It is obvious, isn’t it, that all songs are written with meanings… that they are symbolic? Some songs do not hide any of the meanings, some do. But no matter what the song, it MEANS SOMETHING!

Meaning is very important to me, why? Because at its essence is always a purpose, understanding or even just a simple question. If you are a parent then you have probably said (I know my parents used to say it all the time!) “Stop asking Why!”, during the early years of life most of us ask questions which are vital to our development… these could include questions about why adults do something, why their friends do not get told off when they do or even purpose the of life (yes, I am talking about 3 year olds)!

It does not stop there. Almost all of us, no matter our age or knowledge, we all want to understand more about how something works or why something happens. Art is the most popular (possibly even only?) way to express our questions or to reveal secrets without anybody understanding what we are saying. It helps.

What do I include when I mention Art?

• Visual – Paintings, Photography, Pictures, Digital Art, Make-Up
• Audition – Lyrics, instrumental
• Taste – Food, drinks
• Smell – Food, perfumes

Of course there are thousands of other aspects that are included in the word Art… let us all know if you can think of any!

Now down to the point of the post, song lyrics. I am not going to interpret them myself, though I will probably do a follow up post in which I will. However, today I am going to a few verses of some songs I like (though of course you can do your own!) and I would appreciate it if you took the time to see what the songs are about. This skill is very useful in interpreting anything in life which in turn will allow you to be successful in what you are trying to achieve!

So remember, look for hidden meanings… even if it looks obvious! Also, not only meanings, try interpreting the content and relating it to a different context.

Circle of Life – featured in The Lion King
Music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice

From the day we arrive on the planet
And blinking, step into the sun
There’s more to see than can ever be seen
More to do than can ever be done
There’s far too much to take in here
More to find than can ever be found
But the sun rolling high
Through the sapphire sky
Keeps great and small on the endless round

It’s the Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle
The Circle of Life

It’s the Circle of Life
And it moves us all
Through despair and hope
Through faith and love
Till we find our place
On the path unwinding
In the Circle
The Circle of Life

Country Roads
John Denver
Almost heaven, west virginia
Blue ridge mountains, shenandoah river
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I be-long
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

All my memories, gather around her
Miner’s lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty, painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I be-long
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

I hear her voice, in the mornin’ hours she calls to me
The radio reminds me of my home far a-way
And drivin’ down the road I get a feeling
That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I be-long
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads

So what can you interpret in songs, and how do they relate to your life?

I expect you comment on a lot of blogs, I know I do! But do you pay much attention to what you write? Quite often whilst approving comments on Success Circuit I notice that I get three types of comments: spam, common and constructive. Obviously I expect none of you to spam (or at least you better not!) but many of us (including myself quite often) do not put enough effort into each comment we write. So today I would like to take the time to have a look at how we can improve our comments.

Why Should You Comment?

Part of improving how we comment is by understanding why we comment. A blogger, or indeed infopreneur, writes posts for the readers to help them and to offer new information. The commenter/reader on the other hand gets the opportunity to further what the post speaks about, give their own opinion and to discuss the content of the post with both the author and other readers. What an amazing role to play, being able to give your own ideas et cetera without having to come up with the idea for the post like the author does.

Another remarkable role of the commenter is that they are able to motivate. If you are a blogger yourself then you will know the feeling that we get every comment we approve. Knowing that people read and appreciate what you write… it is amazing!

Great Post!

This comes under my category of “common”, it is the type of comment that each one of us (usually) does the most of. You read a post and knowing that it motivates the author, you comment. But instead of writing something useful or that shows your opinion or furthers the discussion, you just say “Great post, keep them coming” or the like.

Now, I am not saying do not ever post like that (though if you can do a more sophisticated comment with the time you have then I would insist you do) but I believe we should all be helping to improve the post and to help to provide maximum information and help as many people as possible. One of my goals for the upcoming year is not to comment more, as I comment often, but to write “better” comments.

Constructive Comments

Does that sound similar to constructive criticism? Well it should! Good comments are ones that look at the good and bad points of the post, tear it apart into little pieces and start a full blown riot debate. Why? Because that not only helps other people that read it (depending what the post is about) but it also motivates and helps the author. I once got an email (because they did not want to publically slaughter me hehe) that shred apart one of my posts (on an old blog of mine) and voiced his opinions very clearly. GREAT! That is what I want. Okay, I would have preferred it if he commented on the post as it would show everybody else his opinions and perhaps even start a very strong discussion.

But comments do not have to just be about how the post is incorrect, for example if you had a blog about cooking then the comments should be about how a recipe could taste even more extravagant or be changed to a vegetarians option. It is all about taking a look at the content of the post and putting a spin on it. These not only voice your opinion but give ideas to other readers and may help them. If your commenting on a bloggers “10 top favourite WordPress plugins” then, obviously I should hope, you would write about your favourites… but stop… you could do more than that, couldn’t you? I would look at their list and if there was one there that I had used but had problems with then I would say so, if there was one I agreed with and use all the time then I would explain why it is so good.

Get where I am coming from? Just because it is not your blog does not mean you cannot provide great content for it. I know people that instead of running their own blog, or even guest posting, they go to other blogs and basically write their own post in form of a comment about the content of the post they have read. Amazing! Also remember, a lot of bloggers will read your great comment and then have a look at your own blog or ask you if you would like to guest post. Commenting is a great way to get to know people.

And before I leave you, remember this: Community does not exist if there is no interaction. So, as a commenter, ask questions! Get the author to interact with you and interact yourself with the other readers. If you manage to stir a discussion, the author will want to know more about you!

So, discuss! Is there anything you agree or disagree on? Do you hate commenters that just say “great post”, if so why? Lets get some conversation going about the assets of a good comment. Also, a question to you, how often do you usually comment on blogs?

A lot of people ask me how to make a website. I tell them that they are asking a very broad question and I try to narrow down what they are trying to do. Eventually they ‘learn’ html and css, but rather than going and making that website they wanted to do in the first place. They say to me “Okay Shane, I know how to make a website… but I cannot make anything nice like you and everyone else can!” and I remember once saying “Well, errmm… you just like, Do it”. What an answer is that? Terrible I know. I never manage to actually help them much without just directing them to places like w3schools which is where I “learned” html and css.

The problem with that though is that I am not actually being very helpful at all. I am not teaching them anything. So I sat down for a very long time the other night trying to figure out the reasons as to why I cannot teach it. I decided that (as with art, music, poetry et cetera), in my opinion, the ability to create good websites is not something that can be taught. The best, and possibly only, way to learn is by looking at other people’s websites, practising by using what you see there and editing it.

So from that I can see that some things cannot be taught completely, people must just learn for themselves. But how can you tell somebody they just need to learn it for themselves? You can’t obviously. Now, I do not know if you have been in this situation or whether you are just a better teacher than me! However, unless that is the case then we need to find a way to help without actually teaching.

An idea I have had is, put together a list of tutorials, inspiration and resources. From there they can learn and practise… then come back if they have any trouble. From there I, and you if you do this too, will be able to teach them how to fix their problem instead of doing all of their work for them.

What do you do when you come to where you are about to say “Well, you just… do it.” or “I don’t know, it seems second nature.”?

Update 13/01/10: I linked to Roland Millward’s post about Staying Positive in a Negative World.

Whilst channel hopping just now, my sister decided to watch Inkheart (an incredible film based on the awe inspiring books by Cornelia Fluke) and the first line I heard was “Don’t be selfish just because that’s how I wrote you!” which is such an amazing quotation.

If you have not read or watched Inkheart then you will wonder what it means, here is a quick background to the story. Basically, when a girl called Meggie was very young her father (Mo) was reading a book called Inkheart (yep, the book is based on a fictional book in the book… confusing right? Just wait, it gets worse!) when he accidently used his amazing, and somewhat magical, voice to read Meggie’s mother into the book! At the same time, he read many characters out of the book. One of these characters was Dustfinger, the person who author Fengolio was speaking to in the quotation.

“Don’t be selfish just because that’s how I wrote you!”

Author of the fictional Inkheart, Fengolio

The reason I find this quotation so powerful is that, although it is spoken to a character made out of written ink, these wise words relate to everyday life and I expect every single one of us has some use for it!

Think about the words. The first part is the problem, the second part is the excuse. “Don’t suck your thumb because Jimmy does it.”, “Don’t argue with your brother because your friends do.”, “Don’t become an alchoholic because your father was.” These are all valid points which come from that quotation.

It is all about ATTITUDE. If you use excuses all the time then you need to change your attitude. It may help to think back upon this quotation whenever you are in need of an attitude check!

As I am sure you all know about all of these, even those that do not pay attention probably know it, I am not going to talk any more about it. I would just like to say, if you have watched/read Inkheart then please share your opinions of it, also if you can recommend any other fiction (I love fantasty, and inspiring fiction is always a bonus!) then please do!

Whilst writing this (the first time around, I accidently lost it so rewrote) I was speaking to my good friend and mentor, Roland Millward, and he mentioned that he is currently writing a post about ‘Staying Positive in a Negative World’ which sounds the perfect complement to this post as it is all about attitude and having a positive outlook! So as soon as he publishes it I shall link you all to that post.Roland has now published Staying Positive in a Negative World… read it!

I have no idea what the rest of the world is like, but if you live in the United Kingdom then you will know exactly what I am speaking about… it is cold!

Now, you may remember me mentioning Times When You Just Can’t Help But Smile which was when I was adoring the first little dash of snow last month (which I still love looking at now!) but that was nothing compared to what it is like now. Schools have been shut, a lot of people have not been able to get food… it has only been a few days but the UK is going mad!

Why am I writing about the snow this time? Because the same thing that is turning us brits crazy (as if we needed any help!) is the thing that is either the make or brake of almost everything – be it a new CEO of a large company or even ‘just’ a new blog design – and that thing (did you guess it?) is CHANGE!

Some people say they love change, many hate it, but no matter what your opinion of change is… it affects you in someway.

Going back to the snow, very few of us are used to lots of snow (and by lots, I mean more than we usually have so nothing compared to a lot of you!) and even less were prepared for it. We were not expecting the sudden change. People are scared to drive in it, those that try are getting stuck (I have heard many stories about cars getting stuck, one managed to park in a Tesco car park and walked the 3 miles to his house). This change in the weather has caused a lot of problems for a lot of people. I got to college one day this week (though mind you, Monday was a “Teacher Training Day” so I was not due in then), I am one of the many students that have exams next week… during the time that the weather is meant to be even worse! But I think we might manage it… because people are getting used to it and are understanding how we can get back to normal.

So, how can you prepare for change? Everybody has different ways of doing this, some more effective than others. Personally, I would suggest having a look at what you predict could change and solve the future problems… but of course that would rarely work! Instead, rather than planning how to solve change, plan generic soloutions.

For example, if you run a blog and ‘for some unknown reason’ you could not have internet access, what could you do? Write articles in advance, have somebody else that could write them for you or atleast write one saying you cannot post for a certian amount of time, et cetera et cetera.

Do you already have these contingency plans? Let us know!

People, especially bloggers and news reporters, are often criticised for writing about controversal matters. So today I would like to have a look on the effects of what controversy in a post can do to a blog (though of course it can relate to a large variety of other areas too).

What is Controversy?

First, as always, it is important to take a look at the meaning of the word controversy.

“A dispute, especially a public one, between sides holding opposing views.

The act or practice of engaging in such disputes: writers skilled at controversy.”

Dictionary.Reference.com

“Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of opinion.”

Wikipedia.org

“Controversy is a matter of opinion which is voiced publically, often with the purpose of gaining attention.”

Shane Hudson (me)

There are many kinds of controversy, on the internet it includes: posts on small blogs which result in a spike of traffic which quickly disappears, posts on popular blogs which everyone then remembers that blog for, and big debates that spread all over the internet.

Examples Of Controversy

I am going to start by showing you some of these “big debates that spread all over the internet”. Before you look at them, can you think of any?

Windows Vs Linux Vs Mac OS

If you are “tech savvy” like I am then you will not need any explanations about this. The debate over Operating Systems has spread to almost every single technological forum and blog on the web. There are a variety of “sides” for this debate, every operating system that has been made has its supporters (including those that like XP but cannot stand Vista et cetera) and there are also many people (of which I include myself) who strongly believe that each OS has its advantages and disadvantages and are “sick to death” of the debate.

Why is this controversial? Because it is a large debate that consists of many people with strong opinion which they publically voice. In fact, this has become so extreme (in terms of flaming) that on some forums that has the option of showing which Operating System you use, many people refuse to answer. This, on a lower scale, is also true for internet browsers.

World of Warcraft Vs Runescape

Carrying on from the view of somebody that visits a lot of tech forums, there is another controversy between those that play World of Warcraft and Runescape. Once again, this often results in massive threads that basically spam and flame (the art of being horrible would be one way to describe flaming) everybody’s opinion of each game. They each, or at least always used to, have some very strongly minded supporters.

Controversial Blogs

There are a large variety of blogs that are either usually controversial or have written posts in the past that come under that category. I shall not name any on here as that could result in Success Circuit being known for writing controversial posts, which is not something I intend to do! However, there are many blogs that write some posts for two particular reasons: to criticise and to gain attention.

Some blogs only do this once, this can either result in a lot of readers for a long time or just a large peak in visitors that soon disappears. Other blogs make a habit of being controversial and are known for it.

The Effects of Controversy

As you can see from the first two examples, some online debates have become very strongly opinionated and are often discussed. Although this may seem to be bad for the companies that behind the controversial attacks, it actually can be beneficial. With threads on forums and posts on blogs being published all the time about each example, it actually keeps each company in the public’s eye and often even results in traditional media attention.

Controversy in blogs (as mentioned above) is often beneficial but it is important to remember that it is better to write posts that helps readers than writing posts that criticises other people/companies/blogs just for the attention.

Conclusion

Personally I believe that although controversy is occasionally beneficial, honesty is more efficient. In some cases these may overlap, if so then go for it! But if you are thinking about writing something controversial just in hope of it bringing you more visitors and publicity.. well then I would advise you to instead write something more useful.

What do you think? Have you every written something controversial? Did it improve your blog or give it a bad name?

Just over a year ago (infact, a year yesterday) I wrote about my previous experiences with my previous website and that although I was not scammed as such, I was affected by an online scammer. Many people would expect that experience to put me off working with other people, especially online, however I was speaking today to Joseph Ajilore and we noted that some of the most successful people/companies not just in recent times but during history (this is especially shown through the amount of family businesses there are and have always been).

Most of you will have heard of, and perhaps played, the ‘MMORPG’ Runescape. This was created by two brothers, Andrew and Paul Gower. They started this while they were Cambridge undergraduates and operated out of their parent’s house once it was released as a beta on the 4th of January 2001 (wait.. that is just 9 years ago!). They now hold many awards and are featured in the Guinness World Records as the world’s most popular free MMORPG.

Sergery and Larry. Do I really need to say more than that? These two intelligent men met at Stanford and after they got their degree they started BackRub. Just 15 years later and they are global superstars and the proud founders of Google. Would either of them have been able to manage it on their own? Who knows!

One of the most well known online collaborations, especially in the blogging circle, is Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett‘s book ‘ProBlogger Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income’. Now, rather than explaining that they met online and wrote a book et cetera, I decided to ask Darren what made him know that Chris was to be trusted, his answer was somewhat suprising to me!

“To be honest I’m not even sure why I trusted him – I guess we’d just been interacting for a little while, swapping emails, he’d done some guest posts – it was just a natural thing to go further and work together. All I can really advise is for people to approach virtual relationships as any other kind of relationship. Be genuine, don’t rush things, look for synergies and let it naturally progress.”

Darren Rowse

Three types of collaboration, each successful and I expect resulting in lifelong friendships. I was planning on writing something about the best way to start an online relationship but Darren managed to do it for me, and what better way than for one of the featured people to give their own tips?

I promised you an interview in the post yesterday, you can have it today! As you know I find Corey Freeman to be a very inspiring and amazing person to talk to. But why? Well just read this interview and you will understand all! As you can see, this interview is set in a more conversational tone.. for two reasons. Firstly, it was done through Skype and secondly, we speak to each other quite often so it is not as formal as interviews usually are!

Could you please tell us about yourself?

My name is Corey Freeman and I’m a 17-year-old entrepreneur from the USA, I currently do freelance web design although I’ve done a small amount of graphic design and I’ve done a lot of freelance writing. I just started Minus the Pie Media and hope to turn it into a publishing house.

What is Minus the Pie Media, and what plans do you have for it?

Minus the Pie Media is my new company brand so basically anything I do will have the MTP logo on it, I’m hoping to turn it into a publishing house to make books and websites and maybe one day publish movies.

Wow, might need your help later on with publishing a book! Hehe

What do (or did when you were younger) want to be when you “grow up”?

I wanted to be a LOT of things when I grew up but mostly i wanted to own my own business, haha… my own kennel or my own restaurant, etc.

Well you are certinally achieving that early on, well done!

How would you describe your lifestyle?

I’m not actually that big on “buying” stuff. So I’m upper-middle class but I don’t like…go shopping every weekend or anything. I like to chill and play video games, watch DVDs or Hulu.com when I have nothing interesting and I hang out with my best friend down the street, haha

How often do you work on your sites and MTP? What kind of work does it take to keep them all running smoothly?

I do -something- everyday whether it’s just sitting around thinking up new ideas or actually making content and designing a website. I communicate a lot with other contacts in various niches about ideas and the best way to execute those ideas and maybe 20% of the time I actually make something so…communication is what keeps them going: customers, clients, readers, whatever. I just talk, haha

How do you go about meeting new contacts? Is it through social media such as facebook and twitter, recommendations from others or another way?

Yes and no, haha, I interact with people on twitter a lot, but I prefer talking to people via instant messaging. Umm I might see someone really impressive on a forum or an expert on twitter and contact them via email and grab their MSN or Skype and then chat them up about an idea or whatever but I also have, you know, small talk and “bonding” i guess you could call it. I like to say “hi” every once in a while. I’d like to think that’s what makes people remember me. Probably not though!

One thing that you have recently (infact as of writing this, yesterday) released is Headway Hacks Premium. Could you please talk about Headway Hacks and what the Premium section allows access to and why people could not just use the free content?

Umm so I bought the theme Headway like two months ago? And I thought it was really cool and I was considering writing an unofficial guide, of course at the time my only site was writerseven.com (currently down) and It wasn’t relevant… So I got together with the guy from headwayhq.com to work on it, but he is opposite me so then I just…started headwayhacks.com and it got noticed

Headway Hacks Premium is kind of a double feature you -could- just use the normal version of the site, because those are the tutorials i write first. HHP is where I take that content and expand on it, or make a video on it and there are some articles written -just- for HHP members, like how to use your site in new and interesting ways, and soon there will be full-fledged “how to move from concept to completion” videos, etc. Also you’ll have access to downloadables, like skins, styles, and custom leafs, for free. In the future, all of what you can find on HHP will be available as a buyable PDF guide or something

The thing is, a lot of beginning users come to Headway Hacks searching for basic information, I think the more hardcore users could benefit from some hard-core attention. Although there is a special beginners category with a TON of video content. So it’s a double feature in that it has stuff for beginners and advanced users

That sounds very impressive, lucky for those who use headway!

You mentioned Writer Seven, that was the first site of yours I heard about so could you speak about that and any plans you may have for the future?

Writer Seven was actually made after the collapse of a big project I was working on, and it was when I was kind of about to give up on blogging. Everybody encouraged me to start it, and since I’m a writer by talent, I took it up it was basically no bull-sh** writing tips for the rest of us.

You have big guys like Brian Clark of copyblogger and everybody talking about freelancing and hemmingway and all of this “advanced” writing stuff and nobody was talking about what needed to be said, for those $0.01/word guys. So that was my target audience – the outsource crowd from like…india or the phillapenes who wanted to start making money they could be proud of.

As far as future plans go, I may re-open Writer Seven if I find a good way to monetize it. That content takes a lot of brain power, and I need money for college.

You spoke about encouragement… have you ever had times where you thought yourself as a “failure”? If so how did you stop feeling like it? If not how do you keep yourself so optimistic?

I’ve never thought of myself as a failure because you kind of have to fail at something first.

That sounds kinda weird haha… I don’t actually set -goals-

Well there goes my next question!! Haha

Goals have a number of problems.

Explain

They’re time oriented, so if the deadline passes, you feel like a failure if you don’t meet a goal at all, you feel like a failure… it hangs over your head and all this crap, who wants that?

I agree with your point of view, though I have never heard it in that way… very interesting! Okay, instead of failure.. how about motivation? What keeps you motivated?

I would say my curiosity, haha, I love learning about stuff and the only good way to learn is to practice so if i stop blogging, i stop learning, and that’s no fun!

What an amazing way of looking at it!

Could you please describe, and explain, your personal definition of the word “Success”?

It depends on what you’re trying to do. So I would say there are two:

1. Completeing the challenges you set for yourself; and
2. Fixing a problem in any way possible that works positively

I personally just try to be better today than I was yesterday!

“I personally just try to be better today than I was yesterday!”

Corey Freeman

What an incredible mindset!

If you have no goals, do you have any plans for the future?

Umm in the “future” I’m going to be attending college for business administration and then working on building my business up. Probably going to hire somebody other than just me, haha

If there was just one thing that you would like people to remember about you, what would it be?

If there was one thing I would want people to remember, it’s that no matter how I might come across, I’m always just trying to help. And I am a girl, so don’t let the name confuse you.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

And…be sure to check out my personal blog if you get really bored and I actually manage to update it, because that’s my personal hub for the time being.

Thank you Corey, what great answers!

Links that you might find useful are shown below.

• Headway Hacks
• Writer Seven (Currently down but linked just incase it is revived.. which I personally am hoping for!)
• Corey-Freeman.com

Update 13/01/10: Headway Hacks Premium has been rescheduled, so as to improve the content even more before it is launched. I will update you as soon as I know about when it will be released.

Many of you, although this blog is not based on it, either run a blog or are thinking about it. So I am not too worried today about speaking about something a little off topic (it is still not filler though!) as I know it will help some people and might inspire others.

There is an incredibly inspiring young woman that I know, who I had heard of but did not pay much attention (to my regret) until I joined ProBlogger.com. This woman is Corey Freeman, the author of Headway Hacks. Now, I am not going to speak much about her as hopefully we have an interview with her coming up very soon!

Headway Hacks

As you may know, Headway is a premium wordpress theme which has probably only one rival… thesis. As it is a complicated theme, although it is also very simple for beginners as they can use the full featured visual editor, I am suprised there are not more websites which explain and help use the theme. Before Corey came along there was no big ‘authority’ on Headway, however I believe that in only a matter of months (if not weeks) she could well become the name everybody remembers and boost the headway theme.

Why? Because her content is amazing, she is a superb designer and has many of the traits (including inspirational) that makes people rememberable. I have noticed that Corey has been classed as a “spokesperson for headway”, this is not true at all… she is an individual doing remarkable work with a theme she is proud of and more than apt at using.

Premium

Today Corey has released (though not yet announced) Headway Hacks new Premium section!

This is not just a way for Corey to make money, she does not even currently have an affilite programme. Instead, it is a way to develop content for those who want to use it and appreciate it. This content is not like on the normal site, though that is amazingly good quality content that is being given away for free, it will have exclusive sections for developers that want to do something amazing with their theme. And best of all, it will have a forum… this will allow everybody to become a community and help each other!

So take a look at Headway Hacks and look foreward to the interview which will be coming soon, if you have any questions for her which you would like me to ask during the interview please comment here!

I could not believe it when I read this comment on ProBlogger…

“I think we would all love to have the ability of hindsight.”

Dean Saliba

Now, I am not saying that he is wrong. But I do not think he realises that a lot of us DO have hindsight!

The post he commented on was called ‘ProBlogging – 10 Things I Wish I Knew when I Started’, now I might just be being a little bit too pedantic (you would not believe how long it just took me to remember that word!), but I do not quite understand how somebody can write on a post about what somebody wish they did earlier and then say that they wish they had hindsight… surely a post about the past mistakes and solutions would BE the hindsight that they wanted?

And it is not only that post that speaks about past mistakes. I have spoken plenty of times about it on Success Circuit, and I know for certian almost every other blogger does the same. In fact, the whole of ProBlogger.net (where the comment was.. well.. commented) is focused on helping new bloggers to get past the mistakes that many would make without it.

IT’S BEHIND INFRONT YOU!

The main problem that most people have, and the reason why they make mistakes that so many people before them have made, is that they either do not know where to look or cannot be bothered. Personally, I think most people are the latter. Especially nowadays, it is the 21st centuary… we have the internet! This allows us to talk to people, in some cases even our inspiration or role models, and access content from places such as blogs and ebooks.

There is another couple of options (which are closely linked) as to why people do not have hindsight… ignorance and/or believing oneself can do better and could not possibly encounter any mistakes. The reason why these people do not have hindsight (and before you think that there are not many people like that… there is!) is because they do not think they need it. This reminds me a bit of the phrase “History repeats itself” or “Deja Vu”, for obvious reasons.

So, if you are a beginner or just starting a new project then try to learn from other people’s mistakes. Talk to them, read their blog, analyse their progress yourself (especially if you have been following them for a long time.

This really is the social age, so we should all start learning from each others mistakes and becomming somebody else’s hindsight!