Curiosity Piqued – Forever Student Part 2
It’s Just Not That Special
Judgments On Willpower
Tai Lopez always does a damn good job of making me think. Well, that and wondering how the hell he reads so many books, but I guess that is a form of thinking as well. Huh. Touche, Mr. Lopez. Well-played indeed.
A recent newsletter was about a book he recently read, Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength
The trick is that while intelligence may have certain limits to how it can be improved, you can get better with your willpower.
The challenge? Stress is the #1 killer of willpower, discipline and self-control. As I read this in his newsletter, I’m pretty sure I responded with an “A-freaking-men!” albeit maybe with a stronger choice of vocabulary.
So here is a little video I did this AM about how I’ve seen the forces of stress beat down mightily upon willpower and a reminder that you aren’t a weak, flaw-ridden person if you cannot grind through every, single, solitary hurdle upon your path.
My favorite part is probably the screen cap YouTube selected for the video. I look downright pugilistic!
Enjoy your Sunday, friends.
Pushing On By Letting Go
A few months into my journey of adding yoga to my overall fitness/training regimen, I find myself coming up with a lot of ponderings that occur during yoga class itself (or often shortly thereafter). Whether it’s somehow brought upon by improved bloodflow from class or just the fact that I find myself feeling very clear-headed when I’m done, I can’t say. It’s just continuously interesting to me that yoga is far more than a physical challenge for me – it’s really something that flies in the face of how most of my training is structured.
It requires release and a flowing kind of giving-in to the moment whereas when I lift, it’s like a fight and a grind and a sweaty battle to force myself into being better/faster/stronger.
But what caught my attention most and was the impetus for this blog post was the realization that yoga seemed to fly in the face of this site’s very motto of “Relentlessly push yourself forward”.
Or did it?
Hence a little vlog for your consideration. Hope you enjoy:
Life Lessons From the Prowler Part 1: Consistency of Conditions
The Prowler is a funny thing. Well, not so much Will Ferrell kind of funny that fills you with magic and glee and rainbow smiles… more like funny in the sense that you sometimes wonder why in the world you make use of it at all when it causes so much pain and suffering. Nary a rainbow smile to be found at all. Insert favorite emoticon frowny face here.
But what I have found is that a lot of rather interesting thoughts occur to me during and after my Prowler sessions. It dawned on me that maybe I could get a series going on these thoughts and share them with you, dear reader of this blog… because here, we are all about epicmode. Oh that’s right… beastmode isn’t good enough any more. EPICMODE FTW OMG!
*Ahem* Sorry about that – I think the Red Bull I had earlier was stronger than usual.
Here is my first installment from the end of my Prowler session yesterday. To get the full appreciation of Prowler-inspired goodness, it’s critical to get those thoughts captured right as the session ends. And hey, why not do it in video form while trying to catch your breath? That sounds like a win for everyone involved. No script. No planning. No edits. Just pure flow.
This kick-off post is about consistency of conditions No matter how many times you’ve done something or how much expertise you’ve developing at doing it, you will hit life snags that will throw you off your flow.
Enjoy. Looking forward to more of these coming soon.
The Unsexiness of Excellence
During the past 10 years that I’ve been working at my company, we have gotten a company-wide shutdown that runs from Christmas through New Year’s Day. As far as perks going, it’s definitely a darn fine one and makes for a perfect way to close out the old year and prepare for the new. I find myself always becoming more reflective during this chunk of time away from the hustle and bustle of the workplace – not surprising, really. This last break ended up being 13 glorious days away from work and I was able to get down to some serious navel-gazing time.
And what came out of that period of time? What new and meaningful insights poured forth from my head like Athena from that of Zeus? One word kept coming back to me over and over again:
Excellence.
And with that word, the famous Aristotle quote: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
So to the YouTubes I went and made this nice video for you. Yes, just for you, gentle reader and no one else.
Excellence… a flashy word for something achieved in a very unsexy sort of way.
That’s On You Bro
A lot of this blog may sound like advice I’m giving to others, but anyone who reads it should keep in mind the fact that oftentimes, its guidance I am striving to apply to myself on a daily basis. Today’s vlog is a good example – I want to hold myself to a certain standard when interacting with others, regardless of how they deem to act towards me. Sometimes it’s on me and… well… sometimes it’s on you, bro. Enjoy.
Vlogging Abroad: Fierce and Mighty Goes to Shanghai
I got back into the good ol’ U. S. of A. yesterday evening after spending a nice chunk of the week in Shanghai, China. It’s my second trip to China and first time Shanghai, a city which a friend of mine described as “China’s Paris”. Now, while I didn’t get to see anything in the city that struck me as very Parisian, I did come away with an appreciation for a few things:
- Shanghai. Is. Massive. At a population of 23 million, it’s the most populous city on the planet.
- The city has a fairly amazing skyline. The vlog post has a shot from the roof deck of my hotel and that will give you a pretty good idea of what it looks like at night. Pretty amazing – they love their lights on buildings in Shanghai.
- While not Shanghai specific, I like to travel “rough” in the sense that if I’m going to be on a plane, I will have on some combination of (a) baseball hat, (b) t-shirt, (c) sneakers and (d) pullover. Oh and there is no possible way I am shaving either. This photo is proof to all of the above as I sat in BusinessFirst on United. If you thought for a second that traveling “rough” to China involved being crammed into an impossibly small seat… umm… no. Not so much.
Anyhoo, today’s vlog is about perspective (surprised?), funkiness and living life active vs. passive. Please do enjoy – this is my first attempt at an iPad-generated vlog. Hoping this works out as planned. Also, I was able to build up a few post ideas during the trip that I will be doing over the next few days. Rejoice unto the heavens and cry hosannah!
Many Steps Back
It’s a pretty common refrain to speak of taking a step back to make two steps forward. It’s not a bad thought – every now and again we probably need to take stock, reset where we are on something in our lives and then let that step back lead to even better progress than when we started. The tricky piece is that even when you logically know that you will be better off after the step back, it’s still sometimes a challenge to do that. Why? Because who doesn’t want to be advancing all the time. We like progress – we fight against regression.
Today’s vlog is about how I am not taking one or two steps back, but perhaps many. It’s not easy… not at all. Personal pride is a very powerful force, but I think it’s going to be right for me in the end.
As an added bonus, you get to see me act like an utter lunatic for a few seconds. Sunday fun for the whole family!