Slower Than Expected Blogging

 THIS IS A SLOW BLOG. It is updated when I have something to say, rather than trying to say something just to update the blog. Learn more about Slow Blogging here. Since this is a Slow Blog, may I suggest you subscribe by RSS by clicking here, or subscribe to receive email updates by clicking here (to learn more about RSS click here for an FAQ).

Unfortunately, due to a few changes in my day-to-day life recently I am going to have to put this blog on a bit of a hiatus. It doesn’t mean I am stopping this blog, it just means that entries will be even slower than usual.

For more regular updates you can visit my twitter feed (I am finally getting the hang of it), I have added an update bar at the side of this blog that you can see (or click on the link under “social profiles” to follow me on twitter). In my twitter feed I talk about everything that interests me from the Slow Movement, to NLP, to philosophy, to random thoughts and ideas.

A Slight Facelift

As you can probably see, if you are regular visitor here, that I have made a few changes around here (partly to reflect my current situation and partly to update it to my changing attitudes towards the slow philosophy). I am updating these pages as and when I can and should get it done in a week or two.

Giving it All Away

Because of the changes, I have had to also put a hold on the online course I was planning to launch. To make up for that, click on the “free stuff” tab and you can download:

“Welcome to the Slow Life”
This 48 minute audio and 44-page ebook (an edited transcript of the audiobook) covers everything you need to know about the Slow Movement, slowing down, the idler and as well as exercises, tips and techniques to help you slow down right away.

“Deep Relaxation Primer” Audio Programme
In this audio programme you will be taken through a simple exercise that will help you deeply relax and remove all that tension and stress from your body and mind and allow you take on life with an increased sense of wellbeing, confidence and vitality.

“What’s the Rush” ebook
This 32-page ebook gives you ten simple tips to start slowing down, including breathing and postural exercise, a portrait of an idler and an Idlers Journal.

“Welcome to the Slow Live – LIVE!!” Audio 
This talk was recorded LIVE at the Vision For Living Festival in Cardiff on the 31st October 2009.

Coaching and Consulting

I am still seeing people for one to one coaching in how to slow down, mindfulness, etc. But my time is now a bit more limited. If  you are interested in coaching, either face-to-face on by Skype please click on the coaching tab.

Well, as Lau Tzu once said “May you live in interesting times. Or die of boredom“, I am certainly living in interesting times at the moment! I will be back with more updates as often as I can.

Matt

This is a Slow Blog

THIS IS A SLOW BLOG. It is updated when I have something to say, rather than trying to say something just to update the blog. Learn more about Slow Blogging here. Since this is a Slow Blog, may I suggest you subscribe by RSS by clicking here, or subscribe to receive email updates by clicking here (to learn more about RSS click here for an FAQ).

This is a Slow Blog

Slow Blogging applies the slow philosophy to the blogosphere. It eschews the current blogging paradigm of “faster equals better” and that posting blog entries frequently is necessary, or in fact, that posting frequently is the “right way” to blog. This blog “happens when it happens” and will be updated as and when I have something I think is really worth sharing, rather than just writing something to get an entry in (often just to keep the search engines happy!). Which means you may get an entry a week, a month, or even several a day, depending on what I have to say and what I am up to.

Because this is a slow blog and by its very nature not updated regularly (I aim for once a week, often I miss), may I suggest you subscribe by RSS by clicking here, or subscribe to receive email updates by clicking here. If you are new to blogging and RSS and not sure what all that means, click here for an FAQ.

A Slow Blogging Manifesto

Inspired by Todd Sieling, below is my Slow Blogging Manifesto (this is only a first draft and may, or will, change). To read Todd’s own manifesto click here (and I can’t help but have some of my manifesto very similar to some of his, one I have quoted directly, as I cannot say it better myself…).

1. Slow bloggers blog for people, not search engines, page ranks or technorati authority.

2. “Slow Blogging is a rejection of immediacy. It is an affirmation that not all things worth reading are written quickly, and that many thoughts are best served after being fully baked and worded in an even temperament.”  Todd Sieling

3. It is a willingness to keep quiet whilst all other bloggers are shouting “listen to me, listen to me!” It is about not trying to be the loudest voice out there.

4. Slow Blogging is not about chasing the news or Google hot trends just for a few hits. It is about not sprinting to a response or reacting to this rush of information in our world of 24 hour rolling news. The world is moving fast and trying to keep up means often that you sacrifice quality for speed. Slow blogging looks at the bigger picture not at micro-trends.

5. Slow Blogging concentrates on one thing at a time.

6. Slow Blogging is about substance to posts, not just banal clichés and one-line sound bites that sound good but are ultimately vacuous. Think. Study. Consider. Write. Then post.

7. The posts won’t rush to get to the point; they will take you on a journey. Some entries may be rambling and long winded (that is, in fact, a good thing. James Joyce didn’t rush Ulysses…).

8. Slow Blogging re-establishes technology as the agent of human expression, rather than technology as the master of human expression. It is about reclaiming the internet and creating an island of calm reflection and consideration in this stormy ocean of information…

To learn more about other slow bloggers, follow the links below:

Todd Sieling: www.toddsieling.com/slowblog

NY Times:  Blogging at a Snails Pace:

Barbara Ganley www.bgblogging.com

Russell Davies’ Dawdlr blog:  dawdlr.tumblr.com

A “Slow Blog” Or Rather, A “Bright Blog” Manifesto

SlowBlogs @ Blogspot slowblogs.blogspot.com

The Guardian: The bloggers who take it one post at a time

It Happens When It Happens

Well, I am sorry for not blogging for over 2 weeks, I have been on holiday and on my return had a lot of little bits to sort out.

I spent a lovely week in Crete, nice food, nice wine, just sunbathing and catching up on a pile of books I wanted to read.

Whilst I was away I found myself thinking about how to continue with this blog. When I started blogging seriously a while ago I did a lot of research into what it takes to make a “successful” blog. I found myself being seduced by all the pro-bloggers out there who say you should blog every day and seem to be incredibly prolific, particularly the excellent and prolific Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. So I tried to write a blog entry every day. Even if I didn’t really want to.

I suddenly realised I had been seduced by speed again!

I was blogging every day because I thought I should, not because I was inspired to. Sometimes I would throw up an entry just to get one up there and I was worrying so much about just getting something up on this blog that I wasn’t taking the time to write some of the more indepth posts about certain subjects that I really wanted to. Blogging was making me stressed! I was starting to resent blogging, I started to dread that time of day or week when I had to sit down and write an entry. My mind would go blank, I would start to sweat and eventually I would just write anything to get it out of the way…

I wasn’t planning any entries because I wasn’t enjoying doing it and I was treating them like a chore I had to get out of the way before I could get on with my “proper work”.

You see, the pro-bloggers I had been trying to emulate just blogged (actually saying “just” sounds like a criticism, which it isn’t, it would be better to say primarily blog), however, even though I blog. Quite a lot. I write 3 other blogs than this one:

www.thepracticebuilderblog.com – where I give advice on how to run a therapy or coaching practice

mattcaulfield.blogspot.com – This was my first ever blog and has been going since 2005. Nowadays I use to write my thoughts about NLP (Neuro linguistic Programming) and related subjects.

thetaichiguy.blogspot.com – A brand new blog talking about my practice of the amazing art of Tai Chi.

I am not primarily a blogger. I would consider myself primarily a coach, consultant and trainer/teacher. I spend most of my time working with people helping them slow down. Blogging is a big part of that, but it is not the biggest part, if that makes sense?

So, by trying to emulate the people who primarily blog, I was finding the quality of my blogging was slipping, some days I would be proud of what I had written, other days I would just slap something up, not planning, not proof reading and not particularly caring. I didn’t feel many of my entries really captured my personality and the passion for the subject that I have.

Something had to be done!

And that is when I made the decision to commit myself fully to the slow blogging ideal. I wrote a couple of entries sometime ago about Slow Blogging (see the posts here and here) and then totally failed to actually start slow blogging!

So, I am now…

Slow bloggers eschew the idea of immediacy in blogging for a more measured and considered post. It is about quality not quantity and lives by the axiom “it happens when it happens”.

So, from now on I am no longer going to rush out entries just for the sake of posting. I am going to think, plan, study, draft and (endeavour) to write longer, better written entries with more depth. Hopefully. I will, of course, post shorter blogs, from time to time with news and interesting tidbits I have to say that don’t require a more detailed entry.

In fact, to move away from the association that blogging has with immediacy, I intend to call this a journal from now on, not a blog.

The aim is to write a well-developed entry once a week, with maybe the occasionally serial spread out over days or weeks. To be honest, I don’t know yet, I am still working it all out.

I will be updating this site over the next week or so to reflect this shift of emphasis and will be adding more information about Slow Blogging, including my own Slow Blog Manifesto.

I hope you stick with me whilst I experiment and find my feet.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am off to take the dogs for a walk.

Matt

PS, I will also be applying the idea to twitter. Where I intend to “twitter when I twitter” no sooner, no later. I have never really got my tortoise mind around twitter and hopefully this new philosophy will help. Who knows? It’s all very exciting isn’t it?!

A Quick (!) Update

Hi,

Sorry for the lack of blogging of late. I have been away on holiday and whilst I was away I have been finding myself mulling over the future of the blog/journal part of this site. I will publish a full entry about this and what I intend to do in the next few days. Please bear with me until then (I am sure you will, this is a Slow Blog afterall!).
Matt

Gone Away…

I am away until the 8th September, normal service will resume then!

Matt

Thoughts From a Deck Chair

Firstly, a bit of news…

1) Because I am no longer using “The Slow Coach” title, I have changed my twitter account, you can now follow my random, sporadic, few and far between tweets, then you can now follow me at www.twitter.com/tortoisemind or click on the Social Profile button up there on the sidebar.

2) A bit more business minded? Connect with me on LinkedIn. My LinkedIn profile covers everything I do, from the Slow work to the NLP training and consultancy, to the mentoring I do with other coaches and therapists. You can connect with me at www.linkedin.com/in/mattcaulfield, or use the Social profile button.

3) Still not a member of my facebook page? Well, that hasn’t changed, what are you waiting for?! Join me here or, again, use the Social buttons up there on the right.

I think that is about it…

When I started this blog, way back on a free wordpress site, it was called “Thoughts from a Deck Chair” and was really just my musings, thoughts, ideas and observations on life, the Slow Movement and how I was incorporating it into my daily life. Somewhere along the way, it morphed into more of a “how to” blog, giving hints tips and ideas. I think I was a bit scared, to be honest, that people wouldn’t be that interested in my ramblings and wouldn’t read, so I had to try and offer something useful to keep my readers happy (and coming back for more and recommending me/linking to my posts, etc). I think I got a bit carried away after reading lots of books on how to be a successful blogger that told me that I had to offer advice, or hints and tips, etc.

But, after a bit of feedback, readers seem to want to hear about my ideas, musing and goings on as much as hints and tips about what you need to do to Slow Down.

So, I endeavour, from now on, to give you regular updates about my attempts to slow down as well as the hitns and tips, etc.

What do you think? Please feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you want me to write about!

Matt

In the Media: TNT Magazine

Below is a clipping of a small interview I did for TNT Magazine (www.tntonline.co.uk), they call me a “Slow Travel Expert”, but that is only because it will be a travel magazine! Click on it to get the full size image.

It will be added to the newly created “Media” section under “About” where I will be collecting any media appearances that I have done.

Matt

If you liked this post, please bookmark it on StumbledUpon, Digg, Twitter, etc. I would really appreciate it

A Bit of News…

There are going to be a few changes around here. Number 1 is that I am stopping using “The Slow Coach” title (for a variety of reasons), so you will start to see changes reflecting that. Also, I have a new coaching venue, which will cause me to stop celebrating Saint Monday, which is a shame (but when better to coach people to slow down than on Saint Monday?!), and a few other things.

Unfortunately I am tad hectic over the next few days, there will be a proper blog entry tomorrow though, and all of these changes may take a little time. I hope to continue as (a) normal as possible service through this though.

Speak to you soon

Matt

The Slow Coach is Off to See Banksy

Sorry for no post again today, not been great recently. Been busy, busy, busy (and as I said in this post, “busy” rarely means “productive”!). Still, remember the 1st rule of slow blogging  – “it happens when it happens”!

I am off to see the Banksy exhibition at Bristol museum.

Will be back tomorrow,

SC

Saint Monday

The Slow Coach is celebrating Saint Monday and will be back tomorrow…

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