Goodbye Korea!

This is my last roundup from Korea. In four days I’ll be on a plane bound for Bangkok. Right now, my apartment looks like it has been ransacked by a drunken monkey; clothes strewn about, half-stuffed suitcases, piles of papers, and anti-malaria tablets arranged in a winking smiley face on the kitchen table.

We’re simultaneously closing down our responsible life here and getting ready to hit the Banana Pancake trail for a few months. Lots of little stuff to do, but nothing unmanageable. My compulsive list-making has justified its existence once again

Spent my last weekend in Seoul playing music and spending time with good friends. I couldn’t ask for a better send-off.

But you’re not here to read about me! Blah. Sorry for the self-indulgence. Here are some articles I enjoyed this week:

• If you’ve been thinking about taking a long trip, check out Corbett Barr’s article The Pros and Cons of Long Term Travel. While I agree the positives outweigh the negatives, being away from home for a long time can be tough at times. Maybe the worst is the distance and gradual disconnection from friends and family.
• In Unrealized Projects, Seth Godin talks about an artist you who spends most of his time working on failed projects. He writes “One key element of a successful artist: ship [your product]. Get it out the door. Make things happen.” If I’ve advocated nothing else here at Happenchance, it’s a combination of making things happen and not worrying about failure. By the way, that artist’s name is Tim Burton.
• If you’re feeling stagnant or just want some new ideas, check out 100 Ways to Develop Your Mind. This ridiculously long list is full of good ideas. Among my favorites: stop talking, risk embarrassment, share your skills, take micro naps. I think he forgot something, or maybe I missed it: stop watching television.
• I really liked this article: Stuck in a Rut? Run from Experts. According to the author, experts tend to have narrow view of things. Why? Because they know (and probably like) the rules and conventions. In lieu of experts, you should seek out different kinds people, especially idea-oriented people, and play the fool and assume everyone is a genius. This last one comes pretty easy for me.
• My article 5 things I’ve learned in Korea was recently featured in the Travels of the Itineranti monthly travel roundup. I wrote that piece  after 6 months in Korea. Now that I’ve almost finished a year here, I still think all these points are valid, especially number five. Plenty of other good articles over there. Be sure to check them out.

Have a great week!.

Photo credit: albertopveiga

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I hope everyone began the new decade with much decadence and bravado. My wife and I celebrated by taking a quick trip to Beijing and getting pounded by a snowstorm.

As you probably noticed, I have purposely abstained from milking the New Years’s holiday for blog post fodder. Why? Out of consideration for you. You’re probably sick of hearing it. I know I am.

That said, a new year (and decade) is a prime  time for starting new projects and adventures. Some people, though, might be too worried about the risks. In his article Beware of Life, Chris Guillebeau (@chrisguillebeau) argues that the real things to worry about are the roads not taken, the places not explored, and the life unlived.

Seth Godin poses a hard question in this post: ”Seven years from now, what will you have to show for what you’re doing right now?” I would like to follow this with another question: who will own your work?

Jonathan Fields (@jonathanfields) posted a great interview about motivation with bestselling-author Dan Pink. Pink explains why intrinsic  motivation is the most effective kind  of motivation of  all. Why else would people work for free on things like open-source software and blogs like this one?

This article from CNN  offers the five ‘secrets’ of innovation: associating, questioning, observing, experimenting, and networking.

Jonathan Mead’s (@jonathanmead) Why People Hate Productivity takes a hard look at why some people feel like they must be constantly busy. GTD fans, take note.

I had two articles featured in blog carnivals this week. The first was my article ESL Teaching: The Easy Way to Live Abroad was featured at the Sharing Travel Experiences Inspiring Travel Monthly Review. The second, How to Manage the Fear of Failure, was featured at the InkyBlots January 2010 Blog Carnival. Both of these carnivals feature some excellent articles. Be sure to check them out.

Site notes:

I have a couple busy weeks ahead as I wrap up things here in Korea and prepare to hit the Banana Pancake trail. I’ll probably scale back posting to 1-1.5 posts per week. Forgive me, loyal readers! As a consolation, this week you can look forward to a post on the really cool concept of Csíkszentmihályi’s Flow.

Have a wonderful week!

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I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Holidays are tough when you’re thousands of miles away from your family and friends, but the wife and I made the most of ours. We had a gloriously lazy day together, had coffee with friends, and watched a lot of movies.

But enough about us. Ready for some weekly links?

• Author and historian Steven Pressfield (@SPressfield) has an excellent post on his site called “The Most Important Writing Lesson I Ever Learned.” If you’re wondering what this lesson is, it’s this: “nobody wants to read your shit.” Funny, a little cynical, but entirely true.
• Scott H. Young (@ScottHYoung) has tons of solid insights on learning. In 9 Tactic for Rapid learning, he shares a few of these. My favorite tactics on this list are linking, learning by metaphor, and using ambiance catalysts (maybe because it advocates studying in pubs, but I digress).
• If you’re looking for ideas on becoming location-independent digital nomad, check out 64 Ways Location Independent People Earn a Living. A lot of these are  IT jobs, but plenty aren’t. (@CorbettBarr)
• I enjoy seeing balanced (or contrarian, depending on how you look at it) points of view. Cal Newport takes one of these in his post If You’re Nervous About Quitting Your Boring Job, Don’t Do It. So many people talk about quitting cubicle jobs and finding their passion, but they forget that your passion needs to double as a rare, valuable, and marketable skill.
• Finally, I’d like to resurrect my second post ever: How to Cut the Crap and Stop Settling For Less. As you’re making your plan for 2010 (you are making a plan, right?), think about how much stupid stuff you’ve grown accustomed to in your life. What can you cut or get rid of?

Site News

This week at Happenchance, I’ll be posting another article in the series on removing barriers to creating amazing things. This one will  deal with fear: fear of failure, success, and small rodents. If anyone has any stories about overcoming fear, please contact me via twitter (@sethmbaker)

Next week, I’m off to Beijing for the New Year and my 29th birthday, so I may miss  a couple of posts. My apologies in advance.

Finally, I want to give a big, sincere thank you to everyone out there reading these past six months. Writing for you has been more fun than shooting cows with rocket launchers in Cambodia. Not that I’ve done that. That’s just what I hear.

But seriously…

Thank you.

Here’s to a happening 2010!

photo credit: yours truly, sethmbaker

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Not much to say this week, only that I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday. Here’s what I’ve enjoyed this week:

Seth Godin just launched a new (free) ebook called What Matters Now. This 82-page book features over 70 people Seth selected riffing on different themes. You can download the book here.

How to Kick-Start Creativity and Get Out of a Writing Rut is a Write to Done guest post by Peter Hildebrand. The thesis here is that having constraints and rules makes writing easier. Sound familiar? (See Why the Rules of Art Matter)

For you language learners out there, I just came across an entertaining blog called Fluent in Three Months. Here’s a good starter post: How to speak a Language Pretty Well, Starting from Scratch, In Two Months However, for people learning East Asian languages, you’ll probably need a lot more than three months.

The award-winning novel The Life of Pi tells the story of an Indian boy who, after a shipwreck, finds himself floating in the middle of the Pacific in a life boat with an orangutan, a hyena, and a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker.

Photo Credit: petritent

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The end of the year is approaching fast. The weather has grown cold, but between the Korean interpretation of the holiday season and the strange things expats do, winter is still an exciting time on the peninsula.

Case in point: last night, while out watching live music, about 150 foreigners walked into the bar, all dressed in full Santa Claus regalia. They drank all the beer in the bar, handed out candy to baffled Koreans, and quickly as they arrived, away they flew, like the down of a thistle.

This week’s links are only marginally related to that story. You can draw your own connections

Readability. This browser bookmarklet transforms webpages into clean and crisp pages. Next best thing to an ebook reader. Works beautifully in Chrome.

A Day in the Life of an Expat in Gunpo City, South Korea. I send articles to Matador, and they keep publishing them. This is my latest attempt to describe living in Korea in less than 800 words.

Austria’s Krampus Parades (6 December 09) In old Alpine mythology, Krampus were Santa’s devilish enforcers. If a child ended up on the ‘naughty’ list, they could expect a visit from one of these horned monsters. Today, the Krampus festivals include beer, scary masks, and flagellation.

Overseas and Overwhelmed is a photoessay on living in another culture. Here’s a nice quote from the intro: “most of us end up somewhere between amazed and exhausted.”

Staying Focused on Tasks That Matter It’s easy to get distracted and focus on insignificant things. This article has strategies for figuring out the important stuff and, well, staying  focused on it.

How to Conduct Your Own Annual Review Great article from a guy whose plan is to visit every country in the world. He lays out detailed instructions for looking back at what you have done and looking forward to what you will do. Great for making those New Year’s resolutions happen.

How to Make Yourself Lucky This article has some good insight into why some people ‘have all the  luck. Tips include expecting luck, using your intuition, and (I like this one) maximizing chance opportunities.

Coming up this week at Happenchance: I’m planning an article on mind maps and another on removing barriers to making stuff. Stay tuned!

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Photo Credit: alexbarlow

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This is the first installment in what I hope to make into a weekly link love round-up. These are articles I’ve happened upon during the past week and thought I would share with the discerning readers of this fine blog.

• Make Everything Your Own from (ahem) 50 Cent and Robert Greene.  The crack dealer-turned rap entrepreneur makes a great point: you can either create value for someone else, or you can create it for yourself.
• The Surprising Wisdom of Will Smith via Brave New Traveler. What’s the secret of Will Smith’s success? There isn’t a secret, he just out-works and and out-hustles everyone else, saying he’s willing to “die on the treadmill.”
• Increase Creativity with Horizontal Eye Movement Exercises via Boing Boing. Apparently these exercises  increase the level of cross-talk between your two brain hemispheres.
• How to Be Indispensable from Jonathon Fields. In this post, Fields talks about the difference between creators and operators and how to combine the best qualities of both. Not sure how much this contradicts 50 Cent’s message about owning all the work you do.

Let me know what you think about this new feature of Happenchance. Do you have any links to share?

Photo Credit: Valeriana Solaris

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