I fish (3-day out of town trip planned next week), read a lot of books about things VERY unrelated to my work, have scheduled trips to work out with my personal trainer (today in fact), ride my recumbent bike all over the place (28 miles last Sunday), am studying an astronomy / interstellar bodies related science area, took my kids out to breakfast this morning to a place they'd never been, am taking a long (possibly forever) break from a forum i've visited daily for the last few years, and am exploring completely new areas in my work as well... fresh air bloat going on over here. got a zephyr in my shorts. :-)
Lil more constructive this time...
Fresh Air exercise #1: At your desk, while working, I bet most of us listen to iTunes. Type the title (not the band's name) of one of your fav songs into the iTunes store, and snag some variations of tunes that your heart and ears already love, ones from other performers. I did this recently with the Jimi Hendrix tune "All Along The Watchtower" and unleashed some Bob Dylan, Dave Matthews, Indigo Girls, Neil Young, Roger "Hurricane" Wilson, P.O.S., Willie J Laws, Kim MacKenzie and even U2. The Bob Dylan performance of Watchtower smacks fresh air into it's own inadequate shame.
You wouldn't believe how many versions of "Unchained Melody" I have. Il Divo, a multi-national operatic vocal quartet does this version in Italian called Senza Catene (translated, without bonds) that will blow torrid fresh air right up your skirt.
Great point, Scott. I, like many in the affiliate marketing industry, work from home and so breathe even more of my exhaust in that environment.
One reason why I try very hard to attend industry conferences and events is for the interaction of others. In addition to being lots of fun, they trigger significant new ideas for me. I also recommend conferences that are only tangentially related to one's field since they can broaden one's horizon and radically inject new ideas into the creative mix.
Fresh air helps us think outside the box! I like that.
Great points Mike. I love that this topic means different things to different people. I didn't even have this in mind, but you are right. I go to the same industry conferences that you go to, but I try to get to some non-affiliate stuff too.
Because I can't justify the time and cost, I usually look for local events, like social media stuff and "tweetups".
Good stuff Scott. It is so easy to get stuck in ruts and routines. There are always others out there with different perspectives, different methodologies, and different ways of thinking. If you just stick to following the same people around you will not see how big and broad the internet marketing world is.
Even though we might not agree with how somebody does something we can still learn from them. We can take some small parts of what they do and integrate it in our businesses. And we won't get new ideas and innovation by just sticking to our small circles of friends.
Hey scott. I am new to this blog so I thought I would post a comment to say hi. I find getting up early and going to the gym gives me a good blast of fresh air , really puts me in a positive mood for the rest of the day and clears my mind so I am ready to go to work on projects or whatever I am doing that day.
being inside an office long enough can really drive someone crazy. sometimes i imagine something happening outrageous like in superhero and action movies where you're sitting by the window in the office and suddenly there's a giant reptile eating the opposite building or superman suddenly flies by to save a girl from falling off the roof of another building. boredom can really get the imagination going.
my idea of "fresh air" are different blogs of different people, but it gets so addicting! this is what usually happens to me. i click on a link on my sidebar and read my friend's blog. if there are really interesting posts, i comment on them. and when i see and interesting comment from poster, i follow that poster's blog, and the cycle repeats, until i don't know how i got to the nth blog anymore.
interesting post, scott.
yes, "breathing your own exhaust" can be dangerous, perhaps even figuratively fatal.
however, it can also get you kinda high sometimes, and i think that some of us could actually benefit from getting a little high on our own "crazy" ideas and burying our heads in the sand a little bit more every once in a while in order to shut out all those endless status quo influences that attempt to make us think moreso like everyone else all the time.
but, i suppose all this depends heavily on what you are attempting to accomplish in life......
I was thinking of getting a literal fresh air too. After all, it is indeed good for us all
' href='http://www.flood-rescue.com/service-area/laguna-niguel">'>http://www.flood-rescue.com/service-area/laguna-niguel">
Water Damage Laguna Niguel
© 2012 http://www.jangro.com/
RSS
Fresh Air. We all need it.
Earlier this week, fellow affiliate marketer Geno Prussakov, wrote a post about not getting enough fresh air.
Of course he's talking about literal fresh air. He needs to get outside more, and he vowed to get outside for at least one hour a day, more on weekends. It's a problem that affects us work-at-home types for sure. I'm always looking for reasons to get out of my home office.
But when I read the title of his post, my mind went more toward the figurative sense of the term "fresh air". Maybe it was because I was reading a blog post at the time, but it got me to thinking that we need more fresh air feeding our brains as well.
When it comes to consuming information and opinions, we can easily get stuck in the rut of reading and listening to the same people every day.
If you find some smart people who teach you things, entertain you, and otherwise serve as online friends and colleagues, that's great. But it can get to the point where a tight circle forms and no fresh ideas get in.
We start breathing our own exhaust.
Because people with similar ideas tend to stick together, it can seem like these points of view are more widespread than they really are.
So open your virtual window and let in some fresh air. Seek out some new people to pay attention to. Read some new blogs, find some new people to follow on Twitter and FriendFeed.
Get some fresh perspectives. Discover that there are people out there who are not aware of your own perspectives. They need to be educated! ;)
Fresh air is good for you.