Thanks Darwin Bell!

One of the most fun parts of setting up your own WordPress site is finding plugins that make your site do cool things. Plugins are bits of code that are easy to install and add major functionality to your website. To start experimenting with plugins, just click on the “Plugins” button on the left menu in your dashboard. You can install new plugins right there!

• Akismet (download) is a plugin that comes with WordPress that prevents comment spam. It is absolutely essential that you activate it, or your inbox will overflow with penis enlargers! To get your WordPress API key (which you need to make the plugin work), visit here.
• Facebook Like (download) puts the little Facebook Like button at the bottom of each post.
• Login LockDown (download) was recommended to me to prevent site hacking. If someone tries to log in to your site too many times, Login LockDown will show his ass to the door.
• Postie (download) is what I use to post to my site via email. It can do cool things like categorize!
• RYO Category Visbility (download) is how I suppress all posts except articles from the home page.
• Share and Follow (download) is how I add the “share” buttons to the bottom of each post, and also how I get that neat “follow” thing on the right side of the page.
• Subscribe to comments (download) is so important! When people leave a comment, it gives them the option to receive an email when someone else comments. Otherwise they’ll never know when you reply!
• Twitter Tools (download) is what I use to update Twitter when I publish a new post – make sure you activate the Bit.ly URLs! Otherwise if your post title is too long, it won’t go through.

thanks Trey Ratcliff!

Deciding to start your own site instead of using a free service like Blogger or WordPress.com is like buying a house instead of renting an apartment. In a house, you have to take care of details like lawn maintenance and repairs. When something goes wrong, you’re responsible. But you get to paint the walls, have a backyard, and as many pets as you want. You get to make the house yours.

To make a living from your website and have complete freedom over what you do with it, you buy a house on the Internet. Web hosting is the house and everything it holds and the domain name is the house’s address. Having your own address and space for files is a powerful way to assert yourself as a professional. It’s also a fun way to learn how to use the Internet as an artistic medium. And of course, the opportunities for monetization are endless.

So what comes next, after you take the plunge and buy the hosting? The following steps will help you get comfortable in your new home!

1. Learn how to google. Seriously.

Everything you need to know about making a website is on the Internet. Everything. I promise. I taught myself how to make websites and you can too. Whatever your question is, type it into that omniscient search box and the answer is yours.

2. Don’t be afraid to mess things up.

Sure, you can break your site. But then you get to fix it. And that’s how you learn how it works. Don’t take it too seriously. There is always a solution. Have a little confidence in your intelligence!

3. Install WordPress yourself.

WordPress is the blogging software I use to run this site and that I recommend you use for yours. Learning how to install this software on your server will force you to get familiar with your cPanel, which you access by logging into your web hosting account. Your cPanel is where you set up your database, get your FTP access information, create email accounts and backup your site. (Alternatively, you can install WordPress with a single click through Bluehost; just look for the WordPress icon in your cPanel.)

If you mess up your first WordPress installation, it doesn’t matter. You can just delete the files and start over. Installing WordPress yourself is a great way to build confidence and feel like you really know what you’re doing.

4. Ask for help.

If you can’t find your answer on Google, there are hundreds of people who would love to help. Ask questions in WordPress forums. Email a web development guru. Ask around on Twitter, or Cha Cha, or Quora.

5. Let go

When you have a sticky problem that irks you for minutes, hours, or even days, LET IT GO. This is the NUMBER ONE thing I’ve learned in all my years as a web designer and developer. Thinking about the problem keeps it alive. If you can let the problem go and distract yourself from thinking about it, the solution will come to you.

A friend will call who knows the answer. You’ll come across a blog article that explains the missing piece. Your site will fix itself. Anything is possible. The Internet is comparable to the universe: vast and mysterious. If you feel nothing but gratitude and love for this incredible medium, it will give you the same in return.

If you haven’t bought web hosting yet, help support the School of Life Design by choosing Bluehost! They’re the company I use for my sites and I am very happy with them!

Like the Ouroboros, a lifestream is a cyclical, self-reflexive, constant re-creation of the self.

Even though the word “lifestreaming” sounds intimidating, it’s easy to start. It’s the same thing as blogging, but you don’t have to write long blog posts. You can just send photos or tweets or videos throughout the day to document what’s going on in your world. There are lots of reasons for doing it, too! Lifestreaming can help you be accountable for your choices, increase your self-discipline, & be a great creative outlet (which can lead to things like jobs & money!). Also, lifestreaming starts conversation about the things YOU care about. And now, without further ado, 18 reasons to get on lifestreaming NOW!

1. Lose weight. My favorite thing to document in my own stream is my meals. After keeping track of what I eat for a couple years, I am now hyper-aware of what I put in my body & the effects on my health & happiness. It’s a great way to stay accountable! I also use Tweet What You Eat to quickly add up calories.
2. Start a new hobby. Document the things that bring you pleasure in your free time. Every day when Kelly & I meditate, we take photos of ourselves (I use the Fototimer iPhone app). The photos capture a lot of the mood & help us stick with it!
3. Save water. Time your showers to be accountable for your water usage.
4. Become a better writer. Writing blog entries & even tweets hones your ability to communicate to others.
5. Take control of your finances. Document your transactions. How many times do you spend money a day? On what?
6. Fall in love with your body. Take nude photos of yourself! If you’re uncomfortable having them be public, save them as private posts, or put them in premium content like I did. Make sure you follow your webhost’s Acceptable Use Policy though! I can’t post mine publicly on this site right now because Bluehost doesn’t allow it–I will be moving shortly ;] Posting nude photos of yourself online is like losing your virginity–scary, thrilling, & actually not such a big deal. It’s liberating, I promise!
7. Get fit. Track your exercise with Runkeeper. Measuring your fitness progress is a great motivator for improvement! You can also go to your Settings page & share your activities to Facebook & Twitter.
8. Express your gratitude. Taking the time to capture mundane moments, ever day meals, or even dreaded chores is an opportunity to reflect on all the good in your life. Taking meal photos is the new grace!
9. Get what you want. When combined with the law of attraction, lifestreaming is very powerful! Put out into the universe what you want to get back. Positivity? Good vibes? Comments? Donations? Jobs? Money? Figure out what you want, tell the universe, trust that it’s coming to you & you’ll receive it!
10. Succeed! Visualizing yourself reaching your goals is integral to success. Use your lifestream to record your vision, or try writing some autobiographical science fiction to plan your achievements. It might feel weird, but doesn’t designing your own future sound fun?
11. Have lucid dreams. Start a special category in your lifestream posts for recording your dreams. The more you remember them, the easier it gets to have lucid dreams. Then you can design your sleep-life too :]
12. Bring your entire online life together. If you want to import posts you make to other sites (like Tumblr, Posterous, or Twitter) you can syndicate the RSS feeds onto your lifestream with the FeedWordPress plugin.
13. Challenge yourself! I keep track of things like daily pushups, how long I’ve been vegan, & how many days into our 40 day raw challenge we are with Daytum.
14. Make money. Want to have secret, pay-only content on your lifestream? Try the MemberWing plugin. You have to pay for it, but it works really well! The only problem is coming up with the premium content for your subscribers ;]
15. Keep a diary. Not only is diary-keeping great for self-reflection, a public diary is an amazing historical document for future generations.
16. Augment your memory. Have trouble remembering people’s names? Post a photo of yourself with them (& their name!) when you meet!
17. Save someone else time. Every experience you document can potentially help someone else in the same situation.
18. Work towards world peace. It is here that the true value of lifestreaming begins to reveal itself. In aggregate, billions of people, worldwide, updating their status will transcend what some may call a fad to become something much more meaningful – a massive archive of quantified human behavior. What might the world would look like if everyone was a lifestreamer? If we could quantify and experience the lives and unique perspectives of every person in the world, what understanding might we gain? If 6,000,000,000 people were to lifestream on a regular basis, not only might that trigger Ray Kurzwell’s Technological Singularity, but enable anyone to instantly quantify all human behavior for any given moment in time. Power hierarchies as we know them would collapse. We could identify & remedy patterns that cause poverty, war, & disease. We could all effectively “take the pulse” of the world–and not just for marketing purposes!

Before you start lifestreaming, get yourself set up with a free WordPress.com website to hold all the gems & treasures from your life. As you go through the list below, you can find ways to make your free website into a kickass lifestream. If you’re super geeked to get started, definitely get WordPress installed on your own domain name & hosting! That way you can have complete control over the design & code of your site. (Need help with this step? Ask in the comments!)

Once you have your WordPress site (free or self-hosted), it’s easy to email photos & other bits from your phone to your site. If you’re on WordPress.com, you can Post by Email, and if you’re on a self-hosted installation, try the Postie plugin. And now that you have your emails set up, wouldn’t it be nice if they also updated your Facebook & Twitter so people can start visiting & commenting on your site? I use the Twitter Tools plugin to update Twitter when I have a new post, & I use the Twitter Facebook application to send my tweets to my Facebook profile.

Dear lifestream lovers,

Premium content on this site is on indefinite hiatus. While this is a sad time for hott pix aficionados & diary viewers alike, I feel it is absolutely necessary for me to focus only on free & public content here for the time being.

As a web designer, I implemented the “premium content” system on my site because I thought it was a brilliant way to generate income from one’s daily life. The problem was that I spent so much time trying to figure out what to do with such a lovely system that I didn’t have time for creating!

I want to thank the people who support me by subscribing to this site. I advise you to cancel your subscription today, unless you’d like to keep helping me with a monthly donation :] I promise to give you more than ever before, harder than you knew you liked it!

This lifestream of attraction wants to be free! Who’s going to start lifestreaming if they have to pay to figure it out? My number one mission is to inspire people to lifestream because I think it is so rawsome, and I can’t do that in the unsearchable dark!

That being said, I am making money off this site in other ways, so it’s all good in my wallet. You can support the site in a few different ways here.

I’m endlessly inspired by people who make & sell gorgeous, hand-crafted downloadable content, like Gala Darling, Jetta Vegas, and Philosophers Notes. My own projects are in the works now, so please sign up for the mailing list for more information when the time comes.

love & lust,
Jessica

P.S. Current subscribers can still login and access the premium archive at any time. You can even still sign up, if you want to see what it’s like in there!