A good habit that I’ve developed recently has been writing down top 10 of my life & year goals respectively each day. This is a much long term outlook differs from the daily to do list. The exercise keeps me oriented on what’s really important and where I’m heading in life. The funny thing is at first the goals differed widely from day to day, but as I do it often, they become more the same, probably a signal that I’ve internalized them into my subconsciousness. Hopefully the exercise will hasten the realizations of my goals. I’ll revisit this later and provide an update.
I’ve been taking classes since May, 2007, and made some observation:
- There seems to be more guys than gals in Salsa classes, especially the intermediate to advance levels. My guess is that since guys are leading, they have to learn the moves. For the gals, or followers, once they’ve gained the basics, they can pretty much follow most leads; any further progression is mostly styling, or optional.
- The attrition is high. Many people start their first class every month with interest and ethusiam. But over time, that tends to fade, some sooner than others. But for the ones who stay, there are some incrediable dancers. And I’m definitely insipired to become an expert!
- There are a lot of moves to remember! And it’s very easy to forget them. So I’m trying to attend classes more often, and even repeat the same ones. Though for economic reasons, I have to do it by observation instead of participating. So far I did a good job in internalizing some of the basic moves. And with practice, my style has become a lot more smoother. But like any skill, there’s definitely a cost in time & sweat, not to mention money. At $10/person/ group lesson, and $50-$75/hour for private, the popular Salsa teachers should make fairly good income!
But overall, I enjoy it very much. It helps me to keep in shape both physically and mentally. And through this activity, I’ve also met a lot of interesting people and new friends.
Momentum is the best cure for procrastination. Many things seem scary or difficult from far away, but I’ve found them not really that hard once I get started. Action tends to energize my creativity. However I also like to put some thoughts & planning before I get started. But not too much though, otherwise I’d get paralized by the analysis. Overall, my philosphy is aim, shoot, and repeat until I hit the target. And once I have momentum, it’s a lot easier to maintain that course of action. Speaking of which, I need some momentum with this blog!
Read Tim Ferris’ book, the 4 Hour Work Week, a few months ago. And have thought about how it could be applied to my own entreprenurial life. There are a lot of things that make sense such as outsourcing and focus on the big picture. It definitely gives me a goal to aim as I grow my business. However right now in the infant stage, I still need to improve the business process before I fully trust someone else to take over. And even then, I’d break it into jobs into components so that no one is irreplacable.
Went to Ibiza in Seattle last Thursday and had a great time. I’ve seen quite a few dances. But the energy and jubilance of Samba makes it exceptional. I had an awesome time. See the photos below. The beautiful ladies are part of the Tudo Beleza, a Brazilian dance company in Seattle.
Had dinner with my friend Bill Kong last night at the King & I. We talked about career, family, business, investments, and the future. First time we met was almost 2 years on a flight back to Seattle from Las Vegas. It turned out that we attended the same business conference, and had similar background & common interests.
Haven’t seen him in a while. His family & career responsibilities definitely keeps him busy. Looking at his life, I kind of wonder if that’s how I might end up… not that it’s bad or anything. But I guess I better focus on building my fortune & have some fun before other life priorities kick in.
TV, computers, Internet, books, and small print text messaning all require concentrated vision, often for extended period of time. This most likely leads to poor vision. There are various methods that supposedly can improve vision naturally. Many are complex and requires habitual exercises. I’m definitely curious and will try something simple by massaging my eyes daily. Let’s see what improvement, if any, this will have…
Does it ever seem that life is moving so fast that it’s like a blur sometimes? This hyperdrive can sometimes make it hard to remember things. Don’t believe me? Ok, just what did you do a couple of weekend ago?
I think that it’s worthwhile to periodically sit down quitely and reflect. It helps me to learn from my experience and and understand how I might improve. Because let’s face it, we’ve all made mistakes. And it’d be a shame & expensive to ignore and repeat them.
The reflection is best done at a quiet place with no distractions and some writing material to make notes. It’s not a time for self-pity, but instead self examination. Try to be objective, and think from a third party perspective if possible, then just write the events down whether in a journal or blog. But the key is to keep things positive. And this could be a tremedously useful tool in life.