Fortune Cookie

I ordered Chinese food this weekend and got two fortune cookies. The first goes like this. "Your fate is in no one else but you, no other hands but yours." I found this profound, not because it was something new, but because it acts as CONFIRMATION to something I already believe. I've heard it said that it takes ten compliments to overcome one negative comment. I believe the same goes for ideas, in that it is easy to start to doubt an idea and it is always encouraging to hear from another source that the idea is not wrong.

The other fortune cookie I received reads, "If you understand what you're doing, you're not learning anything." Often times I find myself looking for something familiar and easy rather than something that is challenging. By doing so, I'm LIMITING myself from new experiences and interesting topics. That is partially the reason for my first months challenge. I want to build a habit that encourages me to learn new things and expand my horizons. It is EASY to become complacent. Just the other day my room mate was telling me how this new class of his was hard. He hadn't taken the class in sequence before it and so most of the material was new for him. I told him that he was luckier than all his other class mates, because he had the opportunity to learn everything his classmates did in the previous class and this one while only taking the one class. Always remember, every CHALLENGE is an OPPORTUNITY to learn.

Also, as a side note, if you didn't see my tweet. I'm reading Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk instead of What Do You Want To Do With Your Life by Hans Glint.

Five Seconds

I recently was watching part of the pilot episode of Lost and heard something I had taken for granted before. I really have to give the writers credit for this inspiring little story that's about to follow.

When I was in residency, my first solo procedure was a spinal surgery on a sixteen year-old kid. Girl. At the end of it -- thirteen hours later - I was closing her up... and I... I accidentally ripped her dural sack -- you know what that is?

It's at the base of the spine, where all the nerves come together. Membrane as thin as tissue. So it ripped open -- the nerves just spilled out like angel hair pasta -- her spinal fluid flowing out and I just... froze. 'Cause I knew. If I didn't get those nerves back in that sack and sew it up... those thirteen hours were for nothing, that girl would be paralyzed.

I had about a minute. And all the assistants were just watching me, I could feel their eyes. And the terror was so... crazy, so real... and I knew I had to deal with it. So I just made a choice. I'd let the fear in. Let it take over. Let it do its thing. But only for five seconds. That's all I was gonna give it. So I started to count to five. I could feel it inside -- like when you drink a milkshake on a hot day. One, two, three, four, five. And it was gone. I got back to work. Sewed her up. She was fine.

I think everyone has something like that. A moment where you establish your relationship with fear. And either you learn to deal with it... or you don't.
-- Lost - Pilot Transcript

When did you decide your relationship with fear would be? Or did you not deal with it? Our choices define us, but it is important to remember that we can always make a different choice. Are you going to let fear dictate your life or are you going to dictate to fear its role in your life?

Guard Your Mind

Negativity is like a disease with a high susceptibility rate. People who surround themselves with it will inherently be affected by it, just as a person who is in the company of the ill will themselves become ill. A very strong minded person could potentially withstand negative thought for a time, but even the strongest cannot resist forever. Negativity is also very common and generally comes from those we are most close with. It is for this reason, that everyone must make themselves aware of their environment and if there need be a change, they should make it hastily.

I will close with a quote from Napoleon Hill:

Without doubt, the most common weakness of all human beings is the habit of leaving their minds open to the negative influence of other people. This weakness is all the more damaging, because most people do not recognize that they are cursed by it, and many who acknowledge it, neglect or refuse to correct the evil until it becomes an uncontrolled part of their daily habits.

State of Mind

As I've begun to better myself, I've found one fact to be consistently believed by those that offer advice. That is, that all actions are controlled by your state of mind. It is the ONLY thing that limits any person from achieving success. Think HARD about that last sentence. It is the ONLY thing keeping anyone from success. I emphasize the "only" to point out the fact that many people, including myself, often limit themselves because of forces that are out of their control. However, these external forces DO NOT limit anyones possibilities. It is simply your state of mind that is creating the limit.

As an example consider two people. The first absolutely hates math because he isn't good at it. He avoids it at every chance he gets, because he would rather not deal with it. The second absolutely hates math because he isn't good at it. He attempts it at every chance he gets, because he would rather be better at it. Which person do you think would do better on a math test? They both have the same adversity, but they both take a separate approach to the problem. The first has chosen the most basic and simple of human instinct, flight. The second has chosen the harder route, which is to fight his obstacle. A person who CONSISTENTLY PERSEVERES will always know more success than a person who does not.

This was inspired by this quote:

If you demand riches, determine what form, and how much will be required to satisfy you. You know the road that leads to riches. You have been given a road map which, if followed, will keep you on that road. If you neglect to make the start, or stop before you arrive, no one will be to blame, but YOU. This responsibility is yours. No alibi will save you from accepting the responsibility if you now fail or refuse to demand riches of Life, because the acceptance calls for but one thing -- incidentally, the only thing you can control -- and that is a STATE OF MIND. A state of mind is something that one assumes. It cannot be purchased, it must be created.
- Napoleon Hill

Wrench in the Works

I had a little hiccup over the past few days with my goal. On Thursday I only read half of chapter 7 since it was a pretty long chapter; about 40 pages. On Friday I just didn't read at all. I didn't like that very much and set out to fix it. So Saturday I caught up my reading up to Friday (Chapters 7 - 8). Then this morning I knocked out Saturday and Sunday's reading so that I am now back on track.

This circumstance has brought up an important point though. I've decided to refine my goal. Instead of plainly reading a chapter a day, I'll instead read a chapter a day up until 30 pages. At that point I will either split the chapter in half or break it up in some logical manner based on the chapters natural divisions. Really the only reason I specified chapters is because that is how many books are naturally divided. However, my real goal is really only to read a manageable amount each day. I hope this new system will work out better.

Twitterific

I don't think me reporting that I accomplished my goal for the day is particularly post worthy. So, instead of creating posts for it, I'll be posting my progress on twitter. You can check out my tweets here. That's all for now!

Update: Entries related to this post will have the prefix FFG Progress.

Chapter a Day

It is the beginning of the month and it's time for me to set a goal for this month. I had a lot of possibilities and I had to prioritize them to even come close to a decision. In the end, the habit I decided to build for this month is to read a chapter a day. I decided on this over some other things simply because I believe this habit will help me build up the ability to acquire new habits.

I was so excited about starting that I've already started reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. The book only has 15 chapters, so mid-month when I finish this book I'll be moving on to What Do You Want To Do With Your Life? by Hans Glint. I think both of these books will awaken me to many ideas that I haven't considered and reawaken me to some that I may have forgotten. I can't wait till the end of the month so I can write about my success!