In my last weekly review I promised that I would post about how working with the daily planning sheets turned out for me. But this post is going to be a really short one, because I’m about to leave on a ski trip.

• I learned that they’re useful when I use them
• I learned that they’re useful when I don’t use them (and wish I did)
• I learned that there’s a discrepancy between planned available time and reality
• I learned that some occurrences disrupt you’re planning to such an extent that you have to start all over
• I learned that most of those occurrences are out of your control
• I learned that the way you deal with those occurrences determines the extent of their effect
• And I learned to leave room for the eventuality of such an occurrence in case of activities with deadlines

Rocket science? Hardly, but obviously something I had to go through before understanding. Next step is to master this skill.

But first holidays! I’ve got one post for scheduled for next week for you guys. I’ll be back with a regular weekly review on March 9.

If you did not come here through Zen Habits: I have a guest post there today, go check it out!

• How Productivity Habits Reduced the Impact of Theft … Twice

If you did come from Zen Habits: Welcome to How to be an Original! My name is Lodewijk van den Broek and I’m the blogger of this place. In this short post I want to show you what you can find around here, just to get you started.

To describe How to be an Original in a nutshell: it’s about discovering who you are, deciding what you want from life and about learning how to get it. Now I don’t know all the answers to those questions as well, but I have quite some ideas and I’m experimenting with a lot of concepts. So this blog is as much about teaching and sharing as it is about learning. One of the features for instance is a weekly review post, in which I review my goals (among other things). If you check those reviews you will find that I learned a lot, because I made quite some mistakes. 

For a tour of popular posts, you can check the popular posts section in the sidebar, or scroll all the way down and look through the popular posts menu there. In case you want to learn more about me (where my name comes from for instance), check the About page or leave me a message through the Contact page.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the feed if you like what you see!

Have fun!

Yesterday this domain has been abused by a spammer. Last evening my email box filled with over 3500 “Returned mail” messages for addresses that do not exist. This morning the count is at >7500 messages. I can’t even begin to imagine how many were delivered.

I don’t know if they abused the mailserver at my provider, or that they just used my domain as the (fake) return-address. I’ve submitted a support ticket at my provider, but I have to wait until the workday starts (in 3 hours) to get a response. I’ll update this message when I have more news.

For anyone visiting this site to check who sent them the junk email: I apologize for the inconvenience! I have nothing to do with those mails, please delete them at once! I sincerely regret that you were bothered by that email, as much as I regret that my domain was abused for this.

I’ll keep you posted.

[Update]
The servers at my provider Argeweb were not abused. The spammer only used my domain as a fictitious domain where the spam was coming from. Argeweb was so kind as to remove the catch all function from my account, so the remainder of the mail will bounce, instead of flooding my inbox (counter stopped at 8000 undeliverable mails). Not a lot more I can do but to delete all the messages.

2007 was the first year of How to be an Original. Also the first year for me as a blogger. It’s been a great year and I learned a lot!

I learned a lot about blogging. In the first two months already, I learned that I wanted to switch from a hosted site (Typepad) to a self-hosted site on Wordpress. But I learned a lot about social media and internet marketing as well. I learned about the dynamics of the blogosphere and the people in it and what a nice bunch of people they are!

On a technical level, I learned a lot too. I learned html, php, css to build my theme. I learned how to manage and upgrade Wordpress and the plugins. I learned how to change DNS-records to redirect certain addresses to other sites or services (like Feedburner).

And last, but not least, I learned a lot about goal setting and personal development. I have also learned Neuro Linguistic Programming and how to use language and specific questions to solve problems and find resources within. I have learned about living my own legend and what it is that makes me happy and passionate. And most of all, I learned how writing about it accelerates the learning process.

And I would also like to thank you! I’m thrilled that there are so many readers, over 500 already and the number is growing. I love your feedback and I’m very happy with the new people I have met through blogging and through you.

Click to continue »

Shane of Shane and Peter posted an interview on their blog. Well, they posted the questions and asked entrepreneurs to answer them. I’m about to start as an entrepreneur, so I’m taking up the challenge. Below you’ll find the interview, starting with Shane’s original questions, and followed by the questions that others came up with (they had to, except for Naomi she seems proclaimed herself to be exempt…of course).

So here’s the interview: 

What’s your personal mission statement?
I’ve written about that before. It’s based on my five core personal values: Love, Fun, Authenticity, Freedom and Growth. My mission statement is:

I, Lodewijk van den Broek, love life and have a lot of love to give. I enjoy authentic growth and I help others to grow. I’m here to have lots of fun and enjoy my freedom in comfort and vitality.  

What’s the biggest mess you’ve dealt with this year?
My backlogs at home! My 3 year archiving backlog being the biggest. Man, the time I spent sorting through papers, making files and folders. But now I’m (almost) done, I’m loving the results!

What current entrepreneurial efforts consume your time?
Preparing to start a business in training and coaching. And blogging of course…that’s a major personal branding activity. And as a trainer, coach or public speaker you need a good personal brand.

Why do you do what you do? 

Click to continue »