Building Momentum

Yesterday I was in an online competition with several other players, and I ended up racking up an impressive kill count and ended the game virtually unscathed. At the end of the game one of my teammates asked me how I was able to do it, and I answered him truthfully; I had momentum.

Psychological Momentum is a big deal in the world of competitive sports, which they refer to colloquially as the “Hot Hand” or the “Big ‘Mo”. It’s really a powerful force; the more we succeed (or rack up kill counts in our favorite online games) the bolder and more confident we become, which in turn leads us to more success. It becomes a self sustaining cycle for awhile until it is broken either by failure, fatigue or dumb luck. The player turns his attention inwards “What did I do wrong?”, and the concentration brought forth by momentum is broken.

As human beings we often internalize the things that happen to and around us, even when logic dictates otherwise. I started my kill streak with a beautiful skill shot, the first kill of the game in fact. It was a difficult shot to pull off, but the fact of the matter is my enemy miscalculated and put himself in a bad place. I didn’t say “god my opponent is such an idiot”, no I internalized my success with “What a fantastic shot”. And I internalized each and every success that followed.  Even when I missed or let an enemy escape, I glossed over it.  “I will get him next time”, I told myself.

The inverse is also true however; failure and negativity can be internalized too. We fall into patterns of “I’m not good enough” or “Why does this keep happening to me?” that propagate more failure and negative energy. Each negative thought builds on what came before, until the original cause is buried beneath layers of absolute and total emotional bullshit. It’s momentum; and whether it is forward or backward, momentum is a real and powerful force, a force people tend to follow without even realizing it. A failed project can result in a bad day, then a bad week, then a bad month and soon the whole year is fubar. We don’t remember the failed project, only the momentum it started.

If we think of the universe as a series of cycles (which I do), then momentum makes perfect sense, it determines the direction and intention of our progress in life. If I am positive and I work hard, I will take a cycle that reflects that. If I am plagued with doubt and negative emotions, I will slide down into a cycle that reflects that too, and a single deviation in the road is all it takes to set us on a new path. I told myself “I will get him next time” and not “I am such an idiot for letting him get away.”  The first one kept my positive momentum going and the second would have sunk it. The honest truth is, life is full of negative things but if we let them break our positive momentum  it becomes difficult to get it back; the more momentum we have, the harder it is to break.

I won’t pretend to be the world’s greatest expert, nor is my life perfect. But I have found a few ways to keep my own positive momentum going that I will share with you. Most of them seem pretty simple but in practice it is much harder then it seems.

• Accept failure, defeat and negative events. But don’t dwell on them; accept, learn and move on.
• Look for little positive things to re-enforce your positive cycle. If work is difficult, be thankful you have a job. Look for something positive inside a problem.
• Take this advice from a writer, challenge/conflict is interesting. If everything goes right the first time, life would be boring. Maybe it won’t work for you, but it works for me.
• Have a safety net, people you love and trust can help nudge you away from a negative cycle. Even just talking is enough to reaffirm yourself to a more positive path.
• Ignore emotional vampires and banish the perpetually negative from your life. Remember that internalizing thing I mentioned earlier? These people will make your life hell if you let them inside you, if banishment is too harsh then minimize the damage they cause.

Positive momentum is really something to be savored, but don’t fret when the cycle swings downwards.  That is natural too. Just try to focus on the positive and you will find yourself back on the path in no time.

Lao Tzu and SOPA

Although I am extremely sick today, I wanted to fire another shot at SOPA before the blackout tomorrow. Writers often borrow from other writers, we encourage sharing because we know the truth, the only place for an idea to live and thrive is free, anything else is murder. Being too sick to write my own long anti-sopa rant I decided to leave a bit of wisdom from the Tao te Ching. Even if you are not a Taoist or interested in Eastern Religions I think it is perfect for this situation.

Do you think you can take over the
universe and improve it?
I do not believe it can be done.
The universe is sacred.
You cannot improve it.
If you try to change it, you will ruin it.
If you try to hold it, you will lose it

-Lao Tzu

The internet is rough around the edges, but it has become a living ecosystem. If the people behind SOPA try to “improve it” they will break it, and in more then just a metaphorical sense. I have already written several politicians and sent numerous letters documenting in great detail my total hatred of this bill. I recommend each and everyone one of you do the same.

Diet, Exercise and a new approach.

Roughly a week ago I started a new exercise regime.

Exercise and I have a strange history, I spent a huge amount of my childhood hoofing the mountains around my childhood home, in high school I learned the joy of running (and the pain of hurdles.) and martial arts. But even then I didn’t stick to a “formal” plan. I ran when I felt like it, and practiced my swordsmanship and martial arts with an erratic frequency. I was far from inactive, but I certainly lacked the consistency to attain serious results.

Why worry about it now?

Why the hell not? There are things I want to accomplish with my life, and having a strong physical starting point will make it that much easier. But the strongest reason for me is by far the spiritual and emotional dimension of being fit. I may not suffer from body image issues, but I know that I feel better about myself when I am fit, I feel more confident and less anxious about life.

Reduced anxiety and improved confidence are good, but for me the largest draw is the spiritual aspect. This is perhaps one of the biggest spiritual paradoxes in history. I believe wholeheartedly that I am more then this body, that I am animated by something that I can only describe as my soul. Chemicals and electrical impulses might regulate my body, but it all arises from something insubstantial and deep.

I have come to believe that exercise melds the body and soul together, that it strengthens the connection between the intangible and the corporeal. The act of exercise also helps me reach my spiritual potential by improving my discipline and mitigating the physical distractions that occasionally plague me.

So what are the obstacles?

If it was easy everyone would exercise all the time. My first obstacle is untreated Asthma, economics make it pretty much impossible for me to afford an inhaler right now. Which means I have to be careful and avoid having an asthma attack while running or biking. Thankfully I’ve managed to get my asthma to a point where it only bothers me during prolonged exercises. So running any marathons right now would be ill advised, but I can sprint around the block without much issue.

The second issue is my monstrously high metabolism, most people view having a high metabolism as some sort of gift from the gods. And in many ways it is a pretty amazing gift, but that gift also has some serious drawbacks. For starters I must eat a ton to keep my energy level up, if I skip a meal I will be exhausted within a few hours. To reach my optimum energy level I have to eat constantly throughout the day and that isn’t cheap. Cheap foods like Ramen Noodles might fill an empty belly, but they provide next to nothing when it comes to the fuel I need. I find that a balanced diet of fruits, breads, vegetables and protein is ideal, fruit especially is a great way for me to build energy.

The final and most complex issue is sleep. I suffer from some pretty nasty insomnia, and only occasionally get a full nights sleep without the aid of medication. I have been off sleeping pills for months now and I have no intention of ever going back to them, they make me feel like a zombie the next day and make it difficult to climb out of bed when the alarm goes off. Icky medications aside if I don’t sleep it becomes very difficult to exercise with any level of intensity the next day. People who know me can always recognize if I have slept or not, I am an entirely different person with a full nights sleep.

Since I have ruled out medications forever, that leaves the more traditional methods and some stuff I picked up studying psychology.

Tea and honey are surprisingly effective for making me sleepy, also keeping a routine and going to bed on time works wonders, part of that routine is no caffeine 4 hours before bed. (The average time for caffeine to leave the body is 6 hours, but with my metabolism I find it’s usually gone within 3 hours.) I also don’t drink any liquids 2 hours before bed, if I have to wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom I often won’t fall back asleep.

I also use Meditation and Wave Therapy, which may sound like a hoax or scam, but both are actually extremely effective at altering brain states. Reaching the delta brain state will give you the deepest most satisfying rest of your life.

As you can see from the picture above the delta state is slower and ultra relaxing. I find that my brain spends most of it’s time in the alpha state, regardless of how tired my body is. So I use Wave therapy and meditation to force my brain into slowing down enough that I can fall asleep.

So what is your plan to get into shape?

I want a healthy body to improve myself overall, I’m not interested in getting six pack abs or lifting weights till I have “big guns”. My workout program is designed especially for me, it satisfies my goals and builds me up across the board. I want to build my strength and endurance yes, but I also want to build my mobility and flexibility. I also want to avoid falling into a routine where I do the same things all the time, life tends to throw all kinds of random stuff at us, and I wanted my exercise program to do the same.

I divided my workout into three components; daily, heavy exercise days and auxiliary items.

Daily Exercises:

• Stretching
• 15 minutes of Tai Chi
• 5 minutes of energy control and release
• 5 minutes of tantra exercises (Deer Exercises and Three Breath’s Rejuvenation)

Heavy Exercises: (Monday, Weds and Friday)

Basic Kettle bell Training

• Turkish get up x5
• Kettle bell Swing x5

Jump Rope

• One Hundred no-mistake jumps

Sword Budo

• Iaijutsu x10
• Full set of kata for 5 minutes.

Basic Calisthenics

• Pushups x10
• Sit-ups x10
• Abdominal Crunches x10

Auxiliary Items

 (Random Two each exercise Day not working, random one when working, reroll duplicate exercises)

Yoga

• 20 minutes

Hand Exercises

• Hand Grip for 5 minutes.

Additional Calisthenics

• Pushups x5
• Sit-ups x5
• Crunches x5
• Abdominal Crunches x5
• Leg Squats x5
• Jumping Jacks x5

Bike

• 20 Minutes

Basic Martial Arts

• 15 Minutes

Sprinting

• 10 minutes

The Auxiliary exercises have really been decisive in keeping me on track, I don’t get bored and I am always surprised by what the combination of the day does to my body. Doing Yoga and then Martial Arts gives you an entirely different feeling then hand grips and sprinting. I plan on sticking to this regime till April and then adjusting the difficulty by adding more types of exercises. I wanted to start with something small yet comprehensive and I think with this new approach I may have found it.

Putting my name on it.

Up until today my name hasn’t appeared on this or my gaming blog.

I’ve spent the entirety of my writing career in the shadows either ghostwriting or writing anonymously, and for reasons that are less then noble. The truth of the matter is I didn’t want to be outspoken and risk offending anyone, I didn’t want to slip up and write poorly; leaving a black mark with my fingerprints all over it, I didn’t want to be judged because of the things I said or believed.

Well, all of those reasons were wrong. Every single one, it was pretty damn cowardly of me to write about myself and the things I believed without putting my name on it. It weakened both the effect of my writing and the passion that I poured into it. Putting my name on everything I write is an intellectual honesty that everyone who reads my writing deserves to have, they deserves to look at what I say and think and feel knowing that the force of my integrity is behind what I do.

A few hours ago I completed my first post with my name affixed to it, a vitriol fueled rant against the coming censorship of SOPA and PIPA. I highly recommend you go here and give it a read. I really wanted to put my name on it not only as a show of solidarity to other writers, but also to show that I am not afraid of the Government or big corporations. I’ve wanted to come out of the shadows for awhile now, and this was the push I needed.

Mental Iaijutsu

Today I was thinking about Iaijutsu, my first real encounter with the art of the quickdraw came when I was still studying martial arts as a teenager. My teacher noticed my quiet intensity when I was absorbed in battle, she also noticed my penchant for swords and recommended the “Go Rin No Sho“. She was right, I favored mobility, focus and precision in my combat style, because I was so much smaller then most of my opponents I had to rely on being faster (Both mentally and physically) if I didn’t want to get stomped.

Iaijutsu like most other forms of Battojutsu is steeped in Zen, it has a powerful mental component and demands perfect concentration to execute properly. The second reason my teacher recommended Iaijutsu to me is because I had a tendency to hesitate when striking  at my opponents. In Iaijutsu more then any other form of martial art you cannot hesitate, you only get one strike and it must be perfect.

Quick-draw has a kind of mental clarity attached to it, for a brief moment everything else in the world ceases to exist, it’s only you and your enemy. The world simply does not exist until my sword reaches it’s target, which is usually less then a second. I am not worried about my next enemy, or the possible counterattack of my target… I know those are coming, all that matters in that moment is that strike. Whatever comes next will receive the same treatment.

For those who do not know, my day job is customer service at a toy store. I spent most of the Christmas season helping people and fixing problems, and if you’ve ever worked retail you know how quickly a person can be overwhelmed when assisting customers. I remember a few weeks ago I was beset by five customers all at the same time, I calmly asked each what they needed, and dispatched the easiest first, handing out directions and informing them of items I knew we didn’t have in stock. I then proceeded to assist the guests with more difficult and time consuming problems; one at a time.

Afterwards one of my co-workers came over and complimented me on how I was able to help “five guests at once”. I sighed and told him that I only helped one at a time, just like normal only I did it four more times.

It seems like whenever I try to help five people at once, 3 of them walk away dissatisfied. But when I give each of them all of my attention for a moment, 98% of the time they are happy to wait until I finish helping with the easier problems. It’s not just customer service either, I find when I have many tasks that it’s easy to focus on them one at time rather then try to multi-task and risk blundering one.

In strategy your spiritual bearing must not be any different from normal. Both in fighting and in everyday life you should be determined though calm.

-Musashi Miyomoto

When fighting many enemies an intelligent fighter will lure them into a corridor where he can face them one at a time. Numbers count for nothing if the enemy has no room to utilize them, so it is with life. If you are beset with problems, focus on them one at a time. Are you in debt? Set up a debt payment plan and go on a budget, remove it as a source of anxiety and allow yourself to focus on a different enemy. Keep focused on one issue at a time, and if the issue cannot be resolved, put it on a list and return to it. Don’t let the worry and anxiety of an unvanquished enemy haunt you, keep focused on whichever enemy is in front of you and things will be resolved timely.

I feel much better when I can focus all my energy on one thing, I think it’s beautiful to live without distractions, especially when my productivity goes up and my anxiety goes down. I know such an ideal isn’t easy and it could be argued that it isn’t practical, I think that is a valid concern, especially in light of recent scientific findings that show how much better women are at multi-tasking then men, and how men tend to attain high states of focus (usually at the wrong time) with less effort.

I think one of my goals this year will be to make a serious effort to reduce the amount I multi-task and concentrate on increasing my focus when dealing with issues. I think it will go a long way to reducing the feeling of being overwhelmed.