Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

I actually bring it on myself, but most of the time, I have too much to do. I go a little crazy trying to keep up with the list of stuff I give myself to do and a little more crazy every time I add something to it. For one thing here’s a small little snippit from my list.

1. Blog on all 13 Blogs in the Blogtown Press Blog Network
2. Continue to Promote Blogtown Press
3. Find bloggers who want to write for Blogtown Press and Pay them (wanna write?)
4. Reorganize Sprint Rants Forum
5. Work on Top Secret Forum
    a. add blog
    b. add articles
    c. add vbplaza
    d. find beta testers
6. Work on Top Secret Project TOO top secret to mention what it is
7. Plan wedding (Sweet)
8. Try and keep fiance from thinking twice due to too much going on
9. Oh yeah, and work a full-time job as an engineer

OK, so that’s it, along with various other things going on, and other projects that I seem to take on and can’t say no too. But hey Why Rest?

So how do I try and keep up will all this jazz, keyword being try? I make lists. Lot’s of them. I hand write them on paper and I cross things off as I go along. I try and not make my lists too long or else I’ll end up jumping around too much on my list and getting nothing done.

If you’ve got too much to do, similar to I, try this out. It helps and it keeps you moving along. You actually look like you’ve gotten something accomplished then. It’s amazing.

I recently reported on joesgoals.com which is basically a really easy way to track your goals online from anywhere in the world. (That’s means you can’t count a vacation as a vacation from your goals.)

I have been using the software and it is still really easy, just sticking with the posting of goals and seeing how the website develops. Just yesterday Joe’s Goals added a 30, 60, and 90 day progress reporting chart for you to easily look at each goal, and they also added a timezones feature for those people not in the US.

Along with these big additions they changed the smiley and frowny face look and fixed some bugs that people reported. If you haven’t checked them out read my initial review and head over to JoesGoals.com.

Part of the problem with sticking to your goals is keeping track of which goals you have set for yourself and if you’ve actually accomplished them throughout the day, week, or month. Excel is a great program, but if you’re on vacation, your goals may slip. Writing down on paper is also good practice, if you are over the age of 80. Who uses a pen and a pad any more?

In the new age of don’t save anything locally, you can now take your goals to the net and have someone else store, track, and make pretty. Like your email, or those office files that can now go Office Live you can put your goals on the net and access them from anywhere.

JoesGoals.com is an easy, very easy to use program that allows a user to track his or her goals from anywhere in the world. The interface has the look, sans white space, of Google, and also it’s simplicity. All you need to do is sign-up and you can start adding goals that are automatically saved and tracked. Presto!

Another great thing, aside from its simplicity is that Joe’s Goals allows you to share your goals and your progress with other people. This way you can become accountable for our goals and have other people cheer you on as you work towards an end.

You can also track negative goals, those things that prevent your from getting to where you want to go. Things like eating sweets, watching TV, sleeping in. You just tell the program if it’s positive or negative and then click. If you click too much for a day just re-click the same circle and you’re done.

I have attached a screenshot of my goals to show you how simple it looks.

I was recently digging through Steve Pavlina’s Goal setting category and came across and interesting post about goal free living. I have been writing a lot about the goals that I set for myself and marking down when I finish them and trying to allow everyone to follow my progress and learn from how I set my goals, high or low. In Steve’s article he discusses a book he had read called, Goal Free Living.

The view the book puts forward, as Steve states, is not to go through life living without goals, but rather not live in accordance with rigid goals that shape your life too much and could take away from valuable experiences otherwise had. Both Steve and the author write about having goals that define your life too much and don’t allow you to respond to certain situations that present themselves to you.

This is one reason why having short term goals, and goal setting can help you in the long run. Allowing yourself to have small short term goals that you can easily let pass without too much hurt to the overall picture will help you adjust to what life throws at you. Goals that are long term seldom ever get done and won’t keep you motivated to work towards them. You begin to feel restricted and eventually do nothing rather than working towards and accomplishment.

To put in into perspective that some of you bloggers and Internet entrepreneurs may find useful, think about all those goals you’ve set for yourself to get websites published and blogs into the Google rankings. Those stores you want making money passively and those AdSense sites that are beginning to pile up. You may be working feverishly trying to find the next tip to get you on the first page of Google Search Results when something even better could have been on the next thread in that forum you were reading. Your mind could be too closed because you’ve set a goal to get 500,000 visitors in a month (who would do that :)). Keep your eyes open and even though you said you wanted to make $100 a day blogging, maybe someone already offered you a solution to make $1000 a day doing nothing. You were just too busy working towards your goals to realize it happened.

Anyone who has set out on a path to accomplish goals knows that sticking to them is one of the most challenging tasks. I can sit here and write all I want about how I’m going to do this or going to do that but until I show my readers (that’s you) that I’ve been sticking to my goals they don’t mean jack.

Sticking to your goals is one of the toughest things to do and is why most people don’t accomplish all those lofty things they set out to do. I’ve written previously about setting intermediate goals and lowering your potential goals as ways to keep on track and avoid discouragement along the way. These are just a few of the methods I use to work towards accomplishing so many things with only 24 hours in a day.

I have also begun to write down my goals on weekly even daily basis that you can find in my Weekly Goals category. When I set these intermediate and even day to day goals and then come back to them at the end of the day I feel a sense of shame (yes I shame myself) when I don’t accomplish them. While not for everyone as this method can lead to some self pity routines that I wouldn’t want you to find yourself in, jotting down day to day goals can help you build towards the bigger picture in a more piece by piece way that doesn’t seem like you’re climbing Mount Everest without a Sherpa (not suggested). Instead setting small goals makes it seem like you’re climbing that little hill in your back yard. Simple!

Another show stopper, or goal stopper, is having the people around you tell you that your silly for trying to reach your goals, big or small. Most of the time these people are just trying to cover their own shortcomings or lack of drive and would rather you stay at their level than succeed and move ahead. If you have people like that around you either tell them to shut up and start supporting you or find others to surround yourself with positive vibes. Having people that will support your goal chase will help you keep up on track.

Yet another great way stick to your goals is to find people to join you. Athletic related goals are probably the easiest goals to find people to join you. Getting a gym buddy, someone to head to the gym with you, is one way that I keep myself going to 24 hour fitness. If I don’t have someone to go with it’s tough to keep up. Running and biking are also better with a buddy and can keep you sticking to your plan if you find someone with similar goals.

These are all great tips but you have to use them to stick to your goals. Unless you are gifted with great will power you’ll need to have some help to stick to your goals. Don’t think you need to go it alone all the time.

As my loyal readers have come to find out, I tend to throw out some lofty goals; 4 minute mile, 500,000 visitors a month, 12 blogs in 12 months, become a millionaire. And it isn’t like I’m starting from world class physique, (24% body fat, no running for 2 years), no websites blogs or otherwise for visitors to visit, and I’m in pretty hefty debt, school, personal, etc.

With these lofty goals I sometimes get a little discouraged when things are going slower than planned. I see the big goal at the end of the tunnel and not the journey along the way.

Recently, as I’m now on my finance book reading kick, I read a great book in the Rich Dad Series titled Cashflow Quadrant. In it, amongst all the great motivation to become financially free the author, Robert Kiyosaki, mentioned a way to begin knocking off goals in quicker. He says to “Underachieve.” But shouldn’t you give 110%?, you might ask. Not necessarily.

He states the reason so many people get discouraged during weight loss programs or exercise routines is because they shoot for the moon, trying to loose 50 pounds in a year, or trying to run that marathon. It’s good to have long term goals but in the short term set goals that are so easy to achieve you could do them t0morrow. Because then you will do them tomorrow!

Too often we try set goals that are so high, giving ourselves so much to do that we don’t do anything. It’s like getting so much work at your job that you get nothing done. Or some might compare it to analysis paralysis. You get too much information that you never make a decision. With goals you look at all you have to do and never do a thing.

How This Applies to My Blogging Goals

First off a quick thanks to Darren for posting about blog goals and sending out some link love to all those who participate. His post spurred me to finish this underachieve to success post.

My current blogging goals are set quite high. 500,000 visitors a month, I’m not even close. 12 blogs 12 months, getting closer, I have 9 blogs in my network but working on getting content up on all of them and writers for some of them is a full time job in itself. Lofty goals yes, but attainable within the year time frame I have given myself.

While I was reading the Rich Dad book I was in the middle of a discouraging outlook on all the blogs I was working on and how I’ve become rather stagnant in my traffic numbers. Underachieving sounded exactly like what I needed to do. I need to begin to look at the upcoming week and compare it to nothing rather than look at the upcoming week and compare it to how I’m doing on a grand scheme.

Taking things week by week and setting goals that are way too attainable (underachieving) will give me more confidence to move forward because I will be knocking off my goals like wildfire.

Instead of saying, as my current goal states, write 2 posts for each blog per week, I am now saying I will write 1 post on 3 blogs. 3 Days of blogging. I will exchange links for 1 blog, and I will comment creatively on one other blog. Easy. I could do that in a day but I’m giving myself a week.

I am going to also revamp my Weekly Goals section to more accurately reflect my new found underachieving status and keep to my word.

As an added bonus I think this will relieve stress big time because I won’t always be worried about the 500,000 visitors or 20 posts I need to do.

A week after posting my goals for May I have to re-evaluate one of my goals. Not because it was too outrageous and unattainable. Exactly the opposite. I surprised myself swimming this last week which I thought would be one of my toughest goals to reach.

I had set my goal to be able to swim 500 meters straight by the end of the month at Ala Moana Beach Park which is a guarded ocean swimming spot. I haven’t been swimming more than three months (actually swimming like lap style) and the first two months I was lucky to get out once a week and it showed. I still couldn’t swim down and back the length of a pool (100 m) without stopping at both ends to rest.

Then in the last three weeks I decided I needed to buckle down and work at swimming or I was never going to be able to swim well. I started going at lunch and swimming where they have posts marking off 500 meters. At first I could only go about 50 m at a time. I would rest, treading water, and be on my way for another 50 m or so. The second week I extended my initial swim to about 150 meters in a row and then had to do the rest and swim cycle for the remaining 350.

Finally this week on Monday I was able to go 250 meters without stopping and I was ecstatic. It still took me the same amount of time to go the full 500 m but I could feel an improvement. I then swam yesterday at lunch and really surprised myself. I decided I was just going to try and relax and really go for the whole length, and it worked! I made it the full 500 m in just under 12 minutes.

I realize that being able to swim 500 m in a row without stopping isn’t that big of a deal. People swim thousands of meters on end for a couple hours at a time. But I’m psyched. I couldn’t swim more than 20 feet in a row without stopping and now I finally figured out that there really isn’t black magic in swimming. It is possible to become a swimmer.

This has lead me to look at my goal for the month and bump it up a little bit. I now feel as though a reasonable goal is to be able to swim the full 500 m in less than 11 minutes and also be able to swim 1000 m in a row. Now my re-evaluation may be putting my swimming goal out of reach but I feel that with the progress I have made so far there is a possibility of seeing even more improvement in the next two weeks.

As you think about goals you have set and reached, don’t be satisfied with them, extend your goals. Push yourself a little more. Just because you have reached a goal doesn’t mean that’s the end of the road. As you continue to move your goals out in front of you don’t look back at what you’ve accomplished. Keep looking forward to the next milestone and keep trying to realize the next step in your process to get where you want to be. No matter the goal.

Learn Something New

Have you ever wondered why some people are just good at everything they try to be good at? Well I have, and that’s the main reason for this blog. I want to find out how some people are just good at whatever they try to be good at. In trying to find the answer I hope to find a way I can accomplish a lot of the goals I want to accomplish.

One main thing I have noticed of “those people” is that they aren’t afraid to try something new. Often many of us talk about wanting to try “this” or wanting to try “that,” only to find ourselves a year later saying the same thing and having got no closer to our goals. This very reason is why I want to challenge you all to Learn Something New.

To give you an example I will use myself. I have always wanted to learn how to swim laps in a pool. I have had friends, girlfriends, and teammates who all new how to swim laps and would always tell me they would be glad to show me. For some reason I always had something better to do, somewhere more pressing to be. I never just went for it and tried to learn.

My main thought for the reasoning behind the excuses was I didn’t want to go in and fail and not be able to swim 10 feet without gasping for air. Well, I’m a little bit older and a little less worried about what others think. That coupled with the triathlon relay last weekend that I ran in made me want to give it a try. The co-worker who signed us up for the relay also happened to be the one doing the swimming leg in our relay and just so happens to be a pretty good swimmer. So I finally agreed to join him on his Friday swims. (Him teaching me is a great example of someone following a post I wrote ealier about teaching to learn and become better.)

Friday rolled around, my fiance and I bought new swim goggles and we headed to the pool. Upon arrival we found out the pool was closed due to some lightening that was happening earlier in the day. (We live in Hawaii and all the pools are outdoors around here.) The group decided they were going to go to another pool a few valleys over at a pool I didn’t know how to get to. This would have allowed me the perfect excuse to bail and not try swimming but I was set on learning and new if I didn’t go now it would be another year before I even entered a pool to learn.

We got there, I jumped in, and that is that. I got a few tips and was off to the other end. I didn’t make it but 20 meters before having to come up for air but that didn’t matter. I was there and learning how to swim laps. After a few more tries I made it all the way to the end, 50 meters, without stopping. When I got there though I was out of breath and had to take a rest before continuing on.

I can now say that I am very interested in getting better at swimming because it is a challenge and because I can see the aerobic benefits of the rhythmic breathing in swimming. This was all told to me by several people over the past 5-10 years but I had to jump in to believe it for myself. I am thinking of doing a triathlon in the near future so long as I stick with swimming weekly. Just another thing to add to the list of fun outdoor activities for us to do.

Now Get to It

The first thing you have to do is find something to learn! Find that one thing you’ve always said you have wanted to learn but don’t have the time for. It can be anything, as long as it’s something you have always wanted to learn but never “had the time.” Everyone has at least one of those hidden away.

Once you have chosen the task all you have to do now is go for it. If it’s something you can teach yourself by buying a book or a video or a membership, don’t hesitate, buy it. The more you wait the less likely you are to get going and you’ll fall back into the slump of gonna do it. An example of this is when I was getting into this website building thing I just jumped into it and bought three books: an HTML one, a PHP and MySQL, and also a CSS/HTML book. I just hoped in and went for it. You’ll also be able to Google a lot of what you need but buying the books makes you see them and realize the money you spent on them and not want to just pass them by for the TV remote.

Finally you just have to do it. You’ll have to sacrifice the time and realign your schedule to fit in your new learning sessions. I find that if I sit down and look at what it is I do during the day I always find places where I can become more efficient, or eliminate wasted time. You might have to watch less TV, or spend less time surfing the internet. Look for those little down times that you can turn into up times. All you need is 15-30 minutes a day and you could be on your way to learning something you’ve always wanted to.

It may seem like I am simplifying it, a lot. But it is that simple. All you have to do is find the thing that you’ve always wanted to learn, find some time, or make some time, and do it. Just do it. I went for it and really liked swimming and now I may keep after it until I am able to swim several laps without stopping and then maybe get onto a triathlon before the summer arrives.

Pick something to learn, and go for it.

A new year usually brings new resolutions. People trying to loose weight, stop smoking, get out of debt, you name it. Every year the world vows to better themselves on January 1st and then, unless the people around me are unique, by February it turns to comments of “Next year is when I’m gonna start.” Why does it have to wait a whole year? Why not start your year February 5th, or March 10th? People count their ages any one of the 365 days, or likewise with anniversaries. There shouldn’t be only one day a year that we allow ourselves to begin resolutions.

Most resolutions are made to improve some part of your life. In starting this blog I made several resolutions dealing with health, financial, and personal improvement. My first step to reaching the goals set by these resolutions was to become accountable. I planned on doing this by publishing this blog and building a “fan” base of people who would support me. I have begun to recieve comments and emails from strangers encouraging me along the way as well as sharing their stories of success and failure.

I want to point out here three little things you can do to make accomplishing your goals rise higher on your list of priorities.

Making Time

Probably most important is making time to better yourself. You need to consciously think about setting aside time each day to become better at what you do. Be it 20 minutes or 1 hour each day that spend focusing on a goal it will bring you that much closer to realizing it. At the beginning of each week I suggest sitting down and determining a block of time each day that you could put towards your goals. This way when you come to scheduling other activities such as going shopping or going out with friends it will be as though you already scheduled your goals ahead of time. Doing this can be a tricky little way to realign your priorities.

Another thing you may need to consider is re-evaluating what your goals are. If you make time for something you don’t enjoy you may not be doing it much longer after you start. Right now, as you can see with this blog, I am working on goals that I enjoy which makes the time I spend on them feel like time well spent, rather than time wasted. Of course I have frustrating times, such as when I can’t break a 100 in golf or running begins to hurt my shins, or when I can’t get Wordpress to cooperate. These are undoubtedly going to happen no matter what you are striving towards. Having goals you enjoy will make it easier to get beyond those difficult moments and accomplish what you set out to do.

Read and Listen

The next part of my improvement has come from seeking out new ways to better myself within the specific areas. I look all over for new methods and one of the best ways I have found is reading books. Do you read enough about what you are trying to get done? Some people jump into a stop smoking program knowing that they should stop smoking because it’s bad for them. This alone usually isn’t enough to keep at it. What those people need, and what you need to do is educate yourself on what you are doing. If it’s a sports goal find inspiration through reading and watching others play, then really focus on how you are going to achieve that perfect backhand. If it’s financial pick up some books on investing for retirement, subscribe to the Wallstreet Journal, begin watching Mad Money with Jim Cramer. Educating yourself can be the best thing to achieving your goal.

Another method which I wrote about earlier filling your down time with audio books. Audio books can easily be downloaded to your MP3 player. Then while driving your car, walking to the store, or waiting in line to get tickets to a great show, you can be educating yourself. They have tons of business and self help books to get you started. Some that I’ve already listened to are Jack Welsch’s Winning and Seth Godin’s Free Prize Inside and Purple Cow. They also have science books, learning language books, and biographies that sometimes can give you the most inspiration to get things done.

Surround Yourself

I have written about it before but can’t seem to mention it enough. Success breeds success and if you surround yourself with similar minded people with similar goals you are much more likely to keep up with what you are doing. I read and comment and many blogs that are similar to what I am trying to accomplish. In turn these people have contacted me with words of encouragement, advice, and even to correct me when I have misspoken. All of which is helpful along the path I have before me.

Sooner or later you’ll make one tiny breakthrough and that will be enough to lead to the next, then the next, then the next, and before you know it your goal will be in sight. Just keep trying to better yourself in the areas related to your goal and you will have more luck accomplishing everything you want to accomplish.

I have had a few responses to continue my surviving cancer story which I started previously in Surviving Cancer Part I. I meant to post this earlier but now’s as good a time as any to continue the story. If you haven’t read Part I go back and read it so you can be caught up with the story. If you don’t have time here is a quick recap.

Recap of Part I
I was 20 years old and transferring schools from Stevens Point in Wisconsin to Michigan in Ann Arbor and had just finished up a season of XCountry running. My plan was to continue running the next season at UMich so I stayed training but began to feel pain in my abdomen. One thing lead to another and after a few miss diagnoses (hernia, infection, infection) I found out I had testicular cancer upon returning home for the summer. My testicle needed to be removed the next day so I had less than 24 hours to say good bye.

Part II - The First Surgery
Friday Morning I was up early ready to go, or as ready as someone could be. the night before I had only gotten about 4 hours of sleep staying up most of the night reading Lance’s book It’s Not about the Bike. My mother was quite distraught the next morning remembering that she couldn’t make me a nice breakfast because I wasn’t supposed to eat or drink after midnight the day of the surgery. I felt a little bad because she is one of those great ladies who loves making their children breakfast, lunch, or dinner, or at least that’s what I like to tell myself. I’m sure it can get old sometimes, but she does it without complaints.

On my way to the hospital I decided I needed to tell someone in Kim’s (girlfriend) family. I had gotten to know her father over the previous few years and decided I would give him a call and let him know, making sure he realized I hadn’t told Kimberly and didn’t think it was a good idea for her to know while she was playing tennis at NCAA’s.

We arrived at the hospital and cruised through the administration back to the surgery prep area. I was given a robe and shown to a curtained off pre-op room. I was also given a state of the art brown paper bag to put all my belongings into while I got in my nice robe without a back. Now at this point in my life I was OK with my body and had already done the naked mile in 45 degree weather back at Stevens Point. Showing my body wasn’t that horrible of an experience to me. So without warning I thought it nice to moon a few passers by as I appeared to be stuffing my civilian wear into my grocery bag. Once that was complete it was time to get tagged and answer a lot of interesting questions. The only question I wanted answered was where was the doctor so I could tell him it was the right one, my right.

This continued to weigh on my mind right up until surgery. Every nurse or doctor that came into my room was told to make sure it was noted in big black letters that it was to be the right testicle that needed removal. As I was saying bye to my parents I reminded them that it was the right, just before the anaesthesiologist knocked me out I told him it was the right and the last words I remember uttering before I woke up was to remember it was the right…

Surgeries are crazy things. You’re out as fast as you’re up. I remember getting groggy and then waking up in the post-op room spitting on myself as I was in some kind of horrible pain. I guess I was a little over reactive, but the guy next to me seemed to be moaning and spitting so I thought this was the natural thing to do when you woke up. I was given a little bit more morphine and all was well. Next thing after that was waking up in my hospital room with a nurse at the ready waiting to give me some percocet.

Also in the room were my mother and father and Kimberly’s father Pete. Check to make sure it was the right… Nice job Doc. I can rest a bit easier this time around. Wait, they shave all that, gone, hmmm, could be a new look for me. I should have remembered this from the surgeries I stood in and watched the previous winter but forgive me if I was a bit out of it. The percocet didn’t seem to sit very well as I remember feeling queasy for quite a while and unable to eat much of anything. My mother tried but I wasn’t having any of it. They took a while to wear off and the nurse switched me to vicodin which was much better. Little pain and not as much drowsiness.

My mother had called a few of my good friends who stopped by and said hi. I didn’t want her calling the whole world because I figured people would just worry and I of course was going to be fine, no need getting a fussy about such a little thing. All in all though I was really glad to see my friends and hear from them. Great to know people care, remember that if you ever hear someone has cancer. Give them a call, it’ll probably make their day.

The rest of the day went by at a snails pace. I began feeling much better physically and was walking by 5:00 pm. I thought about what I was going to tell my girlfriend and if I was going to tell her. The night before she asked how the doctor’s results came back and didn’t sound too convinced when I said fine and that it was only a bad infection. That night wasn’t going to be any easier so I thought I would tell her when she no doubtedly would call. She did and as expected it wasn’t easy, telling someone you love you have cancer is a tough task. She was on a bus with her teammates on their way back to Ann Arbor from Kentucky, so at least she was with friends. I still think I did the right thing but realize it meant she had to drive from Ann Arbor to Wisconsin with the thought that things were bad. I tried to tell her everything was fine and it was just a little cancer and nothing to worry about. I guess little and cancer don’t really go together.

That evening my mother debated with herself whether or not to stay but my father and I thought it best if she went home to get some rest. You see my brother was finishing up Airborne School (82nd Airborne, Army) and had 3 jumps planned for the very week/weekend and I don’t think my mother was getting any sleep at all. She inherited a very big worry gene from our grandmother and kept a rosary close to her at all times. So she left dragging her listening to me say I was going to be fine and that the nurses would take great care of me.

What I didn’t realize is that hospitals are creepy places at night if the only place you’re really allowed to be is in your room trying to rest. It was a tough night. I’m not gonna lie to you, I broke down a few times and the worst was when a nice old lady began moaning and talking about how sick she was next door. The nurses tried to calm her but I think she was a bit too far into her illness and old age. I tried to rest a bit more but wasn’t able to sleep much.

The next morning couldn’t come soon enough. My parents arrived at 7:00 am when visiting hours got going and I was released by the doctor say I was recovering well. I hadn’t mentioned anything about the previous night to my parents. I thought it best if my mother didn’t worry any more than she already had. We chatted with the doctor and nurse a while longer about when I would find out the results from the biopsy. They said it would take about a week to get results back and I would be seeing my oncologist in the meantime. Now, when someone has just taken your right testicle and you are told that you have cancer, you want to know what type of cancer it is and how severe the diagnosis is. This is the worst part about getting cancer in my opinion. Sure there’s the chemo, the surgeries, and the living at the hospital, but the real agony is in waiting. You have to wait what seems like years for a couple lines on a piece of paper with your name and address on it.

Mine was due back in a week or two and I would just have to wait until then to find out how “good” it was.