How to you focus? Do you also face issue with your focus some time in life?
Then look into the conditions of "flow" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29
1. A clear set of goals : you know exactly what needs to be done next.
2. The task is not too easy, but not too hard. It's just at the edge of your ability.
3. The task gives you immediate feedback.
When you're engaged in that kind of work, you FOCUS! That's why video games are so addictive! They play up these 3 conditions so well. You have no problem focusing when playing a video game!
Also it's pretty crucial to have all this work be leading to a goal that you want so badly - whether it's to be a millionaire, to be famous, to be in Y Combinator, whatever.
Then it's also crucial to have this goal be so close that you know if you just keep working well that it's very likely you'll get there.
Get those situations lined up, and you'll have no problem focusing!
(( And yes, I'm embarrassed to admit I have a major problem with focus in my life right now. Apparently it's kind of common for recent mutli-millionaires who have surpassed all their previous goals. What's next? How can I top this? Do I want to? Do I just retire now? I have some new goals, but they're not burning goals. And I just realized they aren't matching steps #1, 2, 3, above. Hmmm.... ))
But I am quite driven to turn my next app/business ideas into reality : http://50pop.com/code
Definitely not trying to "top" CD Baby. Just following what fascinates me. Just not quite as intensely as when I was so driven to be a rock star. ☺
For example, I'm tempted to give this bit of advice:
Think small. Don't think about getting rich. Just think what you can do for someone right now that they'll be happy to pay you for. Then when you've found it, think of how to do it for as many people as possible.
... but is that actually good advice? Or do I just think that's the strategy that made me rich, when actually it's something else entirely, and I somehow got successful despite my stupid approach?
That said, here's something that I know is quite solid:
The biggest change in my attitude towards money came from my girlfriend's hippie parents. She grew up on a commune in Vermont. No TV, no nothing. Her parents just did random odd jobs - like photography and sewing - but kept their cost of living so low that it was enough to sustain them to this day. Then they put their daughter through fancy ivy-league universities on scholarships and such.
By lowering your cost of living so low that you can do just a few hours of work per month to pay your expenses, then it frees you up to turn your attention to doing things that make you happy, or perhaps building things that will make you much more money in the long run. Things that most people don't have the time to do because they're too busy on the rat-race, doing some job they hate, because they need to support their expensive cost of living.
Point being: once you realize how cheaply you can live, you get a real secure feeling of financial abundance.
Then keep improving your hustle, and doing whatever it takes to make money doing what you love, and the security/abundance mixes with fun, for a damn good combination.
(I hope this helps.)
I like that you have everything planned out to be multi-lingual from the start on your projects. I remember reading your uses.this interview a while back and you talked about using wendlin/learning chinese. Are you still doing that, if so, how's that going?
It looks like they also sell a book, but it was published July 2010, so I'm not sure how much has changed since.
Nginx: http://wiki.nginx.org/Main
JavaScript: http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/Professional-JavaScri... and http://eloquentjavascript.net/
jQuery: http://www.sitepoint.com/books/jquery2/ and http://www.headfirstlabs.com/books/hfjquery/
Backbone: https://peepcode.com/products/backbone-js and http://backbonetutorials.com/ ... but I've barely started.
And yeah I'm still learning Chinese, but I've scaled it back, because I realized that the programming is more important to me now, and I wasn't getting all the programming done that I wanted to because I was taking 2 hours a day on my Chinese.
Since I was a kid, I would have these rare moments of intense calmness. Certain things would set it off: the sound of paper brushing together when someone is reading a book. I've also had this happen when listening to certain people talk; their voice or mannerisms trigger it. Other strange things also trigger it, like the sound of secadas in the summer. The older I get the more rare I experience it, but I've yet to hear anyone else talk about it. When I've explained this feeling to people, they look at me like I am crazy. I started to wonder if this elated feeling is so extreme for me because I'm generally tense, and so, extreme relaxation is so absolute in my case. Flow sounds like a similar experience. Maybe it's the same?
I used to get it a lot when I was younger, normally when people were doing me a favour I wasn't expecting or they were going out of their way to help me. I've also had it when getting my hair cut.
Throwaway account, as I have also had the crazy look.
The most interesting thing I found was that even by just reading the WSJ article explaining the music, I can feel the shivers.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Frisson http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297020364600457721...
I get this when I watch someone who is intensely focused on something slow and repetitive. The best example I remember from my childhood is being mesmerized watching someone sort a deck of cards.
I still get this, and have learned to set up situations that can trigger it (good adult example is having someone slowly "write" text on my back with their finger).