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Learning To Code – Acquiring Knowledge And Developing A Skill

Get Results: coding
Get Results: coding

As part of my own journey of self improvement, and the subsequent creation of this website, I’ve worked at putting many of the sites teachings into practice. It’s made a huge difference to my business, my relationships and my general outlook on life.

As part of this process, I’ve opened myself up to doing new things. One of these new things has been learning to code.

Historically I’ve convinced myself that I’m not the type of person to be a coder, and have failed to be able to get into it. I now realise this to be a coping strategy and an attempt to not have to take responsibility. Kind of saying to myself “If god hasn’t designed me to be a coder, I guess he knows best”. This allows me to psychologically move on to something else.

However, I’m now a little wiser and certainly more self aware, I can admit I’ve been closing myself off to the challenge.

I’m now open to the challenge and the surprising thing is, I’ve really enjoyed studying it. There is so much to learn it can be overwhelming, but also really exciting, with regards to the headroom for learning and the future possibilities for coding.

The key skill to programming is the ability to solve problems. I like solving problems, as well as helping people, so coding is a good fit for me personally as it aligns with my core purpose.

So where to begin? After doing some initial research, and asking a couple of programmer friends of mine (who have subsequently become mentors), I came to the conclusion Python would be a good starting point. I like the idea of data mining , deep learning, AI etc and Python ticks many of these boxes. It’s also a high level programming language, which means it operates at a higher conceptual level, and this really appeals to me.

I realised that web based applications would also be possible, but figured learning more about JavaScript and PHP would be worth investigating. I was informed by one of my mentors that it’s relatively easy to pick up a second language once you have one under your belt, and this has subsequently proved to be the case.

I scoured the internet, particular Youtube to find easy to follow tutorials. Not having anything of a coding background, I found some of the terminology rather difficult to come to terms with, but  with plenty of patience and determination, I’ve been able to power through these challenges.

I figured it best to learn the basic building blocks of the language, which I’ve detailed below, this isn’t designed to be a comprehensive list, but to give you an idea of what is involved in the learning process. It also helps me crystalise my learning, because I’m a firm believer than if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.

Hopefully you have gained some insight from my experience, and don’t shy away from learning new skills, I’m 50 years old and prepared to learn a completely new skill set at my age. It’s never too late.

The important thing to remember is not to get overwhelmed, or try to run before you can walk. Be patient, understand the fundamentals well, before progressing. Play with and enjoy the learning experience for it’s own sake, and not for what you will gain at the end. It’s about the journey, not just the destination.

If you’re not particularly interested in coding, you don’t need to read this post any further.

Learning the fundamentals of Python

I’m not going into the details of installing Python, there are many resources online detailing the exact process, other than saying you input  your code into Idle, which comes along with the Python installation.

“#” is a comment, it’s not part of the code, but allows you to add important notes to help readability and explain what you’re trying to do on each bit of code.

Variables

A variable is simply a pointer to something in memory.

Python variables do not need explicit declaration to reserve memory space. The declaration happens automatically when you assign a value to a variable. The equal sign (=) is used to assign values to variables.

The syntax is such that the operand to the left of the = operator is the name of the variable and the operand to the right of the = operator is the value stored in the variable.

So “myVariable” in the example below is the variable name, it should have no spaces and not start with numbers. variable names can only include a-z, A-Z, _, and 0-9. Other special characters are not permitted.

myVariable = "Hello World"

# this is a comment, and not part of the code. If you want to print the result to the screen do the following..
print(myVariable)
another_name = "Hello World" 
print(another_name)

Both the above examples print out “Hello World” to the screen. The variable name can be anything you want it to be, but make sure it’s descriptive enough so you and anyone else can understand the code at a later date.

Values can include strings (including sentences) which appear inside “”, numbers (including integers, floats, complex number) , lists which appear inside [], tuples () or directories {}, and we’ll cover these data types later. Here are a few examples

randomNumber = 400 
print(randomNum)
randomList = ["money", 43, "red", "UB40"]
print(randomList)
randomTuple = ("money", 43, "red", "UB40")
print(randomTuple)

Functions

A function is a block of reusable code that is used to perform a single, related action. Functions are convenient for reusing, without having to write the code out again and again later in a program.

The syntax for functions can be seen below; start with “def” and are followed by the function name (you choose what) and parentheses  ( ).

The code block within every function starts with a colon : and is indented. The indentation is very important, it will not work otherwise. Indenting code is done by pressing space bar 4 times on new line.

The bottom line below “calls” the function.

def bitcoin_to_sterling(btc):
    amount = btc * 3714.76
    print(amount)
bitcoin_to_sterling(10) #this line calls the function

# this function replaces btc with 10 which is multiplied by 3714.76 = 37147.6
def greet_user(username):
# Display a simple greeting
    print("Hello, " + username.title() + "!")
greet_user('mike') #this line calls the function

# this function prints out "Hello Mike"

Conditionals : if – elif -else

Conditional statements are common among programming languages and they are used to perform actions or calculations based on whether a condition is evaluated as true or false. If then else statements or conditional expressions are essential features of programming languages and they make programs more useful to users.

x = 14 
y = 14
z = 5

if x < y:
    print("X is less than Y")
elif y < x:
    print("Y is less than X")
elif z > x:
    print("Z is greater than X")
else:
    print("Y and X are the same and Z is less")

# prints out "Y and X are the same and Z is less"

Loops

A loop is a programming construct that enables repetitive processing of a sequence of statements. Python provides two types of loops to its users: the “for loop” and the “while loop”. The “for” and “while” loops are interation statements that allow a block of code (the body of the loop) to be repeated a number of times.

# WHILE loop example
condition = 1 # variable
while condition < 10:
    print(condition)
    condition += 1 # just keeps adding 1 until condition is met up to 10 but not including 10
# FOR loop example 
colours = ["red","blue","green","yellow","orange"] # this is a list

# this is for actual FOR loop
for colour in colours:
    print(colour)

Lists

We’ve used a list in the previous example for loops

A list is a data type that can be used to store any type and number of variables and information. You can manipulate lists, adding, removing, sorting, deleting contents.

# FOR loop example 2 - manipulating the original list

colours = ["red","blue","green","yellow","orange"] # this is a list

# add to end of list
colours.append("pink")

# replace an item on list
colours[0] = "pink"

# insert into list
colours.insert(1, "pink")

# delete from list
del colours[0]
colours.remove("pink")

# sort list
colours.sort()

# reverse list
colours.reverse()

# this is the actual FOR loop
for colour in colours: 
    print(colour)

Tuples

Tuples are fixed size in nature whereas lists are dynamic. In other words, a Tuple is immutable whereas a list is mutable. You can’t add elements to a tuple. Tuples have no append or extend method.

A Tuple is created by placing all the items (elements) inside a parentheses (), separated by comma. The parentheses are optional but is a good practice to write it.

A Tuple can have any number of items and they may be of different types (integer, float, list, string etc.).

tup1 = ('physics', 'chemistry', 1997, 2000)
tup2 = (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 )
print(tup1)
print(tup2)

Directory

A directory is like a list but instead of looking up an index to access values, you’ll be using a unique key, which can be a number, string, or tuple. Directory values can be anything but the keys must be an immutable data type. A colon separates a key from its value and all are enclosed in curly braces. Here is the directory structure:

 d={key_1:a, key_2:2, key_3:ab}

menu = {"spam":12.50,"carbonara":20, "salad":15}
print(menu)
print(len(menu)) # 3

Classes and object-orientated programming

Python is an object-oriented programming language, as it manipulates and works with data structures called objects. Objects can be anything that could be named in Python, such as  integers, functions, floats, strings, classes, methods etc. All these objects have equal status in Python. They can be used anywhere an object is required.

You can assign them to variables, lists or directories. They can also be passed as arguments. Every Python object is a class. A class is simply a way of organising, managing and creating objects with the same attributes and methods.

class Employees(object):
   def __init__(self,name,rate,hours):
   self.name = name
   self.rate = rate
   self.hours = hours

staff = Employees("Wayne",20,8)
supervisor = Employees("Dwight",35,8)
manager = Employees("Melinda",100,8)

print(staff.name, staff.rate, staff.hours)
print(supervisor.name, supervisor.rate, supervisor.hours)
print(manager.name, manager.rate, manager.hours)

Opening, Reading and Closing text files

One thing you’re likely to need to do with Python, is manipulate external files, below is some code for  opening, reading and closing text files.

There are many libraries you can call upon to add functionality to your Pyhton code, such as NLTK, which help you deal with other file types, such as HTML (webpages), word documents, PDF files, electronic books etc.

# open and read from text file
f = open("test.txt")
#print(f.read())
# create and save text file
with open("list_created.txt", "w") as output:
 output.write(f.read())
# reading file
f = open("start_days.txt")
print(f.read())
# writing file
title = "Days of the Week\n"
days_file = open("start_days.txt", "r")
weekDays = days_file.read()
new_days = open("new_file.txt", "w")

new_days.write(title)
print(title)

new_days.write(weekDays)
print(weekDays)
# closing file
days_file.close()
new_days.close()
#changing external variables (string/interger combination) from a text file into a
#directory by defining key and value
mydict = dict((k, int(v))
for k, v in (e.split(' = ')
for e in days.split(',')))

Below is a fun little program, I’ve made, putting some of the code learned above, into practice. It interacts with a user, and asks them to input a number guess into IDLE. It’s only basic stuff, but it’s a start, and practice makes perfect.

The inspiration for making this little game came from reading an article about a coder who was asked to do a program that asked a user to guess a predefined number between 1 and 100, and printed out onto the screen after each guess, whether the guess was under  or over the target number.

magicNumber = 20
number = ""

while number != magicNumber:
    answer = input("Pick a number between 1 and 100 ")
    number = int(answer) 

if number > magicNumber:
    print("Too high")
elif number < magicNumber:
    print("Too low")
else:
    print("Well done, you've got it right!")

Doing this little program tweaked my interest in the concept of interacting with a user, so I’ve spent some time learning Javascript as a results, because I am able to interact with website visitors more readily using Javascript. I’ll be posting something in the future to detail my experience with this web based language.

Here is a rather more complex program, which I’ve since rewritten in Javascript.

print("first get a piece of paper, right down two choices for a particular decision you have to make. Under each right down 3 attributes that are important in the decision. Think about the most important to least important. Now lets begin")
define1 = input("Define your first option as suscinctly as possible ")
feature1 = input("define an attribute that is important in this choice ")
weight1 = input("weight it's importance 1-5 , five being more important ")
weightone = int(weight1)
listing1 = input("how important is this attribute compared to other attributes. If it's the most important score it 5, if it's the second most important 4 and so on (least 1-5 most) ")
listingone = int(listing1)
result1 = weightone * listingone
print(define1)
print(feature1)
print(result1)

feature2 = input("define an attribute that is important in the choice ")
weight2 = input("weight it's importance 1-5 , five being more important ")
weighttwo = int(weight2)
listing2 = input("how important is this attribute compared to other attributes. If it's the most important score it 5, if it's the second most important 4 and so on (least 1-5 most) ")
listingtwo = int(listing2)
result2 = weighttwo * listingtwo
print(define1)
print(feature2)
print(result2)

feature3 = input("define an attribute that is important in the choice ")
weight3 = input("weight it's importance 1-5 , five being more important ")
weightthree = int(weight3)
listing3 = input("how important is this attribute compared to other attributes. If it's the most important score it 5, if it's the second most important 4 and so on (least 1-5 most) ")
listingthree = int(listing3)
result3 = weightthree * listingthree
print(define1)
print(feature3)
print(result3)

if result1 > result2 and result1 > result3:
    print("The most imporant attibute is " + feature1)

elif result2 > result1 and result2 > result3:
    print("The most imporant attibute is " + feature1)

elif result3 > result1 and result3 > result2:
    print("The most imporant attibute is " + feature3)

else:
    print("No winner")


define2 = input("Define your second option as suscinctly as possible ")
print("The attribute has already been defined as " + feature1)
weight4 = input("weight it's importance 1-5 , five being more important ")
weightfour = int(weight4)
listing4 = input("how important is this attribute compared to other attributes. If it's the most important score it 5, if it's the second most important 4 and so on (least 1-5 most) ")
listingfour = int(listing4)
result4 = weightfour * listingfour
print(define2)
print(feature1)
print(result4)

print("The attribute has already been defined as " + feature2)
weight5 = input("weight it's importance 1-5 , five being more important ")
weightfive = int(weight5)
listing5 = input("how important is this attribute compared to other attributes. If it's the most important score it 5, if it's the second most important 4 and so on (least 1-5 most) ")
listingfive = int(listing5)
result5 = weightfive * listingfive
print(define2)
print(feature2)
print(result5)

print("The attribute has already been defined as " + feature3)
weight6 = input("weight it's importance 1-5 , five being more important ")
weightsix = int(weight6)
listing6 = input("how important is this attribute compared to other attributes. If it's the most important score it 5, if it's the second most important 4 and so on (least 1-5 most)")
listingsix = int(listing6)
result6 = weightsix * listingsix
print(define2)
print(feature3)
print(result6)

if result4 > result5 and result4 > result6:
    print("The most imporant attibute is " + feature1)

elif result5 > result4 and result5 > result6:
    print("The most imporant attibute is " + feature2)

elif result6 > result4 and result6 > result5:
    print("The most imporant attibute is " + feature3)

else:
    print("No winner")

calculation1 = result1 + result2 + result3
calculation2 = result3 + result4 + result6

if calculation1 > calculation2:
    print("Of the two choices, the one that got the best score, based on your answers was " + define1)

elif calculation1 < calculation2:
    print("Of the two choices, the one that got the best score, based on your answers was " + define2)
else:
    print("There was no overall winner")

24 Inspirational Jim Rohn Quotes

Get Results: Labor gives birth to ideas - Jim Rohn
Get Results: Labor gives birth to ideas – Jim Rohn

Jim Rohn was an famous entrepreneur, author and motivational speaker who lived between 1930-2009. He was and still is, considered one of the leading figures in the personal development space, with many of his teachings, still seen as relevant in the modern world.

Below are some of the inspirational quotes from the late, great Jim Rohn.

Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes
Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes

“Happiness comes not from what you get but who you become.” – Jim Rohn

Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes
Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes

“You can’t make more time but you can provide more value. Value makes the difference in results.” – Jim Rohn

Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes
Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes

“Don’t spend major  time on minor things.” – Jim Rohn

Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes
Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes

“For things to change YOU’VE got to change. The only time it gets better for you, is when YOU get better.” – Jim Rohn

Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes
Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes

“You have a choice, it’s easy to let life deteriorate to just making a living, instead DESIGN A LIFE.” – Jim Rohn

Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes
Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes

“The major key to your better future is you. Change your future, change you.” – Jim Rohn

Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes
Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes

“We can have more than we’ve got, because we can become more than we are.” – Jim Rohn

Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes
Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes

“If you really want something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t you’ll find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn

Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes
Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes

“If you don’t like where you are, MOVE, you’re not a tree.” – Jim Rohn

Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes get on the good side of life
Get Results: Jim Rohn quotes get on the good side of life

“Learn to get on the good side of how things work.” – Jim Rohn

“Whatever good things we build end up building us.” – Jim Rohn

“The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.” – Jim Rohn

“Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.” – Jim Rohn

“When you know what you want, and want it bad enough, you will find a way to get it.” – Jim Rohn

“The major value in life is not what you get. The major value in life is what you become.” – Jim Rohn

“Failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.” – Jim Rohn

“There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that’s important.” – Jim Rohn

“Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process.” – Jim Rohn

“Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea.” – Jim Rohn

“For every disciplined effort there is a multiple reward.” – Jim Rohn

“How long should you try? Until.” – Jim Rohn

“Make measurable progress in reasonable time.” – Jim Rohn

“Give whatever you are doing and whoever you are with the gift of your attention.” – Jim Rohn

For more motivational information, check out our motivation guide.

Removing Suffering In The Modern Age

Get Results: pain we create is avoidable
Get Results: pain we create is avoidable

I recently came across a question in a discussion group, which went..

“Attachments and expectations are the main reason for suffering and disappointment, It’s easy to say let go of attachments but how in ‘real’ life can we be without attachments and emotions, I mean not everybody can leave our loved ones in the midnight and go to a forest and just meditate under a tree, come on lets be practical, so my question is how to be like Buddha in this modern age?”

This is an interesting question, and one I’ve contemplated myself many times. The question misses something though. There is another element that is required for suffering to take place. As well as EXPECTATIONS and ATTACHMENTS you need PERCEPTION OF REALITY. These are all elements of what is known in spirituality circles as “THE PAIN GAP”, otherwise known as the EQUATION OF EMOTIONS. If we can change our perceptions, which are conditioned into us by the society we grow up in, we can break the pain gap. Our perceptions come from our beliefs and values, which are built on assumptions and inferences rather than facts and evidence. If you don’t believe me, question yourself about your own beliefs and values, where are they from, what are they based on?

As well as dealing with our perceptions of reality, we can work on reducing or removing our EXPECTATIONS for any given situation, whilst reducing or removing our ATTACHMENTS.

Rather than holding any EXPECTATIONS, we should instead embrace a sense of appreciation. Nothing in life is promised, so being grateful is a much healthy psychological position to take.

ATTACHMENTS are, by their very nature, impermanent. The life that you live, the house that you live in, the car that you drive, the relationships that you share, are all destined to end one day. Accepting this fact, while enjoying them while they last is much more pain free than refusing to accept the reality of the situation. Surrendering to WHAT IS, is the sensible thing to do.

If any one of these elements is resolved, PERCEPTION OF REALITY, EXPECTATIONS, or ATTACHMENTS, we can reduce or remove the pain gap (otherwise known as the equation of emotion), which will reduce or remove suffering from our lives.

However ultimately we should aim to do as Thrangu Rinpoche advises in Pointing Out the Dharmakaya.

“We cannot get rid of suffering by saying, “I will not suffer.” We cannot eliminate attachment by saying, “I will not be attached to anything,” nor eliminate aggression by saying, “I will never become angry.” Yet, we do want to get rid of suffering and the disturbing emotions that are the immediate cause of suffering.

The only way to eliminate suffering is to actually recognize the experience of a self as a misconception, which we do by proving directly to ourselves that there is no such personal self. We must actually realize this. Once we do, then automatically the misconception of a self and our fixation on that self will disappear. Only by directly experiencing selflessness can we end the process of confused projection.”

For more about spirituality, check out our spirituality guide, and a number of spirituality posts.

Fulfilment Is Not Beyond Achievement

Get Results: achievement and fulfilment
Get Results: achievement and fulfilment

In the hustle and bustle of life, it’s easy to get swept along with the emotion of circumstance. Sometimes there may be good days, other times, bad. Debts might be piling up in one corner of life, relationship problems in another, an upcoming holiday to look forward to elsewhere, which gives us a sense of hope.

We might feel we are finally getting somewhere, only to find the next moment pulls us back a dozen steps, like a frustrating game of snakes and ladders.

Society has conditioned us to be restless, we have been taught to strive for more if we want to be more. We are shown what could be, if we work hard enough and do what needs to be done, particularly in the accumulation of wealth and status.

If we’re lucky to climb a few rungs towards success, we might feel some sense of achievement, at least for a short while, but underneath it all there is usually a sense of “is this it?”

Well the pursuit of achievement is a fools errand, if you’re looking for fulfilment. You see achievement is conditional, it depends on something outside of yourself happening. Fulfilment is not at the end of this road, you will never find it beyond achievement or success, it’s somewhere else entirely, it’s inside you.

Jim Carrey, wearing his philosophy hat said “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”

Something I discovered a while ago was to learn to look at life through fresh eyes, to strip away all the BS, and focus on the really important things, the things that matter, and what are they you may ask? Well a truly enlightened person would say, there isn’t anything that really matters, because everything you can engage or interact with is part of “form” which is by it’s very nature, fleeting and impermanent.

The house you live in, might be legally owned by you, but in reality, it’s not yours, it will pass to someone else at some point in the future, whether you like it or not. Same with the car in the driveway, and all of your possessions.

Even the relationships you currently enjoy, will pass over one day.

You can accumulate all the wealth in the world, a billion dollars if you like, but one day, that too will be gone from your possession, you can’t take it from this life. You can’t take any form beyond death.

In reality, you own nothing of form, and that shouldn’t really be a troubling thought, because, form doesn’t matter, in the great scheme of things, it just isn’t important. It’s within the realms of achievement.

So if achievement and the pursuit of form is a fools errand, what should we be focused on, what should we spend our attention on, where will we find fulfilment?

Well, EVERYTHING ELSE, is the answer, and what is everything else, when you take away FORM, which is the physical world? Eckhart Tolle would answer… THE FORMLESS. The formless that allows form to be, after all, without space, the planets could not orbit, without the observer of form, form could not be.

Space, the formless is not something you can see or touch, that is the problem for many, they only believe what they can see, touch and prove, everything else is seen as fantasy.

At the same time, we are happy to be completely controlled, directed and driven by THOUGHT, we “think” more than we do anything else. We incessantly talk to ourselves in our heads, reliving past glories, re-running past arguments, projecting future scenarios, telling ourselves stories of this and that. We use thoughts to work things out, to make sense of things, and to find answers. Yet thoughts can’t be touched or seen in the material world, yet they exist without doubt. But thought are not formless in the sense that, we should be focusing our attention on them, in fact, we should be spending less time than we do in thought, particularly emotionally driven thought that we invest in, with our sense of self.

We should use thought, and not be used by it. It’s a kind of form focused formless ability that we have, but it’s not who we are. Thought is in fact a barrier to finding who or what we really are. Take BELIEFS, which are really just rigid thought patterns; we hold onto them, defend them, fight for them, even kill for them. They are our beliefs and they matter to us. In reality most beliefs are built on assumptions and inferences, rather than evidence and fact. Go through your beliefs, write them down, then ask yourself where they come from, what are they based on? Show me the evidence of your convictions.

Beyond THOUGHT and beyond FORM is where we should be focusing attention, it’s the space and formless that flows through us, and everything else in the world, this is where fulfilment can be found, it’s in us, everyone of us. We are connected by the space between objects, between planets. It weaves its way through and around all form, allowing all form to be, we are that space, we exist in it, we are part of it, we experience it through CONSCIOUSNESS, which is attention in the moment. You can find it when you rise above thought and above form or at least the thought of form.

From consciousness, you can enjoy form, play with form, appreciate form, but are not burdened by being tethered to it.

From consciousness you can use thought to navigate the world of form, but are not used by it. There is a big difference.

In the realm of consciousness, fear does not exist, because fear is part of thought, and part of form. If the real you is formless, what have you got to fear?

So in the hustle and bustle of life, it’s easy to get swept along with the emotion of circumstance. Sometimes there may be good days, other times, bad. Debts might be piling up in one corner of life, relationship problems in another, an upcoming holiday to look forward to elsewhere, which gives us a sense of hope. But none of that really matters does it?

For more about spirituality, check out our spirituality guide, and other posts about spirituality.

 

Losing Weight, Living Healthier

Get Results: money can't buy health
Get Results: money can’t buy health

Like many people, I’ve struggled with my weight for many years, probably over the last 15-20 years or so, ever since I finished playing football, back in my early thirties.

Well to be completely honest, I haven’t really struggled with my weight, in the sense that I haven’t been trying particularly hard to lose it, I just haven’t cared too much about putting on a few pounds here and there. You see, I have never particularly wrapped my sense-of-self-worth up in my body image, so it hasn’t really matter too much, in that sense.

However I know that excess weight is probably not going to do my health much good, something of an understatement I know, but I have felt lately, that my mobility has begun to suffer, and this has the potential to adversely affect the quality of my life.

A few years ago after visiting Los Angeles, I went of a concerted effort to shed a few pounds. I went from 19 stone to 16.5 stone over a period of a few months, through control of my diet and walking a lot.

Since then I’ve piled the pounds back on, largely through what I describe as creep. Eating and snacking particularly between meals, as well as indulging in bigger portion sizes. It’s not been a sudden increase in calorie intake but has kind of crept up on me.

At the time of writing this post, I’m 25 days into a new schedule, aiming for 1000 calories or less per day.

Below is a gallery of meals we’ve enjoyed over the last 25 days, I’ve had a few jacket potatoes and tuna meals sprinkled between these meals along the way.

I’ve included the meals to illustrate how very tasty, and not at all boring, healthy meals can be. Most importantly of all, they have helped me lose 14 lbs (1 stone), in 25 days. I will be posting my progress over the coming months, as part of my commitment to follow-through.

This blog centers on getting results, from the perspective of acquiring knowledge, tapping into motivation and being more productive. So here I am putting what I describe on this blog into practice.

Knowledge

These are the points of knowledge I’m using to get results.

Calories in should be less than calories out.

2500 calories is the average calorie requirement for an adult male, 2000 calories for females. More weigh loss posts here.

One lb of body fat is made up of approx 3500 calories.

Belly fat is not as serious a threat as Visceral fat

If I can keep my daily intake to below 1000 calories a day, I should be in the region of losing a lb of body fat every 3 days or so. 2500 calories per day (adult male requirements per day), minus 1000 calories (calories eaten), leaves 1500 deficit per day. 3500 calories is a lb of body fat, so 3500 divided by 1500 equals 2.3 days to lose one lb. In one month I should have lost approx 13 lb of body fat.

Motivation

I want to improve the quality of my life, initially by increasing the frequency of going walking, giving me the ability to appreciate the beauty of the countryside, without being preoccupied by having back pain as a result of carrying around excess weight.

Improving SELF AWARENESS, to figuring out why I’ve been eating too much and not doing enough exercise – My main problem here is I get so absorbed in what I’m doing, work wise, which is predominately done on a laptop, that I’m just not moving around enough. I need to take regular breaks and do some activities during those breaks to improve my circulation and burn some calories. Also I must stop snacking, which tends to occur if I’m not working. I don’t think of food while working, but as soon as I stop, I start snacking, usually out of boredom or as part of social habits. I need to form a new habit here, to replace the old snacking habit, so I’ve started to eat a raw carrot, if I fancy eating something. I actually like raw carrots, so that’s working well for me so far.

Holding onto gains as the new floor. I’m not allowing my actions or emotions to push me under the new floor once it’s established (this is measured in weight). I’m using the following question to refocus.

Get Results: move closer to your goal
Get Results: move closer to your goal

Productivity

I want to keep the calorie intake count under 1000 calories per day, until I’ve shipped a few stone.

I’m going to focus on good calories and avoid empty calories as much as possible, but without denying myself too much. If I fancy a chocolate, that’s fine as long as I stay under 1000 calories per day.

Each day I keep below the 1000 calorie intake limit, put a big X on the calendar. I have one responsibility, don’t break the chain of X’s. So far so good.

Meals so far

Check out more of our healthy eating meals here.

Progress so far

Date and Day number Wt Loss Current Weight
Date: 1/1/18. Day 1 start 18 stone 12 lb
Date: 25/1/18. Day 25 14 lb 17 stone 12 lb
 Date: 1/3/18. Day 60  25 lb 17 stone 1 lb
Date 5/8/18 Day 229 40 Ib 16 stone
Date 6/9/18 Day 249 42 lb 15 stone 12 lb
Get Results: weight loss Mike
Get Results: weight loss Mike

Summary

I am using this post to chart my progress, not just for my own benefit, but also in the hope that you can find some value from it yourself. I know I’m not the only person working to lose weight and get fitter.

It’s so easy for weight to spiral out of control, almost without noticing or should I say, admitting, which is probably a more accurate way of putting it.

Eating can be an emotional response, maybe an attempt to fill a void or may just be an over-indulgence, that goes to far. Whatever the cause, it’s important to figure out the underlying reasons for it and address those so you can find a healthier path forward.

We inhabit our body’s for the duration of our time in this life, and have a duty to look after it, both from a psychological and physical perspective. By improving SELF AWARENESS, and TAKING RESPONSIBILITY we have a chance to be more effective in this pursuit. Good luck in your weight loss journey.

For more reading check out our weight loss guide.

Warning: Beliefs, Opinions and Convictions Are Present

Get Results: Never ASSUME
Get Results: Never ASSUME

I Grew up thinking strong beliefs and convictions were a sign of strength, but having become more spiritual over recent years I’m more aligned to the school of thought that thinks belief systems are more of a hindrance than a help.

We shape our sense-of-self through our beliefs. They become part of us and how we see ourselves in the world.

We have a tendency to look for confirmation of our own beliefs and any opinions that flow from them. Confirmation is designed to uphold our sense-of-self. We may even go as far as to defend our beliefs with our very own live’s. How many have died to defend their belief systems, history is littered with examples.

Surely we would be better advised to do as science does, and formulate a hypothesis which we then try to disprove. This approach frees us from beliefs supported by nothing more than assumptions and inferences and ensures we only believe things backed by actual evidence and facts.

What beliefs do you hold with any kind of conviction, and what evidence supports them? Is it a belief built from the testimony of experts? If so, what evidence supports what the expert is telling you, and has this evidence been interpreted without personal bias and preference by the expert that promotes it? You may find much of what you believe or have heard from others to be made up of a great deal of inference and assumption, on your part and theirs.

So what can you believe? Even personal past experiences can be unreliable. For instance memories can be mistaken, if you could meet yourself at different ages memories would likely to be different in each of yourselves at different ages.

When we experience an event we use all our senses woven together with our internal model of the world to make up that experience and as the memory gets older it becomes less vivid, and subsequent events can supersede it and affect how we feel about it.

It’s even possible to implant completely false memories, if plausible enough. In a past experiment, a participant was told they had been lost in a mall as a child, and after the passing of some time, more and more detail began to creep into the false memory. The participant embellished the false memory, because as humans we are very imaginative storytellers, and we are all capable of doing this.

Our memory of the past is not a faithful record, it’s a reconstruction, a mythology. Our memories are not particularly reliable because they don’t just record what happens, they allows us to simulate what is coming next. It is a narrative that links the past with the future, so that we can work out what we need to do tomorrow.

Also past experience doesn’t necessarily predict the future. People’s behaviour is greatly influenced by their environment and circumstances far more than we give credit for, and we’re not always privy to the underlying context of other people’s behaviour, we may just be witness to the resulting actions. We then build a narrative around this behaviour which says more about what’s going on inside us, rather than anything else. We kind of project our thoughts on to what others are doing and believe this to be the other person’s truth.

So maybe we should all be more skeptical about our own beliefs and opinions, and those of other people as well, I’ve learned to do what the wise man does and question everything, and believe nothing at face value because this actually leaves us more open to alternative ideas, methods of thinking and doing as well as different approaches to living life. We also become more tolerant and empathetic as a result.

You might think the opposite would be true, that skepticism closes you off to new ideas, when in fact holding rigid beliefs does that far more effectively. When you have a fixed mental position, you will reject anything that counters that position, because your sense-of-self depends on it.

Don’t invest anything of yourself into ideas, beliefs and opinions, stay clear of convictions and be open to provable evidence and facts, and even then be wary of any possible misinterpretation of these.

Remember what the famous quote says; “The more I know the more I realise how little I actually know.”

34 Important Life Principles

Get Results: learn, focus, execute
Get Results: learn, focus, execute

For much of my 50 years I’ve tried to be a student of life, and I’ve collated a number of principles I think have helped me live a better life. I thought I’d share them with you, hopefully you can find some value in them.

They are listed below:

  1. Become a master at Selling – get to know what turns people on, their passions, think of the seven deadly sins for this (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride). Alternative consider what keeps people awake at night (fears/anxiety). Use well known sales structures to hang your sales message on such as A.I.D.A. or S.U.C.C.E.S.
  2. Be a business owner – don’t work in a business, work on it, there’s a world of difference. If you find your not suited to the running of business, but you’re interested in it, be an investor in businesses.
  3. Become an investor – Learn to spot undervalued assets and sell for a profit or derive income from them.
  4. Identify where things are headed. Pattern recognition. Map to the future.
  5. Stay ahead of the trend not behind it. Look for expanding markets, otherwise you’ll have to work harder each year for same profit.
  6. Disrupt your own business model. Don’t focus on how it’s always been done. Find the perfect solution and get as close to that as possible. Don’t just try to do it the best you can, do it the best it can be done. Seek the perfect solution and work back to what is currently possible, and work to fill the gap going forwards. Consider convenience, affordability, increase of SOS.
  7. Under promise and over deliver. Manage expectations and try to exceed them.
  8. Go the extra mile.
  9. Pay attention to detail.
  10. Add value in all exchanges – even if it’s just a smile, or a kind word.
  11. Customers are not interested in your story, only how you can help them increase their sense of self. Align your needs to theirs and you’ll win. Provide a solution to help them.
  12. Be memorable – people won’t remember what you did, they will remember how you made them feel. Use mnemonics, like velcro with lots of sensory hooks, for example baker versus Baker.
  13. Be a problem solver – not just a problem spotter. See what people are moaning and complaining about. Providing workable solutions is where the value is created . Stop moaning and do something about it. Be a solution provider.
  14. Don’t let your resume hold you back. Be open to opportunities and say YES, then figure out the HOW after.
  15. Leverage is key to wealth success. It magnifies effort exponentially (to the power of..). Leverage of debt, compound interest, leverage of resources. For example; multiple shops, multiple assets all bringing income. Leverage your contacts. You don’t need money, you need a better strategy. If you can’t make money without money, you probably can’t make money with money. Leverage other people resources. Who benefits from what you are trying to do? If you need £50k to buy a new business, If supplier going to get £100k more business ask them for £25k investment, offer seller £10k more if they accept the remainder in instalments. Ask “who will benefit” and work out a way to leverage other people’s resources.
  16. Focus – concentrates energy through a narrow conduit, reducing drag and increasing speed and effectiveness, like a magnifying glass intensifying the sun’s rays so that it is powerful enough to start a fire. Do the one thing such by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary.
  17. Adaptable – ability to shift perspective and flexibility of thought. Open minded to new and better ways of thinking /behaving. Look for the best way it can be done rather than the best way you can do it. Try to disprove what you think you know and challenge assumptions/inferences. What worked yesterday may not tomorrow. Don’t resist chance. Be a predator of chance rather than s victim of circumstance. There are winners and losers in every situation. Try to put yourself out of business (be a disrupter).
  18. Be a lifelong learner – Seek out the best way it can be done, not the best you can do it. Master of what you know, apprentice of what you don’t. Question everything test everything.
  19. Don’t just believe everything you hear, even from authority figures or so called experts. Ask “how do you know? Point me to the research/evidence !” Look to have hypotheses that you try to disprove (like science does) rather than beliefs you try to confirm. It is the most effect way to uncover the truth.
  20. There are lessons all around you all the time, with lessons of what to do, what not to do, everyone has something to teach you, whether they know it or not – watch and listen more than talking.
  21. Learn from your mistakes, don’t be fearful of making them. They are the best teacher.
  22. Find accurate information from reliable sources, curiosity, disprove rather than prove – prevents confirmation bias and self reinforcement, scientific approach.
  23. Allow reflective time to absorb and assimilate information. Talk to others out loud (real or imaginary) as if you were teaching them about what you have learned, or blog about what you’ve learned, this will help you organise your learning into a coherent form.
  24. Beware the Curse of knowledge. Use what you have/know to help others who want to know what you know, in layman’ terms. Break things down. If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it enough.
  25. Choose love over fear – Fearfulness is self defeating, and Ego-centric. Be in the moment, observe thought, don’t react or be controlled by it.
  26. Think abundance rather than scarcity – When one door closes another opens, if you miss a door opening, don’t worry another will. They are always opening.
  27. Givers gain – Of your time, experience attention, support, experience, money.
  28. Get results – Know and do what’s needed, whilst not doing anything counter. Knowledge, motivation, productivity.
  29. Stop using Coping strategies to excuse failure – Justifying is a method to alleviate cognitive stress, and allows us to settle/make do with the current status quo.
  30. Goal setting – Make sure the method you choose to achieve your goal is congruent/ aligned with you, otherwise you won’t act. Ideally do something you like which leads to your goal. If you like business but don’t like the day to day responsibilities of running a business, be an investor instead.
  31. E to P (Entrepreneur to purposeful) – don’t keep bouncing off outer wall of ability, you have to figure out a way to expand your boundary, because life will keep testing you until you do. Even if you give up and do something else, the time will come again when you need to push past.
  32. Know that beliefs, values and consequently, principles, rules, conditions, judgements, views, opinions, conjecture, predictions are built largely on assumptions and inferences and testimony (of perceived experts/authority figures via social conditioning), rather than truths, formed by repetition, revision, practice. Yet they play a huge role in shaping our perceptions/perspective and consequently behaviour/actions. Our Senses take incoming stimuli and our mind then runs a storytelling narrative over them, as we attempt to interpret and make sense of what we see, hear, taste, touch and smell. Our senses can be fooled, our thoughts and consequently our perceptions/perspective misguided.
    Question thoughts, beliefs, assumptions /inferences – start researching to find if they’re accurate/true
  33. Be wary of having fixed/rigid beliefs and values. When someone tells you something, ask “How do you know?”
  34. Expectations worth having;
  • Expect that if it can go wrong it will and at the worst possible time – prepare for it!
  • Expect nothing – drop any sense of entitlement – life and people don’t owe you anything, whether politeness, favours, forgiveness, a place in society, the right to make a living, good health, relationships, friends, family. Each day is a gift, appreciate everything you have, while you have it. Replace Expectation with Appreciation.
  • Expect change – Nothing stays the same, everything changes, change is a natural part of life, you can’t get stuck (in a situation)forever because things are constantly shifting. There are winners and losers in every situation, position yourself to win, be a predator of chance, rather than a victim of circumstance.
  • Expect things/situations to be more complex than initially meets the eye. i.e. political issues, skills etc. If something doesn’t seem to make sense, look into further to find out the complexities, rather than just giving an uninformed opinion.

Finding Enlightenment Beyond Awareness

Get Results: awakening
Get Results: Awakening: the moment you become aware of the Ego in you, it is strictly speaking no longer the ego, but just an old conditioned mind pattern. Ego implies unawareness, awareness and Ego cannon coexist

AWARENESS comes from the separation of THOUGHT and SENSE-OF-SELF and the realisation you are not your thoughts. Awareness helps break the identification and the investment of self in thought.

ENLIGHTENMENT is a step beyond awareness and can only come from acceptance of the Ego and its madness in other people. This is often more challenging, because other people are outside your control or influence. You might find yourself trying to help sufferers discover the path to enlightenment so as to enrich their own lives, but this can easily become Ego servicing for you if you’re not careful.

Ego-madness comes from strongly held beliefs and opinions (all of which are THOUGHTS) regarding religious, political, and social inclinations, particularly taken from the Ego’s view that it (you) are in sole possession of THE FACTS, THE TRUTH. Sufferers may find themselves thinking and saying “I am right, you are wrong”, “you’re being fooled”, “you’re foolish”, “you just don’t get it”,” you’re not as educated/intelligent as me” or things to that effect.

The Egoic mind is clever, it attempts to find points of difference to forge SEPARATION between “me” and the “other”, or collectively, “us” versus “them”, in its effort to raise the SELF above, or lower the OTHER below, both designed to increase your SENSE OF SELF.

On the flip side, the Ego also ATTACHES to people, possessions, ideas, thoughts, beliefs and values, bringing them into your sense of self. “The more I have the more I am” is its core belief. So the “I” easily becomes the “us”, and the dysfunction in the “us” can be much more destructive when the collective-self forges separation with the collective-other.

To see proof the Ego’s compulsion for separation and attachment, just look at the countless wars that have ever existed, a “us” versus “them” narrative is carried in all of them.

So Enlightenment becomes your SPIRITUAL PRACTICE, acceptance that the Ego is as it is in the world. The moment you become fearful or upset with other people’s Ego; their lack of clarity, lack of understanding, stubbornness, or whatever the issue is, you know your own Ego is at work.

You can only point to the truth, and hope those that are ready to see it do so.

For more about spirituality check out our spirituality and wellbeing guide.

Feeding The Ego, Or Using The Ego As Motivation

Get Results: feeding the Ego
Get Results: feeding the Ego

I recently came across a post on Facebook that read..

“If you want to feed the homeless than feed the homeless. But the moment you post it on social media you’re also feeding the Ego.”

To be honest it’s one of several with similarly framed messages, that I’ve seen recently and judging by the comments it can easily be taken as a message of criticism towards individuals that broadcast their activities of goodness.

Let’s just check we’re on the same page of what is meant by the Ego. The Ego is the unobserved mind, it’s the illusion that our thoughts are who we are, they are us. I describe this as an illusion, because thoughts are just thoughts, they are not us. They are fearful, irrational and conditioned, they are based largely on assumptions and inferences and while they can be used as a very effective tool, they are very destructive masters, if we blindly follow them. For more about the Ego check out our spirituality guide.

Now back to the post, I prefer to believe it’s a reminder, a double check to make sure the Ego is not taking over the intentions of such individuals. It’s an opportunity to bring AWARENESS to the situation, rather that blindly feeding the Ego’s sense of self, which isn’t particularly healthy.

Spreading positive vibes is a good thing, I’d like to see more of it. We are bombarded through the media with negative events, after all we’re genetically wired to be interested in bad news to ensure our own survival if we ever find ourselves in similar circumstances in the future.

Also seeing people doing good deeds can act to inspire others to do the same, and that’s no bad thing. Goodwill can be contagious, it reminds us that giving, and helping are spiritually good for us.

Feeding the Ego, by doing good deeds, isn’t bad in itself either, we can use the Ego to provide motivation for us to do THE RIGHT THING. In such circumstances we can use the Ego as a motivational tool, rather than allowing it to inflate itself without us knowing that it’s actually doing so.

Bringing AWARENESS to the situation gives us space to observe the Ego inflating our sense of self. If you realise this is why you’re doing it, if it feels good and your sense of self feels better for it, you’re using the Ego, rather than being used by it, there’s a world of difference in that space between observer and intention. This becomes an opportunity for spiritual practice while at the same time helping others, and what can be bad about that. I say, long may it continue.

For more about spirituality.

For more about self awareness.

We’re all impostors!

Get Results: impostor
Get Results: impostor

Symptoms

Have you ever felt you are not worthy of your position, you feel like a fraud, out of your depth maybe. Impostor syndrome as it’s known is a common complaint, with as much as 70% of the worlds population being affected by it at some point.

Cause

Impostor syndrome can occur because of the natural tendency for self doubt, a fear you lack enough competence, a lack of confidence in your own ability.

It can also come from the perception that experts in your field are looking down on you or are more masterful or knowledgeable than you.

Consequences

The consequences of these feelings can lead to procrastination, where you delay shipping until whatever you’re working on is as perfect as it can be. If it’s not perfect, everyone will know you are a fraud.

You might find yourself undermining your achievements, to prevent the fraud from being realised by others.

A deep seated fear of failure may cause stress and anxiety, after all you don’t want others to discover the fraud you are.

You might play-down praise, because you and your work are really not worth it.

Rectifying

So how do you reduce these feelings of being an impostor? Well meeting your fears head on and seeking out peer feedback can be the first step, although this can also be the scariest approach. Alternatively seek out a mentor to help you through the psychological mind field.

Give yourself a break, you’re doing your best, we all are. Try to make incremental improvements as you go. Try to get better each day.

Realise that luck and chance play a bigger role in your success as well as that of others than you give it credit for. Few masters have got where they are from deliberate planning alone. Practice does make perfect, in time, and there are no shortcuts, you’ve just got to put in the work. Opt for purposeful practice, find the best way it can be done, rather than the best way you can do it.

If you’re doing something worthy, something new, there is no blue print, you’re treading new ground, so don’t worry about being an impostor because at this point you have to be.

You’re unique, with unique experiences, traits and views so utilise these to give your work something nobody else can.

Seth Godin says “Time spent fretting about our status as impostors is time away from dancing with our fear, from leading and from doing work that matters.”

We’re all impostors! So what? It’s not so much about us anyway, as it is about the work we do, so focus your attention on that alone.

For more about motivation, check out our motivational guide.