We've Moved

The new blog is on LifeofMatt.Net/mattsjourney

It's way cooler.

We've Moved

The new blog is on LifeofMatt.Net/MattsJourney.

It's way cooler.

Todolist for Tommorow

• Write Three P's Post
  
• Finish Setting Up Website (Get Help if Needed)
  
• Publish 500 subscribers post
  
• Sign up for all social networking sites
  

The Sunny Skys(Skies?) of Florida

Today I took the long journey from the snow covered streets of Massachusetts to the warm and sunny skies of florida. I took some videos along the way, and was going to upload some of the highlights. but unfortunately my dad's laptop doesn't like the video software.

If you've been following my planning, you'll know that the original plan for this trip was to begin taking detailed notes on and begin systematically implementing Getting Things Done. In another unfortunate incident, Getting Things Done was left on flight 1003 from Boston to New York.

In attempting to recover the book, I stopped at a help kiosk and asked them what I should do. They asked my flight number, then sent me to a gate on the other end of the airport. At the gate, they told me that the plane had already left, and that I should inquire at the help desk as to what to do. I went back to the help desk, and they recommended that I check the lost in found which was downstairs. My next flight was boarding in about ten minutes, and I would have to go back through security... I declined. I went back to my gate, at which point my parents reminded me that I should get a number to contact the lost and found. I went back to the help kiosk, got the number, and went back to the gate. I then dialed the number, and found that it didn't exist. I went back to the help desk, and she found that one of the numbers was wrong in the number she had given me. I then dialed the number again. I then listened to an audio recording, which told me the email address to which I could send the item description and they would reply if they found it. I have sent the email, and am awaiting a reply.

But I digress...

With Getting Things Done out of the picture, I had to figure out another productive use for the vacation. Luckily, I had included another backup book in my carryon for just such an occasion. That book was "Changing for Good", a book which I think gets way less credit than it deserves in the self help community. It presents a systematic research based way to implement a habit. I decided that I would make this the new focus for the vacation.

With this decided, I used the remainder of the flight to catch up on the sleep which I had missed out on the night before, and flirt with the cute girl to my right.

When I arrived at my grandparents house several hours later, I took my suitcase up to my room and systematically unpacked everything from the suitcase. I knew exactly what I was doing to quickly set up an impromptu organization system while I was here, ensuring that the room doesn't descend into chaos over the five day period that I'll be here. It was at this time that I first got that sense that I might possibly be getting an inkling of what it feels like to "be organized", a phrase which I would have previously considered to be my antithesis. It was a glorious moment indeed.

The two habits which I will be using as models are:

1. Exercising first thing every morning when I wake up.
2. Practicing FACS for an hour every night before I go to bed (I did mention that the FACS cd came, right?)

Directly after I publish this post, I'm going to pop the FACS CD in, and do my nightly practice. Afterwards, I'll hop in bed, read "Changing for Good" for a bit, and go to sleep. In the morning, I'll get up, and head to the workout facility.

And so it goes.
-Matt

Vlog: Organization Update

Weekly Goals

• Sleep
• Get to bed between 11:30 and 12:3o every Night
  
• Create sleep checklist and follow routine every night
  
• Keep sleep diary each morning
  
• Eat no later than 9:30 every night.
• Exercise
• Plan time for exercise every night
  
• Exercise every day
  
• Organization
• Finish Containerizing my Room
• Start Organizing Bathroom
  
• Start systematically going through Getting Things Done again

Once I have organized my room completely, I will also start learning the Facial Action Coding System... this will be the second six month dreamline goal I will have completed... right on time at about the 3 month mark. 

Some short clips from my magic show today

First Vlog: How to Organize a Room

This is my first vlog, and there's a number of things I want to improve for next time.  Unfortunately, it took longer than I thought to get this video uploaded, so I won't be uploading the promised review of Organizing From the Inside Out on my other blog until tommorow.


Analyze and Strategize Worksheets for my Bedroom
Organizing from the Inside Out Amazon.com Link

Organization Update

I've analyzed and strategized for my room... tommorow I finish sorting, and Tuesday I finish everything else.

I also made two templates for myself to save time in the future, one for the analyze stage, one for the strategize stage.  They're in my Organizing From the Inside Out Resource Folder at MediaFire.

According to the book, it should take about 4 hours tommorow for me to completely sort my bedroom... I have a small bedroom, so it may actually be quicker.  I'll let you know how it goes.

-Matt

Daily Priorities Feb 10

All it will take for me to feel productive tommorow is to do an hour and a half of focused work... everything else will just be a bonus.  Becoming productive is really easy when you focus on just the essentials.

You have 207 Days to Change Your Life

-Become More Productive

HAVE TIME FOR YOURSELF

-Become “Over Organized”

NEVER WORRY ABOUT LOSING ANYTHING AGAIN

-Take Advantage of the Unique Opportunity

TRAVEL,FUN, ADVENTURE, EXCITEMENT, and GROWTH

Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important?

ACT NOW.

Task 1: Write Contract 

(1 Hour)

Task 2:Book Appointment with DMV

(30 Minutes)

My Shiny New Business Card

Update

Hey guys,

Feel like I've let you down with the regular updates thing.  I'm gonna try and get back to at least once a week.  

First of all, my updated goal sheet:

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000168 EndHTML:0000006527 StartFragment:0000000471 EndFragment:0000006510

You have 225 Days to Change Your Life

-Become More Productive

HAVE TIME FOR YOURSELF

-Four hours of focused work 5/7 days for 1 week

-Checklists and 80/20 analysis of all my home tasks

-Checklists and 80/20 analysis of all my school tasks

-Become “Over Organized”

NEVER WORRY ABOUT LOSING ANYTHING AGAIN

-Go 30 days straight without misplacing anything

-”A Place for Everything and Everything in It's Place”

-Absolutely no clutter in any area

-Take Advantage of the Unique Opportunity

TRAVEL, FUN, ADVENTURE, EXCITEMENT, and GROWTH

-Fly to LA to visit sister and friends

-Buy a digital video camera

-Go skydiving

-Learn Microexpressions

Are you inventing things to do to avoid the important?

ACT NOW.

Secondly, what I've been up to:

1. Getting Things done is succesfully implemented for the last few weeks and i've been keeping it up very well, it's super helpful.  I've been constantly rereading it along with four hour work week to make sure I don't start to forget the principles.

2.Been promoting my magic shit, trying to get a decent amount of shows done.

3. Trying to get a better job besides the movie theater.

4.I ordered The Organizing Sourcebook by Kathy Wadhill, and Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstien, which were as far as I could tell from reviews and questions sent to experts, the top two books for beginning organizers out there.  They should be here in a few days, at which point I'll start implementing them systematically, and keeping you guys updated along the way.

I know, you're thrilled to be able to get an inside look at how I organize ever mundane detail of my life.

Me too!

-Matt

Success on Autopilot: Process Outline

This is the system I've created for changing habits.  It's all coming together nicely now.  I've been using it for myself and it's excelelnt.

For existing change efforts:

1.Determine what stage of change you are in.

For new change efforts:

Precontemplation:

1. Determining Values, Principles, and Beliefs

2.Determining Defense Mechansisms.

Contemplation:

1.Start listing areas of life which are protected by defense mechanisms or contrary to values.

2. Rank the areas on a scale of 1 - 10 ease of change,(1 = super hard, 10 = super easy) and 1 - 10 importance of change (1 = I could care less, 10 = This NEEDS to change).

3. Take the outcome farthest from zero (easiest and most important) and find the new outcome that you desire (eg.  I'm fat -> I'm thin, I smoke -> I no longer want or need cigarettes).

4. Research information about the old and new outcome... what people have made this change already, what are the vital behaviors you need to enact to get the new outcome?

5. Evaluate your own feeligns about the old and new outcome... how do they fit in with your values?  What are the positives and negatives of changing?  What about the positives and negatives to other people?

6. MAke it salient, Begin imagining the result of your old outcome and new outcome.  Watch a movie, read a story, or create an experience for yourself to make the consequenses real.

7. TEll other people about your contemplation.  Enlist someone to support you, be very specific about the support you want at this stage.

Preparation:

1. Commit, set a date in the next two months that you're going to act.  Go public with your commitement.

2.Start Measuring.  Make things visible, figure out what and how frequent your current behaviors are.

3. Determine Triggers, consequences, substitutes, and reinforcers for both new and old behaviors.

4. Determine what sources of influence you want to use, and to what behaviors you want to influence.

5.Create a relapse prevention and warning signs sheet.

6.Determine next actions for sources of influence.

Action:

1. Put plan into effect, use whatever sources of influence you have determined are good... the exact steps have already been laid out based on the work done in the preperation stage.

Maintenance:

1.Continue new behavior.  Keep measuring outcome to see if behavior is haing intended effect.

2. Start weekly review of Relapse Prevention Sheet.  If any warning signs are noticed, enact relapse plan.

3. You are now ready to begin changing the next most important habit.

Termination:

Success is now on autopilot, no further work will ever be needed on this behavior ever again.

Todo January 3rd

You have 235 Days to Change Your Life

-Become more productive- HAVE TIME FOR YOURSELF

-Become more organized- HAVE YOUR SHIT TOGETHER

-Take advantage of the unique opportunity you have!

6 Month Dreamline:

-Fly to LA to visit sisI'll ter and friends

-Buy a digital video camera

-Go skydiving

-Learn Microexpressions

Are you inventing tasks to avoid the important?

ACT NOW.

 

#1 Task:Write Script for Noodle Noggin N' Bean

Today

I did a ton of research today on exercise.  I have most of the information I need, except how frequently to exercise.  Everything else, stretching, cardiovascular wise, and everything else about my exercise routine has been determined to maximize and balnace the factors I am looking for.

I would normally have started already, but this is for implementation of an eventual system... which means that I need to do EVERY possible step, so that I'll have a good model of factors people can choose from when creating their own plans.

I worked today too, I'm looking for another job on wednesday.

Tommorow is errand day, lots of shopping to do.

Gnite,

Matt

Beginning the Process: Outcome and Objective Measurments

The Habits project is at where it can be right now. I'm implementing the system for myself, and I'll keep you guys updated on how it goes. I'm in the "planning" stage for my first behavior change... which is to have a healthy body.

The first step to planning is to clarify what you want and how it will be measured. So, exactly what I want is:

A healthy body, in minimal time, with most chance for long term consistency.

How I'll measure it:

A health body I'm defining as five variables:
Strength- As measured in pushups and squats.
Endurance- Heart rate measurments and time of a two mile walk/jog/run
Flexibility- using the sit and reach test
Speed - as measured in 200 meter dash

and Finally BMI, as an overal measure of health.

Minimal time I'm defining as:
Productive Minutes Used/Week.

The productive part of the measurment is important. If I find ways to do exercises in time that would otherwise have been unproductive anyway, that doesn't count.

Consistency I'm measuring as:

Continued Adherance measured in 6 months time periods, as well as ability to recover after a lapse in which for some reason I don't stick to the scheduled plan.

Just figuring out objective measurments for each of these was a process in itself, involving a bit of research (the process will be broken down in the System), tommorow I have to go about identifying behaviors and beliefs which collectively will lead to the satisfaction of all six of the above critera.

I'm also gonna start implementing GTD for myself pretty soon... you'll hear more on that in the coming days.

-Matt

The Fear Factor: Dealing with Anxiety's and Fears

Sup guys,

Although I wouldn't technically categorize Anxiety and Fears as a bad habit, it does belong in the broader category of "Misbehaviors".  Because I want the Success On Autopilot System to be a complete Behavior change system, I am including a "Path" (in the step by step process) that allows you to create a plan for dealing with these as well.  Today, I'm just going to go over a few broad principles of dealing with this category of Misbehaviors, and how they apply to one specific example of this which I know is near and dear to every community guy's heart: Approach Anxiety.

Principle 1: Punishment Doesn't Work

This is the only type of misbehavior of which this is true.  Punishment in every other case of behavior change is an effective method for long term change, and is usually a preferred method because it is one of the only ways to make sure the behavior change is irreversible, and prevent spontaneous recovery.

However, with fears, it turns out this just isn't an effective option.  There are several reasons for this, one being that you just end up assoicating whatever you are afraid of with the punishment, just making you more averse to it.  Another being that fear of the punishment can feed in to the fear, and make it worse.  The worst being that you have no control over your fear reaction, thus making the punishment something that is out of your control... which is a sure way to make punishment not work.

This my seem like an obvious concept, but I tried using exactly this method to get rid of my AA a year or so ago using Tony Robbin's Neuro-Associative Conditioning behavior change program... of course it didn't work.

Principle 2: Irrational Fear is Caused by an Irrational Map of Cause and Effect

This means that in order to get rid of it, all you need to do is change your map of cause and effect.   There's several ways you can go about doing this, I recommend using a combination of methods, starting with the easiest and making your way up.  I'll give you just a few below.

1. Modeling

Find somebody you can relate to who can do the thing you're afraid of.  Simply watch them do the behavior, and see that all the irrational consequences that you were afraid of do not come to pass.  The more times you see them do it without the negative consequences of yoru irrational map, the more the map will weaken.

In terms of AA, this would involve going out and watching someone you can relate to in skill level and personality approaching a variety of women.

2.Shaping

Preferrably after doing some sort of modeling, the next step is shaping.  This is when you do gradually increasing approximations of the behavior, untill you have finally achieved the behavior itself.  As you learn that on each approximation, your irrational fear has still not come to pass, your map gradually begins to change.  

In terms of AA, if your desired behavior is to be able to meet a women, hold a conversation 10 minute conversation, and kino escalate, you would start out by asking people for the time.  You would do this a few times, then move on to asking for directions.  After, you'd introduce yourself then ask for directions.  Then, you'd introduce yourself  and ask a conversation starting question.  Then, you'd lengthen the conversation.  Then, you'd gradually introduce kino.

3. Cognitive Restructuring and Value Shifting

This is a process I briefly mentioned yesterday, in which you reshape your values and how they relate to your behaviors.  Often, fears will be a result of negative associations with certain experiences.  E.g I'm afraid of public speaking, because it could be embarassing if I screw up. or, I'm afraid of approaching, because I will feel rejected if she doesn't like me.

There are two ways to go about cognitive restructuring.  One is we, can change the order and intensity of your values, so that your first thought about approaching would be "I'm excited to approach, because I will feel a wonderful connection if she likes me."

The other wayy is to change the way the negative experience relates to behavior. In this case, your first thought would be something along the lies of "I'm afraid not to approach her, because I will feel rejected if she leaves without me talking to her."

To create truly

Todo Dec21

You have 245 Days to Change Your Life

-Become more productive- HAVE TIME FOR YOURSELF

-Become more organized- HAVE YOUR SHIT TOGETHER

-Take advantage of the unique opportunity you have!

6 Month Dreamline:

-Fly to LA to visit sisI'll ter and friends

-Buy a digital video camera

-Go skydiving

-Learn Microexpressions

Are you inventing tasks to avoid the important?

ACT NOW.

#1 Task: Finish My Magic Show

If I Do It	If I don't do it
Effortless, Stress Free Productivity Get your shit handled, then you can focus on others.	Why would you not do it? Remember your Values, stay focused on the goal.

Time Limit: 2 Hours Focused Work

Today

was not as productive as I would have liked.  I did get quite a bit written, but it was not on my planned task. Neither did I get the planned task of my magic show done.

I did get the kitchen done.

I just had a flash of insight, refocusing me on my goal.  On the ultimate goal.  On the lifestyle, of stress free, effortless travel.  Get my shit handled, so I can focus on helping others.

Tommorow is indeed a new day.

Love,

Matt

Todo Dec20

You have 246 Days to Change Your Life

-Become more productive- HAVE TIME FOR YOURSELF

-Become more organized- HAVE YOUR SHIT TOGETHER

-Take advantage of the unique opportunity you have!

6 Month Dreamline:

-Fly to LA to visit sisI'll ter and friends

-Buy a digital video camera

-Go skydiving

-Learn Microexpressions

Are you inventing tasks to avoid the important?

ACT NOW.

 

#1 Task: FINISH OUTLINING MY MUSE

If I Do It	If I don't do it
Effortless, Stress Free Productivity Get your shit handled, then you can focus on others.	Why would you not do it? Remember your Values, stay focused on the goal.

Time Limit: 2 Hours Focused Work