Monday, October 18, 2010

Craziness

Regretfully, I didn't update after I had finished doing my work for that day. I think I read, overall, about 4 hours, in which I read probably 40 pages. It's an incredibly slow read, and that's when I'm not being distracted by pretty much anything. I guess whichever mental "muscle" is responsible for focus is extremely weak for me.

Hoping for a different result tomorrow, despite no different set of circumstances. Insanity.

Friday, October 15, 2010

Super Sweet Update

Been a while since I updated. I'm kind of self-destructing right now, and more and more it becomes apparent that I keep on making bad decision after bad decision. I believe it's because I suffer from low self-esteem and subconsciously want to keep my life miserable. I picked up a copy of The Six Pillars Of Self-Esteem, and I can tell I'm really hitting the nail on the head because I'm experiencing extreme resistance to reading this book. The more I try to get myself to read it, the more desperately my subconscious looks for a distraction so I don't have to confront the issue.

I know it's getting cerebral and really isn't that fun to follow along, but this is absolutely the most important part of this journey: the foundation. While there aren't clear wapoints, and no clear "victory", this is certainly the most important part of beginning a new life.

Tomorrow's goal is simply to read 8 hours of the book, along with any ancillary work that needs to be done (notes, exercises, whatever). I WILL update tomorrow once I've done this, because I WILL read it. Waking up early tomorrow to get a head start on it.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Whoops!

I'll tell you something about myself and this blog: anytime I don't update, it's probably because I have nothing good to report. This blog is about progress and when I backslide, it's much less fun to reveal on this blog than when I'm doing great things that people can be inspired by. Since I haven't updated in like 2 weeks, you can probably imagine how I've been spending my time (poorly). I might as well have stuck my head in the sand for those two weeks.

I saw a video that someone linked me to the other day:


Now, truth be told, I don't believe that you should give up things that keep you alive like eating or sleeping. Those things are NEEDS. Food, air, clothing, shelter, those are things that you need to survive. Success isn't something you can NEED to survive, but you can WANT it very strongly. The trick is to fool your brain into thinking it NEEDS success or it will die. I'm still working on this.

I'm going to post up a printout of my goals for this program onto my wall, and for 15 minutes at a time, I will visualize success in those areas. Today, because I'm not busy, I will do this every hour on the hour. Let's be honest, if I want to change all of my paradigms and accomplish the extremely aggressive goals I've made for myself, I need to have an all-consuming desire for success. Anything less will lead to failure.

My areas of wealth and health pretty much suffered lately. I've skipped a few gym sessions (I always skip morning cardio the day after a night out/drinking), ate a lot of crap, and spent a lot of money that I should be holding onto during this financially slow period. I had two job interviews for server positions. I would be a perfect candidate for either restaurant, but I feel that getting fired from my last job was really a game-changer and probably soured all the other things I brought to the table. I haven't gotten a call back from either, which means I just need to apply to restaurants at a greater volume, and hope something sticks.

My relationships probably improved. I saw an old friend, really cemented friendships with the people I hang out with, it was overall a good thing. And more good news as well- I talked to a few girls (mostly while drinking), and although they all shot me down/blew me off, I feel good about putting in that effort. The effort needs to be like 10x stronger and 10x more consistent for me to achieve 50 dates in a one year span, though. I'm going to have to be clockwork on this point.

I'll let you know how everything goes tomorrow. Get amped!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Improvement

One very exciting thing has taken place today which I want to share with you. I achieved one of my year-long goals! Already! Of course, it's probably the easiest goal I had set for myself, and it was a goal I set for myself ignorant of the facts around it. I feel kind of silly, in retrospect, setting a goal that I was basically already fulfilling as I wrote it.

I finally applied to the local gym at a great rate (Thanks, Mark!), and got a free session with a personal trainer, Hil. She gave me a bodyfat caliper test as part of the introductory session. This consisted of taking off my shirt and sharing awkward jokes about a striptease. Hil then pinched some fatty areas of the body tightly, and measuring the angle of change with an instrument that looks somewhere between tongs and an astrolabe. Her result was that I had a bodyfat located somewhere between 9.5% and 10.3%, which means an average of 9.9%.

This satisfies part of my "Health" goals, which is to achieve less than 10% bodyfat, and I'm editing the goals section of my blog to reflect success in this area of my life.

Apparently, my confusion arises from hasty and poorly executed bodyfat tests I had performed myself earlier, which would have told me that I was 15-6% bodyfat right now. It was because I wasn't pinching my fat hard enough, which seems pretty understandable. Giving myself titty twisters and Indian rug burns didn't seem appealing at the time. The other part of the confusion is that I was using my chest and abdominals as visual reference for how low my bodyfat is, when in fact that's where my bodyfat naturally accumulates.

The upshot of this is that unless I'm actively working out, even with a healthy bodyfat percentage I will look out of shape because of my gut. :(

Beyond that, though, read 100 pages of The 4 Hour Work Week, although I specifically failed to learn one of the lessons and read some chapters that didn't even apply to me (how to hire assistants to outsource your workload, etc). Thankfully, a lot of lessons are coming out of this book on my second read, and I'm thinking I should just buy it so that I can review it and keep it around as a reference (Right now I'm just using a library book). Still have to really get through the part about setting up an internet-based business that would operate well and without a great deal of personal oversight.

Romantically, another dismal day. Sigh. The only girl I hung out with was my mom, who was helping me buy houseware for my new apartment. Tomorrow I will either talk to a girl or eat an entire sheet of printer paper. My promise to you, my reader(s?).

After these messages...
We'll be right back.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Update

Read some of the 4 Hour Work Week. Tomorrow, I will focus on two major tasks alone: Reading the parts about creating an automated company, and then rereading it, AND sending out emails to Craigslist for jobs waiting tables. That will be a pretty heavy Wealth day. I'm also going to be starting out the day by signing up for the local gym, because I finally ascertained how much reserve money I have to work with and it should be ample enough for two months or so. Also, I'll be spending time with Mom going shopping for stuff I need in my apartment. Looking forward to a productive day!

On another note, I should start writing these things earlier, as I usually want to just fall asleep halfway through the update. Anyway, a thought for later.

Distractions

(Accidentally posted this in the wrong place last night)
I'm going to make this an abridged entry, because I fell asleep after writing like two sentences, and I want to go back to sleep as soon as possible. Right now, I feel like dealing with distractions and staying focused is the biggest liability I have. I can get distracted by stimuli so easily and so regularly that doing simple tasks can take forever and be a total burden, instead of a passing thought. I have created a plan where I will increase my efficiency of thinking, my focus, my clarity of thought, etc. Right now, I have very poor discipline when it comes to thinking and acting on thoughts. There is probably nothing more integral to success to than this skills, so I certainly don't take it lightly.

I'm a strong believer in the power of consistency and persistence, and I know that if I systematically just keep my nose to the grindstone and stay on TOP of all these goals and plans, I will inevitably come out on the other side better. My problem isn't one of faith, it's of self-doubt; can I actually keep my eyes on the prize for the next year? When I wrote the original idea out, I made a promise to myself to do it, so the answer is: I'd better!

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Back in Business

Sorry about the information blackout for the last couple of days. I finally got my internet installed, and I've been kind of a slouch the last day or so (mostly nursing the mother of hangovers). But no more!

I said goodbye to an old friend of mine today. Computer games are now part of my history, but not my future. I have deleted all my computer games, blocked every game website, and told my roommate (who has a massive compendium of awesome games) to keep his games away and to keep an eye on me in case I slip up. When I was just a kid, I was the only of my friends to not get a Sega Genesis, and that cruel slight might account for how much I've wanted to desperately snatch up computer games since, even though the experience is unfulfilling for me. I realized (after I spent 12 hours playing Crysis the other day) that there simply isn't enough time for computer games anymore. If I want to accomplish an actual paradigm shift, something trivial and distracting like computer games need to be the first to go.

Very pleased with another development, the procurement of some duplicate keys for the apartment. Now I can actually leave the apartment to do errands, job interviews, exposure to natural light, etc. I'm sure you can imagine how frustrating it is to rely on roommates to be home to let me in, etc. etc. I lost them when I got spectacularly drunk the other evening, punched some kind of wall (or so I believe) and lost my keys. Not only is this behavior embarassing (This is my first week with new roommates- what will they think?!?), but it's sad, because I don't remember most of what happened, nor do I remember Machete, the movie we all saw that I was so excited for. Lesson learned: Don't drink so much; hey it's cheaper and better for me, too!

On the plus side, however, I got a lot of facetime with some great friends and some new friends this weekend, so I'm feeling pretty good about that. More to come!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Writing from upstate New York

Sorry for the delay in the blog recently! I've been moving around a lot and haven't really had a chance to share what's been going on for me. Even now I'm writing from my android in the middle of farm country, so I can't be too verbose with my update.

A couple of things that threw me off lately: I'm getting much less of a reception from local cafes than I hoped for for my part time job. This throws a wrench in the works, because I need a baseline off of which I can try exciting new things to generate revenue. The next thing is that one of my plans regarding real estate was not advised by someone else I was talking to. She said that in the current real estate market, my original plan wouldn't work and could catastrophically backfire on me. That's really a shame because I was expecting that part of my plan to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Oh well.

One great thing about being way the hell away from the hustle and bustle of the city is that its a great opportunity to study, to focus your resolve, and to make plans/goals. Of course, I spent most of this trip in a food coma... Anyway, I plan to do plenty of reading and planning tomorrow and Tuesday. I'm appalled to say that I do not actually have a definite plan of how to make 70k$ in place yet. Definitely gonna get that under control. Well, I'm tired of using this tiny keyboard to update, so I'll leave it there for now. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

8/24: Comcastic!

Today was definitely a setback in my progress:
It was raining and my internet was off all day. Comcast. As a result, there was only a handful of things I could really do today. I mean, the fact of the matter is, there's always another way to get these things done. If I wanted to, I could have walked to the gym, which is maybe a mile and a half away. In the rain. That's just one of those moments where the fire in my belly needs to be stronger, fueled by my beliefs and desire to get this done. Given enough motivation, there's a way to do ANYTHING.

Regardless, because of the inconvenience, I ended staying home, reading books, watching a movie, setting up plans with friends, cleaning my room, and little else. The internet came back on too late for me to get anything useful done. I'll do a little market research before I get to sleep, but Comcast can eat a big one.

I consider today to be something of a snapback day. I felt the strain of pushing towards the edge of my comfort zone yesterday, and the further I ventured out, the more habit would snap me back like an elastic band later on. I'm frankly pleased, because the only way to kill a comfort zone is to repeatedly move out of it. Also, this is great because it helps me see where the boundaries of comfort lie for me. Apparently, I have a great deal of work to do. Very excited, more to come!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

First Things First

When you set out to complete a task, you need to have a clear sense of what direction you're going. If I were to say I'm going to make a million dollars, but outline no clear way of getting it, what is the value of that goal? You can't produce millions out of thin air! Although simply deciding something is the most important part of the process of any task, decision alone won't yield results. I'm sure you might be seeing now where I'm going with this. I was so excited yesterday with the creation of this new blog that I forgot the second most crucial part of this process, which is outlining what my goals are, my waypoints, and my path towards a life that's more enriched than Wonder Bread.

Because self-esteem and quality of life are things that you can never have enough of, I won't state a final goal to achieve. I plan on finding out how far I can go one goal at a time. My first goal isn't too absurd, but it is extremely aggressive. By September 1st, 2011, I will accomplish the following:

Health:
-Achieve under 10% bodyfat
-Gain 15 pounds of muscle
Wealth:
-Earn $70,000.00 (not net earnings, just total income).
Relationships:
-Make 20 new friends
-Increase the quality of my existing relationships
-50 dates

Just to get a good idea of what this list signifies, let me list my current stats:

-I probably have about 18% bodyfat
-I'm not muscular at all
-I've never earned over $25,000.00 in a year.
-I'm not great at making new friends
-Most of my friendships are strained or stagnant
-Haven't gone on a date in months.

For me, this constitutes a total paradigm shift. If you're like me, you know how much (or how little) you can possibly accomplish within your comfort zone, which is usually very underwhelming. That's why I'm getting rid of what I've been doing so far, and trying something new, uncomfortable and exciting.

Anyway, here's my update for today:
Health: I worked out in my room because it was spitting rain all day. I scouted out local potential gyms to go to. They cost 60 and 80. Today I nailed down where I will be living for the next year- an apartment on the intersection of a very busy and popular area of the city. The convenience and overall accessibility (plus the lack of other options) really sealed the deal for me.
Wealth: I will soon have a job interview at Starbucks.
Relationships: I briefly talked to a girl on the bus, which went nowhere. Didn't spend much time around women today. I set up two playdates for this weekend with friends I haven't seen in a while.
The rest of my time was spend reading "Multiple Streams of Internet Income", downloading sweet music (MF Doom's "Special Herbs" will help me get through all the work coming my way soon), buying food (mostly healthy) and organizing receipts.

Monday, August 23, 2010

From Zero To Sixty

This is it. This is the record of my efforts in enriching my life, in all the areas that matter: Health, Wealth, and Relationships. I'm going to be posting every day, talking about my progress in building a richer, more fulfilling life. It's not going to be obvious level-ups, like a video game, but it should be exciting, and I want to share it with everyone.

I'm starting at a relatively acceptable starting point, which is that I was laid off from my previous job, a restaurant waiter gig, yesterday. I have some money saved up, but I couldn't coast on it for more than a month. I'm tired of being poor. This blog is going to document how I kick-started my finances.

Physically, I'm lazy, not having gone to the gym in months, and not REGULARLY going to the gym in half a year. I get tired pretty quickly, which is ominous for a 25-year old. I'm not looking great, and not feeling great, and I'm sick of it. I'm going to get into amazing shape, and I'll share how I do it here.

My friendships and romantic relationships have not been great. My waiting job took away all of my 'free time', which I should have been spending with my friends and loved ones, and those relationships have been strained. I've been in a significant dry spell with women, longer than I care to share on this blog. It's been lonely, and I'm sick of it. I'm going to become Mr. Popular and Mr. Chick Magnet, and it's all going to be documented here. Tastefully, of course.

So that's it, my friends, that's my starting point, my 'zero' for this adventure. I want you to expect big things from me, because that's what I intend to provide. By reading this blog, you inspire me as much as I hope to inspire you.