Normally on Sundays ( “normally”…I’ve been blogging for five weeks) I’ve been giving updates on my 2010 Goals for the week. But being that I’m sick as a dog and have been for the last several days, I’m breaking tradition (5 Weeks of tradition out the window!) and writing about whatever the frig I want.
If you just care about the goals, skip to the bottom and I’ll give the really short version, like 140 characters or less…(note to self – start a website where people from all around the world can post their updates about their bathroom habits and what they had for breakfast in 140 characters or less…call it “Quacker”….pure Gold!…where do I come up with this stuff?).
And for the record, I really don’t know how sick a dog gets. Most dogs seem relatively healthy and friendly, if not a bit overly fond of sniffing my privates and humping my limbs. But, suffice it to say, I’m feeling all together miserable and all three of my babies seem to be on their worst behavior today. Speaking of which, by the time you read this, I will have hopefully figured out how to embed a few videos on my Scribe for the Tribe website of the babies sitting there and…not doing much of anything. Seems they save their best shenanigans for off camera.
As part of my Education Syllabus I’ve been reading Tim Ferriss’s’s’s’s…his book, Four Hour Work Week for the month of January. I could do an affiliate link but really…sick and lazy is the order of the day.
I tried to read this book before, about two years ago, got offended that he was making light of the Corporate Hell I live each day and abandoned ship after 50 pages.
They say when the student is ready, the teacher appears…
Fortunately for me, my teacher (Tim, silly) waited till I was ready. I cracked open the expanded edition and have done something with this book that I’ve never done before. I’m actually doing the exercises at the end of each chapter. Yeah I fully admit that I’ve been a jackass for years. I’ve probably read, conservatively, about 500 personal development books in the last twenty years and do ya’ think I ever really bothered to do the exercises?
Sure, I’d do one or two exercises here or there, but with Tim’s book, I’m really trying to hit them all, and also make that the rule for this year with everything I study. So, for me to sit there and say this book is crap, or that stuff doesn’t work, is really something I can’t say with any shred of reliability. Guess I have to start over with all 500 books.
Make that 499.
I still refuse to re-read The Power of Now (four times is enough).
So, as I was saying a few paragraphs ago…somewheres…there are some pretty awesome exercises that Tim Ferriss’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s book has and I thought I’d randomly pick one to end this post with and provide my honest to goodness (whatever that means) answers to it straight out of my trusty (trusty = falling apart) Moleskine (now mass produced in China) journal (read – pages minus binding).
I know I’m a sarcastic butthole much of the time but the answers I’m giving to these questions are very honest, warts and all. That means I’m opening myself up to being viewed as a selfish jerk for wanting to accomplish great things even though my family needs me to be stable right now.
I also tried to answer them quickly, with the first thoughts that came to my head, in an effort to stifle the inner editor that likes to censor my writing.
Anywho…
At the end of Chapter 2 there are some thoughtful questions. I’m paraphrasing because I kinda short-handed them in my journal and am too lazy to check Tim Ferriss’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s’s…Tim’s book.
1. How has being realistic or responsible kept you from what you want in life?
Answer: It does so now. I want to sell every thing I own and travel the World but my responsibility to my wife and young babies…they depend on my salary right now. I want to write and blog for a living, be location independent, write books and CD’s. I want to learn book-binding so that I can make special editions of my books. I WANT TO CREATE but I feel obligated to maintain my corporate existence for my family.
2. How has doing what you “should” resulted in sub-par experiences or regret for not having done something else?
Answer: I don’t actually “do” a lot but I’d have to say that getting a job at (corporation that shall not be named) and coming back to Buffalo in late 2001 was regretable, though the most important things in my life, wife and kids, would not have happened otherwise. Getting another job at a large corporation signified failure to me in regards to following my non-conformist dreams. I got impatient and the most regrettable part of it was that I didn’t use the time wisely when XYZ Corporation laid off it’s entire East Coast work force. I had five months of no job where I could have written a book, or started a blog and been WAY ahead of the game. Ten years later, I’m just getting started.
3. Look at what yer (“you’re” to you proper folks) doing now and ask, “What would happen if I did the opposite of those around me? What would happen if I continue on this track for 5, 10, 20 years or more?”
Answer: The 2nd question is easier to answer. If I’m still asking this question 20 years down the road then I will have sacrificed my very soul and wasted my life. Creativity is what drives me. I despise the stifling nature of the Corporate model. If i did the opposite of everyone around me I’d be happier but I’d likely have no friends. What am I talking about? I have no friends now anyway, so no biggie, I guess.
So, there you go folks. I don’t have it figured out either. I’m trying. Taking steps in the right direction I think. And I’d like to say that a year from now things will be different for me and for many of you who are on your own paths.
Anyways…I’m out.
Quacker-esque update of goals
Sick. Would like to pound a corkscrew into my sinus cavities. Missed two runs. Ate many brownies. Minimalism manuscript is looking very minimal. Tomorrow…
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Hope you feel better. Also, you are a better man than I for doing the exercises in the book. Somehow whenever I read a personal development book I read those exercises, think about them for about .2 seconds and then decide that I “completed” them in my mind.
It is interesting that you have unsuccessfully tried to read The Power of Now 4 times. You are clearly not satisfied with you work life, and yet you most likely will be unable to change it through an act of will or a stroke of luck. It is ego resistance that prevents you from being able to read The Power of Now as your ego is working around the clock to make sure you don’t have to “feel” the trapped unconcious energy that has possession of your life (everyone’s life). Should you start to experience your reality without resistance the energy that keeps it in place would shift, and an effortless change would be possible. Being fully present is extremely difficult and physically painful. The Presence Process by Michael Brown teaches how to live The Power of Now.
It is admirable that you work to take care of your wife and children. It would be a shame for dissatisfaction to mar such a noble achievement.
I know this is just one article. I haven’t read the rest of your blog, so please look past any judgemental tone as that is not my intent. I just wanted to leave this comment because I read the comments from your last post, and apparently I am your only reader who has read The Power of Now.
Just wanted to say your ’sickness’ doesn’t seem to be impairing your ability to write – once again a classic! Get well soon!
Thanks so much, @365girl, I always appreciate your comments.
Hi @Tracy, I don’t think you’re being judgemental at all. I’m aware that my Ego is in the way, and as I wrote on January 21st in “On Ego and Why I’m Here,” I don’t really have a problem with that.
I’m a big fan of Mike Dooley. If you haven’t listened to his audios or read his books, that’s ok. A lot of what he talks about is also discussed by other spiritual gurus but I like his presentation. Anyway, one of his primary teachings is that we all have a higher self that is made from the divine. We consciously decide to discard our divinity and return to Earth to have a human experience.
Now, there are many ways to interpret what we should be doing now that we are here. For me, I think the Ego is a primarily Earthly concept, by definition. So, would I necessarily want to discard ego to become divine like my higher self? Doesn’t my higher self already have that covered?
The ego, and gratification of the ego can absolutely be a tool to accomplish some pretty cool things. This is my tool of choice right now, and The Power of Now serves me no purpose at this time. If we want to talk about present-ness, I make sure I meditate ten minutes a day using Meditator for the ITouch and I do yoga two to four times per week.
The fact is, if The Power of Now hasn’t spoken to me four times in my life so far, I owe it no obligation to try it again right now. I also reserve the right to change my mind tomorrow on that, five years hence, or twenty years hence.
I hope I’ve been able to explain myself a little better, and I do appreciate the debate. I certainly hope my tone is not coming off anything less than respectful and engaging.
- Charley
Hi @Sam,
Yeah I think most of us do that. Then, if yer like me, you look for the next great secret in the next book. I think the most baseless and mundane of personal development books can have value if you actually do something with it.
I remember Antnee (Anthony for you folks without any Italian heritage) Robbins said it best, over a decade ago, when he said he had no problem spending $10,000 on a seminar if he got at least one thing of value out of it. Taking economies of scale in mind (yer not a millionaire) we should be actively using the information we get from books or seminars.
Sorry you are sick, feel better soon. I was sick as a dog last week so I feel for you. I enjoyed reading your post, you manage to have a great sense of humor even when your sick.