Erin – Red Debted Stepchild

Erin writes at Red Debted StepChild about her journey to beat debt while searching for freedom and quoting The Office along the way, these are her good things.

Good things to read.

I specifically did not list Harry Potter because that’s too easy. But, Harry Potter.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Food, travel, and self-discovery. What’s not to love? The Italy section is definitely the best because you know, Italian food. And Italian guys. And more Italian food.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. Do you know why people don’t want to learn about finance? Because it’s so ridiculously boring. Ramit presents the “boring” information in an entertaining way that really speaks to twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings. And cracks a few good Indian jokes at his own expense along the way. Hilarious.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling. Most of my life is dictated by food and entertainment, obviously. It’s a funny, light-hearted read that fans of The Office & The Mindy Project will love. Mindy is hysterical and incredibly relatable and I want to be her best friend.

Good things to watch.

Wicked. Actually any Broadway/off-Broadway/way-the-hell-off-Broadway show will do, but Wicked is just beyond belief incredible. I never did get into the book, but the show is gorgeous! The songs, the story, the set – it really can’t be beat. Anyone who is a fan of The Wizard of Oz will love it – it’s a whole new twist on a classic tale.

And as I recommend with any show, if you are going to see it, actually SEE IT. For real, don’t pay for obstructed view. Save up the cash and get close enough to see the actors’ facial expressions.

How I Met Your Mother. It’s worth it for the Canadian jokes alone (says the American).

Barney Stinson’s Canadian citizenship test: “Question One: Do you want to be Canadian? Question Two: Really?”

Other than that, it’s just an amazing show. You really can’t beat Marshall & Lily’s relationship, Barney’s hilarity, Robin’s Canadian references, and Ted’s neuroses and love addiction. The twists and turns are fabulous and the episode foreshadowing is brilliant. And obviously, it’s the most epic “how we met” story ever.

Food documentaries. I am OBSESSED with food documentaries. A few favorites include: Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead, Forks Over Knives, & Ingredients. There is nothing better than sitting on your ass learning about food. Check out Netflix for a great selection.

Good things to use.

Your freaking eyes. This is a rant. A two-part rant.

Part 1: Stop viewing the world through the camera on your iPhone. While you are picking out a filter on Instagram, you are missing out on really seeing what you just snapped a picture of. Live in the moment.

Part 2: Stop texting while driving. You are putting your own life and the lives of others in danger. I promise you, no text is that important.

Inspiration and a PSA – look at me being all awesome.

Erin Condren Life Planner. If you’re old school like me, nothing beats a good old fashioned planner. Erin Condren planners are cute and the setup is perfection. They are a bit pricey but well worth it in my humble opinion.

A corkscrew. You just can’t beat a nice glass of wine at the end of the day. Pour yourself a glass and curl up with one of the books I listed above. Bliss.

You can talk to Erin about food (movies) and wine on Twitter, @reddebted.

Trevor Page – Java Guru

These are Trevor Page’s good things.

Good things to read.

I’m a big fan of Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk, it’s the only business book I’ve read through twice. Gary’s writing style is very bold and exciting and the book itself is thin enough to get through in a day of solid reading. “Crush it!” is filled with lots of advice about our modern social media world and how you can go about taking advantage of it. A very entertaining and useful read for any entrepreneur.

Yet another great resource for entrepreneurs is The Great Business Project e-zine. This e-zine is packed with a ton of actionable advice, all from successful entrepreneurs. When you’re reading an article written by millionaire after millionaire, it’s hard not to listen and implement the strategies that worked for them!

Last but not least, keeping on the “resources for entrepreneurs” theme, I’d have to recommend that you read Web Copy that Sells. This book focuses on how you should go about creating/designing your website to sell your products on the internet. It goes in depth about what to include and what NOT to include in your website, as well as what kinds of writing styles will result in an increase in sales. All of their data is backed by years of studies and hundreds of thousands of dollars in tested, tried and true marketing strategies used on large samples of REAL people. It’s hard to dispute their advice when you just “know it works”.

Good things to watch.

I was really inspired after I watched the documentary I’m fine, Thanks. This documentary loosely follows the journey of a man whose dream is to create a film. He spent his whole life knowing that this was his dream, but never took action on it, until one day he woke up and realized that he just wasn’t happy. The documentary follows him as he travels across the US to interview other people stuck in the same situation he is – stuck in a 9-5 that they hate and are dying to get out of. An inspiring and eye opening tale for anyone who hates their job (and wants to do something about it).

Breaking away from entrepreneurial theme, I’d also recommend watching Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. This three part series explores the universe, both the known and the unknown and blows your mind with how small we are really are in the grand scheme of things. I have a fascination for all things “space”, so being able to explore the brain of Stephen Hawking while he explains all the strange things that happen in our universe is very exciting!

The third documentary I’d have to recommend is called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. This documentary follows a gentleman from down under who is overweight with a plethora of health issues after he decides to do something about it. He makes a radical change in his diet to see if something simple can reverse all that ails him. On his journey he meets someone else with the same ailments and the story takes an unexpected and inspiring turn.

Good things to use.

Now let’s talk about getting things DONE! I’m a programmer, so the most important tool I use on a day to day basis is the Spring Tool Suite. This integrated development environment has a code generator so you can go from “zero to functioning web application” in under 30 minutes. It also has a performance measurement tool so that you can keep an eye on parts of your applications that are sluggish and fix them!

I subscribed to Netflix as a learning tool. I have a ferocious appetite for learning and I have been watching and digesting documentaries like crazy these days. Netflix has made this not only possible, but very easy as well. Just be careful you don’t waste time with all that reality TV garbage!

Last but not least, I use iTunes to discover podcasts. Podcasts are 100% what I attribute my success to. If it wasn’t for me finding the Smart Passive Income podcast (and countless others), I would never have taken the leap to start my own business and quit my day job. The amount of knowledge you can absorb listening to podcasts while performing other daily tasks (like driving to work or hitting the gym) is staggering. I try listening to at least one episode of a podcast every day to keep my wits about me.

 

If you’re interested in learning more about me, I teach Java Video Tutorials and run a programming blog on all things Java. I can be reached via trevor@javavideotutorials.net and love to talk about all things programming and business!