I've written before about the 90-day challenge. Indeed, tomjohnston.org grew out of a challenge where I committed to write a new blog post for 90 days in a row. I made it 155 days straight [...]

"Decide in your heart of hearts what really excites and challenges you, and start moving your life in that direction. Every decision you make, from what you eat to what you do with your time tonight, turns you into who you are tomorrow, and the day after that. Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person. You may not get exactly where you thought yo [...]

I'm currently working my way through Michael Hartl's magisterial Ruby on Rails Tutorial, RailsTutorial.org. The book is dense, challenging, and superlative. For those of you traveling just behind me on the learning curve, I have a few thoughts on how to most effectively approach the book and learn Ruby and Ruby on Rails.Mirror What You See And IterateFirst, skim ahead before yo [...]

A mantra is a statement that you repeat to focus the mind.  The word itself goes back to ancient Sanskrit meaning "thought behind speech or action." Using clear mantras to help guide your life is powerful.  They anchor you, guide you, and more. I don't share all my mantras because this is a private and personal matter.  But I do want to share some of the business and e [...]

I've just completed my 90-day challenge.  It's been fantastic.  First, the guillotine commitment of having to pay $1000 to the charity of Miles Beckler's choice worked wonders [...]

We've all experienced fear in one form or another--whether the trepidation before a job interview, struggling to muster the courage to ask that special someone out, or taking the plunge in a new venture.  Fear is real.  Fear is human.  It's a part of life, and it can be debilitating.  But I have good news.  You can learn to be fearless. You see fearlessness is a learned [...]

Top level summary: keep it simple at first focus on producing content and publishing start with a free Wordpress.com site then buy your own domain and get it hosted don’t buy a theme at first create, create, create content then worry about next steps such as getting traffic [...]

If you have an idea for a post or product or anything creative, immediately write it down.  Thoughts and ideas are fleeting.  Creativity has its own mysterious flow. Capture your ideas upon impact.  Develop them later. [...]