Visualization

Beware arch problems

Beware arch problems

"Arch problems" is my name for problems where their would-be solutions exacerbate the problem. Their cure is the disease. Why "arch"? Arches in architecture are strong under pressure, supporting something. If you think an arch is weak and try to help it by supporting it, you weaken it, which may lead you to support it more. This cycle of weakening it by supporting it more can lead to either the arch collapsing or you doing all the support for the arch. They can be insidious because the more you try to help, the more they require your help. You strengthen an arch by putting it under stress. Not too much. There are lots of problems that show this pattern. I'll list a few. Helicopter parenting:…

July 13, 2019

The Story Behind Initiative’s Cover

Creativity / Education / Visualization

The Story Behind Initiative’s Cover

I wanted to share the story behind Initiative's cover. Layout The designer first sent a few cover designs. They were contemporary and appropriate for 2019, but they didn't feel right. I couldn't point to anything wrong with them, but they didn't resonate. When we spoke to review his first designs, I told him that they felt "now," but I considered my book timeless. It's not about making apps, blockchain, or the latest fad. I felt ancient Greeks could have used its exercises to find their passions and discover their priorities as well as anyone today. We started searching for images of classic book covers, especially Plato and Aristotle. I wanted to find the cover of Plato's Republic from college. Some I liked. Some I didn't.…

July 12, 2019

Freedom: Zero Inbox

Freedom / Visualization

Freedom: Zero Inbox

I don't mean to make light of the freedom people fought and died for, but I reached an empty inbox for the first time in I don't know how long today and it feels like freedom and liberation. Here's a screen shot of my mail reader: Launching Initiative put my inbox count into triple digits, including many detailed messages about complicated relationships. But July 4 is about freedom and I made it. EDIT: I found and updated this post of mine, First empty inbox in at least a year!. Today may mark my first empty inbox in two and a half years, though I may have not marked one in between.

July 4, 2019

Bold, Striking Portraits by Azael Montejo Jr.

Art / Creativity / Visualization

Bold, Striking Portraits by Azael Montejo Jr.

Sharp-eyed readers of my blog and social media will have noticed the new portraits I've switched to. Also my portrait in my new book Initiative. A friend introduced me to Azael Montejo Jr -- aka Ozzie -- founder and CEO of Online Personal Training. Mostly we spoke about our lives and passions. At one point, he started describing a vision he saw from how I spoke about my work. The next thing I knew, we arranged a shoot. He took care of the equipment, lighting, etc. He described how to move and brought out the expressions he envisioned and I just followed his direction. He processed the images and here is the output. If you're looking for bold photographs with style and expression, and a…

June 5, 2019

The most beautiful, life-giving places on Earth, we paved over

Nature / Visualization

The most beautiful, life-giving places on Earth, we paved over

Humans seem drawn to the most beautiful places. Our ancestors probably settled where life was easiest---that is, providing the most for life. Then we make them easier for us to live there---a hut here, a path there, a well, a dock, a road, etc. In other words, we've likely paved the most beautiful places on Earth. Here's Manhattan before and after. Here are two pictures of Thailand jungles, then two pictures of Bangkok. The transformation seems what we do. Do we have to?

November 9, 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 Hereâ€™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

My calisthenics, September 2018

Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs / Visualization

My calisthenics, September 2018

I've kept my twice-daily calisthenics routines nearly the same for a few years. Now you can see them. I settled onto through trial and error and some research, not through a trainer, so I welcome comments and suggestions. My morning routine 27 burpees (last 3 with with diamond push-ups) Hamstring stretch for 60 breaths Pike for 10 breaths 10 lying hip raises 10 45-pound weighted crunches with legs up 10 45-pound weighted crunches with feet on floor 5 45-pound weighted bicycle crunches Bridge stretch for 9 breaths 6 53-pound one-leg one-arm row Water plants 6 35-pound curls The routine usually takes about 13 to 15 minutes. https://youtu.be/7HIGya1x9zM Though my shoulders didn't look like they came off the ground in my crunches with the 45-pound weight,…

October 5, 2018

Three simple proposals to reduce pollution

Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Nature / Visualization

Three simple proposals to reduce pollution

I understand that many people reduce their pollution just from knowing how much they pollute. Planes How about having every airplane ticket show how much pollution and greenhouse gas emissions each flight causes---designed, prominent, and easy to read, like an Energy Star label or cigarette warning? I'd add a relevant comparison number, like IPCC recommendations. Like this, from MyClimate.org, Cars How about gas pumps show that information as you fill up your car. Now the pump shows volume of gas and price. To add pounds of CO2 shouldn't be hard. Credit Cards How about showing that information on your credit card bill too?

September 18, 2018

American men and their breasts

Choosing/Decision-Making / Fitness / Nonjudgment / Visualization

American men and their breasts

The United States today probably has the largest population in history of men with breasts caused by voluntary choices. There are other causes than voluntary choices as this Newsweek article says, It can sometimes be hereditary but is more commonly spurred by conditions like obesity, chronic kidney disease or an overactive thyroid, as well as by certain medications like steroids that cause hormone levels to shift. but many men choose behavior that causes their bodies to grow breasts. I wrote the other day about people choosing behaviors that lead to consequences they don't like but continue doing them. I'm only talking about them today. For men who like being obese and having breasts, more power to them. It's not my taste, but I support a…

August 24, 2018

Obesity, internal conflict, and choice

The overlap of people who choose to behave in conflict with their values and don't like the results

Fitness / Nonjudgment / Visualization

Obesity, internal conflict, and choice

Measuring grocery store floor space implies the diet of people living near it, as I wrote in Fat, Manhattan real estate, profit, and where obesity comes from. Since every American food store I've seen sells more salt, sugar, and fat-based foods than whole plants, the floor space implies people eat a lot of salt, sugar, and fat. Specifically, they choose to spend their hard-earned money on salty, sugary, and fatty foods, enough to support expensive Manhattan real estate rents while fresh vegetables are a few steps away in the same store. The stores near me have beautiful looking produce. In most stores shoppers had to walk past the fresh fruits and vegetables to buy the salty, sugary, and fatty foods they pay more for. Likewise,…

August 18, 2018

Independence from garbage, even on my body

Fitness / Freedom / Visualization

Independence from garbage, even on my body

July 4th, Independence Day is about freedom. Usually political freedom. I'm posting today on personal freedom. Last month I posted a video on how more than a year's worth of garbage fit in a canvas bag. I made two videos that day---one with my shirt off to show the result to my body of avoiding garbage. I held off on posting the shirtless one to stay more conservative given my corporate clients. But today is a day about freedom. I'm claiming mine. It also happens to mark the 13th month since emptied the trash bag. The bag is still not full. As you'll hear me say in the video, I used to feel ashamed as a chubby kid and would wear a shirt to the…

July 4, 2018

Life lessons from 1883 Montana

Frontier House

Awareness / Fitness / Visualization

Life lessons from 1883 Montana

People keep acting like I have some special discipline that most people don't. They think the burpees, cold showers, avoiding packaged food, and so on take effort. They don't. Creating a lifestyle where they are normal and easy took effort---a once-in-a-lifetime effort---followed by their being the default for the rest of my life. Almost no willpower or discipline needed. People don't believe me. I think they find it easier to say someone else is different or special than to dig out from themselves what they haven't used most of their lives, even though they know that bringing it out will improve their lives. Anyone can. I'm not special. The 2002 PBS reality TV show, Frontier House, showed three families living in Montana for three months…

June 20, 2018

Remember the “Crying Indian” Anti-Litter Ads From the 70s? You’ll Cry More at Our Pollution Levels Today (Inc.)

Awareness / Inc.com / Leadership / Nature / Visualization

Remember the “Crying Indian” Anti-Litter Ads From the 70s? You’ll Cry More at Our Pollution Levels Today (Inc.)

Remember the Single-Tear Anti-Litter Ads From the 70s? You'll Cry Too at Our Pollution Levels Today The chart below puts Keep America Beautiful's "Crying Indian" public service announcement in today's deplorable context A headline in The Guardian two days ago, "$180bn investment in plastic factories feeds global packaging binge" led me to some statistics about plastic production. Plastic Production Then The chart I saw, reproduced below, showed dramatic increase around 1970. Normally I wouldn'tÂ think much of that date, but itÂ reminded me of the so-called "crying Indian ads,"--theÂ Keep America Beautiful public service announcements from my childhood. I hadn't thought of them in decades. FromÂ Wikipedia, In 1971, a new campaign was launched onÂ Earth DayÂ with the theme, "People Start Pollution. People can stop it." In what became known…

December 28, 2017

Updates on Limits to Growth, finally!

Limits To Growth Data Comparison

Leadership / Models / Nature / Visualization

Updates on Limits to Growth, finally!

One of my top resources on the environment is the book Limits to Growth. Reading it was revelatory. They approached the environment the way I thought made sense, then created a model, researched the numbers, plugged them in, and got answers. What made sense was what they call a systemic approach---not to look at one of all the interacting parts, but to look at the whole system, including how the parts interacted. For example, I sensed that just improving technology didn't feel like it would solve everything. The Green Revolution, for example, led to more food, but used fossil fuels to do so and increased the population. Just saying it saved lives missed that it may have delayed an inevitable outcome of people starving, now…

December 26, 2017

How to review a podcast on iTunes (Video)

Leadership / Nature / Podcast / Visualization

How to review a podcast on iTunes (Video)

Apple approved my podcast, Leadership and the Environment, for iTunes yesterday. If you want to help the environment, I hope you'll review it there. Why review Leadership and the Environment? Leadership and the Environment helps people who want to change their behavior but feel discouraged. Americans pollute and degrade the environment more than almost anyone. Everyone I know wants to degrade less, but does little. I see a leadership vacuum---someone to help people achieve their goals. Leaders help people find meaning and purpose. Leaders help change beliefs and goals. The mainstream belief that growth solves most problems is exacerbating the problem, blinding people to see the damage it's causing. Featuring influential people changing their behavior will help people act and help change cultural beliefs. So…

December 5, 2017

I’m no longer “not flying”

Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs / Visualization

I’m no longer “not flying”

A friend wrote Your perseverance in not flying around is beyond impressive. :) Are you still not consuming normal packaging? The longer you live outside a system, the less its goals and values control you. As with fitness, my skills living by my pollution-related values becomes easier all the time. I responded I'm no longer "not flying" or avoiding food packaging. I'm living by my values, which means creating adventure, cultural exchange, and what flying and eating brings without polluting the fuck out of the environment and lying to myself that I'm not, or that I'm powerless to do anything about it. I recommend not being impressed by taking others' into account in your choices, but viewing it like brushing your teeth -- something you…

October 18, 2017

Geeking out with a spreadsheet: How much I’ve lived through

How much of history I've lived through---my original spreadsheet

Awareness / Visualization

Geeking out with a spreadsheet: How much I’ve lived through

I decided to have fun with a spreadsheet and calculate how much I've lived of historical times. I'm surprised to find I've lived a meaningful fraction of historical periods---all the more so if I live to 100. See the tables below. First, I'll share some highlights. How much of history I've lived For example, I've lived 2.3% of the time since Jesus. 2.3% is small, but I wouldn't have expected even a single digit percentage. To me, it feels odd and oddly satisfying to know that I've lived a meaningful part of all of a major religion's existence. If I live to 100, I will have lived nearly 1% since humans domesticated the first animals. I don't know about you, but a percent seems like…

October 13, 2017

What will it take to stop us from paving over everything?

Nature / Visualization

What will it take to stop us from paving over everything?

Normally when I think of human achievement, I think of our cultural history. For example, of New York City's history and value, I think of the Met, MoMA, Columbia, NYU, Central Park, its various other museums, concert halls, and so on. This Manhattan looks like quite an achievement: From another perspective, we as humans have turned nature into culture but also lifeless concrete. We came into a world full of natural resources, abundant with everything we needed to live. Many parts of life balance many things, always locally working. There were predators and parasites, but there was also a world of food, trees, clean air, and clean water. Everywhere we went we used things up, then moved on. No sizable places remain untouched. We have…

September 16, 2017

Nature / Visualization

Pollution, Native Americans, Priorities, and the Opposite of Progress

Working on leadership and the environment, I've thought of people trying to reduce pollution. People my age and old will remember the public service announcements of the 70s with the Native American amid scenes of garbage and pollution, a tear rolling down his face at the tragedy of what we've done to the land, blithely ignorant of it. Here are two versions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Suu84khNGY and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_QGBWaD-A4 The Opposite of Progress These announcements came out in 1971, nearly half a century ago. I bet we pollute on scales few dreamed of then. At least then we drank water from faucets where it was clean. Now we use multiple bottles per day, even when we can get cleaner, cheaper water from the tap. Last I heard, 9% of…

August 14, 2017

Leadership and the Environment podcast episode #5: The slideshow, June 23, 2017 [video]

Leadership / Nature / Podcast / Visualization

Leadership and the Environment podcast episode #5: The slideshow, June 23, 2017 [video]

I've delivered this talk a lot lately. It continues to iterate and I'm years from being able to deliver it at the I-Have-A-Dream-level quality to motivate people as the cause demands, but I consider it ready. Please share! (with @spodek) I welcome suggestions to improve. This is the 90-minute version. I will create shorter versions too. Most of all, please contact me to join the movement. I'd love to hear from everyone interested in helping, whether you can help with the areas I name or otherwise. Remember to do part 1---an effective personal challenge---first. Please tell me if you take one on. Here it is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzLoCTM1_tk

June 24, 2017

Awareness / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs / Visualization

How a habit forms

There are plenty of books on habits. Too many, if you ask me. You don't need books to start habits. In my experience, self-awareness will get you farther. In particular, starting new behavior creates new emotions and reactions. Paying attention to them will guide you how to follow up to improve them more than reading---if you pay attention to everything you can. That level of self-awareness takes time and effort to develop, so books may seem to help more, but you have to practice self-awareness to develop it, which books hinder, like training wheels when learning to ride a bike. I recommend losing the training wheels as soon as you can. The habit development pattern Not just habits, but sidchas: Start sidcha â‡“ 2. Feel…

May 17, 2017

My new graphic slogans

Favorites / Visualization

My new graphic slogans

Some people have told me I make some memorable short statements, which I find flattering. I've also thought about using picture-based social media sites, so I made some simple graphics of some of the statements I like. I don't know much design, so I welcome suggestions to improve. Otherwise, enjoy, and share them if you like them.

May 6, 2017

Genuineness and authenticity: What it takes

Art / Creativity / Education / Leadership / Visualization

Genuineness and authenticity: What it takes

I finally watched Gone With the Wind. People routinely rate it one of the top movies. Watching it, you automatically rate it by the standards of its time. But watch the acting these iconic scenes. The morning after watching the movie, I woke up realizing how ungenuine and inauthentic the acting was. Sure, by the standards of its time, the acting was probably great. But watch this scene, the opening scene of the movie. Do you not see what are supposed to be grown men behaving like caricatures of children? At 0:56 the man shows his happiness by dancing. What grown man dances and whoops to show happiness for such a trivial reason? Actors call such acting indicating, which means behaving to indicate the emotion…

February 17, 2017

Fat, Manhattan real estate, profit, and where obesity comes from

Fitness / Visualization

Fat, Manhattan real estate, profit, and where obesity comes from

I noticed when I shop at the grocery store, I use a lot less of it than I used to. I hardly use any of it any more, by floor space. I couldn't find a floor plan of my local market, but this one looks fairly representative: When you avoid food where you have to throw away packaging and food with fiber removed, you only use the two circled parts here: Some of the circled part includes a "coffee smoothie bar," which I wouldn't use. The biggest differences in my life for sticking with fresh produce (and bulk foods for nuts and legumes put in bags I brought with me) are that foods are more Delicious Convenient Cheap Local Healthy That is, by my values,…

November 10, 2016

Origins: of me and teaching leadership

Art / Awareness / Education / Freedom / Nonjudgment / Relationships / Visualization

Origins: of me and teaching leadership

My reasons for teaching leadership experientially today are mainly To enable people to create meaning, value, importance, purpose, and passion in their lives and in the lives of people around them Because the challenges the next several generations will face require changing behavior on a global scale, which are social and emotional challenges, not technical, and I hope to help create a community of people with the skills to overcome these challenges but why I do it today isn't why I started. Why I Felt Attracted to Leadership I remember the first time I saw Nurse Ratched, from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, named as one of the top villains in movies (#5 in the American Film Institute's ranking, two spots below Darth Vader…

September 11, 2016

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