Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. – 1 John 3:18

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I can’t seem to get motivated to start on any of my goals. It frustrates me because I have so much on my list that I need to get done, but it keeps on slipping further and further away. I want to get started. I want to take over the world

But I just end up turning to shut the snooze button again for another 10 minutes.. Taking over the world can wait another 5 minutes.

Why can’t I get started?

Contribute Your Personal Motivational Strategies and Stories

I need some motivational tactics to help me get started throughout the day and I would like your help. What tactics or strategies have you used to start a goal or start your day? What was the difficult parts for you to overcome and how has finding the motivation helped you?

I want to collect a huge list of stories about how people motivate themselves. I will post them and feature them here at altNoise so we can all learn from one another. We all have our individual motivational strategies and maybe yours will help me.

Will you Contribute to the List and Help Those In Need of Motivation?

We all need your help. Don’t think that your story or strategies are too silly or inferior to post. I’m not looking for some grand motivational system that changes the world. I want to know what makes you wake up in the morning and ready to make an impact. How do you consciously choose to get things done?

My Sample Motivational Contribution

There was a point in time that I was an avid excellent walker and horrible runner. I tried to become a decent runner but it just didn’t work. Some say I walk like a penguin so you can imagine what a penguin looks like when they run. Anyway, I have recently gotten out of the habit. I have plenty of excuses which none are true, but I knew I needed to get back on the habit.

But I just couldn’t get started.

One day  recently, I literally sat on my couch looking out the door thinking, “Do I really want to do this? I am going to look like an idiot and its nearly 100 degrees outside. I think I am going to go strum my guitar.” I continued to sit there and watch outside. I knew that I needed to walk, but I couldn’t get motivated.

After 45 minutes of staring, I said outloud, “Stephen, quit being wimp. Just go walk outside. Walk to the road and if you want to continue then walk some more.”

So once I acknowledged my grandmother giving me strange looks for mumbling to myself, I stepped outside. I walked down to the road and continued. I kept walking for close to  2 1/2 hours. I would’ve walked some more, but it was getting dark and I was scared of the raccoons, opossums, and squirrels in the bushes next to me so I darted a 1 mile sprint to home.

It was exhilarating.

Focus on the First Step Not the Entire Project.

So my motivating contribution is to focus on taking one small step. Don’t focus on the entire project or everything that you must get done. This becomes overwhelming. All you need to do is take 1 step, write 1 word, put your feet on the ground, grab 1 piece of fruit. You can choose to continue after that initial movement.

You have a lifetime to take over the world. Today all you need to do is open the door.

How to Contribute Your Motivating Stories and Strategies

You don’t need to sign up or do anything special to contribute. All you need to do is skip to the comments section below and take 2 minutes to post your contribution. You can write a single sentence or 15 paragraphs (please be courteous. I’m the only one allowed to be obnoxiously long-winded around here). Thats it. Just share your story.

What will you win?

My friendship.

Help Us and Be Known as Someone Who Makes an Impact

Seriously, this project is for fun and a way to help out all of our friends. We need your contribution so we can make a huge list of motivational strategies together. Its an amazing chance for us all to work together and accomplish something really great. You have an amazing story which will make our list incomplete without it. Will you please share it with us?

Once all of the stories are collected, I plan to gather them and make huge post next week featuring all of them. I will list them all out so that you can print it and share it with anyone you know who needs a boost of motivation. Beside your contribution, I will list your name as someone that is positively making an impact on our lives.

* If you are a blogger or twitter user, I will link and post your blog/twitter account next to your contribution.

Remember ALL of Your Contributions are Welcome and Helps

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• The Urban Monk Comments Back

How dare they!

Well, I’ve decided to embrace the questions and every month I am going to post the changes with results I made the previous month along with the ones I plan on making on the upcoming month. I will also include the statistics and possibly my revenue (if there is anything).

Reasons to Share Insights and Statistics for altNoise

I wish I could say that I came up with this idea all by my lonesome, but I cannot. I am only a copycat. I follow a man named Pat Flynn who does the same thing on his uber-successful blog SmartPassiveIncome.com. His focus is showing his monthly income (which should convince you to stay away from a medical profession). You can see his April 11 report by clicking here.

I will report my income from altNoise which currently is sad in comparison to Mr. Pat Flynn, but won’t be the primary focus. I hope to accomplish two goals with this endeavor.

One for you and one for me.

My primary goal is to provide an opportunity to show you the inner workings of this hugely successful, popular decently viewed website. You can see the changes I’ve made and all of the ways I totally made the wrong choices. In other words, its an outlet for you to get a good laugh.

I also hope to use this opportunity to list my own personal goals for the upcoming month. Showcasing personal goals to friends and people greatly enhances your chances of succeeding in all endeavors. I believe that I was able to lose over 60 lbs of weight healthily primarily because I shared my goal with friends and family.

Exciting Things that Happened in May at altNoise

1. 17,921 Unique Visitors to altNoise

altNoise reached a new plateau in increased traffic in the month of May. We had nearly 18,000 visitors this month. This is a huge increase from April’s numbers with 12,875 visitors.  This consists of a 39% increase from last month. I am greatly happy with this results.

Even bigger results is the amount of visitors compared to this time last year. I enjoyed a 430% increase of visitors in May of ’11 compared to May of ’10. This was nice but wasn’t a huge surprise. I have written many new articles that have done very well in search engines.

I also expect a much larger percentage of increase this time next year.

2. Over 100 New Email Subscribers

I created an email tips newsletter in the month of May. My goal is to write very personal tips to the loyal readers that have to do with their very real problems. These encouraging tips help individuals live passionately a life on purpose.

I didn’t know what to expect in terms of newsletter sign-ups. Many of the marketing guru’s said that I needed to write an ebook to give away in order to get a huge amount of sign-ups. This didn’t make sense to me.

I needed to give away something for free in order to trick people into letting me give away more things for free?

I didn’t buy the hype and didn’t waste my time creating something that nobody would read. I promoted the purpose of the newsletter which is to give personalized tips to live life with passion and purpose. I didn’t know what to expect but I was blown away with the results.

I received over 100 new subscribers in the first month. This is amazing stats for the small blog of this size to receive without giving away an ebook.

Quick Note: I don’t discourage creating free ebooks. Free stuff is always good to give away. Who doesn’t like free? I’m not entirely against giving something away to increase my subscriber count and I probably will try it in the future. My dilemma was if I should go ahead and start sharing my high quality tips or wait until I rush through an ebook which wouldn’t enjoy the quality my readers expect from me.

I chose to start sharing the personal tips which are also free.

May Disappointments for altNoise

1. No Significant Increase of Time on Site or Decrease of Bounce Rate

You may have noticed that I took down nearly all of my Google Adsense ads. This was a tough decision because I was able to pay several personal bills from the earnings of such. I did it because I wanted to focus on helping visitors find all the great content on my website and subscribe to my newsletter.

I expected that the removal of the ads would greatly increase the average person’s time on my website. There was a minimal increase from 35 seconds to 55 seconds from this time a year ago. Anything around a minute is very good for a website of my size.

2. Rebuild ENTIRE Newsletter Sign Ups

I received over 100 email sign-ups in May which was amazing, but I had to start over. I switched from Constant Contact to Aweber to provide an efficient way to deliver all of those emails. I picked Constant Contact randomly without any thought or suggestion. It was a decent experience but I knew there was better.

I switched to Aweber from the recommendation of nearly thousands of bloggers. They have a superior reputation and are considered the best. I signed up and am quite impressed with all of the great features and reports. I do not plan to switch again and only wish I chose them from the beginning.

Lesson learned.

Personal Goals for June

altNoise has grown consistenly for a long time now. 2011 is growing to become a breakout year for this website and I am excited for the many things to come. I have huge plans for this site  and am coming up with new thoughts everyday.

Hopefully some of them will work out.

1. Add Video Posts to the Site

I am planning to add a video section to the website. I don’t have an official launch date for the first video, but I am becoming more excited about it daily. I am spending countless hours on other blogs whom use video and how they best implement it.

The videos will provide inspirational thoughts and words of encouragement to help you pursue your life with passion and purpose. Check back soon because I have already started researching the information for the first video.

2. Write 2k Words a Day Towards My First Novel

Staying consistent with the site’s goal of creating lives full of passion, I have embarked on my own life’s dream – writing books. Yes, I am a nerd and if you can’t tell, I enjoy writing.. too much.

I have always dreamed of writing books ever since I was young, but never thought it was a worthwhile endeavor. I thought that once I am old and have a huge gray beard that I could at least fake having something useful to say. But I can’t do it now.

Nonsense.

Is my book going to crash, burn and not a single copy? Quite possibly, but I don’t care. I am going to write fictional stories and worlds you can discover and escape the craziness of life.

I will share more details of my first novel in a future article.

3. Discover My Passion

Barrie Davenport from Live Bold and Bloom is an amazing person and a truly gifted coach. I read her blog every time she publishes a new article. They are always extremely insightful and I encourage you to go check her out.

She composed an online course entitled Discover Your Passion. It contains 7 highly detailed modules that helps one create their dream life. Some of the goals are to create a vision of your ideal life and identify fears that hold you back.

After much belly-button watching and procrastination, I have decided to take her course. I am not necessarily bored with life but I think her course will greatly improve my own pursuit of a writing career and just life in general. I don’t know whats in store, but I have high expectations.

Click here to check out the course.

Success of May – Highly Positive with a Side of Baked Potato

May was a very great month for altNoise. I hope to keep the momentum going, but I am most grateful for all of you who regularly visit to read my rants on nonsense and life. I will continue to produce 2-3 high quality posts to help you live life with Purpose and Passion.

Thank you all for your encouragement and as we all contribute to making an impact on our world.

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I created a Facebook fan page for me as a writer.

Why A Personal Stephen Miracle Fan Page?

Many of you send me questions every day in regards to life, relationships and faith. These questions have really deepened my own desire to know more. The page allows another outlet for you to share these questions to me and also help out other members in the altNoise community.

We can all work together to truly encourage one another and make an impact on each of our own lives and the world.

This fan page excites me because it gives us a chance to really connect on a friend level unlike before. Facebook provides such an opportunity that really transforms how people can interact across the world. We are no longer limited by the geographical boundaries to find people who really want impact the world.

My Personal Motive for the Page

I’ll admit it. I have an additional motive for the page. I write all of my articles inspired by your comments, conversations, and concerns. Every single time that I open up a Word document to write a new article, I think about issues that I know are affecting you.

My personal desire is to provide a much deeper opportunity to write articles that truly empowers your life.

I want the chance for you to share your own struggle with finding a job or dealing with an annoying neighbor so that I can encourage you when you really need it. I don’t want to write articles that brings a slight smile to thousands of faces. I don’t care about thousands of faces.

I want to write articles that ignites God’s flame and vision for your life – Articles that inspires and empowers your soul to truly transform your life to a passionate purpose.

a Gift to the First 100 Fans

I have a special gift set up for the first 100 fans of the page. I am not going to say what it is. After all, I like to create intrigue. But I can say that it truly is a personal gift that I created from my own heart for you.

Every single 1 of the gifts will be unique and personalized  for you.

Click ‘Like’ on My Brand New Page

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Do you enjoy excellent worship music that inspires you to get closer to God?

Hillsong United’s Worship Albums Has Unmatched Success

Hillsong United is one of the single most successful worship bands of the last 20 years. One of their songs is almost guaranteed to be playing on a Christian radio station this very minute. Church worship bands all across the U.S. will play Hillsong’s “Mighty to Save” or any of their vast collection of songs this Sunday.

They began their historic rise to the top as a youth praise and worship band at the influential Hillsong church in Sydney, Australia. Their songs contrasted with the popular worship music of the day by writing more rock oriented music that appealed to the younger culture, but also have struck a strong chord with nearly everyone with their emotionally powerful lyrics.

Aftermath – Hillsong’s Newest Critically Acclaimed Album

They have produced over 10 combined studio and live albums which have culminated in their latest album – Aftermath. This is their second studio album and you will hear the band’s lyrical and musical growth in every one of their songs. The already smash-hit radio song, “Search My Heart”, is a beautiful arrangement that speaks to your humility to allow God to enter your heart and allow Him to transform your life.

This album will inspire you to get closer to God and allow Him to direct your life.

Win Your Free Copy of Aftermath

Do you want to know how to win their latest album, Aftermath?

I am probably preaching to the choir and you already know how powerful and inspiring Hillsong’s albums are. You only want to know how to win their latest album. What are the steps, amount of surveys and newsletters sign-ups you must grudgingly fill in order to get a chance to own this album?

none.

I am giving away this album to the altNoise community with no strings attached. Everyone of the noisemakers are all equally eligible to participate in the competition. It is my way to say thank you and give back to you in a fun and friendly game.

On March 15, I will randomly draw a name from our Facebook fan page. Somebody that is a fan of this website will win Hillsong United’s newest album and will listen to it by March 16th. The lucky winner will receive a Facebook message and email from me with a direct link from iTunes to download the entire album immediately after I draw the random name.

So all you have to do is click “like” on the sidebar’s fan page and you are instantly eligible to win!

Increase Your Odds

Of course, it wouldn’t be fun without a little more challenge. There is a fun way to increase your odds of winning. Every time you participate in the altNoise community, I will add another slip of your name to the hat.  You can stack the deck simply by being opinionated.

There are three ways that you can increase your odds in the competition.

1. Comment on Articles. Every substantive comment you leave on any of our articles will get your name added to the hat. I know that your opinionated so here’s your chance to win something for it.
2. Leave a Prayer Request. You have a burden on your heart and we have an online prayer wall that you can post your concerns. You can post 1 prayer request and we will add your name to the hat.
3. Tag our Fan Page in a Facebook Status.  You can tag our Fan Page everyday from now until the 15th to add your name to the hat. There are 12 more days until the 15th which means you can have me write your name 12 additional times in addition to 1 prayer request and unlimited comments.

Are you ready?

This is your chance to win an excellent worship album in a fun and friendly manner. The more you participate in the community and have fun will lead to a greater likelihood of you winning. Hillsong United is one of my favorite worship bands. I love listening to their songs and I enjoy playing their songs on the guitar even more.

So get started today.

• Click Here to Like Our Facebook Fan Page
• Click Here to Post a Prayer Request
• Click Here to Leave Your First Comment

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If the world thinks your not good enough, it’s a lie, you know.  Get a second opinion. – Nick Vujicic

Very rarely in a new era, a man or woman creeps into the spotlight and captures the hope and inspiration of everyone around them. He embodies the desires of what we wish to attain and then shares his passion just to show the rest of us that the impossible really is possible for each one of us. All we need is a sprinkle of faith, inspiration and dedication.

Today, this man is Nick Vujicic

Inspirational Story of Nick Vujicic

If you haven’t heard the story of Nick Vujicic, then gather your tissues and step away from any cliff because you will believe that you can fly after hearing about this inspiring Christian man. Nick Vujicic is a native Australian who was born without any arms or legs. His parents were initially devastated since Nick would never be able to live a life that they had wished for him.

But they never gave up and continued to love Nick.

Nick Vujicic came from a strong Christian family and their faith would eventually help Nick become an inspiration to the entire world. He was eventually able to attend and graduate from the traditional mainstream school in Australia and learned how to accomplish tasks that would seem impossible for a man without any limbs. He learned how to write, type, shave, get a glass of water and many other simple tasks that require minimal thought for us.

Even with all of these personal accomplishments, Nick Vujicic became depressed and quietly began to contemplate suicide. The most that he could for himself was the very littlest that we could do.. but that all changed when his mother showed him an inspirational story of how another extremely disabled man was able to live a successful life. This story reinvigorated Nick’s faith and helped him see that his life can be more than just trying to survive.

His life could be an inspiration of hope for millions in the world.

Nick Vujicic eventually graduated from college and now speaks to thousands of people at a time as a Christian motivational speaker.  Countless people have been inspired to push through their personal obstacles and pain simply because they see a man who didn’t give up when he had every right to throw in the towel. Entire crowds of people grow silent when this humble Christian man gets to the podium and shares his personal and inspiring story for the rest of us.

This is just the beginning.. Click here to read more of Nick Vujicic’s inspiring story

Nick Vujicic Inspirational Pics

Click Here to see more inspiring pics of Nick Vujicic

Nick Vujicic Quotes and Sayings

Fear is a bigger disability than having no arms or legs.

I believe in a God that can do all things, but if he chooses not to give me arms and legs, I know its for the better. And I may not understand it, but all I need to know is that He is going to carry me through, that there is a purpose for it.

Inspiring Nick Vujicic Videos

See More Inspirational Videos of Nick Vujicic

Contact Nick Vujicic

Are you interested in Nick Vujicic coming to speak at your next event or church gathering? Nick shares his inspirational story throughout the world and might be able to share it with you. We are sharing a link to you so that you will be able to contact him, but cannot promise that he will come to speak for you as he might be scheduled to help someone at a different location. We hope that this helps you and that you may be encouraged through this Christian man’s story.

Nick’s Organization’s official website: LifeWithoutLimbs.org

Click here for contact information for Nick Vujicic and his organization

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“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” -C.S. Lewis (Four Loves)

The Vulnerable Love and Its Risk

I have written several times about how if we choose to love then it requires us to be vulnerable. The interactions that we have with the most important people in our lives can cause us the most pain as well as joy. There is no possibilities about it. Someone close to you will hurt you to the point that you wish you could close up your heart and not allow him or her back in.

You feel like you cannot risk the pain that love brings.

But when you are inches away from closing the door to your heart, you realize that you will not be able to lock it. Tomorrow will always provide the hope for love and reconciliation. The hurt and strained relationships heal and your love grows stronger every time you strain it much like a professional athlete’s muscle.

When the healing is complete and you are able to smile again and share openly with those important people in your life, you know that love is truly worth the risk of being vulnerable to the deepest pains. It is in the knowledge of accepting that each other will be hurt at some point which allows love to blossom.

Click Here to browse the most popular relationship books offered on Amazon

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