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Wingnut

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What I Did On My Summer Vacation

Last week I talked about what you could do with down time if your connection to the net went south for a period of time. In that article I made mention of prioritizing things to do when the connection comes back as well as items you can do while still off line.

Well now that my connection is still out and going on two weeks now (the cable guy is supposed to be here today), I'm still plugging away at my list. At this point I feel like I did when I was a kid and went away to summer camp. You know the feeling, you are out of touch with all your friends, all the scoops have missed you completely, and the list goes on.

I've always said the best advice you can get, is to listen and follow the advice you give. I've done it many times where I've given great advice and people followed it and their results showed it, but mine lagged behind. I realized later that they followed what I said to the "T" (another great reason to follow Voltar's NPOW's exactly as laid out) where as I took a "shortcut".

So here I sit, I've got my prioritized list and a calendar in front of me and I have mapped out when I'm going to do the things on my list. Sweet! Time to start cracking on this list of goodies.

Now after nearly two weeks worth of working on this list one thing has become painfully apparent to me. The time I estimated for the "new things" was far less than I actually spent doing them. Which means that I am behind in doing the things on my list. It actually is taking me twice as long as I had allocated for, but for a strange reason.

If any of you have seen the sites I build they are usually void of any graphics. This is due to the fact that creating graphics is one of those things that are outside of my comfort zone. So creating graphics was one of things on my list, it was one of those things that I just had to force myself to do. I don't plan on opening a graphics creation company anytime soon, but I do have some plans that will require some graphics items.

Graphics were on my calendar for two days, but it ended up taking me about 4 days until I was satisfied with "the learning process" of creating the basic site graphics. I will now roll that skill into my daily routine of site building (where needed).

So why did it take me 4 days instead of the 2 planned? Am I just an Idiot? I can picture you all yelling "Yes", now J. It took the extra time because after the two days were over, I wanted more! I had accomplished my goals during the allotted two days but wanted to go further and test my newfound abilities. I'm still a complete rookie at graphics and I would even go as far to say, "I suck at graphics", but the feeling of learning and accomplishment made me push myself further. Now I'm looking to work it into the daily routine so as to not loose the momentum gained this past 4 days.

The whole point I'm trying to make is this; when you plan on venturing into a space beyond your comfort zone, double the time you think you will spend on it, it will be well worth it in the long run.

Now take some time and make that list! Your bank account will thank you!

Wingnut