I just made up that title.

I haven’t written here in a while.  This is because my goal is to actually help you and others.  Most words I could put on here wouldn’t do much for you.  I might switch into just making articles to entertain.  You probably read this site to avoid reality, like people who read fiction books and watch fiction movies and do so many other things to “get away” from their current life’s responsibilities.  If most of you are coming here for entertainment, why would I try to provide knowledge or wisdom?  Khan Academy can provide you with information on loads of topics, and resources on the internet cover most of what is left.

The problem is that I don’t want to just entertain.  I have a need to provide value.  I could just entertain, but then I wouldn’t get fulfillment out of it.

On the other hand, no one wants to hear someone talk to them like a parent would talk to a child.  They take it offensively even if it is meant to help.  People are not very intelligent in this regard.  We run away from the people who are actually helping us, and run towards the people who don’t care about us.

On a separate note, the message I see wherever I go is “manipulate others”.  It is not said out loud, but it seems to be part of most winning strategies.  All this advertising money is used to manipulate others into buying.  Tricks are used to manipulate people to act a certain way.  Manipulating numbers is part of whole industries.  I’m not saying I’m the moral compass on this issue, but I’m not afraid of pointing out the reality of it.  That’s what separates me from the next person.

My articles will barely help you at all.  Most of the value comes from your own actions.  If you are thinking my words are going to lift you up and take you to where you need to be, I could probably get you to pay me $1000.

There is something good about not being afraid to say such things.  It makes this article more interesting, when compared with the standard article type I see on the internet that barely takes a risk.  This is a good thing though.  If so few articles are bold, and I’m bold, then I automatically set myself apart.  This is worth noting.

One of the things I have wanted to bring back to this site is the interviews.  If I get enough lined up at some point, they shall return.

To return to the topic of articles on other sites, I notice one thing very often.  Their headlines are way more interesting than mine, and then the material is garbage compared to mine.  There just isn’t depth.  Depth is the whole reason we should take on a project.  We give out PhD’s to people who go very far in depth on a single topic over a long period of time, and these are the most esteemed people of our society(in value, as opposed to famous people whose lack of intelligence is an insult to our system of people getting paid for what they provide).

If you are wondering why I am so cool, it is not because I try to act cool or be different.  I’m already different and am willing to take risks at any time of the day.  If I am not taking risks and saying things others are afraid to say, what am I here for?  I’m not here to be another irrelevant entity “getting by”.

Thanks for reading.

-The writer you wish other writers were like

-Armen

Hey folks.  I thought I’d point out one of the problems on this site.

Often times I am writing to help you readers solve one problem or another.  However, instead of having many readers with the various problems I mention, it is the case that many of you are either writers with sites of your own, or people who don’t have or cause such problems.  It’s sort of like teaching 6th graders 4th grade material, or teaching someone in accounting class about welding.

You can choose what you write about, but you can’t choose your audience.  If I encounter some dummy on the freeway who drives in a childish fashion, and then I write about the experience here, he/she doesn’t get the message, and instead you folks hear about it.

This is what happens all over the internet.  The audience is the wrong people, so you hear a lot of “that’s such a great idea”.  You have people who quit their job getting acceptance from other people who quit their job, or people who have a certain hobby getting a bunch of encouragement from people taking up the same hobby.

Look at articles on so many sites, tech sites, recipe sites, political sites, or wherever, and you see waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much agreeing.  I don’t see this much agreeing in day-to-day life, but on the internet, there is a bunch of fake support.  This is why people rank face-to-face interaction above internet communication.  People who hide behind their computer and use it to make weaker conversation devalue it for the people who use internet communication just like real-life communication.

There are some serious disconnects between real life and internet discussion.  Internet discussion always seems lively and upbeat, like a party, but if you see the people posting, they are just sitting in their room, avoiding their neighbors, and the difference is hilarious.  Some people want a homogeneous audience that always says “yes” and “you’re so great”, but I sure don’t.

Here is the good news.  For those of you that remain a challenge, online and offline, and who don’t just become people who agree and say ‘yes’ all the time, you are doing great for society, and everyone looks forward to your presence, because it means that the boredom will be pushed away while you are present.

Sometimes I want to put in examples of the types of articles I am talking about, but I don’t want to put people’s content down.

There are about 800 readers here now, by the way.  This is okay, just like it is okay that top universities only have a limited number of seats.  It is always the case that there are not many of the most competent individuals.

The title of this post was mentioned by a person, and then he informed me that I should write about it.  I am glad to do so.

You can only win in something you took part in.  This means that loads of opportunities are closed off to you right now because you are not giving them a chance.  You are limiting yourself.

Let’s go to some example.  How about the Los Angeles Marathon?  You might think you are not able to complete it, or might be able to, or aren’t sure, but if you don’t sign up and give it a go, you won’t know, and you can’t complete it.  All that time spent in thinking and wondering mode is lost if you don’t register and go to the location.

Another example involves competing.  Let’s say there is a website that has way more readers than you, and you are interested in having a solid amount of readers just like them.  If you tell yourself the other site’s statistics are out of your league, and that you are not good enough to get there, you sure won’t beat them in popularity or value.  Quitting before you start is a losing proposition.

You Might Win Just For Being In

A corollary to this concept is that you can sometimes win just by being in a contest, or showing up, or something similar.  There are times when there will be little competition for you, and you will take an easy cake, just because you took part.  While it can come as a surprise, it is only possible when you attend.  Maybe you’ll get best speaker award at a club because someone else didn’t come that day, or you hit on a topic that was very timely.  Maybe you get a job because you were the only person who applied within the first hour who showed some initiative.  Maybe you make the shot in basketball because you weren’t afraid to go through the middle where no one was prepared to guard you.

You can’t win it if you’re not in it, as my friend had mentioned.

Turn on the TV and check the news and you get some useless “breaking news” about another shooting or accident or whatever.  Here is a bigger piece of breaking news for those in the US.  Students in the US aren’t doing as good in math and science as loads of countries in Europe and elsewhere, which reduces the future power of the US.

STEM fields(science, technology, engineering, and math, the subjects thought to be “harder” to most students) are the ones that we don’t need to be losing in, or avoiding.  Instead of material on these topics, or some news story about an engineer and his work on some nanotechnology, we get stupid news stories, because the general public accepts and desires these kinds of stories.  Real housewives and party shows and dancing and singing do almost nothing to help maintain and expand the infrastructure and development of a nation.

I write this article(among my others) not only for me, but for those who have the same thoughts but weren’t inclined to post their thoughts publicly.

On a good note, Salmon Khan and his KhanAcademy were discussed on 60 minutes a few days ago, so that was nice.

Now, I don’t know anyone who wants to commit suicide, but I thought I’d write this post in case there is one reader of mine, or a future Google searcher that arrives at this post, who will be helped by it.

This is a post for the person who is actually having such thoughts, and explains my input on the option.

Let me point out some things before I start.  If an asteroid hits Earth, we’re all gone like boom.  If some big catastrophe happens, we’re all gone like boom.  We’re things made of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and some other elements.  We try to add meaning to the world and our activities, which is somewhat hilarious, but seems noble anyway.

For the person who is thinking of suicide as an option, I have some pointers as to why it is not the way to go.

Your life is like an On button for a TV.  There are a lot of people who have died in the past who are in an Off state now.  That’s all.  They can’t make any more choices or have any more influence.  Now, on the other side is being in the On state, or alive.  In this state, you can affect things around you.  You can defeat a competitor, or cut someone off who cut you off on the road, or punch someone for being rude to you.  You can respond.  Especially for younger folks who sometimes think of suicide because they have been caused anguish by an adult in their family or someone else, that is like giving up in a video game.  If someone wrongs you and is stupid in some way, you have a great opportunity to prove to them that they are incompetent, and then continue your life as normal.

Some younger individuals have committed suicide due to bullying.  I sure don’t like to hear about this.  Who is a bully?  That would be a poorly-parented young individual infringing upon someone else’s right to happiness.  Although the failed parent is the one who should be punished for mismanaging their time with the bully-in-training, it is still reasonable for those who are bullied to outdo the bullier.  Obviously I don’t mean to say to outpunch the bully, because violence doesn’t get you anywhere, but if your mind is stuck between suicide and fighting the bully, go fight the bully.  What is a life for if it is given up without a fight?

In fact, a month or so ago, at the high school I once went to, a student jumped from a 3rd story building onto the center quad lunch area, at the beginning of lunchtime.  Other students saw his last moments.  It was said later that it is likely that bullying led to his decision to jump.  This was poignant material, as I later realized I was driving half a mile from the school at the time that someone was ending their days as a functioning person.  Sometimes we forget how different of a state of mind each one of us is in.  One person is happy, while their neighbor might be angry for losing a job, while their other neighbor might be thinking about moving to another country, and so on.

My main point here is, to anyone who has thoughts of suicide related to anguish caused by another person, my pointer is that you will get more value by proving to the person causing you pain that they are failing as a functional human being, than by committing suicide.  Also, ending your living takes away any chances to play tricks on people or try out crazy ideas.  It’s not like much matters anyway, so why not test the waters instead of leaving the ocean?

I hope this post helps someone.  I’m direct because being direct is more likely to help than being a soft fake writer like so many are online(and offline).

This post is about the current happenings of Scott H. Young, who I have mentioned here before.  This guy is really something.  On his blog, he has lately been cataloging his progress through his self-made MIT Challenge, where he is going through the courseware for a 4 year MIT course load in 12 months.  He is learning all kinds of material during the process, and sharing feedback with his readers.  I am quite supportive of this process of his.  He is currently on week 21 of his challenge which he aims to complete in less than 52 weeks(one year).  Not only is the material MIT-level content(not to say that MIT has the patent on high-level material), but he is also doing the work at 4 times the pace, as he is doing 4 years of material in 1 year.

A few great statements are being made by his progress.  One is that we are able to do a lot in a short time when we completely focus on something.  Why is Scott possibly the only one doing a challenge like the MIT challenge, when there are many who wish they could?  Certainly he has the ability as he is able to maintain his website with some weekly work, but it is also the fact that so many people throw away a large amount of their time.  Instead of throwing it away, Scott is putting the main share of it into this year-long plan.

Another statement Scott is making is about how education can be more optimized.  What he is doing is somewhat of a model for the way learning is going.  Curriculums are getting more and more optimized as we have more teachers and educators trying to make learning more efficient, from adding in online tools to help, or by targeting weak spots students have, or by trying new methods.  One of Scott’s methods for speeding up his learning is to watch lectures at 1.5 to 2 times the speed of the normal lecture.  We as people are able to keep up with faster speech, and any confusing parts can just be rewatched.

A last point I’d say that Scott is making is that it is becoming more and more able for someone to learn in their own home what was once thought to only be able to be learned in a classroom.  Lectures are being recorded on various campuses, and numerous tools and sets of sample problems are all over the internet.  There are some things that can’t be replaced in home, like performing scientific lab experiments, but a lot can be.

I like Scott’s process because he is doing a lot of learning, is showcasing it to his blog readers, and he has made it clear that he is a diligent go-getter.  You can see some example articles updating about his MIT challenge results on his site, such as:

Why Learn Math?

Thoughts on Learning a Degree, Without Going to School

Can You Learn Faster Without School?

Along with these updates on the challenge, he continues to post solid articles as always about an array of life-improvement topics.  I’ve enjoyed his articles from the first time I started reading them a few years ago, as he does and talks, whereas many writers just talk.

A butterfly doing a balancing act, nothing to do with the post

This guest post was contributed by Anne-Sophie Reinhardt, who writes at My Intercontinental Life.

Our bodies are our life-long companions, they are always there for us, from the day we are born until the last day we spend on this earth. Our heart beats between 2.5 to 3 billion times in an average lifetime and our skin renews itself around every 30 days.

That’s pretty remarkable, isn’t it? But an overwhelming amount of people are at war with their bodies for most of their lives. They constantly wish to look differently, be taller, skinnier, have longer legs or a prettier face.

Millions of people think that if they could only lose a few pounds, their lives would magically fall into place and they would finally be happy.

And while they engage in wishful thinking, they never take action and let their poor body image stand in the way of creating a truly successful life.

I know what it is like to have your body dictate what your life is going to look like. From my early childhood, I felt uncomfortable in my own skin and I desperately wanted to look differently. My hatred for my own body was one of the reasons I developed anorexia nervosa at the ago of 10, an illness that would accompany me throughout my teens and the early part of my twenties.

My body was my biggest enemy and I developed destructive habits to change it and form it in ways that it was simply not meant to be. All the while, I thought that my life would turn around once I would be happy with the way I looked.

This never happened, I disconnected more and more from my body and my life was put on hold. It is needless to say that I did not achieve a lot in life because I had put a mental limit to my potential as a person.

However, after I committed to recovery about a year ago, I changed the way I thought about my body and its parts and I was able to transform my life in many aspects. The life I live now has nothing to do anymore with the sad, depressed existence I led for 14 years.

By breaking down this mental blockade, I was able to let myself grow as a person and I finally took my life and my future in my own hands. What you can and will achieve in life hardly ever has anything to do with the way you look, it is all about how you approach your fate and what you make of it, no matter your body shape or size.

How can you tell if your body image stands in the way of your success in life? Well, here are five obvious signs and action steps to make a change.

 You spend hours upon hours worrying about the way you look

If you tend to feel bad about your appearance and you dwell on that fact for hours each day, you rob your mind of time to be creative, think differently and focus on what really matters. But not only that, you also waste tons of energy that you could use for so much more important activities.

When you stand in front of the mirror complaining about this body part or that, you put a huge negative layer over your day and this will affect every single situation and every single decision of your day. Your attitude will simply not be the best if you constantly put yourself down.

Do you really want to waste your time and life by reducing yourself to body parts or do you want to make a difference in this world by doing something meaningful and by adding value to other people’s lives?

Use your energy to work on your legacy instead on mentally beating yourself up. The next time you look in the mirror, focus on the parts you like and tell yourself how amazing you are. Repeat this exercise over and over again.

Whenever you think negatively about your body, turn those thoughts into positive once. You will notice that over time, your self-confidence will shoot to through the roof and you won’t spend nearly as much time sitting around with negative thoughts.

Turning your thoughts around will make a drastic change in your life.

 You don’t engage in social activities because of your body

When you avoid going out with your friends because you fear they might judge you or you are too self-conscious to face real life situations, your body image keeps you from having tons of fun. Do you really believe that other people will only hang out with you because of your size? Do you think that others will talk negatively about you because you weigh a certain weight? Well, here is a newsflash for you: you are not in middle school anymore (at least, I hope you’re not) and people simply don’t care. People are not as superficial as the media makes us believe. Your family and friends love you because of the person you are and they don’t think of you any less when you’re not perfect.

Go out with your friends, have a few drinks, dance and have fun. Go play basketball, even if you are as short as I am. Go swimming with your friends, even if have a bit of a belly. Be a dork, be goofy and simply let go. Don’t worry about your weight and simply enjoy the moments. You only live once.

You don’t feel you have the right to speak up because of your body shape

 I know this point so well. I was always afraid of speaking up and telling the world my opinion. I thought that this was a right reserved for those with a better body shape.  What a limiting and ridiculous notion that is!

Our value as a person does not have anything to do with our weight, but everything with what is inside: our compassion, our wit, our intelligence, our soul, our knowledge, our insecurities, our love and so much more.

So, no matter your shape or size, show the world your brilliance and put some value into each and every discussion. Ask for that promotion you have always dreamed of and worked so hard to get. You deserve it and your boss does not give your weight a second thought. Voice your opinion, even if it differs from everybody else’s and don’t let your body insecurities hold you back.

You will see how much your life will change by stopping to hide your true voice behind your body.

You don’t walk tall because of your body

 When you don’t walk with your head held high because you fear that others will notice you, you clearly stand in the way of your own greatness. You should be proud of the person you are and you should make that apparent in your posture.

Being confident is one of the most important aspects if you want to live to your full potential. Your body has no right to put a barrier to that. By sitting up straight or walking without lowering your gaze, you can instantly exude confidence. You will benefit from this in all aspects of your life, from relationships to your career.

You avoid relationships because of your body

This is the most critical point regarding the way that your body image can damage your life. If you avoid intimate relationships or you always keep a certain distance to others because you feel self-conscious about yourself, you won’t ever experience the richness of life.

Relationships are the most rewarding experiences in life and, again, your body image has no business keeping you from being in a fulfilling, loving and intimate relationship with yourself and with a partner.

Let me ask you this simple question: would you rather be alone for the rest of your life than  reaching out of your comfort zone and giving your body simply the role it was designed to have (which is keeping you alive)? You are so much more than your body, but you have to believe this in order to have other people see it.

When someone truly and deeply loves you, the person does not care about an extra few pounds or a few pounds less. When someone tells you they truly like you, don’t question this fact, but believe them.

Don’t doubt yourself too much and simply give your body a chance to make you happen at the exact weight it is right now. Don’t wait for tomorrow, but act today. Life won’t wait for you to finally feel comfortable, it is up to you to change your mindset and start falling in love with yourself and your body today.

Your life will thank you for it!

If you want to get somewhere where you are well-known, you have to put your time and effort into relaying a message.  I look at some websites readerships, or public speakers audience sizes, or TV show viewerships, and where I see big numbers, I see someone or a group of people who kept putting their time and effort into the entity.

I’m here at Timeless Information, so here is my home base.  80% of success is showing up, and the rest usually takes care of itself.  Adding to that 80%, it is good to be on time when showing up, but that is a separate item.  Now that I’ve shown up for this post, I’ve done the main part.  The rest is easy.

One thing I want to mention is Whitney Houston.  I hadn’t said anything about the occurrence, but I thought I’d point out that I listen to her song When You Believe with Mariah Carey every couple of months, because I find it to be potent.  Certain music has a strengthening message.

I also have a point to make about people commenting after someone passes.  I think I tweeted about this too.  It is okay to be sad when someone passes away, but not okay to show more concern for someone after they have passed than before they passed, because that is fake and disrespectful.  There are people alive right now who are being ignored by people they know, who will then be sent Facebook messages of “miss you” if they passed away.  If you really cherish or miss someone, contact them now and make a difference in their life.  There is too much fake material out there.

Did I plan to write these parts about Whitney Houston or passing away material?  Nope, I just started writing and it went there.  This must be the good stuff about showing up.

One other thing I want to mention.  Filter out the people who don’t mesh well with you, or who treat you wrong without trying to understand your viewpoint.  You are saved time by cutting these people off and sticking with people you can work with on some level.

Talk to you.

Find me that person who won the battle without persisting more than the other person.  On the one hand, it is somewhat bad that a persistent, yet terrible, individual can defeat a less persistent, but good-natured individual, but on the other hand, it is good that persistence can be used to defeat someone with other advantages.

I guess I will have to write here often.  I guess that is the case.  Later I will look back and wonder why, but for now I will not.

I can do a book review here.

I have been reading this book that I got called “Shake The World”.  It has some cool stuff in it, which means it has good examples.  Most books I read in the non-fiction category are basically just a topic with example after example.

I read one example in the book about a guy continuing to work on a program at Apple even after he was let go, by sneaking in and working without pay, and without the company actually knowing about what he was doing.  Some Apple employees helped him, but it was mostly his own initiative.  Most things in life that are cool come from a person’s initiative and ignoring of how other people view them or want them to be.

Another example of someone ignoring others, and just doing there thing, is this guy in Australia that has a dancing video up where he danced randomly in front of hundreds of people at the beach or wherever.  He didn’t care about how people thought of him, and ended up, or ends up, entertaining everyone.  Here’s his video.

We always support people who don’t care what people think, but only after we see that they are strong enough to continue going.  That is how it always works.  Our brains are stupid in that we hold people back until we see them going onward without concern for us, and then we clap for them.  We are broken in some ways, but we can’t expect all to be perfect.

I could have put more commas and time into the past lines I wrote, but that is useless, because you either understand me or don’t.  Rewriting everything is wasted effort.  If I am going to be persistent here, this is the only way I can continue to write on a regular basis.  I write fast sometimes. I’m writing this post in maybe 10 minutes total(it becomes 15 the minute I say 10 because my estimates are always wrong).

And that’s the end of this post.

Some field and tree

I have more energy than 90% of people. This is because of my regular exercise and activity, foods that I eat, and mindset that I have.

Maybe by sharing what I do, it can help you.

First off, I will discuss the regular exercise I do.  I play basketball often, usually two times a week, and for 2-3 hours each time.  I probably burn 1500 calories during those times.  When you are burning calories like that, you end up not caring about saving 50 or 100 calories here or there.  Always think big picture is my first tip.

As well, I sometimes do sets of pushups, or run around and stretch, or something else that uses some solid energy.  I haven’t had a downtime of regular exercise in many years.

On to the second concept, which is the foods I eat.  I don’t eat or drink stupid foods. I drink water and eat actual foods that have nutritional value.  I eat fruits or bread and sandwiches and salads.  I cook stuff or eat spaghetti.  I don’t drink soda or alcohol or eat foods with partially hydrogenated oils or things of this nature.  I eat ice cream and muffins and other good stuff, but for example, the ice cream would be one that just has milk, cream, eggs, and sugar as its ingredients, and nothing more.  You have to look at ingredients of foods.

The third part is your mindset.  You have to have a determined mindset to stay high energy.  If you lose your determination or motivation, your body will soon follow.  A solid metabolism only exists in a person who is active in habits and in thoughts.

This post wasn’t to brag that I’m super duper, but just to share how I keep up my energy that many have mentioned they have noticed.

I wrote this post in about 8 minutes because I had the interest in doing it.  That is how you should do things in life.  You either do them fast or not at all.  You may notice that sometimes you leave something 10% done, and then you don’t want to return to it for days or weeks or months.  Gotta attack it right from the get-go and finish at the same time if possible.

Thanks for reading folks.

Image from Flickr