My Journal - SpiNips

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today I felt a bit tired and down for some reason. I made a list out to try to see if it was due to negative self-talk, but I believe that this is just natural and will pass as time goes on and I keep up with my habits. If something is off Ill adjust it. Need to keep an eye on getting enough sleep though. The best moment of the day was painting hot air balloons and spending time with my friend.

Good to see you're doing great! 
I was reading through your journals and was wondering how reading affected your life so far. Did reading for instance help you become more sociable? I recently picked up reading as a side hobby. I bought 'The power of habit' by Charles Duhigg, you've heared of it. I'm also considering buying The Slight Edge, since it had a positive influence on you. I will use your experiences as a framework to improve myself. Thanks for being an inspiration!

I've got to say that you chose your hobby well! Reading good books is literally life changing. Reading books and trying out their ideas has made a significant difference in my life.

What comes to social skills, I read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. The book helped me notice ways that I could keep conversations more positive and fun, but at the time I was focused on reading more than the knowledge's concrete use so I'm probably going to return to it at some point.

Duhigg's The Power of Habit is an interesting and informative book. Now that I think of it I was actually able to understand the source of my gaming addiction better by reading the book. Definitely a great book.

I would recommend reading the Slight Edge when you finish The Power of Habit. Olson has made absolutely brilliant job writing the book. If there was a book I had to recommend to a random person wanting to improve his/her life, I would hands down suggest it. I hope and believe that you'll enjoy it as much as I do! Let me know what you think about them in your journal.

I compared progress with and without supplements and found that a varied and balanced diet is enough for me. I still managed to get from 58 kg to 70 kg and I deadlift twice my body weight. I do eat quite a lot (always did) and I drink at least two liters of water each day.

That's impressive! I'll start without supplements and focus on eating much and variedly. I remember reading some studies, that people into fitness are consuming overkill amounts of protein nowadays. Thanks for the insight!

Today I'm grateful for:

• Hugs, they lighten up my day
• Going to a concert tomorrow, there are really talented musicians in our school
• Soy sauce, plays well along with rice
• ABBA for cheering up my day
• Good chat my friend and I had about relationships

Wow. This turned out longer than I expected.  

[SpiNips]

Hello!

It's late and I'm bit worn out after a Great concert, so I'll make it quick. Feeling good and calm. The best moment of the day was watching my friends documentary, where he turned an old quay into a boat. It was really of it's own kind of a movie, but his easygoing attitude was passed on well!

Today I'm grateful for:

• Living in a safe country
• The fact that Improving an area of your life can positively affect other areas too
• Honey, I prefer it as a sweetener. Also contains good antibacterial compounds
• The timing was better with gym today
• Metallica, Nothing Else Matters. I love it!

[Cam Adair]

• The fact that Improving an area of your life can positively affect other areas too

The way you do something is the way you do everything.

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today has been a good day. I've made progress on some areas while leaving some behind, so I'm going to think them a little. Otherwise today has been pretty standard. Kept up with my habits and made some progress, especially on physics. The best moment of the day was training BJJ. Met cool new people and had really delightful time!

Different fields of success and wellbeing according to the Slight Edge, and how they worked with or against me today:

Health - Currently going strong. I have been healthy for a long time. Today I trained and ate well. I'm feeling like my health is on a positive curve.

Happiness - I have kept up with my habits. Today I have kept a gratitude journal, meditated, helped others, exercised and journaled about a positive experience. The curve seems to head upwards.

Personal Growth - I've read the Slight Edge today. I also did a couple of things that I didn't like doing, but helped me improve myself. Curve is going upwards, could maybe be steeper, but on the other had time will do it's trick.

Wealth - I have forgotten to keep track of where my money is going. Could've done it today. Curve downwards. I'm going to fix this by writing up my expenses and such.

My career - Reached my goal with studying. Curve trending upwards

Influence on the people around me - I had a great conversation with my father. I was positive and I feel like the curve is trending upwards.

Relationships - This is a bit difficult. Even though I met new people at the BJJ gym I still feel like I've not really made much of an improvement today. Curve trending downwards. I'm going to fix this by making sure that I'll spend time with positive and inspiring people tomorrow.

If you have any suggestions, comments or positive habits for example, I'd love to hear them! 

I've been thinking about the people I surround myself with, after reading the idea about being an average of 5 people you spend most time with. In my opinion this is a bit generalized, but still carries an important message of surrounding yourself with people who help you move forward. I need to think about the people around me. I can definitely see toxicity and badmouthing other people from some of the people I've surrounded myself with. I dislike that kind of acting. This is a problem since I'd list half of the people in my closest friend group as positive influence and the other half as negative. Well I'll figure something out.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Eating well, it forms a good combo with sleeping well and exercising
• Dogs, I met some really heartwarming furry fellows today
• Snow! It really lights up the atmosphere
• The scent of winter
• Italian food and tomatoes
• f.lux, It makes my screen much more eye friendly

[Tom]

Nice going! Just one suggestion:

Wealth - I have forgotten to keep track of where my money is going. Could've done it today. Curve downwards. I'm going to fix this by writing up my expenses and such.

Set aside a small sum every month to a savings account. Set up an automatic payment with your bank.

For example, €50 a month for 5 years, with a meager 1% interest, will yield around €3,100.

You will barely miss the money and if you need it you can always take it back without paying any penalties.

Edited November 22, 2015 by Tom
Fixed financial typo :)

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was a great day. I was productive and managed to keep up with good habits. I also went to the gym with my friends and had plenty of fun. Reflecting the past week was good and I managed to pick out some actions I need to work on, for example sleep schedule, learning more about relationships and dating and choosing my company better. The best moment of the day was definitely sparring with two of my friends. We did 3 man wrestling with punches, that was ridiculous, maybe even bit stupid, but it was the most fun I've had in a while. 

I'm noticing that a part of my general anxiety is arising from the fact that I don't set my goals and dreams clearly enough and in addition to that I need to figure out simple habits that push me towards them. By that way I'll know that I'm working towards my goals and anxiety eases it's grip on me.

et aside a small sum every month to a savings account. Set up an automatic payment with your bank.

For example, €50 a month for 5 years, with a meager 1% interest, will yield around €4,100.

You will barely miss the money and if you need it you can always take it back without paying any penalties.

That's a great idea! I've been planning on opening an apartment saving account with decent interest, so I could possibly use the money to buy a small flat when I need it for studying and sell it afterwards to gain some profit and avoid paying the rent. If the economic cycles play out well it might be a decent way to put money into use. Of course that is pretty theoretical, but I believe that saving for an apartment is a good idea.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Mushroom risotto we ate today.
• The Beatles, Still waiting for Ringo's journal to appear on the forum (We already have Paul, John and George if I recall correctly )
• Rye bread, a healthier option to white bread
• Having no injuries at the moment, my eye has healed well
• It's good to start a week after a weekend like this.
• Triwrestling with boxing gloves and mild punches allowed

[Tom]

Glad you like the idea! By the way, I wrote 4100 instead of 3100. Sorry 

And +1 to rye bread.

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was a good day. I've been a bit of a house rat today, but I managed to do all my good habits and gain little more insight on my goals. The best moment of today was laughing with my friends for awesome stories they told stories about their strange old and a bit questionable teachers. Also Olson's plan example about the German Sales force was ridiculous.

I have not spent enough time visualizing and thinking about my goals. At the moment I feel like I'm just floating with the flow and working towards things like happiness and health kinda passively. I know goals are things that you should have a burning desire to reach, but for some reason my vision of them is a bit dull at the moment. Having burning desire towards something keeps you going and gives you determination, that's why I'm feeling that I should have clearer dreams. Maybe I'm just focusing on too many areas too widely currently.

A thing that I have a strong desire to work on are relationships. Matinggrounds.com has proven to be an awesome source of information. It's eyeopening to see what women look in a man and the other way round. It feels easy to think that we'd value the same traits, but it's actually far from truth. Deida is on my to read list as well so I'll hope to get more information there.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Having prepared food that lasts for a couple of days. It really saves me some time
• Figuring out new sides about human relationships
• Wool socks
• Induction stoves for making cooking more precise 
• Unflavored yoghurt, One of the best breakfasts

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today I was living in the past. My thoughts were not in the current moment and I was frustrated and not present in the moment. I came home and fell asleep and after the nap life seemed a lot more manageable and I was able to shake off the bad mood. The rest of the day went well. :^) I learned that it's hard/(not possible?) to focus on the past and the present moment, so Dwelling on the past won't get me any further.

The best moment of the day was taking a short walk after my nap. The air was cold and fresh and I was able to walk in peace.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Timing of the day worked out well.
• Being able to listen to podcasts on the bus
• Tomorrows trip to the city of Turku and getting to know our cultural history
• Castles, One of my dreams would be to build a castle made out of stone somewhere in middle Europe
• Bird fluff filled blankets and jackets, light and warm

[SpiNips]

Hello!

The trip to Turku was awesome. Had really good time with my friends. The  medieval culture in Finland was more interesting than I thought. You can only wonder what kind of shock seeing Turku's cathedral's massive tower that was over 100 meter high and giant arches caused in finnish pilgrims from little villages. The best moment of the day was dining with my friends and going to the gym in the morning.

Some of you might've heard of the quite well-known phenomenon NoFap. I'm still not sure about my stance regarding that movement. There are both positive and negative ideals within the movement. I think I might discuss it in the forum section devoted to it, since I feel that in general it's better for us to stay mainly focused on quitting gaming on these major channels.

Today I'm grateful for:

• 150 days, 5 months game free!
• Chinese food and bamboo shoots
• Learning how King Eric sieged his brother Johan's castle in Turku with 10,000 men. There were approximately 300,000 people in Finland at that time
• Creating a to-do list for summer with my friend, It includes for example a road trip, cycling and maybe even going abroad if we find cheap enough flights
• Being able to spend the day with awesome people

[Cam Adair]

Can't wait to come visit Finland! Congrats on 150 days, that's incredible. Really proud of you. 

[Tom]

Congratulations on 5 months! Turku looks great from the pictures.

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today was an eventful day. So much happening around today. Generally today consisted of a presentation, training, studying and finding out I have to submit an essay in swedish tonight. Yeah altogether it has been a productive day. I will once again catch up with your journals once I have spare time. The best thing that happened today was feeling confident with the presentation, and writing the swedish essay since it turned out to be cool. The essay's subject was about whether you are your own man (like responsible for your own happiness. Never seen that phrase before.) and it turned out to be something I'm proud of. 

In the book frontier on the other hand I was able to finish the Slight Edge. Olson ended his book with style and an appropriate amount of clichés. The Slight Edge was the best read I've had. It was a 5/5 book for me.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Bach and Rameau, writing with classical music is a blast, makes you feel so civilized
• Mind maps, worthy companions when facing an essay
• Finding a solution to a problem I struggled with earlier on
• A BJJ-instructor for teaching basic moves, they end up being the best ones for beginners like me
• Listening to mini TED-talks prepared by other students in a course of rhetorics and argumentation

[Tom]

• Bach and Rameau, writing with classical music is a blast, makes you feel so civilized

I didn't know Rameau. Listening to his harpsichord works right now. Good stuff! Thanks!

[Florian]

I can recommend a version of the Händel Keyboard suites played by - Keith Jarrett. Yes. Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett. He plays the lines and melodies very clear and with purpose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-YWOWEJtaU&index=3&list=PLvQww-umMwAqPXLKYtsrF8RMGuO_2QlAp

[AlexTheGrape]

Congrats for finishing the Slight Edge! I am now reading The Power of Habit, which was one of the recommended books within the book I believe. It flows in nicely from the Slight Edge because you are introduced to how to make good habits stick, which relates perfectly with the other book as The Slight Edge is about making positive choices consistently.

I have some classical music of my own, I find that it helps me think inquisitively and helps my thoughts flow better. Good to see you're benefiting from it.

I'm glad to see you're doing well in the long run!

[SpiNips]

Hello!

This weekend has been awesome! The camp was great, we had loads of food and good time. Once again I notice myself being really busy. Have to make sure I wont slip from my habits! I'm wondering how I managed to play games with this amount of work waiting to be done around. We are having a debate about whether Websites collecting information and using it is a good or a bad thing. I'm arguing that it is a good thing. If you guys come up with sneaky arguments feel free to post them. We have a solid base for our arguments if we manage to border the debate correctly.

Pretty tired after a weekend of not sleeping too much. I'm going to take a good rest and see if I'll have more time for GameQuitters tomorrow.

The best thing that happened today was planning the debate with my friends. We had loads of fun together

 

Florian - Thanks! I'm listening to Jarrett currently. He has good confident touch to the piano

Alex - Thanks man! I read them in a reverse order. Both of them had a really good message and go well together. I feel like the consistency part of the Slight Edge decisions goes well with Duhigg's knowledge about forming habits

Today I'm grateful for:

• Spending a weekend with good people
• Debating about a question that is interesting
• How cool it is to learn how humans have evolved, If you think about the way we act is still solidly tied to the way our ancestors evolved to act
• Soon it's time for Christmas, winding down from the at times hectic rhythm of life
• Books, at the camp a thought popped into my head, if you keep reading good books, no matter what, in time you will develop perspective and learn to understand the world at least a little better.

 

[wookieshark88]

 

• Books, at the camp a thought popped into my head, if you keep reading good books, no matter what, in time you will develop perspective and learn to understand the world at least a little better.

 

This is absolutely the truth!  Between meditation, jounaling, and books my mind has really become sharper and more perceiving.  I can't even imagine what it will be like after years of consistent reading!

[Cam Adair]

 

• Books, at the camp a thought popped into my head, if you keep reading good books, no matter what, in time you will develop perspective and learn to understand the world at least a little better.

 

This is absolutely the truth!  Between meditation, jounaling, and books my mind has really become sharper and more perceiving.  I can't even imagine what it will be like after years of consistent reading!

100%!

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today has consisted of intense preparation for the debate. The subject is interesting and there is plenty of trustworthy information around. You probably know the feeling when you have worked on or studied some subject for many hours and you feel like your brain is all over the place trying to archive the information. Other than that I've managed to get my priorities done today which is good. Some habits have had to yield for today, but I will come back to them tomorrow when I have no as high priority projects as the debate.

The best thing that happened today was joking and working with my friends to come up with good arguments. Meditation has also been a life-saver when it comes to dealing with stressful situations. I'm proceeding on reading the Gorilla Mindset. After the Slight Edge I feel like some of the information in the book is not necessary but the book has great points on some aspects, so I'll finish it while I'm waiting for Way of the Superior Man and Tucker Max's book.

Today I'm grateful for:

• User's rights legislation that prevents misuse of some terms and agreements
• Brussels sprouts, They taste good and have healthy nutrients
• It's awesome to wind down by playing music
• December starts tomorrow
• Being in good terms with my family

[Cam Adair]

It never hurts to be reminded of important concepts. Also I bet in the later half of the book you'll find more stuff that isn't as related to The Slight Edge.

[SpiNips]

Hello!

As some of you might've noticed I've been quite busy lately. I've come to the conclusion that I'll need to do something about my schedule. At the moment my daily goals are nearly impossible to reach and I end up not doing all of them. I can't strive for everything at the same time, I need to seriously prioritize my activities. Most of the times slow and steady wins the race.

Today was good day altogether. The debate went well and we enjoyed it. The best thing that happened to me was joking with my friends. I tried to get all my activities done but time ran out once again either I take time from my sleep or my activities. If I take it from sleep though I will just end up creating a vicious circle. If I don't sleep enough my body will naturally cause a drop in my mood and performance. So now my focus will be on marking my priorities down and scheduling my day so that it will be in sync with them. It might be beneficial just for good measure to take a morning gym day out. I know that I'll have to be ready to do unpleasant things and leave out activities I'd like to do, but it is the only way to not end up burning myself out. 

Todays post was scrambling through a bit of a hard and annoying subject. It is absolutely necessary to go through this though.

Cam - That's true, there is a lot of good information in the book, for instance I find the diet Cernovich recommends excellent! :^) 

Today I'm grateful for:

• Smoked reindeer pasta, mmh Delicious!
• Having and listening to interesting debates today
• A great deodorant, It's a lifesaver
• Boney M, bringing me back good memories
• Board games, a great way to spend time with friends

[Ed]

Every time I hear Boney M I remember the movie Touching the Void.  Great movie.

As for sleeping, it's not too bad to occasionally reduce your amount of sleep.  Obviously it's better to get regular sleep.  But sometimes you'll have projects that take priority over sleep for a short amount of time.  Deliberately missing out on sleep should only be a strategy used for the rare time sensitive situation.  If it's part of your everyday routine then it's not a great long term solution.

[Tom]

Every time I hear Boney M I remember the movie Touching the Void.  Great movie.

Never heard of it. However after reading its plot I decided I'll watch it asap. Thanks!

[SpiNips]

Hello!

Today has been a good day! I have made progress towards clearing my thoughts with my schedule. It is sometimes hard to value my activities, but adjusting them is something I'll just have to do.

The best thing today was planning our presentation about Jesuits and just general babbling with my friends.

Today I'm grateful for:

• Graphic calculators, mathematics without them would be much slower
• Getting more sleep tonight due to having more time in the morning
• Moomin characters and books, they are sympathetic and great to read when learning swedish
• Having a good barber. It's easy to interact with him
• Sweden's interesting history, if they had had it little easier in the 15th century, a powerful nordic state could exist nowadays (though having an own culture, language and government in Finland is not bad either. )