I spend a lot of time on my computer and just as much time online consuming media, creating websites and content and doing research for business and personal ideas. I started out with computers in the US Navy. Back then we were working with very simple programs like the predecessors to Microsoft Word and at that point we didn’t even have icons and a graphic user interface like every system does today. The Navy sent me to classes like Dos and MS-DOS. Our computer screens were either mono color green or the older version was even an amber color.
Since then the start of the personal computer revolution started and I can remember saving money for my first personal computer that ran windows 3.1. I learned about computers from self study and a few classes here and there through work. My first computer had a modem which I used to connect to billboard systems, this was the pre Internet version of connecting with other computers and networks. I had a good friend who ran a BS on his own server and allowed me to connect and download a lot of different software and connect to other computers to download content from them as well. I got the first versions of all the software that I used from downloads off of BBS systems. My first versions of software like Adobe Photoshop we’re downloaded from these pre Internet servers. Ever since those early years I’ve been hooked on learning new things trying out new software and exploring everything I can through remote connections with other computer users.
Our recent vacation to Disneyland and Southern California, is the first time I’ve been offline for more than a week in many years. On purpose, I only took a tablet that allowed me to check my e-mail and play my online world builder computer game. I didn’t do all the normal things that I do like checking e-mail on all the other systems I have as well as consuming media through news articles YouTube videos and training systems that I am of part of.
One of the things that I’m trying to do consciously right now is to be in the moment with the people in the room and enjoy their company. I found myself asking more questions of people and starting conversations instead of being the strong silent type in the corner or the wallflower. Typically in Group discussions I fade to the back and only offer input and conversation when directly engaged. During this trip I tried to be more engaging and start conversations rather than just respond to other people having conversations. As a pretty extreme introvert this is outside of my control zone so it took effort on my part to engage with other people.
Of course during my break from the computer and online resources that’s all I thought about while we were driving between locations and when it was time to wind down for going to bed. I have several major projects and an entire business that are currently in progress and being offline allowed me to think through some of the major aspects of those projects. I had a lot of time to think through complex issues and make decisions about what I wanted to do when I got back to the office. I often procrastinate when I have too many projects going on and become very productive by performing the easier tasks while thinking about and pondering on decisions for the more complex tasks. This time away from the computer and Internet allowed me to pontificate on a lot of different variations and make decisions to move forward.
Once I got back home and started to rethink and recall all of the things I thought about while on vacation I had to create a file to do a brain dump and then parse that out to each of the projects I’m working on so that it didn’t lose ground. A lot of my thinking during my break was about the nonprofit organization that I am planning to create and working towards currently. There are 1000 moving parts in that evolution and the time away from the computer and Internet allowed me to consolidate a lot of those into action items that I can start performing to move forward and make the most efficient progress. I’ll share a lot more about the nonprofit organization once I have something to show and I’ll invite all have you guys to provide feedback, ask questions and see if you want to help or contribute.
