Personal Update - Dreams on their way, and family time.

It's been a crazy week. I've been running around like crazy for almost two weeks. I do not want to get into particulars, as I do not want to fall into excuses for lack of updates.

But I do have positive news. I have made a major stride towards my goals. My website is up and running. You can visit it here: sciencescenes.com.

Everything looks pretty good. I am very proud of the work I put into it, but I still need to generate content. I have scripted the first dozen or so webcomics and am ready to start illustrating them, but I have hit a wall. I just cannot get motivated to push through. After a couple of days of asking myself why, I have determined it is one of the big two excuses... I'm scared. Time to set a goal. I will have my webcomic up and running by Monday July 22nd. Plan on it. On that day I will have a link here for the first Science Scenes comic. My first science scenes blog post is also in the planning stages. I should have that finished before the weekend.

Other than that, I have been working a lot around the house. I finally got the garage all organized and updated. I still want to turn one area into a little workshop, but that is for the future. I have also been spending time with my brothers and my daughter. My uncle-in-law and I worked on putting together one of those playsets for my daughter. It turned out great!

That's all for short term goals and planning. Hopefully I will be back again tomorrow. In the meanwhile, keep on building cathedrals.

See you soon.
-P

Steps to Becoming a Better Man (Part 2) - Does this help you reach your goals?

So, one question I have been asking myself a lot this summer is "Is this action bringing me closer to my goals?"

If not, I try not to do it. Now, I am not perfect and do give in to temptation, but I have forgone many non-goal tasks and replaced them with more productive actions.

For example, my PS3 has not been turned on in over a month. Sometimes I miss it, but I know I get obsessed with video games. I know if I start a game, I will have to keep playing over and over until I get that platinum trophy. So I don't. At first it was hard, but I kept busy. Now that I am seeing success (weight loss, more energy, and successful fundraising and race running) I realize that the pros much outweigh the cons. Those 20+ hours a week that I used to spend chasing virtual shinnies, have been replaced with accomplishment.

Does this mean I will never play a video game again? No. I do boot up Candy Crush and Temple Run when I have a down moment, and I have a feeling that Batman: Arkham Origins and Kingdom Hearts 1.5: HD remix will suck up a lot of time in the future. But I will be aware of how much time these actions are taking and will try my best to schedule them into my downtime rather than letting these actions interfere with my goals.

It helps to have your goals written down and to review them frequently. Start with baby steps. With each success you will want more success. You will find yourself craving positive action and forgoing neutral or negative time sucks.

See you all tomorrow. Build those cathedrals.

-P
Day 27/30

How to overcome anxiety a little at a time.

The next 30 day challenge will be an organization challenge. Since summer break is here, I decided to put some things in order, so I can hit the ground running.

It's amazing how much anxiety comes from having an overwhelming amount of material to look at. One place that I have a ton of material that stresses me out every time is... my e-mail inbox.

My goal today was to look at the two e-mail accounts that had the largest backlog of e-mails. One e-mail account had over 800 unread messages. The other account had all messages read, but had 1000+ e-mails to sort through.

I first organized the e-mail by sender. Any e-mail that came from a newsletter or advertisement, instantly went in the recycling folder. Any e-mail from a social contact over two weeks, I deleted. The only e-mails I saved were:
1.) E-mails planning an event. And I only saved the most recent e-mails of these.
2.) E-mails that were receipts for purchases less than 3 months went in a folder.
3.) E-mails that were notifications for joining a website, forum, or physical membership. (I only save one as a reminder) - all e-mails went into a single folder.
4.) E-mails that were responded too, but were waiting for a response.

After two and one half hours. I am now at inbox zero for these two accounts. Some of the side folders need to be reorganized, but this will be accomplished during the next 30 day challenge.

I can feel the weight lifted off my shoulders. Give it a try.

-P

Day 26/30

What's this about a Spartan Race?

So. With yesterday's success behind us, Just 3 Guys look forward to another race. The Warrior Dash was a fun 3.1 mile trot, but we want challenge. Next on the list, The Super Spartan: an 8-9 mile obstacle course run. This time too, if we can't complete an obstacle: Mandatory Burpees!

I've got about 5 weeks left to train for it. I've cleared my summer schedule with my wife, and will be waking up first thing in the morning four times a week to increase my mileage to around ten miles. I am still working on adding a body weight workout 3-4 times a week and will be adding a daily (less Sunday) burpee routine.

Hopefully a little adjustments to my diet and the near daily workouts will help me lean out for this race. If the training goes well I have two more obsticle races to run. This will bring my total up to four races! Lets see if I can find some 5 and 10 k's in there to come closer to my 2013 goal!

-See you all tomorrow.
P

Day 25/30

Steps to become a better man (Part 01) - Defining my personal brand

So last week, I started reading the book Personal Branding for Dummies. I'm not sure exactly why I picked it up off the shelf. Maybe because this summer I have a lot of dreams and plans to work on.

A lot of my plans involve social networks and building relationships online, but my online presence is divided up among the many e-mails acounts that I have had over the past 15 years. So I was thinking that this book would help me sell myself on the Internet.

However, I got more than I bargained for. I found there is a lot of reflecting to do. So... I will be working on creating a personal brand while I launch those projects that are itching to get out of me.

Over the next few weeks, expect to see more posts labeled Personal Branding as I explore this book and the resources it provides.

-P
Creativity Challenge Day 21/30 (At this point, I would earn myself a passing grade. C- and climbing!)

P.S. My science friends: If these personal branding posts start to get a little woo-woo new agey. I give you permission to knock me down a few pegs. Please call me out.

How to turn your life around - Plan Your Summer Break

Summer of Awesome Sweetness:

I am a teacher, so I get my summers off just like my students. I like working on projects during the summer. Sometimes I work longer and harder during the summer than at times during the school year. Usually, I just spin my wheels and picking up knowledge for knowledges sake. I realize now that it helps to have a plan. So here are the plans.

Goal One: Sign up for more races!

If I don’t, I will not meet my goal to run 10 races by the end of the year. Right now I have 2/10.
Suggestions for races in the Midwest are more than welcome. In order to do this I need to make sure that I keep up with training and working out. I am going to continue running four days a week, and add on resistance training tonight.
 
Goal Two: Challenge of Organization
Once I complete my Blogging challenge in two weeks, I will begin this challenge. What will I be doing? Going through all my hard drives and organizing the files. Organize and coordinate clothes, DVDs, CDs, books. Clean out the closets. Load up bags and bags to be taken to good will and the recycling center. Turn the garage and laundry rooms into studios.
 
Continue to Create:
This summer I am going to finish uploading my website. I am will post interesting blog posts and personal updates on my quest to be a better person. I am going to upload my science themed webcomic to the website, and help students worldwide through it. I am going to finish additional episodes of my webseries “Science Scenes” for students, teachers and educators everywhere.
 
Get in the Water: I need to scuba dive over the summer. It is on my 2013 bucket list.

Search out the next big things: In 2005, I wrote a thesis, In 2006 I started my first real career as a scientist. In 2007, I ran a marathon. In 2008, I went to Italy. In 2009, I went back to school and changed careers. In 2010 … well that was a year of change and preparation so it can be excused. In 2011, I got married and bought a house. In 2012, we had a baby. I want adventures. I want new things. Ramping this blog up is something, but I want more. I have some things in the works. Once school ends I will post more.

See you all tomorrow. Keep up the good work.

-P

Creative Challenge 13/30

2013 Goal Reached - and Sunday Rewards.

Great news on the awesome front! Back in February, I listed some of my goals for 2013. One of my goals was to raise $1000 for a charity. The charity I chose was St. Jude's Children's research hospital. This hospital holds a special place in my family because a cousin credits this organization with saving her life.

She was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor when she was a child. Because of St. Jude, her family was able to afford cutting edge treatments and travel expenses. This charity made a difference. Through their treatments, my cousin beat a 6 months-to-live diagnosis and has been in remission for nearly two decades!

With the help of my family and friends I have been able to raise $1220 for charity! I can scratch this off my 2013 list, but I'm not done yet. The race is not for another two weeks, so I still have time to destroy this goal even more!


Also, I have slipped in keeping score for my motivation game, but I did record enough experience points to be able to draw a card today. My win? A motivational quote. I almost have enough for another card next week. Only drawing once gives me more motivation to record my xp this week.

"You know the rule ... if you are falling - dive" - Joseph Campbell
 

Keep up the good work. See you again tomorrow.

-P
Creativity Challenge 10/30 (33%)