Read a good article this morning on the value of blocking your time ( Work Smart: Avoid Office Distractions With Time Blocking ). I have always been a big advocate of this time management tool and coach all my clients to do the same. If you respond to every email and phone call when it arrives, you will spend all your time reacting to other people’s agenda’s rather than working on your own priorities. If making the change to time blocking is too much of a stretch for you, try blocking part of your day and for the rest of the time, shut off your email, close your web browser, and do not answer the phone.

Life is overwhelming enough as it is. By gaining control over your time, you will immediately experience some relief and a sense of calm. Plus you will get through more of what you want done.

Non serious post. Last week I wrote about my fav mug (see Namaste). Well there is more to the story.

One morning a couple of summers ago, I was in the kitchen looking at all the flowery mugs and dishes in our house. There were a lot…And being the only guy in a house with three girls, what else would you expect?

So I went on a binge and ordered about a dozen “man” mugs.

A few of them didn’t make the cut – the steel mugs were not that good – but the ones below made the cut. These fuel my need for testosterone in the morning when I drink my brew (and my wife laughs her ass off at me).

Now I am on the hunt for man bowls, so let me know if you see any good ones.

If you work hard, good things happen.

Telling your kids they have natural talents like being smart is great for building confidence, but sets them up to rely on “being smart” and leaves them disillusioned if their smarts don’t get them what they want. It is better for your kids to know that hard work and effort will serve them in any situation. People are smart because they work hard, not because they are naturally smart. This goes for all other talents whether it be drawing, coordination, cooking, business or music.

I can recall the exact day I learned how to gain calm under stress.

It was the mid 90’s in the middle of the Internet boom. The pace was frenetic and we used to talk about time passing at Internet speed. I was growing my first startup, GlobalX, running hard, working 7 days a week, and juggling way too many priorities. On this particular day, I had raced out of the office, late for a meeting and as I waited for the elevator I noticed my heart was pounding a million miles an hour.

As the doors opened and an empty elevator greeted me, I stepped inside and the idea to stay still just came to me. To continue reading this post, click here >> [...]

Life is a marathon, not a sprint and keeping an exercise log helps you pace yourself.

During my twenties, I competed in triathlons and kept a log of my workouts to track my training. The training schedule was too complicated to put to memory and still know what I was supposed to be doing on any given day. After I stopped doing triathlons, the habit of keeping track stuck and I have kept an exercise log ever since.

Mine is pretty simple, tracking the exercises I do each day and the duration. I also track injuries and make notes on changes in diet or workout regimes. Nowadays I keep the log on a spreadsheet on my iPhone so i can easily update it and look it over.

I regularly review my workouts and, over time, I can see exercise levels and trends, and even lazy periods. If I notice I am fatigued, I can see where I might be over training and if I miss workouts I know what I have to do to get back on track. The log also creates momentum and commitment because I don’t like to see empty days in my calendar.

I consider the log an integral part of a solid fitness regime.

Sugar is the jack hammer of cuisine. It is like a freight train to the taste buds. It is addictive and overpowering and our culture loves it. I know this because I had (still have) a crazy sweet tooth. I could eat ten cookies and then want more. I could eat a whole bag of candy and many times. I might have been killing my system, but usually didn’t suffer right away and my metabolism and exercise regime would keep me slim even if I ate tons of sweets. If sugar was a food, it may have been one of my favorites, and I would often pass on other wholesome foods because I didn’t find them sweet enough.

Then last year, for the sake of my teeth, my pancreas, and the rest of my body and to avoid sugar spikes and crashes I virtually eliminated sugar and other processed sweeteners from my diet. My main rationale for making the change as to improve health, but there were a couple of awesome side effect that I hadn’t expected. To continue reading this post, click here >> [...]

Saturday morning, meditation, yoga and cycling done, now time for some piping hot chicory “coffee” in my favorite weekend mug.

I love this quote which applies whether you have survived cancer or not.

“Time is limited, so I better wake up every morning fresh and know that I have just one chance to live this particular day right, and to string my days together into a life of action, and purpose.”
— Lance Armstrong:

Was reflecting on all the ways I have reduced my exposure to toxins over the last few years and all the benefits I have experienced as a result. Here is a list of the things I have recently eliminated from my life either through diet and/or changing personal care products:

Meat - Stopped eating animals more than 5 years ago and have enjoyed better energy levels ever since (read more about this here Why I Became a Vegetarian)

Dairy - cut dairy products out of my diet in 2008 and my body got leaner and my energy levels increased yet again (read more about this here Why I Became a Vegan).

Aluminum - This year, I stopped using antiperspirants which include the controversial ingredient Aluminum Zirconium. This was a tough one to give up, but I switched to deodorants for a short period and then cut them as well and now use baking soda as my “perspiration manager” (read more about Aluminum here Things I Quit – Antiperspirant and Deodorant)

Parabens - Last year, I stopped using shampoos and soaps that contain cancer causing parabens. I enjoy peace of mind of knowing that I am reducing my exposure to carcinogens.

Wireless - This one is on my radar. I used to sleep with my blackberry beside my bed (in case an important call came in during the night??), but now I make sure the phone is off during the night to reduce my exposure to any radioactivity that my phone might be giving off. I plan to reduce this one further.

Sugar - A few years ago, I starting avoiding sugar/fructose and all other processed sugars. This is a tough one to eliminate altogether,  since there is sugar in so many foods, especially if you eat out, but I have virtually eliminated it by avoiding sweets and processed foods and by eating mostly whole foods. Now I don’t get the same energy spikes and crashes that I used to get from sugary foods (I had/have a sweet tooth) and my teeth are happier  (read more about carbs here Good Carbs and Bad Carbs).

Aspartame and Sodas – Last summer I was staring at the list of ingredients in the energy drink I was consuming and decided that I would no longer drink energy drinks or any other kind of soft drinks. Amongst the reasons was a decision to avoid aspartame and shortly thereafter I also stopped chewing sugarfree gum and eating anything that contains aspartame (to read more see Things I Quit: Energy Drinks).

Caffeine - Stopped being a slave to coffee last year. This was another tough one because I really liked my coffee, but I did and I am convinced I actually became more energetic during my days, plus sleep is so much better now (see Quitting Coffee).

Alcohol – I enjoyed my fair share of drinks in my school years, but since then have generally been a very low volume drinker. To begin with I am constantly hydrating so I avoid diuretics and even having a couple of drinks will wreck my sleep, make me foggy in the head the next day and ruin my workouts, so except for red wine I typically have one or less drinks a month.

There are still plenty of things in my life that I can “clean” up. I am far from perfect, but I don’t try to do it all in one go. I make a change, readjust and then set my sights on other things I want to cut out.

This may all sound like a lot of sacrifice, but I can hardly remember when these things were in my life. I eat an amazingly tasty diet all day long and my wife is a wonderful vegan cook. I have more energy than ever. I sleep better and I feel better than ever. Its hard for me to consider this a sacrifice in any way. All of the things I have cut out of my life, have improved my life.

“Life is an adventure, dare it.” — Mother Teresa