Convenience at what cost?
Not the guy I saw or in the park I saw, but similar.
Blog / Fitness / Nature

Convenience at what cost?

The other day I passed a guy blowing leaves with a gasoline-powered leaf blower on a paved area in a park by City Hall. This post isn't about him. It's about us, including you. What is wrong with us? We buy oil from countries we have adversarial relations with, pollute the environment, create loud, unpleasant noise, so a fat person can work less, and cart away what would create topsoil, to fill a land-fill. What we could do instead What if we did this instead? Rake the leaves making little extra noise buying no oil from adversarial countries causing no pollution composting the leaves or using them for mulch filling no land-fills giving the guy exercise? Raking leaves on pavement isn't hard. Values What happened…

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November 2, 2013
Blog / Fitness

The two meanings of competition

The concept of competition implies beating the other person. In sports the concept is a standard, fundamental part. In everyday use outside of sports that beating the other person often carries a tinge of accusation or wrongdoing. People accuse others of being over-competitive, which they look down on. I've never heard anyone accuse another of being under-competitive. In business, competition often carries a noble ring. Business culture holds that business should compete to win. I've found that competition has another meaning -- to strive to improve yourself, independent of beating someone else. Sometimes you see this meaning in sports when people describe someone as "a competitor," even when they aren't competing someone to win. A competitor in that sense tries to improve him or herself,…

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October 22, 2013
Near New York City? Watch the marathon November 3!
Blog / Fitness / Tips

Near New York City? Watch the marathon November 3!

Wait, I want to lead better. Why should I care about marathons? Running a marathon takes discipline, dedication, practice, drive, determination, and many skills relevant to becoming a leader and practicing leadership. You've heard many parts of leadership described as marathons, not sprints. Whether you want to train for and complete a literal marathon or just something like one, having marathons in your life as a competitor or spectator, improves your leadership skills. Even if you don't run a marathon, interacting with them puts those skills and people with them in your environment, which increases them in your life. It motivates you to increase those skills and adopt comparable practices in your life. Besides, watching or competing in a marathon, especially the New York City…

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October 20, 2013
Oops! Haha … did I say four miles? … Uh, I meant seven.
Blog / Fitness

Oops! Haha … did I say four miles? … Uh, I meant seven.

I didn't mean to write yesterday's post on starting with emotion on exercise, food, and habits. I meant to contrast how I like to exercise with how people who don't exercise seem to and then to tell today's story. People who don't exercise seem to characterize it as torture and dislike it. I see it as fun and rewarding. Sometimes it feels like torture, but only when I know the feeling of exhaustion to follow that I know I'll appreciate more than I dislike the torture. I love being fit. Today I'll share a funny story about it. Context Living by the Hudson River means I can run without having to stop at traffic lights in Hudson River Park, which the city has slowly been improving.…

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September 27, 2013
Blog / Fitness / Nature

Start with emotions if you want to motivate yourself … or anyone else

I find Americans try to get precise and scientific about food and exercise, in contrast to how incredibly unfit the country is. I write "try to" because I don't think they succeed in being precise or scientific. The term carbohydrate, for example, used to have a specific scientific meaning. I think it still does, but I think in standard American usage it means "bad" or "evil," like the term fat used to. But I don't think people know what carbohydrate means, but it sounds technical. Same with Omega whatever fatty acids, free radicals, and so on. Same with exercise. People throw around terms like anaerobic, cardiovascular, and VO2 max like candy, rarely knowing what they mean. Jargon devoid of meaning. More than devoid of meaning,…

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September 26, 2013
Blog / Fitness

Twenty-one miles!

In case anyone was wondering how I was doing on my marathon training, since I hurt my ankle in May and couldn't run on it until August, I thought I might not have enough time to train. Saturday I ran twenty-one miles in hilly Central Park. The bottoms of my feet hurt, but I felt otherwise great. The weekend before I ran twelve miles on each of Saturday and Sunday. The weekend before that I ran eighteen miles. I've been running five or six miles two or three days on weekdays. So I feel good about the full marathon November 3, assuming no injury. I have some blisters and chafing, which can force you to stop even if your heart, lungs, and legs can otherwise…

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September 16, 2013
Blog / Fitness

Do you confuse a reason to do something with an excuse not to?

When the topic of meditation came up the other day I heard the same thing I've heard many times before. I'm sure you've heard and said similar thing for similar activities: "Oh, I can't meditate. My mind is too frantic. I wish I could." Maybe you've heard or said it in this form: "Oh, I can't go to the gym. I'm too out-of-shape. I wish I could." or: "Oh, I wish I could organize my life. I'm just too busy. I wish I could" or in the generic form: "I wish I could do X, but I'm too what-X-fixes. I wish I could." Everyone who learned to do X, be it meditating, getting fit, keeping their life organized, or whatever, faced the same challenges and…

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September 10, 2013
Awareness / Blog / Fitness

Nobody likes a know-it-all

I want to compile a list of things that when you talk about them people feel compelled to tell you all about them, like they're experts. I'll also note that most such people talk about things they read that couldn't possibly cover the topic thoroughly. More importantly, they rarely experiment and find out on their own. I don't know how many people have told me not eating meat is bad for my health without trying. They just read something somewhere and regurgitate. Or how many people tell me running is bad for human knees, who somehow disregard that tens of thousands of people who run a marathon in just one day in New York City, or how many people run all around the world and…

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September 3, 2013
Awareness / Blog / Fitness / Freedom

You call exercise torture? I call it glory.

[This post is part of a series on my daily exercise and starting and keeping challenging habits. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Emotionally, I don't want to do burpees nearly every single time I do them. As you probably know, I do twenty twice-daily. Starting is never easy. Never. If you think you have a harder time starting to exercise than others, I think you're wrong. I don't think anybody has it easy. Just some people developed skills to overcome the emotional challenges we all feel. Rationally, I want to do them, but my emotions oppose my rational thoughts. I use willpower to…

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August 29, 2013
Blog / Fitness

More benefits of burpees

[This post is part of a series on my daily exercise and starting and keeping challenging habits. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Ten days ago I wrote about running around eight miles for my first run in about three months after hurting my ankle -- "Soreness and exhaustion feel great!". Three days later I ran a nine-and-a-half mile run. Even having run marathons before, I consider those runs long and big jumps from no running. I'm surprised I did them. I keep asking myself what kept me in shape enough to do them. The best I can think of is burpees. Besides burpees,…

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August 26, 2013
Blog / Fitness

Soreness and exhaustion feel great!

People complain about pain and exhaustion like they're bad, but I find them sometimes the best feelings I know. As you know, I'm registered for this year's marathon. A couple months ago I hurt my ankle and couldn't run for a while. Yesterday I decided to run four or five miles for the first time. I felt great. So great I decided to run along the Hudson River all the way to Central Park, a mile there, and back. Something around seven to nine miles with some good hills. I got home after dark. Today my body is sore. When I'm in shape a half-marathon doesn't leave me this sore, but I'm not in great running shape. While the soreness makes moving hard and slightly…

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August 15, 2013
Blog / Fitness

120 burpees yesterday! 10,000 burpees at 2×20 per day!

[This post is part of a series on my daily exercise and starting and keeping challenging habits. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] While writing yesterday's post on accepting my friend Dave's challenge to do one hundred burpees in thirty-seven minutes I ate a banana for energy and mentally prepared. Then I turned on my stopwatch, started it, and did ten burpees. At three-and-a-half minutes I did ten more. At seven minutes ten more. By the end I felt good enough to do them faster. After my hundredth burpee I stopped the clock at just under twenty-nine minutes. Coincidentally, Dave happened to text me…

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July 18, 2013
Blog / Fitness

Another reason to share your passions

[This post is part of a series on my daily exercise and starting and keeping challenging habits. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Today's post combines a few key things that result from and help create a great life. Having good friends who challenge you Sharing your passions Exercising regularly Accountability gets things done My friend Dave -- the guy I swam across the Hudson River with -- was back briefly from Tanzania, where he's doing development work. I don't have to tell you, the guy lives an amazing life. I told him I had been doing forty burpees a day since November 4…

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July 17, 2013
Awareness / Exercises / Fitness / Models / Nature / Tips

A model to cover life’s basics

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Do you ever feel overwhelmed with obligations? So much that you find yourself losing sense of your priorities? Today's simple model reminds me of my basics. If you're reading this at some regular, calm time, it may seem too basic to think about. Its value comes when you're stressed or overwhelmed. Then it can shift your perspective and simplify things. A model to cover the basics: You can't improve anything until you've covered sleep, food, and exercise. However you want to…

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May 25, 2013
Blog / Exercises / Models

A model to help get you in better shape

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Today's belief counteracts a common trend I see about exercise. I forget if I've written about my impressions of seeing five-kilometer walks in Central Park with water stations and ambulances. While I support being prepared, I can't help but wonder if the suggestion that a five-kilometer walk could be a health risk might stop more people from exercising than these walks promote. I'm sure there are people for whom walking five kilometers could be a risk, but I imagine they would…

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May 17, 2013
A model to make you more intelligent and free
Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Humor / Models / Tips

A model to make you more intelligent and free

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] I once spoke with a psychologist who specialized in intelligence. She told me that flexibility in how one sees the world is a major part of intelligence. At first I didn't see the connection, but then it made sense. The more ways you can look at a problem, the more ways you can try to solve it. By contrast, if you limit the number of ways you see something, you limit the number of ways you can solve it. Most people…

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April 27, 2013
2013 New York City Marathon!
Blog / Fitness

2013 New York City Marathon!

So many people apply to run in the New York City Marathon, you usually have to get lucky in the random draw to get accepted. If you apply and don't get in three years in a row, you get in automatically the fourth year, which worked out for me this year. So I just got my guaranteed acceptance to this year's marathon! I also just got my new Vivobarefoot running shoes in the mail the other day and started my first runs in months. I have a long way to go to get in good shape, so I'm looking forward to it. Anyone interested in signing up for  one of the best days of your life too? Here's a map from a previous year for…

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April 25, 2013
How to win an NBA championship if you’re a 66-year-old grandmother
Exercises / Fitness / Models / Tips

How to win an NBA championship if you’re a 66-year-old grandmother

[This post is part of a series on “Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours.” If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] Today's post illustrates yesterday's model instead of introducing a new one. It's one of my favorite illustrations from my leadership seminar. It shows that with flexibility in your beliefs and understanding your emotions you can bring anything to your life that anyone else can bring to theirs. Winning an NBA championship Say you want to win an NBA championship. What exactly do you want? It's not possession of the trophy, which is just a physical object. It's not even necessarily to…

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April 12, 2013
Blog / Education / Fitness / Leadership

More on John Wooden

I found a couple more videos on John Wooden, whom I wrote about yesterday. First, some thoughts on him by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the top players of all time. He is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, with 38,387 points. During his career with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers from 1969 to 1989, Abdul-Jabbar won six NBA championships and a record six regular season MVP Awards. In college at UCLA, he played on three consecutive national championship teams, and his high school team won 71 consecutive games. At the time of his retirement, Abdul-Jabbar was the NBA’s all-time leader in points scored, games played, minutes played, field goals made, field goal attempts, blocked shots, defensive rebounds, and personal fouls. Look at the…

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March 23, 2013
Blog / Fitness / Leadership

A few minutes on one of the best leaders in U.S. history

While searching for videos on Lou Gehrig for yesterday's post, I happened on a short video on John Wooden, one of the great coaches of any sport. According to Wikipedia John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period—seven in a row—as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games. He was named national coach of the year six times. As a player, Wooden was the first to be named basketball All-American three times and he won a national championship at Purdue. Wooden was named a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame…

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March 22, 2013
Blog / Fitness

Choosing your beliefs; a life and death example

How would you like for your body to weaken for no reason and become unable to do simple things you once could; where you stumble and fall just jogging; to have your weakness on display to the world so everyone sees you deteriorate; then to find out your body will continue weakening until you can't use your arms and legs or any other muscles, and that you'll die in a few years? Would you feel lucky? Do you think you could if you wanted to? Lou Gehrig did. If you've never read or heard the speech he gave on retiring from baseball on July 4, 1939, you'll see his ability to create his beliefs at work. Some might say of course he feels lucky as…

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March 21, 2013
Blog / Fitness / Tips

One way to help prevent unhappiness

When people feel unhappy or depressed they often stop doing things. They don't feel motivated to work or go out so they don't. You know how when you're happy, you tend to smile? Most people also know smiling makes you feel happier, at least for a moment. Forcing a smile won't solve all your problems, but we can build on what it demonstrates. Not only does emotion motivate behavior, but behavior influences mood. While brief behavior influences emotion briefly, longer term behavior influences emotion long term. To keep your mood stable, keep up your habits consistently. It may not make your life perfect, but it helps a lot. It gives you a solid platform to build the rest of your life on. I've written about…

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March 16, 2013
Blog / Fitness

Redefining possibility again

Are you younger than 89? Can I ask you to think critically. Forget for a moment about logistics and if you have the time or interest to do it. Just ask yourself if you think it's possible. Do you think you could finish a marathon? Do you think it's possible? Many people I ask consider their finishing a marathon impossible. Not difficult but impossible. They explain why and their reasons never hold water for me, but they seem conclusive to them. Sometimes it's as simple as knee problems (note I asked about finishing a marathon, not running one, which would allow for using a wheelchair or crutches, both of which I've seen racers use. For that matter, seeing a blind runner in a marathon. Whatever…

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March 8, 2013
Video: Getting the block and game-winning goal in North Korea’s first Ultimate Frisbee tournament
Fitness / NorthKorea

Video: Getting the block and game-winning goal in North Korea’s first Ultimate Frisbee tournament

I just realized I never posted this video of me getting the block and game-winning goal in North Korea's first Ultimate Frisbee tournament in August 2011 (actually, I posted it on a site I since enjoyed leaving.) I consider it one of the highlights of my Ultimate career not for the level of competition but for living out Ultimate's Spirit of the Game clause "Spirit of the Game. Ultimate relies upon a spirit of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules, or the basic joy of play. Protection of these vital elements serves to eliminate unsportsmanlike conduct from the Ultimate…

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March 1, 2013
Blog / Fitness

You won the Tour de France as many times as Lance Armstrong

It's obvious, but still fun to say. Try it. Point out to a friend that you Tour de France as many times as Lance Armstrong. Why point this out? Credibility and reputation count for a lot in business and relationships in general. It seems to me that the credibility and reputations of people who don't cheat suffer if people who do cheat keep the same quality of credibility and reputation as they do. I feel compassion for him, but I also recognize he chose to do everything he did. I remain impressed with what he was able to achieve physically, but not impressed with his winning any competitions because I don't know if he ever competed for anything. He may have, and he may have…

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February 8, 2013

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