Well, I’ve decided to wrap up my blog over on TheNewManOfAction.com. Time to move on, for many reasons. The original site was a kick in the pants for myself to take action: too many ideas, not enough actually done with them. I can’t say that now I follow through everything 100%, but I have a renewed sense of purpose which is less involved with personal development.
So, instead of forcing some content out to the dozen of readers rather than writing from the heart, it’s time to move on.
Where to? Well, who knows. But first I wanted to tip my hat to those who are involved in personal development who are really something else. There are many good contributors, but for mine these two made me sit up and say I can change and I can achieve. Leo Babatua at ZenHabits, and Jonathan Mead at Illuminated Mind. Thanks gents.
I thought a list of what has happened since starting this blog might also be pretty snazzy:
- I have commenced and am now part way through an MBA that I was lucky enough to start due to a scholarship from Neville Sawyer. Neville’s kindness, foresight and determination to help young people is inspirational, and I am just one of many grateful recipients of Neville’s philanthropy.
- Through starting this site, I have learnt the WordPress philosophy and open source environment… and because I can’t do anything unless it’s balls deep, I’ve learnt enough CSS and PHP (programming languages) to get me into trouble. I’ve also met some great people who are able to get me out of trouble in those situations when I’ve broken something (again).
- It’d be a huge leap of faith to say the site or my actions changed anyone or anything much. I am proud of some things that have been born from either the site itself or the online blogging process itself. But hey let’s keep it on the downlow and just say the site has helped cured world hunger, world peace is close, and global warming is no longer a worry. Job done =)
Have fun world – I’m off to my next challenge! Check it out at Formula 1 site PureF1.com – dedicated to F1 for the fans.
A further post on how the internet can join you up – I’ve now met another Tristan Rayner out there. This might be common for some people, your John Smith’s or your Zhang Yong’s. But for me, having known only few Tristan’s in my world, to find another Tristan Rayner (who of course, is a great bloke) was pretty funny. It got me thinking about people having the same name and how it works in the world.
What about marrying someone with the same name? Like the two Kelly Hildebrandt’s who found each other on Facebook and talked and now are off to probably make more Hildebrandt’s. Hope they checked the family tree well enough.
On the other hand – a really magnificently unique name like ‘Fully Hektik Sik’ seems to ensure you’ll be on your own – and probably not just in namesake.
Twitter is a global tool that lets anyone talk to anyone easily and quickly. Same as email, same as text messaging, but it’s more of a community – and the 140 character limit keeps things neat.
I find more and more that I’m able to connect with local people with similar interests a lot more. I’ve met a number of good people – @HyperBrendan who is similarly interested in the web, sport and horses with @TopPunter. Top blokes.
Then there’s the http://www.newcastlecoffeemornings.com which have taken off and are a lot of fun – a great way to meet new people despite the fact that everyone is effectively a stranger. And it’s happening everywhere, I’ve seen Sydney and Melbourne meet-ups and all sorts. It’s interesting seeing how people’s personalities match up with their Twitter username – some people are very candid, others talk about just about everything.
Getting to know the locals using global tools sounds like a form of glocalisation – an interplay of locals talking globally. It’s one way in which people have been supporting the Iran election process by ‘going green’. I’m pretty sure 90% of people wouldn’t know a Mousavi from a cabbage, but when we’re all supporting democracy, it seems to be the right thing to do.
End Twitter thoughts.
A short introduction. I’m Tristan Rayner. I live in Newcastle, Australia. You can find me on twitter – @newmanofaction.
I write a blog called The New Man Of Action. It’s all about exploring and inspiring action. No more excuses – it’s a kick in the butt to get going and take action.
I’ve finally managed to acquire TristanRayner.com (and .net) so I’ll be having a chat on here about stuff that interests me.