I usually go out and get in some walking time about 4 or 5 days per week.  Walking is something that I truly enjoy doing.

Not only is walking easy to do, but there are so many benefits that come from walking.  If you have issues like arthritis or other types of health issues, the nice thing about walking is that it is relatively low impact, and most anybody can do it.  You don’t have to be a big “workout” person or really strain yourself.  Depending on your level of health, you can do a higher impact exercise by “power walking,” which would be faster and more active.  If you are not up to that, just do a bit of a stroll around your neighborhood.

Walking is good

What are some of the benefits of walking?

• Getting to know your neighborhood better
• Meeting neighbors and making new friends along your route
• Makes you feel good!
• Some “alone time” where you can reflect and think about things

Of course, there are other benefits, especially benefits to your health.  I find that when I walk, I physically feel better.  If I miss a few days of walking, I don’t feel as good.

If you do miss some walking sessions, it can be hard to get back on track.  I mean, if you were to miss walking for a couple of weeks, you may find that you have become lethargic, or just plan lazy.  Maybe because you have not done your walking, you are not feeling so well, and that becomes an excuse to not walk.

I’m not feeling so well today, so maybe I’ll just walk tomorrow.

Problem is, tomorrow you won’t feel well either.  If you get out of the habit of exercising, like walking, you have to literally force yourself to do it again, and when you do, you will start feeling better.

Try to do a little walking and see if you don’t feel better!  I know that I do.

Want to make your walking a little more fun?  Try these tips:

• Get an MP3 player so you can listen to music, books on tape or some other entertainment while walking
• Bring along a water bottle so that you can stay refreshed
• Try to vary your routes so that you see new things, and new places often
• Talk to people that you encounter along the way, you never know when you’ll meet a great new friend

How does it help you?

Well from experience, it gives you a feeling of well being.  It helps you realize how lucky you are with the things that you have.  I makes you appreciate life more.  All in all, believe me, it is a good thing for you to help others.

Of course, like all of us, I have helped people all of my life.  Most of that time, though, I have helped others in a very half-hazard way.  I helped when it was convenient to me.  I helped when something really needed to be done and caught my attention. I never really just helped for the sake of helping, though.

About a decade ago, though, my wife and I, on Christmas Eve, decided to do something to make our Christmas more special.  We decided to do something special for strangers, not just for our family.

We gave this man some food for Christmas

We went out and bought a lot of food items – everything from hamburgers from McDonald to bottles of juice.  Christmas candy to snacks, and such.  In later years, we even bought things like pork, chicken and other foods that the people could enjoy with their families on Christmas.

After purchasing a LOT of stuff, we put it in our car and just started driving around the city and giving the stuff out to homeless people, and others who were obviously poor.  Do you know what?  Because of what we did, it was the best Christmas I had ever experienced.

One year, when we did this, we went out in a very remote area in the mountains.  We saw an old lady walking along the road, obviously very poor.  We stopped and gave her a bag of food that she could use to prepare a Christmas feast for her loved ones.  When we did, she was astonished, she looked at me and said:

I don’t know what we would have done if you had not shown up.  You are an angel.  We ran out of money yesterday, and also have no food.

It honestly brought tears to my eyes, and I have never forgotten the lady.  By doing something for her, I was helping myself, because I felt so good.

In fact, I am somewhat ashamed to admit this, but in doing this year after year, I am really doing it for myself, not others.  It is a selfish thing to say, but I like the feeling that I get when I help others.

Our kids really enjoy visiting the orphanage

More recently, my family and I have been visiting an orphanage not far from where we live.  The place has somewhere between 50 to 100 children who live there.  Some have medical problems.  Others are only there because their parents cannot afford to care for them.  I really enjoy visiting those kids, because it is so obvious that the children are starved for attention and affection.  If you just pick up the small kids and hold them for a few minutes, you can see the good feeling that they get.  Sometimes it is sad, because the kids don’t want you to put them down.  But, you have to put them down eventually, there are so many other kids who want a few minutes of attention too.

Helping others is therapeutic.  It makes you feel good.  It makes you understand that your problems are really so small compared to what others are facing.

Try it.  I am certain that you will come away with pure joy, as I have.

I use rechargeable batteries in my office a great deal, mostly AA batteries.

But, that is not what I’m talking about.

I mean charging your own internal batteries.  Relieving your stress.  Re-energizing your self.  Breaking away from everyday life for a bit of relaxation.

We all need to recharge our internal batteries from time to time.  We need a break.  If we don’t take the time to get such a break, we will burn ourselves out and will not be productive in our work or in our personal lives.

Basically, taking a break in a far away place is what we all need to do this.  Doing nothing is a big part of it.  What I especially mean by “nothing” is not doing any of the “regular stuff” that we do day in and day out.

A different kind of recharging

Doing nothing is different for every one of us.  For example, I was going to say that we should not cook, and let somebody else do the cooking for us.  But, on reflection, I decided that I was totally wrong about that.  What about somebody who has such a busy job that they don’t have time to cook, even if cooking good food is something that they are passionate about?  To say that they should not cook may be exactly the opposite of what needs to be said.  Maybe what would be a recharging experience for that person would be took cook a gourmet feast for their family.  Taking the time to cook to their heart’s delight, something that they don’t have time to do on a daily basis.  I mean, for a busy working person who stops at the drive through window every night, to take the time to prepare a feast might just be a very rewarding experience!

Recharge!

Where do you think you should go to recharge?  The first thought is to go to the beach, especially some deserted beach with no crowds and such.  But, for somebody like me who lives near the beach, I would need a change of scenery, not the same scenery that I see day in and day out.  Maybe for somebody like me, a few days in the mountains are what the doctor ordered?

The truth is that only you can know for sure what will recharge your batteries.  Where to go and do it depends on what you find peaceful, and what you would find different from the daily grind.  What activities you will do on your R&R session are also a personal choice that only you can decide.

But, one thing cannot be argued.  We all need a little rest and relaxation in order to recharge our bodies and minds.  Without it, we will simply burn out.

If you don’t have goals, you might end up just wandering aimlessly.  With goals you have a constant reminder of where to focus so that you can achieve your goals.

Many people make a mistake, though, when it comes to goals.  They set their goals way too high.

For example, if you set the following goal, what are you going to do to achieve it?

I want to be a millionaire.

Is that a realistic goal?  Not really.  I mean, I am not saying that it can’t be achieved.  In fact, it is not hard to achieve at all these days.  Truth is in this age, a million dollars is not a huge amount of money.  But, if you do want to become a millionaire, you need to set some smaller goals first, because you cannot become a millionaire overnight, or even by the end of the year.  At least most of us cannot.  Instead you need to start out making more money than you are now.  You need to earn enough money that you can start setting some money aside.  Maybe you will invest that money, either in something like a stock, or perhaps use that nest egg to start your own business.  Starting from such an investment will allow your money to keep growing.  Once you achieve that goal of earning extra money, it’s time to move on to another small goal that will propel you on the way toward your ultimate goal of becoming a millionaire.

Hitting the Target

What are the problems with setting such a lofty goal from the beginning? Well, I can think of at least a couple of problems with that:

• Setting a huge goal may become a burden.  It may discourage you since you cannot meet your goal in a short time frame.
• You may set such a large goal and not be able to figure out how to do it.  If you set smaller goals you can more easily get it done and work your way toward your larger objective.
• Because achieving your large goal may take so long, you may lose focus and eventually just consider it impossible.

One way you might work is to figure out what you ultimate goal is, and then set smaller goals that would be like steps toward your big goal.  Setting a goal that will not be completed, though, for 10 years or even 5 years is somewhat unrealistic, though, because you will lose interest and abandon the goal before you reach it.

Goal setting is a good thing.  It’s a smart thing to do. Just remember to also be smart about the way you approach goal setting.

Of course, there are millions of ways to earn money.  Maybe you are a painter.  Maybe you work construction.  Perhaps you are a taxi driver.  Or, like me, maybe you work on a computer day in and day out.  These days, it is likely that you spend at least some time working on a computer, regardless of what your job is.  I mean, if you are a painter, you probably spend some time on the computer to track your customers.  Really almost any job these days has some element of computer use.

Logitech Wave Keyboard

Today, what I want to address is your tools that you use for your work.  If you are a construction worker, maybe your tools are things that we would more traditionally consider to be tools – a hammer, screwdrivers, saws, etc.  But, every profession relies on some type of tools that are needed to get the job done.

My profession is mostly writing, but also includes other things that I do on the computer.  I suppose that the computer makes up probably 98% or more of the work that I do, and the money that I earn.  So, one of my tools is the computer.

I have other tools too

High Quality Mouse

Working on the computer, what tools could I possibly have?  Well, think about it.  I have lots of tools:

• Keyboard
• Mouse
• Digital Camera
• Cellular Phone
• Printer
• Blank CD’s
• My Desk
• My Chair
• I could go on and on…

Yes, each of these things is a tool that I use to do my job.  I don’t swing a hammer, but I do type with my keyboard and use my mouse to navigate around my computer.  Without these important tools, I could not do my job.

Because these tools are very important to me, I spend money to buy quality tools.

Let’s look at my keyboard as an example.  I use a Logitech Wireless “Wave” keyboard, which is a high quality ergonomic keyboard.  I have been using this Wave keyboard for about 5 years now, as I recall.  Before I had this keyboard, I used a cheaper keyboard which was not an ergonomic model.  I began developing problems with my wrists being painful, and I could not do my job as I wanted to due to the pain.  Now that I have an ergonomic keyboard, and some other tools, my wrist problems have been greatly alleviated.  Now, I can do the work that I need to do in order to earn an income, and also to make me happy with my life.

This keyboard was expensive.  It cost me about $150 back in the day when I bought it.  That’s an expensive keyboard, although certainly not the most expensive around.  But, is it really worth spending $150 on a keyboard?  Yes, it is.  You see, as I explained earlier, when I used a cheaper keyboard I developed problems with my wrists, and could not work as much as I needed to.  In fact, even 10 minutes or so of typing, and I had to quit for a few hours to let my wrists rest.  Now, $150 for a keyboard, which I have used for 5 years?  That means that the keyboard has cost about 8 cents per day.  And, the keyboard does not need to be replaced yet.  Maybe I’ll get another 5 years out of the keyboard, making it only 4 cents per day.  But, even if I went out and replaced the keyboard today, the $150 investment was really worth it.  Having a quality tool made it easier to do my job, provided a better quality of work, and offered great reliability.

Use the right hammer for the job

Same thing with the mouse.  Having a good quality mouse is very important, especially in ergonomic ways.  You see, using a mouse that properly keeps your hand in the right position and such helps keep you from developing an injury like carpal tunnel syndrome or something similar.  I routinely spend $100 or more on a mouse, even though there are models available for as little as $2 or so.  But, I am a writer, and do other things on the computer.  This is my profession.  Sometimes I spend many hours every day using these tools – the tools of my trade.  Spending the necessary money is not a worry, in fact, if I did not spend for quality tools for my profession, that would be a worry for me.

Now, in other areas, I don’t necessarily buy the best quality of tools.  For example, I have a cheap hammer.  But, I don’t use a hammer often, nor is it part of my profession.  The quality of my hammer does not affect the work that I do to earn money.  I think that if I used a hammer twice in the same year, that could be considered as a year when I gave my hammer heave use.  Because of these factors, I really don’t need a high quality hammer.  Just like Bubba the builder, he doesn’t really need a $100 mouse, since he uses the computer only rarely.

So, what about you?  What is your profession?  Do you have the right tools for the job?  If not, maybe it’s something to consider.

There is a fellow whom I know, although we have never met in person.  I know him only through the Internet.  For some reason, I’m not even sure why, I never liked the guy.  Somehow, on the Internet, he rubbed me the wrong way.  I don’t remember what it was, but I suppose that probably on the first time we had any dialogue on the net, he said something that I didn’t like.  I don’t know how he felt about me.  Maybe he didn’t like me, maybe he liked me, I can’t say for sure.  But, I didn’t like him.

Shaking Hands

Yesterday, I found out some new things about the fellow.  To be honest, I saw him on a TV show yesterday.  He said some things while being interviewed on the show that made me realize that I had judged him prematurely, and that my judgement of him was wrong.  In fact, after seeing him interviewed on the show, I kind of like the guy.

In fact, there is a third person whom I trust very much, and he also knows this fellow whom I had misjudged.  I mentioned this to that third person, and he said “oh yeah, he is a real good guy!”  Made me feel kind of bad for having judged the man when I really didn’t have enough information to do so accurately.

So, I am going to do my best to remember that making a judgment, unless it is based on hard evidence, is not a good thing to do.  Judgment should be reserved until it is deserved, and is accurate.  It’s a good habit to handle it that way, and I’m going to do my best.

Recently, there has been a trial in the United States that has been widely followed.  Of course, many people will easily know that I am talking about the trial of Casey Anthony, over the murder of her daughter Caylee Anthony in 2008.  This post is not really specifically about that trial, although the contents of this post were inspired by the results of the trial.  But, as far as the guilt of innocence of Casey Anthony, I’ll leave that for others to talk about, because it is, to be honest, of little interest to me.

The US Supreme Court Justices

After Ms. Anthony was found to be “not guilty” though, there has been discussion on TV among legal experts.  A lot of lawyers that I have seen on TV have exclaimed that “she was not found by the jury to be innocent of the crime, it was found that she was not guilty.”  Of course, I can see the difference between the two, although in some ways the argument is like splitting hairs.

Innocent

In one instance, if a person is found to be guilty of a crime, that means that the justice system has found that indeed, they did commit the crime.

On the other hand, if the jury finds the person to be “not guilty” of the crime, it means strictly that evidence has not been presented that is strong enough to consider the person to be guilty of the crime.  The jury does not have the option of finding the person “innocent,” they must choose between guilty or not guilty.

So, these legal experts pontificate that since the jury found the defendant to be “not guilty” that does not necessarily mean that the person is innocent.

But is that correct?

I always thought that the statement was correct, but after thinking it over recently, I find that the statement is not correct at all.  I would argue that if a jury finds a defendant to be not guilty, that person is indeed innocent.

How?

Why?

Well, under the United States system of jurisprudence, a person is “Innocent until proven guilty.”  If a jury finds that a person is “not guilty” that would mean that the person is not guilty of the crime.  Further, if you extrapolate, if you have been found to not be guilty, you are innocent, because you are innocent until proven guilty.  You were never proven to be guilty, thus you are still innocent, and always will be.

Anybody care to argue that point?  It seems simple to me.

I will also readily admit that sometimes when I read or talk to people who tell me that there is no God, I can be vulnerable and consider the possibility that they may be right.  Thus, my faith is not nearly as strong as I wish it was, or where I think it should be.  But, in the end, I believe in God.  When times come up when my faith wavers a bit and I consider the possibility that there may be no God, even then I feel that I should live a clean life where I care for my brothers in the world, and live in a way that follows the same path that we are taught by God.

On the road to faith

I also understand that we, as a human race, follow different belief systems.  I believe in God and his son, Jesus Christ.  I have friends who are Jewish, Muslim, Atheists, Agnostic and whatever other belief systems you can think of.  I have no problem with any of them.  In part, I believe that we are all worshiping the same being, just with different names, and slightly different beliefs about that entity.  Well, of course the Atheists do not follow any God, although they have their own personal belief system.  I have no problem with any of that.  What I choose to believe and what you choose to believe may be different, but I feel that we can still live with respect and even admiration toward each other.  I don’t see a conflict.  I also do not feel a need to make an effort to convert others to my belief system.

Journey of Faith

There is something that happened today, this morning, which strengthens my faith.  Truth is, this thing that happened has happened so many times over in my life that I should expect it.  You see, this morning I had a need for something that was lacking in my life.  I felt it was impossible that the thing I needed could be obtained, at least not today.  Maybe someday my need would be fulfilled, maybe not.  But, I felt like I needed to have that need fulfilled today, and just felt it was not even remotely possible.  I have been thinking about that need for some time now, but this morning I felt it was critical in my life to get fulfillment of the need.  About half an hour after I was thinking that, I got an e-mail from somebody whom I don’t know.  He knows me through reading some of my websites and such, but I don’t know him.  Well, he e-mailed me and told me he wanted to do something for me, and went on to tell me what he was going to do.  The thing he was going to do was to fulfill that need that has been on my mind.  I thought it was impossible, but now he has already done it.

Now, I just feel that if there was no God, how could such a thing happen?  Just by chance?  The odds of that are nearly zero.

As I say, this sort of filling of a need at the seemingly most opportune time has happened to me before, when I felt the need was strong.  It can be anything in life that is needed.  So, it leaves me wondering, if this sort of thing has happened many times over in my 49 years of life, how can I let my faith waver at times?  I guess it is because of being human and imperfect.

What I do know is that I am very thankful that my need was fulfilled this morning, and I am thankful to the person who filled that need.

So, I have to say, I believe that incorporating faith into your life is a smart thing to do.  It’s not that a smart person can analyze and come up with proof of a God, or anything like that.  In fact, it is about being smart enough to give up some control and believe in something even without evidence.  That’s what faith is all about, and I believe that faith is a smart thing to have in my life.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Yep, if you are doing something and the results show that it is not working, why would you keep doing it over and over again?  It certainly is not a very smart thing to do, yet many people do exactly that, even people who are smart.

So, for me, what it comes down to is that if you have tried an idea and it does not work, you can refine it and try it again, you can even do that several times.  But, if, in the end, you still cannot get your idea to work, it is time for you to accept that it is better to simply move on and find a new thing to do, something that actually works.

Einstein defined crazy!

But, like I said, you don’t need to quit after the first time.  I don’t think that Einstein would say that it is crazy to try something a half dozen times if you are making adjustments and trying to get your idea to work.  In fact, I think it would be crazy not to try it a number of times.  Fact is, few things work perfectly the first time, so you really should try again and again, just not in perpetuity.

However, that said, you really must have a built in barometer to determine when it is time to throw in the towel, and move on.

Do you think that it’s shameful to give up and move on?  I don’t.  If you don’t try your idea, you will never know if it will succeed.

The Key to Success

I heard a saying recently.  It went something like this:

Q: What do you call somebody who has never failed?

A:  A person who has never tried anything.

That’s right, if you don’t try anything you will never fail.  But.. you will also never succeed.

I want to succeed, so I fail from time to time.  What about you?

But, should he?

I’ve been thinking about this question lately, and after pondering the question for a week or so, yesterday I learned something that surprised me, but also reinforced my thinking on the matter.

You see, I am not a college graduate.  I don’t regret it, I rarely even think about it.  I attended college for a little over 2 years, but dropped out because, frankly, it bored me to death.  Since I dropped out of college, I have not only not regretted it, but I also feel that it has not hurt me in terms of success either.  I feel that I have lived a fairly successful life.

College - is it right for you?

Having not attended college, or at least not finishing college does not mean you are uneducated, or not smart.  Being smart and your level of formal education are two completely different things.  In fact, I could argue that if you are smart, you need college even less than somebody of average intelligence.  Perhaps being smart can help you recognize that you don’t really need college.

Anyway, having been thinking about this topic for a while now, I have discussed my thoughts with others, some online, others in person.  The reactions are varied, but in general the vast majority of people think that if you want to be successful, you need to have a college degree.  Yesterday, I was reading the news and came across an article that reinforced my thinking, though.

Peter Thiel

It seems that the co-founder of Paypal, Peter Thiel, through his Thiel Fellowship, is offering to pay young people not to attend college.  Huh?  Paying them to not go to college? Yes, you read that right.

Thiel has a program going called “Twenty under Twenty” under which 20 people under the age of 20 have been selected to each receive a grant of $100,000 in exchange for not attending college and following their entrepreneurial dreams.  Thiel feels strongly (obviously) that people can be successful by bypassing college and going straight to work on their ideas for business and technology.  He is putting his money where his mouth is.

Peter Thiel has been putting his money where his mouth is for a while now.  Years back, when Mark Zuckerburg started developing Facebook, Thiel saw potential, and he invested $500,000 into Zuckerburg’s idea, that $500,000 is now worth billions.  Zuckerburg ended up dropping out of college and is now a rich man.

Other very successful people have skipped or dropped out of college too.  Bill Gates is a famous example.  Things worked out pretty good for him too!  In fact, here is a list of the wealthiest people in the world who did not complete college:

1. Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft
2. Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computers
3. Frank Lloyd Wright, famous architect
4. Buckminster Fuller, architect, philosopher, inventor
5. James Cameron, movie director
6. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder
7. Tom Hanks, Actor
8. Harrison Ford, Actor
9. Lady Gaga, Singer
10. Tiger Woods, Golfer

Now, don’t take me wrong, I do feel that there is a place for colleges.  Primarily, I feel that colleges are good for many people.  In addition, there is a place for a relic from the past:  Trade Schools where people can learn a job or a trade.  But, for people who are already very smart, learning from experience is a great way to go, in my opinion.

So, is college worthwhile?  For many it is.  Not for all, though.

That’s my opinion, what do you think?