Pure.

Hi folks. It's been a while.

There are a lot of things on my mind, which is typical, and stressful.  This evening I was researching my "life," a ritual I find myself falling into every Sunday.  Should I live in Colorado? What job suits me best?  That kind of stuff.  Anyway, in the process of analyzing the best cycling routes in the Rockies, the song Jupiter, from The Planets, happened to randomly play.

Are you aware of the things in your life that put you into a trance?  Watching perfectly breaking waves puts my life on "pause."  And so did this song when the melody hummed through my headphones.  What an incredible feeling.

I need to find more of these things.





--Schmidty

Your Neighbor Might Be a Hero.

When I was a young boy I was a huge fan of anything Superman, Star Wars and Top Gun related. Something about "heroes" fascinated me, I guess.  20 years later I still have a fascination with incredible people, heroic acts and monumental accomplishments.  I admire people that push themselves far beyond their comfort zones; ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

In a simple google search you can easily find traits of a hero: Dedication, Conviction, Selflessness, Courage, Loyalty, Etc...

Our media typically labels firefighters, military personnel and police officers as heroes--I wouldn't disagree. But, don't you think it is possible for anyone to be a hero?  Running into a burning building is courageous, but so is raising children. I think it is important that our (my) perception of what makes a hero isn't limited by what media tell(s) us.  There are millions of people that carry out heroic acts every day that go unnoticed.

The Bigger Picture is this: As a society it is important that we alter our perception of heroes and heroism beyond what we see on television or in the news...A hero doesn't have to be marketable or profitable.  Risking your life isn't a prerequisite either. Ironically, when you google "Heroes" the #1 link is for the popular tv show with the same title...

My Dad and I had a discussion about a year ago about "being heroic."  His claim was that anyone can be a hero and it is something you can work to become. After listening to his opinion I tore his head off and vehemently disagreed.  Sorry, Dad. It took me a year, but I agree with you now.  --This is a common theme in my life:  Dad almost always ends up being right, but that's an entirely different blog post.

Check this link out: Hero Awards
More irony:  The host of the show is Dean Cain (former "Superman" tv actor). Oh well, separating the idea of heroism from fictional heroic characters might not be feasible...good link, nonetheless.

We can all be heroes. We all have the capability.



--Schmidty

Give It Time

Whoa. What a difference a couple of days can make.  It was almost 60 degrees in CoMo yesterday (that's Columbia, MO).  I had a great morning swim workout and an awesome afternoon ride with a grad school buddy.  Downtown is almost "electric" this morning--KU is in town, the sun is out and tomorrow is supposed to be nice too!

A week ago my positive attitude was severely waning and I was beginning to wonder what the hell I was doing in Missouri...The lesson here is that allowing a little bit of time to pass can make all the difference. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but be patient and wait for things to change on their own.  I'm a bit of a control-freak, so this idea doesn't sit very well with me.

In one of my courses we are learning how successful organizations design their internal structure--the  common trend among them is the ability to readily adapt to change--they're flexible and exhibit a "bend but don't break" mentality.  The idea sounds simple, but implementation is more difficult because the process is perpetual.

Life is all about "Ups" and "Downs," right?  Adapting to the good times is easy!  And, like good organizations we can all overcome the difficult times in our lives by first expecting challenges to happen and second, being patient and allowing a little bit of time for things to change.

By now you can probably tell that I analyze life entirely too much.  I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  But, I do know this:  Today is going to be a great day.  That's all that really matters.

I hope yours is the same.






--Schmidty

I Could Use Your Help.

I'm fortunate to have traveled quite a bit and have worked in a job that has allowed me to experience some exciting, albeit dangerous things.

I spent four years in the United States Coast Guard. Three of those were spent in Clearwater, FL where I worked as a Helicopter Rescue Swimmer--I always thought I would be an Olympic Swimmer growing up but I ended up jumping out of helicopters and chasing drug smugglers instead.

Currently, I'm in graduate school in Missouri--how the hell did that happen?  Not sure. Well, that's not exactly true, but the story is too long and too boring to tell.

Lately, I have been dealing with "excitement" withdrawal. It has been miserably cold, the ocean and mountains are about a million miles from here and school hasn't been that intriguing either.  Ugh.  The silver-lining in all of this is that I live in a relatively stress-free world.  When I start to feel a bout of negativity coming on I consider what life must be like for our troops around the world. The fact that my life is uneventful is something they would probably suggest I don't take for granted.

So, I'm fortunate. But I'm still bored.

I don't receive many comments on my blog posts, but if you read this and have any suggestions/tips on how to add excitement to one's life, I would like to hear them!

This May I turn 31.  To me, life is all about perspective.  I want to learn as much about the world as I can through travels, reading, music, conversation, etc...I find "discovery" exciting. Time, when I am exploring, stands still.

What I am ultimately getting at is that I need a new adventure.  This will provide excitement and motivation.  There is so much out there to discover, but I could use a little bit of advice on which routes to research.

Thank-you.



--Schmidty

The Simple Inch

In the movie "Any Given Sunday," Al Pacino gives an inspirational speech about how football is a game of inches--that in order to be successful, one has to sacrifice for the greater good of the team.  Watch the video here:

Inches Speech

What I especially appreciate about this clip is its relevance to everyone in life, not just football players and other athletes.  He claims that inch by inch we can improve ourselves. I would like to add that inch by inch and minute by minute we can also help others improve.  And this might just make all the difference.

Too often we read about how someone escaped major catastrophe by mere inches or one more minute would have resulted in disaster.  Let's spin this in a positive light:  An extra minute spent with a friend could lead to a life-long bond.  Or answering one more question from an admirer could help them uncover their true passion.  There are a million examples:  holding a door open for an extra second could change the complexion of someone's day just as helping someone change a flat tire on the side of the road.

Most of you have probably seen the commercial that takes place in a busy city where a good deed is witnessed and subsequently passed on.  And most of you are probably familiar with the cliche "a little bit goes a long way."  I'm just not sure we realize how true this statement is, however. Typically we move throughout our day at the speed of light allowing little buffer between meetings, practices and other obligations.  To set a schedule this way eliminates any opportunity for improvisation and drastically reduces the odds (no scientific proof) of us taking "extra" time to spend with a friend, colleague or stranger. Extra time that could make a world of difference, literally and figuratively speaking.

We are all on the same team on this planet, like it or not.  Our success, as Pacino claims, will be determined by our willingness to go an extra "inch" and as I have discussed, to spend an extra "minute" helping others.  It's that simple.




--Schmidty

What a Dog Knows (Or Doesn't)

So much has been written and researched when it comes to our happiness, but if we were able to understand how dogs think we would have all the answers to our questions.

So, what does a dog know that we don't?  I think the better question is, what do we know that a dog doesn't?  What we know is that life gets difficult and as we get older we are expected to "grow up" and eliminate the amount of "play" in our lives.

We have a terrible habit of slowly eliminating the amount we play in our daily lives as we grow older because of the pressure to make money, have children, a house, a spouse and, of course, a dog.  The irony here is that each of these things are good reasons to play instead of keeping us from doing so.

Listen folks, we are all in this big world together--why then, do we choose to make our lives so much more complicated than they need to be?

This is where my analogy about dogs comes in handy....Dogs aren't racist, prejudiced or materialistic--those are all man-made features.  Dogs represent what we used to be when we were naive and carefree children.  They live to play!

I'm actually glad we can't communicate easier with canines because that would give us the opportunity to infect them with our views of the world, which, in turn, would cluster their lives with information detrimental to a carefree existence.  But I do wish we could take some hints from our furry friends and collectively realize we are way off track to the true course of happiness.  Dogs embody happiness because they don't know how to act any different. Further, when a dog encounters something it doesn't like, it doesn't do it!

A quick aside:  My mother hated it when I tried to feed the dog people-food because she said it was bad for its health---so, why the hell do we eat 99% of the crap we eat if it isn't even good enough for the dog!!!?

Dogs don't have to ask themselves why they do what they do.  They simply exist and do it happily.  We need to eliminate the things in our lives that keep us from this type of existence. An existence where it is second nature to only do things that make us smile, to only eat things that are pure and good and to build relationships around a focal point of carefree living.

They say that dogs are a man's best friend.  That's because deep down we really wish we could be more like them.

We make hundreds of choices every day. What proportion of the choices you make are likely to please the dog?




--Schmidty

Just for me, I guess...

This was an odd weekend for me--for some reason, I was reminded of the past over and over and over again.  The rain reminded me of home, talk of travel reminded me of an old girlfriend and Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" reminded me of my time in the Coast Guard and my Mom.

I think memories have a much deeper effect on our overall happiness than we realize.  I made the mistake of sending an email to an old friend recalling some of the good times we had only to be shunned for doing so. This reaction should have little bearing on my happiness because our good times were so long ago, but I would be lying if I said my feelings aren't hurt.

It's important to always be moving forward and not dwelling in the past, but I would argue that dwelling in the past can feel really good. Despite the unexpected reaction from my friend, our good times are sealed forever. They can't be taken away. However, sometimes memories are better off when enjoyed alone.



--Schmidty

Read It and Don't Weep.

I happened to be rifling through random blog sites the other day and I came across one that had me hooked--for about 30 minutes, which happens to be eternity in the blog "stickiness" world.  The young woman who authors it is documenting her courageous fight against cancer.  The irony is, I didn't read any negative commentary and I read various postings that spanned months!

If you don't happen to read a newspaper on a daily basis I encourage you, just this once, to read the headlines of various publications the next time you pass a kiosk--Almost everything that makes the front page is a downer.  A common phrase in the world of journalism is, "if it bleeds, it leads." Yuck.

Psychologists have said for a long, long time that for every negative thing someone hears, it takes approximately 20 good things to counteract its effect.  Let's do some math...If an average of four articles are on the front page of most popular newspapers and 75% of those articles aren't feelgood stories, before you even have a cup of morning coffee, you will need at least 60 positive things to happen to eliminate the positivity deficit.

Getting back to the blog that captivated my attention, I am left almost speechless. The author could easily write about the horrors of cancer, dwell on the negative aspects of what must be a miserable time in her life and follow traditional media standards.  But she doesn't.  In my book, one positive thing written in her blog can act as a guide in eliminating every negative headline I will read for the rest of my life.

Happy Reading.



--Schmidty

Get it on paper.

I have a few passions/obsessions in life, one of which is making lists.  At some point I will share some of my other passions in more detail, but I don't want to get off topic here...Today, I found a list scribbled in green pen in the back of a book I finished reading more than 2 years ago. It made me laugh and then almost cry--As I read through it, I remembered the emotions I was feeling back then.  This will sound terribly corny, but lists are my personal poetry--when and how they are written are equally as expressive as the topic being pondered.

What is your form of expression?  Music, travel, writing, exercise?

Here's a (short) list of some of my favorite things:

--IPA's
--Dogs
--Trail Running
--Bodyboarding
--My Family
--Flip-flops
--The silence on a warm summer evening.
--Fall Rain.


It's incredible how therapeutic writing lists can be.  In fact, this post would have been completed 5 minutes sooner if I hadn't started daydreaming about the Fall.



--Schmidty

True Olympic Spirit.

One of my favorite books, Blubberland, written by Australian author Elizabeth Farrelly states in chapter 5, "Fat and the Family Home,":

"We worship thin but, increasingly, do fat. Indeed, the more desperately we crave thinness, the more elusively it seems to float from our grasp and the fatter our bodies, our culture and our lives become. Thin has scarcity status."

Now that the Vancouver Olympics are upon us, I see this hypocrisy playing out before my very eyes--the world's elite competing in the newest, most grandiose sports venues on the planet--for 2 weeks. Then what?  The spirit of the Olympics has little to do with the facilities and everything to do with leveraging competitive spirit into a neutral medium for nations of all shapes, sizes and beliefs to do friendly battle on a level playing field.

Each Olympics the media hones in on a few "feel-good" stories and have you ever noticed that these stories always revolve around athletes from the poorest countries?  We feel uplifted and so proud of these people but never consider how ridiculous the polarity we are seeing really is...I'm not suggesting that we live in poverty. I'm suggesting that we consider the notion that to compete on the world's largest stage does not require the best facilities, the best coaches or even the most talent.

In fact, if what Farrelly writes is true, we might all be able to live perpetual feel-good stories if we reconsider how much is really enough.  Just because your stomach is growling doesn't mean you need to eat.  Just because you have millions of dollars doesn't mean you need a 10,000 square foot home.  And conversely, just because you hardly have a nickel to your name doesn't mean you can't have fulfillment.

Life, contrary to popular American thought, is not about the acquisition of possessions. Life should be about the acquisition of friendships, experiences and learning to live with people from countries of all sizes, shapes and belief systems.  If we can develop this attitude, we should all be considered Olympians.



--Schmidty

Say Cheese!

In Tim Ferris' book, "The 4 Hour Work Week," he invites his readers to undertake a variety of challenges to help them gain confidence and comfort in public settings. For example, he dares you to find a busy place and lie down in the middle of that place for 30-40 seconds and then get up and act like nothing ever happened.


In Dale Carnegie's book, "How To Win Friends and Influence People," one of his recommendations is to smile more often because it portrays confidence, humility and a friendly demeanor.


If we combine Ferriss' challenge with Carnegie's suggestion, we have a blog topic!  As you walk around take notice of how many people stare at the ground when you walk by.  For the past couple of months I have actively worked on looking random people in the eye and smiling as I pass them on the street, at the gym, etc...This makes some people very uncomfortable but I was quite surprised by the amount of smiles I received in return!  A smile never hurt anyone, so give it a try.


Here are some random facts about smiling I uncovered after doing a bit of research:

--Smiling releases endorphins and makes us feel better, even fake smiles.
--We are born with the ability to smile.  Even blind babies are able to smile.
--Smiling is contagious.
--It is easier to smile than to frown.




--Schmidty

We all need to get lost (outside).

Today I want to discuss a topic tangentially related to my passions of fitness and the environment. The world is moving faster than ever before--new technologies, government corruption, skyrocketing obesity rates and pollution are only some of the by-products of the planet's most influential societies. What these societies have in common is that the people that live within them are spending less and less time outdoors.

Getting outside and away from the daily grind, has, for as long as I have ever known, been a popular relaxation method--being outside is a form of detox, but it shouldn't be perceived this way. Spending time outside is much more than a beach vacation.

There is a lot of really cool shit to do in this world! Being outside, therefore, has to be about exploration and getting lost in landscapes bigger and much more powerful than us. If we continue to only get outside to cool our jets or take a lunch break, we are missing the bigger picture that exploration provides.

Spending time outside should feel freeing; liberating. It should be something you do not to escape your hectic work life, but something you do to gain perspective, to learn about yourself and to realize that we are Earth's visitors, not the other way around.

Time outside could mean a walk down the street, a cool dip in a river, a ski trip--a million things.  Just do more of it! By spending more time outside you will most certainly come to the conclusion that many of the daily work decisions you make are made in an "employment vacuum."  And, any type of vacuum is hardly a good representation of authenticity.

A quick question: Every other living species on Earth lives outside (or underwater), so why do we spend the majority of our time doing the opposite?  Yes, we have the means to add a little more comfort to our lives, but have you ever considered that this comfort is locking us inside and slowly diminishing our ability to make clear decisions, friendships and remain healthy?  That spending less time outside is creating a jaded view of reality?

I think many of the world's problems exist because we fail to view life perspectives through other people's lenses.  The only possible way for us to pave a smoother road into the future is to spend more time outside developing and sharing our own perspective. By doing this we will have a better idea of how our actions affect the rest of the world and the rest of the world will understand how and why we choose to do the things we do.

Get off the couch, put on your shoes and get outside.


--Schmidty

Variety can be the spice of life...

In a microeconomics course I took as an undergraduate student, my professor (Dr. Eugene Silberberg) frequently tossed around the idea that "variety is the spice of life."  From an economics standpoint I think he was trying to insinuate that it is really difficult to measure people's preferences on a national scale   because we have so many choices in every facet of a typical day.  For an economist, it must be a dangerous proposition to create research models based on stereotypes.

Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, Tipping Point, What the Dog Saw and Outliers takes this train-of-thought one step further by articulating how variety creates satisfaction.  In a speech he gave for TED.com in February of 2004, he relates happiness to the horizontal segmentation of pizza sauce, mustard and coffee. See video here (It's quite comical):

http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html

His presentation concludes with the statement: "By embracing the diversity of human beings, we will find a sure way to true happiness."

The bigger message here is that we should keep creating, inventing, re-inventing, sharing and learning about our world.  Too many options can cause problems, but options also espouse diversity. And, according to Dr. Silberberg and Mr. Gladwell, this is a good thing.


--Schmidty

Like My Dad Says: Be Great.

My most fundamental belief is this:  Everything I do has an effect on everyone else in the world--we are all inter-connected in some way.  We are all equal. We all have the same influence.  The idea of philanthropy, therefore, is something we can be doing all of the time, as long as we focus our daily individual efforts towards achieving positive outcomes.

There are more than six billion people on the planet, which is enough to make all of us feel insignificant in the big scheme of things.  But, we are hardly insignificant.  If you were to consider the causal nature of my most fundamental belief, you will realize that whatever you are doing right now is similar to the effect an earthquake in Japan has on the California Coast two days from now. You have no idea how or where your actions today will end up next Tuesday.

I have always appreciated people that have attempted to hold me to high standards.  There is little reason for me to approach life with a jaded or cynical view.  Ultimately, we are all each other's mentors. The better I live my life, the better everyone else can live their own. And maybe someone reading this blog will do something that inspires greatness half a world away.


--Schmidty

A bout with Boredom.

Boredom is the enemy. No matter how much of an effort you make to remove it, it always comes back. Today I realized the only way to combat it is to embrace it--in the form of relaxation. By that reasoning, boredom might actually be a blessing--a time to let your body heal, re-charge and prepare for its next bout of excitement.

Today I felt like I was starring in the movie titled, "This is the most boring day. Ever."  Sitting here now, I realize that I need days like this and should appreciate a slow day instead of letting it aggravate me.  Some things you can't force and a slow day is certainly something that is out of anyone's control.

It took all day for me to finally come to this realization. But now I'm drinking a beer, listening to reggae music and hoping for a boring day tomorrow.

Maybe boredom is my savior.


--Schmidty

It's all in your mind...

Please take a moment to visit the two links below:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/232781/page/1

http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_gilbert_asks_why_are_we_happy.html


The power of the mind is amazing.  It can be liberating or confining. You make the choice.




--Schmidty

Truths

For those that are not familiar with the US Military each service has a set of core values.  The US Coast Guard lives by: Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty. Any Coastie will attest that these principles can be applied to any aspect of all USCG jobs, and, for that matter, to anything in life.  I think there is an important lesson to be gleaned here.

The core values promoted by the USCG provide a framework from which it is possible to achieve tremendous things.  Without this framework I don't think it would be possible to complete daring rescues, endure months at sea or effectively react to homeland security threats.  What we can learn from the USCG is that having a set of core values, or, what I like to refer to as core 'truths' in the civilian sector, is a necessary platform to achieving greatness.

Easier said that done, right?  Yep.  It can take months and potentially years to create an initial set of core truths. In fact, core truths can and will change/evolve with time, age, perspective and wisdom. This is a good thing!  It means you are living life, analyzing your experiences and adjusting accordingly.

Here is a good place to start if this idea seems foreign:  Creating core truths is about being honest--honest with yourself.  The closer you can get to knowing you, the clearer your truths will become.  The goal is for you to determine what you think regardless of external criticism.  My best suggestion is to spend time by yourself--enjoy your own company.  Create the best environment for internal reflection.  Only you know what this entails.  Only you can make this happen.  Enjoy the process.



--Schmidty

 

Just Say No!

Are you bogged down by a schedule that is too busy?  How much of what you do is actually productive as opposed to a lot of hustle and bustle?

I find that it is quite common for people to confuse the idea of productivity with being busy. Most busy people, ironically, aren't very productive.  For busy-bodies, the most important tasks within their days are afforded the same amount of limited attention as the not-so-important tasks because there are too many items on the "To Do" list.  They live a diluted existence and become so accustomed to getting stuff done that they never truly experience the best life has to offer by choosing to do only important, value-adding activities.

When you consider your daily routine, what are the things you do to "fill" time?  Anything that comes to mind as "filling" time is not necessary or not something you enjoy doing---so, do something that is!  One thing we have complete control over is what we choose to do with our time.  The notion of keeping busy is a plague that has us fooled into thinking we are being productive.  There is a difference.

Here are some examples of colossal busy body time-wasters (In my opinion)...:
--Gossip
--Surfing the Net
--Reading and worrying about the news, or watching it.
--Negative People
--Fad Diets
--Erratic exercising
--Long work commutes

It's "ok" to say no to time-wasters.  And, it feels really good too!


Schmidty


--

Moving in a new direction with this thing.....

Lesson 1!  

Some day I would love to be a motivational speaker.  This is probably a good forum to determine whether or not I am actually motivating. But, let's move on--the new purpose of this blog is to provide lessons on how we can actually cut through the bullshit in our lives.  Each day (I know, I know, blogging everyday might eventually become a chore. We'll see how long I last) it is my intent to discuss something trivial in life that doesn't need to be.

Clarity=Simplicity=Good Decision Making=Clarity=Simplicity

Today's discussion will begin with a basic lesson of the term, "value." The idea of value is something that will be re-visited over and over in the coming weeks and months.  It's important.

Value, in a business sense, is what you get for what you pay.  For our purposes, value has a positive connotation. Some things have value and some things don't. The ultimate goal is to fill your life with items that provide value. Everything else should get the boot.

Here's a good example:  Think of friends and acquaintances in your life...Are each of these relationships balanced?  For the amount of work you put into these friendships are they giving you the same effort, nurturing and guidance (or more) in return?

We'll discuss this more tomorrow.


Schmidty

In life we have the opportunity to make choices that make us happy. I realize this. Life is best when it is simple and people are honest...The problem is that many others would rather be miserable because it keeps them busy. There is little benefit in spending time with these people.