Well, I’m here to tell you… not making a choice, is a choice.

The world keeps turning, despite your perceived inaction. I say perceived because by not moving forward, you are making a choice – instead of owning your own steps though, you’re just staying on whatever course you happen to already be on. In not wanting to make a decision, you are deciding to stay in your default state, whatever comfort zone you happen to be in.

If you get to a fork in the road, and there’s two paths, make a choice to move forward, boldly, down one. Trip and stumble along the way, but fight your way through, going for what you want. Make mistakes, but don’t sit too long at the fork wondering about the opportunity cost of one over the other – because there’s also an opportunity cost of just sitting there, frozen.

Life is going to be a battle, whether you’re sitting at the fork in the road or moving forward. But only in moving forward do we own our path. Don’t kid yourself and think you’re stalling between two choices – you may have already made the third choice, to let life happen to you instead of captaining your own destiny.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”
Henry David Thoreau

So, starting a new challenge, one thing I usually look for is the quick wins in life (I would say “work/life” – but that’s kind of a pointless dichotomy).   By “quick wins” I mean what are the things that are easy to implement, but create great outcomes?  Essentially, what’s the best ROI, given our time and effort as an investment? What are the LHFs (Low Hanging Fruits)? This is a powerful business concept, but why not use it for this application?

For healthy living, what this will look like is somewhat different for everyone, because effort required is defined personally (e.g., I hate running and love weights, but my sister loves running and is not enthusiastic about weights).  The LHFs for me when it comes to being healthy involves a lot of small common sense baby steps: be more active daily, drink more water, decide to have the healthier food options, don’t eat late at night, limit alcohol and other “empty calories” – in general: moderation and activity.  These are easy for me.  Stuff that’s hard for me and doesn’t pay off? Counting calories and overdoing myself physically – I burn out quickly, frustrated.  Stuff that’s easy and doesn’t pay off? Sitting at my computer, eating without thinking, staying up late, and reading YouTube comments (unrelated, but come on, reading YouTube comments never pays off).

Some things that are in the high effort/high payoff category for me are prioritizing sleep and cardio training – both examples of why you can’t just go for the LHFs, you have to also look at the longterm strategic outcomes.  I don’t want to send a message that those things that are hard are not worth doing.

Still, starting out with LHFs, even just identifying them, is a very powerful way to jump start toward a goal.  And if you’re anything like me, the more you see results, the easier it gets to push into the harder stuff, because you get more and more excited. I’m already 25% of the way to Disneyland, which makes me feel like a badass.  And if there’s anything I’ve learned it’s that feeling like a badass is a great motivator.  A little confidence in yourself can go a long way.  Knocking LHFs out of the way like a mega rockstar demigod epic dinosaur hunter will psych you up for continued success.

That all being said, I also like to identify “selfhacks” to get myself jump started in this game of personal “hardware” upgrades.  Being a nerd, if I can track health metrics easily and automatically, I am way more likely to be motivated – so I’ve let myself play with a lot of fun gadgets like the FitBit, and, best of all, the Withings WiFi Scale and the CardioTrainer app on my Android (I’d recommend those all – I’ve also tried the Bodybugg and the Nike+ but loved the aforementioned the most).  Being a ridiculous extrovert, my other selfhacks have been to schedule social things around activities instead of around food – things like swing dancing, and walking around Greenlake for a chat with a friend.

Both finding LHF and “selfhacks” really focus around knowing yourself and what works specifically for you, you might need to experiment along the way.  I’d love to hear what your discoveries are.

I never realized how much you use your voice before. To make a call, to make an appointment with the doctor, to have meetings, to collaborate with colleagues, to fellowship with friends, to order a meal, to communicate any preferences at all – I really need a voice.

Details are the first thing to go. It’s too much work to communicate anything with much subtlety.  You turn to employing a sharp whistle to get people’s attention.  Comedic timing is sadly right out of the question, something I discovered I want to use a lot in group settings but now cannot.  You start noticing your expressions become exaggerated, and you feel like The Little Mermaid on land suddenly.

Things are going on in your head but you have no way to articulate it, leaving you feeling invisible.

It’s actually ironic that I’m reading a book called “Fierce Conversations” right now, all about mastering skills to create meaningful conversations. But conversation is a different beast now, all “listen” and no “talk”.  Getting to know people in this state has been a fascinating challenge. Listen, listen, listen – ask for more elaboration on a topic, dig deeper, do more than bounce the ball of conversation back and forth, ala status quo.  Make the questions count (since in my case it’s such a pain to express them).

I can’t wait for my voice to return, but it’s made me certainly consider how much listening versus talking I do, and also how lucky I am to have the things I take for granted – to hear, to be heard, to see, to move (and in so moving, dance!), to taste and touch and smell. All these things which add so richly to my life, yet I hardly think about until something is broken.

I guess it’s good for the soul to be temporarily reminded how much it hurts when good things are gone, so that we appreciate them when they are there.

Speaking of gaming, I ordered my 3 day badge for PAX Prime today. Get on it.

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