Categories
Exercise

CrackOfArse

This week, I participated in something known as the “CrackOfArse” challenge, set out by Amelia Burton, which is to exercise for 5 days straight between 5:30am-7:30am (The term is an Aussie slang amendment of the ‘Crack Of Dawn’). There was no limit or stipulation on what type of exercise you could do.

Since my departure from full-time work, I’ve felt it important to continue with a routine of waking up and getting stuck into the day and decided to join in. It wasn’t difficult, and it led to me including my boys & wife in some of the exercises!

My #CrackOfArse Week!

Monday: 7.5km run
Tuesday: 2km walk/run around my local park with Mr5! (followed by a session with my wife that included Weighted swiss ball crunches, Dumbbell lunge, The clam, Sumo Squats, Kneeling semi-planks and Saxon side bends, along with some sprint boxing.
Wednesday: 7km cycle
Thursday: 9km walk: Brisk at first, then walked the boys to school, followed by a semi-brisk return.
Friday: 30km cycle into the city with my buddy Jeff Marsh.

I felt wonderful for it, and it helps to stick to the routine – I’ve read a few stories & spoken to people who found it difficult to get out of bed when there was no ‘work’ to do. That won’t be the case with me – I still have too many things I want to do to be lying in bed! If you are on Twitter, I recommend following Amelia and keeping an eye out on the next #CrackOfArse challenge šŸ™‚

Categories
Children Ramblings

Walking lessons

As part of my CrackOfArse challenge I went for a brisk 30 min walk this morning before heading home and picking up the boys (Mr almost-6 and Mr almost-9) to walk them to school. Walking with my boys gives me pleasure because it’s a chance to talk with them instead of talking at them during Ā normal day.

Today’s lesson was the difference between buying a house and renting a house, and branched out into loaning money and how interest works.

The other observation is that they see things I do not; they spotted things like screws, rubber bands and springs on the ground; flowers in a garden that one of our neighbours used to grow; the shadow from a centipede was larger than the centipede itself; and just how long some streets are!

For me, this morning’s walk I felt connected with the environment; I walked on the side of the street where there was more sun; I smelled wonderful smells coming from flowers, kitchens and rubbish bins; I wondered what the stories were behind the 4 cars that are now home to many spiders and their families, and gazed up into the blue sky on this awesome Sydney Autumn morning.

Get out there for a walk, it’s a skill you already have in your toolbox and you can do it anywhere. Walk with purpose and use your senses to pick up on the things that happen all around you. You’re worth it!

Categories
Food

My Muesli

Picture of Nuts!
Nuts!

I’m not a huge fan of pre-packaged muesli products as many include ingredients you just don’t need: preservatives, salt, sugar and miscellaneous other ingredients.

However I am a huge fan of oats and their health benefits (helps lower cholesterol and the risk of atherosclerosis), as well as a fan of nuts such as almonds and walnuts (who, together with oats, are a good source of Glutamic Acid, one of the critical brain neurotransmitters that help aid learning & memory functions). So, I decided to make my own based on what ‘s available to me in the cupboard. Here’s my recipe:

  • 3 cups rolled oats
  • 1/4 cup almonds
  • 1/4 cup walnuts
  • 1/4 cup hazelnuts
  • 1/4 cup raw cashews
  • 1/4 cup macadamia nuts
  • 2 teaspooons Sunflower kernels
  • 2 teaspoons pepitas
  • 4 teaspoons LSA (ground Linseed, Sunflower & Almond)
Picture of Muesli
My Muesli

Notes

  • I chopped the nuts into smaller pieces so you don’t end up with a mouthful of nuts, but this is completely up to you. I will be refining this recipe over time as more ingredients become available or I feel the need to change.
  • I resisted the urge to include any dried fruit in my muesli, preferring fresh fruit where possible. Today, I ate my muesli with fresh strawberries and low-fat milk šŸ™‚

 

Do you think my muesli is missing anything? If so, tell me by leaving a comment!

Categories
Betterment Ramblings

Today, I said goodbye

Below is the goodbye message I sent to my work colleagues earlier this week. I reproduce it here for your benefit:

A beginning is only the start of a journey to another beginning – unknown
Let me start by saying that youā€™ve received this message as someone who has shaped me to be the person I am today through the last 16.5 years of my journey through __________. Everything we do in life is a journey ā€“ at the start of my journey as a Remote technical support technician in 1994 I did not know where my journey would take me. Iā€™ve been blessed to have met many of you over the years as part of the training or L&D organisations. No journey can be completed without help from others.

For your help, guidance, persistence, recommendations, discussions and feedback throughout the years, I say Thank You.

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young ā€“ Henry Ford
Iā€™ve been privileged to work in & around the world of ā€œLearningā€ for most of my life and believe it is the heart and soul of everything we do. Henry Fordā€™s quote is one of the best out there to help understand how important it is to learn something every moment you can. I have not stopped learning since starting my journey, and strongly urge all of you to keep on learning, too. My learning journey will not end here ā€“ I have many options open to me in the ā€˜nextā€™ journey I take but I can promise you I am already learning a ā€˜lot about a lotā€™ in preparation, and even then it wonā€™t be enough. Donā€™t be daunted by the challenge, relish the opportunity to learn new things šŸ™‚

Adventure must start with running away from home – William Bolitho
Iā€™ve been working for 25 years of my life and have decided to take some time off and contemplate what the next phase of my life will look like. Iā€™m looking at this as a new adventure, and in a way I am leaving a place one could call ā€˜homeā€™! My future will be one that involves inspiring other people to take on new challenges, fitness, health, learning and socializing with good people. Iā€™ll be looking at a way to blend them all together, and happy to hear any ideas you may have šŸ™‚ Iā€™ll also be working on my blog (My Proactive Life), going for more rides to raise awareness of various Menā€™s health issues, as well as spending time with the family and socializing more.

Many people replied stating that this message was inspirational and positive, and wished me all the best for the future.
What’re your thoughts about it?
Do you have any suggestions on how I can combine my wish to inspire others?

Categories
Exercise Health

Size does matter

There are some things in life where size doesn’t matter. There are also some things in life where it does.Ā Many people have noticed the change in me and immediately ask me how much weight I’ve lost. The truth is, I do not know. I cannot tell how how much I weigh today! As I’ve mentioned in the past, weight loss is not my goal. Fitness and health is. And this is where for me, size does matter.

Last year, I bought a slim-fit Medium (M) shirt for the first time in as long as I can remember.

Today, I bought a pair of pants with a waist size of 87cm. 2 years ago I was buying 102cm pants

Today, size does matter to me, as it’s one small way of proving that my approach to a healthier, fitter, more proactive life is working! šŸ™‚

Categories
Brain Learning Personal Development relationships

David Brooks: The Social Animal

In February 2011, Writer, thinker and NY Times columnist Ā David Brooks presented “The Social Animal:Ā The Hidden Sources of Love, Character and Achievement”. In this 18 minute presentation he touches on something that everyone should strive to understand. Watch the video and see if you can spot what this is:

Did you spot it?Ā For me, it’s this point:

Reading and educating your emotions is one of the key central activities of wisdom

For many of us, we believe that our rational minds can help us live better lives, and that emotions or feelings are not important. This is not so. Neurologist Antonio Damasio noted that in a number of patients who had lost the ability to experience emotion were no longer able to make a decision. What should have taken a few seconds was now taking minutes. What should take minutes was now taking hours. David Hume (an eighteenth century Scottish philosopher) declared that “reason was the slave of the passions” (lifted from How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer). David Brooks supports this view as well, and urges us all to become better at understanding our emotions to not only become better individuals, but a better society overall.

Some other points from the video you may find interesting:

  • When we think about human capital, we think about things we can measure easily – things like grades, SAT’s, degrees, the number of years in schooling. What it really takes to do well, to lead a meaningful life are things that are deeper, things we don’t really even have words for.
    • The first gift or talent is mindsight – the ability to enter into other people’s minds and learn what they have to offer.
    • The second skill is equal poise – The ability to have the serenity to read the biases and failures in your own mind.
    • The third trait is medes, what we might call street smarts – it’s a Greek word. It’s a sensitivity to the physical environment – derive a gist.
  • Limerance. This is not an ability, it’s a drive and motivation. The conscious mind hungers for success and prestige. The unconscious mind hungers for those moments of transcendence, when the skull line disappears and we are lost in a challenge or task.

Are you ignoring your emotions, or are you precisely tuned into them? I’ve shared some of my thoughts above and would love to hear yours in the comments below!

Categories
Betterment Personal Development

A textbook way to live your life

It’s not often you find someone who’s laid out a list of rules/guidelines on how to live (what I believe) is a great life. There are a number of interesting points in theĀ license agreement for Eugene Blanchard’s 2007 textbook Introduction to Data Communications. I am not sure there are many books out there with such a great outlook on how to live your life!
Image courtesy of ThinkTank Media

  • That you will try to be a better person today than yesterday.
  • That you will exercise your body as well as your mind.
  • That you will tell the persons dear to you that you love them.
  • That you will defend the rights of those who are unable to defend themselves.
  • That you will not hurt your family members emotionally or physically.
  • That you will respect your elders and care for them in time of need.
  • That you will respect the rights of others in their religious beliefs.
  • That you will respect the rights of others in their sexual orientation.
  • That every man, woman and child has the right to be here and is equal regardless of race, creed or color.
  • That you will act honorably in all aspects of your personal and business life.
  • That your family is first and foremost the most important thing in your life.
  • That when you make a mistake, that you admit it and make amends.

This book is available online in the hope it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

I resonate with almost all of them – Which ones do you believe in? Which 1 (one) would you choose to work on for the rest of 2011?

Note: this article originally appeared on boingboing & quoted from here.

Categories
Betterment

Japan Earthquake & Tsunami

To my dear friends, colleagues and wonderful folk of Japan: My heart goes out to all of you during this difficult time.

At times, Mother Nature shouts, whilst man feels powerless & speechless.

Words cannot describe what you must be going through or what your future holds but I want to let you all know that you are in our thoughts and I want to wish you all the strength, luck and good fortune during the coming days as you begin to clean up & rebuild your fabulous country.

Categories
Betterment

Helping others

A quick post here to share a 3 min video with you of the great work for his fellow man, being undertaken by Narayanan Krishnan, one of CNN’s top 10 heroes of 2010. I’d love for you to answer the question I pose after the below the video

What thoughts came to mind when you watched the video?

Categories
Motorsport

V8 Supercars in Abu Dhabi, 2011

I’ve just finished watching the 1st round of the V8 Supercars from Abu Dhabi. Here’s a rundown of the good, the bad and the ugly
The Good

  • The bounceback from the negative points situation for James Courtney to win Race 2 of the round! It was truly awesome and my heart was racing for those last 20 laps, willing you home. Brilliant result!
  • Awesome finish by Jason Bright (second) – It looked like he was going to do it but didn’t have the tyres left under him. The last 10 laps were the highlight of the race
  • Alex Davison’s 2nd place in Race 1. He knew he could do it, and a great race got him there!
  • Jason Bargwanna scoring the fast lap of the race and breaking the lap record (incidentally right after being nerfed off the track by Jamie Whincup).

The Bad

  • James Courtney being pinged 50 points (to put him into negative points!) Drive-through penalties work better as it gives someone the chance to claw some points back, and you don’t end up ‘creatingĀ  history’ with silly negative points situations! (For the record, an ‘early plea’ would have resulted in a 25 point deduction). James Moffat also copped a 25-point penalty for nerfing Bargwanna on lap 43 (See Story). Also, see “The Ugly”, below
  • Garth Tander & Tim Slade being knocked out less than half a lap through Race 2 by a wayward Tony D’Alberto.
  • The lollipop man at the end of the pits – he clearly had his little ‘stop’ sign showing and Lowndes just drove straight past. No penalty.
  • Jamie Whincup nerfing Jason Bargwanna. No penalty.

The Ugly

  • Tony D’Alberto, you are an idiot. No race or championship is won before a lap is completed!
  • V8 Supercars: for handing down a 25 point penalty to Tony D’Alberto you, too are idiots. How can 25 points for Courtney or Moffat equate to the carnage caused by Tony D’Alberto?
  • The farce that was the Safety car debacle in Race 2
  • Craig Lowndes hit on Russell Ingall. WTF Craig?!?

Other notables

  • Mark Winterbottom, you need to stop ‘following’ and think for yourself. That last second jump into pitlane was a brain explosion, possibly as a reaction to Whincup. Think like a leader, not a follower.
  • Will Davison showed promise, but that re-entry to the track was dangerous, and always going to end in tears.
  • David Reynolds (fourth) in the second race thanks to a great strategy and fuel economy. It must be great to outscore the team owners and be 5th in the championship!

I am looking forward to the Clipsal 500 as I will be there to see all the action up close! šŸ™‚