You know the Quicklaunch bar next to your start menu on the taskbar? Remove your browser icon from that. The easier you make your browser to access, the more often you’ll access it. Delete that icon and leave it on your desktop, or, better yet, keep it nestled deeply in your Start menu so you have to WORK to find it. The more work it is to goof off, the less likely you are to do it. Time saved!

This is one of the best and most useful things I’ve ever done. I do less than half the web browsing I used to, simply because I made it harder to goof off than to focus on my job.

Sure, you can be super self-disciplined all the time.. or you can just understand that you will ALWAYS inevitably go for the path of least resistance, and if you can make it harder to goof off than work, you’ll end up working. It’s a fraction of the effort. People goof off because it’s easier. The solution: Make it harder. You’ve harnessed human nature and the problem is solved.

I picked up a copy of Rockstar’s Bully today. Basically it’s a game where you play a punk miscreant at an extremely tough boarding school, and you get to do more or less whatever the hell you want, and it’s supposed to be fun. Fortunately, so far, it is. :)

I’m a few hours in so far and I’m loving it. The controls are tight, the art is surprisingly good for a R* game, the gameplay is there, the sense of humor and general R* level of polish and style is evident in every level of the game and it’s an absolute marvel. More games should kick this much ass. I feel happier about the world of game development when I see things this good being accomplished!

I think this is the first game I’ve bought since the original Dawn of War came out and I’m really happy with it. The game’s peppered with good decisions, and so far doesn’t seem to fall victim to the same bullshit that makes all the GTA games kick ass to a point, and then becoming absolutely fucking unplayable. I’m very happy for R* and think they’re doing a great job. :)

My only two nitpicks so far are

1) The deeply, deeply flawed camera system during chases. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been running from a prefect when the camera and my controls suddenly reverse on me for two seconds, then reverse again, then keep reversing uncontrollably until I get caught. I’ve almost snapped my controller in half with my bare hands half a dozen times, wishing it was that particular programmer’s sternum. :)

2) The pisspoor explanation of the underlying rules of the Art class. I didn’t know intersecting your line-in-progress would be an instant kill until I’d already failed it four separate times on Art 2 for no readily apparent reason. I thought simply colliding with the ‘enemy’ pieces would be enough to kill you, not your line itself. If you’d explained it better, I’d have beaten it by now. But no. So, yeah, thanks.

Admittedly, point 2 really is a pretty minor nitpick in the context of Bully, but all R* games I’ve played to date inevitably introduce some absolutely fundamental failure to explain a control system or present achievable goals that ALWAYS turn into shelf moments for me. GTA 3’s first “deliver 4 billion cars undamaged in 0.2 seconds” missions, then Vice City’s later missions (oddly, I forget specifics here), and ALL the flying missions in San Andreas… all instant murder of fun, can never touch the game again moments. It’s so frustrating because the games are SO good, and I can groove along with each of them to a point, but then they introduce these unbelievably boneheaded design failures that make the game impossible to enjoy and totally ruin them for me.

So yeah, I really hope Bully doesn’t fall victim to the same fault. So far, it’s incredible, and it’d be great if that wouldn’t change. :)

Yesterday I went out and bought a 2005 Ford Mustang GT. :)  Ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted a fast, fun, sporty, muscly car, and now I’ve got one. It’s fully loaded with every freakin’ feature imaginable. It’s in perfect condition, and even though it’s a 2005, it only had 1300 miles on it. I got a fantastic deal on it… the exact price I wanted, the exact monthly cost I wanted, an even lower interest rate than I wanted, and it has EVERY feature, widget, gadget, tchotchke and gewgaw I ever wanted.

I am SO FREAKING HAPPY.

Best of all, it’s a manual transmission, which I did not know how to drive. :)  I had a friend pick me up from the lot, drive my car back to work, then teach me to drive it around in the parking lot at work until I was confident enough to be able to drive myself home.

Pictures of my car from the lot I bought it from!

In case you couldn’t tell from the title graphic, I shaved off my mohawk.

Everybody asks me why, so here’s a brief explanation: I went a couple days wearing a hat instead of putting my mohawk up, and I realized I was no longer the center of attention everywhere I went. The lack of that annoyed me, because I absolutely adored the attention.

The whole thing was an exercise in getting used to being the center of attention. Why? I used to be super shy, and that pretty much forced me to come out of my shell and be very open and friendly and outgoing and get used to managing high levels of attention wherever I went.

So once I wasn’t getting the level of attention I was used to, I realized I was getting far too vain, and that it was just becoming a cheap attention-getting trick. I absolutely loved having it, and never got tired of it in the ten plus months I had it. I was faster than ever at putting it back up and it being impressive, and if anything, I loved it MORE at the end than at the beginning.

But I decided I’d rather shave it off and look normal, and find other ways to be distinctive. Regardless of how much I enjoyed it.

I can be pretty fucking impulsive, and that was definitely one of those times. I sat down, thought about it for about two minutes, then walked into the bathroom and shaved it off without a second thought, with a smile on my face the whole time.

Nothing is sacred. Not even the things I love. If I think I can benefit from it, I’ll do it, no matter how much I feel like I’ll hate it. I trust my own judgment enough to violently contradict it and take seemingly ridiculous risks. It’s worked out pretty fucking well for me so far so I feel no reason to stop doing it. :)

I’d like to mention, on a totally wild tangent, that in this particular strain of thinking, I’ve met a girl that’s absolutely wonderful that’s completely redeemed my faith in womankind. Prior to meeting her, I was literally committing to give up on all relationships — male or female, just to cover all bases — for an entire year. Every girl I’d met since my divorce (and my whole life, upon further reflection) was completely batshit insane, and made me feel worse off than before simply for having met them.

Then I met this girl one night, on a completely ridiculous coincidence, and we fell ridiculously in love and I’m happier than I’ve ever been, even far, far before the soul-destroying divorce I’ve gone through. I never thought I’d love again, and I’d been ready on resigning myself to lonely, relationship-less life full of nothing and no one but me. But I met her, fell in love, realized what a relationship really could be and came alive. Life is great and it’s worth taking risks over.

Nothing is ever as bad as you think it is. If you learn nothing else from me, remember that and act accordingly. You’ll be surprised what happens.

I’ve found an absolutely amazing book that I’ve been rolling around and splashing in for the last few weeks. It’s a book that presents a very compelling argument that goal setting, relaxation, visualization, stress management, and flow are all total bullshit that will hurt you. :)

It’s called Overachievement: The New Model for Exceptional Performance.It’s basically a book that takes a look at the superstars of the world in sports, business, and politics and finds out how they think. It’s written by a psychologist that studies these people for a living and draws conclusions from that. It craps all over conventional wisdom and presents a lot of damned convincing reasons for it.

It’s one my top three best books ever. It totally grooved along with things I’d already thought but hadn’t put into words, and taught me a lot more besides. Ever since reading it, my attitude toward work and life has completely taken a 180 for the better. I’ve been happier and more productive ever since, and I’m still not even completely finished with it. :)

Basically, if you want to kick ass and be truly great, follow this book’s advice to the letter. I’ve NEVER found a book with so much incredibly potent and useful information.

Here’s an excerpt from it that totally blew me away. It explains how some of the traditional “tells” of stress and anxiety that people think are bad are actually your body stepping up to help you focus on kicking ass, on a physiological level!

—- EXCERPT BEGIN —-

Being a clutch player means thriving under pressure–welcoming it, enjoying it, making it work to your advantage. I can teach you how to do this, but first you will have to retrain some instincts, and that will require understanding two things:

1) Everything that your body does to you when the pressure is on is good for performance.

2) Pressure is different from anxiety; nervousness is different from worry.

Butterflies Are Normal

What is really happening to the body? Like almost every animal, humans have bimodal sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems that have evolved over thousands of years. One stimulates the heart, lungs, eyes, and muscles; the other suppresses them. One prompts basic bodily functions such as digestion and processing water and waste; the other shuts these systems off. They work in tandem. The sympathetic system is crucial for finding food, being on the lookout for dangerous predators, and defending against enemies, while the parasympathetic system keeps the body fueled, warm, working efficiently, and prepared for reproduction. When one turns up, the other turns down, and vice versa.

Under pressure, the brain switches the body to red alert. This activates the sympathetic nervous system, and energy is redistributed from parasympathetic tasks to maximize sympathetic tasks:

- The mouth goes dry. This is sometimes called “cotton mouth” because the body is channeling effort into tasks more important than producing saliva. We don’t need extra spit to sink a free throw at the buzzer.

- Butterflies in your stomach. The sensation of “butterflies” occurs from excess stomach acid because the digestive system is shutting down. During a major presentation to the board, who’s eating lunch?

- Stomach cramps. This is because the stomach lining is shrinking. THe body has stopped producing bile and is trying to get rid of any remaining food.

- Sweat flows. This is a safety mechanism to prevent the body from overheating. Even an audition for the New York Philharmonic is not worth boiling vital organs.

- Hands, feet, or knees begin shaking. That’s the body sending faster motor signals from the cortex through the motor neurons out to the extremeties, which will be running, throwing, illustrating, acting, keyboarding.

- Faster heartbeat. The heart beats faster to get more blood through the arteries, carrying nutrients and oxygen to the working muscles and brain cells so they can perform at a higher level.

- The eyes dilate. And doing so makes vision more acute.

- The mind races. this enables you to process a greater amount of information in a shorter amount of time.

All of these adaptations are the body’s way of making us perform more efficiently when we’re under the gun. When humans face stress, we are hardwired to respond favorably. Our bodies know just waht to do. Quicker hands and feet, more oxygen and fuel to our muscles, greater visual acuity, increased mental capacity–sounds like a pretty good formula for coming out on top, doesn’t it? So whether you are running the hundred-yard dash in the Olympics, trying to get one hudndred stitches into a patient’s heart within a minute, getting your fingers to play the allegro in a Mozart violin concerto, or pulling off the biggest sale of your career, why would you want to be more relaxed?

Relaxation teaches your muscles to lose tone, your brain to be passive. You cannot win gold medals without muscle tone, nor can you perform at your utmost with other parts of your sympathetic nervous system switched to “slow.” Most people experience fight-or-flight symptoms and BAM!–their performance is overwhelmed by feelings of anxiety. But arousal and anxiety are not the same thing. You simply have been conditioned or taught to treat them as equals. They’re not.

- The physical symptoms of fight-or-flight are what the human body has learned over thousands of years to operate more efficiently and at the highest level.
- Anxiety is a cognitive INTERPRETATION of that physical response.

Most people have come to believe that anxiety and stress go hand in hand. That assumption, however, is dead wrong. Stress need not produce anxiety. Once Bill Russell, a famous athlete, figured out the connection between his body’s physiological preparation and his performance, he actually was relieved to be throwing up before the big game because he recognized it as evidence that he was ready to play his best. Butterflies, cotton mouth, and a pounding heart make the finest performers smile–the smile of a person with an ace up their sleeve. Fight-or-flight symptoms comprise the extra juice they’ll need to go up against the best, so they welcome it. Many CEOs have confided to me that what they love most about their jobs are the aspects that make them the most nervous. They definitely would agree with Tiger Woods, who has often said, “The day I’m not nervous stepping onto the first tee–that’s the day I quit.”

All the great athletes, musicians, actors, doctors and business executives I’ve talked to seem to think the same way. So why does everyone else identify the body’s sympathetic response to high-stakes situations with fear of failure? The confusion tends to stem from childhood, almost as an accident. Here’s what happens: It is the first time you have to deliver in public. You are eight years old, playing in your first Little League game, giving your first recital, appearing in your first play, or delivering that debut book report from memory right before hte class. Your body goes nuts, registering all the classic fight-or-flight symptoms. On some level (and it’s usually not a higher cerebral level because, hey, you’re eight and you don’t process things that way yet) you are wondering, “What is happening ot me?”

Then you proceed to perform poorly.

You strike out three times and let the ball roll right between your legs, you blow your lines, you forget the next note, you blank on what the book was about. The next time you are called upon to perform in public, your body still reacts to the pressure, but you think, “The last time I felt this way, I was so awful that the other kids laughed at me.” Before you know it, you have attributed poor performacne to the body’s natural response under pressure. You essentially instructed yourself that the root of your problem was your body’s effort to help you perform to your utmost.

Trouble was, you didn’t really have any “utmost.” You performed badly because you simply were not yet very skilled. You were only eight years old! Your teacher probably didn’t teach you how to prepare your speech; you hadn’t practiced enough with your instrument. Some of the greatest athletes in history were lousy at age eight–or much older. (Remember: Michael Jordan got cut from his high school team sophomore year.)

Thus begins a vicious cycle between physical reactions to pressure and high anxiety. For the rest of your school days and then on the job, whenever you are asked to perform in public and the symptoms of arousal appear, you fill your head with negative thoughts. That is why amateur golfers with decades of experience still dread standing on the first ete, or why fifty-year-old executives live in terror of every presentation or big meeting with the board. Performing poorly becomes identified with the body’s natural invigoration mechanisms. The anxiety gets worse until you finally tell yourse,f, “I have to learn how to relax.”

The mistaken identity between stress and anxiety is so ingrained that when I ask new clients to tell me about their experiences performing under pressure, they often respond with a soliloquy on fear. I want to hear about breakthrough moments, the good stuff, but they tell me about choking, doubt, and ducking every opportunity that might activate such awful feelings. No wonder in our culture few words carry a more negative connotation than “pressure” and “stress.” Stress gets blamed for everything that doesn’t have an otherwise clear diagnosis. Going gray or losing your hair? Must be stress. Unidentified pains or headaches? You guessed it. But stress is not the cause; it’s how you interpret stress that causes psychosomatic illness.

In performance arenas, psychologists call this “self-intimidation.” You feed your mind with thoughts and instructions that your body is doing something wrong. You tell yourself that you’re not going to perform well because of your own natural instincts. You use emotionally exaggerated language such as “my heart is jumping clear out of my chest; my stomach’s so twisted upside down, the knots will never come out.” Often you say, “If only I could just relax, I’d do so much better.” You undermine your confidence by creating an irrational fear of yourself. Athletes like Dennis Rodman and John Rocker make a multimillion dollar living out of intimidating opponents. Most people are already intimidating themselves–for free.

—- EXCERPT END —-

The whole book is that awesome. Buy it. :)