Learn to Give Up on Your Dreams...

In the last six months, I’ve learned to give up. I mean just walk the hell away from my goals. To quit. And it is working beautifully!

Using this one basic idea, I’ve made consistent progress on my goals every single week — without incredible doses of willpower or remarkable motivation. I want to share how I use this strategy and how you can apply it to your own life to improve your health and your work.

The Problem with How We Usually Set Goals

If you’re anything like the typical human, then you have dreams and goals in your life. In fact, there are probably many things — large and small — that you would like to accomplish. But there is one common mistake we often make when it comes to setting goals. (I know I’ve committed this error many times myself.)

The problem is this: we set a deadline, but not a schedule.

We focus on the end goal that we want to achieve and the deadline we want to do it by. We say things like, “I want to lose 20 pounds by the summer” or “I want to add 50 pounds to my bench press in the next 12 weeks.”

The problem is that if we don’t magically hit the arbitrary timeline that we set in the beginning, then we feel like a failure — even if we are better off than we were at the start. The end result, sadly, is that we often give up if we don’t reach our goal by the initial deadline.

Here’s the good news: there’s a better way and it’s simple.

The Power of Setting a Schedule, Not a Deadline 

In my experience, a better way to approach your goals is to set a schedule to operate by rather than a deadline to perform by.

Instead of giving yourself a deadline to accomplish a particular goal and then feeling like a failure if you don’t achieve it, you should choose a goal that is important to you and then set a schedule to work towards it consistently. That might not sound like a big shift, but it is.

Productive and successful people practice the things that are important to them on a consistent basis. The best weightlifters are in the gym at the same time every week. The best writers are sitting down at the keyboard every day. And this same principle applies to the best leaders, parents, managers, musicians, and doctors.

The strange thing is that for top performers, it’s not about the performance, it’s about the continual practice. The focus is on doing the action, not on achieving X goal by a certain date.

The schedule is your friend. You can’t predict when you’ll have a stroke of genius and write a moving story, paint a beautiful portrait, or make an incredible picture, but the schedule can make sure that you’re working when that stroke of genius happens. You can’t predict when your body feels like setting a new personal record, but the schedule can make sure that you’re in the gym whether you feel like it or not.

It’s about practicing the craft, not performing at a certain level. (We’re talking about practice. Not a game, not a game. Practice.)

If you want to be the type of person who accomplishes things on a consistent basis, then give yourself a schedule to follow, not a deadline to race towards.

Head nod to www.JamesClear.com

Veggie Burgers that Meat-Eaters Will Raise a Beer To.

 My wholesale dismissal for the vegetarian lifestyle is fairly well known. Up until some throws down the gauntlet to produce a tasty veggie burger. Challenge Accepted!

     Now, I am an engineer, so I laid out a bit of criteria and constraints...

1) Low Cost Ingredients (i.e. cheaper than the cheapest ground beef/pork/etc.) This final recipe makes like 20 burgers, and costs about $6.00

2) Look like a sumptuous honest-to-God, hacked-from-a-cow Burger

3) Slight crisp on the outside, chewy and juicy on the inside

4) Healthy (i.e. no heavy carbs or mucho fat)

5) Not crumble apart when you slap it on a bun with all the fixings, or when you bite into it as you co-quaff an Alaskan Smoked Porter

6) Freeze well

     After a day of experimenting, enlisting neighbors as unbiased judges, and a swath of destruction in the tiny kitchen, I can now declare success. I given you the best damn veggie burger I have had. To my lovely Northwest (and Southern granola) fans, you know how to reach me for private din-din.

Meat-Eater Veggie Burgers

2/3 cup pearl barley, uncooked

1 beef bouillon cube

3 cups water

2 large white onions, sliced ½” thick

Oil for caramelizing

1 medium jar roasted red peppers, rough diced

½ lb baby portabella mushrooms, finely diced

1 can seasoned black beans

2 Tbsp garlic, minced

½ bag stuffing mix (Stove Top, not the cornmeal based ones)

2 Tbsp Liquid Smoke

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp granulated garlic

1 Tbsp crushed rosemary

1 Tbsp pepper

1 Tbsp kosher salt

2 eggs + 3 egg whites, mixed together

1)  Caramelize onions in a large frying pan, until ALMOST soft. Remove and rough dice the onions.

2)  In the same pan that the onions caramelized in,add the 3 cups of water, beef bouillon and pearl barley, and bring to a simmer.Simmer for 45 minutes or until barley is cooked and water is absorbed. Setaside.

3)  Using a hand-held blender, chop the black beansin a bowl into a paste. Then, rough chop the barley and combine the twotogether.

4)  Using the same blender or food processor,process the stuffing mix until fine breadcrumbs.

5)  Now combine all the remaining ingredientstogether in a LARGE bowl, and mix well with you hands or a sturdy spoon.

6)  Put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight toallow the flavours to meld.

7)  Preheat a non-stick skillet over medium heat,and add a scant of oil.

8)  Spoon a patty-sized portion onto the pan, and fryfor 5-7 minutes, covered. Carefully flip, and fry the other side for 5 minutes.

9)  Serve on a whole-wheat bun dressed with saladgreens, pickle, smoked Gouda, Dijon mustard and sriracha mayonnaise.

10)  Cook up the remaining within a couple of days, and then freeze them for microwaveable deliciousness.

Damn I'm good

Stay the Course, my Happy Bastards

And so begins another installment of "As The World Turns" starring our erstwhile chevalier mal fet, Steven W. Siler. This week has been a distinct examination into the dangers of living the unfettered life. You see, if you have been following any of these posts, you understand, patently so, that I seek every day to eliminate some mundane task; some time-waster, so that I might sit at my leisure...and sit.

The challenge that arises from living like this is that when one has a week where the wolves come out of the woodwork to assail the bulwarks, our coping skills are somewhat rusty. I.e., we got our asses handed to us, at least in the beginning. It took at least 48 hours to regroup, and decide on a course of action to claim the higher ground. And if my war analogy doesn't sit well with you, bite me. We have resources, other people want them any way they can...sounds like warfare to me.

But, the beauty of having of limited distractions means that once we get our heads wrapped around what the situation is (Oh the wonderful OODA loop! A free book to anyone who sends me a copy of what that is...), we were able to bring to bear a lightning quick response, that is going to leave us in an even better position than what we started. In short, we kicked their asses. And I admonish, cajole and every other action verb, to occasionally claim that for yourselves, to feel that rush of rising and conquering a foe, in person or metaphorical. At the end of the day, it is what earns us our birthright in humanity.

Stay the course, my happy bastards.

Learn to Cheat to Get Ahead

cheat

CHēt/

verb

1.

act dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage, esp. in a game or examination.

"she always cheats at cards"

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2.

avoid (something undesirable) by luck or skill.

"she cheated death in a spectacular crash"

We assume that cheating is a bad thing. It's not. Nancy Rosen at Personal Branding, offered this take on cheating, and it is utterly brilliant.

A whole lot of people are making resolutions right now, and not one of those goals is: I will master the art of cheating. Yet the truth is, all high achievers are expert at cheating, because cheating is the secret to success.

When you shadow leading entrepreneurs, CEOs of Global 2000 companies, world class athletes, master mechanics, and prolific inventors: you see them cheat constantly. That is, they spare themselves any extra work, when less will do.

They spare themselves the stress of winning popularity contests, unless the prize is big enough. They often ask forgiveness rather than permission, because it’s faster that way.

This doesn’t mean they cheat on their taxes, partners or exams.

Psychologist Albert Ellis calls their systems “elegant.” They are free of unnecessary psychological or physical strain, as it relates to the process of getting things done.

Their actions are streamlined, and wherever possible, they have ritualized what works best into a set of procedures or criteria.

They avoid revisiting old drama, feeling stuck, and negativity.

They constantly listen to their own insights, rather than the opinions or judgments thrown their way. They’re not addicted to positive regard and they’re not deterred by unconstructive criticism.

Consistently high achievers look like they are cheating, because they work faster and produce more and better outcomes. That’s because they observe and measure themselves at the same time they take action, which takes incredible stillness of the mind while the body is at work.

Surfers, extreme downhill mountain bikers, and other successful athletes have this mind-body synchronization down pat. That’s why when we watch them perform feats beyond what most of us believe is possible, we often say: “he cheated death.”

In fact, these elite athletes make corrections in flight, because they are so deeply in flow they somehow bend the rules of physics a bit. After staying in control of a bad trip, you might hear them say, “I cheated the landing.” They may pull up short or come down with their equipment and body in a less than picture perfect pose, but they continue to devour the course, get big air or tail whip with as much speed as a body can bear (and then some).

Successful people in business do the same kind of cheating. They avoid perfection, they go even when they don’t know all the right answers and they don’t strike poses.

The Laziest Man on the Planet

 I love Work. I can stare at it for hours…

Seriously. Have you ever given thought to WHY we work? I’m not referring to bills (overwhelmingly your own doing) or some PLMM (Peace, Love and Mickey Mouse) feeling. Because, for myself, I try to avoid work at every turn. Work is unpleasant. Work makes me lethargic and irritable. And whilst I am a Stoic, if I can find some fun, or exciting, or general fucking off to do, then I will (Thank you 9GAG!).

So I was in a discussion with the Red-Haired Vixen, coming off a shift of doing God’s work, and it occurred to me that I have gotten extremely good at avoiding work. To wit:

• I make an extra helping o’ victuals and my roomie washes my clothes. I fucking hate laundry.
•   I keep a lady with lovely handwriting on retainer for all written communications. Including Christmas cards and breakup notes to lady friends.
•  I allow my neighbor to use my truck at will, and he keeps it maintained, washed and gassed.
•  I freeze extra coffee into ice cubes so I don’t have to make fresh every morning.
• My assistant buys my wine by the case, keeping a bottle for her trouble, truly gets sexually aroused by cleaning, and makes those difficult breakup calls to lady friends (I’m starting to see a pattern here…).
• My mailbox place screens my mail, keeps extra books handy to send to the masses and deposits cheques for me into my bank account.

This list could go on and on…

But the point is, I outsource anything and everything that I find unpleasant. Things in my life and business still get done, and done well. It frees me up to think, to analyze, or to pick my navel lint…whatever my heart desires. The end result is that I wake up happy, smiling and completely stress-free. And as the Red-Haired Vixen can testify, stress is a killer worse than smoking, drinking or other vices. At this rate, I’ll live forever.

Shooting Around the Corner in Trenches

During the Second World War, the krummlauf rifle was developed by Germany as a weapon a soldier could use to shoot around a corner without exposing themselves to danger.  The concept itself was brilliant...a curved barrel, and your enemy never knew what hit them.  The reason that I bring this bit of historica up is simple.  It is a lesson vitally important in business.


One of the tricks to creating an enduring company is to spot trends before your competitor does, but that’s easier said than done.

In the book “Think Like a Futurist: Know What Changes, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next,” author Cecily Sommers notes a number of key attributes that could make your company more innovative.

First, it helps if you can drop your assumptions and see the market without preconceived notions. If you can successfully lose any personal agenda or a “we’ve always done it that way” mentality, you will be freer to recognize emerging opportunities.

Be curious. Don’t get frustrated by things you don’t understand. View them as opportunities to grow.

Ask the right questions. The right order of questions, according to Sommers, is “why,” “what” and, finally, “how.” Spend enough time with each question before moving on to the next, but be comfortable with ambiguity too. Not having all the answers is part of the journey to the future.

And do all this in an atmosphere of collaboration and constructive criticism. Feeling judged kills inventive thinking.

Be Happy, Dammit!

I'm told happiness is a choice.

Unfortunately we complicate our lives to the point of being unable to recognize happiness when it appears before our eyes.

So how to clear the slate? Here are 10 things you'll need to give up in exchange for your happiness.

This is from The Huffington Post but I loved it so much I'm posting it here.

1. Give up caring what other people think of you. I know it seems counter intuitive as we humans are primal pack animals that don't want to be cast from the village, but spending time worrying what others think, is a waste of energy. You'll never please everyone and it's none of your business what others think of you.

2. Give up trying to please everyone. Unless you're living life to the beat of your own drum, your tribe won't be able to find you. Be the best version of you you can be, and you'll naturally attract in the people that are supposed to surround you.

3. Give up participating in gossip. 100 percent of the time, those sharing gossip with you will gossip about you. Believing gossip is like gambling everything on a horse sight unseen. It's naive.

4. Quit worrying. Where thoughts go, energy flows. Worry is investing time and energy in something you don't want to have happen. Learn to let go and trust.

5. Let go of insecurity. When we take ourselves too seriously, we think everyone else does too. There is one version of you on the planet. Be it, own it and quit worrying about it. No one really cares or watches you that closely.

6. Stop taking everything personally. Truth is, most people are too consumed with their own life to really consider what you're doing. As my first boss said so well: "The world doesn't revolve around you. Most people's reactions have nothing to do with you, so let it go."

7. Give up the past. We've all been hurt, we all had parents that made mistakes and we've all been through hell. You didn't listen to your parents when you were younger, so why are you still listening to their voices in your head now? Every experience in life has taught you something or made you stronger.

8. Give up spending money on what you don't need in effort to buy happiness. Living simply allows the space for life to flow. We complicate our lives by spending too much money and filling our home with "things." Less is truly more.

9. Give up anger. Anger burns a hole in the hand of the person still holding on to it. Move it out once and for all.

10. Give up control. Control is an illusion. We live in an out of control world. Learn to embrace the new and welcome change; otherwise you'll grow old through your own rigidity. Learn to let go.