Today, instead of one longer blog post, I have three quick, relatively unrelated thoughts for you.

###

In the picture you will see a disgusting, slimy mess of a drink.

If you ever read Christopher McDougall’s “Born To Run” (which is MORE than highly recommended... excellent book, especially if you hate running.) then you may remember how the Tarahumara made these drinks from chia seeds.

This is such a drink. If you’d like to make it yourself, just mix together two tablespoons of chia seeds, 300 ml water (about 10 US oz), 1 tablespoon honey, and the juice out of one fresh lime. Then you let it sit for a while. Then you stir and enjoy - if you can.

The thing about this drink is that when you have your first taste... it is absolutely disgusting. Horrible. But not because of the taste, which is pretty much OK. Fresh (because of the lime.) But because of the consistency. The chia seeds make the whole thing slimy and weird-feeling in your mouth.

When I made my first one, I hated it. But for some reason I kept drinking it.

After I had downed about a third of the glass, I had gotten used to the consistency... and now I kinda liked the drink.

It occurs to me that this is just like new behaviors and habits.

When you first try a new “pattern” that your brain is not used to running... you need to force yourself to keep doing it because your brain thinks it’s “wrong.” It rejects new things.

When you’ve been running it for a while, you get used to it and actually start to enjoy it. Over time, the new behavior or habit isn’t new anymore, and becomes part of who you are. It becomes a standard program in your operating system.

I expand on this topic in this post.

###

This morning, I almost fell to my death (not really) as I was snowboarding (except without an actual snowboard) down a steep slope in the middle of the woods... right as the dogs we were walking decided that the middle of this slope was an excellent spot to start playing (by snarling and jumping at each other’s faces).

As I made my way to the bottom of this slope, my next thought was that whoever invented ice deserves a healthy dose of strangulation.

Then, of course, it occurred to me that there is no actual person to blame for the ice that covers all the roads and paths that make our daily dog walks a waking nightmare (not really).

My next thought, then, was that it’s the same with all problems.

No one except you is responsible for your problems. If you think someone else is to blame for your misery, you are wrong.

It’s you who perceives the situation as problematic. Therefore, you created the problem, and you are responsible for it.

Why? Because problems don’t exist. Only perceived problems.

If you feel like you are stuck in a rut, or stuck someplace else, then the first order of business is to pick yourself up by the balls and realize that no one else is responsible for your happiness.

###

Finally, I posted a comment last night as response to someone else’s comment - and only after the fact did it occur to me that I think it is really useful.

It’s about the three factors you need to succeed in any field.

1. Degree of Internal Obstruction: the less the better. Most of us have mountains of debris and shitty beliefs that force us to sabotage ourselves. I used to have tons of it. Even though I was practically a walking encyclopedia of marketing knowledge, I always figured out a way to screw things up. This is probably the most overlooked thing out of all of these. Your "inner game" lays out the foundation you build everything upon. This is especially important to pay attention to, and be extra vigilant with IF you are one of those who think you already have this figured out. For YEARS I thought I was an expert at all the "mind" stuff - so I didn't pay attention to this. Sucked when I realized I still had tons of things to work out for myself.

2. Mastery of Fundamentals: the fundamentals are always the things that matter in the end. Everyone who is really good at anything has a relentless dedication to learn the fundamentals, and will make a habit of staying in touch with them. Most really good copywriters still read "Scientific Advertising" at least once a year.

3. Relentless Forward Motion: RFM if you like acronyms. You can't get good at something standing still. You certainly can't move forward standing still. As Gary Halbert used to say "Movement beats meditation." More specifically, doing a lot of stuff in a lot of different ways is how you gain reference experience, and that is how you can become "unconsciously competent" at something. Your brain makes the connections from doing things. Trial and error is the natural - and only - way to actually learn something for real.

###

Writing music: none. Sometimes silence is the way to go.