less is more

An internal combustion engine thrives on more. Force as much gas and air into it as you can and it produces more horsepower.

We don't work that way.

The starving artist cliché has some truth to it. The hungry boxer who wins the match story line has a reason for its existence.

Once a level of success is reached, a desire for achievement dwindles.

Since your primary instinct is for survival, you will naturally kick back and take it easy when you are well fed.

Self-help and personal achievement may not start at the bookstore, they may start at the refrigerator. Thin out the pantry and eat just enough so that you remain hungry, you might just find the desire to achieve more.

I have faith

I have faith that I will think of something to write for Ordeal and I will do it soon.

I have a lot of material set aside for 1,151! and I expect to find a lot for Chris' Moto Gazette on Saturday, I just don't know what is in store for Ordeal at the moment.

But I do have faith.

Having faith is a result producing force that belongs on Ordeal anyway. You must have faith.

I often do not have enough faith but something comes along just the same. With more faith I could do even better.

So could you.

it's simple

I owe, it's simple. I owe Ordeal a visit everyday, I owe Ordeal a posting everyday, it's simple.

I am obligated. I need to write for Ordeal. It's worked for me and I work for it.

Choose your obligations wisely and then honor them. Don't take on more than you can handle. Handle whatever it is you take on.

Don't buy more than you need. It isn't about what we want it's about what we need. Take care of the needs first.

Let go of all that you don't need. Clear the decks. Get down to the basics. Eliminate want, thrive on need. Frustration will melt away. Just ask yourself, "Do I need this?"

works for me

Start your blog today.

Pick up where I leave off.

I'm not quitting this blog but it sure is getting harder to keep it going. Maybe it is just a passing moment.

I'm writing on 2 other blogs now and generally doing a little bit more of everything than I was before.Ordeal is getting shortchanged as a result.

But hey, it's all worked out! I think writing about self development sure helps in the self development department. It's worked for me! Too bad negative people can't grasp this point. If you direct your thinking your thinking will follow. Thoughts are like water, they follow the path of least resistance. As you think the neural pathways conform to your thinking. Think you hate everyone and everyone hates you and your brain will hardwire itself to continue thinking that way. Think your a winner and everything works out for you and everyone wants to be with you and your brain will hardwire itself for that type of thinking.

This is why you write out your lifes purpose, this is why you write out lists of things to do, this is why you write plans and goals. It hardwires your brain.

I got ten minutes before I leave for work and I'm hardwired to wash up and brush my teeth before I go so this is all for today.

Bye bye.

acorns into oak trees

Acorns into oak trees, seems I've heard that somewhere before. I think it is a favorite phrase of a great many preachers, teachers and writers.

The symbolism is obvious, from a little acorn a mighty oak tree grows, from the seed of an idea a great change occurs.

If there is a project you want to work on don't wait for the right time to get started, get started now with your first step. No matter how small that step is, even if it is as small as an acorn.

I have to get up Monday morning, drink a big glass of water, walk the dog, exercise and cut the grass. There are a few other things I want to do also, Ill write them all down on my list just before I go to bed tonight.

this and that

• I had different working hours on Thursday and Friday and it's funny how that can put you off your game. My free time had to be virtually unchanged but it was also completely unutilized.
• My nephew has finally taken a big step, he's concluded that he won't have the money to pay someone to work on his motorcycle anytime soon so he is going to do it himself. Once you start doing things for yourself there can be no stopping you. DIY is popular nowadays with home improvements but I think it is out of favor with a lot of other things. I'm sort of a hobbyist workshop historian and the purpose for workshops has changed through the years. Today it seems to be all about carpentry but fifty years ago it was more about being able to repair everything you owned. Two other things have changed in those fifty years, one is that now everything has electronics built into it and the other is that we just own one hell of a lot more stuff today.
• Speaking of stuff I heard some interesting things on the subject yesterday. The self storage industry is a $120 billion industry and there is room in all those lockers out there for all of us to get in if we had to.
  
• I'm going to the races today and hope to get some material for my Moto Gazette blog. I find that once I set the gears in motion in my head something always results. As opposed to passively going through the day that is.
  

simple step

Every night just before you go to bed take a moment to make a list of the things you want to do the next day. You do this before going to sleep because it stays on your mind.

It is a really simple step that you will find helpful.

Here is my list for Wednesday, didn't get much of it done but I did work on some of it.

Carnival of the Vanities

The 139th Carnival of the Vanities is up at Commonwealth Conservative.

If your not familiar with it The Carnival of the Vanities is a weekly best of collection of blog postings.

elemental purpose

Elemental purpose

Finding your purpose is a primary area of interest if you are working on self development. It is one of the subjects most written about by the self improvement writers. It is one of the first things you work one.

It isn’t always easy to pin down a purpose, for most of us life simply evolves and we play the hand we are dealt.

I’ve written about finding purpose before and I will write about it again but today I am writing about elemental purpose. Elemental purpose is universal, fundamental, and it is a purpose that we all have and that many of us neglect.

No matter what you decide your purpose is you have elemental purpose in front of it. Your primary purpose, before you can do anything else, is to maintain and improve the two tools that life has given you, your mind and your body. Failure to do so will hinder your ability to accomplish your life’s purpose.

Fortunately a synergistic effect can usually be employed when working on either the mind or the body. Whether doing chores or exercising the mind can be employed along with the body in the task.

This does not come naturally for most of us but we can do it with practice.

Your elemental purpose is to build a strong mental and physical foundation for your life.

do one thing

Profound change does not come easily.

It works for some people but not most of us. A big event like a heart attack does manage to convince a few of us that we are headed in the wrong direction and need to make a change. Big events like heart attacks however are not one hundred percent effective.

Incredible.

Lots of us know that we want to change but never manage to do anything about it. Also incredible.

I suggest for those of you who want to change that you do one thing. Pick one thing to do that isn't too challenging, one thing that isn't too disrupting, one thing that fits into the change you want to make without conflicting with who you are. I suggest you do that one thing.

Don't wait until you are ready because you are ready right now. If you wait until you are ready to start than starting is something you will never do.

Write down what the one thing is and read that description everyday. Do that one thing that you have changed everyday until it becomes a habit.

Just do one thing.

one thing

Self improvement boils down to one thing, thinking.

All the self improvement, personal transformation and business inspiration books on the shelves spend all their time telling you that you just need to learn to think in a new way. This idea may be new to us but it is not a new idea.

Hearing it like this it might seem so simplistic as to be worthless. It's not.

The steps to success have worn a path through the world yet most people cannot find them.

Set goals, learn about your mind, train your mind and act upon your plan. It can be as simple as focusing on these four steps.

Choose to control your thinking, that's it, that's the one thing.

all there is to it

To change the mind, change the body.
To change the body, change the mind.

That's all there is to it, too bad it isn't easy. Opportunity for change is through a door called maintenance, open it and proceed. You perform a certain amount of maintenance on your body everyday so that is where you can start to make little changes. Think of them as first steps down a long and productive road.

Wash your face a little better, brush your teeth a little longer, cut your hair a little shorter, your mind will begin to get a new message.

Drink water instead of pop, eat a salad everyday, cut down on the smoking, your mind will get the message.

You start telling your mind through actions and deeds that it is important to take care of your body. As you get fit and lose weight, your mind will want in on the action and it will start to change also.

That's all there is to it.

simple is as simple does

Simple, what a concept!

At work or at home when I am at the keyboard I am confronted by some cubic square feet of desktop PC and monitor and cables and more cables. What a mess! What a representation of the stuff that crowds into our lives to the point of crowding living out.

It really is time to take a stand against this complexity. I think I will shop for a lap top replacement for all of it. I'll give the boxes away to needy relatives and friends who will gum them up with virus attacks, malware and spam.

Once my table top clears I will parade a seemingly endless line of stuff across it for photographs so I can sell on eBay. I will gut my home! I will be able to walk all around the place again, I won't have to worry about thieves visiting in the night.

The best part is that when I am done I can go out and get some really good stuff!

eyes on the prize

Keep your goals right in front of you.

They must be written down, they must be posted where you can see them and they must be on your mind.

If you don't do this then other things will work themselves into your life and your goals will be pushed farther away.

It's just that simple.

I heard a story about Jimi Hendrix and goals once. When he took up the guitar he couldn't get enough of it. He kept his guitar right beside his bed and when he woke up in the morning he reached for it as he sat up, he carried it with him, playing all the time, as he went to the bathroom. Now that is keeping a goal where it belongs, with you all the time.

ordeal saved!

THANK YOU BLOGGER!
THANK YOU GRAHAM AT BLOGGER SUPPORT
THANK YOU FAITHFUL READERS

The evolution will now continue.

personal growth blog

Here is a Personal Growth Blog by Steve Pavlina.

Self improvement and Personal growth are not categories found in lists of blogs so I don't know how many of them are out there.

The Ordeal of Change is an easy going, little bit at a time, self improvement oriented place, mixed in with the writers random thoughts and stories.

Steve Pavlina.com/blog is a more professional place where the posts are larger and the purpose is different.

advice for bloggers

John Hawkins at Right Wing News has a nice piece on blogging, 25 Pieces of Advice for Bloggers

Worth a read.

purpose purpose purpose

There are things that I want to do, there are things that I try to do and there are things that I will actually get done.

Living in the land of plenty provides plenty of distractions to the accomplishment of any real purpose. This is why it is so important to clarify what you want to do and who you are. You only have so much time available you know.

In our great country, we have lots of opportunity to do, to have and to be. The to have part gets most of us first.

Having is a relationship, you form a bond with your stuff. Whether it is something as small as a pen or something as large as a house it becomes yours and you don't want to let it go.

This is a trap. Having sucks away your energy and time. Consider putting the having part second or third in your priorities. Consider not having at all. Think about all of the stuff that you have, how does this stuff make your life better? You have to watch it, protect it, maintain it, repair it, spend time working to pay for it.

This is all a very hard thing to consider but consider it you should.

this and that

• I saw a bobblehead of Jack Kerouac in the paper. I excitedly showed it to someone. She only sneered, "I never liked him."

• I thought this was really funny when I read it:

Two math consultants were at lunch and one says to the other "I'll bet you 50 bucks that waitress is an unemployed mathematician."

The second guy takes the bet, then when he goes to the washroom the first guy calls the waitress over and says "There's a $20 tip for you if, after my friend comes back, you come over and answer my next question "four thirds pi r cubed."

So his friend comes back from the washroom and the waitress comes over and he says to her, "What's the integral of pi r squared?"

"Four thirds pi r cubed," she says, "plus a constant."

I envision myself telling this joke to plant engineers when I come across them.

• I really ragged on some guys with auto related blogs. They said they thought GM and Ford would have to merge. This is what I commented:

You self appointed auto pundits are crazy! Ford and GM merge? Fagidaboutit!
You guys must be experiencing acid flashbacks.
Duh? The writers at the magazines must be getting a kick out of this. At least that segment of the 3rd estate doesn't have to worry about blogs if this is the kind of work you do!
I can't explain it to you if you really think it is possible. Work out the mechanics of such a merger for yourself before you post nonsense like this.

• My brother is floating on air at the moment. He bought a Leslie speaker at the flee market, probably only paid 50 bucks for it. Now he is selling it for ten times that on eBay. What kills me is that he always thinks he is very clever when he trips over lucky breaks like this. I had to explain to him what it did and who would want it.
• Got a dollar with a Where's George stamp on it. This site tracks the mobility of our currency. Interesting, I guess.

do something

I think every Monday I will write about a step to take for self improvement.

I'll start this series off with a simple step that helps a lot. You can't do this everyday but you can do it most of them.

Here it is:

Do something productive as soon as you get up in the morning.

When you wake up in the morning get right out of bed and get right to work. Do something, a 2o minute workout, clean something, wash the car, anything, just do something right away. It sets the tone for the whole day.

Don't get the paper and eat a pop tart! Do something!

order to chaos

If I have to start over I might as well do it right.

The Ordeal of Change will now be strictly about self improvement, mine and yours. I might even get into a pattern with it, writing on the same subject on particular days. Well, I'm sort of thinking as I write here, let's just say it will be a little less random.

Chris' Moto Gazette is a new blog I created in the middle of my crisis today. I'm going to write about people in motorsports that I meet this year. Not the people who are already getting attention but the regular guy who is having fun with his car or bike. This is the blog I was talking about a few months ago, I've decided to just start small and see what I can do. There isn't anything there yet but if you're a regular reader who likes my writing it will be worth looking into in a month or so.

1,151! is a weight loss blog. There are three of us who are too short for our weight and we need to work together to remedy the situation. I would like to see it as a public blog but it will be a democracy so this may be your only chance to book mark it.

As always there will be no politics, no work related posts and no family posts on my blogs.

That's the plan tonight.

what a day!

I'm going to rest now.

the 411

Okay, this is what happened.

I started a new blog, it's called ‘1,151!,’ it's a weight loss blog for three big guys. I didn't like it because my profile pops up on the cover so I decide to delete it. I figure I'll sign into Blogger under a different name to create this new blog. I hit the back button and I should have been in the 'settings' for ‘1,151!’ but somehow I was in the settings for Ordeal.

I don't know how that happened.

I hit the delete button and when the dashboard pops up, ORDEAL IS GONE!

OH MY GOD! I almost cried (I've always had too much estrogen, especially when I lift weights.) I was so upset.

I emailed Blogger right away. That always gets you an automated response. I sent the automated response back with my desperate pathetic plea for help. I haven't heard back yet. I don't expect much.

Now they should have the entire original Ordeal on their back up server but that doesn't mean that anyone will take the time to dig it up.

I saved the first two months on my home PC but had not done the same thing for March and April.

Oh well, that's my story.

good advice

Drink a big glass of water 1st thing in the morning.

Then do something productive. Do anything productive. Do a 2o minute workout. Write, work in the yard, do some maintenance on the house or work on the car, anything. Just do something productive right away.

It sets the tone for the rest of the day. It finds the path to productive days for you.

If you don't want to make improvements in your life, then have some coffee and watch one of those morning shows.

on being a man

The Kingdom of the Lion - Aesop

The beasts of the field and forest had a Lion as their king. He was neither wrathful, cruel, nor tyrannical, but just and gentle as a king should be. He made during his reign a royal proclamation for a general assembly of all the birds and beasts, and drew up conditions for a universal league. in which the Wolf and the Lamb, the Panther and the Kid, the Tiger and the Stag, the Dog and the Hare, should live together in perfect peace and amity. The Hare said, "Oh, how I have longed to see this day, in which the weak shall take their place with impunity by the side of the strong."

my con man

My con man tells me I need a new tube amp.

My con man tells me that a Coke with lunch won’t hurt.

My con man tells me I’m too tired to hit the gym.

My con man tells me I don’t have time to write today.

My con man tells me I can cut the grass tomorrow.

My con man tells me snickers loves me.

My con man tells me set the book on the table instead of putting it back.

My con man tells me that everyone knows I’m the man for the job.

My con man tells me that I look good for my weight.

My con man tells me that I need to go yard selling.

My con man tells me that this TV show is interesting.

My con man tells me that my film cameras still have a future.

My con man tells me that I can diet tomorrow.

My con man tells me that my brother gives me a good deal when he sells me something.

As you can see, my con man tells me a lot of stuff. I’ll bet your con man tells you a lot of stuff too. They’re great fellows; they only have our best interests at heart. They know that if you do what they tell you to do that you will be happy.

You’re not happy when you diet, you’re not happy when you exercise, why should your con man tell you to do something like that?

It’s time to figure out how to change the con mans mind.

i'm listed on the exchange

Just discovered this tonight. I'm still a bit compulsive about my stat counter so I like to see where my readers are coming from.

A reader came in from Blogshares, "a fantasy stock market for weblogs."

Here is the home page.

And here is the page for The Ordeal of Change.

I haven't taken the time to look this all over and I can't say that it's at the top of my list but I will probably spend some more time with it this weekend.

win a house

diy is giving away a house.

enter every day here.

needs a little work

I will reduce my weight by XXX pounds by May 3 2006.

I will make exercise a priority. I will use the many methods that I know and enjoy. I’ll be biking, rowing and gliding. I’ll walk my dog and jump my rope. I’ll shadow box and strike yoga poses. I’ll practice the PYTP exercises. I’ll walk as much as I can when I go to the races.

I will only drink cold water from now on. I will eat green leaves and vegetables everyday. I will eat three apples everyday.

I will fast for a couple of days every month.

I will incorporate breathing exercises into my plan.

far memory

I dreamed it was a beautiful crisp spring day.

I came upon a building bathed in sunlight.

At the front were two magnificent doors.

Someone told me everything man had learned was behind those doors.

It was all there, mine for the taking.

How could I not take advantage of it?

Why would you not take advantage of it?

that old devil darwin

I’m logical and pragmatic and I think it takes more faith in God to believe in evolution than it does to believe in creationism.

Consequently, I see the continuing argument over evolution in the schools in a reverse sort of way.

Here is an interesting article on the subject as it is about to boil up again in Kansas,

puzzles

Kinda cool.

The Retail Alphabet Game.

Figure out what corporate logo each letter comes from. Perhaps being good at this game means that you are a slave to advertising.

not proud

I just found out about this site.

It's called Not Proud and I'm sure it's been there for years.

Visitors post little confessions about their experiences with the 7 deadly sins.

I haven't explored the confessions but I suspect that there might be some wisdom for us in the more mundane confessions.

autosuggestion

Napoleon Hill calls it autosuggestion but he doesn't mean self-hypnosis. He describes it as a method of penetrating the sub-conscious for the effect of making personal change.

This is the reason you write out a statement about your intentions and read it aloud two or three times a day.

I think of it as directed thinking. I know what I want to think versus what I usually think so I can direct my thoughts in the direction I want to go.

As an example I mentioned in my last post a Jaguar XK-150 coupe and wouldn't you know it, I woke up dreaming about that same car.

autobiography

Born 50 years ago today, introvert straight out of the box.

Child of the sixties, we could spend as much time outdoors as we wanted to and usually did. Four TV channels and one of them was snowy. Started school in the 1^st grade, rode my bike a mile to get there. Rode bikes everywhere and no one had to watch us.

I was the fastest kid in school in the 8^th grade. The boys always played tag at recess.

High school class of ’73, teachers unions can say what they want, like most kids no teacher ever reached me. Registered for the draft and watched the draft lotteries.

Played basketball, worked in restaurants and bought cars after school.

Sure signs of a misspent youth: 1961 Studebaker Hawk, 1960 Jaguar XK-150 coupe, 1968 Jaguar XKE, Triumph TR7, Dodge Dart, Mercury Cougar, Honda CB750K, Honda CBX, VW Karman Ghia, Pontiac GTO,

Finally wised up and got a job as a mechanic to learn how to take care of cars and bikes. Funny thing is that there weren’t any great cars after that.

Got a job in manufacturing and am still there today.

Interests through the years include; reading, writing, photography, cars, bikes, motorcycles, racing, rock and roll, guitars, self improvement, running, weight lifting, tropical fish keeping, hand tool woodworking, airplanes, computers, my job, my nephew Geoff who lived with me for awhile, my dogs, history, machine work and a number of other things.

Ate too much and spent too much the last 20 years, it’s time to reverse that course. Have too much so a lot has to go.

To have or to be? Choose to be.

That leaves a lot out but it is good enough.

the desire method from TAGR

In chapter two of Think and Grow Rich there is a six-step process "by which desire for riches can be transmuted into its financial equivalent."

Of course, it’s a process by which a desire for anything can be transmuted into the result desired.

I'm putting the process to work for a variety of projects.

Here is the process.

1. Write a precise statement of what it is you desire.
2. Determine what you have to do for this result.
3. Set a completion date.
4. Write out a complete plan of action.
5. Write out a statement of all of the above using only positive expressions.
6. Read the statement aloud first thing when you get up in the morning and before you go to bed at night. You might throw in another reading in the middle of the day also.

Sounds remarkably like the process taught in business today except for step six.

Mind maps to follow.