Life, Me

2015 Review. Looking Forward to 2016!

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What can I say. I got my ass kicked this year. Both metaphorically and literally. I thought 2015 was going to be a breeze compared to 2014. Never did I think it would be harder! Oh well, you know what they say – Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans. I recently read an interview with Ronda Rousey following her stunning loss to Holly Holm. She says something pretty remarkable:

“I always say you have to be willing to get your heart broken. That’s just what fucking happens when you try.”

And that’s pretty much how I feel 2015 went. 2014 I laid down a foundation, and it’s steady now. In 2015 I tried and I tried and couldn’t get any momentum going. In some form or another, real life would punch me in the face, knee me in the gut, or straight up give me a charley horse. I’d bob and I’d weave, but no matter what step I took I’d get an ass whooping. But it doesn’t matter. Fall down 7 times. Get up 8.

That’s easier said then done, of course. I’d by lying if I didn’t say I’m not feeling the effects. I’ve got the wind knocked out of me and am still catching my breath. But I’ll be fine. I’m resilient and my resolve grows stronger everyday. The force…awakens?

I did something awful to my right knee this month so I’ve been wearing a full leg knee brace. I’ve been to the orthopaedic surgeon twice and have another appointment with him in the first week of 2016. I’ve been laying in bed, eating chocolate and drinking egg nog. You know, the good life. But I did start working on learning some new stuff on Christmas day and turned it into a side project. I gave December 31st as the deadline for it and I’m behind schedule so I’d like to finish this post so I can get back to it. Below is how I’d rate my year in various categories I figure are worth highlighting.

Health – 7/10

In my strength training routine the only significant progress worth mentioning is the overhead press. It was a goal of mine to be able to lift my bodyweight in the ohp. And late in the year I finally did it! Woohoo… And now I’ve stopped because my right shoulder hates me. Celebration over. Ohp 1x bodyweight was a personal goal of mine and I’ve hit it, but not without a cost. There’s nowhere to go for me on ohp without that cost getting more expensive, and nobody goes “ZOMG U BW OHP?!” in admiration. The ladies definitely aren’t swooning over it, either. So for now I have to say goodbye ohp. It’s been a slice.

Aesthetically, I got into some fantastic looking shape. Prior to heading to Asia, I got down to 9% body fat, the lowest I’ve ever been. The really cool thing was that it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I didn’t change up my diet that much. It just involved a little bit of work everyday. P90X3 was key with that. It also helped me a lot with my mobility and flexibility.

Social – 1/10

Pretty much non existent. I stopped hanging out with certain people in specific situations that I didn’t enjoy. And a lot of my friends have moved away or drifted apart. I wrote about this last year, and I didn’t get around to revitalizing my social life as I predicted. That’s ok, I’m a hermit. But I will address this eventually. Will it be 2016? Possibly. I definitely could have used some support this year but there wasn’t really any. My fault. It’s not high priority but it would be nice.

Hobbies – 2/10

Eh, this was a big fail. I stopped doing Judo because of my shoulder and I didn’t get around to the things I wanted to try such as archery and shooting guns. BJJ was very off and on. On my first day back on the mats after returning from Asia I busted up my knee while sparring. This legit pissed me off and all I can think about is getting back in there. I fully expect to be back on the mats consistently after I rehab the shit out of my knee. There was also talk with my workout buddy to go rock climbing near the end of the year, but it never materialized because of my knee and other shit. I’m not sure if that will happen next year. Again, real life.

Productivity – 5/10

Sometimes I was on fire, other times real life kicked me in the nuts. I simultaneously had some of the best output of my life and the worst this year. It swung wildly. This is uncouth. I’m a pro so I need to act like one. I will work to fix this next year.

Travel – 8/10

I did a lot of travel this year. Nearly 3 months of the year. I spent some time in Ottawa, LA, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Korea, and Taiwan.

Aside from the obvious reasons why I love travel so much such as the food, culture, and experiences, I found another reason – it brings out my worst flaws and puts them front and centre. This helps show me what I need to work on. For example, I found out that I am too hard on my friends. During my European adventures it was unusually cold in March. We were especially unprepared because my buddy in Germany told us that there was a heat wave going on and so we didn’t pack enough warm clothing. My friends kept mentioning how cold it was, and I got annoyed with it and told them to stop complaining. They aren’t complainers by nature, and the truth is they were saying it was cold because it was fucking cold! Not because they are whiners. I spend a lot of time experimenting with temperature manipulation (cold showers, hot baths, ice vests, etc.) and I have spent a lot of time working on “manning up”. That doesn’t mean they have and it’s not fair for me to be so harsh on them. It would be like my buddy being mad at me because I can’t speak German and he can.

Other things that became obvious things I need to work on include my social skills – I forget how to talk to people, my flirting skills – I forget how to hit on women, and I still haven’t figured out how to work productively while away. The last one is a major hurdle that makes me question if I want to travel for extended periods of time any longer for at least the next few years. I think in 2016 I’ll travel a lot less for this reason.

Sleep – 9.37/10

I nailed my sleep this year. I was very meticulous on my sleep experimentation and documented everything in my sleep journal. From someone who struggled with sleep my entire life to sleeping like a baby and having crazy amounts of energy throughout the day, I am really proud of this. I tried some unusual and unconventional tactics, and felt I really hacked my way to success. A good nights sleep is so important, so I am glad I’ve finally figured this out.

Happiness – 7/10

Overall, despite all the turbulence this year brought, I still managed to stay quite happy. Exercise, meditation (lots and lots of meditation), sleep, and an increasing ability to deal with shit really helped. I have tremendous joy in the work that I do, and that in itself makes me smile. Happiness really is a matter of perspective.

I’m not sure what 2016 will bring. But I know my focus will involve:

  • Output, output, output. Good things happen when I do that.
  • Act like a pro. Despite what happens in life, make efficient and effective use of my time so shit gets done.
  • Revisit eastern culture. Chinese medicine works. It worked in China when I had a stomach ache and this tea master whipped up some concoction that fixed me up immediately. And it’s working now on my knee. I spend so much time with data and IFLScience that I sometimes forget my roots. The teachings of Buddha. The Art of War. Time to go back old school.
  • Daily movement. Walking, yoga, mobility work. It works and it helps with everything. This is a keystone habit.
  • Continuing education. Keep learning new things. I read a lot this year and did a lot of online courses and I’ll continue to do so in 2016.

What about you? What gets you excited for 2016? Happy New Year and we’ll see you on the other side.

Advice, Life, Mindset

Need directions? Have an Internal Compass. A simple guide to help navigate through life.

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Life can often times get crazy. You know this. I know this. We all know this. How we handle that craziness is largely an unconscious process. It’s culled from years of social conditioning, parenting, culture, experience and genetics. And unless you’ve been deliberate about it, it’s tough to know what is going on with how you react to the world. It’s more like, something happens, you react somehow and do something. Something else happens, you react again and do something else. And these reactions are consistent with how you’ve reacted in the past for the most part. After years of consistency, most of these reactions are instinctual. You wake up, read the morning newspaper and have your cup of coffee before treading off to work. Others you are born with. Something funny happens, you laugh. Others you decide on. Should you wear white socks or black socks today? The more perceived importance of the decision, the longer it takes to decide and the harder it is. Do you take that job in LA and uproot your entire family? Or do you stick around in your dead-end job so your kids get to stay at the private school they worked so hard to get into?

If you decide the same way enough times you’ve eventually formed an automated habit. These decisions, habits and reactions become a lot easier to figure out if you have some guidance. This isn’t about morals or ethics per se. This isn’t about right and wrong. And these aren’t rules. Think of it more like an internal compass that’s always there to guide you whenever you need it.

Ready for the secret? It’s quite simple. Prioritize the values and ideals that are important to you. Let me explain by giving you my most important ideals.

Curiosity

Curiosity is all about having an open mind. It let’s me explore things just like my childhood favourite Curious George. This has allowed me to explore so many aspects of life that I am so grateful that I was born with this curiosity. Thankfully it has never left. Does Curious George get himself into some funny and interesting predicaments? You bet your ass he does. But that’s what makes that cute monkey so adorning and interesting. My own curiosity has taken me all over the world, experiencing fascinating cultures, meeting interesting people, exploring cool places and discovering new activities. Curiosity has let me explore vegetarianism, survivalism, salsa dancing, pickup, self-help, meditation and an endless number of random things.

Pragmatist

Being pragmatic is all about being practical instead of dreaming about an ideal world. I struggled with this a lot in my youth and early adulthood. I always wanted things to be how they should, not how they are. And it would cause intense anger, ruin relationships, and just general malaise. But now armed with a pragmatic attitude, I can quickly adapt to what’s in front of me and just go with the flow, so to speak. This practicality embedded in real life let’s me change opinions I have over time as new information becomes available to me, rather than vomiting the same dogma all too common among the world’s “Gurus” out there. Barbell training came from staying pragmatic towards the goals I was trying to accomplish. So did rock climbing, jiu jitsu, intermittent fasting, paleo, etc.

Optimism

Staying optimistic is just good for my soul. If I didn’t stay optimistic, I’d probably stop pursuing a lot of my passions and just be a bummer to be around all the time. You all know pessimistic people in your life. If you don’t know any, you are probably that person. There’s definitely a place for pessimism (it’s included in the next one below). But I know having an optimistic attitude as the default has given me courage in places I didn’t think courage existed, kept me doggedly persistent on the things I believe in, and given me that last bit of hope in darker times.

Stoicism

I didn’t even know this was a thing until I started reading up on Marcus Aurelius after watching Gladiator for the 10,287th time. (I love Marcus, by the way. Here was a dude, ruler of the known universe, who could do whatever the hell he wanted without punishment. And yet he tried, and largely succeeded, to be pure like Ivory soap. What a fucking OG). As luck would have it, it turned out that a lot of the practices I was already doing fell quite in line with the stoic philosophy. There are absolute gems in Stoicism that, if practiced, can make you instantly feel better and live a happier, more fulfilled life. Read here, here, and here for some quick Stoic wins.

Rational

I try to stay rational whenever possible. Mind you, this doesn’t always happen and it is a continual practice. That means science, math, and logic, bitches! That means not believing everything you’re told at face value, but actually taking the time to think about it thoughtfully and logically. That means stepping away from a heated argument when someone is pressing your buttons so you can let your emotions pass and actually think about shit. And yet, the quirks of the human mind are quite real. Even predictable, as Dan Ariely and others have brought to popularity in recent years. Nobody is impervious to them. Putting guards in place or using them to your advantage are your best bet at not letting them own your ass. (If you’re interested, check out Predictably Irrational for an intro to some of the irrational things we do.)

 

Examples of how this works.

Since curiosity is high on my ideals list, I’m constantly trying out new things. It’s so important to me that unless I schedule it in, curiosity can can hurt my productivity quite a bit. So I have to block off chunks of time where I am free to do whatever I want. Sometimes I’ll peruse crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo (this is my new addiction, btw, NOT RECOMMENDED) to check out all these cool projects. Other times I’ll dink around with new programming languages or frameworks that fascinate me like React from Facebook. And other times I’ll just read a book on a topic I know nothing about. I don’t put any limits on it. When I’m curious I’m God mode curious.

Now what happens when I discover something from my curiosity that is better in some way compared to something I currently do or believe? Well the pragmatic side of me weighs the pros and the cons, and if the pros win I’ll start to change and adapt if it is practical to do so. Even if it goes against some strongly held beliefs I have.

Since pragmatism is important, if I need to I will be irrational and pessimistic in certain situations. For example, if there’s an empowering belief, such as being able to start up a successful business despite the odds of success, you damn right I’m taking it. Even if it isn’t rational. These are things like being optimistic that the path you’re on will work despite the odds. This is the “fake it till you make it” advice that actually works. Mind follows body. Body follows mind.

Stoicism has an idea known as “voluntary discomfort”. Why do this? Because it makes you stronger and builds character. It’s like strength training. Pulling a heavy ass weight off the floor isn’t exactly comfortable, but do it safely and consistently because you’ll be better off for it in the long run.

That’s what guides me. Your compass will be different. But imagine what you can do with your own internal compass. No more walking around the world like a zombie. No more going through the motions because that’s what everybody else does. Imagine getting out of ruts faster. Imagine maneuvering through tricky situations because your compass guided you. Give it a go. Yes, it does take a lot of effort. But in the end you won’t regret it.

Advice, Business, Life

Speed Kills: Why Moving Quickly is Important and How You Can, Too

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Speed kills. And no, I’m not talking about driving as fast as you can to your fiery doom. Although that’s possibly true as well. I’m talking about how important speed is in your life to help you kill it.

The important of speed cannot be overstated. If you look at almost any athletic endeavour, speed is a large determining factor in who wins and loses. Take the obvious ones such as any running event away, and you still have many sports where speed is of the utmost importance. I’m not going to list them all here, just use your imagination (hint: all of them). Team sports may seem more nuanced, but even there speed is at the top of the list for victory. Have a team that is way faster than you? Play defence to slow them down. Want to win the game? Score more points than the other guys. Score quicker.

Here’s an interesting interview Inc did on Paul Graham, the stud behind YCombinator. What’s the most important thing he values in startups? Speed. You go too slow and you starve, run out of money, and call it a day. Why do you think companies like Uber succeed despite the odds of success? They move faster than the big, slow ass taxi companies. Almost any David and Goliath battle you can think of was won on speed. At the very least, speed was a contributing factor.

As a consumer, who are you going to go get your pizza from, the mom and pop shop that can get you your grub in 30 minutes flat or the Pizza Hut across town that’ll take at least 75 minutes? If Facebook took 25 seconds to load, think you’d stick around for it? Probably not. I mean, I’m not waiting around 25 seconds just to look at my friends’ baby pictures and neither should you.

One of the best books I read during my MBA was for Operations class called “The Goal”. I almost failed that class, by the way. I probably did fail, but since it’s MBA they gave me a pity pass. Huge. Anyway, The Goal. This is Jeff Bezos favourite book on Operations Management. I think every business person should read it. It’s all about operational efficiency. You want to move efficiently so that you can execute quicker. More throughput. More output. One of the key takeaways I got from that book is finding the bottlenecks in your system. This is so important because you are only as efficient as your weakest link. You’re only as fast. Eliminate the bottleneck and your operational efficiency skyrockets. Thus, it’s a continual game of eliminating bottlenecks. Bam, max speed, max dolla dolla bills yall.

So the question becomes how do you move and act faster? Here are 5 unconventional tactics to do just that.

Do Less

That’s right, we all have 24 hours in the day but how are you utilizing those hours? Are you juggling your family life with your social life and your 32 volunteer obligations and 13 hobbies while doing those night courses at the local community college? Dude, take it easy already. There’s a ramp up and ramp down period to every task you do, so if you have a lot of tasks there are all these tiny ramp up and ramp down periods that quickly suck up a lot of time. No wonder you can’t get your homework done on time at that poetry night class you’re taking.

Minimize Decisions

Decide less. What do you mean, you ask? I mean just that. Steve Jobs wore the same damn turtle neck every day. Mark Zuckerberg wears a hoody. They don’t decide on what they should wear. It’s already been decided for them. There, one less decision. Aside from the time saved from picking out a wardrobe for the day, the less decisions you have to make in the day means the faster you can get through them. Think of it like a pile of tps reports you have to go through on your desk. The smaller the pile, the faster you can get them done.

Decide Faster

Don’t agonize over the small stuff. No, nobody at work gives a shit that your dress shirt is artichoke green but your socks are granny smith apple. Just decide already. Should you have Greek or Chinese for lunch? Pick the one closest to you. Or not, but who cares. That decision should be near instantaneous. If you’re at a restaurant and the menu has 78 items on it. DON’T READ THE WHOLE DAMN MENU. Pick a few pages that look good, like burgers, because you love burgers, and choose from there. Trust me, your lunch companions will thank you.

Optimize your Environment

This is all about having the perfect setup to help you decide faster, less, and more efficiently. Should you go for that morning jog today? Well that’s a hard decision to make if you jog on a track that is at your gym which is the other way from work. But that decision becomes infinitely easier if you have amazing trails in your backyard and your running clothes and shoes are the first things you see when you wake up. Then this no longer becomes a decision, but rather a habit. You put on your clothes, shoes, open the back door, and start jogging. The decision is gone.

It’s All About Your Energy

Time management is over-rated. Energy management is completely under-rated. Read “The Power of Full Engagement” by Tony Schwartz. This one is a must read, in my opinion. It has changed the way I think about managing time and energy. How effective are you going to be when you’re exhausted all of the time? Man, I wish I knew this in university because if I knew then what I know now I’d certainly stop powering through all of those late nights staring blankly at those textbooks. A good nights rest and a focused 1 hour is infinitely better than an all nighter to get those extra 8 hours of study time. Thankfully, I did learn my mistakes and apply this methodology daily. It’s more of a mantra now. If you’re tired, take a break and stop powering through shit.

Bonus: I know I said I’d give you 5 unconventional tactics to improve speed, but since you’ve made it this far I love you and will give you one more – the most unconventional one of them all.

Slow Down

What. The. F ALL CAPS. Yep, slow down. Go for a hike. Stop and smell the flowers. Release your inner Picasso and paint for a while. Take up skateboarding. Make love to your wife. Go slow. Remember what I said about energy management? Well this is a key component of that. Try new things and do the things you love. Come back recharged and ready to hit it. Sprinters don’t practice sprinting for 16 hours a day. No, they sprint, then chilllll. Sprint, then chilllll. Say it with me: “Sprint, then chillllll.”

The downside of turning into a speed demon is that you’ll get more work. If you’re manager needs something done quickly, who do you think he’s going to go to, you or Steve the Sloth? Remember, fast gets fed, and slow gets starved. Adjust accordingly and use these powers wisely. And always remember, speed kills my friend *said in my best Bruce Lee voice*.

Health and Fitness

P90X3 Review : Pretty darn awesome!

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I recently finished a round of P90X3 and had a lot of fun doing it so I thought I’d do a little review with my thoughts and experiences with the program. I liked it so much that I’ve actually started a second round, this time doing a different calendar. Read on to find out more!

What is P90X3

P90X3 is the latest program from the P90 series designed and instructed by everybody’s favourite coach, that crazy kook Tony Horton. In typical Tony Horton fashion, he brings his wise cracking coaching style to the program that makes the workouts a lot more fun. So why the hell do you need another P90X program, you say? Simple, this one is shorter. 30 minutes, in fact. For me, this was a huge draw to the program as time is currently my most precious resource. If I knew that I only needed to set aside 30 minutes every day, then it was simply a matter of throwing it into my calendar. I didn’t have to worry about a 45 minute program one day, and an hour and 15 minute program the next. Just 30 minutes, every day for 90 days.

Note that the program has optional warm up and warm downs, but I never did them. I wanted to be in and out in 30 minutes FLAT so I would have zero excuses. If you were to do them, set aside about 45-50 minutes per day instead.

One thing I didn’t like about P90X2 was that you needed way too much equipment. Well they fixed that in P90X3, woot! All you really need is a pullup bar, and some dumbbells or resistance bands. Everything else is optional, like towels, yoga mats, and pushup stands. So if you’ve done P90X or P90X2 in the past, then you should be good to go.

Program Calendars

There are four 90 day calendars to choose from: the regular one that I just completed, the lean one that I just started, a mass one for muscle building, and a doubles calendar for those who miss their hour long workouts. There’s also an elite 1 month block that I’m not sure what it’s for. Eliteness, I guess.

Like most of these programs, there’s also a nutrition guide that I never follow. In fact, I made no modifications to my eating whatsoever and still got some awesome results. A few times during the 90 days, I also binge drank, ate like an asshole on many, many occasions, and just generally didn’t care too much about being super strict or tight on calories.

There were also some days that I was out of town for a few days, so what I did was double workouts on some days (and even a triple on one) just so I could stay on schedule. But I think 85 out of 90 days I was on point and stuck to the calendar, although I did switch around some workouts depending on what I was doing on my strength training days. That’s right, I did not give up my barbells. I would do the P90X3 workout in addition to them. I found the intensity of the P90X3 workouts allowed me to do this without any recovery issues whatsoever. I don’t think I’d be able to do this if I were to do P90X.

P90X3 Workouts

 

The workouts themselves varied in difficulty, purpose, usefulness and fun. My brief thoughts on each below:

Total Synergistics is a full-body workout that focuses on multiple muscle groups and stabilization stuff. In my opinion it’s a pretty easy workout that tries to do too much in 30 minutes.

Agility X is a cardio workout that has a little bit of plyometrics, a little bit of balance, and a bunch of agility “X marks the spot” training. Overall, it isn’t too intense or difficult. Newcomers might find it hard, but I think anybody who has done previous P90X programs won’t find it too bad. The good news with Agility X is you can push yourself really hard with some of the exercises by jumping harder, higher, deeper, faster.

X3 Yoga is a very short and awesome yoga program. I really like it because it allows me to do weekly yoga without taking 60+ minutes of my time and without all of that woowoo omm stuff. I just want to stretch and breathe and balance and quiet the mind, and I want to do it in 30 minutes. X3 Yoga is perfect for me and one of the best workouts in P90X3 and one of my favourite yoga workouts I’ve ever done. Love it.

The Challenge is a very simple pushup and pullup program. This is the only program of the 16 that left me sore the next day after doing it for the first time. I really like the simplicity of the program as well as the progression involved. It’s really easy to track your progress on subsequent workouts and I love that. Another one of my favourite workouts in P90X3.

CVX is pretty cool. It’s a mix of cardio and resistance training. For about 80% of the workout, it is very similar to a complex routine where you have a weight in your hands at all times and do a bunch of exercises. It’s tough and fun, but definitely not exhausting.

The Warrior requires zero equipment so you can do it everywhere. It involves a little bit of pushing, some jumping, and some isometric holds. It’s not too difficult, but works quite well if you’re stuck in a hotel room and need to get a 30 minute workout in.

Dynamix is a mobility workout. I love this routine because I know that without it I wouldn’t do any mobility work even though I know how important it is. So this forces me to get off of my ass and do some mobility stuff. I find it really has helped make my body more durable, less achy, and less stiff. This is probably my favourite workout in the series.

Isometrix is 30 minutes of static yoga poses. I like it because again, it isn’t something I would do without an actual program that tells me to do it.

Accelerator is another one of those cardio workouts that doesn’t require equipment and has low and high speeds. Not too difficult and sorta fun. I don’t hate it.

Decelerator is my least favourite program of the bunch. I am not sure what they are trying to do with this one. The upper body exercises are much more difficult than the lower body exercises, and some of them are just ridiculous. I am glad to see that the other calendars don’t have a whole lot of Decelerator in them, because if they did I’d likely replace them with something else.

Pilates X is a pilates program. I’ve heard of pilates in the past but have never tried it before. I can see why people like it. I personally found it quite challenging, and I am really glad this workout was included in the program because it lets me do something fun and challenging that I would have never tried otherwise.

Eccentric Upper is an upper body workout that focuses on slow, eccentric movements. It has the most challenging exercise in probably the entire P90X series: the eccentric V Pullup. It hurts every damn time.

Eccentric Lower is the lower version of Eccentric Upper. I did not find this lower body routine nearly as challenging as the upper body routine. Even still, I never do slow eccentric movements, so I’m glad that these are in the program.

Triometrics is like a way less intense version of Plyometrics X from P90X. The schtick of this one is that they do three versions of jumping: low, medium, and high. It’s ok, not my favourite workout, but plyo training is good for you so I still do it.

Incinerator feels the most like an original P90X workout in terms of exercises, but not in difficulty. A lot of weighted resistance work followed by bodyweight work working the same muscle groups.

MMX is the most fun workout in the program and also the sweatiest. Inspired by MMA, it involves lots of punching and kicking and sprawling. Lots of fun!

Conclusion

Personally, I loved the program and am already doing the lean calendar. Within the first month I was down 1 belt notch on my lifting belt. Within two months I was down two notches, and in the final month I was down three notches, but it’s very tight. I would say this program is really great for busy people, those who want to supplement their existing workouts and hobbies with additional exercise, and those new to the P90X workouts who aren’t quite ready to tackle the longer and more challenging workouts. For me, it’s a very good fit. I think hardcore P90Xers might find this program too easy, and that is understandable. And for those people who feel like they need to feel sore and exhausted for the program to work, P90X3 might not be a good fit. However, I love that this workout makes me feel alive and energized rather than sore and zapped. I highly recommend giving it a go.

Goals, Life, Me

2014 Year End Review – Laying the Foundation

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I don’t know what happened, but this year went by fast. Too fast, to be honest. But sure enough, here we are at the end of the year, and it’s time to reflect on what happened this past year. It’s a great exercise that I recommend everybody do. Doing a year end review helps put things into perspective, let’s you gauge how you did if you set milestones and goals for yourself, and helps you plan how you’d like the following year to go, among other things. So definitely give it a shot.

For me, it was a painful year, but I knew it would be. What I didn’t expect was just how frequent things would bog me down, and I think I didn’t do a very good job of dealing with it all. Early in the year I was working on a cool project in the wedding industry. I had a great partner, the market was receptive, and there was a hole we thought we could fill. But my partner got busy and cold feet, and there was no way I could pull it off by myself. And with heavy heart I had to shelve it. I still think there’s something there, but for various reasons I had to move on. This was pretty tough for me as I was spending so much time on it. If you’ve never had to kill something that you were working on before it got out of the doors, you’ll know how painful this is. Imagine creating your work of art and then setting it on fire before sharing it with the world. Sucks, yo. But this is the life of an entrepreneur/creative. You build things knowing the risks, make tough choices that you don’t want to make, and you hustle on. If it was easy everybody would be doing it. So fuck it. Onwards!

The whole experience taught me so much. For one, I learned how hard it is to find the right partnerships. Even if you’re on the same page on 9 out of 10 things, that 1 thing could break everything. This extends beyond just business and applies to any type of partnership. The gym you train at, the school you go to, the person you’re seeing. If you’ve found a great fit, hold onto it for dear life and enjoy it while it lasts! Another thing this experience helped me with is it sharpened up my programming skills quite a bit. I built some really cool shit that I didn’t think I could build, but I did anyway. These days, I feel like if I had an idea for the next Twitter, I’d be able to hack out a working version in a weekend and build out a prototype in a week. I feel like programming is a super power everybody should learn. There’s just so much you can do for the rest of your life once you’ve had this skill. Design, writing, social skills, and physical strength are some other things I would consider super powers worth learning.

Setting the foundation for success takes time. It’s not something that you can “hack”. You’re not going to run a 4 minute mile without running a 5 minute mile first. I feel like that’s what this year was for me. I’ve painstakingly been laying the foundation down, and things feel steadier now. There are still some areas that I really fucking suck at, though. There was a lot that I could have documented on my entrepreneurial journey this year, for example, that I didn’t bother to do. That’s a damn shame, and I hope that might change. But I have said that in the past before and have never followed through. If there is one thing I’m good at though it is trying again. So we will see. The problem is that I have so much going on right now that it’s a little overwhelming. But sooner rather than later, I really do hope to blog more simply because my writing and communication abilities have gone to shit. Also, I have learned so much this year on conversion rate optimization, growth hacking, user experience, content marketing, bootstrapping and working on side projects that it would be shameful not to share my journey for anybody interested to follow along.

Enough whining. 2014 was a great year in a lot of respects. For starters, I added nearly 40 lbs to my bench press this year! It was my wimpiest lift and now that hole has been covered. I’ve now started to focus my efforts to move my overhead press up. I’ve always felt that if you could squat 2x your bodyweight, deadlift 2.5x bw, bench 1.5x bw, and ohp 1x bw, than you’re not a wimp. And I’m knocking on that door. (Arbitrary numbers and completely subjective, btw, so your opinion might be different.) I also got promoted to blue belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu this year. I started bjj in 2003, so it has been a long off/on journey. Both my strength gains and new belt both reinforce to me that if you stick with something and/or keep trying, it is an impossibility not to make forward progress. Over and over again, this has been my experience. If there’s one thing I believe in life more than anything it is this simple concept.

For 2015, I fully expect it to be less painful than 2014. It will be an exciting year. Dare I say it will be a monumental year? I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not. Sooner or later, the winds will change. It might be next year, it might be 3 years, it might be never. But as long as I keep learning, keep improving, keep hustling, and keep enjoying the process, then things will be ok. I have great people on my side, and a lot of smart people I’m working with that I am learning a lot from. And right now, I’m working on some awesome stuff with the team at Examine.com, as well as another exciting project that I’ll announce soon. And 2015 will be really exciting for me as a programmer as there is some exciting tech that is starting to mature that I cannot wait to start tinkering with. I feel like there’s an evolution happening and I plan on riding that wave.

Outside of work, I plan on expanding my extra curricular activities a little. I’ve already started doing a little bit of Judo, and I plan on continuing that in 2015. I think I’ll want to get my gun license and join a gun club, too. I’ve also been thinking about archery as it looks so awesome. What can I say, I like doing stuff. Although not a high priority, I wouldn’t mind meeting more people in 2015 either as I find my social circle is dwindling and my friends are turning into boring adults way too quickly for my liking. Eventually I’ll want to make a concerted effort into revitalizing my social circle, but I’m not sure if 2015 will be the year for that. I feel it can still wait as I figure out my next steps.

I also plan on doing some travelling, as I missed out completely in 2014. Travelling is too important to me to neglect for long periods of time, and 1+ year of no travelling was nearing the breaking point. So I have to go. The world is big and I need to see it.

I’m REALLY looking forward to 2015 as I am excited to see what lies ahead. It certainly looks like 2015 will be the year that I decide how I’ll want to spend the next 5+ years of my life, so it is going to be a pivotal year. I hope 2015 brings you happiness and joy and all the hamburgers you could possibly eat. Thanks for reading.

Goals, Habits, Life, Me

Mid year update

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We’re halfway through the year already. Damn, where’d the time go? Fast, man, really fast. So where are we at now? Looking back on my predictions for 2014, I’d say I am doing alright. Regarding momentum, I wrote:

“I plan on taking this momentum with me into the new year. No fucking around, just consistent execution every. single. day. I really like where my head is at these days, and am in a very good place spiritually, physically, and emotionally as well. Just like 2013, I expect the first half of 2014 to be very different from the second half. There are some amazing things in technology that I am expecting in early 2014 that I am getting excited for that will have a large impact on my productivity and career for the rest of the year.”

So far, so good. I’ve worked hard consistently. Spanish, programming, strength training, elliptical work, jiu jitsu, reading. Bam, bam, double bam. For technology, I’ve been all over Meteor. It’s the one. I won’t be switching to anything else anytime soon. I’ve also been working with Macaw a tad, although to be honest it has been disappointing and buggy, and a little bit of Famo.us – also a little bit buggy. However, there is no denying the enormous potential of these technologies to dramatically improve my workflow, and I will be following along closely. I wrote about these before.

So now that we are in the second half of the year, I predicted that it would be very different from the first half. I no longer think that will be the case. Rather than a sharp contrast between the first and second half, I’m noticing more of a slow transition. That’s ok, slow and steady wins the race. Or something.

My health goals in 2014 were just to get stronger. But as I upped my weight, I noticed my recovery was taking much longer. And then I started doing a lot of elliptical and jiu jitsu, and I was feeling crushed. So instead I switched out 531 for deadlifts and squats and replaced it with CAT. It’s more volume and poundage, but I find recovery manageable and power endurance improvements. I’m still sticking with 531 for overhead press and bench as I am still seeing gains for both. I’ve worked hard on ohp and bench and feel like I am no longer wimpy in those lifts, although my upper body strength is still pretty sucky. I’ve had this weird, naggy, weak feeling in my arms that has been bothering me for months that isn’t helping, either.

I cut my hair. It’s the first time I cut it in over 2 years. Last time I cut it was when I shaved my head prior to heading to Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos in May of 2012. Yesterday I cut it all off, got 9 ponytails out of it, and donated it to Angel Hair for Kids. Don’t ask why I grew out my hair. I don’t know. Seriously, I never thought about it. And then suddenly, 2 years later here we are. Weird, I know. I’m weird, sue me. I’ll probably never grow my hair out that long ever again. First off, it’s just a major pain in the ass to deal with. Second, I shed a lot. It’s disgusting. And third, there was this period of a good 8-10 months where I just looked ridiculous. Absolutely ludicrous, so bad that even I was ashamed to be in public with myself. Thanks to anybody who hung out with me during that time, you are all brave souls and deserve some sort of badge.

So there you have it. Not many big surprises for me, although there were a number of hiccups that bogged me down more than they should have considering I was expecting them. All in all though, I think this year has been going well so far. I expect come December things will be different, but through a slow and gradual change rather than immediate and sudden. I’m looking forward to it. I hope your year has been going the way you hoped, just because you’re awesome and cool for reading this whole thing.

Advice, Habits

Avoiding Brain Drain.

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Do you ever find yourself just completely exhausted after a long day of work, or perhaps a long day out taking care of your kids or dealing with family? Heck, ever get that feeling where your entire body and mind feel drained even though you’ve been sitting down in front of a desk all day staring at a computer? You shouldn’t feel drained, you didn’t even do anything physically taxing!

Ah, but the mind, it uses energy too. And just like physical energy, there is a finite amount of mental energy available to you. The more you use, the more you lose. Every time you make a decision, a little bit of mental energy depletes. Ever use the term “Long day at work” even though it might have been 8 hours just the same? I call it the end of day mush. Focusing on hard problems. mush. Hard, hard concentration. Lots of mush. The brain gets fatigued much like the body does. During undergrad, my brain was in a permanent state of mush. It was a disaster.

The brain also needs sustenance much like the body does. The brain’s endurance can be strengthened much like the body. If you’re out of shape, you might be able to take a few steps of stairs, but might be unable to walk 10 flights of stairs – at least not without breaks and recovery and sustenance. Think of a video game – hold down the turbo button for a burst of energy, but eventually you’ll blow your wad if you don’t recharge. NBA Jam, anyone? However, if you train the brain, eventually 10 flights of “brain” stairs is nothing.

Focused concentration takes a lot of energy. So does willpower. It depletes. Some studies suggest that low levels of blood glucose lowers performance on “willpower” tasks like self control and motivation. But then restoring glucose also helped in restoring performance. So there you go, just have some fruit or gatorade! That’s perhaps one simple and useful trick. And a good trick to have in your tool belt. And another idea that I like a lot is to minimize your decision making. Ever wonder why Steve Jobs always wore a turtle neck? Or why Mark Zuckberberg sticks to a hoody? Perhaps, and this is just a theory, they intuitively understood the idea of minimizing decisions so they could have the energy to focus on the important stuff like their work and their legacy.

Sleep is also one of those things that seems to recharge the brain and body. Napping is a key method that can be used throughout the day to help restore some brain juice. History is filled with superstar nappers. Churchill, Napolean, Leonardo da Vinci, Edison, etc… A daily nap(s) is huge.

Other forms of relaxation that I find are useful include things like meditation, listening to calming music, doing some form of physical activity like going for a walk, lifting weights, or playing a sport. Anything that you enjoy is fair game including playing a game, painting, reading a good book, etc. – as long as it isn’t in excess and helps the mind stay away from the thing that was draining it is good in my books.

Full confession. I get brain drain every single day to varying degrees. If I don’t have my nap, and I didn’t get a good nights sleep, and I don’t get in any form of exercise. Forget it, I’m done for the day. Mush brain. However, if I’m on point, and I’m able to fit in some light reading or some meditation, I can keep on going like the Energizer bunny. In my experience, a focused 3-4 hours of hard, concentrated work produces much better results then 10 hrs of unfocused, mush brain work. So I always like to take breaks when I can. Work. Nap. Work. Read. Work. Exercise. Work. Coffee. Work. Eat. Work. Play. Work. Sleep. Turtlenecks and Hoodies. Ah, the good life.