Dan on January 2nd, 2006
Happy New Years everyone! Have you set your goals for 2006? How about 2011? If the answer was no to either of these you need to set them today. How can you achieve anything without knowing what you want to achieve?
Even if it’s a simple goal like my #2 (post a blog entry a day) it will help motivate you. You’ll then think about other goals to set and what you can accomplish.
Dan on December 30th, 2005
What are your fears? Take a moment to think about it. Do you have a phobia? Do you fear being alone or losing your job?
Far too many people allow fear to run or interfere with their life. If you have a strong fear of something, step back and evaluate it. In order to become the best person you can be you must overcome or control your fears. If not kept in check they will be a negative influence and hold you back. The general method of overcoming fear is to face that of which you are afraid.
I’ll use myself as an example. When I was young I was afraid of the dark. I would visualize criminals hiding in the shadows, waiting to hurt me. As I grew older I decided that I needed to eliminate the fear. I knew that it didn’t make any sense, yet I still felt the emotions when in many dark situations. I decided the only way to get rid of my fear was to face it. If I needed to go into a dark room I would do it, despite being afraid. I would tell myself how stupid the fear was and how there was no one waiting to hurt me. I saw instant results! While the fear wasn’t gone immediately, I had it in check and could deal with it. It wasn’t long before I managed to eliminate the fear.
First, you need to think about what you fear. What has caused you to fear it? Is it a valid reason? Does this reason outway the positives about it? Think about it in a logical manner. Next, put yourself in a controlled situation where you can face your fear without being overwhelmed. Look at the fear in context. For example, if you’re afraid of heights start by standing on a chair. That’s not high off the ground right? You haven’t even doubled your height. Next stand on a deck or porch near the railing. It’s not that high as compared to the roof of your house right? Continue moving to higher and higher objects, comparing them to even larger ones. When you feel the fear on the verge of overwhelming you stop. Evaluate the situation. Focus on rational thoughts, not on the fear. Think, don’t feel.
Of course, this is easier said than done. However, by repeating this process over and over most people can eliminate their fears. As “The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy” states, “Don’t Panic.”
Dan on December 24th, 2005
I’ve been observing Steve Pavlina’s Million Dollar Experiment since inception. It’s an interesting concept, however it has quite a few flaws that I’d like to point out.
The idea that you can create money out of thin air is an enticing concept. The promise of something for nothing always draws interest. The act of setting the goal to obtain $1 million alone can increase your income. (1) You may begin to see opportunities that existed all along. However, once you believe that money will start coming into your life due to outside influences you start to apply confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the concept that you will have “the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.” So once you believe that money will appear you will start seeing sources of income that would have happened anyway as fulfilling that prophacy. Confirmation bias also causes you to downplay anything that disproves the concept.
Take Steve’s most recent million dollar blog entry. He recently received $10,000 as an inheritance from the passing of a grandfather. Would he have received this money had he not created the $1 million experiment? The probability of that is very high. Everything to create this situation has been building over many years. His grandfather saved money, his parents are generous to their children, everyone dies, and his grandfather had willed money to his parents. It is a logical conclusion that he would have received this money no matter what his goal or intentions were. Yet he sees this money as fulfilling his intention to make a passive $1 million. Had he not received this money he wouldn’t have said “My $1 million experiment was a failure because I didn’t receive any inheritance money from my grandfather.” This is a perfect example of confirmation bias.
Wishing to receive $1 million can be an excellent intention. It will have a psychological effect on you that will help you see income that you would have otherwise missed. However, you must step back and watch with an objective mind. If you start blindly looking at everything as fulfilling your intention you will be short changing yourself and ignoring science and physics. There is no magical power that allows you to will money into your life.
1. There has been plenty of research into the effect of goal-setting. Searching the net can find many sources.
Dan on December 15th, 2005
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I’m going to sidetrack a bit here and talk about my favorite pair of shoes. Bear with me here. I bought these shoes 2 years ago. I only wear them during cold weather (autumn to spring). However, I ABUSE them almost every time I put them on. I walk through salt-filled puddles, snow, and rain. Once I used them to push mud into tire ruts and totally coated them in the process. Despite this abuse they still shine right up! Sure, there is a bit of leather missing around the top, the fine tread pattern is a little worn, and the shine won’t stay for more than a week but who cares? I’m amazed at how well they have held up. Even the laces are original. Who makes these mighty fine shoes? Sketcher. If my memory serves correctly they cost around $110.
What’s the point of this story? Go buy Sketcher shoes? No. The point is that everyone has their “Sketcher shoes.” Everyone has those small, amazing things that makes life interesting. Once you find your pair of Sketchers enjoy them for all they’re worth. However, don’t dwell on them. I know my shoes will wear out at some point and I’ll move on to my next pair. Something else will take their place as a small amusement. There are plenty of new things out there that can provide the same enjoyment. Always seek them out.
Dan on December 12th, 2005
Goal #3: Attempt polyphasic sleep for a minimum of one month.
One of the main factors that got me interested in self-improvement was polyphasic sleep. The basic defination of “polyphasic sleep” is simply sleeping more than once a day (hense polyphasic). The theory being that sleeping in more frequent, shorter periods is better for you than a single, “monophasic sleep” pattern in that your sleep requirements will be decreased. Think of it as similar to how eating more smaller meals per day increases your metabolisim.(1) I’ve always hated sleeping and when I found this concept promoting less sleep I became very interested.
To take it a step further, many people have tried the practice of breaking the day into 6, 4 hour periods. Each period includes a 20-30 min sleep. The theory behind this relates to REM sleep. The average adult experiences 4-5 REM sleep periods a night, totaling around 96 minutes.(2) The theory states that in sleeping 6 20-30 min periods your body increases the percentage of REM sleep to compensate for the decrease of overall sleep to 2-3 hours. You then obtain more REM sleep since you are having 6 sleep periods with REM.
There have been quite a few successful attempts at this form of polyphasic sleep. After an understandably rough adjustment period of 3-7 days some people seem to adjust to the pattern and claim to function normally.
The most successful polyphasic sleepers seem to practice a proper diet and a better than average exercise routine. To prepare myself for an attempt at polyphasic sleep I decided to change my diet and excersise. I already ate fairly well, with a normal meal and snack schedule (fruit and pretzels as snacks). However, after looking at my diet and reading about health I decided that I was consuming way too many carbs and not enough protein. I decided that I should change it and add excersise as well. I will post more about my current diet in the future.
These steps let me to think “Why not strive to improve every aspect of my life?” and I started down the path of self-improvement.
My current plan is to start polyphasic sleep while I am visiting my parents for Christmas. I will post more specific plans as I develop them. One of my ongoing concerns is that there hasn’t been enough scientific research into polyphasic sleep, specificly its effect on hormone production. I hope to talk with someone at the University of Rochester Sleep Research Lab prior to partaking in this experiment to see if they have any insight, and also reading Claudio Stampi’s works on the subject.
1. Louis-Sylvestre J, Lluch A, Neant F, Blundell JE., “Highlighting the positive impact of increasing feeding frequency on metabolism and weight management,” Forum Nutr. 2003;56:126-8. Review.
Le Blanc J, et al., “Components of postprandial thermogenesis in relation to meal frequency in humans,” Can J Physiol Pharmacol (1993) 71.12: 879-883.
Arnold LM, et al., “Effect of isoenergetic intake of three or nine meals on plasma lipoproteins and glucose metabolism,” Am J Clin Nutr (1993) 57.3: 446-451.
2. Roffwarg et al., Ontogenetic development of the human sleep-dream cycle, Science, 152:604-619, 1966
