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
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
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
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
Saturday, February 13, 2010
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
"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
Friday, February 12, 2010
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
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
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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
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
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
