For those of you who don’t follow me on Twitter, I recently tweeted about a novel idea I had about taking one day out of the week and making it a “non-code” day. It’s really my way of taking a break to spend a day reading blogs, commenting and writing posts.
You see, ever since I launched Revolution back in August of 2007, my life has been pretty chaotic and I haven’t been able to really do some things that I enjoy. Mind you, I’m not complaining about the success of Revolution/StudioPress, but there are things about my world online that I miss – mainly reading blogs, commenting on posts and also writing my own posts here on my blog.
The Things We Think And Do Not Say
You can see that I have these Jerry Maguire moments from time to time, where I decide to slow down, and actually take a breath to do some things that I personally enjoy, and not just things that I have to do.
I still believe that many folks don’t realize just how much work running StudioPress entails – and I’d be willing to bet that guys like Cory Miller of iThemes, Jason Schuller of Press75, Chris Pearson & Brian Clark of Thesis and Adii Pienaar of WooThemes would agree with me. It’s more than just coding a few themes and setting them loose – there’s a number of things involved, that can very quickly consume your day before you know.
Research, coding, design, email inquiries, support, etc… and that’s not all of it.
Anyway, my point isn’t to talk about all that I have had to do over the course of the past two years, but rather focus on what it is I want to do moving forward. Thankfully, I have a wingman named Craig Tuller who I am proud to announce is taking over daily operations of StudioPress.
A Challenge to Give Back to the Community
Aside from a number of upcoming projects and future ventures that we’ll be going after, I really wanted to get back to a place that I seem to be missing of late – a time in my life where I thoroughly enjoyed interaction with the WordPress community. A few days ago, Andy Peatling wrote a blog post encouraging folks to give back to the community. This really made me remember the days where I developed a number of free themes, and how much fun I had watching people use them on their blogs.
While I have recently developed two free themes for the WordPress community (Shades of Blue and Core), I realized that it wouldn’t take much time, or effort for that matter, to update and submit some of my earlier themes such as Vertigo, Blue Zinfandel, Downtown Java, etc to the WordPress theme directory.
As much as I enjoy moving forward and developing new things, I also want to make sure that I take care of and nurture certain things that I have developed in the past – I think it’s only fair, and to be honest it was those themes/projects that really helped take me to where I’m at now.
So here I am, on the inaugural “Give Back” day of my week – and hopefully this is something that moving forward I can commit to. It’s a day where I’ll deliberately pass up future-minded things, and one where I’ll engage in the community that has supported me.
That was a great post friend.
Thanks man, appreciate that – will be fresh and ready to lift this afternoon with you!
Hmmmm … sounds like your non-code day involves coding {sometimes}. Calling you on that … #Serial-Coder
What started out as “non-code” day has become more of a “give back” day.
Hey, always look forward to your post Brian.
A “Give Back” day sounds smart. Guess it’s about balancing priorities and boundaries. When I was younger, I heard the term “managed growth” and didn’t know what to think of it. These days, I understand much better, as I’ve seen companies crash and people burn out. Success really isn’t success, if it keeps you from the things you enjoy.
Have a great day.
@sbowmann
Thanks Scott – you definitely understand how I feel. It’s really not fun to live a life consisting of ONLY obligatory things. After all, that was what the movie Jerry Maguire was all about.
My love and passion of writing is something that has gone by the wayside for over two years, and it’s definitely something I hope to get back to.
great move. thanks for the encouragement. if we don’t use our platforms for good, then what’s the point?
Very moving story..
I like the Core theme a lot and I think you can pump out some excellent (and quick) themes based on the Core framework. Something more colorful would be nice!
Thx…
Can’t wait for Zinfandel update! Good stuff, Brian.
Are you going Pink for October this year?
Also, thanks for your Core Theme. I love it, and just did some minor mods for Pink for October.
It’s a very good feeling to read from someone like you about talking from your heart. You are a human. With the heart at the right place. You should do that right the way you wrote it. And not only for one week, else you will get so much dog-tired and ill some day that you will stop doing everything.
Nice…..Giving back. You continue to inspire not so much by your words (but they’re inspirational as well), but because you walk your talk. I really respect that.
Brian, indeed! It is hard work and not all lattes.
Congrats to Craig … he is a great guy that I’ve enjoyed meeting and an asset to StudioPress customers.
By the way, was proud to recommend my friends at StudioPress (along with iThemes of course) on a webinar audience I was speaking to recently.
Welcome to the next chapter of your life. I wish you the best, and I know many people will benefit from the updated themes.
Your blue ziffendal and vertigo themes are what got me hooked into the world of wordpress back then!
Good luck Brian with your new endeavors. I have recently bought one of the themes from Studiopress and I’m quite happy with it. I was not doing blogging in the old days when the themes were still free under your development, I wish I were though.
hey Brian,
I just found your blog, it is pretty sweet. I also took a look at your “Giving Back” templates they are awesome! I am thinking about using the “Core Theme” myself.
When will Blu Zin be updated… jonesing for the update with threaded comments, etc. THANK YOU!
Brian, we are really behind the times with implementing word press templates. Just sort of delving more into it this last month. Keep up the great work.
Great idea! I agree with John above about being able to use what platforms we have in a positive way. I’ll look forward to keeping up with what else you have in store.
Hi Brian,
I still use two of your old themes and really like them.
http://www.delrosachristianschool.org/principal/
http://www.blog.oldredhat.com/
Sometimes I am tempted to move to a new theme just for the sake of change, but your old ones are, to me, just too good. Thanks for the great themes.
-Steve