dan_edge Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 By Dan Edge from The Edge of Reason,cross-posted by MetaBlog Towards the end of 2005, I was at a very low point in my life. I had developed an array of bad habits that precluded me from achieving significant life goals. In fact, I had no explicit life goals, beyond the broad framework of principles ingrained into me by years of studying Objectivism. I felt very little passion or motivation for anything. Late one night, I was talking to my wonderful future wife, Kelly, about my inner sense of suffocation and paralysis. As she so often does, Kelly had a brilliant suggestion for me -- "Start a journal." She advised me to get on my computer that evening, open a Word document, and write at least a few lines. "Just do it, even if all you do is write, 'I don't want to write in this journal right now, but here it is.'" That's exactly how my first journal entry began. But then I kept going. A half hour later, I had written a page and a half. I decided ahead of time that I would never show the journal to anyone, so I spoke only to myself. Over the next few days, I introspected about the state of my life, my mind, and my emotional state. I began to form a battle plan about what direction my life was going to take. But I knew I needed to start simple. Day 3 into my journal writing, I decided to make a simple list of tasks to be completed by the next day. These chores included: making my bed, cleaning my bedroom, paying a bill, and making another journal entry. The next day, after I had completed these goals, I placed a digital smiley face -- -- next to each completed task. I wrote a new list for the next day and added other chores. When a particular task became automatic, and I no longer needed to remind myself to do it, I transferred it to a new list which I entitled "Automatized Tasks." Many of the new chores were smaller steps towards larger goals. In this way, I continued to become more goal-oriented an productive. By the next week, I was working out every day, keeping the house tidy, training the dogs, and keeping close tabs on my finances. A month later, I applied for readmission to the University of South Carolina. Six months later, I finally completed my BA in Philosophy (ten years after I started going to school). About six months after that, I started my own business. It's now been over two years. A day planner has replaced the Word document with the digital smilies, but it serves the same purpose. These days, I am very productive. I am the president of a small business, a sophomore in the OAC, a weekly blogger, a contributor to The Undercurrent (my article is in the next issue!), and I'm about to start a small eBay business buying and selling old NES video games. Kelly and I will be married in April, and we are in the process of planning our life together. Beyond that, I have found -- or rather created -- my rudder. I have become a deliberate, passionate, productive valuer. I share this because I know there are others out there who know how to live in theory, but have not learned how to form a plan and execute. If you find yourself directionless and demotivated, I highly recommend keeping a journal and writing lists. Doing these things gives physical reality to your thoughts, goals, and emotions. It provides you with a structure through which you can charge passionately and deliberately in the direction of your dreams. If this blog entry strikes a chord in you, then I advise you to do what I did -- start your journal tonight. Start simple. Start anywhere. But start tonight! --Dan Edge View the full article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KendallJ Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Phenomenal advice Dan! A journal is a great way to begin to be more introspective and introspection and analysis for anyone who wants to be happy is the start of a great journey. My journey this year, which included starting a journal and getting more into blogging resulted in significant positive changes in my life, including losing a little weight, getting back into racing, and making the final decision to end an unhappy marriage. All from the result of sitting back, taking alook at where I was, and deciding where I wanted to be and how to get there. Kudos to you for posting this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aequalsa Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Phenomenal advice Dan! I second that. The essential principle in your post which many people seem to miss(especially the big dreamers) is that life is made up of mostly small decisions and actions all bunched up together. It's easy to be overwhelmed big projects or goals which seems to cause many to never begin. Breaking it down into smaller steps and pieces makes it easy. So rather then "get in shape", do 3 push ups today. Instead of taking over the world, just take over Nebraska. I first noticed this idea several years ago when I saw other foremen have trouble with really big jobs because they would bounce around and try to think about every detail of the whole job at once. When, beyond some general strategy and planning, all they really needed to do was work on each individual piece. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intellectualammo Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 (edited) My journey this year, which included starting a journal and getting more into blogging resulted in significant positive changes in my life, including losing a little weight, getting back into racing, and making the final decision to end an unhappy marriage. I know that three years ago I had started a journal about the actions I was taking and the reasoning behind them during my divorce. I wanted my daughter to know what was going on in her daddy's head when he divorced her mother. Plus, I found that this kept information and my own thoughts together. The events that were taking place at the time were happening very quickly, and I needed to write things down anyways, just to keep track for legal purposes. Someday?? my daughter may want to know what was going through my mind, and I'll have a paper trail ready for her eyes to walk along. I also just recently written a novolette for her. All this writing helps tremendously me, psychologically. No one will understand what I mean by that, until they actually read my works. I didn't set out to write a journal. Back then, literarily speaking, I didn't even know how to use a pen... At first it was just me writing information down which to my surprise rapidly evolved into a way to communicate my thought processes, my reasoning to my daughter if she'd ever want to know... Today, due to what had happened to me on 5/6/06 and on...I know how to use a pen finally, and I'm rapidly learning how to write even more effectively. A single line that I had read on that day had changed the course and direction of my life...forever. I seemingly haven't stopped writing since that day. The day my literary life truly began. By Dan Edge from The Edge of Reason,cross-posted by MetaBlog Towards the end of 2005, I was at a very low point in my life. I had developed an array of bad habits that precluded me from achieving significant life goals. In fact, I had no explicit life goals, beyond the broad framework of principles ingrained into me by years of studying Objectivism. I felt very little passion or motivation for anything. Dan, towards the end of my marriage, what had happened at the end of it...I felt a little of the same way. I sought full custody, not shared custody of my daughter, and due to the circumstances it was just shy of an impossiblity for that to happen, since she did nothing wrong to my daughter legally speaking. It was a tramatic time for me, my daughter was only around 6 months old at the time. Being a dad, being an excellent one, having a family WAS my goal, AND I had reached it...until...well...you get the picture. It was like "Now what?"...but now..."I know what." I have followed another recent goal, and have achieved it with absolutely no accreditation whatsoever though, as if it even matters to me... I became a writer. I opened my own business up too...a publishing company. I'll get my own copyrights with the Library of Congress and my own block of ISBN's. I am the only writer now, though I had tried to merge with another writers company a while ago, and even recently someone was writing with me. I hope to start printing my works out soon! Edited October 10, 2007 by intellectualammo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-Mac Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 I started a blog tonight. Thanks Dan and Kendall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O.K. Stone Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 (edited) I have intended to start a journal, to clear the clutter in my mind, for quite a while. I'll start one tonight. Thanks for the inspiration. Edited October 10, 2007 by O.K. Stone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thales Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Dan, excellent posting! I enjoyed it. I'm wondering, how were you able to get your business started? Was it a slow ramp up process and what sort of business is it? Thanks for any feedback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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