Saturday, January 23, 2010

Challenges



My blog serves as a place for me to describe what I’m doing or where I’m going. I haven’t written a lot because right now I’m in a fog of change. My resolution was to take more action and I’ve been doing that. Especially at work where I find myself doing a lot more and it requires quite a bit more mentally.

It’s very challenging not only because the material is advanced, but because the level of organization and care has been dramatically increased for me. To put it another way I’ve never really engaged myself this fully into what I do. It’s been rewarding, but at the same time I am in the tunnel and not on the other side and so I find myself in a large unknown space. I really want to do well these next three months at work. It’s going to be hard, but I want to succeed and I pray I have the resolve to do it.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Resolutions



I’ve held back on my New Years post for awhile. The main reason was I that I wasn’t quite sure what exactly I wanted to say. Truth is I’ve been writing this post and thinking about it for the better part of 2 weeks. 2009 was a good year for me. If I had to give it a rating I would give it a B- or a C+. I did some things well, but I’m not where I want to be.

Here are some highlights from my year

Went skydiving for the first time. I was scared before hand, as in out of my mind maybe I’ll pee my pants scared. That’s why I did it, because in life it’s important not to be ruled by fear. Because fear is often just chains that keep us in a box. This represented my commitment to free myself from fear. It’s a long process and one I’m not close to finishing, but I’m committed.

Another thing I did this year was start a media fast. I sold my tv and stopped watching/following the news based on the suggestion of a few bloggers I read. The effects were tremendous. It filtered out all the noise and constant worries and still I felt well aware of the big events. I couldn’t be more happy with the choice. Currently I probably watch about 2-4 hours of tv a week.

I researched opening and starting my first business. It was a process that lasted about two months and allowed me to dig down and research the opportunity. It didn’t pan out, but that didn’t matter; it was a great learning experience. If another opportunity comes along I’ll be well equipped to handle the initial stages of negotiation.

One of my very best friends got married this last year. The rain torrentially fell all around me, but with the help of some friends I cooked enough food for 150 people on three charcoal grills. It was incredibly challenging and a ton of fun. The wedding in and of itself was a beautiful experience and a great chance to get together with a lot of great people I hadn’t seen in along time.

I exercised a lot whether it was Crossfit, rock climbing, or salsa lessons. I slacked off the last one and a half months or so, but for the most part I was fairly solid. This next year I want to take that up a notch and continue to pursue activities I find engaging and fun.

I took a leap and decided I would go on a huge trip. For an entire month. Spurred on by some of the blogs I follow, I am taking a sabbatical from work and traveling the continent with a 10 pound pack and nothing else. I will be blogging my exploits on spit2010.blogspot.com.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking of what my theme for 2010 will be. The theme for me is ACTION.

2009 was really good, but looking back I felt that I spent some time on the sideline. I spent a lot of time analyzing and reading, instead of doing. And truthfully the growth is in the doing. I tend to gather and gather information before I make a move. I want to make more moves. I just got back from skiing in Breckenridge which was a great trip, and I leave for Europe in about 3 months. I hope to take one more trip this year depending on time.

I really want to tackle work and make a big impact. 2009 was a year of change as I moved to a new client and got promoted. I had to decide what I wanted from work. Is it a place I go for a paycheck or is it somewhere I go to grow? I’ve decided that I want my job to be something that I excel at. That starts with effort, which I have been putting forth so far this year. I have a long way to go, but I’m up for the challenge.

Physically I want to make staying in shape a priority and add some size to my frame. I plan on going on a hypertrophy regiment starting the week after this one and then going back to Crossfit for toning work. I haven’t tried to add mass in several years so it will be an interesting experience.

I’m not sure what else I’ll do or where else I’ll be, but I know that the best things that will happen in 2010 I can’t even begin to plan yet. I hope you share in my journey into the new year.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Predictably Irrational- What You See Is What You Get


What are you feeding your mind? I’m currently reading Predictably Irrational; the book is a collection of studies on what triggers humans to act irrationally. Ie. why economics doesn’t work perfectly. In one of the experiments, social psychologist ask participants to unscramble a list of words.

To group 1 he gives words such as anger, aggressiveness, hate, pride; dominant words, and to group 2 love, patience, truth, willingness. The only task is to unscramble them. The participants then leave the room and walk toward a researcher helping someone else (who in fact works for the experiment as well). How long does it take the individual before they interrupt the researcher? On average about 9 minutes for group 2 and 6 minutes for group 1. Ie. the words they read affected how they acted. Puts a new twist on what goes in must come out. This study has been reproduced several dozen times.

So what do you read?
Earlier this year I started a media fast off of a recommendation from several blogs and have stuck with it. I still hear about the big events, but am rather oblivious to the little things. So I miss out on a lot of stories about death, crime, anger, etc. Just read those words, how do they make you feel at your core? Instead I replaced that time reading about self improvement, happiness, faith, etc. According to the study above, by just looking at positive words I will start to see positive effects in my life. This year has been a great one (post to come!) and hopefully it will be even better the next.

So why not try it for one week or so. Surround yourself with words of encouragement. And for those hoping to get started right in the New Year here is a great little mantra:

I am from the future. I am here to tell you that, today, you have the opportunity to change everything. Your whole live hinges on today’s actions. If you do not act today, if you do not grab control of your fate today, your life will take a completely different trajectory. One path leads to greatness, and the other path leads to a life where you will look back on today as the day where you could have spoken up, today is the day where you could have reached out. You will look back realizing that today was the one chance you had to change everything. Do not let this moment pass you by.