Ron Swanson is one of the greatest philosophers of the modern age. I find myself offering this advice to people with increasing frequency.
The first one’s the worst one…
The first step, that is. Sometimes, it’s not only difficult, it’s also scary as hell. A lot of the time, references are made to Lao Tzu, who said “a journey of 1000 miles must begin with a single step”. There are other variations, depending on the translations, but you get the idea. Before you can get anywhere, you have to start going. Continue reading
Filed under Philosophy, Planning and Productivity
The past 21 days
Just a quick update/progress report.
In the past 21 days, I have:
- Completed the Rebel Race
- Gotten a gym membership
- Been rocking along on StrongLifts 5×5
- Registered for the Indiana Spartan Race in April
- Picked the kettlebell back up
- Started fermenting my first batch of cider
That’s progress toward four of my goals. In about an hour, I’ll head to the gym to keep the trend alive. Today, I’ll be deadlifting over my body weight for my work set. Moving right along!
Filed under Health and Physical, Hobbies
What’s happening here?
So I’ve changed some things. This used to be the home of what was supposed to be a photoblog. Then I started another one on WordPress that was supposed to be a sort of documentary and commentary on my quest to achieve some personal goals.
Since both things relate to personal interests of mine, it seems stupid and inefficient to maintain more than one, especially since neither one got used as much as I wanted them to. I’ve decided to open it all up to be whatever I want it to be, more a personal interests blog instead of something subject specific.
I pay for this website and the hosting, I might as well get use out of it, right?
Filed under Uncategorized
Progress is awesome!
So I don’t update this thing as often as I either mean to or want to, but I’ll make it a point to work on that.
I’ve been moving toward accomplishing some of the items from The List. Most notably, this past Saturday, I completed the Rebel Race and got to check off an item off my list. Well, sort of.
Filed under Health and Physical, Hobbies
Quick check-in
Obviously, it’s been a while since I wrote much. I’ve been doing things, just not writing about them. Plenty of baby steps toward several long term goals and discovery of new interests.
Filed under Health and Physical, Hobbies
30 steps to a good life
This sort of thing has been done to death all over the place but I was thinking about some little nuggets of wisdom about being a man that I’ve collected over the years. Some things I learned from my father, some I learned the hard way. It struck me as a good idea to keep a record of some of what’s gotten me this far. Someday, I’ll be able to pass it on.
Filed under Lifestyle, Philosophy
Outlines are sometimes better than plans…
It has now been just shy of month since I moved and I couldn’t be happier about it. It’s a fantastic place, reasonably priced, and the dog has lots of others to play with. My professional life is very busy and only getting busier; I’m writing between phone calls.
Unfortunately (or not, as you’ll see), one of my short term goals has hit a bit of a snag lately in that I ended up getting a new car last weekend. With fuel prices consistently on the rise, my faithful 2000 Blazer was no longer an economical choice for transportation after just over four excellent years of service. There were problems on the way that would have cost both more than I owed and more than it was worth. Luckily, I not only was able to get a great interest rate (so low you’d probably get mad) AND a great warranty/service plan, I was able to find someone who was willing to buy the truck for almost double what I owed.
Filed under Planning and Productivity
GOOOOOOOOOOAL (setting)!!!
This week is an absolute killer. Not only is it a heavy week at work, I’m also down to the wire on getting moved. Since I was out of town last weekend (Arnold Sports Festival, awesome as ever!!), I have to get all my moving done this week. I’m putting a load in my truck in the morning, unloading it at the new place on my lunch break, and doing another load after work. Every day. The goal is to have everything that isn’t furniture moved before Saturday morning. The only things I can’t get in my Blazer are my couch, bed, and dining room table. Everything else is definitely doable with just my little red truck.
Filed under Lifestyle, Planning and Productivity
Maintaining what you’ve found…
It’s been a while since the last post but that isn’t because there aren’t things happening!
I’ve spent a bit of time working on tightening up a few areas that could use some improvement. As I talked about in Finding Balance, attention needs to be given to many different facets of everyone’s lives in order to give us all the best chance of real fulfillment. However, priorities can change pretty easily if you’re not careful (and even if you are, sometimes) and you just have to manage it as best you can.
Filed under Uncategorized