SIDCHAs

Would you describe these abs as chiseled?

Awareness / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Would you describe these abs as chiseled?

Call me vain or unprofessional if you want, but I'm sharing the results of my recent decision to reach a fitness goal I've meant to work on for years, maybe decades. Call me self-obsessed if you want for how many words follow, but the journey has been for more enlightening, satisfying, and delicious than I expected. For context, as a child I felt ashamed enough from being teased for excess fat that I would wear a t-shirt at the beach and pool. In high school I started sports, though not seriously, but friends commented on my becoming more fit. In college and beyond I competed at the nationals and worlds level in ultimate Frisbee, a demanding and highly active sport. I loved competing and discovering…

September 2, 2020

Left mouse button broke. Still posting, not missing my sidcha.

Habits / SIDCHAs

Left mouse button broke. Still posting, not missing my sidcha.

I haven't missed a post here in almost ten years. My left mouse button broke---rather the track pad, an integral part of the computer. I found a used mouse on Craig's List I can get tomorrow I think I can use while ordering a new track pad, which I think I can install myself. In the meantime I'm seeing if I can post without a left button and keep the sidcha going. I posted daily for the two times I was in North Korea without internet as well as at meditation retreats with no reading, writing, talking, or internet. Those times I wrote posts ahead of time and scheduled Wordpress to publish them each day. This time I have to use tabs and control characters.…

August 5, 2020

Kings of sidchas

Fitness / Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs

Kings of sidchas

I knew my daily streaks of writing in my blog and doing burpees of nearly ten years were just starts. I like to find role models. I discovered sidcha streaks that dwarf mine, in fact that started before I was born. Two organizations---Streak Runners International and United States Running Streak Association---track people who have run at least a mile per day. Their slogan: "Through weather, injury, illness, and life events, we run everyday." I put their list below of runners with streaks longer than my longest sidcha---writing in this blog. The longest active running streak belongs to Jon Sutherland, at over 51 years, closing in on the known record of Ron Hill, 78, a three-time Olympian for Great Britain, who ended his running streak on…

June 20, 2020

Habits create a lifestyle: Hear me on the Style Your Life podcast

Audio / Habits / SIDCHAs / Stories / Tips

Habits create a lifestyle: Hear me on the Style Your Life podcast

Erin and Michelle host the Style Your Life podcast. They wanted to learn and share with their audience about habits, which are the foundation of a lifestyle. They can be if you choose. They led a conversation around habits and how to keep from quitting them. I talk and write a lot about habits and sidchas here. This conversation is a friendly, non-intense entry point. Few things improve a life more than starting and keeping effective habits and sidchas based on your values. Listen to the conversation. EDIT: Erin and Michelle posted the video recording: https://youtu.be/AFGWPHwT9Zs Listen to the conversation.

June 9, 2020

An attendee’s stellar review of my webinar: Life-Changing Habits Even (Especially) Under Lock-Down

Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

An attendee’s stellar review of my webinar: Life-Changing Habits Even (Especially) Under Lock-Down

An attendee of my webinar, Life-Changing Habits Even (Especially) Under Lock-Down, wrote how it affected her life already (spoiler: positively, beyond expectations, and in areas she had plateaued). Read her email below. Below the email I link to her writing. So you can experience the webinar too, here's the video of it: https://youtu.be/BfnO0nQSuPk Dear Josh, Thank you so much for your email and for connecting with me further. In response to your invitation: Webinar I thought that the webinar was excellent---thank you for inviting me. I got so many insights from it but the number one most important gift it gave me was the concept of mental freedom. I must admit that I didn't have a lightbulb moment during the webinar, I'd heard the discipline…

May 21, 2020

Habits aren’t my thing, despite what you might think

Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

Habits aren’t my thing, despite what you might think

I want to clarify a point of confusion, probably my fault. Since I talk a lot about sidchas and habits, one could conclude that I focus on habits as a big part of my life. On the contrary, though I consider them important, they are less a big part of my life than they make worry and insecurity a small part of my life. For clients that come to me for them, I focus some of my coaching on them. Even then, the goal is to make them automatic---a source of mental freedom. Someone today suggested that I must be a blogger, as in a big part of my identity, since I blog daily. I said that would make me a tooth brusher since I…

May 20, 2020

Life-Changing Habits Even (Especially) Under Lock-Down

Fitness / Freedom / Habits / My Favorite Posts / SIDCHAs / Stories

Life-Changing Habits Even (Especially) Under Lock-Down

Here is the video from my webinar last week on life-changing habits during lock-down (and the rest of your life). https://youtu.be/BfnO0nQSuPk Wondering if you should watch? Quoting attendees: "My boyfriend was an Olympic fencer and I texted him: this webinar is like an insight into your brain. Now I see how you do everything and how you're so productive." "Holy cow, it's so simple. It's so true. I could immediately see the ways . . . I'm pretty fit, I was a collegiate athlete. I work out. I'm doing the insanity program now and I was like 'Wow!'" "We talk a lot about freedom, whether it's financial freedom. Mental freedom is not something I've thought of. I thought about freedom with my time---I'm an advertising…

May 5, 2020

Keeping your habits and sidchas

Habits / Models / SIDCHAs

Keeping your habits and sidchas

I found a better way to characterize daily habits and sidchas. I used to think of them like brushing my teeth. I don't remember the last time I went to bed without brushing. That characterization made my sidchas easier for me, but not others. They still think of daily habits as hard, rigid, burdensome. They suggest I take a break: "Josh, really, what would happen if you took a break and laid in bed more than 60 seconds? Live a little!" They think I'm depriving myself. Think of daily habits like feeding your dog Think of a daily habit like feeding your dog. Would you consider taking a break and "living a little" by not feeding your dog for a day? Dog owners who travel…

May 2, 2020

Join my webinar THIS FRIDAY: Creating meaning, purpose, and structure under lock down (and the rest of your life)

Events / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

Join my webinar THIS FRIDAY: Creating meaning, purpose, and structure under lock down (and the rest of your life)

Reading in one of my online groups about people struggling to keep habits without external structure---something I think I can safely claim expertise in---I offered to share what I've found works in 150,000 burpees, etc. I made an interactive webinar out of my experience---my most comprehensive, useful compilation of a decade of experience creating structure, discipline, and mental freedom. Most relevant now, I did it at no cost, not needing equipment, and totally applicable under lock down. Don't believe me? Here's the title slide. They loved it, and asked for an encore. I improved it and will give it Friday. Here's the general announcement: Creating meaning, purpose, and joy under lock downIs being locked down undermining your daily structure and ways forward? Is social distancing…

April 28, 2020

150,000 burpees

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

150,000 burpees

According to my spreadsheet that calculates my burpee count, I did my hundred-fifty-thousandth today. Actually, that would be my hundred-fifty-thousandth as part of my burpee-based sidcha. I occasionally do more, like to show people how to do them, or when I see how long I take to do a hundred, but I never do less. My total expenditures on them is still $0.00, including equipment, trainer, travel, etc. I haven't missed a day since my first, December 22, 2011---3,000 days plus a few weeks ago, or 8 years and a few months. I started at 10 a day. Now I do two sets daily of 15-to-20-minute burpee-based calisthenics that include stretches and exercises for my abs, back, and biceps. Most days I do 54, but…

April 5, 2020

Year 10, day 1, number 3,764

Creativity / Habits / SIDCHAs

Year 10, day 1, number 3,764

My blog archives show that on January 23, 2011, after a few years of posting irregularly, I wrote my first post of a still-unbroken streak. This post is number 3,764. I posted twice many days, such as my during my North Korea trips. Friends had recommended I start a blog for years. I began thinking I contained a few dozen ideas worth posting about, maybe 50, at least as far as I remember. Instead, I learned a few lessons that I've applied throughout life. First, writing, being a skill, or set of skills, improves with practice. That is, the more I wrote, the more I learned to write. Learning to write includes thinking of topics, observing life, prioritizing other things, reading, and so on. Second,…

January 23, 2020

My thoughts from when the alarm goes off

Awareness / Habits / Perception / SIDCHAs

My thoughts from when the alarm goes off

I love my sidcha to wake up, make my bed, cross the room, and turn off my alarm within sixty seconds. Loving the sidcha doesn't mean I love every moment of it. On the contrary, the first few moments of it feel the same as they always have. I start with the same thoughts. Over the years, my inner monologue has come to change to purposeful enthusiasm faster. But I want to clarify: I'm the same as anyone. I don't like the feeling of an alarm waking me up. I want to stay in bed, especially in the winter, when my apartment is cool and my comforter keeps me warm. My thoughts go something like this: Oh no, what is that noise? . . .…

January 17, 2020

When, specifically, is the best time for evening exercises?

Choosing/Decision-Making / Fitness / SIDCHAs / Stories / Tips

When, specifically, is the best time for evening exercises?

Yesterday's post answered the best time to exercise in the morning. What if you exercise in the evening too or instead? The beginning of that post---why exercise, listing the benefits, and so on---apply here. No need to repeat everything up to "First things first." Alternative 1: Just before bed The latest option is to exercise last before going to bed. Many ask if getting your heart rate up might keep you up at night. They probably haven't exercised late, or they would have learned that, however paradoxical it sounds, exercise gives you energy in general and helps you sleep at night. Vigorous summer exercise will make you sweat, assuming you don't over-air-condition yourself. You rarely need more than a fan. Exercise challenges you. Knowing and…

December 29, 2019

When, specifically, is the best time for morning exercises?

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

When, specifically, is the best time for morning exercises?

Say you exercise in the morning. When is the best time for it? First, what's the point of morning exercises? Fitness? Yes, you can't leave fitness out, and if you don't impose on yourself a healthy daily challenging activity, you might expect the point of the specific activity to be the main goal. It's not---not in the long term. The goals of daily morning exercise include in the long term developing discipline self-awareness, and calm, learning your priorities, learning to prioritize, sleeping better, creating purpose and meaning, honing decisiveness and focus, and more; and in the short-term waking up, focusing your attention, saving time, saving money, giving yourself direction, whetting your appetite for breakfast, cleaning your space, preventing procrastination, creating a flow state, and more.…

December 28, 2019

Year 9, day 1. Nearly 150,000.

A recent morning burpee

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Year 9, day 1. Nearly 150,000.

On December 22, 2011, a friend and I challenged ourselves to do ten burpees a day for thirty days. As I had aged out of playing ultimate at the level I wanted to, squeezed enough sense of accomplishment from running marathons that I wanted, and didn't want to pay to use the gym down the block, which I might not go to in the rain and required changing, reshowering, and rechanging, an effective bodyweight exercise appealed to me. Needing no equipment, spotter, training, weather, or other potential impediment, I could do burpees anywhere, any time, without restriction. A recent morning burpee With practice I increased the daily number and kept going past that month, in time adding stretches and other exercises to work muscles burpees…

December 22, 2019

Examples of “tastes good” versus “want more”

Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Perception / SIDCHAs

Examples of “tastes good” versus “want more”

I've written on the difference in sensation between something tasting good versus making you feel like you want more of it (see "Want to eat more" and "tastes good" aren't the same feeling). I also spoke about them as a podcast guest in Tastes Good versus Want More, explored in depth. The difference, briefly: when you bite into a fruit you love, say an apple, it tastes good and you want more. Yet rarely do I eat two apples in a row. The second apple tastes as good as the first, but the sensation of wanting more decreases. By contrast, when I bite into a potato chip, it tastes good and I want more. But a few chips in, the feeling of their tasting good…

October 7, 2019

Exhaustion glory

Fitness / SIDCHAs

Exhaustion glory

The other day, just walking down the street I felt super tired, like I got hit by a truck. Then I remembered that I lifted that morning and I had lifted more than ever before in my life. No wonder I felt exhausted. I had noticed I was lifting more than before that morning, but it slipped my mind when I went out for the day. I don't lift heavy weights compared to people who seriously lift, only that the longer I keep lifting, the longer I increase the weights I lift. I've lifted regularly for a few years and I've reached higher weights than ever. I'm not complaining about feeling out of energy for the rest of the day. On the contrary, I found…

October 4, 2019

Protection from depression

Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

Protection from depression

I don't know how long it takes time for depression to take root -- that is, for someone feeling fine to feeling depressed. A quick web search didn't show anything and I'm sure it differs from person to person. I imagine it rarely happens overnight. The reason I thought about it was a conversation with a friend about sidchas and my twice-daily burpee-based calisthenics. As he put it, motion creates emotion. As I experience it, getting the blood flowing and physically exhausting yourself through healthy exercise creates upbeat and resilient emotion. It's been almost ten years since longer than about 12 hours passed without my getting my heart rate up, actually winded. I've felt miserable and depressed at various times in my life, and it…

September 14, 2019

Cold Showers Rock

Awareness / Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / My Favorite Posts / SIDCHAs

Cold Showers Rock

I write a lot about cold showers. They may sound crazy, but bear with me and you may find them more helpful than you could have imagined. After taking a few in Shanghai because the water took five minutes to warm up that I couldn't stand wasting, in December of 2013, I took thirty days of cold showers. I can't tell you how much the discipline, dedication, and so on have helped. Taking them enables you to do things you wouldn't have thought you could but always wanted to, or that others dream of. If you're interested, read the posts in this series. Click on the links below to read my posts about it. 30 days of cold showers review: Lessons in discipline and pleasure…

August 22, 2019

I do more burpees before 9am . . .

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

I do more burpees before 9am . . .

I can't believe I didn't think of saying the phrase until the other day: I do more burpees before 9am than most people do all day. It's satisfying to write. I could have said it years ago. Friends are surprises I haven't said it. When I said it to someone out loud, he pointed out I could say: I do more burpees before 9am than most people do in their entire lives.

July 17, 2019

Sidchas — the series

Fitness / Habits / My Favorite Posts / SIDCHAs

Sidchas — the series

EDIT (May 2020): I gave my most comprehensive talk on sidchas. Here is the recording https://youtu.be/BfnO0nQSuPk Most people seem to want improve themselves, personally or professionally. Reading, watching, and listening to people tell you how you can develop yourself professionally or personally doesn't change anything beyond give you a bit of information. People don't succeed because they have more information. They succeed because they act. Even if you know you should do something, how do you know what? Marketers are trying to tell you what to do. They promote diets, exercise, how to start businesses, learning business skills, learning to be rich, learning languages, learning programming languages, religions, networking, and so on. It's bewildering. Each category has innumerable sub-categories. I bet you can name dozens…

June 14, 2019

Jia Jiang’s world-class social sidcha

SIDCHAs / Stories

Jia Jiang’s world-class social sidcha

I couldn't help share Jia Jiang's sidcha. I've favored fitness sidchas like my burpee-based calisthenics, a mindfulness one in cold showers, and the expressive one of writing here. I've also described business ones like cold-calling five of sales leads daily or writing a business idea every day. There are aesthetic ones like drawing a picture every day or dancing every day. I also describe social ones like talking to a new person every day. He shared another social one. The video speaks for itself. https://youtu.be/-vZXgApsPCQ Normally I don't just like posting videos, but this one so perfectly illustrates how a sidcha works and their value, how could I not post it? He writes up each experience on his page. I wonder how much he kept…

March 21, 2019

Painting sidchas: A Painting A Day

Painting sidchas: A Painting A Day

I found some great examples of success through sidchas you'll enjoy seeing. Through Seth Godin, who posts to his blog daily, I learned of Abbey Ryan, who paints a painting a day. I hope she doesn't mind my showing her ten most recent paintings, to show their beauty and so people don't confuse a painting a day with skimping. According to Wikipedia, A recognized leader in the "Painting-A-Day" movement, Ryan's work has been featured and reviewed in dozens of print and web publications, including Seth Godin's Linchpin, O, The Oprah Magazine, as part of the Women Who Make Beautiful Things section, Boing Boing, Good Day Philadelphia on WTXF, Yale Radio's The Art World Demystified, WYBC, Brainard Carey's Making It In the Art World, New Markets…

January 4, 2019

A sidcha to improve your writing

A screen shot of the page my publisher recommended

Habits / SIDCHAs

A sidcha to improve your writing

My publisher recommended an exercise to help write concisely, which she found at a page called Very Good Copy in an article called This exercise will train you to write more concisely. A screen shot of the page my publisher recommended It says, "If your goal is to write tighter copy---copy that says more in fewer words---try this 15-minute exercise. . . rewrite a Wikipedia paragraph to a third of its original length (e.g., edit ~150 words down to ~50 words) without sacrificing its meaning." The page gave an example. Moreover, it stated the exercise as a sidcha: "Do it once a day, five days a week for a month, and your writing will improve. Do it once a day, five days a week for…

December 31, 2018

World Burpee Day

Fitness / SIDCHAs / Visualization

World Burpee Day

It turns out some people or advertisers decided to make October 12 World Burpee Day. Given my thing with burpees, I decided to play the game and post about it to see if my more than 110,000 burpees over 2,487 consecutive day wins me something. I found a few articles with headlines suggesting people barely getting started: I Did 30 Burpees For 15 Days and Here's What Happened This Is What Happens When You Do 30 Burpees Every Day for 15 Days Why Does This Man Do 100 Burpees Each Day of the Year? After 15 days, only have 2,462 to go! This article, "Need Workout Motivation? Here's an All-Day Montage of People Doing Burpees," shows a 24 hour long video with many people doing…

October 12, 2018

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