MLB Channel and Rohm Mentor Present Tricky and Confusing Viewing Options

 Yesterday evening I was browsing back and forth with my MLB channel, trying to pick up a game that was ongoing.The Chicago White Sox, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Angels figured into it all, producing the sensation of scoreboard dyslexia...that's when I get confused trying to mentally process the part of an inning in which the road team is up at bat.  For today's Sunday lineup, I anticipated their attempt to schedule all 30 major league teams with games.  For today's Bill Irwin lineup, I wonder whether I'll be able to surpass my physical limitations I am undergoing from my brain cancer circumstances.  I would truly like to sense that I am turning a crucial corner in my treatment and that the future actually represents  a real future that I can live through without  a foroboding sense that the END is near.  As for the two of us, we have postponed involved international family travel that is liable to impose undue stress and anxiety, especially on me with what I'm medically passing through. Right now I'm treating each day as an open, unscheduled block of time.  I'm free to read, write, rest, exercise and watch TV during this stretch without guilt that I'm not adhering  to the late Jim Rohm's dictates about how I ought to be living my life. Rohm, with all the good intentions behind his podcasts, comes across to me as sounding like some kind of a dogmatic ayatollah.He expresses the demeanor of someone who has lived out their lives successfully, being very careful to do uncomfortable things very, very consistently while telling me to follow his example...and don't stray from it!  I wouldn't want to find myself seated across from this type of mentor with him expecting me to dissolve my independence of personality just to let him lay his mandates all on me.  So here I am with another day facing me...may it work out well for the both of us.  Hope I don't make any mistakes...

Early A.M. about Awards, War, ''allies", Exercise, Day Ahead

 One of the funniest commercials I've seen lately has a man standing behind a loud microphone on a lit-up stage, in front of a large audience, demonstrating his prowess at being able to access files online, only he seems completely unable to key in the proper password.  He awkwardly glances around, chuckles and grins as the AI-on-duty repeatedly notifies him of his failures, to the consternation of those standing around who will ultimately decide his public-relations career fate. Very funny...and a little sad. Yesterday evening Entertainment Tonight was obsessing on the previous evening's Academy Awards, and how Michael Jordan won best actor for the movie Sinners and ate an In-and-Out hamburger holding his trophy in the left hand. I am determined to stay away from celebrities and their overhyped shows that merit avoidance.  Yesterday I worked on reading a few more pages in Joshua Khan's tedious, depressing juvenile fantasy novel Shadow Magic.  I can't wait to be done with it, to say the least.  This afternoon I have an appointment for some chemotherapy infusion at the UF Health Davis Cancer Pavilion, preceded by a blood lab draw, urine sample and IV line.  Looks like Trump is trying to get other countries to pitch in and help the USA with the Straits of Hormuz, and they're coldly snubbing him in response.  Today it will stay cool outside with nighttime temperatures to dip solidly into the thirties.  May all go well with my family, especially Melissa, Amy, Anita and Keith, regarding their health and feelings.  I'll be returning to bed soon, hopefully to get some good sleep.  I'm not sure what to make of this prolific bombing campaign instigated by the current commander-in-chief, but I think that those countries that are turning their backs on us will have something to answer for what I'm inclined to believe is a wartime betrayal of America and our soldiers.  I think that many of them are rooting for us to lose, so that they can later smugly claim they "told us so".  Well, I at least am confident that I did right in changing my party affiliation.   The late Jim Rohn, in one of his podcasts, made a big deal about urging listeners to spring up out of bed hours before sunrise with purposeful behavior.  I did so this morning, running in place for 8 minutes after I started brewing coffee.  Now I'm finishing this blog article.  Soon it'll be back to bed and loudly growling, snorting and barking Peewee Daisy, with whom I plan to be exceedingly sweet and gentle...

Looking Forward to Day Ahead

 It's a little past 7:30 in the morning on the 16th, "Hump Day for the month of March, as we are passing through it.  I have further medical procedures lined up in the next few days, and chemotherapy infusion and an MRI figure into the picture.  I brewed the flavored decaf coffee and ran in place for my routine 8 minutes...now this blog article.  Were this still the ninth grade and 1971 for me, I guess I would have already begun to suffer the stench of the smog coming from the Everglades fires which that drought brought some 55 years ago.  Yesterday they ended that TPC tournament with an underspoken, anticlimactic short winning putt at the 18th hole by Cameron Young, who to his credit refused to kiss the trophy and kept a reserved, taciturn expression before the press afterwards.  As for how today will unwind, i'd like the donut drivethrough, some reading progress, study foreign languages, and exercise along with some temperance regarding eating.  And some more sleep should fit the bill as well.  I think I'll listen to some stuff from the late Jim Rohn, too. And see if I can't fit in some material from Andrew Huberman and Rob Dial...

Comparing Jim Rohn's Legacy to Tony Robbins This Early Morning

 Back in the late1990s, while working at the Gainesville, Florida USPS mail processing plant on SW 34th Street, I discovered that I could listen to Anthony Robbins' personal development tapes.  His big attraction at the time was how to achieve personal power.  Although I never fell for his live seminar gimmicks like the stunts where everyone walked over the hot coals, I did appreciate some of Robbins' pointers that resembled stoicism when it came to approaching some of life's sticking points, like "I always act until I succeed" or "the meaning of a communication is the response I get".  I memorized and adopted them because they made good sense to me.  Even in future projects Tony Robbins seemed to project a strong, positive aura about himself that I found very appealing.  He's still around, voice a bit scratchy and rough but with the same "can-do"personality.  A few days ago I discovered on YouTube the late personal development coach JIm Rohn's collection of podcasts.  Most of them are pretty direct and sometimes confrontational, demanding a response from the listener and indicating a "it's my way or the highway perspective from Rohn". Rohn, born in 1930, passed away from pulmonary fibrosis in 2009.  His business and professional life much resembled that of Am-Way's Bubba Pratt in that they escaped the common day-to-day workplace existence I followed at the post office to make their fortunes largely from sales and seminars.  Not that I'm complaining, since I'm grateful for the benefits and wages I received from there...including the opportunity for excellent health care and retirement accounts.  today I awoke a little before four, resisting the temptation to return to bed to continue A.C.-comforted sleep (something I'm considering returning to a little later this morning). 24 hours from now I'll be in a position to get ready to go with Melissa to Depot Park to participate in a new Parkrun 5K...it would be the second complete event I've done in 2026.  Today marks my late sister-in-law Krista's birthday...she would be turning 63 today.  Even in the middle of her medical ordeals, she was very positive and encouraging.  Well, Mr. Rohn has inspired me to keep tuned to his messages, which I think have a good amount of value to them.  I like stoic wisdom, and sometimes just getting out there and refusing to succumb to comfort is a healthful undertaking.  Now let's see if I can't make some more real progress today getting through that horrid Khan book. I did do some eight minutes of running in place already...

Following Self-Help Gurus with Discernment, Working on Recovery

 Over the last few days I've grown to enjoy listening to YouTube podcasts by Jim Rohn and Rob Dial.  Both men have different agendas and messages they're trying to convey, and I'm good with their efforts even when I don't entirely receive them.  That people will either grow or weaken over time seems to be the main idea, and I appreciate the similar stoic philosophies underlying their talking points.  So our brains are there to protect us, and keeping ourselves in a state of comfort seems to fit the bill as far as our brains are concerned.  Consequently, I'm supposed to deliberately seek out discomfort and resist the obvious temptations to choose the easy course of action (or inaction).  Changing habits is very much a feasible proposition, and it's best to start small and not let boredom or pressure unduly and negatively influence me.  I don't dig Rohn's tendency to be all-or-nothing with his ideology, but here I am at age 69 with a most serious brain cancer diagnosis and the opportunity to build my mind and body back up into a fine state of VO2-max level cardiovascular fitness with plenty of resources and time for reading and study...maybe this will help with my lifespan and healthspan.  Now it's about working out and studying while watching my hydration, recovery, and attitude.  So I ran in place early this morning for eight minutes, with more to come...

Memories of Historic Past Iran Conflict "Color" My View of the Present

 There's nothing like getting up a couple of hours before sunrise and getting started on the day.  Brewing a nice pot of flavored coffee works well with a ten-minute session of running-in-place on the living room rug floor.  My reading and studies seem to be morphing into more passive, visual and mental undertakings, and my little habit changes are becoming more directed toward the more manageable, less supremely ambitious sort.  Today is Monday, March 9.  Were I going to the 9th grade at Nova, I'd get my homework worked and gathered at the dining room table, setting the final morning alarm to give me a reasonable amount of time to clean and dress for school. As it actually is at this moment in time, I can sip my cup d K-cup flavored and brewed coffee and move over to watch a little YouTube TV.  And after a brief bathroom visit I can return to Jim Rohn's stoic personal development podcasts. Then it's back to bed for a while.  I'm getting sick and tired of the war news going on, with Trump trying to constantly insert himself in the press meetings.  

This Iran thing brings to memory when I was first going to college in the mid-to-late 1970s when the two campuses I attended became loaded with Persian overseas students.  To me they seemed to enjoy a promising, privileged existence (although none wanted to talk with me) and the idea that their home country was an autocratic police state that imprisoned and/or tortured dissidents seemed far-fetched...why, the Shah was our buddy, wasn't he? It wouldn't be until the violent rioting in 1978 eventually  kicked Shapour Bakhtiar out and brought in Khomeini for his long brutal, murderous reign.  And then came the hostage crisis.  After Khomeini began to crack down on the nation's socialists, I got a knock on my apartment door from a couple of Iranians who wanted me to sign on with their cause.  What's that, you go to town loudly running down me and my country to the world, and now we're all suddenly friendsy-pindsy because we think we might have a common enemy? In politics, trust is a difficult thing to build and only too easy to destroy...never again, Iran and Russia.  I honestly don't understand how most of our so-called allies can trust us to any degree after our current president's behavior toward them, espcially Ukraine and Denmark with its prized Greenland that Trump wants to add to his personal map of territorial conquests..  Now let's see...I look ahead right now for the next several hours, noting the potential for a a nice wide-open time span devoted to modest personal projects...A little attempt at walking endurance looks like a good option...  

High School Public Speaking Memory, Today's Early Morning Plans

 I remember, looking back on my high school times at Nova, how one of my female blonde classmates one day suddenly "saw the light" and underwent a speedy transformation into a glib, smooth public speaker.  She even got on the closed circuit school television and delivered a five-minute monologue to the school about how good and easy public speaking was, and that folks like little-old "almost subhuman" me had no excuses for not dazzling the world with my oratory skills.  A little later on ,we were introduced by a mutual friend, on whom she definitely had her eyes set.  I smiled and tried to look and sound nice, but she only came across as a rejecting snob who was fending me off...not that I was even remotely interested in her on the slightest level.  I could have tactfully (or brutally) put her in her proper place by interjecting that good speaking is only part of the equation, and that good listening skills are at least equally as important as well .  You can either esteem (or insult) your counterpart based on your attitude toward them as people, hopefully encouraging them in the process. That one speech I heard was special in one way: afterwards, and I could have brought this up to her, I couldn't think of a single section within the presentation that was of any use.  Oh well, I dealt with the snub in a dignified manner by henceforth avoiding her like the plague...I could see that she was grooming herself to be a finger-pointer later in life...probably launched into tr  ashing me soon after our greeting. So I arose at 3:30, brewed coffee, ran in place, and wrote this article. It's now a little past 5 and the day (March 8) lies ahead (we 'lept' ahead into Daylight Savings Time).  I'm still frustrated by my lack of endurance when it comes to going on modest walks. I want to continue hearing and implementing Jim Rohn YouTube podcasts, read a flawed fantasy novel by Josh Khan and study foreign languages.  And, now that I have that connecting cord, do some journal writing on my wonderful oldAlpha Smart processor before I nod off into an afternoon nap..

Up Early, Exercising, National News

 A day ago I stepped outside into the backyard to check the lunar eclipse's progress.  Turns out the entire sky was overcast, and the entire event was a washout.  I still wrote my blog article and listened to personal development influencer Jim Rohn on YouTube.  Later on Melissa took me down for my chemotherapy infusion.  I read through Chapter 5 in Shadow Magic. I studiously avoided TV updates about the US/Iran missle war.  I didn't start the conflict and have an instinctive aversion to so-called "faiths" that promote violence and whose adherents are only too easy to wear an "offended' pose if someone happens to disagree with their ideology and command structure.  John Cornyn won a close Republican Primary contest for the Texas US Senate seat being contested this year, and Roy Cooper easily won the Democratic nomination for the open North Carolina Senate seat after incumbent Thom Tillis' announced retirement.  I can't vote in either race this November, restricted to my Florida and assigned local districts as registered Republican. If registered Democratic voters actually display some initiative and vote in the general election, they have a chance of flipping those two seats their way, but i'm skeptical.  As for me today, nothing medical is scheduled.  But I'd like to see some progress, at least with little things.  I this were me in 1971 in the 9th grade I guess I'd be assembling my prepared homework for the grueling day ahead.May my eating today reflect an improved sense of judgment...

Running a 5K Race as Immersion into Discomfort Zone

This morning I listened to a podcast by professional personal development coach Rob Dial that discussed people's comfort zones.  Dial, an advocate of seeking out discomfort as a growth mechanism, has stated that one' own comfort zone is where dreams come to die...he's not big on them, to put it lightly.  I tend to agree with this conclusion, although as each day wears on like now, when the late afternoon and early evening begin to make their presence felt, I feel a call on me to take things a little easier and not get strung out on crossing off a list of daily goals.  I haven't been given a promising diagnosis, but despite precautionary limitations after brain surgery, I am still in a pretty good state of physical fitness.  I even think I'm capable of running tomorrow morning's special Thanksgiving edition of Gainesville's Depot Parkrun 5K, treating it as a workout experience.  The goal is to get to a point in it when I feel I can get myself into a running groove that lasts the duration of the event.  This will be true discomfort, but my experiences at Depot Park have taught me that my tendency with 5K races is to get stronger and retain endurance as they progress, especially relative to others running or walking there.  I just walked around our .7 mile block with Melissa and intend to do some more rock-running watching Alex's YouTube posting of his 2022 NYC Marathon experience.  Despite breaks in the continuity of his run, with sections of the course left unposted, the video shows well the spirit of this event, and I appreciated Alex's upbeat attitude throughout.  I'm coming to appreciate more the relative value in my life of training privately, as opposed to measuring my running progress by how well I do in races that post results publicly.  I have two stated goals for tomorrow morning: (1) Show up, and (2) follow through...

Training On Though Therapy Process

 Today was Tuesday, a real weekday just preceding Thanksgiving Day by 48 hours.  It seems that the last two months of the calendar year are stacked with special holidays that appear deliberately designed to disrupt the regular routines of living, including those of school and work.  I'm looking at Thanksgiving morning, just ahead of me, and think sure, I'll make it out to show up at the Gobbler Day Depot Parkrun 5K.  The idea then is that once I'm there and the race begins, I'll give it my best try...that's called "following through".  Today from early on I was meditating on when and for how long I would train in my living room at a zone 1 level, usually listening to foreign language podcasts while doing so.  My training exercise of choice is something I call "rock running".  I rock back and forth, from toes to heels, while moving my arms forward and back as a balancing mechanism.  Today I took this training strategy seriously, doing rock-running for 72 minutes and crediting myself with 7.2 training miles.  As I make this treacherous personal health journey after beginning chemotherapy and radiation treatments for my brain cancer, I often evaluate my subjective state of feeling, such as whether I suffer from any headaches.  Sometimes that plays a discouraging role, but I've never felt fatigue that doesn't naturally come with a day fully and actively lived through.  I'm continuing to hope and pray that this process is successful at fighting back the cancer while my discipline with training brings me encouragement and realistic optimism...

A Day in My Life Before the Onset of Chemo/Radiation

Sometimes with this blog of my I pick out a specific topic to write about, while on other days I relate what has been going on in my life, and how I feel about it all.  Today it's all about the latter: what's up with me as I approach Day One in my cancer chemotherapy and radiation cycles?  I'm not looking forward to it as it promises to be a monumentally unpleasant experience, yet I'm a bit curious to see how it all turns out.  I haven't been sleeping much at night, although I admit to falling asleep evenings on my living room couch in front of the TV (set on sports).  I tend to arise early in the morning, before sunrise around 4.  Then I brew some coffee and exercise while listening to foreign language radio shows and podcasts.  My favorite stations are Radio France International in French and Chinese and RBB Inforradio, a 24-hour news station in German operating from Berlin.  With podcasts, it's hands-down SBS from Australia, the initials standing for "Special Broadcasting Service".  I get my daily Spanish, Russian and Japanese listening from this great resource.  Then there some self-help podcasts that I watch/listen to on YouTube, getting subtitles of the ongoing program in Russian.  The last couple of days I watched a very slow (but expertly filmed) virtual video on YouTube of "Peter's" first (and possibly final) marathon run, done on the inimitable New York City course through the city's five boroughs.  Then Melissa gets up and, following a little breakfast, I go back to bed to sleep a little more (usually successfully).  Although I tend to tire as the day grinds on, the two of us usually find some time before sunset to walk around our neighborhood block (like today).  It's now a little past six in the evening and I am not at all hungry, although a kind friend of ours arranged to have dinner delivered to our home.  I already told Melissa that I may find myself pushing food away following the start of chemotherapy, and that for those times it would be a good idea to have some good liquid nourishment like Ensure that I could down instead of trying to chew and swallow unappetizing food.  But now is now, and so now I'm going to post this article, shut down the computer and sit back down on the couch for a while.  Good Night!

Quote of the Week...from Rob Dial

Everything that comes into your brain is brainwashing, in some sort of way.  I'm gonna be in control and intentional about my brainwashing.                    ---Rob Dial

Brainwashing is one of those terms pervasive in popular usage, almost always used with negative connotations.  It's not scientific, either, but does sound impressive when used.  Rob Dial, a personal development podcaster, on a recent show made the above quote in the middle of his twenty minute monologue.  This one pertained to the notion of self-care and how we speak to ourselves.  He wisely noted that many of us are too down and negative with our self-talk, treating ourselves much differently than someone for whom we are trusted with their care and well-being, such as a child or family member.  Dial maintains that how we speak to ourselves will "brainwash" us in the direction of our internal conversation, and we have the choice and power to make ourselves who we want to be, since our brains have the malleable characteristic of neuroplasticity.  I get Dial's point although I feel unqualified to affirm it all based on neurological science.  People have the choice...and therefore the responsibility...to assert to themselves the kind of person they want to be.  Cut it with the hopeless, self-bashing self-talk and replace it with an encouraging, accountable narrative that builds instead of destroys.  Easier said than done since it often involves ingrained habits, but you have to start somewhere...

Podcaster Extols Misogi Method: What Is It?

On yesterday's Mindset Mentor podcast, personal development coach Rob Dial encouraged his listeners to employ what he calls the Misogi Method to jumpstart their days and get themselves into the proper frame of mind to tackle projects and goals.  He says it's based on a Japanese word roughly translated as "water purification".  According to Dial, the literal application is to plunge oneself, for as long as possible, in very cold water...not a pleasant prospect, which is the whole point.  Once you've done it, he claims, other hitherto formidable tasks don't seem quite as daunting.  Misogi can be extended to other things, though, which is good because I don't think I need the cold-water treatment, thank you.  No, for me something like a brief, but intense, immersion in a social environment where I'm expected to speak to a group sounds like something that seems impossible but, after accomplishing, would make anything else seem attainable.  But then again, there's that cold water...

Just Finished Reading Level Up by Rob Dial

Very recently Rob Dial, known for his Mindset Mentor personal development-themed podcast that often offers topics for my blog articles, had published his first book: Level Up, long title Level Up: How to Get Focused, Stop Procrastinating, and Upgrade Your Life.  This pretty much describes the book, which incorporates the gist of Dial's podcast messages and presents it in more whole fashion.  Level Up is divided into three sections: why you're not taking action, how to take action, and creating habits and making them stick.  In each of them are subtopics that logically contribute to the main message. At the chapters' close are personal journaling questions...Dial believes strongly in introspection and writing down on paper one's inner thoughts and feelings.  In that sense this is an interactive book...not in the adopted cyberworld sense but in that the reader is invited to participate, step by step, with the program as it is laid out.  I haven't sat down and begun this interaction...no, I've procrastinated, dang it!  But there's no better time than now...actually, there's no time other than now.  I think you'll find this book helpful regardless where you happen to be in your own personal walk through life...there's none of that mystical nonsense that I've encountered in other works of this sort.  Hopefully, the public library web service Libby will begin to offer it for checkout before long...

Podcaster Discusses How to Make Oneself Miserable

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you already know that I am a regular listener to personal development coach Rob Dial's podcast, which can be found on number of sites, including YouTube...it's called Mindset Mentor.  Usually if I write about a specific podcast, I'll have waited a few days beforehand.  But today he presented four mindsets people have which make themselves miserable in life.  The first is trying to control that which I cannot control, be it situations on the other side of the world or the people around me.  To a certain extent I can do my part to make things better by expressing opinions or voting on election day.  And speaking truth in a compassionate way to others is also something I could do more.  But sitting there letting the negativity stew around in my mind helps no one, especially myself.  The second of Dial's points is comparing myself to others, bemoaning the supposed advantages others enjoy that enable them to have or experience a more interesting and bountiful life.  To that he recommends intentionally setting aside time to focus on things that I can be grateful for in my life...and there is definitely a lot to consider here.  That doesn't imply that I shouldn't strive to improve myself and my circumstances, but once again I shouldn't just sit there fuming inside about how unfair life is.  Number Three on Rob Dial's list of things making folks miserable is focusing on the past.  We all live in the present and the past is gone...in spite of all the science fiction stories I've read or watched using the literary gimmick of time travel.  Moping around about past regrets can mess up my present, yet I don't think I should ignore the past either...it's how I learn to better live in the present!  Finally, our host presents the fourth pathway to misery: worrying about the future.  To be sure, that's where we're all heading...but most of the disasters predicted ahead don't materialize.  I am rooted to the present, and only in the now can I act to do my part to bring about a better world.  But once again, I present a caveat: of course, I need to notice danger and problems on the horizon and, if possible, try to effectively deal with them.  But static worry accomplishes nothing to alleviate anything.  If you think I'm getting a little preachy here, rest assured: I wrote this down primarily as a way to reinforce to myself the show's message...which today seemed quite profound...

My Progress So Far on Budding Podcasting Efforts

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about considering starting my own podcast, with the same basic goal as my writing except that it would be speaking instead.  Again, I want to instill a regular, disciplined habit of publicly available expression, this time making it verbal.  I mentioned that preliminary to starting an actual podcast I would make unrecorded monologues about preset topics during my drives to and from work.  Well, that was an eye opener for me, with me stumbling about tongue-tied for the most part, more a stream of disconnected consciousness coming from my mouth than a coherent narrative...is that really how I think? I do think I've improved a bit, and I've decided to alter the strategy with my "carcasts", as I call them, to do a "rough draft monologue" on the drive to work, let the results simmer in my mind for a few hours, and then on the drive home revisit the topic, hopefully in a more structured and comprehendible (to others) way.  I get that most of your regular podcasters develop outlines, some detailed, beforehand of what they will discuss om a podcast.  I'm not yet at that point, preferring right now to make the experience more extemporaneous.  Yesterday, for example, I set out to discuss the University of Florida campus as I remember it and as it is today.  During the first monologue I felt I was awkwardly groping about to find something to say while in the second, I felt more organized and with more knowledge at quick recall.  Now let's see what my carcast topic for today will be... 

Podcaster Says to Stop Doing These Nine Things

In yesterday's article I was critical of Daniel Amen using his professional title as a doctor of psychiatry to present a comprehensive bible of life and how to live it, noting that were he only to present himself as a fellow traveler through life without all the self-aggrandizing hoopla, I would have been more receptive to his message.  In a similar vein, I tend more to relate to podcaster Rob Dial on his Mindset Mentor show.  Dial to me has just as much insight into "life"...however you might frame it...as "doctor" Amen, but he doesn't hide behind professional titles in giving his views.  Even so, sometimes I agree with Dial and sometimes I don't...that, I'm sure, would suit him quite well as he is no stickler for perfection (read numbers 4 and 6 below).  The other day he listed nine things that he insists each of us stop...nip it in the bud, as Barney Fife would say.  Here they are...

STOP

1) making excuses...rarely does anyone regret not having made them

2) playing the victim...takes control of life away from self, better to take responsibility

3) complaining...use "1-3-1" method: identify 1 problem, come up with 3 solutions, pick 1 to start with

4) being afraid of failure...failure is the best teacher, you want to fail soon and often

5) procrastinating...too much planning, instead "ready, fire, aim", aka take action and then adjust

6) being so hard on yourself...you're doing the best you can, let it go-especially past regrets

7) trying to control everything...we're all pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things

8) giving up on yourself...follow up, go through with what you've started

9) settling for just an "OK" life...we have the capacity for an incredible life, which we get one shot at

To all the above the "Goth" part of me would like to add "easier said than done".  But then again, life is a journey, not a destination...let's just take things one micro-habit at a time...

Just Started Reading Rob Dial's New Book Titled Level Up

As you may already know if you've been reading this blog regularly, I've been a regular listener to personal development coach Rob Dial's podcast The Mindset Mentor for some time.  He's just come out with his first book, titled Level Up, and which I am grateful to have received as a birthday gift...I just started reading it.  It's not the kind of book I would normally read through and then immediately review here on this blog as I do others.  No, each chapter has its own special theme with the last page listing cues for journaling, an activity that Dial strongly recommends.  The subtitle to this book is How to Get Focused, Stop Procrastinating, and Upgrade Your Life.  It contains much of what I have already heard from him on his show, and I am serious about implementing some of his suggestions...always, though, with a discerning filter that doesn't automatically swallow everything I read.  He has a very plain and simple, readable writing style that, well, frankly reminds me a little of my own: make it simple and sweet, I always say!  Although I don't plan on a book review for this one, I'm pretty sure that from time to time I'll discuss a topic I come across from it that interests me.  He also has been doing the same lately on his podcast, picking out different chapters to discuss...

Podcaster Steve Kaufmann's Compelling Views on Language Learning

Podcaster Steve Kaufmann, a 77-year old polyglot who has learned 20 languages, often has some good advice about learning foreign languages.  He stresses the need to build up a vast passive vocabulary of known words in whatever the target language happens to be...that Babbel commercial showing the woman proudly given directions to the Parisien taxi driver just won't cut it in real conversation.  Although some 80% of the words in a spoken language tend to arise from just 20% of its words, both Steven and I can guarantee you that you won't get very far in a regular conversation with a native speaker if you just know that 20%.  When I worked many decades ago at a local Chinese restaurant, much of its kitchen was staffed by Vietnamese people, several of whom I befriended. I decided to try to learn a little Vietnamese then and could engage in some conversation with them as we worked.  Of course, the big pressing need here was for them to learn...and quickly...how to speak English, and our talking was overwhelmingly in MY native language, for their sakes.  Kaufmann reiterates this important point of engaging with a native speaker of another language, especially if it takes place in their country.  According to his experiences, he must already be at a reasonably proficient level in that foreign language, else the native speaker may well revert to English if it is the best means for communication.  And many people across the world want to practice their English on travelers!  Kaufmann often exhorts people not to be so concerned about being perfect in their speaking efforts with others...communication is the goal, and you will make many mistakes, there's no getting around that.  But the flip side is that whoever you're trying to speak with in the foreign language may decide that the mistakes are too many.  For me, "speaking" a foreign language has never been my primary goal, but rather being able to fully understand it when I hear it, along with reading fluency.  What I like about Steve Kaufmann is that his expert observations over the years affirm my own: build up that large passive vocabulary first.  And if conversation opportunities arise, then fine: take advantage of them but don't let your speaking ability at any given time define your progress for you...

Podcaster Has Good Advice on Developing Good Habits and Skills

Last week in one of his Mindset Mentor podcasts, personal development coach Rob Dial touched upon a topic that he's covered in the past, and one that I've come to strongly believe in.  The importance of consistency in small things...establishing little by little the habits I want to develop in order to improve my life cannot be understated.  Dial suggests something he calls the "30-30" rule: take the next thirty days and focus on one specific habit to instill, devoting a pre-set thirty-minute block of time to it.  And then thirty days later, pick another desired habit to work on the next thirty days.  He doesn't recommend me loading my schedule up with multiple thirty-minute blocks...no...one habit at a time.  Dial says to select ONE specific skill or habit to work on and determine the resources I need to obtain in order to successfully pursue it.  I get his focus to avoid overloading the mind, but I already have a pretty elaborate routine of short daily activities in a multitude of areas...this doesn't mean that I will abandon working on them to just do one thing.  But yes, identifying one NEW area to work on improving and picking up good habits with it...the "new thing of the month" so to speak, makes a lot of sense.  Rob Dial also emphasizes keeping daily records of my level of progress, helping both to direct my focus better and to hold me more accountable to myself: I already do this.  He adds to this the importance of not being perfect all the time in what I do, but rather to "show up" whether I'm having a good or bad day.  Yeah, this particular podcast resonated with me.  As for podcasts in general, I consistently keep up with two programs, Dial's and Steve Kaufmann's.  Kaufmann is the polyglot who has a lot of sound, practical advice about language learning, and whose learning site LingQ I've subscribed to and faithfully study on a daily basis.  What podcasts do you like to regularly follow?