LegendaryLife Blog

I tend to focus on little things and turn them into extremes just so their benefits and costs become more evident – I find this a far more efficient method of coming to a decision than treating things as if they were even. For instance, my last post about jobs being equivalent to alcohol is extreme and so are the thoughts in there… but it blows through all the gray area and makes things far more crystal clear.

Jobs

Maybe I just have a low tolerance for the easy way of doing things, I don’t know why, but I did work jobs that I really enjoyed such as once, at a airport while working towards my pilot license. I learned so much about business, operations, tourism (it was a scenic flight company that was training me) and so for but I also had jobs during my entrepreneurial career that make me appreciate different social and economic pressures must live in. I have a lot of skills, I enjoy new and interesting things and sometimes the only way to do this is through a job but at the end of the day, I find it much more rewarding to be the captain of your own ship than to navigate the waters of life for somebody else.

Thought of the day

If you have trouble deciding what to do or which path in life to take, don’t just put the + and – in two columns… think of the absolute worst and best case scenerios of each and everything will be so much clearer almost instantly as to which path to take.

I realize this way of thinking can be difficult but with a little practice, I find it a very efficient one.

It has been a LONG road from start to finish but I’m proud to say that you can now purchase a digital copy of 2847AD, the science fiction book I wrote and researched for extensively and physical form of 2847 A.D.: Solar Horizons from Amazon! YAHOO!!! This has been a major accomplishment for me, I never knew publishing a science fiction novel could be so much work but now that it’s done, it feels wonderful to have achieved this major goal of mine.

If you wish to follow the journey pretty much from start to finish, I have chronicled it on my blog. I mention this in several other postings but these are the major ones.

• 2847: Going Science Fiction
• 2847AD: Writing Science Fiction is Hard!
• Getting through the home stretch
• 2847AD is finally done!
• Transforming your life from Blah to Legendary now available on Amazon!

What made the book especially challenging is that I tried to integrate almost everything I knew about science and then some, at the time. There is so much information out there, it’s really astounding and trying to condense it into a readable form, not only for me but for the general public takes a lot of effort.

I wanted to write a book that was scientifically accurate while at the same time, within the realm of possibility AND readable by somebody who has little to no scientific knowledge.

I believe I have accomplished this goal. I already started on a second volume of this book but had to put it on the back burner for several reasons, including but not limited to the amount of work I’ve been putting into my WoodMarvels.com company. I love design so much… it’s a true passion, as is writing but I think a long break is necessary to get most of the ideas fleshed-out. The further you jump into the future, the more difficult it becomes to imagine the unimaginable and this is really taxing mentally as I discovered. Exhausting even!

My delight: Hydrogen Sulfide

In the book, I describe in detail why I used this very toxic gas, hydrogen sulfide, as a mechanism for suspended animation during long space travels. Today, I watched a TED video and much to my delight, what I described and envisioned is actually coming true! Yes, they have human trials of this and the results are astoundingly positive. Watch the video to learn more about this important toxic gas

TEDTalks : Mark Roth: Suspended animation is within our grasp – Mark Roth (2010)

The Bottom Line

Research, hard work and tremendous passion can even bend even the most impossible of challenges into reality.

Life is rarely perfect at any given time… so waiting for a perfect time to follow through with a commitment is another way of excusing lack of action on a goal or dream.

The best time is always NOW!

There is always a reason not to do something, usually, far outnumbering the reasons to actually DO something. Fear of the unknown, financial, societal, friends, family… all of this creates a pressure of conformity rather than that of adventure.

For instance, if you are offered an incredible opportunity to travel and learn but instead, try to put up roadblocks, delaying even the simplest actions such as getting a passport then most likely, this will only be a dream. Each decision requires small, incremental steps but fearing taking the first one means continued procrastination and excuse as to why it isn’t going to happen.

Fear must be conquered

We all want security, a good relationship and a beautiful house but most people, instead of dealing with what their circumstances as they are NOW, decid to delay action out of fear until all these “dreams” become true before following through with the first step. Put another way, they want the meal in front of them before they go out and buy the ingredients required to make it.

Fear has it’s role in life… but I think society adds a whole new level of them in order to keep people in line like everybody else. There is an old Chinese proverb that sums this up nicely.

The first bird flying out of the tree gets shot

This is told to us from childhood in one way or another. Religion tells us that we must be married before having sex, schools tell us we need a degree before we can get a high paying job. Society tells us that the perfect life is a house, 3 kids and a white picket fence. Why? Because it’s the best way to keep people under control… these are all methods of control, nothing more. I’ve never seen other animals, even our closest relatives get married before starting a family and they look rather content eating plants with a few occasional hunting jaunts in the bush. I’ve never seen an unhappy bird flying around because he didn’t have a nest to live in.

Water, Shelter, Food

These are the basics of life, with them, you can be as happy or depressed as you want. The reason that more than half of the people who have “jobs” are unhappy with their life is because society has added many extra burdens to their life which have nothing to do with happiness. For instance, I don’t have a car… who cares? But we are told that it’s an important part of a happy life… by car manufacturers no less We can either allow ourselves to be influenced by others whose “care” for us isn’t genuine or simply tell them “that’s bull shit” and live our happy merry life.

Nothing is ever perfect, there is never a perfect time, a perfect place nor a perfect circumstance for success… you make due with what you have and continue from there.

The Bottom Line

A poorly executed plan executed today is always better than a perfectly executed plan tomorrow… as tomorrow never comes.

I like goal setting, so here is what I hope to accomplish this year and what I did or didn’t for the last.

Goal setting for 2010

Here are some my goals for 2009, I’ve crossed-out the ones that were accomplished:

• publish my first inspirational/motivational book
• publish another WoodMarvels.com volume (current book one is already in pre-press)
• triple the total traffic from all my sites
• create lasting change in at least 100 people using LegendaryLife.com (thousands will join but not everybody will use it as intended)
• create two new sources of revenue for myself (online or otherwise)
• try to win some sort of award somewhere, somehow
• get WoodMarvels.com pre-cut kits into retail stores (online or otherwise)
• enjoy the gift of life even more!

Things I wasn’t able to predict

• I would write my first science fiction book around the same time as working on my WoodMarvels.com Volume II book, hoping to have it published sometime in February
• I got mentions in newpapers, blog and magazines around the world regarding my design work
• Due to WoodMarvels taking up so much of my time, I haven’t had as much time to dedicate towards this blog or LegendaryLife, though I did launch it already, it’s only a shadow of what it should be, something I hope to rectify sooner than later
• I would accomplish my dream of living in China for a year and learning Mandarin (something I’m doing now)

My 2010 Goals

• I really think this is the year that WoodMarvels.com blows-up on me, in a good way! All the things that I track regarding this site are on a steep upward trend with no letting-up. You can read what’s been happening right here: WoodMarvels 2009 Year in Review as well as the goals I’ve established for that property.
• I want to become fluent in Mandarin, it’s a tough language, but one that I enjoy and being in the country where that’s all they talk is my chance to turn this long time dream into reality
• I still want to win an award of some kind, somewhere, somehow but it seems that my focus for this year will be on WoodMarvels more than anything else, which is great fun

The Bottom Line

Focus still leads to opportunities hitting you from unknown origins.

Ask anybody who has accomplished a goal or vision they once had and the very first step they will say is that they STARTED. You can’t finish what you didn’t start… and each small step you take is that much closer towards the end of said goal or vision.

Starting is easy… follow-through isn’t

After you decided to take the first step and turn a dream into a reality… the next largest step is consistent steps forward, whether they happen daily or weekly… continual progress is a must because it create momentum that makes any distractions easier to deal with. Just like the body of a bodybuilder takes years of hard work, if he or she stops going to the gym… it’s always harder to start back up after a prolonged rest period than it is to continue through an injury.

Distractions are what you make them

It’s all too easy to get distracted from a goal, especially when it’s a difficult one or requires more effort than is ordinary. The mind is great at creating “outs” for you so that it can continue along the path of least resistance… the hard part is learning to scope and get back on track ASAP regardless of the distraction being present. You have to consciously decide each time you get distracted if it’s worth your attention or you are better off ignoring it.

What publishing has taught me… patience!

I’ve just published my forth book yesterday (WoodMarvels.com Volume 2) and the evolution in every respect is rather astonishing. I started this blog to improve my English skills and if you go back to the first article… it took me hours and it’s barely a paragraph and now, I’m editing my most ambitious effort… a science fiction book of over 240 pages! One thing that publishing has taught me is that no matter how much you have done in the past, there is always a better way of doing things, of telling a story, of laying the text out, of delivering key concepts and ideas to the reader. Patience is needed because just when you think you are done… you are NOT! I now fully appreciate why it sometimes takes a year or so between published books by the same author… and the pressure there must be when you have a publisher breathing down your neck to get things done ASAP! Luckily, I’m my own publisher so the pressure to get things done isn’t anything I put onto myself… things are done when they are done

The Bottom Line

First steps always require the momentum of a second!