Category Archives: Random

Become what you are

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Heard this very special quote this morning, from one of the ancient Greek poets:

“Become such as you are, having learned what that is.” – Pindar

Until we take time to understand ourselves and our purpose, we can’t expect to find all of the answers we crave.

Understand your true nature.

Your strengths, weaknesses, and passions.

We are in such a hurry to get to the solution (especially us men). This isn’t always the ideal solution.

The answers will come when we stop and think.

Give it a try. Embark on your own voyage of self discovery.

Became what he is?

Attacking and defending – two very different skills

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I’ve been training boxing and martial arts for a few years now.

Striking is not something I’ve done before. The subtleties take some understanding.

Attacking is great with the trainer holding pads. Drilling basic combinations without having any punches come back at you is simple.

It feels great to hit the pad right in the centre, over and over.

Bur being hit is a totally different thing.

Learning to defend punches and throw your own in response is a whole different ballgame.

The fear centre of our brain starts to respond.

“I’m under attack!”, “WTF do I do now???”

Anything we’ve learned, even basic defensive moves, can be hard to pull off as the brain takes over, screaming at us to cover up.

The eyes close as a fist comes towards them. And rarely does anything good happen immediately after this.

Think about this in other parts of life. There’s definitely some similarities.

We get into an argument or any kind of heightened emotional state and the red mist arrives.

We say things we don’t mean to.

We can’t think clearly.

Unless we’re prepared, unless we have a plan, bad things can happen.

The distinction between these two skills, and the importance of knowing what to do when either of them arrives, is worth some contemplation.

Get out of your own way

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The hard work is ahead. I’m running a final marathon this year before my knees break down.

I got through the hurdle of a half marathon last week. Training now steps up to distances much further, staying on my feet for longer.

It’s always harder in my head than it is to do the actual running.

The running is the fun part. The pain comes and I grind through it. One foot in front of the other, over and over.

Thinking about it – letting my brain get in the way – makes the task more difficult.

When we run, pushing towards our physical limits, we get a look at how we react to pain and stress. We hear our brain telling us to slow down, take shortcuts, or simply stop.

The challenge is laid down – easy or hard path? Which one do you want? Growth or stagnation? Settle for what you have, for who you are right now, or grow into someone else? Someone you don’t know yet. Someone you’ve never met.

The action gives us the answers.

The act of not doing what my brain says, and doing what my plan says – following my process – is where the growth comes from.

The act of ‘less thought, more action’ doesn’t apply universally, but the more I take action without the ‘what if…?’ thoughts that let the brain get the upper hand, the better the results.

Chop wood, carry water.

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Nice quote from Phil Jackson’s book, ‘Eleven Rings’ (beginning of chapter 19):

“Forget mistakes, forget failures, forget everything, except what you’re going to do now and do it.

Today is your lucky day.”

The mess our brains can make of getting through each day is real.

Competing interests, pressure from all sides, the desire to be perfect, all that nonsense.

If you can get into the ‘chop wood, carry water’ mindset, the noise in our brains quietens.

Find the focus in the next task you want to do and go do it. Then the next, over and over.

Sports books and metaphors from sport, or Buddhist philosophies for quieting a noisy mind, don’t sit well with everyone, but they can help you put the pieces together that work for you.

It’s about what you need to get through the day.

How bad was LBJ?

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The man himself: LBJ.

Reading book two of the Robert Caro series on Lyndon Baines Johnson at the moment. These are four epic pieces of non fiction, researched over many years, rightly winning all the plaudits.

I started with little knowledge of the guy other than the fact that he made it to the White House; details of his upbringing were unknown. The way he made it into politics was also unclear.

The thing that’s standing out to me as I near the end of book two – Means of Ascent – is how low this guy was prepared to go to make his political dreams come true.

I won’t spoil the plot. The usual antics of the power hungry are clear throughout, but there’s a deeper urgency to ‘make it’ on his part. A true desperation. The pages reek of it.

His wife, ‘Lady Bird’ Johnson, survived him by a number of years, hopefully to enjoy a life that would never have been possible with him still alive, sucking up all of the glory.

The lies, endlessly cultivating a false impression, wrapped up and sold to hapless voters in all parts, are a theme all of their own.

And the voters bought it. His supporters got what they wanted and their man got the top job he craved, no matter what it took to get there.

There are so many lessons in this story. I’ll let on more when I work through the series.

Losing stinks

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Any kind of loss stinks.

No-one goes into any situation expecting a loss so when it arrives it’s a smack in the mouth.

I like to wallow in it for a while. Spend some time thinking about why it happened, but not too much. Then move on. The past is gone.

Mistakes made? Correct them.

Errors of judgment or a bad choice of words? Learn from it.

Resolve not to do it again. Then move on.

The sun will come up tomorrow. It hasn’t failed once.

Grab onto that fact if nothing else works.

Then go hunt for wins instead. Much less stinky.

Be promiscuous with your positive emotions

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Tell people what you like about them.

Let people know how you feel about the positive things they do.

People don’t know this about themselves unless we tell them. So tell them. Be open about it.

And it’ll probably come back. Your friends will reciprocate.

The good vibes will spread.

What’s not to like about that?

Better conversations

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When I walk side-by-side with someone, or drive with them in a car, the conversation tends to flow better.

I’m not certain why. Maybe because it feels less confrontational, not looking straight at the other person.

Some great ideas have come this way. It could be that there’s the element of an added ‘journey’ you’re both sharing.

There’s also a clear start and finish. The conversation can’t be the same once the journey is over. You’re in a different time and space.

Fight back: learning simple skills to defend yourself

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Fighting. Throwing hands, not the mouthing off at people version. There’s a lot to be said for knowing some basic skills.

Last week, a 78 year old guy stopped me and Scott as we were training for a knife attack in the basement of our apartment block. He told us he knew his onions, and within a couple of minutes he was demonstrating his favourite side kick.

He knew what he was doing. He had an aura, some kind of inner confidence that made it clear he was ok defending himself. He was ready.

He’s got a blank stare, the kind guys in jail have, and that was all I had ever noticed before. But now I can see what’s happening behind those dead eyes. He’s staying calm, assessing the situation. He’s looking out for what’s coming next – maybe a fist, maybe not.

These skills are things you carry with you in the hope that you’ll never have to use them. I hope I never have to front up to someone, ready to go, in defence of myself, my wife, or anyone else under attack.

Things happen fast when tempers flare. Words are said. Things can escalate quickly. People right now are under a lot of stress, even here in a chilled out place like Sydney.

If someone attacked you, what would you do? How would you get away from an attacker, for example? If all hell breaks loose around you, what’s your first move?

A basic plan, even something as simple as a rapid knee to the groin and run away as fast as you can, can go a long way.

Take that up a notch and think about classes in all forms of self defence. Krav Maga, Jiu Jitsu, whatever. When that moment happens, you’ll be glad you made the choice to start learning. It’s never wasted effort.

Are you better today than yesterday?

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Jacaranda trees in blossom.

Use a simple metric such as the one in the title above to review your day.

Think in terms of what you did and give it a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

No need for fancy spreadsheets or other tools for this. Not even a notebook. Do it in your head if that’s all you’ve got to work with.

But don’t avoid it. Making notes and tracking your progress every day will be useful.

Over time, you can add categories. Maybe you did a run which boosts your health but you didn’t read that chapter you committed to.

Taking action is what this is all about. It’s a simple and effective process when it’s done over time.

Yes or no, every day, over and over.

You’ll get a feel for what’s working, what’s a success or what might need to change.

Track things that mean the most to you and you won’t go too far wrong.

Your habits define you.

This is a strong one to build.

From tired to inspired: revive your energy levels

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I just checked out the caffeine in a pack of Berocca Boost. Wow, it’s wild. That 75mg shot will jack you up for a few hours, no doubt. But how can you imporve your energy levels and not have to resort to the artificial approach?

Sleep

Making sure you get enough is massive. Your body can go for days on end with no food and little water but take away sleep and you’ll stop functioning.

Get to bed at a smart hour, say 10pm, for a week. Keep your devices out of the bedroom so there’s no temptation to check them. Set a challenge to wake up at the same time every day for a week, aiming to make it stick. That’s a great start to forming good sleep habits.

Diet

Caffeine stays in your system for as much as eight hours. That cappuccino after dinner, or the piccolo to get you through the afternoon, makes it impossible for your sleep schedule to work.

Processed foods are a big negative factor, too. The hidden fats and sugars they contain make it harder for your body to digest them, using up additional energy. Hit the fruit and veg hard for a week. Maybe start the day with a smoothie. Your brain and body will feel the benefits instantly.

Screen time

Staring at screens increases stress levels and stops you from interacting with the world. It kills your efficiency stone dead. Can you cut it down?

Less focus on screens improves your sleep for starters, giving your better quality rest. If you can shut screens down for an hour before you get into bed, you’ll also decrease stimulation sources and naturally relax before you hit the sack.

I’m no doctor and this is generic advice. Please consult the pros if this is something you have big problems with. Your energy supplies are limited so do what you can to support yourself each day. A small change or two can go a long way.

Scrolling away productivity: how social media is eating away your day

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Scrolling is a death spiral. Anything you’re working on disappears from your mind. The plot gets lost.

All that replaces the work is someone else’s life or a product you don’t need. Those best bits of the lives of others, served up in that never-ending fire hose of content.

We all get blasted by it. Anyone who says they haven’t – they can deal with it, it’s under control – is not being truthful. It’s like being on a water slide. All that can stop you once you take off is the smash into the pool at the bottom.

The remorse after any amount of time spent scrolling is hard to take. I put Instagram back on my phone about one month ago. Already I can feel its hooks are firmly embedded. I’m in, posting a little and consuming a lot, just they way they like it.

And, boy, do those five minute blocks add up. Between YouTube and Instagram I’m averaging nine hours a week. The waste of that amount of time is tangible. It’s painful to see the facts, whatever level of control I imagine I have.

The challenge is to now do something about it.

Take your own audit of how the scroll affects you. The results might spur you on to some positive changes. If you can go from consuming to producing content, for example, putting those scrolling hours to good use, things could be different.

Digging deeper: why an easy career is not always the best choice

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Just because something’s easy doesn’t make it right. A career you find easy might not be the ideal path over the long term.

One of my big mistakes from the last 35 years is not getting stuck into a career I enjoyed. I didn’t have a trade, a skill I could develop over time. I could get by without certifications and additional study. I made good money but the ceiling was low. Once I hit it, all I could see was 30 more years of the same. No thanks.

When the pressure is off, motivation is hard to come by. Skills get stale. Money flows but the drive to improve disappears (or at least it did for me).

I’ve now gone deep rather than wide in the area I work in – cyber security. It involves study to improve and the bar keeps getting higher. I wanted a career where some study effort would pay off. There are endless study paths, and it can take a while to find the right path for your own interests, but I’ve found it now. Doors are starting to open.

My purpose for this effort is to grow skills and rise through the ranks. As always, studying on your own time is a pain, but if the purpose is clear and you’ve got that motivation, good things happen.

When you’re making plans for the long term, keep this in mind. Economic security and a skill you’ve developed over the years will keep you on the up.

Being Quiet

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I think this is a page from Lao Tzu. Can’t remember for sure, but it resonates anyhow. Getting carried away in the chase for more, the hunt for shiny things, can take us to places we don’t want to go to. Balance need against greed and the answers will start to come to you.

Brim-fill the bowl, it’ll spill over

Keep sharpening the blade, you’ll soon blunt it.

Nobody can protect a house full of gold and jade.

Wealth, status, pride, are their own ruin.

To do good, work well, and lie low is the way of the blessing.

Order over chaos

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Tidying my workspace has opened up some space that has been blocked for a long time. I haven’t published anything here, even a photo, for a while. I’ve been working hard and learning a lot of new things, and I’ve also been writing a lot for myself.

The act of introducing some order to my workspace has been the catalyst. Even some small effort to throw out the old and become more organised is worthwhile. Create space for new ideas to hit you. New stuff can find its way onto your agenda because there’s room for it.

If you paint a room, it feels different. If you eat something new, you get a different sensation. Being surrounded by chaos can force you to find safe places or avoid the chaotic ones all together. But having some order can lead to better results. Habits and routines form, leading to better and more consistent outputs.

That’s the theory. There’s one way to find out if it works…

Unfulfilling work

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We all have work of some kind to do. When this work drains you and leaves you thinking ‘Why?”, over and over each day, you’re on a slippery slope.

I mowed lawns to help my Uncle out when I lived with him and his family. I was in my 20’s and had never thought about what made a job satisfying. It was simple work – we cut grass and took it away on the back of a truck – but it symbolised something bigger that I didn’t realise until much later on in life.

Turning a messy lawn into a tidy one is a cathartic process. As we drove away, we could see the difference our work had made. There was no deep-and-meaningful sense of amazement and wonder at what we had done – it was as simple a job as anyone could have, after all – but seeing the result of your work gave immediate, tangible feedback at the transformation.

Most of us spend our days pumping out emails about emails and attending meetings on everything and anything. Craftsmen and women are still around but in much smaller numbers today. Hitting ‘send’ time after time, rather than cutting grass, building a brick wall, or servicing a bike and handing it back to its owner, does not have the same effect on a human.

Knowledge work – the ‘keyboard warrior’ stuff done by the majority in our world today – has to be fulfilling or it can drain us of positive energy. All work types can be repetitive and monotonous at times and this can be hard to avoid. The challenge is to add meaning of some kind in a personal or organisational sense. Helping employees to achieve this can go a long way to keeping them engaged and away from the vacancies of your competitors.