- Image by Pink Sherbet Photography via Flickr
It is another anniversary for Ralph Carlson Blog
It has been one year since I retired for the second (and last) time. It has been a time of growth, challenge, false starts, stumbles. Now I’m looking back over the year to PDCA my efforts. I started by looking at the year at Ralph Carlson Blog and discovered that this month marks the end of year two for the blog. When I started, I knew little about blogging. I thought I knew a lot because I had another blog for nearly two years before that. I had learned that I needed to host my own blog and the advantages of the WordPress environment. Over the year I learned that I didn’t know s*** about blogging but I’m a stubborn cuss and I pushed myself even when I didn’t know my goal or how to proceed.
What I learned this year
I learned that you don’t have to leave your house to find friends and mentors through the web and social media. I learned that buying courses doesn’t always make you successful and that stumbling blindly can sometimes get you places you never imagined. I learned that I do have a niche. I teamed up to do something I could never attempt on my own. I discovered that the advanced age of 70 years is as good a place to start an adventure as 21 – maybe even better.
Going forward, I expect that the next year will be amazing in ways I can’t begin to imagine. I have some plans and goals but I expect to stumble into things that are better than I am capable of understanding right now. This is my retirement lifestyle adventure but I hope that you will share yours and all grow together from the interchange.
Looking back over the year.
These are some of the posts from one year ago. I find them useful as a benchmark. Maybe you will enjoy them as well- particularly if you weren’t among the small but select audience at that time. Start with this post which reviews my first year of blogging. Then look at my mission from a year ago. Finally take a look at my personal development assessment at the mid year point. Yeah, I know its all about me but that is not the real point. I am just the lab rat. Maybe you can learn something from the rat without wasting your time, money and ego.
Finally, just for fun, last year I was doing Sunday posts for fun. They didn’t relate to retirement or lifestyle design but I thought they might attract some new readers or titillate the ones I had. Mid year I dropped them and nobody complained, but here are a couple of examples- funny inventions and things to do with a tape measure.
Ralph…I too have retired twice. Officially in March 2004, which lasted 9 months before going back to work for the Probation Dept. part-time, extra help for 5 more years. Got layed-off in June 2009 due to the financial crisis and budget cuts. That was O K with me; got to triple-dip (County retirement, part-time work, and Social Security) for two months: a bureaucrats dream.
So….Congratulations on two years of blogging. I’m learning a lot from your site, which helps and inspires me to keep at it with my own fledgling site. Keep that good stuff coming.
Hansi,
Thanks. I just love encouragement. We will have you self hosting any day now. Even if Bad Deacon is too busy to help his old dad.
OK…What is self hosting? Why is it good? Really, I don’t have a clue as to what you are talking about. All I know is Bad Deacon set me up with the freebie Word Press site to avoid paying that massive $12 fee.
AAAAH Hansi,
Now you have asked the $64 dollar question. Self-hosting is what separates the men from the boys; professionals from amateurs; posers from dominators. Now that you have asked that question, it’s like Eve eating that apple. You can never take it back and return to your original innocent naivete. In short, you are screwed and it will cost you way more than $12 to recover. You can do it with intelligence – like me, passion like Justin or just wild-assed crazy like Bob. But do it you must – as Yoda might say.
It’s like creating your own castle – Hansiburg if you will by buying a domain name and hiring a hosting company. Then you are King Hansi, not a mere pawn. Shame on Bad Deacon! Its a poor son that leads his Dad into the woods and leaves him without a gun.
Congratulations on 2 years and going strong. When I first started looking at an available niche for my retirement blog I found 80% of the ones currently in existence to be focused strictly on finances. I also found that fully 50% of all retirement blogs either abandoned or not updated in at least six months. You have not fallen into either trap.
To make 2 years and getting stronger puts you in a small group of bloggers who made a commitment and kept it. I’ve read you long enough to know you are often hard on yourself. But, now would be a good time for a solid pat on the back.
Bob Lowry’s last Blog Post ..Curiosity and Creativity- Part 1
Thanks Bob,
Like you I wasn’t satisfied with the idea that if your finances are ok then so is your retirement. After making a lot of mistakes and being very lucky, I’m going full out to make sure I live my retirement fully.
I appreciate the encouragement. My son calls me a comment whore because I whine so much but I know that only by aiming high and missing will I live my life fully and keep pushing on. I think you understand this too and I always enjoy reading what you post.
Hey Ralph, at 70 years you have one thing a lot of those whipper snappers don’t and that is a wealth of experience. Once you’ve learned hot to channel that into your blogging I reckon it will all start to come together.
Congratulations on your retirement mate. Now things should start looking up.
Sire’s last Blog Post ..Rotating Banner Problem Resolved By Max Banner Ads
Thanks Sire,
It is coming together. It is just never fast enough.
Ralph@retirement lifestyle’s last Blog Post ..Looking back over one year of retirement!
There’s nothing wrong with that Ralph. I’ve always found that if you rush through things you always make mistakes. At worst those mistakes can be costly, dollar wise, at best it ends up costing you more time to fix.
Sire’s last Blog Post ..Why I Chose MailChimp Over Aweber
Aaaaj,
But at my age you don’t have all the time in the world. Can’t diddle around anymore.
Ralph@retirement lifestyle’s last Blog Post ..Increase your odds for surviving prostate cancer
No-one really knows how much time they have left Ralph. Reckon that means that we should ensure whatever we do is always the best we can do.
Sire’s last Blog Post ..The Good The Bad & The Ugly of Lists & List Building