Archive for February, 2008

Killing Time: How I Ditched my Alarm Clock and Why I'm Never Looking Back

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

Photo by petite corneilleThis morning I woke up in silence, smiling in the wake of a great dream I can’t remember. I woke up mid-stretch. My eyes opened and I immediately got out of bed. There was no hitting the snooze button, there was no grogginess, there was no loathing my morning routine. There was also no being ripped from slumber, mid sleep-cycle, against the better judgment of my body. There was just peaceful morning silence.

A week ago I ditched my alarm clock and after a week of alarm clock-less nights, I don’t think I’ll be looking back, at least for a very long time.
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Desperate Buyers Only: E-Book Review

Monday, February 11th, 2008

DBOCoverEditor’s Rating: 8.7

Editor’s Note: This review is a fifth entry in a series of e-book reviews.  The review is by Thursday Bram of ThursdayBram.com.

One page into Alexis Dawes’ e-book, “Desperate Buyers Only,” I was fully prepared to hate my reading experience. I noticed a typo, and for someone who has worked as a proofreader, a typo in final copy can be the kiss of death.

I was more than pleasantly surprised as I made my way through “Desperate Buyers Only,” however. I can tell you know that I’ll be rereading it multiple times — the sheer quantity of information Dawes has collected has made her e-book the go-to resource when thinking about selling a report.

Dawes goes far beyond simple advice on how to prepare such a report: she guides her readers through every step of the project from brainstorming a topic to affiliate marketing and targeting keyword ads. She’s written to a level of depth that I can’t help comparing to John Chow’s blogging but his depth comes from years of blogging on the topic of how to make money online, while Dawes does it in less than 100 pages. Dawes manages this by drawing on her own, highly successful experiences — she has reports that have been selling for years but still bring her in a daily income of at least $200.

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Changing Our Goals Everyday: An Exercise in Daily Personal Evolution

Monday, February 11th, 2008

Sky and Goal BoxThe art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order.
-Alfred North Whitehead

Good goals are living breathing statements of who we are becoming, they should not be static and rigid representations of what we once longed for. Still, many of us have had the experience of writing down goals, only to feel alienated from them weeks later, as if they were a historical document from the past.
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8 Tips for Slashing Your Winter Heating Bills by 50% Now

Monday, February 11th, 2008

Winter House (A Studio for Change) "If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting."
-Benjamin Franklin

Today in Madison, Wisconsin, it was -35 °F degrees; needless to say, the heating bills for this ol’ home-on-an-isthmus have been excruciating.  Here are eight killer tips from J.V. Endres: they’ve helped him reduce his annual heating bills from $1,000 to $500 in a 35-year-old house! Check ‘em out.

1. Do not heat any unnecessary rooms. Close and seal heat registers and air returns. Be sure to whether-strip doors to these less-heated areas.

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