I’ve had cjromberger.com for a long time as a fairly personal site.  I put poems, observations and pictures from my personal life on it.  That’s all gone now.  I put that stuff out here, but I never really revealed who *I* was.

I intend to keep this personal, but a little more public if that makes any sense.  In other words, I’m much more comfortable now with putting myself out here in a real way, having conversations and sharing what’s in my head.  So that’s what I’m remodeling this space to be.  There’s things on my mind I’d like to ‘talk’ through and thoughts, resources and ideas I’d like to share.

I’ve learned a lot, and I have much more I’d like to learn.  More than anything, this insatiable desire to learn and share is at the core of nearly everything I do.  Perhaps you will tell me things you’ve learned in exchange.  I’m also planning to work out some life projects here, a piece at a time, as I come up with new ideas, find solutions, discover resources.

Although I won’t be pigeon-holing myself into one particular topic for now, I suspect there’s some general themes that I’m interested in (read obsessed with here in some cases) that will show up here over and over.  The topics below are fairly general and somewhat neutral, but they’ve given me many rich moments peeling back the layers and discovering all the variations and possibilities.

I’ll definitely talk about my weight loss journey.  In about less than 2 years, I’ve lost 50 pounds.  As I get asked quite frequently how I did it, I suspect that what I learned along the way might be of interest to some people.  I’ve learned not just about weight loss, but also about behavior, motivation, change, commitment, community and collaboration (please note: the word ‘diet’ is missing from this entire paragraph, except in this sentence.)  Additionally, I want to spend time appreciating and sharing with you what happens when you get rid of the ‘Fat Blab’ in your head.

I’ve always, always hated doing things more than once (which is interesting since I tend to be a bit obsessive.)  I seek shortcuts for everything.  2009 has found me obsessively filtering out behaviors, situations and sometimes people that aren’t a fit form me.  I’ve been seeking patterns and meta-data that I can use to automate, and then using it to do just that.  2009 has also found me studying habits and establishing routines.  While these two may seem like opposites of each other, seeking ways to stop repeating things, while figuring out how to have things repeat effectively, they’re really all part of the same goal – efficiency.  I’m interested in a substantial increase in productivity throughout my life and my business without an increase in labor, either mine or others.  In other words, I’m trying to create time.  There’s a difference between organization and efficiency and I’ve spent a good deal of time this year reflecting on that as well.  I want to be efficient.  I don’t care about being organized.  Sometimes being organized is part of what it takes to be efficient, but that’s only a part of it.  And sometimes it’s not involved at all.

I’m fascinated with how people interact with each other and the world around them.  How do they fit together, what determines popular vs. unpopular, powerful vs. weak.  I’m interested in figuring out how people can find common ground to communicate when the world-view glasses they are wearing are so different from each other that they often can’t even begin to see it, or figure out how to hear or be heard.  Why do some friendships break up when the things they have in common seem to make them a natural fit?  And why do some opposites compliment each other in such a magnificent way that they create new colors and opportunities that neither one could have brought to life on their own?

I have found in my life that there’s some critical skills necessary to avoid repeating mistakes.  It’s not just about discovering and fixing the mistake.  It’s about analyzing why it happened, learning from it, and putting things in place to change the path so it doesn’t happen again.  The minute something goes wrong in my code or in my life, I begin looking for the lesson.  I’m not saying we have to be happy about what went wrong, but if we don’t learn from it, we’ve wasted an opportunity.

I’ve been thinking alot about the object of a service company and about finding ways to productize service company offerings.

I’m not religious (or dogmatic in the other direction either!) And I don’t really believe things ‘happen for a reason’.  I’m not really a believer in manifesting things in the way it’s been marketed recently.  However, I DO love coincidence and serendipity, and I do believe you can find opportunities in change randomness that can add up to life-changing experiences.  We think we control our destinies, but in fact, my life has been littered with random happenings that altered the course of it for worse and for better, more than any plan I ever tried to move forward on.  I’ve done LOTS of pondering on this topic in the past few years.

I haven’t watched TV since 1992, but recently found me soothing myself by watching 4 seasons of The Office on Netflix, a show I would have never considered watching except in the circumstances in which I found myself.  I’ve also found myself struggling with new thoughts about mortality, our finite time here to make a difference.  Accompanying this is a good deal of wondering what for?  Why am I, and everyone else I’m around, in such a hurry?  Where are we going anyway?  And is this question a function of my age? A natural progression?  I watch older people with seemingly no real reason to live, enjoying every moment of it.  Is this an adjustment that comes from many moments like I’ve had recently, and have yet to come, adding up to realizing the truth is that it’s just about having a good time?

Speaking of fun, on a lighter note, I love music, working out, and my silly doggies.  I love living on 5 acres of land in the middle of nearly nowhere on the side of a hill.  I love scuba diving and mountains and travel.  I’m still head over heels in love with an exchange student who lived with us a few years ago.  And I’m newly head over heels in love with some new girlfriends I finally stopped being afraid to let in.

If you’re interested in any of these topics, I hope you’ll come back to visit.  I’m okay musing on these things by myself.  I think it will give me some clarity and help me think some of them through in a useful way.  But as I learned from SparkPeople, a website I’ve been hanging out on for 2 years while losing weight, it’s alot more fun with friends.  I’d love to hear about anyone else you know who’s interested in these topics.  If they write a blog or have a book, please share.  And your opinions are always welcomed.  I want conversation, or I’d write this in a notebook near my bed….

or perhaps I wouldn’t.  It’s a lot easier to type than write for me after all these years.

I’m looking forward to getting to know me better here.  I can’t wait to make new friends I’ve never known before, and I hope I get to know some of the friends I already have better than I do right now.  And more than anything, I hope this new change of space turns out to be big fun whatever it has in store for me.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.