Daily Ramblings – Wednesday Wisdom – You Must Pay the Price

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Accomplishment, Discipline, Goals, Paying the price, Self-delusion, Success

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Jim Rohn

Dictionary.com defines discipline as an activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill. But I think it is so much more than this. Discipline is about doing what is necessary or needed, regardless of whether a person likes doing what is necessary or not. I think this definition is much more accurate.

Discipline is nothing more than the price that must be paid to attain something. Nothing in this world is free. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that believe they can “cheat” the system. Lie to a customer, lie to your wife or partner, lie to yourself. Of these three, the most insidious of these lies is oneself.

Lying to yourself will bring you a lot of pain and suffering. You will succeed at everything in your mind, but in reality, fail in everything. What satisfaction is there in achieving something that is easy to attain? Nothing. There is no victory when there is no challenge, no risk, and no possibility of failure. The victory in these circumstances is empty–meaningless.

When we embark on working toward a goal or establishing a new habit we have to make a decision. Do I want to pay that price? If you are comfortable with doing that, then go for it. If you are not willing to pay the price your goal or new habit requires, drop it and do something else. If you are not willing to pay the price you will NEVER attain the goal or establish the habit you are shooting for. There are no shortcuts to meaning.

I like using exercise as a metaphor to explain myself. Exercise is the one area you cannot cheat. The gym, the equipment, and the weights do not lie. You can either curl a 25lb dumbbell or you cannot. You can run on the treadmill at 10 miles an hour or you cannot. You can squat 200lbs or you cannot. The gym will not let you cheat, nor will the scale when you weigh yourself.

If you want to lose weight, it’s simple. Eat less of what you are currently eating and eat nutritious and dense foods that are NOT processed. I don’t care what label you find on that cereal box or dinner. I don’t care if the meal is labeled low-fat, low-carb, or organic. Processed food is processed food. It is horrible for you. It will put chemicals into your body you can’t even pronounce and labeling today is such that most companies aren’t even truthful about what they are putting in your meals. That is one price you must pay. Eat healthy food. In other words, food that is not in a box.

If you want to be healthy, drink water, eat unprocessed foods, take your vitamins and other supplements, get enough sleep, and make sure you align your diet with the appropriate protein, carbohydrate, and fat levels. Is it easy to measure out your food? No. But it’s another price you must pay on the road to health.

Do you drink? Do you do drugs? Do you smoke? Again, all this needs to go away. You won’t be healthy doing any of these things. Your body will take it and one day you’ll wake up with heart disease, cancer, or maybe even a stroke. You drop these things and your road to health and weight loss are yours.

You want to make gains in the gym, track what you do. If you do not document what you are doing you have no idea where you are and where to push to. It’s like traveling in a foreign land without a map. You will not gain as much as you would have had you documented what you did.

These are just some of the prices a healthy body and decent weight cost. Are you willing to pay this price? If so, bravo. If not, do something else and save your time.

This may be harsh, but it is the reality of the situation. If you want something, look at what other people have done to achieve it. Follow in their footsteps. They have shown you how to do it, how much it costs in coin, sweat, and tears. You have all the information you need. Then it’s up to you. Do you really want to pay that price? If so, it’s yours. If not, don’t lie to yourself. You won’t achieve the same results. Find something else to pursue.

Discipline is truly the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Daily Rituals

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Daily Rituals, Daily Routine, Exercise, Learning, Mike Murdock, motivation, Reading, Social Connection, Writing

“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.” – Mike Murdock

It’s Monday Motivation on Daily Ramblings. This quote is appropriate for today! I am a stickler for a daily routine or daily rituals. I arrived upon this current state by reading through a lot of the habits literature and came to the realization that our daily routines are merely a collection of habits.

Some of my daily habits are:

Reading multiple books (a few pages up to a chapter depending on length)

Writing (Blog Posting and Book Writing)

• Exercise (currently two cardio sessions each day with weight lifting Mon-Fri)
• Spiritual Practices (Dream Journaling, Daily Reflection, Reading Spiritual Works)
• Daily Learning (Currently a Course on the US Presidents, Course on Happiness and Well Being offered by Yale on Coursera, and a Nonfiction Book Writing Course on Udemy)
• Social Media and Connection (stay in touch with family, friends, and interact with people at the coffee shops, gymnasiums, and libraries I frequent)

This week’s exercise routine:

2 cardio sessions 35 minutes each day (Monday – Sunday)

Weight Lifting: Monday (Quadriceps, Lower Abs, and Calves); Tuesday (Chest and Shoulders); Wednesday (Arms); Thursday (Hamstrings, Lower Back, Upper Abs, and Calves); and Friday (Upper Back)

I find these rituals to be extremely productive and fruitful.

I hope each of you has a tremendous week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Funny Friday!

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Funny Friday, Happy, Joyful, Laughing, Lenny Bruce, Quotes

“When you’re eight years old nothing is your business.” – Lenny Bruce

The weekend is almost here! Enjoy the rest of your day!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – Funny Friday

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Funny Friday, Jackie Kennedy

“The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady. It sounds like a saddle horse.” – Jackie Kennedy

It’s Friday!!

I hope all of you have a terrific weekend!

Until next time..

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – Moving Mountains

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Accomplishing big things, Daily Rituals, Following a plan, habits, Setting up your day

“The man who moves a mountain begins carrying away small stones.” – Confucius

This quote highlights the importance of accomplishing big things by doing many small things. If you look at any large accomplishment you finished it by acting the way this quote describes. Whether you write a book, complete an assignment in school, finish a project for your employer, or even start a garden in your back yard, you completed small, discreet steps to get to the final goal.

I like using this principle when doing my daily work. Since I am retired my day is my own. I decided when I retired that I would not waste away or pursue a life that was trivial. I think it is important for retired folks to continue to pursue goals and accomplish things. My focus is on reading, writing, daily learning, and exercise. Instead of pursuing specific goals in this regard, I simply follow daily rituals that are composed of small steps to get to the end state I am pursuing.

Health is built on a foundation of exercise, proper sleep, proper nutrition and supplementation, hygiene, and getting my eyes, teeth, and body checked at regular intervals. Subsequently, I have rituals built around my eating schedule, my water intake, my sleep schedule, and all the rest. Mental health is also included in the health category. To stay mentally healthy I pursue spiritual reading, daily journaling, and meditation. I also want to continue learning and take as many free online courses as I can find. You can find these courses at Hillsdale college (www.hillsdale.edu) or Coursera (www.coursera.com). There are also resources like YouTube, and many others to pursue topics of personal interest. If you are willing to spend a little money you can find great courses on www.udemy.com or The Great Courses, which can be pursued online or on a DVD set you can purchase from these folks. Udemy offers courses that range from 9.99 to 11.99 and are yours for life after purchase.

Writing is also a passion of mine. I try to post to this blog daily, because it gives me the ability to develop a good writing habit and gives me the chance to practice my craft. I am looking to write many books in the future but want to learn some basic processes before commencing on this type of work. I am taking a non-fiction book writing course currently on Udemy.

Reading is another passion of mine. I enjoy reading books and participate in the yearly reading challenge on Good Reads. Good Reads allows you to track the books you are reading, the books you’ve read, and the books you would like to read. This year the goal is 36 books. If I achieve this goal, which I should, next year we will elevate to 48. I read fiction, non-fiction, and religious books. I consider my self a polygamous reader as I tend to read more than one book at a time. I always include one religious book, one non-fiction book that will teach me something, and a fiction book.

There are also other rituals I follow each day. I follow a ritualized eating schedule, I follow a ritualized pattern of checking emails and normal mail, and I also follow a ritualized pattern of checking in on social media and even my bank account balance. I ensure hitting these daily rituals by checking them off on a to-do application called Toodledo (www.toodledo.com).

When you realize how easy it is to read a few pages a day, write a 500-word blog posting, and accomplish two daily workouts and meditation sessions twice per day, it is easy to see how these things build over time. You can do these things too. Simply determine what you want to do with your day and begin selecting daily activities you can do to begin.

If you want to become an avid reader and learn something new, begin with reading a few pages a day. If you want to get a writing project done, pick out a word count you want to achieve each day and set a time to do that work. If you want to get some mental clarity, pick a time each day to meditate for 10 minutes. All these activities are easy to schedule, take a minimal amount of time, and put you into a position where you can achieve a great deal over time.

To achieve great things, like moving a mountain, start moving some rocks. You will achieve a great deal with minimal effort.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – Attitudes

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Attitudes, Choices, Contentment, Gratitude, Happiness, Obstacles, Tools

“We can throw stones, complain about them, stumble on them, climb over them, or build with them.” – William Arthur Ward

What obstacles are in your way? What challenges are you experiencing? Are they really challenges/obstacles?

This quote deals with our attitude. Everything we deal with in our reality and the way we react to these things render our lives happy and content or unhappy and discontent. It is interesting when you can really take account of what is going on in your life and simply say “It’s all good.”

I think the biggest challenge we face is accepting reality for what it is. There are certain things that are just out of our control. You can be angry about them, sad about them, or happy and content. It really is a choice.

It took me a very long time to figure this out. Like many, if I wasn’t making the money I wanted, had the gal I wanted, lived in the place I wanted, etc. life sucked. Then I began to realize that the endless pursuit of “things” was fruitless. That certain part of me that had a hunger for this nonsense would never be satisfied. It would always want more. It would always be demanding and unsatisfied.

Then, one day I came to the realization that we have all we need. I began minimalizing my life. Why did I need a computer, laptop, tablet, and phone, when I only needed one computer and a phone? Why did I need all the clothes I had, when I could only wear one outfit a day? Slowly, but surely, I donated, sold, and got rid of a lot of stuff. Now, I could literally move at a moment’s notice without too much fuss. I don’t have a lot of things to take care of, because I don’t own a lot of things. Life became simpler. Life became easier. I was happier. I was calmer.

I think much of our wants, our needs, our goals, are driven by society and our social relationships. We compete silently to get the same car or nicer one, the same house or bigger one, the same computer or a faster one, not realizing that the companies selling these products influenced us into this never-ending race of purchasing and needing and desiring.

When I decided to “make my own rules”. I began to realize how simple life is and how happy we can be with very little. I have a roof over my head. I have enough food. I have a place to sleep. My health is good. I also realized that the goals I was pursuing were not mine, but society’s.

I don’t need a lot of money. I don’t need a snappy new car or a lot of clothes. I only need the basics to survive and thrive. Now, I wake up each day fresh and ready to go. I reflect on what I am grateful for—and I am grateful for everything. But you know, I could live with even less if I needed to and still be happy. I am happy because I choose to be.

When you wake up and come at life with happiness and gratitude in your heart, nothing can throw you off course. The rocks in your path really do become the tools you use to build the road with.

You have a choice.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – Stretching Beyond the Comfort Zone

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Comfort zone, habits, Measuring, Pitfalls, Stretching

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch

This quote is about defining what our comfort zone is and stretching beyond it. To give you a better idea of how to do this, I’ll use exercise as the metaphor. The metaphor of exercise is one of the easiest ways to measure your comfort zone.

Let’s say today you can run for 15 minutes at a steady pace without too much trouble. This would be your comfort zone. If you want to stretch beyond this, you would increase your time to 20 minutes. Simple, right?

If you go to the gym and stay within your comfort zone, you won’t improve. In fact, the body is so efficient that it will find ways to minimize the stress it goes through to attain the 15 minutes of running it has to do each day.

The comfort zone is where you are when you have automated something—converted it to a habit. This is when you know something so well, you can do it unconsciously. Most of the apps on your mobile device are this way. You do these things so many times and these things become automatic–habitual. Touch the icon, interact with the app, hit the home key. That’s it.

Establishing the habit is another thing. If there is something you believe would be beneficial you decide to make it a daily routine or habit. Again, we’ll use exercise to work through this together.

When you first begin exercising, you will notice you have to purposely do it. This is the phase where exercise is not yet a habit. You must get dressed, head to the gym or out the front door, and then begin. While you are going through this initial phase, you will experience some resistance. You may begin to feel time pressures (do I really have time for this today), you may have a friend that reaches out to see if you can do something (right around your exercise time), or you may get so busy doing your normal-day-to-day that you forget about it. These are all forms of resistance and they are normal.

How do you overcome them? Pick a time of day when there is absolutely no potential for something coming up to interrupt it. For me, this was always early in the morning. At 4:30 or 5:00 am there was no possibility of something else coming up. For you, it may be on the way home from work or during your lunch break or some other time when your world is not busy.

Get it on your calendar. Set up an exercise event in your calendar and set a reminder using all the “bells and whistles” your device allows. This will help you avoid “forgetting” it.

Have your gear ready. Have your tennis shoes, your workout outfit, your towel and anything else you need at the ready in a gym bag, the trunk of your car, or in plain view in your home or apartment. This will help build the habit by preparing for it.

Do the workout. If you’re sticking with cardio, set the time on the machine to the 20 minutes you will be on it. If it is, set the time. Do not get off the device until the time is up.

This is it. The only thing left is for you to continue going and going and going until it becomes a subconscious act. There are a lot of articles on the Internet that tell you it’s this number of days or that. Your number will be individual so do not think you can skimp on one of these steps when you hit 60 days or whatever number you come up with. Just keep going and going and going. You’ll know when it has become a habit—you’ll want to do it, you’ll expect to do it, you’ll not want to avoid it.

You can follow this practice with anything. Just ask yourself what am I doing now? This will help you identify your comfort zone. It may take you a bit of thinking because some things are hard to quantify. For reading, I use time or pages. For writing, I use word counts. For learning, it is the number of classes or sessions. Some things you elect to do may not be quantifiable. Let’s say you want to meet new people. In this case, you may want to meet one new person a month. You may attend a local Meetup, you may begin frequenting a coffee shop, or you may find some other venue where you can meet people. It’s up to you. Come up with the things you want or need to do to “stretch” and do them. Keep doing them until that “shy” part of yourself dissipates a bit.

Stretching beyond your comfort zone or potential is a liberating and confidence-building exercise. Do some self-analysis. Find out what you do today. Determine what you’d like to be doing or becoming and begin measuring what you are doing currently, then, stretch a little beyond it.

A good life of adventure, new things, and new people await you.

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – The Struggle

Tags

Balance, Persistence, Planning, Pursuing, Stagnating, Struggle, Ups and downs

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” – Frederick Douglass

What motivates you to move forward?

This is an important question to ask if you feel stuck, goalless, or just feeling like your spinning your wheels. I have found that two things happen that can cause us to lose track of where we are and what we want—good things and bad things.

Good things are the things that make us feel like we’ve made it. We’re exuberant, we’re calm and collected, we get a sense of confidence. People also tend to slack off during these periods, at least I do. Bad things are those things that cause us to feel bad, feel worthless, feel like all we are doing is a waste of time, and so on. These things tend to make us feel like all we are doing is an absolute waste of time.

When we are progressing through life, we will have good times and bad times. How can we continue moving forward despite the good and bad things that are inevitable? Stay balanced. Realize that good and bad are defined by us. Realize that both good times and bad times have a time limit. They will fluctuate between one another. At other times we will be in a balanced state, sort of like an equilibrium between these two extremes. When we are balanced, we tend to stay on track. We have goals. We pursue them. We follow our plans. We aren’t thrown off course.

This is all part of life. We struggle, we make mistakes, we win, and the cycle continues. These are natural rhythms to the ebb and flow of our existence.

When you take on something new, you will make mistakes. You will struggle. You will fight against yourself and reality to achieve what you want.

The mind is designed to work automatically. You do something enough and your mind will automate it. This is good when you are doing positive things that provide value to you. It is not so great when those habits are harmful. Habits are the automatic things your mind will adapt itself to.

The key to building good habits, pursuing meaningful goals, and changing yourself and your environment for the better all require effort, introspection, and asking for help from time to time. The struggle is all part of pursuing the things that are hard, yet good.

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.”

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – Changing your life…

Tags

Carol Burnett, Changing your life, Making decisions, Research

“Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me.” – Carol Burnett

Are you satisfied with your life? If you are terrific. If not, how would you like your life to be? What actions can you take to make the changes necessary to get the life you want.

I think one of the biggest challenges all of us has is the influence of advertisers and marketers who try to show us what the good life is. These advertisements show a life that is typically unattainable. They also influence us in many respects to do or buy things we really don’t need or want. The other influence is from those around us. Maybe you are jealous of someone who has a nice car, nice house, nice boyfriend or girlfriend. The point I’m trying to make here is that some of us are unhappy with our lives because we are being shown daily what a “good life” is and we are convinced that our lives aren’t good enough. Subsequently, we chase after a life that perhaps we do not really want.

The other challenge when we seek a different existence is the inability to decide what we want. Do I want this or that? Do I need this or that? Do I need to find a better place to live? Do I need to get in better shape? Do I need to go back to school to get a better job with more security, pay, and benefits?

Take your time when deciding about what you want. Really contemplate on it. You’ve lived the way you have for some time. There’s no rush.

Once you have found something you’re interested in doing, investigate what others before you have done to achieve what you want. You’ll find some good advice out there in books, online blogs or articles, even YouTube videos, and Vlogs. Once you’ve decided on what you want, set a plan and go for it, adjusting along the way.

Personally, I’ve found I wanted an uncomplicated, minimalist life. I don’t want to carry around a lot of paper or books, so I scanned in all my important papers and only buy kindle books or borrow books from the library. I got rid of all the clothes I never wear. I keep my wardrobe to what I need in a 7-day week, other than a suit I always keep handy for special events.

I also wanted to focus on my health and wellness. To accomplish this, I read as much as I could on these topics. I found out that the two biggest contributors to wellness are meditation, exercise, and a good diet, filled with natural foods (no processed foods).

Another area I found that contributes to my well being is doing things for others. This led me to do some internet searches for acts of kindness. Some of these are simple, easy to do, and don’t take a lot of time. It also feels good when I think about what the person would feel like on the receiving end of my giving. One thing I do is randomly drop a sticky note with words like: “You are loved”, “You are amazing”, or “You are appreciated”.

I also discovered during my journey the necessity for rituals in my daily life. My rituals include daily writing, daily reading, daily contemplation, daily religious study, daily learning, daily journaling, and daily exercise. These things literally transformed my life. I have a purpose. I have a schedule to follow. I have something to look forward to.

I hope some of these suggestions help you. They have helped me tremendously.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – Get yourself out there…

Tags

Getting out there, Interact, Listen, Opening up, Self-protection, Walls

“The walls we build around us to keep sadness out also keeps out the joy.” – Jim Rohn

To really be engaged in life we must be willing to put ourselves out there. This is hard to do sometimes. Maybe we’re shy, maybe we are a little untrusting, or perhaps we are suffering from a loss and we only want to be alone and suffer in solitude.

I have experienced some real “knock-down” life experiences. Some of these were self-inflicted, others just happened. Each experience we have is important to our growth.

If you are struggling with ideas to “get out there”, here are a few for you:

• Find a local meetup and attend a meeting (www.meetup.com)
• Attend a religious service
• Go to a local coffee shop to do some work on your laptop or journal
• Go to your local gym and workout
• Visit your local library
• When the weather permits, go to a park
• Attend a public venue like a mall, a flea market, or festival

There are a lot of ways to just be around other people. There are ways to open yourself up. Get out there, make new friends, meet new people, experience things. Be vulnerable, listen, and share a little of yourself with others.

You’ll find that sharing and interacting with others will reestablish your faith in other people. You’ll find new connections, new people to converse with, and learn more about other people, while learning more about yourself.

Be willing to embrace sadness, happiness, and every type of emotion. To get one you have to be willing to accept the others. Take down the walls you’ve built around yourself and let it all in. You’ll find life to be very exhilarating when you do.

Until next time…

Dave