My oldest son started 4K today, marking the beginning of his school career. While I can't fully describe how proud I am of him, sending him off into the world does come with a few unknowns.

As he got onto the bus today, I had a feeling come over me that's similar to when I launch a new site or project (only this was on a much larger scale). Those thoughts and feelings were "I hope this works!". As that yellow vessel drove away, there was nothing I could do to help him, if he needed it. He was on his own...and he'd be fine. The more I thought about it today, he's in a great position to be learning new things and encountering new experiences.

Oh, to be young again.
The past few months have been filled with many new experiences for me including some great public speaking engagements, many opportunities to meet some thought leaders, and a few projects that have pushed and challenged my skill-set. Going into all of these, there's been a bit of trepidation, hesitation, and a bit of self-doubt thrown in, just to make things interesting. Today it struck me, my kids have the right mindset going into any new experience they'll encounter. They have no fear.

They don't know the risks, they aren't afraid to fail, in fact they don't even know what failure is. Failure, truly isn't an option. Isn't that great? I'm keeping that in mind when taking on new challenges. After all, it couldn't hurt.

Since I've ratcheted-up my posting frequency from once a year to at least once a day(ish) I've noticed myself searching for inspiration and searching for suitable subjects in more places.

Whether it's the pressure to want to keep putting out (good) content or the strange "high" that I've been getting from writing more and thinking about different subjects, I've found a need to keep searching and exploring every angle of the things I encounter.  There's always a story somewhere, right?

An interesting byproduct of this has been the realization that I need quiet in order to write (for the most part).  In my design work and in the bit of development work that I do day after day, my iPod is always on, always pumping out some sort of audible assistance to help fill in the blanks.  But when writing articles, I've found myself to be distracted by the sounds, the lyrics, the musical energy, and I get thrown off easily.  Because of my work and personal schedule, I do most of my writing after everyone in the house has gone to bed (and with two kids, who can blame me, right? ;) ), but that's become a necessity now in trying to get thoughts onto paper.  Maybe that's why my iPad has become my go-to writing tool.  It helps me focus on the words and tune out all of the distractions around me.

What about your work environment? What makes you more productive in what you do?  Are there any tools that help you turn thoughts into actions faster?  Comments are "on" and the floor is yours!

2010 seems to be the year of many, lofty goals that I've set for myself. Ok, maybe lofty isn't the right word here, but I have set quite a few goals, and it's only taken me 7 8 months to start checking a few off the list. One goal, if I can even call it that, is to read more.

No problem, I read my Twitter stream and my RSS feeds daily (if not more frequently than that). I can check that off my list...oh, I didn't finish spelling out the goal. Read. More. Books.

Ok, I can handle that. I've read books before, granted it was years ago and they were mainly dealt with Sci-Fi and Star Trek, but this go-around I wanted to do things differently. I wanted to improve myself, get aggressive with my creativity and focus myself on my...goals. The first book that came to mind when I laid out that plan was Gary Vaynerchuk's Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion (affiliate link).

If you're not familiar with the name, you should get to know it. Gary is a one-man army of focus, drive, and determination. He's genuine, he's authentic, and he's honest. Three great qualities, if you ask me.

In Crush It, Gary tells a compelling story of his entrepreneurial beginnings selling baseball cards in mall swap meets to growing his personal passion, WineLibrary.tv. But this book is more than an autobiography, it's a roadmap and a how-to guide to getting the most out of your passion and your life.

I guess this is going to be less of a book review and more of a push from me to you to run out and buy this book. Whether it's in traditional paper-book form (affiliate link), an eBook (affiliate link) or as an audiobook, you need to give this book a read. Gary's passion radiates from within the pages and into your soul. If you're not affected by what he has to say, check your pulse. I mean it. This book is THAT good.