The Savage Philosopher

Showing up This week I learned the value of simply showing up. Simply by getting out of bed and putting on pants, I gained six hours of one on one coaching and business development with a specific focus on a business I am trying to do. My initial expectation was to make a couple of networking contacts and possibly learn about some local resources. But by the end of the day, my expectation was blown away. A couple of weeks ago I called my uncle about learning how to run a small business. He took over the family business a number of years ago and figured that he had some good insights on situation. Well, he directed me to go to the library and see if they were sponsoring any business classes. I have been to the library before and I did not see anything on that subject, but I also wasn’t looking for it. So the next time I took my daughter to get another 10 books to read over the week; I took the time to see if my uncle is right. And of course he was. In about two weeks from th

For those who are following along my little journey, here are my results: Feat 1: Education. The goal was to have everything done so that I can start school.  I’ve completed 75% of what I need to do. All my transcripts have been sent except for the last school I was going to. I still need to send them back the books from my last classes, which of course are in one of the many boxes in my garage from the move. A perfect intersection of this feat with Feat 3. Feat 2: PMP Certification. I have ordered the hardcopy book to study from and have it with me now. This week I will put my hours in the PMI website, and next week I can schedule the test. So I’m at 30% here. Feat 3: Home Ready for Guests. We have squared away about 25% of the boxes. Unfortunately the items in the boxes have not been completely put away yet. Once that is done, then we can work on the boxes that are in the garage. Feat 4: Write a Book. I am at 0% complete. Feat 5: Conquer Life Admin. OK, me and the wife hav

One the best pieces of advice my father gave me when I was a young man was the value of taking action. At the time, I didn’t really understand where he was coming from. I didn’t understand the struggle that he had in his life. And I did not understand how desperate he was trying to provide me with some of his lessons learned. But now I am at the age in which he provided me that advice and I understand. Through my own struggles of deflated dreams and hollow words, I understand that words are cheap and the only thing that has value in this world are actions. In fact I believe that actions create the value and is the cornerstone of our success. To experiment with this concept I am going to execute a massive action plan for the next two weeks attempting to accomplish more than I ever thought possible. This experiment starts with accountability of this blog and will end with the completion of five feats. (things I have been putting off because I fear their failure) Feat 1: Education.

The Frog. Moving back to America. I am currently moving back to America after spending five years overseas. Moving is hard anyway. Moving over an ocean with a family has an undescribable difficulty level. It has been done by many people before me, and will be done by many more after. None of that takes away from the personal stress of having to do it. And then to add complexity to the issue, I decided to buy a house. A thousand things to do. As with any move there are many things that need to be done. While still overseas, I need to worry about everything from closing out with the current landlord, shipping cars, insuring all the utilities are going to be paid, ensuring my current organisation has everything they need for me, and have a temporary place to stay before I fly out. And of course I am simultaneously doing all the paperwork required to buy a house back in the States. To accomplish everything, I need to rely on many people and things I don't have control over. Doing

Day 1 complete. I probably should've picked a different day to start my fast. Starting it on the Fourth of July was a true test of self control. All day at the festival they were selling hot dogs, hamburgers, funnel cake, waffles, brats, lumpia, etc. All day I sat there letting my family enjoy all the delicious food. All day I thought to myself, “if I get through today, the rest will be easy.” Well, mission accomplished. I enjoyed the holiday without incident. The only thing I realize that I didn’t do was drink enough water. Not because I was hungry, but because I was so dehydrated. It probably prevented me from getting any real sleep last night. Lesson 1: Drink much more water than I think I need. As for any hunger issues. My hypothesis was correct. The fact that I am on an OMAD diet fixed any hunger pains I had to only early afternoon. After that, I was good regardless of the temptation. Around 1600, I started my planned workout. I got through half before it was

Am I a Human or an Animal? This question is one of the central themes of this blog. We know biologically that we are part of the Homo Sapien species in the Animalia kingdom. This classification only helps us with taxonomy, but not it’s meaning. I believe that the only way to truly define what it means to be a Human is through experience and self awareness. This brings me to my current test to see if I am more Human or more Animal. To help me figure that out, I have started a seven day fast. That is right. Seven days of only water and black coffee. I’ve done all the research and will break the fast if I think the reaper is coming for me. The Plan. I expect that I will start to get hungry around lunch time. I have been on the One Meal A Day program now for two months and my body knows when it is feeding time. Specifically, the Ghrelin hormone (the reason you feel hungry at just before meal time) will spike between 1030 and 1130. I will need to just wait for the hormone to f

An animal does not need to think about the benefits of exercise or eating right. It simplies taps into its instincts and does what it needs to do. The Human animal has the same level of instincts with the added ability to think about them. What we have lost over time are the proper conditions the instincts were designed to help us survive in. I assert that by better understanding where our instincts come from within the body, we will have the ability to utilize them to help us survive and thrive in the modern world. The five hormones that form the basis of our instincts are: Endorphins, Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin, and Cortisol. Here is the basic break-out of what they do and why we have them. The Big Five Endorphins - Released during physical activity to inhibit the transmission of pain signals. Also known as the “runner’s high”, this hormone allows us to hunt prey and move over long distances. Side note, laughing also produces endorphins. Dopamine - Released a

The world is a dangerous and hostile place. It is filled with people who are different; they act different, talk different, and believe different. This difference has divided the world into two tribes The tribe of ‘us’ and the tribe of ‘them’. In one moment two people are in the same tribe as co-workers and in another, they are in different tribes as sport fans. This is all the work of our animal instincts to survive our hostile world. Our animal instincts are designed to do one thing, ensure our survival. Using the Reticular Activating System (RAS) it determines if something is a threat or an opportunity. The RAS basically filters out all the noise in the world to help us focus on what is important. Things that are new are immediately highlighted as a threat first, and then a possible opportunity. This is why we subconsciously choose to dress like our friends or end up wearing the same colors with our significant other. By matching, our animal feels safe and secure. If the n

My journey so far has been one of self discovery. Over the last couple of days, I realized that I will need something more than self discovery to succeed evolving into something greater. I need to completely change everything I do and the way I do it. Every moment of every day needs to be aligned with the desired life that I want to live. To include the actions I take and the habits I form to support my long term goals. The truth is that life is only what we make it; to quote the Great movie series ”there is no fate but the one we make.” I also have a confession to make. I have been holding back on all the things that I am doing to prepare myself for my next step. In this post I'm going to rectify that error. Bottom line: I have chosen to embrace suffering and pain so that I can know myself on a deeper level. This is done through newly formed rituals and habits: I only take ice cold showers. I don’t mean that at the end of a hot shower I rinse off in cold water. I mean

I took a couple of days off from this series to build up some successes (or failures) that were worthy of talking about. Our last discussion was very bland as I started to engage into a more optimal battlerythm. We left off with some simple goals of increasing the number of blogs and getting the dishes done. Well, with such low goals, I can say with complete confidence that over the last couple of days I had complete success….yea me. I did though begin to stretch into a couple of different areas and techniques that I think are pretty cool. I started to do some of my blog posts from my phone. I have the ‘blogger’ app on my phone and when I combine it with the voice-to-text technology, I am able to produce a 300-400 word blog without a keyboard. This freedom from the computer will allow me to blog more when I am not home and only have access to my phone and wifi. Another thing I started was drinking MCT Oil (C:6,C:8) with my coffee in the morning. So far I am very excited about

Pick something that you think is just out of reach. An accomplishment you have never done before and you think will take everything you have to finish. Some of the things that are out of my reach deal with the mechanical, physical, and mental aspects of my world. I have never changed my oil in my car before. This is something that I thought was far beyond my mechanical skill. So tomorrow, I will change the oil in my car all by myself. This will be a significant milestone in my mechanical career. I just never considered myself a car guy. Doing mechanical things simply is not in my current identity. This task was stretched who I think I am. I also just received the books for my school classes, business management and sociology. My goal is to finish both classes before June 5th 2017. Finishing these classes within the first week of the semester will be a significant achievement for me. I normally waite to the very last second that finished the classes. Sucking a at class work has been