'Tis the Season!

I'm sure many of you out there in cyberspace and the interwebs are like me and celebrating the festive season that's upon us. That in mind, I'm leaving a simple message for all of you this week.

And for you less religious, more nature minded folks, Happy Solstice!

Thanks for reading. Or in this case, looking. Questions and comments are always welcome.

21 Days to a Good Habit Revisited

Back on November 29, I discussed the idea of forming new habits and what it took to get something incorporated into your life. Well, in an effort to practice what I preached, I attempted to make a morning run a new facet of my quest for health. When I wrote that post, I had been running in the morning for about five days. I can tell you now that almost a month later, I have run a total of 23 times. I decided to run Monday through Friday and take the weekends off. I don’t need to beat myself up, just form a new habit. I won’t go so far as to say getting up at the butt crack of dawn, dressing in running sweats and stepping out into the brisk almost freezing air is an ingrained ritual yet, but it definitely has made an impression on my thinking, and the way my body feels.

You see, I remember having a job during high school. Every Saturday and Sunday I had to get up at 5:30 am, to get to work by 6. When you’re a teenager that is EARLY; super early. I did it for years, going so far as to keep doing it all through college. Then, when I joined the navy, I kept getting up early, because that’s what you do in the navy, so I equated getting up early with work, responsibilities, unpleasant activities and fatigue.  I knew deep down inside that the real reason I didn’t get up early and exercise was a mental block. It’s not that I couldn’t, it was that I didn’t want to. And for a long time, I let that line of thinking win out. We all do it, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. I’ve always been one to challenge myself, or at least I think I do. Sometimes I notice I’m slipping into a rut, a slump, or some kind of malaise that keeps me from reaching a new level of understanding, ability or thinking. Perhaps I’m just a bit overzealous in the things I choose, but when it came to running in the morning, I thought “If I can conquer that inhibition, it would be a great breakthrough.”

I can’t really say what motivated me more this time around compared to the multiple times in the past I’ve thought about doing a morning run. The important thing is that I recognized the motivation this time around and didn’t let logic or rationalizations get in the way. As the famed sports shoe company Nike is famous for saying in their slogans, “Just do it.” So I just did it. And you know what, I have this feeling that tells me my morning run will become an ingrained habit. It’s a good thing too, because I feel great and think clearer all throughout the day because I make the extra effort. Remember, self improvement is never a waste of time. Apparently, it’s only 21 days away.

Thanks for reading. Comments and questions are welcome. 

Don't Run the Rat Race

Sometimes, I just have no idea where the day will take me. I go to work, do my chores, take care of my responsibilities, and try to make the weekend a fun and enjoyable time, before I have to go back to work and do it all over again. They call it the Rat Race. Have you ever heard of this? It’s pretty much a zero sum game where you don’t really lose, but you don’t really win much either. To me it’s a mediocre way of living. I’ve always been goal oriented. To be fair though, there have been times where my goals sat quietly in the back of my mind, buried under a mountain of crap I called responsibilities and used as an excuse to not go after the things I really wanted. For years, I wouldn’t write a word but still fantasized about being a writer. Man I was in love with the idea of being a writer for so long. That’s the danger of being a dreamer; nothing gets done. That’s why I plan, so I don’t have to worry about where the day takes me; I try and let the day worry where I’ll lead it.

Life doesn’t always work out the way we planned. However obvious that may seem, it still sucks. I wanted to be a published author by the time I was thirty. That didn’t happen, of course I have only my procrastination to blame. It’s not only writing that I procrastinated on. I wanted to be in shape and healthy. Instead, during my early thirties, I got fat, out of shape and depressed. Things really sucked for a while there. You know why, because back then I wasn’t taking charge of my life, I wasn’t working toward my goals. Basically I was drifting on a course not my own, being driven by forces I let take control. It wasn’t until I decided I needed to be in direct control that things got better.

Note I said got better, not great, or awesome, or perfect. For as far as I have come in the last few years, I still have a long way to go. Sometimes, I still struggle with that pesky procrastination. what's worse is I do suffer occasional bouts of self-doubt, a lack of confidence, and diminished self-esteem. Why does this happen? I’m sure it happens to everyone, but sometimes I get so trapped inside my own head, it’s hard to see others' perspectives. See, we talk to ourselves, some call it a conscience, and others call it an inner monologue. Whatever moniker you use, if it’s not directed in a positive way, that little voice can whisper terrible little lies; what’s worse, we can start to believe them. I’ve caught myself, just recently listening to that whisper in my head saying things like ‘you can’t,’ 'you’re not good enough,’ or ‘don’t bother trying.’ 

Don’t believe that negativity. It’s a constant battle to ward off the negative and unproductive dark side, at least for me. I know some people that seem to be positive and cheerful all the time. If I could be I would. Unfortunately I am who I am. As you are who you are. Knowing who you are is one thing; just don’t accept it as an end product. You have your whole life to make improvements. I’ve decided to keep trying, even if it takes the rest of my life to get better. Otherwise I’ll just be a slave to the day. And who wants that?

Thanks for reading. Comments and questions are always welcome.

Does Persistence Really Pay Off?

Douglas Clark
-Head writer, The Inspiration Engine

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.” As the old saying goes, never giving up is a mantra to follow if you want to be successful. But when you think about it, when does trying and being persistent stop being a virtue and start becoming a hindrance? There’s a fine line between the two and it’s not always easy to know which side you are on. Honestly, I don’t know the answer to this question, but I posed it because knowing the answer would help wouldn’t it?  There have been times when I was absolutely sure staying the course and continuing on was the best answer. I persisted and stayed focused, but I continued to fail. What does that mean? Did I not commit enough? Did I not try hard enough? There are other times when I gave up when things seemed hard. I felt devoting so much time and energy to that one thing was a recipe for failure, only to find out later that if I had hung on just a bit longer, things would have worked out. So where do we go with this, it seems as if I quit when I could have succeeded and persisted when I was destined to fail. Doesn’t sound like a plan for success does it?

There are some things that are easy to identify as goals persistence will help you achieve. Going to school, studying, and earning a degree is one example. Even for the learning impaired, persistent, dedicated attention to learning will always help. Keep with it and you’ll have a degree. I knew earning my master’s would be hard, and it took a while, especially writing my thesis, but I kept at it, and finished. Other areas have proven much more difficult to decipher. For me, work and love are great examples of not knowing exactly when and where to persist. I’m sure others feel the same way. Think about it, work and love, they fill up a huge majority of our lives. Working nine to five, being in a significant relationship, those things are major. No one wants to be stuck in a job they hate, or in a relationship with someone they don’t love. And since these things are so dominant in people’s lives, persistence in finding the right fit is crucial.

For work I’ve come up with a simple question you can ask yourself. Ask yourself this: “In five years if I’m in the exact same working environment, would I be happy?” If your answer is continually no, then you must work toward changing it, even if it seems impossible, because a life of stagnation is a slow torturous thing, and you won’t be happy. For love, ask yourself “In five years, if I’m still feeling the exact same way, would I be happy?” If your answer is continually no, then you must work toward improvement. Now it’s not just about happiness; some people seem happy being miserable. What I’m getting at here is acceptance. Can you accept a job and love that is full of misery, apathy, or emptiness?

Seriously, contemplate your current situation and extend it out five, even ten years from now. If you can imagine yourself just as unhappy, just as uninspired, just as sad, just as unfulfilled, then you know what you must do. You must persist in improving your life. It's the only way, even if it seems foolish, or pathetic. Self-improvement is never a waste of time, no matter how improbable the chance of success is. 

Give it a shot!

Thanks for reading. Comments and questions are always welcome. 

21 Days to a Good Habit

There’s an old saying that I’ve heard and read countless times.  It says to form a habit you have to do something for 21 days in a row. Now usually it seems easier to form a bad habit than it does to form a good habit. Ever wonder how you fell into watching TV every night, or eating macaroni and cheese for dinner; because it’s easy. Bad habits are easy to form because they don’t take much effort, usually because they arose out of some need for a short cut. You found that short cut and BANG, it’s a bad habit. Okay, so that 21 days may be an arbitrary number, and it’s fair to say that not all people will need 21 days and some people may need more. But you should get the idea behind the premise. Doing something consistently for a specific period of time will help form patterns in your behavior that eventually becomes second nature.

So, why the hell am I bothering with all this you might ask? Easy. I want to form Good habits. Why does it seem that doing ‘good’ things for ourselves are so much harder? I’d say it’s because anything worth doing takes effort. Personally, I’m trying to add a good habit to my daily routine right now. What I’m trying to do is jog every morning, for just one mile. See, I go to the gym three days a week, but most of the rest of my time is spent not doing much physical activity at all. I’m not lazy, just not very active. And to be honest, I have a few pounds of vanity fat I want to work off. I know it seems ridiculous to try and sculpt my body to look like a Greek god, or fitness model, which is only part of the reason I’m working on this new habit. The main reason is health, both mental and physical. Being active helps the body be more healthy, running helps circulation, breathing capacity, just to name a few things. For the mind, activity helps creativity and imagination. Physical activity makes the mind work better and faster. I’ve noticed that the more active I am, the better and more consistent I am with writing and actually getting words on the page. Now that’s a good motivator, at least for me. You’ve probably heard another old saying, ‘healthy body, healthy mind’. Well I think it’s true. So I’m putting that idea to the test.

Every morning I get up at 6 am, put my jogging clothes on and head out. It usually takes me around 11 minutes to run around that mile track. Yeah, I’m a pretty slow runner. To be fair, it’s really 1.1 miles around several blocks, but that’s not really important. What is important is that for eight days so far I’ve gotten my butt out of bed that early just to do it. Now I know some of you will say ‘I just can’t do it’ and you’re right. You can’t, not with that attitude. You’re certain to fail. You have to change your mind set. Also, it’s easier to think of doing an activity just once. Don’t worry about tomorrow, or the next day, or the next week. Just worry about this one time, today. You can do something once can’t you? Even if you think you can’t, can you at least try? Remember, bad habits are formed because we’re looking for short cuts. Sleeping in or not bothering to try is a short cut. They are also bad habits. So look at trying something new as a one-day-at-a-time endeavor, 21 times in a row.

If you fail, at least you tried. If you didn’t try you’ve already failed. So give success a chance. You never know, 21 days from now, you might just be on your way to a life-long good habit that does a world of good. Go for it!

Thanks for reading. Comments and questions are always welcome. 

Do You Ever Wonder Why You Fail?

Douglas Clark
-Head writer, The Inspiration Engine

Do you ever wonder why you fail? Of course you do. Failure sucks but it seems unavoidable. We should all strive for success but be prepared for failure, because unlike success, failure can teach us a lot. We can learn where we need help, where we need practice, motivation, instruction, experience, focus, the list is almost endless. But failure can be deceiving. It can teach you to give up and that’s a terrible outcome. When you fail, you need to persist; not at failing, but at attempting the next success. To put it another way, if you failed, you need to go back to square one, start over again, and give it another go.

Now I’m sure you’ve heard the old quote attributed to Einstein, the line goes something like “The definition of crazy is trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.” Okay, so I’m not advocating craziness, but I am advocating persistence. Trying again, with a different perspective, a different focus, a different motivation, a different plan, the key here is to try again. I’ll put it into context for you. Regular exercise and fitness is important to a person’s health, and it’s especially important to me. So, I work out about three days a week. The habit now is so ingrained into my psyche and daily life, I feel out of sorts when I don’t get to the gym. I’m not a muscle head to be sure, but I have made the commitment to go. But how did I do that, you might ask? 

Well, in the beginning, every day I went to the gym, I counted it as the first day, even if it was the third time that week. I told myself that going on that day was the most important day and that I couldn’t skip out on it. So I went. And on the days where work or personal requirements got in the way, I made sure I went the very next day, keeping in mind that that day was the most important day I needed to go. During times when I couldn’t go three days a week, I made sure I went twice. Every week that was short, I made sure the following week hit the mark. So you see, every time I failed, I tried again, recommitting myself to what was important, keeping my goal in sight but staying focused on Now.

It may seem ridiculous or just silly trying to trick your mind into being committed. However, when you are trying to readjust your life and mindset, you need to change the way you think about things. Remember if you change your perspective, you change the world. This is the same idea. Give it a shot.

This amazing picture is called The Galaxy, the see of stars.  Checkout more amazing artwork at Kagaya Space. 

Comments and questions are welcome. Thanks for reading. 

Stop Wishing For It!

Wishing for a good thing doesn’t accomplish much does it? I’ve known some people, myself included, that have fondly used the phrase, “You can hope in one hand, and shit in the other, and see which one fills up first.” I’ve always found that line to be a bit hilarious, crude yes, but also quite funny. I think the reason behind that is because the sentiment behind the statement is so true. Thinking about something good happening is far less effective than actually doing something about it. It really comes down to action versus inaction. I’m not quite sure I’ll ever see anyone squat down and actually try to shit in their own hand, but the point should be well taken. You must Do something to get something.

Personally, I’ve been in love with being a writer for years. I’d sit and imagine what it would be like getting my stories published, wonder what it would be like to give up my nine-to-five daily grind and just sit in front of my laptop, pounding away at the keys. I’d dream of seeing my name in print and telling my friends and fans about my next novel. I’d sit down and craft short stories that I believed told a great story and delivered an emotional punch that resonated. But you know what I didn’t do? I never submitted anything for consideration. I never once sent out a story just to see if it would get published. I had all these short stories and half finished novel ideas but I never really Did anything. I was hoping in one hand, but that was about it.

One day, my brother said to me “Maybe you’re just not a writer” and it was like a slap in the face, because I wondered if he was right. Part of me knew he couldn’t be, but part of me wasn’t sure. Why had I waited all those years and still not committed to writing? What was I waiting for? I asked myself a ton of questions, came up with a bunch of answers, but in the end it really came down to one thing: I was scared. It was easier to dream and hope than to actually Do. But doing is what makes life worth living. So I consciously decided to not fail, not waste my time, and stop hoping something good would happen, and I decided to Make something happen. 

In the last six months I’ve written about 30,000 words on my novel and submitted to a half dozen publications. Okay, so I haven’t gotten anything accepted yet, but I’m Doing, not just hoping. You know what, even if I don’t get anything published and I ultimately fail, at least I tried. To me, I’d rather have the fact of failing than the regret of just hoping without action. Life is worth the risk, and the more I take, the more I experience things of value. Give it a try. It’s worth it.

Thanks for reading. Questions and comments are welcome.