Since I now run in my $4 generic crocs, I also don’t need expensive running shoes.

While this is just running, I have taken this a much bigger lesson. Our body naturally knows how to do things right. We should spend more time listening to it and less time trying to force it.

Are running shoes bad for you?

This is a question that I first asked myself after seeing some of the new types of shoes being offered such as the Vibram Five Fingers. I don’t remember how I originally found out about the idea of  running “barefoot”, but as I started to search and read the arguments it made a lot of sense. Now I am by no means a marathon runner. I run a 3-4 times a week for my own exercise and enjoyment. But I figured I would try to change my running style and see what happened.

I didn’t want to go out and buy new running shoes (even though I thought they looked really cool), so I kept using the ones that I already had. I did change the way I ran. Instead of using the normal heel to toe style of running, I started running on the ball of my feet.Now I have to admit this was very difficult in the beginning. Running this way forced me to use a whole new group of muscles that I hadn’t developed. I was also using the shoes the opposite way they were designed to be used.

For the first week I would run halfway on the balls of my feet and then as I got tired I would run the rest using the normal style. The first couple of km usually felt very awkward. My body just wasn’t used to running that way. My legs, especially my calves would end up very sore for a couple days after each run.

By the second week I had built up my muscles enough (primarily my calves and ankles) and began running entirely on the balls of my feet. I noticed a few interesting things. The first was that I was running faster. It wasn’t that I was trying to run faster, I just wasn’t getting as tired as I was before. After running my normal route of about 5km I was wasn’t even winded and would just keep going (maybe that’s how Forest Gump felt).

The third week I kept running in my normal running shoes, but as my legs and feet got stronger it felt as if they were throwing me off balance. Since my running shoes had a padded heel I was having to slightly overcompensate to run on the balls of my feet. It wasn’t dramatic, but it always felt like I was gona trip forward.

This last week I gave up my running shoes and started running in my generic crocs. So how has it been going from a $60 running shoe to a $4 generic piece of foam. Amazing! For the first time, it feels like my body was really designed to run. My speed has once again increased, I don’t get tired as easily and my feet and legs have once again become stronger.

I should point out that the first couple days of running in sandles (generic crocs) resulted in some sore foot and ankle muscles. so you should probably take it easy if transition. I have been running this way for over a week now and I have no pain at all in my legs or feet. I also seem to get less cramps.

So are running shoes bad for you? I guess that would depend on how you run. I do think that there are better, more healthy ways to run and in those cases the traditional running shoe seems to be bad.

I suggest you take small steps if you plan to try to start running on the balls of your feet. traditional running shoes and hard sole shoes in general have prevented certain muscles in your legs and feet from developing. You need to slowly develope these muscles before you start running without any support.

Since moving to Miyakojima my wife has started doing hula. Now I am not going to claim to know anything about hula, but apparently there is a rule that you don’t learn hula at two different schools. Basically, if you are learning at one school you are forbidden to enter others. One of the girls didn’t know this and was also performing with another school. Once the original school found out a few of the members were pretty upset.

Now I think when learning something like martial arts or dance, which are very stylistic, it is actually beneficial to study very diligently in one style before trying out others. Simply because it is easier to learn the movements that way. But they were upset because “it was against the rules”. Why is it against the rules? No one really has any idea. I assume it has to do with the religious origins of hula, but I honestly don’t know (if you are a Hula teacher please feel free to inform me).

The point is that this is a hula “dance” club. I’m sure that everyone wants to learn the culture of hula, but does that mean you must follow all the traditional rules? Especially when they are outdated and most don’t even know the original meanings? I think understanding them is important to learn and maintain the heritage, but that does not mean they need to be practiced. It may not beneficial for the person to study at two schools, but shouldn’t that be for her to decide?

Let me know what you think and what your thoughts on the topic are.

Anyways, I came across this great video on choices and wanted to share. Besides being quite entertaining I think it makes a really great point. We can’t always control what happens around us or even to us, but we can choose how we deal with it.

About a week ago I received an e-mail from a good friend mentioning that his website wouldn’t work. Someone had hacked it, and instead of displaying his normal blog it showed a message describing what a hacker was and why they do what they do.  Yesterday, Simplistic Thoughts was also hacked. No serious damage done (as far as I can tell), but it did cost me time to fix it. So here is my question to hackers.

Why not use your talents to do something helpful?

The message that was put on my friends website went on to describe that hackers were people who found school boring and too easy (though the article was full of grammatical errors and misspellings). People who don’t want to succumb to the ways of a capitalist society or maybe feel rejected by society altogether. Instead, they find refuge in their computers. Manipulating or creating programs, and testing their skills by breaking into others computers. Which doesn’t really sound much different to me than any other teenagers excuse for breaking the rules because they were bored.

However, this is only one person or one group’s opinion or ideas of what a “hacker” is. I would guess there are many hackers that would not want to be classified into this category. Hackers are generally classified into a “negative category”, but in truth I don’t think that’s always the case. Hackers have also done a lot of good. For instance, someone who wasn’t satisfied with what their iphone decided reprogram it to do more. Not hurting anyone and not trying to sell anything. In fact it has helped a lot of people get features they want. I am able to use Ubuntu (a free operating system I feel is superior to Windows) because someone decided they could write better operating system.

As a child I thought it was really cool to pick locks. I created my own set of tools and after some time was actually able to get simple locks open. It was a great feeling because I felt I was smarter than the system. I was about 10-12 at the time and only picked locks I owned. But what if I decided to keep going? I would have been faced with two roads. One were I used my skills to break into other peoples locks or the other where I used my skills to make better locks.

I personally believe that hackers are very talented and help push the envelope of what is possible with computers. Doing something because you are intellectually curious is a great reason. But there is a big difference between using your talents and intellect to create a better system, and destroying someones system and hard work just to make a point or to show that you could.

For instance, what if the person who hacked into my blog used his/her skills to help further develop the program to make it more secure and safer.

So I ask my question again, and I hope that a number of hackers and programmers will respond. You are obviously smart and have a lot of talent. So why not use it to make things better? If it is about making a point or standing up for something, then why attack the individual people or small businesses that are just trying to make a living?

Interesting article on hackers

The hard part is really getting started. Often the actual act isn’t near as difficult as we imagine it. In fact, sometimes it can even be fun. I have recently started studying kanji (Japanese characters). Getting started is always difficult because I know the time and energy it takes to study. However, once I get started I actually really enjoy it.

So what are you putting off? As for me, I’m off to study kanji.

In the last few posts I have been talking a lot about starting new things and being successful at them. I discussed how important it is to limit your focus so you can spend more time at each thing you attempt. Something that is just as important, is to clearly understand your purpose and goals with whatever activity your try.

This idea may seem may seem a little weird at first. You are starting something because it looks fun or maybe because it will help your career right? Those are certainly good reasons to start something new. Unfortunately, they are too vague to push you up the steep learning curve of starting something you have never done before.

I believe there are really two distinct points you should consider when starting something new.

Motivation: Why are you pursuing this activity? What’s driving you to learn? The stronger and more clear your reason(s), the more likely you will be to to get over the learning curve and enjoy the benefits of the activity.

What is your goal: What level of mastery do you plan to get in this new activity. The better you understand this, the easier it is to plan out your method of learning and know how much work is ahead of you.

Saying, “I want to learn Spanish” gives you a basic understanding of some of the activities and studying you will need to do. However, it doesn’t set a goal line. Saying, “I want to learn conversational Spanish” gives you a idea of the amount of words you will need to know and also what those words might be. It also let’s you know where your goal line is. You have learned enough Spanish once you can communicate comfortably in basic Spanish conversations.

As you can see, the larger your goal, the stronger your motivation will need to be. Should your goal be to learn to speak fluently in Spanish, you would need to spend a lot more time learning.

Clearly understanding the amount of work it will take to learn something isn’t designed to stop you from trying something new, but it should help you choose and achieve the things that matter most to you.

Similar Posts

• Simple is Better, and More Efficient
• Learning the Sanshin
• Finding the Time vs Making the Time
• Learning Something New

Last night I was studying Kanji (Japanese chracters) and came across the character for “stubborn or obstinate”. The thing that was so interesting about the character was the truth in the story it tells. The Japanese character for stubborn (頑) is made of two basic elements. The first is (元) which means “beginning” and the second is (頁) meaning “page”. So basically, the character means the beginning page. Or even better, someone refusing to move past the first page and therefore stubborn.

This stubbornness seems to cause a lot of the worlds problems. Once we learn something (especially as a child) it helps gain a view of the world. To change the things we learn would change our perceptions of the world.  And so we tend to resist these changes even if the ideas we hold are not accurate or beneficial.  If you think about it, it wasn’t that long ago that we thought the world was flat, the sun rotated the earth, or that we were burning people for being witches. Now, I am not going to go into religions and morals, but I think the world would be a better place if everyone kept themselves open to change and questions the things they are taught. Too often we take the words of “teachers” to be “fact”, when many times they are just opinions or beliefs.

There is a great e-book titled Software For Your Brain that not only covers how these thought processes came about, but also how to turn yourself into a better thinker and a happier person. I highly recommend it. It is a fun read and best of all it is a free download! Though be careful. It might just change your view of things!

Software for your Brain

What is really important to you? What matters the most in your life? This is a question we often hear, and most people tend to have very similar answers. My family, my friends,  and my health are probably the three answers I hear the most. And I truly believe this is what’s important to most people. Unfortunately, a lot of the time our actions often don’t reflect this. We get too caught up in work, the pursuit of money, houses, toys, etc, and forget about what really matters. So how do  we make sure we are working towards the things that are really important? Keep it simple.

I have realized that I can’t do everything. But I can do a few things very well if I focus all my energy on them. Limiting my focus to only a few things also keeps my life very simple and clear. I know what my goals are and that makes them easier to achieve. It also makes it very easy to break up my day into allotted time spots.

Since there are only a few things I need to do each day I have very few distractions. I can work towards the things that are important to me more efficiently. I don’t have to remember a large number of tasks and I don’t have to worry about not finishing everything.

Now I know a lot of people think this is impossible for there lifestyle. And if you are unwilling to change and give up things that are less important to you for ones that are more important, then they are probably right. But give it a try for just a week. Choose four things that are the most important to you and only allow time for those 4 things. Cut everything else out. Try it for just one week and see what happens!

In my last two posts Learning Something New and Finding the Time vs Making the Time I discussed why we should be happy about the time it will take to learn something new. I also mentioned that I would be starting to learn the Sanshin. A traditional three-stringed guitar like instrument of Okinawa.

I had my first lesson last Thursday which consisted of learning the chords, learning to read the notes (all in Japanese of course) and learning how to hold and generally play the instrument. I also chose a song to practice (the one in the video above). So I am playing like a pro now right. Um, not exactly. The first several hours were fun, but also extremely frustrating. I knew what I wanted my hands to do, but they were just to clumsy to hit the tiny strings. This was further complicated by a large piece you partially put over your finger as a pick. Which I gripped too tightly and ended up with pain and dark red line on my finger.

However, I have been practicing for an hour to two hours a day and I am starting to be able to hit the chords and can play the basic melody of the song. I still miss a lot of chords and haven’t quite remembered all the notes, but it is getting easier. Not to mention funner and funner. The key is to just keep pushing forward even though it doesn’t feel like you are making progress. Your body and your mind are learning. Each time I would put down the sanshin and come back to it, it got a little bit easier.

The hardest part will come when I try to both play the sanshin and sing he song. The song is a traditional Miyakojima song and native Miyakojima language is so different from standard Japanese that I can’t recognize barely any of the words. Basically I am just remembering sounds.

I will post with updates on my progress and once I feel a little more confident, will create a video and post it on youtube. In the meantime, here is another video of some Okinawan music and the sanshin. This is one of my favorite Okinawan songs called Shimanchu Nu Takara by a group called Begin. The title translates as “The Island People’s Treasure”.