SIDCHAs

Which way of living embodies more love: Picking up litter or walking past it?

Habits / Hands on Practical Experience / SIDCHAs

Which way of living embodies more love: Picking up litter or walking past it?

We didn't ask to be born into a culture that produces so much garbage, but we were. Now, nearly any place you live, if you walk in a public place, you pass litter. I don't go out of my way to pick it up, but when I pass litter and it doesn't take too much effort, I pick some up. I don't pick up everything. I give myself constraints to make it easier. I generally don't pick up: Things the size of a cigarette butt or smaller Absorbent things Wet things Flat things that are hard to pick up, like sheets of paper When no trash cans are near If my hands are full If I'm in a hurry With those restrictions, I commonly find…

July 2, 2025

Why I love volunteering

Habits / SIDCHAs

Why I love volunteering

A few people commented on my delivering food yesterday at the hottest part of the day. The temperature hit 101F (38.3C) while I was pulling around 80 pounds of food in a cart, according to my phone's app . People often also flap their gums about not having time to volunteer. I never hear them say they don't have time for social media or other screen time, yet Americans average over 5 hours of screen time per day. I rarely spend that much time volunteering per week. And, depending on the volunteering task, I count some as cardio work. Plus my food delivery volunteering leads to free food. I help neighbors. I reduce waste. Volunteering as an auxiliary police officer helps make my neighborhood and…

June 25, 2025

I wrote a poem: The Poem of the High-Fiber Diet (trigger warning: juvenile humor)

Addiction / Creativity / Humor / SIDCHAs

I wrote a poem: The Poem of the High-Fiber Diet (trigger warning: juvenile humor)

Am I going to get in trouble for a puerile post? Will it distract from my sustainability leadership focus? I hope not. I had a blast making the poem. Regular readers know my sidchas and standard operating procedures mean that I meditate as one of my first morning activities. Before meditating I go to the bathroom. Between my routine being so consistent and my diet containing so much fiber, I poop every morning around the same time. This morning I woke up about fifteen minutes before the alarm. As I sat on the toilet, my digestive tract wasn't ready to send the poop out, being fifteen minutes ahead of time. The situation brought to my mind the classic poem that people used to write on…

June 13, 2025

A quarter million burpees

Fitness / Freedom / Habits / Hands on Practical Experience / SIDCHAs

A quarter million burpees

Regular readers know what a sidcha is and that my second daily habit that both became a sidcha and helped me conceive of the concept began with doing ten burpees a day. I think I started my burpee habit in early 2012. In time, that habit evolved into a twice-daily set of calisthenics. I agree that discipline equals freedom, so more than the sizeable gains of saving money, saving time, strength, balance, flexibility, mental acuity, cardiovascular health, self-awareness, humility, and all the other usual benefits of physical fitness, I've gained freedom, mainly mental. I haven't missed a day since I started. Since I do a fixed number, I don't have to keep track daily. I update a spreadsheet I created and it tells me how…

May 25, 2025

My biggest downside to aging so far

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

My biggest downside to aging so far

I've passed the milestones everyone my age has. Some I like, like developing patience and wisdom. I may not have much of them, but more than before. I felt my potential strength decrease in my thirties. In my forties I lost yet more, and found even walking counted as exercise. Also in my forties, I noticed injuries took longer to heal. Injuries that in my twenties would hurt and affect functionality momentarily, then go away, and in my thirties bother me for a while, in my forties would linger for months. Months! I have three pains that have lingered for months that I don't think even injuries caused. I'm writing and editing a lot. I think they came from just sitting too long without moving.…

March 21, 2025

“In the next 30 years, we’ll make four times more plastic waste than we ever have”

Awareness / Nature / SIDCHAs

“In the next 30 years, we’ll make four times more plastic waste than we ever have”

I hope I don't start a habit of posting references to articles, but it's hard not to share ones that say "In the next 30 years, we'll make four times more plastic waste than we ever have." That headline came from science.org, which referred to a journal article, Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made, from Science Advances. We're drowning in plastic. It doesn't break down on human time scales. According to this research, we've barely started. Plastic destroys life, liberty, and property, as do pollution and depletion in general. It seems to me government should treat it as it treats other activities that destroy life, liberty, and property, like murder, theft, and arson. Actually more like slavery, which the Thirteenth Amendment abolished…

March 7, 2025

Year 15, day 1, posting daily to this blog, my first sidcha (what led me to the concept)

Blog / Habits / SIDCHAs

Year 15, day 1, posting daily to this blog, my first sidcha (what led me to the concept)

On this day in 2011, I wrote the first post of a streak that continues to today of posting to this blog daily. I didn't know that it would lead to discovering the freedom and calm of discovering deep values and living by them daily. Discovering the sidcha concept helped bring about self-awareness, health, stewardship, self-expression, patience, humility, independence, and more. Now I have several sidchas and standard operating procedures. As far as I can tell, I'm as healthy as ever, spending approximately zero dollars per month on fitness. I recommend learning the sidcha concept, developing one, learning the values it exposes, and then a few others for your other deepest values.

January 23, 2025

A video of my twice-daily burpee-based calisthenics routine at the start of 2025

Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

A video of my twice-daily burpee-based calisthenics routine at the start of 2025

Here is my twice-daily calisthenics routine at the start of 2025. For context, here is a list of all my sidchas, standard operating procedures, and preferences. I have found discipline creates freedom. This sidcha creates freedom, peace, connection, calm, and more. The calories burned and motivation required are negligible in comparison to those benefits, and are benefits themselves. I started in 2011 with ten burpees a day, then added and refined. My evening set differs slightly (planks instead of crunches, for example), but mostly like this video. This video shows my odd-numbered-day pattern. On even-numbered days I vary slightly based on what workout I do that day (cardio or lifting). I do this routine after Making my bed and turning off the alarm within a…

January 2, 2025

Year 14!, day 1, daily burpees

A recent morning burpee

Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

Year 14!, day 1, daily burpees

I started doing burpees on this day in 2011. I haven't missed a day since. I've done them daily over 22 percent of my life. By my spreadsheet, I've done just over 241,000 so should reach a quarter million in 2025. The point isn't the numbers, though, nor the fitness, though I like my pulse being nearly off the charts low for men my age. The simplest way to put it is quoting Jocko Willink: Discipline equals freedom. Most Americans seem to see fitness and diet as horror shows. They're out of shape, don't know why, don't know what to do about it, and do things like pay trainers not because the trainers provide a service but because paying people motivates them to act. People…

December 22, 2024

Want quality? Start with the corners nobody notices.

Habits / SIDCHAs / Tips

Want quality? Start with the corners nobody notices.

When I mopped, I used to think I should start with the middle of the floor. That's where I spend the most time and the saw the most. I've included mopping in My sidchas, standard operating procedures, and preferences on one day of my six-day exercise cycle, meaning I haven't skipped or missed mopping every sixth day for years. Performing a task with a measure of quality teaches a lot internally and externally. I've learned to start with the corners and out-of-the-way or not-visible areas. Then the middle takes care of itself. If I start with the middle, the corners accumulate dirt. I'm not just talking about mopping floors. I'm talking about any performance-based field. Actually, any art. An artist who cares and who has…

October 31, 2024

Two updates to my sidchas and standard operation procedures

Awareness / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Two updates to my sidchas and standard operation procedures

I'm updating My sidchas, standard operating procedures, and preferences in two ways. Cardio days First, in my 6-Day Exercise/Mindfulness Cycle, I'm changing day 6, which was "Cardio, at least 300 calories rowing or meaningful effort plogging, biking, walking, or climbing stairs." I did cardiovascular exercises for two reasons: To improve my heart and lung health and capacity To burn more calories Since around May, I've been experimenting fasting on day 6. That is, instead of burning more calories, taking in fewer. Doing cardio almost inevitably led to me eating more on those days, so exercising more wasn't in practice leading to getting rid of fat I didn't want. In practice, fasting is resulting in getting rid of more fat I don't want. As for heart…

October 16, 2024

The odd, capricious gratitude and anger of Crack Row addicts to picking up litter

Addiction / SIDCHAs / Stories

The odd, capricious gratitude and anger of Crack Row addicts to picking up litter

The reactions of people on and around the area they call Crack Row---the northwest corner of Washington Square Park---varies and changes. Earlier today, while doing my sidcha of picking up at least three pieces of litter from that corner, one guy thanked me and said he appreciated when people did nice things like that. Not long after, one woman from another group of about a half-dozen people got angry at me. They were blocking the path. I waited for them to move so I could pass. This woman called me by the term people nowadays call "the n-word." She looked black and I'm pretty white, so I thought her word choice odd and her anger misplaced. I responded not to call me the term. So…

September 28, 2024

A father littering in front of his kids. Should I say something?

Nonjudgment / SIDCHAs

A father littering in front of his kids. Should I say something?

I was in Washington Square Park charging my panels. A family of mother, father, and three kids sat on a bench near me, likely tourists. They had takeout food with plenty of packaging from a nearby store. A napkin fell through a gap between the benches so it was behind the father. He turned to try to pick it up but couldn't reach it after trying contorting a few times to reach it. He could have gotten up and turned around, but instead just left it. Was he leaving it there permanently or just until he could reach it better? For the better part of a minute, I thought he was waiting maybe to finish the food in his lap to make getting up easier,…

August 19, 2024

On considering when to decrease my daily exercises started over a decade ago, now in my 50s

Choosing/Decision-Making / Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

On considering when to decrease my daily exercises started over a decade ago, now in my 50s

I've meant to write this post for years. It may be the longest past due. Why? Because it relates to many parts of my life and involves decisions that will affect me the rest of my life. I'll stick with the basics to put the main thoughts on paper, so to speak. When I started doing burpees daily, it was ten a day for thirty days with a friend in 2011. I didn't expect to continue them daily for an indefinite period. Within those thirty days, the value of an exercise needing no equipment, spotter, etc that exercised much of my body became clear. I knew two conflicting things: practice would enable me to increase but aging would lead me to decrease. In the years…

August 3, 2024

Now I’m a Real Cook

Fitness / SIDCHAs / Stories

Now I’m a Real Cook

About twenty-four hours after giving blood, while chopping collard greens, I chopped a bit off my finger. Sorry if it's gross for you, but it reminds me of something I learned when I dated a woman who was a chef: if you cook enough, you cut and burn yourself. I don't know if this picture captures it. I took it today, about twenty-four hours after cutting it. I should have taken a picture then, when the blood wouldn't stop flowing. I've cut myself many times, but I don't remember chopping a piece off. It wasn't that the knife was dull. I sharpen it often. I was talking on the phone, distracting myself. I wasn't respecting the craft enough. It hurt. I got to experience The…

April 26, 2024

Awareness / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Why I stretch

I stretch every day after I meditate in the morning (neck and shoulders) and in my morning and evening calisthenics (quads, Achilles, hamstring, etc). At times I work other stretches in. Why do I stretch? The research I know says it doesn't reduce injury, make me stronger, or enable me to do things otherwise. Yet I find value. It looks like I'm pulling on muscles, tendons, ligaments, or whatever gets stretched. I don't stretch to lengthen the muscle or ligament from pulling on it. While pulling on it creates tension, I don't stretch to create tension. I pull on it to find where I'm tensing it without realizing, so I can relax. Step one is to pull to find where I'm tensing. That step creates…

February 27, 2024

Year 14, day 2 posting here daily

Habits / SIDCHAs

Year 14, day 2 posting here daily

Since my friend's fateful words when he set up my blog here when I asked, how often do you post and he said: Every day. If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two it's all over. I've posted every day since January 22, 2011. It became my first sidcha and helped me establish the concept. It's easier to write every day than to worry about trying to restart after stopping. Here's the list of all my posts if you're new and want to start. Here are some of my favorites. It's led to two published books: Leadership Step by Step and Initiative, which get great reviews and are used by universities across the country (also two self-published books). More importantly…

January 24, 2024

Year 13, day 1 of daily burpees

Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

Year 13, day 1 of daily burpees

I started doing ten burpees a day today in 2011 and never stopped. On the contrary, I added more reps, weights, cardio, stretching, and more, which isn't hard when you keep at it for over a decade. Most days I do fifty-four burpees. For details, here's my list of all My sidchas, standard operating procedures, and preferences. One of my favorite parts is walking past gyms that cost $235 per month, knowing I get as good workout paying nothing, saving time. I didn't realize until recently how much those years growing up amid crime and poverty affected me, but I love getting the value people spend tons of money on without spending money. It took me a while to realize people who call me privileged…

December 22, 2023

I will stake my floor as clean as anyone’s, but the sponge I clean it with is nearing the end of its life

Habits / SIDCHAs / Visualization

I will stake my floor as clean as anyone’s, but the sponge I clean it with is nearing the end of its life

I contend that my floor is as clean as any you'll find. One of my sidchas (maybe standard operating procedure) is that I clean it every six days as part of my six-day exercise cycle. I used to clean it before lifting, but realized I get on the floor more for my Turkish Get-ups so clean before it. I've gotten complements on my floor's cleanliness, which comes despite how much lint and dirt is in the air. Two years ago I posted pictures of how old my sponge looked in a post Why you shouldn’t live sustainably (not really): Coming clean about my shameful sponge. I wrote "It’s in tatters. But . . . it still cleans the floor. Why get rid of something that…

November 27, 2023

Selected New Experiences, September 3, 2023

Fitness / Habits / Nature / SIDCHAs

Selected New Experiences, September 3, 2023

I've been posting Sundays about the books and movies I finished that week. This week I didn't finish any new books or movies, but I did a few new things. A New Vegetable for Me: Jicama I discovered a new vegetable this week, jicama: I'd never heard of the vegetable, but I saw a bunch of them in the food scrap bin when I dropped mine off. They looked like radishes, turnips, rutabagas, or odd potatoes so I took them from the scraps and brought them home. They were mildly sweet, but I couldn't identify them. I showed them to Evelyn from the spring workshop and she immediately identified them. I looked them up and now I'm enjoying them without abandon. By the way, the…

September 3, 2023

On living your values with kids and a job

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

On living your values with kids and a job

Tell someone with kids or a job that you pollute less and they will tell you they can't because of kids and a job. Then they'll lecture you about your ignorance and how you couldn't understand what it's like, never mind that humans have had kids and had to work to eat and for shelter for 300,000 years. Have you read about the woman, Candice Burt, who ran fifty kilometers per day for two hundred days in a row? She burned thousands of extra calories per day and took five to seven hours per run, not including days with longer runs, including hundred-mile races. I've been reading her blog and articles about her that it links to, and they're fascinating. She got the same you-can-but-I-can't-rationalization…

June 3, 2023

My sidchas, standard procedures, and preferences

Favorites / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

My sidchas, standard procedures, and preferences

I meant just to list all my sidchas in my post Freedom exists in structure; it’s not chaos, randomness, or luck. Here’s my structure and freedom, but I made a mistake. I included standard procedures with sidchas. I didn't think of the distinction. One is habits. The other is the best way to do something. I've written about sidchas. What about procedures? If there's a better way and worse way, why do the worse way? Choosing a best way saves mental effort on top of the benefits of doing something better. Doing it consistently allows for continual improvement and increasing self-awareness. For example, living on the fifth floor, I could take the elevator or stairs. I decided once and for all to take the stairs.…

May 6, 2023

Freedom exists in structure; it’s not chaos, randomness, or luck. Here’s my structure and freedom.

Choosing/Decision-Making / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

Freedom exists in structure; it’s not chaos, randomness, or luck. Here’s my structure and freedom.

Freedom exists in structure. It's not chaos, randomness, or luck. When I find something works in my life, I make it automatic. For many people, diet and exercise seem horror shows, or mysteries, wondering what they should do, how often, how much, and so on. When the most important bases of my life are automatic, I don't have to think about them. I can focus on everything else. People might see the regularity of my exercise or diet plans as restrictive, but it creates mental freedom and the results I want. As far as I can tell, by choosing the most effective exercise and diet, I work the minimum to achieve my level of fitness. I would feel uncomfortable to be less fit. Likewise with…

February 25, 2023

I don’t eat with screens on

Addiction / Habits / SIDCHAs / Tips

I don’t eat with screens on

I forget it I posted this sidcha, though it's not that challenging, at least not any more, though it was when I started it in January 2022. At first kicking the addiction was hard. Maybe it's more of a habit. It's not a restriction though it may seem that way if you haven't lived it. The sidcha: I don't eat when a screen is on. Or when I eat, I turn off all the screens I can see. I haven't started avoiding sounds, so I'll listen to my phone or computer play an audiobook, music, or a podcast. If I want to check something quickly, I'll stop eating, check my email, and start eating again after turning the screen back off. I can't put into…

February 13, 2023

Two unbroken streaks: 8 months off-grid and 12 years daily blogging. Which is more challenging?

Habits / Nature / SIDCHAs

Two unbroken streaks: 8 months off-grid and 12 years daily blogging. Which is more challenging?

Yesterday began month 9 with my apartment disconnect from the electric grid. Today begins year 13 posting daily to my blog. Which seems more challenging? Which has taught me more about myself, humanity, and nature? Tough call. They seem even. I'm continuing both so I'll keep learning from both. The off-grid in Manhattan seems more rare, a bigger disconnect from my ambient culture. Earth also passed a month after the north's winter solstice and I can tell the added sunshine time, though January has been mostly overcast in New York. People ask the questions I would have, like how long a charge lasts, but I'm learning that view starts from what I want. When you rely on fossil fuels and uranium, you can dominate nature.…

January 23, 2023

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