Every so often, you find an article that you really wish you’d written yourself. I’ve found that Steve Pavlina has written a lot of them, and the most recent one, which I’ll just have to send to a lot of relatives and friends :), is 10 Reasons to Develop Your Technical Skills.
Steve’s list of reasons is:
- Enjoy significantly higher paying work
- Save money
- Save time
- Prevent problems
- Reduce frustration
- Make intelligent technology purchases
- Empower yourself
- Access information efficiently
- Earn money online
- Feel more confident and comfortable with technology
For instance, 7 is:
I remember thinking how great it was in high school when I began using a decent word processor while many other students were still using typewriters. Editing was certainly much easier, so I got more done in less time.
Today it’s almost ridiculous how much technology can do. You can use your computer to manage your whole life now, including your finances, your calendar, and your entertainment. Knowing how to use technology can add tremendous richness to your life. But if you lack the technical skills, you’ll probably find it way too complicated to extract this value in a reasonable amount of time.
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I also love Steve’s articles. He is a hell of a good writer. But a few days ago I sent one of his articles (”Why you should never get a job” or something like that) to a lot of friends and the majority of them didn’t like. They said that he looked like a snake oil seller. I admit that his style may sometimes look something like many of the snake oil sellers, but if you pay some attention to his articles, I think it is impossible not ot like them.
Sérgio: some of my friends and acquaintances also disagreed with it, though they were more rational about it, in a way. They didn’t think Steve was being dishonest or anything, or indeed “wrong” - they simply believe (brainwashing, maybe) that, for most people, having a job is the best way - perhaps the only way.
Still, how can Steve sound “like a snake oil seller”? He isn’t selling anything! If he was saying “You can quit your job now!!! Enroll in my program to find out how…”, that would be completely different… but it’s not that at all.
I totally agree with you. I love Steve Pavlina’s articles. I’m just telling you the feedback I got from the people whom I sent the article link. Some of them talked about the snake iol seller after looking at his blog, not only this particular article. I think this is because the format he uses to write. It’s allways something like “10 ways to… “, “15 reasons why you should…”, “how to get… in 30 minutes”. This didn’t sound credible to these people.
I didn’t know this portuguese blog of yours. One more to subscribe. With this, I am already subscribing 3 of yours
It’s called “linkbaiting“. Lists and guides are some of the best linkbaiting posts - people love to link to them, and they get hundreds of votes / bookmarks in sites like Digg and del.icio.us.
As for blogs, I’m actually thinking about starting a “personal development” one, next month, after I leave my day job and start writing full-time. I love Steve Pavlina’s, but will be different: shorter, more pratical articles, and no spiritualist / new age stuff (I’m an atheist). I may even start two of those, one in English and the other in Portuguese…