Timeless Information 2009 Review

photo credit: *_filippo_*

Hello all.  I’m here to close out the decade for you.  If I don’t do it, it might not occur.  In this post, as in some other posts you may have seen on other personal development sites, I will be reflecting upon 2009 in relation to Timeless Information, which also rhymes (relation / Information).  Reflection is very important, because when you reflect, you see how much ground you have covered, which gives you more motivation, and also shows you what you need to do next.  I have also included pictures of colorful flowers throughout the review.  I appreciate that you read my articles.  Here is the review:

January

• Your Main Source of Competition is Yourself – This post had a couple of cool examples.  It talks about how you can forget about anyone else you see as competition, and compete only with your past or current self.  Recently, Bud from A Boundless World wrote a more detailed article on the similar concept, titled “Your Only Competition: You“, that I would also recommend reading.

February

• Quote Analysis – Stages – Here is one of my Quote Analysis posts, where I analyzed a quote by Ghandi, and broke it down into manageable parts.  One of the fitting things about this article is that the image matches it very well.  There are four sections to the quote, and four levels of stairs in the picture.  I have done about 10-12 Quote Analysis posts thus far.

photo credit: MagdaMontemor

March

• Instant vs. Delayed Gratification – One of my key posts in March was this wonderful one about different levels of gratification.  We each have a certain degree of gratification we normally maintain.  It’s good to see how our attitude can change if we delay gratification a little bit, as compared with our current state.  Dragos from DragosRoua.com also wrote about The Marshmallow Test, and Steven from Human Explosion also wrote about it in this post titled Scientific Evidence on the Key to Success.

April

• Reset Yourself When Needed – In this article written in April, I talked about making sure you take control of yourself and your habits, and resetting yourself when it feels right to do.  Taking some sort of real break can be the difference between being stuck for hours, or being glad to do winning work.  Also, in this post, I included a rant about successful individuals, and how to perceive them.  I also included a couple of vocabulary word definitions at the end, although I haven’t continued adding them to articles I write today.

photo credit: Parvin ♣( OFF )

May

• Solid Points From Other Online Writers Discussed – In this cool post type, I pointed out some of the memorable things I had run across in the writings on the sites of others in the personal development spectrum.  A positive feature of repeating concepts brought up by others is that you are far more likely to then remember them.  I can’t forget Glen‘s green wavy line from his Visualization Mind Tricks post where he talks about how we are all connected.
• Quote Analysis – Volume 1 – Also in the month of May, I released my first eBook, which was a compilation of all my Quote Analysis articles up to that point, and designed in a nice looking way.  I got some of the design motivation for it from Chris Guillebeau and his 279 Days to Overnight Success eBook.

June

• Tough Circumstances Are A Test – This is one post from my very high output month of June(July also), which was part of a period where I posted every day for 67 straight days.  It was a cool habit, but I also overwhelmed some folks at the time.  In this post, I talked about how the toughest items we run into are our biggest tests, and it is up to us to pass them, which we can.  We get handed test after test, and although we can see all of them, it isn’t guaranteed that we take and pass each one.  This also reminds me of Alex Shalman‘s article which mentioned Randy Pausch’s quote about how the brick walls are there for us to prove ourselves.

photo credit: fesoj

July

• 100 Ways To Show Boldness – This was a big one.  In July, while I continued posting every day, I spent two very focused hours in JDarkRoom to craft this creation, which is basically my only list post other than my 7 Mind Mapping Examples post.  On a side note, my mind map on Mindmeister that connects with that post has over 22000 views as of right now, and is currently the 9th most viewed mind map on the site, out of about 8700 mind maps.
  Back to discussion on the 100 Ways article, which shows many ways that I see to be a bold individual, this post has had a huge impact, not only for this site, but for many sites that did similar articles.  The amount of traffic and links that has gone to these various “100 Ways” articles in recent months has been enormous.  It is a cool thing.  All of it comes from hard work and self-discipline.
• An Interview With Mike King – This is one of a few question-and-answer interviews that I did around this time, with Mike King from LearnThis.ca.  He sure tackled the questions head on, like in the one where he said that a leader creates their position, and that the position doesn’t create the leader.  I agree with him on that point.  I also did interviews with Jonathan, Celestine, and Glen.  There are concluding summaries of the main answer points at the end of each interview.

August

• Run Through A Park/Hiking Trail To Activate Your Mind – Here I wrote about the benefits of running through a trail in a park or mountain.  I continue to run in this fashion in various locations when I schedule it out properly, and it is worth it every time.  This great post is full of pictures from my trail run in a gallery at the end, and in the introductory picture.  I was writing this post around the same time I had read Ecotherapy by Linda Buzzell, so it fit with it very well.  I will later have footage of me hiking, or pictures, or similar, as I will continue to do running of this type.

photo credit: fmc.nikon.d40

September

• For Those Who Feel Behind – I chose this post to showcase out of the ones from September because the image I picked for it is really memorable and fitting, as the color is just right, and the message behind the article is poignant for those who feel like they are not up to par with society in some way.  It is a terrible feeling, so I describe healthy ways to see the way things are, and talk about how getting “up to par” can be done very quickly.  There’s no need to feel behind.

October

• Outdoor Mountain Hiking Trail Adventure – Series Introduction – This article was the introduction to the first series I have done here on Timeless Information, where I discussed the events of one hiking trip I took with a few friends.  There are pictures from the trip spread throughout the series, and there was certainly some adventure in the trip, as you might have already seen if you read through the series.  The main reason I wrote this series is that I said, near the top of the mountain, that I would write a series of articles about the trip if we made it back down the mountain in stable condition.
• Timeless Information Video #2 – This was my second video that I posted on the site, and was certainly entertaining to make.  I wanted to mention it along with the videos that others have made this year.  Glen from PluginID made a video at the end of this post before he headed off to Amsterdam, where he is now with Diggy from Upgrade Reality.  Brett from Dare To Express has started a Dare To Express TV series, and is already on his 3rd episode in a row in 3 days(Links to episode #1, #2, #3).  Also, in a medium separate from both text and video, Gail from A Flourishing Life has a wonderful set of audio messages you will want to check out.

photo credit: travlinman43

November

• Competition Discussed By 8 Personal Development Writers – This post was my selection for November because it included responses from many personal development writers to my questions about competition.  Everyone had a slightly different perspective on how competition played a role in their routine activities.  I also added my commentary to each response that I got, in order to add information about how I received their view.  It was nice to see the responses because I then was able to compare with my own thoughts.

December

• You Don’t Know What Works Until You Fully Try – I mention this post because it has a great message and story behind it.  I saw that the Twitter name @Armen wasn’t being used much by the person who had created the account, so I wholeheartedly tried to obtain it for positive usage.  The story is in the article, and anyone is now able to follow me at @Armen.  It was nice to use a current example for a post.

This review was enjoyable to do, and I recommend anyone to review their past month or year in some detail.  You get a lot out of it.  I now have a much better sense of what I put out on the site during the year.  Putting out one audio podcast and two videos was a nice feature, and I can see that continuing.  Here is also one piano audio of Carol Of The Bells that I recorded recently, for your entertainment.

Carols Of The Bells    

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I already started, and have been working on maintaining, a resolution made on the day that Christmas is set on, so I’m good to go for the upcoming year.  I’m also 6 days ahead of anyone who makes a New Year’s resolution, which includes most people.

On to 2010~

Tagged as: 2009, articles, Boldness, ending post, reflection, review