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Talent is your natural ability. Something that you are born with. It’s given. Skills are not given. They are earned or rather learned. Talent can only get you so far. Michael Jordan was talented, but talent didn’t earn him the reputation that he has today. It took discipline and hard work.

Skill is learned and really anyone can learn a skill. Skill comes with practice. Yet some skills favor some people more than others. Talent is not enough. You need skills which are learned through discipline. But don’t try learning any skill for the sake of it. Find your talents and then apply the skill.

Getting in shape is relatively easy, however it takes effort and a change of habits. Your habits have gotten you to where you are today. They also are most likely why your body is in the shape that it is in now.

There are many means of getting in shape and you don’t need a gym or a class to do it. You can do it for free. You can walk, hike, run, cycle, swim, do yoga, dance, lift weights, play sports, do martial arts or go to the gym. But you don’t need the gym or a class to do it. You need discipline. Some times you won’t feel like it, but I guarantee if you push through it that you feel much better about yourself than if you don’t.

Discipline can be learned. It’s not a skill that just a few people have. Believe it or not you learned how to get in the shape that you are in today. If you don’t like it then you can change it. You most likely got in the habit of brushing your teeth. How would you feel if you didn’t do that? Probably pretty gross. Like brushing your teeth you can get in the habit of getting into shape – exercising.

You need frequency. You should get some exercise everyday and you should do something more intense at least 2 days a week, but 3 or 4 is better. If you want to burn fat then you need to raise your heart rate. More often for a shorter period of time beats less often for a greater period of time.

Here’s an example of the exercise that I currently do. Everyday I walk, I do yoga (about 20 minutes) and meditate. 3 days a week I do pull ups, leg raises ( for my stomach), push-ups, some kicks and leg isometrics. All of that is free and I don’t currently go to a gym or take a class.

Staying in shape

The key to staying in shape is to find a balance. Many people fail to keep an exercise routine going because they go all out. If you don’t think you can keep it going then don’t start in the first place. Many will get themselves psyched up and they will go to the gym for four hours a day for a week and then quit and get discouraged cause they are not seeing results.

See and feel the results. Getting in shape makes you feel good. So when you start your program think about longevity. Can you keep this going for a long time? And how about your diet? Are you eating mostly whole foods? Are you getting enough sleep? Studies show that a lack of sleep can cause weight gain.

Many times I thought I knew or I thought I was right. I was pretty sure I was right. But it turned out I wasn’t. Ask, inquire, act and find out if your judgements and assumptions are indeed true. Test them.

“The real growth comes with products that annoy, offend, don’t appeal, are too expensive, too cheap, too heavy, too complicated, too simple – too anything.” – Seth Godin, Purple Cow

Tomorrow I depart for San Francisco. I am moving there. I will find a job and a home.

A few months ago my thirty day challenge was to do a blog post every day for a month on my other blog. A month or so ago I did a drawing a day for thirty days. I accomplished those things. There was a few days when I didn’t feel like it, but I did and succeeded in reaching my goal. For the next month my challenge is going to be that I am not going to look at the statistical data for Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools and Adsense.

I think it’s kinda of a waste to keep checking on these things. I think time could be better spent doing other things. So on March 5th I’ll check the data on those sites, but I shouldn’t expect much to have changed. And if it did, great, but if it didn’t then I shouldn’t be surprised. I figure my main purpose for doing web stuff shouldn’t be to see how much traffic is going up or how much money I am making from Ads.

For you, your 30 day challenge could be anything like: learn 5 Chinese words a day, ride a bike to work everyday, eat vegan, etc.

Be independent of the good opinion of other people. They don’t care as you much as you do about it anyways.

Have you ever wondered if the violence you see in the media effects people? Do you think the action videos that you watch influences you? Did you know that the USA is the most violent developed country in the world? Well, according to some scientific studies and research witnessing violence does make one more prone to acting violent.

Remember the last time you saw that MMA match or the last time you watched Jackie Chan? How did you feel? I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you wanted to go learn some new moves so you could kick some butt. According to one study children where shown a video of another child punching a teddy bear. After they saw it they were sent into a room and given a similar teddy bear. What do you think they did with it? As you might have guessed they mimicked the child in the video by punching and hitting the teddy bear.

Meanwhile another group of children were shown a different video of a child playing gently with a teddy bear. After they saw the video they were given a teddy bear and sent into a room.  And as you may suspect they mimicked the child in the video and played gently with the teddy bear.

“The evidence is now clear and convincing: Media violence is one of the causal factors of real-life violence and aggression.” – American Academy of Pediatrics

According to Freakonomics children who watch a lot of TV tend to engage in crime later in life. They didn’t say that it’s necessarily violent TV shows that are causing the violence though.

Do you think that it is only children who are influenced by violence? If your answer is yes then how would you feel or rather act if I started to insult you? If I or anyone else insulted you using cuss words. How would you feel or act? Alternatively how do you tend to act when someone treats you kindly? I think if someone treats us kindly we are more likely to be kind back. I also think that if someone insults me or disrespects me then I am more likely to respond in a similar manner.

I believe that we all model one another. We learn by models.

Meditation is a great practice to have whether you’re female or male. Here’s why men should learn how to meditate.

• You’re a testosterone pumping sex crazed machine and women don’t feel the same way.
• You probably lack impulse control
• Chances are you’re throwing money away
• Other men want to hurt you
• You’re more likely to die young than if you were a woman

Meditation can help add balance to your life and help tame those impulses. Some of these ideas were inspired from the latest issue of Psychology Today, “I love being a guy”.

Whatever it is that you are aiming for remember to keep shooting. Do you remember “if you shoot for the stars you’ll at least hit the moon?” Chances are the more shots you take the more likely you are to hit your target. Doesn’t guarantee you’re going to, but it does make it more likely.

There is now science behind the sport of MMA that proves this so. One trainer has applied math and science to training his fighters. And guess what? It turns out that the fighters who throw the most punches tend to win.

So what’s your goal? Whatever your goal is remember to keep shooting for it.