Using a List to Be Better

for some reason, i've taken a liking to Earl Hickey, and his "My Name is Earl" show.  If you aren't familiar with the show's plot, here goes:

- Earl is a thief that lives his life by scamming people
- He wins the lottery (scratcher) and gets hit by a car literally seconds later...losses the winning lottery ticket
- while laying in a hospital, comes across Carson Daley, and hears Carson talking about karma
- Earl decides that he wants to right his wrongs, and creates a list of all the things that he's done bad in his lift.
- Each episode focuses on the wacky adventures to cross an item off his list.

So, take away the fun backstory, and this show is literally about a guy crossing off items his to-do list.  I use my to-do list to manage my random tasks throughout the day.  The typical day has about 10 random things, from updating my blog,scheduling doctor's appointments, and now, staying on track with graduate school applications.  I get tons of shit from my friends about this ("My Dad doesn't even do that!", "lame.....what a geek"), but it helps me get shit done!

Now you have 2 examples (yes, 1 is a ton more entertaining and interesting than the other) of using a list to get shit done.  If Earl can use his list to become a better person (and earn some good-karma points), and I can use mine to stay employed, stay healthy, and get into a top-tier grad school (hopefully), imagine what you can do with yours........


once you decide to make the plunge, here's are good links to check out.  Some are overboard, but they get give you the idea....


building a smarter to-do list [43 folders]

Executing your to-do list [zen habits]

lifehacking.....

Lifehacking....

Computer enthusiasts effectionally wear the badge of "hacker" proudly.  Contrary to popular opinion, hacking is not breaking into other people's systems, setting off nuclear bombs, and crashing financial systems.  The hackers that I know use their knowledge to help find innovative, unique, or interesting ways to perform random tasks with technology.

From "overclocking" their processor to gain more speed, to "modding" their Tivo to hold a larger hard drive....hackers often find a way to gain productivity that was not possible under conventional methods.

An article in the Economist brought to be the popular blog Lifehacker (www.lifehacker.com) a few years ago.  The premise of lifehacker was simple, using the hacker ethics to work and life more productively.

My random visit to Lifehacker drove me into more research....reading David Allen's "Getting things done", to other sites like zenhabits, lifehack.org, and 43folders.com

As a result of my interest in lifehacking, I've become a slave to my "hipster pda"....a moleskin notebook and nice pen.  My friends have seen me writing in it, and I constantly write down to-dos and random notes to myself.

also, through lifehacking, I have become devoted to "better living through measurement".  I've started slowly, measuring my progress in jogging.  A few weeks ago, I widened my measurement net, and started measuring my caffeine consumption, with the ultimate goal of quitting caffine.  Once I get that under wraps, I plan on logging my food.....and hopefully finding peace with a healthier diet.

While I'm still not organized, and as my coworkers can attest, still incredibly unproductive...I'm making baby steps towards my personal and professional goals....and I thank lifehacking for lighting a fire under me. 

Some resources to getting started:

Online -
Lifehacker - my original foreay into this concept.  While it is more technology driven, there is occassionally a great article written there.

Lifehack.org - Doesn't provide specific systems for productivity, but I've come to rely on this site for interest quotes.

43folders.com - utterly devoted to David Allen's concept of "Getting Things Done".  newbies might find it to be a little too much, but, I like it.

Books -
"Getting Things Done" by David Allen
"The 4 Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferris

Tools-
Moleskin notebook - i know its just a notebook...but I love mine, and I'm completely lost without it...

Parker pen - yes, its a $5 pen, but since I knew that I spent $5 on it, the pen is always next to my moleskin

Quicken (or MS Money) - the ultimate for data geeks.  I use it to track credit cards, investments, and plan for my financial future.

I know that this list is nowhere near exhaustive, so....what have you guys found helpful?  Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments.

7 days to 26.2

Since I am only 7 days away from running the San Diego Rock'n'roll marathon, I thought I would discuss about the race and what I am thinking right now 7 days out....

The race is in one the nicest cities in the U.S. - San Diego, CA. The race is relatively flat and I expect the weather to be running friendly (60-75 degrees, not humid). One of the cool things about this race is that there is a band every mile along the course. I ran the Rock'n'Roll Phoenix Half marathon, which also had bands along the course, and really enjoyed this aspect of the Phoenix race. I hope after hitting mile 18 or 20 that the music will help provide me additional motivation and will power to finish the race. For those of you that have been to San Diego, I'm including a picture of the course map...


Yesterday, during my final long run of 10 miles, I started thinking about the last 5 months of training, crossing the finish line, and what it will mean to finish a marathon. Although I have run 3 half marathons, I am excited and nervous about running a marathon. Before every major race that I run, I always think about crossing the finish line. It helps to motivate and keep me going during the actual race. Right now, I don't have a goal time set, however, I think it will be between 4.5 and 5 hrs. Since this is my first and I'm not looking to "kill" (eg. qualify for Boston) myself, completing the race is the major goal :). After I have completed the race, I will post and let everyone know what I learned and how to improve for the next time.

Finally, completing this race will mean a lot to me on a personal level. Three years ago, I started running with the simple goal of losing weight - not to run marathons and half marathons. As I have continued to train for and run in races, I have always entertained the idea of running a full marathon. I made excuses like not having the time to train or not needing to prove that I can run a marathon, but I realized that eventually I wanted to run one just to prove that I could and say that I had done it. Hopefully, this does not become an addiction, I'd rather just train for half marathons instead.

Coffee vs. Diet Soda....which is healthier?

I'm a caffeine junkie. I need my morning coffee, and I also need my afternoon coffee. Hell, if I have a team dinner after work, then I need a diet coke to get me through it. Since I was spending way too much time and energy staying juiced up, not to mention the cost, I decided to cut back.

So, for the past few months, I created and then refined a spreadsheet to track my caffeine intake. Most of the raw data came from "The Caffeine Database" at energyfiend.com....

This approach has worked well.... I've totally eliminated the evening soda, and switched to decaf green tea for the afternoon. But I'm still struggling to get rid of my morning fix. Which brings me to the following dilemma...which is better for me?

I've read about the nasty chemicals and brain tumors that diet sodas are known to cause....but they have way less caffeine than a small coffee from Starbucks (again, citing the energyfiend.com). So do I take the risk of ingesting these chemicals on a daily basis again, or do I start being that weird guy that orders 3/4 caf, and then 1/2 caff, and then 1/4 caff at Starbucks?

Don't Break the Chain

For the past month, I have turned to an incredibly odd place to stay on track with my goals....Jerry Seinfeld.

In his heyday, Seinfeld turned a simple calendar into a goal tracker. He wanted to keep writing jokes, and his idea was simple. For everyday that he wrote a joke, he would put a large X on the calendar. On days that he didn't write a joke, the calendar would stay empty. He turned this into a game...where he tried to create "chains", by write jokes every day for multiple days, and it became a motivational factor for him.

Since he's made a billion dollars, vacations on islands that only rich white folks know about, and hangs with Jack Donagy, I figured that while goofy, I might as well try it out.

So, head over to Don't Break the Chain!and get started. I set up calendars for my odd goals:

- Tracking my caffeine intake (I'm trying to quit drinking coffee)
- Flossing (my dentist loves me, I paid for her last BMW)
- Making my bed (my room is a mess, and this is a good place to start)
- Daily pushups
- Taking my vitamins
- Updating my blog

The site even has a widget that I put on my iGoogle homepage....its simple, motivational, and seems to work!

if you get a chance, check it out....or, let me know what tools you use to start on track with your goals.

I am the most productive person I know.....

......over the past 24 hours.....I have done the following:

- Run 4 miles
- Write a 3 page essay for the University of Chicago Graduate Student at Large Program (fancy way of dressing up summer school)
- Write my 5000 character self-assessment for work. I used about 4975 characters, when I only needed 47 characters (I am amazing, and the firm should pay me more.)
- Did 60 pushups
- Ran another 4 miles
- Submitted my Chicago Application
- Submitted my year-end review materials for work

While the last 24 hours have been an outlier for me in terms of productivity, if I continue this, maybe I should revisit my goals.

My boss is all gung ho about climbing to the base of Mount Everest.

maybe i should think about that too....hmmmmm

http://www.mountainmadness.com/trekking/asia_base.cfm

April Running......

Another month down, another 44.42 miles closer to my goal 500 miles in 2008.

While my March average pace (8:46 minutes/mile) stayed unchanged for April, my mileage actually went down this month.

Some highlights from the April workouts...

First road race - the Wrigley Start Early 10K.

6.2 miles in 54 minutes. I was sore before and after the race, but it still felt good to cross the finish line.

Second road race - the American Brain Tumor 5K Path to Progress

3.1 miles in 26:32, which amounted to an 8:34 min/mile pace, a new personal record :)

To make up for the lack of mileage, I started incorporating pushups and crunches into my routine. Starting with only 20 pushups (2x10) per day, I'm now up to 48 / day (3x15, 1x as many as possible)....and i'm still working my way up. My goal with pushups is to crank out 5 sets of 50 pushups without breaking a sweet. Call me crazy, but I want to do this by the end of summer.

5 steps towards becoming better

On a flight home, I was busy watching Six Feet Under (season one, episode 13), when it dawned on me....my desktop was ridiculously filthy. Now, I'm not know as a particularly clean person, but for some reason, I felt compelled to clean up my desktop.

So, I clicked on the random notepad files, quickly glancing at them, and then either filing or discarding them as needed....I found one that I hadn't seen in a long long time.

Its a small document entitled "Better".....and it contained some notes I took while reading a book a few months ago.

In the very excellent book "Better", the Harvard Medical School professor and Mass. General surgeon Atul Gawande lays out his thesis for better performance. While the vast majority of the book focuses specifically on his chosen profession of medicine, the ending contained a very simple 5 step plan for being...well...better...at whatever you choose to pursue in your own life.

1) Everyday, ask somebody an unscripted question.

ipods, blackberries, technology has led to the rapid decline in random communication. strike up an unscripted conversation with the person next to you on the bus....great advice, that seems oddly ironic, because I'm typing this with my headphones on, and my neighbor on the flight seems to be doing the exact same thing.


2) When something happens that you perceive as "happening to you", don't complain.

about a month ago, I got rejected from all the top business schools in the country. While I was incredibly stressed out for the month leading up to the rejection, I felt oddly liberated upon hearing the news. Some of my best friends are attending prestigious schools like HBS, Kellogg, Chicago GSB, and Wharton next year....and I'll be on the sidelines, going through the process of applying again next year. The process will be painful, but, with the lessons that I picked up this year, I hope to do a better job at applying....and hopefully, getting in this time around.

3) Count something.......

better living through....measurement? I've actually applied this to my personal life by measuring my progress and preparing for a half-marathon. I've seen it pay divideds by cutting my average pace from 9:32 min/mile in January to a more respectable 8:48 min/mile here in April. If I can improve something like jogging in such a short amount of time, what else can I improve through measurement?

4) write something

you are looking at it. my blog. i started this as a place to vent my random thoughts....and to save my incredibly patient girlfriend from having to listen to my rants and raves....

so far, i'm happy with the progress....160+ page views, 100+ visitors....and a few guest writers. I'm really excited for the future of this site, and I hope that others can share in that excitement with me.

and finally....the last (and I believe) most important lesson....

5) CHANGE

Don't talk about Change. Don't think about Change. If you want to change, change. I've always wanted to get into photography...so I went out and bought a nice camera. I still stink as a photographer but, I'm making progress. Sometimes, the risk of not changing is much greater than the risk of changing. Take a wrong step....you might learn something new about yourself.

if you get a chance to read the book, I highly recommend it. If you don't, then I hope that my little opus shed a little light into the continually process that we all go through....in order to become "Better".

Initial nike+ipod review

When I first started this blog (about a month ago), I envisioned it to be a place for me to write about various things......and I decided to categorize topics, just to see what really interested me.

It isn't surprising that travel is #1, since I'm in the middle of planning for a trip to Costa Rica.

Sports (watching...not playing) comes in #2, which isn't surprising since the majority of the posts were written during the NCAA tournament.

Somewhere down the list comes running, which was one of the primary reasons for starting a blog. I wanted this blog to be a place where I'd post my race results (only 1 road race this year...but join me for #2 this Saturday), and I'd be accountable to my end goal of 500 miles in 2008.

Since the weather is finally starting to turn the corner in Chicago, I decided that I needed a better way to track my distance (running to the end of the block and back was not precise enough). So, I did my research, and ended up at Fleet Feet, in Piper's Alley. The salesperson there walked me through the various options....Polar was too much gadget for me, Garmin was too expensive, and Timex too hokey....eventually I settled on teh nike+ipod kit.



Out of the box, I tried it on the treadmill. I ran 2.5 miles (according to the treadmill), and the nike device claimed that I ran 3.06 miles.

The next day, I ran a 10k (6.2 miles), and it registered 7.3 miles.

While I loved that my average pace (according to nike) was something like 7:30 min/mile, it just wasn't that accurate for me.

So I finally opened up the manual, and read that I needed to calibrate the damn thing! I quick mile long jog along the lake, and the device was calibrated.

Today, I ran 2 miles alongside Tampa Bay. The mile-markers claimed 2 miles, the device 2.02....good enough for me.

with only 1 calibrated run performed, I'm a little hesitant to say that this thing works...but it just does. I like the speaker lady's calm voice, telling me that I'm halfway there. I like the social networking / web 2.0 aspect of nikeplus.com. And I like that the device is unobtrusive, I don't even notice it when I go running.

if you already go running with an ipod nano, and are looking for a cheap ($30) toy to help you track your time and distance, then the nike+ipod is a great place to look...check it out for yourself, and if you have any tweaks/tips/thoughts, please leave them in the comments.

Annoying fundraising emails.....and blog posts....

Since the summer is rolling closer and closer, I'm sure that our inboxes are going to get spammed with incredibly worthwhile causes that sometimes we just can't afford....

but, since its still spring (or, at least the calendar claims that its spring), I'm going to make my pitch before the masses do...please donate if you can, if you can't, please forward the link along. I really appreciate it guys....

I'm on the planning committee for this year's American Brain Tumor Association Path to Progress 5K run/walk, taking place in Chicago's Montrose Harbor on April 26. The race is being held to raise money for brain tumor research, and 100% of the funds raised will go towards that end.

Back when I suffered from a brain tumor, I found the American Brain Tumor Association to be invaluable in my path to recovery. Now, as a survivor, I help council current patients with their own struggles.

If you are in the Chicago area, I'd really appreciate if you could join me in running the 5k alongside Lake Michigan. If you aren't in the Chicago area, I'd appreciate if you could read and follow this link to your friends and colleagues.

http://hope.abta.org/goto/smangalick2008

Thanks again for your help and support!

Sharad

Google Documents...and my ghetto running log

Earlier, I wrote about my SMART goals for this year.

My friends are sick of hearing about my running goals, and my progress towards mile 500 (I hope to moonwalk that last mile), so, in the spirit of greater accountability, I've decided to post my spreadsheet every month, and you guys can chew me out, cheer me on, and maybe inspire me to do better.....

i look forward to hearing your comments!

Revisiting my New Years Resolutions

At work, I'm required to document my goals using SMART objectives.

S - Specific
M - Measurable
A - Attainable
R - Realistic
T - Timely

Since my original new years resolutions (lose weight, learn more, etc.) were not SMART in any way, I've decided to update them.

#1 Learn a foreign language.

S - Learn Spanish. I want to become conversational in Spanish
M - unsure, thoughts on this?
A - this is very attainable, I just need to start hitting the books
R - again, very realistic, just need to get some books and a teacher
T - sure

#2 - Run a half marathon

S - seems pretty specific, running a 13.1 mile race
M - yup, I have a goal of running 500 miles this year. I'm using a spreadsheet to track my progress, but might need to buy a running watch, to track my time and distance outside
A - that depends on my energy levels, but yes, attainable
R - didn't seem very realistic a year ago, but now that I can run a 6 mile run, I have the confidence that I can achieve this
T - I've gained 20 pounds in the last year, so yes...this is very timely. I'm currently at 185, and I want to get back down to the 165 pound range.

#3 - Volunteer More - self explanatory

#4 - Write more - I think I tend to keep things bottled up too much, and I've heard that writing helps ease that stress. I've debated between a journal (too girly) and a blog (too geeky), and I think that the blog wins out....

the last 2 are more nebulous, and I don't think they will fit into the SMART framework, but I still want them out there...and make myself more accountable towards them.

thoughts?

Globe Trotters

Vaction Wish List (in no particular order):

1. Costa Rica - here we come!
2. Peru - for Mike. Don't forget to start training...
3. Rio - Mardi Gras Brazil-style
4. Napa Valley - all the wine you can drink.
5. Alaska - for its beauty and animals.
6. African Safari - animals, animals, animals
7. Sub-Saharan Africa - culture, history, nightlife
8. volunteer trip

Feel free to add as the thought arises.

[note] 6-8 added by Sharad...the rest was Sarah