Being Done

Everyone knows the feeling.


When you reach your goal, when you finish what you started, and when you make it all the way to the end. When you feel like you accomplished something, when you know that there's nothing left that needs to be done, and when you don't need to worry about it anymore. We all know what it's like to be done. No more loose ends, no more little details, no more effort required - you're all set. It's awesome.


The best part about being done is that you are free to move on and do other things. Being done with your homework means you get to go hang out with your friends. Being done with your job applications means you don't need to worry about filling out tons of forms. When you finish sleeping, you can get up and live another day. Everything in life happens in a linear, cause-and-effect sequence. Do this, get that. Finish this, now you can do that. Being done means you are progressing through that line. You are being productive, and are on the way to producing more. It's a never ending cycle in which people are proud to be trapped.


Conversely, often times when in the middle of something, people feel tense. The only thing they feel might be anticipation, a desire to make it to that point where they are done. Some people have mixed feelings when they are nearing completion. Yes, they will be done and can move on with their lives, but they will never work on that thing that they completed ever again. Think of a final draft essay that you just handed in. You're done. No more room for corrections. You just sent off your paper, and unless you feel like changing it around after you get your grade back, you will never change a word on it again. It's carved in stone, and you threw away the chisel. People get bothered by that, but some things don't have second tries.


Still, there is a feeling of serenity when you're done. One less thing to worry about in the endless string of things to worry about. We will just keep getting bombarded with tasks and missions in life, but we will still feel like we are going somewhere when we get them done. We've made progress, and that's all that anyone can ever ask of us. Let's do our best to make them, and ourselves, proud.


...I'm going back to school today.


Thank you to all of the people who have read even just one post on this blog. I had fun writing it, and I hope you had fun reading it. The month sure went by fast, but these posts served as a way to keep the thoughts trapped in those speedy seconds here for anyone to see. Some memories disappear fast, but I am glad that this will be able to stay here for a long, long time.


And with that, everyone, One Month of Words is done.

Take Your Time

People tend to rush things.


I haven't eaten fast food for a while. I can say that with some pride, considering the amount of knowledge we have about how unhealthy it is. If you are a regular around Wendy's and McDonald's, you probably are fully aware of what kind of stuff you're putting in your stomach. I'm not against fast food, in fact when I am in a rush, it is often the only option. But will you leave your house, one with a fully stocked kitchen and clean pots and pans, in order to go to a fast food restaurant? As a surprise to me, yes, many people actually do that.


The idea of having anything instantly, not just food, is an appealing one. We live in an age where any little tidbit of knowledge that we might want to know is only a Google search away. They even brag about how much time it took to make your search - often less than a second. Naturally, when surrounded with so many opportunities to get results now, we try to take them all. "Get results quick and easy!" is a staple tagline to any fitness product, otherwise we wouldn't be as impressed. No lines at an amusement park means we get to spend more time on rides. Bottom line, pretty much anything we want, we would like to have sooner rather than later.


There's an issue with this fact. Let's say you want to boost your English grade, and want to do as best you can to earn an A on your next assignment. Naturally, you are going to want to put in your best effort and nurture your work to make it as close to perfect as possible. But at the same time, wouldn't you be happier having that amazing paper right now? In this situation, that is impossible. Some exercise machines do get you results faster if you use them, and some amusement parks have no people in your way of riding a ton of rides. Time is not a factor. But in this scenario, you also need to put in the time - there is no choice. Your perfect paper will come from hard work combined with enough time put into it, not one or the other.


Take your time. Cook yourself a healthy dinner, don't go out and browse the Dollar Menu. It is worth it in the end. More time into what you do yields more attractive results, regardless of what you do. Yes, there comes a point where putting in more time is unnecessary and sometimes even harmful, but that doesn't come for a long, long time into your task. There's no such thing as too much revision, until maybe your eyes hurt. Stay for the entire allotment of time that you were given to take your final exam - unless you are really, really confident that you did not make a single avoidable mistake.


Just put in more time. That's all. You have more than you think you do, even when you're in a rush. Take your time, take your time, take your time.


It would be pretty embarrassing if there was a type-o in this post after it went up. I looked it over for a pretty long time...


Tomorrow, I will be headed back to school. This means the final installment of this blog will be up in less than 24 hours. Man, what a fast month.

The Little Things

There are people that are living on their own islands right now.


Growing up, I didn't have that many expensive things. I had the standard video game systems, a bicycle, a swing set, and things that pretty much pair of parents in northern New Jersey had to offer to their kids. I think my parents did a pretty good job in not spoiling me though - I wasn't begging for toys like some kids would. But this is because I tried to find ways to have fun without ways to have fun. In other words, I kept myself entertained without things to help me.


I exaggerated things a lot as a kid. Think of playing in a sandbox. The eyes of an older teenager see a square with some sand in it. But the eyes of children see a square with not just sand in it, but possibilities. Possibilities for what, nobody knows or cares. They're there, and thats what always mattered. When kids swing around their Tonka trucks and toy dinosaurs, they are really seeing those things come to life in front of them. They don't need to see images on a screen to see it in their heads - they see it on their own. Expensive toys are unnecessary. Just give a kid some sand and some sky. They'll figure it out.


Not to say that people don't do it, but I wish more of us appreciated the little things. Everyone take a minute and gloss over this website. Every post is some simple little thing that might make you smile during the day. Not some major achievement or huge deal that you made, but things that feel like major achievements or huge deals. Not because of their size or scope, but just because of the simple quirky positive natures that they hold. So many more little things exist in this world than huge, almost unattainable things that cause "happiness" in people. And we can easily get a smile out of a high five or a secret handshake. Kids can do it, and so can adults.


It's funny how much money some people have. More money than they know what to do with. It's almost a curse, really. You have more at your disposal than any one person should ever have, and almost everything you experience is a direct result of the price tag on it. People are out fishing on their own boats and coming home to giant screen TV's in their home theaters while their personal chefs make dinner. That's all fine, but it's not necessary. People dream to have all of that - but they are already so close. You can go out and jump in a puddle and come home to people making shadow puppets in the closet while popcorn is popping. I'd be pretty happy with that, maybe just as much as the ritzy moneybags scenario. The things that we should appreciate more are the things that are not quite things, but ideas. Kids can do it, so can adults.


Take a deep breath and think of how nice that air tasted. Hug your family members and think of how warm they are, on the inside and out. And realize that what you have is more than enough to make you as well off as anyone else. It's the little things that build up and make everything in this world worth it. Big things may come in small packages, but you have to open them up first.

Breaking Cycles

We all have cycles.


Wake up, go to school, come home, watch TV, eat dinner with your family, do homework, sleep, repeat. Wake up, drive to work, come home, play with your kids, eat dinner, sleep, repeat. There are general variations to everyone's cycles, but the overall framework is relatively similar across the board. Save for major life changes or times of unclarity, you can more often than not say with confidence "Today was a lot like yesterday." I'm telling you now that you should strive to never saying that again.


People need to practice breaking their cycles. Have you ever heard a friend complain about an element of monotony in their life that they wish didn't exist? The only thing I ever want to say to people who bring that up is "Well, change it." We are the masters of our own destinies, and we make our own fun and luck in this world. I've said it before, but people need to go out and find things on their own, not wait around for someone or something interesting to come along to fix things for them. If you're feeling bored, it's time to break a cycle - don't spend the day at home doing whatever the whole day, find something new. Schedule an appointment for something in which you would normally never be interested. Hang out with someone that you don't hang out with as much. Break the cycle.


Many people are afraid of breaking the wrong cycle, which is exactly why so many cycles go unbroken. It only takes one really bad confrontation with a new person to make someone not want to do anything with them again. We then put up a barrier, associating hanging out with new people as a direct route to a bad outcome. Therefore, no more cycle breaking. It's important to just deal with cycles that lead to something negative in order to prevent ourselves from never breaking that cycle again. It might have been no fun being with that person for the day, but after a while your cycle is going to get old and stale again, and it will need breaking. Just because you have a history of bad outcomes with your new people cycle doesn't mean you shouldn't break any other cycles again. You broke the wrong cycle - s'okay, try another one.


I remember growing up, I was always skeptical in eating new foods. My parents would tell me "You should try new things, you might like them!" Truer words have never been spoken. You'll never know until you try. I was under the impression that other people were in control of bringing new things into my life, i.e. my mom's cooking. But that is not the case. We control things for ourselves. We are all at liberty to introduce variety to our lives, whenever we want. That should be a well developed skill in all of us.


So eat random new foods, talk to total strangers, and go to different places. And if it doesn't work out in the end, don't worry - a broken cycle doesn't stay broken forever.

Snow

The weather is apparently a pretty big deal.


Snowfall often makes or breaks someone's day. For many, it means their plans are officially ruined, or their schedule for the next 24 hours is replaced with "playing outside." There's not a lot of middle ground - and how can there be? Every news station sends their field reporters to where the storm is going the hardest. Forget about international affairs and the state of the country... We have snow to worry about, guys. It's no wonder people are so opinionated about snow on the ground, someone mentions snow more times than we inhale in a day. But still, there's just a little too much ado about nothing.


I guess it bothers me because of how predictable this time of year is. It's the middle of winter. There will be one or two major storms every year, I can almost guarantee that. Yes, we need to keep up with the weather channel to make sure we know when the storm is on its way. But as soon as wind is caught of a blizzard thats on the way, the human race enters panic mode. People rush to the grocery store and stock up on a week's worth of food. We take weeks off of work because we won't make it out of the driveway. Meanwhile, news stations are rehashing the same scripts on TV as they do every year: "Major interstate highway is backed up, X number of snow plows are working through the night to keep the roads as safe as possible, watch out for ice because we need to remind you that there's ice, we will keep you posted on the rate of snowfall throughout the day."


Come on. I think we've all lived through enough winters to know the drill. It's like you go camping for the 20th time, and your dad, once again, reminds you to put out the fire before you go to sleep. Well, yeah. That's kind of how I've been doing it my whole life, thanks. It's important to do, sure, but I think everything is accounted for. Yes, we know there's snow on the ground. No, I wasn't planning on driving as fast as normal.


People groan all the time about being inconvenienced by the snow. We talk about how long it took us to shovel the sidewalk, how much food we had to buy, and how mad we are about being stuck inside. Why do we all focus on the negative? Is snow as bad at it is because of what people made of it? Let's talk about the fun parts of snow instead. "I got to go outside and watch the snow fall, and had hot chocolate when I was done." "I had a huge snowball fight with my friends, and it was a blast." More of that, please and thank you.


I ran around with my dog in the snow today, and we both loved it. I hope you are enjoying the snow as well. Everything is what you make of it - so why not make a snowman?

Travel

I downloaded Google Earth today.


Google Earth is the kind of toy that you could play with for hours and hours without getting bored. It is such a simple idea with such amazing features to keep any curious mind busy. You can search for towns, look at your house (from an aerial or street view perspective), or find cool locations near you that you never knew about before. Pretty much any landmark, building, field, and road is there for you to look at whenever you want. Google Earth is powerful, man.


I messed around with it for a while today. I was looking at all of my friend's houses, my college campus, and special places from my childhood. It tells you the altitude of the land that you have your mouse on, so I was trying to find the deepest part of the Marinas Trench (the deepest part of the ocean anywhere). It tells you the coordinates of the location you are looking at, which helped me locate areas where different geocaches are hidden (see my Adventure post for more on those).


And I got to look at other countries.


I live in New Jersey. I grew up in New Jersey. I leave the state quite often to visit the city and attend school, but I pretty much have only existed on this planet on the east coast of the United States. I've only ever been out of the country once, which was to visit Niagra Falls. It was cool, but the trip with my dad to San Diego felt like more of an international trip than that. My point is that I am not much of a world traveler.


But being able to look at all of these other countries on Google Earth is downright amazing. Never before have I wanted to travel more than I do after looking at all of these different places. The Earth has more places than any one person can ever visit and experience, but everyone should try to see as much as they can. Oceans, landmarks, tourist attractions, famous event locations, different cultures, different foods, and different experiences are out there in infinite supply. You will leave this life with places unvisited, even if you traveled every day. There is so much to see.


There is nothing quite like traveling - and this is coming from someone who doesn't partake in it. Just the idea of seeing new places and finding new stuff is exciting to me. Traveling should be on people's minds and in their dreams. If you are ever looking for an adventure, look no further than a new country. It can't disappoint.


I am looking at the Eiffel Tower on Google Earth street view right now. But that doesn't come close to actually standing in front of it. Trip to France, anyone?

Potential

Have you ever heard of Craigslist?


The short description goes like this: Anyone can put up a post on the website, which you can categorize into fields such as jobs, for sale, personals, services, and others. When you visit the website, all of the articles immediately presented to you are grouped together based on where you live - I'm not entirely sure how the website knows where you are located, but it is nice being able to only see things in your neighborhood. It's more or less a child of Ebay and Amazon.


I glossed over the website for a while today, and I am stunned at the potential that Craigslist has - of which anyone can take advantage. People are selling homes on Craigslist. They are trading their homes for other homes. They are meeting people, finding oddjobs, making money... and using the website is free. Save for the scam artists floating around (which, according to Craigslist, are filtered out as best as possible), the power behind this webstite is huge. To me, it is almost unbelievable. An example that will blow your mind is that of Kyle MacDonald, who managed to trade for something "bigger and better" enough times to finally get his own house - starting from a paper clip. You can find his story here.


Its amazing how something with a simple framework like Craigslist can lead to so many different outcomes. The simple things in life are sometimes the most rewarding, mostly due to their basic nature that everyone can understand and relate to. That's the weird thing about the most innovative ideas today - they don't all come from innovative minds. Someone with average intelligence with minimal resources can sill think of a groundbreaking idea. Great things can come from almost nothing.


People often talk about potential like it is something that only gifted people have. A fourth grader in a Calculus class would often garner remarks such as "Wow, what a smart kid! He has so much potential!" Sure, it might be a smart kid. But everyone else in his class has potential too. We all have potential, in all stages of our lives. We have the potential to be good or bad, the potential to work hard or hardly work, and the potential to make the right or wrong decisions. The future is unwritten, but we're all holding pens.


It's one thing to have potential. But fulfilling it is what counts.

Drop It

Fights tend to rear their ugly heads every now and then.


I feel that the world would be a better place if fighting got up and left. Apart from the serenity achieved from making up after the fact, nothing good has ever come from a fight. Whether it is a physical brawl or a verbal exchange, a full fledged fight is completely avoidable, completely unnecessary, and a waste of time.


What blows my mind is that people on this planet are making money right now to punch someone's face in. That's the last kind of money I would ever want to make. You might think that yes, something good is coming from that fight - people are making their living from it. But at what cost? Bloody bruises and broken bones, which I think more than take away from any money gained from a fight. Minus the blow to the economy suffered from its departure, professional fighting has every reason to just go away. (Sure, there are people that genuinely love fighting, which I understand. My point is that there is so high a risk and so high a cost to fighters, that in the end, they gain little to nothing.)


It's not just professional fights that are unnecessary. Arguments exist on every level - not just professional. In fact, there might be more people fighting in domestic scenarios than in any other situations that humankind has to offer. Consider growing up with your parents. You fought to get what you wanted in your younger naive years, and didn't care what anyone else had to say. All you did was upset your parents and make them work harder. Yes, we're young and don't know better, but then why does fighting continue to exist in our older years? I have argued with my parents recently, sure. Every time it happens, I regret it afterwards. I could have saved my energy instead of wasted our time.


I think a good skill to have is to know when to just drop it. Every argument that we ever have is only happening because we believe we are right to some degree, and we want to prove ourselves. We want to get what we think we deserve, and we want the other side to concede to you. And yet, both sides would be better off if the argument never started.


How far down the wrong road will you go before turning around? Well, you sure aren't going to just keep going the wrong way. You definitely will turn around. Just like you should just stop arguing, no matter how far into the conversation you are. It doesn't matter who "wins," or who gets the better piece, or who gets to go when the other stays home. Today is one in many, many days of your life, and what happens to you this one time will be a distant memory some day. Even if the fight has gotten really bad, you should always just stop. Make up and worry about more important things.


So the next time you catch yourself in an argument, ask yourself: "Is this really worth our time and energy?" Stop, take a deep breath, swallow your pride, and shake hands. It's okay.


Less arguing means more happiness, and less hate means more love. Sounds good to me.

Brainpower

I am pretty sure a hefty majority of the movie-going population has seen the movie Inception.


I just saw it for the first time. I think that puts me in the "late bloomer" group of viewers. I feel like I understood the movie pretty well, but even then, I feel pretty absent-minded after seeing it. Its a strange feeling - hard to explain to anyone who hasn't seen the movie. (If you can't tell by now, the movie is impressive).


It is not very often that people are enveloped completely in any one thing. Generally, we can retain some semblance of multitasking - the brain is able to process more than one thing simultaneously, without losing track of one or the other. But in this situation, I was not thinking of anything else. All of my focus was going into the movie, with no distractions at all.


Its a pretty strange feeling being 100% focused in only one thing. Even when using all of your potential brain power, you still feel like you aren't doing much with it. I wrote in a previous post that people never completely put in 100% of their possible effort into anything that they do - as nobody is perfect. But we can still feel like we are putting in everything we've got.


So much variation exists in the levels of brainpower in everyone. We have IQ tests, and scores range from genius level to almost no thinking power at all. We have people developing cures for diseases, and people thinking of ways to try to pay their next bills. But nobody has an excuse to not try to use as much brainpower as they have at their disposal. We all have been gifted with a level of intelligence, and should strive to live up to those levels as best we can.


My hope is that people think as much as they can. More ideas means more possibilities.

Random

I hope that by this point in time, everyone has established their new years resolutions. But maybe you are still looking for some ideas.


I found a pretty interesting website today. This is the link: http://resolution.decontextualize.com . From what I understand, you can generate random resolutions for yourself that are created based on tweets from Twitter. It meshes words together from several tweets to create a sentence - more often than not they are humorous rather than helpful, but on occasion you will receive a solid resolution. I have used the website mostly for laughs, but the fact of the matter is, there are people out there right now that have taken one of those random resolutions as their own, and are prepared to follow it.


The way that people make decisions in this world is pretty freaky. Think of the way we reason based on circumstances: We might be influenced to take one road over another because of traffic in one direction. We might sign up for a certain class because it strikes us as interesting, and we think it would be a good idea. We might buy one brand of product over another because a friend told you that they liked it more.


But what about making decisions based on nothing? We could have no idea which way has more traffic, but we still need to pick a road to take. Maybe you just need another 3 credit class for the semester, and pick one from a hat because you are indifferent. Maybe you have no prior knowledge about two different products, but you still need to buy one. And we do still pick those roads, we do still take those classes, and we do make those purchases. Based on nothing. It is completely random.


More than a few times I have done something "just for the hell of it." No reason, I just felt like doing it. Granted, "felt like doing it" is arguably a reason for doing it, but lets say that, if that is your only reason for doing something, then you really didn't have a reason for it in the first place. I have friends today from just randomly talking to strangers. I have new favorite snacks because I randomly bought them from the store one day. As far as I am concerned, conservation of mass is a lie - because you can make something out of nothing. Start a business with no money. Talk to someone without any questions prepared. Fly by the seat of your pants, don't think of the consequences, and just go.


Random means unpredictable. If everything you did was predictable, you would be a lot less diverse of a person, and would have less to contribute to conversation, projects, and to others. Some people say being random is annoying and unnecessary - but I welcome it. Bring on the noncontinuous banter, show me something I've never seen before, take me somewhere that I would never think to go, and say what others don't think to say. Random is good.

Normal

Do you like to associate yourself with "normal" people?


Think of how many friends you have had in your lifetime. Picture all of their faces. Consider all of the different places you have gone with them, different conversations you have had, and things you have done together. Think of all of them together. Would you say that they're a group of normal people? Or would you say that a few of them are different from the norm? Or maybe every single one of your friends is different?


I hope that you don't think of a single one of them as "normal."


It is easy to call your entire group of friends a bunch of normal people. All together, their qualities averaged and their personalities meshed, they all balance out to one normal entity. It is important to remember that they're not one thing though. Every person has a completely unique personality, different opinions, tastes, goals - everything. One friend's completely insane attitude might be offset in your mind by another friend's timid disposition, thus making you think that they are normal. But each of them on their own is a totally different person.


Normal people arguably don't exist in this world. So many variables are involved in evaluating someone's personality. But you should associate with the freaks. Get to know the weird ones. Some of the strangest brains on this planet are in the heads of the people running it. People with different outlooks cause things to happen. Things that normal people can't tap into. There's enough following being done across the Earth as it is, there needs to be more innovation. Normal doesn't cut it for innovation.


My closest of friends are the most different people I know - and that is one of the biggest compliments I can give to them. I am so thankful to be close to some brilliant minds. I still am very grateful for every person that has affected me in my life, and that is a long list, trust me. But there is such a cool feeling thinking about the outliers in my life. I've done things with some of my friends that would never have come to life had it been with anyone else. I have had some of the greatest ideas, trips, experiences, and laughs because of the people in my life that are the most not-normal.


Take a minute to evaluate the people you know - really evaluate them. I'm sure you already know who is the closest to you in your life. But consider what really makes them tick. What kind of people are they? Why do they do things that the majority does not? Why do they want those things?


Thanks to all of the outliers in this world. You guys are the best.

Adventure

The world we live in is a huge place.

 

Growing up, I used to go out in my backyard a lot. It's not the actual yard that made me love going out there. It was the woods behind it. Sure, throwing a ball around and playing in the grass was all fine, but in the trees is where the real action was. Looking out into the brush and not being able to see past that one tree, or noticing something out in the leaves that looks interesting, was enough to get me going back there all the time.

 

I'm in my house right now. Every single thing within eyesight right now (save for what I can see out my windows), exists as a direct result of an unnatural action. People made every single thing in my room. I don't consciously think about that fact very often, but I sometimes get an overwhelming feeling of wanting to be outside. I'm sure other people feel the same way – lots of people say they just "need to get out of the house" for whatever reason. Truth is, people should feel like going outside a lot more.

 

My brother and I used to explore everywhere in the woods behind my house. Nobody really cared about the property lines, so a span of effectively every house on our road was our world. Even the houses on the opposite side of the woods didn't mind us wandering around back there. My point is, there was a lot to do back there.

 

A river runs back there, which we walked on when it was frozen and even swam in when it wasn't. My neighbor built a treehouse out of the wood from our old back deck, so it feels like that part of our house never really left. There's a huge hill cleared of trees that was supposed to be a road which was never paved, which is perfect for sledding. There are huge fallen trees, mysterious abandoned items, and perfectly secluded spots that are just right for taking a seat, taking in a deep breath, and just being.

 

Each trip back there was an adventure.

 

Everyone take a minute and look up "geocaching." In short, you take GPS coordinates from the internet and try to find a hidden stash at the location. You get to take things from it as long as you put something back, and write your name on the list of people who have found it. It's like a mini treasure hunt, a mini adventure. There are millions of these hidden containers around the whole planet too – you will never run out of adventures. Free entertainment readily at your disposal that gets you outside in a unique way that can be shared with friends: Yes, please.

 

It's important to explore. Finding new things, taking part in different activities, and becoming a new person from them will always be completely awesome. We should try to do as much different stuff as possible. And most importantly, think of those things as adventures. The world becomes a much more exciting place that way. Life is one big adventure, but make a point to experience every aspect of life as one, too.

(This blog was uploaded via e-mail because Blogger isn't working properly today. I apologize if it looks messy).

--
Robert Capone, Comptroller
accounting@mtp-usa.com
973-616-2600  x1036
MTP

Talent

Everyone has talent.


Immanuel Kant is thought of as one of the most famous and revered philosophers that this world has ever known. It would take more than a simple blog post to go into all of the ideas he has shared with us. His position on how people should live their lives is based on duty - that is, people should do what they are morally obligated to do throughout their lives. Obviously, there are major objections to his philosophy, but for argument's sake, let's pretend for a moment that Kant is right. Performing one's duty is crucial to living a proper life.


There are several ways in which a person can fail to perform their duties. Some of these ways include breaking promises (it became your duty to fulfill what you said you would do), and committing suicide (regardless of your opinion of your own life, others still care about you, and it is your duty to be good to others). Another is to squander one's talents. You are in complete control of your own talent - and any disregard to hone those talents is a huge problem.


Talents are gateways. Every special skill or unique ability that any person has ever had, has lead in one way or another to a positive outcome. Nothing bad can come from developing your skills. Consider the opposite extreme: Your life is spent stagnating in a state of carelessness. The only things you experienced in life were a direct result of someone else's doing. Already, this sounds like a sorry state of affairs. This is exactly what every human on this planet should work hard to avoid. Knowing that every single person has something that they can contribute to the world that no other person has is the only reason needed for people to strive for dedicated talent growth.


Notice how I said "that no other person has." Whether you know of it yet or not, there is something that you can do that nobody else can. Arguably, everything that you do is completely impossible to replicate, so in a sense, you are the best at everything that you do. However, that doesn't mean that you can simply kick back and play the "unique card" whenever you want. Being unique doesn't mean you are entitled to not try. What life is there except for the one where people strive to be their best? It is our duty to be our best, and developing our talents is what gets us there.


The important thing to do is to just keep doing things. Don't sit around and wait for something exciting to come along. You can be that exciting thing if you just hone your talents to become it.

Happiness

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

-Theodore Roosevelt.

In my New Years Day blog post, I wrote that one of my resolutions is to find happiness, and to keep it. When I first established it, my mindset was this: "Okay, I can handle this. I know I can achieve this resolution, in fact I more or less have done it already. This, I can handle." Upon first reading it, it makes sense. Find, have, and share happiness. Easy. But the concept of "keeping" happiness is a volatile one. Keeping anything is (much) harder than first establishing it.

Think of how long it takes to construct a building. Time and energy are expended to a pretty big extent. Well, one bulldozer and one day is what it takes to bring it down like it never existed. Think of a job interview. You are evaluated with a couple of questions to ascertain if you can do the job required of you or not. But, it's not until you actually start working and potentially mess up until they see your true capabilities, and revoke your position. Think of how it might only take one negative hiccup in your day to throw a monkey wrench in your mood.

The moral of this post that I want to make is this: Happiness is relative. You are only as happy as you want to be, and at the same time, you will lose that happiness to the degree that you let it happen. Nobody on this planet is entitled to be happier than you are, for any reason. Yes, there are people set for life and well-off in healthy environments, but we are all human. We all react similarly to different things. The rich might only find happiness in  things very unrelated to money. Same goes for the people with little money. What's important is allowing yourself to experience the maximum happiness with what you have.

Everyone has bad days. They're like a disease. They infect you, change your mood, make you liable to spread them to others, and sometimes won't go away unless you just wait it out. Bad days just happen. It is up to you decide how low they bring you down. A building might fall down, but you can rebuild it. You might lose your job, but you can find another. You can shrug it off.

Think like a hedonist. For those of you who don't know, hedonism is the concept that all end results, rewards, possessions, gifts, and any other possible thing in life eventually boils down to one intrinsic value: happiness. (Granted, happiness isn't exactly easy to measure, but you can kind of assign "happiness levels" to different things in your life) Your car has value equal to how much happiness it gives you. Your breakfast is valuable only to the extent that it makes you happy. Now, why am I saying think like a hedonist?

You will be better off. Do things based on how happy you want to be in the end. Do things for others based on how happy those actions will make you. Your whole way of life will be oriented around one simple goal, one that you can strive for every day. Finding happiness will be a normal occurrence. And the best part is that you don't need to have anything in order to do this. You just need to go about life looking for a reason to put a smile on your face, and share it with someone else. "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."

My goal is not to tell people how to live. But I do think all advice is good advice. And my advice to you is to try and be as happy as possible. Sadness can be a thing of the past if you make it. You only live through life once - I say you should be happy as you live it.

Stuck

At some point, everyone gets stuck.

Raise your hand if you have ever been writing an essay, and you find yourself staring at the page for 10 minutes in the middle of your second body paragraph. Raise your hand if you have ever been working on a project, and you just walk away from it for a while because you need to try to think of new ideas for it. Raise your hand if your car has ever run out of gasoline miles from a gas station. All of these situations, among countless others, are exactly what we don't want when we're trying to do something or go somewhere. We don't want to be stuck.

Today I was balancing a checkbook (Please, hold the applause) for my dad's company. We use an online reconciliation program where the user can make edits themselves after collecting data from the bank accounts online. Some things come through messy, so they need to be fixed. Halfway through, I was trying to find a certain transaction, but couldn't. There was supposed to be something that was causing the bank not to match the program, but I didn't see it anywhere. I looked for what seemed like a year. I was stuck. And trust me, being stuck feels a lot worse when its because of something like a checkbook.

But we don't stay stuck forever.

People all have the unique ability to get themselves out of holes. It doesn't matter how steep the climb is, if you want out of the hole, you can manage it. We are able to finish essays even if we stop for a little bit in the middle of writing them. We can think of new ideas if we put our minds to it for a long enough time. We can call for help when we run out of gas, and we make it back home before it gets too cold. And I did indeed find the missing transaction.

Sometimes, being stuck for a while is what makes the end product better. Suppose during the middle of an essay  (that you planned everything through on), you got stuck. You went into it knowing every idea that you wanted down on the paper, but you forgot some of them. You're stuck, and now need to brainstorm. You then think of something (something that, had you just written everything you were prepared with, would never have existed), which ends up putting a huge positive spin on your writing. Bingo. Being stuck helped you out.

And it makes sense. When something bad happens to someone, yes, there may be bad consequences. But so many more good consequences can come from it. A coworker might laugh at you mockingly for having a stain on your shirt - but it was just in time for you to clean it before you walked in to a meeting with your boss. The teacher might call the class in from recess early, but now you will keep your new sneakers out from the rain storm that was on its way. It's better to take a blow now when you can take it than later, when the situation may be different, and you can't take it.

And hey, me not knowing what to write about for a blog post today might cause me to have something to write about for a blog post today. I should get stuck more often.

Distractions

Staying focused is important.

Right now, I am watching the Fiesta Bowl football game, Uconn against Oklahoma. At the time of me writing these words, I began this blog post 15 full minutes ago. That means, that these few sentences that you have read so far have taken me 15 minutes - just because I keep looking up at the TV. It is also 11:20, meaning I have exactly 40 minutes to finish and post this in order to fulfill my goal. It might seem like plenty of time, but keep in mind... Fiesta Bowl.

Distractions, while completely controllable, can tickle every person's weaknesses. No matter what you are trying to get done, there is always something out there to keep you from finishing. People need to just buckle down and seclude themselves from everything other than their goal. My example of finishing this post might be a little extreme, for two reasons: I actually attend Uconn, so I am emotionally invested in the team (come on, let's see a major upset!), and there are several people from school who I want to see on TV, my girlfriend in the band being one of them. Kind of challenging to 100% not watch the game, considering that there are elements like multitasking at play.

It's not a lie that more would get done if everyone were to dedicate themselves to a task. But, that is unrealistic. We are humans, not robots. Things like multitasking are going to happen, no matter what. Breaks will be taken. Days off will be taken. People forget things. People prioritize some things over others. Regardless of the circumstances, nothing in this life will ever be brought to 100% completion. There will always be something that could have been done in addition to the "finished" product, maybe at the cost of that extra break that you took or those 10 minutes that you goofed off.

That's all fine, though. Nobody should want to be able to do things to perfection. A distraction is just one more thing that is keeping us from going crazy. People can't work solid 8 hour blocks - they need to take breaks. We don't work every single day of the week - we need days off. If people stay focused while they work, then they are fulfilling their capabilities. We can focus on entertainment too, though. Take everything in moderation, as long as you do each thing with conviction. Work hard, and play hard. 

Good thing ESPN needs to take breaks in the form of commercials, too. Finished this just in time.