You obviously weren’t around on the day that the wordy paragraph above the submit button was instated! I don’t remember what the subject was (Somen’s bathing suits? Another post justifying his Prius? Something wildly controversial!) but people were *pissed* and he was bewildered but getting mad at the pile-on from all corners. The note above the submit button started multiplying, and eventually became what we see today.

I think perhaps he tunes out some of the negativity because there’s so much of it. I do enjoy the comments section because there is so much back-and-forth that adds to the subject, and I often learn as much from the comments as the posts. Not all criticism is a problem, but sometimes there is a lot of pointless nitpicking and just plain old pointless negativity, which gets old. I too sometimes wonder why consistently negative people don’t get bored and wander off (althougn note that I am NOT pointing anybody out… I’m not that good at remembering who says what :)

If you want to be positive, then you will read from a positive perspective.

He isn’t charging anything, Michelle, and the negativity is really a downer. There is enough “wrong” in the world, without looking to find it.
I would wager to say that you look at everything from a negative, critical attitude. How sad…

The comments are a welcome complement to Trent’s serious biases, lack of research and (at times) sloppy writing. Besides, they are vastly entertaining ! I would not read Trent’s prose if there were no comments !

I don’t bother anymore with Trent’s feelings, it is pretty obvious that he never reads the comments or ever acts on them. In two days, we will be treated to another unreadable “10 pieces of inspiration” which will wreak havoc on my browser……….

I have discovered that reading books about meditation aren’t as helpful to me. I need to be talked through the process so I’ve subscribed to a few meditation podcasts on iTunes. There is also a Shambhala mediation group in my area that I’ve considered joining. I just have to get up the nerve.

I don’t think the info in this post was bad, but it didn’t have much to do with what the title promised. Some of it was a little confusing as kc and marta noted. I also noticed the phrase “task at hand” was used at least 4 times. I honestly wasn’t trying to count on purpose, it just jumped out at me. It’s little things like that that distract the reader from your message.

My biggest issue with this post is the fact that the title doesn’t match the content and I really don’t feel the bulk of it answers the question that was posed. It’s sad when the question is ‘what are some of your focusing and meditation techniques’ and Trent claims he’s giving seven and yet one of them is ‘handle it with meditation’

That’s … not a technique – that’s restating the initial question as a solution to the question, which makes no sense!

In the actual post, he gives ONE meditation technique (the cool waves) and then the rest of it is just his general ‘I eliminate distractions’ post that he’s written a dozen times before. And the worst thing is, if he’d just focused on the cool waves section and made a short, pithy post about it, it would have been a strong post that stood out from his regular ones because it’d be unique.

This isn’t really about meditaion and focus- learning to meditate can take a long time and lots of focus.

I don’t think anyone needs to be at work 24/7, but there’s a long way between that and “I never answer the phone after 5.” Different jobs have different requirements!
Be happy you can make a life off a blog.

I was confused by the same excerpt as kc (#1).

I agree it’s important to have a personal life and that you shouldn’t be working 24/7 (unless you want to — and, unfortunately, sometimes some people don’t have a choice). But you are going again into the “either/or” mindset. Many people manage to achieve a balance between work and personal life without sacrificing either (which can’t be said about the quality of some posts here).

Personally, I never had to do stuff such as blocking websites (!) to make sure I’ll stay focused… I am a freelancer, too (minus the spouse with the cushy job, alas) and what works for me is having most of the morning to myself, to work out and/or run errands. Work feels more pleasurable after that stuff is out of the way. I try to sleep properly, exercise frequently, eat well, and take some time to relax whenever I can. Everything else feels easier to deal with.

While I can still appreciate the reading of the article as a whole, it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who is bugged by these lapses in his otherwise solid messages. These lapses are pretty consistent, so I hope he’ll read the comments, see the patterns, and become better. I think he’s a pretty good blogger, but every writer knows taking criticism is a great way to learn to improve. And isn’t being a good writer one of his major goals? That’s why I don’t mind, and even enjoy, the critical comments on the blog.

As has been mentioned before, why is it ok to comment on how people spend their time but it’s not ok to comment on Trent?

I haven’t said a single negative thing about Trent or how YOU spend your time, why is it ok for you to do it to me? To hope that I’m doing one thing and not another, to hope that I have better things to do?