Mindconnection eNL, 2010-09-19

Home
 

In this issue:
Brainpower | Finances | Security | Health/Fitness | Factoid | Product Highlight | Thought for the Day

A common source of "brain fart syndrome" is the failure to allow enough time to do any real thinking.

Suppose you buy a new gadget. It's not immediately obvious how to use it, and you "don't have time" to read the manual or just sit down and work with the controls until you understand what they do. Nor do you have the 43 seconds it takes to ponder the design strategy and general theory of operation.

But somehow, you come up with the time to get return authorization, package it back up, ship it, and check your credit card statement multiple times regarding the return. Hmm. Would you have saved time by investing ever so little upfront? Yep.

In our sound bite society, people are always in a hurry. They are, unfortunately, in too much of a hurry to do something as "time consuming" as think. This inevitably results in wasted time, and quite often in negative consequences.

Consider the work day of today's typical office worker. It's all about handling interruptions. Any truly productive time is merely accidental. Letting your work day control you like that commoditizes you, makes you easily dispensable, and prevents you from accomplishing the kinds of things that are real resume-builders.

What would happen if you:

• Simply unplugged your phone for one hour each morning and one hour each afternoon?
• Turned your personal cell phone off? Not just the ringer. The phone.
• Set your e-mail client to check e-mail once every 45 minutes instead of constantly?
• Deliberately scheduled 30-minute slots for problem-solving, new idea pondering, process improvement, and so forth?

You probably know what would happen. Your brain would have time to function in high gear. What about those people who were unable to reach you right away? Well, what gives everyone else the right to just interrupt you at any time, as if nothing you are doing is important? If you said, "Nothing," good for you. So, don't conduct yourself as if nothing you do is important (or you will make that a self-fulfilling prophecy).

Unless you are a first responder, there is no need for anyone to reach you instantly--is there? So modify your accessibility in such a way that you have some time blocked out for using your brain instead of spending your entire day frenetically responding to stimuli.

Yes, people will notice. Some will not like it. Those who matter will like it, because the results they value will be there.

Nobody puts on their resume "Avoided doing anything substantial, but anybody could reach me at any time." Yet, this is actually the reality of most people. That's why the typical resume doesn't quantify the accomplishments--the results would be unimpressive.

At one time, the job situation was one where average/typical was good enough and if you did something outstanding you could parlay that into a better job and/or more money. Today, it is increasingly true that average/typical means long bouts of unemployment/underemployment.

Each day, it seems there is more bad news about Obamageddon. Yet another blow to the economy and employment picture due to this or that insane legislation or some additional financial burden sucking capital out of the economy. It's no longer viable to rely on "business as usual" when the true unemployment number exceeds 25% and the federal govt is working feverishly to increase that.

You must use your single greatest asset: your brain. Give it time to do its job.

We don't live in one of the "hard hit" areas, but I was still shocked at the number of homes that were for sale, vacant, and/or foreclosed. We also walked past some shuttered businesses and a few homes that looked like multiple families were pooling their resources.

That same weekend, my mom told me that the brother of a close childhood buddy filed bankruptcy (he's in his mid-50s).

The home sale and foreclosure numbers are statistically insignificant, I suppose. A small percentage of the total home market. But that percentage is markedly greater than it used to be. And that's not good.

As we continue our hard slog through Obamageddon, we will continue to see more people suffer because of a senator who had OCD when it comes to spending and who, since becoming President, has acted out that OCD on a scale that leaves both of his big-spending predecessors look thrifty by comparison.

Sucking capital out of the economy is never a good idea during a recession; FDR did this with disastrous consequences for most of America (but with great benefit to a few individuals, hmm).

What can you do to prevent being suddenly facing a foreclosure, yourself? Well, that's not a fair question. Foreclosures do not happen suddenly. Assuming you're not one of those fools who bought far more house than you can afford, however, you could have mortgage (or rent) difficulties start to develop. Those could be through no fault of your own.

For example, your company may need to lay people off due to the business environment (more accurately, the relentless attack of the federal "government" on businesses). And you may be one of those people laid off. Or perhaps your hours/wages get cut back. Whatever.

Or you could just have financial difficulties because of a combination of things that just epitomize Murphy's Law, and find your ability to pay your normal bills is greatly diminished.

Most people respond to a deteriorating financial condition by doing nothing. People without jobs tend to hope things will get better, if they just keep pumping out more resumes (an activity that does NOTHING to get you back to work). They pay what they can, but their payments start to be late. Pretty soon, they are in deep trouble.

If you're still working, great:

1. Strengthen your finances now, by improving cash flow (pay off your smallest debt, so you no longer have that payment to make, then work on the next one).
2. Reduce needless outgo. You do not need to retreat into a shell, but just cut back on needless expenses. I'm amazed at how many people have expensive cable or satellite television services but "can't make ends meet." Ditto for cell phone services. Do you really need the full monte?
3. Sharpen your skills. Even if your company won't pay, attend a seminar or workshop that adds to your skill arsenal. Ask for projects or work that give you valuable experience.
4. Volunteer. Your boss may be able to get your name removed from the accounting dept's spreadsheet-generated layoff list. Or, your boss can recommend you be on it. How to make your boss your ally? Find out what your boss hates to do, and offer to do it.
   
   For example, your boss hates to deal with Client X. Don't make a game-changing offer, at first. Just say, "Why not let me handle this issue with the client, keeping you informed of course." Your boss can go for one small thing. If you don't handle it well, it's a small loss. If you do handle it well, you can offer to take increasingly bigger chunks over time.

If you do find yourself jobless or hit with an unexpected bill, don't just hope things will improve. Make them improve. Here's how:

1. Contact each of your creditors. Explain what happened, and ask them how they can help you ensure you can make your payments. For example, a bank may let you skip one mortgage payment (you pay only the interest, and the missed payment extends the loan by one month).
2. Keep a log of everything you spend. Everything. Look for things that are unessential, and eliminate them.
3. Name your game. What is it you love to do, and that you do well? Come up with a good title for this. It is the product you are selling. Think "marketing" not "job searching." That is how you will find the money.
4. Drum up some freelance work. Contact folks in your industry and let them know you are available for contract work as an X (X being the title you have for what you love to do and do well). This can lead to permanent work, too.
5. Get active in your professional association. it's not necessary to go all out, but get involved so you are visible. This will attract the right people and build your network.
6. Look at what you can repair, rather than replace. For example, patch old clothes (and wear those clothes only where old clothes are appropriate).
7. Dress properly. The sweatpants look is unacceptably slovenly. Grungy dressing in public sends a negative message about the grungy dresser, but also programs the mind of the dresser in a negative way. Dress up, not down, so you feel better about yourself and project a confident, professional image.
8. Read. This builds your brain, builds your vocabulary, builds your knowledge base, makes you interesting to talk with, and has so many other benefits it amazes me that everybody isn't reading at least one book a month. Why do so many people give this up? Pick a subject area, and keep getting books on it. Your local library is a superb resource for these.

Recently, I was on a trip out of town. So, I visited a gym on back and biceps day. I started off with pull downs alternating with chinups. One other person was in the gym, doing bentover rows in poor form.

He commented on what I was doing, saying he wished he could do that. I told him not to give up, and then gave him some pointers about feeling what the muscle is doing. He said he'd recently started working with a trainer, and that's exactly what she said. I told him to keep working with her.

The next day, I came in for chest and triceps. A fellow slightly more than half my age was on the bench press. I asked if I could alternate sets with him. He agreed. He did eight reps, moving the weight quickly.

After his set, I added more weight and did six slow reps.

About 100 days before age 50

I guess that, not to be outdone, he felt he had to add more weight. He was obviously less muscular than I, so there was no rationale to his adding more weight. He did eight fast reps.

I reduced the weight and then did six slow reps. He added weight back on, and did a third fast set of 8.

I did three more sets, each time moving the weight slowly. During all five of my sets, I could feel my pecs burning. During his three reps, I can guarantee this did not happen for him:

• His shoulders were rotated forward, due to using too much weight. So, he was using a lot of front delt.

• He wasn't keeping the muscle under load, and he wasn't deeply contracting. If you are not squeezing, you are not doing it right.

• While most gyms teach people to do 3 sets of 8 reps, our muscles do not agree that this works all that well.

After my bench press, I worked extremely slow dumbbell flyes. I did sets of 2 or 3 reps, max.

When I was done, the veins in my chest were really standing up, and my pecs were swollen well beyond their normal size. In other words, I was pumped. To the max. I then proceeded to work my triceps in a similar fashion, ending with the triceps head swollen and split by deep "cuts."

My former bench press buddy went on to "work" a variety of body parts. He did biceps curls, some lateral shoulder raises, and other exercises that did not build on each other. Outside of burning some calories, his "workout" was a waste of time.

I made sure to see if, perchance, he got any kind of pump. Nope. He just threw a bunch of weights around, and left the gym looking the same way he did when he started.

To get intensity, you must focus. Those slow reps come with a great deal of mental concentration, in addition to the physical concentration. This is what forces the adaptive response that burns fat and provides muscle growth. Because there's only so much energy in your body, the "split routine" is the only way to work out with intensity. If you work your chest and triceps correctly, for example, you are too wiped out to also work your back and biceps properly. Save that for another day.

The split routine also maximizes your recuperative abilities, optimizes your hormonal levels, and helps regulate your appetite. When done correctly, it eliminates the possibility of overtraining (not allowing adequate rest between workouts of any particular muscle group). Circuit training guarantees overtraining, as soon as you get past the novice stage.

The problem with the high intensity split routine is it's such hard work. But then, it also doesn't take long. My chest and triceps workout took me 25 minutes. The fat burning from it lasted well into the next day. I'd rather spend 25 minutes to get good results than spend an hour to get nothing back for my efforts. So, I knuckle down and do that short but brutal workout.

Photo notes

In these photos, I was at 5.1% body fat. I dropped to 5% after the shoot and am still there several weeks later, as I write this. One reason I can be that lean is the way I have these workouts scheduled. This kind of scheduling plays off the cortisol/testosterone responses the body goes through when subjected to the kind of stress that an intense workout puts on it. It may be more accurate to say I schedule my recovery windows so they don't overlap, and thus I maximize the time during which my natural testosterone level is elevated.

Of course, eating six small meals a day and paying attention to what's in those meals is another factor in allowing a 50 year old person to be at 5% bodyfat.

At www.supplecity.com, you'll find plenty of informative, authoritative articles on maintaining a lean, strong physique. It has nothing to do with long workouts or impossible to maintain diets. In fact:

• The best workouts are short and intense.
• A good diet contains far more flavors and satisfaction than the typical American diet.

2012 update. This product replaced with:

The C-Pen 3.5 lets you scan and transfer text directly into your computer, wirelessly (thanks to Bluetooth).

Scanning speed is so fast, you can scan as you read and the recognition is nearly instant.

Fast, efficient, and easy to use.
 

• Save time with fast, easy scanning.

• Enjoy office mobility; scan from a work table, even though your PC is on the other side of the room.

• Reduce cable clutter, eliminate cable kinking frustration.

• Turn selected portions of paper documents into files you can actually use instead of material that's lost in a filing cabinet.

• Enjoy an easy input method for any Windows application.

This pen seamlessly integrates with the software you are already using.

• It connects easily with your laptop or Win XP-based handheld device.

• Plug and Play. No complicated set-up.

• High scanning speeds.

• Portable. You can easily move it from one PC to another.

• Scans from irregular surfaces. You can scan from surfaces that are curved, laminated, or even patterned.

This eNL is supported by sales from www.mindconnection.com. Please shop there, as appropriate.