Celebrating summer.
My stove is back and the plan is for it to stay there! This means it's time to start working out again for more energy and general well being. Going to go for it and push my leanness by bulking up, it will take commitment, but I can do it. Good news is today was day 1 (arms). Bad news is I have lost most of my muscle from about a month and a half ago. Day 1 is always the hardest...(the 2nd hardest is day 2)
Got to be sure not to overload myself with too many projects at once to ensure I actually hold myself to it. If I had to give a lesson learned for today it is that life is much more interesting and boring things tend to fly by with much more ease when you participate in them. I do not know how this law works. I simply know based off of my experience and that of others that when you join in it is goes much easier than watching others, even more so when you have to pretend to be participating either way.
Besides that as a general notice to my readers, I may become a health blogger for awhile. In case anyone does not know, the main purpose of my blog entries is to become a better writer and thus, a better communicator. If I can stick to a theme, it should be much easier to track as I will have to do more specified research and push through the urge to be unorganized in my thoughts. Of course I'll probably add some of my daily activities and thoughts as well, but a theme may be in order.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
What day is it?
I am saying this for two reasons. One. I just took count and today is day 16 of no television. Over half way, it has become apparent to me that the most tempting time to watch t.v is when waking up or at times when you really don't want to do much of anything. That alone may suggest it is good to keep away, unless maybe watching to enjoy a show with someone else (which could involve talking and maybe have some value?).
I am also saying this because I was helping my sharecropping friend Greg on the farm today. This is the 2nd time we have pulled weeds (by hand) together to protect the garlic. Very rewarding when you see the before and after of the rows. I took a nice 2 hour nap when I got home. Fun times, I think there are some good lessons to learn from farming, but some fresh vegetables as a pay is nice,too.
One such conversation I had with Greg was about work, and he told me that in time I would learn that most people are actually pretty bad at they're jobs. They just want to get paid. I think he might have a sad point. Unfortunately it's true, even in this economy, somehow service has decreased. That's generally the time to step it up.
Also, I was thinking today how important it is to make significant contributions. Briefly, if you have not contributed to the betterment of your life or someone else's today, your day probably didn't hold much value.
I don't really like the idea of people crying at my funeral. But if I must be missed, the goal is for it to be more than of a position. More than a son-dad-coworker of years, I would want to be missed not because people were accustom to me just because I was a normal part of their life. It would be better if they missed me because I filled true need in their life, I added real value by them knowing and spending time with me. I have a friend who texts a list of his friends on Mondays and Fridays just to wish them a good morning. If he were to disappear tomorrow, Monday morning be sure his contribution would be missed. So maybe it is a good idea to practice contribution in certain ways on a normal basis, I would guess it builds character and great relationships.
It also paves the way to the other kind of contribution-spontaneous. Most people need help somewhere. If you give in a normal way enough they will trust you and soon you will get chances to help in ways before unavailable. Maybe it could even keen your sense of opportunity in this matter and sense and love of people.
As a final note,
I must add that it is indeed a great blessing to have someone come to you vulnerable sometimes, when they need it most. I had a friend once come to me and say that due to vehicle trouble, he might need some help paying some of his bills this month, would I be willing to help him if all else failed? Wow, how do you think that made me feel? Good, great would even be a appreciate word. Not because of pride really, it was because I was in a divine place. I was in the situation where I could say yes! Of course! Not just because I had some savings, but because I could definitely trust him. He was a honorable man who wouldn't intensely wrong anyone and works hard, and would do the same for me.
So we all need somebody sometimes, and chances are you will be on both ends at some point. From associating with these two men I think I can say that these two go hand in hand. Being a good helper of people (plus discretion) , you are bound to be easy to help, and if you are easy to help, you probably are a good helper of people.
Wow! These two friends of mine are definitely going to have some people crying at their funeral.
I am saying this for two reasons. One. I just took count and today is day 16 of no television. Over half way, it has become apparent to me that the most tempting time to watch t.v is when waking up or at times when you really don't want to do much of anything. That alone may suggest it is good to keep away, unless maybe watching to enjoy a show with someone else (which could involve talking and maybe have some value?).
I am also saying this because I was helping my sharecropping friend Greg on the farm today. This is the 2nd time we have pulled weeds (by hand) together to protect the garlic. Very rewarding when you see the before and after of the rows. I took a nice 2 hour nap when I got home. Fun times, I think there are some good lessons to learn from farming, but some fresh vegetables as a pay is nice,too.
One such conversation I had with Greg was about work, and he told me that in time I would learn that most people are actually pretty bad at they're jobs. They just want to get paid. I think he might have a sad point. Unfortunately it's true, even in this economy, somehow service has decreased. That's generally the time to step it up.
Also, I was thinking today how important it is to make significant contributions. Briefly, if you have not contributed to the betterment of your life or someone else's today, your day probably didn't hold much value.
I don't really like the idea of people crying at my funeral. But if I must be missed, the goal is for it to be more than of a position. More than a son-dad-coworker of years, I would want to be missed not because people were accustom to me just because I was a normal part of their life. It would be better if they missed me because I filled true need in their life, I added real value by them knowing and spending time with me. I have a friend who texts a list of his friends on Mondays and Fridays just to wish them a good morning. If he were to disappear tomorrow, Monday morning be sure his contribution would be missed. So maybe it is a good idea to practice contribution in certain ways on a normal basis, I would guess it builds character and great relationships.
It also paves the way to the other kind of contribution-spontaneous. Most people need help somewhere. If you give in a normal way enough they will trust you and soon you will get chances to help in ways before unavailable. Maybe it could even keen your sense of opportunity in this matter and sense and love of people.
As a final note,
I must add that it is indeed a great blessing to have someone come to you vulnerable sometimes, when they need it most. I had a friend once come to me and say that due to vehicle trouble, he might need some help paying some of his bills this month, would I be willing to help him if all else failed? Wow, how do you think that made me feel? Good, great would even be a appreciate word. Not because of pride really, it was because I was in a divine place. I was in the situation where I could say yes! Of course! Not just because I had some savings, but because I could definitely trust him. He was a honorable man who wouldn't intensely wrong anyone and works hard, and would do the same for me.
So we all need somebody sometimes, and chances are you will be on both ends at some point. From associating with these two men I think I can say that these two go hand in hand. Being a good helper of people (plus discretion) , you are bound to be easy to help, and if you are easy to help, you probably are a good helper of people.
Wow! These two friends of mine are definitely going to have some people crying at their funeral.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Today was not too bad.
At Bible study we read James 1. It reminded me heavy of some of the words of Jim Rohn. Bad things will come your way, but what if you looked at it at a completely different way? What if you looked at t as an opportunity to grow, almost a challenge to overcome. Jim even adds a special touch, "Don't wish things were easier, wish you were better!" Wow, what a colossal difference in thinking. There is a great saying by Theodore Roosevelt, "If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name." Don't get me wrong, let's not create wars to have our name remembered, but wishing a problem easier won't do much. Even if the problem does just disappear, that only helps you. What about the next time a similar problems occurs? What if someone else has that problem? I hope it disappears for you too? No no, it is much better to have the skills to just be able to solve these problems. Not all problems go away on their own.
Besides that, I need to start putting together my plan for how to acquire the skill of speed reading. So far all I have is Tim Ferris' short exercise on his website. Seems pretty good, but since this seems like it will take some time to develop, I want to make sure I know what I am getting myself into and how to make this a long term skill.
Also, need to list some questions for my interview with my good friend Saturday.
At Bible study we read James 1. It reminded me heavy of some of the words of Jim Rohn. Bad things will come your way, but what if you looked at it at a completely different way? What if you looked at t as an opportunity to grow, almost a challenge to overcome. Jim even adds a special touch, "Don't wish things were easier, wish you were better!" Wow, what a colossal difference in thinking. There is a great saying by Theodore Roosevelt, "If there is not the war, you don't get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don't get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name." Don't get me wrong, let's not create wars to have our name remembered, but wishing a problem easier won't do much. Even if the problem does just disappear, that only helps you. What about the next time a similar problems occurs? What if someone else has that problem? I hope it disappears for you too? No no, it is much better to have the skills to just be able to solve these problems. Not all problems go away on their own.
Besides that, I need to start putting together my plan for how to acquire the skill of speed reading. So far all I have is Tim Ferris' short exercise on his website. Seems pretty good, but since this seems like it will take some time to develop, I want to make sure I know what I am getting myself into and how to make this a long term skill.
Also, need to list some questions for my interview with my good friend Saturday.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Really interesting day today.
Today I was a little inconvenienced by my decision to not watch television. A friend of mine told me if I wanted to stop by later and watch the series "band of brothers" he told me about, to go ahead, then we could even toss the football. It is a weird thing to try to explain to friends you do not talk to often, but I said nothing definite and he didn't follow up with me in the afternoon. I guess that's lucky, but sooner or later I had to be tested.
On another note, big change up at work. I'll be in prayer that I can succeed in my new responsibilities. I once heard a Randy Jackson (American idol judge) interview that popped in my head from some time ago. When asked for his best advice, Mr. Jackson summed it up well by saying, "Never stop learning. Work as hard as you can. Keep practicing your moment will come, be ready." The moment has arrived. Time to show.
Also, I have hit my goal of incorporating veggies into my diet daily. I think I am seeing my next nutritional goal. I might try to go 2 weeks or a 30 day challenge of not eating any food I know contain 'enriched' wheat flour. For my readers who are label readers. Stuff is everywhere, very popular in white beard (I eat a lot of white bread). So bad, like the crop of processed. I honestly believe this may be a little hard, but is just under maintaining fresh fruits and veggies into my diet. Check it out for yourself, http://www.malima.com.br/diabetes/blog_commento.asp?blog_id=164. This flour kills bugs that eat it. I read that some rats also die on a enriched bread diet, others stunted. It just so happens to be in almost all of the worst foods (by conventional wisdom). Look at the list in the bottom of the article.
Story time.
I'm not all that surprised that most bread is so bad now that I am thinking about it. I was hanging out with some Ukrainians visiting America not so long ago. They were shocked by American bread. From where they're from, bread lasted about a week or so when properly stored and handled. Our bread, and bless they're hearts I can almost quote it, you can leave out on the table for weeks and it is the same as when you bought it.
Today I was a little inconvenienced by my decision to not watch television. A friend of mine told me if I wanted to stop by later and watch the series "band of brothers" he told me about, to go ahead, then we could even toss the football. It is a weird thing to try to explain to friends you do not talk to often, but I said nothing definite and he didn't follow up with me in the afternoon. I guess that's lucky, but sooner or later I had to be tested.
On another note, big change up at work. I'll be in prayer that I can succeed in my new responsibilities. I once heard a Randy Jackson (American idol judge) interview that popped in my head from some time ago. When asked for his best advice, Mr. Jackson summed it up well by saying, "Never stop learning. Work as hard as you can. Keep practicing your moment will come, be ready." The moment has arrived. Time to show.
Also, I have hit my goal of incorporating veggies into my diet daily. I think I am seeing my next nutritional goal. I might try to go 2 weeks or a 30 day challenge of not eating any food I know contain 'enriched' wheat flour. For my readers who are label readers. Stuff is everywhere, very popular in white beard (I eat a lot of white bread). So bad, like the crop of processed. I honestly believe this may be a little hard, but is just under maintaining fresh fruits and veggies into my diet. Check it out for yourself, http://www.malima.com.br/diabetes/blog_commento.asp?blog_id=164. This flour kills bugs that eat it. I read that some rats also die on a enriched bread diet, others stunted. It just so happens to be in almost all of the worst foods (by conventional wisdom). Look at the list in the bottom of the article.
Story time.
I'm not all that surprised that most bread is so bad now that I am thinking about it. I was hanging out with some Ukrainians visiting America not so long ago. They were shocked by American bread. From where they're from, bread lasted about a week or so when properly stored and handled. Our bread, and bless they're hearts I can almost quote it, you can leave out on the table for weeks and it is the same as when you bought it.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Today I have been reading up for some memory training. I was just reading in my kindle the book "Moon walking with Eisenstein", and I must say, it is uber interesting. This book is about a man (Josh Foer), a journalist, who journeys into the world of memory athletes and the memory championships. He gets coached by one of the leading "masters of memory", while studying it through visits to scientists who study memory and isolated cases.
Some of my favorite take aways so far have been in the chapter called "The men with the worst memory". In this chapter some very interesting study of human nature and memory are dropped. Among them being the study of a man who isolated himself to a cave for 2 months with no clocks, sun, talking to other people or anything that would indicate the time. Sometimes he would stay awake for 36 hours, sometimes he would sleep every few hours. Time slowed and blended together. He only had but a few things to do-so in time he couldn't tell the days apart. He could simply not remember what he did the day before. When his team retrieved him at the appointed time, in his journal it seemed that only a month had passed.
This lead to a more interesting somewhat philosophical question of what is better: living a seemingly slow life as if you had a lot of time-or create lots of memories and new experiences that upon recalling, which seems to show a much "longer" life. One such example was when doctors were posed the question in the 50's of, "does the anesthesia really make patients go to sleep, or just freeze their muscles and then make them forget about the surgery afterward?"Then the question, "does the memory not remembered really even matter or count?" Worth thought and consideration in life. If this rule is true, than one could live many years yet a very short and blended life with bland repeated experiences.
I also found interesting the look into expertise. How do master chess players come into existence? Believe it or not it is not that the cognitive-game known as chess requires one to be a genius. Interestingly, a lot of it has to do with memory. Let me try to illustrate. Do you know a professional or elite of some skill? Have you ever asked them how they do something in their area of expertise, and they can't really tell ya? They seem to just "know"? Well most will agree that countless hours of practice are vital to becoming an expert. The reason is, is the situations become relatable. A expert looks at something and it is not some big show of strategy, his mind recalls similar games played and the right move just becomes obvious, this is done in the frontal cortical of the brain: long term memory. Amateurs use the mid cortical, as if looking at new information. When we hear of a "genius" in the teens for say, guitar or bowling we assume they started off above average. Often the case is that they already have their 10,000 hours of experience build up from a young age, sometimes ages 6 or younger. They probably started out no better, maybe even a little worse, than the man who starts the same hobby in his later teens or 20's.
Some of my favorite take aways so far have been in the chapter called "The men with the worst memory". In this chapter some very interesting study of human nature and memory are dropped. Among them being the study of a man who isolated himself to a cave for 2 months with no clocks, sun, talking to other people or anything that would indicate the time. Sometimes he would stay awake for 36 hours, sometimes he would sleep every few hours. Time slowed and blended together. He only had but a few things to do-so in time he couldn't tell the days apart. He could simply not remember what he did the day before. When his team retrieved him at the appointed time, in his journal it seemed that only a month had passed.
This lead to a more interesting somewhat philosophical question of what is better: living a seemingly slow life as if you had a lot of time-or create lots of memories and new experiences that upon recalling, which seems to show a much "longer" life. One such example was when doctors were posed the question in the 50's of, "does the anesthesia really make patients go to sleep, or just freeze their muscles and then make them forget about the surgery afterward?"Then the question, "does the memory not remembered really even matter or count?" Worth thought and consideration in life. If this rule is true, than one could live many years yet a very short and blended life with bland repeated experiences.
I also found interesting the look into expertise. How do master chess players come into existence? Believe it or not it is not that the cognitive-game known as chess requires one to be a genius. Interestingly, a lot of it has to do with memory. Let me try to illustrate. Do you know a professional or elite of some skill? Have you ever asked them how they do something in their area of expertise, and they can't really tell ya? They seem to just "know"? Well most will agree that countless hours of practice are vital to becoming an expert. The reason is, is the situations become relatable. A expert looks at something and it is not some big show of strategy, his mind recalls similar games played and the right move just becomes obvious, this is done in the frontal cortical of the brain: long term memory. Amateurs use the mid cortical, as if looking at new information. When we hear of a "genius" in the teens for say, guitar or bowling we assume they started off above average. Often the case is that they already have their 10,000 hours of experience build up from a young age, sometimes ages 6 or younger. They probably started out no better, maybe even a little worse, than the man who starts the same hobby in his later teens or 20's.
Monday, April 23, 2012
I so not really care to count the days I currently am in to this 30 day challenge.
Still do not need television.
Today was a good day. I think some of the best days are the days that act as a launch board for the next day,week, whatever it is. Today was important, I think. Today I heard a story worthy of retelling. It's the true story of a little boy. He was very very awkward. His nick name was "sparky", nicknamed after a horse in a popular comic strip at the time. It's not that the kids didn't like him, no one really had an opinion of him or cared either way to notice him. His dating life was a little less exciting, he never had the courage to ask a single girl out. He accepted all this. There is but one thing he had faith in, he had but one dream. He had the utmost confidence in his drawing ability. Before he graduated, he submitted some of his cartoon drawing to the editors of his school yearbook. He was denied promptly.
Didn't matter, once he graduated, he started immediately. He was a self proclaimed professional already. Then, he worked very very hard and submitted some of his work to Disney.
They said no too. He decided he would draw anyway. He decided to make his autobiography mirroring his awkwardness and life. It has been said that the greatest victories come right after the greatest defeat, you may have heard of this show, Charles M Schulz became the creator of the beloved peanuts. Charlie brown became the little awkward boy the nation loved.
I also attempted to comfort a girl who had just had a big fight with a family member for telling her she needed to quit the drugs, but in the form of "Get your S* together". Maybe not full of finesse, but motive seems good. I was ready. I was chatting with her and all ready to ask questions until she arrived at the answer within herself she needed to hear. Due to a small injury/distraction as I was attending to something else, I didn't get to finish. I honestly didn't even get to really start. Her beloved family member wished to talk to her so she had to be off whether I was ready or not. I had barely said anything-my questions thus far lead to nowhere yet. Yet, she thanked me. At first I believed it was just her being polite, but no, after pondering it I suppose the words of Dale Carnegie will ring true for people as long as people remain. Often we don't really want another perspective or answer, we just want to share our feelings and see that other people care enough to listen...I suppose if I wish to truly help people and show love, I need to make that distinction much more often. Lessons like these repeat themselves until learned.
Finally I got a D on my report card. I had a great talk with my cousin who is full of wisdom I love to listen to. The main reminder/takeaway is that you define yourself minute-by-minute. You must diversify yourself if you wish to be certain of any thing. If you improve just 1 percent a day, what else could anyone ask of you if that is your best? Delay, wait if will, but it is coming. Be prepared if you wish to be certain.
Still do not need television.
Today was a good day. I think some of the best days are the days that act as a launch board for the next day,week, whatever it is. Today was important, I think. Today I heard a story worthy of retelling. It's the true story of a little boy. He was very very awkward. His nick name was "sparky", nicknamed after a horse in a popular comic strip at the time. It's not that the kids didn't like him, no one really had an opinion of him or cared either way to notice him. His dating life was a little less exciting, he never had the courage to ask a single girl out. He accepted all this. There is but one thing he had faith in, he had but one dream. He had the utmost confidence in his drawing ability. Before he graduated, he submitted some of his cartoon drawing to the editors of his school yearbook. He was denied promptly.
Didn't matter, once he graduated, he started immediately. He was a self proclaimed professional already. Then, he worked very very hard and submitted some of his work to Disney.
They said no too. He decided he would draw anyway. He decided to make his autobiography mirroring his awkwardness and life. It has been said that the greatest victories come right after the greatest defeat, you may have heard of this show, Charles M Schulz became the creator of the beloved peanuts. Charlie brown became the little awkward boy the nation loved.
I also attempted to comfort a girl who had just had a big fight with a family member for telling her she needed to quit the drugs, but in the form of "Get your S* together". Maybe not full of finesse, but motive seems good. I was ready. I was chatting with her and all ready to ask questions until she arrived at the answer within herself she needed to hear. Due to a small injury/distraction as I was attending to something else, I didn't get to finish. I honestly didn't even get to really start. Her beloved family member wished to talk to her so she had to be off whether I was ready or not. I had barely said anything-my questions thus far lead to nowhere yet. Yet, she thanked me. At first I believed it was just her being polite, but no, after pondering it I suppose the words of Dale Carnegie will ring true for people as long as people remain. Often we don't really want another perspective or answer, we just want to share our feelings and see that other people care enough to listen...I suppose if I wish to truly help people and show love, I need to make that distinction much more often. Lessons like these repeat themselves until learned.
Finally I got a D on my report card. I had a great talk with my cousin who is full of wisdom I love to listen to. The main reminder/takeaway is that you define yourself minute-by-minute. You must diversify yourself if you wish to be certain of any thing. If you improve just 1 percent a day, what else could anyone ask of you if that is your best? Delay, wait if will, but it is coming. Be prepared if you wish to be certain.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Okay. This morning there was a challenge. I woke up today ever-thirsty and not focused. Didn't feel like I could commit to any activity I thought I should attend to. I didn't want to go back to sleep, or make a decision to begin something...this a spot where the urge to watch television creeps in. Still not worth it, just got to march against the urge until I am ready to do what I need to.
Today I will write a brief note about winning.
2 things I have learned about winning.
“If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t
If you like to win, but you think you can’t,
It is almost certain you won’t.
“If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will—
It’s all in the state of mind.
“If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
“Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!”
I particularity like the last paragraph. I remember talking to a educator at my high school a few days ago about the issue of the lack of the internal need/urge to learn. She has to offer external things like Jolly Ranchers to get gain more participation. I think of the students in communist china, they have more honor roll students than the U.S.A has students. Now let me ask this, if you knew there were straight A students who went hungry, would you risk being a B+ student? I doubt it. You would be a straight A student and do whatever else you could to increase your odds of eating or having a place to sleep tonight. This is one that I have had to pray on. I still do. The need to be "hungry" is vitally important. How could you be any more than you currently are unless you were sick of being what or where you are? Now, it is an understatement to say that this sickness needs to be balanced or else this could turn rapidly into self pity or serious discouragement, maybe even illness. D you know someone who hates their job or something in their life? Based on their actions, and not their words, how much do they "hate" it. Hate is all consuming, if you hated it you would go without almost everything rather than go back to that place/thing. Most likely this person is experiencing dislike. How much do they dislike something? How much do they think about ways to change the situation? How willing are they to pay the price to change, because there will be some price (often not comparable to the reward). Does the sickness outway the conceived price? What if the price goes up?
Today I will write a brief note about winning.
2 things I have learned about winning.
- The person who wins is the one who has the better reason to win (Even if that is him saying to himself, I have training 500 hours, I can't lose this one)
- The team who won't be beat often isn't
“If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t
If you like to win, but you think you can’t,
It is almost certain you won’t.
“If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a fellow’s will—
It’s all in the state of mind.
“If you think you are outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise,
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
“Life’s battles don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man,
But soon or late the man who wins
Is the man WHO THINKS HE CAN!”
I particularity like the last paragraph. I remember talking to a educator at my high school a few days ago about the issue of the lack of the internal need/urge to learn. She has to offer external things like Jolly Ranchers to get gain more participation. I think of the students in communist china, they have more honor roll students than the U.S.A has students. Now let me ask this, if you knew there were straight A students who went hungry, would you risk being a B+ student? I doubt it. You would be a straight A student and do whatever else you could to increase your odds of eating or having a place to sleep tonight. This is one that I have had to pray on. I still do. The need to be "hungry" is vitally important. How could you be any more than you currently are unless you were sick of being what or where you are? Now, it is an understatement to say that this sickness needs to be balanced or else this could turn rapidly into self pity or serious discouragement, maybe even illness. D you know someone who hates their job or something in their life? Based on their actions, and not their words, how much do they "hate" it. Hate is all consuming, if you hated it you would go without almost everything rather than go back to that place/thing. Most likely this person is experiencing dislike. How much do they dislike something? How much do they think about ways to change the situation? How willing are they to pay the price to change, because there will be some price (often not comparable to the reward). Does the sickness outway the conceived price? What if the price goes up?
Friday, April 20, 2012
Hello everyone!
I now have a subscribe by email button to the right of the post. It generally takes less than 24 hours, but I've tested it and it is ready to go.
I am pretty tired, but I have been pondering a new thought. It is extremely interesting that there is just about no subject in the world all people agree on. Even some very basic things are up to debate. "Shoes are better than going barefoot." Really? If you asked the world's nomads or tribesman I am sure you could find one who would disagree whole hardheartedly. Maybe he has never enjoyed a fresh sneaker out of the box, maybe it would help him in his daily activities, so how could I fault him for rejecting what is weird and strange to what he has known. So maybe some people feel a certain way because they have not had an experience enabled them to see from a certain viewpoint. I suppose you might have a good chance claiming that food is good for eating and energy, but anything beyond that and you'll lose your audience quickly. My two thoughts on this is that this is a major stumbling block on unity, whether that is good or bad, you can determine on your own. My next thought is that even knowing a person is lacking an experience that would make your viewpoint so clear, chances are that they do have the ability to relate within them if it is sought after and activated.
After all, If I could show a tribesman a better way to sharpen a spear or something of that sort, he would begin to see and understand innovation. This could perhaps be nurtured If I then suggested shoes and let him experience it for himself. This is important, because how else could he endorse something I like? I do not hunt deer, I do not live with "his" people. No, everyone is curious if the solution will fit their unique situation, and most viewpoints are wholeheartedly rejected because they
I now have a subscribe by email button to the right of the post. It generally takes less than 24 hours, but I've tested it and it is ready to go.
I am pretty tired, but I have been pondering a new thought. It is extremely interesting that there is just about no subject in the world all people agree on. Even some very basic things are up to debate. "Shoes are better than going barefoot." Really? If you asked the world's nomads or tribesman I am sure you could find one who would disagree whole hardheartedly. Maybe he has never enjoyed a fresh sneaker out of the box, maybe it would help him in his daily activities, so how could I fault him for rejecting what is weird and strange to what he has known. So maybe some people feel a certain way because they have not had an experience enabled them to see from a certain viewpoint. I suppose you might have a good chance claiming that food is good for eating and energy, but anything beyond that and you'll lose your audience quickly. My two thoughts on this is that this is a major stumbling block on unity, whether that is good or bad, you can determine on your own. My next thought is that even knowing a person is lacking an experience that would make your viewpoint so clear, chances are that they do have the ability to relate within them if it is sought after and activated.
After all, If I could show a tribesman a better way to sharpen a spear or something of that sort, he would begin to see and understand innovation. This could perhaps be nurtured If I then suggested shoes and let him experience it for himself. This is important, because how else could he endorse something I like? I do not hunt deer, I do not live with "his" people. No, everyone is curious if the solution will fit their unique situation, and most viewpoints are wholeheartedly rejected because they
- Are contrary to that persons realm of "normal"
Thursday, April 19, 2012
No Tv is going good.
Moving on, I enjoyed a great game of ultimate Frisbee today. I also am getting less tired during the day, and to finish it off, It looks like I will have my stove again for a solid week until the cabinets need to be installed (one day install then it's back for good!) Things are looking well. The weather is even looking nice, it is just about time to transform my body. I listened to some choice Earl Nightingale recordings today. Among my favorite of his lines (and very wise life advice to live by) are:
Moving on, I enjoyed a great game of ultimate Frisbee today. I also am getting less tired during the day, and to finish it off, It looks like I will have my stove again for a solid week until the cabinets need to be installed (one day install then it's back for good!) Things are looking well. The weather is even looking nice, it is just about time to transform my body. I listened to some choice Earl Nightingale recordings today. Among my favorite of his lines (and very wise life advice to live by) are:
- Most people just react. People of understanding tend to just act. This means that if someone does something, say, I slap you in the face, you would most likely react and slap me back in anger. Why are you letting me choose how you feel or act? It is much more serene to act however you want despite how I act.
- Most of our country, the well fed, provided for and wealthy, live lives of quiet empathy and some-other-big-word. The Greeks had a world for this very real existence, Hades.
- Everybody has some insecurities to face, but there really is no need. Why compare yourself to everyone else? There never has been or likely will be someone just like you, therefore you can really only compete against yourself. Everyone has different flaws and strengths.
- The higher up in a corporation you go, often the nicer the people. Whether they will admit it or not, everybody thinks themselves as the most important person in the word. These two are related because to be successful, you must treat people as if they were, or at least pretty close, wouldn't you want someone to treat you important for the things you do?
Another day without television.
One of my original posts for this experiment referenced the character from the movie "Fight club". I paraphrased him saying that after a month he no longer missed T.V. Well, it took me much less time to not miss it. I must admit that those occasional movies may really help balance it all out, but I am confident I could make the grade even without the movies. It is still noteworthy, after all, television's main goal is to have us watch more of it, and buy things.
Yesterday, I spoke with my friend and mentor Steve Moore. He pointed out some important things for be to watch over, mainly the risk of trying to change to much at a time. At first I was resistant to this. After all, change can be good and I want to get this stuff down-pat. It did not take me long to consider his point and recognize the potential dangers here.
As a reader, you may be shooting off a snide look or comment at this, but there is truth to this. It is true this is not a danger as in risking my head, money, or reputation. It is a long term danger, one that can cost much more than a south-diving investment. How does someone reach a goal? How does someone eat a 12 ounce steak? Bit-by-bit, bite-by-bite. "Inch by inch, it's a cinch, by yard it's hard" I knew this (I had learned this lesson about a month earlier) but what about when you want to achieve 12 things? Well even with bit-by-bit fierce attacks on a goal, if it is divided by 12 it is significantly less fierce. Lesson is that, when beginning, focus almost all effort on building one or two habits of a good nature. The reward will be long term, but you'll stick with it and have a much higher chance to reap. Even better, the better you do at this, the sooner one day you will have the will power to place 6 or more habits in your life long term at once. This also will take awhile, but this reward is sweet and tender, best when you hit the juicy point in a few years...much like a good steak. Maybe "good" isn't the word.
One of my original posts for this experiment referenced the character from the movie "Fight club". I paraphrased him saying that after a month he no longer missed T.V. Well, it took me much less time to not miss it. I must admit that those occasional movies may really help balance it all out, but I am confident I could make the grade even without the movies. It is still noteworthy, after all, television's main goal is to have us watch more of it, and buy things.
Yesterday, I spoke with my friend and mentor Steve Moore. He pointed out some important things for be to watch over, mainly the risk of trying to change to much at a time. At first I was resistant to this. After all, change can be good and I want to get this stuff down-pat. It did not take me long to consider his point and recognize the potential dangers here.
As a reader, you may be shooting off a snide look or comment at this, but there is truth to this. It is true this is not a danger as in risking my head, money, or reputation. It is a long term danger, one that can cost much more than a south-diving investment. How does someone reach a goal? How does someone eat a 12 ounce steak? Bit-by-bit, bite-by-bite. "Inch by inch, it's a cinch, by yard it's hard" I knew this (I had learned this lesson about a month earlier) but what about when you want to achieve 12 things? Well even with bit-by-bit fierce attacks on a goal, if it is divided by 12 it is significantly less fierce. Lesson is that, when beginning, focus almost all effort on building one or two habits of a good nature. The reward will be long term, but you'll stick with it and have a much higher chance to reap. Even better, the better you do at this, the sooner one day you will have the will power to place 6 or more habits in your life long term at once. This also will take awhile, but this reward is sweet and tender, best when you hit the juicy point in a few years...much like a good steak. Maybe "good" isn't the word.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Hello everyone, celebrating day 7
No regrets whatsoever. Great decision. I must confess that from the beginning I have had one inconsistency, I have a high school class called "films through history", so I have been watching 90 minutes or so of movies every other week day. Technically, still not television. I think watching movies in school may not have been a total negative factor,either. It has given me added perspective. It has added to my awareness of how easy it would be to backslide. It was one thing to walk by a t.v at home and be entranced for a few seconds, but today in my English 12 class the movie "Ratatouille" was on, I was also given a simple read-and-answer questions type of paper. The story did seem rather pointless and boring, but still, the movie would grab my attention for minutes at a time and make it a battle to just read the paper. I only read half of the reading (roughly 2 and a half pages out of 4 and a half) and opted to take it home to be sure I could finish it properly.
Besides that, great for getting things done. I am also working to integrate the systems of organizing and productivity taught by the book "Getting things done". This is my second time reading this book, but I have found it is important to really familiarize yourself with a system to the point of being an expert if you want it to stick, It usually is done by reading other similar books but I thought this was just as well. Between these things, I really am seeing my problem was not as much a issue of not enough hours, but more of a issue of is using my time widely and with balance. Balance seems to be a key to capture at the moment in another area of my life as well. Trying to get my sleep back into a normal cycle is showing to be annoying. It is the beginning of allergy season and the weather has been warm to say the least. This adds to my being drowsy.
This makes trying to work out my sleep deficiency and tiredness much more frustrating. I sleep 8, 9,10 hours a night and then feel tired around 11-3, try to take a nap and cannot fall asleep. It is true that some of this may be due to me trying to sleep in places such as my car or office couch, but it just will not do. Today I got home and took a not timed nap and woke up a hour later feeling much better. The question is simple-do I work into my biphasic sleep cycle, or do I keep dealing with being tired after sleeping over 1/3 of my day? After all, at least when I was tired from my polypasic sleep cycle I felt awake and jittery at parts of the day. Biphasic might give me a similar new spin on my feelings toward sleep.
No regrets whatsoever. Great decision. I must confess that from the beginning I have had one inconsistency, I have a high school class called "films through history", so I have been watching 90 minutes or so of movies every other week day. Technically, still not television. I think watching movies in school may not have been a total negative factor,either. It has given me added perspective. It has added to my awareness of how easy it would be to backslide. It was one thing to walk by a t.v at home and be entranced for a few seconds, but today in my English 12 class the movie "Ratatouille" was on, I was also given a simple read-and-answer questions type of paper. The story did seem rather pointless and boring, but still, the movie would grab my attention for minutes at a time and make it a battle to just read the paper. I only read half of the reading (roughly 2 and a half pages out of 4 and a half) and opted to take it home to be sure I could finish it properly.
Besides that, great for getting things done. I am also working to integrate the systems of organizing and productivity taught by the book "Getting things done". This is my second time reading this book, but I have found it is important to really familiarize yourself with a system to the point of being an expert if you want it to stick, It usually is done by reading other similar books but I thought this was just as well. Between these things, I really am seeing my problem was not as much a issue of not enough hours, but more of a issue of is using my time widely and with balance. Balance seems to be a key to capture at the moment in another area of my life as well. Trying to get my sleep back into a normal cycle is showing to be annoying. It is the beginning of allergy season and the weather has been warm to say the least. This adds to my being drowsy.
This makes trying to work out my sleep deficiency and tiredness much more frustrating. I sleep 8, 9,10 hours a night and then feel tired around 11-3, try to take a nap and cannot fall asleep. It is true that some of this may be due to me trying to sleep in places such as my car or office couch, but it just will not do. Today I got home and took a not timed nap and woke up a hour later feeling much better. The question is simple-do I work into my biphasic sleep cycle, or do I keep dealing with being tired after sleeping over 1/3 of my day? After all, at least when I was tired from my polypasic sleep cycle I felt awake and jittery at parts of the day. Biphasic might give me a similar new spin on my feelings toward sleep.
Monday, April 16, 2012
According to my blog's count, today is day 6.
I miss it less and less. It's like a cold at the moment, you know it will feel good to be free of, but you think you will miss relaxing in bed. Then you find out you were wrong, that bed wasn't even comfy! I have too much to do to watch t.v. I got a fresh idea today. I was just thinking today about my need for more men of a high stature and good influence to learn from. Unfortunately, there is a constant need from them-as well as for them. So they are busy guys and hard to just find and develop a relationship with quickly. This is a great place for books, books will give you a fine interview. The question is, what else could I do?
Then inspiration hit me. I recall reading in Dale Carnegie's How to win friends and influence people about a young man who often wrote to many "celebrities" of his day after learning of them and getting the opportunity to learn and visit many of them. The modern day celebrities won't do me much good, but there still may be a few worthy of writing. Perhaps, some of those book authors? I may make a list of people. I will call this list "people more important than me", and write to one once a week. Or maybe I will write a local person of high stature but not nation wide once a week, and a national act once a month. The possibilities are there, it is just putting in the time and effort. Even if I speak with a few just some, imagine the added character I could a mass!
Even better, if no one answers, I still win. Say what? I still get these benefits:
I miss it less and less. It's like a cold at the moment, you know it will feel good to be free of, but you think you will miss relaxing in bed. Then you find out you were wrong, that bed wasn't even comfy! I have too much to do to watch t.v. I got a fresh idea today. I was just thinking today about my need for more men of a high stature and good influence to learn from. Unfortunately, there is a constant need from them-as well as for them. So they are busy guys and hard to just find and develop a relationship with quickly. This is a great place for books, books will give you a fine interview. The question is, what else could I do?
Then inspiration hit me. I recall reading in Dale Carnegie's How to win friends and influence people about a young man who often wrote to many "celebrities" of his day after learning of them and getting the opportunity to learn and visit many of them. The modern day celebrities won't do me much good, but there still may be a few worthy of writing. Perhaps, some of those book authors? I may make a list of people. I will call this list "people more important than me", and write to one once a week. Or maybe I will write a local person of high stature but not nation wide once a week, and a national act once a month. The possibilities are there, it is just putting in the time and effort. Even if I speak with a few just some, imagine the added character I could a mass!
Even better, if no one answers, I still win. Say what? I still get these benefits:
- Chance to meet other people who admire them
- extra writing practice
- added 'edge' from me focusing on what I like about them (making it much easier to be that way)
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Day 4
So far so good. Today is my 4th day without television and it's not so bad. I already have read 110 pages today (being it's Saturday). I noticed the T.V tries to draw me back in. Whenever I walk into a room with a television on, I do not pay attention to the first few words spoken to me. I go into a zombie like tranche for about 2-3 seconds. Weird.
To elaborate, I have finished one of my "to finish" books.
I went to the carnival today. I think the scariest thing about riding a carnival ride is that is a carnival ride. Kids love it. I even saw an old "friend". It is interesting how peoples lives turn out and how some people are years later.
I can report of my little sister. The second youngest, Nicole, went with me today to enjoy all that is the carnival. There is a ride called the revolution. The revolution is basically a hamster wheel. They strap you in, and you roll as if you were falling down the stairs in a real hamster ball.My sister got on with me, she decided to get on only because I encouraged her to and was determined to go on with or without her. She got on only trusting my judgement call that we were safe. She started out claiming that she was scared. She told the worker that she was scared. He was very helpful when he joined me in my attempt to provide that sense of courage by telling her "you are brave, I can see it in you". Once again my sister proved the stigma that bravery is not feeling totally ready, but instead, going on with it even when you don't feel totally ready. She loved it.
So far so good. Today is my 4th day without television and it's not so bad. I already have read 110 pages today (being it's Saturday). I noticed the T.V tries to draw me back in. Whenever I walk into a room with a television on, I do not pay attention to the first few words spoken to me. I go into a zombie like tranche for about 2-3 seconds. Weird.
To elaborate, I have finished one of my "to finish" books.
I went to the carnival today. I think the scariest thing about riding a carnival ride is that is a carnival ride. Kids love it. I even saw an old "friend". It is interesting how peoples lives turn out and how some people are years later.
I can report of my little sister. The second youngest, Nicole, went with me today to enjoy all that is the carnival. There is a ride called the revolution. The revolution is basically a hamster wheel. They strap you in, and you roll as if you were falling down the stairs in a real hamster ball.My sister got on with me, she decided to get on only because I encouraged her to and was determined to go on with or without her. She got on only trusting my judgement call that we were safe. She started out claiming that she was scared. She told the worker that she was scared. He was very helpful when he joined me in my attempt to provide that sense of courage by telling her "you are brave, I can see it in you". Once again my sister proved the stigma that bravery is not feeling totally ready, but instead, going on with it even when you don't feel totally ready. She loved it.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Today is day 3
I have about 12 books that need to be read or finished. I would say that this experiment will be a complete success if I knock out half of those. High goal? No way! If I spent almost as much time reading as I did watching television this month, there is almost no way I could not exceed that goal. Let's do math.
Book pages:
205
250
136
447
38
112
170
200
250
119
249
90
Now some of these are pages leftover, mind you. The total number of pages is 2266. This sounds like a rather lot to read. Let's play the game of averages. As I reported before the average person watches about 4 hours of television a day. Excluding my devotionals of the Bible and Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people", guess how much I could average on a daily basis. If I spent just two hours a day reading at a average of 2 minutes per page, I could read 60 pages a day. Print sizes vary greatly, and sometimes I feel into it more than others, but that seems to be a safe number in this case. It should be noted that I could finish 5 of the 12 in 6 and a half days. Then I would have about 20 and half days left to read a single book. The best part is that if I can hit 2 hours each day for 6 and a half days, it will be a pretty normal occurrence by then and I will be be able to keep it up with added ease.
Wow! Things seem more possible when you break them down. It may seem like I am cheating by only attacking the books I have already started, but added up that's 495 pages. That brings our grand total to 1771, which is a sizable dent and should give me the boost and encouragement to push on. I am a dreamer, nothing wrong with that really. So Let's say I made it a permanent habit. If I started from the beginning at 2266 and read 60 pages a day, it would take a little over 37 days to finish my current collection. This still sounds a little heavy. I would like to play the law of averages card in a different way this time. If I read 60 pages a day for 1, 2 or 3 weeks, somewhere along the line how hard would it be to increase to 90 pages a day? That's the exciting part, soon what would have been a push can become a slight increase in effort. That's motivating. By the way, for those of you keeping count, if with one week left (7 days) I started hitting 90, that is 630 pages (extra 210).
I have about 12 books that need to be read or finished. I would say that this experiment will be a complete success if I knock out half of those. High goal? No way! If I spent almost as much time reading as I did watching television this month, there is almost no way I could not exceed that goal. Let's do math.
Book pages:
205
250
136
447
38
112
170
200
250
119
249
90
Now some of these are pages leftover, mind you. The total number of pages is 2266. This sounds like a rather lot to read. Let's play the game of averages. As I reported before the average person watches about 4 hours of television a day. Excluding my devotionals of the Bible and Dale Carnegie's "How to win friends and influence people", guess how much I could average on a daily basis. If I spent just two hours a day reading at a average of 2 minutes per page, I could read 60 pages a day. Print sizes vary greatly, and sometimes I feel into it more than others, but that seems to be a safe number in this case. It should be noted that I could finish 5 of the 12 in 6 and a half days. Then I would have about 20 and half days left to read a single book. The best part is that if I can hit 2 hours each day for 6 and a half days, it will be a pretty normal occurrence by then and I will be be able to keep it up with added ease.
Wow! Things seem more possible when you break them down. It may seem like I am cheating by only attacking the books I have already started, but added up that's 495 pages. That brings our grand total to 1771, which is a sizable dent and should give me the boost and encouragement to push on. I am a dreamer, nothing wrong with that really. So Let's say I made it a permanent habit. If I started from the beginning at 2266 and read 60 pages a day, it would take a little over 37 days to finish my current collection. This still sounds a little heavy. I would like to play the law of averages card in a different way this time. If I read 60 pages a day for 1, 2 or 3 weeks, somewhere along the line how hard would it be to increase to 90 pages a day? That's the exciting part, soon what would have been a push can become a slight increase in effort. That's motivating. By the way, for those of you keeping count, if with one week left (7 days) I started hitting 90, that is 630 pages (extra 210).
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Day 2 of no T.V
Easy. It's really easy. I bought 3 more books and the weekend begins at 10:50 tomorrow. That will be the test. I need to tackle this book collection, and I will get out and see a friend or two as well. As long as there is no television.
“Tomorrow I plan to work, work, from early until late. In fact I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”
- Martin Luther
What a profound statement. The first step is knowing what I must do first. I plan to reread Getting things done by David Allen and getting my "ducks" in a line. What else can I write about?
I think self expression is very important. We all have a blessed and incredible ability to create. The problem is, if you are anything like me-it seems the idea got into your head that creating is hard work. I will plan to stop subscribing to that philosophy. I believe it is hard focus. There is a difference between a labor of quiet submission and a labor of expression. The interesting part is that the first is done more and has some reward, yet the second can have endless benefits yet is under practiced. It is my firm conviction that many people procrastinate and use fillers like the t.v to just get to the next day or activity. You can see more evidence of this in my previous post. I believe life shouldn't be boring. Everyone should have a way to creatively express themselves. What a different world that would make. This is not the case, someone accidentally "sells" us the idea that the benefits are minimal and we'll just be adding more to our work load.
The worst part is, we bought it! We bought into this idea! Maybe the upgraded package will be for us to just refuse to get up from the couch altogether when we aren't working. Without this second type of labor, we march ever closer to simply being black and white factory workers sucked dry and only useful for the harvesting of said labor. Some jobs are great, obviously some get to enjoy combining this two type of labor, and what a great blessing that is to arrive at. Perhaps life would be more interesting and rewarding if we worked at expressing ourselves until we hit the point of complete expression (debatable whether that's possible) or can regularly release our "fruits" into the world in a productive way that accompanies satisfaction. If women are in pain before the child or born, and the athlete must sweat and ache some before getting stronger, imagine what could result if we exercised our minds and brain as a muscle worthy of growing.
Easy. It's really easy. I bought 3 more books and the weekend begins at 10:50 tomorrow. That will be the test. I need to tackle this book collection, and I will get out and see a friend or two as well. As long as there is no television.
“Tomorrow I plan to work, work, from early until late. In fact I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”
- Martin Luther
What a profound statement. The first step is knowing what I must do first. I plan to reread Getting things done by David Allen and getting my "ducks" in a line. What else can I write about?
I think self expression is very important. We all have a blessed and incredible ability to create. The problem is, if you are anything like me-it seems the idea got into your head that creating is hard work. I will plan to stop subscribing to that philosophy. I believe it is hard focus. There is a difference between a labor of quiet submission and a labor of expression. The interesting part is that the first is done more and has some reward, yet the second can have endless benefits yet is under practiced. It is my firm conviction that many people procrastinate and use fillers like the t.v to just get to the next day or activity. You can see more evidence of this in my previous post. I believe life shouldn't be boring. Everyone should have a way to creatively express themselves. What a different world that would make. This is not the case, someone accidentally "sells" us the idea that the benefits are minimal and we'll just be adding more to our work load.
The worst part is, we bought it! We bought into this idea! Maybe the upgraded package will be for us to just refuse to get up from the couch altogether when we aren't working. Without this second type of labor, we march ever closer to simply being black and white factory workers sucked dry and only useful for the harvesting of said labor. Some jobs are great, obviously some get to enjoy combining this two type of labor, and what a great blessing that is to arrive at. Perhaps life would be more interesting and rewarding if we worked at expressing ourselves until we hit the point of complete expression (debatable whether that's possible) or can regularly release our "fruits" into the world in a productive way that accompanies satisfaction. If women are in pain before the child or born, and the athlete must sweat and ache some before getting stronger, imagine what could result if we exercised our minds and brain as a muscle worthy of growing.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
I was going to wait to start my next experiment. I decided there is little point to that. I am deciding to start my first day without television today. Good news is today is almost over, day one complete. A minute after deciding to start the challenge I found a neat website for self challenges-http://30daychallenges.net/. Even better, I registered and now am officially in it for 30 days. I imagine my biggest challenge will be when I am around other people or walking past a Television. I am not really sure how to counter that one. Let's start the official countdown. Day 1- I am a big tired. This makes me want to watch some mind numbing T.V, but I do have things to do so I will persist.
I do have a quota to hit for my word count. So let's ask a good question to expand this blog post. Why try this experiment? I believe there is quite a bit of value in experimenting and pushes edges. T.V is a absolute filler. I will explore the ladder of these two. It may not have many direct negative effects. It doesn't seem to be adding a lot of value.T.V is that it is a habit forming "filler" that actually takes something very valuable from us. People want to live a life worth living. Yet we watch a LOT of television. This seems odd. I do not recall a time when someone cried out on their deathbed "If only I had watched that Sienfeld rerun one more time!". I also doubt Da Vinci or Roosevelt would spend much time on TV. People count they're dollars pretty carefully these days, but we still haven't learned the value of time? If I had all the time that put together represented the rest of your life in my right hand and all the money you would ever make in your life in my left-what would you choose? "Duh David, I would have to choose the time, if I was dead I would have no use for money." Well, even if I tossed you 5 minutes or 5 months (in which you could spend all that money) it might be tempting, but you would still most likely choose the time. The best part? If you chose the time , if you spent more of that time wisely you would have so much more of money, among other things, next time I asked you that question. Something to think about. I just got a good idea. Write it yourself. I am guilty of what is described above as well, but I must admit putting this in my own words does a lot to inspire and remind me of this truth.
I do have a quota to hit for my word count. So let's ask a good question to expand this blog post. Why try this experiment? I believe there is quite a bit of value in experimenting and pushes edges. T.V is a absolute filler. I will explore the ladder of these two. It may not have many direct negative effects. It doesn't seem to be adding a lot of value.T.V is that it is a habit forming "filler" that actually takes something very valuable from us. People want to live a life worth living. Yet we watch a LOT of television. This seems odd. I do not recall a time when someone cried out on their deathbed "If only I had watched that Sienfeld rerun one more time!". I also doubt Da Vinci or Roosevelt would spend much time on TV. People count they're dollars pretty carefully these days, but we still haven't learned the value of time? If I had all the time that put together represented the rest of your life in my right hand and all the money you would ever make in your life in my left-what would you choose? "Duh David, I would have to choose the time, if I was dead I would have no use for money." Well, even if I tossed you 5 minutes or 5 months (in which you could spend all that money) it might be tempting, but you would still most likely choose the time. The best part? If you chose the time , if you spent more of that time wisely you would have so much more of money, among other things, next time I asked you that question. Something to think about. I just got a good idea. Write it yourself. I am guilty of what is described above as well, but I must admit putting this in my own words does a lot to inspire and remind me of this truth.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Day 14 (sort of)
A new lesson was learned on day 9-13. I drove up to Pennsylvania for the first time by myself to visit my dad and the rest of the family. Since I didn't plan in advance but wanted to get there before dark I left and missed my 7 P.M nap. After this it was a series of missing naps and oversleeping at night for a few hours. I learned that changing the environment can change the results a LOT. This will be worth consideration in my other experiments. No matter, today is day 14 and I plan to finish strong by hitting all scheduled naps and staying awake the full period (I'm still tired enough that I can claim this as an accomplishment). Okay. I can now give a decent review of my two weeks. I have been with energy and so drowsy I could only keep my eyes open for 3 or 4 seconds tops. I can say that one benefit of the everyman sleeping schedule is a new appreciation of time. I have arrived at the conclusion that while there is a long list of hobbies, goals, and new things everyone secretly wants to pursue, even with more time they're only a little more likely to do them. I have come this conclusion because while staying up during the adaption period, you have to put forth a lot of time towards tasks of low value and low thought activities. During this, I realized something very similar happens during the day.
I would do what I absolutely had to do, then make no attempt to do the other activities as if the next day I would be in the perfect mood to do it. I am starting to believe less and less in "feelings" to get things done. God's honest truth is you'll likely be similar tomorrow to today. Ironically, this seems to be one of the self answering dilemmas. How can you be different tomorrow than today in order to feel like getting something done? Action and thought go hand in hand. It often seems like the thought preceded the action, this is possible sometimes. For the most part, this is incorrect though because with that thought generally some small action is likely to happen almost immediately. So to be (or not to be?) different than yesterday, do what you didn't want to do yesterday and eventually you'll form the habit of "feeling" like getting things of a nature done. A-Ha!
As an example, I pondered someone who is dying. Friends and relatives may be begging the man upstairs for more time. Now there is nothing wrong with this picture, this does happen, and sometimes that prayer is answered. My new thoughts were this: many people probably wish they had accomplished or behaved differently during they're lifetime. I am sure many reach a point even with plenty of time living wishing they had "more time" to learn or do. The staggering truth is there is a good deal of complacency occurring here.
According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube. 2 months a year...on average, I know for a fact this is raising and is almost assuredly higher for the younger age groups. When you watching that T.V you were not getting any closer, Jack. At best you were watching something educational and (maybe) heard something of use. Maybe we don't have to trash all the T.V's but maybe we could cut this back for better spent time. It makes me think of the movie fight club. After a month the main character claimed to no longer miss television. I have a feeling this is another (bad?) habit issue. We think we need to take a break after working for 8 hours, but who wrote that rule? It seems that is what we have grown accustom to, and come to expect, therefore we made it true in our lives. Future experiment idea: cut out tv altogether for a few weeks or a month. Celebrity alert! Oprah grew up only watching one hour of television a day, I wonder if that had any lasting effect?
I just found a blog confirming and adding to my hypothesis: On day 24 this person (Erica) broke down and watched television, just short of her one month goal. Her final conclusions were best said by her, "Not watching TV this month gave me a lot of time to think about how this little experiment was improving my life. And the answer was: not much. I didn’t fill the non-TV hours with things like organizing my closet or mastering the perfect push-up, I spent them sitting and relaxing, just like I would if the TV was on. So by day 24 I turned on the TV...
I realized that TV is not the impediment to my productivity, my laziness is the impediment to my productivity." It seems that T.v is not at fault, we are just great at finding scape goats to fill the time we should be doing something. After all, I know I use quite a bit of time checking my Facebook multiple times a day. It is a internal change needed. You can read more at http://muchmoremuchier.com.
So to wrap it up, this experiment was worth it for the added perspective. I still am tired, but I did not stick well enough to the schedule. I will not be continuing because I have another job to start soon and hitting success will just be ruined by my new work hours. I do plan to dibble-dabble with biphasic sleep almost immediately. Finally, plan exactly when a experiment ends and what you expect for the success/failure line. I succeeded because my line was basically defined as I could oversleep if it happened, but I had to put forth the effort to only sleep on schedule (stuck to that pretty well). I did not define a clear ending time unfortunately so now I am stuck at the point of was last night my last needed night or is tonight? They're both running off of day 14 after all...
And for my next trick, my 7 PM nap today was interesting. My alarm was on my desk. I woke with it next to me a hour and a half later. Apparently I got up, grabbed it, silenced it, and took it back to bed with me in victory.
A new lesson was learned on day 9-13. I drove up to Pennsylvania for the first time by myself to visit my dad and the rest of the family. Since I didn't plan in advance but wanted to get there before dark I left and missed my 7 P.M nap. After this it was a series of missing naps and oversleeping at night for a few hours. I learned that changing the environment can change the results a LOT. This will be worth consideration in my other experiments. No matter, today is day 14 and I plan to finish strong by hitting all scheduled naps and staying awake the full period (I'm still tired enough that I can claim this as an accomplishment). Okay. I can now give a decent review of my two weeks. I have been with energy and so drowsy I could only keep my eyes open for 3 or 4 seconds tops. I can say that one benefit of the everyman sleeping schedule is a new appreciation of time. I have arrived at the conclusion that while there is a long list of hobbies, goals, and new things everyone secretly wants to pursue, even with more time they're only a little more likely to do them. I have come this conclusion because while staying up during the adaption period, you have to put forth a lot of time towards tasks of low value and low thought activities. During this, I realized something very similar happens during the day.
I would do what I absolutely had to do, then make no attempt to do the other activities as if the next day I would be in the perfect mood to do it. I am starting to believe less and less in "feelings" to get things done. God's honest truth is you'll likely be similar tomorrow to today. Ironically, this seems to be one of the self answering dilemmas. How can you be different tomorrow than today in order to feel like getting something done? Action and thought go hand in hand. It often seems like the thought preceded the action, this is possible sometimes. For the most part, this is incorrect though because with that thought generally some small action is likely to happen almost immediately. So to be (or not to be?) different than yesterday, do what you didn't want to do yesterday and eventually you'll form the habit of "feeling" like getting things of a nature done. A-Ha!
As an example, I pondered someone who is dying. Friends and relatives may be begging the man upstairs for more time. Now there is nothing wrong with this picture, this does happen, and sometimes that prayer is answered. My new thoughts were this: many people probably wish they had accomplished or behaved differently during they're lifetime. I am sure many reach a point even with plenty of time living wishing they had "more time" to learn or do. The staggering truth is there is a good deal of complacency occurring here.
According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the average American watches more than 4 hours of TV each day (or 28 hours/week, or 2 months of nonstop TV-watching per year). In a 65-year life, that person will have spent 9 years glued to the tube. 2 months a year...on average, I know for a fact this is raising and is almost assuredly higher for the younger age groups. When you watching that T.V you were not getting any closer, Jack. At best you were watching something educational and (maybe) heard something of use. Maybe we don't have to trash all the T.V's but maybe we could cut this back for better spent time. It makes me think of the movie fight club. After a month the main character claimed to no longer miss television. I have a feeling this is another (bad?) habit issue. We think we need to take a break after working for 8 hours, but who wrote that rule? It seems that is what we have grown accustom to, and come to expect, therefore we made it true in our lives. Future experiment idea: cut out tv altogether for a few weeks or a month. Celebrity alert! Oprah grew up only watching one hour of television a day, I wonder if that had any lasting effect?
I just found a blog confirming and adding to my hypothesis: On day 24 this person (Erica) broke down and watched television, just short of her one month goal. Her final conclusions were best said by her, "Not watching TV this month gave me a lot of time to think about how this little experiment was improving my life. And the answer was: not much. I didn’t fill the non-TV hours with things like organizing my closet or mastering the perfect push-up, I spent them sitting and relaxing, just like I would if the TV was on. So by day 24 I turned on the TV...
I realized that TV is not the impediment to my productivity, my laziness is the impediment to my productivity." It seems that T.v is not at fault, we are just great at finding scape goats to fill the time we should be doing something. After all, I know I use quite a bit of time checking my Facebook multiple times a day. It is a internal change needed. You can read more at http://muchmoremuchier.com.
So to wrap it up, this experiment was worth it for the added perspective. I still am tired, but I did not stick well enough to the schedule. I will not be continuing because I have another job to start soon and hitting success will just be ruined by my new work hours. I do plan to dibble-dabble with biphasic sleep almost immediately. Finally, plan exactly when a experiment ends and what you expect for the success/failure line. I succeeded because my line was basically defined as I could oversleep if it happened, but I had to put forth the effort to only sleep on schedule (stuck to that pretty well). I did not define a clear ending time unfortunately so now I am stuck at the point of was last night my last needed night or is tonight? They're both running off of day 14 after all...
And for my next trick, my 7 PM nap today was interesting. My alarm was on my desk. I woke with it next to me a hour and a half later. Apparently I got up, grabbed it, silenced it, and took it back to bed with me in victory.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Day 8. I missed a day.
I came home last night around 11:15. I went right to bed. The only problem is I didn't set my alarm properly. I overslept last night by four hours. I am not sure how oversleeping plays into my adaption. Thankfully, I still have 6 days to hit it per-fect. I plan to. The night before last something noteworthy did happen.The nights are getting easier, being awake is much less a problem . In reverse the days are getting harder. I also continue to wake early from my naps, before the alarm.
I have always had very good vision. Unfortunately, staring at the computer screen for too many hours a day or the lack of sleep is making me feel as though I am not seeing things as clearly. Only time will tell, but hopefully both these factors level out and my eyes feel better. On another note, I bought a special mouthwash to clean my canker sores (ulcers). Products to handle sores of the mouth are rather expensive $7+, but I can sincerely say the relief may just well be worth it.
I am also realizing and learning new things and getting more familiar with how my body works as a result of sticking to a schedule. Whether this 2 week trial produces favorable results or not, I think it is worth it just for the experience and understanding that comes with it. Unfortunately, due to sleep deprivation, I cannot remember most of the lessons learned off the top of my head. (Pause here* so I and everybody else can snicker at me.) The lessons are still there. Once my drowsiness levels off or enough time has passed I am sure I'll gain even more by examining the experiment as a whole. I can say one A-Ha I had. In an earlier post I talked about taking-a-hint from your body. I now see this a little deeper. Most people go to sleep non-consistently and without attention (beside craving more). Isn't it strange that people literally have everything they need to set up their own experiments and measure results, yet don't? They cannot say they don't have time, the work is done while asleep. Most people feel tired often anyhow, might as well do it for understanding and a future feeling of up and at'em syndrome. More so, people don't even set it up so they could experiment for themselves. Most do not even keep things semi-consistent (i.e pre-bed rituals, sleeping time, nutrition). Now I understand some are in a war and determined to show sleep that next to none of it will be accepted. For others, it might not be a bed idea to observe. If nothing else it is a fun adventure, this sleep experiment has actually been one of the most interesting things in my life lately, perfect to shake things up.
I came home last night around 11:15. I went right to bed. The only problem is I didn't set my alarm properly. I overslept last night by four hours. I am not sure how oversleeping plays into my adaption. Thankfully, I still have 6 days to hit it per-fect. I plan to. The night before last something noteworthy did happen.The nights are getting easier, being awake is much less a problem . In reverse the days are getting harder. I also continue to wake early from my naps, before the alarm.
I have always had very good vision. Unfortunately, staring at the computer screen for too many hours a day or the lack of sleep is making me feel as though I am not seeing things as clearly. Only time will tell, but hopefully both these factors level out and my eyes feel better. On another note, I bought a special mouthwash to clean my canker sores (ulcers). Products to handle sores of the mouth are rather expensive $7+, but I can sincerely say the relief may just well be worth it.
I am also realizing and learning new things and getting more familiar with how my body works as a result of sticking to a schedule. Whether this 2 week trial produces favorable results or not, I think it is worth it just for the experience and understanding that comes with it. Unfortunately, due to sleep deprivation, I cannot remember most of the lessons learned off the top of my head. (Pause here* so I and everybody else can snicker at me.) The lessons are still there. Once my drowsiness levels off or enough time has passed I am sure I'll gain even more by examining the experiment as a whole. I can say one A-Ha I had. In an earlier post I talked about taking-a-hint from your body. I now see this a little deeper. Most people go to sleep non-consistently and without attention (beside craving more). Isn't it strange that people literally have everything they need to set up their own experiments and measure results, yet don't? They cannot say they don't have time, the work is done while asleep. Most people feel tired often anyhow, might as well do it for understanding and a future feeling of up and at'em syndrome. More so, people don't even set it up so they could experiment for themselves. Most do not even keep things semi-consistent (i.e pre-bed rituals, sleeping time, nutrition). Now I understand some are in a war and determined to show sleep that next to none of it will be accepted. For others, it might not be a bed idea to observe. If nothing else it is a fun adventure, this sleep experiment has actually been one of the most interesting things in my life lately, perfect to shake things up.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Day 6 or so. New details and events.
I am about half way through my 2 week goal. As I get tired it is weird to say that I have to fight to pay attention. The reason I have to pay attention is because will power is not necessarily fading, but it is as though the choice to stay on the schedule is a little less conscience. It is odd, but I need to pay attention so I don't just all of a sudden lose focus and go to sleep. Week two is suppose to be the toughest.
I am also suffering for my experiment now. I have gotten 3 painful ulcers on the front of my gum-this is often attributed to sleep deprivation.
*20 minutes of watching youtube videos on sleeping....
Oh! I also am having a very interesting thing happen with my core sleep. I now just wake up, often half way through my 3 hours, sometimes only a hour in. This has been happening for 2 or 3 nights now. This is something I want to get out of-due to it could tamper with adaption (good or bad tampering, who knows?). Also, due to me needing to "Wake-up" for a few minutes, I generally don't realize that I can go back to sleep for up to 10 minutes. This is bothersome when It happens because it often happens more than once per night and is not exactly beneficial to morale.
This most likely is my new promptness to get up as soon as I'm semi-awake kicking in. This makes sense because when I awake my first attention goes to making sure I am not oversleeping or missed (or turned off) my alarm.
I am about half way through my 2 week goal. As I get tired it is weird to say that I have to fight to pay attention. The reason I have to pay attention is because will power is not necessarily fading, but it is as though the choice to stay on the schedule is a little less conscience. It is odd, but I need to pay attention so I don't just all of a sudden lose focus and go to sleep. Week two is suppose to be the toughest.
I am also suffering for my experiment now. I have gotten 3 painful ulcers on the front of my gum-this is often attributed to sleep deprivation.
*20 minutes of watching youtube videos on sleeping....
Oh! I also am having a very interesting thing happen with my core sleep. I now just wake up, often half way through my 3 hours, sometimes only a hour in. This has been happening for 2 or 3 nights now. This is something I want to get out of-due to it could tamper with adaption (good or bad tampering, who knows?). Also, due to me needing to "Wake-up" for a few minutes, I generally don't realize that I can go back to sleep for up to 10 minutes. This is bothersome when It happens because it often happens more than once per night and is not exactly beneficial to morale.
This most likely is my new promptness to get up as soon as I'm semi-awake kicking in. This makes sense because when I awake my first attention goes to making sure I am not oversleeping or missed (or turned off) my alarm.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Okay, it is currently 4 A.M. I can expand on what I was saying earlier now. There seems to be one strange effect occurring with both good and bad consequences. The days are sort of blending together. The good part is that it no longer matters much whether it is a Saturday or a Tuesday-I am up. The odd part is, besides being strange, It messes with my internal clocks. There have been times where I just was not sure most of the day if I was hungry or not. I would eat just because it felt like I should, but I wasn't really sure of the need at the time...It is hard to explain, because It is strange, If it were easy to explain I'd imagine it be casual.
Also, I feel like I should be doing something. As was written in my previous posts, there is a lot of time (seemly days) spent doing tasks of little overall value. Since day 1 I have felt a sort of "jittery" feeling that made me want to go from one task to the next immediately. When the sun rises I now feel like I am suppose to be doing something. I am lacking clarity in organized thought. Between these two I feel odd, what am I suppose to be doing right now??
Tonight for my core nap (11 to 2) something neat occurred. I woke up before my alarm. This has been happening more lately but I don't really feel use to it yet. I woke up thinking my alarm had already went off and that is why I am awake. This leads to me striving to stay awake and get active. Then, as it turns out, I have ten minutes left until my alarm goes off. I think this is a good sign for adjustment, still do not have my strength unfortunately.
Also, I feel like I should be doing something. As was written in my previous posts, there is a lot of time (seemly days) spent doing tasks of little overall value. Since day 1 I have felt a sort of "jittery" feeling that made me want to go from one task to the next immediately. When the sun rises I now feel like I am suppose to be doing something. I am lacking clarity in organized thought. Between these two I feel odd, what am I suppose to be doing right now??
Tonight for my core nap (11 to 2) something neat occurred. I woke up before my alarm. This has been happening more lately but I don't really feel use to it yet. I woke up thinking my alarm had already went off and that is why I am awake. This leads to me striving to stay awake and get active. Then, as it turns out, I have ten minutes left until my alarm goes off. I think this is a good sign for adjustment, still do not have my strength unfortunately.
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