Sweet Quarantine - China Lockdown Day 2

One of my favorite scenes from the movie Forrest Gump is when Lt. Dan joins Forrest as a shrimp boater and they get caught up in a hurricane

Lt. Dan climbs up to the top of the mast and screams into the wind:

It's time for a showdown! You and me! I'm right here! Come and get me! You'll never... sink... this... BOAT!

My morning transcendental meditation sesh was only partially transcendent but that, and my daily journaling (one to two pages of a hand-written torrent of all the crap in my head, a daily practice that I'll dig into later) helped me to to get up on the mast and invoke my own inner Lt. Dan. I decided that I was going to open the box of chocolates today and no matter what I got, I was gonna bite into one that I loved ;-).

Of course, I'm totally exaggerating the effects of my two-week quarantine: There ain't no hurricane up in this quarantane. Fact is, I'm still in early innings and to be honest, I quite enjoy it so far.

Was able to get in a great Pull workout (back and biceps - every week I do Pull, Push, Legs, HiiT and Mobility - I'll break my exercise routine all down more later as well) armed with one simple resistance band.

A resistance band travels super well, is wildly versatile and can be even taken along with during runs for outdoor workouts as well, love 'em.

I also got through the book The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz which was recommended by Tim Ferriss. It's a dated book and it's the more of the same when it comes to these type of books on having the right mindset to achieve goals but I find that it's necessary to reinforce this kind of thinking regularly. Having not just a growth mindset, but aiming for goals much larger than comfortable is another muscle I make every effort to flex.Someone once gave me great advice - if you're going to give maximum effort and commitment to something (a new company, a project, etc) you might as well aim as high as possible.

Lines such as the following seem like tired tropes, but I've found, especially an entrepreneur, these very much need to be front of mind since it's easy to fall prey to fight, flight or freeze when encountering challenges.

Action cures fear.

Indecision, postponement, on the other hand, fertilize fear. 

The Magic of Thinking Big

David J. Schwartz

Something is hard or scary and then our good ol' amygdala, which kept us alive for 2 million years as humans (but is not very useful these days), kicks in and we fight (argue, block, close our mind), flee (avoid through denial or by getting lost in social media or other dopamine-inducing distractions) or freeze (ignore, continue to do the same and/or have analysis paralysis and do nothing).

Fear (and don't forget, anger is usually the public face of fear) often debilitates us for no good reason other than we are all just getting hijacked by our pre-installed firmware (the amygdala) that is no longer very useful in modern culture and much more harmful than it is helpful.

Action, especially as an entrepreneur, is the only way through that, especially while trying to leverage the magic of thinking big.

With Lockdown Love & Good Vibes to You and Yours,

Rich