Things I've Learned this Week
1. When asked to do two weeks worth of work in two days, it's only possible if you get other people involved.
2. Nothing really takes two weeks if enough adrenaline and caffeine are involved.
3. Knitting will wait and I won't forget how to cable.
4. Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick can be read in an hour and should be read...by everyone.
5. "Hey Bear!" yelled at the top of your lungs is apparently an effective bear deterrant (Rowing to Latitude--Jill Fredston)
6. It is possible to drink two 12 cup pots of coffee in a day. Not advisable but possible.
7. A 3 mile walk at night with the person you love can cure most stress.
8. My legs are a bit out of shape and don't really enjoy 3 miles.
9. There is nothing better than sipping coffee and reading great books while sitting out on the patio.
10. Even after reading four books in one week, I will still not be tired of reading.
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Ten Things I've Learned this Week
Ancora Imparo is all about learning. Well, it's been a good week for learning. Sadly some of these lessons have been learned the hard way.
10. Five Tagalongs are my limit. Any more than that and I will be sick.
9. Whiskey is not my friend. It may pretend to be my friend but it can turn on me quickly. And the after effects are not worth it.
8. Running gets easier the second day although my legs will hate me each time.
7. Caffeine is a requirement in the morning, not an option.
6. I will watch almost anything that features actors that I have crushes on (Luck of the Irish was terrible the first time and even worse the second time).
5. There is nothing better for relieving stress then a scalding hot bath.
4. I can read a book in a single night if I have to return it to the library the next day. Sleep on the other hand is apparently optional.
3. Socks are not as hard to knit as I thought they were.
2. No matter how terrible a day is, I can alway find something positive.
And number 1. I have the greatest husband in the entire world. Seriously. He's amazing. I owe him big time.
It's been a good/bad/odd/regular week. And it's only Tuesday.
What have you learned this week?
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Old Files/Good Finds
I'm cleaning up some files on my computer today and stumbled across a list that Jeff had sent me during a bit of a dark period and I thought I'd share it with you. Those of you who know me will know that I'm generally a neurotic mess of a person. I'm constantly worrying, feeling guilty, or judging myself about something. I spend far too much time in my own head and it tends to make me a bit unhappy. So Jeff found this list on a website called Stepcase Lifehack and sent it to me. This was written by Adrian Savage and every point he offers made an impression on me.
Sorry it's so long. I thought about just putting in the titles but I think the impact is in the rest of the entries. I think it's worth a long read.
10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life
1. Stop taking so much notice of how you feel. How you feel is how you feel. It’ll pass soon. What you’re thinking is what you’re thinking. It’ll go too. Tell yourself that whatever you feel, you feel; whatever you think, you think. Since you can’t stop yourself thinking, or prevent emotions from arising in your mind, it makes no sense to be proud or ashamed of either. You didn’t cause them. Only your actions are directly under your control. They’re the only proper cause of pleasure or shame.
2. Let go of worrying. It often makes things worse. The more you think about something bad, the more likely it is to happen. When you’re hair-trigger primed to notice the first sign of trouble, you’ll surely find something close enough to convince yourself it has come.
3. Ease up on the internal life commentary. If you want to be happy, stop telling yourself you’re miserable. People are always telling themselves how they feel, what they’re thinking, what others feel about them, what this or that event really means. Most of it is imagination. The rest is equal parts lies and misunderstandings. You have only the most limited understanding of what others feel about you. Usually they’re no better informed on the subject; and they care about it far less than you do. You have no way of knowing what this or that event really means. Whatever you tell yourself will be make-believe.
4. Take no notice of your inner critic. Judging yourself is pointless. Judging others is half-witted. Whatever you achieve, someone else will always do better. However bad you are, others are worse. Since you can tell neither what’s best nor what’s worst, how can you place yourself correctly between them? Judging others is foolish since you cannot know all the facts, cannot create a reliable or objective scale, have no means of knowing whether your criteria match anyone else’s, and cannot have more than a limited and extremely partial view of the other person. Who cares about your opinion anyway?
5. Give up on feeling guilty. Guilt changes nothing. It may make you feel you’re accepting responsibility, but it can’t produce anything new in your life. If you feel guilty about something you’ve done, either do something to put it right or accept you screwed up and try not to do so again. Then let it go. If you’re feeling guilty about what someone else did, see a psychiatrist. That’s insane.
6. Stop being concerned what the rest of the world says about you. Nasty people can’t make you mad. Nice people can’t make you happy. Events or people are simply events or people. They can’t make you anything. You have to do that for yourself. Whatever emotions arise in you as a result of external events, they’re powerless until you pick them up and decide to act on them. Besides, most people are far too busy thinking about themselves (and worry what you are thinking and saying about them) to be concerned about you.
7. Stop keeping score. Numbers are just numbers. They don’t have mystical powers. Because something is expressed as a number, a ratio or any other numerical pattern doesn’t mean it’s true. Plenty of lovingly calculated business indicators are irrelevant, gibberish, nonsensical, or just plain wrong. If you don’t understand it, or it’s telling you something bizarre, ignore it. There’s nothing scientific about relying on false data. Nor anything useful about charting your life by numbers that were silly in the first place.
8. Don’t be concerned that your life and career aren’t working out the way you planned. The closer you stick to any plan, the quicker you’ll go wrong. The world changes constantly. However carefully you analyzed the situation when you made the plan, if it’s more than a few days old, things will already be different. After a month, they’ll be very different. After a year, virtually nothing will be the same as it was when you started. Planning is only useful as a discipline to force people to think carefully about what they know and what they don’t. Once you start, throw the plan away and keep your eyes on reality.
9. Don’t let others use you to avoid being responsible for their own decisions. To hold yourself responsible for someone else’s success and happiness demeans them and proves you’ve lost the plot. It’s their life. They have to live it. You can’t do it for them; nor can you stop them from messing it up if they’re determined to do so. The job of a supervisor is to help and supervise. Only control-freaks and some others with a less serious mental disability fail to understand this.
10. Don’t worry about your personality. You don’t really have one. Personality, like ego, is a concept invented by your mind. It doesn’t exist in the real world. Personality is a word for the general impression that you give through your words and actions. If your personality isn’t likeable today, don’t worry. You can always change it, so long as you allow yourself to do so. What fixes someone’s personality in one place is a determined effort on their part—usually through continually telling themselves they’re this or that kind of person and acting on what they say. If you don’t like the way you are, make yourself different. You’re the only person who’s standing in your way.
Sorry it's so long. I thought about just putting in the titles but I think the impact is in the rest of the entries. I think it's worth a long read.
10 simple ways to save yourself from messing up your life
1. Stop taking so much notice of how you feel. How you feel is how you feel. It’ll pass soon. What you’re thinking is what you’re thinking. It’ll go too. Tell yourself that whatever you feel, you feel; whatever you think, you think. Since you can’t stop yourself thinking, or prevent emotions from arising in your mind, it makes no sense to be proud or ashamed of either. You didn’t cause them. Only your actions are directly under your control. They’re the only proper cause of pleasure or shame.
2. Let go of worrying. It often makes things worse. The more you think about something bad, the more likely it is to happen. When you’re hair-trigger primed to notice the first sign of trouble, you’ll surely find something close enough to convince yourself it has come.
3. Ease up on the internal life commentary. If you want to be happy, stop telling yourself you’re miserable. People are always telling themselves how they feel, what they’re thinking, what others feel about them, what this or that event really means. Most of it is imagination. The rest is equal parts lies and misunderstandings. You have only the most limited understanding of what others feel about you. Usually they’re no better informed on the subject; and they care about it far less than you do. You have no way of knowing what this or that event really means. Whatever you tell yourself will be make-believe.
4. Take no notice of your inner critic. Judging yourself is pointless. Judging others is half-witted. Whatever you achieve, someone else will always do better. However bad you are, others are worse. Since you can tell neither what’s best nor what’s worst, how can you place yourself correctly between them? Judging others is foolish since you cannot know all the facts, cannot create a reliable or objective scale, have no means of knowing whether your criteria match anyone else’s, and cannot have more than a limited and extremely partial view of the other person. Who cares about your opinion anyway?
5. Give up on feeling guilty. Guilt changes nothing. It may make you feel you’re accepting responsibility, but it can’t produce anything new in your life. If you feel guilty about something you’ve done, either do something to put it right or accept you screwed up and try not to do so again. Then let it go. If you’re feeling guilty about what someone else did, see a psychiatrist. That’s insane.
6. Stop being concerned what the rest of the world says about you. Nasty people can’t make you mad. Nice people can’t make you happy. Events or people are simply events or people. They can’t make you anything. You have to do that for yourself. Whatever emotions arise in you as a result of external events, they’re powerless until you pick them up and decide to act on them. Besides, most people are far too busy thinking about themselves (and worry what you are thinking and saying about them) to be concerned about you.
7. Stop keeping score. Numbers are just numbers. They don’t have mystical powers. Because something is expressed as a number, a ratio or any other numerical pattern doesn’t mean it’s true. Plenty of lovingly calculated business indicators are irrelevant, gibberish, nonsensical, or just plain wrong. If you don’t understand it, or it’s telling you something bizarre, ignore it. There’s nothing scientific about relying on false data. Nor anything useful about charting your life by numbers that were silly in the first place.
8. Don’t be concerned that your life and career aren’t working out the way you planned. The closer you stick to any plan, the quicker you’ll go wrong. The world changes constantly. However carefully you analyzed the situation when you made the plan, if it’s more than a few days old, things will already be different. After a month, they’ll be very different. After a year, virtually nothing will be the same as it was when you started. Planning is only useful as a discipline to force people to think carefully about what they know and what they don’t. Once you start, throw the plan away and keep your eyes on reality.
9. Don’t let others use you to avoid being responsible for their own decisions. To hold yourself responsible for someone else’s success and happiness demeans them and proves you’ve lost the plot. It’s their life. They have to live it. You can’t do it for them; nor can you stop them from messing it up if they’re determined to do so. The job of a supervisor is to help and supervise. Only control-freaks and some others with a less serious mental disability fail to understand this.
10. Don’t worry about your personality. You don’t really have one. Personality, like ego, is a concept invented by your mind. It doesn’t exist in the real world. Personality is a word for the general impression that you give through your words and actions. If your personality isn’t likeable today, don’t worry. You can always change it, so long as you allow yourself to do so. What fixes someone’s personality in one place is a determined effort on their part—usually through continually telling themselves they’re this or that kind of person and acting on what they say. If you don’t like the way you are, make yourself different. You’re the only person who’s standing in your way.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Keeping it Civilized
For those of you that are interested, I finally got a decent night's sleep last night. Earplugs are my new best friends. They are surprisingly comfortable and good at keeping out noise. I'll be picking some more up this evening.
I got to thinking about manners while I was lying in bed these last couple of days. This whole insomnia thing began because of inconsiderate neighbors. I'm a big believer in manners and definitely don't think that we are always that good about showing them in this country. Yeah I sound old and cranky, I know. But I guess some places are more mannered than others.
Part of my job is looking for rankings and statistics, so I was excited when I ran into this list. Annually, up until 2005, Marjabelle Young Stewart would make an unofficial list of America's Best Mannered Cities. Charleston, SC always lead the list. In 2005 San Diego came in second, followed by Seattle. The Quad Cities (here in Iowa) even showed up on there. Marjabelle was an etiquette guru who used testimonials, personal experience, letters, and reviews to create this list. Now I'm suddenly interested in visiting Charleston. I want to know what a truly well-mannered city looks like.
On the same note, one of my favorite lists is America's Most Literate Cities. As a reader and a writer, I want to associate with people who also read a lot. I'm drawn to writers and libraries and bookstores like a moth. The ranking uses newspaper circulation, library resources, number of bookstores, educational attainment, access to internet, and number of periodicals to compile. I think it's interesting which cities were chosen. Minneapolis-St. Paul is close, and truly two of my favorite cities in the country. If only they weren't so cold. Seattle is beautiful and if it wasn't so expensive, I'd already be there. For the southern climes, I could gladly move to Atlanta. I have family in St. Louis which would make a move easier. Strangely these are all cities that I have at one point thought about moving to. I have been drawn to them. And now I realize why.
I got to thinking about manners while I was lying in bed these last couple of days. This whole insomnia thing began because of inconsiderate neighbors. I'm a big believer in manners and definitely don't think that we are always that good about showing them in this country. Yeah I sound old and cranky, I know. But I guess some places are more mannered than others.
Part of my job is looking for rankings and statistics, so I was excited when I ran into this list. Annually, up until 2005, Marjabelle Young Stewart would make an unofficial list of America's Best Mannered Cities. Charleston, SC always lead the list. In 2005 San Diego came in second, followed by Seattle. The Quad Cities (here in Iowa) even showed up on there. Marjabelle was an etiquette guru who used testimonials, personal experience, letters, and reviews to create this list. Now I'm suddenly interested in visiting Charleston. I want to know what a truly well-mannered city looks like.
On the same note, one of my favorite lists is America's Most Literate Cities. As a reader and a writer, I want to associate with people who also read a lot. I'm drawn to writers and libraries and bookstores like a moth. The ranking uses newspaper circulation, library resources, number of bookstores, educational attainment, access to internet, and number of periodicals to compile. I think it's interesting which cities were chosen. Minneapolis-St. Paul is close, and truly two of my favorite cities in the country. If only they weren't so cold. Seattle is beautiful and if it wasn't so expensive, I'd already be there. For the southern climes, I could gladly move to Atlanta. I have family in St. Louis which would make a move easier. Strangely these are all cities that I have at one point thought about moving to. I have been drawn to them. And now I realize why.
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