Open Mon - Fri 09:00-17:00
Email [email protected] Call Now! +44(0)1689 602 248
Open Mon - Fri 09:00-17:00
Email [email protected] Call Now! +44(0)1689 602 248

30 day challenge: being thankful and going offline

It’s been a while since I reported on any 30 day challenges, so it’s time for an update.

30 days of Being Thankful

I knew that January, February, and March would be crazy, including a bunch of stuff at work, traveling, plus several conferences. So I told myself it was okay to do only one 30 day challenge, and it was a pretty easy one. I decided to be thankful for one thing each day. I kept a list, so here are 30 things I’ve been thankful for recently:

– thankful for my wife, plus the fact that she’s a good cook.
– thankful for my family. No one’s crazy and we all love each other.
– thankful that I can afford to take time off with my wife this week for our 11 year anniversary
– thankful that my wife is funny and we laugh together
– thankful that an Android phone can be a powerful personal computer, and that Google Docs lets you edit a doc from Android.
– thankful for This Week in Google (TWiG) because they provide free techie podcasts that I listen to while I work out
– thankful for my cats, but especially for the furry orange one who likes to perch on me and sleep next to me.
– today I’m thankful for the other cat, the gray striped-y one who sometimes lounges on my legs and keeps me warm
– thankful for caffeine, which is helping me to work down my email backlog.
– thankful for my health. Glad to be over my whooping cough.
– thankful for an aisle seat on a plane, that the plane that landed on time, and fortuitously running into Googlers in the airport to share a cab with. But also thankful for beautiful snow in Washington D.C. that didn’t derail my travel plans.
– thankful for thoughtful discussions of how Google works and how to make it better
– thankful to be heading home from D.C.
– thankful for smart, effective, hard-working colleagues
– thankful for my bike
– thankful for exercise and my health. And for a long bath after an eight mile hike.
– thankful that my Aliph Jawbone Icon can be updated to A2DP, so I can listen to music on my Bluetooth earpiece with my Android phone
– thankful for sleep, but mainly because I haven’t gotten enough of it.
– thankful for the chance to vent with some smart people.
– thankful for good copy editing
– thankful for Data Liberation and my lockpick set.
– thankful for daffodils
– thankful for an empty locker room. It sounds silly, but it’s more fun to get dressed in an empty locker room than a crowded one.
– thankful that my best friend back in Kentucky keeps sending me cool stuff he’s writing for me to read
– thankful for Linux and Chrome: two great things that keep me productive and safe on the internet
– thankful to WIRED magazine for writing about topics I want to read about
– thankful for colleagues who come together to work on important things
– thankful to Kara Swisher for introducing me to Val Emmich’s song called “Get On With It,” which is great to work out to
– thankful for Daylight Savings Time so I can start biking into work again
– thankful to have had a fortunate life so far: I feel like I get to make a difference and be rewarded for it

I was looking back over the list and I realized that some of the things I’m thankful for are high-tech, but most aren’t. Which leads me to my next 30 day challenge…

30 days with no electricity

I think sometimes we get caught up in the excitement of technology and the online world. We forget that there’s an entire world offline–a world of books, and visiting with people, and being active instead of sitting in a chair. So my next 30 day challenge, I’m going to turn off my internet connection and reconnect with the offline world. I’m turning off my cell phone and won’t answer any email. Instead, I’m going to visit with friends in person, catch up with family, and generally try to use as little technology as possible.

I’m even trying to minimize the electricity I’m using. For the next 30 days, I’m going to camp out in my backyard. This will be my home for the next 30 days:

30 day challenge: camp in the backyard!

I’ll still take showers indoors, since that doesn’t need electricity, but otherwise I’ll be getting up with the sun and going to bed when it gets dark. This will be a really difficult challenge, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m heading offline after I publish this blog post, but I’ll let you know what I learned in 30 days!


Matt Cutts: Gadgets, Google, and SEO

About the author

Blue Square Management are a web design and SEO Digital Marketing Agency based in Orpington and Bromley on the borders of South East London and Kent. We help businesses get more leads, increase sales and grow their businesses. Basically, Blue Square Management helps you get more phone calls and sell more products! We do by improving your search engine rankings and getting your found when people are looking for your products or services. We do this through online marketing, which includes SEO (Search Engine Optimisations), Local SEO, Web Design, PPC Management services, Online Reputation Management, Video Production Services, online Video Marketing and Social Media Marketing. Need help with your online marketing? Want more customers? Sell more products? Contact London & Kent's lead online digital marketing company, Blue Square Management to find out how we can help your business.