Open Source Blogging

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.” —Dale Carnegie

Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead; follow him on twitter.

If we really want to be happy, why do we act like such babies?

We can claim to be proactive in our life by settings goals and going after what we want. But if we’re always whining and complaining all the time, are we really living effectively?

If you don’t believe me, count how many times you complain about something or other in one day. Whether it be being stuck … Continue Reading

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

New York Times techonology writer David Pogue, a writer I admire, recently listed some of his best productivity tips — and it’s a good list. One thing I noted with interest is that he uses his email inbox as a to-do list, which is a fairly common practice.

And while there’s certainly nothing wrong with that, and I’ve done it myself, I wanted to make a quick counterargument.

An email inbox isn’t the best to-do list, and here’s why:

1. You can’t change the subject lines. This means your to-do list is made up of … Continue Reading

So, central government has banned CPI maoist, the main outfit of maoist and naxalite activities in India. It is a much awaited action and finally government woke up when these so called revolutionaries had taken over a large part of Lalgarh. Anyways better late than never. But it should not be stopped here. Government should start an all out campaign and mind you military/para-military campaign, not a police one to flush out all the naxalites from whole country, so that a right environment of development can be created … Continue Reading

Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead; follow him on twitter.

Have you ever really wanted to do something, but you just weren’t motivated enough to do it?

This is always my number one reason for not taking action, as I’m sure it’s probably yours too. If you’re not motivated, you just don’t have the energy or the drive to do what you need to do, right? Simple enough.

But here’s three of the biggest problems with relying on being highly motivated all the time:

Maybe you don’t really care about what you’re doing. Maybe it doesn’t really matter and you’re trying … Continue Reading

Each Monday, The Simple Dollar opens up the reader mailbags and answers ten to twenty simple questions offered up by the readers on personal finance topics and many other things. Got a question? Ask it in the comments. You might also enjoy the archive of earlier reader mailbags.

What is the thought process you go through when organizing an article to write? Do you outline your thoughts first? Often when I try to write something, it ends up fairly chaotic.
- Crystal Groves

I usually start off by writing down a bunch of ideas in a very stream-of-consciousness fashion. Facts, … Continue Reading

Look, I'm no @chrisbrogan when it comes to Twitter followers, but I have a nice following (@juntajoe). At this point, I still take the time to individually review who follows me. During this process, it pains me to see the many Twitter "beginner" mistakes that turn me off from following a person back.

So, you might be a Twitter Beginner if you make these mistakes (think of Jeff Foxworthy's "You Might Be a Redneck" when you read this).

1. If you don't fully complete your Twitter profile.

I probably see … Continue Reading

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Karl Staib of Work Happy Now!

Most of our work happiness comes from our relationship with ourselves. For example, I’m working on a program to help people work happier. As I’m putting all the research together, writing each section and making it all coherent, I hit walls that stall my progress.

A few months ago I actually flopped on the floor, let out a loud groan and died from exhaustion. Luckily, my wife was home, sprinkled some magic kisses upon me and I came back to life. My … Continue Reading

My first short story: comments are most welcome (based on true incident)

She smiled ….. it was more of a giggle, a lone giggle, something when you want to say “yeh pagal ladka bhi nah :)” with her one hand covering her face like in those old Madhuri Dixit posters. She smiled and world stopped for whole 5 seconds. Literally for him, metaphorically for you if you have never experienced that feeling, where you are running from polluted city, tall buildings towards a beach or a snow filled mountain but couldn’t just see it and suddenly at a moment it comes … Continue Reading

Recently, while digging through the magazines in our magazine rack, I came across the May 16, 2009 issue of The Economist. The Economist is my primary print source for news and it almost always gives me quite a bit of food for thought.

Anyway, on page 82, I found a really interesting article entitled “Smooth Operators,” which discusses some very savvy saving … Continue Reading

Article by Zen Habits contributor Jonathan Mead; follow him on twitter.

Our inner world — emotional, mental space — helps determine our outer world, right? But the space we spend the majority of our time in also plays a huge role in our lives. It can influence our actions, our mood, and it can determine whether we remain stuck or achieve our dreams.

I want to share with you a few strategies I’ve discovered to design your space to help your achieve your goals.

I’ve been using this technique for quite some time to take advantage of my environment’s ability to … Continue Reading