Motivate Me!

How to never miss a deadline!

2011-09-20T10:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated this blog as often as I used to this week because I have been pretty busy with work. As a croupier you don't work every night and you don't even have a stable job, everything depends on whether the casino need employees. I've worked five days in the past week, and I've dealt great hands too! I'm just really glad that this week was so great because I had weeks where I worked only 1 day a week. To say it all actually, even though I don't work much, the times I do, I get paid pretty well and the winning players at the tables always leave good tips. Anyway, enough of that. As you might have understood from the title of this post, today's post is going to be about missing deadlines and how we can avoid missing them.

Most of people miss deadlines because of procrastinating too much. In high-school I was a hardcore procrastinator, I was missing every deadline because of my procrastination, It had gotten to the point where I did not have anymore excuses to tell to the teachers in order to buy me some more time. Then I started realizing that something had to be done, and I started thinking about thing that I could do in order for me to never miss a deadline again.

Here are three simple things that would help me don't miss my deadlines:

1. I wrote down everything I had to get done. Just the fact of having them written down helped me me take seriously everything the things I had to do.

2. I would tell everyone I know that I had already started doing it or sometimes that I already finished it. I find pressure to be a great motivator, and if you choose to tell these "lies" to people that you don't want to disappoint the pressure will be even greater that way you will be sure to not miss that deadline.

3. If you know you got time before getting your job done, then start doing it little by little. Don't procrastinate into thinking that "you got time". Trust me, having your work half done will motivate you to finish it and a slowly planned and well thought work is much better than one done in a hurry.

As you can see not meeting deadlines has a lot to do with procrastination, and as an ex student I can say that the habit of procrastination is the worst habit one can take. I hope this tips helped you and always remember that self discipline is the key to everything.

-Roger

Workout Motivation for Beginners

2011-09-10T08:56:00.000-07:00

As I discovered, about 4 moths ago, that in order to feel good and proud about myself I had to do something social, intellectual, physical and work involving everyday I started doing so bit by bit and day by day. Only 3 weeks after I found the "requirements for happiness" (that's how I will reefer to them) I started the last bit that I was missing and that was the physical part. I actually said to myself to that I was going to start "the next Monday" but the lazy guy inside of me kept telling me to not not do it. I kept finding stupid excuses like, "I should probably wait until I buy those dumbbells" or "I'm tired today, I don't think I'm going to be able to finish the workout". For a person that doesn't workout these excuses might seem legitimate but once you start looking at things from a different prospective then you realize that that you actually lying to yourself which is the most humiliating thing that you can do to yourself.

The biggest obstacle that I would find was tiredness. So I got a sheet of paper and I started writing down why I deserved that big meal or why I deserved watching TV or browsing the internet after work. On the back of that sheet I wrote what were all of the benefits that were going to come if I started working out. When I finished I realized that the reasons to not workout were a fewer than the benefits that would come if I started working out. This was one of my biggest motivation and I will keep being until I get the body that I want. Another big motivation for me was my grandfather who passed away because of his obesity problems, he was only 50 years old when he passed. Just thinking about the fact that I was making the same mistakes that my grandfather did, and I wasn't going to be able to see my grandchildren like he did, made me realize that I really needed to change and I needed to do it as soon as possible.

Anyway, now all that all the initial struggle is gone I can't wait to workout and the more I workout the more I feel better about myself. As you might have already understood the change is not only physical but it's psychological too. Your start feeling better about yourself, your self esteem goes up, you will start having more social skills and you insecurities will go away. There is no reason why you shouldn't do it, you've got nothing to lose after all. I can spend here hours and hours trying to motivate you but remember in this life you've got one thing and one thing only and that is self discipline. You are your biggest motivation, make yourself and your life the best show that people have ever seen. Find you motivation, set a goal and achieve it. That is all folks if you wanna start working out today here is a link that will teach you the basics. I will leave you with a video that I watch every day before hitting the gym.

Thoughts on life...

2011-09-02T05:46:00.000-07:00

I've never been the kind of kid that studied. I've never felt the need to study maybe because all I was learning was a bunch of crap that I did not care about, maybe because I considered myself too smart for what I was studying; either way I never fit in with all the "good" kids of my town. When I was in High School every single time I woke up to go to school I felt like my day was going to be so unproductive and I have this thing that if I don't do something productive by the end of the day I start feeling "guilty" and I'll keep that depression-type felling for the whole night. Just lately I've discovered that if I do something physical, intellectual, social and work involving I feel balanced by the end of the day. Getting back to the topic, I kept living my life like a parasite, just because my parents were telling me to and because they approved of it. If it was up to me I would have never gone to college, even though I was studying stuff that I cared. I felt like my time was being wasted because those were facts that I could have learned just with a Google search. When I dropped out of college and got a job at a clothing shop in Washington I realized that I had been going through so much pain for nothing. School wasn't for me and it will never be. All the schools go around saying that they "prepare us for our future" when in reality they are just turning us into buckets filled with not useful knowledge. All they ever teach us about is humanistic concepts that wont turn into nothing. They are making us cultured people but they are not teaching me how to use it in order to "survive". What I mean by survive is make money, because at the end of the day what matters is money and everything we learn or know must turn into money, it's sad but it's true. So getting back to the original point (I know I ramble a lot) all I ever learned in school was notions that I've never used in my life. As I am laying here on my chaise long with a beautiful view of the Colosseum I am proud of myself for not being the typical American guy who goes on a hike on the weekend with his family. I broke the schemes, I was able to forget everything that was ever taught to me and I educated myself according to my schemes. I left everything I had in the US to start a new life and I have to say that I was worth it. I hope this inspires someone as just thinking about how much I have accomplished in the past year keeps motivating me.

If nothing motivates you, try this.

-Roger

The story of how I moved to Europe - Part 4

2011-08-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

I saw two police officers at the hotels reception. My heart was beating very fast, I was shaking from top to bottom, I was sweating like never before. Just the thought of that moment brings back the most uncomfortable feeling I have ever felt. I walked quickly to the elevator, ran to my room and hid all the money that I had in the bathroom's sink, I lied in my bed and hoped to fall asleep. I heard someone knocking on my door, I pretended to be asleep. It was the police, they kept knocking. I decided to open up and I acted as if I just woke up, I was scare shitless. They had found my social security card and they had been looking for me this whole time. It felt like a big stone was just remove from my back. Those were the most scary moments of my life. I hardly fell asleep that night, I kept struggling with the sense of guilt and fear that kept harassing me for the last couple of days. The next morning I woke up later in the afternoon and I decided to go look for a job. I didn't find a job but what I found was a croupier school. Considered my love for casino games and gambling I decided to enroll. On my way back to the hotel I noticed that a bar near the Colosseum was hiring a waiter so I went for that too. See, in Italy you don't have to apply for the job first and then wait for the response, if you ask for the job and the owner of the bar decides that you are able to do the job, you get the job at the moment. I was finally starting to feel like my life was becoming balanced. The owner of the bar offered me a bed at his place in return for some English lessons. His name was Marco and that man is as dear to me as my father is. To be continued

The story of how I moved to Europe - Part 3

2011-08-17T04:37:00.000-07:00

After waking up I felt better, my knees weren't shaking anymore, my mind was more relaxed, and I was slowly coming back to normality. I hit the hotel's gym for a half hour and had a good shower: I was ready to begin my "new life" if so we can call it. I had about € 450 in my pocket and I headed out searching for something to do, I wasn't sure as to what I was searching for but I knew that staying closed in my hotel room wouldn't do me any good. My Italian was poor but I managed to order a coffee and a croissant in this very crowded bar. I had never seen one like it before, people coming in and out like ants and the barman shouting across the bar to his assistant. I starting to feel strange since I wasn't use to having my personal space invaded so many times in such a short period of time, but I had to adapt, after all this is what I wanted right? I finished my breakfast quickly I headed out where a couple of old men where playing cards. They were playing 5 card draw poker. That's it I sat down and started playing, hand, after hand, after hand, I was on a winning streak. The luck must have been on my side that day since every time I play poker I seem to not get a hand right. Anyway, being around € 200 up I decided to say goodbye to my friends. I had managed to earn some money that day but obviously this couldn't go on much longer. From there I decided to get back to my hotel room and order some food in my room, when the inevitable happened. To be continued...

The story of how I moved to Europe - Part 2

2011-08-16T02:40:00.000-07:00

All right! So, I'm back and I'll just keep writing about my journey. Once arrived at the airport of Fiumicino in Rome I was tired, hungry and broke. All I had was a couple of dollars and with those money I decided to buy a sandwich at the airport. I was happy though, I thought "did it, I am in Rome, the city I have been wondering about for the last couple of months" but I didn't have any money to enjoy all this beauty. I needed money, and I needed them fast, when a glimpse of my childhood memory came back to me. I remembered how fun it was to pickpocket my grandfather and to watch his surprised face when I returned his wallet back. Yeah, you guessed it, I started pick-pocketing people. I would only target man since they were the easiest marks. I remember how easy it was stealing wallets from young guys who wore baggy jeans, my whole hand could slip in that back pocket and he would even notice a thing. I spent my first hour in Rome hustling people, not a good start, huh? Finally I had enough money to get a Taxi to "Piazza di Spagna" which is one of the most crowded places in Rome. Then I hustled some more. When suddenly my guilty conscience took over. I probably spent 3 hours in this park nearby just thinking of how many days I ruined. I decided to live with that. I found a cheap hotel and I spent the night there. To be continued....

The story of how I moved to Europe - Part 1

2011-08-14T16:53:00.000-07:00

I have to say that the best thing that ever happened to me was moving to Europe, Italy precisely. I love this country and I love the whole European "air" that I breath. While I was living in Washington my life was so boring, I'd spend my free time in front of my computer screen just browsing for absolutely nothing. My job was so boring that it got to the point where I fired myself and lived off of the money I spared. Long story short, I was unsatisfied with my life. I had only 1200 bucks left and I decided to buy my ticket to Italy with those money. Yeah you probably guessed it, I spent all my money on the plane ticket. When I came here I had nothing. But I planned out everything, my new life was going to begin now, and I was not going to screw up again. I mean, I had a lot of time to think and plan everything in minor details. But now it's 2am here and I'm felling kind of sleepy. I will continue in the next blog post. Ciao!