Life

Patience is a virtue, indeed.

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“He that can have Patience, can have what he will.” – Benjamin Franklin

I read somewhere that Ben Franklin invented bifocal glasses when he was 78 years old. That was a patient man right there. Patience is a lost virtue. The obsession with getting things easily and conveniently have taken precedence. Because of this, people have spent a lot of time, energy and money on things they do not need, barely will use, and that have not contributed to their quality of life. Mastery at most things requires a lot of patience. I recommend the book, Mastery by George Leonard and you will know what I mean. Most of the time spent doing something will require a ton of patience, not just to get good but to become a master. Many people simply don’t have the patience to get to mastery. Patience is an absolute requirement to live to your full potential.

If you aren’t exactly where you want to be in your life, just be patient and it will come as long as you are taking action. Patience is not passively waiting around for something to happen, that’s laziness. Patience is working your way through something even if its difficult, and its slow and you feel like you aren’t making any progress. Remember Mr. Miyagi telling the Karate Kid to do all that “wax on, wax off” stuff? Patience. Besides, what’s the rush? 😛 Life isn’t a race to the finish line, whether you are on the planet for 1 more day or for 100 more years. Have faith in the journey and in the direction you have chosen and let the universe do its thing. Something to remember, the universe doesn’t make mistakes. Got it?

Have patience with other people whose opinions differ from your own. Have patience with children, and with your family and friends and with your lover. Have patience with that slow person walking in front of you, but by far the most important person to have patience with is yourself. If you have a fit of road rage and feel silly afterward, be patient with yourself. Learn from the experiences that make you feel silly, its ok, laugh it off if you can. Don’t beat yourself up over not being able to accomplish certain goals you may have set for yourself, just keep at it. Without patience, there is no hope, no faith, no dreams that can come true. Have patience, it’s good for you.

Life

What motivates you? Finding leverage.

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“Motivation alone is not enough.If you have an idiot and you motivate him,now you have a motivated idiot.” – Jim Rohn

I haven’t been doing as well as I had hoped I would studying for the GMAT. I find myself extremely rusty at math and english and it is definitely showing. I realize it just takes a little bit of practice and that’s not the hard part, the hard part is the motivation to do so. From all of my fellow classmates who have thought about doing the GMAT, many have not for the same reason I procrastinated for so long, a lack of motivation. We all make good money, there’s no deadlines, there’s no added incentive, no bonus, no nothing. We went through the school thing and it was hell on earth, and now we’ve been out in the workforce a mere 2.5 years, let us enjoy the freedom of now. And that is totally understandable, but what if you wanted more challenge? To take on bigger, harder, newer things? How do you motivate yourself to do that?

Motivation is a powerful tool to get you started on something. Ask yourself the question, “Where is my leverage?”. If you are overweight and you don’t wish to be anymore, that’s your leverage. If you are alone and wish to find a loving partner, that’s your leverage. If you are intelligent but work for a knucklehead boss, that’s your leverage. Use the leverage. When I first started rock climbing, I excelled pretty quickly. It was only on my second or third time climbing that I tackled a 5.10a, no easy task for beginners. I felt that climbing practice was enough to get better, and so that’s what I did. But my partner was busting his butt off in the gym and soon found himself surpassing me on the wall. Ah yes, my leverage right there, nothing like healthy competition. That was enough motivation for me to wake up a half hour earlier every morning to workout. Its about finding the leverage to give you the motivation to become your best self.

If you’ve got great ideas, use them. Don’t let them fade away because there’s a lack of motivation to start. Most people have no trouble starting things, its finishing that’s the problem. Do you know anybody like that? Great starters, poor finishers. Maybe you can relate to it yourself. Not sure what type of leverage you can use? Perhaps you need to sit down and write out some of your goals and aspirations. Or, you could watch the movie “Revolutionary Road”, the new movie by Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. I can tell you one thing about the movie, after I watched it I had enough leverage to tell me to never be like that in my life. Although I already knew it, it was a nice reminder 😉

Sometimes it takes a swift kick in the pants or a role model to find motivation. Maybe you were inspired by some great piece of art, or a friend who is currently doing really well for themselves. Whatever it is, use it to your advantage and get the ball rolling. You’ll find that once you have the ball rolling you’ll have a good momentum to carry forward with your actions. Sometimes you won’t see the fruits of your labour for many years. Sometimes you may never see it. But that definitely shouldn’t deter you from trying. How can you help others motivate themselves? Encourage them and support them to find the things that they wish to do. I get sad when I hear people slink away from their dreams because they have “too many responsibilities” now. Sadly, I know far too many people in that position and I wish I didn’t. Of course, we don’t believe those lies for a second. We know better 🙂

Life, Me

Man on Wire… lessons on balance

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Happy Chinese New Year. They did a short interview with me today at The City Bee about the Chinese New Years and some of the customs involved. They changed the interview quite a bit, and took out a lot more which is really unfortunate. It almost feels like half of that interview wasn’t me, and it was edited down for reasons unknown to me. I didn’t even write a single word in that section about the Ox (like I would know Obama is an ox), so I am going to have to bring that up to the editors as that is not something I would want in the future, to have words put into my mouth or have my words misconstrued. Other than that though, they have been writing some awesome stuff over there, so I hope you guys are checking it out as there are updates everyday (except Saturday, who wants to be shackled to a computer on Saturday, right?).

I went home very last minute this weekend. I was planning on going rock climbing but my partner got sick so I didn’t have any reason to stick around. I’m glad because it was really good going home to Mom and Dad and spending New Years with them. It helped break up the monotony of dredging through the GMAT studying. I’ve been keeping a good balance and taking lots of breaks from it, which I find has helped me stay focused. I’ve learned that going fifth gear for 4 hours straight is not the best way to go about it, and that mixing things up has been a great way to keep things fresh. I’ve been working out twice a day doing a lot of pushups and chin ups and situps lately. Once in the morning to get the juices flowing, and sometime at night just whenever I feel like it, to give the brain a break while I exercise the body. I’ve also been going through all of my pictures and starring them in Picasa and geotagging them in Google Earth. Its a nice refreshment from everything else I am doing. I’ve also been scribbling feverishly in my notebooks and in Evernote for anything that pops in my head, so I don’t have to think about it while I concentrate on the things in front of me. Also, I’ve organized all of my movies using Windows Media Center and its really awesome plugins, and now I have them excellently cataloged. I also went through all of my contacts and updated their phone numbers, email addresses, birthdays and the like through Outlook. I’ve been listening to a lot of Classical music (almost exclusively) and I find it very soothing. I’ve retagged all of my music and have it cataloged as well. I’ve been haxoring my computer and its running the way I want it now, too. Just nerd things, here and there, that I have been neglecting for years, but have helped keep things organized in my system and have helped me maintain a balance. If I’m not doing any of that, then I’m either working (work work, online work, house work, etc.) or reading or writing. I also try to watch movies whenever I can, and lately have watched a number of documentaries. I watched one called Man on Wire. It was really cool. Its about this tight rope walker who had a vision to walk across the twin towers in the 70s. True story, too. It was like a real life Ocean’s 11. Really cool, movie. At the end of the movie they are asking him why he did it and he replies something to the effect of, “There is no why.” which I thought was brilliant.

One of my best buddies is down from NYC this week, so I’m looking forward to hanging out with him. As busy as I am, and I’m sure as busy as you all are, it is really important to maintain a healthy balance in life. Sure, there are stretches of time when you have to be full on crazy mode (like if you are in a super intensive program, such as Engineering) but its much much healthier to maintain balance. Its not slacking if you are enjoying what you are doing. And don’t feel guilty if somebody tells you you should be doing something else with your time (its YOUR time). That always drives me crazy when somebody tells me I should be doing this or that, as if they know what’s right for me. You can have goals, but you must not forget that you should be enjoying the journey, not the end result. Maintain a balanced lifestyle to do just that.

“It’s impossible, that’s sure. So let’s start working.” – Philippe Petit, tightrope walker

Life

Courage under fire

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“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Possibly the most badass quote of all time. Courage is being absolutely terrified of something and facing it head on. Its not about being fearless. Its about being so scared you are close to peeing your pants, and going through with it anyways. Its about living the life that you envision. Without courage, nothing is possible. With courage, everything is. Courage is not reserved for firefighters and soliders and police officers. Courage is a requirement for all humans wanting to truly live their life.

Courage can be learned. It is not something you either have or do not have. I suggest reading the excellent book, Feel the Fear . . . and Do It Anyway (r), an extraordinary book on the subject of courage. Pushing past your comfort zone is a great way to build courage. If you are afraid of heights, go skydiving. If you are afraid to speak in public, sign up for toastmasters. If you hate people, talk to them. If you are terrified of snakes, get one as a pet. When you build up courage in one area of your life, it automagically helps build up courage in other areas of your life.

Many people fear what others think of them. The fear of not being accepted is probably one of the most powerful fears that exist. That prevents them from doing the things they truly wish to do. For example, going to the gym for an overweight person can be a very very scary thing. But they cannot change their situation if they are worried about how others will perceive them in the gym. They must push past that mental limitation and build up the courage to try. As courage builds up, you’ll find that the fear was all in your head. Its a fantastic feeling, courage, and the greatest thing about is it will always be gratifying, because you did something you didn’t think you could do and it terrified you. Do something everyday that scares you. I like it.

Life

focus your energy

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”If I want to be as successful as I want to be, I have to be thinking about it all the time.” – Michael Phelps

I used to believe that multitasking was the way to go. I could juggle 7 or 8 things at a time and felt I was being rather productive. I still do this from time to time, however its not my method of choice. I prefer single tasking now. Complete focus on what is in front of me. With complete focus, you actually get more done with single tasking. Not only that, but what has been accomplished has been accomplished better then if you were to multi task. Also, with multitasking, the focus is divided and there is the tendency to do too much at once. Focusing let’s you achieve what’s important, not everything.

There is only so much time and energy we have in a day. Thus, we have to choose appropriately. This is extremely important in whether or not you’ll succeed or fail. If you lose focus while doing something chances are it won’t be done as effectively. Whether you’re playing a video game, reading a book, working out, cooking, without hyper focus on the subject at hand it just won’t be as good. We live in an age like no other in the history of mankind. We have too many distractions. We have meetings which take up time, we have phone calls which take up time, we have emails to respond to, as well as text messages, as well as instant messages, as well as wallposts, as well as snail mail. Each one of those slowly sucks up your time, some take immediate attention, others can have delayed response times. All of it distracts you from focusing on what’s important! However, if you can focus on what’s important, you can seriously turn into a jedi master at what you are focusing on. It’s a matter of trimming the fat and finding what’s important to you, and then going forward with that.

Life

We are the sum of our habits.

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Somebody somewhere said, “I think, therefore I am”. I think it was Descartes, but I don’t remember and I’m too lazy to Google. I believe that’s only partially true. The truth is we are a sum of our habits. Our habits, are acquired behaviours through frequent repetition. For most people, they aren’t aware of their habits. Its a shame, because habits can make or break you.

Some habits are good, some habits are bad. A bad habit I have is writing poorly and never looking over what I wrote. After years on instant messengers, and writing things like roflmao and wtf, I have developed a nasty habit of bad writing. In IM I write everything in lowercase and sometimes don’t even end my questions with a question mark. You can look at my first blog post to see what I’m talking about. Its a bad habit that I developed over the years. I have to break this habit, especially if I am going to write something coherent on the GMAT. I have been aware of this habit for quite a while and have consciously started to rid myself of it and form a new, better habit.

Better habits are habits that serve you. Self defeating thoughts are a habit. Why not give yourself self empowering thoughts instead? That will involve ridding a bad habit and creating a good habit. I will say this, if you’ve never broken a bad habit before its really tough. Forming habits take time and removing those habits can take just as much time. Watching TV is a habit. Surfing the net all day is a habit. Do they serve you? Probably not very much. Instead, why not try exercising? That is a habit. And it is a very rewarding habit at that.

Don’t try and change all your habits at once. You’ll fail miserably. Instead, focus on one habit and try and change that. Make sure its something you can do. Start small and build up. For example, if you want to exercise for 30 minutes a day try 10 minutes a day at first. 10 minutes is a lot easier to do. Once you start the ball rolling then you can up the time and it becomes much easier. Make it a game, like a 30 day challenge. You’ll notice by the end of the 30 day challenge you’ll have a new shiny habit within you. How cool is that?

Life, Me

Why you need to take action.

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Nike said it best with their “just do it” slogan. Nothing, and I mean nothing, will happen if you sit around waiting for it to happen. If you have a fork in the road and some tough decisions, make one. Go with your gut, and consequences be damned. Don’t sit there and try and analyze every possible outcome of every possible decision because you will fall into analysis paralysis. If you come from the right place, the decision will work itself out in the end. If it was a bad decision, learn from it.

The key is action. Nothing matters if you don’t do anything. Your goals and resolutions mean squat if you don’t do anything about them. My friend told me his resolution was to lose more weight this year, and then he followed up by asking me if I wanted to go to the Mandarin for some buffet goodness. No, I’m not kidding you. How do you think his resolution is going to hold up? Its hilarious but sad at the same time. I don’t mind talkers as long as they can back it up. But talkers who don’t do any action I filter through my ignore function.

Go to the gym + eat healthy + sleep right = healthier mind, body, soul
People know this, but they lack the motivation to do so. No action.
Smoking = bad
People know this, but they lack the motivation to do so. No action.

We are people of action. We do things so things get done. Got it? If whatever you decide to do explodes in your face, so be it. I once heard somebody say that everything always works itself out in the end, and if hasn’t worked itself out yet, then its not the end. I like that. Do it. DO IT!

The nerd in me has been busy lately. I have been haxoring all sorts of things on my computer to make it a super elite machine of glory. I can access it anywhere in the world, even when its turned off. Cool, right? When would I ever use it? I don’t know, I’m sure it will come in handy some day 😉 But I did it and it was fun. Its still not working quite fully yet, and it might not but I’ll keep trying until I’m out of options. I had no idea what I was doing when I started, but I started. ACTION.

Same with this blog. I started way back in the day when people didn’t even know what a blog was. It was just some buzzword that nerds threw around back in the day and now look at what the internet is turning into. Social sites are huge. Google is huge. Blogs are huge. And now, what can you do? You can connect them. And that’s what I did today, out of curiosity to see how it would work. Did I know what I was doing? Heck no. Did I analyze every little contigency? Nope. I just started, and now it works. At least, I think it does. You can login with your GMAIL accounts now and do stuff on my site like put up wall posts. How cool is that? Can somebody test it for me, please? Also, you can login with your FACEBOOK accounts now and post comments and the like. Tell me that isn’t friggin awesomeness deluxe. Can somebody try with that for me, please? You may ask why this is even important? Well, think about the traffic you can drive to your website when you have GOOGLE and FACEBOOK helping you out. Sites looking to make money and be more social and more cool and easier for users should certainly take advantage of this. Me? I don’t care to make money off of this blog. I’m just trying it out, and learning something new 🙂 Action, take it. Its your friend.