Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Happy Halloween

Tags

Eerie, Focus timers, Focused work, Games, Halloween, motivation, Music, Naps, Pomodoro, Scary

There’s nothing more motivating than a holiday. Halloween has been fun this year, because I used the entire month to celebrate by watching scary movies, concentrated my posts on scary topics, and had a great time playing my favorite mobile video games that have all added Halloween themes to their game experience.

Holidays are nice because they give us the freedom to choose what we will do and what we won’t. It’s a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the normal work week. Employers are having potlucks, employee dress ups, and even cutting folks loose early so they can get their kids out for their trick or treating.

Today, since yesterday was my “do nothing day”, I was ready to go. I was up at 3 am, writing, learning, reading, and so on. These little breaks can really add to your motivation to get back at it.

Speaking of breaks. Here are a few ways to maintain your motivation throughout the day:

1. Use a focus timer like Pomodoro, which will have you work in a specific time-frame and then take a break. The default setup for this is 20 minutes, followed by 5-minutes, but most of these apps are highly customizable. I typically like working for 25 minutes, then take 5 minutes so I have a 30-minute work-break session.
2. Plan rewarding times for yourself after each big chunk of activity. If you go to a gym, hit your favorite coffee shop on the way home. If you are working at your desk, perhaps you are a video game advocate like I am. Get in a session after you’ve knocked out some work.
3. Naps are also a great reward, particularly if you work from home. Plan in a nap after lunch, before dinner, or whenever your schedule allows. Keep it to around 20 minutes so you don’t get too groggy to go back to work.
4. Listen to some music, meditate, or do some creative planning for something you would like to do on the weekend.

These are just some ideas for you to start with. You know what you enjoy. Sprinkle in this fun throughout your day, in and around your work schedule, and you’ll find that each day will be much more satisfying and the work you do will be more motivating because you know there is some fun and relaxation waiting for you after each session of work.

I hope you have a great Monday and enjoy Halloween. We’ll be passing out candy to all the folks who come around for tricks and treats.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Motivational Music

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Inspiring, Legendary, Monday, motivation, Music, Powerful, Visionary, YouTube

I think you’ll agree with me when I say that music can inspire us. This is a music track that lasts about an hour, but you only have to listen to this for a few minutes. Try it out. This pumped me up after about 2 minutes.

I wanted to change it up a bit today, so enjoy!

Have a great Monday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talks – Steelpan and Teflon

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cooking, Google, Music, Steelpan, TedEd, Teflon, Tuesday

I was prompted to look for steel pans on Ted Ed today, because of the video short Google put up on their browser today, celebrating Steelpan.

After watching this video, I thought about Teflon. Here’s what TedEd has to say about Teflon. I hope you enjoy it!

Here’s a Wikipedia article on Steelpan. I think you’ll enjoy it. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelpan

Have a great Tuesday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Changing a Bad Mood into a Good One

Tags

Coffee, Cookies, donuts, Exercise, Meditation, Mood, motivation, Music, oatmeal, tea

It’s Monday, folks and time for another installment of Motivation Monday. I was thinking about how all of us manifest our environments. Our attitudes have a huge impact on our motivation. If you think the day will be great, it will be. Conversely, if we think the day will be crap, it will be.

The way we “see” our reality is the way it is. We cannot escape ourselves. How do you smooth out a bad mood? There are all kinds of ways to do so. Music is a huge one for me. If music impacts your mood like it does me, grab your favorite toon or playlist and fire it up. Your mood will change in seconds. Another thing to do is to do something you absolutely enjoy. Maybe it’s a warm cup of coffee. Maybe it’s a tasty morsel like a donut, coffee cake, or a steaming bowl of oatmeal.

Another thing that can alter your mood is exercise. A vigorous workout or relaxing walk with your favorite tunes blaring is another great way to change your mood in an instant. The key is knowing yourself and the tools you have at your disposal to alter your initial feeling in the morning.

I have gotten so skilled at maintaining a good mood, that is no longer an issue for me. I wake up happy and ready to tackle the day. All of the tasks I have set up are things I enjoy doing. When I work on my book, it is an escape for me to another reality that unfolds as I put words to the page.

Motivation is impacted by the mood you are in. If you are having one of those “dark” mornings, it is hard to be motivated to do anything. So keep your personal tools at the ready. The mood has to change before anything can be accomplished. Music, exercise, good food, or something you enjoy doing are the tools I use to keep up my motivation levels.

One more tool I have is having something enjoyable to do after I get done with my “work”. I look forward to the video gaming I know I’ll be doing once my to-do list is completed. This little “carrot” at the end of my work day is a key motivator. It makes the day fly by, as I knock out task after task, knowing, I’ve got a great video game experience waiting for me.

Well, that’s it for today. I hope all of you have a terrific Monday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Your Environment Can Be Motivating

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Coffee, Comfort, Environment, family, Friends, K.M. Allan, Music, Snacks, Snow, Work, Writing

It’s snowing in my hometown. What a great way to wake up! Snow is such a nice thing to wake up to. I’m drinking my coffee, sitting in my favorite chair in my home office, and I’m listening to some of my favorite instrumental music. I find my environment motivating, which is the topic of today’s Motivation Monday edition.

One of my writer friends in Australia, K.M. Allan, author of the Blackbirch series, has a laptop, her cats, a whiteboard, and typically a cup of tea and some goodies to snack on. This is her environment to write. Mine is a cup of coffee, a comfortable chair, my laptop, and some music I listen to through my airpods. The point is that your environment can be motivating or demotivating.

What do you like to drink? Tea, Coffee, energy drink? Do you have a comfortable office chair? Do you like to listen to music while you work? Do you have any specific gear you like to work with? These are all questions to ask when you are going to work. Your work environment can be a huge source of motivation, particularly when you’ve found the right combination of things to make your work interesting and fun.

When I was a corporate recruiter, the work could be very monotonous. Most days it was terrific, but there were some days it was absolute drudgery. So, I started at looking at ways to flair up my workspace. I bought a chair and replaced my employer-issued one. I bought some new pens, pen holder, new legal pads, and I also got a few big jars of pretzels, licorice, and assorted nuts. I brought in a picture of my family. I also brought in my Bose bluetooth speaker. Once I had this set up, the drudgery days became less so. I could see my family and this motivated me to grind through my calls. I had snacks within easy reach so I wouldn’t have to get up from my desk until my calls were done. Oh, I even bought a Keurig coffee maker so I could have coffee on demand. You see, I learned early on that the environment I worked in made a huge difference between drudgery and adventure, discomfort and comfort, and meaning and meaningless. You can do the same.

What can you add to your environment to make it more comfortable? What can you add to your environment to soothe the mind? What can you add to your environment to overcome the drudgery in your work? What can you change in your environment to add meaning to your work?

Happy Monday, folks! I wish all of you a great day!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Augmenting Your Tasks with Music

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Achievement, Getting Things Done, Heavy, Monday, motivation, Music, Setting Goals, Trance

There are a bunch of songs that I listen to over and over again and produce the same results–goosebumps. If you are ever down in the dumps or unmotivated to do what you need to do, listen to some music you know will pump you up. I find different kinds of music have different effects and I use them in different scenarios.

When I am reading and writing, I listen to instrumental, environmental, and electronic (focus-type) stuff. If something has any type of singing, words, etc., I cannot concentrate on anything. When I want to motivate myself, there are songs from Eminem, DeadMaus, Armin VanBuuren, and many others in the rap and techno genres. When I’m in the gym, it is heavy stuff like Arch Enemy, Slipknot, Disturbed, AC/DC, Metallica, Kataklysm, and the like. Anything heavy, with hard-charging lyrics, fast-paced guitar licks, and lots of double base stuff. The trance genre is also terrific if I’m going to do a bout of low-impact cardio, like treadmill, stepping, or rowing.

Music is my go to, when I need a boost. Obviously, coffee is another huge contender on Monday mornings to get myself moving, but music is by far the biggest influencer on my moods and augments what I am doing at the time.

I hope all of you are having a terrific Monday and will have a terrific week.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Hobbies

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Balance, Fishing, Fun, Happy, Hobby, Joy, Music, Reading, Relaxation, Relish, Video Games, Writing, Xbox

My sister has been “over-focused” on work for as long as I have known her. There is nothing wrong with that, provided you take time to do other things to balance it out. Balance is key to a happy life, in my opinion, so that you can do your work, have some fun, and not miss anything important. Important things like regular checkups for you and your pets, paying your bills, exercising, learning something new, and enjoying something that you do, because you enjoy doing it.

Hobbies could be coin collecting, antiquing, drawing/sketching, playing an instrument, or playing video games. It doesn’t matter what your hobby is, as long as it gives you a break from the things you have to to do. Another requirement: You have to look forward to it.

I love playing video games of all kinds. Whether these are on my pc, my iPad, or my Xbox. They are challenging, entertaining, and even educational. I look forward to my daily session, and laugh, yell, and have a heck of a good time. It is even more fun when I can link up with my brother and play together.

This is what I’m talking about. The passion for your hobby has to be there. You have to enjoy it, think about it, and relish the time you get to do it.

Think about people who enjoy fishing. These people can’t wait to get back out on their boats and fish again.

Think about those people who enjoy golf. They can’t wait to get out to the course. They even plan their vacations around it. Does that resort have a golf course?

I hope you get my point. The quote, “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy” rings true here. Spice up your life a bit with a hobby. It provides a great retreat from your daily routine of work, chores, bill paying, and errands.

In the meantime, I’m about ready to head down and fire up my Xbox.

Have a great Monday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – What a Wonderful World!

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Beauty, It's a Wonderful World, Louis Armstrong, Love, Music, Song, Ted Talk, Tuesday

Here’s something a little different for you on this fine Tuesday. Enjoy this rendition of Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World.

All the best to you today.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Routine – Week of Sep 28, 2020.

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Consistency, dig in, Discipline, Drive, Exercise, Keep going, Music, Push, videos, workout

One of the tricks I use to get pumped up for the gym is to watch a great motivational video or listen to some inspiring music. Attack the week, folks!

My routine this week:

Monday – Saturday:

20 minutes cardio

Upper Body (weights) Lower Body (weights) alternating every day.

Have a great week! Get at it, folks! You got this!

See you at the finish line!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Music

Tags

Gratitude, heavy metal, Meditation, memories, Movies, Music, Reading, Soundscapes, Thanks, Writing

I have always enjoyed music. It seems that we are all wired to music, in light of how popular it has been throughout history. Music entertains. Music reminds. Music inspires.

I like to listen to music when I read. I can’t listen to music with words, because it is too hard to concentrate, but instrumental music is a common partner when I read. I also enjoy listening to music when I write.

Again, I have to refrain from listening to music with words while I write because it is too hard to concentrate on what I’m doing when I listen to the words. Interestingly, I have found that listening to certain types of music invoke emotions that are helpful when I am writing an action scene or an emotional scene. I can’t listen while I write, but I do listen before I write.

Another type of music I like listening to is trance while I do cardio or heavy metal while I lift weights. Trance helps me deal with the monotony of cardio, while heavy metal helps me achieve the aggression I need when I’m trying to push myself to my limits.

I like listening to Asian music, sound scapes, and other cerebral music when I meditate. It helps my mind calm down, while I concentrate on the breath.

I even enjoy listening to movie soundtracks. When I listen to the music of Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Star Wars, or even the Godfather, I can see the various scenes play out in my mind. It is amazing how much the music impacts a scene in a movie.

Think about the dark music in the original Halloween movie or The Exorcist. When you hear these songs, you automatically think about these movies. It is fascinating.

So today, I am grateful for music that helps me write, workout, relax, and visualize my favorite movies.

Happy Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave