Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – That Favorite Thing

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Early win, Eat that Frog, Favorite thing, Life Hacks, Monday, motivation, Winning

Have you ever heard the statement, “Eat that Frog”. It means that we should tackle the distasteful stuff first thing when our energy is highest. I recommend the opposite. I say to start your day with something you enjoy. For me it is journaling. For you, it may be listening to music while you straighten up the house, commute into work, or get yourself settled in your home office. Others may like to get up and exercise or meditate. Regardless of what you do, the favorite thing to me is motivating. You can do this when you are still groggy and the coffee begins to kick in.

When you do that favorite thing, you get a quick win for the day. This can set up other wins, throughout the day. If you’re of the “Eat that Frog” ilk, so be it. If you’re tired of that, give this a whirl. It works for me, and sets up my whole day starting with a win.

Have a great Monday, folks. For those of you in the Midwest with me, brace yourselves for the winter storm that is headed our way. We are hunkered down, supplied, and ready to watch the show.H

Have a great Monday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Funny Friday – Fails of the Week

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2022, Chuckle, Fails, Friday, Funny, Giggle, Laugh, Snicker, Weekend, YouTube

I wanted to mix it up a bit. Here’s one of my favorite channels – Fail Army. These are some really nasty fails. Have a great weekend!!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Hobbies, Games, and Movies – Ozark, CODM, War in the Pacific, and The Destroyer Series

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Call of Duty - Movile, Destroyer Series, Hobbies, Netflix, Ozark, Reading, Remo Williams, WWII in the Pacific

My sister and I started a new documentary called War in the Pacific: Eagle Against the Sun. Some of the video quality is a little off, compared to other WWII documentaries we’ve watched, but this one is exclusively on the Pacific war. Boy is it fascinating. We are learning things about the Pacific war that we had no idea about. So far, we have seen the precursors to Japan going to war (Why they did it) and are just finishing up with the Battle of Midway and Guadalcanal.

For those of you who are Ozark fans, the series just launched a new season on Netflix. Sister and I will be binge watching that on Saturday. We’ll also order a pizza so we have food all day long. I can’t wait!

I’ve been deeply involved in Call of Duty Mobile. This new season had all kinds of challenges that I’ve completed. I’m waiting for a few more that will kick off on the 28th. It’s great fun. I’m currently working on the PPSH submachine gun camo to get it to gold. I’m also working on the prize fighter melee weapon. Yep, you guessed it. The prize fighter melee weapon is a pair of boxing gloves. You run around the battle field and knock your enemies out. It’s great fun!

Oh! I’m also concentrating my fiction reading this year on The Destroyer series, featuring it’s characters Remo Williams, his mentor Chiun, and the boss of Cure, Doctor Harold W. Smith. These are great books and only take about a week or sometimes a few days to knock out. The series has 120+ books, so it’ll be a while before I read something else. The book I’m reading currently is called: Sweet Dreams.

Well, that’s it for now, folks. Have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Eve Arnold

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China, England, Eve Arnold, Photo, Photographer, Photography, Scottland, South Africa, wisdom

It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument.

Eve Arnold

You should never reveal your true age.

Eve Arnold

Lesson number one: Pay attention to the intrusion of the camera.

Eve Arnold

If you are careful with people, they will offer you part of themselves. That is the big secret.

Eve Arnold

I have been poor and I wanted to document poverty; I had lost a child and I was obsessed with birth; I was interested in politics and I wanted to know how it affected our lives; I am a woman and I wanted to know about women.

Eve Arnold

If you’d like to read more about this fascinating woman, here is her Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Arnold

Have a great Wednesday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – Starbucks failed?

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advertisement, Australia, caffeine, Coffee, Fads, Marketing, Starbucks, TedEd, Tuesday

I am an avid coffee drinker, and although expensive, I do enjoy a Starbucks coffee now and then, Caramel Macchiato or the Flat White being my two favorites. In light of my coffee tastes, I was intrigued by this Ted Talk on how Starbucks failed to take hold in Australia. I hope you enjoy this little caffeinated adventure into the “down under”.

Happy Tuesday, folks. Make it a great one!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Snow, Snow, and more Snow!

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Attitude, extrinsic, Hobbies, intrinsic, Monday, motivation, Play time, Point of View, Snow, weather

We got snow and it is still coming. What a wonderful time of year. For those of you who have to drive in this, you have my pity. From my standpoint, knowing I do not have to go anywhere, it is a treat to look at the snow from the comfort of my easy chair, laptop up, and a cup of coffee next to me.

There was a posting from one of my friends that talked about God. It mentioned that some believe and some do not believe. That sentiment can be used for anything, based on an individual’s point of view. For me, the snow is terrific. For others, it not be so great, since they have to be in it. One person comes to mind–the local postman. He has to drive through this from mailbox to mailbox. It also raised another person, who may have lost power. So as with our individual beliefs about God, our beliefs about the snow or other happenings will depend on the individual.

Motivation is another hot topic when it comes to individuality. Some people are naturally motivated because it is a core part of their personality. Others need external sources for their motivation. One is internal; one is external. The internal motivation is called intrinsic, while the external one is extrinsic. Which is better? I think we need a combination of both, depending on the task.

One of the things I have discovered is that intrinsic motivation is like a muscle. You have to exercise it for it to become stronger. How do we build it? By doing something each day we love to do. Call it a hobby if you will. A hobby is something we look forward to. So, intrinsic motivation to do these things is easy. The pleasure principle comes to mind.

What about the things that are hard? Well, this is when extrinsic motivation comes in. We pay our taxes because the IRS is the extrinsic force. We pay our bills because the various companies and services we enjoy require we pay for them. These too are extrinsic forces. Another extrinsic force is our own bodies. When we get sick or have a toothache, the body lets us know and we are motivated by that pain to do something about it.

So use these types of motivation to get things done. I believe a hobby or favorite thing to do is important because it gives us a reason to get all the things done we may not like to do, but have to do. Then we can get in some “play” time. Use the play time you have scheduled each day to drive those tasks you do not want to do. It is so much more rewarding to do the things we love when all of our “must do” tasks are completed.

Now, if you are lucky enough to have a job that you consider enjoyable–bravo. You look forward to each day of work, like I do my video games after things are completed for the day.

You may want to do a personal assessment. List out all the things you do each day and determine what type of motivation you use to get that done. Is it intrinsic or extrinsic?

Have a great Monday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Hobbies, Games, and Movies – Call of Duty Mobile

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Call of Duty Mobile, Challenges, Fun, Games, Hobbies, Movies, The Heist, Thursday, WWII series

My sister and I are still watching the WWII series I discussed last week. It is approaching its end, as we are now after the D-Day invasion, and the battle of Minsk on the Eastern Front. The Americans in the Pacific are launching attacks into the Mariana islands. It is a great series.

Call of Duty started its new season called The Heist. There will be new characters, new weapons, and new challenges. I was so excited to start playing yesterday! Currently I am grinding through shotguns to get them all gold. After these, I have the marksman rifles and sniper weapons to work on. I began getting more efficient and worked on gold camouflage for all of my melee weapons as well. I am currently working on the baseball bat melee weapon.

I haven’t watched any movies since our last chat, but there are a few that I am interested in. I’ll keep you posted on what my sister and I watch.

Well, that’s it for the week. I hope all of you have a great rest of the week.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Ernest Hemingway

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Author, Ernest Hemingway, Noble Prize, Soldier, War correspondent, Wednesday, wisdom, Writer

All quotes from BrainyQuote.

Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.

Ernest Hemingway

There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow men. True nobility lies in being superior to your former self.

Ernest Hemingway

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.

Ernest Hemingway

When you go to war as a boy, you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed, not you… Then, when you are badly wounded the first time, you lose that illusion, and you know it can happen to you.

Ernest Hemingway

The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.

Ernest Hemingway

For more about this adventurous character, here is his link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Hemingway

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – Benefits of Exercise

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Appetite, Benefits, Body, Exercise, Fun, Sleep, Ted Talk, TedEd, Thinking

For those of you who fell off the exercise wagon over the last couple years of COVID, here’s a video that will give you some things to think about when you begin again. For me, exercise helps me sleep. When I wasn’t exercising consistently, my sleep patterns were thrown way off, my appetite was off, and my energy levels were in the pits.

After reading Tim Ferris’ 4-hour body last year, I also realized that much of the hype surrounding supplements, exercise routines where you are killing yourself everyday in the gym, are all falsehoods. A few good workouts a week can do the trick and they can be done in the comfort of your home or at a gym.

I hope you learn something from this video and if you are not exercising, find a little motivation in this video to begin something, anything to get moving.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Reframing

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Exercise, Monday, motivation, Read, Reframe, Simplify, Socialize, Spiritualize, Stick to basics, To-do Lists, Write

One of the benefits of retirement is I have a lot of freedom to choose what to do today or tomorrow or throughout the week. One of the detriments of retirement is I have a lot of freedom to choose what to do today or tomorrow or throughout the week.

When my daily to-do list gets out of hand, I return to the basics. I reframe what I need to do each day. It simplifies things, makes it easy to get done my most important tasks, and reignites my motivation to get things done, because I have “less” to do.

My key things are: physical (exercise, eat right, sleep, water), mental (read, write, learn), social (stay in contact with friends, colleagues via phone or social media), and spiritual (journaling, reading, spiritual exercises).

Obviously, things will come up, but my daily to-dos focus on doing something in each of these areas consistently every day. Over time one can get a lot done!

If you have found your motivation waning, it may have to do with stacking your plate too high with too many things. Or it may involve trying to do too much. For those that still work, this is a recipe for disaster. Keep it simple. If you want to read, read a chapter or a few pages, whatever time permits. If you want to write, start a simple journal like a diary, dream journal or gratitude journal, or for those of us here, write something in your blog. I try to keep my blog entries to within a 200-300 word chunk if possible. I also try to keep the volume of my writing in my journal to this amount as well. If you want to exercise, do something simple like walking up and down stairs, some pushups, situps, air squats, or inclined pushups on the stairs. Spiritual things like prayer, meditation, and the like are up to you. Read a spiritual book, meditate, pray at some point in the day. I find this to be most important to schedule. Then I know I’ll get it done and not miss a day of this important aspect of my life. Socially, I stick to family. After retirement and moving back to Michigan, many of my daily contacts have reduced to a facebook posting or quick response here and there. I focus on family first, then others if time allows.

Reframing your to-do list is a simple practice of reducing things down to the basics. Read, write, socialize, and spiritualize. If you can reduce your daily to-dos (habits) down to their core, you’ll find it much easier to tackle the list and get things done.

My exercise this week, will be another change of pace. I’m sticking to home this week, because the weather has turned absolutely brutal (it’s in the single digits outside) and I enjoy staying indoors. So this week, it’ll be a focus on upper body, lower body, and cardio (each of these twice a week). Here is what it looks like:

Lower body (Monday and Thursday)

Upper body (Tuesday and Friday)

Cardio (Wednesday and Saturday)

I hope all of you have a great week!

Until next time…

Dave