I made a decision today that’s probably going to be a bit unpopular.  I’ve pulled down all the affiliate ads on my site for other people’s eBooks.  I did this for a couple reasons, which I will outline below but let me state for the record that I did NOT do this because of any question on the quality of the eBooks I was previously promoting.  If anything, the problem is that I’m getting too many quality eBooks coming my way.

After I did a few reviews, I started receiving a lot of eBooks both in the minimalism niche and outside of it.  And I felt a strong desire to help these writers out because 1. I know that I would appreciate some help if/when I put something out for sale and b. it’s stuff my readers might be interested in.

But given my two to three posts per week publishing schedule, I was not able to keep up with the eBooks that were being sent to me, and still be able to put my ideas out there.  This is the selfish reason.  I write this blog to share my ideas and my writings.

I follow about two dozen plus minimalist bloggers out there, even the new ones who are popping up and only have a dozen or fewer subscribers and I noticed a trend that I was uncomfortable being a part of.  Most of us are using Thesis, the default settings no less, most of us have the same affiliate ads up, and most of us post the eBook reviews of the same books on the day that a new Minimalist title is released.

So, selfish reason number 2 is that I’ve always had a strong desire to walk a different path and I feel like I’m not doing that right now.  Seems weird to say when one of the precepts of Minimalism is to be different from the mainstream and walk your own path…but I feel I’ve been walking the mainstream path of minimalism lately.

Makes sense?

No?

Good.

When I do write my own articles, I think they have a distinctive voice, but if many of us are blogging about the same eBooks and the same concepts, what are we really doing other than reinforcing what we all already know?

Perhaps I’m just be cranky tonight and I’ll regret this decision tomorrow.  I know I’m god-awful tired from another eleven hour day at work and then trying to calm three babies when I get home but I somehow feel less cluttered, more minimalist after pulling the ads down tonight.  My blog is my sanctuary from when everything else gets too harried and it should reflect the unique characteristics of me, not act as a conglomeration of everyone else’s terrific writing.

Now, I can’t say what the future brings, but I don’t think I’ll be doing front and center reviews for other people’s eBooks.  I may mention a blurb (with or without an affiliate link), particularly if it sparks an idea for an article that I can build on, and offer value with.  I won’t be placing affiliate link ads on the site to eBooks for the foreseeable future.  If something cool comes out, I’ll mention it as part of sharing links, like I know that Tammy from Rowdy Kittens has a cool eBook coming out about Car Free living and I think she’s an awesome writer and (lot’s of and’s in this sentence) I plan to give it a read this weekend, but other than passing on a link so that my good readers can find it and make their own decision, I think that’s all I can comfortably do for now.  I know she’ll get some nice affiliate sales coming in from other bloggers and she definitely deserves it.

Karol Gajda is another of my favorite bloggers, in the Lifestyle Design niche, and he has a book coming out in the next couple weeks at Ridiculously Extraordinary and I’ll read that one too.  If it’s great, I may plug it at the end of a post.

I’ve read Cloud Living this year from PluginID and that eBook is really terrific.  Seriously…great stuff about turning your blog profitable….and I just broke one of the rules by pulling down my ads.

I’ve read Tynan’s Life Nomadic this year which is freakin’ great if you want to become location independent.

I’ve read The Art of Being Minimalist – awesome

I’ve read the Minimalist Handbook – terrific

I’ve read the Nu Nomad which is great.

I’ve read simplify by Becoming Minimalist which is great.

I’ve read Project M-31 by David Damron which is great.

I’ve read How to be Remarkable by Colin Wright. Great.

Oh and I just finished Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell today (Kindle version).  F*cking terrific book.

These are just the eBooks by bloggers I’ve read in 2010.  I have another dozen sitting in queue and I’m feeling nearly overwhelmed by all these great books out there…so much to read and so little time.

If I did blog posts reviews of all these I wouldn’t have time to write any articles of my own.  If I put affiliate ads up on my home page for each of these books, my own stuff would be lost in the jungle.

So (I had an English teacher that used to ding me for using “so.”  Never got over that), yes I’m thankful for everyone’s great writing, and even for the review copies that get sent to me. And I’m thankful for the modest affiliate sales that have come in.  It’s enough to buy a few cans of formula for my babies and keep them plump and happy for a few weeks, not that we’re hurting for money.  I also pay for the licenses on the higher quality pictures I display on this site, and webhosting costs and Thesis etc.  I know this is a funny way of showing my gratitude, but my blog is still only three months old and I’m still trying to find my voice.  I’ll only do that by writing my own articles.

Also, by reading all these eBooks that come my way, I’ve fallen way behind on my 2010 Education Syllabus.  Were this a college course, I’d have been kicked out of school already.  All the books I’ve read and I’m still only halfway through Tim Ferris’s 4 Hour Work Week.  F*CKUS!  Sorry, I meant FOCUS!

By the way, the Syllabus is going to get a facelift.  My directive this year is learning to be a productive writer and blogger with a secondary aspect of continuing to simplify my life so some of the Syllabus books don’t fit the bill.

Anywho, with that being said, I’ve been working on a few book manuscripts and expect to have another freebie out there by the end of March.  I’ve started developing a line of books under the premise of “Everything I Think You Need to do to Be Successful at…” which is a nod to the great Zig Ziglar who said that every person should write such a book on the topic of success if, for no other reason, that the research alone would make you a better, more successful person.

Each day, on my lunch break, I squirrel myself away from any contacts, plop on some Gamma Brainwave entrainment and write pieces of a few book manuscripts for a half hour or so.  That’s when I do get a lunch away from my desk, which is not always possible.  Monday had seven hours of meetings, not including double bookings.  And of course there’s actual real work to do that doesn’t go away when you’re in meetings.   I can’t remember the last time I’ve taken a social lunch with anyone.  It’s been probably close to a year but if you really have a desire to create, sometimes you have to make the sacrifice.

Oh, and if I read another blog about blowing off work meetings to simplify your life, I’ll probably resort to violence.  It is a fact in a large corporate environment that if you have any importance to any medium to large sized project your subject matter expertise will be called to the stand several times per day and in that environment, if you blow off meetings, you are directly leading to the failure of the project.  Sorry to pop that minimalist concept (yes, I’m a jerk today…most days really).  Not only that, but if you no-show and you’re a subject matter expert, you just wasted everyone else’s time as they try to struggle through the meeting without you.  Be considerate of their time, if nothing else.

Yes, the corporate machine is highly inefficient and there are certainly a fair share of pointless meetings but I assure you, after fifteen years in the large corporate arena, getting people in a room (or Webex) works far better than putzing around with emails while everyone tries to interpret whatever was written in the email chain.

Sorry for the tangeant.

So, to recap, less ads of someone else, more of me.  If you don’t like me, then go visit someone else.

That was about 1200 words longer than I thought it would be.

Finally, I had a contest a few weeks back in which I put up for grabs a $249 program called Dao Zou by fitness expert Matt Furey.  I did the old Random.org number generator thingy and our winner was Commenter #4, Ms. Vita Reid.  Congratulations Vita!

Okay, my right leg is twitching.  That means I’m f*cking tired.

Ciao, Bella (my daughter’s name)!

In support of my 2010 Goal Setting I’ve put together a list of several books and courses that I will study this year.  I’ve deliberately set up a syllabus for myself because I know that, if I don’t, I’ll be scattered all over the place with what I consume.

I’ve picked 13 non-fiction books to read in 2010, one per month, except for October where I have two very short books to read.  For many rabid consumers of information, 13 books is not a lot, but my life is tremendously busy with other goals that I find worthy and I have baby triplets that I choose to spend most of my free time with (I often type posts one-handed while holding a sleeping baby) .  Also, I’d like to consciously spend more time applying information as opposed to relentlessly consuming it like I have in the past.

I also have little patience for a book that sucks (sucks is an opinion, I realize), though I believe that all of these will be excellent books; that’s why I chose them.  If a book sucks (opinion) after 25- 50 pages, I will dump it in favor of one of the books I have under the Electives section.  All links are Amazon Affiliate links in the book list.

My plan is to write a detailed review along with lessons applied and my experiences with each book.  I’ll share each of those on the site here and I’m also tossing around doing a book giveaway for each.

Some of the books are more esoteric than practical.  That means that there may not be much to apply after reading a book but I can still share my thoughts on how the book may have changed my mindset or reinforce existing beliefs.

Core Reading

January – The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated by Tim Ferriss

February – Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk

March – The Leap: How 3 Simple Changes Can Propel Your Career from Good to Great by Rick Smith

April – The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life by Thomas M Sterner

May – Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina

June – 12 Steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food by Victoria Boutenko

July – The Primal Blueprint: Reprogram your genes for effortless weight loss, vibrant health, and boundless energy by Mark Sisson

August – Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment by Tal Ben-Shahar

September – Against the Stream: A Buddhist Manual for Spiritual Revolutionaries by Noah Levine

October – The Integral Vision: A Very Short Introduction to the Revolutionary Integral Approach to Life, God, the Universe, and Everything by Ken Wilber and The Code: Use the Laws of Manifestation to Achieve Your Highest Good by Tony Burroughs

November – The Magician’s Way: What It Really Takes to Find Your Treasure by William Whitecloud

December – Supercharged Taoist: An Amazing True Story to Inspire You on Your Own Adventure by the Barefoot Doctor Stephen Russell

Electives

Unclutter Your Life in One Week by Erin Doland

The Deeper Secret: What Does Life Want From You? by Annemarie Postma

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, & Miracles by Bruce Lipton

The Ringing Cedars of Russia (The Ringing Cedars, Book 2) – by Vladimir Megre

In Addition to the books I will read in 2010, there are a couple of courses that I own that I want to work through which will directly contribute to my goals.  I am currently NOT an affiliate (except for amazon link on Manifesting Change)for any of these programs.  I am simply a customer.

My IPOD Touch is loaded up with the Course Syllabus below.

Non-Book Core Courses

1.  Become a Blogger by Yaro Starak – I plan on skimming thru this one as I went thru bits and pieces setting up the Scribe for the Tribe website for the triplets.

2.  The Blog Mastermind Course by Yaro Starak – there’s a lot I need to learn about blogging, being a relative newbe.  Yaro’s course is meant to be worked thru slowly and with over 20 lessons, I expect to be spending now thru June 2010 going thru this.

3.  Break Out of 9 to 5: Working for Yourself by Chris Guillebeau – I get the feeling that I’ve been supporting much of Chris’s travel habits with my patronage in 2009.  Honestly, he puts together good products at affordable prices.

4.  Freestyle: Made Easy – I wrote in my last post on Marathon Training that my attempts to learn to swim have proved embarrassing and since I long to be a decent age grouper triathlete, I’ve got to turn that around.  This DVD teaches swimming techniques and Tim Ferris gave it an excellent review awhile back.

Non-Book Elective Courses

1.  The Social Web by Chris Guillebeau – Am I just an idiot because I don’t understand how to use Twitter?  I don’t even know how to participate in chats or see threads.  Hoping Chris’s course can help me understand Twitter and other social media better and how I can apply it to growing my brand.

2.  Art & Money by Chris Guillebeau – I’m not a visual artist, but I think that this course will help anyway as I try to transition to making my primary money through writing and music.

3.  Manifesting Change: It Couldn’t Be Easier by Mike Dooley – This is more esoteric than practical but I really, truly enjoy the passion Mike has for his subject matter.

4.  T’ai Chi School for Warriors by the Barefoot Doctor – I’m trying to learn ways to minimize stress and increase energy.  My day job seems to cause the opposite but I am in no position to leave it right now so I need to mitigate some of the damage that is being done to my body because of it.  Between this and Lumberjack Yoga by Nate Rifkin, I have the tools to do this.

There are a lot of courses here.  If I can get thru the Core one’s I will be happy and the electives are there if there is time throughout the rest of the year.  I also have dozens of eBooks digitally lying about but I don’t plan on getting to them in 2010 with everything else going on.  I’ve been a collector of information in the past, but just like my books, I haven’t been good at sifting thru it.

The important thing for me is to try to apply some of the knowledge rather than read and regurgitate.

Of course, experience is the best teacher, and so I am making a conscious effort in 2010 to open myself up to new experiences.

Here’s hoping that everyone has a great 2010!