The Savage Philosopher

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 ...

You will expand to the size of your goals and dreams. Limited only by where you think you should be and your comfort zone. Dan Lok talks about how self image is a key to unlock out potential and achieve our goals. Who we believe we are, we become. This means who you are creates the life you live. We can approach this from two directions. We can change how we think and we can change what we do. At some point our thoughts and actions justify our identity, and we become the person who is big enough to fill our big goals and dreams. As Dan Lok said, "Who do I need to be..."

That’s right, I said it. Don’t be a pusillanimous! You need to take life by the axle and twist it for your advantage. If it was easy, anyone would do it. But it is not. You simply have to make a choice on what kind of person you want to be; pusillanimous or heroic. When a situation presents us with an opportunity we have about five seconds to take action. Five seconds until you will choose inaction over action. I learned this concept from Mel Robbins ( www.melrobbins.com ), and she is spot on. You know that I don’t just take anyone’s word for anything. I want to see it in action for myself, so I experiment with the different ideas I’m presented with. The five second rule is a thing. Just ask Mel. What this means is that our natural state is to be a pusillanimous. Or, at least we have a very small window to be heroic. Perhaps this is why we admire heroes. We think that they are awesome because we could never do such things. And as long as someone else does it, we won’t have to. ...

I see myself as a Savage and a Philosopher. I try not to shy away from the brutality of life, but use the opportunity to learn. These past couple of days have been brutal on my psyche as I am no longer distracted by the normal rhythms of routine. I dig deep into what drives me, I need to accept what I find as my truth (at this time). Then, if I choose, I can change. I spent the most of the day yesterday in a couple different types of meditation in an effort to get to my core, or at least into a deeper part of my subconscious. Results: I am truly happy when I am teaching. The topic of the book I’m going to write is on ‘Small Team Leadership’. I need to understand how to set up systems. Review of Yesterday. Overall, a lot of adulting got done. The dishes, bathroom, laundry, and some of the rooms were tidied up. I wish I could take the credit for all the activity, but to my surprise my kids decided on their own to chip in. They took care of the bathroom and living...

Yesterday was mostly successful. I have found that eating one meal a day is very difficult unless I am with people that eat one meal a day (or by myself). Other than that, I did get a couple of blogs out and had the time to research how to write a book and the volunteer opportunities in my area. Every day I seek to learn more about myself and the reasons why I do what I do. Yesterday I struggled to keep my cool while my pre-teen daughter did what pre-teen daughters do, drive their fathers crazy. I was good initially and then got tired of the attitude and then realized that I simply did not have the skills to handle it. So I called the Mom. She brilliantly deescalated the situation and we made it through the rest of the night. What I learned is that I still have some learning to do. So I will add building a stronger relationship and reducing the frustration between me and my daughters to the list of accomplishments I want to have on this reset. Review of Yesterday. As I ment...

How to have a kickass day.  I want to take a few moments this evening and talk about how to have a kickass day by creating a morning ritual. The purpose is to prime your day the same way everyday, so that you can have consistent results.  Start the morning right. Here are three simple steps that I use every morning to get ready for the day. Do not be underwhelmed by there simplicity. I recommend you practice them with an experimental mindset and see the results for yourself before you judge them.  1. Make your bed. I get up really early and my wife is still sleeping. This does not stop me from taking my blanket, folding it half long ways, and laying it down on my side of the bed. After I take a moment to smooth it out, I top it off with my pillow. This is the first thing I do right after my feet hit the floor.  This first step is the trigger for the next thing, writing in my gratitude journal. It also puts me into a productive mood. I can say at th...

Ok, here it is. Day 1 of 17. A small sabbatical to get myself re-centered and upgraded. A time to rebuild who I am, so when I go back to the real world of work and the daily grind, I will be stronger and more capable to take on the world. Or so is the goal. The Plan. I am going to document my next 17 days here as part of a blog series called “Resetting Life”. It will be a way for me to look back on this time in the future and see what parts of this reset took hold in the long term. And of course, this is the best way I know how to share my experiences with you. Here is the list of the bigger accomplishments I want to have by the end of this reset. Some of these may be a little audacious, but that is the point. Consistently execute the One Meal a Day (OMAD) meal plan with a focus on fruit, vegetables , nuts, and seeds with a little bit of chicken or fish chopped in. Workout for an hour every day. Blog at least once a day and increase my subscription to 200...