Wednesday May 23rd, 2007: Issue #804
I’m not a stupid person (please, don’t answer that) and I am generally able to find my way round new software without too much problem. However, this time I’m lost.
I bought an accounts software package that was recommended to me as being relatively low cost, but fully-featured enough for the needs of my little business. Inside the big box was the necessary disk, plus two manuals. Manuals! You don’t often get printed materials these days! It looked promising.
Until I loaded the software onto my computer and was presented with a horrible looking page that used a whole lot of jargon terms that mean nothing to me.
I have absolutely no idea what to do.
So far, the manual that so impressed me has been less than helpful because it shows a completely different introduction screen to the one I’m seeing!
As you’ll see later on in today’s Kickstart, some software is so easy to use that no instructions are required at all - so why is it that when large corporations release programs they make them so darned complicated!
I’ll persevere with my accounts package because I need it. But I really wish that I could grab the programmer and manual writer warmly by their throats and bash their heads together until they get the message that what is simple and obvious in their geeky little minds is absolutely confusing and baffling to real people.
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When my good friend John Falkinder came to visit from Australia last year I made him and his wife a traditional English dessert called Summer Pudding.
They had never heard of it before and John asked me for the recipe. I haven’t yet sent it to him because a list of ingredients is only half the story. You have to see how those ingredients go together.
As it turns out, it is Summer Pudding season again and I am going to make one tonight for us to eat at a dinner party we are holding on Saturday.
This time I’ll take pictures of how it all comes together and post them online with the full recipe.
If you’ve never had Summer Pudding, you’ll love it.
I’ll announce it on the blog when it is ready to view.
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After my review of XSitePro on Monday, quite a few people have emailed me with requests for more information. I’ve been happy to help as far as I’m able.
If you have any questions about XSitePro - or any other program or ebook that I review, please let me know.
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About a month ago I mentioned that Kickstart was enjoying an influx of new subscribers because I had joined Robert Puddy’s ‘Advertising Know-How’ co-registration service.
That influx has been continuing nicely and I just love getting the emails from AKH that say “Another New Subscriber from Advertising Know-How has signed up to: Kickstart Today”.
334 of those delightful emails have arrived so far!
If you have a newsletter or ezine and could do with some new subscribers, Advertising KnowHow is a great free resource. I’ve upgraded to the Pro version and it is one of the best investments I’ve made!
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At 7.30 this morning I bought a new piece of software.
It is called Instant Article Wizard 2.0 and it comes from Jonathan Ledger, the genius who created the $7 selling method.
I figured that Jon is such a good programmer that anything he produces must be worth checking out so I wasted no time in buying it.
The sales page for Instant Article Wizard 2.0 makes claims that seem incredible - that you can write good quality, human-readable articles on almost any subject - whether you know anything about it or not - in minutes.
There are a couple of videos on the sales page and they certainly make it look easy.
So I decided to put it to the test.
I thought I’d buy the software and make a Camtasia video of my very first attempt to use it - without reading any instructions (my only knowledge of the working of the program comes from watching the demo video).
Let’s see if it is as easy to use - and as good - as Jon says!
The fact that I’m telling you about it should tell you that it works very well.
You can see my video at http://www.urlnex.us/InstantArticleWizard/VideoReview/
It isn’t the best video I’ve ever made because it is totally unscripted and unedited. It just shows, in real time, my very first experience with Instant Article Wizard.
The finished article that I produced is there too. It isn’t by any means perfect, but it is a very credible article. A bit more work on my part (and more experience with Instant Article Wizard 2.0) could have made it great.
And that is a pretty good recommendation!
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An Inspirational Thought
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How happy are you?
Look out the window and you might change your tune!
Researchers carried out a big telephone survey which simply asked people to rate their own happiness levels and found some interesting answers.
They discovered that the average ‘happiness quotient’ was higher on sunny days than dreary ones.
They also discovered that people with a lot of money rated themselves higher than people without - but only by a tiny difference.
I wonder how much they spent to find out those two ’startling’ facts!
What was rather telling was when asked to rate their general happiness on a scale of 1 to 10, the average score was just 3.6.
I hope that as a highly motivated Kickstarter YOU would rate yourself higher than that!
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Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
Don’t keep it to yourself - send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
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The Quote of the Day
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Roy Moody said,
“The greatest motivational act one person can do for another is to listen.”
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Today’s Power Thought
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Today’s thought is about how our motivation, our management of our time, our effectiveness and our bodies are all inextricably linked.
You know how it is - there are times of the day and the week when you just don’t feel like it. No matter how important it is.
There are times when the little voice in your head is determined to sabotage your every effort.
There are times when you just can’t be bothered.
But there are other times when you are fired up with enthusiasm, when everything you touch goes right, when you race through your jobs like a hot knife through butter.
Unfortunately, we live in the age of the clock.
We have evolved a society with fixed times for everything. We get up at the same time. We get to work at the same time. We take our breaks at the same time. We eat lunch at the same time. We go home at the same time.
All those fixed times are there to ensure that the world ‘generally’ runs smoothly. But they take no account of the fact that we are all individuals.
Many of us have body clocks that are out of step with the world clock.
We are expected to maintain peak efficiency, total concentration and optimum energy levels right through the day. But the truth is that all of us have internal rhythms that go up and down constantly.
For a few days, I recommend that you keep a half-hourly journal. Divide a sheet into four columns. In the first column write the times down the side. Like this:
06.00
06.30
07.00
07.30
08.00
Fill it in for the entire day.
Then label the remaining three columns like this:
My Efficiency | My Concentration | My Energy
Every half hour, audit your state of being. Be completely honest with yourself (you might as well - nobody else will see it) and give yourself scores out of 10 in each column.
After you’ve completed a few days, preferably a whole week, plot the results on a spreadsheet and look at how the lines cycle up and down.
This might all sound like a silly exercise, but it is going to be a huge benefit to you in your quest for success.
Armed with this knowledge you’ll be able to plan your days better, organize meetings more efficiently, get far more done when your body is at peak performance levels, and, spot your own personal ‘danger times’.
By effectively managing yourself in tune with the hidden cycles within you, you’ll find strategies to get the best from yourself even in the down cycles.
You don’t need more hours in the day. You just need to know how to use the ones you have better.
This plan will do that for you - and so much more!
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Fascinating Facts
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Next time you weight yourself, remember to breathe out. It can make all the difference!
The average person can exhale 4000 cc’s of air - and as air weighs about 2 pounds per cubic yard at sea level, this means that exhaling as you step on the scales can save you 0.134 ounces!