Self-Development

Surround Yourself

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Living well is the best revenge.

Ever been on the wrong side of that truism?

When you hear (or see on Facebook) that someone you don’t particularly care for is doing really, really well for themselves?

This used to give me a pit in the bottom of the stomach and make me question my life, all because someone I put in a box had escaped.

Eventually I realized that I needed this feeling, that it was actually a good thing. I no longer let it consume me, but instead let it feed me and my drive. I began to seek it out, to crave it.

As the saying goes, when you smile, the world smiles with you. And when the world around you is doing great things, the more inclined you are to do the same. The status quo has been raised. The new norm is one of higher expectations. If you are the sum of the five people spend the most time with, complacency and contentment are easy if you hang around with five underachievers.

Seeking out and surrounding myself with people and literature that made me question my own worth and contributions to the world were the beat that finally brought my creative heart back to life a few years ago.

—

As someone with an extremely addictive personality, a trend I have observed in myself is that once I get a small taste of a subject that is new and intriguing to me, I instantly want to know everything about it. Consequently, this sends me on an information binge that lasts anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Then, once I am satiated or the novelty wears off, I move on to the next interesting topic.

When this moving on doesn’t happen, and that satiation point is never reached, that’s when I know I have struck gold, and found a true passion, not just a fleeting one.

That is the case with me and a few areas of interest (and most people have them), particularly in material that provokes thinking differently and that inspires creative action.

A trend I used to see in myself and others regarding motivation was that it would be more of a fleeting kind of inspiration than a ‘true’ one. We would be fired up for a short period of time, then fade back into uninspired ‘normalcy’.

Then slowly, I got good at evolving this energy from sporadic to perpetual.

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I see when I exit my bedroom is my productivity calendar (post on that coming soon). Across the top of my bathroom mirror are the words ‘Perfection is Boring’ in dry-erase marker. Adorning my kitchen mirror are a few of my fitness personal records next to the words ‘Wolves don’t lose sleep over the opinion of sheep.’ Opening the door to my refrigerator requires my eyes to scan past one of my favorite quotes of all-time. In my car, checking how much gas I have left brings me to a taped-up fortune that I pulled from a cookie years ago- ‘Today’s action becomes tomorrow habit.’ When I check my phone, a giant marshmallow as my background reminds me of a particular famous study.

None of this was planned- I didn’t wake up one day and think to myself, “I need to cover every surface I look at in a given day with motivation.” It just happened, organically, piece by piece.

While these kinds of things can of course become empty and cliché through frequent viewing (the reason why I would never get something similar tattooed on me), these triggers I have placed throughout my daily life are reminders to myself about why I am alive, why I get up at 6 a.m. to write everyday, why I moved away from the majority of my friends and family for a job that will allow me to reach my goals, why I strive to learn everyday, and why my RSS Feed is loaded with blogs that teach and inspire me.

They are anchors to remind me of what I love most- creating. My daily environment is set up so that it’s literally impossible for me to forget this fact.

It’s also a suitable (and reliable) substitute for constantly having to seek out people that have accomplished things that I am envious of.

If my mind begins to wander, these triggers bring it back to the focus.

To be inspired and bursting with ideas you must get down on paper, to me, is one the most amazing feelings there is. Hence why I am addicted to it.

So, how do you surround yourself and keep the fire going?

—

Put another way by Bryan Callen and Joe Rogan:

“That’s what you need man. If you don’t have that in your life, you gotta find it. Either surround yourself with friends who do it, go to TED.com, do whatever you have to do man, find it, it’s out there, and the beautiful thing about technology – and this is for young people – is that you can spend your time listening to music and reading about what Lady Gaga wore to the gym, or you can open up your mind to a whole world out there.”

“There’s an instinct to protect yourself by bullshitting yourself and becoming jealous and bitter and talking shit about that [successful] person, and that’s where haters come from. 100% of haters in the world are unrealized potential.” 

Go deep

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There is never an absolute answer to everything, except of course that you have to do your squats.
-Mark Rippetoe, American strength coach and author

—

More than any other exercise, none has been more vilified- or misunderstood- than the squat.

Which is massively ironic considering that people- especially those with desk jobs- perform multiple squats every waking hour of their life.

Getting up from your office chair, out of your car, or even off the toilet… if you are going from a sitting position to standing or vice versa, you are squatting.

Why wouldn’t you train a movement that has a direct carryover to your everyday life?
—
Like barefoot-style running and diet, squatting is another one of those things that humans did one way for a million years, and now that we’ve changed it up in the last few hundred we have a plethora of new maladies.

Unfortunately with squatting, the solution to the problem isn’t as simple as orthopedics or medicine, but surgery.

Squatting to the ground is a natural range of motion for our species, and the natural position in which to relieve oneself. There is a reason toddlers go into a squat when they are beginning their potty training or picking something up off the ground– it’s how our bodies are designed.

The sitting toilet as we know it is unique to Western society (a few European nations being notable exceptions), and surprise- there are lower incidences of colon and pelvic disease in nations that use a squatting method to go to the bathroom.

Around the time the sitting toilet became in vogue in Victorian England and eventually the rest of Western civilization, so too did appendicitis, irritable bowel syndrome, colon cancer, and other fun diseases known mostly only (even today) to squatting nations.

Squatting Exhibit A

The short of it is that our organs don’t empty themselves completely and properly when sitting versus squatting- consider gravity for even a few seconds and you’ll get the picture.
How could this movement ever possibly be a detriment to your health?
—
While tearing out your commode might not be a realistic solution, there is another way for our bodies to reclaim the flexibility and range of motion that gets lost by sitting all day: with a barbell, of course.

When a squat is done properly (i.e. with the hip crease going to parallel, or below, if possible), virtually the entire body is being strengthened from the ankles through the abdomen through the arms that are securing the bar against the back. And of course the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes get their fair share of the load, too.

Proper squat depth

Contrary to the popular misconception that squats are bad for your knees and back (which is ridiculous- when a squat is performed properly most of the force is taken in the hips anyway), the movement has been said to prevent and deter injuries by way of strengthening the stabilizing muscles, ligaments, and tissues that surround the knee.

Where did these misconceptions come from? Similar to many of the myths that have become ‘conventional knowledge’ in the world of diet, many believe deep squatting is bad for your knees and spine because of some bad science that has been perpetuated for decades, despite studies proving the contrary.

When injuries occur while squatting, the cause is usually from the athlete only going into a partial squat. In these, only the quadriceps are activated and the movement never reaches its natural conclusion, forcing the knees to absorb a tremendous amount of stress in order to halt the movement.

Conversely, in a full depth squat, the hamstrings and glutes are activated when the hips drop below parallel, which in turn balance out the load distribution evenly on both sides of the knee.

Partial squats are also the source of the myth that the movement is bad for your spine. Rippetoe:

“Another problem with partial squats is the fact that very heavy loads may be moved, due to the short range of motion and the greater mechanical efficiency of the quarter squat position. This predisposes the trainee to back injuries as a result of the extreme spinal loading that results from putting a weight on his back that is possibly in excess of three times the weight that can be safely handled in a correct deep squat. A lot of football coaches are fond of partial squats, since it allows them to claim that their 17 year-old linemen are all squatting 600 lbs. Your interest is in getting strong (at least it should be), not in playing meaningless games with numbers. If it’s too heavy to squat below parallel, it’s too heavy to have on your back.”

Like with any new exercise, start slow and with light weight. Even if you are just squatting with your body weight or an empty bar in the beginning, you are guaranteed to be sore in the days following, and your strength gains the next time you go to squat (or to stand up) will be more than apparent.

In lieu of keeping this post a readable length, squats will make athletes (and anyone) more explosive, give them stronger abs and core strength, increase their vertical, increase bone density, make them more flexible, run faster, help achieve normal hip function, and of course give them a bomb ass.

Essentially it makes anything you could possibly do, in or outside the gym, easier.

Even if your athletic focus is on more cardio-oriented sports like running or cycling, cross training with squats is going to be incredibly beneficial. If, in the case of running and cycling, your power output on every stride or pedal is X, and that power is coming from your quads, hamstrings, and the rest of the posterior chain, doing something to increase the output of that X variable is only going to make you faster at your given discipline.

To cite Rippetoe one last time, “All other things being equal, the stronger athlete always wins.”
—
Anecdotal evidence: When I lived in New York for six months I didn’t make enough money to join a gym, so my workouts had to consist mainly of body weight exercises and running. While I would throw in air squats from time to time, it wasn’t enough.

After a few months of being away from a barbell and squatting, I couldn’t even run anymore as the pain in my right knee became too unbearable for me to jog for longer than a minute. My knee had become weak.

How do I know that was the problem?

Fast forward to after I had moved back to Ohio and was again on a regular squat routine, I tried running again after a month or two and was able to crank out four miles without a hint of knee pain.

The problem is not with the squat. It’s with the sit.

meditate.

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“If every 8-year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from the world within one generation.”

-Dalai Lama

—

You know those moments when your mind is filled with a barrage of thoughts going 1000 miles-an-hour, making it impossible to focus on even one of them?

There is a way to stop that madness. And all you have to do is nothing.
—
Of the many things that I wish I had discovered or been taught earlier in life, meditation is high up on the list.

When I think back to moments where I could not focus on a given task or come up with a quick-witted response in a situation that required one, it’s frustrating to think that the solution to both of these (and many other) circumstances simply required sitting for ten minutes a day.

Meditation, zen, and every other spiritual concept are going to mean slightly different things to many different people. However, meditation to me simply means strengthening the brain to be more aware of the present moment.

And it’s not necessarily scented candles, herbal teas, or “om-ing” it out in your darkened room (though you can do all of that if you want).
—
I believe that most people in the world sporadically practice mindfulness- the act of having active attention on the present- their entire lives without even realizing it.

Those moments in life where you can vividly recall every single detail about your surroundings, who was there, and what was going on? Those are instances where you were extremely mindful.

It’s how athletes can recollect, with striking accuracy, an enormous number of details and facts about games and matches they played in their career. They are completely absorbed in the game situation and moment, having no other distractions going on in their heads. They are just ‘being’.

I can recall being on a family vacation when I was around 13-years-old, and we were walking along the beach at sunset. I remember thinking to myself that the moment was perfect, and wished that I could remember it forever. I took into account everything around me; the sound of the waves, the smell of the salt, and the shade of the setting sun. Not that I had much to worry about at that age, but because I took that moment to focus on everything around me, I can now revisit it in my mind anytime I want with absolute precision.

Like in a video game, mindfulness is similar to creating a save state you can revisit anytime you please, simply by being present. Meditation is the re-charge and strengthening of this ability.
—
The practice itself is simple, and there is no right or wrong way to do it.

After setting the timer on my phone for ten minutes, I like to sit Indian-style (mostly because I’m not flexible enough to go full Lotus) on a pillow with my back against a wall.

I begin to ‘bamboo breathe’ (one big breath in, hold it in for a second, then release out in three segments), and try to focus on my breath and nothing else.

Sometimes I’ll repeat the phrase “What is my next thought?” over and over slowly in my head. On other occasions I’ll imagine a spiraling black hole, sucking in and vanquishing any stray thoughts that go flying through my conscious.

There are countless ways to “de-focus”, and meditation can be a creative exercise in a way as you feel your mind out and figure out the best manner in which to quiet it.

The thoughts will and do creep in, and that’s to be expected.

Sometimes these thoughts are random, forgotten memories from the past. And more often they are whatever you feel most anxious or worried about in your life at that moment. Many times I didn’t even realize how much something was bothering me until I observed that the thought kept floating through my head over and over again.

And on days where I know I am going to have extra trouble focusing on nothing, I have afew go-to songs I listen to in order to get me in state, which leads to an entirely different yet no less ethereal experience entirely.
—
As part of my morning routine now, I use meditation mostly to clear my mind before work and increase my focus.

However, I have also experienced moments of intense clarity about my life and the world. On other occasions, solutions have ‘come to me’ regarding projects that I’ve been working on that I don’t think I would have come to otherwise.

Growing up, I always felt like I was more absent-minded than most (my fourth-grade teacher told my parents that it constantly looked like I was “in left-field”), and while sometimes I still am admittedly a ‘man-ditz’, my recall, both short-term and long-term, is easily better than it has ever been.

It’s a striking thought that in today’s world we always have something going on to fill our head space, be it the car radio, the TV on in the background while we cook, or even taking our phones out when we are using the bathroom. It’s like we are afraid of being alone with our thoughts, even though spending time with them is the best way to figure out what is best for us and who we really are.

It’s amazing how much something can come out of doing nothing.

Running shoes ruined running

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My entire childhood I hated running with every fiber of my being (unless I was chasing a ball).

Looking back now, I realize that most of this hatred stemmed from never being taught to run, which might sound like a very profound thing. It’s running, it’s like breathing- there can’t be a wrong way to do it, right?
–
For thousands of years and billions of miles, people ran without what are recognized today as ‘running shoes’.

Then in the late 1970s shoe companies entered a kind of arms race with each other, adding more and more gimmicks and ‘corrective technology’ to try and separate their product from the competition’s. The public eventually became convinced that running was an activity that required some sort of safety equipment, and soon the modern running shoe became a staple for runners and athletes of all kinds to own.

While there is no arguing that around this time footwear corporations began to make a monumental impact on everything from pop culture to sports marketing, big impacts were also felt elsewhere: in runners’ knees and shins.

Although one could argue that running wasn’t as big of a recreational activity back then as it is now, the number of injuries since the dawn of these ‘innovations’ has unquestionably risen.
–
In his fantastic book Born to Run, Christopher McDougall documents a Native American tribe called the Tarahumara (“those who run fast” in their native tongue).

Living amongst cliffs and gorges in Northern Mexico, the Tarahumara gained notoriety in the athletic world by regularly running across this rugged terrain in distances exceeding 100+ miles without stopping. They do this barefoot or in sandals, and without injury.

Nike founder Phil Knight would lead you to believe that this would be an impossible feat without shock columns for responsive cushioning and a carbon rubber heel. How can this be?
–
Try this little experiment sometime:

Put on your favorite running shoes or cross-trainers with the big cushiony heel and go for a quick jog. Doesn’t have to be far at all, even just a block is fine.

Notice what part of your foot makes contact with the ground first. It is likely your heel, followed by a roll forward onto the ball of your foot.

Now, take off your shoes, and go run the same distance. Where is your foot striking this time? Probably not at your heel, and if it is you are probably on your way to the emergency room. Likely you are now landing on your forefoot, in between your arch and your toes. Your stride has probably also shortened, as to soften the impact of your feet hitting the ground.

While landing on your heel absorbs this impact in your knees and shins, landing on your fore or mid-foot captures this energy in your tendons and calves. This not only strengthens your muscles and allows them to work like a kind of natural spring, but it allows a runner to go further with less effort and injury. Endurance expert Brian McKenzie explains further:

 

Humans were designed to run barefoot. While running barefoot or in minimal shoes (which shoe companies thankfully seem to be trending towards) may seem like it would be risking injury to the sensitive undersides of your feet, be cognizant again that without the inch of foam below your heel, your body automatically switches to a much more conservative running style. The cushioned heel is just a mask, a band-aid on the problem of running with reckless form and shin-split, hairline-fracture-causing heel impact.

–
For me, running had become fun again, and it just felt right. So right, that when I first discovered these concepts in college I would sometimes deliberately choose to run home from a friend’s house (about a 20 minute walk) simply because it was a more efficient means of travel, and it no longer felt painful or like a chore. Running became useful.

I bought my first pair of minimal shoes a few months later. Everything ever written about minimal/barefoot running suggests to start out going 1/10th of the distance you normally would.

I, being stubborn and an idiot, did not heed this advice as I was so amazed at how easy running had suddenly become, and on my first run I cranked out around three miles (a distance I had done maybe once before in my life).

The last half mile of that run, my calves turned to cement, a state they remained in for about four days.

But once my body got used to this new method of running, I began destroying running records that I had only previously obtained due to forced conditioning for a sport or summer gym class in high school. I had run a 5k distance once in my life, and now I was running more than double amount with zero discomfort.

Running had switched from being a question of physical will to a mental one- for many runs, the only thing that stops me is the want to go do something else. Finally, running was more than just a source of dread and punishment.

All because of a one-inch piece of foam.

Trust the Tomato

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Having a lot of free time means nothing if you don’t know how to effectively use it.
As mentioned recently, I managed to pound out the content for my first ebook in two weeks last summer simply by writing 1,000 words first thing each morning.

“Man, I can actually do this,” I thought. “Drive isn’t that hard to come by after all.”

But when it came time to edit those 15,000 words, I hit a wall. I simply could not convince myself to sit down and edit unless I was having an optimal day with nothing else going on, a clear mind, and feeling super motivated. The instances where all three of these applied were of course rare.

The leaves started to change color and fall, and soon it was the beginning of November and I still hadn’t made it through two rounds of edits. I was struggling- this project wasn’t supposed to be a long-term one.

When it came time to learn all about formatting text for an ebook and doing all of the coding and tweaking that comes along with it, I would have been sunk if I didn’t come up with a better way to manage my time.

I remembered reading a long time ago on Lifehacker about something called the Pomodoro Technique. I must not have given it any merit, because I didn’t remember anything about it other than the raving reviews.

Pomodoro is Italian for tomato, and what that has to do with productivity I am uncertain(and it’s much more amusing to me if I don’t know).

The concept is disgustingly simple:

Figure out what manageable tasks you want to attack that day. Then, be it on your kitchen timer, an app on your iPhone (which I use), or the ‘official’ Pomodoro tomato timer, set a clock to 25 minutes. Then go.

When time runs out, relax. Mark an ‘X’ on a piece of paper and take a five minute break. Tidy up your desk, socialize, browse blogs, go to the bathroom, refill your cup of coffee. When that time then reaches zero, work another 25-minute session.

Once you have four X’s- pomodoros- complete, take a 20-minute break.

That’s it.

25 minutes is such a bite-sized chunk of time, you don’t even feel the temptation to hit up your usual time wasters, as if your sub-conscious is saying “psh, I can stay focused for 25 minutes, check this shit out.” Challenge accepted, if you will.

You will also frequently find yourself in a state of complete ‘flow’. Countless times I have glanced at my timer to see that I only have 7 minutes left, and the waning time makes the fire under me burn even hotter: “I can easily get this section done before my next break.”

Currently I only do four pomodoros each day, which comes to just under two hours of work. This sounds like nothing, but the fact that it is intensely focused and goal-driven work makes all the difference. Once I start working in an office again I will be eager to apply the strategy and see what kind of productivity god it will make me in an 8-hour work day.

It also makes the time fly by. I’ve used it for everything from housework to reading to apartment hunting online. It’s amazing what giving ourselves a tangible goal and a time restraint will do to our behavior.

I had experimented with lots of different productivity methods in the past, everything from The Now Habit, to Wunderlist, to devoting an entire day every week to complete every single item on my to-do list. As things usually turn out, the simplest solution ended up being the most effective.

What daily tasks do you have that could benefit from some tomato time?
(this post was written in under two pomodoros)