"Trust Yourself"

"Trust yourself" is a common phrase used by motivational gurus to motivate their audience. The idea that you are capable of a lot more things than you give yourself credit for. Supporters of this idea encourage people to be bold and occasionally take the leap of faith to accomplish something greater while non supporters believe this to be just over optimism that leads to miserable life. I'm a supporter of the idea but I do feel that the phrase requires further explanation as to why it's a logical phrase and not just an overly hype maxim.

Last year, I relocated near Santa Barbara California in search for a fresh start of my life. I had moved despite not knowing anyone in the city. I admit for most, this is a bold decision and I myself will say that this is a leap of faith. I had no clue how I would earn money to survive and I certainly didn't have any network
that could help me. All I have is a little savings and trust in myself.

Sure enough I tracked down the museum of the city and found out who the managers are. I noticed they had a planetarium and I've always had a hobby in astronomy so I realize this would be where I would have the maximum chances. Other employees are kind enough to point me to where his office is and so I walked in his office and asked for a job, that's it. 2 weeks later I'm officially the planetarium assistant.

You see, even though it sounds like wonderful stroke of luck, it actually isn't.
Before moving, I was confident of my ability to adapt to the environment. I am very confident in my communication skills that I knew if I just had an opportunity to talk to an employer then I can persuade him to give me a job. That's the essence of what trusting yourself means. You must know what you have and believe that it will work out. With this attitude it's impossible for you to fail.

The phrase is not just some hyped up proverb but its a simple truth. If you have the ability to trust yourself, you will believe that what you want will happen. This reduces your results into two outcome; you will get what you want or you will die trying. It's that simple. So it's important to remember to always "Trust Yourself".

When Life Gives you Lemons, Forget Making Lemonade, Make a Battery!

One evening night coming home from school, I decided to flip the television on to see if there are any shows that might interested me. It wasn't long before I discovered that the battery on the remote control is dead. I was tired and not in the mood to run to the store to buy some new batteries. I also did not like the idea of searching around the house for a potential replacement battery. Getting up every-time to flip the channel is just not an option for me either. But I still really want to watch T.V. So I decided to brainstorm ideas on how to get the remote working with the least amount of effort possible.

After a few moments a light bulb lit on top of my head. I knew for sure we had a sac of lemons destined to just rot in our kitchen. I also knew for sure that our remote only needs very little power to transfer its signal. I also knew for sure that my brother had Cu and Zinc tubes in his room. Calculating the amount of effort required and weighing it against the thrill of inventing something and watching television, I decided that taking one trip around the house to gather all the materials I need is minuscule investment to the success of making the remote work and watching my favorite show.

So I did, I took 6 lemons, attached Cu and Zinc tubes on it and attached it to the positive and negative battery rockets of the remote. I clicked the power button and voilà the television turned on. I was ecstatic. Knowing I had used what I had and innovating it to get what I want is a wonderful sensation. 

The lesson I realized here is that with enough creativity and drive we are capable of amazing things. Specially in todays day and age, it's important that we do our very best to stand out from the crowed. Our very survival depends on it.

With the availability of mostly free education and the invention Internet, we have limitless amount of information accessible to us. Turning lemons into lemonade no longer stands out from the crowed, it requires more drastic measures. The quality of bachelors degree is no longer as valuable as it was 30 years ago. More and more college graduates are unemployed every year. This is why I say when life gives you lemons, you better strive to turn it into a battery instead. Simply making lemonade wont cut it anymore.

It's ok to be Bored

When I'm feeling bored what I like to do is to sit down somewhere isolated and comfortable and just stare at the horizon. This is how I battle boredom, I don't fight it, I fully embrace it for what it is.

In the 21st century lifestyle, boredom has become more common than previous centuries. Having access to endless amount of entertainment these days, the separation between joyous activities and boring activities have become very easily identifiable. When we feel joy from an activity we label that as fun. When we feel no sense of rush from an activity we label that as boring. 

Having fun is a good thing, we should all strive to increase the joy in our life. The problem arises when people think they can keep their joy permanent. So we try many different things to keep us entertained all the time, but it's just simply impossible.

So what's the solution? This may seem counter intuitive but the only solution is to realize that there is no solution. Acceptance, that's the solution. Accept joy when it arrives and accept it when it leaves. Along with that, it is also very important to accept boredom when it shows at your doorstep.

Here are a few tips on boredom:

• Let it pass: The good news is that just like joy, boredom is also fleeting. Knowing that it will end soon will make it easier for you to embrace it.
• Be patient: Yea some boredom last longer than others but know that it will end sooner or later.
• Stop worrying: For us teenagers when we are bored it feels  like we are missing out on life. Know that you are not missing anything at all by being bored.
• Smile: Smiling at boredom affirms to your mind that you are one with boredom. That it doesn't bother you.
• Organize your thoughts: Boredom is the perfect opportunity to think and sort through your mind. This can help you figure out what you need to for your future.
• DO NOT SLEEP IT OFF: It's very easy to just lay down in bed and sleep your boredom off hoping it will disappear when you wake up. But it doesn't, you will only prolong boredom this way.
• DON'T BE DESPERATE FOR ENTERTAINMENT: The common practice for us living in the 21st century is that when we feel we might be facing boredom we turn our computer go on facebook, youtube, whatever and look for solutions to our boredom. The thing is, like I've mentioned before there is no solution, so it is never found. Just like sleep, this only prolongs the boredom rather than letting it pass.
• Take this opportunity to re energize your motivations: Look back at your goals. Have you achieve them yet? If not, what steps can you take to get closer to achieving them? If you have achieved your goals, what other goals can you strive to achieve? What other journey can you embark on?

For many young people boredom is perceived as a dangerous disease that they struggle so often to run from it. Not knowing that boredom is impossible to cure, their constant effort leads to self-destructive behavior. Many participate in parties with drugs and alcohol involve believing that the solution to their boredom lies in consumption of these chemicals. The truth is the solution to boredom can only be found within ourselves.

Fear of Uncertainty

There are many points of our lives where we are overwhelmed by fear. On some cases, we get so paralyzed by fear that it prevents us from living our normal routine. Among all types of fears that we can identify, fear of uncertainty has the most devastating effect.

Fear of uncertainty is our fear of not knowing the outcome. When we meet a potential partner for example, we hesitate to take the initial step to let them know we are interested because we are not sure of the outcome. If however, we are certain that they share the same interest in us, we lose all illusory barrier that prevent us from confessing our feelings to them. This is because in one scenario there is fear of  two different consequences; we can get rejected which is painful, or we will get the right response. The latter scenario has only one consequence that is favorable so fear no longer exist there. But sometimes the risk is not as simple as rejection from your beloved. Sometimes, the risk is something greater; safety of our feelings, body, or maybe even our life.

When I first moved out from my parents house, I experienced major depression. My depression didn't come from being homesick since they are not far from where I moved but it's the fear of coming back and living with them. I fear that I will not be able to support myself on my own, that I would run out of sources of income very fast, that without their help, I will not be able to survive, which will force me to move back in with them. I had feared not being able to be sure of my future.

Soon after I realized that not knowing what will happen with my future will be a regular part of my life. If I'm going to live it to the fullest, I should be able to handle situations as simple as this. This means I will never be able to live in the safety and comfort of my parents house forever, but truthfully I would not want to. I realized that life will come with many many challenges and I will always be uncertain of the outcome.So I must be able to live with my fear and just flow with whatever life throws at me.

So here are a few tips to battle the fear of uncertainty:

• "let go": I understand this is quiet a cliché but it is the ultimate solution. Don't hold on to your fear, instead accept that they are there, that you are human and humans do feel fear sometimes.
• Risk is a regular part of life: We always face risk every time we hop into our car, or apply for a job, or ask the person we fancy on a date. These are regular part of living and realize that whether or not you fail to obtain these things should not effect your visions and goals.
• Focus on the possibility not on impossibility: Many of us do not discover our full potential because we tell ourselves we can't do it. There was a point in my life when I almost moved back in with my parents that my imaginations are coming true. But that's the thing until that time I've repeatedly affirmed to myself that I won't make it, so it was coming true. It wasn't until I said to myself I will make it and took actions to making it that I started to believe that I could.
• Don't be afraid to fail: Failure is inevitable. Ideally you will fail many times before you succeed. Failure is life's greatest teacher.
• Trust yourself: The greatest gift you can ever give yourself is to trust yourself. Believe that you chose where you are and you will chose where you want to be. Trust that you are capable of getting through whatever challenges you will face.
• It's just life: Often times we feel threaten by things outside of ourselves. We label things as right or wrong, good or bad. But in reality there is no such thing. There just is. Once you understand this then there is no reason to fear anything. The state of a situation only depends on our perception. Therefore you control your own situation. You have a choice; to live a happy fulfilling life, or to anguish in your own illusions.

You will never be able to completely get rid of fear. It's an integral part of being human. But if you strive to educate yourself of its nature you will see that fear is nothing more than a pigment of your own imagination.

10,000 Hour Rule

Popularized term by Malcolm Gladwell in is book Outliers is the idea that to be a world class performer at anything, it requires 10,000 hours of practice. Gladwell cited a research of world class violinist that indicated that the world class violinist have over 10,000 hours of practice. The research showed that the violinist with less than 10,000 hours of practice have not attained the skills of a world class performers. Gladwell points how Bill Gates had the rare opportunity to obtain access to the very first computer at a very young age, allowing Gates to put in 10,000 hours of practice while he was still in his teens. By the time computers became commercially available, Bill Gates had all the skills necessary to build his Microsoft empire.

Although this seems like valid logical argument, I believe it requires further analysis to label this as true. There are still many areas of to be debated that I feel Gladwell decided to omit. Simply slapping a 10,000 hour rule on a phenomena that psychologist have questioned for hundreds of years isn't going to cut it.

Interesting point raised by many is that simply practicing for 10,000 hours isn't enough, it must be 10,000 hours of dedicated practice. It must be 10,000 hours of deliberate improvements. For example, many people play chess regularly every single day for decades but there are only a few people at the world class level. Just because the average Joe has 10 years of 3 hours a day of friendly games it doesn't mean he has a chance to be a world champion. The level of concentration in every in each and every practice plays an important role in the development of a skill. Often times deliberate steady improvements are painful so most people opt for the easy low concentration practice to feel like they have put in the practice necessary to improve.

Another interesting point raised is that the 10,000 hour research is simply an average. Some may take 20,000 and some may take 5000 to obtain world class skill. Overall average however falls at about the number 10,000.
Area that I feel wasn't covered is the level of complexity of the task. Some task are easier to master than others. Cup Stacking and Rubik's Cube world tournaments for example have world champions who have only 3-5 years of being in the sport. Most competitors have not even reached the age 20. It's next to impossible to put in 10,000 hours of full dedicated practice in 3-5 years so why are there so many teens braking world records each year in these areas. The only viable reason for this is because sports like Cup Stacking and Rubik's Cube are one dimensional task with one dimensional goal therefore complete mastery of the sport requires much less time on average than the 10,000 hour rule.

Anyhow, whichever way you slice it the point is that to be really good at something, it takes a lot of hours of practice. Many of us are not willing to put in our focus in one single area. So for many of us we'll never achieve outstanding results. So it all boils down to a single idea, you really have to love what you are doing to spend an enormous time and effort on it.

Dream it, then Live it

The problem with dreamers are that they lack one major step, making their dreams into a reality. Most people have dreams and aspirations, but only a few really get to live it. So is it impossible for people like you and I to do it? For many of us yes.

      I know this doesn’t seem like the typical feel good motivational speech you see on T.V but I intend to write the truth according to my perspective. If we want to be happy with our lives then we need to accept the world for what it is. So I say yes for many of us our dreams are next to impossible to reach but, THAT’S NOT AN EXCUSE NOT TO TRY!

      Kelvin Doe from Sierra Leone is an electrical engineer whiz. Sierra Leone is one of the poorest areas of central Africa where educational opportunities are very limited. Many kids walk for two hours everyday to get to school with very limited staff that different grade levels are put into one class (4,5, and 6 grade for example all share one class room and one teacher). Despite all these disadvantages Doe manges to educate himself with very technical electronic skills. So much so that he built a working radio station off of scraps from the trash bin that provided FM radio station to his village. His work was then noticed by a Ph.D student of MIT where he made arrangements to bring Kelvin to MIT sparking many foundations and charities that support educational funding in Africa. Kelvin at the time was only 15 years old.

     The hardest part about achieving your dreams is turning all the imaginations in your head into reality. Kelvin is among the few who manages to find a way to do this. You see, in your mind you are in full control so what ever it is you want you can easily produce in your mind. That is not however, the case in real life since you are only limited with a few choices and resources. But those people who take advantage of what they have and innovate it to fit their needs; those people are permitted to live life just like their dreams.

     I conclude this article by saying that all a person has do to make their dreams into a reality is to just decide. Just decide that you are going to see your goals all the way through to the end. And when you do reach the end and you have failed, at least you can say, “hey, I had failed to achieve my dreams, but you know what, I went for it with everything I could…..I gave it my all”.

Productivity Tips

As a young nerd I have experimented with time-logs.  Time-logs are what productivity buffs often use to measure their productivity in a day. To do this you must record every single thing you do every 15 minutes. This includes; restroom break, checking facebook, email, etc. By the end of the day you are left with a record of every single thing that you did that day.

If its your first time experimenting with time-logs, it can be a real eye opener. As for my case, what I thought was an 8 hour session of studying is really only a little over 1 hour and 30 minutes. The rest of the time I was either talking to someone on facebook, texting, or grabing a bite to eat. This is when I started to really pin point where my time is really being spent. Before then, I thought I needed 8 hours of study session just to keep up with my classes. I envied people who seemed to have all the time in the world while maintaining very good grades in class. It never occurred to me that all I had to do is turn off my cell phone, turn off my computer, and go to an isolated place alone for just 1 hour and 30 minutes and all I need to accomplished would have been accomplished. I could then enjoy the rest of my day after that.

I found that chunking task for short intervals of time where in those intervals I devote complete focus to my work is much more effective than spending 8 hours in the library with choppy concentration fluctuations. Soon after I discovered this phenomena, I found that most people who live a healthy balance happy life incorporate this in their daily routine.
So if you find yourself constantly meeting deadlines feeling like you never have enough time, here are a few tips on productivity.
       
Productivity Tips

• Take a week to fill out a time-log: This way you can see for yourself what you are spending your time on. Analyze your time-logs. Do them every couple of months or so to see if you’ve improved. There are a couple effective ways of analyzing your time-logs, I will post a different post about that in the future.
• Count how much time you spent focusing not how much time you spent total: Counting how much time total you spent on a project is like only counting how much total sales you sold without subtracting the profit. It would be impossible to gauge improvements this way.
• Give yourself time to relax properly each day: It seems to have no use in productivity, but really this is critical in a persons productivity output. Although it may not seem like it, taking the time to relax keeps motivations fresh so you are ready to go on intense focus each day. Notice I said relax properly. Spending the rest of your day on your facebook after your productivity session only fills your mind with self-destructive confusion. For most, facebook is an oppurtunity to compare their life with their peers facebook statuses causing them stress rather than fulfillment. I personally love to walk on the beach before sunset. Jogging is perfect for those looking to get in shape. Whichever works for you.
• Put yourself in a position where you wont get distracted: When concentration is broken it takes time to gain it back again, so you must discipline yourself to focus for blocks of hours at the time. This could mean turning off any electronic devices nearby until 1 hour or so has past so you can completely focus all your efforts into your work. Most productivity experts suggest only putting 45 minutes to an hour of focus each time. Anything longer than that is just a waste of time since after about an hour the level of concentration for most people seems to fade.
• Don’t take time for granted: Realize that their are only 24 hours in a day and 50-80%(depending on the individual) of those hours is spent just to survive, i.e eating, sleeping, hygiene etc. So prioritize efficient use of time. I agree with the saying “time is money”.

All these tips revolve around one simple principle. Focus. The core of productivity is focus. With focus your time efficiency and effectiveness dramatically improves. Think of it like a magnifying glass. If you take a magnifying glass and focus all the sun’s light into one single point you will find that it becomes so hot it can burn things. But if its not focused into a single point and instead spread out over a bigger surface area, it can never burn anything. Focus works the same way, putting it all into one task allows you to really make some major advancement towards your goal. Having low focus however, may never get you anywhere.

For a free pdf time-log visit my website at: http://www.lesterdc.com

Self-Confidense

It’s a critical skill among us social animals. Weather it be business, social relations, or just attracting a potential mate, self-confidence is a critical skill that determines the difference between success and failure.

Qualities of Self-Confidense

• He/she is completely aware of what he/she is capable of: People with self confidence trust his/her own knowledge and only makes decisions based on what he/she knows. Because of this, a person with self-confidence continually seeks to improve his/her knowledge. He/she is very open to being wrong and waste no time correcting his/her logical flaws.
• Calm and collected at any given moment: People with self-confidence has a very strong sense of how the world works therefore he rarely finds him/herself in ht position of anxiety or fear. The ultimate example of such a character is James Bond from James Bond movies; particularly the movies with Daniel Craig as the double 007. Despite dangerous situations he remains calm and mindful about the current situation.
• Charisma: Everyone loves charismatic people. Self-confident people have this quality mastered. They draw attention to themselves without much effort.
• Trustworthy: People with self-confidence only says things he believes will happen. Because of this self-confident people do virtually almost everything they say. This quality effortlessly gains other peoples trust.
• True to him/herself: Their actions are based on what they believe in. They live only by few simple principles that they have known as the universal truth.
• Always seeks the truth: They continue to sculpt their principles throughout their lifetime. Their life revolves around these principles.

Benefits of Self-Confidence

• Stronger Deeper relationship with others.
• Great foundation for a business
• Obtain vast supporters; A person who builds trust will obtain supporters for anything he/she proposes
• Stronger Deeper relationship with networks.
• Happier and healthier lifestyle.
• Obtain the worlds greatest rewards.

Self-Confidence not Arrogance

There’s a fine line between self-confidence and arrogance. Simply put; self-confidence is based on trust and arrogance is based on insecurity. Arrogance seeks to regularly prove himself in order to obtain approval, while self-confidence assumes approval from others. Arrogance can never gain trust from others because it continually distances itself by it’s intentions. Assuming approval however, lets others know they are at the same level, thereby building trust is very easy.

Perceived Happiness vs. Experienced Happiness

Ever catch yourself saying “if only I had {insert here} then I will be happier”, or “only {insert here} can make my life feel complete”, and my favorite “I can’t live without {insert here}.” Now, often times we find ourselves obsessively wanting things that we believe will bring an end to all of our problems. Most of the time when we finally do attain that something we desire we realize how different it is from how we perceived it to be. Our anticipation of how the moment will play out seemed so much more exciting than what really did play out. Psychologist call this behavior as perceived happiness. Students of dharmic religion identify this as the ego that provokes attachments-the cause of all suffering.

Perceived Happiness

As humans we evolved with the ability to visualize scenarios in our minds before they play out. Men, in general are more equip with this ability due to their role as the hunter gatherer. Humans have developed this ability so strongly that they are capable of experiencing their vision by expecting certain senses and emotions.

Now this has certain evolutionary advantages which can be witnessed when a pack of wolves anticipate where their pray will run to so they can then trap it. Needless to say humans visualization ability is far beyond that of wolves. Unfortunately, in this hyperactive social media age we live in, our ability to live scenarios in our minds are causing drawbacks. What used to be a critical skill to survive is now causing major depressions for the 21st century human beings.

When we imagine how great life would be the coming summer when we are laying in a hammock at some beach in Hawaii we are perceiving happiness. It gives us overwhelming euphoria just thinking about it, but when we are actually experiencing it do we really experience the same euphoria? Probably not. We often are more enchanted with our imaginations than actually living it.

The real problem with perceived happiness occur when our expectations are not met thereby causing fear, anxiety, and depression. When we are infatuated with someone for example, we often idealize scenarios that is unlikely to occur causing us to experience a variety of emotional turmoil when we find out that our visions did not come true. At this age our social media encourages us to have such deformed views of reality and when true reality is realized it impacts our self-confidence. Many people today have abandoned hope and optimism due to the many perceived visions they’ve concocted that were broken.

Certainly this quality isn’t a burden. Our same ability to perceive scenarios in our mind is the same ability we use to solve the worlds hardest problems, invent the newest technologies, and predict future problems.

Experienced Happiness

Revolutionary to western cultures is the idea of experienced happiness. This philosophy has been emphasized by dharmic religions for thousands of years, Buddhism and Taoism are among the most popular. It is preached as the replacement of perceived happiness to avoid suffering.

The idea is through meditation we can train our minds to focus and control our expectations. After all you must admit that the happiest moments of your life came by surprise. When we control our expectations we are less susceptible to delusional thoughts which forces us to turn our point of view to true reality. With practice we can learn to accept this true reality and find that it too contains many beautiful things that is actually tangible.

Of-course, this is not the only purpose of meditation but rather just one of it’s many benefits. In fact, experienced happiness doesn’t have to arise from traditional meditation. Unlike the fluctuation of happiness that come from perceived happiness, experienced happiness is chosen. The individual simply decides that he/she is happy and he/she will obtain happiness. This requires redefining what happiness really is for the practice e.

Thoughts

Perceived happiness is great. However, to the person seeking true joy may not be able to benefit from it. Its a short term high that often has more drawbacks that is not worth the high. With that said it is still essential part of being human. Only after understanding its nature can we begin to extract the benefits that come from it and throw away the bad ones. On the other hand, everyone can benefit from experienced happiness. Its selfless nature, simplicity, and calm objective makes the student of the philosophy maintain it for a longer period of time. After all being happy more often isn’t such a bad deal.

The Making of a Success

            

It’s a windy day in Goleta CA beach. It’s a great day for surfers due to the combination of high tide and strong winds. There must have been 20 different surfers riding these waves one after the other. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to sit down uphill and savor the wonderful scenery.

              To my right point of view is a surfer completely isolated from the rest. Perhaps he is not confident enough to join the other surfers because he lacks the skills. Try as he might this surfer cannot seem to catch a wave. A number of gigantic waves only seem to pass him by despite all his efforts to ride them. Every failed attempts he swims right back to catch the next one. He is persistent at least. I would say he has never done this before. He tries again and again with each wave he becomes better and better. Then finally it happened…he picked up speed, he stood up, kept his balance and rode that wave. Other surfers cheer him as he rides the wave. He eventually fell and popped right back out of the water with an indescribable expression on his face; Indescribable only to those people who have never felt that way in their life. He had the expression of a man who had just crossed an important milestone in his life-the wonderful look of success.

             Most people typically view successful people as someone who just happened to be at the right place at the right time. In other words successful people are just plain lucky. But that’s because we only see the moment of the success, the moment when they are riding that wave. While I don’t deny that luck plays a role in success I feel that most people give it too much weight in the formula for success.

              I would argue that success is more of a combination of the right motivation, persistence, and attitude, rather than just a stroke of luck. The right motivation, persistence, and attitude allow you to develop such a strong quality that it is almost impossible for you to fail. This quality drives the individual to commit mistakes, learns from them, try again, and improve. Just as the surfer fails to ride these big waves, each time he fails he learns what works and what doesn’t. Eventually, the next big wave comes his way and the surfer has learned enough to put himself in the right spot, the right speed, and obtain the right timing to ride that wave. This I believe is what truly determines success. It is not achieved through luck but rather through brutal learning experiences that teaches you to be successful.

              I view luck as something periodic that regularly passes us by. We just currently don’t have the right skills necessary to take advantage of it. I want to build my own business and obtain financial independence for myself and my future family. I know big opportunities are regularly passing me by right under my nose right at this moment and I’m not aware of it. But persistently I try every single day to think of ideas on how I can achieve my goals. Slowly but surely, I’m learning bit by bit what I need to do and the sacrifices that I need to make in order to get there. I have full faith that when I’m ready and the next big wave arrives I will be able to pick up speed, stand up, and keep my balance, and that will just be the beginning.