether online or offline, and will be joining in on photowalks as often as I can.  If you like any of the photos I post, I'll gladly send you a print quality copy, as long as it is for personal use only.

Cooking

I've always enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen, and according to multiple sources, I'm not half bad at it.   But in the past year I haven't had the time to do much cooking, work and a baby kept me a bit busy, and with my wife now working from home full-time, she does the cooking during the week.

This past year we've also spent way too little time with our friends, all of them having fairly young kids makes things a bit tricky to arrange parties that everybody can attend.  But for the year ahead I want to seriously start experimenting with my cooking skills again, and that would provide the perfect opportunity to invite people to enjoy the good food with us.  So if you're a close friend or family member, expect some invites.  Will be doing something at least once a month.

Professional

Skills

Stock Trading

                          

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But I have to admit, it looks like I misinterpreted my keyword. I went for #procreate instead. My daughter was born on the 28th of January, and I don’t think my blog has been quieter than this before. I’ve done a few posts, but not nearly as many as I wanted to, and not nearly the standard of content that I wanted to produce. And adding to the #procreate meme, my second (biological) child is on the way, ETA 24 December. So far the doctor has his money on another girl. I say as long as baby is healthy and of sound mind, the gender does not bother me too much.

But it is time to get my butt into gear and live up to the keyword for the year, and probably for the next few years. #CREATE. I’ll be trying to post more regularly on the blog, not just twitter. And I have a few projects in mind to sharpen the saw of my development skills again.

The whole idea behind the #create keyword was to move from being a consumer of knowledge to a creator of knowledge. But in the process I think I’ve become even a bigger consumer. I have been a bit more focused on the subjects I’ve chosen, adding hundreds of links to Delicious for later consumption. As I get to the new topics, and new things I want to learn I will post about it.

So watch this space.

                          

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I'll start with the career based topics first:

SQL Server

Over the years I've built up a wealth of knowledge on my choice of database platform, even taking part in the beta program for SQL Server 2005.  However, for the latest version I've been slack, and to this date have not started digging deeper into the new features.  I've completed my MCTS certification on SQL 2005, but stopped there for no particular reason.  I'll be taking this line further now, and complete the rest of the exams for MCDBA and MCPD.

C#

I've been working with this language for some time now, but have never found the time to dig into the newer features that made it into the language in version 2 & 3, once again for no particular reason.  The work I've been doing could be accomplished using the basics, but I'm sure I could have done it better and faster using some of the new features.

I'll stick to these two topics career-wise, and make sure that the knife is as sharp as possible before moving on to the next topics, which will most probably be framework related.

My third topic is purely for fun.  Late last year I made the jump from a fairly good basic digital camera to a good DSLR.  I invested in the Canon 40D.  The camera is everything I've wanted in a camera, but I've only been able to master the basics so far.  So I'll be digging a lot deeper into photography, and will be posting some of the results here.

On a more personal level, me and my wife have started on the spiritual journey, but once again, I've only been able to skim over the wide variety of material out there.  I want to do a retreat with Leigh-Ann, and will be planning that fairly soon.  In the meantime, I have a number of books to dig into and learn more.

Lastly, and this is a long-time passion.  Cycling.

You would think that at the level I'm riding I've learnt most of the things I need to learn, but I've noticed that I've plateau'd.  Meaning, my performance is not getting better, doesn't matter if I train more, I'm not getting better.  This is extremely demotivating, and my sport has suffered because of this.  I've also set myself the goal of completing the Ironman next year.  That's a 3.8km swim, a 180km cycle, and a 42.2 km run.  My plan is to take a serious look at new training techniques, and adapt my training plan to this.  Once I've done this, the plan will be posted here.  I'll also be posting results and race reports again.  This has helped me in the past to pinpoint any tactical errors I made in races, but I've stopped doing the reports to avoid boring people to death here.  But because it helped for me, I'll be starting this again, and if you find it boring, just filter it out.

As an added bonus, a sixth topic is included.  I get to work on my writing skills during all of this.

Can I have your comments please?

                          

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When I started my programming career you had to go buy books at a physical retailer on a topic that interested you.  Internet connections weren't widely available, and hellishly expensive at the time, so that was the easiest choice.  This made the experience in gaining knowledge on a subject a lot slower, but a lot more focused.  Because you would take a book, and drill down into the chapters, experimenting all the way, and basically making sure that you've absorbed the knowledge in the book before moving on to the next topic, or to a more advanced book on the same topic.  And so the cycle continued.

Currently, with internet connectivity being very cheap, and everyone having an index to the internet as your homepage, it has become very easy to quickly gather a lot of information on any subject.  But! The problem now is that there is so much more information available on such a wide variety of topics, that it makes it a lot more difficult to focus on one topic and to make sure that you actually gain knowledge on that topic.

Especially with the ADD type of personality I have realised I have, where I could be researching a topic, and two hours later I've added 20 links on 10 other topics to my delicious feed, for later consumption.  Focus is getting more difficult for me, and I've turned into a hunter-gatherer of information, instead of being a consumer of knowledge.  Slowly but surely the decay has come about, and at least now I've realised it.

In the coming months I'm going to try and train myself to focus on a few select topics again, and to try and stay away from getting side-tracked by the sheer volume of new topics, never mind the information about them.  This weekend I will make my selection of 5 things, which I'll publish here next week, and from there I will focus on those 5 for at least 2 months before moving to the rest.  That means that I'll need to trim my subscriptions in Google Reader as well to make sure that I don't get overloaded. 

At the end of May I will then also publish my results here, to try and gauge whether 5 topics are too few/many for a 2 month period.  I will however make sure that my 5 topics span all facets of life, and not only my career or personal interests.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

                          

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The realisation comes from this.  I’m a software developer.  I’m supposed to solve other people’s problems, and automate their work as much as possible.  For me to do this, I need to learn a lot.  For every problem I solve, I need to understand the exact details of the whole scenario, and then come up with a solution.  That’s not the worst part, I need to do that in an extremely short time.    Without going into too much detail, I regularly get called on to solve problems in fields where people, on average, study for 3 years to become “masters” of their field.  On many occasions I have a week or two to solve the problem, including my research time. 

It does not stop there, once I’ve solved a problem, I have a new one to solve, and have to start the cycle all over, doing the research, coming up with a solution, rinse, repeat.

Every time I do this, I have to clear the “White Board” in my mind, and start over.

Which means I never get the chance to become a “master” at a trade.  The frameworks we are exposed to as software developers are so diverse, that no-one could ever hope to be the master of it all.  You may get to specialise in a small part of the framework, if you develop solutions for a specific industry only, but most of us will never choose a “dead-end” position like that.

To compensate for knowing nothing, I’ve learnt one skill which enables me to know everything.  The ability to scan through a lot of information in a short space of time, and extract the relevant facts.  Most of the time unfortunately, you only get enough time to get the basics, like a swallow drinking water from the surface while skimming over the water.  Sometimes you need to be able to dive in and drink deep, but normally don’t get the chance.

Recently I’ve tried to do this, but the habit of skimming is deeply entrenched, and I catch myself forgetting to dive in quite frequently.

How do you go about learning the required information to build better solutions?

                          

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I found quite a few good tips tonight on Twitter, by Kathy Sierra.  I'm not sure exactly how to link to specific tweets, so I've take the liberty of copying and pasting.  If anyone doesn't like that, please let me know.  Here they are:

• by the end of the calculus course, students should feel as though THEY invented calculus (not the teacher)
• Good learning nearly always involves a feeling of discovery rather than acquisition. The best teaching creates an efficient context for this
• Too often our courseware, manuals, etc. prevent the learner from doing the wrong things. I WANT my pilot to have crashed in a flight sim
• Awesome idea! Build deadends into the maze! A garden path... an approach that looks oh so right but ends horribly-- better that learners *feel* the pain (safely)
• Good teachers set us up for success, but they should ALSO set us up for strategic failures. When things work as expected, we remember less. 

                          

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Recently I've come to realise that I'm reading in a disconnected state.  No, I'm not talking about my connection to the net at the time of reading.

I'm talking about me reading, but not really taking in what I'm reading.  It's almost as if I'm just doing it out of habbit, and not because I really value the information.

Over the weekend, I've gone through the feeds which I've subscribed to, and I've removed the ones that I haven't looked at in the last month, clearly I don't value those that much.

I've also undertaken to spend a bit of time sorting through the chaff before reading any post.  If the post has not relevance to me after looking at the first paragraph, I'm skipping over it immediately, not just reading it for the sake if reading it.

If I decide to then read a post, I will make sure I grok what the writer is trying to convey.  If I don't grok it at first, and it is a topic I'm interested in, I will then go and do the necessary research to make sure that I do grok it.  Sometimes, a specific topic will take too long to research and grok in one sitting, or, I may need to learn a few other topics as building blocks first.  In this case I will identify the extra things I need to learn before coming back to the topic, and then add those topic to my list of things to learns.  I keep a seperate To-Do list of things that I want/need to learn, and will try and tick at least one thing off in a week.

I've undertaken to do this only for the quality posts out there, otherwise I will be spending all my time reading, and very little of it actually producing something useful.

The same goes for any article that I read from any other source.  It is pointless to read things just for the sake of looking at the information.

Our lives are now revolving around receiving information.  If you're not making sure that you're receiving only relevant information, and only at the right time, then you're wasting time that you could be spending producing something useful.

                          

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The interesting parts for me is that as long as you have a growth-mindset, you will always be able to improve yourself, whether it be skills, emotional, etc.

If you have that fixed mindet, you'll be stuck in a rut until death gets you out of it.

Now, for me, thinking about my mindset, I think I'm a mix between the two, where I continuously try to improve on things that interest me, and have a fixed mindset on things that don't.  I will certainly try to change this perception, but I think it will be a hard fight with the ego for anyone to change this in their adult years.

What I can do for my kids, is to nurture this growth-mindset, and try to get rid of the fixed-mindset completely.  I think my parents got it right most of the time, I'll have to go for some advice on this.

The way I plan to nurture this for a start, is to praise them for the effort they put in, and not necessarily for the achievement at the end. 

In a way I'm already doing this with Josh.

He's been giving up on games if he doesn't get it right after a few tries, and would then come and ask me to get past the part where he's stuck, so he can continue. At first I helped him, but then realised that he gives up way too quickly if there's an easier way out, like asking me.  So now I keep on sending him back with the message that I will not help him until he's tried that particular part of the game at least 50 times.  The first day he game back to ask after every few tries, but now he's playing on his own, and rarely asks me to help him.

Your comments?

                          

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One is on CodingHorror, by Jeff Atwood, saying that writing code is just like writing, ultimately your co-software developers have to understand what your meaning was, and if they cannot figure it out, you're doing it wrong.

In Jeff's post there is reference to this post by Ned Batchelder, which basically gives you THE rule about removing dead code, which I have to admit, I've been breaking a big percentage of the time.  From now on, in my quest for personal improvement, I will definitely be following both these guidelines.

What are your thoughts on writing good code?

                          

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