Hard to believe, but it’s true.

Normally, I post almost daily. But this is my first post in a week. WOW! And you know what, the blogosphere didn’t curl up and wither away without me.

Not only did it continue without me, it seems to be thriving. Just going by my own traffic stats and comments, I still had healthy activity on my blog during my absence (thanks, by the way).

I know, I know….what amazing, exciting adventure did I have that kept me away from my blog for almost a week?

I can’t tell all the details, but it had something to do with a birthday (mine), seeing an old friend (my spiritual teacher), celebrating the coming birth of our third child (4 weeks away), getting out of the construction zone (kitchen remodel) and swimming (my daughter now firmly believes she’s a frog).

Funny thing, I purposely didn’t take my laptop because I didn’t want to be tempted to work too much. I had all intentions of blogging from the business center at the Embassy Suites we stayed at. However, it was closed for remodeling – something I didn’t think about asking before we booked. So, no computer access….no blogging. And yet without me, the blogosphere continued.

Just goes to show me that while I sometimes believe I live at the center of the universe, the truth is I’m orbiting something much bigger than me.

It was a nice break. But now, as they say, back to work.

I love to read. Yet being a solopreneur, a husband, a father, a constructrion worker (I’ve just gutted our kitchen), a friend, etc – it’s hard to find time to read as much as I’d like.

So Doug Karr helped me out yesterday when he posted about the book, The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz & Don Jose Luis Ruiz.

From the book’s back cover: The Four Agreements…“reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, the Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom: true happiness and love”

Sounds pretty powerful, huh? So, then, what are the Four Agreements?

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
3. Don’t Make Assumptions
4. Always Do Your Best

Of course, this is great advice for life in general. It’s great advice for marriage, parenting and all relationships.

Which is why I immediately thought about it as a conversational blogger publisher. For me, each are essential for creating conversation and building relationships with you…

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word
   Simple, mean what you say. Don’t lie, cheat or steal. And above all, be honest – even when it hurts a little.
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
   I do my best to share myself through my blog. But truly you’ll only really know me when we build a personal, long-term friendship.
3. Don’t Make Assumptions
   I try not to make assumptions about anyone who comments on my blog. Rather, I look at each comment as a chance to get to know a person a little better.
4. Always Do Your Best
   I don’t always write absolutely killer posts – I know that. But even the ones that aren’t interesting, I still tried to do the best I could in the moment – and I’m happy with the effort.

Aren’t these great? Simple, yet powerful concepts.

I’ve not (yet) read the book. I may. Though there’s many books already on my reading list. If you’re interested in the book, here are some reviews I found:

• Book Review – The Four Agreements – Your Key To Inner Transformation! at Matrimony Express
  
• The Four Agreements – Don Miquel Ruiz at Erica’s Reviews
  
• Book Review: The Four Agreements (links to another site for review)
• The Four Agreements by Don Miquel Ruiz at Gather
  
• The Four Agreements at Pencil Pushin’
  
• The Four Agreements at Dwell On These Things
• The Four Agreements at The Clinton Review
• The Four Agreements at Viva Las Vegas

So you know a bit of what I think. What I’d really like to know is what you think. How do you see each/any of the four agreements as essential (or nonessential) to being a conversational blogger?

I almost never work on the weekends. And I rarely work in the evening. So, then, how do I manage to remain a thriving solopreneur? How do I get my work done on time and under budget? Simple (mostly) through good productivity practices.

I have a number of processes that help me keep a stable and productive workflow. Yet I’m always looking for better and more efficient ways to run my business.

So is Ben Yoskovitz. But he wants to help all of us with our productivity. That’s why he’s instigated (sorry Ben, couldn’t resist) the Ultimate Guide to Productivity Group Writing Project Meme.

Ben kicked it off by tagging Alister Cameron, Adam Kayce, Chris Brogan, Guy Kawasaki, Andrew Wee, David Armano, Tony Clark, Mike Sansone and Chris Cree. As of tonight, Adam and Andrew have responded with some solid tips. I’d love to hear from everyone else Ben’s tagged.

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As you can see from my past two posts, I’m working through a shift in my business. It’s not so much a new direction as it is an evolution.

All the work I’ve ever done has been about caring for people and people’s needs. When I was a waiter, I took care of people’s dining experience. When I was buyer at a large outdoor clothing store, I brought in the products my customers most wanted. As a spiritual teacher and healer, I cared about the unveiling of my client’s authentic self. And even as a web designer and web-based business developer, my cares have been about helping my clients understand how to use the web to build their business.

It hasn’t matter. At every turn of my life my work has been about helping people. And that’s certainly extended deep into my personal life as well.

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Found a great post on To-Done about getting better, more restful sleep. Points 4 (keep the bed for bedtime things), 5 (meditate) & 6 (exercise during the day) have worked for me for a long time.

I also like to spend some time breathing. No really. Doing focused breathing exercises where you bring your breathe low into your belly can really help you relax. It’s great for relieving the stress of the day and for calming the mind. Similar to meditation, I sometimes will practice breathing out stress parts to my day so to not keep them in my body.

While Dave Schoof has been blogging for more than a month, we just officially completed and launched both his website – The Disquiet in Men and the accompanying blog – Engaging the Disquiet. He’s already seen success in the way of fast growing traffic, contact with other bloggers, a few inquiries into his work, and two new clients. All in a couple of weeks.

With his design, we set out from scratch. The look and feel of the site were very important to Dave. He wanted the site to be soft and engaging without being feminine while having a sense of depth and calm. He also thought having a slight amount of tension would help his audience (men feel something’s missing) identify themselves in his design.

By my suggestion, the blog became a central piece for starting conversation, creating community and building relationships with men who fit his target market. No sales here, though. Just good and helpful information.

As many of you already know my wife and I had our second child, a son a few months ago. His name is Ahmed Dawud Miracle. He’s now four months old and doing great adjusting to life, as my daughter says, “outside the womb.”

The birth of my son has led to great adjustments for me, my wife and daughter, and my business.

Both my kids have taught me so much about living. And they’ve also taught me about business.

Yeah, I know, sounds odd. How can a 2 1/2 year-old and a infant who freshly planted here have anything to teach me about my business?

Well, just the other day, I was working on a design. It was all but complete, except for a bug in Internet Explorer (no surprise) that was causing some of the text to disappear. It worked fine in all the other web browsers, just not in IE.

After three hours of trying to fix the bug, I had made little progress. My normally patient, calm self was disintegrating fast. And just at the point when I let out a loud UUUGGGHH!, my little girl knocked on my office door.

She was bringing me lunch – which she often does. Of course, she’s two, so she asked me what UUUGGGHH! was. I gave her some answer she could understand. Then she reminded me that I was using my outside voice inside. Which was true.
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