Scared? I was too.

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Josh Crocker

Two weeks ago I was scared.

“You’re going to Combatives Level 2” was the word that came down the chain. “Ok” was the response, followed by sweating, and a lump in my throat.

Modern Army Combatives was born in the late ‘90s, after the US Army performed an in-depth study on their hand-to-hand and ground fighting combat training. Some serious gaps were found in the training programs, and so special attention was given to finding a solution to this problem.

The solution came in the form of a ground fighting technique known as Brazilian jiu jitsu. What has now been popularized by MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) and the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) was the basis for the newly formed Modern Army Combatives program. You can read more details about it here.

After nervously attending MAC Level 1 in Montana last year, I was thoroughly surprised and found that I enjoyed the training. However, I knew that level 2 would be more difficult and would most-likely be more painful. I’ve always considered myself a lover, not a fighter (feel free to laugh at me, now).

Nobody likes to get punched in the face. The less that this has happened to you, inversely, the greater the potential fear of it happening. I’ve been in fights (what boy hasn’t grown up getting in fights?), but that was a long time ago. Not to mention that my 10-year old counterparts couldn’t hit me as hard as my battle-hardened brothers in arms.

Less face it, I was just plain scared to go.

Let’s talk about fear for a second

“I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” – Mark Twain

Fear has held back many a potential great act from actually taking place. There are quotes left and right from many courageous people that talk about how “courage isn’t the lack of fear, it’s the act of facing it” (or something comparable to that paraphrase). But let’s face it, when you’re scared, you’re scared.

Oftentimes it takes some action to eliminate that fear. The Magic of Thinking Big is an excellent book that talks about this – how action conquers fear. But how do we get to the point where we actually ACT in spite of our fear?

I am no expert on answering this question, but I’ll offer up my thought-process that came about when I didn’t give in to my opportunity to backing out of this school.

My “why”

First, I asked the question “why”? Why would I want to go to a school like this? Why would I want to subject myself to potential pain like this? Why would I leave my great civilian situation at home to willingly get the crap kicked out of me for two weeks?

The answers didn’t all come at once, but they did come.

First, I thought of a large group of people that have gone through things like this and not only come out alive, but they came out thriving. I thought, if they can do it, so can I!

Second, I vaguely remembered the confidence boost I’ve had throughout rough portions of my life that I came through. With no struggle, there’s really no appreciation of victory. This school was a victory that I needed in my life right now.

Third, I thought about the rest of the soldiers that are under my care. How can I stand in front of them, train them, push them, expect them to be the best, if I’m not willing to do the same to myself?

And lastly, I thought about some very dear friends of mine that are halfway around the world in much worse situations that I am. I’m sure they’d trade their position for mine any day. I owed it to them to suck it up, grab this bull by the horns, and just do it.

Guess what?

With all of the fear and worrying that I wasted my time on, I actually came out all right. Getting beat didn’t hurt as bad as I thought it would, and I actually ended up enjoying this course…a lot!

Funny isn’t it? Just like Mark Twain said above that he had wasted a lot of time worrying about things that never actually happened, so did I. This is something that I want to keep doing, and I’m fairly confident that going through this “tough” experience (can I really call it that?) is going to be a launching pad for bigger and better things.

Not out of the woods just yet

We’ve all gone through various trials throughout our lives, some more than others. This isn’t the first time that I’ve had my doubts about making a decision (and made it anyway), and I’m SURE that it won’t be the last. But by writing it out, and laughing about how silly I was before going does help (and it makes for a good story, yes?).

So here’s Josh signing off, letting you know that nothing that I feared actually happened, and that I’m much better off knowing now that I won’t have to regret turning this opportunity down. I’ll leave with a quote from an unknown author that has led me to some of the best opportunities I’ve experienced in the last 3 years:

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”

Cheers!

-       JC

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Categories: Action Oriented, Fitness, Learning, Motivation | Leave a comment

It’s all about learning

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Josh Crocker

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to attend the Get Motivated seminar in Rochester.

Wow!

My mind has been blown

Listening to Rudy Giuliani, Terry Bradshaw, Gen. Colin Powell, Bill Cosby, and others was incredible. Simply incredible!

On my way walking from the car to the arena, I passed by Rochester’s public library and snapped this little pic:

Inscribed to the left of those massive pillars are written these words:

“Education is more than preparation for life. It is life itself.”

Stop and think about that for just a second.

The mark of successful people

I loved the seminar, because there was a speaker for every different walk of life, income leve, personality type. You name it, they had it. Some people loved one speaker, while others couldn’t stand them, and vice-versa.

One common attribute of every speaker however, was that they all talked about continuing to learn, continuing to educate themselves.

What would cause people to want to keep learning if, in the eyes of many that we rub shoulders with, they seem to have already “made it”?

Unless life is more than just “making it”.

What if the above quote is really true? How does that shape the way that you think? That I think?

Maybe a change in direction?

I’ve thought for a while if “Taking Fun Seriously” is really the mantra that I want to have these written thoughts known by. Is that me? Is that you? Short answer, yes. But maybe to take things a little deeper, one thing I have finally realized that I want to be known for (and hopefully you do too), is that at the end of our lives, we could be known as eternal students.

Always learning and teaching, always amazed by the journey.

Now that’s taking fun, and life seriously!

:)

- JC

(for some blurry Instagram shots of the speakers that I snapped between notes during the conference, click here)

Photo credit: “Books” by henrybloomfield

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Categories: Books, Business, Fun, Learning, Motivation | 2 Comments

My friends, I have not forgotten about you

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Josh Crocker

Greetings(!) from:

California:

NY’s Adirondack Mountains:

NYC:

Florida:

The Bahamas:

(You may not be able to tell, but I’m rocking my sexy NerdFitness shirt in the above pic)

West Point, NY:

The great city of Rochester:

And California (again):

My friends, I have not forgotten about you.

Sometimes life can get a little crazy. I’m not here to give some type of apology for not writing for so long. It’s just been crazy. I have been reading some great books lately, seen some amazing places, and built some great memories.

Memories are made sweeter by sharing them with others.

I’ll be pumping out some videos soon to chronicle the past few months’ adventures. Until then, you can check out my photo stream of random fun here.

Talk to y’all soon. Much love from Cali,

- JC

:)

Photo Credit

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Categories: Fun | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

My Four Hour Body Mass Gaining Experiment

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Josh Crocker

It feels so cool to have (finally) cracked the code.

It’s been 7 weeks for me on the Four Hour Body “Occam’s Protocol” eating/lifting plan for me, and I’ve got good news. :)

Seven weeks ago, I shared my plans with you guys on what I was going to do next physically. As someone who is known in the weight lifting industry as a “hard gainer”, I was curious to test out Tim Ferriss’ “minimalist mass-building” approaches. I wanted to see if I could do for most men in my family’s genetic background, what is almost impossible – add 10 lbs of lean mass.

The results

For transparency’s sake, I won’t hold back on the numbers here. Let’s face it, I’m a lightweight. This post is meant to be a pat on the back for my other lightweight brothas (and sistas) out there who are wondering if putting on weight will ever be possible. I’ll let the results speak for themselves :)

First, the circumference measurements:

Left arm, mid-bicep:

  • 10 3/4″ (1/17/2011)
  • 11 1/2″ (3/5/2011)

Right arm, mid-bicep:

  • 10 3/4″ (1/17/2011)
  • 11 1/2″ (3/5/2011)

Waist (centered at bellybutton)

  • 32″ (1/17/2011)
  • 33 3/4″ (3/5/2011)

Hips (widest point between navel and thighs)

  • 35 1/4″ (1/17/2011)
  • 37 1/2″ (3/5/2011)

Left leg, mid-thigh

  • 20 1/2″ (1/17/2011)
  • 22″ (3/5/2011)

Right leg, mid-thigh

  • 20″ (1/17/2011)
  • 21 1/2″ (3/5/2011)

Observations from this – I was pretty happy to have gained circumference in every area measured. My thighs surprised me as being different circumferences. Although they did gain the exact same amount (1 1/2″), it’s something I have in mind I may want to get looked at, as left/right imbalances can lead to injury down the road. All in all, I’m pretty happy!

Bodyfat – Good, bad, or ugly?

Rather than giving all of the OCD technical details, I’ll just share some totals here:

Total skinfold measurements (using the Slimguide Skinfold Calipers)

  • 34mm (1/17/2011)
  • 40mm (3/5/2011)

Body fat percentage (Based on the 4-point Durnin/Womersly chart*)

  • 14.3% (1/17/2011)
  • 16.17% (3/5/2011)

*There’s a math chart that comes with the Slimguide calipers, but after week 2 I discovered this VERY helpful online calculator. NOTE: If you’re going to use this, make sure that your measurement algorithms are consistent each time)

Yes, my body fat percentage did go up during this experiment, which I’ll elaborate on in just a moment. I’ll take whatever my body and what I’m eating will give me for this test-run. :)

Hitting the big goal (and understanding it too)

My big goal was simple: Gain 10 lbs of lean mass. Not too complex, right? Let’s look at the data:

Body weight

  • 147 lbs (1/17/2011)
  • 163 lbs (3/5/2011)

That’s right baby…16 lbs of meaty man in 7 weeks! Ok, it wasn’t ALL meat, but lemme break it down for you:

Lean body mass (total body weight – body fat in lbs [determined through applying the BF % to my total weight])

  • 126 lbs (1/17/2011)
  • 137 lbs (3/5/2011)

Not only did I gain my 10 lbs, I felt need to add a bonus 1 on there as well! All sarcasm aside, although this 11 lb gain also came with 5 lbs of fat, I’m still very happy. I’ve finally cracked the code on how to put on mass. Here’s the important lesson of how I know I can take those 5 lbs off quickly (and more, to get ready for 6-pack season):

What gets measured gets managed

One thing that became overwhelmingly clear to me during the past 7 weeks was this: It’s important to quantify inputs and results when I’m (or you’re) pursuing change. Because I meticulously measured EVERYTHING (click here to see a sample page from my workout notebook), I can go back and see what changes in diet/sleep/rest helped to add muscle, provide energy, or simply turned to fat.

Thanks once again to DailyBurn (and their sexy iPhone app), I have record of everything that I ate in the past 7 weeks. Because my wife is simultaneously going through the Slow Carb diet from the book, our eating times had to differ (so I wouldn’t tempt her to eat something she shouldn’t). Every Sunday following her Saturday “cheat day”, I was the garbage disposal for all left over goodies that she couldn’t finish the day prior (which is where I think the fat gain came from). Because I have record of that in DailyBurn, I can go back and see when and what I ate to find out how my body metabolized it.

Which got me thinking…

What if we measured the areas where we really wanted to change? I’ll use sleep as my example, because thankfully DailyBurn has a sleep tracker built in also (and I have a cheap app that helps to track sleep also). If I want to get more/better sleep, how will I know when the best time to go to bed or to wake up, or how long I should sleep will be? Many of us have so much going on in our lives that it’s hard to remember what we ate for breakfast sometimes. But if we’re keeping record, it’s not too hard to go back and see.

The next step

So lesson learned, I think I may make every first quarter of the new year my “get big” time, where I seek to add mass. With some looming competitions and more adventures on the way as the snow melts, it’s time to work on strength and endurance (good thing somebody has a guide coming out soon for that).

So for the next few weeks (why not say 28 days-ish), I’ll be joining my brothers and sisters on the slow-carb diet, although it’ll only be a half-slow carb – I’m going to save 1 meal out of the day for whatever I’d like. Don’t want to jump from the Occam’s protocol “eat everything in sight” regiment to a more conservative diet….yet. Don’t worry, I’ll share results with that also.

One last bit of odds and ends

Because I really enjoyed the analytical approach that was gleaned from this experiment, I’ll be highlighting some other noteworthy note-takers and methods on how to quantify. Don’t worry, I won’t make it sound that dorky though.

But my question is this:

What would you like to see more of here at TFS?

Leave your suggestions in the comments. I’m always looking for ideas on what to share/teach/discuss next. When I learn and grow, it reciprocates back. Boo-yah!

Talk to y’all soon :)

- JC

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Categories: Fitness, Health, How-To, Learning, Motivation | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

Mondays – Dread them? Or Charge Into Them Like a Mad Man (or woman)?

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Josh Crocker

(Quick note: Can’t see the pictures or videos in your email or RSS reader? Click this link here to see the buttery goodness)

What’s your take on Mondays?

When you woke up today, were you dreading going to work? Did you roll out of bed at the last possible second, wishing that the weekend could’ve lasted longer? Thinking of all the things you didn’t want to do today, or wishing for all those phone calls that you didn’t want to make to magically disappear?

Or did you wake up excited, ready to grab this Monday by the gonadulums (may have to add that word to the dictionary) and see what new challenges could be conquered?

Purpose

You can tell a good bit about a person’s ambitions (or lack thereof) by how they view Mondays. The same could be said also about their weekends, but Mondays usually are the best indicator.

If their Sunday nights/Monday mornings are usually filled with doubt, complaints, grumbling, moaning, hellfire and brimstone (maybe a bit of an exaggeration on that one), it’s a good indicator that they really don’t enjoy what they’re doing.

On the flip side, somebody who wakes up on a Monday just as excited as they wake up on a Saturday usually is a mover and a shaker. This isn’t a “you should quit your job and come bask in the sunshine of liberty” type of post, but typically the type of people that take Mondays with this approach are entrepreneurs. If not entrepreneurs, than people that have really gotten involved into a work (notice I didn’t necessarily say “job”) that they enjoy. It’s fulfilling. It’s worth something to them. It’s exciting.

Just a simple question

“Chase your passion, not your pension” – Dennis Waitley

My good home dawg Bruce (remember him from this post? Again, that’s not his real name) uses this quote as his email signature. I like it. It’s a good reminder to be involved in things greater than just a few trinkets.

Again, I’m not trying to be some lame holier-than-thou type and imply that wanting to make money is a bad thing, or that being an employee is a bad thing either. Neither of these are true. But here’s a good question to guage your view on Mondays:

If you weren’t getting paid to do what you do, what would you be doing?

I’m gonna leave it at that. More to come in a few days! Now, some fun videos for your enjoyment :)

A little motivation

I don’t know about you guys, but music really helps to fire me up. Sometimes aided with a little  bit of well-timed caffeine, a good song can make the creative juices flow like Niagara Falls. So I’d like to give you a few songs and videos that have helped me get the wheels turning, and help to keep the big picture in mind. Enjoy!

As you may see, I like a little piano music. If you haven’t gotten a Grooveshark account yet (it’s free), check it out and feel free to add these songs to your playlist.

And finally, for some odd reason (maybe the travel-aspect?), I watch this video anytime I need a jump start to plan and do amazing things. It’s kinda like a shot of adrenaline for me. :)

Cheers!

- JC

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Categories: Business, Motivation | Tags: , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Lifetime Learning – Why Now is the Time to Start and How You and I can Help Each Other

Posted on February 16, 2011 by Josh Crocker

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Ghandi

Taking Fun Seriously

Over the past 9 years, learning has become an obsession of mine. Maybe it was going to a good college. Maybe it was joining the military. Or maybe, just maybe, it had something to do with the (sometimes not so common) idea that learning is, and can actually be something fun.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately (uh oh…he’s gone crazy!), and one of the big topics that has been on my mind has been Taking Fun Seriously. What is it? Is it a blog? A website? A brand?

And then it hit me…

Thanks to some good “big picture” inspiration from my buddy Joel Runyon, I’ve come to the conclusion that “Taking Fun Seriously” is a living manifesto. It’s me. It’s who and what I am. I love to have fun, and I’m serious about doing it. I’ll elaborate more on this in the coming months, but I’d like to focus for now on one of the aspects that make TFS, well, FUN!

The joy of learning

Notice I did not say “schooling”. I’m not anti-school, but I do know quite a few people who from an early age grew a disdain for formal education. Just so I don’t step on any toes here, let me repeat: I am not anti-school. I had a VERY good public school and college education, and still feel like much of what I learned back in high school is still very relevant and useful to my everyday life (I AM smarter than a 5th grader, thank you very much!). My 11th grade English teacher would be so proud…

The problem with people who have a disdain for formal education is twofold:

  1. They have mistakenly identified formal education with all forms of education. One of my very favorite Mark Twain quotes is, “I never let schooling interfere with my education”, meaning that he was learning all the time, just not in a formal environment.
  2. They have mistakenly associated their disdain for formal education with all available forms of formal education. Why do/did they hate school? Did they have a crappy teacher? Was the curriculum not relevant to what they wanted in life? Neither of those 2 questions mean that there aren’t GOOD teachers just as there isn’t RELEVANT curriculum for their life goals.

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it opened up a world of possibility for the human

Having 2 little daughters (both under 3) in my home has caused me to really appreciate the human characteristic of curiosity. Everything is amazing to them. Everything!

Walking outside in the snow, the fact that cold and pretty stuff falls from the sky and settles on the ground is simply amazing to my oldest daughter. My youngest just learned how to walk. Seeing her waddle around the house, you’d think she was a brand-new gold medalist in the olympics.

Their world is so big, and learning new things brings so much joy to them!

Daddy could learn a lot from these two.

Where did it go wrong?

It seems like once a child starts the journey to adulthood, the current cultural mindset is to snuff out this curiosity.

Why? (this is a question I’m constantly trying to answer myself, so don’t expect an immediate answer here :) )

This isn’t going to be a rant about “what’s wrong with our world today”. No, rather let it be a reminder that there are still many fun and new things to be learned in the world, and taking the time to read, listen, study, and DO them brings happiness.

While there are many reasons why I left my job over a year ago, one of the main ones was this: I had stopped learning.

The shiny-ness of the job and the skills required to do it well had been mastered. The opportunities for personal and professional growth had been exhausted. I was in danger of shifting from new and exciting into boring and mundane. So I quit.

(Warning: Like I said, that was just one of MANY reasons why I left. Don’t use just this reason alone to up and leave your job. You still need a plan, and you still need to think things through. Hence the reason for a post on learning)

What’s next?

So back to my buddy Joel real quick. One of the things I really appreciate about him is his “Impossible list“. Joel doesn’t publish anything on his Impossible List unless it’s good-as-gold he’s gonna do it. Integrity baby! That’s both honorable, and scary as a mutha sucka (maybe it’s one of the fears that’s holding me back from publishing my 2011 goals…ahh who cares. They’ll be up soon now)!

One of the big goals I have for this site in 2011 is for it to be a learning-hub. A CPU of sorts for education. I’d like to have it both be a diary of what I’m learning (and how it can help you), and a sort of “yellow pages” for different areas for you to go for different topics you’d like to learn as well.

Some topics that I’d like to learn and discuss on here (yes, discuss, which means you gotta get in on the conversation) are:

  • Skill acquisition
  • Mental performance
  • Language learning (while Joel is going to tackle French, I’d like to knock out Spanish)
  • Critical thinking (don’t worry, it won’t be boring)
  • Writing
  • Reading (faster)
  • Motivation (a favorite of mine!)
  • Being a dad
  • And just plain cool stuff (like travel-hacking, which I’ll be talking about in an upcoming post. Oooo baby I’m excited about this one!)

Finishing with a quesiton

My brotha-from-another-mother, Josh Buisch, likes to say “I don’t know what I don’t know”. So I’ll probe y’all with a similar question: What don’t you know, that you’d like to know better? (and a bonus question) What would you like to see more of here on TFS?

Cheers!

- JC

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Categories: Action Oriented, Leadership, Learning, Motivation | Tags: , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Patience has paid off!

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Josh Crocker

I’ve been waiting for over a year for the iPhone to come to Verizon. Finally, the wait is over.

(This is a semi-lengthy post. If you’d rather skip my story, head on down to the portion of the page that’s called “The TFS list of ‘must-have’ iPhone apps”) :)

A brief look into history

Last year, I did what every PC owner swears they’ll never do. I converted over to the “dark side” and bought a 13″ MacBook Pro. Wow, I was blinded by my own ignorance!

Not only has my MacBook given me ZERO problems (it’s pretty much the Lamborghini of computers), but it’s allowed me to do some pretty sweet things as far as in-house technology goes. We have an HD projector at home, an iPod touch 64g, and a 1TB Apple Time Capsule wireless hard drive. For you non-techies, this means a potentially gigantic “tv screen”, a fun toy, and a HUGE library of movies, pictures, music, and files.

After learning how a few iPod apps and some careful tweaking of the relationship between hard drive/laptop/iPod/projector, I’d created a pretty sweet setup for our home. I was amazed at how well the iPod touch worked with my laptop, and it seemed like there was an app for just about anything I wanted to do.

If only I could take this show on the road…

Frustrated

When I picked up my Blackberry Curve, I couldn’t have been more happy. It was my first smart phone, and it was pure magic. I mean, I could get the INTERNET on my PHONE! I was George Jetson, and I was living in the future.

However, after I picked up my MacBook Pro, I wanted to be able to have something that worked between my phone and the daily apps/sites I used on my computer. The iPod touch had all that I wanted, but it didn’t have a 3G connection. This is when the iPhone/Verizon rumors started.

I was told by “reliable” sources that it would arrive in January of 2010. I began setting aside a little dough for this magical device, and I couldn’t wait!

January came, no iPhone.

Then the rumors shifted to June/July 2010.

Guess what? Still no iPhone.

The rumors went away for a few months, but then started to resurface in late fall/early winter 2010. This time, they were for real.

My frustrations would soon be over.

Magic

I was one of the crazies that woke up at 3 AM ET to pre-order an iPhone for me and my wife. And although I had a temporary setback with some food poisoning on the day that the blessed Brown Messenger (aka the UPS man) brought it to my home, I couldn’t hold back my happiness.

Phone love (I'm kidding Mom) :)

So far, so good

Now, before I continue, I have to say this. I know that it’s just a silly piece of equipment, and it doesn’t bring me TRUE happiness. However, it is still pretty cool, and will be making things a lot easier for me.

Many of you have probably already read reviews about this phone, or have heard your friends (like me) ranting and raving about it. I’m not going to offer a review, because the device can speak for itself. What I am going to offer however, is a few of the apps that help me out in my day to day that I think can help you out as well.

The TFS list of “must have” iPhone apps

These little babies make life very easy and help with some serious productivity (except for the obvious one, which is a game). I’m not some kind of affiliate for the App store, and won’t make any money off of this, in fact most of them are free. I’m just a fan (maybe borderline obsessed at this point) who wants to share the love. Also, these apps will also work on your iPod Touch if wifi is available. Enjoy my friends!

DailyBurn

Cost – Free

My love for the website DailyBurn is no secret. From being able to track workouts, nutrition, bodyweight and bodyfat % goals, to even sleep tracking, DailyBurn is the place to go for measuring and achieving fitness goals. For those who have just picked up a copy of the Four Hour Body, this app is a great tool to help quantify results and progress.

I have used (and still do) the iGoogle DailyBurn app for tracking nutrition and workouts. Now I can load my favorite meals into it, and have everything tracked in a matter of seconds. For those who have ever tried keeping a food journal (but inevitably failed), this is a crucial app to have to stick with it and hit your goals! If you’re willing to spend a few bucks, they also have a built-in FoodScanner add on that uses your iPhone’s camera to scan the barcode of the food you’re eating to making tracking easier. Cool!

Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock

Cost – $0.99

Keeping in our theme of quantifying results, the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock uses a cool piece of iPhone/iPod Touch technology. Utilizing your device’s accelerometer (the small piece inside that senses motion), Sleep Cycle analyzes your sleep patterns throughout the night. It bases how “deep” you’re sleeping on how much you toss and turn. No tossing and turning = deep sleep.

By scanning your movement patterns throughout the night, Sleep Cycle can determine what the best “window” of time to wake you up (based upon what time you’ve already told it you want to wake up) will be, and it will start 30 minutes (default settings, which can be changed) prior to your preferred wakeup time to wake you up. When it senses that you’re in a light/almost awake moment of sleep, it will softly start playing music to wake you up. The advantage to this, is that it eliminates the groggy feeling you get when you’re jarred awake by a traditional alarm clock. Nice!

However, the only downside to this is, if you’ve got somebody else in your bed (as in my case), their movements affect the Sleep Cycle’s measurements throughout the night. I’ve only had one occasion when it woke me up at the wrong time based upon this, but the rest of the time it’s been smooth sailing. If I had this baby in college, I would’ve slept a lot better and probably would’ve performed better on tests (Hint* Hint* College students).

Evernote

Cost – Free

Note-taking has never been easier! Evernote (pretty much available for every operating system imaginable) is simply the very best “snapshot” note taking program I’ve encountered. I’ve been an Evernote user on my HP laptop, Blackberry, MacBook, and now iPod Touch, and now iPhone for over a year and a half.

Borrowing a book from the library and want to copy down a good section to quote later? No problem, snap a pic and upload it to Evernote. Out at a favorite mom & pop restaurant and want to have a digital copy of the menu? Ditto. Want to recall something you entered into Evernote over a year ago? Easy, just start typing in some text (like you would for Google’s Instant Search) and Evernote will find it. Their text-recognition software is simply incredible. It can even recognize my chicken scratch, which not even most of my relatives can do anymore (which is why I type them emails instead of send them letters).

There’s a certain amount of data usage that’s free per month, and if you want more, Evernote has tiered payment plans that go up from there. For those who encounter a lot of data (which who doesn’t count themselves in that crowd anymore?), Evernote is the perfect pal to help you recall it back to the front of your mind.

Kindle for iPhone/iPod Touch

Cost – Free

Even before I owned the real Amazon Kindle, I downloaded this app. Why? Because I knew that I’d eventually want to own a Kindle, and even if I never did own one, I could still read the books comfortably (yes, comfortably, even on a small screen) on my iPod Touch.

The books still cost the same, and the process for purchasing is still the same. But where the iPhone version of the Kindle may lack in size of words on the screen, it more than makes up for some convenient features: such as a smoother ability to highlight and take notes on book sections, and the ability to change font/background colors (I prefer a black background with white text).

For those who do own a Kindle, the Whispersync technology is in play here, and it helps also. Even if I don’t have my Kindle on me, I can still pick up where I left off in my current book if I have a few minutes to read. When I get back to where my Kindle is, it’s automatically synced back up to where I left off on my iPhone. It’s the perfect marriage of 2 technologies.

Mint.com

Cost – Free

There’s a lot of superlatives going on around this post. Here’s another one: Mint.com is the best (free) financial app/site there is. I used to manually enter transactions into our Microsoft Money program, which would take me about 6 hours/month. I now spend about 10 minutes TOPS per month checking into our personal finances using Mint’s free tools.

The reason I recommend this app is simply so you can have your financial dashboard with you on the go. Even if you have the wifi only iPod Touch, I still recommend this app.

Remember, what gets measured gets managed. :)

Angry Birds

Cost – Lite version: Free – Full version: $0.99

Ok, some may say that games aren’t essential, and I’d probably agree with them in most cases. This isn’t one of them.

It’s no surprise why Angry Birds is the highest grossing app in the App Store, it’s a ton of fun and incredibly addicting! Even people who don’t own any Apple or Android products are talking about Angry Birds. My daughter knows the song and starts dancing every time she hears it (side note: I have Angry Birds dance parties with her. One of the many joys of being a tech-nerd dad).

The lite version is fun, the full version is more fun. And if you’ve conquered the full version, there’s also a holiday edition (which covers Halloween, Christmas, and now Valentine’s Day). Down with the evil pigs!

That’s all for now folks!

I’m sure I’ll come up with more apps in the future, and I crossed a lot off the list that I didn’t think were “essential”. Enjoy this list my friends, and if you think I’ve missed some that are note-worthy, add ‘em to the comments.

Cheers!

- JC

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Categories: Digital Discoveries, Fun | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

How to Leave Your Job, Free Up Your Time, and Embrace Location Independence

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Josh Crocker

This post has potential to break out into a multi-post plethora of information that will (hopefully) lead you to ACTION. What you and I will need to make this happen is some interaction.

I’m not an expert on this subject matter by any stretch of the imagination! I’m walking in the footsteps of professionals and sitting on the shoulders of giants when it comes to what I’m going to write about today. I’ll be referencing a lot of them today and in the days to come, so be ready to make some new connections. :)
That said…it’s time to buckle up, sharpen your pencil, and get ready to make a big time change in your life. If you’ve ever dreamed of doing big things, 2011 is YOUR year to do it!

WHY?

“The man who knows how will always have a job. The man who knows why will always be his boss.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
As I shared this past weekend, you must have a reason why you’re doing what you’re doing. Many of you reading this post may be looking for a magic method to help you quit your job, become an entrepreneur, and ____________ (jet set, go shark diving, skydiving, cave diving, and any other wild kind of diving you can think of. Insert your favorite “dream” activity here).
I hate to break it to you, but there isn’t any magic method to doing this. There’s no formula or wand that will help you get moving on this. There’s only what’s already been laid on your own mind – your “why”.

Starting the engine with a little “ether”

If anyone has ever had an older lawnmower or snowblower (I live in Western NY, where it snows 10,000 feet every year), sometimes it can be just like an old dog trying to get it moving. You’ve got to give it a little “kick” to get it moving.
Engine starting fluid is made of an essential accelerant, known as “ether”. It’s a highly explosive substance, used to jump start the piston(s) inside an internal combustion engine (it’s also a ton of fun for young boys to toss into a bonfire and run away quickly. This is being said by someone who has experienced it first hand. Ahh the memories!).
After being sprayed in the carburetor, the ether quickly takes spark. The pistons begin moving fast enough for the natural momentum and mechanical cycle of the gas and air mix to take over, and the engine starts running on gasoline. But the engine CANNOT continue to run on ether alone. It needs to have a fuel mixture that helps to sustain it and keep it running.

Negative can get things moving, positive can keep them moving

Much like the above example with the engine, ether, and gasoline, your ideas need to have some fuel and spark to get them off the ground.

The “ether” in this case can be any type of negative influence: I hate my job. I hate my boss. I hate this commute. I hate the “office politics”. I’VE GOTTA GET OUTTA HERE!!!

But just like the above example, the engine of your idea CANNOT run on negative “ether” alone. It requires a positive “gasoline” to keep things moving. In my own personal example, it was the goal of being able to be home with my family to raise my girls and be with my wife. For you, it may be working for charity, getting more involved in the lives of your friends, family, or even those less fortunate than you. Coaching, teaching, helping, whatever. Things you would do in your free time that aren’t just “time killers”.

Speaking from experience, when you first leave your job, the immense wave of relief is incredible. It really is! Being able to wake up when you want, and do what you want is amazing!

However, I can relate to why most retirees end up going nuts after their first few weeks and months into retirement. All of a sudden, the vacation mindset wears off, and they’re left being bored doing the “relaxing” things they dreamt about for so many years. They’ve removed their distress, and now are left with a gaping void. A gaping void that can only be satisfied with eustress.

I should say that if you haven’t picked up a copy of the 4HWW by now, please click here and get it. It’s required reading for the rest of this to make sense.

Starting the fire

Just because negative emotion isn’t enough to sustain your goal (or dream), that doesn’t mean that we still can’t use it to our advantage. Look at this stack of books that I read over a year ago that helped lead me to my decision. At least 3 of them and their accompanying subtitles appeal to someone who hates what they’re currently doing:

Why would the authors choose a title like “Why WORK SUCKS (and how to fix it)”, “ESCAPE from Cubicle Nation“, and the first subtitle of the 4HWW, “Escape 9-5“? Easy – Because it appeals to an audience looking to get out! It’s not a bad thing.

Many people are dissatisfied (yeah right, that’s maybe the most sterile way of putting it) with their current job. The difference between THEM and YOU however, is that you’re prone to actually ACT upon this motivation. Anybody can complain. Ramit Sethi, author of I Will Teach You To Be Rich (shown above) says “people love to debate and talk about minutiae”. It’s easy to complain, and it’s easy to find people that will complain along with you.

However, if you’ve read this far, you’re not the simple complainer. You’re somebody who is actually looking, planning (and soon will be DOING) to make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you.

Keeping the fire going

I’m going to wrap up today’s post with just some simple questions, and based on your feedback, It’ll help to see where we head next.

What is the bigger-than-yourself idea or goal that you have that can sustain this wild idea of you embarking away from your comfort zone and keep the fire burning hot? If you KNEW you could not fail, what would you be doing?

And finally, maybe the one that breaks it down into the most simple and easiest to process: What does your dream day look like? (Josh Buisch asked me this recently, and actually answering this question with someone else listening had quite a profound effect on my motivation and vision. Give it a try!)

You don’t have to answer any of these questions publicly, but if you do, know that you’ll have a big group of people helping to keep you accountable.

Talk to y’all soon!

- JC

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Categories: Action Oriented, Books, How-To, Motivation | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

What a difference a year can make…

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Josh Crocker

This past week marks the 1st anniversary of me leaving my full time job!

I’ll share my story today (for those interested), and then offer some tips from my personal experience & the experience of others come Monday. I’m choosing to wait until then to offer this, because by then most of you that have any inkling of wanting to leave your job will have a case of “the Mondays”, and that post will hit you like a bomb to your brain. Boo-yah!

The book that ruined me

Let’s back up to December 2008. I was hustling, working hard at my job. Things were going good, but I felt like I didn’t want to stay there forever, and had this really weird feeling that something wasn’t right.

I get a call a few weeks before Christmas from my home dawg, Bruce (not his real name). He’s ecstatic, telling me, “DUDE! You HAVE GOT to read this book I just picked up!!!”. He goes through a near textbook Billy Mays-esque job of pitching the book to me, and then finally remembers to say, “Oh yeah, it’s called the Four Hour Workweek, by a guy named Timothy Ferriss.” (If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a week and haven’t yet read this book, please punch yourself in the face, and then go buy a copy. Thank you.) I thank him, and then pretty much forget about the book altogether.

After hanging out with our friend Bruce once again about a week later, he’s still on Cloud 9 about the book. I figure if it’s been a week and he’s still going nuts (he’s a fast reader), it might be something I want to check out. I head to Amazon and grab a copy. Somewhere around 7 or 8 days later it arrives…

Uncomfortable

It’s now 6 months later, around June of 2009. I’ve read the 1st edition of the 4HWW at least 6 times, and have mauled each page with enough notes to make it look more like my daughter’s Dora coloring book than a NY TImes best seller. The crappy part is that I’ve done very little to act upon it.

The incredible thought of “escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich” keeps toying with my mind. All of a sudden, my job isn’t so shiny and sparkly like it used to be. I start implementing some 80/20 thought processes to my workflow and realize that it takes me roughly 2 hours to do my entire day’s worth of work. Worse yet, I realized that I can do it all remotely.

With the best of intentions, and the company’s best interests in mind, I approach my boss with the work-from-home trial proposal.

The idea fails.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

No dice.

So I read more, and get more frustrated…

The temptation to take the easy road

Out of the blue, a position within the company arises that catches my eye, and offers up some unique learning opportunities from my present job description. I apply, and oddly enough, I’m scheduled for an interview (even though it’s a position I did not feel “qualified” for at that time – whatever that means). I approach the interview with the mindset that I have nothing to lose, and actually end up having a blast, quoting from the 4HWW left and right. I’m hired with the position and start within two weeks.

Being upset vs. actually having something to look forward to

The new position that I’m in is great! I’m working with great people, learning tons, and having a good time. I come to work not dreading my days (anymore) and enjoy what I’m doing.

There’s just one small problem.

My time still isn’t my own.

I very quickly realize that this job, although very fun and educational, has its time-suck flaws. Much of what is done throughout the day can be done quicker with a few systems put into place. It isn’t long before I realize that this may not totally be for me.

SIDE NOTE – At this point in the year, my wife is pregnant with our second child, and my year old daughter is accomplishing a variety of “firsts” (first steps, words, fun stuff like that) that I’m not able to be home for. Although my job is a good time, being home with my girls would be a better time.

All of a sudden, the complete pissed-off rage that was my old position now turns into a burning desire (in a positive way) to find a way to be home with my family. I’ll cover this more in detail on Monday, but for those of you looking to leave your job, please heed my advice: It is not enough to simply be dissatisfied (even upset) with your job. You have to have something larger than those negative emotions that will last longer.

For me, it was being able to look forward to being home with my girls to help raise my family.

Shoot first, ask questions later

With 3 months until my wife’s due date, I take a step back and try to take an analytical approach to how I can make my way home and be with my family. It just so happens that our hero Tim Ferriss releases the updated and expanded edition of his wonderful book, and I’m first in line (not really, I buy on Amazon at the first chance I get) to pick it up. My resolve is revived! My mission is clear – Get home with the girls by all and any means possible.

I begin approaching the book how every author intends their readers to – APPLYING the knowledge that’s shared. I write up a little Google Doc with all of the hard questions the book asks in the beginning, and actually answer them (If you’d like a copy of this sheet, just email me and I’ll send it your way).

One random morning (it seems), Tim Ferriss hops on Twitter and offers up a little special for his Facebook fans. “Take your picture holding a copy of the 4HWW, and tag 5 friends who need the book, and I’ll send the first 100 people 6 copies of the book.” After jumping out of my skin, I grab a camera real quick, and end up being number 43 (or something close to that).

The books arrive in just about a week, and now I’ve got motivation flowing! Not only am I gonna “do this”, but I’m going to recruit some other peeps along for the ride to keep me accountable!

I send the books to the designated people, and conversations ensue. I’m pumped, they’re pumped, we’re all pumped.

Doing something that scares you

I decide that it’s time, I’m going to make the choice to leave my job, and figure out the rest as I go. This scares me to no end, but I know that because of the “fear”, it’s a step in a good direction. Steve Kamb wrote about this recently (quite a good read. Check it out!).

With just a few weeks until my wife’s due date, I have a potentially scary meeting with my boss to tell her the news. She’s totally cool with it, and actually supportive of the idea. Score!

Our daughter is born in the end of December, and it gives me 2 weeks of “preview” time for what it’s like to be home with the girls. I gobble up every stinking second of it, and can’t wait until it’s time to be home with them full time!

I go back to work for one more month, and then…

Stepping into the unknown

In the last week of January 2010, I leave my full time job.

(Pause for emphasis)

I still remember walking out of the building like it was yesterday. Heading down the stairs, I sent this little tweet. I snapped a quick pic walking out the door to send to my wife and girls and let them know that Daddy is coming home:

I drive home, not really feeling any different than any other day. We all have a great time hanging out, and we go to bed.

Detox

The next morning, I wake up to no alarm clock. If it was springtime, or a more Southern location, I’m sure there would be birds chirping. It’s a Wednesday morning, and I’m not at work any more.

Enough storytelling for now

I’ll share more of my story in future posts. But for now, I want to just paint a picture for you. We can (and will) address the specifics and the “how-tos” of it later, but let’s take a look at the “why” first.

As I said above, negative emotion is NOT enough to carry you through a decision like this.

Many of you work in a place that’s the human sterilized equivalent of a cage at the zoo. Your boss may be a jerk, coworkers are idiots, coffee tastes terrible, whatever. All of these may be motivations enough to move you to action, but they’re not strong enough to actually carry you through in the long run.

Remember, I had these feelings at my first position listed above. My 2nd position (the one I left last year to come home) was great! But even something “great” in that sense as my why for coming home. I wanted to be home to raise my family and have the freedom to manage my own time more than anything. It was something bigger than myself.

I can’t help but think of my good friend David Crandall’s post “How I Show Up When I’d Rather Not” while writing this. Your “why” has to be bigger than just “I hate my job”. Hating your job isn’t totally bad, but it’s not good enough to last. It’s like running your lawnmower on ether. It provides a great spark, but it’ll burn the engine out quickly.

A few closing thoughts

I can’t tell you all how amazing the past year has been. Just to be able to do simple things like take my girls to the park, work out during the daytime, and help out friends and relatives in need has been so incredibly amazing! Many in the lifestyle design arena paint a (rather beautiful) picture of traveling the world and doing insanely epic things (which are in the plans for me and my family as well!). But what if you don’t desire to be a world traveler? What if you don’t want to jump out of airplanes, climb mountains, and do crazy things?

“Location independence” (the ability to earn income and sustain living without needing a set-in-stone location) is not for everyone. But it doesn’t have to be solely compacted into the category of world travelers. Right now, my wife and I could live anywhere we want, but we’ve chosen to live where we do. You may find yourself wanting the same thing.

If you’ve ever wanted to slow down and enjoy where you live, who you live with, and see a new side to the world around you, then  you may want to pay attention come Monday. :)

Talk you y’all soon!

- JC

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Categories: Action Oriented, Books, Motivation | Tags: , , , , , , | 5 Comments

An Update, and a Plan!

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Josh Crocker

What’s next?

By now, you’ve probably heard about The Four Hour Body. It’s been out into publication long enough to where folks are writing their reviews. Although this won’t be my “official” review (I may not even end up writing one), I do want to share just a few short fun things about this book and my experience thus far.

I was such a happy camper when I picked up this book from the post office (notice the pasty white complexion of my skin in this pic? This was in the heart of sick-season…yuck)!

As Tim Ferriss recommends, I did not read this book from cover to cover. As a naturally skinny boy, I had one singular goal in mind at the onset of cracking the cover – Gain. Muscle. Mass.

Those that follow my Twitter feed know that during the month of November 2010, I followed (almost to the letter) the prescribed workout for Tim’s post “From Geek to Freak: How I gained 34 lbs of Muscle in 4 Weeks“. This original post, written in 2007 (and judging by the photos used from the post which also made it into a chapter in the book of the same title), has since been updated in the book, with just a few minor changes. I believe Tim wrote this post shortly after the research for The Four Hour Body began.

There was just one problem between what I did in November 2010, and what I’m doing now: measurement.

“What gets measured gets managed” – Peter Drucker

Students of the Four Hour Workweek know the above quote like the back of their hand. As I’m a self-proclaimed Tim Ferriss “fanboy”, I realize that he takes a methodical, scientific and analytical approach to almost everything he does. If you’ve read up on how he measured his fat loss in the new book, you’ll see some borderline OCD behavior (it’s a pretty funny portion of the book also). If I was going to glean as much from his new book as I did from his first one, I would need to become a measurement freak.

Thankfully, there are some tools to help with that, which I’ll get to in a minute. First let’s talk why “Geek to Freak” round 1 really didn’t work for me:

  1. Not enough caloric and protein intake (I had not measured any of this, and really only ate past the point of feeling “full” at regularly scheduled meals – FAIL)
  2. Incorrect measurement and execution of the exercises (The proper way to do both the Geek to Freak, and the Occam’s Protocol [the plan I'm on now] workouts is ONE set to failure. My first round of G2F, I had multiple sets, sometimes out of order, and of differing weights and times. If it’s supposed to be an experiment with controlled variables, I failed miserably – FAIL)
  3. No measurement whatsoever of bodyfat % (The scale was my only litmus test as to whether I was “gaining” or “losing”. Gaining or losing what? Fat? Muscle? – FAIL)

Not this time baby!

This time, I’ve got a plan, Stan!

Following the Occam’s Protocol I and II portions of the book (with a little mixture of some other chapters, as that’s what Occam’s calls for), I’ve got a system worked out. I made sure to write it all down before I began so I’d have a pretty good idea of what my plan was. And, like Tim talks about in the book, I have a copy of my workout, rest, and eating plan printed and tucked inside my lifting notebook that I’ve used for the past year. Here’s some suggestions from what I’ve done so far:

  • Set a solid game plan for what exercises I would be doing, and what days I’d be doing them on. Judging by how many reps to failure it would require in each exercise (and if you don’t know what I’m talking about by now, you seriously need to stop and buy the book. Trust me, it’s worth it!) would determine how many rest days would take place between workouts, so I only planned the first 2 weeks worth of training days.
  • In that same “game plan” sheet of paper (the one tucked in my workout notebook), I had a rough plan for eating, and what days I would measure my weight and bodyfat % – I picked up a set of Slimguide Skinfold Calipers to measure this, and will be using this method for the first round of testing (2 months). Because I know not only my weight, but also my bodyfat %, I can determine how much fat I lose, muscle mass I gain, and what the minimum amount of calories and grams of protein I should be eating daily to continue to add mass. Cool! Measurement is fun!
  • I DID take the “before” pics from 4 angles (front, back, left, right) and then a few flexing in my “selfish” (short) shorts. Sorry lads and lasses, I will NOT be posting these on this site. Become one of my motivators on DailyBurn and MAYBE you can get a sneak peek ;)
  • Speaking of DailyBurn, I pre-loaded the most common meals that I would be eating, and also set up all my workouts in there as well. I have an iPod touch with the DailyBurn app, as well as an iGoogle homepage on my browser that has a DB widget on there as well. Tracking what I eat and workouts only takes about 30 seconds per meal, and about 2 minutes per workout day. I STRONGLY suggest this part. It makes all of the difficult math and counting of protein and whatnot so easy.
  • I also joined a VERY helpful Facebook 4HB group. There’s a good amount of interaction, a few “bike shed” discussions (but they’re dying down), and a TON of helpful information. Not to mention the Bonus Chapter info that Tim just put out on his site, and the coming forums which will help as well. The advantage to all of this is seeing that I’m not just doing it alone. Just do a simple Twitter search for the hashtag #4HB and you’re bound to come across a wealth of information and support.

And them’s be my secrets.

Progress thus far

So far, it’s been almost 3 weeks on Occam’s protocol. My personal stats are this:

  • I currently consume on average around 3800 calories, with usually 16-18% of that being made of protein.
  • My bodyfat % has dropped from 14.3% to 13.4%, and total body weight has gone up 5 lbs. Not too shabby if you ask me! :)
  • I’m almost to the point where I need to start adding another day in between workouts, as the last rep to failure is decreasing as weight goes up (especially on the leg press, where it’s kind of comical to “finish” the workout with my knees almost in my chest. If you’re self conscious about looking a little goofy at the gym, get a spotter to help you with this exercise).

Next up?

So that’s my 2-week 4HB progress report. I’ll be cranking away on this for a while, with some other fun fitness goals to attain once I reach my mass/bodyweight goal (still have a few more lbs to go!).

With that said, I want to highlight a freakin’ amazing site that I’ve really enjoyed over the past 2 months: Nerd Fitness

Steve Kamb, the creator of Nerd Fitness, is a man on a mission. Created with the idea of helping nerds (like me) “level up” their lives, specifically through fitness, he’s done what looks to be a pretty amazing job! As I type this, I’m awaiting the arrival of my NF t-shirt (a birthday present from my wifey), which you’d better believe will be making some appearances on this site in the very near future.

The NF Forums are a great place to get that supportive community that was discussed earlier talking about the 4HB. Way to go Steve!

And as I get ready to send y’all off, here’s one of my favorite NF posts for you to click on over to. Who knows? Maybe you’ll see this as one of my fitness goals here in the coming months, especially as the snow starts to melt here in NY.

Cheers!

- JC

Odds and ends: Sorry for the radio silence there, friends!

The past 2 months have been wildly insane here at TFS Headquarters. Due to a flu shot gone wild, I was sick for the entire month of December. The past few weeks have been spent at the hospital with my family, hanging out with my dad who took a pretty nice fall and is recovering slowly (but surely!). I appreciate the support and prayers on my family’s behalf that I’ve received from many of you. You guys are amazing, and it just goes to show how great it can be to surround yourself with great people! :)

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Categories: Action Oriented, Books, Cool Stuff, Fitness, Fun, Health | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments