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Sometimes you must postpone something good in order to do something great.

The world is full of good opportunities but great opportunities are typically rare. And when they come, it is worth postponing something that is important in order to do something that is more important.

This summer I postponed blogging here at KentShaffer.com. And I invested that time into developing a new commercial real estate listings website called AcreScout. AcreScout allows real estate agents to add their commercial properties for free. And user friendly tools make it easy for businesses and organizations to search for commercial real estate for sale or for lease.

Now that AcreScout has officially launched, you can expect to read more blog posts here. It is good to be back.

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Back in 1964, 75% of U.S. adults read the Sunday newspaper. Forty-three years later (2007) only 55% of adults read the Sunday newspaper. According to The New York Times, daily newspaper subscriptions dropped 31% from 63.3 million to 43.7 million during 1984 to 2006.

More people are going online for news. And this trend is causing industry leaders to reconsider how they do business. Arthur Sulzberger, owner of The New York Times, has even gone as far to say,

I really don’t know whether we’ll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don’t care either. The Internet is a wonderful place to be, and we’re leading there. (source)

The Newspaper Association of America reports Internet ad revenue grew 18.8% for newspapers in 2007. But despite this online success, total advertising revenue (including online revenue) still decreased 7.9% in 2007.

The newspaper recession is a good reminder that when culture and economies change, industries may have to change their methods, as well.

[via Editor & Publisher & TechCrunch]

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NEC recently commissioned the University of Utah to research how a computer monitor’s size affects productivity. According to their findings:

• Using a 24″ monitor rather than an 18″ monitor can save you 2.5 hours per workday or equivalent to 76 workdays per year.
• Widescreen is best for text editing tasks.
  >> Two 20″ monitors were 44% faster at text editing than one 18″ monitor.
  >> One 24″ monitor was 52% faster at text editing than one 18″ monitor.
• Dual monitors are best for spreadsheet editing tasks.
  >> Two 20″ monitors were 29% faster at spreadsheet editing than one 18″ monitor.
  >> One 24″ monitor was 26% faster at spreadsheet editing than one 18″ monitor.
• Overall, increasing screen size increases productivity. However, these productivity gains max out and begin to decline once the screen becomes too large. The research shows a 30″ monitor as less efficient than a 26″ monitor but more efficient than a 24″ monitor.
• Screen space also affects the amount of satisfaction obtained from the work.

For a PDF from NEC with research highlights, visit their website. NEC also offers a free online tool to calculate how much you or your company can save by changing your monitors. Their research shows that a company of 250 employees can potentially save $2.3 million per year by upgrading their 17″ monitors to 24″ monitors.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

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With age comes wisdom. At least, it should. It is the wisdom of experience and the wisdom of learning from others’ experiences. I like how Oliver Wendell Holmes eloquently put it:

The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.

Knowing the rules does not guarantee greatness. It only rescues you from failure (assuming you follow them). But when you reach the point when you know the exceptions to the rules - that is when to break the rules or go against tradition or trends - then you are likely to achieve greatness (assuming you have the guts to pursue the exceptions).

Attaining such wisdom has nothing to do with age but everything to do with the maturity of your knowledge. And such maturity is gained by passionately pursuing opportunities to learn from the wisdom of experience. Continually read books, blogs, and articles so that you might learn from the failures and success stories of others. Find a mentor. A good mentor can give you a lifetime of experience in a matter of months. If you do, you will gain wisdom beyond your years.

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