Squirrels! (a.k.a., let's talk tools)

Motivation:

"We should not let success go to our heads, or our failures go to our hearts."
~unknown

Diary:

Before we get too far this week, let me start by saying "What a beautiful day." I am sitting in my den, the laundry just finished drying (I will stop now and fold and hang laundry.) There are SQUIRRELS (what an odd word. say "squirrels" three times fast.). The sun is shining - it is 40 degrees, and in Minnesota 40 degrees is window-down driving weather. The Twins Baseball is on as I write (going into extra innings - Twins 3, TampaBay 3) and John Gordon's voice is lulling my stress level down lower and lower. A gigantic chunk of ice just fell from my roof with a loud 'thud', exposing the shingles for the first time in several weeks. I have my lists all up to date and am ready to now sit down and write about "tools.' Follow with me, if you wish.

First, the weekly weight-loss update! Overall good news, I believe. Check out the Current Stats ------ WOOW, by next time I check in, I will have made my current goal - 367 lbs. I am currently 1/4 pound over 367, so for the next blog entry I will need to calculate a new goal weight to attain.... Yipee..

Notes:

I got several emails and notes this week. People seemed to click with the idea of linking the things (toys and events, etc) that I want to do/have directly with the things that I need to get done. One reader (K.) advised me to make a chart of my wish list. K says:

The saved $$ wouldn't need to be actually put into a physical shoe box or a bank account, but recorded in a spreadsheet tool that you use frequently.

The idea is how to do this and "get your arms around" real $ that could be spent for awards

If one actually went with the idea one would need to

1.plug in their own debt instruments,

2.decide which had the highest interest, and

3.increase payoff effort to one or more debt instrument.

4.record the actual $ saved (transfer from debtor charges back to you)

Yes, great idea. I was working on this for a while this week, and will attach the starting version to this blog post. I found other blogs that spoke of this concept - how to make goals and rewards. I found Zen Habits site discusses financial principals. (Actually, Zen Habits is one of my curious sites this week. I am going to add it's feed to my reading list, as it makes me feel justified about this new search to be more organized. The Zen Habits site discusses details about the "Renaissance Man Project" that I have been needing to ponder, such as "Productivity Boosts" and "Getting the Most Important Things Done First" in your day. These are things that the Renaissance Man does habitually.

So, In this episode, I am going to discuss the tools that I am using to help me maintain my categories. I am starting to build a 'system' that helps me to plan and prepare life events from daily tasks to long term goals. I am going to also include links to find these items, if you think they would be useful in your life.

#Diet#
Other than the diary that I use to track everything that I eat and drink, I use a couple of tools to track my weight loss and statistics. They are free, and can be found on Microsoft's web site. The Measurement Tracker and the Fitness Chart for Men or Women is here also. I use these to track my measurement and weight loss on a weekly basis.

#Exercise#
I have a couple helpers - one being my "Jared Cooley" workout:

Jared Cooley Workout

Warm-up:
5 min cardio (elliptical)

Stretching:
toe touch
arm pullover
seated back twist
seated touch shoulder-blade

Exercise:
Body-Weight Squats - 2sets x 20reps
Shoulder Press - 2sets x 20reps x 25lbs
Torso Twist (pulling hand underneath) - 2sets x 20reps x 20lbs
Standing Rows (pull straight into shoulder blades) - 2sets x 20reps x 40lbs
Biceps (pullup) - 2sets x 20reps x 20lbs
Triceps (pulldown) - 2sets x 20reps x 25lbs
Good Mornings - 2sets x 20reps x 20lbs

Aerobic:
on Lift days - 20min
on Cardio only days - 30min

Cool Down:

Since every workout I have had has been a "Cardio Day", I haven't used Jared's workout, but I still have it when I want a quick weight training day.

I also have read the Tom Venuto Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle book, and it is an educational tool for exercise and to understand your body more. I also enjoy reading Men's Health Magazine, and think the workout information is pretty straightforward.

I don't yet have a chart for exercising, but in my Reward Tracking Spreadsheet, you can see a column for "walking venue" and 5K training. Along with my regular training (currently aerobics at least 4 days a week for 30 minutes) I will be doing a 2+ mile walk in prep of the 5K event later this year. Here is the kicker though - YOU WILL VOTE for my walking venue, so it is important that you check into the blog at least once a week to vote on the next location of the walk. I will post the poll on the bottom of the page (just keep scrolling), and you can vote anonymously. I will hopefully have this up by the end of the weekend, but may not be sure. All are invited to walk with me, if you like, although as I stated I listen to my iPod during my walks, so there isn't a lot of chat going on, just walking. More details later.

I have the authority to veto the vote, due to weather conditions or other factors. I have many indoor locations listed on this first poll, since I don't know if it will be safe to walk outside yet.

If you have suggestions for places to walk, just choose "other" on the list, and reply to this post, or email me, with the suggestion. I will add the other to the next poll...

#Fine Art#
I did play with the church band on sunday, and will play again this week. I need to practice more on the guitar and accordion, and these are falling behind. The Reward Tracking Spreadsheet does have a column called Music Training, so hopefully this will force me to practice or partake in some music events before I am allowed a reward.

From one reader, M., regarding my Fine Art category:

As a real Renaissance man, you should do this! :) Love ya! M
-----Original Message-----
From: The St. Olaf Alumni & Parent Relations Office
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 12:01 PM
Subject: Ultimately Worthwhile: A St. Olaf Alumni Essay Contest

As an alumni office, we are often very busy planning events and opportunities for alumni and parents to connect to each other and to the college. Over the month of March, we challenge you to be a part of our newest initiative: an alumni essay contest.

As you probably know, the St. Olaf mission statement includes the phrase, "In the conviction that life is more than a livelihood, [St. Olaf] focuses on what is ultimately worthwhile and fosters the development of the whole person in mind, body, and spirit."

Lives of alumni have developed in both expected and unexpected ways. Values have been solidified. Experiences have shaped ideas and thought. Indeed, alumni have grown from relatively naive first-years to capable, successful, and thoughtful citizens of the world. As such, we ask essayists to reflect on their lives and share their beliefs and values with the entire St. Olaf community.

In 500 words or less, the Alumni & Parent Relations Office asks alumni to craft the perfect essay: a concise, touching, and educated response to the simple question, "What do you believe?" in an attempt to evoke reflections on that which is ultimately worthwhile.

President David R. Anderson '74 and a committee of his choosing will review all submissions and choose 2-3 writers of the best-crafted essays to discuss their ideas and values at a private meal. All submissions will be posted on the alumni website at www.stolaf.edu/alumni.

The challenge is acknowledged and accepted. I will write under 500 words of text to attempt to describe what I believe. I would challenge this for others, even if you don't submit it, it is an interesting and thought-provoking test.

#Geek#
Work was pretty busy this week, so not a lot of time for extra geek stuff. I have been doing a lot of Vista research, and decided there is no need to force the upgrade. I think I will get Vista with the next computer I buy, but that might be a while. I am not (and don't recommend) upgrading to Vista if you don't have a good reason. I am researching mini voice recorders to help me put together another podcast. Please be patient, as I hope to have an insightful podcast ready by the end of April. I will be interviewing a local individual who has put some thought into goal planning and personal improvement. That is a great start, and hopefully you will like it. (Did I mention yet that after listening to an interview on the radio, I have decided that I would like to interview Terry Ryan, general manager of the Twins Baseball team, because when asked how he recruits new players, his answer was one that a Renaissance Man would give. He has to organize his day the same way I approach my day in order to keep track of all the major league teams, minor league teams, college prospect, the internal organization and just overall business stuff on a daily basis year round. Wow. That is cool. I realize that this is his job, and gets paid handsomely, but it must take real commitment to details and organization skills to stay up with this set of habits. Anyway, when he answered that question, I thought - I need to ask him some questions about his daily routine and how he approaches the rest of his life. What tools does he use to keep up on all of the potential information that is out there - and how to separate the chaff from the real prospect rumor. Fascinating. And, overall he seems like a straightforward genuine nice guy, and comes off as humble. Perhaps I could try to get an interview with him. I would need to hone my question making skills...)

#Money#
There are a couple of tools that I have been using to track my fiduciary responsibilities. These include a Debt Tracker Spreadsheet, and a Monthly Budget Template . Of course, I have modified these templates for my own information, and I would suggest that you do the same. I did use Microsoft Pocket Money on my iPAQ pda, but found it difficult to use. What I found recently is helping me, however. It is so simple, so ingenious, that at first I laughed it off. Then after using it for a week, I think it is exactly what I needed. Who would have thought that a blank piece of paper would revolutionize my life. I follow the directions, folding the paper, and labeling each day. During the day, I quickly note what I purchased, $$ and reason, and at the end of the week, I consolidate all the data into the Monthly Budget Template and start a new folder paper. It is so cool...

It may seem like a pain to collect this information, but at the end of the year, I hope to have a clear way to track my spending on a monthly basis - and refer to the notes if I have questions beyond this. Because a lot of what I purchase I may use for tax reasons, I am keeping ALL my receipts in a expandable folder file, and will also include these folder weekly papers in the file with them, and at the end of the month, print out a Monthly Budget spreadsheet. Is this too anal? Not if it makes me less stressed out about my current financial condition.

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Total side note here - I really like the new iTunes 7.1 upgrade.... I set it to random play and it is playing like a charm. Really mixing up the music. The mini-player view is nice because it is not obtrusive and just shows me what I need to know. I am digging the music.

That reminds me, Friday was hell-day at work, as many projects were due, but I didn't get them done. While it wasn't all my fault, I was feeling pretty down about it. After working late, I got in the car to discover a huge traffic jam on the way home. I started the shuffle feature on my iPod, and was entertained with these songs:

1. Fatal Wound by Uncle Tupelo
2. It's Allright to Cry by Rosey Grier
   
3. Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel
4. Ron Cey by Memphis Evans
5. Istanbul (Not Constantinople) by They Might Be Giants
   

Talk about your slow progression from total suicide mode to being wide awake and ready to fight again. This was a big jolt to my system, as each one of these songs has an emotional connection with me, taking me back to when I first heard this song and who I was around. They are completely different in moods, and odd that my iPod chose these songs to play after a long stressful, tiring day. Although, if you are a regular reader, you will know that my mp3 players have been known to match what I needed to hear.
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#Personal#
Let's see - items on the personal week such as laundry, dishes, made my own meals, kept up the house, clean the bathroom, wash the car, etc - all of these got done.

My stress level has been pretty high due to my volunteering for this men's retreat coming up next week. It starts on Thursday and ends on Sunday night, and while it will be a 'good thing' for me spiritually and emotionally, it has been stressful for making sure everything is ready to go. I have to still make bible bookmarks, a poster to post photos of the speakers during the event, order a water cooler, and rent a roll-a-way bed for one of the attendees. It isn't much to do in the grand scheme of things, but with my diet I also have to prepare 10 meals ahead of time to take with me AND pack AND make sure all of my work at Work gets done by Wednesday end of day so I can leave on Thursday with a clear head. The next few days will be stress filled for me, so that is that.

Note that it also means I won't be posting a blog next weekend, but look for another diatribe (spell?) on March 24-25th time range. I will also start my 5K training 2+ mile walk event on this weekend, so I will be looking for your votes at this time.

#Trips and Dates#
Again, big upcoming dates are

• March 15-18, men's weekend, sequestered in a church in a southern metro town.
  
• by March 30, finish 500 word essay on "What I believe".
  
• April 3, my first Twins home game in 07.... hip hip horrraaahhhahahahahaha
  
• April 13-15, racquetball challenge in GI, Nebraska.
  
• June 15-17, ?? unplanned event in Nebraska.
  

#Work#

Stressful, since I am still new, and the changes are almost ever going. I get several emails a day from corporate HR of things that have to be done - I wonder if they realize that I also have deadlines that can't wait. Maybe in the next few weeks I will catch up with everything that is being asked of me. I appreciated this article at Zen Habits, and the look on the woman's face in the picture is how I felt this week.....

As far as tools, I do use several tools for organizing my work day and week. On Monday, I print out my Daily Planner, which includes different quadrants in the corners - One is a section of calls/emails that I need to make or respond to this week, a section on personal items that need to be taken care of, a section for High Importance but Low Urgency items that need to happen sometime but not necessarily this week (good for things that can be delegated to another person perhaps), and a section for Low Importance and High Urgency although I haven't found any good examples of this. In the middle, splitting the quadrants, is a large section for High Urgency , High Importance items. There are 10 lines in this section, and it is where the meat of this planning sandwich happens. I refer and maintain this document during the week.

I also print out my Outlook (I know, yuck, I don't like Outlook either, but have too much in it that links to other things to switch) weekly calendar weekly. I also print out my daily calendar daily, and maintain this. It seems like a waste of paper to print out my calendar every day, even if it is on my computer, but the printed version is helpful to me and contains more than just my calendar - there are open tasks on the calendar and other helpful notes about things and stuff....

I have a nice binder that a former coworker gave to me. It has the STC insignia on it and is very nice. I put all of these papers and more in it and have it with me all the time, basically.

The last tool that I can say I have tried to use at work is from one of the blogs that I read about a Procrastination hack . The concept of working really hard for 10 minutes, 2 minute break, then 10 minutes of hard work seems to work for me. This helps me to not stress about "completing the project" and just "getting it moving forward". If I do 2 or 3 of these "power dashes" at work, I find that I am much farther along the project and leave happy at the end of the day.



It is funny that while I have been thinking about my habitual habits, morning and evening routine, organizing the way things get done, on Sunday the sermon was on being habitual in our relationship with God, and during Lent we are asked to participate in rituals such as Fasting, Praying, Meditation, and Service to others in preparation of Easter.


COMMENT! Let me give you a subject, and leave a comment below to answer. Question:
Thinking about the habits that you do every day, what tips or tricks do you have that make your day easier?


Next time, I will discuss other Renaissance men. I am going to read up on Ben Franklin, and other influential men and see if I can extract some helpful hints to use in life organization.

more later,

Chazz