This morning, I was laying in bed thinking about Sane & Satisfied. I realized that most of the things that help you become Sane & Satisfied really can't be taught, only experienced and practiced.
Some of those things include:
Critical Thinking - the knowledge to ask who, what, why, where and how.
Imagination - to see what isn't there yet.
Entrepreneurship - to create things with your brain and hands that helps make others lives better and more enjoyable.
Will - to turn your imagination into reality and to convince people who do not believe yet.
And if you think about it, these are the same things that make people successful. Not 4 years of college, not money, but these skills above that are the very hardest to learn.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Entrepreneur Games & a New To Do List
Entrepreneur Games
I just started playing a game on my iPad called Fiona's Flowers. It's a time management/simulation/entrepreneur game where you run a flower shop. You start off with a few tasks like watering, planting and pruning your flowers. You also sell them out of your shed. The goal is to make enough money to advance through different garden contests.
As you earn money you can buy more equipment like an oven and fruit dryer so you can increase your products by selling raisins and cakes.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Simplicity & The Smorgasbord
I was doing yoga in my living room this morning and glanced at 3 of my exercise/fitness books. I immediately thought, "why do I need 3 exercise books". I also keep 10 exercise videos in my Netflix Instant Queue and have a binder with several teared out pages of exercises and tips I found in various magazines.
I've been wrestling recently with the ideas of Simplicity and Smorgasbord. Everyone tells you that you should reduce the amount of stuff (tasks, food, meetings, news, household items, etc) in your life to make it less stressful. I agree with this practice but it's hard to reduce stuff when you are trying to educate yourself or acquire new skills.
I've been wrestling recently with the ideas of Simplicity and Smorgasbord. Everyone tells you that you should reduce the amount of stuff (tasks, food, meetings, news, household items, etc) in your life to make it less stressful. I agree with this practice but it's hard to reduce stuff when you are trying to educate yourself or acquire new skills.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
4 Hours, Rules & Getting Off Your Butt
On my other blog, 210 Unread Books I reviewed Timothy Ferriss's, The 4 Hour Workweek. I read it again recently for the 2 1/2 time and realized that Tim's philosophy about work and life gel pretty well with Sane & Satisfied. Tim teaches uber-productivity skills and doesn't put much stock in the term "expert".
The main thing I learned from Tim is to not let rules have so much power over my life and actions. We all have real and imagined rules that dictate our actions and beliefs and most of the time these rules keep us from doing things we really want to do or live a life we really want to live. These rules are imposed on us by others, by tradition, and by ourselves. After reading The 4 Hour Workweek I recognized many rules I made up about myself and my life and tricked myself into thinking they couldn't be broken.
The main thing I learned from Tim is to not let rules have so much power over my life and actions. We all have real and imagined rules that dictate our actions and beliefs and most of the time these rules keep us from doing things we really want to do or live a life we really want to live. These rules are imposed on us by others, by tradition, and by ourselves. After reading The 4 Hour Workweek I recognized many rules I made up about myself and my life and tricked myself into thinking they couldn't be broken.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Fantasies, Lack-Luster Lives & the Superhumans We Long To Be
We have been taught by our parents, friends, authors, film-makers and media that Superhumans only exist in the minds of their creators and the film we watch them on. They are a fantasy dreamed up for our entertainment so we can forget about our boring, mundane, normal, lack-luster lives. From time forgotten humans have been trying to fill the boredom. From inventing stories about the stars to watching so-called reality TV we have created worlds that far outmatch the one we are forced to live in every day.
The characters that inhabit these worlds are far more interesting than any of us mere mortals. They do things and say things and have things we only dream of. We watch them with glitter in our eyes and try to imitate them. These creatures, hatched from our own minds, who are inspired by our lives yet so removed from them, inspire us to do things and say things and have things that we so long for but are scared to actually obtain. And even though they come from us and who we are we will never hope to be them.
They are a fantasy. And fantasies are sacred. Probably the only sacred thing left in this world.
Supermen, Superwomen, Superlives only exist in creative imagination.
This is what we are taught.
We are taught to look for these Superbeings in space, in the future, in the past, in other universes, in politics, on TV, in books, in news headlines, in mysterious events. A whole genre is devoted to them: The Comic Book. We believe in these fictional characters more than we believe in ourselves. And we let them tell us how to live our lives, what to believe, who to trust. And we let them choose the villains too. And how to fight them.
Superhumans can be a positive influence or a crutch. While believing in them makes you want to be a better person they also make you forget how much power you have already. They also can become so big and amazing that they over-shadow the wonderful things that are in your life right now.
Look up to the Superhumans in your life, both real and imagined, let them inspire you to do great things. But make sure that, above all, they are inspiring you to find the Superhuman inside yourself.
The characters that inhabit these worlds are far more interesting than any of us mere mortals. They do things and say things and have things we only dream of. We watch them with glitter in our eyes and try to imitate them. These creatures, hatched from our own minds, who are inspired by our lives yet so removed from them, inspire us to do things and say things and have things that we so long for but are scared to actually obtain. And even though they come from us and who we are we will never hope to be them.
They are a fantasy. And fantasies are sacred. Probably the only sacred thing left in this world.
Supermen, Superwomen, Superlives only exist in creative imagination.
This is what we are taught.
We are taught to look for these Superbeings in space, in the future, in the past, in other universes, in politics, on TV, in books, in news headlines, in mysterious events. A whole genre is devoted to them: The Comic Book. We believe in these fictional characters more than we believe in ourselves. And we let them tell us how to live our lives, what to believe, who to trust. And we let them choose the villains too. And how to fight them.
Superhumans can be a positive influence or a crutch. While believing in them makes you want to be a better person they also make you forget how much power you have already. They also can become so big and amazing that they over-shadow the wonderful things that are in your life right now.
Look up to the Superhumans in your life, both real and imagined, let them inspire you to do great things. But make sure that, above all, they are inspiring you to find the Superhuman inside yourself.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)