Maybe that leaves me in the cold for some opportunity whereby I could make millions just by sitting still. But the reality is, I don’t sit still. Life for me is about self development and constant learning, so I suppose even if I am missing the millions, I am living the life I want by working hard. Given that unlimited dream money I would either be busy running my own business or doing university full time to obtain several different interesting degrees. Money is simply the tool I can use to work more, because work is play. That’s what I strive for.

Now I work full-time, raise my boys, and take three courses. I have a dozen books from the library on the go, always. I feel a strange sense of calm and pleasure from being surrounded by knowledge and especially knowledgeable people, and some of my favourite friends are those that constantly challenge me intellectually. If they’re smarter than me, I want to know them. If there’s more to know and a better way to do it, I want to be there.

As Rae points out, playing hard comes after working hard. Certainly playing hard is on my list too, although the reality is working hard IS playing hard for me. The trick is to avoid playing soft – wasting time and brain power on mindlessly watching tv or sitting on the couch in some vain effort to avoid hard work. Make work hard, play hard two key elements, each with their own ambitious fuel to move you.

Recognize you make that choice to sit back and wait to be served or grab life by the horns. If you want to sit back and wait for that so-called easy money, don’t look for me. I’ll be working my ass off and earning all that money you keep dreaming of.

You might also like the Color Palette Generator, which generates a palette from an uploaded graphic, and Color Blender which allows you to freely and easily generate palettes of matching colours. 

I don’t know how or where yet I could use some of the design elements, techniques, and frameworks, but man, do I ever want to find out.

Yesterday I started tinkering in Photoshop and found a beautiful range of blues and a simple layout, only to then get distracted by what other layouts I could do, and the JavaScript switcher I can write so I can do multiple layouts. The thing is, you need to do a whole layout, not just have the typography and colours throw you off into daydreaming. And yes, the curves of letters or shades of blue send me daydreaming, suddenly losing myself in exploring art and spending hours fussing with kerning and leading. And then, the layout never seems really finished, yet I’m off on tangents thinking of another one.

Meanwhile I’m reading Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think, with Designing Highly Usable Software and Access by Design on deck. I’ve also got Dojo: The Definitive Guide, and thoroughly enjoyed Bulletproof Ajax. I am trying to avoid SitePoint since they have a 2-for-1 sale on. Can’t. click. link!

If you need some inspiration, you might like Scrnshots.com and Pattern Tap.