Curiosity killed the cat.
It also invented electricity. And calculus. And airplanes. And the internet.
Irrational Productivity
What makes a day productive? Every day is different, every person is different, all goals are different. I suppose that is like asking, "what is happiness?"
I constantly have this irrational drive for productivity but don't have a clear definition of what it is or what I'm being productive for. Does there have to be a specific task? Does the task have to relate to particular end result/future goal? What is effective productivity? Or is that a redundant statement?
Who knows, who knows, back to it!
Thursday's random thoughts
The difficulty of writing something every day is that there is pressure to have an interesting thought every day. So I suppose that is the practice. The practice of thought and the discipline of work. Forces some sort of contemplation. Not sure what the end result will be, or even what the goal is, but its certainly challenging already, on day 5.
Many great writers swear by this. And though I'm not a writer and have never claimed to be, I figured it was about time I try the practice of daily writing. Hemingway was extremely diligent in writing every single day. More recently, dozens of interesting and influential people like Seth Godin to Tim Ferriss, to Brian Koppelman (wrtier and creator of Rounders and Billions), swear by daily writing. A lot of this comes from an exercise called Morning Pages out of a book called, "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.
Her approach is a bit different than what I'm doing here. It is basically writing two pages by hand first thing every single morning. It can be nonsense. It can be anything. Its just two random pages. Her approach seems a bit more individual and a somewhat meditative process. I suppose this is also. It just forces me to slow down and be a bit more cautious since it is publicly available. Its a bit suffocating and freeing at the same time. Which is strange, but good practice non the less. For what? I don't know.
All you need to know about investing
This is a podcast about 40 minutes long from Freakonomics Radio. These are the guys that wrote the hugely popular international best seller, Freakonomics. I listen to this podcast regularly. It is pretty great and covers a wide range of topics, mostly revolving around economics, society, and culture.
Below is a link for a show they did called, "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Money (but were afraid to ask)." Its fairly basic material, but super important none the less. Great listen, and very very worth the time. Check it out:
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/everything-always-wanted-know-money-afraid-ask/
Great Article on Investing
The ultimate cheat sheet for investing by James Altucher
http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2014/04/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-investing-all-of-your-money/
I'm not going to write much about this, since the article shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes to read. But I figured I'd share it since I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm a big fan of James Altucher and his material. He has an excellent podcast and has written many best selling books. This is his take on investing and personal finances.
The Anton Diet
I just finished a 14 day Anton Diet. I made it up, but its really based off a compilation of many many diets. It is basically gluten, dairy, grain, and processed food free. The only things I ate were fruits, vegetables, meats, and eggs. Mostly all organic produce and grassfed/organic proteins. The rule was absolutely nothing could be eaten that was made in a factory or warehouse or processed in any way. Even if something had all natural and/or all organic ingredients, nothing from a box that was made by someone else. This included all supplements and vitamins and minerals and protein powders. Just fruit, vegetables and meats. Simple.
I've read and heard so so much about gluten free and dairy free and lectin free and paleo and vegan and ketogenic and everything else, so I figured I would try my own version of everything. The goal was 14 days so that my body would have ample time to adjust and adapt to the nutritional changes. I've noticed before that when I drastically change things, it takes a bit of time for my body to adjust and the beginning can be rough. This happened here too. I was a bit tired the first couple days and was definitely not recovering enough from my normal training routine. Admittedly, I was also not eating nearly enough those first couple days. I didn't prepare well enough and didn't have different options available for things I could eat, so I found myself just not eating. By Wednesday of the first week, I loaded up on all kinds of fruits and vegetables and meats so that I wouldn't be bored with lack of options and have plenty enough to eat.
Overall, it was pretty easy. I never thought it was challenging because I made sure to eat a ton. I was never hungry (except the first 2 days) and had no restrictions on calories or amount. The goal was to eat as much as I want, just only from the allowed categories. Night time was the only time I craved some type of cheap processed carbs, like candy or bread or doughnuts. I had 2 events/parties during the 14 days. Those were obviously hard because I was the idiot who couldn't have anything to drink (even juice or soda water) and couldn't eat anything except the platter of vegetables (without the ranch dip). That was annoying, but not a big deal. I got over it.
I felt good. Definitely slightly better, but certainly not worth it. My body processes and burns all types of food very very well. Milk, gluten, grains, sugar, whatever. So there was no magical feeling of euphoria or life changing energy levels. I felt clear, slept slightly better, was very alert, but overall, the headache of living like that and being extreme all the time is not worth it for me. I stay in excellent shape regardless of what I eat because of how I work out, so that part didn't matter. I like the clarity and mental focus, but hate not having a doughnut when I want or eating whatever is provided when I'm at a friend's house or out to dinner with a group. Also, often times, I was out for a long period of time and had to pack a lunch and snacks for the whole day. Which was also annoying. So in the end, I think I'll stick with this type of eating for about 90% of what I consume. Generally when I'm home, this is how I'll eat. However, I won't stop myself from enjoying the things I like and from having a good time when I'm out.
Day 1
Today is the day. Good old August 13th. I will start writing every day on this blog and see how long I can make it. I've been meaning to do this in some form or another, no idea why, for a while now. However, I always have some excuse to start later or not start at all. If anything, this is a good exercise incommitment and discipline. The plan right now is to do it every single day for 1 years. That's 365 posts. This is number 1. I'm a bit overwhelmed even thinking about it but we'll see how I do.
I have been thinking about this for a long long while, several years, and constantly come up with excuses. Some were, "I will start on January first," "I will start with 1 post a month and then move to 2 a month, etc." "I'll just post whenver I have something interesting to say," "No one cares about my thoughts or posts." All of that is nonsense. At the end of the day, if its something I've thought about, its something I should carry out and see to fruition. Just going to start, now, today, on a random day, and commit to doing it every day. Will be interesting to see if I can make it and what comes out. In all reality, this isn't read, I think by anyone, at all. So it's an exercise for me. I guess I'll just write about random thoughts, things I'm doing, books I'm reading, podcasts I'm listening to, etc.
Here we go.
Early Retirement Extreme - Book
Early Retirement Extreme: A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Financial Independence by Jacob Lund Fisker.
The book is presumptuous, extreme, pretty dry throughout most of it, but at the end of the day, it is an important read. Like most books that take a strong stance (which almost every great book does), the reader has to be cautious in identifying what works for him/her. The author blindly assumes that all people are like him in their interests and desires towards life, time, and finances. They aren't. Everyone is different. For some people, the happiness of buying a new car supersedes the cost of spending the time at work. And that is OK. Fisker assumes that it is not OK. He simply places a different type of value on his time, freedom and his financial independence than most other people.
On the other hand, it is important to be as objective and removed as possible when reviewing your own life and truly assess what it is that makes you happy. This is probably impossible to do on a truly objective level, but it is how we will identify exactly how much of these principals should be applied to our lives. For example, is buying a new pair of jeans really worth it. Is it really more valuable having the new pair of jeans than having a complete day off of work? Or, let’s say you spend $200 on a pair of jeans, and instead you put the 200 into an investment account that returns 10%. That 200 is 3500 in 30 years. That may not be much, but you extrapolate that to every new shirt, shoes, jeans, coffee, silverwear, anything you spend money on. Accumulated over a life time and included with compounded interest and growth, that will literally be millions of dollars. Which of the things you buy are truly worth it to you?
There are dozens of really interesting concepts and ideas. An example is, why does everyone in the neighborhood own a lawn mower just so they can use it for 15 minutes a week? Why isn’t there just 1 lawnmower for the block?
Good book. Definitely worth the read.
Steroids Article
Being an athlete my whole life, and someone who is crazy about nutrition and fitness and health, this article was fascinating to me.
I've never taken any illegal steroid or HGH or anything even close, but it certainly makes me wonder what it would have been like if I did. There is even a pretty significant portion of me that regrets never trying it.
Fantastic read. A bit long, but well worth it:
Science vs Religion - - Science AND Religion
https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/06/19/martin-rees-interview-science-religion/
Interesting article on Brain Pickings about the world renown cosmologist Martin Rees on the religion vs science debate. Can't help but agree that there are positives in both. Instead of only looking at the negative aspects of your opposing views, open up to the positives and how the other side has helped billions of people. Both have a place. Positivity wins, happiness wins.
Also interesting:
Galileo vs. God:
https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/02/15/galileo-letter-to-duchess-of-tuscany/
The Long Version
Below is a long long version of my reel. Its always difficult to cut, and though our industry requires that the reel is less than 3 minutes, I figured I'd post the long version before I finish up the reel for actual use.
Cross Regional Crossfit Athlete Comparison
This week is the 2016 CrossFit Games. This is essentially the SuperBowl of CrossFit, where the top athletes in each category throughout the world compete to be considered “The Fittest on Earth.” Like anything else, its only interesting to watch if you have ever done CrossFit.
Anyway, athletes first compete in the open, which everyone in the world can participate in. Then the top athletes in each region advance to regionals, from each region, only the top 5 go to the games. I was curious how the athletes compare cross-regionally. In other words, how does the performance of an athlete in one region, like Matt Fraser, stack up with the performance of an athlete from another region, like Josh Bridges.
Below are my results in order from best to worst. I took the top 6 athletes in each region (just curious to see if a 6th place in one region might have been able to make it in another region). I ranked them all by each even at regionals. In other words, the first column to the right of the athlete’s name is event 1 at regionals. Columns 1-7 are events 1-7. Columns A-G are then the corresponding places for each event. For example, with all these athletes, Matt Fraser took 1ST place in event 1, 3RD place in event 2, etc. The yellow column shows the overall score, with the lowest being the best score.
Of course there are a few flaws in these computations. People always perform up to their competition, so if a great athlete didn’t have much of a push on a competition, it doesn’t equate to someone from a different regional that had great competition. Also, these were spread out over 3 weeks, and the athletes in the later week had a huge advantage in preparing for these events. Either way, fun to look at the numbers.
I have the entire file, but still trying to figure out how to attach on this website.
Richard Feynman
Interesting Podcast
Just listened to this podcast:
http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/how-lsd-works/
How Stuff Works is an excellent podcast on just about anything and everything. They pick a topic, do tons of research, and present a fairly unbiased assessment of their findings. I found this to be pretty interesting since it so contrary to what I was raised to believe regarding LSD. The show provides a significant amount of information for the benefits of LSD. My only concern with the podcast is that it appears to be slightly in favor of providing the positive side of LSD. It seems like the podcast was made to argue the social norm of “drugs are bad.” Though LSD likely has way more benefits than we are taught to believe, surely there are some downsides. It appears as though there are numerous benefits of various hallucinogenic drugs. However, the major caveat here is that the benefits generally arise from micro dosing (or small doses), and done under proper surroundings, with support from a shaman, or very close friends in a controlled environment, or even under medical/therapeutic supervision.
Either way, I certainly thought it was interesting. Always good to shake up life-long beliefs. “Drugs are bad” is so engrained in me that it is hard for me to open up to the idea of trying something like this. What if something you felt and always believed in so strongly is not true?
If we all had the ability to be open and objectively/honestly accept/study the contrary side of our opinions, ignorance/violence/hatred would decrease dramatically.
Tim Ferriss also has a few great podcasts on this topic as well:
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/03/21/james-fadiman/
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/09/14/are-psychedelic-drugs-the-next-medical-breakthrough/
Benefits of Cold Showers
I've been taking a cold shower every day for a little over a year. I love !!
There are numerous documented, and well researched, benefits of taking a cold shower. I would love to write all the ways it has helped me, but recently read an article in the New York Times that explains it a whole lot more eloquently than I could:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/business/the-benefits-of-getting-an-icy-start-to-the-day.html?_r=0
Finally Updated My Reel:
Not sure why, but updating a reel is one of those tasks that seems incredibly daunting, exhausting, and extremely time consuming. My excuse is always to wait until that next project airs so I have more footage to work with (this is a never ending cycle - like never updating a phone because I'm waiting for the next new model (I'm guilty of this as well)). To me, updating a reel is a perfect catalyst for procrastination. Like anything else though, once the commitment is made and I'm determined to get it done, its quick, easy, and fun to do. Its been a good 2 years or so since I've updated the reel. Its got a bunch of stuff that I've worked on in the past two years. Unfortunately, other stuff had to be taken out. Below is the updated version (Maybe I should keep all my versions up, just to see the progress over the years, that would be interesting):
Some CrossFit Pictures
Below are a few pictures I took at Brick Crossfit with Jon Offstead. It was a fun shoot after a CrossFit competition (my first one ever).
I've been consistently weight training for over 15 years and I finally gave CrossFit a shot. Essentially, it is a combination of High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and Circuit Training (I've done a lot of both over the years). It creates conditioning through muscle fatigue instead of typical running routines. Moreover, it incorporates Olympic lifting and gymnastics movements (such as ring dips/muscle ups, hand stand push ups, and toes to bar). The movements force individuals to pay close attention to mobility and flexibility, which standard weight lifting can hide/ignore. More than anything, it provides an excellent environment and community for working out and makes for one hell of a competitive atmosphere. Though CrossFit is not something I would do full time, I think it is an excellent excellent change-up and additional to my work out routine. Moreover, it has been excellent for my physique and getting in shape, it has allowed me to become more flexible and mobile, and has introduced me to many wonderful people and new friends.
Goals Are Overrated – Consistency is Key
We are constantly told that we need to set goals. “Just set a goal, and you’re on your way to success.” I disagree. Goals are just ideas. Though having ideas is important, it’s a small part of the equation. Everyone comes up with a million dollar idea or product at some point in their life. 99% of these, however, never get made. The road to success is always in the effort and execution.
Let’s focus on consistency, not goals. The key is sticking 100% to whatever you said you were going to do. Even if it is the smallest of goals, once you set out to do something, see it through to the end. When you set a big goal and don't quite get there, you are conditioning yourself to be OK with not completing what you set out to do. "Well I tried, I worked hard, everyone fails, failure is part of growth." That’s garbage. We rely way too much on thinking that failure is OK. It promotes complacency and generates a pattern of quitting. Set the goal smaller, and get there. Put your blinders on, and finish no matter what. You are training yourself to be disciplined. It really doesn’t matter what the goal or outcome is at this point. Set small goals, but get in the habit of reaching the goal you establish.
Interestingly, setting smaller goals helps with the other side of the spectrum as well. Even if you are extremely focused and well disciplined, large goals may be counterproductive. This is something that I have struggled with for many years. I will set a goal, and no matter what, I see it through to the end. Such stubbornness can often times be inefficient and/or counterproductive - which I will realize half way through the process, but finish regardless. For example, I'll randomly decide that I will do a 48 hour fast of absolutely no food, only water. At hour 32, I have a bad headache, can't concentrate, feel lethargic, can’t get any work done, am not pleasant to be around, and can feel my body being catabolic (this is when the body relies on your muscles as an energy source instead of fat or carbs and muscles waste away). Clearly it is not beneficial in any physical way for me to keep going. It’s not like 48 hours has any specific meaning to my body. However, simply because I said I would do it, I finish. I have done this for many many workout programs, diets, classes, books, and other things I commit to. Many of these I would have been better off stopping half way through or earlier. Though it is certainly fantastic having a certain level of disciplinary control, it would be nice to use my time more efficiently and not hurt my body with extreme diets and/or workouts. Therefore, I now set smaller/shorter goals.
Focus on the process and the work, not in writing goals.
The 120 Hour Work Week
Disguised as being efficient and smart, lazy people are constantly searching for ways to work less. This appears to be the popular trend these days, spearheaded by titles such as The 4 Hour Work Week. Tim Ferriss’ national best seller is a great book that is often times misunderstood and misused.
Quit trying to work 4 hours a week. Instead, find what you love and work 120 hours a week. Who wants to work 4 hours and have nothing to do for the other 164? People who have lots of money, whether it was earned or inherited, start businesses, charitable organizations, or make stupid reality shows because they need to be active, they need something to do. THEY NEED WORK. The problem is that work and having a job have a negative connotation in our society. Work has incorrectly become synonymous with doing something we hate. This is quite detrimental to our state of happiness because it creates anxiety, stress, and worst of all, boredom. A common definition of work is, "activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result." There is no mention of money and certainly nothing about misery.
I read the 4 hour work week right after college, and it was one of many many things that propelled me to quit my job in accounting with no concrete plan for the future. The year that I spent working in accounting, I read countless books and articles to help sort out my life. These included The 4 Hour Work Week, The Alchemist, Atlas Shrugged, Steve Jobs Biography, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Steve Jobs' Commencement Speech, Steve Pavlina's "Don't Die With The Music Still In You," "10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job", Brian Kim's "How to Find What You Love to Do," and many many others.
Though Tim Ferriss' 4HWW is an excellent book and is an incredible source of inspiration and information, it can be a bit misleading. Don't judge a book by its Title. The book is really about time optimization and the best ways to make use of one’s time and life. Most importantly, the book refers to typical, mundane, uncreative tasks. When you enjoy what you do, there is no need to work only 4 hours. Therefore, the title is misleading and provides nothing but a tease to the lazy who want an excuse to do less. Tim Ferriss probably works well over 100 hours a week. Here is a link to an article written by his personal assistant of five years:
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/02/13/anxiety-treatments/#more-10562
We are happiest when we are busy, productive and creative. Find what does that for you and work 120 hours a week.
Links to the books and articles mentioned:
http://www.amazon.com/The-4-Hour-Workweek-Anywhere-Expanded/dp/0307465357
http://www.amazon.com/Theodore-Roosevelt-Modern-Library-Paperbacks/dp/0375756787
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2005/june15/jobs-061505.html
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2005/01/dont-die-with-your-music-still-in-you/
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/07/10-reasons-you-should-never-get-a-job/
http://briankim.net/blog/2006/07/how-to-find-what-you-love-to-do/
http://www.amazon.com/Atlas-Shrugged-Ayn-Rand/dp/0451191145
http://www.amazon.com/The-Alchemist-Paulo-Coelho/dp/0061122416