The Power of Positive Thinking

There is a power in positive thinking and even if you are a skeptic it is a bit like the the quote about life.

"Life is great when you consider the alternatives."

While positive thinking isn't sufficient by itself it is a good start and when done right it is a lot better than the alternatives.

Try the Positivity Challenge.

Positive thinking is an element of Stephen Covey's first habit of self mastery, "Be Proactive". A positive attitude allows you to be prepared in the gap between stimulus and response to make a choice that will have a greater probability of a positive outcome. A fundamental starting point is that decisions you make matter. This is not to say that you can control the world but that what you think and do does make a difference especially for you personally. This is not merely wishful thinking. To have a successful action plan it needs to start with thoughts of possible positive outcomes.

In the debate about fate vs. free will it seems to me to be a better bet to act as if free will exists. If everything is determined by fate you are no worse off if you act on a belief in free will. On the other hand if it really does matter that you exercise free will to influence outcomes even a little bit it could be disastrous to be unmotivated and leave it all to fate. Just because you are only one of many factors influencing future outcomes that is no reason to drift. Just try and with the feedback try again. We all can make a difference.

Live in a world of possibility

In these times where so many people are thinking pessimistically to create the downward spiral of a financial recession we should be thankful for people like Benjamin Zander spreading the inspirational message of dedicating yourself to the world of possibility.

The Girl Effect

Check out The Girl Effect. It has a powerful message and it is very well presented. The web site makes it easy to spread the message.

http://www.girleffect.org

Mindful Intentional Living

Patti Digh has written a book, Life Is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful, and Live Intentionally which is based on living life to the fullest by considering what your priorities would be if you only have a limited time to live which of course applies to all of us. The reference to 37 days comes from her own experience of her stepfather who suddenly learned that he only had a short time to live which turned out to be 37 days. The book includes art work from the readers of her blog. An example of 37 days artwork is this fresh start talisman done by Donna Miller.

Patti identifies 6 practices for intentional living:

1. Say Yes. Do this in the Improv sense of "Yes and" not "Yes but".

(I would suggest that this could be expressed as do what you decide to do with full commitment. Not agree to everything).

2. Be generous

3. Speak up but don't be attached to being right.

4. Love yourself and others more

5. Trust yourself

6. Slow down to live mindfully and creatively with what really matters amidst the day to day activities of life.

Here is an interview of Patti Digh by one of her longtime friends Jeff De-Cagna.

If this topic interests you also check out the post about Randy Pausch and time management.

Technorati Tags: Art, attitude

Monitor Your Own Health

Some tips from Readers Digest on some simple things that can be done regularly to monitor your own health.
Reader's Digest Canada - Health : Monitor Your Own Health:

Technorati Tags: Health

Secrets to Success: 8 words 3minutes

I have always believed that the the keys to success are easy to understand. It is more about establishing the mindset and habits to consistently apply them.
The start however is being clear on the keys to success:

Technorati Tags: attitude, success

metacool: From Obama to Pink to Oprah

metacool: From Obama to Pink to Oprah:
In life, pick where you want to go as much as you can, work like hell to get there, and be persistent. Learn all the time. Do good. Engage everyone around you by pursuing your passions. Help others. Do good work. Bring cool stuff to life. Above all, start.

Technorati Tags: Quote

10 Practical Uses For Psychological Research in Everyday Life

A wealth of Psychology related insight is available on the Psychology blog.
PsyBlog: 10 Practical Uses For Psychological Research in Everyday Life:
10 Practical Uses For Psychological Research in Everyday Life

Technorati Tags: Education

Goals: Musician Ryan Adams' Success Secret

This isn't Bryan Adams the Canadian rocker but Ryan Adams another singer/songwriter who has good points on keeping it simple.

Goals: Musician Ryan Adams' Success Secret:
What I do and what all musicians do is easy. All we have to do is sit down for a couple hours a week and write a song or two. That simple task is all the world asks of me, so I do it. The other musicians who don't are just lazy, because again, we aren't being asked to tar rooftops or clean out dumpsters. We just have to write a couple songs!

Think about your #1 goal for a minute. What action does that goal ask of you? Is it asking you to scrape sludge out of cesspools? I would hope not. Instead, you picked something you want for yourself. As such, the goal asks you to take a consistent but easy action.

* A goal to write a book only asks for a page or two a day. It doesn't demand you get a job making the pulp that produces paper
* A goal to lose weight only asks hour in the gym and light meals. You aren't asked to dig the iron and melt the alloying elements to make the steel for the gym equipment.
* A goal for getting straight A's in your classes only asks you to study for 2-3 hours a day. You aren't asked to lay the bricks that make up the University classrooms.

If you look a little deeper into what Adams said, it makes a strong implication for those who don't take action. Yes, he calls them lazy. But there's a deeper meaning. It implies that if you don't take the simple action, then you cease to be. A song writer who doesn't write songs ceases to be a song writer. An author who doesn't write ceases to be an author.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Music, puppy

Tech tools for a more fit lifestyle

Couple of articles that are good references regarding tech support for fitness routines.

Tech tools and fitness plans in lifehacker

Google Maps for walking

Technorati Tags: Health

A Guide to Happiness

The Zen Habits blog has lots of practical advice for simplifying life, getting things done, and guiding toward activities to make you happy.
There is also a reference to the Happiness Project blog.
An interesting read on happiness is Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert.
He busts some common myths about what people think they know about happiness by analyzing research on how the mind really works and doesn't work.
He explains in the book why people have difficulty imagining and predicting happiness and a better way is to rely on the experience of other people.

!

Technorati Tags: attitude, Habits

Dancing around the world

Why don't we all just dance together?

Technorati Tags: attitude, Video

Working through the disappointment of self expectations

Ira Glass provides some really useful advice about letting yourself be a beginner and not giving up if it is something that you really want to be good at.
You don't become an expert overnight for most of the things that really matter and are true achievements.
http://www.43folders.com/2008/07/07/ira-glass-working-through-suck

Technorati Tags: attitude, Education

Doug and Lisa's Visit

Had a lot of fun last weekend when Doug and Lisa came for a visit.

Technorati Tags: Video

Cold drink when you haven't planned and are impatient

What is the fastest way to get a cold drink?
Adam Savage from Mythbusters has the answer.

That would be about 20-25 minutes in a freezer. If you put it in a bucket of ice, that would halve that time. If you put water in that ice, it'd be cold (+- 5c) enough to drink in about 4-6 minutes, if you put salt in that water, you'd reduce the chill time to just over 2 minutes. Agitating the can in the water, rolling it around, reduces the chill time even more.

The fastest possible way is to grab a CO2 fire extinguisher and unload that sucker on the can.

Whatever you do, do NOT bury the can in sand, pour gasoline on the sand and set the sand on fire. That won't do anything.

This is all empirically gained evidence, not third party.
posted by asavage at 11:07 AM on November 30, 2006 [137 favorites]

For the smart-ass who is asking "why not just pour the drink on the ice in a glass?". The scenario is that it is a carbonated beverage that will lose its carbonation if opened warm.

To the question about why are you drinking a carbonated beverage - I have been told there is no right answer.

Technorati Tags: Food

Hyper-realistic Art

No question on the realism of this art.

Artmolds has some examples like Big Baby, Ghost, Mother and Baby, and Dead Dad.

Some other examples of Ron Mueck's lifelike sculptors like Untitled (Big Man), Boy, and Pregnant Woman are shown here.

The Ron Mueck wikipedia article has some background on the artist and a picture of a (baby) Girl.

I think Big Man and Girl were displayed in the Ottawa art gallery recently.

Technorati Tags: Art

Office Organization

Another example of an office makeover.

Also refer back to the Lifehacker workspace show and tell Flickr group.

Technorati Tags: Environment, Organizing

Oprah Winfrey Career Advice at Stanford Commencement

Oprah has three lessons.

Technorati Tags: Education, Goals, Video

Simple Home Meals

The Simple Dollar blog has some tips on preparing nutritious home meals cheaply and quickly.

Technorati Tags: Economics, Food, Health

The Big Picture

A new blog that has received some acclaim provides news through some beautiful photos.
http://boston.com/bigpicture/

Technorati Tags: Photos

Trading Places with Indian Outsourcers

Check out these videos about a 30 day experience seeing how Indian outsourcers live.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Economics

A Picture/Video Message!

You have received a message from 6132950199 View Message
Send and Receive Pictures and Video through Bell Mobility. For more information go to www.bell.ca/mypictures.
Copyright © 2008 Bell Mobility. All Rights Reserved.

A Picture/Video Message!

A Picture/Video Message!, originally uploaded by Glen Sharp.

You have received a New Message. http://mypictures.bell.ca/share.do?invite=6Eor4IJb5hUsJzM8kLc0

Career Ideas from Tim Ferriss and Marci Alboher

Google hosts some interesting talks at their campus and they share them online.
Watch this video with Tim and Marci promoting their books:
One Person/Multiple Careers: A New Model for Work/Life Success and
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

There are some thought provoking ideas about how to get more out of your career/life and not defer life aspirations until retirement.



Tim also recommends another book:
Stumbling on Happiness

Technorati Tags: attitude, Books, Goals

16 Rules for Success

You may or may not be a fan of Bob Parsons who runs the GoDaddy.com domain and web hosting service but what do you think about his 16 rules for success?

Technorati Tags: attitude, Goals, GTD

Goals and Motivation

Important topics and Leo Babauta at the Zen Habits blog has a bunch of ideas about Goals and Motivation.
Worth reading to see if they make sense to you and more importantly can you make use of them.
Two things that have worked for me are:
1. to visualize the goal being achieved and define what that success would be.
2. just try despite all the naysayers and see what results you get by taking it one step at a time.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Goals, GTD

For the sake of GPS Art

Swedish artist Erik Nordenankar for his final project at Beckman's College of Design in Stockholm wanted to do a really big picture.
So he tracked a GPS in a briefcase sent around the world to draw his picture.
I bet the delivery people got pretty confused at some points if they didn't understand the bigger picture.

Technorati Tags: Goals, Photos

Like to go for a walk?

Take a stroll on el camino del ray.

Alex Bike Trip Launch

The gang wishing Alex well as he launches his cross Canada bike trip.

Checking out just how heavy the bike really is.

Starting the trip and going right through the first stop sign

Technorati Tags: Goals, Photos

Business Manga Career Advice

Garr Reynolds has an excellent blog post on Daniel Pink's new book The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need that has career advice in Manga (comic) format.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Check out the promotional video and slideshare presentation on Garr's PresentationZen blog link above to find out what it is all about.

Also good career advice is to work on your communication skills like making presentations so check out Garr's book PresentationZen too.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Technorati Tags: Books, Education, Goals

Improving Workspaces

Here is an example of a potential before and after picture that could be inspiring.

Before more or less.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

After more and more desirable.

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

If you look closely you'll see the monitor images have been arranged so you see what you would see if you could look through them. Cool.

Technorati Tags: Environment, Organizing

Workspace Views

On Flickr there is an Unclutter collection of workspace views:
http://flickr.com/groups/unclutterer/pool/

Also there is a photo group for Macintosh displays:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/macsondisplay/pool/

Leo Babauta has written an article for the Unclutterer blog on creating a minimalistic workspace:
http://unclutterer.com/2008/03/12/creating-a-minimalist-workspace/

Technorati Tags: Environment, Organizing

Wisdom is never too early (or late) to apply

Some things that we wish we were taught or learned. Read the comments as well as there are some good points there too.
http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2008/04/02/16-things-i-wish-they-had-taught-me-in-school/

Question: Is it wisdom if you understand it but don't apply it?
Maybe all the difference is knowing these types of items on a level where you know and believe in them enough to apply them in day to day living.
It doesn't take a genius but it does take a a committed and persistent person.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Education

Striving for a better workspace

Some ideas on what to strive for in a workspace.
http://lifedev.net/2008/04/15-features-of-the-perfect-work-space/

Randy Pausch office is simple with inexpensive iKea-like furniture but very functional for doing computer and desk work with a view.
http://img.skitch.com/20080415-rg2w2jjwtnmcgduf79x98wiq8i.jpg

Also check out Randy's web site randypausch.com and his presentation on time management.

I am thinking of collecting other views of computer workspaces that people have since it interesting to me the environments people create to be productive and relaxed.

Al Gores desk is another workspace that is interesting from both the multi-monitor and paperwork perspective.

The costs of working in a digital world.

Technorati Tags: Goals, Organizing

Mac Yoga

The Apple Mac-PC ads are entertaining and have inspired some funny imitations.





There is even some real desktop yoga
http://www.mydailyyoga.com/yogaindex.html

Technorati Tags: Entertainment, Health, Video

On this date in history people were listening to ...

Interesting site on what was the Billboard hit on a particular date:
http://www.joshhosler.biz/NumberOneInHistory/SelectMonth.htm

On my birthday it was "Come Softly to me" by the Fleetwoods.

Technorati Tags: Entertainment, Music

Lost and Found

Professor Solomon has some guidelines on how to find lost items. Now you can apply the 12 principles or even download the whole book.
Best to use a systematic approach rather than panicing and rummaging randomly through the house.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Organizing

Stroke Experience

At the TED talks this year Jill Taylor a Harvard neuroanatomist talked about her stroke experience and what she learned from it.

Technorati Tags: Health

Sharp house in the snow

Sharp house in the snow, originally uploaded by Glen Sharp.

After digging out from the latest record snow fall in March 2008.

Winter Wonderland

DSCN1172.JPG, originally uploaded by Glen Sharp.

50 cm more snow or there abouts so we are approaching the all time record.

Nearing Record Snow fall in Ottawa

Ottawa nears all-time snowfall record
City's snow-clearing costs double normal amount at $18.5M
Last Updated: Thursday, March 6, 2008 | 10:28 AM ET
CBC News

With 357 centimetres of snow already this winter and more to come on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Ottawa seems on track to top the record 444.1 centimetres that fell in the winter of 1970-71.

The city has already recorded its second-largest snowfall ever.

For people who still think in the imperial system, that's almost 12 feet of snow.

"This winter, we've had a lot of these events. They seem to be tracking up from the south," said John Manconi, who is in charge of snow clearing for the city.

"We're also monitoring what's coming this weekend. That's in our sights. So we're certainly making another significant jump [in the amount of snowfall]," Manconi said.

Environment Canada is predicting a large snowstorm on Saturday afternoon or evening.

Even before that, there is a 40 per cent chance of flurries Thursday afternoon, and a 40 per cent chance of snow flurries Friday morning, and with a steady snowfall beginning that afternoon.

So far this winter, the city has spent $18.5 million on snow removal, which is about twice as much as it would normally spend during a winter.

Police said that, from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday, there were 41 accidents in town and 109 accidents on the highways around Ottawa. Most were minor, police said.

It was the fifth "snow day" this winter for schools in the region, meaning the schools were open, but the school buses were cancelled.

Technorati Tags: Environment, Photos

May you never video

Let me know if you like it at all

John Martyn with Kathy Mattea - May You Never
or do you like this version better?

John Martyn - May You Never

Technorati Tags: Music, Video

Commercial Entertainment

Some of the best short entertainment pieces are commercials like these two:
Let this guy contribute to the environment

Beer opening competition

Technorati Tags: Entertainment, humour, Video

Being a Good and Happy Person

Over at the Life Learning today blog there is a post about how to teach children to be good and happy people.

The best way is to be a role model: "Practice what you preach".

Many of these objectives should be obvious but isn't it worthwhile to have the list to remind ourselves sometimes of the legacy we want to leave?

Technorati Tags: attitude, Habits

How to change the world: clean water

Guy Kawasaki was one of the original Mac evangelists for Apple computer and now is a venture capitalist who plays hockey.

On his blog he has a video on a clever idea to use the energy from a children's play structure to provide clean water for a village.
The importance of clean water is explained in many dimensions including allowing young girls to attend school.

Playpumps international sounds like a good charity to support.

Technorati Tags: Environment

The ABCs of Remaining Cool in a Crazy World

Stephen Covey in the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People writes about the gap between stimulus and response where we have free will to chose and take responsibility for our response. This is habit 1 Be Proactive. To quote from the 7 Habits wikipedia article:

1. Be Proactive. Here, Covey emphasizes the original sense of the term "reactive" as coined by Victor Frankl. You can either be proactive or reactive when it comes to how you respond to certain things. When you are reactive, you blame other people and circumstances for obstacles or problems. Being proactive means taking responsibility for everything in your life. Initiative and taking action will then follow. Covey also shows how man is different from other animals in that he has self-consciousness. He has the ability to detach himself and observe his own self; think about his thoughts. He goes on to say how this attribute enables him: It gives him the power not to be affected by his circumstances. Covey talks about stimulus and response. Between stimulus and response, we have the power of free will to choose our response.

Albert Foong (www.urbanmonk.net) in a guest post on zen habits describes this as the ABC's and D's of responding to the crazy world we live in.

Here is what he says about how to stay cool.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Habits

Global Warming Risk Management

Check out this Youtube video on whether it is a good idea to do something about global warming.

Arnold Schwarzenegger also has an environmental message that managing the risk doesn't have to be all about sacrifice and not living an attractive lifestyle.

Technorati Tags: Environment

A Wii bit of fun

Here is a wishlist of Wii interactive games from Brain academy, Dance Dance revolution, Guitar Hero, on up to Boogie.

Description Purchase Price
Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party Bundle (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $79.99
Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $49.99
Cranium Kabooki (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $39.99
Dance Dance Revolution: Hottest Party (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $59.99
Guitar Hero III Bundle (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $99.99
Boogie (Nintendo Wii) Buy Online $64.99

Nintendo Fit and more Nintendo Fit with the new step pad and the options it makes possible could be good whenever it becomes available.

Technorati Tags: Entertainment, Health

Todo List Mania

This article from lifehacker provides an overview of why so many people are keen about using lists to achieve their goals and different ways it can be approached.
Breaking goals down into small tasks and focussing on the next action can be really effective in tracking progress (love those little checkmarks) and getting things done (GTD).

The best system in my opinion needs to strike a balance on planning and prioritizing goals before getting too efficient at clicking off the chain of tasks.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Goals, GTD

Goal Tracking with Joesgoals

I am still using Googledocs for some of my goal tracking but I found joesgoals has a lot of the features I was looking for.
I particularly like the capability of tracking both things you want to reduce and things you want to increase.
Ben Franklin's virtues of tracking goals for not doing things can be balanced by other habits where you can get bonus points for doing good things.
Need to experience rate the scoring though, as not all the items tracked have the same importance. [Update: you can set different points for each item]
The reporting seems pretty good so far to summarize results since trends are more important than actual score. Its free and very easy to use so why not give it a try?

It has become conventional wisdom that resolutions are not worth making because they are broken so soon but I like to think that it is still worthwhile to strive for improvement.
My theory is that the error is not in setting goals for improvement but how and what goals are set.

Maybe the trick is to set specific incremental, measurable, and a limited number of goals at one time rather than too many dramatic quick fix large and vague goals. Break it down into a prioritized set of small items that allows us to move towards the bigger goals without getting discouraged. Try to avoid perfectionism and instead approach the process with a growth mindset. Hope should spring eternal with a willingness to make fresh starts rather than giving up entirely.

Stephen Covey uses the plane analogy in relating that through a journey a plane may never be on course but with course corrections can still arrive at its ultimate destination eventually. This is achieved by the flight plan and the instruments measuring deviances from the course. Its been said before that many things are managed rather than being conquered. There is no shame in not achieving all your goals completely as I think you are better off having tried than you would have been leading an aimless life.

There is something to be said for having the courage in calling your shots as in pool and having the satisfaction of achieving success or even just getting closer and doing better next time. It is better to try purposefully no matter what the outcome. That is why I like the quote by Theodore Roosevelt, the Man in the Arena.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Goals

Virtues of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was a wise man as I have blogged about before.

Benjamin Franklin's autobiography is online and it provides a very instructive guide to his character development and experiences he had through his varied career.

At this time of new year resolutions, here is Ben's life long (20 years of age to 84) list in order of priority for a virtuous life:

These names of virtues, with their precepts, were

1. TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.

2. SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.

3. ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.

4. RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.

5. FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.

6. INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ'd in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

7. SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.

8. JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.

9. MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.

10. CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.

11. TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.

12. CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.

13. HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Ben advised not to try applying all of these at once but to start at the top and work down as they are mastered.

Apparently he had a good system for tracking his progress too.

Here are some templates in OpenOffice and PDF format to do some manual tracking.

I am working on a googledocs spreadsheet to track these types of habits and compare results each month.

Technorati Tags: attitude, Education

Winter Wonderland

Ottawa Snow 4, originally uploaded by Gavin Sharp.

Photo taken by Gavin of the snow piling up outside our house.
It certainly was a white Christmas although not so much in Calgary.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Good Books

A couple of Ken Follett books set in the middle ages which I have particularly enjoyed:

Pillars of the Earth

I read this a few years ago and now it is an Oprah book club selection.

Wikipedia has an article about Pillars of the Earth but don't look at it before reading the book since it summarizes the plot.

World without End

His latest which I just recently read is equally as good.

Hornet Flight looks worth investigating for those with aeronautical history interests.

Technorati Tags: Books