Applied Mastery

Change in direction

First, I'd like to express my appreciation to everyone who's been reading this blog over the last year.  I hope some of the material has been helpful.  Secondly, I'm going to be re-focusing my blogging efforts in a couple of different directions.  I'll probably still post here from time to time, when something I think is particularly useful comes across my path, however to be honest with you -- I don't have too much more to offer beyond what I've already written.  However, I think there is a lot of useful material in the archives here, and I plan to leave it up and available for the foreseeable future.

That being said, I'm very excited about a couple of new projects I've been working on:  Options Geek and The Daily Bottle.

These are two subjects that I'm very passionate about.  They're also both areas where there is an endless supply of material I can write about going forward, as both wine and options trading are areas that are constantly evolving and changing.  Both are also deeply absorbing and challenging in their own unique way.

If I'm lucky, some of you will be interested in these two subjects, and will follow me along on my new projects.  I certainly hope so!

Lighten your load

First, my apologies for the lack of posting frequency lately.  I know there are one or two of you out there that regularly check in, and I haven't brought much to the table lately.  That being said, I only want to put material here if a) I think it's useful or interesting, or occasionally b) it's humorous.  Frankly, lately I just haven't had anything that fit the criteria.  What can I say...it's been a tough second half of the year so far.

That's all about to change though, as I think I've got something *extremely* thought provoking you might want to take a look at.

I came across this guys stuff on Twitter a couple of weeks ago, and at first I have to admit I was thinking "what the hell is this...you've got to be kidding me...".  But, as is often the case in life, I started to actually *think* about it, and behold - I was suitably impressed.  Mainly by the utter simplicity and "cut through the BS" aspect of the material.  And, after all, that's what we're all about here at Applied Mastery -- cutting through the BS.  The teaching is so direct and to-the-point, that it's almost anti-climactic, and leaves you looking for more.  The cool thing is, you probably don't really need much more.

To paraphrase John -- a lot of people out there are starting to realize their life force is being worn down from over-caring.  In my opinion, this one sentence alone is filled with transformational potential.

Anyway, enough of my commentary - I'll let John's material speak for itself.  Make sure you give it time to sink in and don't let any potential initial reactions dissuade you.

Here are links to his Twitter page and website, and below is a short video that pretty much says it all.

Sometimes... doing nothing is the best approach.

Sometimes, if you listen closely, you'll hear that small still voice within.  And sometimes, with a whisper so faint you almost can't detect it, the voice will tell you that you need to wait...do nothing...the situation is out of your hands at the moment...

"Doing something", and taking action, is not always what is called for.  There are times where destiny is at work -- higher powers and forces that are out of our control.  These times are an incredible test of inner confidence and fortitude.  Doing nothing, and patiently waiting for the cosmos to align, can at times be one of the hardest challenges a person can face.

This will be a big area of focus for me for the remainder of the year, as I move through each day trying to reduce things down and simplify. 

Too many times, my urge to "do something", or "fix the situation" has been ill-timed and served no purpose other than to exacerbate the initial problem.

Simplification is not only about reducing clutter in our homes and offices, it's also about getting the mind and emotions to slow down and demonstrate some patience under pressure when appropriate.

Keep your ears open for that small still voice...I know I AM.

Escape once in a while

No, I'm not talking about jumping on a plane and "getting away from it all"...I'm talking about chilling out with a good fiction novel, and letting yourself completely disconnect.  Turn off the blackberry/iPhone/whatever.  Go somewhere quiet.  Like a chair in the corner with a simple lamp.  Put a little red in the glass.  Tell everyone in the house if they bother you you're going to pepper spray them.  And then just relax.

One note on this:  I was talking with someone at dinner last night, and they said to me: "I just can't read books -- I just don't have the attention span".  I've heard this more than a few times over the years.

My response was pretty simple: "Keep trying.  If you're not used to it, it will take some practice to get into the groove.".

Great way to unplug, unwind, and get back to leading a more simple and uncluttered life.

Keep your portion size moderate

Something that's come up lately with a few of my acquaintances, has been the issue of portion size.  I've seen them move onto a *mostly* paleo/primal type of eating program, with some good results, however on more than one occasion I've noticed them seemingly negating some of those benefits by literally stuffing themselves with meat or fish or whatever, to the point where they can barely get up from the dinner table.  And this isn't a once-a-week thing either...it's something they do quite frequently throughout the week.

In my opinion, one of the issues out there in western countries, that heavily contributes to obesity and extra weight, is the ingrained notion that every meal needs to be a banquet.  Consequently, people develop a pattern of programming that requires them to stuff themselves before they feel satisfied with a meal.

Other countries I've visited throughout the world (although this is unfortunately changing), where the citizenry is generally much thinner, typically have much more modest portion sizes than the super-sized platters of food people in the US have become accustomed to eating.  They also generally eat much more slowly, and chew/taste their food with less of a sense of urgency.

Now granted, some of this has to do with cultural differences etc, however I think there are a lot of advantages to smaller portion sizes, eating more slowly, and focusing more on quality rather than quantity.

Also, I don't think it's good for the stomach as an organ to be stretched and stuffed to the brim every time one sits down at the meal table.

Anyway, just some random thoughts here on a rainy Friday in Southwest Florida.

Giving up control

All kinds of issues coming up lately on the control issue.  Discussions, situations, challenges, problems, disagreements... you name it and it's gone down over the last few weeks.

In my case, the majority (although not all) of these issues have occurred in my current "day job", which involves working in the technology sector.  With Oracle databases to be specific.  This means that I work with a lot of application developers and 3rd party software packages, none of which I have any direct control over.

So guess who gets the call a lot of the time when something blows up in the middle of the night, or when some part of a rather large and complicated web application isn't working properly?  You guessed it -- yours truly.  Why?  Well, unfortunately I have a "gift" (or a curse, depending on how you want to look at it) for being able to diagnose and fix things.  All kinds of things.  So I end up getting a lot of people pinging me for help with things.  It's horrible.

Anyway, all kidding aside, here's the key question:  what percentage of the issues that I "need to fix", do you think are actually a result of something I personally did (incorrectly or not)?

Sure, once in a while I'll muck something up -- we all do-- but generally speaking, I'd estimate that probably 95% of the time I spend fixing/researching/diagnosing, is a result of issues and decisions that are totally out of my control.

I bring this up not to go off on some "poor me" diatribe, but rather to share some thoughts on how to deal with it.  How to deal with a situation for example, where somebody makes some ill-advised technical decision (which you repeatedly counseled them not to make) and then when the situation inevitably melts down -- and you are requested to cancel all of your weekend plans with your family and help fix a mess you didn't create -- how do you deal with that exactly?

Or how do you deal with a commodities trade where you're short a bunch of call options on Sugar, and all of a sudden there's a panic-driven surge in the sugar market, which of course happens the day after you get into the trade, which causes the price of sugar to skyrocket and you're watching paper losses pile up faster than a crab running from a gumbo pot?

Well, I can tell you what I do.  It's actually the opposite of what a lot of people do and think.  Most people will panic at some level, and start to try and "do more", or "go faster", or "double their efforts", to try and wriggle their way out of the situation or throw the problem over the fence into somebody else's lap.  And predictably, these approaches in many cases just make the situation(s) worse.

The first step is kind of a prerequisite, but it's a vital step, in my opinion, to successfully navigating this road we're all on.  And that is learning to accept that annoying things are just going to happen.  They just are.  It's part of life.  And when they do, you need to make sure you don't flip out and get all emotional, and make a jackass of yourself (whether in private or not it doesn't matter).  It's important to accept this, and adopt a professional attitude toward it all, our you'll just end up being run ragged your whole life by your anger and emotions, and then one fine day you'll keel over and drop dead.  Let's try and avoid that.  Don't be one of those people who is constantly scowling and in a state of anger because "things aren't working out the way they'd like".

What I like to do next when the heat is on heavy, is to "slow down".

Be more deliberate.  Take more breaks.  Be more systematic.  Be more careful.

And also, another key thing that helps, is to breathe.  Take slow, full breaths, and try to smile at the silliness of it all.  It's critical to have clarity-of-thinking during these times, and that won't happen if you buy into the hyperventilating nonsense and panic everyone else is generating.

Ever see what happens to an anthill if you happen to disturb it with your foot?  The ants go into freakazoido-chicken-with-head-cut-off mode for a few minutes until they settle down.  Obviously, we want to avoid that.

Generally, most of these situations in hindsight turn out to be minor blips on the big radar screen anyway, so let everyone else get all wrapped around the axle...you don't have to.

Finally!

For years, I've been searching for actual proof of heaven and hell, and finally my dreams have been realized!

Check out this ground breaking photo I took the other day!

Simple quick breakfast (or lunch)

Here's some chow I whipped up the other day for brunch.  Total prep time:  3 or 4 minutes.  Sliced peaches, 2 fried eggs, sliced avocado, and some smoked salmon I got from Sam's Club.  Obviously pretty economical as well.

The part of the meal that took the longest was drinking the 4 beers I had with it.

Just kidding.

How to run a sprint

Wow.  This is just beautiful to watch.

The guy is just in the zone.  And just like in the Olympics, he seems to slightly ease off the gas near the end, and STILL sets a new world record.

Keep it fun

I have a confession to make.  The confession is that lately, I just haven't been interested in strength training.  Not sure why, but I just haven't been into it, can't get motivated for it, and find myself coming up with every lame excuse in the book to avoid it.  No bodyweight stuff, no sprints, no kettlebells, no nothing.

So, what do I do?

Well, I've found myself on my mountain bike more than ever.  For some reason, I've been obsessed with getting out on the toughest trails in the area for 2-3 hours in the 95 degree heat down here and doing full-tilt hammerfests.

I've been pushing myself on very technical double black diamond expert level trails, falling all over the place and hurting myself, and pushing my endurance well into the red zone.

And I've been loving it.

And I think that's important.  If you get into a rut, or lose some motivation in terms of diet or exercise, then find something that you think is FUN, and do that.

Everything goes in cycles, so the bodyweight workouts, sprints, kettlebells, or whatever, will come back around into the rotation -- at just the time you need them to.

That's how it works.