By Any Other Nerd

Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes Tl/dr : I do a lot but seriously, I (mostly) know what I'm doing... To those that know me, it should serve as no surprise that on regular occasions, I have been accused of doing too much. Like way too much . It's a fair accusation to direct at me because from the outside, yes, it can look like I have 5,001 sticks in the fire and meanwhile, I'm also fishing with five poles, knitting two sweaters, oh and making coffee (because all of this runs on coffee). But in this post, I want to draw out something that I innately understand about what I'm doing. To do this, I hope to make a distinction between what has been commonly named "the hustle" and introduce my own approach, which I consider to be "the tapestry." ( It is, without a doubt, a false dichotomy and that's ok! ) The oracle of all words, Urban Dictionary gives us some good definitions that draw this out : Definition 1 : To have the courage,...

For those that have been reading this blog, you may remember that last year, I put out some hopeful goals to achieve in this past year .  Well, let's play the accountability game and see where it lands us. It's time to take a run through the goals and see where I landed.  I achieved less than half the goals that I set out to do, but that's ok in my book as there were other accomplishments this year that warrant mention.   Do 10 pull ups Not even close.  I'm still somewhere around 4.  I didn't make as full use of the pull-up bar in my apartment as I should.  I don't think I took this goal as serious as I did others but I do think it is an entirely achievable goal.  I just need to strategize a bit more. Eat out only once a week.   This one too quickly fell off the radar as I got busy and distracted.  Again, strategizing can help me improve upon this and I am also shifting more into using a budget so I hope that helps me as well.   ...

So it's been a year since I started doing the standing desk   and I'm still a major advocate of it.  In this post, I'll talk a bit about the experience over the last year and why I will probably continue to use the stand up desk. I initially started with my desk at home and liked the results.  It ultimately led me to create what I can only an "active living room" instead of a passive living room.  The standing desk was comfortable and I've found it even easier to slip in and out of the computer screen.  This lead me to set up my own standing-desk at work.  My first attempt was similar to my first attempt at home; mostly to try out before I invested some money into the project.  But it was enough to get me put into the work newsletter when my friend snapped a picture of me and sent it to the editor. My final standing desk at home. Originally, I was considering going through the hoops and loops to have work cover one given that I could make an a...

So in my last post, I explored some ways to save time that address the daily routines of life .  In this post, I'm going to look at other facets of life where I have re-oriented time to work for me. I've talked about them before , but it needs to be reiterated.  Audiobooks are singularly an excellent means of reclaiming time.  This works on two levels.  The first is clearly that one is getting to read books, he or she wouldn't have otherwise been able to while engaged in sometime (e.g. chores).  Second, it exposes one to a potential wealth of knowledge that a person can use to inform one's life.  Many of the changes I have made to save time have been gleaned from the learning I experienced while listening to audiobooks and doing other things (commuting, chores, running errands).  While it can take some time to figure out what kind of listener you are (that is what genres, types of narrators, and what environments work best for you), it can open up m...

In conversations regularly, I get asked a lot about how I manage to do all that I do.  Within an hour of one friend asking me about how I do this, another friend posted a great blog entry about how she's renegotiating time with her child .  Thus, I figured I would also add my own experience to the mix.  For instance on my docket right now is the following: Working full time . Teaching part time . Writing for several (paying publications). Writing for my nonpaying opportunities such as this blog and letters to the editor . Gardening. Training for a marathon . Working on another Master's Degree (full time in the last year at least). Reading 365 books this year   (currently at 117 at the time of this writing).   Research, presenting and consulting on social media . And of course, caring for two awesome cats .   And as I wrote the above list, it did feel like a lot (and I would imagine I am missing some things).  I do this largely while still...

Humans are creatures of habit; blame it on our need to feed (refuel) or need to sleep (recharge), but we regularly find ourselves set in our ways of how we go about things, how we see things, and how we resolve things.  This can be good when we establish habits that are good and beneficial to our health, relationships  and work.  However, it can also be detrimental when we form habits that negatively impact our health, relationships, and work.  A part of my life has been trying to improve upon the more problematic or unhealthy habits I've accumulated along the way through circumstance, accident, or overindulgence. There are two great strategies that I've found to help me make reasonable changes that direct me towards more healthy habits without a lot of internal struggle or relapse into bad habits.  They work well with redirecting my energies and thoughts, enabling me to make the better choices more often than the bad choices (which is what it's all about...