Putting a Brick in My Mailbox (Blog)

[munish]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Is all of that emailing and forum posting and Facebooking really helping, or would you rather be smooching someone beside a beautiful waterfall?[/url]

I am planning to delete my facebook account and Gmail account.

I think it is a complete waste of time.

[AndrewOlson]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

My emails look something like this:

<emails>

I wish I was exaggerating.

Those people sound like they could use some help. If you don't want to reply to people who are searching for answers in life, trying to overcome their problems, I respect that. But at least let someone help them.

Why don't you forward your mail to me?

[escapeplan]

Originally Posted by stewartM

confirmation bias much?

No I really don't think it is. The site is too remote from mainstream PD now and its subject content will attract the vulnerable. Steve may have grown but as he has changed, the site has still focussed on those at the bottom of societies food chain. Yes that's a generalisation but the proof is in those junk e-mails and half the nonsense on these forums. There are some exceptions on here of course, but on the whole...

[James81]

Originally Posted by escapeplan

No I really don't think it is. The site is too remote from mainstream PD now and its subject content will attract the vulnerable. ...

You are here.

[WarrenG]

Steve,

At the risk of sounding like one of those people who thinks they know you, I'd wager that you've never travelled that far outside of Western cultures. A lot of your content is, for want of a better expression, pretty 'all-American'. I think you'd relish a visit to somewhere vastly different, where even the subtle mannerisms people communicate with are unknown, which throws your intuition way off. I think that's partially where 'culture shock' comes from - you feel somewhat 'out of the loop'. I actually like it though.

Maybe I'm wrong (it does happen) and you're well travelled, but I don't think I'm wrong. Just a feeling I'm getting.

You've definitely got the cash and the time; head East!

[Savage]

Originally Posted by WarrenG

Steve,

At the risk of sounding like one of those people who thinks they know you, I'd wager that you've never travelled that far outside of Western cultures. A lot of your content is, for want of a better expression, pretty 'all-American'. I think you'd relish a visit to somewhere vastly different, where even the subtle mannerisms people communicate with are unknown, which throws your intuition way off. I think that's partially where 'culture shock' comes from - you feel somewhat 'out of the loop'. I actually like it though.

Maybe I'm wrong (it does happen) and you're well travelled, but I don't think I'm wrong. Just a feeling I'm getting.

You've definitely got the cash and the time; head East!

Earlier today I was pondering where to travel next. Lately I've felt drawn to visit Europe, maybe fly there and then do a road trip through several countries.

At the moment I'm more interested in Western countries than Eastern ones. My younger brother has been living in Tokyo for years and loves it, and I know people all over Asia, but I don't feel drawn to visit there just yet. My ancestry is Eastern European, so I have a personal interest in that part of the world.

As for being culturally American, I have no problem with that. I like this culture. In some other countries, I'd probably have been killed or jailed by now for expressing myself as I do. The USA has its issues, but it offers plenty of freedom to do what I want to do. The social conditioning and family pressure isn't as bad as in much of Asia, and the taxes are fairly reasonable compared to many other countries.

[WarrenG]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Earlier today I was pondering where to travel next. Lately I've felt drawn to visit Europe, maybe fly there and then do a road trip through several countries.

If you actually like the driving. Otherwise there are good train deals you can get. You can sleep overnight between countries but less control.

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

My younger brother has been living in Tokyo for years and loves it,

Yeah, I've known many people who have visited of lived in Japan and they all loved it.

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

As for being culturally American, I have no problem with that. I like this culture. In some other countries, I'd probably have been killed or jailed by now for expressing myself as I do. The USA has its issues, but it offers plenty of freedom to do what I want to do. The social conditioning and family pressure isn't as bad as in much of Asia, and the taxes are fairly reasonable compared to many other countries.

These are awesome things... for you. I could have said 'Western' instead of 'American' to be fair, and I often ponder over the prices that other people and countries pay so we can have these good things. Anyway I'm digressing as usual, my point wasn't political or that American culture is a bad thing for you to be in, just that getting out of the golden bubble can be thought provoking, maybe even paradigm shifting. But it sounds like you're working your way around, definitely go where you're drawn to. Eastern European girls are hot, if a little crazy.

[Zach M]

It's a little funny that the mailbox got bricked right when I had thought up a specific question to ask you, Steve. I'll ask here instead:

In your article Self-Discipline: Acceptance you describe yourself at 20 and 34, calling the difference "like night and day". In terms of discipline, how much difference did you have between ages 20 and 21?

[Hemlock]

Well, China tends to be more of a thought provoker than Europe, but if you're searching for your own past culture that will certainly dig up something in you. Meanwhile, you've been more open to thought provoking than anyone else I know of, so I don't feel like you need to worry about what place will "grow" you fastest. Good to see you enjoying life.

P.S. Couch Surfing - stay the night at a friendly and safe person's home in whatever country you go through, or just grab drinks, easy to find friendly locals who like to chat. But, you probably have friends everywhere already. Enjoy the traveling!

[AHAInterestingTimes]

Well, I guess this is a good decision. You should still leave SOME option open so that people can contact you. Maybe require that emails be sent in accordance with RFC 1149?

[TonyToneTone]

Thought this was an awesome post!

You can put on your voicemail;

"Only leave me a message if it's urgent or important. I will call you back if I feel it's necessary."

I had on my voicemail:
"If you're hearing this, I'm either working, sleeping, out, or writing. I'll call you back when it's easiest for me." I put that on when I was getting 10-20 calls a day from people asking me to solve their problems. I also started telling people who called "Are you calling me to vent or find a solution?" All the venters quickly stopped calling.

I have something similar on my voicemail to the first one. Saves a lot of time.

[mint]

Does this make Steve a darkworker?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by AHAInterestingTimes

Well, I guess this is a good decision. You should still leave SOME option open so that people can contact you. Maybe require that emails be sent in accordance with RFC 1149?

It's still not that difficult to reach me (after all, you're doing it now), but I need to turn down the volume of casual communication, and most of that comes via my contact form. Forum and Facebook messages are minimal by comparison.

For the most part though, I'd rather use online communication for the public stuff like blog posts, forum messages, and Facebook posts that lots of people can read if they so desire. For the private one-on-one communication, I prefer face to face. Sit down and have a nice chat like real human beings.

Thanks to turning off my contact form, I was able to process all of today's email in less than 5 minutes. Erin and I went out to breakfast at the Bellagio this morning and caught up. Then we went to a costume shop and got our costumes for the final day of CGW (Halloween).

[ninavision]

I really understood what you're talking about in this post, or so I think (although I don't get nearly as many mails). I thought of the mail which has to bricked more as phone calls, or meeting up with people and just hanging out in the same way as the previous/next time. I'm really grateful for the people in my life, my friends are incredible and I manage to keep in touch with many people. But sometimes I feel like the keeping in touch part is taking way too much time (and also energy). There's keeping in touch and meeting up once in a while, and there's not knowing when to do the things I want/need/hope to do (even getting a decent night's sleep) because I "have" to return phone calls or meet up with people.
Lately I'm trying to focus on my priorities, and a part of that is going to be not wasting time on things that I'd rather not be doing. Which will definitely open me up to more and more new things. Even getting some time for myself , or for meeting up/talking with people I like but never really got a chance to know well, or visiting/talking to my family, instead of running around all day, or Facebooking - which is not really time for myself when it wastes up a few hours every day - is going to be great.

Wow, my longest post here by far probably.

[Daffy Duck]

Smart moves. Blocking communications is something many popular bloggers have had to do eventually.

[danas]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

My emails look something like this:

"I bought Dweep in 2002, but my hard drive crashed and I lost the game. Please send me the download link again. My grandson really wants to play."

---

"i thnk my b/f is cheeting on me cuz he sez im fat. plz hlp asap."

Sent from my iPhone

---

"I know your time is valuable, so I'll be as brief as I can and get to the point. But first I need to explain my situation, so you'll understand where I'm coming from.

<3000 words of complaining about life with his/her parents>

So how do you think I should deal with my Mom? I mean I guess I could move out and get a job or something, but I'm scared about that. And I don't think I'd want to work at Starbucks."

---

"I'm doing a school project, and after reading your blog posts on the subject, I've decided to do it on the topic of polyphasic sleep. I need to interview you about it, so please call me ASAP. My number is 555-555-5555. But first give me a couple days to get the questions ready for you."

---

"Author X is coming out with a new book this week, so we'd like to get your address so we can send you a free copy in exchange for a review on your website. I've pasted the press release below."

---

"Thank you so much. Reading your blog has truly changed my life. <insert life story>"

---

"I'm 18, and I have a business idea that I'm sure is going to be a huge success. Please download and sign this 6-page NDA, and fax it back to me, so we can discuss it. I'm sure you'll want to help us once you hear the idea. This is going to be huge."

---

"I just launched a new blog at URL. Please take a look at it and tell me what you think. I want my site to be as successful as yours by the end of the year."

---

"You are going to hell for cheating on your wife. <insert 2000+ words about God and Jesus>"

Sent from my iPhone

---

I wish I was exaggerating.

I think I'm starting to fall in love with the brick.

So so funny!

[Asmoday]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

OMG... finally!

Take me now, Lord. My life is complete.

ROFLMFAO.

AHAHAHAHA.

::spasms and dies::

[Curtis2011]

So Steve, about how many messages were you actually getting per day/week/month before you turned off the faucet?

I heard a CEO speak recently to one of my classes. He mentioned he gets 300 emails a day and deletes half of them *snaps fingers* like that. Perhaps I should mail him a brick for his mailbox...