5 Ways to become a better person right now

While it is often times hard for me to get anything going; like being more productive, pushing myself to do something difficult, or just overcoming some sense of laziness; I like to refer back to these five methods of becoming a better person in order to make myself happy and more productive.

1)      Shave, take a shower, and get dressed.  Sometimes just being in the right clothes has the ability of transforming how much work we get accomplished.  Being in sweats and a t-shirt might be more comfortable, but when we are clothed like others are going to see us, we act and work more productively.  By taking a shower, we allow ourselves ten minutes to meditate and lose track of the moment.  The ability to let the mind wander can be a powerful tool in refocusing our effort and helping us get back on track.  I also threw in shaving because it ties in with the getting dressed.  Just performing an action that makes our bodies think that we are in a working state is often enough to actually get us there.

2)      Send three friends a complementary text or selfless text:  By extending ourselves out to three others, we can often ensure that one of them will respond immediately.  When we need help making our lives better, the best way to find support is in helping others.  Be truly selfless in your message.  Seek to find how they are doing and be an active listener.  Often times we want to get things out to other people however we only grow when they are able to share their life experiences with us.  Also, send a text rather than a phone call.  By engaging in text messages you can allow yourself time to think about being selfless and meaningful with each word.  Also, phone calls will take you very much away from your work, and that is not the focus at this time.

3)      Drink a full glass of water: Humans are comprised primarily of water.  Every single bodily function occurs in a hydrated state.  Often times we are lost in a brain fog or haze because we lack adequate hydration.  By drinking a full glass of water, we can supply our body with a healthy dose of our greatest macronutrient.  Drink a glass of water and you will be better able to handle the situations around you.

4)      Create a to-do list or brainstorm:  Activating the brain to think about the issues that lie ahead on the minutes to hours scale will help the body be fully ready and prepared for anything that lies ahead.  By writing down our thoughts on paper, we reduce the chance that we lose a though, or that we feel worried/pressured by the upcoming moment.  Remember to write down thoughts quickly without returning to correct grammar or spelling errors.  Just jotting down ideas has the power of making a strong writing/brain connection, and as we practice, we will better be able to communicate our thoughts through this medium.

5)      Write down 5-10 things you are thankful for.  This exercise will help you to better be able to actualize the good things in your life.  By noticing all of the things we are grateful for, we can make the most of bad situations.  Having the opportunity to fail or the unfortunate nature of circumstance affect us only means that we should be more capable of realizing what made us happy in the first place.  Be open to change and take each negative thing as a balance in your life.  Being thankful will help us do more with less and will help us grow happy with our current self, as we strive to become better.

My 2011 Goals

Although they are a bit ambitious, I thought that I should jot them down for my own record keeping:

• Win the Heisman/Maxwell/Davey O'Brien Awards
• Earn a Rhodes Scholar
• Run the 100m dash in under 10 seconds
• Become a best selling author in a particular category
• Start my own business and earn a profit
• Deadlift 3xbw
• Create a successful blog with 100,000+ viewers per month
• Raise over $1 million for charity

Time to get back to work...

Perhaps it's a little cliche...

...to post this:

If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Balance and the willingness to accept change is the key to becoming a better person.  Losing the ability to lean and change means that you lose the ability to grow more complete.

Parkinson's Law - And Going to College

Parkinson's Law(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson's_Law)

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Parkinson's law is the idea behind procrasination.  If I am given a month to write a paper that will take me an hour to write, why not wait til the morning that the paper is due to write it.  Somehow it always seems to get done.  Although I have found procrastination to be a dangerous path, developing your own timeline will help you get more things done.

I first came in contact with the principle when I began reading Tim Ferriss's Four Hour Work Week.  I don't want to say that I knew it already, but I did have a concept of it before I read it; after all, I had graduated before I had time to read the book.

My experience with college was unique.  Simply, I finished my Bachelor's of Science in two years.  Like my entire life, I never fit in and I felt compelled to go try something new.  Despite being quite compatible with Davis, things just didn't click with me.  I had learned the important life lessons early on when I was attending Davis.  The summer before my freshman year I began taking classes while living in an apartment; with 4 other housemates.  Living with anyone other than my family was an experience in itself, but having to do so while going to school required effort.  I felt as though I became completely able to live on my own or with roommates by the end of that summer.  At that point I was much less inhibited while other freshmen were just becoming acclimated.  This fed into the cycle of not fitting in.

I entered my first year as a Sophomore.  By the second quarter of "freshman" year, I was taking upper division courses.  Since they tell you that you need to complete certain courses to graduate, I took the required classes rather than general education.  I figured that the required courses are only available during certain times of the year, sometimes in a progression.  By completing my major requirements I could enjoy college later.  That philosophy changed when I used GE as filler or to absorb the credits of my work study.  Most students are allowed to declare a major in their sophomore year. By that time I had already graduated.

While I have some qualms about graduating early, I have no regrets about it.  I was able to continue my education by not receiving schooling.  I have learned more now that I am not in school, than when I was in school.  More than that however is the cost savings considering that many if not most of the UC Davis Tuition hike protestors were senior or super-senior standing students.

Back to Parkinson's Law.  Determine your goal and work to achieve that goal alone.  Despite having some quarters below 15 units, I was able to complete my major in two years because my goal was to graduate college from day one.  Understand the requirements that the classes are looking for an use your time to accomplish those tasks.  By setting yourself up to complete your goal, you can establish your timeline.  Four years is a general number given for students to develop plans to fit that time.  In my opinion, only one year might be needed.  Or seven.  It all depends on the objective of the student.  I was satisfied with the growing up I had after 2 years, therefore my college education served me no more utility.

Identify your goal and build YOUR OWN timeline.  Just because someone said it should take four years does not mean that it should take exactly four years.

Roomba ROCKS!

Over Christmas, our family got a Roomba and Mint floor mopper.  While the tandem is really awesome, this article is about the roomba.  We have a 530 series model if you were wondering.  While I am not anywhere close to declaring it the greatest thing of all time.  I would like to mention some highlights that it provides and how this relates to my automated lifestyle goal.

1)      The roomba is about 80-85% effective in terms of cleaning up a room.  While many would be dissatisfied with the inability for a robot to complete that much, let's consider it on a cost basis.  80% of an hour of vacuuming is 48 minutes.  If I had it clean what I could clean in an hour, than it has saved me 48 minutes of vacuuming.  Considering that their is no cap on the amount of time that I can have it running, I run it all day, every day.  Let's say over the course of a week I have reduced household vacuuming from 2 hours down to 24 minutes.  That is considerable in terms of limited time I can enjoy with other family members who are busy.

2)      Having the roomba cleaning builds a sense of needing work to be accomplished.  When I have the vacuum running, I find that I am more effective performing a similar chore or activity during the same time.  Sometimes we find that it is often easier for something to be accomplished when we are in a mode of working.  Roomba helps provide this muse.

3)      Roomba is an energy saving device.  Despite being battery operated and having to charge often, Roomba allows us to use less electricity than conventional cleaning.  The regular vacuum, a central vacuum system requires a large volume of air to be moved.  Also, I can set up roomba in a dark room and it will be able to do all the cleaning without my guidance.  Consolidating myself to a single area of the house save the family energy and money.  This consolidation also makes workstations easier to clean.

4)      Roomba promotes a directive of clean living.  When we have Roomba going, our floors are clean.  This causes us to examine and scrutinize the other aspects of our house.  When the floors are clean, you can see issues with dusting, or dishes, or messes more clearly.  Having roomba is like cleaning your upper teeth.  It only shows you how unpolished your lower teeth are.

5)      Roomba removes dust on the floor.  While there will always be dust on the floor, I would prefer having it cleaned more often than we normally vacuum.  Considering that we would normally vacuum the house once a week, Roomba allows for daily cleaning of our most commonly used areas.

6)      Preping for Roomba is a form of cleaning.  Picking up shoes or moving chairs and general cleaning of items off the ground allows roomba to clean the floor or carpet underneath.  If I did not have Roomba illustrating this mechanical obstacle, I might not pick these things up otherwise.  This refers back to the sense of clean living.  Clean floors create clean counters and windows and laundry and bathrooms.

7)      Setting up Roomba leads me to use all automation at once.  Because Roomba wants to use an automated cycle, I am more inclined to take part in other automated cycles in the house.  Setting the dishwasher which runs for 3 hours will allow me to run three loads of laundry.  Setting time goals is part of Parkinson’s Law (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkinson's_Law).  If I establish competitive time goals, I always accomplish more than if I had not raised the stakes.

I hope you have enjoyed my brief analysis of the Roomba device and find simple yet meaningful ways to bring automation to your lives.