SlideMint Website Version Two

Yesterday the second version of the SlideMint website went live.

The first version of the website was very much a make it live as soon as possible job. As a result it was incredibly basic. The new version has a little bit extra content but is mostly about the look of the site. It needed to be made more appealing looking to visitors.

Every website tells a story and that story must match the story the business wants to tell. A badly designed website for a design related business tells the wrong story. It says these guys have no idea about design.

Here are version one and two side by side for comparison.

website-side-by-side

The website could certainly do with more content. All that’s been added in this version is an about section and a second presentation. The copy on the site is unchanged from version one. Laid out differently but that’s about all.

Version two is a lot better than version one but remains a work in progress.

If you have a minute I’d love to hear any feedback you have on the site. What can be improved?

by Colin Brosnan

Delayed Recognition

Olive Loughnane competed in the 20km walk at the World Championships in Berlin in August 2009. She was awarded the silver medal. Rob Heffernan missed out on a medal when he placed fourth in the 50km walk at the London Olympic Games in 2012.

Both these Irish athletes trained hard and long to compete at the highest level. Only to be beaten on their day. But not as it turns out beaten fairly. Athletes who competed against them were using drugs to gain an unfair advantage. Heffernan and Loughnane were pushed down the placings and the results they deserved were taken by the cheats.

Thankfully the cheats were found out. Their deception worked only so long. The cheating athletes have now been disqualified.

Loughnane and Heffernan’s results have been upgraded to the places they deserve. Olive Loughnane is now a world champion, while Rob Heffernan is to be awarded an Olympic bronze medal.

Denied the recognition they were due when they competed our congratulations should be extra loud now.

Congratulations Olive Loughnane and Rob Heffernan.

by Colin Brosnan

Heed It or You Don’t Need It

Heed It or You Don’t Need It

Articles, tutorials, videos, podcasts – if you want to learn something new the internet has you covered. But that great content is only any good if you follow through on it. It’s only any good if you DO.

If all you do is read that great tutorial you haven’t learned anything. You must put it into practice. That video won’t do anything for you unless you’re building off it. You’re fooling yourself into thinking you’re helping yourself. You’re procrastinating. You’re putting off the doing.

So stop. Close that article. Close that video. Start doing.

Start writing, or taking photos, or building websites, or building apps, or making furniture, or whatever it is you aspire to do.

Stop thinking you need to know more than you do now before you start. When you start you will be terrible. That’s okay. Be terrible. Revel in how bad you are. Celebrate it. This is the worst you’ll ever be.

Without starting you can’t improve. Reading about it is no substitute for doing. You still have to start. You can’t read about being a photographer and get to say you’re a photographer. You have to take photos. You can’t read about building websites and say you’re a web developer. You have build a website.

Start with the basics. Yes, you can use a tutorial as a guide. Just don’t use it to avoid the doing.

Once you’ve started, once you’ve actually done something, keep going. Now you know where you’re weak. Now you can find a tutorial about that. How can you improve? Try again. Do again. Read again.

You haven’t started at all if all you do is read tutorials, watch videos, listen to how-tos. Heed it or you don’t need it.

Enough reading. Enough watching. Enough listening. Start doing.

by Colin Brosnan

Wipe to Refresh

My phone had some problems so I had to reset it to factory settings.

I could have installed all the apps and files I normally use from a backup but I didn’t. I’ve started with a blank slate. If I want to do something with the phone I have to install the app I need.

Over time we develop particular behaviours around our phones. Habits built around what we have installed on them. Starting with a blank slate disrupts that behaviour. It creates a small obstacle that you have to deliberately choose to overcome. When we fall into habits we don’t question them. We just follow the pattern that we’ve built up. A small obstacle is enough to make you question what you’re doing.

With your regular phone set up, you might mindlessly open an app or apps and end up wasting time on them. Starting with a blank slate, if you mindlessly open the phone the app isn’t there so you can’t open it. You have to make a deliberate decision to download the app in order to use it. If you decide I really need the app you download it, otherwise you’ve stopped yourself from mindlessly wasting time.

Following this new behaviour for a few days should leave you with the apps you need but none of the apps that are simply time-wasters.

Starting over from scratch, deliberately deleting, is sometimes the best way to change. Your phone isn’t the only thing you can reset. You can wipe the slate clean in any routine to rebuild it better.

by Colin Brosnan

Take the Shot

You’re ready. Take the shot.

Stop hesitating. Stop waiting. You’re ready. Take the shot.

You keep making excuses. Giving yourself reasons to not to. Reasons to delay. You’re ready. Take the shot.

You think it’s your best shot, your only shot, so you don’t want to waste it. You’re afraid that if you miss you have nothing left. You’re afraid. That’s okay. You’re ready. Take the shot.

It doesn’t matter if you miss, you can take another shot. The sooner you shoot the more shots you can take. The longer you hesitate the less likely you are to ever take the shot. You’re ready. Take the shot.

Take the damn shot.

by Colin Brosnan

Shared Circles

There are distinctions between each of us. Some distinctions we share with others. We take people with shared distinctions and draw a circle around them, marking them as a group. Circles can be based on almost anything. Geography, gender, race, religion, politics, profession, and hobbies are just some categories of circles we draw around people. As individuals we sit in many circles.

Today is St. Patrick’s Day when being Irish is celebrated around the world. A circle drawn based on nationality.

Where some circles are celebrated others are condemned. There is currently a flood of refugees and migrants into Europe. People from other parts of the world seeking a better life. Yet, circles have been drawn around them – refugees, migrants – and the circles have been condemned.

It is not easy to look from the circle we sit within and understand the people in a circle we do not share. Yes, there are distinctions between us but those distinctions need not cause fear. A distinction may be based on arbitrary circumstance yet beside that circumstance we have much in common. We sit in many circles. It is inevitable that when we sit in many circles some will be shared with those sit in the circles we fear.

Look for the circles we share not for the lines that separate us.

by Colin Brosnan

Not to the Exclusion of All Else

Our lives do not take us down a single path. They take us down many paths at the same time.

The path of work is but one of them. As with all the other paths of our lives, the path of work itself can be a single path or one of many. That report you must write. That speech you must prepare for. Those emails you must reply to. You must keep moving on all paths at the same time.

If you focus too much on one path you fall behind on the others. Focusing on one path for too long causes you difficulty on the others. If all you did was prepare for that speech, that report would never get written, those emails would never get answered. If we focus too much on work then the other paths in our lives don’t get enough attention. They become darker and harder to travel. Work is but one path.

Focus is good but not to the exclusion of all else.

by Colin Brosnan