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A daily journey of building things and trying to find the next thing

Last year, I started doing this challenge on Medium where I would post 100 words a day. 100 words each day and that was one of the rules. I did this for a number of months and some of the writing I am sure was brutal. But, having that daily win and that daily sense of accomplishment was something that was just contagious. Since, I stopped this a few months ago, I have only written three posts. Then previous three months it was almost 65. I wanted to that mentality back to the blog and start to explore more.

When it comes to productivity apps I have tried them all. I have tried all the systems and I have read a lot of books on the topic. But, I find that I need to tweak my system once a year to keep me from getting lazy and just ignoring it.

This year, I wanted to shake my system up. I finished last year with no momentum.

One of the things that I never felt like I accomplished anything. So, I set up an IFTTT rule that would send me an email every Sunday and recap all of the items that I marked as completed on my todo list.

That was just nice to see and it brought me some level of accomplishment.

Then my wife showed me this planner that she saw an ad for. It was called Panda. The thing that I liked about panda is they had space for questions for each day, each week and each month. But, there are specific questions for each unit and you didn’t have to think much about it.

I started using this planner for just a few weeks. But, the stunning thing about it was I found that I was wasting some time and was not optimizing the time that I had.

Plus, I found that since things were not opened ended. I had to focus in on and answer some of the questions. “What was my priority for today?” and “What do I want to focus in on?”

I found for me the tiniest bit of structure helps tame my wild brain and actually get something done.

Photo by Ishan @seefromthesky on Unsplash

Today, I did something that I have been wanting to do for a long time. I don’t remember how I heard about this first but I spent an hour today “floating”.

Floating involves lying in the small pool of water filled with 10 inches of water highly concentrated Epsom salt in order to make your body perfectly buoyant.

The first few minutes took me a bit of getting used to. I was so nervous in the run-up to it. An hour is a long time and I thought that the water wouldn’t keep me afloat. When I got into the room, I started to become at ease.

Within about 5 minutes I was in the tank and the room was pitch black.

It felt like almost a scene from a movie. I can hear the water hitting the sides of the tank as I moved around.

I settled down and just tried to embrace the situation. Finally, as I started to calm down. I started to have almost a conversation with myself. Questions and ideas that have been swirling around started to come to the surface.

After my hour was over, I remember the walk to the car. I felt like I hit a reset button. Almost like that first day back from vacation. I felt relaxed and I felt like I had a clean slate.

I have been investing in cryptocurrencies for a while now. I have started to get into some more altcoins. I wanted to take a stock of some of the coins that I own and some of the coins that I have been following. – Stellar – IOTA – Request – Link

These four I do own some in each of them. But, I find the tech to be interesting and they are coins that I am going to watch this year.

Nothing above is investment advice. Just some things I find interesting. Investing in cryptocurrencies can be dangerous

2017 didn’t end the way that I wanted. I started the year off strong. But, this year I want to make a few changes and reset quickly.

One focus, this year is going to be building some systems to help me be more productive. I want to create a system that will put my back up against the wall but also force me to act more and turn off that inner critic. I want to take some things an automate and prepare as much as I can.

I used to always take the philosophy to keep a clean schedule and just figure it out as I go. Last year, didn’t work and something needs to change.

It was about -4 and it felt like it could be -30. I wanted to go outside for just a minute. In the winter one of my favorite things is when it gets cold you see your breath outside. I still love. It reminds me of life and it makes me feel so present in the moment.

I started out this year not quite sure what my goals and my path should be. I was asked recently in a card game “What Was Your Biggest Accomplishment?”. If you pause and reflect on that for a minute it's a big question. But, I time and time again keep thinking about the business I built years ago.

I think that I am on the path that I should be ok. I am going to write a lot of blog post and I am going to build some things and some of them may not be interesting or helpful. But, I am going to wake up and not be afraid of the following my curiosity.

Today is a beautiful day where we all get to start fresh and reset. We can forget about the things that have been and focus in a bit on the things that will be. Goals and Resolutions are what you make out of them.

This year I tried to make its goals and stick to them. I even got to the point toward the end of the year where I would review those goals at least once a week and mark my progress.

2017 marked an up and down year for me. Looking back on my goals that I started earlier in the year I missed a few marks. But, there was a lot of learning experience and a lot of work that I look back on with pride and excitement.

Take the time this week and think about some of the things that you want to do and change. But, we have to go after something. A small change can yield some huge results.

The goal this year was to read 20 books. It is New Years Eve and I am short just one book. I might try to sneak in a little reading time today but as of writing I am at 18 books. I also have a habit of reading anywhere from 2-4 books at the same time. Here is my list for the year.

Finished

  1. Murder on the Orient Express
  2. Reinvent Yourself
  3. The Choose Yourself Guide To Wealth
  4. Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lasts
  5. Breakfast at Tiffany's
  6. Unbelievable
  7. What Happened
  8. You Are a Badass
  9. Angel: How to Invest in Technology Startups
  10. The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic
  11. Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?
  12. Start with Why
  13. Hillbilly Elegy
  14. So Good They Can't Ignore You
  15. Sex Object
  16. You Don't Know JS: Up & Going
  17. The Fourth Transformation
  18. Your Inner Critic Is a Big Jerk

Currently Reading

  1. Tribe Of Mentors
  2. Design Systems
  3. Radical Self Acceptance

Terry Crews — How to Have, Do, and Be All You Want

Terry Crews is an actor and former NFL player and now start on the sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Terry sat down with Tim Ferris for an almost two-hour interview. I didn't know a lot of Terry's backstory before this show. But, there are some really honest and powerful moments in this conversation. Each time I listened to the episode I keep getting something out of it. Terry is just an inspiration to me.

These last few months, I haven’t been making good quality work. It has been stressing me out. None of the tricks that would normally work to get back to normal have been working. I have had a yearly goal to read 20 books. So, I decided to make a conscious effort to read more. Typically, I would be spending most of my time in the non-fiction section.

But, I wanted to change things up and I wanted to change my approach to reading. I am one of those people that highlight and leaves note all over the book. I also use the kindle app to markup up the book. But, I never do anything with them. But, I am going to use them. I am going to use them as sources of inspiration to ponder and to try and expand my thinking and go on a bit of a journey.