Breaking Bad Habits

Posted on October 16, 2012 by mdbrie01

There are two things about myself that I have a hard time dealing with.  If you’ve read anything I’ve written before, this may sound familiar.  However, the issues are still ones I’m dealing with and until I have some kind of control over them they are ripe for discussion.  Through discussion, through admission I believe that I will find answers.  So bear with me today as I’m going to be crossing through a part of the emotional landscape I’ve already visited before.

I am a procrastinator and I am unmotivated.  Both of these tendencies cause me no end of frustration.  I look at a to-do list and don’t do anything towards crossing an item off.  I spend too much time mindlessly surfing the internet which has taken the place of mindlessly watching television.  I push myself to the very edge of not having enough time to get to work or church or wherever and then I get angry when I’m ultimately running late.

I know this is not the way I’m supposed to be living life.  I also know that I’m quite capable of keeping a schedule and showing up on time.  So why don’t I just do it?  What is drawing me away from my responsibilities?

The easy answer:  me, myself, and I.  I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it and who cares about the effect on the rest of my life.  Besides, I’m a darn good volunteer or employee so that should make up for it, right?  Not so and definitely not an attitude in line with what I believe.  Working as if I’m working for God does not stop and doing my best at whatever tasks I’m assigned.  It also means making the most of the times in between, it means showing up whenever I’m scheduled to show up, and it means not abusing the good will I’ve generated in whichever area of my life.

Keep in mind I’m not trying to beat myself up here.  I’m acknowledging  issues I face.  How do I fix these issues?  I don’t have a good answer for that question.  I think the best way is to physically acknowledge when I’m successful in using time wisely or getting out the door on time.  It would be akin to the ‘Seinfeld method’ where I would mark a day on the calendar for each day I do some small thing that furthers a goal(read a book, write a blog article, write a review, whatever) and/or for everyday that I’m not late to anything(work, meeting, church, small group, whatever).  The idea is the more days you accumulate, the easier it is to keep a streak going.

So I’m going to create two Google calendars specifically for these purposes and sync them with my iPhone so I can track this from where ever I am.  I’m excited at the possibilities here.  I’ll check in 30 days from now as a progress report and we’ll work from there.

What are your thoughts?  Any tips on keeping on top of getting rid of an annoying habit in your life?

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Getting It Together(or I Did it My Way)

Posted on October 15, 2012 by mdbrie01

Too many people in my generation like to say they are ADHD.  It’s like we all think we our brains are miswired and it really kind of dilutes the real issues that some people face.  On the other hand I have to think we’re all suffering some kind of technology induced attention disorder.  I mean we have upwards of 500 channels of programming to choose from on the television.  We have the infinite time waster that is the internet.  How can we possibly be expected to work when there are tweets begging to be read.

Its no wonder I struggle with finding significant ideas to write about or time to write in general.  This is an issue I continually fight with.  I don’t know what to write here.  I don’t know how to share whatever life experience I have.  At the same time I know that if I don’t write I won’t find my voice or my reason to write.  It has been and will continue to be a crippling issue if I don’t find some ways to discipline myself.

So here are some of the solutions I’ve used to varying degrees of success:

1.  Evernote.  This program has probably been the most effective at being used.  I’ve tried Remember the Milk, the default notes, and the newer reminders app.  Evernote has been the most used for one reason over anything else:  portability.  I can type in it quickly on a full sized keyboard at my computer and have the notes on my iPhone, tablet, or work laptop.  It just lets me port ideas and reminders across platforms.

2.  Google drive.  Portability for the win again.  I can start writing on my lunch break at work, make some notes, and finish my idea later at home.  I’d call this a win all of the way around.

3.  Whiteboards.  This is perhaps the best tool for keeping me focused of any.  It takes the best part of the old pen and paper combination and marries it to an hard to ignore system.  I tried small notebooks or sticky notes to no avail.  Notebooks became impractically to keep on or near me.  Sticky notes work until they ‘unstick’ and get lost or form a layer of their own on my desk or computer monitor.  Then I spend more time trying to find the note I need and less time doing what needs to be done.  So I have two whiteboards in my cubicle at work and a static cling whiteboard surface on a wall in my home office space.  They serve as giant, unavoidable reminders that I see on a regular basis.  Plus I find the act of writing out ideas or tasks to be very therapeutic  especially when it eventually leads to erasing a large list of completed tasks.

These are just a few of the ways I’ve been able to tap into my own way of getting things done.  Now using them more regularly is another question for another entry.

What ways have you found to help organize your life or enhance your creativity?

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These are the days that make me sigh

Posted on September 20, 2012 by mdbrie01

Hot on the heels of enjoying the new, cooler weather is the requisite autumn allergies that plague me each year.  I don’t know what I’m allergic to, but I’m guessing it is anything that grows and releases pollen into the air.  That is a bit of over exaggeration, but you get the point.  So I’m energized by the coolness in the air and simultaneously wanting to crawl into bed to sleep until Thanksgiving.

I’m also vaguely uninspired at the moment, most likely influenced by the gloomy weather outside.  I have a story to tell, that much I’m sure of, but I don’t know what it is at the moment.  I feel like I keep reading about how to be a great writer, but I haven’t found enough to write about to find my voice and be, if not great, an entertaining writer.  Part of it may come from my point of view that I’m  an everyman.  I jokingly use the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” quote “He’s just this guy, y’know,” but it has some truth.

You don’t know me, so why trust me?  Why read what I write?  Answers I can’t give, but I’ll do my best to give you answers.

So I’ll tell my story in fragments and memories and somewhere along the way hopefully we’ll both discover a common underlying theme to answer our questions and drive both of us forward, me writing and you reading.

Slainte!

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These are the days

Posted on September 9, 2012 by mdbrie01

The cool breeze wafting through my home office window indicates the seasons are beginning to change.  These are the days that energize me.  I’ve never been a big fan of summer.  As a kid summer is great because it marks that period of life when you aren’t responsible for much.  School is out, the days are longer, and generally you can go out and play with your friends until you drop.  The heat didn’t bother me as much when I was a kid, but I absolutely hate it now.  Secondarily, I tend to burn fairly easy and they haven’t come up with a sunblock yet that doesn’t feel thick and greasy.

Before I go down a rabbit trail of pain and misery associated with sunburn:  Autumn inspires creativity and productivity like no other season.  Maybe it’s the cool air that makes the coffee taste that much better.  Maybe it is the canvas of leaves changing colors before our eyes.  It could very well be the smell of burning wood in fire pits and fire places that triggers some nascent childhood memories of hayrides and bonfires.  Regardless, this is my prime time of year.

I haven’t published any fiction on the web or otherwise, but I have written several pieces and/or incomplete novels.  I think my assumptions, if not my outright descriptions, always include some kind of autumnal setting.  So here is to football, bonfires, cool breezes, and not letting this inspiration go to waste.

 

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Helping those in need

Posted on September 4, 2012 by mdbrie01

I’ve gone through several iterations of what I would say here in my head throughout today, but there isn’t a clear cut, easy way to do this.  What I’m going to write about can be so charged with politics and guilt, neither of which is my intention.  So please take a few minutes to read through this, it maybe uncomfortable, but it is necessary.

One of the major points of contention I have is how much we as a country are want to depend on the powers of government to take care of society.  I have long maintained that the church has failed to achieve a balance in meeting the spiritual needs of people and meeting the physical needs of people.  We are too quick to preach the word while those listening are starving, cold, abused, or hurting.  There are many different ways in which we can reach out and champion the cause of true justice in the world around us.  Today I would like to talk about one.

This month Compassion International is making a push to help 3,108 children get sponsors so that they can have better lives and better futures.  Compassion is dedicated to meeting the physical needs of the child, the educational needs of the child, and the spiritual needs of the child.  As a sponsor you will get the chance to interact with the child you are sponsoring through letters.  Know that by sponsoring a child, the child you choose will benefit directly from your contributions.

As Christians we are called to be good stewards of whatever God has entrusted us with, be it time or money.  We are called to be sacrificial in our giving, something that I am not doing well at myself. I’m not going to play the guilt card here. This is something that honestly you have to wrestle with and pray over yourself.  In the end the decision is between you and God.

This entry is geared more towards Christians, but you do not have to be a Christian to sponsor a child.  However,  Compassion is dedicated to meeting the spiritual needs of the children through Christian education.

For more information or to get started on sponsoring a child please go to:  http://www.compassion.com/sponsor_a_child/default.htm.

If you are a blogger and would like to help spread the word about Compassion go to:  http://compassionbloggers.com/.

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“I’m 37, I’m not old”

Posted on September 3, 2012 by mdbrie01

I can only truthfully use that quote for a little less than two months.  The truth is that I’m not old though any physical issues I might have are in fact from the years and not the mileage.  This past week being a prime example.

I have, undiagnosed naturally, tendinitis in my right wrist.  It is not a result of carpal tunnel syndrome even though I don’t necessarily have the best ergonomic setup at either my office desk or my home office desk.  The tendon that is affected is the one that runs down through the base of the thumb and controls the ability to grip things.  This is only the second time I’ve had a flare up of the issue in the past five years, but at its worse it totally cripples my right hand which is unfortunate since I am right-handed.  I’ll spare you the details it just makes for interesting living for a few days.

I don’t suffer well.  I’m not petulant and whiny, I just get very impatient because things aren’t working the way I think they should and I’m now dependent on other people to live life.  Did I mention I’m a bit of a control freak?  Unfortunately because I’ve let some areas of my life go, namely physical fitness, I’m dealing with aches, pains, and physical breakdown at a point earlier in my life than I probably should be.  That plus the endless access to new and shinier technology that creates an environment ripe for repetitive strain injuries.  Regardless this is me reaping some of what I have sown.

Starting around six years ago God started working in my life to show me who I really was.  I spent a lot of time in denial that I was in fact a very selfish person and it took God, through my wife, to give me a real wake up call to who I was/am.  Since then God has been teaching me, molding me, and changing me in quite a few ways to be the man he would have me be.

Sometimes the lessons come through words and deeds of others, sometimes in patient endurance, and sometimes they come in pain, but however they come they are ultimately a blessing.  To some this would sound masochistic, but I can assure you it is not.  I pray for wisdom, but sometimes I’m daydreaming while the teacher is teaching.  I can’t complain when the teaching has to go to extremes to get my attention.  This pain is minor on the scale of human suffering, let alone on the timeline of eternity.

Side note:  Please do not read this as all pain and suffering = a lesson from God.  This is based on my personal experience and the pain, physical or emotional, I’ve experienced in my life.  While I would argue it is true that we can learn from all types of suffering and that God can use suffering for good, I would not presume to say that ALL suffering is necessarily meant to be a lesson or a punishment.

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Welcome

Posted on August 26, 2012 by mdbrie01

This is a new beginning for me.  I’ve been blogging on and off for six or seven years now.  I’ve never run my own blog though, preferring to rely in either the Blogger.com platform or most recently the Tumblr platform.  While the former exists only as a record of what I have written, the later will probably remain active if for no other reason than I like the way the platform works.

However as a writer, and someone with a manic detail oriented personality, I want a medium that affords me the most amount of control with the least amount of ‘sweat’ equity on my part.  So while I could build my own web server and host my own site there, I’ll let someone else handle the heavy lifting so I can concentrate on the writing.

So welcome to my new corner of the ‘net.  Grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the journey with me.

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