Marcel Legros - Play the Game of Life

Every day you face the challenge of deciding what you will do with your day. It may seem like the bulk of your day is made up of commitments to other people, such as your boss, your loved ones, etc, but each of those are the result of a decision you made one day in the past. A decision you make today, may affect how you spend your days well into the future. So don’t take today lightly. You are dealing with serious stuff, which is your time and your life. You can be headed for some great feelings of satisfaction in the future, or you can be headed for depression, just on the basis of what you decide to do with your day today.

Do the right thing.

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I’ve started an ongoing, weekly carnival based on the theme of “The Meaning of Life.”

Do you have a unique insight into spirituality, philosophy, relationships, science, art, success, work, or play?

Do you look at things a little different from your neighbors?

Your contribution can be on any topic as long as it’s theme is based on finding meaning in life. Articles, artwork, original photos, and video are all accepted.

The submission deadline is Saturday at 9pm PST. The carnival will be published on Sunday, December 2nd. Send your submissions to marcel@marcellegros.com or sign up at Blog Carnival.

I look forward to your wisdom!

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It is very comfortable to be with people that agree with us, but if you are going to experience peak growth, you need to expose yourself to people with totally different opinions and approaches. You will not learn new things from people doing and thinking exactly what you do. Yes, you will experience rejection, frustration and the sense that you know more than the people you do not agree with, but if you focus on the new ways of looking at things, you will discover new and better ways to do things.

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Here are three tips to help you manage your worries.

1. Examine your expectations to see if you are expecting too much from others or yourself. Times change, so your expectations may not be valid anymore.
2. Explore your options and keep them open. Know there are other possibilities, and you will feel less trapped and more relieved. Options create hope.
3. Live in the present. “What if” questions keep popping up, bugging us about the future, and when that happens, push these aside and stay in the present.
4. Here is a worry management bonus, give yourself some quiet time through meditation, or quiet thought. Research continually proves that the majority of worry related thoughts we have, are things that are out of our control. Work on coming up with alternative solutions to your problems, or what else you can do, if you can’t solve it. Your life will move ahead much faster and you will enjoy yourself more in the process.

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Most of us find our place in adulthood. Our confidence grows with our experiences, and if we’re lucky, the self limiting labels created in childhood fall away.

Even positive labels create negative consequences. Any behavior contrived to elicit a response, to maintain an image, or to pump up the ego, is not authentic. It perpetuates the notion that we require props to be of value; that we have to defend our existence. No-one can diminish who you are by their opinion of you.

Peace comes when the urge to defend yourself falls away and is replaced by compassion.

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Some people are very successful, without setting goals. So what are they missing? Satisfaction is what they are missing. Success that comes to you seemingly by accident is hard to appreciate, on the other hand success that you planned and worked for, is sweet indeed. Beyond the satisfaction of attaining goals, goal setting increases the odds of attaining your goal by giving you a road map and time frame to use. A goal is a dream with a date on it. If you are not writing your goals out every day, give it a shot and see how it feels. Most people find their success rate goes up along with their satisfaction and morale, if they write out goals and put them into action.

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I said to my husband the other night: “We’re perfectly normal (in a secret service kind of way). We just wear our tics on the inside.”

What common denominator quantifies someone as normal? I’d like to meet the asshole who created the median and rough him up a bit. Unfortunately, there is no singular asshole to blame - just a mass of humanity trying to fit in and fly under the radar.

We are taught to care about other people’s opinions from an early age. “What will the neighbors think?” is the gold standard in disempowerment. It disables unique expression and separates us from emotional authenticity. We become liars by omission. Showing the world only what we think is acceptable, and slamming the lid on creativity. How can we lead full and enriching lives if were always looking over our shoulders to gauge the reaction of the guy in the next row. Who’s life is it anyway?
Why Do We Succumb? The Cost of Doing Business

It begins on the playground and escalates through high school. The desire to be accepted. If you are different you run the risk of beatings—or worse; becoming a social misfit. The fear of being alone can motivate us to do a lot of stupid things. But at what cost? Veiling our nature in order to blend in, detaches us from our experiences. Choosing ‘safe’ scenarios, to protect ourselves from pain—leads to boredom and discontent. The old Pink Floyd song “Comfortably Numb” is a great example of a life half lived.

Think of all the great minds who were at one time or another deemed ‘odd’. Their contributions to our world have been immense. I’m not suggesting anarchy (that would be creepy). Just the ‘eyes wide open wonder’ that comes from being truthful with yourself and genuine with others.

Self acceptance.

So stir the pot, jump on the bed, cross your eyes, and laugh till it hurts. Don’t worry; it’s normal.

Changing the world, one follower at a time.

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Here’s day five in my six part series designed to help an absolute beginner learn how to build a web site. If you’re new to computing or you have no idea what skills and tools you need to become a web developer, this is for you. The articles aren’t designed to teach you web development skills; they’re meant to give you a push in the right direction so that you can quickly learn those skills on your own. I hope you find my guide helpful. If you do, please Stumble it, so that others can benefit.

Article Outline

Day One - Tools Required for Website Development
Day Two - Skills Required for Website Development
Day Three - The Most Powerful Learning Secret for Website Development
Day Four - Beyond Basics - Tools That Take Your Site To the Next Level
Day Five - Beyond Basics - Skills That Take Your Website to the Next Level
Day Six - Wrap-Up - Summary of Tools, Skills, Books, and Tutorials for Website Development
Day Five - Skills to Take Your Site to the Next Level

You more than a solid understanding of HTML and CSS to build a successful web site. The difference between a good web site and a great web site isn’t flashy graphics or slick database-driven content - it’s depth.

You need to:

* Understand your topic
* Understand your audience
* Deliver your information, tools, or solutions to that audience in a user-friendly way.
* Give something that is of value to the people viewing your site, make it easy for them to find what they want, and create a compelling reason for your audience to keep coming back.

Learn To Spell Correctly. Use Proper Grammar, and Concise Language.

Ther’s nuthin wurs than reding a web site with horibel speling and gramur.

Make sure you spell-check everything you write. Ask another writer to check your work and edit for improvements.

Often, a word isn’t misspelled, but misused - here is a good post on the most commonly misused words. Make sure your writing is concise - kill all unnecessary words for sake of clarity. Eliminate “weedy” words like “but, well, then, very, and, so, that, just, really, now, was, were, and had” - they’re lifeless and add nothing to your writing. Passive words like “could, should, would, had, were, had, got, was, been” destroy interesting sentences and put your readers to sleep.

Learn to identify weedy words and passive language!

Offer Something of Value

Too many people start a personal site or blog just to tell us how badly their day went or what they ate for dinner last night. I’m not being cruel when I say “I don’t want to see another picture of your cat. I don’t care if you have a strange lump on your elbow and you want the world to know about it. I don’t want to see another page cluttered with inspirational quotes, jokes, and seizure-inducing animated banners.”

Provide valuable content - something worth reading, a tool to solve a problem, or even just your own opinions and feelings. Make us laugh or cry. Make us feel what you’re feeling. Make it worthwhile.

Make Your Pages Easy to Navigate

Design your site so any viewer can navigate to any page they’re looking for, in 3 clicks or less. Provide a “home” link on every page on the site. Make your links visual if possible, and provide simple navigation to every area of your site on every page. Never allow new pages to open into a new window. Never allow pop-ups ads or reminders of any kind - they’re annoying and put your reader in a bad mood.

If I have to click 10 times to get to your article and then I’m greeted with a ‘helpful’ pop-up window, I’m going to go somewhere else.

Keep Your Images as Small as Possible

When you insert images and graphics into your html, make sure you optimize them to be as small as possible. Large image files can cripple a web page and your readers will go elsewhere. Don’t be afraid to use eye-candy and great graphics. Use programs like Photoshop and Gimp to reduce their file size.

Here’s an example - the following image was downloaded from iStock.

The original file size was 252 KB. After resizing and saving it as an optimized jpeg in Photoshop, the file is now 18.6KB. The image will load over 13 times faster because I optimized it!

Make It Easy on My Ears

It’s tempting to include music on your web pages. Music is okay, but never have it automatically load and always give the viewer an option to turn it off. Not everyone will share you musical preference. If I’m surfing late at night, I don’t want music to start blaring from the PC and wake up my family. If you force me to listen to your favorite tunes when I discover your site, I’m likely to go somewhere else.

Avoid Color Schemes That Melt My Eyes

Two intense colors placed beside each other will “vibrate” and cause irreparable damage to your viewers’ mood.

Avoid putting intense, saturated versions of these colors close together: red / green, blue / red, green / magenta, yellow / cyan, blue / magenta, blue / green.

Here’s an example of what not to do. Isn’t this annoying?

Create White Space On Your Page

Break your writing up into short paragraphs and leave room for the eye to relax.

White space gives focus and clarity to a web page.

Avoid Tiny Fonts

Not everyone has 20/20 vision. Even if all your viewers have perfect vision, larger font sizes are easier to read.

Avoid Busy, Distracting Backgrounds

No cloud scenes, repeating checkered patterns, or other noise, please. They’re a major put-off, and make your content impossible to read.

Don’t Let Advertising Dominate Your Content

There’s nothing worse than banners at the top, text ads at the bottom, and ads that pop up when you hover over every word. I came to view your content, not get hammered over the head by advertising. There’s nothing wrong with monetizing your site - just do it tastefully and consider the user experience first.

Use Lists and Numbers

1. People love reading bulleted and numbered lists.
2. A viewer’s eye is more attracted to the numeric version of a number.
3. Use 365 instead of three hundred sixty-five.

Lastly, make your content meaningful and put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Identify the type of people you are writing for and aim to attract those people with your topics and writing style. If you identify your audience and create an environment they feel comfortable with, you’re well on your way to having a successful web site of your own.

I hope you join me for the wrap up in this series. I’ll have it up in a few days. I originally planned to write a summary of all we’ve covered in the last five articles, but I have a feeling I’m going to surprise you with something completely different!

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I travel a lot and I’m away from my family one week every month. I miss my wife and son terribly while I’m on the road but there is one advantage to this situation. Every time I go, I learn how much my two favorite people mean to me. Distance gives me perspective and strangely, it brings me closer to what really matters.

I’m on the road again this week and I thought I’d send a note out to my wife:

I’ve lied to you and I’ve hurt you.
And you forgave me.
I’m deeply flawed.
And yet, you see the light coming out from the cracks in my personality.
I’ve lied next to you in our bed and felt your warmth.
We’ve done so much together, you and I.
You smell good and you look even better.
I feel like every day is a journey, and it’s a journey I want to take with you.
We’re on a road-trip babe, with the music cranked and our feet hanging out the window.
You stick your tongue out at the world and I’m right there with you, laughing at it all.

I love you Charlene.

Take time to appreciate the people that make life worth living. If you want to improve your friendships, relationships, or marriage, why don’t you tell them exactly how you feel?

Send a note like this and make it count. Nobody’s keeping score and paying attention to your vulnerability. The best thing you can do is connect to another human being with real feeling and passion.

Now, go for it.

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What separates the best artists from the rest?

How do amazing minds create revolutions?

How do great thinkers change our world view?

They speak their minds no matter what the consequence. Speak your mind and ignore all the advice coming at you from every corner. You’re breathing and living now. You owe it to all of us to tell us what you’re thinking and feeling.

Forget political correctness or polite exchanges when what we really need is sincerity and truth. Bad things happen every day. You’d better make sure you speak your mind and tell your loved ones how much you care.

Imagine a world where everyone spoke their mind, for better or for worse. I guarantee it would be for better.

Do it today. Don’t wait for a better time.

The best time is now.

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