I've been a Drupal developer for a number of years now. I use it for everything from e-commerce stores to blogs to tiny 5-page brochure-ware websites. It has served my needs really well and will continue to into the future.

However, over the past 4 weeks, I've been working extensively with WordPress and I've realised that it has a place in my world, too. I wouldn't use it for anything too hectic but for blogging and basic websites for SMEs, it beats Drupal every time. You can go from zero-to-blogging in just as long as it takes you to upload WordPress to your host and install it. With Drupal, you need to put in a bit of work to make blogging easy and fun. (Image handling, rich-text editing, etc, all require a bit of configuring before they'll work seamlessly.)

But it's not all sunshine and roses.

The biggest problem I have with WordPress and, specifically, its plugins, is that they allow too much room for error. Drupal has strict standards on how to write modules and how they need to interact with the rest of the Drupal infrastructure whereas WordPress allows you to do pretty much whatever you want. That might sound nice but it means that anyone can throw up a piece of code in the middle of nowhere and it will work. That probably still sounds nice until the project begins to grow and all those bits of code thrown up start unsticking.

(Of course, if you know what you're doing, solid coding standards will go a long way into coding up a WordPress site that any professional PHP coder would be proud of.)

WordPress reminds me of early PHP. PHP forgave everything and allowed the newest of the newest newbies to get coding in minutes or hours instead of months. It was great but, as time went by, I realised that the ease with which I could program PHP also meant that my code was too buggy and prone to security problems.

Over time, the PHP people fixed things (like having global variables enabled by default) and PHP started looking more and more like a real programming language. That seems, to me, to be what's happening with WordPress. Bit by bit, with each new release it's encouraging good habits and good coding.

It's worth keeping in mind that I don't just "use" these CMSes, I program advanced functionality into them every day. For me, a good CMS has to be more of a PHP framework and less of a blogging tool. That's why I fell in love with Drupal. With Drupal, the same amount of effort can take you from "installed" to "blog" as what it would take to get you to "gallery" or "article site" or "basic mailing system" or "simplistic CRM" or "ad serving engine" or or or...

With powerful tools like Views, CCK, ImageCache and more, I can create for R20,000 what I normally would code from scratch for R90,000. That's the rub. With WordPress, I still have to charge that much because I'll have to do a LOT more coding to arrive at the same end-result.

So WordPress is great and I'll keep using it for blogs and simple projects but for the REALLY important, hardcore stuff, I'm sticking with Drupal.

The most productive people still have to motivate themselves every day. They spend a lot of time working out what motivates them to keep going and that's how they achieve many of the amazing things they achieve. It's been that way for hundreds of years and will be that way for hundreds more. It's human nature.

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race" -Calvin Coolidge

Persistence is linked to motivation. If you're persistent, you'll find ways to keep yourself motivated even if you're not completely enchanted by your current work. You'll push through and find ways to keep at it at least, that is, until it guides you to something you are enchanted by - at which point motivation will come more naturally.

My point? The same as Zig Ziglar's:

"People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why we recommend it daily." -Zig Ziglar

Here are some things I do that help keep me motivated, even when I'm bored with my work or feeling sickly and would much rather stay in bed.

Light Therapy
One of the more recent additions to my daily motivation routine is to use a tiny 11W energy saver light bulb as a desk lamp during the day. I also use it at night but using it during the day, I find, helps keep my spirits up and my brain awake. I discovered this little gem after reading "6 Surprisingly Effective Treatments for Depression." I wasn't depressed at the time but I was looking for some form of motivation and this did the trick. Total cost? Probably around R10 as I borrowed the desk lamp from my brother-in-law and just stuck in my own light bulb. What's important to note here is that the lamp is about half a meter away from me and to my side, not in front of or behind me. Having this light source in your peripheral vision is the key. Read that article or Google "light therapy" for more info.

Music
From heavy metal to Enya, I make sure I always have music playing while I work. If I don't, I get caught up in the feelings that what I'm doing is "too hard" or "too much" or "I don't like doing this" and so on. It can get so bad that I can get lost in thought for two hours or more, just thinking about how much I don't want to do this work. That doesn't help me get bills paid and it doesn't help me find an alternative work to do - it just keeps me paralysed, which is never good.

With some music going on, I tend to focus my emotions more on the music and less on what I'm doing. This helps me get through my work without attaching any unnecessary emotions to it. Most of us do work out of necessity, not passion, so if that's the case, I highly recommend some music to keep you going. Just be careful what you play. Sometimes Enya is great for coming up with ideas and calming down from a bad mood but sometimes you need some heavy metal to code at the speed of light. Figure out your own mojo and then adjust your listening habits accordingly.

A balanced diet, some exercise and sleep
You can try and avoid this one all you like but the truth is that a balanced diet, some exercise and enough sleep will keep you motivated, happy, energetic and sexy ;)

Food, I find, helps me stay positive but I have to be careful what I'm eating. When I stick with a balanced eating plan (note: I didn't say diet!), then I feel balanced, positive & energetic. If I eat junk food or skip my veggies, after a couple of meals I'm downright horrible to be around and my work suffers as well. This is what has worked for me lately:

Breakfast: Cooked oats plus a scoop of USN diet fuel.
A bit later: Meal replacement shake: 2 scoops of USN diet fuel + 300ml of water
Lunch: 2 chicken breasts or portions of fish, or chicken pieces, a cup of veggies or an apple and a small microwaved potato or half a cup of rice or half a cup of pasta. (Or similar)
A bit later: Another shake.
Supper: Similar to lunch.

I'm not saying you should do the same. Maybe you hate the idea of having a meal replacement shake - that's fine but find something that works for you and make sure it's balanced.

As for exercise - that's also a tricky one. Find something you'll enjoy doing. A daily walk around the block will do you more good than you think. Try A swim, a game of soccer, shooting hoops, martial arts or even de-weeding your garden. As long as you enjoy it enough to do it frequently, you'll find that your energy levels will rocket, you'll have great ideas during the exercise and you'll also find it easier to go to sleep at night and easier to wake up in the mornings. It's definitely worth it!

Try sleeping between 7-9 hours a day. Some people need a bit less while others need a bit more. You'll find that if you oversleep or undersleep by 2 hours or more, you'll be miserable the next day - so be careful of that. Even on weekends, I stick to about 8-9 hours of sleep.

I used to go to bed at about 10PM each night but found that I would only wake up at around 8 or 9 so, instead of trying to wake up earlier (which is nearly impossible in winter), I started going to bed at midnight or 1AM. Now I feel much better.

The key to food, exercise and sleep (and everything else, really) is to find the balance that works for you. It's not likely to be the same for everyone but you can start with something that works for someone else and then tailor it to suit your own needs.

Look at the cash figures
For work-related motivation, I find that this one helps a lot. It might not help people in jobs but, for us self-employed folk, it's a very helpful motivator.

I look at both the figures going out and the figures coming in.

My income motivates me to work harder and faster so that I can get paid and spend that money on something fun.

The expenses motivate me to work "or else". If I know I have to pay my medical aid and I'm short some cash this month, a quick reminder of that fact will often help kick my butt into gear and get some work done.

If you're not keeping track of your income and expenses, start now. It will make a difference to your motivation levels AND to your eventual financial independence because you'll be able to see what you're overspending on, what to do more of to make more money and so on.

Know what you're going to do before you begin
Having a list of what needs to get done for the day helps you prevent distractions from getting in the way of the important stuff. I find that, on the days that I work from such a list, I get LOADS of work done while, on the days that I don't, I sit wondering where the day went to.

It's important to have a list that you made and don't let others influence that list. It's often easier said than done and you won't always get it right, especially not in the beginning, but you'll find that you achieve amazing things when you do.

Ignore email, Facebook, Skype, your cellphone, Google Talk and all the rest of them
It's fine to check these things once or twice a day but if you spend your whole day chatting and checking email and reading statuses, you'll never get anything done and you'll never improve your life. What I do is I only check on these after I've achieved something significant and, even then, only briefly. You need to be aware that these distractions will rob you of really important experiences and achievements if you allow them to.

By all means, socialise, have fun, chat to friends, share funny emails but don't let them rule your life. When it's time to work, work. Don't work and chat or work and check emails and... and... and... I'm sure you get my drift :)

Find ways to make your work go faster
This may sound simple but if you find real, predictable ways of making your work go faster, you'll get more done in less time and have more time left to yourself. Again, this is a bit trickier for people in jobs as working faster could mean just getting more work to do. It's different from company to company.

What works for me is to copy my work down to my local computer and work from there. I find that I code faster and, because of that, I actually enjoy my work instead of dreading it. It allows me to do my best and I believe it's human nature to want to do your best. So, take control over what you can to ensure you can do your best work as quickly and efficiently as you can.

Another way I make my work go faster is by swallowing my pride and NOT re-inventing the wheel. As a programmer, I'm often tempted to rewrite code in order to make it "better". The trouble with that is that I end up working slower and taking longer to solve a problem that's been solved before. And I don't get paid extra for that time, either. So I've stopped doing that. I now copy code I've got working elsewhere and I get on with solving problems instead of trying to make everything "perfect".

Of course, I'm still a programmer so, while I'm working, a throw in a dash of genius in now and then, for my own satisfaction and without allowing it to negatively affect my deadlines.

Brain Boosters
When you're really struggling to keep focused, you can use brain boosters. One brain booster I use is an MP3 I bought here that helps me focus creatively. I got a whole bunch of other boosters with the pack but the "creative focus" MP3 is the one I find myself coming back to time and again. It's just a 20-minute sound clip that you can listen to while you work. I play music at the same time and it still works incredibly well.

It works so well that I forgot what it feels like to hit a brain-block while coding. I'm serious! One day I forgot to put the booster on and I hit a brick wall and I couldn't figure out why I couldn't solve what should have been a simple problem. Then it dawned on me and I put on my brain booster track. 5 minutes later, I solved the problem and carried on working on other things. Magic!

You see, the trouble is that we surround ourselves with so much stress and so many inputs from the world around us that we struggle, these days, to focus. So while you might feel that a "brain booster" sounds weird and unnatural, I think it's the most natural thing. If it wasn't for all the other noise in our lives, we'd be able to focus any time we wanted. That's my story and I'm sticking to it ;)

I also find that the relaxation and deep-relaxation MP3s, available in the same pack of boosters, help a lot. I doze off and wake up, 20 minutes later, ready to take on the world. I would suggest these to anyone - they really work.

Keep a list
I have a list of "Things that Work for Me". Yes, that's what it's called :)

All it is, is a list of basic ideas that help me work when I'm not really feeling up to it. I go over the list and put some of the suggestions into action and, eventually, I start working. Here's the exact list I use, every day:

- Sleep properly (8 hours, even if I go to bed late).
- Look at the cash figures - both due out and due in. They can be inspiring.
- Write down what needs to get done before switching PC on.
- Ignore email/facebook/skype/phone/gtalk.
- Copy site down to local PC. (Or a ZA host)
- MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC. Boring music is better than no music!
- Creative focus brain booster (better than constant concentration one)
- Copy code that's working elsewhere.

So that's it. Take what works for you, drop what doesn't and come up with your own list and you'll find that, even on the worst days, you'll be able to get something done and maintain momentum which, I believe, is incredibly important. A little bit done every day makes a big difference.

"Make measurable progress in reasonable time." -Jim Rohn

"Remember, a monthly income of R1000 from an automated knowledge product is akin to having R150K in the bank, earning interest for you. So, if you are earning about R7K a month from these sort of sales (through a variety of means, maybe), you are effectively an internet millionaire, receiving the interest on R1M in the bank, for which you do not have to work." - Frank Muller

If you do the math, keeping in mind that Capitec Bank offers savings accounts with a per annum interest rate of 8%, it works out. With that in mind, I've been an internet millionaire for a few months, then :)

Sure, I don't own the Viper RT/10, the huge flatscreen TV or any of those other things that I might normally associate with being a millionaire but I do have a lot of free time. I took yesterday off to spend with my wife to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. I generally only get in the office at 10am. I seldom spend more than 2-3 hours at a time in the office at a time because I take longish breaks for lunch, my USN shakes, and so on.

In fact, if it wasn't for my debt, I might actually stop working at the tender age of 27.

I recognise that I still have a ways to go but it feels good to know that, on some levels, I have arrived!

Having said all that good stuff, I also figured out today, thanks to my income spreadsheet, that I work too hard. This month, if I do nothing else at all, I will still earn over 50% of my required income via passive income source and yet, I have still booked up just under 100% of my time with "normal" work. It would appear that someone is having trouble letting go of the work-life! We won't mention any names but he looks, sounds and acts JUST like me. Silly rabbit.

I was born "Honorio Bartolomeu De Sousa". Honorio, if you look it up, is Portuguese name meaning "honorary one" or "honorable one".

However, the kids I grew up with couldn't quite pronounce it so, later in life, I shortened it to just "Norio". It's what my family called me (as my real name, Honorio, is pronounced more like Oo-norio). It was easier to write, easier to spell and, well, just made sense.

Of course, it's still to much for most people to get, especially over the phone, so maybe I'll just shorten it to 'N'. We shall see.

Anyhow, I've lived most of my adult years (all 7 of them) being called 'Norio' without thinking much of it.

I later found out (by Googling myself) that 'Norio' is a common (not popular, just common) Japanese name. I never took it further than that but it was an interesting thing to know.

And today, I found out, by visiting http://www.norio.be, that my name means "man of principles.

I wanted to confirm that so I Googled it a bit and found this site, which says it means "lawful man":
http://www.japanese-names.org/?meaning-of=norio

As it turns out, I do tend to be quite a lawful, principled kinda guy. Sometimes to the surprise and frustration of some of my friends.

So I've come to the conclusion that, try as we might, we cannot escape our "destiny". I don't really believe in a god-given destiny but I do believe in a destiny that I give myself and it seems obvious to me that I gave myself the destiny of being a lawful, principled, honorary kind of guy. I'm not sure what that's worth but, hey, at least I now know better than to fight it :D

(Click to see it bigger :D)

I'm reading Richard Koch's "The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Achieving More with Less". It's a book about how 80% of your successes / achievement / profit / etc comes from 20% of your input / effort / investment / etc.

The principle, then, is to focus on the 20% that gives us the 80% result rather than focus on the full 100%. The idea being that you can work less and achieve more when you apply this principle.

I've been applying this sort of thinking with my work with great results. This month, for example, I've doubled my income by refusing to do any new work and focusing on the 20% of work/clients that pay me the 80% of my income.

I'm less stressed, less overwhelmed and also, richer :)

Here's a cool tidbit of things to do to put the principle in practise. (From page 39 in the book)

- Celebrate exceptional productivity, rather than raise average efforts.

- Look for the short cut, rather than run the full course.

- Be selective, not exhaustive.

- Strive for excellence in few things, rather than good performance in many.

- Delegate or outsource as much as possible.

- Choose careers and employers with extra care and, if possible, employ others rather than be employed.

- Only do the thing we are best at doing and enjoy most.

- Work out where 20 percent of effort can lead to 80 percent of returns.

- Calm down, work less and target a limited number of very valuable goals where the 80/20 principle can work, rather than pursuing every available opportunity.

- Make the most of those few "lucky streaks" in life where our creativity peaks and the stars line up to guarantee success.

If you're feeling overwhelmed, over-worked and under-paid, read through this every day until you can find reasonable ways (or even drastic ways) to make these bits of advice work for you.

Buy it here:

The thing is huge but it beats the crap out of most things out there. I'm talking about tufat.com's html2ps and html2pdf PHP library. Check it out here:
http://www.tufat.com/s_html2ps_html2pdf.htm

I took the HTML output from Ubercart's invoice system and fed it to this library and, voila, PDF invoices. Lovely stuff :) Especially when you consider that I've been struggling with this PDF stuff all day long.

Make sure you give html2Fpdf a skip. It's quite a waste of time. Enjoy!