Categories
Uncategorized

Post for Posterity

Hey there, thanks for reading this.

You’re one of the special few.

I’ve been using this blog for many years, not necessarily to have everybody read it, but to have a place to write and publish publicly. And to leave something for posterity. It’s a record.

I guess I hope someone from my posterity reads it. My kids aren’t too interested right now. But maybe they will be when I’m no longer around.

(But then who’s going to pay for the domain name?)

Anyway, I know more eyes will see stuff I might publish on LinkedIn or other platforms, but this is my own space. I own it. So, I can do whatever I want here.

And even though there is some pressure to write something good, because it’s possible that anyone could see it, I know that not many people will, so it doesn’t have to be spectacular.

There are many reasons to have your own blog.

I’m not going to list them here. You figure it out.

And write them in the comments. 🙂

(For posterity, it might be smarter to have a free one that won’t shut down if you don’t pay the bill.)

Categories
Uncategorized

Listen to My Voice

Categories
personal Thoughts

What do you want?

What do you want?

That is always a good question… to ask yourself.

But it needs to be at the deepest level, at the core of your desires. If you can really answer that question, and be confident and sure of your answer, then I think it might solve a lot of your problems.

Problems come when our actions are not aligned with our core desires.

Of course, difficult things happen that we are not in control of, that may alter our course. But if we’re true to our desires, we’ll find ways around the obstacles that life places in our way.

If what you want is deep enough, and big enough, it just might be powerful enough to drive you to get it.

If it’s not, you might need to go deeper. After you think you’ve got it, ask “And why do you want that?”

There might be something else, something more that you’re missing.

Do you know what it is?

What do you want?

Categories
goofball practice

Here’s Another One

I’m writing again!

In this blog!

And it hasn’t been that long since my last post!

Maybe every sentence should have an exclamation mark!

Okay, maybe not, but I was on a roll. And when you’re on a roll, you should keep rolling.

Why am I doing this?

Because I can.

I’m paying for this domain and web site, so I should probably use it.

Maybe that’s the real reason. I don’t want to waste my sunk costs.

Too late!

Wasted!

Years of very few posts. No readers (except you), and powerful features just lying there not being used.

This just hit me.

That’s why I write.

Because I learn things.

I start by starting and keep writing, whether I know what to say or not.

And usually, something funny or useful comes out.

So there you go.

Here’s another one.

Thanks for reading.

(But it wasn’t for you. It was for me.)

(But still, I appreciate you checking it out.)

Categories
Thoughts Web sites

Old and New

It’s the day after Christmas and all through the house…

is a bunch of stuff we have to clean up.

Okay, that’s not very poetic, but it’s true. And since I don’t want to do that, I decided to write in here instead.

Such a sorry blog.

Every time I write in it, it has been months and I say, “Gee I forgot all about this!”

So here I am doing it again.

But why?

Because it’s true, I do get excited and write in here for a little while, then forget all about it, then write in here some more. It’s the story of my life.

Starting new things, not sticking with them, then starting something else.

But then, isn’t that life?

There are always cycles to things.

I guess some people like to keep on the same cycle for longer. I guess I like switching. But yet, I don’t fully switch, so I keep stuff hanging around.

Like this blog. It’s still here.

But I have started a few new things.

I’m experimenting with Substack. It’s a platform that lets you set up paid subscriptions for your writing (or blogging) or podcasts. Or you can use it for free.

So that’s what I’m doing for now, free content, until I decide to have people pay.

Right now, I have two publications. One is called Micromovements and it’s about doing small things to make big changes within a corporation.

The other one is just housing my old “Rex on the Road” vlog series. But I might add new episodes once I get all the old stuff up there. I figured since I own the domain name, I should use it.

So check out http://www.rexontheroad.com

And http://rexwilliams.substack.com

I also have something else going on.

The link below is my main web site where I’ll try to set up my courses and stuff that you can pay for. But for now, there’s just a free ebook for subscribing to my list. And it’s kind of under construction, so I’m not really done with it yet.

Check it out at: http://www.rexawilliams.com

Anyway, more to come on that.

But I’ll keep this around, because I like it 🙂

And I like you.

Thanks for reading.

Categories
personal Thoughts

Your Life is Made of Stuff

We had the opportunity to help a friend pack up his house and move. That is an experience that no one really wants to do.

Why is that?

Because we all have too much stuff. We like our stuff. Stuff tells the story of our life. But when we have to move it all, we begin to realize how much stuff we have, and how much is unnecessary.

And it certainly told the story of my friend’s life. He had an amazing life of building fun things and pranks, and just creating unique items. He is an engineer. So as we pulled something out of his garage shelves, we’d ask him, “What is this?” Then he’d tell a story about that item, why he made it or who gave it to him. His stuff was really the story of his life.

But I was super impressed with how much he threw away. He had a whole truck full of stuff that was headed to the dump.

He gave me the task to throw away a little pile in the corner that he said was just garbage. But I was the wrong guy to do that work. I looked through it and said, “What, you’re throwing this away?” “That’s a perfectly good CD!” Until I realized, we can find all these movies or music somewhere in the cloud. So, eventually, I was able to do it. (Except for the unopened, still in the package, “Star Wars – The Force Awakens” DVD.)

In reality, our life is what happens, what we choose to do, and how we choose to interact with other people. It’s not made of stuff.

You can’t take it with you.

(But I’ll keep it as long as I can 🙂

Categories
Thoughts

A blog is cool

Two posts in the same month is pretty good.

There’s nothing to really read here, but I’m glad you’re reading it. It does actually mean something. I put these words here myself. From my own brain. And now, you’re reading them.

Isn’t that awesome?

I know, I’m easily amused.

But if you think about what’s happening, or what happened a while ago, like before you read this just now, things had to be in place for you to experience this. And I did all that work! So yay for me!

See, I have done something. In fact, when I look through all my word press blogs, I actually have 16 different sites. Hard to believe, I know, but they’re free! And back in the day, when they were popular and just getting started, I started one for each of my kids, and for other stuff too.

So my kids still have a place they could blog if they wanted to, but for some reason, Instagram or Snapchat or Facebook (for my oldest) is more appealing. They don’t understand the value of having your own space. Not something owned by someone else. A web site is your own. I still believe in that. And there are a bunch of platforms that allow you to create your own web space. Everyone should have one.

So tell me yours.

And maybe I’ll tell you about my others.

Categories
Thoughts

Just Write

I’m writing this in public as a way to sharpen my mind and improve my writing.

I’ve been writing privately for many years. You know, a journal. I use both paper and pencil and a digital platform called 750words.com because I like the tactile nature of actually drawing words on paper. Sometimes I like to draw abstract art too. I use a notebook with no lines so I can write as big or as small as I want, or in circles or sideways. It’s my art.

I also use 750words.com because it’s digital and I can type faster than I can write. It’s saved up in the cloud (funny, the cloud is not up 🙂 and it has a whole system that helps you to write every day. So, I’ve been trying to keep a streak of writing every day. Some months are better than others, but I’m mostly doing it… writing at least 750 words every day. I’ll miss a few here and there, but I’m writing a lot.

But it’s not good writing. It’s dumping my thoughts in a free form ramble, which is good to get the stuff out, but it’s not something for public consumption.

This stuff here, on the other hand, is public (even though only two of you read it.) This is published. So, it requires at least a little bit of thought. Maybe. But as you’ll see, I think years of rambling text in my private space will influence this public stuff pretty easily. Maybe like this post here.

Another tactic is just to start writing, because it takes too much effort to think about what I’m going to say and come up with something super smart. It usually comes to me after I start writing. Because I have to come up with the next sentence.

Like this one here. See how easy that was? It doesn’t have to be smart.

Stupid is smart.

This is a stupid post.

And there it is, another post about how I don’t write in here very often. (I tried not to do it, promise.)

Stay tuned. There might be another post soon, or 6 months from now.

Categories
Thoughts

There is no time

Every time I write, it seems like it’s months apart (I mean, mostly because it is.) But actually, when you read them all together, one after another, it doesn’t seem like months apart, it’s instantly together, just minutes apart. Because, you see, when you read stuff, time has no meaning around when you wrote it. It’s only all together for you to read all at once.

I could have written this sentence a lot later than the paragraph up above. Or, I could have written it first, and then moved it to be after the paragraph. You only see the final version.

That’s the same with blog posts that are read one right after another. If there wasn’t a date, you wouldn’t be able to tell when they were written.

So, I should stop saying, “Whoa, it has been a while since I’ve written in here… every. single. time.” (It’s still true, and it’s funny to me how I forget about this blog in streaks, consistently.)

Thanks for reading. Again.

Keep paying attention (every so often 😉

Categories
Thoughts

My Secret Message

It’s funny. I set this up years ago. Many years ago. And yet no one has taken the opportunity to use this function. I thought it was pretty ingenious, but maybe it’s not so cool after all.

Here’s the secret.

You know how you’ve seen lots of audio posts on this blog? That is done by using a pretty cool WordPress feature that they developed years ago. They give you a unique phone number and password, and all you have to do is call the number, enter the password and start talking. Then when you hang up, it automatically posts the recording to this blog! Genius!

So, it makes it super easy to post. I could post something every day. And I was for a while.

Then I thought of a different way to use it. What if I gave you the number and let you record a post??! Or a comment to one of my posts, or whatever!

And that’s the secret. If you sign up for my secret newsletter, you’ll get the number and password and you can call in and make an audio post right here.

Now, that is pretty risky. Anybody could call in and say anything. But, I figure most people will be nice. Plus, I can also delete it if I want. And since no one is reading or listening to this anyway, it wouldn’t be that damaging 🙂

But try it out. If you want to. It’s pretty cool. I’d be honored if you said something here. It would probably be best if you said who you were.

Make sure you click on the ‘Sign up for my secret message’ link at the bottom of this page, and not the Subscribe button, that’s different.

It’s a collaboration!

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Categories
personal

Back Again

I found this again!

Is it wrong when almost every post on this blog is about how I’m not consistent at all in writing in here?

Okay, well, maybe not every post.

But I do it often. Why?

I think I’m getting old. But I’m not. I’m only in my 50’s, which I’m calling my prime now (because I can 🙂

I’m actually not sure of the reason. I truly just totally forgot about this.

I think it might be because this is like a private public space. It’s pretty much private because I know no one reads it, or maybe just a handful of you. But, it’s also public, because anyone could read it. So, I need to write so anyone can. It’s just not something I’m actively trying to expand or increase my reach. I really just write in here for my own therapy.

In fact, I was just writing this morning in my daily writing platform 750words.com and saying how I wouldn’t mind if anyone (well, family, or anyone who would be able to get a hold of them) read my journals or writings on this platform. Sure, it’s personal, but it’s not the deeply crazy personal stuff that a teenage girl might write in her diary that she doesn’t want anyone to read ever. I honestly don’t know why they would do that. If you put something out where it can be accessed, then it should be okay for it to be accessed. I want my kids to sneak into my room and open my journals and read them. They might learn something. Writing should be read.

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that I do write every day. It’s mostly blather and dumping thoughts out of my mind, but I also record stuff that happens, so it is a history and a thinking machine too. It helps me process stuff.

And, as you can see, I can easily just ramble on with what I’m thinking now. I think that might be a good skill. Not sure.

And maybe it’s time for me to be more public.

To write here on this blog or others, to share something interesting or valuable.

I still have a dream.

Thanks for listening.

Categories
Books practice

Practice

In Seth Godin’s book, The Practice, he talks about shipping creative work.

“Shipping, because it doesn’t count if you don’t share it.”

“Creative, because you’re not a cog in the system. You’re a creator, a problem solver, a generous leader who is making things better by producing a new way forward.”

“Work, because it’s not a hobby. You might not get paid for it, not today, but you approach it as a professional. The muse is not the point, excuses are avoided, and the work is why you are here.” (The Practice, pg 3)

That is the premise of the whole book. And he goes into explaining in creative detail why each of those principles matter.

Well, that’s all this blog has been, a place to practice. Of course, I haven’t been consistent. And that’s what I lack. But I have produced quite a bit, if you look over a long time period. So, here it is. This is my creative work.

And it’s time to ship some more.

Thanks for being here.

Categories
personal

My Three Words for 2022

I’ve done this before. Every year in fact, since around 2010. I got the idea from Chris Brogan back then (here’s his post for this year. Read that for a good explanation of the process)

But just because I’ve done it every year doesn’t mean I’ve been super successful with the execution throughout the year (isn’t that with everything?). Still, it is a great exercise to determine what is important to you for that year. I think it works better than resolutions. It sets the intention of goals and resolutions.

And often, after I may have forgotten them for a little a while, in the middle of the year, I will find them posted somewhere, or remember them and they will help me reset and focus on what I wanted to improve that year. It helps distill your favorite principles so your goals have better direction. And they become your own personal code.

So, here are my words for 2022.

MOVE: The idea of moving is always helpful. It helps physically, and also conceptually with regards to tasks or projects. They can sometimes become stagnate or get stuck. So, if I’m focused on moving things along I should get more things done. I’m also focused on starting movements and helping others to start movements so ‘move’ is a reference to that also, along with exercise. It can also mean to move my perception. Maybe I just need to see something from another a ngle.

KINDRED: The definition of kindred is “a group of persons related to another”. So I want to make sure I find my people. Those who are kindred spirits, who believe in the movement I’m leading. Those who I have the pleasure to serve. If I can serve them well, I’ll be successful. Kindred can also remind me that we are all part of the same family of humans, and I believe children of loving Heavenly parents, so I should treat my fellow brothers and sisters with kindness and compassion. This word can also help me focus on my immediate family and think about how I can teach, nurture, uplift, and care for my spouse and children.

STREAMS: I like streams. They are pretty. And mesmerizing. I like to hike in them, stepping on rocks. But that has nothing to do with my word, except maybe I’ll try to find more streams to hike in this year. What I want this word to help me do is to build more streams of income. I have an excellent job, but I think I would have fun doing a side hustle, teaching people things that I’ve learned in my 25 years of corporate experience. So, I will be working on developing content and products that can be sold to those who might be interested. Things like online video courses, ebooks, paperback books, speaking gigs, and maybe consulting. I’ll explore a variety of ways to have additional streams of income. And they don’t have to be big, if there are a lot of them.

So there they are, my three words for 2022, Move Kindred Streams. They form an interesting phrase that doesn’t mean anything now, but might be code for something throughout the year. (Plus, it helps me remember them.) With these words guiding my actions, I plan to have an excellent, successful year.

Bring on 2022!

Categories
Uncategorized

Something Something

Whenever I need to write something and don’t know what to say, I usually just start writing and it comes out. So here it is! You like?

I know there are multiple subjects I could write about, and since this blog isn’t necessarily focused on any one topic, that means I can write whatever I want!

Of course, that makes it harder.

My mind likes to wander.

I end up thinking about a whole bunch of random topics that wouldn’t be relevant for a blog post. (But maybe they are.) It’s still hard for me to write. But it’s good exercise. Writing in public is totally different than writing in a private space where no one sees it.

It causes you to be a better writer.

So maybe I should be posting every day.

We’ll see. I’ve said that before here.

Need a new habit.

What do you do every day?

Thanks for being my habit.

Categories
Uncategorized

Microphone Test 2