Going too hard, too soon barefoot running?  I know I’m in a category of risk here due to 20 years in orthodics and really enjoying barefoot running. This is a great video with some handy hints on dealing with foot arch pain.

Me and my 6 year old and 3 year old kids. On a Barefoot Walk

Is barefoot best for kids?  6 months ago I would have said No.  Now I encourage my family to go barefoot as much as possible.

5 months ago I happened across a series of books and studies on barefoot running and living. I made the switch,  ditched my arch supports and decided to go barefoot as much as possible. My feet and posture have never been better.  I’m running an average of 20km per week barefoot on pavement, road and a little grass.

“So what about kids? Why encourage your three kids to go barefoot as much as possible? ”

The clincher for me was reading of foot health studies done across children and teens in developing countries and those in developed countries.  Basically looking at the affect of shoes on kids.  No one could argue the results.  Kids in places like India,  Africa and Haiti who didn’t wear shoes showed nearly no signs of bad foot health like fallen arches, fungal infection, ingrown toenails etc.

Contrast that against children in countries where shoes are encouraged and often mandatory and you find cases like me. Before age 14 I had three ingrown toenails surgically operated on, several pairs of orthodics (custom arch supports) and the inability to run without pain in my legs or lower back as a result of fallen arches (due to weak feet.) In my adult years I’ve suffered with much back and leg pain not to mention all the fungal stuff that breeds in warm moist socks wrapped in shoes 12 hours per day.

Without going into to much detail, I had a innate feeling that I wanted to go running. I stumbled across a book called Born to Run and just read the glowing Amazon reviews. A few weeks and barefoot running books later and I was running (slowly) albeit 1km a few days per week. Slowly and surely I improved on this, working on my posture and spending as much time barefoot as possible. I can’t tell you how much enjoyment and physical good it’s brought me already.

Back to the kids.  Anyone I share my story with that’s over 30 or 40 and grew up outside the city say “Yeah, I remember spending years without shoes and loving it. I hated shoes!”  Yet, they insist on their kids wearing clunky rubber shoes that seriously affects their gait and ability to walk with good proprioception.

My advice? Do the study for yourself.  Keep in mind that kids footwear is a multi-billion-dollar per year industry so you’re not going to hear Nike or Adidas tell you otherwise but…

Save yourself HOURS of TIME.

Save yourself HUNDREDS of DOLLARS on shoes.

Save yourself HEADACHES and STRESS of choosing and remembering shoes and…

LET YOUR KIDS GO BAREFOOT.  AS MUCH AS THEY WANT.  WHEREVER THEY WANT.

My kids go to the shops, church, park, everywhere  - barefoot. Yes, there are school uniform criteria and places like a job site or hot cement that require footware, but outside of this, allowing them to go barefoot has so many benefits and their feet will thank you for it.

So we know our five senses right? Sight, touch, smell, sound, taste.  What about Proprioception? Perhaps if it were easier to say and spell it might have made it on there. What is it and why am I blogging on it?

According to this site one overlooked sense, known as proprioception, is as important, if not more important as the other senses, for normal functioning. Proprioception is “the process by which the body can vary muscle contraction in immediate response to incoming information regarding external forces,” by utilizing stretch receptors in the muscles to keep track of the joint position in the body.

Now I’m writing about it it because I came across the term whilst studying this article, video and e-book from Lee Saxby.  I came across the site because I took up barefoot running 5 months ago and I honestly think it’s the best thing I have ever done for my body (but that’s for another post or 20).  And for those new to the term or idea – it’s running, no shoes, on all surfaces – I like concrete pavement. Did 10km this morning. Took about an hour. Feels amazing.

It’s said that during running your brain relies on proprioception for 70% of it’s feedback. Often muffled by fat shoe soles it may explain common injuries like twisted ankles and other injuries related to poor running form (and attention need whilst in shoes), which in turn, is often the result of your body not having the correct sensory feedback to make adjustments to gait (stride) and pressure applied on impact.

I’m convinced some children learn to walk and balance later than others because parents always have shoes on them and the brain isn’t geared for it, especially that young.  Our last two kids walked earlier than the first and I’m quite sure some of it has to do with footwear and this false idea we bought into that said “Protect their feet!”  from what? Feeling the ground? lol.

Even studies and therapy with the elderly have seen them gain greater balance and mobility once again by taking off their shoes and standing/walking on varied to surface to wake up the senses in their feet.  Again, it’s proprioception doing it’s thing again.

Am I against footwear? No way. Power to it! It allows us to dominate as a species. But like gloves for the hands, footwear is a tool and doesn’t HAVE to be used all the time.    See how long you last with a pair of gloves on all day.  As with all things, common sense reigns.

For those that can’t bear the thought of going totally barefoot, there are an increasingly large number of minimalist shoes on the market. Even manufacturers like Merrell are making minimalist shoes now.  Shoes that still let you feel the ground but protect them from elements and harm. You might also have seen the weird looking Vibram Five Fingers shoes around too. Again, thin & light to promote proprioception and foot strength.

*Just want to add that the Nike Free shoes are SO NOT minimalist or barefoot-like. Definition and proprioception FAIL but marketing WIN – I’ll give them that much.

Thought I’d end with an embedded video from movement specialist Lee Saxby who has partnered with Terra Planna (I hear they are the best minimalist shoes out there – still to get some in Australia) to explain the topic and demonstrate how it affects how we move. Video here if it doesn’t display http://vimeo.com/12451532

Learn to Run Barefoot with Lee Saxby and Terra Plana from GTB Goodtruebeautiful GmbH on Vimeo.

My goal was to have a meal or coffee with a new person every week for 52 weeks. By far the best business and career development decision I ever made.

To challenge myself I put a few names on the list of people who I knew I would have to work hard to get an audience with. These were people, who at the time, were out of my proverbial reach. But, I even got them!  In fact several of them ended up chasing me.

The quickest way to come across 52 candidates are:

• Join several networking groups.  Eg  BNI.
• Don’t limit yourself to a particular industry or person type.
• Be bold and ask ask ask.
• Pay for the meal or coffee. (Word gets around if you are stingy)

Have a favorite place to meet and get to know the wait staff well. This just looks impressive. I had an account at a local diner which saved valuable time during the meetings also.

The monetary return on investment was partly immediate but it’s best to go in with a long term view on return. I would have to say, within 12-24 months, it increased my market worth two-fold. No lie.

The personal return is impossible to measure because I gained some great friends in the process.

So give yourself a worthy financial year goal like I did. Your confidence in your ability and market worth will grow.  You’ll meet some great people. You’ll learn some highly valuable people skills. AND you’ll drink plenty of coffee… and that’s always a great thing!

Still, to my surprise, I met plenty of people who didn’t need internet at home. Or they couldn’t afford it. Working people. Men. Women. Married. Singles. No internet at home.

“But it’s so cheap!” I shouted after coming from 512K expensive speeds in Australia 2006.  ”Yes, but I don’t need it, I have my cell phone if I need.” was their reply.  Or “I use it at work if I need the speed and download.”

I was in IT at the time and needed the net at home for work and staying in touch with family overseas.  I needed wanted the Pay TV for the English channels.  I needed the net and liked Pay TV but the super high speed connection speed… it was just a bonus really.  Still, many seemed to be OK without it at all in the home. Saving their YEN for other things like clothing and food and using their mobile devices for net access.

I recently ditched my fixed line and ADSL at home. I bought a Samsung Galaxy tab with Telstra and use the Wifi HotSpot app to provide net usage to the home. $59 for 7GB per month and we take it everywhere. Saved ourselves over $600 per year and just cut back on a couple of browsing and downloading habits.  And now, I’m OK without the massive speed. So would about 80%-90% of the people I know…. and I’m talking 100′s.

Which leads to the question in the title. When the  Australian Government spends billions of dollars to roll out an Optic Fibre based network, will we use it or feel we need it?  I mean really NEED it?

Do I need Pay TV? Or am I happy with the large number of free to air digital channels available to me now? I mean there is satellite too right?

Do I need insane download speeds? Or can I wait a couple more minutes?

Do I need to see the doctor on webcam? Because last I looked, I could do that now if I wanted. Speeds are fast enough… and I don’t do it.

Will my children be part of a learning environment where it’s really needed? I mean what can’t they do now that’s of great value?

Do I need VOIP a phone system on a giant high speed system? Mobile phones remain our choice of voice communication in Australia and you’ll have a hard time convincing us to do otherwise. Besides, VOIP run fine through ADSL.

In my opinion

Should the network be upgraded? Yes, create a sustainable upgrade plan for the next 3 years, and revisit it after that to take into account trends and technology.

Should it be at a huge cost to the population as is currently planned? No, I think it’s overkill. While everyone is talking ‘Green’, ‘Sustainable’, ‘Simple’, ‘Cutting back’ and ‘Future proofing’, the Government is ripping up the pavement to lay a highly volatile form of cabling that may never be used by more than 20% of the population. The cost to the tax payer is incredible. For now, just lay fibre into those places that need it most; Hospitals, Business Hubs, Schools.

I’m just not convinced that across this vast land, optic fibre is the best solution. I would be spending the money on wireless technology and infrastructure. Employing the best minds in the world to develop packet streaming and compression systems that will increase speed and function to the masses and their mobile devices. Perhaps license and sell that technology off to other nations. Seriously, I mean even now, how many are reading this on a mobile device? Did you need fibre to to view it? How many of us spend hours per day on sites that are crippled by ADSL or Wireless internet speeds?

Open to comments and thoughts. BTW, if you’re over 21, still living with your parents, still  in your pajamas, you’re a massive movie thief and online gamer, you can get a life and keep your comments to yourself.

One thing that seems to be missing is an easy to use beginner course for WordPress. I used to make screencast instructions for my clients on the basics.  e.g. Writing posts, writing pages, inserting photos, moving widgets, adding plugins etc.  Enough to get them rolling.

I’m keen to know what others have used, struggled with etc.  And what would they pay to do a decent course online? One that shows you how to build a WordPress Site from the ground up. Registering a Domain, buying hosting, installing WordPress and then start rolling with a theme, plugins and content.

I’m no longer freelancing as a web designer. I’m managing SkillChoice, a fast growing online vocational education company.  It’s great.

I now have three children. The last is our last. He’s amazing and we’re blessed that he lived through a traumatic post birth ordeal.

Among other things, I’m enjoying  barefoot running at the moment. I started a posterous blog on the topic but will use this instead because it ranks a lot better and I love wordpress as a site platform.

Time to change my theme too.

It was a practical and refreshing change from the hype that often surrounds the digital marketing and social media market space.

Some of the biggest take-aways for me were:

1.  Your business still needs to have a marketing plan. Nothing but the medium and delivery rules have changed.  Placing a couple of google ads and building a simple website is no recipe for success on it’s own.

2.  You must be prepared to test, measure and manage your digital marketing efforts and investment.

3.  SEO rules are changing constantly – find a reputable company to manage your online search engine marketing

4.  A good landing page will save you a lot of money.  Click-throughs can be bought but people still need to be convinced to part with something. Be it their email address or their money.

5.  Advertising on Facebook can cost you half of what google adwords do. Even if it’s 20% less effective, there is still a good saving their if your product and marketing is right.

6.  2/3 of the world still doesn’t have access to the net.  That’s considerable.

Here’s the link: http://www.htc.com/au/SupportDownload.aspx?p_id=312&cat=2&dl_id=1048

You’ll need to provide your serial number to download it.  Then just plug in your phone via USB and run the file.  The instructions are pretty straight forward.

Be warned that you’ll lose all your phone based data in the upgrade including any numbers you’ve saved to the phone.  (I saved mine to my google account) and you’ll lose your SMS’s etc.

The process took about 20 minutes and it went without a hitch.  If  all your photos etc are saved to the SD card, you’ll lose nothing there.

Log into your google account again through the intro screens and you’re off and running.  Go to the App Market and in the download section you’ll see all the apps you previously paid for and you’ll be able to download them again.

One of the most notible changes I noticed immediately is the upgrade in the Gmail app. e.g.  Easier to reply to emails from the top of the email, instead of the bottom.

Also, there is an awesome new app installed called Hi-Fi Hotspot.  Once activated, it allows you to use your phone as a wireless router, providing internet access to anyone with a wifi device in the area. You can set a password on the phone app and on my laptop it just showed a wireless network called “HTC Network” – I typed in the password I designated on the phone and it’s like I’m at home on any standard Wifi.

Another app you might like is Apps2sd which allows you to store some apps to your SD card, thus freeing up space on your phone’s built in storage (NAND)

I’m just super impressed by the Desire and such a painless upgrade.  The Android system is just brilliant and I’m not surprised to read about the massive market share predictions.

In other words, it’s the convergence of technologies along with clever design that will make things truly remarkable.

Case in point is this brilliant concept phone, the Mozilla Seabird.  This brilliant video below showcases it so well.