So, 2011 is almost done. As I look forward to another year in which only one thing is certain - I will be in Benicassim in July - I take a moment to remember the past year.

Okay i'm done see you in 2012 a year in which I hope to finally finish something that is aching my soul, something that is so dear to me and at the moment so distant, something... you get the point.

See you in 2012 my hollow hoards of readers

I shall leave you with this image, why? I don't know but nothing bad can come from something so gorgeous right?

Busy, busy, busy, beyond belief...

I won't blog for a while, because the time just isn't going to be there. Life is really getting in the way of my writing and everything that I truly enjoy :(

Alas, remember me as I was my invisible friends... An Arctic Monkey craving, clever prose loving, procrastinator :P

Until next time!

The talent vs hard work debate that I flagged up in my last post is still waging in my mind.

I thought i'd share a video of a man who I believe fits the 'hard work' label - Arnold Schwarznegger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0PrTkE5jG4

The video is of a speech given by Arnold where he outlines his six most important steps to success. Give it a listen, there are some frequently heard steps but it's interesting that he calls the most important step "working hard!" He even goes as far as saying none of his steps work without hard work...

Anyway I'm going to get back to working hard :P

Enjoy

Recently I've been dealing a lot with the concept of success and is it down to hard work or talent. A few weeks ago at dance I came across a young man who pitched the idea to me that there is no such thing as talent. He believed that the word talent has been created by man to make us understand when someone is so much better. This notion interested me, because I have always wondered what makes Brian Lara or Cristiano Ronaldo such better practitioners of their crafts. Is it talent? Were they born that way? Or is it just that they have worked harder than everyone else? Or maybe it's a combination of both? (a point my Dad threw into the cauldron that is my mind)

After all the thinking I came to the conclusion that firstly to reach exceptional heights hard work is required. I believe talent is real, some people are quicker at learning things and see the word from a different perspective that allows them to do unique things. I don't believe talent is required to be a success though. Success can be achieved through hard work.

In my pursuit of an answer I came across a motivational speaker called Eric Thomas. He gave a brilliant analogy to what hard work really means. I'm going to leave you with a link to a video of his talking about hard work and success, it really is thought evoking - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoL0XNfSViA -

Until next time!

Along with the 7496 things I already do in my life i've just added 7497, which is the Arabic language... :)

I'm using loads of resources to learn it but mainly Rosetta Stone. One thing that has surprised me is the amount of help available via YouTube - it's not just for procrastination after all.

A channel that has been really fun is http://learnarabicwithmaha.wordpress.com/ created by a young lady called Maha Jubi. She is really clear and it's good to get descriptions of pronouns in English - Rosetta Stone is entirely in Arabic - as Arabic has LOADS!

Stay healthy Walad wa bint.