Comments for The Word http://blog.benhoffman.net with Rev. C. Bennett hoffman Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:15:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Comment on The Confession of a Chronic Coward by Rev. http://blog.benhoffman.net/the-confession-of-a-chronic-coward/comment-page-1/#comment-1835 Rev. Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:15:21 +0000 http://blog.benhoffman.net/?p=293#comment-1835 Listening to legitimate fears is definitely appropriate. I didn't explicitly state it, but my greatest fear is giving in, living an unchallenged and unexamined life, and letting my opportunities in this world slip away undressed. Unlike my fear of laundry, that's a REAL fear. It doesn't bother me, it doesn't make me uncomfortable, it terrifies me in on a visceral level. In the end, that fear will prove instrumental in helping me overcome the little, inconsequential fears and in allowing me to live the life I need to. Listening to legitimate fears is definitely appropriate. I didn’t explicitly state it, but my greatest fear is giving in, living an unchallenged and unexamined life, and letting my opportunities in this world slip away undressed.

Unlike my fear of laundry, that’s a REAL fear. It doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable, it terrifies me in on a visceral level. In the end, that fear will prove instrumental in helping me overcome the little, inconsequential fears and in allowing me to live the life I need to.

]]> Comment on The Confession of a Chronic Coward by Kit http://blog.benhoffman.net/the-confession-of-a-chronic-coward/comment-page-1/#comment-1834 Kit Sat, 13 Feb 2010 00:35:40 +0000 http://blog.benhoffman.net/?p=293#comment-1834 Bennett, I think more people can relate to this feeling than you may think. While I do know people who thrive on change, though they may be a rare bunch, they also have fears that prevent them from getting certain things done. Even the people who have changed their life drastically, such as by starting a successful business after being underprivileged, probably also experienced some extent of cowardice toward change. Just because you feel that way now, doesn't mean it will forever prevent you from relishing certain changes. I used to fear cleaning the way you fear laundry. I changed my perspective (well, Jackie helped a little) and now I love to clean and the transformation that occurs as a result of it. I also think there is some value to being a coward. Recently, I have felt like a coward because I thought I didn't have the confidence to approach someone with the intent of starting friendships. I was really questioning myself. Why do I have such a hard time making friends? Is it me? Is it them? I was really scared to even begin to explore the answer to this question. Then, someone turned this irrational fear (or what I thought was an irrational fear) into a logical scenario: Fear, or cowardice, can be very healthy. Maybe the reason I wasn't making friends was because I don't want to be friends with just anyone. I want to have friendships that will be meaningful and long-lived. So my fear may have been telling me that the people I was encountering would not fulfill my expectations. My reaction was completely healthy: my fear was protecting me. So maybe listening to our fears is part of the key to, either, overcoming them or recognizing when they are telling us that certain changes really aren't right...at least for now. Bennett, I think more people can relate to this feeling than you may think. While I do know people who thrive on change, though they may be a rare bunch, they also have fears that prevent them from getting certain things done.

Even the people who have changed their life drastically, such as by starting a successful business after being underprivileged, probably also experienced some extent of cowardice toward change. Just because you feel that way now, doesn’t mean it will forever prevent you from relishing certain changes. I used to fear cleaning the way you fear laundry. I changed my perspective (well, Jackie helped a little) and now I love to clean and the transformation that occurs as a result of it.

I also think there is some value to being a coward. Recently, I have felt like a coward because I thought I didn’t have the confidence to approach someone with the intent of starting friendships. I was really questioning myself. Why do I have such a hard time making friends? Is it me? Is it them? I was really scared to even begin to explore the answer to this question. Then, someone turned this irrational fear (or what I thought was an irrational fear) into a logical scenario: Fear, or cowardice, can be very healthy. Maybe the reason I wasn’t making friends was because I don’t want to be friends with just anyone. I want to have friendships that will be meaningful and long-lived. So my fear may have been telling me that the people I was encountering would not fulfill my expectations. My reaction was completely healthy: my fear was protecting me.

So maybe listening to our fears is part of the key to, either, overcoming them or recognizing when they are telling us that certain changes really aren’t right…at least for now.

]]> Comment on On the Slaying of Dragons by The Confession of a Chronic Coward « The Word http://blog.benhoffman.net/on-the-slaying-of-dragons/comment-page-1/#comment-1832 The Confession of a Chronic Coward « The Word Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:54:45 +0000 http://blog.benhoffman.net/?p=243#comment-1832 [...] before you skydive, bullfight, etc. depending on your personal degree of badassery.) I wrote about dealing with fears recently. I realize that post may have come off as if I at least thought I knew what I was talking [...] [...] before you skydive, bullfight, etc. depending on your personal degree of badassery.) I wrote about dealing with fears recently. I realize that post may have come off as if I at least thought I knew what I was talking [...]

]]> Comment on Becoming Leonidas by Going Grok* « The Word http://blog.benhoffman.net/becoming-leonidas/comment-page-1/#comment-1776 Going Grok* « The Word Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:05:10 +0000 http://blog.benhoffman.net/?p=19#comment-1776 [...] admit things didn’t go quite as well as I’d planned. After my Becoming Leonidas 30-day trial, I intended to keep up a regular workout schedule. That didn’t exactly [...] [...] admit things didn’t go quite as well as I’d planned. After my Becoming Leonidas 30-day trial, I intended to keep up a regular workout schedule. That didn’t exactly [...]

]]> Comment on Crush It! Review by John Gallagher http://blog.benhoffman.net/crush-it-review/comment-page-1/#comment-1727 John Gallagher Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:56:26 +0000 http://blog.benhoffman.net/?p=220#comment-1727 I'm really passionate about making people's lives easier when they have to deal with computers. There's so many business problems right now to solve that don't rely on building "the next big social networking platform". When I'm done with my current product (a time tracker without timers) there's so many problems I see with modern computers and so many opportunities to make things so much better. I want to see the Semantic Web take off and our digital lives to be much more joined up, with one lot of data but lots of different ways to view that data. Usability is still mostly left on the sidelines when developing software and I want to make it an essential part of every software product I build. It's disgraceful that companies still don't see usability testing as a must have part of the development process and this results in everyone's lives being more frustrating. I'm really excited that I've finally realised I have an opportunity to make someone's life a little bit easier by developing great software that's a joy to use. .-= John Gallagher´s last blog ..<a href="http://synapticmishap.co.uk/synapticmishap/2010/01/25/thoughts-on-user-testing/" rel="nofollow">Thoughts on User Testing</a> =-. I’m really passionate about making people’s lives easier when they have to deal with computers. There’s so many business problems right now to solve that don’t rely on building “the next big social networking platform”.

When I’m done with my current product (a time tracker without timers) there’s so many problems I see with modern computers and so many opportunities to make things so much better.

I want to see the Semantic Web take off and our digital lives to be much more joined up, with one lot of data but lots of different ways to view that data.

Usability is still mostly left on the sidelines when developing software and I want to make it an essential part of every software product I build. It’s disgraceful that companies still don’t see usability testing as a must have part of the development process and this results in everyone’s lives being more frustrating.

I’m really excited that I’ve finally realised I have an opportunity to make someone’s life a little bit easier by developing great software that’s a joy to use.
John Gallagher´s last blog ..Thoughts on User Testing My ComLuv Profile

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