Florian

It's strange how we are often initially "weirded out" by our own voice, right? I eventually came to the conclusion that everyone else hears me talking in the voice I find strange, and they are not running away, so my voice is probably fine.

Day 15 What am I grateful for today? 1. A warm apartment. It does become a bit cold outside, and warm rooms go well with my cold showers. 2. Fall season. Despite its cold, the fall season is quite beautiful. I actually took a photo - I like how the golden colors mix with the still green ones. 3. My white board. Everything looks great, having my goals listed on there. 4. Getting up early. Still the best part of the day, although I'll be in bed earlier today. 5. Meditation. Last 15-min interval, tomorrow I'll meditate 20 minutes. Headspace. 6. Science. My passion. 7. Writing. Another passion. 8. Books. They take you into a completely different world, if you let them. Read the "Neverending Story" by Michael Ende. 9. My kitchen. I always liked big kitchens... 10. ... steaks. Because you can nicely fry those in them. What would make today great? 1. If I could look back at the day and say: "I enjoyed everything I did." Daily affirmation. I am moving on and nothing can stop me. Three amazing things that happened today. 1. The package with Christmas sweets from my uncle in Germany has arrived. Funny that I chose to not eat any sweets during the month of november... well, now I have something to look forward to! 2. The weather was great outside so I could take good photos of the leaves in fall. 3. I called several old friends and had great conversations. How could I have made today better? Maybe if I had not watched a two hour movie for dinner - I would have had more time to work on my projects. On the other hand, I was a bit exhausted and felt I needed a bit of a break. Meditation My 10 biggest fears. #1 - Fear of large insects. #2 - Fear of losing control. #3 - Approach Anxiety. #4 - Fear of commitment. #5 - Fear of dental treatments. I should have never asked the dentist to show me his instruments. Never do that! #6 - Fear of needles. Not really a fear, but I really cringe every time I get a shot. #7 - Fear of abandonement. Though I have mostly overcome that fear. I live in the US far away from home after all. #8 - Fear of falling. #9 - Fear of failure. That must be what underlies my desire to be perfect. It also makes it hard to write this list down. #10 - Fear of success. There is still some residual fear there While I googled common fears, I saw that fear of public speaking is the second most widespread fear, after fear of heights. I guess I can be thankful that I actually enjoy being a public speaker. Something else to be thankful for. I feel if you enjoy being with people and just imagine you are explaining something to a friend, you can survive the crowd pretty well. Playing in an orchestra also helped. How will I tackle one of them? Well, it's probably the easiest when I try to kill my approach anxiety, which has crept back up, by talking to 10+ girls the night I'll sing Karaoke the coming weekend.

Unfortunately, Karaoke has to wait until the weekend. I tried three different bars and none would host open mics tonight. At least I had some nice chats with several people in the bar and I stumbled into a friend on my way home. So it was a fun night out anyway.

Hi Alex, I think that quitting video games (or any other addiction) means you are again the master of your own life. Without video games, you are forced to find the meaning in your own life. That can be a long process, and maybe in the end you find that you do want to play video games now and then again, but then it will be out of your own decision, not because it has become a habit. You want control back in your life and setting your own goals.

Day 14 What am I grateful for today? 1. Getting up early. I feel like nothing can stop me when I am up at 5 am. 2. My space heater. Today, the cold did dampen my enthusiasm a bit. Then I thought: "Wait a second, I have this machine here..." And the problem was solved! 3. Game Quitters Challenge. I like these missions, and the community is great as well! 4. NoNothingNovember. This just adds another layer to working towards my goals. 5. Having written down all my ideas. Nothing feels lost. 6. Having decluttered my house. Almost a whole layer of fog removed after I got rid of 465 items from my household. 7. Writing. Clears my mind. 8. Morning workout. It's tough, but the "burn" in my muscles afterwards feels really good. 9. Podcasts. Always easy to listen to in between. 10. Great books. They are like mentors. What would make today great? If I really enjoy myself while singing Karaoke tonight! Daily affirmation. I can do it, even if I feel exhausted sometimes! Three amazing things that happened today. 1. I finished going through half of my ideas and sort them into projects. That was a big chunk. 2. I sent out the booklet draft to the contributing authors and got some feedback already, largely positive. 3. I am going out of my house in a couple of minutes to the open mic night Karaoke! How could I have made today better? I could have been a little less nervous in the face of Karaoke tonight. I am sure afterwards I feel fine though! Meditation It was an interesting experience - I used the video from the Game Quitters Challenge pdf: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ij3wG2slM I did not expect that I could sit still for 45 minutes, but I did it. It helped that I completely let go and just followed the instructions. Do you know these patterns where you fix your eyes and stare "through" the paper or screen, until a 3D image comes up? I try to do a similar procedure with my thoughts. I look at a certain item in my mind, think about it, try to visualize it and then just imagine I am staring through that item in my mind. That completely gets rid of any thought. That's how I free myself during meditation, and the more often I do that, the longer I can keep that.

Ed! Hadn't realized you were here. Great to see you. That sounds like a very efficient way to get off the internet. Maybe I can find a way to do that too. Day 13 What am I grateful for today? 1. Getting up early. Still the most important part of the day. I still look forward getting up at 5 am. 2. Living in the US. Whenever I see the many goals that I still have, it's nice to realize that I already got my Green Card and can work wherever I want in the US. One dream fulfilled. 3. Friends and family. I have called at least one family member every day over the last week, and it makes me indeed happy. 4. Christmas time soon. The best time of the year. 5. My computer. I would not be writing this without it. 6. Writing. And writing makes me happy. 7. My scanner. An efficient reduction in the numbers of documents flying around. 8. Protein shakes. The current one with chocolate flavor is pretty good. Yet almost no carbs! 9. Meditation. It has already shown its effect. Whenever there is a lot going on in my mind or around me, having learnt to trust that there is always calm underneath is making life a lot easier. 10. Working towards a goal. If you have a goal and a purpose, the action steps I need to take are almost self-explanatory. What would make today great? If I could minimize distractions - which I did. I actually counted the times when I could get distracted, and 70 - 80% of the time, I withstood. So I'm happy about that. Even though the number could still be higher. Daily affirmation. Even if I'm tired, I can still get as much done as possible. Three amazing things that happened today. 1. I went through 1/3 of my notes from the last month. Two more days, and I have cleaned up my thoughts from this gigantic chaotic heap and put them into defined action steps. 2. I managed to do the 7-minute workout after my 120 squats, sit-ups and push-ups. 3. I feel at the end of the day I really was efficient today. A great feeling. How could I have made today better? I could have sent out the booklet as I wanted to. Completion list I spent a long time going through lists of notes I made during the last months, so the whole day I basically worked on my "completion lists". I still took 30 minutes to actually cross something off the list, and it was a good experience. I also dedicated from 6 - 8 pm each friday to complete my open projects. That will probably help me a lot. i take a lot of notes, but then never really review them. So they still get lost - not in my mind, but in a big, bottomless heap of endless data. Another observation I made is that the earlier I get stuff done in the day, the less stressed I am towards the end of the day. Doing something for 10 minutes at 12 pm, when the other half of the day is still there vs. doing something when there are only two hours left is a completely different feeling. Even though it takes 10 minutes in both cases.

Do you actually recommend taking some dedicated time each day to not work? Like 2 hours in the middle of the day where I completely switch off. I have the hardest times to keep on task when I am either unsure about how to move on or a lot of unfinished thoughts accumulating. Just two hours "off" could calm that down. Or would you work through those times and trust that the mind picks up the direction sooner or later? I certainly have no problem finding stuff to work on.

Day 12 What am I grateful for today? 1. Thank God It’s Monday! The start of the week, and I am full of energy. 2. Getting up early. I eagerly anticipate the arrival of the next day when I fall asleep the evening before. 3. Writing. I had a “Eureka” moment today: it does not matter if you are employed or have your own business, all that matters is if the product on which you are working is valuable. 4. My morning routine. A reliable staple of a good start into the day. 5. My iPad. 70 books in print would be very heavy. 6. My internet connection. I would not be writing this here. 7. My desk. Large and spacious. 8. NoNothingNovember. I think I simply love challenges. 9. Cold showers. Invigorating, even in the cold New Jersey fall. 10. Music. It's always on my mind. What would make today great? If I truly did not give in to distractions. Catching yourself in the impulse is still ok, if it lasts a few seconds. Update: pretty much done. The only time I checked a news site for more than 5 minutes was during dinner, and even then I did not like it that much. I have suppressed almost all impulses that urged me to "quickly check out xyz". From tomorrow on, I will keep a checklist of all occasions where I suppressed these urges to keep me as accountable as possible. Daily affirmation. I am getting my mojo back! Three amazing things that happened today. 1. I finished preformatting the draft of a booklet I wanted to tackle for a year. Tomorrow, I'll send it out to all contributors and get their comments. 2. I have suppressed the urge to get the bag of my favorite Christmas chocolates. I thought of buying it to kind of serve as a reward when thsi month is over, but honestly... if I have it at home, it's just going to drain me of energy to block the desire off. Can you have chocolate in front of you and be strong enough to suppress the desire to eat it? Absolutely. But why waste my energy on blocking off something when I could use it in a more positive way? I know my favorite chocolates. I will find a way to get it if I still want it in december. 3. Though I still don't know what my purpose really is, there is a fire in me that pushes me forward step by step. I think the more I work on steps towards small goals, for example in this challenge, the more I learn about myself. How could I have made today better? I have neglected my "10 idea practise" in the last three days. I will pick it back up tomorrow. Right now, my mind feels like a maelstrom of different ideas, I hope I can see the blue sky soon. This is what meditation has taught me so far: don't try to influence the thoughts you have, even if they seem to form a chaos. Somewhere there is a blue sky waiting. Just let the clouds pass. 7 minute workout It was great and I will do it again tomorrow. After I did my 120 push-ups/squats/sit-ups - so I have energy to do them first. The 7 minute workout will get my pulse going as a good finish to my calisthenics. That workout also need some "practise"... I barely had enough time to switch positions between exercises. ;-)

It's on my list. Thanks for the recommendation. I also suggest checking out the last two Mike Cernovich podcasts, they are pretty intense and on fire. Mike was talking about Wim Hof as well.

'I'm just a poor boy, from a poor family...' Spare me my life from this monstrosity...! I'm sure though it'll be the greatest monstrosity ever! Day 11 What am I grateful for today? 1. Winter time. I gained one hour. What's not to like about that? 2. Great weather. I like the fall, even though it may be cold. 3. Morning calisthenics. I am glad I am keeping with it, even though it can sometimes feel like a nuisance - I just think about my fitness goals and I'm fine again. 4. Coffee. It kicks me up, though I don’t need it any more in the morning. 5. Writing. It keeps me in the loop for my work. 6. Cooking. It’s actually fun. 7. To have everything I need to live. I don’t need a lot of luxuries. 8. Living in the US. An old dream I first had 20 years ago, come true. 9. Always having an active mind. There are always thoughts, and I can feed off them. 10. Music. It’s always on my mind. What would make today great? If I fall to bed exhausted, that would make today great. Daily affirmation. I am jumping into this month with happiness! Three amazing things that happened today. 1. I restarted the #NoNothingNovember challenge. Check it out on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/3qkwt4/nonothingnovember_2015_challenge/ You give up three vices for a month and install one new habit. It's truly inspiring to read the comments - what people want to start anew in November. Lots of people want to work out, learn to meditate (!) or study for exams... and then there are those who want to learn Painting, Martial Arts, Archery, Lucid Dreaming... My own goals are: #1 - No Internet distractions, #2 - No snacks, #3 - Getting up at 5 am. And I want to use this month to become more productive. 2. I started posting on my blog again, including Youtube video: http://lifesciencementor.com/nonothingnovember-2015-edition/ 3. Today, I had the least distractions since the last half year maybe. How could I have made today better? If I had planned it a little better in advance, I would have felt better because I would have had a better overview of what I needed to do today. Cold shower Did it. Part of my morning routine. It gets a bit more unpleasant in the New Jersey winter, and with my long hair, shampoo does not wash out quickly, especially not with cold water. Still, I am doing it, because it invigorates me.

I was actually really happy that I did not lose balance and fall down. Long time ago that I did headbanging. What am I grateful for today? 1. The Mets winning Game 3. This is the first step to a suspenseful World Series 2. The Game Quitters Website. The forum is greatly motivating and holding myself accountable. 3. Family and friends. Talking to them every day is a key to enduring happiness. 4. Getting up early. The whole day is in front of me! 5. Music. Metal or Classical, it does no matter. 6. My friend Jonathan. He always has my back. 7. Resubmitting our manuscript. The team has done great work on it. 8. A warm apartment. Important in fall. 9. Chocolate-flavored protein shakes. Great new taste. 10. That everything we need is at our finger tips. For example, I can have stuff delivered the SAME day that I ordered it from Amazon. Same thing with books that I get delivered instantaneously onto my iPad. This is ALMOST like the Star Trek replicators. What would make today great? Once again, it would be great if I could get as much done as possible. Daily affirmation. I am pumped up and will give it my all! Three amazing things that happened today. All towards beating discomfort! 1. I dared to charge an employer that wanted to hire me as a freelancer $35 per 500 words. I found that a reasonable price, including all necessary reading or research I’d have to do, but I was very hesitant to charge more than the “entry rate” of $4 for 500 words. “Am I really worth that much?” I am still new at pricing myself doing some freelance work. Last time I charged low though, the person I was waiting for was trying to haggle me down some $ more. Not again. Maybe I have to indeed aim low at the beginning, but if I do so, I will do it out of necessity, not out of a psychological barrier to charge more. 2. I scheduled my Karaoke date and actually became excited about possible songs. Number one on my list is "Bohemian Rhapsody, not really easy, but a welcome challenge. By the way, if you are ever going to the Opera, Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" is the same story. 3. I worked more on the booklet draft that I postponed for a long while. Notice I realize that I get towards tasks easily when I (a) know my purpose with it, the "why" and (b) specify precisely the next action step. Then it's really easy to get going. If the task is halfway defined, like "write booklet", then it doesn't get done, because it seems like a big task that is impossible to tackle. But when I write "1. make an excel spread sheet of all websites yuo want to include in your booklet and 2. copy blog posts out of the websites into a word file", it is easy to do the next step. How could I have made today better? Could have stayed focused for a longer while, but then again, I take things a little easier on saturday. Karaoke Scheduled for an Open Mic night next wednesday at the Lovecraft Bar in NYC. Will be fun! I sent out three messages of appreciation.

Day 9 What am I grateful for today? 1. Books. They are like mentors. 2. Family and friends. They give me a sense of belonging. 3. Fall season. I just love the leaves change their colour and see them fall. 4. My morning routine. Gives me stability for the day. 5. Getting up early. The whole day is in front of me. 6. My white board. A great way to have my goals mapped out. 7. That the days are long and the years short. You don’t even notice how time flies by. 8. Low-carb diet. It leads to loss of body fat, eventually. 9. Calisthenics. An easy way to work out at home. 10. My morning coffee. A nice little tradition which pushes me completely awake (though I ultimately don’t want to depend on it). What would make today great? If I manage to get all my tasks for today done in time. Daily affirmation. I am not shying away from challenges. Three amazing things that happened today. 1. 15 minute meditation does not feel like that long anymore. 2. I brought a project forward that I had long postponed. 3. I did not fall down in my dance video. How could I have made today better? Distraction was relatively low today, but sometimes things just take a bit longer. I talked to someone and that was a bit emotionally draining, for example. So work afterwards was a bit slower then. These things happen. It would have been great had I scheduled my daily list with less items. if I can get through my items in 8 completely focused hours, I can plan on working 4 hours and have those additional hours as buffer and/or for reflexion. I think I will adjust my schedule for the next 1 - 2 weeks and then I should have a pretty good view on what I can get realistically done on any day instead of jamming the day full like I currently do. I will also try Tom's suggestion with Trello, that could work greatly. Dance video I still love Heavy Metal, and I just this year discovered how great Megadeth's album "Rust in Peace" really was. Here, I am featuring the beginning of "Tornado of Souls". I actually went to my youtube channel, clicked on "upload" and recorded the video directly from within youtube.com, using my internal Apple webcam. If you do that, the upload takes seconds. Honestly, I was not too fond of the idea of posting it to Facebook, maybe even a bit fearful, but what the heck, I posted it to both Twitter and Facebook. My God, what will people think of me? Fun, that's what. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJCv6HwumQM

Nice Tom, I'll try it!

Oh, almost forgot. There is an app for Google Chrome, called "Momentum", that depicts your daily goals, mantras etc. whenever you open an empty screen. Here is a screenshot from my computer.

Thanks, Cam. There is actually a second point which occurred to me this morning while I was looking at my body fat values over the last days: 27.2% - 26.4% - 26.8% - 27.8% - 26.4% - 26.5% - 26.2% - 27.0% - 26.8% Excitement followed by heart break... ;-) even though I had almost the same meals - low in carbs - every day. Overall, these values form a downward slope. And probably everything we learn or improve ourselves in follows a similar zig-zag pattern. My question is - are we really improving ourselves or are we just realigning ourselves with who we deep down really are by cutting out anything counterproductive to our goals? And the third point is about these distractions that we may try to cut out of our lives. Most distractions I get are from ideas and thoughts that pop into my mind. My whole life, I have music in my mind. It's always there. LAtely, I realized I also have a multitude of new ideas and thoughts in my mind. Thinking about them makes me excited. I don't need the internet to go off on tangents. My mind does that already. And most of the time, the train of thoughts are in a positive direction - if not, I make sure they get back into positive territory. Are those really "bad" distractions? And further - how do I put these thoughts into focused action when my dreams alone can give me a momentary "kick"? Maybe it's through (1.) creating a schedule of specific items that need to be done on a certain day; (2.) quickly writing down any idea that comes to your mind; (3.) allowing yourself some time for additional action that you can take after being inspired by your ideas after you fulfilled your schedule (1.). For example, if you leave yourself 1.5 hours to wrok on your website, one hour of it can actually come from drafting a blog post, and the additional 30 minutes you can use to try out some new design plans for your outline.

Day 8 What am I grateful for today? 1. Shelter. Especially in fall, it can become cold outside. 2. My audio recorder. Because I can capture any thought. 3. Sleep. Because it is great to regenerate. This even rhymes. 4. Writing. It gives me calm and serenity. 5. Being alive. Otherwise I would not be writing this. 6. My iPad. Tons of books on there. 7. That we can buy anything. There is nothing we have to yearn for. 8. My morning workout. It pushes me forward and makes me feel I have achieved something. 9. Music. It is always on my mind. 10. Friends and family. They got my back. What would make today great? If I got all my stuff done without distraction. Daily affirmation. I am going to push through any fear and make great things happen! Three amazing things that happened today. 1. I spent a long time on the phone with my Mom. 2. I got an unexpected gift. 3. I managed to pass the snacks at the supermarket counter without any "desire" to buy them. Even my favorite ones! 4. I had this impression that a certain class of mathematical functions has a specific property and came up with a way to show it. Sounds nerdy, but it really was fun to me. The great thing here was that I felt like giving up twice and I kept at it. Cravings It really helps to push through cravings. If I look back at this week, I had some cravings now and then to eat some snacks, but as painful as it can sometimes seem - (a) it goes away, as long as I just focus on one step at a time, and (b) those cravings really only come down to maybe 1 - 2x 2 hours in the afternoon. How could I have made today better? I could have focused on my work a little better. I think I need to plan my work in more continuous blocks of time. Especially in the morning, I have a lot of different activities - they can all easily take longer than I initially expected. And then the remaining time in the day is cut short and distraction sets in. So what I will do is I will set a clear start and end time for those activities and see whether the rest of the day goes a bit easier. Moment of appreciation See attached. I went up to the first person in the supermarket and complimented her on her scarf (see recording). Then later on I found a couple fighting with their parked car. The motor was not starting. Normally I would have skipped talking to them because I don't know how to repair a car and then think I can't offer them anything of value. Not this time, I asked them if I could help with anything though and they said they had it handled. Still, it was fun talking to them. Too many opportunities have passed by where I held back in the past just because I thought I did not have the perfect advice. I can sometimes be a bit intense because I can't let go. I try to be perfect and become needlessly competitive in my mindset where everyone else just chills out and has a good time. Trying to be perfect seems to me a bit like computer gaming. It's like fulfilling a purpose that someone else just determined for you. Trying to improve myself is nothing bad. My problem is that I sometimes have the mindset of needing to be perfect in everything. What I want is to learn to let go of the desire to be perfect in projects that I am not really that interested in and just focus on improving my work in fields that I am really passionate about - because those are the projects that I am really chosing to do myself. Those are the projects that I really want to pursue. The TED talk by Brené Brown has helped a bit in thinking about it. Here is the link again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCvmsMzlF7o I like your scarf.mov

I agree and disagree with what you write. I'd put body and mind at the same level of importance. Our body develops sooner so it's easy to forget that we all had to go through painful and boring fundamentals such as turning around, balancing on two feet, articulating speech. What you call "mental workout" is exactly what it is: building good mental habits, resiliency, logic. It's working on the outer layer of the brain, the part that evolved last, the one which makes us human. And just like with the rest of the body, sometimes we don't particularly enjoy the exercises we perform but they are invaluable for our full development. I can't agree with your statement that "mankind evolved on the sole basis of physical mastery". Keep working on all levels and you'll be a happy, balanced individual. Maybe a thought that combines both body and mind: sometimes the daily workout goes well, sometimes it's a drag. The rate at which we improve varies. With physical activity, we get direct feedback - how something that eventually becomes better can still fluctuate from day to day. That must be the case with our mind as well, but we don't always realize there how we improve. So physical activity is a form of proxy to how we as a person improve.

Day 7 Day 7 already? Time truly flies by. As the saying goes: the days are long, but the weeks/months/years are short. This is what I am grateful for today. 1. Getting up early. Before 6 am. 2. Good night’s sleep. 6 hours or more. 3. Meditation. Being happy myself makes others happy too. 4. Being in a happy mood. 5. Mastermind Meetings for my website. They clarify things and motivate me. 6. Helping my friends. I love it when I can share experience that helps them. 7. Enjoying the moment. Just live in it. The moment is eternal. 8. Taking my time. As little or as much as I need vs. obeying to strict times - I am trying that out. 9. Trying out new things and routines. 10. Daily idea practise. It actually works and opens up your eyes to so many opportunities. What would make today great? If I am exhausted from the day when I go to bed. Daily affirmation. I am focused and will never give up. Three amazing things that happened today. 1. A friend is in New York and we may meet. 2. I managed to stow away my cravings for sweets. 3. I woke up at 5 am without alarm clock. How could I have made today better? Hardly much. I could have fried the bacon (in my bacon-onion omelette) a little bit longer, but by and large, it was ok. Guess that means the day was ok. Photo with complete stranger I searched a bit longer because I wanted to have the picture taken with a younger girl or woman - don't know why... ;-) Picture is attached. She was waiting for her bus for her engineering class at college, and of course I made sure the bus would not all of a sudden arrive. I wrote the note because I don't have a printer with me. I guess that still served its purpose. Cam, great missions!

Thanks Cam. Quick realization. I had originally planned to work, then I had a dispute with someone that I wanted to tend to and I am a bit frustrated right now. My schedule is off and I feel a bit chaotic. The temptation to just go to the supermarket and get my favorite ice cream is high. I'll withstand though. But this is exactly what I feel like when I fall back into addictive behavior. The day's schedule is mixed up and I feel insecure. So now I yearn for a "quick fix" and get some external validation. But this is also what perseverance means. Do the work even under non-ideal circumstances. A good point to learn. I remember watching Game 5 Mets vs. Dodgers in this year's baseball playoffs. The Mets pitcher de Grom, who normally cruised through games, now had runners on base every innings. Yet he persevered and prevented runs even when his "stuff" wasn't there. The Mets still won. I can always think about that as a role model situation when things don't go smoothly. Taking a breath and then going back. Hope that works.

Another trick I picked up is the idea of "negative visualization" from stoicism - it's a simple way to consider how your life could be worse, to encourage you to appreciate what you have. I am not poor, but it's entirely possible that I could be, so I should take time to appreciate the fact that I am not. I'm seeing now that gratitude really is a muscle. It gets easier the more you use it. I used to kind of not want to do gratitude... now I am honestly enjoying it. That's great advice, currently I am coming up with 10 things, but they are still a bit generic. Will keep your advice in mind. Thanks.

Thanks again for the answer, Tom. Day 6 I asked for the 10% discount for coffee. Audio File attached, I had a digital audio recorder with me. Actually, this recorder is really useful to note a thought or idea before I forget about it. I felt a bit nervous before asking, and I think that just came from focusing on the task. Why would the task be so present? Because I am not often getting a coffee when I am out. Next time, I want to speak up and ask with more authority. I also want to find a better reason for the discount than "Because it's a nice day." A better reason would be: "because I want to buy this shop and I need to start saving up" or something like that. Or even "because it would really really make my day. Really." Another time. I also hope that my habit of talking to more people will make it more "normal" to communicate with people and then ask for a refund or anything else fun. Can I get 10 percent off.mov Can I get 10 percent off.mov Can I get 10 percent off.mov What am I grateful for today? 1. Getting up early. 2. My space heater. 3. Math. 4. Friends and family. 5. Living in the US. 6. My scanner. 7. Writing. 8. Abundance. 9. Internet connection. 10. Mets in the World Series. My morning routine went well. Meditation-wise, I had actually started with headspace 10 days ago, so I bought the extension for $12.95 per month. The first 10 "lessons" are 10 minutes each, the next 10 are 15 minutes. While the first lessons are all about learning to let your thoughts be and don't try to tackle them immediately, these coming lessons are more about gratitude and giving value. It's gonna be interesting. I also want to look more into additional ways of being in a "meditative mindset", for example, completely focussing on the task at hand. Like, when you wash the dishes, you don't think about what happens afterwards. You only wash the dishes. That way, you focus on what you can do right now and not what might happen in some distant future. "Not worrying about unlaid eggs", according to an old German saying. I have also looked into the "5 minute journal" and taken some additional questions out of it: What would make today great? If I got all my work done for my blog and started writing my resumé. Daily affirmation. I am up and rising! At the end of the day, you gotta ask yourself two more questions, that I answered yesterday already: Three amazing things that happened today. 1. A friend is in New York and we may meet. 2. I managed to stow away my cravings for sweets. 3. I woke up at 5 am without alarm clock. How could I have made today better? Getting less distracted by internet stuff. -> Resolve to check twitter and facebook in more depth some time later in the day, but don’t waste my time on social media early in the day. Always dress well I realized something else: whenever I am dressed well, my day goes better. Even when I am sitting at home in front of the computer, I am not goofing around in my pajamas. The clothes you wear feedback on your mindset, I think. Can I get 10 percent off.mov

I like being grateful for "not being poor". And in general how specific your gratefulness list is. Good luck for your 5K!

Hi Bassitone, I was also working in a lab as a graduate student. It has its ups and downs, but I actually loved the flexible times. However... I completely relate to scheduling not panning out. I am currently reading "Getting Things Done" by David Allen, and even though it's a bit on the dry side in readability, it makes an important suggestion: Determine the purpose and visualize the end result of the project your are working on. Then determine the next action step. It needs to be a clearly actionable step and not some vague proposal like "talk about budget" or "take care of xyz". For example: instead "talk about budget", you would have a clear goal, for instance "Budget: balance the sheets" and then "1. gather bills from last month; 2. type into excel, 3. calculate and set increase or decrease sub-budgets, 4. distribute to coworkers" We already do that automatically in some cases. for example, when I get up, I plan on making a coffee. I don't just think about making the coffee, I know the end goal is black coffee in my mug. And I know what the action steps are. Go to the kitchen, take out the coffee box, fill two spoons into the filter, put water into the machine, hit the start button. Thinking about all projects I have in that way makes it actually easier to get them done. You actually directly start working on the direct next step.

One thing with which I am struggling most is that I (a) want to spend as much time as possible with the items that are important to me; and that (b) there are so many items I like that it is difficult to chose, As a result, I often end up overloading my daily lists. I'd like to learn that it's ok to do something later in the week or month.

Sympathize with the cookies. Anything with chocolate is good. It's great that you went to the gym even though you were low on energy. Those are the events I'd be most proud of.