Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Making Time and Focusing on What Matters

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Focus, Making Changes, Making Choices, Making time, motivation, New Rituals, Retirement

Photo Credit: Image by Jonas Svidras from Pixabay 

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” – Paul J. Meyer
Read more at: Brainyquote.com

What’s going on this week? I’m working on my book, going through a web development course, hitting the gym hard using Kris Gethin’s 4-week Muscle Building Trainer, and following the rest of my rituals.

Recently I changed my daily rituals. I always add and add and add to my daily routine, until it becomes untenable. This resulted in an audit of my daily to-dos and I came up with a neat idea–minimize my daily to-dos to a certain number and not add anything else. This has helped greatly.

My focus is important. I always want to read, write, contemplate, and exercise daily. These are my priorities. My core focus is on writing my books and spending some time learning something new each day. I finished a course on Aristotle’s Ethics yesterday offered by Hillsdale College. Now I am moving through an NLP course. It is long. It is about 179 online sessions, but really fascinating.

What is my motivation? It’s simple. I just want to be productive in retirement and take advantage of the time I have now to do the things I didn’t want to put time into when I was working full time. This is the key. You have to make time for things, even in retirement. Retirement doesn’t change what you are motivated to do. You still have to discipline yourself to go to the gym, set aside time to contemplate the spiritual things, read books, learn, and write. Trust me, there is no difference between what you do now and what you want to do. Everything you commit to doing, requires you to NOT do something else.

My Mom got her second cataract surgery today. Everything is ok. She has to go back to the doctor tomorrow to check the eye after it’s had some time to calm down, but there were no issues with the surgery. While I was there in the office, they had Women’s World Cup soccer on the television. Germany trounced the Rwandan team 4 – 0.

That’s it for today, folks! I hope you have a terrific Monday!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Workout Routine – My New Torture Device

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Achievement, Bodybuilding, Cardio, Exercise, healthy living, motivation, Persistence, Stair Stepper, workout

Today’s workout was interval training. I chose the stair-stepper for this routine’s cardio source.

20 minutes of interval training. 1 minute intense, 2 minutes slow. Great workout and a good sweat!!

See you at the finish line!!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Failure Builds Character

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Character, failure, Learning, motivation, Persistence, primitive brains, Success

Image by yogesh more from Pixabay

“You Learn More From Failure Than From Success. Don’t Let It Stop You. Failure Builds Character.” – Unknown

Quote courtesy of http://www.briantracy.com

Failure. We all fear it. It’s interesting when you think about how our brains work. The brain doesn’t like change. It doesn’t like trying new things. It doesn’t like this because change is fearful to that part of our brain that warns us about danger.

Why? Well, our ancestors needed to be warned about everything by their primitive brains because mistakes could be deadly, particularly when there were creatures all around that wanted a meal. The brain’s warning system worked pretty good. We are still here after all.

How do you counteract this part of your brain to try new things? Our brains are much different from our ancestors’ brains. Our brains are much larger and have evolved to a point that we can override this prehistoric brain. We can choose to make changes despite our brain’s warnings.

Our ability to direct ourselves to do things that are unknown or challenging is a gift. We still have to deal with the fear of failure and all the rest, but now we have the ability to reason with ourselves. We can evaluate an action and deem it safe, despite the risks for failure and move forward. This is challenging, but possible. It merely requires us to be persistent and push forward with our goals.

All of us are unique. Some of us see a threat while others see an opportunity. What I have found to ease my angst is to get out there and learn from other people. I learn from books, online courses, and YouTube videos. If you see someone else doing something you want to do, the fear dissipates somewhat. I say to myself, “If they can do it, so can I.”

Then there’s practice. It’s hard to learn something new without getting your hands dirty. You can read about a topic, learn about a topic, and even watch someone else does something, but it is so much different when you do it. You will make mistakes. You will mess up. Each time you mess up, you learn. You learn that this is not the way. Then, if you are paying attention, you’ll avoid that mistake in the future and go on to the next step.

Fail. There is nothing wrong with it. Learn from it. Start again. Persist. You can’t lose if you don’t quit.

This week is a busy one. I’ve got a few books to finish, a chapter to write in my book, workouts to do, and of course, posting to this blog. It’ll be a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – How Writer’s Defeat Themselves

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Excellence, motivation, Perfection, psychology, Self-Defeat, Vince Lombardi, Writing

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi

I am learning more and more that writers defeat themselves in their head before they put their pen to paper. Writing is all about getting your work done and getting it out there. Some people will like it; some people will not. No one writes the perfect book. They write lots of books and a majority of people think it is good.

It’s about getting stuff done and getting it out there. I am working on a technical recruiting book and I will finish my draft this year. Then it’s off for cover design and editing. Then I’ll get it published.

For those of you who are struggling with writing your first book or doubting yourself, it’s ok. From what I have been reading, everyone does it—everyone goes through it. Just like anything else, a writing career has its rite of passage. It is writing a volume of work. It is writing for the sake of writing. It is writing every day and improving as you go. It’s the love of the art that matters. I have enjoyed writing all my life and looked forward to the day I could do it daily without worrying about other things. That is one thing I have as an advantage.

Many writers starting out like I am but have full-time jobs to worry about. Since I am retired, I have all the time in the world. I like balance and pursuing other things, but writing is something I really enjoy. I enjoy blogging. I enjoy journaling. I enjoy learning all the things other writers do and the various tools they use.

I am also enjoying connecting with other writers. I met a gal who lives in Australia who just signed a contract with a publisher a few months back. Now she’s working on book #2. It is very exciting. I also enjoy reading articles written by other writers. I recently started a subscription with Medium. It runs about $5.00 a month and it is terrific, so far. I am enjoying the advice these experienced writers have to pass along to us newbies. It is terrific.

This week will involve continuing my workout routine, KETO diet, writing schedule for this blog, my journaling, and my book writing. It will also involve continuing to take my online courses, programming work, and a book discussion class tomorrow afternoon at 4 PM. It will be a great week!

Well, I hope all of you have a terrific week. Your goals are within reach. You just have to keep. Here’s to your success!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Time Tracking

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Achievement, Goals, Google Sheets, Hack, motivation, Planning, rituals, Technique, Time Tracking, Trick

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Zig Ziglar

Image by Free Photos on Pixabay

It’s another Monday folks, and it’s time to get to work. What are you looking to do today? Are you on track to achieving your goals?

Today, I wanted to discuss a great way to track your day. I just started this last week. It is merely a way to watch how you use your time. Some recommend tracking every 5-minute chunk. I think this is a little over the top. Instead, I use a time tracker to log when I start a task and then put another time at the end of the task. Then I create a simple formula (time end – time start = time used). This formula, my title of the task I am doing and the category of what that task is related to are all in a Google Sheet. Each day I add a new tab labeled by the month and day the time is tracked. What I’ve discovered is that my ability to monotask has increased tremendously.

Why is monotasking important? First, let’s discuss what monotasking is. Monotasking is the opposite of multitasking. Monotasking is doing one thing and one thing only. By adding a time tracking task, I avoid multitasking, which is a horrible habit to get into. It is easy on a computer to do this because there are so many things grasping for our attention, but if you monitor the time you spend doing something, it can really benefit you. Stick to one task at a time, monitor the time you spend doing it (start time and end time) and after a while you’ll have some data about what you do, how long you do it, and when you do it.

I want to come up with a day that aligns well with my habits. I have discovered further efficiency by doing like things at like times. For example, I workout first thing in the morning. Then, I do my journaling. Then, I do my blogging, which I’m doing right now. This is followed by my book writing. After my writing is completed, I’ll take a break and do an hour of meditation, eat some breakfast, then move into my course work (online learning). Once all of my learning is completed, I do some administrative tasks like check email, check social media, review the news (Google News and Flipboard), then I get into my reading. If I have some today-only tasks, I will knock them out after I have done all of my “administrative” tasks. Reading is the final thing I do all the way until 4 PM. So whatever time I have left after courses and I dedicate the rest of my day to my reading.

4 PM is when I stop working and enjoy the rest of my afternoon and evening relaxing, playing some video games, and watching a few shows on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Vudu. That’s my day in a nutshell. Recently, I changed my sleep schedule to heading to bed around 10 pm, so I get enough rest for my wake up at 5 am. It’s terrific to get to the gym this early because the gym is so empty. I love an empty gym. I get in, get my workout done, and get out before the morning crew shows up.

These kinds of changes occur when you seriously tackle the goals you have set for yourself. You will see new areas to adapt to for efficiency’s sake. I really enjoy the journey toward goals. Meeting a goal is fun, but literally opens new doors for new goals and achievements. I hope all of you have a great Monday and are ready to attack the week. If you have any “tricks” or “hacks” to offer, provide them in the comments below.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – The Empowered vs. Disempowered Life

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Achievement, Disempowerment, Empowerment, Goals, motivation, Persistence, Striving, Success

“The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.” Unknown

Read more at: Brainy Quote

Every wonder why people live in the past? It is something I have recognized in the people I associate with and started wondering why people torture themselves over actions and events they can’t change? I recently learned during a course I am taking currently. It is because they are disempowered.

Disempowered people worry about things outside of their control. They worry about the weather, what other people are going to do or not do, they relive their past daily, particularly if that past event or action is traumatic. They just can’t let go of it. Subsequently, they gloss over the great things that are happening now or miss out on things that are great and working in their life. It is like they are wearing special sun glasses that taint everything that is wrong in the past and paint their present and future with the same filtered view. Why would anyone do that? It is because the brain has wired itself to be protective against a traumatic event that may occur now or again in the future. Instead of starting a new day and living fully in the present, they constantly worry that something bad will happen to them. This, in turn, becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Their lives do turn out the way their internal wiring dictates.

It is tough to leave the state of disempowerment. To some, being a victim is a profession. They can’t find the right job. Everyone is out to get them. They can’t find a lover. How could anyone love them like they are? They can’t set or achieve any goals. Why? I’ll fail anyway. This is a dismal way to live, wouldn’t you agree? Victimhood is their comfort zone. It is comfortable because if everything in their life is the fault of some outside entity; they are not responsible. Their life is one HUGE blame game. I can’t lose weight because everyone around me eats garbage. I can’t learn anything new because I sucked at school.

The opposite of a disempowered person is the person who is empowered. They take responsibility for their lives. They realized that they are in control. They are realistic, however. They do know that life will throw them curve balls. It is part of life, after all. Instead of being thwarted, they recognize it is something out of their control and learn ways to overcome the adversity. If they are out of shape, they learn about getting into shape. If they are lacking a skill, they learn how to gain that skill. If they are not finding the right people in their lives, they put themselves out there and meet new people. See the difference?

Choose a life of empowerment. Choose to take responsibility for your life. Choose to accept the things you cannot change and either live with these things or come up with solutions to overcome them. There is always a way—always. You just have to persist and keep trying. Simple, isn’t it?

This week I’ll continue working toward all my goals in writing, reading, learning, meditation, and exercise. I enjoy the daily routine of journaling, blogging, and working on my book. I enjoy the satisfaction of leaving a gym after a grueling workout. I enjoy reading and learning. I enjoy the solitude of getting quiet during meditation.

I hope all of you have a productive and terrific week! If any of you need any advice or help, feel free to reach out. I have some pretty awesome planning and execution hacks I’d love to share in all the areas I am pursuing. See you at the finish line!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday –

Tags

Content, Contributing, motivation, passion, Unique, Walt Disney, Writing

“I believe in being an innovator.” Walt Disney

Read more at: Brainy Quote

There is so much content available online and it continues to perpetuate itself. Making your own contributions online is daunting, particularly when you second-guess yourself. You ask yourself questions like: Who will find my work? Who will like my work? Am I good enough?

You are unique. You have a voice. This voice is different. There are people who want to hear your words. Get it out there.

I love blogging. I love writing. I blog and write because I have things to say. I like to put my “two cents” out there.

When Disney came on the scene, there was no such thing as a theme park or full-length animated film. He brought both ideas to the market. Today, millions of people flock to Disney’s theme parks and watch his movies. Mickey Mouse is an icon known across the globe.

You never know who will read your words. You never know who will enjoy them. Get them out there. Pursue your dreams. You’ll never know until you do it.

Some people don’t like to write. That’s ok. Pursue the things you love. Pursue your unique interests. We all have a place in this world. Your passions are where you need to focus your time and effort. There is a need for your unique contribution.

Every single person we consider great, started with an idea. Henry Ford’s idea was the automobile. Edison’s idea was the light bulb. Disney’s idea was creating products that allowed people to escape their normal lives and experience “The Happiest Place on Earth”. Disney sold happiness and wonder. Who wouldn’t want to buy that?

If you know where your passions lie, pursue them. Even if you only have time to dedicate an hour a day, use that hour to pursue that passion. You’ll feel more alive during that hour than the rest of your day.

If you want to make money pursuing your passion, research. You could write a book about your passion, write a blog about your passion, or even teach others about your passion by creating course content for YouTube or an online education hub like Udemy. There are people who have monetized their passions in the same way. Look around. You’ll find these people and learn how they did it.

My Week

I’ll be working on my 2^nd draft of my book. I’m doing a chapter a day. This week will be chapters 6-10. My daily exercise regimen is in the home because of the bad weather we are experiencing in Michigan. I’ll be getting back to the gym in March.

I’m reading 5 books. I enjoy reading multiple books at a time. I read one fiction book, a book on history, a religious book, a self-help book, and a book on philosophy. I use a service called Scribd. Scribd is a service that gives you access to books, magazines, audio books, and papers. It is a terrific service for the $8.99/month. I recommend this service if you read as much as I do.

I read digitally. It takes a while to get used to reading this way. My folks have had a real difficulty reading digitally. They still enjoy reading paper books. Print books take up too much space. Digital books allow me to get as many books as I want. They take up zero space, other than the digital space they consume on my phone or computer.

I hope all of you have a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Finding Your Dream Job

Tags

Focus, Investigate, Love the work, motivation, passion, Paying the price, Productivity, Resistance

“Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four-hour days.”― Zig Ziglar

One of the biggest challenges in life is to figure out what we will do with our lives. I remember contemplating this question when I was about to finish high school. Many of my friends already knew what they would do. Not me. I did not understand what I wanted to do.

Looking back, I would have told myself to choose an area of interest and try it out. As I have matured, I realized that every profession requires a certain price to pay. If you choose a particular area, investigate this area by reading about the people that exist in that field and excel. Learn about what they have to do to be on top of their fields. When you see the price, they are paying you can decide about your willingness to pay the same price. You can do this over several career paths to find the role or roles you will pay the price for.

Once I discovered my desire to be a writer and pursue my dream of learning computer programming life smoothed out. I felt a congruence in my life I had not felt before. When I wake up in the morning, I have a sense of purpose. I know what I will do and I look forward to it.

Once you realize that you’ve made a good choice, you have no resistance to learning, or the work involved in your profession. Writing and programming are a joy. Each day I write, or work on a programming project, it feels like fun rather than work. This was the final confirmation for me. When I realized that my work was really more like play, my efforts in both areas took off.

Like the above quote suggests, focus is the way to productivity and achievement. When you observe people that love what they do for a living, you sense a joy of purpose. The work they do seems effortless. They will work harder than their peers. You can see the joy they experience when they do this work.  You can also see people who are in the wrong position. You see them procrastinate, complain, and do the bare minimum to earn their paycheck. There is no love or purpose behind their work.

This is the key difference between people who are engaged in meaningful work they love and people in the wrong role. Their passion overcomes the price they pay to be in that profession. This passion provides the drive to be the best in their field because it is not work to them. They embrace the training and outside learning the job requires. They work longer and harder. Their work is of a higher quality.

If you are in a position you consider work, maybe it’s time to look at other roles. Research. Investigate these fields. Find out what the top people in these fields do and the price they pay to be the best. If you believe you can pay the same price, try it out. You will never know until you do. The average worker spends roughly 75% of their time at work. Why not do something you love?

This week, I’ll continue my regimen of working on my book, working through my current programming project, reading the five books I’ve selected, and hitting my daily exercise routine. I’ll continue to journal and meditate. I’m making good progress across all areas. I hope each of you has a terrific day!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Fear of Failure

Tags

Accomplishment, failure, Fear, Frank Herbert, Mistakes, motivation, Overcoming Fear

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”―Frank Herbert,Dune

Fear. It causes us to pause, to procrastinate, to react to all those hidden demons our minds create. Fear warns us that we are not good enough. Fear predicts our total ruin. Fear predicts the destruction of our reputation. Fear is an enemy to be dealt with if you are going to do anything meaningful with your life.

We all deal with fear in one way or another. Fear can come in many guises. We can be fearful of a confrontation with a colleague or a loved one. We can be fearful of failure. We can be fearful of standing up for ourselves. We can be fearful of moving forward with a project we really want to accomplish.

I have found that the best way to conquer fear is to eliminate the ego. How many wars or arguments could have been avoided if both parties put their egos to the side. The ego is something you’ll never get rid of, but it can be put to the side. When you are creating something new, you will make mistakes. Embrace mistakes. Embrace failure. These are two things you have to get through if you are going to achieve anything. If you avoid assigning failures and mistakes to yourself personally, you will feel bad, upset, angry, etc. Instead, play a game. Laugh at yourself. Realize what you’ve learned. Look at the failure or mistake and dissect it. How did it happen? What did I miss? More importantly, how can I avoid this mistake in the future?

Set your goals, establish a plan to achieve the goals you have set, and stake out actions to move you through your road map. Make your daily contributions so minuscule that you’ll do them without resistance. You’ll make mistakes. You will discover your plan has problems and needs to be adjusted. Failure occurs only when you fail to act or give up on your goals and dreams. Keep this in the forefront of your mind—failure occurs when you quit. You avoid failure if you keep moving forward.

I had a heck of a time yesterday with my Dad watching the Superbowl. We were a little disappointed in the game. The commercials were OK, but not barn burners. The game was exciting toward the end, but the first half was boring. In the end, however, it was nice watching the game with my Dad.

Tomorrow is the State of the Union and I’ll be engaged with that most of the day. This week I’ll continue my reading, writing, exercise, meditation, and learning schedule. I interact with a lot of authors online and discovered a great writing tool. It’s called Scrivener. I just downloaded it today and will be working through tutorials and such for most of the week. Once I’ve got a good idea of how to use the tool, I’ll begin moving my book to it. I discovered that using a word document straight up is probably not the most efficient way of putting together a book, particularly now that I am in the re-write phase of the operation.

That’s it for today folks. Have a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Monday Motivation – Baby Steps

Tags

Baby Steps, Consistency, Focus, motivation, Peter Marshall, rituals, Simplifying, Small Deeds

“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” – Peter Marshall

Read more at: Brainy Quotes

This quote explains the importance of consistent, small actions. Some people have these great plans set for themselves but rarely attain them because they fail to break these big things down into actionable steps. Let’s tackle a simple task like reading a certain number of books in a year.

Let’s say you want to read 24 books this year. You take the 24 books, divide by 12 and discover you only need to read 2 books a month to achieve your goal. You take a look at your books and discover you have 30 chapters to read (15 chapters in each book) in 30 days. Read 1 chapter a day and you’ll hit the 30 chapters (finishing both books) and you’re well on your way to reading your 24 books, provided you stick with reading 1 chapter a day.

How am I doing on my goals? I’m on track. I finished the rough draft of my book over the weekend. Now it’s time to begin the re-write. I’m looking at what I will do daily to complete my first draft in 6 months and will dig into this new process on Feb 4, 2019. I’ll figure out how much writing I need to do, what tools I need, and then dig in daily.

I’m shooting for 12 online courses by year’s end. I have completed two so far and taking another two currently. I am also goaled to read 48 books this year. I am on track with three books completed and one more to go this month to keep on track.

My exercise goals are always about gaining muscle and losing weight. It is hard to do both but keep this as a goal regardless. Right now, I am in a bulking phase, just to get some more muscle on my frame. Then, once I am at a certain point, I’ll cut for a few months, then back to bulk, and so on. I’m going to continue to bulk until April and then cut for a few months to get ready for the Summer. My exercise plan is literally going to the gym daily or, in case of inclement weather, I exercise at home. That’s it. Daily exercise involving both weights and some cardio.

My spiritual goals are to read my Bible daily, meditate daily, journal daily, and continue with my book discussion once per month. All of these are on track. Simple things each day help me achieve big things by year’s end and build strong ritualized habits.

My social goals are slacking somewhat. I tend to interact a bit on social media, but it’s important to interact with other people face-to-face. The challenge currently is the big snow storms we are being hit with in the Midwest. It is not safe to drive if you do not need to, so for now, social media daily and Skyping with my friends will be the best alternative.

How are you doing on your New Year’s resolutions? Are you still pushing forward or are you stalling? If you are stalling, look at what you want to do and minimize what you are doing daily to a point you can achieve little pushes each day. You’ll be amazed by what you can accomplish over time.

Little actions steps daily will build healthy habits, rewire your brain for these activities, and help you establish rituals of habits that you knock out each day. It is so easy if you take a chance and try this. I wish all of you well on this year’s goals.

Until next time…

Dave