• “Yes!!Yes!!! I love what I am doing!!! I get up everyday and say I love this day!!”
• “I’m currently doing what I like, and working towards doing what I love.”
• “I took a risk and it paid off. I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do.”

If you would like to read more of the responses (there were over 48), here is the post: Ask the Reader: Are You Doing What You Love?

Also, we have a number of copies of Sway: The Irrestistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman to give away for our favorite responses. The recipients of the book are:

• Alex Fayle
• Mr. Smith
• Alice
• Victor Stachura
• Lee
• Sam Smith
• Jen
• Stephanie
• Simon Hill
• Ned
• Jamie

Link Karma

Mary Jaksch, who wrote the article 7 Steps Towards Love (and Away from Fear) for this blog back in May, has just released an e-Book called From Tragedy to Triumph which explains her five steps to healing. It’s a great read, and well worth the purchase if you are currently in a dark place.

Jonathan rethinks the common piece of advice “think big, act small” in his article Think Small, Act Big. I’ll never think of learning a musical instrument the same way again….

Is it possible to work less and still impress your boss, wife, husband and friends? According to Marc the answer is “yes”. He shares his suggestions for doing so in How To Work Less and Still Impress.

Todd Goldfarb returns from a short blogging break with a personal and insightful article, How to Cope When You Lose An ‘Anchor’.

“Dear Senator McCain and Senator Obama: You are running for a position that we lost faith in.” Al looks at what makes a great leader in his article, Eight Rules of Leadership from George Washington.

Lastly, Marelisa looks at how to create health and harmony in your life in her article, Find Balance Through the Four Elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air.

The first is with our very own Peter, over at his personal site, The Change Blog. The site recently got a new name and a brand new design. Head over and check it out.

Career Transitions: John Wesley talks about the Social Media, Taking Risks and Chasing Your Dreams

The second is with Chris Guillebeau over at The Art of Nonconformity. The group interview includes several well known bloggers include Darren Rowse, J.D. Roth, and Leo Babauta.

Follow Your Passion? The Blogger Roundup 

The winner we have chosen is Bruce from Brucisms. He said:

“I believe we are turning a corner. After two decades of working 80 hours per week to have the nicest house, car, clothes – a lot of people are just tired and empty.

It is my (possibly overly optimistic) belief that there is a true movement toward responsibility and values. I think we see this both in terms of increased interest in both spirituality and conservation. I think a lot of us have awakened after a couple of decades of materialism to a hangover, and realize that we aren’t kids anymore.”

But that wasn’t all. As a follow up, Bruce had the following book suggestion:

“As a follow up for your readers – I would highly recommend Jason Jennings’ wonderful book “Think Big, Act Small.” After researching the top public and private companies in the US, he and his team narrowed the field to 10 companies that had achieved 10% increases in profit every year for 10 or more consecutive years. The extraordinary thing is that the common factor in all these companies were exceptionally high values!

It seems that doing the right thing pays the best over the long term…”

Thank you to every one who left a comment. You had some very interesting things to say, and it certainly wasn’t easy to pick just one winner.

The explanation for this is that I’ve started doing less, and Peter from IWillChangeYourLife has come on board as the primary editor!

I’ll still be around, writing posts, taking part in discussions, and managing the site in general, but having Peter around to help out will allow me to spend time on other projects while continuing to improve the site.

If you’d like to know a bit more about Peter, check out his interview at the TheNext45Years or head over to his personal blog, which is a great read. Also, feel free to contact him at Peter@pickthebrain.com.

New EBooks from Scott and Leo

Two good friends of PickTheBrain, Scott Young and Leo Babauta, have recently published ebooks that are definitely worth checking out.

Scott’s book is about holistic learning, and provides some great tips for how to learn more while studying less. You can check out a preview copy of the book here.

Leo’s new book is called The Zen Habits Handbook for Life. It’s basically a well organized and nicely designed compilation of all the best ZenHabits posts.

I was fortunate enough to receive free review copies of each book, and both of them are well worth the investment.

Also, I’ve just launched a new blog, totally unrelated to PTB, about media and technology. If you’re interested in that type of stuff head over and check it out or just grab the RSS feed.

In case you missed them, the following articles were the most popular in February:

• 5 Ways To Help Your Children Turn Their Dreams Into Reality
• Embracing the Beauty of Sadness
• 10 Effective Productivity Tips for Writers
• Seeking Solitude: 17 Ways to Find Time for Yourself
• Why Intelligent People Tend to Be Unhappy
• The #1 Way To Shake Up Your Life

Here are a few other links I recommend checking out:

• Epictetus’ Top 7 Timeless Pearls of Wisdom – The Positivity Blog
• Learn More, Study Less Released – Scott H Young
• Punk Rock Your Life: The Simple Six-Letter Word That Determines Success – Zen Habits
• Learning to Dream…. Again – Iwillchangeyourlife
• What Makes You Come Alive? – Awake At The Wheel

Competition Winners

The winners of the 15 copies of No More Mondays by Dan Miller (see Monday’s article The #1 Way to Shake Up Your Life) are: Jack, Amir, Terhi, Smith, Joanna, Shawn Williamson, Evan Pederson, Lola Broadus, Adam Chamness, Julie, Erin Marie, David Fromoz, Erin, D, Carole.

If you missed out on a copy of this book, stay tuned as we have another great book to give away this coming Monday.

• Over at Adversity University, Stephen Hopson posed some questions about the origins of PickTheBrain and my personal experiences online.
• At The Next 45 Years, Alex Blackwell included me in the Blogging Heroes Series where I answered his questions about building a successful blog.

If that sounds interesting, go check it out. Hopefully you’ll enjoy reading the interviews as much as I did participating in them.

Also, for the Twitter users out there and those of you thinking about trying it, PickTheBrain is now officially on Twitter via the badge in the right sidebar.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Twitter, it’s a microblogging platform that allows people to send short messages back and forth. I’ll use it to post links to all the great articles I come across online but don’t have time to blog about.

So go ahead and start following us! And if you’re active on Twitter, my personal account is jwesley, where I post all the non-PTB stuff I find interesting. Start following me and I’ll do the same, or just leave your Twitter handle in the comments.

1. Recent Comments – The right sidebar now contains a section near the top for recent comments. This highlights the last 5 comments made on PickTheBrain and provides a link back to the thread so you can hop right in to the discussion.
2. Threaded Comments – If you want to reply directly to a specific comment, rather than posting all the way at the bottom of the thread, you can now post directly below it with the thread comments feature. Just click the “reply” link next to the commenter’s name that you’d like to reply to and your comment will automatically be nested below it.

Any other features or content ideas that you’d like to see on PickTheBrain? Shout em out in the comments.

Lumosity is a brain fitness program, comprised of games and exercises, scientifically designed to improve your memory, attention, and processing speed. I first discovered them in PC Magazine’s list of the Top 100 Undiscovered Sites. They offer a free trial of the brain games — I’ve tried it myself — the games are fun and high quality.

ChargedAudio specializes in unlocking the power of the subconscious mind through subliminal messaging. They offer a free trial CD and ebook, so you can test their products at minimal cost.

There are still sponsorship spots available for November. If you have a product or service that you’d like to share with the PickTheBrain community, check out the advertising page for more information or send us a message.

After 7 months as the sole content creator for PickTheBrain.com, I’ve decided to open up the site to other writers. I’ve been thinking about this for a long time (it wasn’t an easy decision), but I’m confident it’s the right one and I’m excited to move forward.

Here are my primary reasons.

1. Diversity

Based on the quality of the comments, I know there are intelligent people interested in contributing to the discussion. Having multiple voices will bring diversity to the site’s content and style. It will allow the site to cover topics that I know little about and will help readers discover other talented writers.

2. Community

Having only one person writing is an inefficient way to share collective wisdom. I’m not an expert on everything and I learn a ton from the comments people leave. Allowing others to contribute will create a greater depth of knowledge.

I want to give readers the chance to have the spotlight. Not everyone has the opportunity to write for an audience of several thousand readers. Although most people aren’t driven to update a blog on a regular basis, I’ll bet every person reading this has at least one great article inside them. Now you have the opportunity to share it.

3. Quality Content

Writing content is hard, time consuming work. Given the degree of quality I expect and the fact I have a full time job as well, something had to give. At times the pressure to produce content has made me miserable. I started PickTheBrain.com in search of freedom, not self imposed slavery.

The options were 1) stop posting as much, or 2) find help. Recruiting additional writers will allow the site to share more content and take some pressure off me. I still plan on being the primary writer, but not having to do it alone will allow me to write more inspired, stress-free articles.

Why Write for PickTheBrain.com?

You now know why this move is good for me, but why should you want to post your hard work here?

1. The Joy of Sharing – If you’ve had a life-changing experience or overcome an enormous obstacle, sharing your knowledge could change the lives of thousands of people who face the same problem.
2. Exposure – For a beginning blogger, building a readership is a challenge. It’s tough when no one knows who you are. Writing for PickTheBrain.com will allow you to reach thousands of new readers and gain some visibility in the blogosphere.
3. Links/Traffic – When you contribute an article, you’ll receive credit and a byline with a link to your site. This will send you a healthy dose of traffic and PageRank.
4. Money – For those of you who’d rather receive monetary compensation for your efforts, I’m perfectly happy to pay for great content.

Writing Requirements

My biggest fear with inviting other writers to contribute is that the quality of the site will decline. To avoid this, I’m going to be extremely picky about what I publish. Please don’t be offended if I decline an article or send it back with recommendations.

Here are the main requirements for content submission.

1. Original – Anything you submit must be your original writing that you still hold all rights to. Please don’t submit articles that summarize or repeat another source.
2. Unique – The article you submit cannot be duplicated on any other sites including your own, and while the content remains yours, you are granting me the right to keep it on this site.
3. Relevant to Self Improvement – I plan to be very flexible on this but all articles should be somehow relevant to self improvement. Extra points for anything that’s intellectually stimulating.
4. I reserve the right to edit content in any way I see fit before publishing it.
5. Send your submissions to john@pickthebrain.com, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

I hope you’re as excited as I am about the benefits that new contributors will bring to PickTheBrain.com. If you’re interested in writing but aren’t sure about a topic, here are some suggestions I’m particularly interested in.

• Mental development, meditation, concentration, or any other way to train yourself to think more clearly
• Personal productivity and motivation
• Art, science, philosophy, and literature
• Health and fitness
• Personal finance, marketing, and entrepreneurship
• Education and self directed learning
• Better writing and blogging

I look forward to reading your submissions. Adding new voices will help PickTheBrain.com develop into a more robust community than one person could create alone.

What Pick The Brain Isn’t

One of the reasons I took so long to commit to “An Analytical Approach to Self Improvement” is that self improvement has some negative stigmas. Until recently I’ve never had an interest in the business of self help and I don’t believe it can be constrained to one tiny genre. I don’t want to be lumped in with the thousands of books and websites repeating generic lectures on goal setting, positive thinking, etc. These things are all well and good, but we’ve heard them so many times that they don’t make an impact. Here is what “An Analytical Approach to Self Improvement” doesn’t mean.

1. It isn’t about jumping on the bandwagon with Tony Robbins and all the other motivational gurus.

Although this website is a business, I don’t have seminars, audio programs, or books to sell. I don’t promote myself as a guru. The way I see it, we’re all in this together and the exchange of information goes both ways. I’m here to present the truth to you through the lens of my personal experience without the marketing spin.

2. It isn’t about motivating with emotional gimmickry.

Emotions are temporary. While a great speaker might get you fired up for a week or two, the emotional peak inevitably ends and you fall back to earth no better than you started. Permanent change only occurs when we make a mental breakthrough. This site is about taking a scientific look at our thoughts and actions, identifying the cause of our behavior, and using that knowledge to make improvements.

3. It isn’t about trying to become the ideal person.

There is no ideal person, and if there was, it wouldn’t be anything like the millionaires and movie stars society worships. Self improvement is a continuous process; there is no finish line. Treating life as a competition is counterproductive. It makes us envy our friends and despise ourselves. The purpose of this site is to get past the petty squabbling and find what really makes us happy. Instead of striving for outside approval, it’s about recognizing our unique brilliance and being able to enjoy it, even if no one else notices.

4. It isn’t about pretending life would be perfect if we had a positive attitude.

There is a lot to be said in favor of positive thinking, but it can’t be denied that life involves a great deal of suffering. This site is about taking a cold hard look at the reality of human life and facing it as best we can. I don’t promise to eliminate your problems or make your life easy, but I’ve found that the more knowledge and experience I acquire, the easier it is to endure hardship and tolerate shortcomings in myself and others. The purpose of this site is to share that knowledge.

Why Self Improvement?

I kept coming back to self improvement because I started this site to improve my own life. In that respect it’s already a success, and the business aspect is coming to fruitition as well. I wouldn’t say I was miserable before, but something was missing. I felt like a drone going through the motions without passion or enthusiasm. I felt powerless against destiny and that my creative abilities were going to waste.

This website has given me a creative outlet, a way to connect with like minded people, and a purpose that focuses my mind on something constructive, rather than worrying about things I can’t control. From the feedback I’ve gotten, it’s safe to say that many of you have benefited from PickTheBrain as well.

Site Content and Frequency

In the past 6 months I’ve learned a lot about what works, what doesn’t, and how much writing I can produce. The purpose of my writing is sharing valuable information. Different styles of writing do this in different ways. The main styles I plan to use are:

1. Personal Experience – These articles share important lessons that I’ve learned through experience. They focus on my thought process and the mental breakthrough that lead to success. These articles convey knowledge well because shared experiences create a bond of mutual understanding between reader and writer. Examples include: Overcoming a Loss of Motivation and Making the Best of a Situation.
2. Instructional Tips – These “how to” posts share practical knowledge through concrete tips. Rather than elaborating on experience, I’ll only share the most important lessons I’ve learned. The posts will usually be in the form of a list for the sake of brevity and precision. Examples include: George Orwell’s 5 Rules for Effective Writing .
3. Theoretical Knowledge – These posts focus on high level theoretical concepts that have important practical applications. Instead sharing tips, these posts are about sharing the ideas behind the tips. Examples include: Balancing the Future and the Present and How Primitive Desires Cause Social Problems.
4. General Insights – The purpose of these posts is to increase our understanding of the world. This relates to self improvement indirectly. Understanding our environment helps us understand ourselves. These posts aim to provoke thought and discussion. Examples include: Why Believe the Simple Truth When Lies are More Appealling? and Why are we Afraid of the Truth?.
5. Experiments – In these posts I’ll try something new and report back to you with the results. Examples include: Can Anyone Gain 34 Pounds of Muscle in a Month? and The Amazing Effects of a Weekend Without Television.

The majority of posts will fall into these 5 categories, but don’t be surprised if I branch out occasionally into humor or other areas when I feel inspired. There will always be a tie to self improvement.

I’ve found that 3 substantial posts a week is the most I can do without a drop off in quality. These will generally be published on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. This might not seem like much, but I write lengthy articles on timeless ideas, so old posts retain their value indefinitely. If you ever need something to read I encourage you to browse through the archives.

This post has gone on long enough, but in closing I’d like to thank all of you for helping me to reach this level of success. Without your feedback and encouragement I’d have quit long ago. The best part of my day is checking my email in the morning to find all the new comments and messages you’ve left. I look forward to many more months of sharing ideas, forming relationships, and improving the world, one individual at a time.