LegendaryLife Blog

As my plan is to live well over a hundred years by following a very healthy lifestyle full of whole foods, vigorous exercise and lots of mental activities, I found this Ted talk by Dan Buettner rather interesting. Here is the embeded video followed by a summary of the talk’s key points. If you wish, you can read more about Dan here.

Lecture’s key points:

• based off the studies of twin lifespans, it’s been calculated that less than 10% of our longevity is based directly off our genes with 90% being dictated by our lifestyle.
• there is a lot of confusion regarding optimal health and lifestyle choices
• a team of experts visited and studied extensively the lifestyle of populations known to live a long, healthy life with few health complications. These four areas are known as blue zones and include Costa Rica, Okinawa, Sardinia and California
• longevity myth #1: you can’t wish yourself to live longer, no matter how hard you try because we are built to multiply, not live long. Your chances of living to 100 are 1 in 5 000 currently within America.
• longevity myth #2: treatments exist that can slow aging. Our bodies have 35 trillion cells… there is simply too much we don’t understand and that can go wrong to possibly know what works and what doesn’t. These cells are completely replaced every 8 years and each time, genetic and cellular damage occurs which builds up exponentially.
• a 65 year old senior ages 125x faster than a 12 year old child
• the capacity of the human body to sustain your life is about 90 years, slightly longer for woman

• in the highlands of Sardinia, there is a place where old age is a given, with 10x more centenarians than in America! They are also healthy, working and enjoying a vigorous lifestyle. Here, men live older than woman.
• diet consists mostly of plant based and whole foods made and found locally using naturally sourced products high in Omega-3 fatty acids
• they are mostly shepards, so they enjoy an active lifestyle throughout their lives
• they enjoy wine which has 3x the amount of polyphenols than any other type in the world (this is a strong anti-oxidant)
• the older you get, the more wisdom and acceptance you get within the social structure of the Sardinian society
• on the island of Okinawa, in the northern part of the island, the oldest female population can be found
• here they live a long time, die quickly with little health problems in between
• 5x the number of centenarians with a fifth of the cancer compared to America
• they have a mostly plant based diet that consists of smaller calorie dense foods – they stop eating once their stomach is 80% full
• isolation is known to shorten lifespan, so the Okinawans have a system in which they develop lifelong friendships
• American’s have adopted a lifestyle that can be divided into two categories, work and retirement but in Okinawa, there is no word for retirement. They simply live by a motto which means “the reason you wake-up in the morning is ___”
• in America, it’s the 7th Day Adventists found in California which live the longest, the study that the numbers come from tracked 70 000 people for 30 years
• they don’t eat a lot of meat, for 24 hours a week they stop everything and focus onto their social being and doing nature walks

• things that all these “high longevity cultures” have in common
• they all do daily physical activity that isn’t overly strenuous on their body or joints
• they have the right outlook on life and a purpose that drives them on a daily basis, they purposefully slow their lives down to deal with built-up stress
• they all take some “time off” to reflect or to relax on a very regular basis
• they eat food based on what is found around them and it forms the majority of their diet
• they eat mostly plant based foods, a little wine and rarely till they are absolutely full
• they put their families and relatives first in their lives and have strong social contacts
• longevity has no short term fix

The Bottom Line

A long, healthy life is a choice that involves incremental and small proactive steps through ones life.

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!

I was watching a video showcasing an up-and-coming Anthony Robbin’es prodigy and over the course of 45 minutes, he kept repeating one key phrase. “It’s not your fault.”

Importance of personal responsibility

I fully realize that people like to hear that it isn’t their fault that they threw their lives away, allowed their body to get so out of shape that they suffer from chronic disease or were lied to by the marketing elite but let’s be honest… nobody cares as much about yourself as YOU and giving other power over your lifestyle, no matter the intent, is just a very bad idea!

For instance, we all know that alcohol is BAD for your body, no matter the amount but people still enjoy (?) getting wasted and pursuing other unhealthy habits. When the consequences come to the light, it’s always nice to blame others for your circumstances but the buck must always stop at yourself. You are the boss of your body, life and ultimately, what you leave behind… nobody else.

Why “it’s not your fault” sells

There is a lot in life that really is not our fault, genetically speaking but I believe we are all on an equal playing field (more or less) when it comes to finding ultimate happiness given what we have. Sure, being born in a 1st world country is an extreme privilege brought about by random chance and life is much easier when your parents are gazillionaires but given what you have in life, it’s up to you to make the most of it. I believe telling somebody “it’s not your fault” when in all actuality, their decisions in life are what lead them to the circumstances they are stuck in doesn’t do them a favor as they are not given the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. If you can’t see what you did wrong in the past, how can you change your lifestyle so it doesn’t happen again?

The importance of self-study

I try on almost a weekly basis to try to improve my life, how ever minimal, in one way or another. Whether this is tweeking an exercise regimen, replacing things in my diet or planning my next adventure… the importance of studying what you did in the past and improving upon it should only end once you are 6ft under. An active brain with a capable body, however you wish to define them, can do incredible things when given the right drive, ambition and passion. If you have hobbies that are detrimental to your life, replace them with good ones, if you have friends who waste your time, show them the door. I believe life should be about exploration and learning… and things that prevent you from getting the most out of these experienced need to be weened away.

The Bottom Line

Some things are really not your fault, but most of the things that are can be traced back through earlier decisions that were detrimental to your goals in life.

I’ve now launched my latest book, Transforming Your Life From Blah To Legendary!: A Guide For Massive Positive And Lasting Changes In Your Life as a PDF Downloadable book using the WoodMarvels.com e-commerce system. This means that you can now get this book within a few minutes right onto your own computer if you do not wish to wait to get a physical copy or live where it isn’t available.

About Transforming Your Life From Blah To Legendary!

I decided at a very young age that I didn’t want a “normal life” and, through the years, have developed habits and studied how to improve the efficiency of my life, the thoughts, ideas and concepts from a lifetime of lessons are synthesized within this book. I had also read more than my fair share of motivational books and from those experiences, wrote mine to use extensive imagery using a comic strip of characters to help bring some humor to the information being given as well as a step-by-step guide. My hope is that this book can help turn your life into one that is remembered far after you are gone.

Where to find

You can find Transforming Your Life From Blah To Legendary! at WoodMarvels.com under Special / Books in the top navigational bar.

Here is the direct link

I started on my second book, part inspirational, part workbook and all passion. I originally started on this book on Feb 8th of this year and it has taken me till the 26th to get it proofed, laid out and a host of other changes before it became available on Amazon! (read about it here)

What did I learn publishing this book?

A hell of a lot, my first book, WoodMarvels.com: Top Sellers took about as long to publish and in hindsight, this one blows it out of the water regarding what I learned.

• Get your proof proofed several times and double-check it digitally before requesting another one! I went through 6 proofs of this book because there was always one small thing that was missed which added well over two months to the publishing date.
• Colors are a pain in the ass! My cover and inside was originally all full color, color correcting over 70 images isn’t any fun so I simply did everything in full color but decided to get it printed in gray scale to save me the trouble except for the front cover.
• Have a good internet connection! Uploading a 200mb file several times isn’t any fun.
• If you are not an American, you cannot get your book released on Kindle! Originally this book was to be Kindled but a few days ago, I was told this was no possible… I guess somebody forgot to tell this to J. K. Rowlings.

Why is this book special?

Other than the fact that there is a heck of a lot of work, which I did all myself, from layout, publishing, graphics, comic strip etc… I’ve read more than my fair share of self-help and motivational books out there and this one is the only one I know that has a mixture of humor, comics and simple task based projects.

Why is your name not on the cover?

Well, this is a book to help YOU transform your life… I though it would be silly to stick a big picture of ME on there with my name in bold letters. I’m taking a different approach towards self-help books… in that the focus is 100% on YOU, not the author.

Can I view a sample?

Absolutely, follow this link to view inside the book – be warned though, as of writing this blog, Amazon seems to have stuck a very early proof in the book in the “Look Inside” feature. I’ve just uploaded the correct versions of all these with the inside in gray scale and the cover looking far better, I figure it will be a few days before they update it. Somebody screwed-up somewhere and it should fix itself soon enough.

Transforming Your Life From Blah To Legendary!: A Guide For Massive Positive And Lasting Changes In Your Life

Is that it?

No actually, I’m less than a month away from releasing my second volume of WoodMarvels.com with 4 pages shy of 200 and a wicked upgrade from my first one… using what I learned from my first volume and this one has taught me how to do things right in the publishing world! Also, my science fiction story 2847AD is slated to be moving along in a few weeks as well. Stay tuned!

The Bottom Line

Publishing your own books is fun!