Well, It’s interesting… a few weeks have gone by since I found a non-login way to post things to this website and still I have done only a few posts… I must just have nothing to say… or nothing that is relevant or interesting that anyone else would want to read anyway… maybe I should just forget this whole idea of blogging and take the blog down…
Productivity Podcast
I did a podcast with Cameron Reilly on the Productivity Show on Friday. We did it at a cafe in Melbourne, so the sound is probably really crap, and I will not be surprised if he doesn’t even put the Podcast up. But here are some things I learnt about doing the podcast.
- My motivation was not self promotion (as Cameron will probably say in the podcast) but it was from another podcast that I was listening to the other day where Cameron said he had an “obligation to share his knowledge” or something like that. It just inspired me so much, as I too feel that, since I know lots of stuff about Microsoft stuff and productivity, I too have an obligation to share my knowledge. – So I need to do some more blogging on Excel
- I was prepared, had 4 pages of notes in my small notebook but I was very nervous and all the preparation went out the window. It is very intimidating sitting at a cafe on a sidewalk on a busy street with a huge microphone in your hand whilst trying to eat lunch, drink coffee AND sound intelligent and entertaining – hats off to you Cameron, you are a bloody legend!
- I talked about crap and did not leave time for the main thing I wanted to talk about which was my Excel tips, so I will have to make up for that by blogging about that here. I talked too much about myself, and no one is interested in that.
- I forgot to attribute!!!! Bad internet faux pas!!! I had it in my notes to attribute that I found the David Seah excellent Emergent Task Tracker by reading the blog of GTDWannabe – an excellent Blog – but in my nervousness I forgot, so I apologise.
- Podcasting is very different to lecturing and speaking – Podcasting is a conversation, so it is very different to what I am more familiar with and feel way more at ease with. I can stand up in front of a group of people and talk about a topic for hours and feel confident and capable, but in the more intimate setting of a recorded conversation, I was crap. I think I need to stick with what I know.
Well, I hope this podcasting thing is out of my system now, but my passion for sharing my knowledge is not, so I will continue to share my knowledge in writing – not podcasting. But after all is said and done, I had a blast doing it, and it was worth doing, just to experience it. So my advice to you is shout Cameron a lunch (or buy some TPN advertising on Ebay) and get yourself on a Podcast, because you just might be a great podcaster but don’t yet know it.
Thanks Cameron!!
Why Blog?
Basically it’s an experiment – will doing a “Brain Dump”, GTD style, onto a blog, help me sleep better at night? Yes, I’m writing lists of things to do, but what about the rest of the stuff going on around in my head – all the conversations that I would love to have with someone but none of my friends are into gadgets and tech as much as me, so they never happen. So if I have these conversations here, maybe there will be someone out there who will be interested in what I have to say, and if not, well I’ve said it anyway – and hopefully that will get these thoughts and ideas out of my brain and let me sleep!!!
Also, I love the idea of the community of blogging, but up to now been to scared to try. (I’m still scared, but feel the fear and do it anyway – isn’t that the name of a book).
Richard Giles from The Gadget Show on TPN has a lot of great things to say about community and creating conversations online, on one of his recent blog posts (yep, I’m going to steal everyone else’s opinions, and claim them as my own…) he was referencing Guy Kawaski’s article on community. (btw, that was and excellent conversation between Richard and Guy Kawaski, and I’ve now bought the book, The Art of the Start to help me with a project at work).
So, I would like to be part of this community, and start a conversation or two, so I will need to spend time reading other people’s blogs and commenting on them too.
Begin at the Beginning
This is the start of my journey into the bogosphere… I’m scared – it can be a dark, lonely and cruel place, so please be gentle if you want to comment.
The reason I’m blogging – well it’s all Cameron’s fault. A few weeks ago I sent some feedback to Cameron Reilly of the G’Day World podcast on The Podcast Network www.thepodcastnetwork.com. Anyway, he mentioned my comment on his podcast and it snowballed from there. I did a “listener guest spot” on the show that wasn’t received very well by the other listeners (even by me, I sounded crap). Link to the podcast. But the thing is, it got me motivated… enough to get off the couch and start being involved in this community we call the blogosphere…
The reason for the name of the blog is that Cameron asked me what my opinion was on something, to which I replied “I have no opinions – that’s why I listen to you…” and then proceeded to rant about a number of my opinions.
So this blog will probably be filled with opinions and rants, but hopefully a few more links and things I find interesting. If you find them interesting too, then please leave a comment.