Recently, Feb 2024, I started posting on my LinkedIn. Additionally, since the end of Feb, I recently restarted posting on my fitness blog. I may start doing some cross posting but for now, that’s enough.

Why the hiatus?

• Consulting engagements consumed most of my business time.
• Parenting consumed my personal time.
• Social media and short posts consumed the rest of my time.

If I ask that again, Why the hiatus? and continue to ask Why? It’s deeper I guess. Let’s use some examples.

Collectively, I’d venture to guess that people know eating real foods, not too much, mostly plants, is the way to a healthy diet. Yet, most people eat too much and eat fast processed food. Similarly, I’d venture to guess most people fundamentally know, we need to move more, get outside more, use the phone less. Yet, we don’t do it. These are all “hard” activities.

I’d say the same publicly publishing. By publishing, you can make a big impact on your personal search results. I convey this message to any of my students and employees often. I challenge them to control their public digital persona by publishing. Most don’t do it. For the past 10+ years, I failed to publish.

Before I expound, One more example: fundamentally, many people know that one should spend less than they earn. Yet, too many are in debt with little savings.

All of these activities do not have an immediate net positive impact. Sure, occasionally, someone will go viral and get a post to be read. For most people, the posts are never read. If save a dollar today, to spend in the far of the future, the future is nebulous. Why delay the gratification of eating engineered to be yummy tasting foods for future healthier body.

For me, I put all my passion and my self towards helping my clients’ businesses and neglected my own. It is easy to rationalize since my clients will pay me to do work. The opportunity cost of working on my own business was easy to see in the short-term and difficult to forecast in the long-term. So, I neglected publishing.

Now, I have learned to exercise. I have learned to eat healthy. I have learned to save money. Each one of those actions took a concerted daily routine with a habit hooking to really get these activities ingrained into my daily life. I can do the same with publishing if I want it.

Similar to exercising, healthy eating, and fiscally saving, it takes tiny little habits to start and grow into a full routine. I don’t want to spread my focus too thin otherwise the habit building will not stick. So, for now, this blog will stay as is.

Cheers for now!

Fears. We all have them. Sure some macho-man or macho-lady will say they face their fears, but the real truth is that fear is inescapable. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that fear is often irrational. If one were to just name their fear and explore it, you’d find the original fear is less powerful than originally thought. Even though I learned this tactic. It doesn’t mean I actually employ it. So, let’s try it. Let me try the “name thy fear” tactic publicly today.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people attempt to write 50,000 words to create a novel. NaNoWriMo is the title of that activity, and I’m sure many of you readers know about it, and maybe even some of you have completed that project. I have never attempted the task. It’s not that I don’t want to. It’s not that I don’t have many hundreds of novels inside me waiting to come out. Then, Why? What is keeping myself from attempting undertaking such an attainable task? If I’m completely honest with myself: It’s more I’m afraid to attempt it. What if I fail? What if no likes what I write? What if everyone likes what I write? What if I really don’t have novels inside me? What if…. Another thought I have is that I have difficulty completing the easier announced goals, how can I attain a more challenging goal?

If you remember, earlier this year, I announced my 2021 goal to write 21 blog posts. Obviously, this is my first blog post since that announcement. Didn’t I mention, that I dislike pre-announcing goals? Needless to say, my intention was to write approximately two blog posts a month. That did not happen. However, my original goal, 21 blog posts in 2021, is still attainable. I just need to restructure the rhythm. Still, I’m left thinking why?

Why did I not adhere to my original plan? It’s easy to say “Life” got in the way, and it did. It’s more than that though. It’s easy to say I did not know what to write about. It’s easy to say I don’t know who my audience is. All of that may be true. It’s easy to say, that I don’t want to edit, or maybe I’m just lazy, or maybe the sky is blue, or whatever easy thing it is to say. If it’s easy to say all those things and I know it, when why? In reality, I’m guessing, I’m afraid.

I never named the fear. Never confronted it. I might not even be afraid for all I know, but some apprehension is keeping me from writing consistently even though I think its something I want to do — so much so, that I publicly announced it.

Then, what am I afraid of writing 21 blog posts? That’s a darn good question. Maybe I’m afraid of knowing the answer. OR: Maybe I’m afraid of not knowing the answer. I could go on and on, but then I’d just have to edit this for conciseness. So. I’ll just say it may not matter.

What does matter? I have read: practice makes perfect. If you want to become proficient at something, you need to put in the time. You need to practice. I know the answer. I know that my first blog posts will be bad. I know that my first draft will be rough. Knowing it and doing it are not always the same. Is this my best post? No. I’m working in public though. That’s part of the learning curve. That’s part of publishing. That’s part of my goal. Explore the raw-ness.

I guess we will see if the tactic of naming thy fear worked. It certainly did move the needle on my publish in public goal.

Even if no one but you reads it. The blog you write each day is the blog you need the most.

Source: The most important blog post | Seth’s Blog

After reading that, I thought this is perfect to jumpstart a fresh new blog post today, 2021-January-01!  Here it is – Cheers!

I have been wanting to write publicly now for quite some time.  In fact, over the past few years, I have written quite a few drafts and deleted them.  For the record, I write on and off privately using a mixture of various paper journals and apps. I have to admit, I’ve become much more of a consumer of content rather than a creator.  That makes me sad.  I want to be a creator.  I’ve long had this inner desire to create some sort of course, app, book, podcast, or thing.  I get stuck with what kind of thing.  Never get very far past daydreaming.  I get stuck and don’t go anywhere.

As a consequence, my writing has atrophied a bit. I’m sure some of that is due to the consumerism nature of twitter, internet, books, etc…

So, early in 2020, I wanted to get started flipping my consumer/creator ratio around. Balance it if you will.  On reflection, my first thought was I failed miserably, but I don’t know if that is true. In fact, I know that is false. In order to publicly write, one must have a public place to write.

Consequently, My first step was to resurrect my public blogs. I’ve done that in 2020, but I never took it anywhere.  So, if I’m kind to myself, I did not fail, I only just took a small step.  I’m not sure what holds me back from taking the next step, maybe the pandemic.  Maybe its fear.  Maybe its work. Maybe its comfort of a great life.

It doesn’t matter.  Action is required to create.  DOing!

I was looking at some of my older blog posts on my fitness website.  I mentioned consistency is key.  It’s funny, I stopped blogging about fitness, and my fitness activity increased dramatically.  I’m super consistent now.  I can say for the past few years, I’ve exercised more days that not exercised.  Sometimes that exercise is a walk, sometimes it is lifting weights, cycling, yard work, etc… More recently, its been swimming.  The one thing I’ve done is remained consistent, and I can really feel the difference.  My physical fitness is dramatically better.

I think the same consistency is required for being a Creator.

Consistency is needed. Unfortunately, I have not found the action that I can hook into to create a habit of creating.  There’s not a real good time for me to write or create.  Family life, work life, personal life, all life just gets in the way.  Again, first-world creature comforts.  If we really assess, even in a year that was raged by pandemic and diametrically posed political groups, many U.S. citizens still have great comfort.  For example, I have a warm, dry bed to sleep in.  Clean air to breathe. Good food to eat. Family & friends to care for and love.  All of that is comfortable.  I’m truly blessed and do my best to give thanks.  I know that many many people in the world, and in history, have life worse than I have. In fact, I’d hope an objective observer would say I have a great life.  Comfort sometimes gets in the way of discomfort of creating. When I talk to bloggers/writes/creators, I also tell them I’m looking for consistency.

I’ve done this before, writing a blog post, and this is where I usually get to deleting the draft.  Why?  I just don’t have a good plan.  I am afraid, that I will go days, weeks, maybe even years before my next public blog post. Then, I’ll be the hypocrite I don’t want to be.  So…

…Rambling aside.  I aim to Create, and I am to do so publicly.  I hope it will help others, but as Godin mentions above, it will most definitely help me.

Consequently, I’m going to create a small goal for myself:  21 blog posts for 2021.  I hope to surpass that, but 21 seems very reasonable.  That’s roughly ~2 blog posts a month, 1.75 posts/month to be exact.  Very achievable.  I don’t even mention anything about length.  I’m not going to let photos or editing hold me back. I’m going to create.

I have to admit, I am not fond of publicly pre-announce a goal.  Some science studies state that when you do so, you’re less likely to achieve it.  Here’s how I will get around that.  I don’t know how much publicizing my creating I will do.  There’s a difference between creating in public and then announcing to the world you created something in public.  At some point, you need to do the latter if you want to grow an audience.  I want organic growth.  The first step is creating.  Doing.  Of course, If you stumble upon my work, that’s great.  Please let me know if anything resonates.

For now, Wishing you all a safe, healthy & wealthy new year!  Go 2021!

Retirement Calculator

“one of the best things you can do to improve your chances at a successful retirement is to use a free online retirement calculator”

via:  http://www.fool.com/retirement/general/2013/05/18/1-simple-step-to-dramatically-improve-your-retirem.aspx

Save 20%

Wade Pfau, professor of retirement income at the American College, which trains financial planners, has crunched the numbers to find a safe level of saving that would have worked in every historical market stretch going back to periods beginning in the 19th century.

He found that setting aside 16.6% of income and putting it in a diversified portfolio of [60%] stocks and [40%] bonds did the trick every time. (Good news: Employer matches count toward that savings rate.) That’s if you’re consistent about saving over 30 years.

A slow starter must ramp up higher — a 45-year-old with two times salary saved would have to go for 20%.

via How to Do Something Even When You Don’t Feel Like Doing It.

Your audacious life goals are fabulous. We’re proud of you for having them. But it’s possible that those goals are designed to distract you from the thing that’s really frightening you–the shift in daily habits that would mean a re-invention of how you see yourself.

Organizations can always benefit from better habits. Every day. Do that first.

via Seth’s Blog: Crash diets and good habits.

A simple practice of intentionality: before you do the next action online or at work, pause a moment, close your eyes, and mentally say your intention. Why are you doing this? Is it out of compassion for others, or yourself? Is it to make someone happier? To improve the world? Out of gratitude for the work and kindness of others?

And then, as you do the action, be mindful of your intention.

This is a small step, but in those few moments, you will be living an Intentional Life.

via » An Intentional Life :zenhabits.

A great reminder to think and act with intention instead of mindlessly.

My wish for you as the calendars turn is that you focus your efforts, both personally and professionally, on the stuff you can control. It’s the only thing you can do. Literally.
–Andy Hayes

I’m a trained scientist. As a scientist, one is trained to identify a problem. Form a guess or an explanation for the problem. Then identify predictions based upon your guess. Finally test or experiment with your guess and observe objectively during the experiment.

Through life experiments, one edict I have found to be more true than not is when there are multiple hypothesis that are correct for the same problem, then the truth lies in the combination of all the hypothesis.

For example, when my income increases, it could be due to more work I’ve been doing. It could be due to my using my existing time wisely. It could be increased concentration, focus, and motivation causing more avenues of income. In reality, its a combination of all these forces.

I’m beginning to question faith from a scientific viewpoint. Who’s to say, that Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Folk Religions are all right or all wrong. I venture to guess that each of them have some things correct & some things wrong.

If I believe that, then I must go a step further and wonder why am I Catholic? Is the sole reason for my being Catholic that my family raised me a Catholic. If I was born in India, would I be a hindu? If I was born in the mid-east, would I be an muslim?

Or would I have arrived at Catholicism and/or Christianity as my religion regardless?

Christmas time is here. We celebrate Christ’s birthday. Yet, I have decided to wonder about Religion.

Here’s the thing that worries me. Why did Christianity spread so fast and so far? Why is Islam growing so fast and so far in modern times? What if Fanaticism is really the cause of the growth of religion?

We’ve heard of many holy wars. The winner of the war proceeds to rule. If you are a person who wants peace and wants to live a normal happy life, wouldn’t you accept the religion of the winner of the war in order to seek the life of the least resistance. Additionally, wouldn’t the winner of the war try to convert or destroy the loser of the war?

You might ask, what brought this on at this time? Its something that’s been brewing in me for a while. Yet, I watched an historical fictional piece about the philosopher and mathematician Hypatia and the Roman time where Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity all converged in the city of Alexandria. I won’t give away the movie, but the movie provides a plausible and though-provoking example of how Christianity might have grown. Since, I am taking a more dedicated approach to my writing. I decided this was my topic today.

The winner’s of war God wins is not not the God I know. That’s not the Christ I know. Yes, we should defend our freedoms and our faith. Yet, we should also behave like Christ. Demonstrate compassion and love for everyone even in the face of danger.

I don’t know enough about the other religions, but I have to imagine much of the core message is the same: Be good to your neighbor. Treat them like you would treat yourself. If we all do that, Life will be good. Forcing someone to commit to a religion doesn’t seem the appropriate method of evangelism. That’s my deep food for thought today.

Yet, even with my questioning everything, I still Believe. I guess that’s why they call it Faith.