There are countless reasons why we procrastinate but one of them stands out for me personally and is relatively easy to overcome. Are you ever in the middle of doing something when suddenly you get a great idea and switch your focus over to the new and exciting project? This happens on a small scale at home for me quite often. I’m cleaning the garage when I find a tool and think, “I could use this to fix that faulty light switch.” Without any further thinking, I’m standing in front of a light switch with my garage still a mess. The issue is a form of procrastination that is terribly counterproductive and happens throughout our lives but affects web designers more than anyone else.

Almost every web designer has one characteristic in common–they are all great at thinking up new ideas for websites. This skill is one of their best and worst at the same time! A new idea for a website can be exciting and motivating but it can also be the downfall of all of the other great ideas in the past.

Read on after the jump to hear how I handle my new ideas. I keep churning them out but it takes some dedication to actually get things done!

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Over the holiday weekend, I met someone that “purchased” a number of Christmas gifts at a big box retailer since the store has easily exploited rules for returns. This form of stealing needs to be carefully examined by stores because it is far too easy for people to exploit. We all know of ways of getting promo codes by searching sites like Fatwallet but those are legitimate ways to save some cash. The method I saw used this past weekend is simply stealing but the companies completely condone it through their exchange methods.

Over the weekend, a large retailer had a sale on 2GB Sandisk flash cards for use in digital cameras. The cards normally sell for $49 but were on sale for a mere $19! The $30 savings was phenomenal and helped a number of people get some great gifts. However, through the company’s return policy, people can easily exploit the store for their own gain. Here’s what happens:

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Let’s face it–we go into the holiday season every year with the best intentions of staying in shape but come out a few (or 10) pounds heavier. It is inevitable–there is simply too much great food, holiday parties and drinking that bring a wave of calories that our body is just not used to taking. The irony in all of this is that most of us then follow our holiday binges with a list of New Years resolutions focused on getting back into shape.

Instead of devoting our attention to taking pounds off, we’ll take a proactive approach and look at ways we can keep from putting the pounds on in the first place. It won’t be easy but with a few tricks and a hefty serving of will-power, we can all avoid the holiday overeating.

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2007 is quickly coming to an end. The holiday decorations are up, cards have been mailed out and presents have been purchased. Soon, the only thing left to do will be to set my New Year’s resolutions! The problem with these lists of goals for so many people is that we set ourselves up for failure in a number of ways. To look at why we fail at our New Year’s resolutions, let’s take a look at some best-practices for goal setting and apply those to our year-end goals. We’ll look at alternatives for some of the most common resolutions that we set and then some general tips for achieving your goals.

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It is hard to read the news or turn on the television without noticing a new story on global warming and then hearing great ideas to “go green.” We’ve seen light bulb innovation in the form of CFL’s, solar panels being used for alternative forms of energy and massive changes to automobiles through the use of hybrid vehicles. These are all great steps forward but there’s still one relic in our homes that remains greatly unchanged–the toilet. Sure, we’ve seen the gallons-per-flush specifications for toilets decrease in an effort to save the water our civilization greatly depends on but I’m not convinced this is enough.

To really save water with toilets, manufacturer’s need to devise a hybrid toilet that mixes the water-saving technique of the men’s urinal with the traditional toilet. The urinal is a brilliant water-saving device because a lot of water isn’t needed to rinse away the waste. Why isn’t the same true for toilets?

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You’ve surely noticed by now that the New England Patriots are currently in the midst of a perfect season in the NFL. Everything is going their way and the nation has taken notice. The media coverage is phenomenal and most sports shows are devoting a great deal of time to this amazing team. While watching the game against the Pittsburg Steelers yesterday I heard John Madden mention that the Steelers have been studying tapes of the Patriots all week in order to find weaknesses. This happens for every game played in the NFL but it then made me think back to my own job and how I study our competition to find ways of exploiting their soft spots. Once the wheels were turning, I realized that the New England Patriots are just like any other business and we can see quite a few similarities between what happens on the field and what happens in our own lives. In no way am I a Patriots fan–even so, I think they are a facsinating team to watch and learn from. Let’s have a look.

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I had a very interesting email come in this morning from one of my readers asking me how for a little guidance on blogging. He is about to launch what sounds like a very interesting blog and wanted to know how I was able to get my blog off the ground. I answered his email and then decided I’d write a quick post on the topic so others can possibly get a little motivation and learn what has worked well for me recently.

There are so many topics to write about and an equal number of ways to promote a blog. That being said, I want to point out that these are ways my blog gained a readership. Other blogs have succeeded in completely different ways. I wouldn’t say any particular way of bringing readers to your site is better or worse than another. As such, let’s open a discussion in the comment and share with each other various ways we’ve succeeded on this topic.

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Most of us have been there. We’re young and want to make a big purchase for a home or automobile but we haven’t established substantial credit to get a loan. Perhaps we’ve damaged our credit and need the backing of a person with a strong credit history in order to get the loan […]

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