experiences

One of the most amazing aspects of being an entrepreneur is the absolute joy you get from being constantly forced to learn new things!

Enjoying the rewards, paying the costs

Honestly, what other type of non-job other then an entrepreneur can you be paid to do what you absolutely love to do and gamble, quite honestly, on all your past success to throw yourself into yet another higher level of possibility! The rewards of entrepreneurship as a lifestyle are as endless as it’s costs but the journey sure as hell is a fun one!

Case Study: WoodMarvels.com - how it began

I started this site after many years of having this idea in the back of my head. I really love wood, I enjoy the flexibility that this material provides and its availability just about anywhere. Nothing beats the smell of pine or cedar… so, I decided, enough is enough… I am going to develop this site right now! That was back in October, at first, it was difficult developing an entire new level of standards and procedures, not to sound too technical but after years of producing industrial 3D animations, switching to wooden toys takes a little bit of work to pull-off correctly. For several years, I also really wanted to get into manufacturing, I have visited some amazing shop floors around North America and to be honest, I LOVE BIG MACHINES!

Case Study: WoodMarvels.com - models from virtual to physical

So, back in October, I started essentially producing new virtual wood marvels on a weekly basis but about two months ago, my second dream was finally made available to me… manufacturing! I built all my wood marvels in my computer, they looked great and I got some great feedback from customers but being able to ship on-demand merchandise anywhere in the world is a whole other level of accomplishment. It took a few weeks but now I am as comfortable in the “manufacturing-on-demand” area as I am in the 3D one. I am not a professional in either by any stretch of the imagination, but I have developed enough knowledge of both industries to easily converse with engineers and other professionals on an even platform.

Just for the heck of it, you can see the evolution of the designs from one of the very first models I created to the second-to-last one (latest one is still rendering).

Shark (September 2007′ish)

Full Armor Gear Bull (June 2008′ish)

Case Study: WoodMarvels.com - book from virtual to physical

Now, this is where things get really interesting, I am a few weeks away from having a book published encompassing 25 of my top models available print-on-demand through BookSurge.com (an Amazon affiliate). Things have gone full circle, the models are produced on-demand in the physical world and now, my guides and books as well! Isn’t this really cool! One of my goals in my life was to publish several books, this is my first, at the age of 32 and I really enjoyed the process and can’t wait to actually hold in both my hands what where once but virtual items inhabiting the deep recesses of my mind.

Where do you go from here?

WoodMarvels.com has been a tremendous success, it has opened several doors in my life and I look forward to developing that property well into the future. My other properties are slowly growing and I am sure they will open as many doors if not more then what I have just shared with you… which is still but a glimpse of things to come. The fact that I managed to do this while traveling around the world, visiting one of my dream places (Cape Tribulation in Australia) and climbing mountains in South Korea really make these successes all the more enjoyable! I already have two other non-WoodMarvels.com books stewing in my mind which I hope to release next year. My priority is to get the next huge goal I have had in my mind for several years now… LegendaryLife.com. I wish I honestly could live a thousand years because I have so much yet to accomplish and experience, trying to cram all of this in one lifetime while still being able to enjoy that life is a very tall task indeed!

The Bottom Line

Nothing beats a dose of entrepreneurship to introduce some vitality into your life!

Buzvia: BookSurge.com (on-demand publisher), Ponoko.com (on-demand manufacturer), WoodMarvels.com (on-demand happiness!)

(image from NASA)

I can look at the above cloud animation all day… clouds are clouds right? Well, these ones are special… they are the clouds found on Mars!

Why is this so fascinating to me?

Most likely, within my lifetime, I will never get the opportunity to visit another planet or moon… if I am wealthy enough in the future, I can spend a few days in space but exploring alien worlds is probably going to be left to my descendants to experience. This animated picture, no matter how brief or grainy, is as close I will get to looking up in the sky on another planet. In the few frames of this animation, I see hope, success, wonderment and many other adjective, including expletives, that describe my deep desire to really explore this world I was lucky enough to be born on. It’s also a very tragic reminder of the limitations placed upon me from birth, that of my own mortality which I realize logically I can do nothing about but emotionally bothers me to no end. They say all living life on this planet has an urge for self-preservation built into it… I think I was born with an extra helping of this ingredient when I was created by my parents.

The reality of Aging

I am quickly approaching my 32nd birthday and from talking to others who are older then me, I have come to the realization of the cruel joke played on us by Mother Nature, the process of aging itself. I am starting to think those with Alzheimer’s are lucky, you see, they are aging and not in the best of shape but don’t realize this. It’s like going 100 miles an hour straight into a brick wall but instead of looking at the wall coming straight at you, you are facing the other direction.

Why is the process of aging a cruel joke?

Right now, I am in my early 30’s but mentally, I feel no different then when I was a teenager, I still have the same feelings, urges and essentially the same body. Double my age to 60 and guess what, I will still have the mind of a teenager but the body of an old fart… double that again, now 120 years old… still with the mind of a teenager but most likely the day after a party and the body that is simply unrecognizable. What I am saying is that physically we age rather quickly but mentally, well, not so much. Do I look forward to looking at myself in the mirror on my 100th birthday? As I continue to take great care of myself, most likely yes but I will also have a feeling of great loss of the body I have now is gone, never to return. Aging is a one way road that is part of the deal when you become mortal.

The Bottom Line

Anybody who says they love the process of aging is suffering from a mental disorder.

Buzvia: Mars Exploration Rover Mission

I figured it was only a matter of time before some people in the old establishment feared for their own livelihood and reputation when something new comes along that provides a better experience then what they are able to provide.

The experience with WoodMarvels.com

When I first launched woodmarvels,com, I had a number of haters, wood crafters hated the site because we provided blueprints and 3D animation for at an 80% discount to their “old” mail order businesses. Gone where the days of overpriced blueprints that took a week to receive in the mail. I saw messages saying “computer created blueprints are a dime a dozen”, “a real wood crafter doesn’t use computers”, “how can you build something without measurements!” and so on. What can I conclude? The haters out there seeing their livelihood which failed to evolve with the times facing obliteration, they are too lazy to learn how to create things in a computer which is far more efficient method (including environmentally friendly) but too entrenched in old methods of doing things. Other people support the site, it provides to them exactly what they need and want.

Experience with the International Association for the Study of Dreams

Here is an association that, to me, should be very welcoming of different and novel new ways of doing things… boy was I wrong! I posted a message on their forum that was full of anonymous posters helping others to interpret their dream that dreamclue.com is now available to them. The response? They deleted my post without even an explanation, not once but twice! I did the same on wikipedia with the same result. I can only conclude that dreamclue.com is their worst nightmare which they wished never saw the light of day! I had sent an e-mail to Dr. Van de Castle asking him to check dreamclue.com out to get his feedback and the response I got wasn’t what I was expecting.

“Dear Jon… In general, I’m not supportive of any approach to dreams in which a dictionary approach is made, and I don’t feel that represents a dynamic approach. To me, dynamic means an approach in which the dreamer’s individual and unique personality features are carefully examined in a way that the multilevel strands of meaning are carefully interwoven . ARBITRARILY TELLING anyone what their dream means is considered an unethical procedure, as you will note if you examine the ethical statement of our organization. The International Association for the Study of Dreams [ www.IASDreams.org ] ONLY the dreamer is entitled to say what their dream means . I am sending a copy of this response to our chair person in charge of ethics, so that she will be aware of your new venture, Sincerely, Robert Van de Castle , PH.D”

I thanked him for his time in my reply but to me there are a few points that he has failed to realize about dreamclue.com:

1. we are only providing ideas as to what a symbol means, it’s always up to the end user to decipher what the dream means to them, the first block of text on our home page clearly states this. Not only that, the journal available to members provides a field for just such a thing!
2. their own forum is full of strangers actually TELLING other strangers exactly what their dream means WITHOUT the systematic approach he preaches, yet their postings are not deleted like mine was.
3. there are “professional dream interpreters” out there charging 20 to 200 dollars AN HOUR to provide dream interpretations, selling tapes and books that cost a kings random. How the hell is this considered ethical when there is now a FREE, dynamic alternative with dreamclue.com?
4. we provide a feedback mechanism for others to post what a dream symbol meant to them, the term “arbitrary” is a term I consider an insult given the foundation that dreamclue.com is built upon.

Economic motives in maintaining the status quo

Now, I can’t blame them for hating what dreamclue.com represents, they make thousands of dollars a year selling “memberships” and have a vast store selling any and everything to do with dreams no matter how hookey they seem. Here, I am, a person providing a free alternative… I can’t blame them for deleting my posts within minutes of me posting on their site. I guess, if I was in their shoes, I would be shaking and hoping word didn’t get out too!

My challenge to dream interpreters the world over!

I challenge ANY “professional dream interpreter”, psychotherapist, metaphysician, psychologist, psychic, astrologist or otherwise to PROVE their books or sites helping others with their dream interpretations are any better then dreamclue.com. PROVE to me the superiority of your methods using the scientific method, otherwise, don’t even try to elevate yourselves above what dreamclue.com provides to its users.

The problem with the dream industry

Like the diet and health industries, the dream interpretation industry is ripe with gouging consumers in order to maintain the “professionalism” of this field. A field that is ripe with predators looking for a quick buck and creating dependent relationships that benefit only their pocket books. The dream industry should be open to new ideas and methods of doing things, not turning a blind-eye and discounting viable alternative out there. My goal is to provide tools that help people find out more about themselves, ultimately, to be self-reliant. This is exactly what this industry and many others I plan on conquering fear.

The Bottom Line

Waves are good… especially the ones you create yourself!

What I find interesting with most religions is how they seem to really dislike one another under their facade of acceptance while they compete for our “poor” souls. Each religion out there has the tenant that they are the only TRUE religion so anybody professing anything different is seen as a competitor in this life or the next. What I find equally of interest is that they try to discount each-others beliefs while re-enforcing their own. Scientology is no different in that they are attacked regularly by Catholics and Muslims as being an evil cult which to me sounds no different then a kettle calling a pot black. I fail to see ANY difference between Scientology and other world faiths out there.

Disclaimer

My postings about religion are simply my exploration of this concept within humanity, I am not judging nor bashing of others rights to believe in whatever they wish to believe. I welcome anybody wishing to discuss this with me on my blog, I am open minded enough to explore anything but have no desire to be directed how I should live my life (ei: don’t expect me to convert to your way of thinking). I am sure this is full of inaccuracies, feel free to point them out. My goal in life is to understand others mechanisms regarding what makes them function.

Comparison (however flawed) with other religions

Scientology, unlike other faiths is rather new on the scene, there are actual video and audio recordings from the founder, L. Ron Hubbard himself. They preach acceptance, conditioning and conversion just like, ironically, the other world religions. Where they differ most greatly is that you don’t pray to an all-knowing creator (God) but actually take courses in how to improve yourself beyond ethical reproachment. Instead of intense worship, you focus on intense study. There is no heaven or hell, there aren’t millions of death under their belt in their religions name and there most notably, have a rather more interesting story as to human existence then any other religion complete with aliens and galactic wars. Cult? Nope, it’s just re-incarnation 2.0!

Scientology - The Shrinking World of L. Ron Hubbard (1967) - Part 1

• Scientology means “study of knowingness”, it’s a faith or religion that calls itself a science
• Scientologists study for hours daily, listening to tapes and are tested regularly to make sure all materials are clearly understood and followed to the letter
• Scientologist use an e-meter, which is essentially a lie detector to audit people at confessionals for any type of emotion
• Scientology has a record keeping system that would make even the ancient Romans envious, everything written down and kept for further analysis
• Scientology is about profit, just like most other religions, at least they are honest about their intentions
• to become a “clear”, you must be able to answer 60 questions in L. Ron Hubbard’s own handwriting without showing an ounce of emotion on an e-meter
• ”suppressives” or people who dis Scientology are, in Lr. Ron Hubbard’s own words “Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of Scientologists. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed”.
• R2-45 is the mechanism by which people actively bashing Scientology are persecuted and investigated in order to ruin them
• L. Ron Hubbard comes through as a rather intelligent and charismatic leader
• I like how L. Ron Hubbard clarifies that he has no problem with people who are critical of him but of those who actively try to suppress the rights of others to practice what they want deserve what they get

Scientology - The Shrinking World of L. Ron Hubbard (1967) - Part 2

• L. Ron Hubbard states that he had only two wives in his life but the record states that he had three, what I find interesting about this is… who cares? I fail to see how many wives, children or other details about a person have anything to do with leadership
• L. Ron Hubbard spends a lot of time researching past civilizations, he believes he has lived before during many lives, memories exist within everybody from prior lives
• people sign up in servitude to L. Ron Hubbard for a billion years as part of their training
• -L. Ron Hubbard says that Scientology is a science, not a faith nor belief
• L. Ron Hubbard’s quote stating “the one man in the world who never believes he’s a mad is a madman” couldn’t be any truer

BBC Panorama - Scientology & Me (Part 1 of 3)

• Scientology is gaining acceptance around the world and is trying to become classified as a religion through various movements
• use of a disconnect is used to break all links with individuals, including family members who try to get in the way of the religious growth of Scientologists
• the concentration of this documentary is on making Scientology look like an evil cult, I completely see how Jon Sweeney has slanted his reports already
• Scientology is the study of life and knowledge
• e-meter was designed by L. Ron Hubbard himself

BBC Panorama - Scientology & Me (Part 2 of 3)

• using the word “cult” is heavily frowned upon, they state they are a religion which I don’t understand because their Founder, L. Ron Hubbard stated emphatically that they are not a religion but a science
• Scientology sends in their volunteers after major disasters to help using “touch assists” which is a healing method using hands and touch sort of like a massage but much lighter
• Scientology runs an anti-drug program called “Narconon” using exercise and vitamin supplementation to help people kick their habits
• courses don’t equate worship in British law, hence why it’s acceptance as a religion is stalled
• it becomes quickly evident that Jon Sweeney isn’t very popular with the Scientology

BBC Panorama - Scientology & Me (Part 3 of 3)

• many stars speak highly of the religion
• I find Scientologist rather confrontational regarding Jon Sweeney’s interview, they seem to follow him everywhere, trying to break him down mentally but I also understand where they are coming from, how you would feel if you where Catholic or Muslim and constantly referred to as being part of a cult?
• psychiatry is a pseudo-science according to Scientologists, a view that I actually have come to fully agree with though they take things a little further then I would have
• they completely succeeded in driving Jon Sweeney nuts, if all for a few moments, they achieved their goal in my opinion as a result, discrediting his journalistic indifference
• Scientology takes it’s religion extremely seriously, just like other world faiths

Brainwashing 101

If something works, it’s adopted by others and religion is no different then other types of marketing. They all seem to follow the same principles as those used in brainwashing 101 courses. These are the same techniques used by marketers who tell us you must buy a diamond for marriage, buy new cloths every season and that debts are no big deal in the pursuit of happiness (capitalism). I consider any type of activity whose sole purpose is to change the thinking of another person to be considered brainwashing.

Repetition!

First, begin with repetitive repetition on a continual basis to re-enforce a certain method of thinking. When I saw the video of this, I instantly thought of Madrasas or Sunday Schools the dot this planet.

Servitude

If you are Christian, you must give your soul to God “for eternity”, I believe it’s the same for other faiths but in Scientology, they only keep your soul under servitude for a billion years. I think this is progress… a billion years doesn’t seem so long when compared to eternity!

Sacrifice

Surrounding yourself by like minded individuals and “blocking out” those who don’t share your beliefs and the donation of energy whether in time, money or deeds to the religious organization. Evangelists have tiding where you give a portion of your income to the church, Catholics have the basket they put through the pews and other religions a mix of the two. If you want to be “part of us”, you must prove it in actions as well or words. At least Scientology is straight forward and very clear regarding these expectations with ladders related to donations.

Overly-friendliness: Community of the like minded

I grew up Roman Catholic and I see the same thing among other faiths, this overly-friendliness towards the like minded and possible conversionable. I visited a “born again” Evangelist complex a few years ago and that is when it really struck me… it isn’t just “hi”, it’s the big handshakes, hugs and even kisses. Why does this exist? Well, simply to re-enforce that you have entered a safe place, you have friends. Some people like hugging complete strangers, as for me, handshakes are about as far as I will take things.

Confessionals

Scientologists use e-meters, Catholics the confessional and I am sure there is an equivalent in other religion but what is it’s true purpose? No matter how the religious autocracy wish to characterize it, these are a brilliant method of control in two fundamental ways. First, they help break down the mental barriers which may, at a later period of time, create doubt in the mind and secondly, it keeps people in line. If you told your priest that you did xyz they say, “your sins are now forgiven” what has actually happened? NOTHING but a bonding event at the subconscious level! You told somebody else your deepest secrets which gives you some relief but also helps to keep you in line at a subconscious level.

Humans = EVIL

Humans are all evil, worthless and lost without GOD or some other entity, Scientologists don’t revert to these words, instead, they focus on purity of the mind. Religion is basically the pursuit of perfection, something that cannot EVER be achieved no matter how much training or lives a person spends on this endeavor. Religions all describe humans as being fundamentally flawed and only religious dogma is the way to go to achieve a higher level of being in this life or the next. I find this incredibly interesting as there are far more Catholics, Muslims and other religious persons in prisons and committing crimes out there then Athiests yet, regardless of religion, Athiests are seen as the absolute lowest of the low. It seems that people who believe in themselves, for themselves are so off kilter in not seeing supreme guidance that we are vilified just under the surface of acceptance.

Profit

Scientology is an expensive religion, you have to pay for courses to constantly improve yourself, the books, tapes etc all add up to a pretty penny. Before you bash this, consider that the Pope lives in his own city of incredible splendor just like Evangelists live in their multi-million dollar homes. What’s the difference? None. Religion is truly the most profitable enterprise out there, many governments even allow tax deductions for “donations” to religious organizations.

Death to critics!

This bears repeating, in L. Ron Hubbard’s own words “Fair game. May be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of Scientologists. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed”. Sounds harsh? I don’t think so, considering Catholics wish you to spend eternity in hell under the most inhumane conditions while fundamentalists believe you deserve a beheading for speaking badly about their beliefs. Considering this, Scientology is rather generous to it’s critics as it doesn’t involve death! Christians has their crusades and I am sure Muslims had their equivalents in history, so far, not a hint of this from Scientology. Again, I believe this is progress as far as religions go.

Gays are ok!

Unlike Catholics and many other major religions, Scientology doesn’t seem to discriminate against sexual orientation. If you are gay, you are welcomed with open arms. Again, this is welcome progress in the world of religion.

Charisma of the Leader

After watching quite a bit of video, no matter what you believe about Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard is a rather charismatic leader, I am sure this was as true about Jesus in his time as with other prophets from other religions. He comes across as rather sincere, he obviously believes his way of thinking is the “purest” and wants to expand this organization to touch the hearts of minds of others around the world. Ironically, this is the same mission and method used by other religions around the world.

Is Scientology a Cult or a Religion

If others wish you ill harm on others, then I would consider this a cult but if they simply wish to be left alone to work on themselves while bettering the lives of those around them, who is to judge or make this distinction? As for me, I don’t see them as a cult anymore then other religions out there. They have their beliefs, I have mine… as long as they don’t infringe on my rights, I couldn’t care less about what their followers are doing behind closed doors. What I do find fascinating about the evolution of Scientology is that it gives you a glimpse of how religions form and grow in both influence and power in our world over time. They are the new kid on the block, learning along the way what should and shouldn’t be adopted.

Is Scientology for me?

Although I find their stories far more interesting then those of other prophetic books, I still cannot fathom giving up my inner power, no matter how slight, to another organization, no matter how it’s characterized by preachers and sinners alike. I do agree with some of their teachings and even some of their views but not enough to feel any deep passion to join them. Their equivalent to the Koran or Bible called Dianetics is on my “to-read” list though but unlike these two other books, I can’t find a free copy of this one.

The Bottom Line

Religion is no different then cough medicine, it makes the symptoms of thinking about our collectively mortality go away without solving the underlying problem that we all die eventually.

Buzvia: Church of Scientology Official Web Site, Wikipedia

Depending on how you look at it, I am either blessed or cursed, you see, I am one of those typical guys who has trouble not only gaining weight but keeping it on. As soon as I stop working out with weights, my accumulated mass begins to go away though, oddly enough, not my strength gains… most women would kill for these genetics, so I guess in that sense, I am very lucky to have them!

Tip #1: Go for Quality, not Quantity

The most I have ever weighed was 200 pounds, being six feet tall and I felt like I was CONSTANTLY eating. Why was this a challenge? Well, I eat only whole foods that I cook myself and I am incredibly active most of the time. When I am not in front of my computer slaving away or running my businesses, I am hiking, working out or going for long extended walks lasting up to 5 hours if not more. Gaining weight is easy if your diet consists of fast food and the only activity you participate in is channel surfing. The first tip I cannot stress enough is you most likely want to have quality gains that come with strength, shape and muscle mass, not becoming the next “Fat Bastard”. The process is slower, the battle much tougher but the end result, if done properly, is a body that looks amazing even before you diet down using carbohydrate reduction techniques.

Tip #2: You don’t need supplements

Supplements make things easier, no doubt about it. Nothing says commitment like swallowing a heaping tablespoon of chalky Creatine in the morning with some grape juice followed by a liter of chocolate cross-filtered whey protein powder but, after many years, I have come to a realization that they are not essential. With all the marketing hype reading though bodybuilding magazines, you can’t help but be sucked into believing that the only way to gain muscle mass is by consuming the latest supplement to hit the market. Let me be straight with you, supplements are very nice things to have but not essential. Nothing is as anabolic as food, not even Steroids is able to replace the power found in eating a fantastic diet. Need proof? Stop eating and just take steroids and Creatine, no matter how much of this stuff you take, you WILL loose weight and feel like shit. Now, just eat a very respectable diet and don’t take Steroids nor Creatine, you will GAIN weight. If you are serious about improving yourself though, stick with the no-name cheap stuff like basic Creatine, a Multi-Vitamin and some decent cross-filtered Protein Powder. As your budget allows, you can then get into more exotic things like cold-pressed flax seed / fish oils, ZMA (Zinc Monomethionine Aspartate plust Magnesium Aspartate), HMB (beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate), BCAA (branched-chain amino acids) and the list goes on. Once you got your diet down, there is no reason why you cannot achieve significant gains in the weight room without any supplements. As for me, I tend to cycle them, when I hit a plateau and changing exercise or diet doesn’t get me through it, then I use supplements to get me over that mental / physical block then I drop them.

Tip #3: Cycle Weight Loads

If you are in your see-food diet, meaning you eat everything you see, then by all means, go as heavy as you can take and beyond. But as anybody in serious weight training will tell you, simply going HEAVY all the time becomes a game of diminishing returns. If you start to feel sore in your joints or sheering sounds while rotating your arms, it means you are due for an extended break of changing your routine. Cycling, also referred to as Periodization is such a system in which you change not only your routine but your overall weightlifting strategies over an extended period of time. Remember, your body is built to adapt to new circumstances, if you always do the same thing, it stops being challenged and focuses it’s energies elsewhere. Periodization shocks the body repeatedly to get you the most strength and mass gains possible over an extended period of time.

Tip #4: Dumbbells and Barbells RULE!

If you exercise using primarily machines, you will have a problem. You see, machines are great for muscle isolation, that’s why you can lift so much more with them verses free weights but this comes at a cost. When your body is forced to stabilize a weight, many other muscles are recruited to keep things running smoothly. You will see this sometimes when you notice some peoples muscles that seem to go into spasms when doing heavy free weights… it isn’t only because the weight is heavy, it’s because the muscles are being overwhelmed. I can’t really think of a time when I experienced the muscle shaking on a machine but it occurs rather regularly when using free weights. If you want to gain weight and improve your overall strength there is no way around it, you got to get comfortable with free weights.

Tip #5: Track your Progress

Each and every week, weight yourself, if you are up, even a fraction of a pound, then you are well on your way towards gaining weight. If you stay the same or don’t go up, then re-evaluate what you did the previous week, figure out where you went wrong and give it another go the following week. I would say that once a month, take your body measurements and record that as well… with pictures if you need to. Seeing an quarter or half inch increase in a bicep is just about impossible but measurements don’t lie.

The Bottom Line

The body is the ultimate challenge for the mind.

If you run a business or are in charge of one, you know exactly what I mean when I say entrepreneurship is an endless journey of discovery, there is always an area that can use some testing and others some tweeking to maximize potential.

There is always room for improvement

No matter the industry, time of year or revenue projections (or lack thereof) there is always room for improvement, it can easily be said that a business that isn’t on a progressive cycle of improvement is one that is dead. Things change, customers change and challenges always pop-out of nowhere. A good entrepreneur takes things in stride, strives for perfection but knows the goal will never be hit. Panic is fine for contractors, customers and employees but nothing spells trouble like an entrepreneur ripping their hair out as soon as small fire busts into a raging inferno. If you are constantly looking for improvements, these small fires, more often then not, don’t find enough loose litter to explode. Test out new procedures, don’t fear change and don’t procrastinate in trying to find new areas of growth.

There is always room for being away

Whether you decide to take a day or a month off to re-evaluate your business, this is among the least understood but most beneficial things you can do. Getting ideas, at least for me and other entrepreneurs I know, usually come in the middle of the night or when they are outside of the office. When you are in an office, it’s like a war zone, everything is coming at you from all corners and your mind simply doesn’t have time to evaluate things as it’s too busy DOING things. Getting away allows the mind to relax, think about what happened and think of areas where improvements can be made.

Example of what happens with vacation time

For me, I always have ideas jumping out at me, I have to prioritize them and see how they evolve over time. One such idea was that behind one of my sites, WoodMarvels.com in which I wanted to sell wood project building guides electronically that where affordable, extremely high quality and included a 3D animations to help customers through the purchasing / building process. I looked around, suffice it to say, this would cost a fortune if you didn’t already have a server, over a decade of 3D animation experience and a host of projects under your belt… luckily for me, I had all this just sitting there ready to be used. So, I decided with 4 models that I built myself to launch the site in October of 2007. I then had a goal to make 50 by the end of the year… well, I got to 46 then realized that I had spent so much time building that there was a noticeable evolution that needed to be addressed. What did I decide to do? Well, we re-rendered everything at a higher resolution (close to 50 animations over a two week period), re-did ALL the imagery at a higher quality and not only that, launched an e-commerce store dedicated in the field of woodworking including re-doing all our blueprints with an in-layed grid format. The results? Well, we found new streams of revenue, sales are up 300% and a number of new doors have opened up for us with this site. WoodMarvels.com looked good before, the blueprints where fine but now the site is fantastic and the guides we sell for the individual projects are incredible! How did this come about? Well, I was hiking up a mountain one day and realized that WoodMarvels.com needed to be Marvelous… and it’s getting there big time now! The site itself was a small project I undertook for the heck of it after I discovered I had some extra spare time and now it’s evolving into a mighty division within i3DS.

Finding problems before they find you

As my example illustrates, there was nothing really wrong with what WoodMarvels.com was like before but there was room for improvement. If there aren’t any problems with a business, then you are either blind or ignorant in my opinion… there are ALWAYS problems. These problems usually start out as small annoyances, maybe it’s that pump-jack that has a squeeky wheel then eventually leads to a big skid of computers crashing down on a concrete floor or that receptionist that never seems to show up at time which may lead to a customer going to a competitor. Who knows what problems there are… but I guarantee you one thing, there are problems everywhere just waiting to explode… your job, as the boss is to find them ASAP and deal with them in a timely manner. Set-up weekly or monthly meetings depending on the size of your organization looking for waste, have contests to find the best “optimization idea” within your company or even just an “open door policy” can uncover a number of things that should but haven’t caught your attention yet.

The Bottom Line

Problems are opportunities in disguise… find them!

Buzvia: WoodMarvels.com - Create Unique Memories

It can be said that we are all a product of one another’s expressed desires and fears, like a school of fish, each fish has it’s own mind and ways of doing things but the school behaves as if decisions are made by one collective mind.

What are or is a social construct(s)?

You don’t need to go far to see close to perfect social constructs, we are surrounded by them, breath them, feel them… they are as much a part of us as our very own flesh yet rarely do we actually stop and analyze the flawed foundations they originate from. With each interaction we make not only with our fellow human beings but nature itself, it shows it’s face ever so slightly, so vast our eyes cannot perceive them yet so narrow our mind pinpoints them with uncanny precision. Social constructs are the underlying foundation that our societies are based upon, they include culture, language, habits, food, religion… essentially anything that makes a group of individuals feel as it they are part of a collective. If I visited the North Pole, polar bears would think of me as food while, if I was a powerful polar bear myself, I would be accepted (challenged) as part of the polar bear collective. Like the school of fish, we tend to gravitate towards other with the same sense of being.

Social construct examples

Alright, you attend a business conference that is dedicated towards monetizing the internet, how many chiropractors will you see there? My bet is that unless you have several thousand people, the answer will be none. Why is that? Well, now I have set you on an interesting adventure that is a social construct… social constructs ask why things are in a particular way, analyzing patterns and systematics not only about why they came into being but what keeps them together.

Social constructs are fun to play with

When you begin to realize the power of social constructs, you can have fun playing with other peoples perceptions of them. I never joined the military but when I walk around in my military uniform, it causes civilians to “look” and “interact” with me quite differently then if I was wearing ragged cloths with a beard. Soldiers come up to me then they are puzzles, I look the part yet I have no badges, you see, soldiers know who is and isn’t part of their social construct based on certain identifiers that I don’t have on my uniform yet to civilians who don’t know any better, I can assume that persona with total acceptance. What changed? I am the same person, same mind, same desires… but my outward appearance has directly changed how people perceive my value to them to be within their own minds. I have morphed from being part of one social construct into another rather easily unless somebody looks at me closely.

Social constructs is serious business

Ironically, observations about social constructs are what people in the security business (police, army, intelligence… ) look for when assessing a threat level. People may be able to blend with others but what usually gives them away are their actions which don’t mix in with the crowd… it’s what makes them stand out. For instance, if you where a bus driver in Israel and a passenger was about to come on who was sweating profusely, had either an intense gaze or lack thereof, you best get the heck out of dodge ASAP. Knowing who is and isn’t part of a group, on an instinctual level is a skill that few people bother honing. If you want to really get to know somebody in a very quick fashion, ignore EVERYTHING they say and instead, look at their body movements. If somebody leans towards you when you speak, it means they are interested in what you have to say, if somebody is walking in a zig-zag pattern, it means they aren’t “all there” and the list goes on. What I am trying to say is that by analyzing why people of a particular group act a certain way towards one another, you learn how to differentiate those who belong vs those who do not. Body language is an essential part of this.

Benefits of social construct knowledge

Once you realize the mannerisms and patterns of people of a particular social construct, it becomes rather easy to morph to the point where you are accepted by them. Like I mentioned previously, most people are attracted by like minded people… they draw comfort from being around others whom they have shared similar experiences with. Back to my soldiers uniform, as I mentioned, those in the military saw me as kinda weird but not the public… why? Well, if you study enough social interactions in life you will realize one vital thing, most people pay very little attention to what they are actually doing or perceiving. If a civilian looked at my uniform, they would notice there is NO badges, no name tag, no country flag and the list goes on… but most simply accept the color scheme as being enough to quantify me into a particular group within their mind. What’s the benefit to all this? Easy, once you know what to do and when, you can learn to control your own social constructs. Mastering your own inherited social constructs allows you to be far more effective at communicating with crowds of all types… the more people can identify some of themselves within you, the more they will understand what you are telling them. This has proven invaluable to me in both the business world and social circumstances.

The Bottom Line

Study others so that you can learn to control and morph yourself.

I believe we do our entire planet wrong by not realizing how vast the sandbox we all reside in actually is. There is an entire universe, across endless dimensions that evolves at it’s own rhythm completely out of our control and most peoples thoughts. To the universe, our entire solar system has even less value then we place on the the bacteria that lives under our toe nails… harsh? Well, this is the reality that most of us ignore to acknowledge and accept.

The value of life in the universe

If you look at enough images from outer space, even looking up at the stars, you cannot help but be overwhelmed not only at the grand scale of things but at it’s mind boggling vastness. Can you even imagine how far the distance of 15 billion light years actually is or even how a million years is simply a blink in the eye of the universe? It’s absolutely incredible! The moon spins around the earth, the solar system around the sun and if you go large enough, our entire solar system, one of billions, simply rotates around an enormous black hole that is in the middle of our galaxy. All this happens everyday regardless of whether life exists or not. To the universe, a rock is has the same value as life, absolutely none. It doesn’t care, it has no consciousness nor reason for being, it simply is.

Astronomy pictures of the Day

NASA and JPL release a picture of the day on their site, illustrating the beauty of the universe we are lucky enough to inhabit and igniting the imagination as to what could be, here are a few great pictures to expand your mind.

A Beautiful Boomerang Nebula
Credit: Hubble Heritage Team, J. Biretta (STScI) et al., (STScI/AURA), ESA, NASA

This symmetric cloud dubbed the Boomerang Nebula was created by a high-speed wind of gas and dust blowing from an aging central star at speeds of nearly 600,000 kilometers per hour. The rapid expansion has cooled molecules in the nebular gas to about one degree above absolute zero - colder than even the cosmic background radiation - making it the coldest known region in the distant Universe. Shining with light from the central star reflected by dust, the frigid Boomerang Nebula is believed to be a star or stellar system evolving toward the planetary nebula phase. This Hubble image was recorded using polarizing filters (analogous to polaroid sunglasses) and color coded by the angle associated with the polarized light. The gorgeous result traces the small dust particles responsible for polarizing and scattering the light. The Boomerang Nebula spans about one light year and lies about 5,000 light years away toward the constellation Centaurus.

The Strange Trailing Side of Saturn’s Iapetus
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

What has happened to Saturn’s moon Iapetus? Vast sections of this strange world are dark as coal, while others are as bright as ice. The composition of the dark material is unknown, but infrared spectra indicate that it possibly contains some dark form of carbon. Iapetus also has an unusual equatorial ridge that makes it appear like a walnut. To help better understand this mysterious moon, NASA directed the robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn to swoop within 2,000 kilometers just last month. Pictured above, from about 75,000 kilometers out, Cassini’s trajectory allowed unprecedented imaging of the hemisphere of Iapetus that is always trailing. A huge impact crater seen in the south spans a tremendous 450 kilometers and appears superposed on an older crater of similar size. The dark material is seen increasingly coating the easternmost part of Iapetus, darkening craters and highlands alike. Close inspection indicates that the dark coating typically faces the moon’s equator. Whether Iapetus’ colors are the result of unusual episodes of internal volcanism or external splattering remains unknown. This and other images from Cassini’s Iapetus flyby are being studied for even greater clues.

Sun Storm: A Coronal Mass Ejection
Credit: SOHO Consortium, ESA, NASA

What’s happening to our Sun? Another Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)! The Sun-orbiting SOHO spacecraft has imaged many erupting filaments lifting off the active solar surface and blasting enormous bubbles of magnetic plasma into space. Direct light from the sun is blocked in the inner part of the above image, taken in 2002, and replaced by a simultaneous image of the Sun in ultraviolet light. The field of view extends over two million kilometers from the solar surface. While hints of these explosive events, called coronal mass ejections or CMEs, were discovered by spacecraft in the early 70s, this dramatic image is part of a detailed record of this CME’s development from the presently operating SOHO spacecraft. Near the minimum of the solar activity cycle CMEs occur about once a week, but near solar maximum rates of two or more per day are typical. Strong CMEs may profoundly influence space weather. Those directed toward our planet can have serious effects.

Massive Stars in Open Cluster Pismis 24
Credit: NASA, ESA and J. M. Apellániz (IAA, Spain).

How massive can a normal star be? Estimates made from distance, brightness and standard solar models had given one star in the open cluster Pismis 24 over 200 times the mass of our Sun, making it a record holder. This star is the brightest object located just to the right of the gas front in the above image. Close inspection of images taken recently with the Hubble Space Telescope, however, have shown that Pismis 24-1 derives its brilliant luminosity not from a single star but from three at least. Component stars would still remain near 100 solar masses, making them among the more massive stars currently on record. Toward the image left, stars are still forming in the associated emission nebula NGC 6357, including several that appear to be breaking out and illuminating a spectacular cocoon.

Earth at Night
Credit: C. Mayhew & R. Simmon (NASA/GSFC), NOAA/NGDC, DMSP Digital Archive

This is what the Earth looks like at night. Can you find your favorite country or city? Surprisingly, city lights make this task quite possible. Human-made lights highlight particularly developed or populated areas of the Earth’s surface, including the seaboards of Europe, the eastern United States, and Japan. Many large cities are located near rivers or oceans so that they can exchange goods cheaply by boat. Particularly dark areas include the central parts of South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia. The above image is actually a composite of hundreds of pictures made by the orbiting DMSP satellites.

Z Machine Sets Unexpected Earth Temperature Record
Credit: Z Machine Collaboration, Sandia National Lab, Lockheed Martin, NNSA, DOE

Why is this plasma so hot? Physicists aren’t sure. What is known for sure is that the Z Machine running at Sandia National Laboratories created a plasma that was unexpectedly hot. The plasma reached a temperature in excess of two billion Kelvin, making it arguably the hottest human made thing ever in the history of the Earth and, for a brief time, hotter than the interiors of stars. The Z Machine experiment, pictured above, purposely creates high temperatures by focusing 20 million amps of electricity into a small region further confined by a magnetic field. Vertical wires give the Z Machine its name. During the unexpected powerful contained explosion, the Z machine released about 80 times the world’s entire electrical power usage for a brief fraction of a second. Experiments with the Z Machine are helping to explain the physics of Solar flares, design more efficient nuclear fusion plants, test materials under extreme heat, and gather data for the computer modeling of nuclear explosions.

Wisps Surrounding the Horsehead Nebula
Credit & Copyright: Star Shadows Remote Observatory

The famous Horsehead Nebula in Orion is not alone. A deep exposure shows that the dark familiar shaped indentation, visible just below center, is part of a vast complex of absorbing dust and glowing gas. To bring out details of the Horsehead’s pasture, amateur astronomers at the Star Shadow Remote Observatory in New Mexico, USA fixed a small telescope on the region for over seven hours filtering out all but a very specific color of red light emitted by hydrogen. They then added the image to a full color frame taken over three hours. The resulting spectacular picture details an intricate tapestry of gaseous wisps and dust-laden filaments that were created and sculpted over eons by stellar winds and ancient supernovas. The Horsehead Nebula lies 1,500 light years distant towards the constellation of Orion. Two stars from the Orion’s Belt can be found in the above image.

The Bottom Line

We are surrounded by beauty, from the smallest living things to the largest. The price of entry is simply opening your eyes and mind to the possibilities that exists around us.

Buzvia: NASA Picture of the Day

Life is about adventure and learning about oneself, about 6 months ago I was on a remote beach in Cape Tribulation, Australia right before the tourist flow and this is what it was like.

How I got there

I rented a room from a great family in Cairns who gave me a ride up to Cape Tribulation, I planned on going there for a week before leaving Canada about 5 months prior simply to see what is was like to actually live on a beach for a week. The roads where not bad but one thing I learned quickly about Australia is that in the outback, there aren’t any straight roads. Past Cape Tribulation is pure off-road dirt roads, south is relatively paved but still rough. After taking too many bends to count and starting to get nauseated, we finally arrived! This place, that I so feared never arriving to was finally a reality. The family stayed there for a day then we parted ways.

Survival: Shelter, Food and Fire

In any survival situation, the first priority is shelter, the elements, even in a tropical area can be extremely grueling. This wasn’t anywhere near a survival situation and I had more cans of beans and peanuts, my staple for a week, to last me easily twice that long. At night, there was a communal camp fire but after coming from a night-shift position I took temporarily, to say my hours where screwed up was an understatement. Being use to waking up at 6pm and going to bed around 8am… well, you get the idea. I went from rarely seeing sunlight to being basked in it full time! Back to the story, after checking-in, I got my tent set-up and jumped right into the waves.

The Beach!

Coming from Canada with it’s polluted waterways, Australia was amazing! I never got tired of heading to the beach every few weekends just to BE THERE. There is something extremely peaceful and yet adventurous about the beach. The beaches North and South of Cairns aren’t bad but they sure as hell aren’t a Cape Tribulation Beach! Beautiful white sand, waves full of sea urchins and jellyfish, nothing comes close! This beach was everything I imagined it would be and more. Well, I soon realized that Cape Tribulation had two tides, the first high-tide was around 11am and the second 11pm. I was also surprised by the complete lack of mosquitoes, the constant sea breeze and salt water sure did a number on them.

What to do on a remote beach?

As this wasn’t a survival situation, I had basically all day to do as I wished. About 95% of the time, I had the entire few kilometers of beach to myself, what I mean by myself is exactly that, no other humans in sight! Backpackers where busy getting over their hangovers or their sunrise mates, most people would walk on the beach then the rest of the day, disappear like I would have if I had been in such a remote place with a lover. The fact that this was the off-season just made things that much better in my opinion. At night it was freezing as I caught a fever which took the first few days to combat and during the day it was easily over 30 degrees with full humidity. I kinda wished it was rougher, this was too easy an adventure for me! I spent my days walking up and down the beach, doing some great photography and in between, going up to the coral reef that outlined the Cape Tribulation beach about 100 meters out. Laying around in the afternoons under a palm tree and taking a nap soon became a good habit of mine. The beach is really a cool place, each tide would being in some interesting creatures, one day, it was a huge lobster and another day interesting shells. Regardless, compared to the modern monotony of the cities most of us inhabit, the beach is always different!

Realizations

What do you realize when you have an entire week to just relax and think? Well, quite a bit, this isn’t a confessional but what I will say is that time “off” like this is vitally important to allow your brain to wind down the recuperate. Much like a muscle that worked very hard, a few days to recover pay huge dividends. Things that once seems unsurmountable begin to make sense, the various mental blocks that get created just dissolve away and better yet, alignments in life can be re-orientated.

Next Time…

Now that I know what it’s like to be a beach bum for a week, next time I want something with more of a survival tone to it. I would like to spend a month, yes, an entire month with nothing but a hatchet, netting and an emergency pack full of food just in case my hunting / fishing skills aren’t where they should be. I have a few tropical islands that are sufficiently remote to accomplish this goal with the timing is right in my life. I want to challenge myself, would I actually be able to live off my wit in the face of nature herself? I am confident I could but I have never tested this out and I am eager to get my feet wet. I have found during my travels that it takes about a week for the brain to realize “yes, you are really here” followed by a week of “what the heck are you doing here” then a few more weeks for the reality to be fully accepted. I have many other outdoor survival adventures I want to try as well in different areas of our vast planet, and I look forward towards turning them into a reality. This is something that every human should live through.

The Bottom Line

Life is about living it!

Even in big companies where many staff, contractors and third parties play a vital role in keeping everything moving forward, there is always, except in partnerships, that sole entrepreneur trying to make sense of everything before it blows up.

Entrepreneur = Train Engineer

Startups are like a train, usually going completely out of control, where there is but one engineer at the helm who, somehow, keeps things relatively going in one direction. This direction, the vision of the entrepreneur, is very difficult to communicate to others as usually, this deep passion or inner desire simply cannot be transplanted. Of all the entrepreneurs I call friends, they all have this solitary road that sort of links all of us together regardless of market, success or expertise. This solitary road is like a proofing ground, that must be vanquished in order to proceed further into the quest of hoped success. Things don’t always work the way originally envisioned but the proofing ground pays dividends with ever future venture that the entrepreneurs chooses to undertake. Sometimes an entrepreneur hits a land mine with the first few steps, other times, only after great investments in time and money does this happen.

Opportunity Clairvoyants

You can teach somebody how to draw, you can show somebody how to change a tire on their car but you cannot without herculean effort, teach somebody to see opportunity even where there are none. Like clairvoyants of bygone days, entrepreneurs have the instant ability to see and project a business opportunity in just about everything. Like a bodybuilder who can do one tonne squats after years of training, the muscles within the entrepreneurs mind have re-orientated themselves into vast arrays of entanae that are able to pick out and analyze data at an incredible rate. Not to say they are any better then the layman’s reasoning, it’s just that they have developed this ability at a higher level. Most of them have also developed the ability to organize their lives around their businesses and, most importantly, become expert negotiators and sales people. When your living depends on your wits, the opportunity honing devices come fast and furious!

Are entrepreneurs like Superman or Superwoman?

Hmmm… no. We entrepreneurs are like everybody else, sure, the majority of us are obsessive about the next opportunity, if you talk to us long enough over a few years, you will notice that entrepreneurs are always on the “verge” of some breakthrough or another. “Strike while the iron is hot” sounds nice but for entrepreneurs, the iron always seems to be hot! It never has time to cool down! We aren’t like Superman or Superwoman though, we get sick and go through life’s tribulations like everybody else but the scale is different depending on which swing up or down they are currently on. Entrepreneurs life can be seen as a roller coaster, one minute everything is going perfectly then, like a rock getting stuck in the chucks of a skateboarder, everything goes to hell.

Motivation comes from within

Passion or motivation comes from deep inside entrepreneurs, for some, it’s the desire for vast riches while for others it’s simply a method of seeking approval from others or proving them wrong. Regardless of where the passion comes from, it’s there in abundant quantities regardless of how a venture or business goes. It’s like that stain on a shirt that simply will not go away, the motivation to keep working on something even while it’s going downhill is insatiable.

So why is the road a solitary one?

Well, an entrepreneur is a mad scientist of sorts, they have a little organism in a petri dish that they want to see mature into a beautiful being. The hours of careful attention and spirited thought that are involved with this process make a 40 hour workweek sound like child’s play. This comes at a cost, some entrepreneurs are able to find balance but just as many get swamped into their work like a black hole sucking the light out of the universe. The hours, days, months, years FLY by but what entrepreneurs must realize is that unlike a time machine, you cannot go back and relive those lost times that are just as important as the venture itself.

The Bottom Line

Entrepreneurship is an adventure that lasts a lifetime regardless of outcomes.

We are told by the media how to dress, by governments how to think and by society how to act. These are all expectations forced upon us whether we acknowledge them or not.

What are expectations?

Expectations are ideas, actions or activities imposed upon you and they can range from going to church every Sunday to graduating top of your class. They are placed onto us at a very early age by our parents who they themselves where taught by their parents and so on. Expectations can be both generational and communal.

Generational expectations

It’s no secret that if you come from a broken family, however you wish to define it, there is a higher chance that you, yourself, have a higher chance of creating a broken family. I saw this first hand when I worked a few minimum wage jobs to “see what it was like” and the lack of family expectations is what lead to these workers, often unseen, doing menial jobs that provided little self-esteem or value to their ongoing lives. They where working minimum wage jobs because their parents, husbands and cousins where doing the same. Of course, some people are born into a lavish lifestyle but we all know that just because some are given everything, it doesn’t mean they will amount to anything more then Joe Public. What I am saying is that there is a very heavy influence placed upon you by your parents and this will affect your during your entire lifetime. These expectations, no matter your economic situation aren’t a fate you cannot escape but the influence, no matter, is always there.

Communal Expectations

You often hear of “Black communities” “Jewish communities” and the list goes on. They each have the distinctive moral code that they live by in addition to the codes imposed upon individuals by the greater society. For instance, the “Asian communities” place especially high academic expectations on their children while “Evangelical communities” place them more on spreading the word of Jesus. If you are lucky or unlucky enough to be born within several of these communities, you have a plate that is overflowing with expectations which can sometimes be contrary to one another.

Internal vs External Expectations

So far, I have described external expectations but we also have a host of internal expectations formed from our living experiences. Maybe you got beat up in school and decide to, one day, be the strongest person in the world, this is an internal expectation. Another might be wanting to best another student in your school in a specific subject. Regardless, we have more then enough internal and external expectations within each and every one of us to drive anybody else crazy.

Changing expectations

Now for the tough part, you may live by a certain moral or ethical code that you no longer with to have in your life. What do you do? Depending on where the expectations came from, this can take a long time to work out both internally and externally. But, as my last article indicated, you can make the decision in a split second and get the engine of change working for you a split second later. It doesn’t take a long time but don’t expect those around you to be able to be as nimble. Change within ones self is quick, creating an environment where others expectations of you change is a whole other story. Be honest, straight forward and stern.

The Bottom Line

Life is about experiences and creating memories, not living by others expectations.

Critical thinking can be defined as not always accepting things at face value, if something seems out of place, it’s your responsibility to question it until it makes sense.

Critical thinking in our media

The lack of critical thinking in our media, the source of most of our information has gotten all of us in big trouble on multiple occasions. The time leading up to the invasion of Iraq was the result of the largest critical thinking vacuum in recent times as is the constant crackdown on political descent in such places as Burma, China and just a few weeks ago, Pakistan. Governments know that information or the subversion of the critical thinking process to be specific, is the best way towards achieving domination over it’s citizenry short of military intervention. It’s cheaper to control the media then to send patrols out. Of all the countries brainwashing their citizenry, North Korea has to rank among the largest out there, with state owned media, state owned enterprises and essentially, state owned minds making up the vast proportion of the population. Want to change things in a country? Easy, simply unleash the powers of critical thinking into the media which will then leach into the minds of people. The control of knowledge and how it’s disseminated is more powerful then any military weapon invented in modern times.

Critical thinking requires education

Critical thinking only comes with the power of knowledge, without an education in a vast array of areas, the ability to ask the right questions is impossible. You see, if you cannot mine the fragmented resources of your mind and yield something of value from it at the end of the day, the entire process will be very much a half-assed affair in the best of times. You can see this process of educational dumbing in many cults, suppressive governments and in poverty stricken countries which also happen to be in constant wars as well, leads to an easily malleable population. Going back towards controlling a population, you want to keep their minds busy on non-dangerous activities that take up resources that may otherwise evolve into critical thinking. A great example of this was under the Iraqi Saddam Hussein Regime, the entire educational system evolved around him, kids where not counting apples, they where counting Husseins. Another is Saudi Arabia, the country with the most highly educated population in the Middle East yet needs to import just about every profession just to keep their economy going. Why? Because the population is told to study religion instead of engineering, accounting and suppresses half it’s citizens (women) from getting any education at all.

Developing critical thinking

The only way to develop your critical thinking systems is to constantly expose them to new experiences. Get out of your comfort shell, visit the slums of this world, expose your mind to other types of thinking and most importantly, always try to learn something new on a daily basis. You need to keep working on your weaknesses while re-enforcing your strengths. This can be done a number of ways but the easiest is exploring this vast planet we all live on. As for me, I have learned more about the world living in different countries then I ever could reading a book or studying about them. If a picture is worth a thousand words, being there is worth a million.

The Bottom Line

Knowledge is only as powerful as the questions you ask.

I have a lot of theories about life that just seem to come to me and are re-enforced through experiences in daily living on this 3rd rock from the sun we all inhabit. Exponential learning of the mind is one of them.

Thinking leading towards success

It’s no secret that the reason for our species success on this planet is due to the complexity of our mind and it’s ability to create abstract thought patterns that can be retrieved at a later date to improve our reproductive success. For instance, there is plenty of scientific studies showing that great apes, of which we are a lineage, are willing to learn sign language in order to get a much prized food item. You even see this in nature with Chimpanzees who use sticks to get termites out of termite mounds to get food. What I am saying is that our mind, when given the incentive, will learn things far beyond what is essential for survival. The massiveness and complexity of our brain is simply due to the constant rewards we received from increasingly being able to exploit the environment around us.

What is the brain anyhow?

Now into something more complex that I am seeing and slowly cultivating in my own mind, that of exponential learning. A brain is essentially a big glob of fat, there is no muscles, no cartilage nor any bone making up the brain, it’s fat! What differentiates our brain from the fat around our waists is it’s composition and blood flow. Our brains make up 25% of our metabolic rates, put another way, a quarter of what you eat simply goes towards fueling the brain. This relative metabolic massiveness of our primary organ requires a lot of blood and as a result, lots of resources to keep at peak functionality. If you give your brain EVERYTHING it wants, then, like the gas you feed to your car, will return to you incredible advances in thinking power. The neurons that construct thought and memory will create stronger bonds, the way our neural mapping is constructed will be far more efficient and optimized for any situation you are experiencing and best of all, when you need access to raw inter-spacial power, it’s there for the taking!

What is the exponential mind?

Much like the athlete trying to break the one minute mile or 9 second, 100m run, the exponential mind is the result of creating the optimal soup for the brain to gather its resources from. The exponential mind is able to routinely come up with concepts based on previous learned relationships and apply them towards issues in daily life. The exponential mind is capable of creating thought processes that optimize the capture and retainment of new, perceived important, data along with its related ramifications. The exponential mind is, most importantly, capable of achieving exponential learning.

What is exponential learning?

Exponential learning is the result, break thought even, that occurs once you are on the path towards creating an exponential mind. Exponential learning is the simple ability to acquire and quickly synthesize new information, chuck out the crap and keep the good stuff at an ever increasing rate. It has nothing to do with being smart or IQ but more importantly, the filtration of information. For instance, in case you didn’t know, the television you may be watching right now is actually receiving ALL the channels it’s capable of receiving, much like a radio, the dials you turn or press are simply choosing which filter to apply on this mind numbing amount of data. The ability for exponential learning is the same, the ability to efficiently filter information that is relevant and important only to you. Why waste brain power towards something that you have no interest?

Our brain has finite resources, just like the television, but unlike a television, we cannot go buy a bigger one, so the only course of action to get more out of it must be through the initial filtration process.

How to create an exponential mind capable of exponential learning?

Much like the working out your muscles, the filtration systems within the brain must be exercised. For me, I have learned to automatically wipe out useless information on a daily basis, we all do this already, but being able to choose ahead of time to do this takes some practice. For instance, if you are going to visit your in-laws but have no interest in being there but have no choice, you can decide ahead of time to forget the entire evening as it’s occurring. The next day, you will remember you visited your in-laws but have no clue about what happened. You have created an effective filter that is similar to selective amnesia. Practice doing this, over and over… after several months, you will begin to get the hang of it and simply get better at it.

Advantages of exponential learning

Now the flip side of exponential learning. What possible advantage to controlling your minds own gate keeper provide in your life? Plenty! The first is that once you are able to efficiently, consciously, select what goes in, you can then keep your brain working on things that ARE important to you. For instance, if you want to learn how to play the guitar, not wasting the minds resources on useless information bombarding your brain, well, you can acquire this skill in a fraction of the time. The additional advantage is that you will quickly learn that one thought or skill quickly compounds itself into another at an increasing rate, exponentially! Much like a snowball rolling down a hill, it gets bigger, more powerful as it acquires more snow. Soon, your mind will be swimming in what you want it instead of having to waste precious resources bumping into useless junk.

The Bottom Line

The mind is a terrible thing to waste, optimize what you got!

I love weight training, it’s one of those things that no matter how your day is going… it will always be there to give you the ultimate challenge… the one against yourself!

Weight Training: the natural drug (dopamine)

If you don’t follow a weight training regimen, you are missing out on the best natural drug in the world called dopamine. Unlike alcohol, alcohol or other poisons people use to get over their life’s hurdles, those produced by the body as you reach and beat new challenges only provide benefits to your life. It costs nothing to get a rush of adrenaline right before you attempt your first 300 lbs squat or the sense of achievement once you complete your first 20 consecutive chin-ups after having lots of trouble completing only one a few weeks earlier. Dopamine is what is released when Cocaine or other hard drugs are used… so you can imagine the invincibility and absolute power that you feel after an intense yet very rewarding workout.

What does Weight Training Provide?

Weight training helps every aspect of your life!

Self-Esteem

It feels great walking next to a mirror and seeing the body that many WISH they had, there is nothing wrong with vanity when you work so hard on diet and training to achieve the body you want. It also boosts self-esteem when people stare at your arms or a lover comments at how much they enjoy the sight of your body. I am by no means a mass monster but walking into a gym with mass monsters and holding your own, sharing mutual respect feels amazing to me!

Central Nervous System Optimization

Weight training increases the efficiency of your Central Nervous System, making everything you do in life that much more enjoyable. From improving the quality of sleep to being able to eat twice the amount of anybody else around you without having the gut to show feels great! The ability from all these internal efficiencies also allow you to run up a mountain without running out of breath, improve all the senses within your body and, ultimately, get more out of every experience!

Business Relationships

Weight training improves both your mental and physical projection that comes in very handy during any type of business related activities. Nothing shows strength like the ability to give a vice-like grip when shaking hands… there is nothing worse then giving a limp handshake! Sadly, most business people have a gut to match their wealth, when you walk into a meeting with a solid body and mind… you have a large psychological advantage over your client when tough negotiations are needed. People want to be around success and nothing says this as strongly as a powerful physical presence with a mind to match.

Dangers of Weight Training

If you are following an intense, multi-faceted regimen, over training and injury can pop-up anytime. I guess in this way, I am very lucky as I have never been injured in any way during the almost decade and a half I have been working out. Pushing your body to it’s limit just doesn’t cut it if you are trying to go beyond old plateaus, you need to go BEYOND them on a regular basis. The wear and tear on a body caused by this constant progression towards harder and more intense activity requires regular breaks and changes in exercise philosophy, otherwise you end up going backwards instead of forward on the road of health.

Another danger, one not discussed too often, is the simple addiction to very tough physical activity that forms within the mind, at least in my case. Whether your body is capable or not, the mind is a strange being that can temporarily suspend the reality you live within. Your mind says “that’s only 20 extra kg… you can do it!” but your body is yelling “what the heck are you doing to me!”. The problem is when your mind says to the body “you’re right” in the middle of a rep, the power you thought you had evaporates right away and you are screwed if you don’t have spotters. This has happened a few times to me over the years but I always use supports and spotters so no big deal. If you cannot do an exercise safely, don’t do it! Also, I can’t walk next to any type of chin-up bar or exercise related equipment without wanting to jump right on it to see how much weight or reps I can crank out!

I would say the third danger is also psychological, you begin to develop a mentality that you are better then other people (especially those who don’t workout). My entrepreneurial line of work only helps augment these feelings and sometimes my God complex gets the most of me but I must often remind myself that others didn’t have the same opportunities as me, the same will power for achievement or simply have other goals in life then my own.

Bipolarity of Weight Training Challenges

There are two distinct aspects of weight training that seem at odds to one another sometimes start to appear only after years of hitting the weights.

Psychological

Every once in a while, I hit a psychological barrier in my training, sometimes adding just 2 more kg to a bench press feels like I threw on 10x that amount of weight. The mind just cannot fathom lifting anything more then the body had just accomplished. These are tough sometimes, physically, the body has no problem accomplishing these tasks but the mind just gets in the way. Anybody who tells you that the body is stronger then the mind hasn’t pushed themselves hard enough.

Physical

This is the opposite problem of the psychological one. Sometimes, the mind says “no problem” but body just cannot bring itself to find the necessary resources to make the task at hand happen. The bodies engine has run out of gas and there is nothing you can do about it but give in to its demands. These happen more often then the psychological barriers that get set-up within your mind but are just as devastating, sometimes they go away during the next workout, other times, they stay for weeks if not months.

I have found changing your routine when hitting a rut is the best way to blow away these limitations, a new frame of mind and changes in diet will do wonders!

The Bottom Line

The body is a tool of the mind, separating the two is simply impossible.

When you live paycheck to paycheck… there is no style nor life to your lifestyle. I am a student of life, and I wanted to experience first hand what life was like for far too many people on this planet.

Background

Business was slow over the holidays last year and so I figure I might as well use this opportunity to find out what it’s like to work at minimum wage for a change. I tried 3 different jobs, all though different job agencies. I substantially dumbed down my resume, removing anything that would show that I had achieved anything in life, otherwise there is no way I would have ever been considered. People are given minimum wage jobs because the employer knows they need the job, as soon as they are not needed – their power is gone. I wanted to guarantee I got the job, and I got one within 5 minutes of stepping into the first recruiting agency. They needed manpower for a quick project, I was at the right place at the right time… $8.25 was the wage without any negotiations!

The three jobs from hell (Canada)

I worked at 3 different spots, the first was through a temp agency, essentially working in a heavy metal stamping plant. I was paid 9$ per hour, I am sure the agency was sub-contracting me at about 14-15$ per hour based on what the others told me they where getting paid. The other was helping to cap wine bottles, yes, putting on one cap at a time after bottles where filled up with their expensive wine. The last job was doing inventory control with a Wizard.

Observations

• minimum wage jobs seem to be generational, I talked to many of the employees and it wasn’t rare when they stated their father, mother, brother or even husband was doing similar work
• minimum wage jobs are exploitive to the tilt! These job agencies where making a living off my efforts, day in and day out, taking away much needed money and putting it in their pocket. I met people working these jobs that where far smarter then the agencies but due to circumstances, stuck in the minimum wage rut
• people fear loosing their minimum wage jobs, this was the most surprising of discoveries, I told one boss I was heading to the bathrooms (it was a factory) and he told me to wait till break time, I told him “I don’t think so” after a lengthy discussion that was going nowhere then proceeded to the bathroom. When I got back, the employees who overheard me where shocked that I talked back to the boss and where worried my job was on the line as a result (???)
• there is a heck of a lot of turnover in these jobs, even during the short term I was working there, those who where smart where taking studies to get out and others where looking elsewhere
• you don’t know monotony until you have done the same damn thing like a robot day in and out, I don’t know how these people do this for years, after a week I felt myself loosing my sanity
• minimum wage people are among the toughest jobs out there and the people are tough both physically and mentally
• I never saw so many smokers in my life! Seems the rates of obesity, ill health and alcoholism are rampant within this segment of the population.
• I never saw such a bunch of unhappy people, who have lost hope in their lives, you see it in their eyes, they want more but are exploited from ever achieving any worthwhile goal in their lives
• you are not appreciated for your work or your creativity, you are but a body that must perform X task over and over and over again, without complaint, without thought and without hope of getting out as you are easily replaced

After doing the above for a little over a month, I proceeded to walk away from each job without even giving them notice, what is there to say when you no longer need to work for a slave master?

One Great Job from Hell (Australia)

In the above jobs, my average pay rate was $8.25 an hour and then there where government deductions so maybe I was lucky to net $7.00 an hour. Australia… wow… most minimum wage jobs started at $9.00 an hour but I was lucky enough to net a job that was union based for a large printing company. My minimum wage job? $23.00 an hour! I was doing the same monotonous jobs, saw just as many smokers and people who gave up on life but wow… $23.00 an hour was nothing to complain about. This job was incredibly boring, the company (other employees) where, for the most part, quite dull with substance abuse problems but I kept my mouth shut most of the time. Unlike the minimum wage jobs in Canada, this job actually had a way out if you worked long enough. During my short few months there, I received forklift training, was managing production for my manager and was becoming a valued member of the staff. I heard a few people complain behind my back, who had been there for YEARS (some 20+) who where not happy that I leapfrogged over them within the first month there!

Overall Observations

As a person who has no lack of self-esteem and self-confidence, minimum wage jobs and my personality just don’t jive. I have no problem telling somebody that they are wrong, standing my ground and even telling them off if needed. I have a very direct managing method, no bullshit, no stories, good or bad, just tell me what is going on. Office politics aside, if somebody stands in front of me, like they did in the factory in Canada, trying to tell me to go to the bathroom just for their own power trip, the best get out of the way. One more thing I noticed that came to me a few months later, just about everybody who worked minimum wage jobs had HORRIBLE ORAL HYGENE. I don’t mean bad, I mean HORRIBLE. Broken and missing teeth, gingivitis was rampant, my only guess is that alcohol, tobacco and poor diet along with a completely loss of hope of every achieving something in life had been made representational in their mouth. These people where branded for life, good luck getting a corporate job with a mouth that looks like it belongs in that of a wild animal!

The Bottom Line

There are many Hells on this Earth… minimum wage jobs is probably among the worst.

All animals that have made it this far on our planet have an innate reaction, one that instantly goes off even before a signal as to what to do reaches the brain, it’s called the “fight or flight” response.

Background

Last week I went up to Cape Tribulation (Australia) to get some camping done, admiring nature and swimming with the jellyfish/man-a-wars when the tide was high in the main bay. When it was low tide, remnants of ancient coral where exposed, long since dead but still as hard as iron. Walking along the exposed reef, I kept hearing a snapping sound all around me, I would then walk a little more, stop and again hear “snap, snap, snap”. Oddly enough, I never heard it “under me”, always a few meters AROUND me. This made no sense obviously, so I just crouched down until I could pinpoint one specific snap and followed it until I discovered what it was.

Fight, Flight or Hide

What I was experiencing on the ancient exposed reef was the reaction of thousands of little crabs, about the size of my fist that where incredibly well camouflaged - I can only guess it was either a mating call or a message to other that “this is my territory, stay out”. Their initial reaction to a HUGE 6ft tall, 160lbs white monster (I was wearing a bright white long sleeve t-shirt) was to stand absolutely still, not make a sound if I was within about a 3 meter radius from them, any further, they would either run off (flight) or cease all sounds/movement hoping I missed them.

Discovery: What to do?

Keep in mind, I had to spend several minutes to simply pinpoint one of these noble little creatures, they are incredibly difficult to find when they don’t move or make a sound - I saw only 5 of them during a 8 hour period, of which only one I was able to get close enough to take a picture. Their initial reaction once it became obvious I was ABOUT to find them was to run away like Armageddon was at their doorstep asking for their soul… they may be very small, but they can sure run/swim faster then I ever could.

Fighting me off

Below is a picture of a brave little crab trying to fight me off as best he/she could. This screams of bravery and this little guy should get a medal but alas, I was just playing with it, I don’t particularly like crab as food so I posed no danger to him. There where Dingos, birds and other marsupials along the beach when the reef was exposed and at night when it was high tide, who knows what lives in the ocean looking for a quick and easy snack. The ONLY way I could ever get a “fight” response from a crab was to corner it, otherwise, it was a futile effort of hide and seek with them having the upper hand. Keep in mind, these little guys are about 1/4 a pound soaking wet - they stand absolutely no chance against me even if I fought them with my eyes closed. Just think, what would your reaction be if a giant about the size of the Eiffel tower was trying to catch you and you get a small glimpse as to how they may have felt about me. Would you stand defiant against all odds, stand your ground and fight?

Also below is a picture I took as to the consequences that are very real to these little crabs on a daily basis, the cost of fighting to the death or hiding to the death. So as you can see, it’s totally logical that if you see a potential predator coming your way, running away is probably better then hiding or fighting them off. You can see this everyday in our own species and countless others.

Brave little soldier!

Life is TOUGH on the Ree

The Bottom Line

We have a lot yet to learn from nature, if we open our eyes and give it the time it needs to reveal itself.

Cancer has grown increasingly prominent among western cultures whose population live their lives surrounded by a toxic soup that is a byproduct of their lifestyle. As incidents of smoking, pollution, poor diet and lack of activity take their toll slowly on the body, more of our internal systems to keep cancer at bay are damaged. It is estimated that 50% of all cancer incidences in women and 30% in men are directly associated with environmental factors.

The Bottom Line

The best way to fight cancer is not to get it in the first place, there is no 100% effective way to avoid cancer, but anything that reduces the risk should be adopted as part of any healthy lifestyle.

Well, I have been down-under for a month now – now that my biological clock has adapted fully to the natural rhythms of this place, I can now justifiably look back at how things have gone so far.

What I miss about Toronto, Canada

I would say the biggest things I miss about living in Toronto was the shier amount of food variety that was available within a 2km radius from my old place. I had 3 HUGE supermarkets selling things at different price points and a few ethnic markets as well. I remember one day I went to a Middle Eastern store and tried “salt water yogurt drink” and just about threw up but nothing ventured, nothing gained

I really, really miss Salmon for some reason, I use to be able to get a fresh, very thick juicy slab of it for only a few dollars but here, not only is it not available, but any type of Salmon is about 30$/kg! I guess I also miss all my old cooking utensils and the set-up I had in my old kitchen as well… now that I look back, I actually enjoyed cooking!

What I don’t miss about Toronto, Canada

Things are so peaceful here in Cairns, no traffic jams, no smog, no polluted air and the list goes on… this place of 100K + people really doesn’t feel that large at all. I could easily imagine myself living in Hearst with a population of 5K walking down any of the streets here. I have yet to visit the Great Barrier Reef or Cape Tribulation but I got a year to “get around to it” so no rush. In the meantime, I have more then enough work to keep me busy and distracted

What I like about Cairns, Australia

I must say that the people here are incredibly nice and forthcoming. Just about every store here also has “cash back” when you make a purchase and employers pay via direct deposit almost exclusively, I have yet to see a check! Heck, I don’t even use cash here anymore! Other then the weather, I feel healthier here… tranquility is something that I prize more then most other things and there is this in abundance, if I want to get away, I can hop on a plane to such great destinations as Fiji, Java, Sumatra… basically leaving one paradise for another I would like to get into off roading here and extended tours into the bush on my own with a Land Rover for weeks at a time but that will have to wait a bit till a few more things work themselves out.

What I don’t like about Cairns

The number one thing I don’t like about Cairns is that it doesn’t have a beach! You look out on the harbor and right in front of you is… A MUD FLAT! I have been told by a few locals that Cairns use to have a beach about 75 years ago but when they dredged out the canal, all that silt began building up along the waterfront. There have been plans to return it to its original “beach” shape but now environmentalists are crying fowl because it would damage the mangrove forest that is encroaching from the airport. As for me, I believe if something was “originally” one way, no harm in returning nature to its rightful balance, even at the cost of a man-caused natural adaptation.

I had a friend tell me Cairns was also very touristy, that starts in about a month but as I don’t live downtown (nor visit it often), I doubt this will bother me much but they do have a “last call” around 3am or 4am here. I have seen my fair share of drunk people (both locals and backpackers) in the streets so I tend to stay away from the entire downtown area