This helped me to see that even though you may not have that great an interest in the group that you are affiliated with, but if you make it interesting for yourself, end result is going to be positive. Organisations like these can help you to grow and mature in a way that can be used in other situations as they arise.

This spurred me to reacquaint myself with a group that I started to show interest in.

Thanks.

I once wrote something (and probably a gazillion of people wrote it) that is not spectacular but that resume it:

You try nothing, you get nothing.

Therefore just try. If you try, you already have a greater chance to succeed.

First of all, I have met a lot of new friends through the group.

Secondly, I have become re-energized after doing their website and seeing how appreciative they were. I decided to create a blog about a hobby of mine (dogs).

Now I am suddenly very busy in my free time, with the peace website and the dog blog, and going to peace activities. But I am happier than I have been in a long time.

So, definitely, I think volunteering can change your life.

Yes, it costs time and money - but all opportunity surely requires some degree of investment to turn potential opportunity into actual realisation.

NO

Smoking is detrimental to one’s health. Putting your personal needs first is not detrimental to one’s career. It may be that by choosing to spend time with volunteer work rather than trade organizations will leave you at a lower rung on the ladder of success. It not a negative thing, it just won’t add as much positive value to your career success (perhaps).

Also, it depends on your values and goals. I know a VP in a major corporation. He sit on Boards and is member of this and that trade org. His life is 24×7 career. He’ll reach CEO someday. No spiritual life though. Yeah, he believes in God and attends church occassionally, but more out of an need to be seen really. No social life, outside of coporate shin-digs and enteraining clients at a ballgame.

I believe in a more balanced lifestyle. I have a good job and a great family. I am leader a scouting group and have an active spiritual life. That life fits my goals and the VP’s fits his. Both of us are successful in our endeavors and both have a good life. But he has the better ‘career’.

After reading this Web site, I did two things: I looked up “synchronicity,” and then I Googled writing trade organizations. And I think I found one: http://www.calwriters.org/

They even have prose open mic nights, which is something I’ve been wanting to find ever since I moved to the Bay Area last year.

So, uh, thanks.

As for the second, a story:

I play ultimate disc (also called ultimate frisbee or frisbee football). It’s a bit like basketball in all the running and sprinting fast-paced play, but the field is closer to fotball sized. If you drop/don’t catch the disc, it’s a turnover, and if you manage to knock the disc out of the air while you don’t have posession, it’s a turnover and your team gets the disc.

Now, it’s a very fast game, and throws are often (just) out or reach, either above or just past you, a good healthy dive away. There’s generally lots of opportunities to make a diving block or catch, but for many of those opportunities you’re telling yourself, “Oh, he’s got that.” Or, “I can’t get that.” Or, “That’s probably out anyway.”

You know what I’ve found out, though? *Sometimes I’m wrong*! In fact, it’s really not considerably rare to make an obligitory, yet committed attempt for a catch or block *and succeed*! The feeling of making that block or catch that you totally thought was out of reach is almost indescribable, and easily more than makes up for all the missed attempts.

Reading this article, though, has given me a lot of food for thought. I am going to seriously look into joining one of these organizations.

” I’ve frequently seen in my life that when I focus on getting, I find myself surrounded by scarcity. But when I focus on giving, somehow there always seems to be abundance. ”
This is perfectly true in my case…..

“I didn’t worry about making money from it. I put all my up-front energy into trying to provide something of value — for free”
I sincerely thank you for this initiative. I am a regular visitor of this website and I make sure that I read your BLOG daily… I saw the article “How to give up coffee?”…. For past 25 days, I am not drinking coffee….. Thanks for the tips you gave…..

“If you want to advance in your career or business, get involved with an appropriate trade organization, and volunteer until it hurts. And if you think it won’t make a difference, just do it anyway. Maybe I know something you don’t…”

Although I am not involved in any organization, I volunteer for taking few training sessions which gives me lot of satisfaction…. I will take your advise and I will try to join one such organization…..Thanks steve….

What I don’t like about the ASP is the fact that many members don’t take shareware seriously.

For them writing shareware and getting 200-300 $ per month out of shareware is just a hobby, and so is participating in the ASP newsgroups. So there is a lot of chatter without a lot of substance. The ASP newsgroup is their social club - they work a little on products but they chit-chat a lot.

For me shareware is the way I earn over 90% of my income. It’s my bread and butter. I work very hard on developing programs (together with my team) and engage in cut-throat competition with other companies. I treat shareware very seriously.

This is why I started to dislike ASP, in spite of the fact that I have been a member for 3 years.

I found that http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz is a much better forum for software business than ASP is.