500 Words

The past few weeks have been a blur. It's been emotionally draining and rewarding at the same time. First, I finally got around to launching my Science News and Education blog, sciencescenes.com. Shortly thereafter, I launched the same facebook page. In order to do both, I needed to get over my fears. I needed to humble myself and just take action. For once, I needed to stop overthinking and just create.

On top of these two actions I took towards my creative side-hobby, I also have been busy battling some sort-of cold or flu like virus. This pathogen has not just knocked me on my butt, but has also taken my wife and two children out of commision at various points this week. If you think having two sick kids under the age of four is bad, try being two sick parents trying to care for two healthy kids under the age of four. Not only that, but both kiddos have been waking multiple times either due to sickness and/or nightmares. The other night, I found myself on 2 and a half hours of sleep.

Because of the lack of sleep, my willpower and weight loss endeavors have been totally put on hiatus. I am finally turning the corner, so I will have to begin again on Monday.

Overall, things are looking up. However, no I have this personal blog as well as the science blog to take care of, and I do not have the confidence in my writing yet to not just stare at the blank page. Which is all the more reason to just start writing. I was already thinking of creating a promise to myself that I would reach a daily word count every day during my waking hours, but it was solidified today while listening to one of my favorite podcasts, “After Things”.

http://weirdthings.com/2016/01/after-things-beater-eaters/

After Things is the after show podcast of a second podcast I also enjoy, Weird Things. During “After Things”, magicians Andrew Mayne and Brian Brushwood join their creative  Justin Robert-Young discuss their creative and entrepreneurial endeavours. At the end of every After Things show, the three each pick one item which has inspired their creativity or business acumen for the week.

Andrew recommended “The Power of Habit” again this week, after Brian reccomended it previously. Andrew discussed how, using the power of habit, he decided to set a goal to write 2,000 words a day. Ever since he began working on this goal, he has met this habit daily and it has increased his creative output. He has written more than a handful of book along with various lesser writing words. He claims a friend of his made a similar goal and shortly afterwards, this person ended up with a full length self-help book.

Now, to paraphrase many writers, the only way to become a better writer is to write. I am not doing enough writing at the moment. I am not getting better at it. It is holding me back from creating. I need to write better, in order to have the confidence to write more, and I need to write more to write better.

I know I do not have the number of free hours in a day that Andrew has. I work as an educator with two little kids and need to take work home with me. I cannot work during my job hours. I can only really write after the kids go to bed.

So 2000 words is out of the question for me. However, I can set a smaller goal. I hereby pledge to write at least 500 words a day. I will not always be on this blog. I might be on my science blog. Or it might be on some other projects I have started during this most recent creative itch I have had. But let’s get writing.

Day 1. Way Done! Well Done.

-P

Lifehacks (Mindhacks) - What is the cost of doing nothing? Hint: it's not nothing.

Over the weekend I was listening to Tim Pychyl's iProcastinate Podcast, and for a very short time during this podcast Dr. Pychyl and his guest talked about a way to improve follow through on goals.

We human beings are terrible at predicting the future. It's one of the reasons large long term goals are rarely completed. We overestimate our future abilities and mood. We put off what should be done now in preparation for the future. This procrastination causes disappointments in ourselves, and can lead to a vicious downward spiral.

I often do not wish to get things done now. I would much rather put it off later. For large goals it makes sense to write the goals down. Research shows writing your goals down and reviewing them will lead positive outcomes.

However, here is a hint on how to improve the odds of finishing your goals.
 Hopefully by performing this excersice you will give a boost to your willpower, overcome procrastination, and accomplish great things.

When you do not wish to follow through with an action, ask yourself two questions. Question 1: What is the positive outcome of me performing this activity? Question 2: What is the cost of doing nothing?

By asking yourself these questions we can begin to see past our human nature and see some of the true costs of not following through. Here are some examples.

I don't wish to go for my training run today.
1.) However, if I do run, I will feel better after (I never feel worse). I will feel happy that I accomplished something today. My fitness will improve. Future runs will be easier.
2.) The cost of not running are my fitness will not improve. I will be more likely to skip the next workout. I will not have base miles to perform up to my expectations in my next race.

If I want to give in and drink that soda.
1.) If I don't drink the soda, I will be proud of myself. I will be able to add another day of going soda free. The cravings of soda will decrease each day.
2.) If I give in, I will likely give in again. The cravings will return and I could backslide.

You can go on and on for every activity. You can come up with many pros and cons of performing the activity. By thinking about these two questions you become more likley to accomplish your goals. Better yet write down these pros and cons and put them in a place you can review them often.

 Your will strenghten your will to get better. It's not fail safe, and you will fail, but with practice it will get easier.

Hope this helps. See you tomorrow.

-P

Personal Update and a Little Sarcastic Motivation

It's been a busy couple of days. I am still getting the schedule for the summer together and finding a strategy that will continue to work during the school year. My list of blog posts to write has grown over the past couple of days, and I have taken to writing them down in my iPad which I carry around with me at all times.

I haven't had time to fully write them yet. Yesterday we made a 4 hour round trip to celebrate my wive's nephew's birthday and today we took a trip to my mother's to visit with my grandparents who are in town. So I haven't been on top of my blogging or social media.

But, I still want to get a post in, and there are many other aspects of my life that are going well. For example, I was able to run for 50 minutes straight this morning. This is pretty specatacular because it is the first time I ran that long in over two years. I am feeling stronger, faster, better and more motivated.

Speaking of motivation, as I was brainstorming ideas for blog posts I remembered an episode of Weird Things podcast where they were talking about an article from the Onion that had been making the rounds of acedemia. I remember listening to the episode back in April on one of my runs (that were actually more walking than running at the time), and I immediately went home and looked up the article.

Here it is. It's the most motivational piece of writing I have read in a long time. It's spot on to how I felt about life at the time, and somewhat still explains why I am doing a lot of the activities I am doing right now.

I don't want my passions to take second stage to the motions of life. I want my passions to drive me. I want to look back on my life at the end, and have many more memories of "That was awesome!" than "I wish I would have...".

In a way, this silly Onion article put me on the path of doing the blog, purchasing web domains, and working on various other projects. Read the article, and if it motivates you take action. Learn, Try, Grow, Do.

See you tomorrow.
-P

How to be successful? Be a big baby: 5 things to learn from infants.

Okay, I am not suggesting you beg and whine to get your way. Nobody likes that. What I am saying though is that there is a lot to learn from infants. I've been on daddy duty quite a bit for the past few days and here are something's that I observed from watching my daughter.

1. Don't be afraid to try something new everyday. Never stop learning.

The world is new to a baby. They are always looking for something new to touch, see, smell, and of course, taste. By not fearing novelty, you open up a whole world of growth and experiences. Don't be scared.

2. When you learn a skill that you like, do it over and over and over and over again until you master it.

My daughter is learning to stand and walk. She will pull her self up on everything and is using anything that slides on the floor as a walker. 

3. When you fail at the new skill, take it in stride. Laugh it off and try again.

As a new walker, my daughter is constantly falling. When she does fall, she looks around startled smiles to herself and gets up again. On the rare times her fall causes pain, you know what she does? She gets pissed, and stands up again tears and all. Life and skills should be the same way. When you start something new you are going to stink at it for a while. You are going to make mistakes. Don't let it  get you down. Laugh it off, or get angry, and try it again.

4. When the tears get to be too much; when you are crabby and snapping, and the mistakes keep coming; take a nap.

Lots of studies show, we need our rest. When you are no fun to be around, when you make mistake after mistake, take a break from it. Meditate. Relax. You might be lacking sleep. Take a nap. Get your Eric to eight hours. You might think you are productive by burning the midnight oil, but if you do it too often you ability to get things done suffers greatly.

5. You can't do everything yourself. Ask for help.

Babies can't crawl up high. They don't have the strength to twist off lids. They can't open doors. They need you to help them do things. You do too. No matter how good you are... no matter how much you've studied, or trained you cannot do everything. You will need help. And that's okay.

So it's okay to be a little bit like baby. See you tomorrow.

-P

How to Be Succesful: Rewiring Your Brain to Be Happy in 5 Steps.

Yet another Life-Hack TED talk from Netflix. This one is Shawn Achor's talk about The Happy Secret to Better Work. Watch the video here:

Shawn's premise is this: You can't become happy by achieving success, but must instead be happy in order to achieve success. If you define happiness by your successes you will always push your definition of success one step higher, and therefor happiness will always be on the horizon. Instead, train yourself to become happy, and you will have an easier time at school, work and in your social life. This will lead to success.

This video hits hard for me. I've been know to be negative about the future, and Shawn is right if you base happiness on successes you will always be hunting for the next slightly bigger, slightly better success to hang your happiness on.

Shawn claims that you can rewire your brain by doing 5 things for at least 21 days. Here are those five things.

1. Write down three Gratitudes - Find three things that you are grateful for each day. Finding three new things each day will train your brain to find the positives in life. We often focus on the negatives; which lead to stress and disappointment.

2. Journal about good thing that happened to you in the past 24 hours. Once again, journaling will help you focus on the positive.

3. Exercise - Increases the efficiency of your circulatory and respiratory system which feed your brain all the nutrients and oxygen it needs. It also causes your brain to release positive feeling chemicals.

4. Meditate- In our go go go society it is important to train your brain to focus. Find a quiet space and do nothing for a short period of time. I have seen articles and talks suggest a minimum of 10 minutes. I will expand upon this in a future blog post.

5. Random Acts of Kindness - Each day write a letter or e-mail to someone in your social group praising them or letting them know how much they mean to you.

If you do this for at least 21 days Sahwn believes your brain will begin to adapt and feel happier, and a happy brain means increased motivation and activity. Give it a try.

PS: Even though my 30 days of creation challenge is done, I am going  to continue to blog once or twice a day for the duration of the summer. Tomorrow I will start two new challenges. Challenge one: 21 days of happiness (adapted from Mr. Achor's talk). Challenge two: 30 days of organization.

So, I will see you all tomorrow. Build those cathedrals.

-P

Five Deathbed Regrets... and why Gaming is Good.

I have been on a TED talk kick lately, as you can likely tell from previous blog posts. Currently I am working my way through the eight episode package about life hacking on Netflix.

 There is a talk by game designer Jane McGonigal who talks about why playing games will extend your life and the top five regrets that people have on their death bed. Here is the aticle Ms. McGonigal References: from the Guardian.

Here are the top five regrets people have on their death bed:

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
Be a wolf not a dog.

2. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. This one is especially poignant as a new father. I need to make sure I keep doing it for her, but I also need to do it with her.

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. This is especially hard for me. I am a work in progress.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. I think I really need to work on getting that weekly (biweekly game night going).

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier. Isn't that this whole point of the blog?

I was listening to Tim Pychylof iProcrastinate Podcast the other day, and he said something especially deep. He was asked about what he thinks about the concept of tomorrow in regards to people saying that they will "do it tomorrow." He responded, and I paraphrase, that always living in tomorrow is not the best idea. One of the only truths we have is that eventually, for all of us, there will come a day where there will be no tomorrow.

Let's not have regrets when that day comes.

-P

Day 29/30 Almost there!

Warrior Dash Success Story.

Me on the left. Just Three Guys!

I did it! And I completed my goal of running the whole race. 3.1 miles of running through a hilly farm and forest. Over, under, and through obstacles.

Goals Completed: Ran the whole race!
Raised $1240 for St. Jude!
Competed as a team: "Just 3 Guys"

It feels great to complete these goals. It feels great to complete this race. Small successes will start snowballing to create major successes.

I am so motivated to compete at more of these races.

So here is the lesson learned from the Warrior Dash. Make acheievable goals. Make it a social event. Your motivation will never be higher.

Day 24/30 of creativity challenge.
See you all tomorrow!

-P

Competing Against Myself - "You Run Marathons"

Tomorrow I am going to run the Warrior Dash in honor of St. Jude's.

Here is another story about how I kept putting off this whole get your life together thing.

In 2007, I ran a marathon, and I signed up for another. About halfway through training for my second, I got an injury which prevented me from competing in it. After that, I stopped training. I don't know why.

In 2010, I signed up for the Warrior Dash because, hey, why not? It sounded fun and challenging and so I started training. Not really. I ran on and off for a couple of weeks. Then nothing.

When I arrived, it turned out my brother and his friend were also running the race. They showed up in full zombie viking attire (even won the costume contest that night). I didn't even take advantage of dressing up and having fun with it.

I just ran the race. I stayed right behind my brother's friend for the first third of the race. Then I overtook him after a mud pit incident. He was hot on my trail for the next third of the race. For the final third of the race, we swapped positions for about 5 minutes. I was giving it everything to keep up with him. I'm in running attire. He's in furs and carrying a giant cardboard hammer on a broom stick. Except for the costume, he... he looked fine. Finally, he looked at me, grinned and said, "C'mon PJ. You run marathons. I can't beat you." He then kicked it up a notch. I tried to keep up, but the lactic acid was burning and I couldn't keep pace. He finished about a minute ahead of me. "Wow. I can't believe I beat you!" He patted me on the back. "Sorry." I shrugged it off, but decided next year I would beat him.

The next year... I am ashamed to say I walked the race. The year after that, I didn't even go. This year, I started training too late. I let life get in my way. But momentum is on my side. For the next 12 months I am going to train to beat my old self. PJ runs marathons. I can too. I build catherdrals.

-P
Creativity Challenge 23/30 - Almost there.

Becoming Better - Build a Cathedral

As I enter the dark jungle that is personal blogging and reflection in order to catch happiness, I am making sure I am prepared. I am reading, reading, reading. Currently I am reading Personal Branding for Dummies, and the author retold a parable that motivated me:

Many years ago a trio of masons were checked upon by their master. When asked what he was doing the first mason replied, "I am laying bricks." The second mason was asked the same question and replied, "I am making sure all the bricks are square and plumb." The third mason was spreading concrete onto the bricks. When asked by the master what he was doing, the third replied, "I am building a cathedral."

This story shows how a simple frame shift in your point of view can improve your self-esteem and self-worth. All three masons were building a cathedral. Only the third realized the true meaning of his work.

It reminds me of an interview question I was asked when applying for my current job. When asked what I taught, I realized that the interviewer was looking for something deeper than the content. I should have answered "students". Even though I was teaching students I didn't have the confidence to realize that my work was building something great.

Everyone should stop and think about why they are doing what they are doing. Really stop and think. There is probably a great outcome to your work and you don't even realize it. Once you do, it will empower you.

However, if you cannot find any cathedrals being built, perhaps it's time for a change?

See you all tomorrow. Keeping on chasing happiness.

-P
Challenge - 17/30

 

Believe in Your Students - Even the Bad Ones

I am a teacher. Part of building a better me also involves exploring ways to be a better educator. This following video shows something very important to me. I think I do my best to follow all the advice in this Ted Talk, but I know I can be better at it. If you aren't an educator, but manage people or want people to do their best for you, the advice given works the same way; just substitute students with people or employees.

First, students won't learn from you if they don't like you.
Second, they won't like you if you show that you don't like them (verbally or non verbally).

If you want to improve motivation and inspire students, believe in them. Show them you believe in them. Even when they fail; Believe in them. Sometimes you will be the only person that believes in them. Even if you don't like them; Believe in them. Did I mention...? Believe in them.

If you believe in them, they will work for you, they will learn. They will believe in you.

-P
Creative Challenge: 15/30 -50% of the way there!!!! WOOT WOOT

Joss Whedon is My Master Now - Commencement Edition

Joss Whedon gave a commencement speech over the weekend. You can see it here.

It's one of the most motivating speeches I've heard, and basically covers the reasons that I started really working on this blog. To sum it up:

• You are going to die.
• You can't change the world. It changes you.
• You will never be satisfied.
• You can make it better by listening to the voice that screams for change and accept that it will never shut up.

I really started posting on this blog because after the birth of my daughter, I was forced to deal with my mortality. I realized that while I am successful, I want more. I want to be happier. I want to listen to that voice that's never satisfied. I want to change.As all the kids are saying; #YOLO.  Join me as I chase my happiness.

Strong stuff. True stuff. What do you think?

- P
Creativity Challenge 14/30

 

I failed... and how that's awesome.

Special post.

I failed. Big time. And it's awesome. Here's why. Today I tried to work through a body weight workout in a book that I have: You Are You Own Gym by Mark Lauren. It's the same workout that I tried about a year and a half ago. I remember being sore from it, but I completed it with no problem last time.

Tonight was different. I barely made it half way through the workout. My muscles are so weak. I am so out of shape. I am discouraged, but you know what? I didn't let myself down. I'm not scared. I tried it and I failed.

So instead of harping on myself for letting myself get this out of shape, I am encouraged to try again. I am going to let my muscles heal. I bet I am going to be experiencing some DOMS (delayed onset muscle sorness) tomorrow or thurs. Some ice and some stretching should help.

Tomorrow I will run then work out some other muscles from a workout in this book. It's going to suck. But thats okay. Next week when I try this same workout, I will be slightly better. Maybe I won't physically notice an improvement, but I sure feel a mental improvement already.

-P

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%)

Cons: I'm scared. (Part 2/2)

Yesterday I wrote on the two excuses halting your sucess. Yesterday I addressed the first: It's hard. Today I am going to address the second: I'm scared.

This is my big excuse. I like hard. Hard makes it special. I can kick Hard to the curb. But I am always scared. Scared of succeeding. Scared of failing. Scared or changing. Scared of not accomplishing anything. It's the kryptonite to my superman.

Suggestions on overcoming fear are welcome. I will tell you, however, the two ways I am confronting my excuse.

First, being scared goes away a little bit with each success and each failure. Just by trying something you become a little less scared. That's the main reason why I have been putting myself out there for critisism and compliments. I have been joining forums left and right to promote this blog and to hold myself accountable. Each time I allow myself to be vunerable, I realize that vunerability is not so bad and I become a little bit more confident. This allows me to take bigger risks daily. With this confidence I have even been able to open up to my wife about "my silly little dreams" lately. It truely feels good and our relationship is stronger.

The second thing that is helping me overcome my fears is my daughter. I have to be a rock for her. She is completely dependant on me and my wife. I have no time be afraid. I must be strong for her. Additionally, my daughter has forced me to confront my mortality. Life is precious. Time is fleeting. We only get one shot here on this planet. The only time to do it is now.

I am working on this excuse. It will take time. I can't promise I won't use it as an excuse, but I am aware of it now.

-P
Challenge day 09/30

Cons: It's Hard (part 1)

My friend Jean posted this on her Facebook. I just had to ask her if I can publish it on this blog. It's too good and too true.

Too often we don't follow through on a hope, a dream, a goal. Most of the time the only con is an excuse. I have only been able to come up with two excuses for not following through. One of them? It's hard. My goal? Not to use this excuse for the remainder of the year.

It will be hard, and because it is hard... well, that's why the reward is all the greater.

See you all tomorrow.

-P
08/30 Creativity Challenge.

"Do it for her." Inspiration from the Simpsons.

Sometimes I get tired. Sometimes I don't want to do the right thing. Then I think of the Simpsons. Specifically the episode "And Maggie Makes Three."

It was an episode during the prime of the series. In the epiosde, Homer quits his job at the nuclear power plant to work his dream job at the bowling alley. The only issue is that Marge is pregnant, and Homer needs to get his old job back to support his growing family. He is forced to grovel and beg before Mr. Burns. Mr. Burns allows Homer to return and to put Homer in his place, Burns hangs a sign above Homer's desk that reads "Don't forget, you are here forever." Homer is not allowed to remove the sign, but makes the best of the situation by hanging pictures of Maggie around his office covering up portions of the sign so it then reads "Do it for her." I remember the scene being powerful when I was younger, but it has taken on whole new meaning now that I have a young one.

I disagree that you shouldn't follow your dreams, however there is a lesson to take away from the scene. Sometimes when I don't want to go forward I think about the type of man I want to be. Not for myself, because that really hasn't worked in the past, but what type of man I want my daughter to know. "Do it for her" has become a mantra.

-P
Day 07/30 of creativity challenge.
Day 01/30 of fiscal responsibility (yuck).

My new motivation game.

I can't take credit for this idea. I got it from listening to the iProcrastinate podcast. Here's what I did. I took 45 note cards. On thirty of them I wrote down motivational quotes. One 15 I wrote prizes. 5 cards had prizes like "Spend two guilt free hours playing video games." or "Spend a night watching Netflix without worry." Five of them had prizes with a value of about $5-15, and the remaining five had prizes of items I really want with values over $15.

Now every Sunday I will give myself experience points based on the things I do. For example; if I don't spend money on junk in the morning I give myself 50 xp. If I don't spend it on junk twice a day I give myself 150 xp and if I don't buy junk at all I give myself 300 xp.  I also give myself 200 xp for every time I run in a week and a bonus 200 xp if I run all four times a week.

I make these mini-challenges so that on a perfect week I can earn 5,000 xp. For every 1,000 xp I draw a card at random. If I win a prize then I have to get the prize within the next 24 hours.

So far I've only drawn quotes last week (3 of them). Next week I am hoping for a prize.

-P

As far as the spending on junk challenge. I had a bad day yesterday, so I am back at 01/30.
I know I didn't post yesterday, but I am going to post twice today, plus I had a very productive creative day. Please stay tuned to this blog for a future post about what I have been working on in the past couple of days.

Creativity challenge: 06/30
Fiscal Responsiblity challenge: 01/30

Finding Motivation in the Weirdest Places 01: Silver Linings Playbook

Things are going well. It's a lot hard than I thought it would be to come up with new content for this 30 day challenge. It's really helping me find inspiration in many different places. This is good, and will only make me a stronger writer and more creative minded person. That is exactly what I was going for.

Tonight's post was going to be about a new reward system/ game that I have semi-created (I got the idea from a podcast I listen to), but that will wait until tomorrow.

Instead, I am introducing a new series of articles: Finding Motivation in the Weirdest Places. This evening I red-boxed Silver Linings Playbook. My wife wanted something romantic and I obliged. It was not exactly what I expected it to be. I will try to keep this spoiler light and will keep, but there might be some minor details that come out, so SPOILER ALERT.

The movie is a quirky character-based dramedy about a man who is trying to find his footing again. He has just been released from an eight month stint in a mental institution for savagely assaulting his estranged wife's lover.

The story is choppy and the characters are frustrating at times, but boy was it entertaining. I would give it four out of five stars.

Anyway here is the personal motivational truths I took away from this movie:
1.) Dogged determination can improve your life situation. Our hero lost 80 lbs, runs every morning and whenever he is frustrated, and is reading through every book on his estranged wife's syllabus to better understand you.
2.) A positive outlook also helps. Our protagonist takes every setback with the mantras that he is looking for the silver linings and "Excelsior".
3.) However, they can only take you so far. You need to not be afraid of mistakes, but you must learn from them. The main character suffers many self-inflicted set backs in order to improve his situation and win his wife back. Each time, he learns from them. Sometimes the lessons he learns are frustratingly inaccurate or too small, but each time he tries to change something. By the end of the movie the character is taking his medicine, is avoiding situations that would put him in trouble with the law, and creating new mantras. End result: Happy.

END SPOILER

Here's what I took away.
1. Find a goal and create a routine to achieve that goal.
2. Stay Positive.
3. Make mistakes, and learn from them.


That's it for now. I needed to make sure I stayed on task. I'll see you tomorrow.

-P (Both Challenges 04/30)

30 Day Challenge: TED talk.

So here I am again. Tired. Pushed around. A little burnt out. But here. My dreams are killing me. I have too much inside that just needs to get out.

I just wanted to link to this TED talk. I think it might help me. Maybe it will help you too.

So here is my first 30 day challenge. I am going to pick two. I know that picking two will make it that much harder to complete. However, I need to do both of these.

30 Days of Creation - For the next 30 days I will do  the following (today counts): I will create content. I will practice producing my thoughts. I will post 30 (29 now) new blog posts or 4 panel webcomics to be posted in the future.

30 Days of Fiscal Responsibility - For the next 30 days I will not spend money friviously. This includes junk food, soda, and impulse buys. I will pay my bills on time. I will donate the remaining funds to my fundraiser by this weekend.

Day 01/30

... Waiting is the hardest thing

I'll be back soon...

For now here is a motivational video to pick you (okay actually me) up.