Grow In 30 Days

Last Post

2009-08-07T03:38:00.000-07:00

This will be my last post on this blog. The reasons are myriad, but the main reason is very simple: I don't know enough. I am not an expert, or even above average, in this field. I have very little unique knowledge to give, and in the end, it showed. There's a difference between truly knowing what you're talking about and flying by the seat of your pants, and I have a new blog where I genuinely DO know what I'm talking about. If you happen to play Magic: The Gathering, visit www.mtgsalivanth.blogspot.com. If not, you won't be interested. Really.

I'd like to give thanks for everyone who has commented on the blog. I really appreciate all the feedback and support I have received. Perhaps in a few years, when I know more about personal growth, I will be able to write a much better blog. However, for now, I must learn. The difference between this blog, where I've only been into the field for 6 months, and the new blog where I have 3-4 years of accrued knowledge to share are astounding.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Until your time, may you grow and learn, and never leave the path you started.

101 in 1001 Update

2009-08-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last update, since I've been busy writing a series about the styles of personal growth. Work on the list has been fairly slow recently, I admit, but here's what I've done:

Started playing Spyro 4. It is, to be kind, godawful. The handling is terrible, but I will finish the game. Unlike in the first 3 Spyro games however, I don't think I'll attempt to 100% the game.

I reached a significant milestone: 100 blog posts! It's incredible that I've come so far in such a short time. To a thousand more posts!

I was going to wait for three months to complete this item, but my mindset has changed so much that I believe I can cross it off now: I am now a vegetarian. If I ever go back to meat (unlikely) I'll put it back on the list. Thus, list item 23. Become a vegetarian permanently can now be crossed off. I've never felt better!

Completing the trial was also something I was told I would fail at, so that's another item to tick off for number 58.

I'll be starting a new group of 30-day trials soon, related to productivity. Stay tuned!

The 4 Styles of Personal Growth: The One True Style

2009-08-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to my series on the 4 styles of personal growth. This is the final article in the series, and I'll be moving on tomorrow. For those who have missed part of it, you can find the series here:

The One True Style

If there's a fifth style, the one true style, you may wonder why I've spent 5,000 words talking about the other ones. The answer is simple, and if you take nothing else away from this article, take this one sentence.

The One True Style is combining all four styles.

The best path of personal growth is being able to call upon any and all of them: to master all four so you can use them as you see fit for any situation. Every one of the paths I've described has a weakness, but together they are whole.

Everyone has a little bit of each path inside them. The One True Path simply brings them out and gives them all attention.

Growth:

The One True Style is adept at all forms of personal growth. First, you use a combination of intuition and self-trust to narrow down the area, then research what you need to know before setting an exact goal if possible. During the trial you can continue to use a combination of facts, feelings and intuition to remain on the right path. The One True Style allows for any situation to be handled. Very few ever truly master the One True Style but it's an excellent goal to strive for by strengthening your weaker paths every time you set a new goal.

Subtypes:

Most masters of the One True Style have a bias towards one path. It's almost impossible to achieve truly perfect balance, so here's a paragraph on each of the paths when dominant in the One True Path.

Progressive-Dominant: This person will almost always set exact goals and back them up with logic. They'll generally use research to support their logic, and let their intuition find the goal. As long as their gut reaction and the facts say it's fine, he's on board.

Intuition-Dominant: This person will generally define the goal, then the parameters, rather than the parameters and goal at the same time. They'll also use their intuiton to find the goal they're after, and support it with facts. Generally their self-trust acts as a hot / cold meter rather than an exact instrument.

Research-Dominant: This person will generally narrow down the basic area of the goal with intuition and self-trust, then research several different possibilities until they find the most likely one. Then they'll set an exact goal.

Self-Trust-Dominant: This person will generally do what an Intuition-Dominant person does, only with more weight to their feelings. If their feelings are strongly oriented toward the goal, it goes ahead. If there's no reaction, generally the goal isn't good enough.

All people use the One True Style to some degree. The difference between student and adept is that the adept can consciously make the choice to use each branch, and can shift their dominance based on the goal. It's like a carpenter's toolbox: it's not as efficient if it only has hammers, no matter how many hammers they have. They need all kinds of tools, and need to be proficient at all of them. Translated to personal growth, that's the One True Style.

And that brings our series to a close. I hope this series has taught you more about the nature of personal growth, helped you understand your own path, and how to become better at it, as well as what to strive for.

Until next time, may you use whatever tool the job requires.

The 4 Styles of Personal Growth: Self-Trust

2009-08-01T08:18:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to my series on the 4 styles of personal growth. This will be the penultimate article in the series. For those who have missed part of it, you can find the fifth part of the series here, the fourth part here, the third part here, the second part here, and the first part here.

Summing Up:

To recap, the self-trust path involves listening to one's own feelings and reactions as the main guide to determing whether or not you are on the correct path. If it feels wrong, a self-trust grower is very unlikely to do it. However, if it feels good to the person, they are more likely to attempt it.

As an example, my mother has recently decided to go vegetarian. However, last night she had a very tough day, and got my stepfather to pick up KFC (I just had chips). The next day, however, she admitted to me that she will probably go back to vegetarianism because she felt rotten when eating the KFC. She's also an admitted follower of the self-trust path.

Many of the people I know are on this path.

Growth:

The paths that are best suited for a follower of this path vary from person to person. Generally a follower of this path will feel drawn towards certain areas, but while some may feel an affinity for health, others may feel an affinity for money, socialising or any other aspect of personal growth. The important thing is to identify your own strengths.

You'll also have weaknesses, but you probably won't know what they are unless you make a mistake and go against your self-trust. With this path you'll naturally steer clear of your weak points.

Subtypes:

Self-Trust / Progressive (S/P): This is a good combination, since it allows for measurable goals to be set that the person feels good about. Generally the S/P will be drawn to a field, and then will choose a specific goal. Assuming they don't feel blocked about it, they'll go through with it, and they'll know when they've achieved it. A good blend of intuitive guidance and precise goal-setting.

Self-Trust / Intutive (S/I): Common for self-trusters, this combination focuses on using both external and internal forces as a guide. They may not always know exactly what they're doing, but they will have a lot of trouble going down the wrong path. If you're on this path, check out the fourth post in this series, which explains the difference between self-guidance and intuitive guidance.

Self-Trust / Research (S/R): An S/R will generally research whatever takes their fancy, and during the research process will use their feelings as a barometer to gauge the information. Generally if an S/R is on the right path, the research will encourage him or her to proceed. If the research is providing mixed feelings, it's not recommended to continue. You'll probably end up sabotaging yourself. I recommend choosing another path.

Shifting:

If you feel that self-trust isn't going to help you with your next goal, you can't figure out what to go after, or just feel like a change, this section is for you. Personal growth is malleable, and a good growth expert will be able to call upon all paths in varying degrees of expertise. Here's what you may need to do if:

Nothing feels quite 'right'.

You're not really feeling too good about your goals, no matter what you pick. You need to go to Intuition. Most likely you're on the wrong track, and intuition can help get you back on the right one. Once you've done that, your feelings should start pointing you in the right direction. This isn't too hard a shift, since you're not entrenched in cold information giving you your guidance.

You have mixed feelings: part of you wants to proceed but you're holding back.

You can't decide whether to do it or not. We've all had this feeling, when you're on the brink of committing to something but hold back from truly doing so. You need to become a Researcher. Research the topic you're not sure about, and focus on how that information makes you feel. If it makes you feel more confident, go for it. If it makes you feel less excited or confident, bin the idea and pick another one. You're free to go back to Self-Trust after just a few hours, making this the briefest shift you can have and still experience it properly.

You don't seem to be getting anywhere.

You're confident you're on the right path, but you're not too much further along than you were two or three months ago. You need to go Progressive. Knowing the path you need to be on is worthless if you're just dawdling along. You need to set out with long, confident strides, and progression will help you do that. Set goals that make you feel inspired and confident, and your progress should improve dramatically.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the self-trust path is excellent for deciding the general area you should focus on, but it's not as exact in results as some might like. Most people who practice personal growth use self-trust unconsciously, since the more trust you have in yourself, the more you channel this path, and growers have more trust in themselves than people who remain stagnant. In order to supplement this path, you should set definite aims to make sure you're getting somewhere.

Until next time, may you know what this message should say:)

The 4 Styles of Personal Growth: Research

2009-07-31T05:56:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to my series on the 4 styles of personal growth. For those who have missed part of it, you can find the fourth part of the series here, the third part here, the second part here, and the first part here.

Summing Up:

To recap, the research path involves doing lots of research (obviously), gathering a large amount of data, and analysing said data before making big decisions. 'Knowledge is power' is foremost in their minds: they believe the more research they do, the more likely they are to succeed at their goal.

To an extent they are right. If they are setting the right goals, finding out a lot about them will certainly help 99% of researchers. However, most researchers must stick with goals that other people have done. They aren't good at blazing their own trail, due to the nature of their style.

Growth:

Similar to progressives. A researcher will want to focus on areas that are easily defined and researchable. Health, productivity, work and building skills are all good. If there are plenty of how-to articles out there, it's a good bet. Anything that's difficult to write about or to understand without personally experiencing it is a weak point for a researcher.

Any researcher, however, will have some subtype. It's impossible to rely entirely on other people's facts. There's a reason they call it PERSONAL growth. It's unique to you. A researcher, therefore, may have trouble setting their own goals.

Subtypes:

Research / Progressive (R/P): The most common form of researcher. This researcher will research easy-to-define goals to find other people who have made the transition, and will find out about it. An example would be me while researching polyphasic sleep. I knew what I wanted to do so I let my progressive side take a back seat. When I researched polyphasic sleep I found out a number of things that will prove incredibly helpful when I'm in the right circumstances to attempt this again (which will be in a little over 2 months).

Research / Intuitive (R/I): This isn't as bizarre a pairing as you might think. The two actually complement each other quite well. Intuition as a secondary style is usually used to define goals. An R/I will generally know where they want to go, thus fixing the major weakness of researchers, while finding out a lot about the path ahead, a major weakness of intuitives. Together they make for a good all-round growth style.

Research / Self-Trust (R/S): This is fairly similar to R/I, except that rather than define goals, an R/S is a much more pure researcher. An R/S uses their gut feeling as another research tool. Once they feel good about what they're researching they can research the hell out of it. Their only trouble is choosing goals, but self-trust helps that a bit by acting as a barometer for what areas to focus on. R/S's are notoriously prone to analysis paralysis, more so than other researchers.

Shifting:

If there's not enough information on your chosen topic, you feel weary of sifting through data, or you simply want to make a change, this section is for you. Personal growth is malleable, and a good growth expert will be able to call upon all paths in various degrees of expertise. Here's what you may need to do if:

You're running into unforeseen problems.

Usually, the answer here isn't more research as your gut reaction might be. Most likely there's a problem outside the task at hand: part of you is blocking it, or this simply isn't something you should be doing at all, and you should focus on another goal. You need to switch to Intuition. When you do this, try to use your intuition to figure out why you're being blocked. Once you figure out what you really should be doing, you can go right back to researching.

You can't pick a goal.

This is a common problem with many researchers. Especially with the internet, you have a world of data at your fingertips. So what do you research? You need to become Progressive. A progressionist will be able to use logic to figure out where the greatest gains can be achieved in the least time, and then you can research that. A key thing to remember with research is that it complements everything quite well. After going through your problem, you can go right back to it.

You don't feel confident.

All the research in the world doesn't make you feel confident. You're worried you might not succeed, you feel insecure. Knowledge doesn't seem too powerful anymore. You need to shift to Self-Trust. If your gut feeling tells you no, then there's always a good reason why. Research is good, but it has a tendency to fall off the path. Use your feelings as a guide to get back to the right goals, and then go with it.

Conclusion

In conclusion, research is a lot like salt. It goes well with almost anything, but generally isn't too good on it's own. You need a path to complement it so you know you're heading in the right direction, or you'll spend lots of time researching the wrong thing and having to start over. Research is also a great secondary style, too.

Until next time, may the 20 blogs and 15 self-help articles you trawl through hold the keys you need for success:)

The 4 Styles of Personal Growth: Intuition

2009-07-30T07:56:00.001-07:00

Welcome back to my series on the 4 styles of personal growth. For those who have missed part of it, you can find the third part of the series here, the second part of the series here, and the first part of the series here.

Summing Up:

To recap, the intuitive path involves shunning long-term plans and goals, and putting trust in one's intuition. It's a fairly rare path, and certainly not for most beginners. However, if the intuitive's intuition is well-developed it can lead to excellent results. Unlike other paths, which must use some intuition, people who embrace the intuitive path trust their intuition implicitly to help them grow. Other than following their intuition, they have no or very few plans or goals.

Generally the only real way to know that the intuitive path is working is to look back after being on the path for a while, and seeing where it has taken you. Truly it is the most esoteric of the paths I intend to discuss, but I'll do my best to do it justice.

Growth:

Unlike most paths, intuitives are equally suited for all areas of growth depending on what intuition tells them. They are neither strong, nor weak in any area, and can use this to their advantage by instinctively focusing on whatever area needs work and working on it at full strength. An intuitive may not even define what field they are working on. It requires being comfortable with ambiguity.

Subtypes:

Intuitive / Progressive (I/P): An I/P is by necessity different from a regular intuitive. Intuition is all about not making plans, whereas progression is all about making precise plans. Generally an I/P will instinctively know what goals to set for. Rather than logically working it out, they will simply trust their subconscious to set a goal, then bring it into the conscious by defining it through writing or typing the requirements.

Intuitive / Research (I/R): An I/R is exactly what you'd think. Despite using their intuition to grow, they aren't going to be caught unprepared. After figuring out what they want to achieve, they will arm themselves with information on the topic in order to achieve maximum effectiveness with it. If an I/R wanted to get fitter, you can bet they'd research a lot about it.

Intuitive / Self-Trust (I/S) An I/S is as close to a pure intuitive as you're likely to get. Intuition and self-trust are very similar: indeed, to the untrained eye they may seem the same. However intuition comes from a force outside yourself, whereas self-trust is very internal. With practice, an I/S learns to seperate these cues and make them work together to know exactly what they have to do for certain almost every time.

Shifting:

If your intuition is weak, you feel cut off from it, or you simply want to make a change, this section is for you. Personal growth is malleable, and a good growth expert will be able to call upon all paths in varying degrees of expertise. Here's what you may need to do if:

You're not getting results.

Your intuition probably isn't developed enough to make the path work effectively. Progression is what you need, especially since your next goal is clear. If you want to go back to intuition, you need to increase it's strength. There are several ways to do this, including meditation, changing your diet to be closer to nature, and progressive training: i.e, giving your intuition simpler tasks than taking over all your growth at once.

All these can be easily defined. If you don't want to go back to intuition, simply go over what your weakest area is, and set goals to work on that.

You know what to do, but you're failing.

You know you need to do X, but obstacles keep popping up. You need to become a Researcher temporarily. Most likely the problems you're facing have already been solved by people, and a favourite tactic of bloggers is to teach people to solve problems they've already solved (believe me, I know). Most likely you can find the answer if you go deep enough. There's more to everything than meets the eye.

However, if all your research is going nowhere, perhaps you aren't taking intuition far enough. Maybe you're on the wrong path. But only do this if research fails: and give it a couple of weeks of dedicated research. Give it a chance.

You don't feel secure.

You feel like you're giving too much control of your life to outside forces, but at the same time, you don't know how to take control. You need to turn to Self-Trust. Self-Trust is similar to intuition, but it's internal so you have complete control. If necessary, work your way up to trusting yourself more. If you already trust yourself, translate that trust into a dominant force.

Conclusion

The intuition path has it's pros and cons, but in the hands of a skilled intuitive is an excellent path to take. It's not easy to master, but the rewards are certainly worth it. If you want to become an intuitive but don't yet have the skill for it, try progressive training of your intuition. The more you trust it, the better it will work for you.

Until next time, may you know what you must do.

The 4 Styles of Personal Growth: Progression

2009-07-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to my series on the 4 styles of personal growth. For those who have missed part of it, you can find the second part of the series here and the first part here.

Summing Up:

To recap, the progressionist path of personal growth is a very logical, methodical path in which a practicer will set measurable goals (such as a 30-day trial to do X) and then achieve them. A stranger, looking at the practicer's accomplishments, will be able to state with precise certainty if a progressionist has achieved their goal or not. That's how clear and precise their goals are.

I personally am a progressionist, as evident by my 30-day trials. My goals are quite measurable. Other people may have goals like 'Be more loving' 'Help more people' and 'Do better at X'. A progressionist doesn't really get that. If you can't measure your goals, what's the point? Note: there IS a point, in that it gets you moving. Just by examining the other styles, I'm able to see with their eyes.

Growth:

A progressionist's main growth efforts will generally be directed at fields with a lot of numbers. Health, productivity, and finance are examples. It's hard to make an undefinable goal in terms of finances, and very easy to make a strictly measurable one.

The fields they will have the most trouble in are fluid, subjective fields like socialising. How can you measure if you're better at socialising than you were a month ago? It can be done, but it's not easy.

Subtypes:

Progressive / Intuitive (P/I): A P/I is difficult to define: more information can be found here. To sum it up, a P/I will generally use their intuition not for setting goals, but for choosing fields. A P/I might not use their intuition to decide "I want to make $5k a month'. Rather, they would feel like they wanted to be richer, then create an exact goal, and follow through logically.

Progressive / Research (P/R): My personal style, these two go hand in hand. A P/R will take logic to it's extreme, by deciding on a goal, then finding out as much info as possible on the subject, then assimilating that information, picking an exact goal, and moving forward. This is the way a scientist would be likely to approach personal growth.

Progressive / Self-Trust (P/S): Unlike other progressives, a P/S usually doesn't follow their goals in a logical manner: rather, they will pick the goals that feel right, and use their feelings as a barometer. Of course, they'll still make exact goals. P/S's use their gut feelings as radar signals, interpreting them scientifically and adjusting course accordingly.

Shifting:

If you feel that progression isn't going to help you in your next goal, you've plumbed the depths of it, or you simply want a change, this section is for you. Personal growth is malleable, and a good growth expert will be able to call upon all paths in varying degrees of expertise. Here's what you may need to do if:

You're uncertain.

You have a goal, but you're worried about it. You know what you want to do, but you're scared of taking the next step. You want to become a Researcher temporarily. This is an easy shift: your mind should easily play along with getting lots of information. You can then make your decision as to whether to do the goal or not.

You're moving in to an unfamiliar field.

A progressionist trying to do better at socialising won't do too well. It's not measurable, and it's very difficult to know if you've made significant progress. To do well here, you'll need to move into Self-Trust. Focus on the small things in life: even the most anal of progressionists don't plan every little thing. Start moving into not planning larger areas until you're confident taking on projects with just feelings to guide you, then make the shift.

Things are shifting too fast.

You can't keep up with the rapid pace. Goals you make become obsolete in a week, and you can't analyse the changes properly. You need to move into Intuition. Under normal circumstances this shift is hard, but if you have this problem, you're halfway there. As soon as you fully accept you can't control this, and you're just along for the ride, you can let go and let your intuition guide you.

Conclusion

The progression path has it's pros and cons, but is especially strong in the more scientific areas of growth. As long as you have lots of room to grow in formulaic areas, the progressionist path will serve you well. In order to supplement this path, you should learn to trust yourself more so that you can take on less measurable challenges and grow holistically.

Until next time, may you get from A to B within X days following Route Y:)

The 4 Styles of Personal Growth: Relationships Between The Styles

2009-07-28T07:32:00.000-07:00

This is a followup post to Choose Your Own Path: The 4 Different Styles of Personal Growth. The post has resonated surprisingly well, so I decided to write a follow-up series. A link to the original article can be found here.

While the 4 styles are all different, some of them are closer together than others. Progressionists and researchers are left-brained, whereas intuitive and self-centered people are primarily right-brained in their approach. Thus, progressionists are also likely to be researchers, and vice-versa, whereas intuitives are likely to also be self-trusting. (and vice versa)

One thing that might be hard for some readers to understand is intuition vs. self-trust. (astute readers will note that I changed 'self-centered' to 'self-trust'. This is because I believe it's both clearer, and executes the point better.) Intuition involves doing what you feel you should do: using your feelings as a roadmap, effectively. You don't make plans (unless, like many, you're not purely intuitive) and you let your subconscious guide you along.

In contrast, the self-trust path involves making plans, and setting goals, but listening to your gut during the planning stage. If something feels right, the self-truster will then make a plan for it, but if it seems wrong, they will simply not do it, even if they think it's the right thing. If they think it's the right think, they may work through the feelings to find the true issue, but rarely will they go against them directly.

Finally, the hardest thing to understand is a progression / intuitive person. How could this be possible? While rare, what this involves is generally, for a progressive / intuitive, using one's subconscious, rather than logic, to determine what goals to actually set, and for an intuitive / progressive, their intuition will usually lead them to take clearly defined steps which they can later look back on.

From this point on in the series, I shall refer to the four paths as such:

P = Progressive

I = Intuitive

R = Researcher

S = Self-Trust

As an example of the difference between P/I and I/P, let's take vegetarianism. Both people wish to do it.

The P/I will ask themselves 'What do I do next' and will receive some sort of sign to eliminate meat from their diet. They set a goal to do so for 30 days, and succeed. They then ask themselves whether or not to shift back, and receive a confirmation from the universe not to. Goal succeeded.

The I/P will ask themselves 'What do I do next' and will receive some sort of sign to eliminate meat from their diet. They do so, feeling no resistance from their intuition, and after a few weeks, they look back, and can see the benefits of being vegetarian. Both halves agree to continue. Goal succeeded.

While the two are similar, they do differ in some ways. This is very similar to the difference between R/S and S/R.

A note: For this series, I cannot avoid generalisations. It may be that you cannot actually be categorised under this system at all, or act differently than your profile states you will. That's fine. Everyone has their own path.

Over the next few days, I'll be writing four posts, exploring each profile in depth, including each secondary path, as well as tips on where to grow, and how to shift alignment when necessary.

Until next time, may you see the interconnectedness of all things.

Choose Your Own Path: 4 Different Styles of Personal Growth

2009-07-27T06:37:00.000-07:00

Throughout this blog, I've talked a lot about personal growth, and the way I approach it. But I've left out a very important piece of knowledge. Namely: you're free to disregard everything I say, and grow as you see fit.

In my mind, the only wrong path is refusing to grow and change at all. It's fine if you read 50 of my posts, then go out and ignore all of them. The point is to get moving, whichever path you take. There are many alternate paths, which by lack of experience, I haven't spoken of in-depth: but in order to set you off towards further research and experimentation, I shall describe them briefly. Note that I can't possibly describe all the paths, since they are limitless, but I'll try to speak about most of the major ones.

1. Progression

This is my path: I thought I'd start with what I know most. Progression is about measurable, attainable advances over specific periods of time. It's a very logical way of looking at things: if progress is measurable, it's easy to see you've attained it. As an extension of this progression, progressionists often set meta-goals, like my three-month areas of focus.

2. Intuition

This is the other extreme: I wouldn't recommend it to beginners. Even progressionists must use some intuition: otherwise how do you know what to aim your goals for? But dedicate intuitive growers rarely, if ever, actually set written goals: rather, they allow their own intuition and the universe to teach them as they see fit. This is a very creative, flowing way of looking at things: good for those who don't like restrictions.

3. Research

This personal growth enthusiast will dive into a topic, looking deeply and gaining as much knowledge as possible about a topic, before moving into a progression type goal of setting a measurable outcome. If knowledge is power, researchers hold all the cards. Good for knowing what you're up against.

4. Self-Trust

This circle often follows their own feelings and emotions as to what to do. If something feels "right", it's the way to go. If something feels wrong, it's not even considered. A lot of people, once they reach a certain level of consciousness, will adopt this motif, although they may use another primary method. Good for those who have high levels of self trust.

In my opinion, a conscious person will be able to draw from all four of these paths, but most people lean towards a specific one. Try doing a 30-day trial of switching to a different path. If you're very intuitive, try researching everything. Or ignore your feelings, and do what your brain says is correct. I don't suggest making this permanent, but if you have a rudimentary understanding of the other paths (as I must, because I have to write about them) you'll be able to harness them.

As a question: I'd like to know from all my readers, what path are you on? Most people will have a primary, and a secondary: I'm a progression / research person. I researched a LOT for polyphasic sleep, but mostly I stick to measurable goals. Either I attain it, or I do not.

Until next time, may you see from the other side of the coin.

101 in 1001 Update

2009-07-27T01:07:00.000-07:00

I have three achievements that I have made toward the list in the last few days, which I shall list before moving on to the bulk of this post which will be about my geocaching adventure today.

1: I purged a good part of my room. I'd say 30-50% of the purging is now done, but I've obviously still got a while to go. I've tossed out most of my books: next comes my clothes.

2: I reached 300 unique visitors. I'm still getting a result of about 3.2 new visitors per post: I'd like to up that to about 10 in the next few months.

3: I found, with Rowland, 2 geocaches. That makes it up to 4/10. We'll have to start going further afield, after we find the cache that has eluded us thrice already. That'll also complete one of Rowland's list items. You should check out his blog here.

Today was a pretty big day in terms of physical exercise: it's probably the longest I've travelled under my own power in one day. Ever.

Rowland was our Mega-Ultra Navigator Supreme, if you asked him, and did a fairly decent job if you ask me. We went to North Richmond first, about 4 km away, and then proceeded to grab some very tasty chips for lunch. We then went about 2 km up hills to reach the first cache.

The GPS was pointing to it being around a big tree: but it happened to be on private property. Me and Rowland hewed and hawed for about 10 minutes about whether or not to actually go in and try to find it. I was adamant, however, that it wasn't on private property, and as I moved back about 20 metres to try to get a better fix, Rowland managed to spy it: it was very, very well camouflaged in my opinion. Elated with our success, we signed the book and moved on.

Both the GPS and Rowland were wrong about which direction to take after we reached the end of Grose River Road (as Rowland pointed out, Grose River Road should take you to the ACTUAL RIVER) but it was a fun time anyway, as after trudging up the hills with our bikes, we found a dead-end, and proceeded to coast back down. I did one at full speed, and all Rowland heard was: "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

However, we then went back and took the other way, and finally managed to find it (Rowland collapsed on the beach in joy when we did) and started our search. The GPS quickly pointed us to a vast field of long grass, and it took us about 10-15 minutes to find it. The GPS kept cutting out, so I'd try and coax it into turning on (low battery at this point) and when it did, I RAN in the direction the GPS said until it cut out. Then I'd continue that way for a minute, then try again. Eventually we narrowed it down, and once again, Rowland spotted it. It had a mini Rubik's cube in it, and luckily I wanted a Rubik's cube, so I took that, and left a Chess computer game there as a trade (Chessmaster 8000, I have the 10th edition).

We then proceeded to go across the river, but I wasn't prepared for how deep or cold it would be. Despite wearing my shorts like an old man, I still got the bottoms of them soaked. It was BLOODY cold, my feet were ice-burnt by the end of it (or at least it felt that way) but after a break, and application of a towel, we headed back to Richmond.

All in all, twas a great, great day. We'll have to bike to Windsor next week...

Area of Focus: August - October

2009-07-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I outlined my method of personal growth over a longer period of time, but since I can't find it, I'll restate it briefly.

Rather than focus on a bunch of different goals in personal growth, I pick an area of my life I want to build up, and allocate about 75% of my growth to that area, for three months at a time. For the last three months, my focus has been health. I've improved my sleeping habits, my diet, and my exercise. I've gained a lot in the three months, and now it's time to lock in what I've gained, and move forward in another area.

For the next three months, the area I choose is Productivity. Starting August I'll kick it off with a few 30-day trials, and using research and experimentation, work to become a more productive person. I've been laying groundwork already.

I don't know what I'll do three months after this, but at the rate I'm growing, I'll be at a greater level of discipline and awareness three months from now than I am now, so a decision I make now may not be as good as one I can make in a few months. At the moment I'm thinking of social being the area, but I'll see how I feel about it when this area of focus is coming to a close.

I've missed blogging about personal growth, and the field of productivity has a LOT of good writing material available in it. I'm looking forward to writing some productivity-based posts that should hopefully help a lot of people take action. I've managed to get 300 unique visitors to this blog now: if only 5% were to benefit from this site at all, I've already helped more than a dozen people, and that's a very conservative estimate.

However, I'm certainly not stopping here, so if you have troubles with procrastination, deadlines, and managing projects, stay tuned. As soon as I work out the answers to my own procrastination problems I'll be happy to tell you:)

Until next time, may you see your target, and hunt it down.

No Post Tomorrow

2009-07-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

There will be no blog post tomorrow, on account of my trip to Sussex Inlet. I doubt I'll have access to the Internet there.

101 in 1001 Update

2009-07-23T05:18:00.000-07:00

It's been far too long since I posted one of these updates: I felt too tired on a polyphasic schedule! However, a fair bit has happened lately, so I'm documenting it all here.

Firstly: I have completed Task 6: Sort out your Magic card collection. I did this by going through all my cards, and tossing out every single one that I didn't want to keep. My collection is now about 10% of it's previous size, but retains 90% of the value.

I've changed Task 90, Learn to click your fingers, to another gaming challenge: Finish the Unholy War on Hard difficulty (both sides). I simply think learning to click my fingers is neither fun, nor significant.

I reached 90 blog posts a few days, so that milestone will be added to the list. I've also begun my business management course, and will be finished in 18 weeks.

Task 56: Inspire 10 people to complete 30-day trials successfully, now has a success. Rowland's finished a trial, so that's 1 down, 9 to go!

I've also mentally made the leap to continue being vegetarian: but I think I'll do it for a minimum of three months before labelling it as a permanent change.

Lastly, I've begun purging my room in earnest. It's a huge job, but in a week or two I should have less than half of my possessions, and I should be a lot happier!

So yeah: a lot has happened in the last few days, and hopefully I won' t leave the updates so late next time.

Polyphasic Sleep Update

2009-07-23T05:13:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, due to a few factors, but mainly the environment around me at this time, I won't be able to continue with polyphasic sleep.

In an environment that was conductive of polyphasic sleep, I'm sure I would be able to adapt. However, at the moment, my house is simply not the case. The main reason for this is because we're in the process of building an extension on the house. As you might imagine, building makes a lot of noise, and can often interrupt my naps.

I've made the decision to attempt to optimise my time better on a monophasic sleep schedule before trying to get more time on a polyphasic schedule. However, once my environment is better suited for polyphasic sleep, I'll be able to do it, and I will.

In brighter news, my friend Rowland is still going strong, and he's almost certain to successfully adapt to the Everyman schedule of polyphasic sleep. He'll have a blog up soon, and once it's up, I'll post a link to it.

Until next time, may you retreat: but never surrender.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 3

2009-07-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

The only thing worse than doing something stupid is admitting it to your loyal readers. I thought that the orientation for TAFE was going to last one week. Instead it's lasting one day. What does this mean? It means, in order to attend my classes, I can't do the Uberman.

However, I will continue to do the Everyman that I originally intended. I still intend to adapt to polyphasic sleep no matter what. I'm not going to give up.

Thanks to a bout of oversleeping while on the Uberman, I ended up sleeping 4.5 hours: which is actually only slightly longer than the Everyman core sleep, so it turned out alright in the end. I certainly beat myself up about it, but eventually when it turned out it was for the best, I accepted it as being meant to happen.

In other news, I should really find more convenient times to blog: such as in the afternoon or something. I can't do a good log on polyphasic sleep at 1 am while I'm adapting to it: so I may have to change the times that I blog.

The sleep deprivation on Everyman isn't too bad: it's basically like staying up very late on a monophasic schedule. I just hope I'll be functional at TAFE, but I seem to be so far. Generally I only actually feel tired when I would normally be asleep. Could this mean that I'm only tired because I've trained my body to BE tired at those times? It's certainly possible: and if I stop sleeping monophasically, that habit should go away soon.

In the meantime, I have to work out some more scheduled activities. With the amount of time I'm gaining from polyphasic sleep, I'll end up with about as much spare time as a monophasic person on vacation.

I shall continue regular blogging only after adapting, unfortunately. I don't think my blog posts would be very good at the moment: unless I write in the afternoon (when sleep-deprivation is basically nil). I'll have to start trying that.

See you tomorrow!

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 2

2009-07-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

Rather than do the Everyman, I decided to make the shift to full Uberman at around midday today. So I won't be undergoing core sleep tonight. I consider this Day 1 of my Uberman adaptation: most sources on the web say that Day 2 or Day 3 is the hardest day, so hopefully I get over the worst of it soon and am functional in a week's time.

I haven't experienced a dream in a nap yet, but my friend Rowland has. We're both doing well: no problems with oversleeping, and we're taking our naps at the correct times.

It's currently nearly 2 am. I'm about as tired as I would be if I'd stayed up this late on a monophasic schedule, so I definitely think this should work. I'm managing to fall asleep during every nap: my body is getting used to it. I've also given up caffeine again. But this time I'm giving myself the luxury of caffeine-free soft drink, so I don't have to go without soft drink (soda for American readers).

I've been mulling over some ideas over what to do with all my extra time. The first thing I'd like to do is purge my room, which includes sorting my Magic cards (incidentally, completing 2 tasks on my list as well). After that, I'll need to work on it. I'm sure I'll find ways to pass the time, but I'd like to use it effectively, too.

Either way, the challenge isn't too difficult as of yet, so hopefully it doesn't get much worse than this.

Polyphasic Sleep - Day 1

2009-07-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

Disclaimer: This won't be my best blog post ever. That's because I'm sleep deprived at the time of writing, as is evidenced by the polyphasic sleep challenge itself.

It's 2 am of the first day of polyphasic sleep. I have begun my naps, but didn't sleep at 11 pm. I simply wasn't that tired. This will not be a problem at 4 am, I can tell you that!

I played video games til about 1, when I then proceeded to stop because the more tired I got, the suckier I became. I've been wiling away the last hour talking on Twitter, Facebook, and MSN, and thinking up tasks to do and being too tired to do them. However, I do aim over the next few days to make sure that my room gets tidied. I'm going to set myself a goal every cycle (time until next sleep). This cycle's goal is to tidy off my desk.

If I tried to do this a couple of months ago, I doubt I would have managed it. However, my self-discipline is strong: but I haven't entered the hard part yet. The adaptation period has only just begun.

I'm pretty well prepared for the adaptation. I've done my research, and polyphasic sleep expert PureDoxyk is following and being followed by me. Many before me have succeeded, and if they can do it, so can I.

1 hour and 40 minutes until core sleep.

Polyphasic Sleep Challenge Schedule Explained

2009-07-18T06:40:00.000-07:00

Greetings, new and returning readers. As many of you will know, I'm an avid personal growth enthusiast, so my latest challenge is adapting to polyphasic sleep. I've alluded to this challenge in the last two days, but some people may not know what polyphasic sleep is and people won't know what form I've elected to take. So today, just before my last night of monophasic sleep, I shall spell it out. This should also help by serving as a primer for people new to the concept, as well as explaining my polyphasic sleep schedule.

What is polyphasic sleep?

The best way to understand polyphasic sleep is to compare it to monophasic sleep: the standard sleep that most of you undergo each night. Monophasic sleep is typically 7-9 hours of sleep, in a single phase, per day. This allows for 5 or 6 complete 90-minute sleep cycles, which contain NREM, the gateway to REM, and deep sleep. But as humans, we don't need NREM except to prepare us for REM, and we get more deep sleep than we actually need. So therefore, we're literally wasting time every day while we sleep. So how do we remedy this?

The answer is polyphasic sleep. By sleeping in 20-minute increments more-or-less evenly spaced throughout the day, one can force the body to adapt: going into REM immediately, and then transitioning into deep sleep, all within 20 minutes. However, this is tough, because until the body adapts,l you get no REM sleep from the naps: so it feels like you haven't slept at all during them. Of course, just 20 minutes is only one sleep cycle, and we need five or six. So how do we get all the cycles? This is where scheduling comes in.

Polyphasic Sleep types: Everyman and Uberman.

The difference between the Uberman schedule and the Everyman schedule is simple. Everyman includes core sleep: Uberman does not. Core sleep is when, despite adapted to polyphasic sleep, you get at least one full 90-minute sleep cycle daily. For convenience, and for space, I shall only describe the two most common. A link to a polyphasic sleep website that has information on all the different schedules is at the bottom of this page.

The Uberman schedule is simple to read. In the Uberman, you sleep 6 times a day for 20 minutes, getting six sleep cycles. In the Everyman, you sleep for 3 hours per night of core sleep, plus 3 naps throughout the day.

Uberman = 2 hours per day of sleep.

Everyman = 4 hours per day of sleep.

Monophasic = 8 hours per day of sleep.

So 4 hours per day extra is all well and good, but why would anyone pick Everyman over Uberman? Well, as the name might suggest, Uberman isn't remotely easy. The advantages of Everyman over Uberman are:

Slightly shorter period of adaptation
Much easier adaptation
Less sense of 'time dilation'. Uberman followers, once adapted, are forced to deal with the fact that they no longer 'go to sleep for the night' and need to learn a whole new way of living. Everyman followers still go to sleep for the night, just for less time.
More flexibility. You can stretch an Everyman nap by an hour or two, but you don't want to do that with Uberman too often.

Both Uberman and Everyman are good ideas.

My Schedule

With a mere 8 days to adapt, and with little preparation, I have decided to do the Everyman. Tonight will be my last night of monophasic sleep: I shall begin the naps at 11 pm tomorrow, and then continue until I am adapted. My schedule will be:

Core sleep: 4 am - 7 am
Nap at 1 pm
Nap at 6 pm
Nap at 11 pm

This allows me to do my TAFE courses around the naps. The main issue is Saturdays, where I'll often be out of the house, and busy, from 10 am to 7 pm. For this strategy, I shall core sleep from 6 am - 9 am before the Saturday, then proceed to take an extra 3-hour core sleep when I get home. Within 24 hours, I'll be back on track. It's not ideal, but I enjoy my Saturday activities and am willing to pay the price. (Note: this would be impossible on Uberman)

I may, during the next holidays, upgrade to the Uberman schedule, but I'll need to analyse it's effect on my lifestyle versus having an additional 10-15 hours per week.

My friend Rowland is also doing the Everyman, and apart from Saturdays where he has no such difficulty, we will follow the same schedule. I also intend to do several projects from my list during the adaptation, such as purging my room of clutter, and sorting out my card collection according to the system I have devised (similar to my local card shop's system). The extra time should also make me more productive, as I intend to start a to-do list to be working on during my 20 hours of waking time per day.

Bibliography (a.k.a Further Reading)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyphasic_sleep. The Wikipedia article. This is fairly scientific and not all of the data is up to date, but it's the first thing a lot of people will search for.

www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/10/polyphasic-sleep/. This is an article that leads to a series of articles about a popular personal development blogger's adventures into the Uberman schedule of polyphasic sleep, until his return 5 1/2 months later, because of the fact that the rest of the world was monophasic. He had no health problems and even reported increased creativity and alertness. This was also the blog series that first taught me about what polyphasic sleep was.

http://www.puredoxyk.com/index.php/polyphasic-sleep-portal/. This is a list of articles written by PureDoxyk, one of the two people who discovered the Uberman schedule in 2000. It has a lot of info on Everyman (that's where I found Everyman) and PureDoxyk is one of the greatest experts on polyphasic sleep in the world.

Thanks for bearing with me through this unexpectedly long blog. I'll be blogging about my polyphasic experiences starting Monday (Sunday won't be too interesting since I won't have hit the flow of it yet). Remember to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Salivanth: I'll be Twittering around the clock. If you don't have a Twitter account, you can sign up at www.twitter.com

Until next time, may you take the time to research your goals.

How To Be Sure You're Working Toward Your Goals

2009-07-17T06:49:00.000-07:00

When you have goals, and things you want to do in life, it pays to review them every now and then, and make sure you're still working on them. I checked one of mine today: I'm a lightworker. However, I haven't actually been doing much to help other people: I've been rather self-centered as of late. So once I've adapted to polyphasic sleep, I'm going to spend some of my new time helping others.

Here's a method to review your goals with, nice and simple.

Step 1: Write each of your goals down on a piece of paper.

You only need to do this for vague goals. If your goal is to lose weight, just step on the scale and you'll know how well you're doing. For example, I don't need to constantly check on my 101 in 1001 List, since it's obvious how much I've done. Goals like "Improve my blog" "Be a lightworker" etc. require clarification.

The following steps should be repeated for each goal.

Step 2: Ask yourself 'Do I still want to achieve this goal?'

If you don't want to achieve this, be honest. One of my goals was once to be an author: but now, while I'd like to write, it's a hobby, not something I want to make into a career. I'm not as interested in writing novels as I am in writing blog posts.

If the answer is no, move on to the next step.

Step 3: Ask yourself 'What have I done in the past week to help me in this goal?'

If the answer is 'Nothing' than you're probably not on track. Note: use your common sense here. I haven't done any work on moving towards my goal of getting my Web Design Diploma in the last week, but that's because I've already enrolled and classes haven't yet started.

If you are well on track, you can move on to the next goal. If not, move on to the next step.

Step 4: Ask yourself 'What can I do this week to help me in this goal?'

If you think for a few minutes (even seconds) you should be able to come up with some implementable actions to help you with whatever goal you're working on. If you can't think of a single thing, perhaps your goal isn't too implementable right now, and you should pick a different one.

So hopefully this method should help you determine which goals to keep and how to work on the goals you stick with. Steady progress on your goals is an integral part of personal growth.

Until next time, may the goals you have truly matter.

Productive Procrastination

2009-07-16T07:04:00.000-07:00

Ironically, sometimes procrastinating something can lead you to do something just as, if not more, productive. Take today for example. I procrastinated for an hour in writing this blog post because I couldn't think of a topic, but that was fine with me, because I put the hour to good use by optimising the blog, clearing it out a bit, and dusting off my Twitter account. You should follow me on Twitter here, now that I'm actually going to use it.

But how do you know whether your 'productive' procrastination is actually productive, or just more procrastination you're trying to convince yourself is positive? Here's a small quiz for you:

1. Will I still get what I need to do done if I procrastinate by doing this task?

No matter what the answer is, proceed to Question 2.

2. Will this procrastination make me wake up tomorrow and think I've achieved something?

If the answer to Questions 1 and 2 are both YES, go ahead and keep doing whatever it is you're doing.

If the answer to Question 2 is NO, do what you know needs to be done.

If the answer to Question 1 is NO, and the answer to Question 2 is YES, proceed to Question 3.

3. Is doing what I'm doing by procrastinating more important than what I should be doing?

If the answer is YES, continue doing it.

If the answer is NO, stop.

Let's go through the test with my questioning.

Will I still get what I need to do done if I procrastinate by doing this task? Yes. I was committed to writing up a blog post, even if it took me all night.

Will this procrastination make me wake up tomorrow and think I've achieved something? Yes. I've wanted to re-optimise the website for some time.

Therefore, I can go ahead and do it. If the answer was NO to the first question, and I went to Question 3, I think I'd do the blog post. I've committed myself to doing one every day, and the website will still be there tomorrow. However, I had plenty of time, so I was happy to do the optimisation.

If you want to INDUCE productive procrastination, make a reverse to-do list. Make the difficult, trival things top priority, and make the easier, more important things low priority. If you're a procrastinator you'll wind up doing the easier "less important" tasks to put off tackling the hard ones that your list says has to be done. And you'll end up achieving a fair bit of work that you actually wanted to get done.

I hope you enjoyed the format of this article: it's a little different to my usual ones. But it's a pretty easy quiz to memorise and use: so hopefully you enjoyed it!

Until next time, may you procrastinate all day and get all your work done.

The Value Of A Good Kick In The Rear

2009-07-15T06:43:00.000-07:00

One of the best things you can have in personal growth, assuming you're at the level of consciousness to not act defensively (or at least REALISE when you're acting defensively) is someone who can get tough on you and tell you when you're not pushing yourself hard enough. Complacency is the enemy of growth: the more complacent you get, the easier it is to justify it. I got a kick in the rear today from the person I thought least likely to actually do it: my mother.

At the risk of offending my mother, I always thought her to be a fairly weak person when it came to dealing with others. She has strong self-discipline, but I rarely see her impose her will on others with any degree of success. So imagine my shock when she comes out with such gems as 'What good will it do you to sit here and do nothing when you go on about personal growth?' Ouch.

Of course, she's right. And I needed that. Which is why, as detailed in my 101 in 1001 Update, I intend to adapt to polyphasic sleep within the next two weeks. It's time to sprint at the objective and attack the enemy. I've been entrenched for too long. It's time to advance once again.

If you can, find the toughest person you know and tell them to make sure you know any time you're slacking off. It'll piss you off, but it'll get you moving. I didn't like being told I wasn't doing enough: nobody does. But after my initial defensiveness, I decided to progress beyond that level of awareness and move into the level of willingness: actually doing what I had to do. The point is, as defensive as you want to get when someone does say you're not doing enough: they're probably right.

Also, let's take me as an example. Here are the personal growth tasks I'm doing:

My 101 in 1001 task list.
Doing three TAFE courses at once (starting once TAFE returns)
Getting a part-time job
Going vegetarian

So if you have a comparable list, imagine how much the person telling you you're not doing enough must respect you. If you're doing all that and someone still thinks you're not doing as much as you could: they obviously think a hell of a lot of you. And so should you. If someone else thinks you're better than you think you are, maybe you need to think about yourself in a better light. Maybe they see what you don't.

If you honestly and truthfully appraise your situation, you probably will find that the person telling you you're not doing enough is right. And then the only honest, conscious step is to do more. It's easy to relax and do less than you're capable of. What's hard is to accept maybe you CAN do what you think you can't do. And what's even harder is doing it. But I'm going to do it: and like all my other trials, failure is not an option.

101 in 1001 Update

2009-07-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

I haven't written much about the list lately, because I haven't done a lot lately. Now I've decided to take a major step. But first, the minor steps:

I've changed "90. Learn to click your fingers" to 22. Complete The Unholy War on Hard difficulty (both sides). This game is a good, old one (not too popular, however) but I consistently get my butt kicked on Hard mode. I've also completed some Fire Emblem stuff and handed out a few resumes to get closer to getting a job. But enough of that: I'm eager to get to the point, and I'm sure you are too.

For reasons that will be more thoroughly explained in today's blog post, I've gotten jolted out of my complacency, and need to go to the next level. I don't intend to go to Orientation Week at TAFE (it's pretty much a joke) which leads me to have 12 days to adapt to polyphasic sleep. I'm gonna use them. I'll have about 4-5 days to learn some sleep techniques, like getting up as soon as my alarm goes off. Luckily, the one I thought I'd have the most trouble with (falling asleep quickly) is apparently not going to be a problem, since the adaptation phase will teach me to do that, and during said phase, I won't have ANY trouble falling asleep (it'll be far harder to stay awake).

I won't lie: I'm a bit scared. If I succeed, I'll be completely out of touch with the rest of the world. But it's worth it to reach the next level, truly test my self-discipline in a way that puts vegetarianism to shame, and get some extra time. Of course, I'll need to start actually being PRODUCTIVE to use all that time, and that's yet another plus!

How To Quit Being So Damn Lazy

2009-07-14T05:29:00.000-07:00

The way to stop being lazy is incredibly simple.

1. Pick something you need to do and haven't.

2. Do it for 10 minutes.

3. Take a 2-minute break.

4. Repeat.

You'd be surprised at how effective it is. By making the work a micro-task: something you do for just 10 minutes, it's easier to tell yourself to WORK during those 10 minutes.

Now, if you can't even do 10 minutes, why the hell not? 10 minutes work is not difficult. It's not taxing, and it's obviously not time-consuming. If you can't do 10 minutes, you obviously don't give a damn about whatever it is you're supposed to be doing, so maybe it's not important enough to do. If that's the case, pick something more important, and repeat the process. The most important part of killing laziness is to START WORKING. Jolt yourself into action!

This post could be longer, but reading this post is stopping you from acting. So go do it. Right now. Seriously. Go.

Until next time, may you get stuff done.

Seriously. Ten minutes. Get to work.

Stagnation Is Part Of The Process

2009-07-12T05:07:00.000-07:00

Have you ever experienced a spurt of growth in something, like a sport, skill, or life itself? Have you ever gotten downhearted when you put effort into improving but seemed to get nowhere? What if I told you they were both part of growth?

If you could graph personal growth, you wouldn't see a steady rise. You'd more than likely see spurts of growth followed by a gently rising or even flat line until the next spurt.

When I was trying to create a blog post today, I went to a book my mother owns. The way it works is that you hold a problem or intention in your mind, then open the book randomly and read the page. There is a quote on each page. I held the intention to "Write a blog post that will dramatically change at least one reader's life for the better." Here's the quote I received.

You will have wonderful surges forward. Then there must be a time of consolidating before the next forward surge.

Accept this as part of the process, and never become downhearted.

- Eileen Caddy, God Spoke to Me.

This was very useful, not just as a blog topic, but to me personally. I've noticed, both in gaming and in personal growth, that I grow in spurts. I'll start out fast, then stagnate. If I stick with it long enough, I then proceed to get new insights and become better, then there's another consolidation stage. Knowing this cycle can help you in any pursuit you attempt, not just personal growth.

During the stagnation period, continue to grow and learn, and eventually if you stick with it, and make a solid attempt to keep improving, you'll eventually trigger another leap. Especially in personal growth, you may experience some disorientation. While making my leap from personal growth amateur to personal growth enthusiast and avid blog writer, I had many days where I felt completely lost in my own head. It's like I was a totally different person and I had to discover this new person. But once I did, I felt like I was operating on another level.

Some writers describe this phase as the 'Dark Night of the Soul' where everything is changing. I think personal growth enthusiasts will experience several of these throughout their lifetimes, and I'm looking forward to the next one, since once I get past it I'll look back at this level and wonder how I ever thought that was living (like I look back at my younger self now, before I got into personal growth).

So if you want to experience new ideas and skill in an area of life, or a certain game or skill, keep at it and expose yourself to plenty of different input to make the change. It'll be a wild ride, but when you come through on the other side, you won't regret it for a second.

Until next time, may you recognise and appreciate the quiet times between storms.

The Hidden Life Of Consciousness

2009-07-10T05:23:00.000-07:00

One thing me and Rowland noticed while heading back to home from our first geocache was how similar geocaches were to consciousness, an an analogical sense. Me and Rowland had both gone past the cache site many times without ever, ever suspecting something might be there. But when we looked at it from a different angle, we were able to find a well-hidden cache. People were driving past, but nobody bothered to even glance our way.

The same can be applied to conscious living. You go through the motions, never suspecting something more out of life, and then when you look at it from a different angle, you notice something that you never suspected. People will still go past you, somehow completely ignorant of what you've done. But if you tell them, all of a sudden your mere PRESENCE begins to make them consciously think about their lives: the first step towards growth and development.

I'd love to write more, but my arms are incredibly tired from push-ups. From now on I will do the blog post first.

Until next time, may you see something you never knew existed.

101 in 1001 Update

2009-07-09T04:56:00.000-07:00

Today's been a busy couple of days. A VERY busy couple of days. I've achieved a fair few steps on the list.

Over the last couple of days, I've been geocaching, and successfully found 2 geocaches with Rowland! We hunted down a third one but we think it's been plundered. It was quite a fun experience, and a good time was had by all. One of the caches was easy but the other required about 10 minutes of searching and a lucky spot by me to see through the camouflage by looking at just the right area.

I've also fully completed 86. Donate 20,000 grains of rice to www.freerice.com. I completed this on July 8, 2009.

Lastly, I've begun the 100 Push-Ups and Couch to 5k programs. I am, it turns out, horrendously unfit. I could only do one full pushup, with extreme willpower, so I have to do "bench" push-ups for the first couple of weeks, then move onto normal pushups. Using an extra rest stop in the middle, me and Rowland still barely managed to do the first workout in the Couch to 5k program.

How To Write a 101 Tasks in 1001 Days List

2009-07-07T05:10:00.001-07:00

Some people I know are intrigued in creating their own 101 Tasks in 1001 Days list, but coming up with 101 tasks is quite hard, so I decided to write an article about it. Enjoy!

Why do a 101 in 1001 list?

A 101 Tasks in 1001 Days list is not for the faint of heart. It takes many hours to write, and of course a long time commitment to do. It involves commiting to personal growth and development over a long period of time, and accepting challenges that you know you must do, and now have a deadline for. Many people do not actually try to complete all 101, and aim for about 90 or so. I, naturally, am aiming for all 101.

I don't want to dissuade you: well, actually I might. If you're easily put off by significant challenges, I wouldn't attempt this list. It's like a megalithic 30-day trial. However, it can provide great benefits.

A 101 in 1001 list, well made, can make your everyday life and your personal growth become one. If you strive towards it every day it makes you far more optimistic, since you realise at the end of the day you've achieved something. It builds character, and self-discipline, and a sense of focus. It makes you very clear about your goals. If you're ever bored, tackle something on the list. If you don't know what to do, it's right there.

What makes a good 101 in 1001 list?

The one word I would use to describe a good list is VARIETY. Let's take a look at a few scales, and compare them to my list. Note that all the tasks I mention are subjective: you might think a different task on my list is easier or harder than I say it is.

Easy to Hard: It's important to have some easy tasks on your list that you can do within a few days, but you also need hard tasks to stretch yourself, and challenge you, and make you push yourself. You need to be able to plug away at the hard goals while taking out easy goals to show yourself you can make progress on the list and whittle away tasks.

Easiest task on my list: 6. Sort out your Magic card collection. I could do this in less time than it took me to create the list.

Hardest task on my list: 35. Move out of home. This is a huge step, one I did not expect to take on in the next 3 years.

Frivolous to Serious: It's important to put some stuff on the list just because it's fun. Additionally, some serious stuff should go on there: things you know you really should do. When you're feeling like tackling goals, take on the heavy stuff. When you're in a light mood, do some light stuff, and whittle away at it.

Most frivolous task on my list: 91. Learn to "click" your fingers. I mean, seriously. How frivolous is that?

Most serious task on my list: 35. Move out of home. This one gets a double award, since moving out of home is about as serious as you get.

Fun to Dull: There are bound to be some things you know you should do but don't want to do. You should put them on your list. You should also put some fun things on your list, to work on whenever you feel like it. When you get the willpower, do the dull stuff.

Most fun task on my list: 8. Finish Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn on Hard. Excruciatingly difficult, but I love that game.

Most dull task on my list: 94. Purge my entire room of stuff I no longer need. Yuck. My room is MESSY. I'll need to totally tidy it and sort out EVERYTHING. I'm going to do this before moving my room to the new one I'll have after my extension, so this will be done in a few months.

Quick to Time-Consuming: Generally you don't want too many tasks to be time-consuming or you'll turn your list into a full-time job. As an example, a single task that takes 250 hours to complete is the equivalent of 15 minutes a day for 1000 days. If you have 4 of them, that's an hour every day just for those four tasks. Moderation is good.

Quickest task on my list: 87. Complete a piece of homework the day I get it, and hand it in the next day. This can literally take only one hour of work.

Most time-consuming task on my list: 55. Reach 500 blog posts. This is likely to be a 200+ hour task, and it'll be one I have to work on for almost the entire duration of the list.

Sources of Inspiration

The very first source to look to is yourself. List down all the things you think would be good on your list. Films you want to see, games you want to play, challenges you want to undertake, books you want to read, things you know you should do, skills you want to learn. This should get you about half the list. As you go through the other sources, you'll think of new ones.

Secondly, ask friends and family things they think you should do. Only ask people you trust. I was unfortunate in that most of my family are a bunch of jokers and I had to come up with my list alone. But hopefully you have people that care about you and are willing to think of some ideas for you.

Thirdly, browse your possessions for stuff you've never used. If you're not gonna use it, toss it: if you want to, put it on your list. Some of these should be batched up so they aren't too easy.

Fourthly, go to Day Zero and look at the master list there. Browse the 101 in 1001 lists for your own ideas.

Fifthly, take a break, and when you come back, keep going with Step 4. You should come up with more ideas if you take breaks.

Well, hopefully this guide has helped you with writing your own list. Good luck, and e-mail me your lists! I'm interested in reading them!

101 in 1001 Update

2009-07-07T05:03:00.001-07:00

Over the last couple of days, I decided to implement my strategy for tackling this list. I want to complete a task every 10 days: but those tasks need to be ones that require bursts of effort, not incremental tasks, like reaching 500 blog posts.

At the same time, I work on incremental tasks a bit at a time, so I end up with plenty of time to do all 101 tasks. Basically, for about 5 days I work on incremental tasks, then I pick a task and dog it until it's done. Then I move back to incremental ones.

The task I've chosen to complete in the next few days is donating 20,000 grains of rice to www.freerice.com.

Over the last two days, I've gotten to 80 blog posts (this will be true once I post this, the 80th post) tried some geocaching (but failed to find a cache), done some clicking practice, and donated 11,000 grains to freerice.com. So the main achievement is that I now have 15,000 / 20,000 grains of rice donated, and should complete this task either tomorrow or the day after. On Thursday, I'm going to spend the whole day geocaching and hopefully find a few caches.

The list is going well: it's made me realise that everything I do is serious. It's a big step, and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their lives and instill a sense of focus.

You Are In Control

2009-07-05T05:49:00.000-07:00

You are in control of your life. Or, more correctly, I should say, you are RESPONSIBLE for your life. If you don't control it, that's your responsibility. It's your responsibility to take control of your life, for nobody should have control of it but you.

Note, this advice doesn't fully apply to people who are younger than 13-15 (dependent on maturity level). Below that age, you're not ready to assume full control of your life: but you should assume greater and greater levels of control. You may not be able to decide the big stuff, but control the little stuff. Don't just react in life. Act.

You're the hero of your own story: but what seperates the protagonist from the minor characters is the protagonist acts: the minor characters react to that. The same rule applies to the antagonist: whichever one you are, you need to act. Henchmen and sidekicks react. Heroes and villains, the personalites of a story, act. They DO THINGS. Be the main character.

How's this for a little test. When is the last time you did something major (i.e, it'll still have affected you in 6 months or so) by your own violition, with nobody suggesting it to you? For me, it was 3 days ago, when I elected to take on 3 courses at TAFE, plus a part-time job. Before that, a week ago, I made this list, and went vegetarian.

If I ask people what they achieved in the last fortnight, they say 'Nothing' or 'Went to work' or 'Cleaned' or any number of mundane things: filler scenes. Like those episodes in bad TV shows where you wait for GOOD things to happen. Anybody remember Pokemon? It had climactic, awesome Gym Battles: only problem is you had 10-20 filler episodes between each one that almost never added to the plot. Life shouldn't be like that!

If someone asks me what I achieved in the last fortnight, I have to make a LIST. Here's how a conversation might go.

Me: So, what did you achieve this fortnight?
Other: Nothing much. You?
Me: Well, let's see...I went vegetarian for 30 days, completed 3 30-day trials, made a list of 101 tasks in 1001 days (about 2.8 years) and worked a fair bit on that, signed up for two TAFE courses, plus doing the Diploma for Web Design while I do my Cert IV, drove some Facebook traffic to my blog, and blogged about all of it.
Other: Wow.

Usually the 'Wow' is replaced by stunned silence. When I press people to tell me what they achieved, it's less like an achievement list and more like a diary entry. Going out to eat is not an achievement. It's an event. An achievement ACHIEVES SOMETHING. When's the last time you achieved something significant?

Now, I'm not trying to beat you up if you live a humdrum life. I'm trying to lift the blindfold: make you realise you're missing out. If you live a boring life, make it less boring: do something about it! Surely you can think of something interesting to do! What's to be scared of an interesting life? Only then you'll start realising how boring everyone else is around you. So what will you do for fun then? Well, try waking them up for a bit:)

Until next time, may your week be impossible to sum up.

101 in 1001 Update

2009-07-05T05:44:00.000-07:00

I dug up my copy of The Fellowship of the Ring at my mother's place, and I've been reading that one chapter at a time (3 chapters through it so far). I haven't made too many sweeping changes over the last couple of days: just plodding along steadily. I got my sister to demonstrate a finger-clicking technique, but it just hasn't clicked, pardon the pun, so I'm going to ask my Dad (who she learnt it off). I will learn this. It is on my list.

I also completed 7 chapters of Fire Emblem, about 15-20% of the game on Normal. I can only play it 4 days a fortnight, so I've been playing a lot for said days.

And that's all there is for this update: I should have a more interesting update on Tuesday.

The Secret To Effortless Time Management

2009-07-03T04:56:00.000-07:00

Have you ever tried to implement some time-saving device only to lack motivation to do it after a few days, or even hours? BOY I've been there:) The reason, I thought, was I was lazy. In truth, it's because there isn't a compelling reason to use time management unless you're already maximising your time, and you want more.

If I spend 4 hours a day playing video games and 5 hours a day working at TAFE (in actuality, I work a lot less at TAFE) why would I try to optimise those 5 hours of productivity? I could just cut into my gaming time. (However, some leisure time is required. In this fictitious example, I'd probably attempt to manage my time better when I was forced back to 60-90 minutes daily)

Additionally, if you don't want to do it, time management is doomed to failure. No matter how much schoolwork you've got, if you think it's pointless you won't do it effectively. The reason to shave half an hour off a task is because you want to put that half hour to better use, because you only have so much time to live your passion. If you spend half the day doing nothing, time management just allows you to do more nothing: and that's not a compelling enough motivation.

Okay. So I've talked about why time management is hard. But the title of this blog post is The Secret To Effortless Time Management, so let's give you the secret.

Higher level concepts precede lower level ones.

If you get your high-level concepts in order, like your purpose, beliefs, attitude and motivation, the lower levels tend to shift into place, like actions, personal habits and such. Now, note that while the TIME MANAGEMENT becomes effortless, the secret isn't exactly easy to implement, and you won't see instant results either. It's been months since I discovered my purpose, and I'm only now seeing the benefits of it: a burning desire to challenge myself, see what I'm capable of and to take on more work. I'm becoming the person I've always wanted to be, because my higher-level concepts support such a person.

So unless you have a compelling reason to manage your time better, it's unlikely you'll succeed. But if you live your passion and know what you want to do, you'll find yourself managing your time almost subconsciously. At this stage I recommend reading and listening to lots of time management stuff, so you can subconsciously implement what works (I'm not there yet. I haven't yet begun doing enough work to require time management.) and then when you look back on a day, week, month, or year, you'll be astounded at how much you got done. Like I'm getting 2.5 years worth of classes done in a single year. That's a lot of saved time, and there's a lot I can do with it.

Until next time, may you suddenly realise one day you've optimised your life without even knowing it.

101 In 1001 Update

2009-07-03T04:41:00.000-07:00

In the last two days, I've been working on improving my TAFE experience by getting extra challenge. I successfully enrolled for the Statement of Attainment in Business Management, so 6 months from now I'll have that Certificate, and that goal, completed.

I also successfully reached 200 unique users: Thanks to all the 199 people other than me who have visited! (although I've shown someone the blog, so 200 people other than me HAVE seen it).

On more trivial list-related news, I completed several chapters (like levels) of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn on Normal today. The game has to be beaten on Normal in order for you to be able to attempt it on Hard, so I'll do that first. I'm up to the final level in Chapter 1, supposedly the hardest chapter (now THAT's messed up.).

I've also decided Rogue is most likely the Roguelike I'll attempt to finish. With enough attempts I should be able to get lucky enough to win. I've reached level 15 or so (out of about 30-32 on average) and so I'm further along than I am in most roguelikes. Of course, it's permadeath so I don't have the save, but I can get there again given enough time, trial, and error (avoid trolls. They KILL YOU TO DEATH.)

I also successfully inspired two people to attempt 30-day trials. I hope both succeed. I also completed the Sleep Cycle trial: my seventh one.

Since I want to complete a goal every 10 days, I'm probably going to make a rush at the freerice.com goal. I'm on a slow laptop until Monday though, so I'll try and make about 4,000 grains a day come Monday (400 words, should take about an hour a day).

Basically I've been diversifying my goals, working on a bundle of them at once. I assume this pattern will continue: every 10 days or so I'll rush at a goal, and complete it, and in the meantime make steady progress on a series of other longer-term goals. Then there are the ones I should get soon (Earning money in Magic should be very possible for me if I continue to do wel. There's a league where the Top 3 earn money at the end of October, and I'm currently 4 points ahead of 4th.) and the ones I've set myself up to get automatically, given enough time (Like getting my certificate, and reaching 500 blog posts).

I don't know if I'll successfully complete all 101 tasks. But if I can complete 90, I'll be happy: but I'm going for all of them.

Willpower Will Take You Far

2009-07-02T05:07:00.000-07:00

The blog for the last few days has been pretty much taken over by my 101 Tasks in 1001 Days list, so it's time for another personal growth article. Today's article is about the power of willpower when dealing with problems.

The thing about willpower that makes it so effective is twofold.

A) A person who employs willpower will generally get their way over those who don't. If one person is obstinate, or a solution not working, the determined person will find someone else or some other solution. In contrast, an indifferent person will generally try one, if any, solutions: assuming they can even be motivated to solve the problem.

B) Most people lack willpower.

As an example, let's take my problem today. I wanted to challenge myself this semester for TAFE: Challenge myself a lot. I wanted to see what I was capable of. I wanted to jam pack my schedule with productive items, so I would be forced into being more productive.

My first, and ultimately inadequate, move was to attempt to graduate the Certificate IV for Web Design in 6 months, not 12. However, thanks to completing my Cert III, a little bit of extra homework each week would allow me to do that, with only 9 hours of classes. So I decided to cross off a list item by going for my Statement of Attainment in managing small business finances (like the web business I aim to start up).

I asked what units there were, they sounded like what I wanted (eBusiness is covered in Cert IV in Web Design) and then I asked how many classes a week it was. The answer? One. I facepalmed (literally) and then proceeded to take the course. That was 12 hours of classes. Now what? I went up to the counsellor, and asked for his help in picking a course. I outlined my aims, and he said he didn't know. I asked about Marketing: wasn't offered.

At this point, I could have given up: but that simply isn't part of my nature anymore. I would describe myself as pig-headed. So I went down to the Web Design enrolment again, and asked if I could go for the Diploma instead. The answer: no. I needed my Cert IV. I asked if there was anything I could do to increase the challenge, and at that point I guess the universe was convinced that I actually, in face, really, truly wanted this challenge. So Nathan, my new Web Design teacher, said that he'd be happy to give me Diploma-level work as homework, in addition to my normal course load. It'd be at the same pace as a real diploma, so I'd still pass it in a year: only I'd accelerate it because I'd be doing the Cert IV at the same time.

So now, I'm doing my Cert IV in Web Design (accelerated), Statement of Attainment in Managing Finances of a Small Business, and my Diploma in Web Design, all at the same time. Plus the part-time job I intend to get, and the list I want to work on.

So yeah, I'd say I won through.

Note in this story how I could have given up at many points, or in fact taken the cushy route: 9 hours of classwork, 10-12 hours part time work, and relaxed for a good part of the year. But now, 12 months from now, I'll have a Diploma. I'll be well-equipped to run my own business with Site Build It! and hopefully my website will be earning triple digits a month by December 2010.

The work'll be greater, but life is far too short to waste. I could stay in TAFE until the end of 2010, or even til mid-2011: but doing that would be like voluntarily giving up some of my lifespan. And life's too good to let that happen. I'll certainly find something to do with the time.

So remember: few obstacles stand up to unwavering resolve. I never once thought of quitting, and so eventually I won through. My willpower should serve me well throughout the courses I'll be taking too. All in all, I'll probably be doing about as much work as a full-time job. I could have gone for more, but I need time to work on my personal growth too: as well as having SOME time to relax. After all, I'm only human:)

Until next time, may you not stop until you get what you want.

101 in 1001 Update

2009-07-01T05:15:00.000-07:00

Tuesday: I successfully finished I Wanna Be The Guy on Hard mode, for the second time. I also defeated 3 of the 8 bosses in Very Hard mode, but a very difficult part is coming up. I also donated 3,000 grains of rice to freerice.com, and did a bit of work on Final Fantasy 1.

Wednesday: Everything seems to be falling into place. I went to NOVA, a local employment agency, who will help me make a resume and cover letter to send in to some employers. I got details on the treasure hunt I'll be organising for early October, and obtained a GPS for geocaching. The GPS will also come in handy for the treasure hunt, since I'll be doing a GPS hunt. That way it doesn't matter how skilled the hunters are at puzzles: they'll find each geocache individually. When the hunt is complete, I'll post it online as a multi-cache and let others enjoy it.

I also officially completed two 30-day trials, one of which my father told me I couldn't do, so much progress has been made today!

Note: I have done work on the blog over the last two days. Yesterday, I categorised the list which was previously uncategorised, and today I added explanations to some list items.

101 Tasks in 1001 Days

2009-06-29T05:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I stumbled across a site called Day Zero. Basically, the idea is to create a list of 101 goals, and complete them over 1001 days (approximately 2.8 years). I was intrigued, and decided to create one, not sure if I'd actually DO it. But after the amount of time it took to MAKE the list, I'm gonna do it.

Apart from the four tasks I wrote last night, I completed the entire list today. I put my entire life on hold and just tackled this list all day. Thirteen hours after I began, and about ten hours of work, I had my list. And I have it here, to post for you guys.

I'll be blogging about my progress through the list. This'll replace the progress report (but completing 30 30-day trials is in there, so I'll be writing about that too).

If I give up, I will be honest about it. I won't just let it fade.

Here is the list.

Completed Tasks:

86. Donate 20,000 grains of rice on www.freerice.com (20,000 / 20,000) COMPLETED July 8, 2009.

6. Sort out your Magic card collection. COMPLETED July 24, 2009.

Incomplete Tasks

Magic

Compete in a Grand Prix, a Regionals, and a PTQ.
Attend Nationals (qualified or not)
Earn money playing Magic.
Complete 10 drafts on Magic Online, only paying for the first one. (Go Infinite)
Defeat: David Dang, Justin Cheung, Desmond Ng, Jacky Zhang and Michael in a fair match of Magic. (2/5)
Teach 10 new players to play Magic to a reasonable level (Can consistently win at least one match at FNM) (0/10)

Gaming

8. Finish Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn on Hard.

Finish IWBTG on Very Hard.
Finish: Spyro 4, Spyro 5, Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, Super Paper Mario, Super Mario Galaxy. (0/6) (Finish being “Finish the main plotline” not necessarily everything.)
Finish FF1 and FF2 with the worst party possible. (0/2)
Complete an entire LP.
Finish a roguelike.
Play a full game of Risk. Offline. With other people.
Create the Top 100 Greatest Gaming Achievements list.
Finish creating the Ultimate Roguelike Challenge.
Do a live video speedrun of IWBTG: 12 hours on Medium mode.
Write a game walkthrough.
Learn to play backgammon, and get halfway decent at it. (Able to hold your own online)
Get 5,000 Gamer Points on XBOX Live. Get an Xbox 360 first. (0/5,000)
Get Wii Fit, and use it.

Health

Eat only raw food for 3 days.
Become a vegetarian permanently.
Be able to touch your toes while standing up.
Achieve your ideal weight (as recorded on the World Health Organisation website) for my height.
Try 20 different fruits (2/20)
Complete the 100 Pushups program.
Complete the 200 Sit-ups program.
Complete the Couch to 5k challenge.
Try yoga and pilates. (0/2)
Go vegan for a month.

Growth

Get a girlfriend.
Get your P’s.
Adapt to Uberman polyphasic sleep.
Move out of home.
Give blood.
Advance beyond the newbie level in a martial art.
Complete 30 30-day trials (7/30)
Do the 40-hour Famine, and get some sponsors.
Learn to cook 10 staple dishes. (Staple means you could easily eat it once a week for a year and not get sick of it or sick from it) (0/10)
Design your own blogging website from scratch.
Take a professional IQ test.
Get certified in First Aid.
Do a time log.
Complete a 5-minute video, 10-minute podcast, 30-minute live chat, 60-minute Twitter conference and 60-minute Facebook conference on your blog. (Last 3 when I get a good amount of traffic) (0/5)
Get Site Build It! and build the new blog with it.
Perform 3 days of volunteer work, for 3 different charities. (0/3)
Write ‘Discovering Your Passion’ on your personal development blog. It must be at least 2,000 words.
Go overseas.
Gain your passport
Visit Uluru. (Also known as Ayers Rock)
Join Toastmasters.
Have a lucid dream.
Get a job.
Reach 500 blog posts (90/500) (This will be updated by 10’s)
Inspire 10 people to complete 30-day trials successfully. (1/10)
Read or listen to 10 books specifically related to personal development. (0/10)
Do 50 things that at least one person tells me I won’t or can’t do. (4/50)
Participate in the World’s Greatest Shave.
Go rockclimbing. Successfully reach the top of a wall.
Complete 20 guest posts for other people’s blogs. (0/20)
Get 20 people to write guest posts for you. (1/20)
Concede 10 arguments, not because you’ve lost, but because you don't want to argue. (0/10)
Get 5,000 unique visitors to your blog. (300 / 5,000) (This will be updated in 100’s)
Earn $1000 in one month on your blog. (Best so far: 0/1000)
Turn 10 small-talk conversations into deep and meaningful ones. (0/10)
Get a Certificate in Business Management.

Entertainment

Read the Lord of the Rings series (including the Silmarillion) (0/4)
Watch the following movies: All the Star Wars movies, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather. (0/8)
Read The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever and the Second Chronicles (0/6)
Do a 1000-piece jigsaw.
Watch the Matrix trilogy. (0/3)
Finish a Colossal crossword.
Finish a Sudoku on the highest difficulty.
Find at least an hour’s worth of music on YouTube that’s positive and inspirational. Turn it into a playlist.
Do a real, physical maze.
Read 12 books from Time’s Top 100 list. (2/12)
Watch 10 movies in cinemas. (0/10)
Watch 12 films from Time’s Top 100 list. (3/12)
Finish a Terry Pratchett novel. You’ve never got into it, but it’s supposed to be good.
Read Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. In order. (0/7)
Ask 5 people what their favourite book and film is, then read and watch them. (0/5)
See the following films you should see but haven’t: Taxi Driver, Fight Club, Clerks, Raging Bull, Cape Fear, Goodfellas, Scarface, The Shining, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, 2001: A Space Odyssey. (0/10)
Read all of Raymond E. Feist’s books.
Write 10 short stories. (1 novella = 3 short stories) (0/10)

Miscellaneous

Go skydiving.
Bring in doughnuts for your entire class or work colleagues (whichever applicable) one day.
Complete a piece of homework the day I get it, and hand it in the next day.
Edit a Wikipedia article to include useful information.
Find 10 geocaches. (4/10)
Create a treasure hunt for someone / some group.
Learn to “click” your fingers.
Learn to eat with chopsticks.
Go scuba diving.
Purge my entire room of crap I no longer need.
Learn some basic dancing.
Learn to fence.
Build a computer for yourself. Buy the components.
Learn to cook 10 staple dishes. (Staple means you could easily eat it once a week for a year and not get sick of it or sick from it) (0/10)
Learn to type with all 10 fingers.
Climb a mountain. (Any hill over 610 metres.)
Buy a really good chair as my desk chair.

Added Tasks:

101. Complete the Unholy War on Hard difficulty (both sides) (0/2)

And there you have it. 101 tasks. 1001 days. One epic personal growth challenge. Game on.

Explanations:

1. In Magic: The Gathering (a card game I play) a Grand Prix is a huge (hundreds or even thousands of players) tournament open to everyone, a Regionals is a tournament to qualify you for Nationals, and a PTQ is a Pro Tour Qualifier. The winner of the PTQ is qualified for the Pro Tour: 3 of these tournaments are run each year featuring the game's best. All of them are at a level higher than my level right now, hence why they are on my list.

5. The 5 names are professional Magic players who appear at the tournament I go to. They are almost never beaten save by each other.

9. IWBTG is I Wanna Be The Guy, an insanely hard platformer. Even on it's easiest difficulty setting, most people never defeat it.

12. An LP is a Let's Play, a run-through of a game by video or screenshot. I intend to do mine on IWBTG, in video.

13. A roguelike is a genre known for insane difficulty, turn-based strategy, and permadeath: your save is erased if you die. Very difficult to finish.

44. A time log is a log of everything you do in a day. It helps improve productivity and focus.

46. Site Build It! is a program designed to help you make an income-generating website.

48. Discovering Your Passion is a mega-post I want to write: once I know how to discover your passion, that is!

52. Toastmasters International is a public speaking organisation that builds character, confidence and skills in public speaking.

89. A geocache is an item like a notebook, enclosed in a container at a specific GPS co-ordinate, as specified on the geocaching website.

10 Ways To Find The Challenges In Your Own Life - Part 2

2009-06-28T04:51:00.000-07:00

6. Start a big project.

Big projects are challenging. Start that project you never got around to, like writing a novel. Set yourself a minimum amount of progress each day, and start a 30-day trial to keep to that minimum progress. You'll find it's quite rewarding to work on a big project, and then finally complete it.

7. Confront your fear.

Things that might seem challenging to some people because of fear may be easy to others: but don't let that stop you from accepting it as a challenge. If it's challenging to you, it's a challenge. Facing your fear is a very challenging thing to do: but any day you face your fear is bound to be an interesting one!

The more you face your fear, the more courageous you become. And the more courageous you become, the better a person you are. Confronting your fear is an excellent tool to gain personal growth.

8. Make it more creative.

If some menial work isn't challenging, turn it into a creative exercise. The method varies on the task, but if you're interested in a challenge, thinking up the creative aspect can be a challenge in itself:)

9. Don't use help.

Don't use the help that you might otherwise get, unless it's essential. Play a game without using anti-AI strategies, or looking at the hints section. Give up soft drink without taking up a similar drink (I did that: stuck to water and milk). Things that make the task easier can turn it into a challenge if they're removed.

10. Choose a difficult task.

Saving the simplest for last. If you choose a task difficult enough, you won't have to come up with ways to make it more challenging, you can just go full-tilt at it. The obvious approach is sometimes missed, so I decided to include it here.

Well, this turned out to be more of a minipost, but it's full of value, so hopefully you find it useful. Enjoy!

Until next time, may you be challenged just the right amount.

Minipost: Progress Report

2009-06-28T02:54:00.000-07:00

Day 27 - Breakfast Trial

No changes here.

Day 27 - No Soft Drink Trial

I've decided, at least temporarily, to go back to drinking soft drink after the trial has concluded. Other than that, no change: 3 days to go!

Day 25 - Sleep Cycle Trial

With this cycle, I actually get more done in the holidays, since I'm not sleeping as long. I'll probably keep this, except for days when it becomes inconvenient to do so.

Day 16 - Fruit Trial

No changes here.

Day 1 - Vegetarian Trial

The big reason for this update. Today, I began my vegetarian trial. I was going to wait for the No Soft Drink Trial to conclude, but didn't want to wait. So instead, I started early. I now have a heap of vegetarian food available. I have some not-burgers, some not-schnitzel, some vegetables, and some curry samosas with peas and corn in them. I had pasta, but I ate that for dinner.

I have a feeling this'll be my most challenging trial yet, but I'm gonna stick to it. I've stuck to the other ones, after all, and have four completed trials under my belt. The weirdest thing is though, most people don't learn. Most people still think I'm going to fail this trial: but they failed to notice how well their exercise, sleep cycle, blogging and no soft drink predictions turned out:) 30 days to success!

10 Ways To Find The Challenges In Your Own Life - Part 1

2009-06-26T05:03:00.000-07:00

As a follow up to 5 Great Reasons To Go The Extra Mile, I've decided to write this post about finding the challenge in your life. It's not too hard, if you know where to look.

1. Do two things at once.

Figure out a menial task you have to do, that you've been putting off. With a little imagination, you can turn that into a challenge, if you add another simple task. Maybe you have to take out the garbage. Keep a balloon in the air the whole time you're doing it, right up until the bin liner's in. It seems juvenile, but the very act of challenging yourself constantly will make you resilient in the face of true challenges.

2. Do it faster.

If something's going to take longer than you'd like, do a speedrun. Don't want to tidy your room? Try tidying it in 5 minutes! In your mad dash to get everything done, you'll almost forget it's work! Plus, you'll get a lot more done in a day if you do this.

3. Go bigger.

If you have to do something, do it bigger than intended. Playing Chess? Try playing two games at once against two different people! Now THERE is a challenge! Unless you're playing someone better than you, which is a challenge in itself. (Although challenging them to play two games as well as you may throw them off...)

4. Step outside your comfort zone.

Doing something you've never done before is always harder than something equally challenging in a field that you have lots of experience at. Plus, a wide variety of experiences makes you a more well-rounded person. Although even fields in which you have a lot of experience in can be challenging if you take on a new type of challenge (For example, I had to write the words 'Cut off one of your legs' in this paragraph, under pain of death from my sister if I didn't. No kidding.)

5. Do it the hard way.

Do a task without using the easiest way possible. To do this is very easy. Think of a task. Think of the easiest way to do the task. Don't do it that way. That's a great way to condition yourself to challenges. If you do it the harder way, doing a difficult task the easy way will seem like a cakewalk.

That's all I have time for today. So join me tomorrow, when I give you ways 6-10 to find the challenges in your own life.

5 Great Reasons To Go The Extra Mile

2009-06-25T04:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I wrote that I was intending to do my Certificate IV in Web Design, a 12-month course, in just 6 months, with a combination of getting credit for my Cert III and taking some extra classes. Today, I'm going to explain why, and why going the extra mile is a good thing in the field of personal development.

1. It keeps it interesting.

One thing I noticed about the pace of TAFE was that it was so SLOW. It was so slow that I got bored, and actually didn't do as much work as I should have, and had to catch up in the end. Taking some extra classes should break up that monotony, by keeping it at a faster pace. I would hate to live a boring life, so I take pains to make my life more interesting. I'm almost never bored, because I keep thinking of ways to make my days more interesting and exciting.

2. Challenges are good.

If you don't challenge yourself, you aren't likely to do too well in the field of personal growth at first. The more you challenge yourself and triumph, the more you condition yourself to continue trying even when it's difficult. The challenge doesn't necessarily have to be in the category of personal growth. When's the last time you deliberately took on a task you didn't have to, purely for the challenge of it? I could name loads of challenges I make myself do.

I challenge myself with video games. I take on difficult games, like I Wanna Be The Guy, or tackle other games on a harder difficulty setting, like Sonny 2. In Fire Emblem, I refuse to use certain tactics that take advantage of the AI's shortcomings, because I want to fight like I would fight a real opponent, not a programmed machine.
I challenge myself with 30 day trials. I probably don't need to name these.
I challenge myself to come up with new topics for blogging, and not rehash ideas from other sites.
I challenge myself to come up with original decklists for Magic: The Gathering, and original openings for Chess.

The phrase 'But that's too easy!' comes from my mouth often. Yes, I COULD choose the easy route: but that simply isn't challenging enough to excite me.

3 . It improves your skills.

If you're taking on more challenging material and more challenging tasks than your peers, you'll accelerate faster, and learn more. I learn more about blogging good posts by thinking up original material than I would rehashing old stuff. Now if only I could apply those skills to generating TRAFFIC. Now there's a challenge!

4. It improves your productivity.

Put it this way: if I do something in 6 months that takes someone else 12 months, you're twice as productive. What are you gonna do with that extra 6 months? Find another challenge! There are lots of challenges out there. I might find another Cert IV to do, something that will help me achieve my goals. Life has so much stuff to do, you'll never be able to do it all.

5. You'll experience more.

By challenging myself to do more stuff, and do stuff quicker, I simply get MORE out of life. I experience more things, have more fun and move faster than most. Packing your day full of enjoyable challenges is far more fun than watching TV for 12 hours. Challenges are interactive: they get you to think and have fun and be active. Think of one of the most fun days you've ever had. Were you sitting on the couch watching TV? No: you were almost certainly doing lots of stuff, having fun, having lots of energy and interacting with lots of different experiences in the one day. It's the kind of day you slip into bed with a smile on your face at the end of no matter how tired you are.

Now what if every day could be a miniature verison of that? What if every day, you could experience new things and have lots of fun? Why wouldn't you do it? Some people might think that trying to do a qualification faster is sucking the fun out of life, but to me, it's MORE fun. I'm gonna have trouble finding a job though. A regular old boring job just won't suit me:)

So don't settle for a normal day when you could have an extraordinary day. Don't settle for a regular life: order a double! Enjoy it while you're here. If you only get X years, you may as well put more into them. If you can get 18 months worth of stuff done every year, it's like living to be 120. Of course, if you don't like life, I wouldn't recommend it. For those people I'd also recommend the post How To Be Happy.

Until next time, may you see the challenges in everyday life. (I was going to write "Until next time, may you go the extra mile." but that was too easy, so I made myself think of something a bit more challenging!)

Null Time: Time You Spend Doing Nothing At All

2009-06-24T04:58:00.000-07:00

How much time in your day could you afford to lose, and still get the same amount done each day? For me, it'd be a reasonable amount. I'd say I could afford to lose 3 hours each day, and still maintain the same level of productivity. Those 3 hours are spent watching TV, playing video games, and surfing the web. Note that all leisure time isn't null time: null time is generally when you're doing something because you can't think of anything else to do.

So therefore, I have 3 hours of 'null' time each day, on average. Now, here's the thing about null time. If you replace null time with anything, it's better than nothing. For an example, let's take getting a job. If I were to get a job that took about 10-12 hours out of my week, if it were 3-4 hours a day for 3-4 days, that wouldn't be so bad. Getting a job wouldn't be a very good use of my time, but it'd be better than null time.

Getting rid of null time is something I've been steadily doing since I started personal growth. I estimate I probably had about 5 hours of null time per day last year: and that was with school. Although some of that null time probably should have been spent sleeping.

Null time isn't a blanket statement to circle everything that isn't the best use of your time. Null time is time that provides NO BENEFIT WHATSOEVER. If you spend all day on a task that should only take 2 hours, is the extra time null time? Some would say yes, some would say no. Could you have completed the task in the 2 hours it takes most people? How long should it have taken you, working at the rate you do? Any leftover is null time.

I'd like to direct you here to the Law of Forced Efficiency (credit to www.stevepavlina.com for part of this) which basically states that if you have a certain amount of stuff that must get done, you will find a way to get it done. Hence why I intend to do that. The Certificate IV for Web Design is intended to take one year, instead of the six months I thought it would be. So because I can probably get credit for three months of the course thanks to my Certificate III, if I take some extra classes, reducing my null time, I should be able to graduate in six. I don't know what I'll do with the extra six months, but I'm confident I'll think of something.

So if you carry away nothing else from this post: carry away this: The best way to get rid of null time is to push yourself. If you don't push yourself to do anything, that's precisely what you'll do: nothing. And anything's better than nothing.

Until next time, may you do a little extra.

How To Accept Your Negative Emotions Without Being Overcome By Them

2009-06-23T05:03:00.001-07:00

Some people think that in order to be happy, I must block out my negative emotions. This isn't true. In fact, negative emotions can be quite useful if you accept them, and their role in your life. Negative emotions are like feedback. If something is wrong, your negative emotions will tell you. The idea is to use those emotions to trigger changes in your life, without giving in to them. For example, if you're feeling angry towards someone, you obviously have some unresolved issues to work out. When you work them out, you'll be a lot happier. If you're scared of something, you know you need to face it. If you're terrified, you know you need to face it...someday. Just not today.

Once you accept your negative emotions and treat the causes of them, you'll find that you don't actually need to block them out: they'll stop coming unless they have a message for you. If you're trapped in a cycle of negative emotions, they've been trying to make you aware of your problems for some time. However, you need to break free of the cycle before you can treat it. How do you do that?

The key is people. If you hang out with positive people all day, you'll find that you'll start to break free of your negativity while barely even exerting effort! If you hang out with negative people, it'll take a heroic effort to break free, and you'll have to fight to stay at the new level. I know which one I'd prefer.

One thing I try to do with my mood is to make myself one of the positive people that people who want to improve their lives can hang around. If I can do that, I can be a direct influence on everybody I know. That's a good feeling. And thanks to the phenomenal power of Facebook, I can now help and inspire people I don't even know personally! My profile link is here. Feel free to add me as a friend: I accept any and all friend requests.

So what are the different negative emotions trying to tell you? This won't be correct all the time, no emotional frame can be, since everyone is different, but usually, these should be correct:

Guilt - There are two possibilities here. 1) You've done something bad, and haven't made amends for it. Perhaps you haven't told the person what you've done. You need to cleanse yourself of that act.

2) You're beating yourself up over something that had to be done, or you had no control over. You need to learn to forgive yourself, something I intend to write about in a future post. For now, simply accept that you need to forgive yourself. That will help.

Apathy - You're trying to escape something. Entering the negative emotions will seem like a step backward, but it's the only way to happiness. Confront what you're being numb to.

Fear - There's something you have to do. Figure out what it is you have to face, and face it.

Anger - There are two possibilities here. 1) You're feeling frustrated because you KNOW you can do better. You KNOW you can push harder, but you simply haven't made the leap yet.

2) You're on the wrong path. You're angry because on one level, you simply haven't made the commitment to the correct path yet. Knowing when you're on the wrong path is difficult, but usually you'll feel dread as well as anger when you're on the wrong path.

Note that you can experience negative emotions through dismissable stimuli, like thinking about them. I felt a twinge of dread just by writing the word 'dread', but I recognise it as false. PERSISTENT emotions are the ones you need to pay attention to, not something that's gone in 5 minutes.

So pay attention to your negativity: it's like a barometer for where to improve. Don't try to escape it: but don't let it take over your life either. Be strong.

Until next time, may you realise what your problem was all along.

3 Good Reasons Why 30 Day Trials Are Effective

2009-06-22T05:11:00.000-07:00

I've written a reasonable amount on this topic, but it's scattered all about the blog. So I'll consolidate all the information in one place: why should you do 30-day trials as a means of personal growth?

1. They are definable.

Unlike many methods of personal growth, it's very easy to measure a good 30-day trial. Either you're succeeding, or you're not. Note that I'm using TRUE/FALSE trials. Either I'm succeeding, or I'm not. Either I eat two pieces of fruit, or I don't. Either I get to bed around 10:30, or I don't. Either I don't drink soft drink, or I drink it.

Many other methods of personal growth, you don't know if it's even working. With a 30-day trial, you know how well you're going.

2. They improve motivation, willpower and self-discipline.

As I've written about before, 30 day trials are an excellent way to build motivation, willpower and self-discipline. The differences between the three are:

Willpower: The initial sprint that allows you to lock in the first few days. When your will is iron, and you're pumped up to do something, that's willpower. It won't last for long though. So you need motivation and self-discipline. You can do a 3-day trial on willpower alone: not so a 30-day trial. There's a reason the 40 Hour Famine only lasts 40 hours. Incidentally, last time I tried it, a year or two ago, I failed. Today, I believe it would be an easy challenge for me.

Motivation: Your reason to do the trial. When things get tough, and you ask yourself why you're doing the challenge, you should be able to come up with a good answer. If not, you're not motivated. Try as you might, you can't motivate yourself to do something you don't believe in. Try motivating yourself in high school. Usually you'll subside on spurts of willpower, not motivation.

Self-Discipline: The endurance skill. This allows you to put your nose to the grindstone, and keep it there. When half of you wants to throw in the towel, and you're tired, and there's still a voice inside you that says 'Don't quit.' that's self-discipline. Unlike willpower, self-discipline is dependable and reliable: IF you train it up. If your self-discipline has atrophied, you need to build it up slowly before taking on bigger and harder challenges. Training my self-discipline is precisely what I've been doing with my trials.

3. They improve your capacity to grow.

Completing a trial improves your motivation, willpower, self-discipline...and confidence. The more you grow, the easier it becomes. If you can complete a 30-day trial, you have the inner strength to change every aspect of your life. It's empowering to complete one. It's empowering just to stay on the path after other people around you have failed: you know you have the strength to carry on. And when you have the strength, you pursue personal growth more. And with all the time you have to grow, rather than try to change everything overnight, why not try to build your self-discipline, willpower, motivation and confidence so that lesser problems just fall into place, unable to stand before your strength?

So 30-day trials are a strength booster, a confidence booster, and they improve your personal growth tools. What's not to like? People have complained that I talk too much about 30-day trials: but they're very effective (and at least I don't take up a third of every post with them anymore).

For more information on 30-day trials, I'd recommend What 30 Day Trial Is Right For You? and How To Succeed At 30-Day Trials.

Until next time, may you be on Day 10 and bask in the glory of getting past Day 7.

Minipost: Progress Report

2009-06-22T04:57:00.000-07:00

Wow: it's been a week since I wrote a progress report! Amazing.

Day 22 - Breakfast Trial

Doing great. I've been eating a variety of breakfasts, from fruit to leftover chicken.

Day 22 - No Soft Drink Trial

Still a self-discipline challenge, but I'm nevertheless doing it.

Day 20 - Sleep Cycle Trial

No changes here.

Day 11 - Fruit Trial

I've still only been eating apples and bananas. I need to broaden my horizons and try new fruits. That's something to get to work on.

Well, the main part of this update is: in less than two weeks, I shall be starting my Vegetarian Trial: my biggest trial yet. I'll be doing it over the TAFE holidays, which may or may not make it any easier.

I need to start doing some research. If anyone can recommend a good Vegetarian 101 article or series of articles online? The main thing I'm wondering is what kind of foods I'm going to need to eat to make up for the lack of meat in my diet. Protein won't be a problem, but Vitamin C might. Amino acids should be fine IF I eat a variety: but I need to know how much variety. I'll be doing some searching myself over the next few days, but for the next couple of days I have a lot of work to do for TAFE.

I should also start a new trial, perhaps: or maybe I should start to transition into one big trial every 30 days rather than lots of littler trials. I'll have to do some thinking: my life is a burst of activity at the moment.

What 30-Day Trial Is Right For You?

2009-06-21T05:02:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of blog activity lately: I've been on a slow computer and motivation hasn't been as high as it usually is. I'll be back on my regular computer tomorrow, and I'll have some catching up to do.

Now, for today's topic, I'm going to be blogging about what 30-day trials are right for you, by taking you through a series of steps to help you choose one.

Step 1: Why?

Why do you want to do a 30-day trial in the first place? A 30-day trial isn't easy for many people, especially people who simply aren't used to testing their self-discipline. So if you don't have a good reason, you probably won't succeed. Now, please don't e-mail me asking if Reason X is a good one. It's if YOU think it's good. Something I consider stupid might inspire you, and something I think is a noble cause may make you think 'Eh'. It's up to you. The reason needs to be compelling to YOU AND YOU ALONE. Nobody else.

Step 2: Body, Mind, Heart and Spirit.

Next, we want to classify it into one of these four areas (possibly two).

Body is the physical. Diet, exercise, manual labor: anything that requires physical effort more than anything else, and has a physical effect.

Mind is mental. Things that improve your concentration, skills, knowledge or attitude. Anything from being more positive to learning Spanish can go hear. Mind trials change your thinking, and way of looking at the world.

Heart is emotional. It's your social and emotional intelligence. How connected you are to people, and how you feel about things belong in this part.

Spirit is the hardest to define. Essentially, the more closely aligned something is with your passion, purpose and beliefs, the more spiritual it is. Anything that helps your passion and purpose is Spirit. This blog is Spirit for me.

Once you've classified it, we can move on to Step 3.

Step 3: Results

While the focus should always be on the journey THROUGHOUT the trial, while picking the trial itself, imagining the results can be a good idea. This is being more specific about Step 1. Do you want to be smarter, happier, healthier, thinner, etc. What do you want to get out of it. Is it just a test of your willpower and discipline?

Step 4: Choose.

Now you want to choose a trial that is the path of least resistance to your goal. Want to be thinner? Go on a diet and exercise plan. Happier? Practice positivity techniques (and read How To Be Happy on this blog). The path of least resistance is usually moronically obvious once you think of it and you'll realise that's what you wanted all along.

Now that you've chosen a trial, you'll want to read How To Succeed At 30-Day Trials (featured on this blog) to move on to the step of taking on the trial, and hopefully winning. If you fail, just try again at Day 1, and don't give up. It can change your life. It's certainly changed mine. So now what are you waiting for? Figure out a trial, learn some tips to do it, and dive in.

Until next time, may you start your own Trial.

4 Ways To Break The Shackles That Bind You

2009-06-19T04:49:00.000-07:00

1. Avoid drugs

I'm not just talking about illicit drugs here. Society's drugs of choice are alcohol and caffeine. Both of them cloud your thinking, not just when you consume them, either. I've been drunk, and I've been addicted to caffeine, and they have no productive use whatsoever. They dumb down your mind and suppress your willpower. And don't get me started on nicotine. The stupidity of anyone who willingly poisons their body with such chemicals like TAR is simply beyond me. And why? Because they get momentary pleasure from it? Don't be an idiot: don't suppress your problems with drugs. Face them.

2. Identify your distracting behaviours.

Substances aren't the only thing people use to numb themselves to their problems. People do other distracting things, like eat, or web surf or play video games or watch TV. None of these are bad, but when you use it to escape your worries rather than confront them, you lower your consciousness by not embracing the truth of your situation. Rather than try to deflect your worry, you should embrace and accept the feeling and confront what it is that's bothering you. Otherwise the cycle could continue for months, even years if not interrupted.

3. Learn to trust yourself.

One reason that some people fail to get anything done is because they don't trust themselves t0 do it. When I started the No Soft Drink trial, I thought I might not manage it: but I TRUSTED myself to give it my all, and I fought through the inevitable resistance rather than give into it. Because I promised myself I would. So many people discount this. It's probably far more important than you think. People joke about knowing they won't do something. TRUST YOURSELF TO DO IT. The only way to build trust is through experience. If a 30-day trial is too much for you, try a 3-day or 7-day trial to start building self trust. If you trust yourself enough, you'll succeed. (Incidentally, this is how I succeed in managing multiple trials when other people around me fail to do a single one. I trust myself.)

4. Be passionate about what you do.

The best way to break the shackles of apathy is to be passionate about what you attempt. Get your head and heart behind it so that you emotionally want to do it, AND logically know you should. If you are able to do this, it probably doesn't matter if you don't have much self-trust. It won't feel difficult at all to stick with something if you're behind it enough.

That's another advantage I have. I choose trials that I know will benefit me, and I also want to do them for the challenge of it and for the fact that I know each one improves my willpower, discipline, motivation,and self-trust.

So there you have it. If you keep your mind clear, consciously overcome what worries you, trust yourself utterly, and are passionate about what you do, then even the greatest challenges will seem trivial. And then you'll need to ask yourself: 'What do I say when people ask how you can do challenges that other people cannot?'

Until next time, may your obstacles shrink before you.

Note: I also completed my No TV Trial today: one that was described as masochistic by some, and one that no person other than me has yet said 'I could do that if I wanted to.' This in itself shows the power of my method, I would say.

5 Sources Of Negativity To Remove From Your Life

2009-06-18T04:50:00.000-07:00

1. The news

One big source of negativity that many people plug into daily is the news. Most news programs have most of the program dedicated to deaths, injury, damage to property, and so on, with only a couple of minutes of 'feel good' news at the end of it. The next day, people gripe about all the negative portions of the news. What good does it do? If something's that important, you'll find out about it eventually.

2. Negative people

This is one of the hardest ones to eliminate, especially if some of the people who drag you down are close to you. Do a quick exercise: Write down the 3 most positive and 3 most negative people in your life. Then, once you've identified the negative, tell them. Tell them it's lowering your consciousness and unless they make an effort to be more positive, you can't associate with them anymore. It may cause some friendships to break, but it's worth it in the long run. Replace them with positive people.

3. Small annoyances

That lightbulb that flickers, or needs to be a bit brighter. That door that always squeaks. That chair that wobbles. These are things that never even make it onto a to-do list, but together they can certainly lower your mood. Set aside a day, or half a day, to deal with the annoyances. Oil the hinges, get better bulbs, prop up the chair, or fix the chair. You'd be surprised how much effect a few annoyances can have on your mood throughout the day.

4. Your own negativity

As you start removing the environmental negativity from your life, you need to focus on improving your own mind to become more positive. As I've talked about, you may not be able to choose your emotional response to every situation, but with hard work, you can change your emotional state: that is, the state you gravitate to in the absence of influences. Are you usually negative? If so, you need to change that or all the environmental changing will be for naught: but it will make it easier to make the shift to positive.

5. The negative areas

This one's the one that will probably take the longest, but will also have the greatest effect. If you're overweight, or don't have as many friends as you'd like, it's up to you to change it. If you don't feel good about your life, how can you make positivity your natural state? That's where personal growth comes in. Luckily, there are plenty of online resources to help you: this blog among them. A lot of the personal growth tips in it are about positivity. I would recommend reading How To Be Happy, located on the right side of the screen under 'Best of Grow In 30 Days'.

Once you've started work on all these areas you'll notice your positivity skyrocket. The more effort you put in, the more you'll get out. And the more positive you are, the more motivated you are to continue, and so on. Soon, you'll feel better than you have in years. All you need to do is make the commitment to expunge negativity, however long it takes.

Until next time, may you see all the good in your life.

Good Things Come To Those Who Fail - Part 2

2009-06-17T03:48:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I've made the decision to not do a progress report unless I actually have something to say. Which I don't.

Now, let's get right into today's post!

Previously, I talked about how terrible my first blog was, and how through learning techniques and skills, I was able to make a better blog (This one). Today I'm going to talk about how you can learn by failing.

The simplest technique to failure is to simply go out and do it. If you want to become a blogger you could become a mediocre blogger within the hour. Go to www.blogger.com, sign up, and then write a post about whatever. It's not hard. So how can I write a whole blog post about this? Because a lot of people have a number of lame excuses that prevent them from even trying: so we'll work on dissolving those today.

Procrastination

Procrastination is your way of saying 'I don't think this task is important enough to do right now.' So what you need to ask is 'If I want this so badly, why is it not important?' If you come up with enough good reasons not to procrastinate, you'll probably be motivated enough to start. Then, do a 30-day trial to blog / write / sing / speak / whatever else every day. If you can't make 30 days, it's not looking good for you. Do you REALLY want this? If you do, you'll get off your ass and do it.

I Suck, Why Even Try?

Let's pretend for a moment that you DO suck as badly as you think you do. How will sitting around moping make it any better? The only way you can get better is to get experience! Whether that be reading about the topic, getting someone to mentor you, or practical experience, it's the only way you can progress past the 'sucky' phase and into the 'getting better' phase. Where will you be next year? If I started something I was passionate about now, I wouldn't be in Sucktown a year later, that's for sure.

Almost Nobody Makes A Living Off This.

Success in most fields with a low barrier to entry like singing or blogging is not based on a coin flip: it's based on hard work and dedication. When people say 'I only have an X% chance of making it' it means 'Only X% of people have the dedication to succeed'. If you're not one of those X%, ask yourself: do you INTEND to make a living off this eventually, or is it just a hobby? If you want to make a living off it and you're willing to put in the work that the X% do, you're in luck. If not: well then. Pick another method of making a living buddy: if you don't do the work you won't get the reward. Tough.

I Don't Know How

Okay. You don't know how to start a blog, or write a song. Fair enough, right? I mean, it's not like people can learn of readily available, even free, sources nowadays. I mean, the Internet's not about the fair exchange of information or anything. Sarcasm ends here. What if someone offered you a million dollars to make a halfway decent song or blog in a month? All of a sudden, lack of knowledge doesn't matter. It's all about DOING it. You'll be willing to learn it. If you want it enough, you'll do the research. Do you want it enough?

So by now, you probably see a pattern. He/she who wants something enough will find a way to achieve it, and he/she who does not will fall by the wayside. So ask yourself: do YOU want it that badly?

Until next time, may you have no doubt as to what you want.

NB: This post was written in a harsher tone than many of my posts. Some people respond better to being riled up than to coddling. I'll return to my usual tone tomorrow, but will occasionally deviate to do these kinds of posts.

Good Things Come To Those Who Fail - Part 1

2009-06-16T04:33:00.000-07:00

Greetings, readers. I'm back, and feeling at about 90-95%. I also have a cool topic to share with you today: the art of failing.

Since we were young, we were trained that failure was a bad thing, right? Actually, no. When we were VERY young, if we tried to walk, and fell down, did our mothers say 'Alright, that's it. No more walking for you young man/lady!'? No, they did not. They got us to try again. Same with talking. And then again, in kindergarten, our teachers encouraged us to 'do our best', however bad it was.

WHAT CHANGED? Somewhere along the line, failure suddenly became unacceptable. It was wrong, you were stupid, you were disciplined if you failed, on occasion. Why? How on earth are you supposed to get better if you don't fail? Let me repeat that: How on earth are you supposed to get better if you don't fail? Success comes from experience, and the only way to get it is to learn. I've already mentioned my previous blog, Thought Central. Why don't you go over there and take a laugh at it for a minute? I'll wait.

Finished? Good. Depending on how much reading and writing you do, you may notice more mistakes than others. A few I noticed were:

Scheduling. I meant to write each day, but did not.
Titles. Two posts in the blog didn't even HAVE titles, so their titles were just the first lines from the post.
Topic. The topic was too unfocused and didn't provide value to people.
Coherence. The posts simply weren't coherent. They were unfocused. They rambled a lot.
Lack of research. In the first post I ever wrote, I link to Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. In it, I mention 'I don't know how famous it is.' Now, simply looking it up on Wikipedia would have shown me that it was QUITE a famous poem, but I didn't bother.

There are more, but this post isn't a dissection of my old blog's failings. But why did I link? It was a learning experience. I learnt that if I wasn't going to keep a schedule, I shouldn't bother blogging (Once the blog gets a good following, you can ease up a bit, but in the early stages, writing daily is preferable). I also learnt that my topic wasn't focused enough.

I paid a lot of attention in Year 11 English and learnt about coherency, about structure, and some other low-level things that I don't even think about now (Summarising each bullet point before you make it is one. Look up, and you'll notice I did that. I didn't think about it, it just felt natural to write it that way.) I also decided that until I could present my unique way of looking at something, I would no longer write. I tried another blog, but gave it up after 3 posts. I had no new insights int0 the topic. Then I discovered this one, and truly began to shine. At least I hope.

At this stage, I'm at an advanced stage of failure. I'm failing often, but every now and then, I'll succeed. The Power of Now is perhaps the first post I've ever written to actually help someone meaningfully. I'll take that as a success. I consider at least 3 of my posts written so far to be successes: Your Greatest Fear is on the borderline, and I'll probably take it off when my expectation for quality improves.

So the lesson of all this is: I spent weeks thinking about blogging, researching about blogging, reading blogs and imagining blogging: but in the end, what really taught me was going out there and failing. 'Good things come to those who wait' is simply a form of procrastination. Start today.

Join me tomorrow, when I discuss more about the general side of learning by failing, rather than my personal experiences. It should be a good read: but don't let that stop you! Write your first post today, learn more tomorrow!

Until next time, may you fall flat on your face and grin to yourself moronically.

Minipost: Progress Report

2009-06-15T02:08:00.000-07:00

Day 27 - No TV Trial

I've started to get curious over what my reaction to TV will be when I actually watch it in 4 days. Will I think it's good to be back, or will I, weaned successfully from it, suddenly hate it and think it's stupid?

Day 16 - Breakfast Trial

No changes here.

Day 16 - No Soft Drink Trial

No changes here.

Day 14 - Sleep Cycle Trial

No changes here.

Day 5 - Fruit Trial

I've actually found myself wanting fruit for breakfast more than anything else at the moment.

Sorry about the small post: not too much has changed. I'm feeling quite ill, so I probably won't have a post up tonight.

Minipost: Inspiration Walks

2009-06-14T15:14:00.000-07:00

When I need a blog idea, which is frequently, I take an inspiration walk. At first, this took the form of a 30-minute walk (while I was doing the exercise trial) but I've since adjusted it to make it better. Here's what you do.

Just before you leave the house, say out loud firmly what you want to achieve from this walk. For me, I wanted a blog post. I didn't make it too specific. Then, leave the house, and simply tell yourself 'Until I come up with a good idea, I'm not going to stop walking.'

And then do it. If it takes an hour, it takes an hour. The more unpleasant the conditions you walk in, the more your brain will scramble to find the answer. For example, it was quite cold last night, so I got my brain working overtime, and in just a few minutes, it came up with 6 Ways To Make The World A Better Place. If you follow through on your commitment, your brain will eventually realise it has to start working. And it will.

But what if you have something important to do in an hour? Let your brain know, and force it to come up with a solution within an hour. Trust me: it works. It's like my 30 day trials. If I take too long to come up with a post, I'll fail the Sleep Cycle Trial. That's not an option, so my brain starts working early.

It hasn't let me down yet, so try it when you have an idea that you need to do. And just keep walking til you come up with the answer. Although I wouldn't do it on something really difficult, unless you like walking for hours and hours.

Try it today!