Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Mindset

Tags

Consistency, duplication, habits, Knowledge, Learning, Mindset, motivation, realistic, Sources

How do you get up on Monday, attack your goals and priorities, and feel great consistently? You do other things consistently. If you smoke, drink, and stay up until 3 am binge-watching a series on Netflix, you probably will not be your best at 6 am. Makes sense, right? The same follows with working out. If you are not eating right and getting enough rest, your performance in the gym is probably going to suck pretty bad too.

When I worked, I did my best to be in bed at a reasonable time every day. I went to the gym at the same time every day. It was my consistency that allowed me the same performance at work, in the gym, etc. Self-discipline is the key to anything we want in life. If you want to write a book, you have to discipline yourself to write on a schedule with deadlines and all the rest. If you want to get in shape, you have to go to the gym or exercise in some way consistently, coupled with eating right, drinking water, and getting enough sleep to recover. I’m not preaching some new thing today. This is the way things work–period.

So, if your goals are going off the rails, those New Year’s resolutions are not progressing, re-evaluate. Do you really want those things that you wrote down, or were they a pipe dream? This is one of the biggest problems with goal setting and achievement. We write things down, but fail to plan how to achieve them. Many times I have begun planning in the past and realize that the commitment to achieve something I think I want to achieve is just too much. I’d like to write some books someday. I gave this a chance a year ago, and it didn’t go anywhere. Why? Because other things came up that took a priority, and I couldn’t do what most authors do–work on their books consistently. I had too many other things on my plate that were a higher priority for me. Make sense?

So, here’s what you do if you are having trouble with consistency. First, reevaluate what your goals are. Second, examine what it will take to achieve your goals by the date you set. Third, be honest with yourself about your motivation levels around certain goals. Are they really something you want to pursue, or is there something else that is higher on your list? Fourth, put those goals on hold that you struggle to commit to. You can always pursue them next year or at some other time.

Motivation is about mindset. It is about pursuing the things you really want vs. pursuing things you think others want you to have. It’s your life. Pursue what you want. Also be realistic. If your schedule does not allow you to go to the gym every day, then start working out at home. If that doesn’t work consistently, then reduce the number of times you exercise and stick with that. At a minimum, if all else fails—walk. Walking is healthy. It is something most of us will be able to do for most of our lives. Any exercise is better than no exercise.

This same process can be used for any goal you have. Are you doing the things necessary to achieve it? Do you know what those things are? If the answer is no to both or either of these questions, there’s a quick fix. Simply do some research to see what other people do? Writing? You can find tons of information about writing books, articles, blogging, etc. all over the place. You can find out what other people are doing and try that. The first place I turn when I’m looking at doing something new is the Internet. Then I tag the things other people are doing and begin experimenting. Someone will have done what I need to do, and they will tell you. These can be found on YouTube, on some online schools/universities, or you may luck out and know someone that does something you are trying to do. All these resources are available. You just have to get out there and look. Once you begin to learn what it takes, then you have to decide: Can I duplicate what they are doing? Do I really want to do this? Can I fit in these steps or processes into my day? If yes, then you are all set and ready to go. If not, you may have to decide to put it all on hold.

The mindset we have is critical to achieve our goals. We have to know what we have to do consistently to achieve the things we want. We have to learn about what others are doing to achieve their results. We have to be willing to apply what we learn consistently in order to achieve what we want to achieve consistently. Make sense?

Ok, folks. Have a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thinking/Thankful Thursdays – Lifelong Learning

Tags

Fun, Hobbies, lifelong learning, online schools, school, Skills, Sources, staying competitive, Work

I’m a big advocate of lifelong learning. I am taking a python course currently on Udemy, but have a few more courses in the pipeline for the year. I want to get better with Excel (pivot points, charts, etc.), digital marketing, and data science. These are all on Udemy and are available for a small fee. I got all these courses with 10+ hours of content for about 40 USD. These courses will keep me busy for a while and provide me with the skills necessary to act in my new position in my religious organization for the State of Michigan.

I can’t stress how important it is to remain up-to-date with technology. My parents struggle with most of this, and frankly, so do many in their generation. Most of us in my generation learned technology as part of our jobs. We had to learn it because we needed these technologies to compete in the marketplace. Simple things like searching the Internet, using an email service, an online calendar, or a cloud-based storage system (Google Drive, One Drive, or iCloud). These things are so simple to me, but a mystery to those who have never used them. The world will continue to progress and leave these folks behind more and more.

Now, more than ever, it is important to learn technologies like ZOOM, Skype, or other video chat service. Because of lockdowns, schools and businesses particularly have had to use these types of systems to teach students and interact with their clients. They are also so cool to use to stay in touch with friends and family. My wife and I either Facetime or use ZOOM when she needs help with paperwork or something in AZ.

So keep learning. It is fun, it keeps you engaged, and will give you capabilities you may need in the future, as our societies become more “digital”. It’s also really fun to engage with people all over the world and make new friends. I have friends all over the states, friends in Europe, Australia, and even Indonesia. These technologies have shrunk our planet and give us access to other cultures. This helps us understand why other countries do what they do.

If you’ve never used services like Udemy or Coursera, feel free to ask questions in the comments section. I’d be happy to connect with you directly and help you out. I am not affiliated with any of these educational companies—I’m just willing to give you a helping hand in case you need help. These services are terrific and provide me with the ability to learn all kinds of things that I either find interesting or need to know to do something I want.

Here are some links for your use, should you take this up for yourself:

https://www.udemy.com/

https://www.khanacademy.org/

https://www.edx.org/

https://www.coursera.org/

These are some top online educational sites I have used and recommend. Most of them are absolutely free (except Udemy) and will require you to pay if you want a certificate of completion to use for college credit or employment purposes (Coursera and EdX). Udemy charges a fee for all its courses, but these are typically around 9.99 USD, if you are patient and wait for many of their sales events, which literally happen monthly.

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

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Bonus Content – The Land of Confusion

Tags

1984, Arguments, bias, Confusion, Investors, Orwell, Propaganda, Research, Sources, Truth

I try to avoid politics in this blog, because it is so divisive. The days of two politicians fighting it out on the floors of their respective houses, and sharing dinner and drinks afterward are long gone. Today, we watch two political parties (in America), eviscerate one another on television, radio, the print, and digital media.

Today, trusting the news you receive is a fool’s bet. One side says the other is evil; the other side reciprocates. Today, we need fact checking on our social media so we can feel good about the information we get on our social media feeds.

Are eggs good for us? Are carbs bad? Are fats bad? Is there climate change? Are the police racists? Is there such a thing as systemic racism? Use any of these sentences for a google search and you will read many arguments claiming one side or another. There are no definitive sources of information anymore. There is nowhere you can go to that can be considered the final authority on anything.

If you are in the U.S. or not, it is likely you have read about the riots, the police brutality, the racism, present in America. You can read about statues being torn down, people being killed, businesses burned, whole sections of towns being taken over by radicals, all while politicians watch and do nothing, leaving the helpless citizenry to fend for themselves.

You can read about strategically placed pallets of bricks, metal bars, and other “weapons” in areas where “peaceful” protests are being conducted. You can read about local governments pursuing campaigns to defund the police. You can watch radicals burn and loot businesses, destroy historic statues and monuments, all while the police watch or are “magically” not available. Insane?

What can you trust? Who can you believe? Is there any information source you can trust? Unfortunately, no. Today, you have to dig a lot deeper to get at the truth. If you lack the time or patience to seek out truth, you’ll be fooled on a daily basis. Because that is what it is about today. Fooling you to push a narrative. Deceiving you to support one political plank over another.

You can watch a video of a policeman brutalizing a citizen, only to find out later, that the original video was doctored. You can read about a particular cause you have, only to find out later that the supporters of that cause, paid off the scientists to get a result they wanted. You can follow a movement, thinking you are doing the right thing, only to find out that the money you donated is not going toward the cause, but toward political races that have nothing to do with your cause AT ALL.

There is a quote in George Orwell’s 1984. “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” Many folks who have never read 1984, don’t understand these quotes until they are put into context. These quotes are slogans for the totalitarian government Orwell describes.

Pay attention to the last quote and think about what I’ve described. Ignorance is strength. When you overwhelm the public with seemingly contradictory information, you gain strength over them. You gain strength because you divide them. The United States is the most divided I’ve seen in my lifetime.

How do you solve this problem? Read books. Read philosophy. Read history. Read all of it broadly. Follow arguments that are supported by facts, not feelings. Go to the source. Do not depend on anything labeled “News”. There is no news anymore. People’s opinions are not news.

This article leads me back to my post about critical thinking. Think. Read. Think. Read some more. Go to the source. Find out who supports that source. If you read an article that states that eggs are wonderful for you, find out if it was a scientific study supported by the egg industry. If someone says sugar is no problem for your health, find out if it is supported by the sugar manufacturers. You see? You can do this with any topic, be it racism, climate change, nutritional benefits of eggs, sugar, etc.

Every scientific study is supported by donations and grants. Who provided the money? What stake do they have in a given study’s results? Who gains from one result over another? Where is it published? What is their editorial process?

If you do watch the news (I don’t anymore, I only scan the news now in digital form), do your homework. Watch multiple sources of the news from both right-leaning and left-leaning sources. Typically, the truth is in the middle of these two extremes. You’ll be amazed how informed you really feel, when you think about the sources of information you are using, and how the author derived their arguments. Are their arguments based in reality or pushing some political narrative?

Here are some more examples. We were told to avoid large crowds to avoid spreading COVID-19, yet now we are seeing large crowds without social distancing protesting in our streets. If you protest the lockdown, you are wrong. If you protest police brutality and racism, you’re exempt. If you like guns, you’re a nut, unless you are taking over six blocks in Seattle or Portland. Then the guns are OK. If you think putting up a wall to curb illegal immigration is OK, you’re racist, unless you are a group of radicals putting up a wall in Seattle or Portland to protect their newly found Utopias. Welcome to the Land of Confusion. This is outright insanity, right?

In our information saturated world, we all have to be more discriminating. We have to read broadly. We have to take a look at the arguments being posed by all sides and then make a decision about who we think is right or wrong. Arguments that are not supported by fact are weak and untenable. Arguments supported by junk science or biased studies are weak and untenable.

Listen to your gut. If you read something and it is filled with emotion, insults, and outrageous claims, it is likely false. If it is filled with verifiable facts, it is more likely to be true. But don’t stop there. What facts are being used? Where were they derived from? How were those facts and figures determined? Who paid for the study that produced the facts? How are these facts being used?

It’s a lot of work to get at the truth. You have to dig, and dig, and dig some more. When you have completed this hard work, you will begin to understand how important it is to get at the truth, by thinking critically.

You can circumvent the Land of Confusion by doing this hard work. Stop accepting what you are “told” is true. Verify, dig deeper, and weigh the arguments carefully. Then make your decision. If you can’t, dig some more. You don’t know enough yet.

Until next time…

Dave