The 4th day of the challenge and today happens to be both my father's and my puppy Otto's birthday. I don't actually know if Otto was really born on this day since he was rescued from a local animal shelter, but that was the day we were given and since it's also my dad's it worked for me. I'm going to go buy him a nice tasty bone from the dog bakery. (Otto, not my dad) I sent my dad a birthday card with a $20 in it with some instructions to buy himself some beer. He's a Busch Light drinker so that $20 will get him a 30 pack and maybe even a pack of cigarettes. I'm a "sophisticated" beer drinker so i'd probably only end up with around 12 beers with a $20. I started drinking good beer back at home, but since moving to Asheville, a city with supposedly the most breweries-per-capita, it's only gotten worse. I'm a fan of stouts, porters, and india pale ales especially. I got a brewers kit for Christmas so i'm looking forward to brewing my own batch. It won't taste like the fancy shit but the fact that i made it myself will be nice. I woke up my legs being sore as hell today! I did some weight training last night for the first time in nearly a month. I chose to do front squats, 5 working sets of 5 repetitions. It's all about consistency. I want to start trying to create streaks. This many days in a row of doing this, this many days in a row of not doing that, you get the idea. They say that people overestimate what the can accomplish in a day, but grossly underestimate what can be had in a year. It's the effort, over time, that is what produces results. Why do something at full bore only to crap out 5 days later? (depending on the circumstances, i suppose) This writing thing is starting to become automatic, which is a good thing. I've almost got myself trained to wake up and instantly chug a protein shake. Now i usually drink the shake while i'm getting this site up and ready to go. I'd still like to wake earlier but when the time comes, an extra couple minutes in bed always seems like a better idea. Bigger picture it's not a better idea, but in the moment with my brain in a complete fog, it's what my body wants. We should learn to listen to our bodies, and learn when it's okay to ignore it. One one hand, we shouldn't push too hard and we need to give our body the respect it deserves. On the other hand, our body/brain tells us to avoid danger and to stay comfortable. My body doesn't really WANT to front squat 135 pounds for 25 reps over the course of a workout. My body would rather store energy and me be as lazy as possible until i really need to use it. Our bodies are wired to keep us alive. Much of our biology/chemistry/whatever-the-hell-it-is is based on avoiding predators and acquiring food. That stuff is pretty much already taken care of in our modern world. However, our bodies haven't had the time to catch up evolution-wise. Our lives are very much different from the way we lived a couple thousand years ago. Switching gears, i glance to my right and notice a copy of Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Body. I cooked up his second recipe last night. The meal was scrambled eggs but we had the choice to make it middle-eastern style or (i believe) northeast african. I chose the African version, which consisted of adding cumin, garlic, and dried mint. It was an interesting flavor combination that i had never tried before. I may have added too much mint as it slightly overpowered the others, but it totally transformed my eggs. I generally dump about a half of a cup of ketchup on a four scrambled eggs but last night i didn't need any of that. I'm looking forward to learning more. I still have around 75 words to go but i kind of hit the wall. I guess it's a good time to mention that i write this first in the morning, but then i'll go back in and lightly edit and/or add links where they are needed. I simply do this to try and make it a little bit better for all of you. Anyways, ignore the terrible grammar and spelling errors. It's early and i'm typing to get my ideas on the screen, not to be flawless.
Day three and it's also Wednesday (humpday). Half of the way through the week. It seems like my life is on autopilot and i'm just going through the motions over and over again. Maybe these challenges with unleash something within and break the cycle. It's not that i'm unhappy or anything. Unfulfilled might be a better word. I have everything i need and then some. Plenty to be thankful for. I just have to remind myself that i'm the captain of this ship and it's up to me to guide my life in the direction that i wish. It's easy to blame others, or blame society-at-large but in reality those are just excuses. There are plenty of examples of people who seemingly had the world against them but they were still able to succeed. Not only does this me-against-the-world attitude lend one to be more motivated, it probably makes the end goal that much sweeter when you are successful. I recently read somewhere that everything is exactly as it's supposed to be. If we desired that things were different we are disconnecting ourselves from nature. It is our goal to remain in close harmony with nature. I'm sure i didn't say that exactly as it was but i hope you get the idea. I've also been reading about the creative energy or being in touch with the universe. People say that once they find this "flow" it feels as though it's not them doing the creating, but an external force. The universe wants us to create and it wants us to live in harmony with it. We are the ones who move out of harmony with it. Be it through fear, boredom, avoidance, drug use, anything that distracts us from living the life we were destined to live. I'm not sure if i've ever experienced this or not but it happens a little bit when i write these words. I start with little or nothing in my mind. Perhaps i have a slight idea of what i might want to mention but for the most part i simply allow my fingers to do what my brain is telling them to do. Sometimes it doesn't even feel like some of this is my own original thoughts. That also seems to happen when somebody asks me for advice. I'll drop a piece of knowledge on them and then think to myself, "damn, that was good!" Why is it so easy to give advice but not take it myself? Maybe it's because advice is just words, following the advice is real action. Action speaks much louder than words, but words are easy. It makes us feel like we have accomplished something. We'd be better off if we weren't allowed to brag but to had to simply show people what we've done. Maybe we should all create 60 second videos and just carry them around with us to show people. Like, "don't tell me what you've done, show me." This would take care of a lot of the "one-uppers", or people who always have done something better, faster, stronger, or longer than you. Some rapper made a song called "Mr Me Too" and it's basically talking about this. Oh you've got this...yeah me too, of you've done this, yeah me too. What's wrong with simply letting that person shine? I've noticed this is my own life. When somebody tells a story, i look for a way to relate to my own life. I'm not necessarily trying to one-up, just trying to relate. When i catch myself doing this i try to keep it to myself and just be a good listener to whoever is talking to me. It's not about me, let them talk about what they want to tell me. If they ask if i have experience or have done something similar, i can say yes and tell my side of the story. If they don't, i'll keep it to myself. The same goes for giving advice as well. I often give unsolicited advice because i think i'm helping. I might be, but generally i'm probably not. i'll try not to give advice unless somebody asks for it. I should also be more willing to ask for help. I have always been the type of person who likes to do it myself and won't bother anybody else. I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand i try to be self-sufficient but on the other hand we live on a planet with millions of other people, why not reach out?
Day two of the challenge. The hardest part of this thing i've decided is beginning. Once i begin, things start to flow. I may not get all the way to 750 but i can get part of the way there and they repeat the process. I've been reading a lot lately. I got a Kindle for Christmas and i think that it has been helping a lot. I have a goal to read three books per month. One topic of interest, one career-related, and one fiction. Tim Ferriss recommends fat and fiction before bed. He takes a couple tablespoons of almond butter and settles in with a good book. Since i sometimes take the supplement ZMA and you're supposed to take it on an empty stomach, i generally forgo the fat and just read. So far this year i've finished "No They Can't" by John Stossel and "Do the Work" by Steven Pressfield. I'm also half way through both "The 50th Law" by Robert Greene and 50 Cent and a fiction book i can't remember the name or author of. Not too shabby for only 8 days into the new year. Now it's just a matter of keeping the momentum. We're often reminded not to start with too much gusto as we'll burn ourselves out. I just simply remind myself that i could be reading when i find that i'm doing less rewarding things. I'm finding that the themes in a lot of these self-help books all touch on basically the same things, they are just talked about in different ways. To me, this is exciting. It means, to me, that these things actually work. We just have to believe and tap into it. Trust ourselves and the universe to bring us what we need. Sometimes i wonder why i don't have this or that and another person does. (How often do we flip that coin over and think about how much more we have than others? I don't do it as often as i would like) Maybe the Universe just isn't ready to let us be the stewards yet. Maybe we aren't ready. We may think we are, but we don't know. Trust in the Universe that it will provide exactly what is needed. This clock on the page thinks is 4:29 am. Well, technically it IS 4:29 am, but that'd be on the west coast. I'm sitting here in EST where it's 7:30. I often think about what it would mean to be an early riser. I have the best intentions of jumping out of bed as soon as i hear my alarm but that's very rarely the case. I've noticed that i have no problem getting out of bed when i'm going to do something i'm really excited about (maybe that's a clue.) However, usually i'm just waking up to start getting ready for work. Blah! Hit the snooze. Shitty attitude. I have to take more control over my life. I am the cause. If i don't like something, only i can change it. And i shouldn't look to change "it" but simply change the way i think about "it." A simple shift in mindset goes a really long way, it's just not easy to pause and reflect in the moment and consciously make the effort to shift. The status quo is easy and comfortable. Nothing great comes out of the status quo. We must be willing to step outside "normal" and do what's best for us. Although that may seem selfish, it doesn't have to be. I can get mine and allow others to have theirs too. Transactions are supposed to be mutually beneficial. Both parties are supposed to walk away "better off" than before the transaction. This is the basis for a free market. If you don't feel good about it, then why did you make the transaction? Don't be afraid to constantly be asking WHY? Why causes us to look deeper than the surface and get to the root, the essence. Actually, we just need to be childlike again. Kids are famous for asking, "why, why, why, why?" They want to know the reason, not just the way something is. We can learn a ton from simply observing children and seeking to revert a little bit to childhood ourselves. Children are full of wonder, fearlessness, and curiosity. Eventually of that is stripped away from us, if we let it. The system doesn't want us to be that way, the system wants us to be obedient robots. The people who are established will do everything in power to ensure that they stay there.
Today begins my 21 day challenge of writing at least 750 words per day. My goal is to simply type until i reach the 750 word limit and then upload the results to the blog. As i mentioned before, i'm using the website 750words.com to keep track each day. They also provide you with some stats at the end which i think is pretty cool. My idea is that i'll write upon waking each day and then upload the results each evening. So far this morning, i woke, used the restroom, chugged a hemp protein shake and now i'm here writing. This is actually the 7th day in a row i've attempted to write the 750 words. I started on January 1st, 2013 and i wanted to have a couple days under my belt before jumping into the challenge. Build up a little momentum and make sure it's really something i wanted to dedicate the next three weeks toward. Although 750 words is a good goal, i often find myself adding adjectives and "undoing" contractions so that it counts for 2 words instead of just one. I'm sure that is not the purpose of this site but if i write 650 and cheat a little bit to get an extra hundred i really do not see much of an issue with that. Switching gears. I spent most of the weekend reading and straightening up around the house. I'd say i spent the time pretty wisely. In the past, the weekends would consist primarily of me doing whatever it took to forget about the workweek and escape. I'd accomplish little to nothing and then i'd find myself back in the cubicle on Monday morning like, "fuck, where'd the weekend go and how am i already back here?" I'm going to try and put an end to that this year. During the workweek, i have little time/energy/desire to do much outside of work. If you put it all together, my work day is a typical 8:30 - 5:30. I get one hour of unpaid lunch. It takes me basically a half hour to get ready in the morning and to commute and another 15 minutes to get back home at the end of the day. Roughly, this extends the workday from about 8 am until 6 pm. Well, I wake up at 7 and go to bed around 10. That basically leaves me 5 hours per day for everything else (including cooking and eating which takes up at least another hour.) Not a ton of time left, eh? Oh, but on the weekends? An open schedule. Basically the only requirements in the 2 days are about 16 hours of sleep and a couple hours to cook and eat. The rest is for me to decide what to do with. It sucks knowing how much time we waste during the week, but it is empowering to know we have so many hours on the weekends in which to pursue our desires. Anyways, i set out a few goals or tasks to complete this weekend and i'm happy to report i met all but one. I recently purchased Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Life video course through CreativeLive.com. I watched some of the segments live, but i want to go back and rewatch all the segments and take notes for myself. I also started following the lessons in his 4-Hour Chef. The first lesson was braised lamb shanks with carrots and tomatoes. I'm not a huge lamb fan so this meal wasn't a favorite. However, the meal seemingly came out as planned. I've been cooking for myself for over 5 years now so i'm not completely lost in the kitchen. I'd just like to further develop some of my skills. I guess you can say i'm slightly obsessed with Tim Ferriss. I even signed up to receive a mystery box of Tim's choosing once per quarter through the site Quarterly.co. You pick a contributor, and once per quarter you are shipped a box filled with goodies chosen by the contributor. Tim's boxes are $100 per quarter. Most of the contributors are around $25 but i think the extra money will lend itself to some cool shit and less junk. (I'm hoping, anyways. The first box doesn't ship until mid-March of this year) It's a cool concept and i'm looking forward to seeing what Tim comes up with. Then usually at the end i type a random ass sentence so that i am able to reach the 750 word limit. Until tomorrow! Here's a couple of screenshots of the stats:
(Those times are Pacific but I'm in EST. I don't wake up that early)
My next 21 Day Challenge is to publish at least 750 words per day. Why 750 words? Because i'll be using the website 750 Words and they made the rules. I'll simply copy and paste once i'm finished each day. This will align with the "Mind" area of focus and i'm excited to be sharing fresh content each day. I plan to write first thing in the morning and knock out the 750 words as quickly as i can. I'm guessing i'll touch on some interesting topics since i'll be treating it like a brainstorming session, simply typing what comes to mind until i reach the 750 word limit.
Upon completion of the challenge, i'm hoping that i'll develop the writing habit and begin a personal journal for myself.
