Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Little Things Lead to Big Things

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Big Things, Consistency, daily, habits, Little Things, rituals, wisdom, Wisdom Wednesday

Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.

We gather wisdom after many bouts of pain, suffering, and mistakes. We gain wisdom throughout our lives. Because wisdom is such a malleable term, the wisdom we gather is also uniquely ours. Each of us take our lumps and learn from them, in most cases.

One piece of wisdom I’ll offer is this: You can accomplish a great deal over time, by doing a little each day. If you write every day, you’ll write a great deal in a year. If you read every day, even if it is a few pages, you’ll read a great deal by the end of the year. I’m not just spouting a platitude here. If you read my Motivation Monday postings, you see what I commit to doing every day. This works for me. Reading, writing, learning, exercising, meditating, and all the rest. Each one of these things contributes to me. The “me” I want to be.

It took me years to figure this out. I got my first clue from my time in the Army. We exercised every day at 0600, without fail, Monday – Friday. This insured we stayed in great shape. Apply the same simple principle to anything you want to be good at, and you’ll attain the same results, in most cases. If you’re not an expert, you’ll definitely be better at whatever you focus on daily.

I would suggest you pick one thing to start with. Maybe you want to learn a new language, write poetry, or pick up an instrument. Whatever your “thing” is, commit to doing something with that skill or topic every day. You need not do a lot. Maybe you commit 30 minutes. Whatever you can put into it, based on your personal schedule, do it. In no time you’ll gain proficiency. Spend more time, and you’ll be building real skills.

If you’ve struggled with learning new things, or accomplishing a goal, you have set your sights on, try this for yourself. It works really well. It also feels good to check things off your daily to-do list.

Well, this is it, folks. Have a great Wednesday!

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Workout Routine – HIIT Cardio

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Blood pumping, Consistency, daily, Day Off, Friday, HIIT cardio, Recover, Stair stepping

Today’s workout was cardio-only, since I treat Friday as my one day off during the week. HIIT cardio is fast and easy and easy to do anywhere. Today, I did some stair-stepping in the house, 1 minute on, 1 minute rest, for 20 minutes.

Happy Friday!!

See you at the finish line.

Dave

Daily Rituals…

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daily, flow, habit, habits, Productivity, rituals, self-improvement, system, workflow

I’ve recently read a book called Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. This book lists out all of the Artists and thinkers over the years and how they ran their days. Some didn’t have any plan at all, but these were rare. Most had a very specific list of things they did each day. They got up the same time, retired the same time, and followed a system. I’ve always believed in rituals because they build consistency in my day and reinforce the things I want to focus on.

Let’s look at some things that are good for us. Sleeping 7-8 hours a night, exercising, meditation, reading, writing, hygiene, social networking, etc. By focusing on these simple things, you build a habit of doing these things and building a solid foundation that has been proven to be healthy and efficient. Who wouldn’t want that?

Here’s what my morning ritual looks like:

• Rise
• Record my dreams if I recall anything
• Make my bed
• Hygiene
• Meditate
• Visualize the completion of my most important goal
• Breakfast
• Check Email
• Check Facebook, Twitter, Blog, and LinkedIn, and email iteration 1
• Post quotes to social media sites and write down my recorded dream in my dream journal
• Writing in my Gratitude Journal
• Verifying my plan for the day (top 2-3 things I set to accomplish)

Daily rituals are cool because they provide a stability to my day. Now that I’m retired it gives me a structure, a system to follow, addressing what I consider important. I also have an evening ritual.

Here’s what my evening ritual looks like:

• Dinner
• Exercise
• Planning for tomorrow
• Gratitude Journal
• Check Facebook, Twitter, Blog, and LinkedIn, and email iteration 3
• Write in my Gratitude Journal
• Write in my diary
• Hygiene
• Evening Reading
• Retire

These are things I do every day. Not necessarily in the order, I’ve put them in. Things happen. If I’m sick or have an appointment that disrupts my ability to accomplish some of those ritualistic things, I’ll blow them off that day. The key to rituals is they build habits that are strong enough to deal with the chaos of our lives and survive as templates for our activities.

The key to building a great ritual is to select those things you deem important to your life or are very passionate about. Some of the things on my list may be a given for you, like hygiene. Some folks may decide hygiene isn’t one of those things they want to deal with in a ritual because they are going to do it. The ritual can be composed of anything you want. The key is to build your ritual on those things that you believe will provide value to your life if they are done consistently.

After using rituals for the last 6 months I am a firm believer in their efficacy. I am on automatic each morning and launch into my evening rituals with the same tenacity. My morning ritual is triggered by my waking in the morning and the bulk of my evening ritual is triggered by my dinner. After dinner is complete, I exercise, plan for the next day, check social media and this blog, hit my gratitude journal and my diary, and get ready for a relaxing evening.

I hope some of these ideas are helpful and wish you well on creating rituals that provide value to your day.

Until next time…