<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>The Standards of Living &#187; Do Something</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/category/do-something/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com</link>
	<description></description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:01:35 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Done and Done.</title>
		<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/12/01/done-and-done/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/12/01/done-and-done/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Dec 2009 06:01:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jeremy Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[30 in 30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Do Something]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/?p=423</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[photo by JB Baker &#8220;I did it. I told you, I told you I did.&#8221; &#8211; Dave Matthews Band This is post #30 in my quest for 30 in 30. So here we are. 31 days ago I announced that I would be attempting to write 30 new posts in 30 straight days. I am [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-425" href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/12/01/done-and-done/dscn0086/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-425" title="Mt. Hood" src="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/DSCN0086.jpg" alt="DSCN0086" width="640" height="480" /></a><span style="color: #808080;">photo by JB Baker</span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">&#8220;I did it. I told you, I told you I did.&#8221; &#8211; Dave Matthews Band </span></h3>
<p>This is post #30 in my quest for 30 in 30.</p>
<p>So here we are. 31 days ago I announced that I would be attempting to write 30 new posts in 30 straight days. I am happy to say that I was able to pull it off. When I go back and I read some of what I wrote when I was just getting started I&#8217;m able to see a definite improvement in my writing. I also realized a few things about myself that will help me in future projects (apparently I work better under pressure).</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Have A Goal<br />
One thing that definitely became apparent is that completing a project is a lot easier when you have a definitive goal that you&#8217;re trying to accomplish. Knowing exactly what I was going for made the journey much more exciting. Even if your goal is to survive like mine was it gets you on the path. Making positive changes in your life can be as easy as not doing anything detrimental long enough to loose any bad habits that you might of had. Once you&#8217;ve lost the negatives you open space to replace them with positive actions that can get you to heights you only imagined you could reach.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Get Support<br />
Once you decide what it is you want, surround yourself with people who will support you through it. I am very fortunate to have friends who were all understanding when I had to stay in to finish writing. Others insisted that I come out but let me use their computers to get my writing in first. Having good positive energy around you when you&#8217;re trying to accomplish something is really important. That&#8217;s not to say you can&#8217;t make it on your own but it&#8217;s so much sweeter when you have good people around you.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Be Open To Change<br />
Taking on this project was eye opening in a lot of ways and not all pertaining to my writing. Having a purpose and doing something that was designed to improve my life actually did just that. As time went on and I found myself accomplishing goals with my writing I found myself accomplishing goals in the rest of my life as well. Change begets change. Once you start that ball rolling all sorts of great things can happen. Remember to keep your eyes and mind open so that you don&#8217;t miss anything. I am definitely in a better place than I was 30 days ago. I owe it all to starting something, staying positive and seeing it through to the end. I&#8217;m open to taking on whatever comes my way now and I feel like I&#8217;m more in the drivers seat of my life than I have ever been.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Believe In Yourself<br />
This is huge. You can have a goal, get support and be ready to take on new challenges but if you&#8217;re unsure of yourself underneath it all then doubt has a foothold and can creep in and sabotage your efforts. Let that happen and you&#8217;ve only set yourself up for a less than desirable result. Despite everyone telling you how great you are and how well you&#8217;re doing you&#8217;ve got to believe it when <span style="text-decoration: underline;">you</span> say it for it to count. Trust in who you are and what you&#8217;re doing and you will be unstoppable.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Put Yourself  Out There<br />
It&#8217;s one thing to have a goal and to quietly trudge through with nothing really riding on it. It&#8217;s another to be loud and proud about it. Tell the world what you&#8217;re doing. It helps drum up support and it tends to make you a little more accountable for finishing. I made it a point to tell everyone I knew that I was doing this so that they kept tabs on me. Then I knew I wouldn&#8217;t just be letting myself down if I quit, I&#8217;d look bad in front of my friends. Saving face is a huge motivator. Never be afraid to tell people what you&#8217;re up to because you think you might not make it. Tell everyone who will listen and then keep them posted on your progress. I put my new posts on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/jb_baker">Twitter</a> (almost) every day. It felt good to be able to say that  I was still on task.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Never Give Up<br />
I have to admit that after a couple days there was no question in my mind that I was going to finish this thing. I felt good about what I was doing, it meant something to me and I knew that I would not accept failure. There were times when I got down to the wire and had to rush a post out (there&#8217;s the pressure I was talking about) but I was able to approach every day with nothing prepared and write something new. Quitting was never an option. If you set your mind on something that you want in your life and commit to never giving up you simply can not fail.</p>
<p>So this brings us to the end of the 30 in 30 series. I&#8217;m really grateful to all of you who were here with me on this little adventure. I&#8217;ll be posting again soon. I&#8217;m in a bit of a groove now and I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ll be able to stay away for long. I want to thank all of my peeps and tweeps who supported me on this quest. A special mention to <a href="http://www.twitter.com/liravaughan">@liravaughan</a> who acted as the inspiration for it in the first place and cheered me on throughout the month despite having her own monster project underway.</p>
<p>As for my next project, outside of writing more about The Standards of Living, I am currently in day 4 of a little workout system called <a href="http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/best_sellers/p90x.do?code=BBHOME_CONTROL_P90X">P90X</a>. 90 straight days of workouts designed to get me in the best shape I&#8217;ve ever been in. I&#8217;m combining it with an all raw food vegan diet and I&#8217;ll be starting another site about it soon to track my progress. I can&#8217;t wait to share it with all of you.</p>
<p>I look forward to all of the great things that the future is going to bring. I hope that you&#8217;ll all be here to share it.</p>
<p>Thank you all for being here. I&#8217;ll talk to you&#8230; later.<br />
-JB<br />
______________________________________________<br />
Today&#8217;s Music: I Did It<br />
By: Dave Matthews Band<br />
Available on:<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&amp;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fi-did-it%252Fid270571926%253Fi%253D270571928%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" alt="Dave Matthews Band - Everyday - I Did It" width="61" height="15" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/12/01/done-and-done/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Mad As Hell</title>
		<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/29/mad-as-hell/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/29/mad-as-hell/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov 2009 05:48:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jeremy Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[30 in 30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Do Something]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/?p=414</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[photo credit &#8220;Get up, stand up. Don&#8217;t give up the fight.&#8221; &#8211; Bob Marley This is post #29 in my quest for 30 in 30. How many times on your life have you felt like you were really making progress on a goal only to have your energy wane and your habits revert to their old ineffective [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-416" href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/29/mad-as-hell/fist/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-416" title="Fist" src="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Fist.jpg" alt="Fist" width="410" height="614" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9619972@N08/">photo credit</a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">&#8220;Get up, stand up. Don&#8217;t give up the fight.&#8221; &#8211; Bob Marley</span></h3>
<p>This is post #29 in my quest for 30 in 30.</p>
<p>How many times on your life have you felt like you were really making progress on a goal only to have your energy wane and your habits revert to their old ineffective ways?</p>
<p>I can tell you that it used to happen to me just about every time I set my mind on something. I&#8217;d start off really super strong and just when I started to make a little bit of progress I&#8217;d either loose interest or I&#8217;d let myself get distracted from my goals. This inevitably led me to falling into the same bad habits I was trying so hard to change. There are several reasons that I can now see as to why this kept happening to me. Often times the reasons would seemingly change yet still foster the same results. I had an amazing ability for making excuses. I could talk myself out of being successful with very little effort. My deamons all knew precisely how to play me to get me to avoid making any real progress in my life. I was a championship caliber procrastinator, I had an immense aversion to anything that generated pain like exercise and my flight response was about the size of a Pterodactyl. Basically if there was a way to make my life better I could find a way to avoid it.</p>
<p>There comes a time in every life however when you just decide that in order to get where you want to go you&#8217;ve got to do things differently. Eventually this need to improve your life becomes so powerful that you absolutely refuse to accept anything else other than the life that you envision for yourself. When that happens you&#8217;ve got to fight for it. It may seem at times like everything your doing goes against everything you know. It&#8217;s like you don&#8217;t really recognize yourself anymore. Assuming that the changes that your making are positive ones, that&#8217;s a good thing and you&#8217;ve got to keep going! You&#8217;ll want to quit at times and go back to that comfortable spot on the couch that has your butt groove firmly embossed in it. You can not give in to these impulses. The sense of security that you get from the familiarity of that couch is false. It&#8217;s not going to benefit you in any way. You&#8217;re going to keep digging that groove and before you know it years are gone.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve only got one time around on this planet and we&#8217;ve got to make the most of it. So get a goal firmly set in your mind. Then fight until you&#8217;ve achieved it. Don&#8217;t let anything get in your way, especially your own discomfort. When you start to see yourself slipping off track or your energy start fading that&#8217;s then you&#8217;ve got to treat it like a matter of life and death. You can live big or you can just keep carving the butt rut in that coffin you call your couch. Every inch deeper that rut goes is another inch closer you get to the grave. How comfortable is that couch now?</p>
<p>Following is a clip from the 1976 film &#8220;Network&#8221;. It&#8217;s a pretty famous piece of cinema that contains Peter Finch&#8217;s rant to the people of America. In it he&#8217;s talking about the problems that the country is facing and how people need to get mad if they want to make a change. It&#8217;s a powerful powerful speech that I think Americans could stand to hear today. The message however can also be applied to life. If you want to see change in your life then you&#8217;ve got to get mad.Not just that though, you&#8217;ve got to do something about it too. You&#8217;ve got to look at yourself and become so resolute in making a change that you won&#8217;t accept anything less and then, when you finally get mad enough to make a change never ever give up the fight.</p>
<p>Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.<br />
-JB<br />
___________________________________________<br />
Today&#8217;s Music: Get Up Stand Up<br />
By: Bob Marley and the Wailers<br />
Available on:<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&amp;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fget-up-stand-up%252Fid39973000%253Fi%253D39973011%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" alt="Bob Marley &amp; The Wailers - Bob Marley &amp; The Wailers: Gold - Get Up, Stand Up" width="61" height="15" /></a></p>
<p><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" width="425" height="344" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QMBZDwf9dok&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="344" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QMBZDwf9dok&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object><br />
The Film: Network &#8211; 1976<br />
Directed By: Sidney Lumet<br />
Available on:<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&#038;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&#038;type=3&#038;subid=0&#038;tmpid=1826&#038;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewMovie%253Fid%253D294011171%2526s%253D143441%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img height="15" width="61" alt="Network" src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/29/mad-as-hell/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>De-termination.</title>
		<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/28/de-termintation/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/28/de-termintation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:38:44 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jeremy Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[30 in 30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Do Something]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Standards]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/?p=406</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[photo credit Keep on, with the force don&#8217;t stop. Don&#8217;t stop &#8217;til you get enough&#8221; &#8211; Michael Jackson This is post #28 in my quest for 30 in 30. Determination: having strong motivation to succeed. Determination is something that many lack. It&#8217;s the absence of excuses or stories. It&#8217;s the will to complete our journey. It is what drives [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-407" href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/28/de-termintation/no-stopping/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-407" title="No Stopping" src="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/No-Stopping.jpg" alt="No Stopping" width="493" height="658" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/feelmystic/">photo credit</a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">Keep on, with the force don&#8217;t stop. </span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">Don&#8217;t stop &#8217;til you get enough&#8221; &#8211; Michael Jackson</span></h3>
<p>This is post #28 in my quest for 30 in 30.</p>
<p>Determination: having strong motivation to succeed. Determination is something that many lack. It&#8217;s the absence of excuses or stories. It&#8217;s the will to complete our journey. It is what drives many of us to live to our fullest potential and yet, so many of us don&#8217;t have it. Or do we?</p>
<p>Yesterday I wrote about everybody <a href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/28/youve-got-it-baby-youve-got-it/">already having everything</a> they need to be successful within them. Determination is no exception. Take a second to think about something that you really wanted in your life and that you did eventually get. Not necessarily a material object although that is just as useful an example, but rather a specific outcome that you wanted to see happen in your future. How did you get there? Was it by wishing really hard? Maybe you hoped it into existence? Maybe you waited it out because &#8220;if it&#8217;s meant to happen then it will&#8221;. Actually, weather you realize it or not, you made it happen through your determination. It is indeed something we all possess. I&#8217;ve heard people talk about someone else&#8217;s lack of determination before and it kind of chafes my knickers when they do. Often times others will mistake not being motivated with not being determined when the former is really the case. Most people have an abundance of determination, they&#8217;re just really selective on how to use it.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re one of those people, good for you. Truly dedicating yourself to something is a big deal and you should be selective&#8230; to a point. You don&#8217;t want to be so selective about what you&#8217;re willing to strive for that you end up doing nothing. That&#8217;s one of the things to watch out for in having higher standards of living. You can easily fall into the trap of not making a move because you feel that none of the moves available ore good enough. While this may be the case from time to time, it&#8217;s not a plausible excuse for remaining stationary.</p>
<p>When it seems like the options aren&#8217;t cutting it, make new options. If you really want something and are determined to get it, you will find a way not only to achieve your goals, but to achieve them on your own terms. Dedicating yourself to a better way of living means never loosing site of your goal, never lowering your standards and never quitting until you&#8217;ve reached it. Determination is just what the word indicates it&#8217;s the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">remova</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">l </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">of a termination</span>. The lack of an end. Don&#8217;t let anything stop you in your quest for greatness. Be determined to see your life lived the way you always dreamed it could be. Just remember that you won&#8217;t get there just by dreaming about it. You&#8217;ve got to move and once you do, don&#8217;t stop.</p>
<p>Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.<br />
-JB<br />
___________________________________<br />
Today&#8217;s music: Don&#8217;t Stop &#8216;Til You Get Enough<br />
By: Michael Jackson<br />
Available on:<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&amp;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fdont-stop-til-you-get-enough-single%252Fid159292399%253Fi%253D159293312%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" alt="Michael Jackson - The Essential Michael Jackson - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" width="61" height="15" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/28/de-termintation/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>All For One</title>
		<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/24/all-for-on/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/24/all-for-on/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:02:59 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jeremy Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[30 in 30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Do Something]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Standards]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/?p=373</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[photo credit &#8220;Misery loves company but she will never foot the bill&#8221; &#8211;  Bourgeois Tagg This is post # 23 in my quest for 30 in 30. There is a lot of pain, heartache, and unhappiness on the planet these days. With homelessness and famine, a tanking economy and surging violence it&#8217;s a wonder that anyone [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-374" href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/24/all-for-on/rapier/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-374" title="Rapier" src="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Rapier.jpg" alt="Rapier" width="538" height="717" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rhook/">photo credit</a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">&#8220;Misery loves company but she will never foot the bill&#8221; &#8211;  Bourgeois Tagg</span></h3>
<p>This is post # 23 in my quest for 30 in 30.</p>
<p>There is a lot of pain, heartache, and unhappiness on the planet these days. With homelessness and famine, a tanking economy and surging violence it&#8217;s a wonder that anyone can have a positive outlook. Still, there are those who continue to find happiness despite all of the negativity swirling around. One of the keys to your own happiness is to bring more positive influences into your life.</p>
<p>In hard times it&#8217;s easy to dwell on all the things that are wrong with the world. In fact, it can seem easier at times to do so than to look for solutions.  Keeping a positive mindset in the midst of all the negativity is not always an easy thing. You&#8217;ve got media outlets that are all determined to show you all of the bad things in the world and who sensationalize violence and crime and war. There are gangster rappers and death metal bands who perpetuate their messages of hate through their music. There are medical corporations who create and spread diseases in order to create demand for cures. There is no shortage of man made problems in the world today and nobody seems to want to take responsibility for any of it. Fingers are pointed in every direction and it becomes impossible to know who to trust.</p>
<p>For those of us who remain optimistic and try to find the good in all people it can get pretty lonely. Since true happiness is such a rare commodity these days, when someone actually has it there is no shortage of people who want to try and take it from them. The world needs the promise of better days. Anyone who tells you differently or who tries to bring you down with their negative outlook is doing one of two things. They are either issuing a subtle cry for help or they are trying to keep you down on their level so that they don&#8217;t have to raise up to yours.  The thing to remember though is that by breaking ranks and holding the line on positive thinking you are serving more than just yourself. You serve as an example of the good life that can be lived through positive thinking. Being of service to others and helping those who have lost their way along the path is essential to turning the world around.</p>
<p>The Three Musketeers were known for their creed of &#8220;All for one and one for all&#8221;. Granted these were fictional characters and by &#8220;all&#8221; they meant each other but I think the message is a good one that we need to adopt more of in todays society. If we all dedicate ourselves to being positive and giving everything we&#8217;ve got in the service of anyone who needs us we will all get through the tough times together. By lifting up our neighbors we are lifting up ourselves.</p>
<p>Take time today to give a little. Not because you have to but because the best way to help yourself is to help someone else.</p>
<p>Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.<br />
-JB<br />
________________________________<br />
Todays Music: I Don&#8217;t Mind At All<br />
by: Bourgeois Tagg<br />
Available on :<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&amp;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fi-dont-mind-at-all%252Fid331841967%253Fi%253D331842720%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" alt="Bourgeois Tagg - Collection - I Don't Mind At All" width="61" height="15" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/24/all-for-on/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>What Are You Waiting For?</title>
		<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/22/what-are-you-waiting-for/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/22/what-are-you-waiting-for/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Nov 2009 05:17:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jeremy Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[30 in 30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Do Something]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/?p=360</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;Waiting on the world to change&#8221; -John Mayer This is post #22 In my quest for 30 in 30. One of the standards that I&#8217;ve set for myself is to always be a man of action. I spent a great many years waiting for good things to come my way instead of going out after [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/l_1600_1200_43A9D993-36F7-4490-912C-A23056830D42.jpeg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-364" src="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/l_1600_1200_43A9D993-36F7-4490-912C-A23056830D42.jpeg" alt="" width="480" height="420" /></a></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">&#8220;Waiting on the world to change&#8221; -John Mayer</span></h3>
<p>This is post #22 In my quest for 30 in 30.</p>
<p>One of the standards that I&#8217;ve set for myself is to always be a man of action. I spent a great many years waiting for good things to come my way instead of going out after them. Realizing that the time I spent waiting I could have spent living helped me to stop sitting on my hands and to get up on my feet.</p>
<p>From waiting for the &#8220;right time&#8221; to waiting to be sure we&#8217;re on the right path there are hundreds of excuses one can give to not take action. The problem is that they are usually just that. Excuses.</p>
<p>Our lives ae made up of a series of actions. From the moment we&#8217;re born to the moment we die, we are taking some form of action. Even when we sleep our bodies and minds are active. Yet actually taking intentional action is such a hard path for so many if us to follow. The reality is that it all comes down to fear.</p>
<p>As in so many other areas in our lives, fear had an incredibly powerful ability to control us. Given enough power we can  literally live our entire lives afraid to take action because we&#8217;re afraid of the possible outcomes. Maybe we&#8217;re afraid that we&#8217;ll fail or maybe, in some cases, we&#8217;re afraid that we&#8217;ll actually succeed (see my posts on failure and success). Whatever the case may be, the fear that we allow in our lives keeps us from taking action and so we wait. We wait for conditions to be perfect, (which they never will be), we wait for just the right time (which doesn&#8217;t exist) or we wait just because we think something better may come along. The amount of time we spend waiting, for whatever reason, is time lost from our lives.</p>
<p>What would be the worst thing that could happen if you were to take some form of action? Is it that things might not work out exactly as you planned? Well, it should be no surprise by now that rarely does anything workout entirely as planned. There&#8217;s just simply no way for any of us to account for every possible factor in a situation. There are so many scenarios as to what can happen at a single moment that nothing in life can really be fully planned.<br />
As far as the idea if something better goes, no reward at some future date can make up for the time lost waiting. The odds if anything great coming to your life simply by chance are rather insurmountable. True we hear stories every day about the poor sap who spent his last dollar on a lottery ticket only to win millions or the couple that finds each other in their 70&#8242;s having waited their whole lives to find one another. Yes, stories like that do happen. Luck happens. But what are you willing to sacrifice in order to wait for some sort of luck to hopefully come in at some point and save you? The truth is you&#8217;re sacrificing living and hoping for luck.</p>
<p>Taking action puts you back in the drivers seat of your life. Waiting for something to happen will just leave you sitting in other peoples dust. Don&#8217;t be content to keep waiting. Nothing can go wrong if you just keep moving.</p>
<p>I shall leave you today with a bit of prose. This is one if my favorite pieces to get my ass back in gear if I find my self waiting to long to make a move. Enjoy it and then take action.</p>
<p>&#8220;On the plains of hesitation lie the blackened bones of countless millions who at the dawn of victory lay down to rest, and in resting died&#8221;. -Adlai E. Stevenson</p>
<p>Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.<br />
-JB<br />
___________________________<br />
Today&#8217;s music: Waiting On The World To Change<br />
By: John Mayer<br />
Available on:<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&amp;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fwaiting-on-world-to-change%252Fid184335550%253Fi%253D184335560%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" alt="John Mayer - Continuum - Waiting On the World to Change" width="61" height="15" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/22/what-are-you-waiting-for/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Forgiveness</title>
		<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/22/forgivenes/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/22/forgivenes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:21:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jeremy Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[30 in 30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Do Something]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Standards]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/?p=349</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[photo credit &#8220;I&#8217;m talking about forgiveness&#8221; &#8211; Leona Lewis This is post 21 in my quest for 30 in 30. Guilt, pain, anger and shame. All very powerful negative emotions that tend to carry a lot of weight. Any one of these four feelings can completely dominate a persons life if not kept in check. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: center; "><a rel="attachment wp-att-350" href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/22/forgivenes/burden/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-350" title="Burden" src="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Burden.jpg" alt="Burden" width="515" height="675" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center; "><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ralphrepo_photolog/">photo credit</a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">&#8220;I&#8217;m talking about forgiveness&#8221; &#8211; Leona Lewis</span></h3>
<p>This is post 21 in my quest for 30 in 30.</p>
<p>Guilt, pain, anger and shame. All very powerful negative emotions that tend to carry a lot of weight. Any one of these four feelings can completely dominate a persons life if not kept in check. At times we live our lives with a  poisonous combination in which some or all of these can be working together creating a deadly cocktail that becomes a never ending cycle. The burden created by these emotions is one that we carry begrudgingly yet can&#8217;t seem to put down. Still, relief comes in the simplest of forms. One action can relieve us of all of these feelings that we carry and that&#8217;s the act of forgiveness.</p>
<p>There are several ways that forgiveness can enter into our lives. Much of this depends on what we&#8217;re feeling and why. Guilt and shame typically involve a need for forgiveness from others while pain and anger usually require us to give more than get. Regardless, forgiveness is not always the easiest thing to attain. Getting forgiveness from someone else can seem like one of e scariest things in to try and get. It&#8217;s so scary in fact that we often times are scared to even think of asking for it. That&#8217;s because when you ask for forgiveness, there&#8217;s always a chance that you might not get it. Often times the mere thought of not getting the forgiveness we seek is enough to keep us from even trying. It&#8217;s like we&#8217;d rather carry our burdens indefinitely rather than take the risk. Living with guilt can be devastating to a life though. It can control your every future move. You may not feel worthy of any future success in your life because of the guilt or shame that you&#8217;re living with. Seeking forgiveness is the  solution to ending these feelings. When you confront your past demons with a sense of determination and humility and you receive the forgiveness that you seek it lifts a weight from you that can be such a powerful release that you see your entire life differently. You are once again &#8220;worthy&#8221; of having success in your life and nothing can stop you.</p>
<p>Equally debilitating can be the emotions of pain and anger. The solution to these feelings however is the same, forgiveness. The difference is, it&#8217;s usually you that has to give it. Going through your life feeling wounded and hurt because of something someone said or did to you is hard. Letting go of those feelings is even harder. I recently wrote about the dangers of having <a href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/06/clutter-stealthy-like-ninja/">clutter</a> in your life and nothing clutters up your mind like negativity. So as much as you may feel like you do, pain and anger are definitely on the list of things you don&#8217;t need  and the sooner you shed them the sooner you&#8217;ll feel the grip that they have on you loosen.  Pain and anger serve no purpose in your life and only work to limit you and your future.</p>
<p>So you can seek forgiveness from those you feel you&#8217;ve wronged and you can give it to those who&#8217;ve done wrong by you. That will take care of probably about 85% of any limiting emotions. The final step to get that last 15% is to be willing to forgive yourself. This one isn&#8217;t easy since we&#8217;re always our own harshest critics. Plus, guilt, pain, anger and shame have a tenedncy to feed off of each other and just keep spiraling out of control but once you remove these negative emotions you make room for so much more positive energy in your life. The more positive energy and emotion you have the better you are to yourself and to others.</p>
<p>Freeing yourself of all of this doesn&#8217;t mean that it&#8217;s not going to pop up again. When it does though, you&#8217;ll have a much better understanding of what life can be like without all the negativity. That makes it a lot easier to live without it all together. When these feelings arise again just remember to keep a good supply of forgiveness on hand and to keep the positive energy flowing.</p>
<p>Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.<br />
-JB<br />
___________________________________________<br />
Today&#8217;s music: Forgiveness<br />
By: Leona Lewis<br />
Available on:<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&amp;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fforgiveness%252Fid303682720%253Fi%253D303682918%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" alt="Leona Lewis - Spirit (The Deluxe Edition) - Forgiveness" width="61" height="15" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/22/forgivenes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Setting Standards To Fun</title>
		<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/20/setting-standards-to-fun/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/20/setting-standards-to-fun/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:54:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jeremy Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[30 in 30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Do Something]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/?p=341</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;I gotta feelin&#8217; that tonight&#8217;s gonna be a good good night&#8221; - The Black Eyed Peas This is post 20 in my quest for 30 in 30. In my writings I have been stressing the importance of setting high personal standards in order to acheive greater things in your life. Well tonight I&#8217;m reminded that [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/p_1600_1200_64D69C07-399A-4765-94EF-331A7FA905F2.jpeg"><img class="size-full wp-image-364 aligncenter" src="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/p_1600_1200_64D69C07-399A-4765-94EF-331A7FA905F2.jpeg" alt="" width="293" height="390" /></a></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">&#8220;I gotta feelin&#8217; that tonight&#8217;s gonna be a good good night&#8221; </span></h3>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">- The Black Eyed Peas</span></h3>
<p>This is post 20 in my quest for 30 in 30.</p>
<p>In my writings I have been stressing the importance of setting high personal standards in order to acheive greater things in your life. Well tonight I&#8217;m reminded that part of a greater life is enjoying yourself. So, this is a short post reminding all of you to have fun along the way to wherever it is you want to go.</p>
<p>And if you&#8217;re in Chicago tonight, come out and have fun with me at The Cubby Bear accross from Wrigley Field, home of the best team on earth, the Chicago Cubs. A great 80&#8242;s cover band named Wedding Banned is playing. Its a young crowd so I&#8217;m usually one of the only people in the place that remembers when the songs were actually on the radio.</p>
<p>Remember, life is not about the destination but rather about the journey. Enjoy the ride.</p>
<p>Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.<br />
-JB<br />
_________________________<br />
Today&#8217;s music: Good Day<br />
By: The Black Eyed Peas<br />
Available on:<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&amp;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fi-gotta-feeling%252Fid329559142%253Fi%253D329559232%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" alt="Black Eyed Peas - The E.N.D. (The Energy Never Dies) [Expanded Version] - I Gotta Feeling" width="61" height="15" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/20/setting-standards-to-fun/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Is It Cold In Here&#8230;?</title>
		<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/19/is-it-cold-in-here/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/19/is-it-cold-in-here/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:59:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jeremy Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[30 in 30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Do Something]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/?p=330</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[photo credit &#8220;I don&#8217;t know if I should run away or tiptoe&#8221; &#8211; Keaton Simons This is post 19 in my quest for 30 in 30 and a cheap way to talk turkey before Thanksgiving. Ease in or go cold turkey? It&#8217;s a common question when making a significant change in our lives. Sometimes when [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-331" href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/19/is-it-cold-in-here/turkey/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-331" title="Gobble Gobble Gobble" src="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Turkey.jpg" alt="Gobble Gobble Gobble" width="611" height="614" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/aasgier/">photo credit</a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">&#8220;I don&#8217;t know if I should run away or tiptoe&#8221; &#8211; Keaton Simons</span></h3>
<p>This is post 19 in my quest for 30 in 30 and a cheap way to talk turkey before Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Ease in or go cold turkey? It&#8217;s a common question when making a significant change in our lives. Sometimes when change is made for us the choice is taken away. For the most part though, we have to decide how rapidly we&#8217;re going to institute changes into our day to day.</p>
<p>I, personally, am a cold turkey kind of guy. It&#8217;s the technique I used for any changes I made in my diet among other things. Turning vegetarian then vegan then raw foodist were all quick decisions followed by quick and complete action. I think that the fastest way to make advancements in a change is to completely immerse yourself. Here are five tips to help you in your cold turkey transition.</p>
<ol>
<li>Know Your Goal.</li>
<p>Change comes easier when you know exactly what you want and have a firm grasp on how you intend to get there. Layout your goals and markers for your success and celebrate every one that you achieve. Oh, and celebrating a success by doing the thing you&#8217;re trying to quit is defeatist. Celebrate by doing more of what got you there.</p>
<li>Surround Yourself.</li>
<p>When making a significant cold turkey change total immersion in what you&#8217;re trying to do helps a lot. If you&#8217;re trying a new diet or making a dietary lifestyle change like becoming vegetarian or vegan, there is so much new information to learn that you are never at a loss for articles, recipes or ideas. Study up every day and before you know it you&#8217;ll have all the tools for success.</p>
<li>Have a buddy (or 2, or more).</li>
<p>A support system is a fantastic way to make it through your transition period. Being around people who are already living the way you want to is inspirational. Not to mention that they&#8217;ve all been where you&#8217;ve been so they know what you&#8217;re going through.  There are great groups out there depending on the changes you&#8217;re trying to make. From social groups to actual support groups there are many ways to find help through any difficulty you experience.</p>
<li>Form New Habits.</li>
<p>Making your new lifestyle changes into habits usually takes about 28 days on average. For some it can happen sooner. For others it can take longer. Either way, repetition is the key to forming a good habit. It&#8217;s the key to forming bad habits too so watch yourself. As you start off on your new adventure taking all the right steps will seem new and exciting and won&#8217;t be much of a challenge. As you move through the process though and the new steps become a little more commonplace in your life your mind may start to miss the old habits that it was so accustomed to. You&#8217;ll start to crave the comfort of the familiar. Just know that you are on a path to a better way of living and that turning back is not an option.</p>
<li>Maintain it.</li>
<p>Once you&#8217;ve gotten into the groove with your new way of life and you&#8217;re habits are fully ingrained, you may run into little hiccups from time to time. It&#8217;s natural to miss the old comfortable ways even though you&#8217;re settled in your new lifestyle. Just remember why you made the change in your life in the first place and then stay strong. If you should happen to slip a little, don&#8217;t stress. You&#8217;ll soon remember that you&#8217;re doing what you&#8217;re doing for a reason and get right back on track.</ol>
<p>Making changes in your life cold turkey can be effective. You get to jump in and get started and for those who have a preference towards instant gratification you&#8217;ll start to feel like things are working right away. As long as you stay on the path you&#8217;ll be successful. Just keep at it and surround yourself with people and information that will help you along the way.</p>
<p>Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.<br />
-JB</p>
<p>(P.S. There will be a follow up post coming soon discussing the benefits of easing into a major change.)<br />
______________________________________<br />
Today&#8217;s Music: Without Your Skin<br />
by: Keaton Simons<br />
Available on:<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&amp;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fwithout-your-skin%252Fid201319545%253Fi%253D201319552%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" alt="Keaton Simons - Blink - EP - Without Your Skin" width="61" height="15" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/19/is-it-cold-in-here/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Point Less</title>
		<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/18/point-less/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/18/point-less/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:59:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jeremy Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[30 in 30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Do Something]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/?p=320</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[photo credit &#8220;No one, no one, no one ever is to blame&#8221; &#8211; Howard Jones This is post #18 in my quest for 30 in 30. Today I had a long talk with one of my friends who&#8217;s an actor. She went to an audition that she was really excited for and tanked. This left [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-321" href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/18/point-less/finger-point/"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-321" title="Finger Point" src="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Finger-Point.jpg" alt="Finger Point" width="587" height="614" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jannem/">photo credit</a></div>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">&#8220;No one, no one, no one ever is to blame&#8221; &#8211; Howard Jones</span></h3>
<p>This is post #18 in my quest for 30 in 30.</p>
<p>Today I had a long talk with one of my friends who&#8217;s an actor. She went to an audition that she was really excited for and tanked. This left her questioning the idea even continuing as an actor. During the conversation I asked her what it was that she felt has kept her from being successful thus far. She proceeded to go on a bit of a rant blaming different people or various situations for her lack of success. When I mentioned that she was running out of fingers to point she stopped, sat quietly for a minute and had an epiphany. At that moment she realized that she had been spending all of her time blaming everyone else for what she perceived as failures instead of putting the blame squarely where it belonged&#8230; on her.</p>
<p>This is something that we all end up doing at some point. Things take a negative turn and we immediately look around the room to see where we can throw the blame. Very rarely do we take responsibility for our own failure or even our own success for that matter. The simple fact of life is this, only we are responsible for what happens to us.</p>
<p>It is up to us to be the best that we can be for ourselves. I have set my standards for myself pretty high. Some people would say that the higher they&#8217;re set, the better my chances for falling short. I know that won&#8217;t happen though because I will not accept anything less than the best me I can be. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Nothing Less</span>. I will not settle, I will not compromise and I will not apologize.</p>
<p>Once my friend starts taking on that same responsibility for herself she will succeed. Up to now she&#8217;s been satisfied to try a little and if it didn&#8217;t work out she&#8217;d make excuses as to why. She even has a fear of success that keeps her from achieving her greatness. I reminded her of my 3 part <a href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/03/failure-pt-1-the-sidelines/">series on failure</a> (fear of success is part 3)that I wrote earlier this month. I told her to go back and look at it again. She has an amazing ability as an actor to move people with her performances. It&#8217;s a rare ability and I&#8217;ve seen her do it many times. Quitting what she&#8217;s doing is not the answer. She just needs to take responsibility for herself. That&#8217;s all any of us need to do.</p>
<p>Once we stop blaming outside factors for our current position in life we&#8217;ll see just how quickly it can change. Until then, remember that it&#8217;s not polite to point.</p>
<p>Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.<br />
-JB<br />
_____________________________________<br />
Today&#8217;s music: No One Is To Blame<br />
By: Howard Jones<br />
Available on:<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&amp;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fno-one-is-to-blame%252Fid274037038%253Fi%253D274037227%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" alt="Howard Jones - Best of Howard Jones - No One Is to Blame" width="61" height="15" /></a></p>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/18/point-less/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>C&#8217;mon, Live a Little.</title>
		<link>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/17/cmon-live-a-little/</link>
		<comments>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/17/cmon-live-a-little/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:59:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Jeremy Baker</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[30 in 30]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Do Something]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Standards]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/?p=304</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[photo credit &#8220;I have become comfortably numb&#8221; &#8211; Pink Floyd This is post #17 in my quest for 30 in 30. Yesterday I wrote about attending a lecture given by raw food athlete Tim VanOrden. During the lecture he spoke about peoples desire to &#8220;numb themselves down&#8221; with food and alcohol. We&#8217;ve all been there and we&#8217;ve all done it. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="attachment wp-att-305" href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/17/cmon-live-a-little/zombies/"><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border: 0px initial initial;" title="Zombies" src="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Zombies.jpg" alt="Zombies" width="614" height="383" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;"><a rel="cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericingrum/">photo credit</a></div>
<h3 style="font-size: 1.17em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00ccff;">&#8220;I have become comfortably numb&#8221; &#8211; Pink Floyd</span></h3>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #000000;">This is post #17 in my quest for 30 in 30.</span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Yesterday I wrote about <a href="http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/16/running-raw/">attending a lecture</a> given by raw food athlete <a href="http://www.runningraw.com">Tim VanOrden</a>. During the lecture he spoke about peoples desire to &#8220;numb themselves down&#8221; with food and alcohol.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">We&#8217;ve all been there and we&#8217;ve all done it. I know that I do it more often than I&#8217;d like. We have a really tough day or go through a stressful experience and when we get home we eat a lot of fatty foods or have a few drinks to make the stress of the day disappear. This essentially numbs our brains so that we don&#8217;t have to think too much about what is going on in our lives at the moment. At least, that&#8217;s the effect we&#8217;re going for weather we realize it or not. It&#8217;s why stress eaters eat and drinkers drink or in extreme cases why the really really depressed tend to not even bother getting out of bed.  There is an aversion to being in the &#8220;real world&#8221; and dealing with any of the problems that exist in it.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">One of the things that take some getting used to when you start living your life according to a higher standard is just how real the real world can be. This is not a bad thing that is to be avoided or numbed out however. Actually, just the contrary. The real world is very real, very alive and very amazing. The real world offers solutions to any perceived problem that you could encounter and for the record, that&#8217;s all problems are&#8230; perceived. (Check out <a href="http://www.bloomverse.com/blog/2009/08/right-now-you-dont-have-any-problems/">this great article</a> on the reality of our &#8220;problems&#8221; by Craig Wildenradt at <a href="http://www.bloomverse.com/">bloomverse.com</a>). When you have high standards of living you are able to see your way through any problem because often times nothing but the best solution is an option for you. You simply won&#8217;t accept anything less. When your life is about choosing to be the best, you have no need to avoid it if it&#8217;s less than perfect. You want to be as aware of what&#8217;s going on around you as possible. You want to take on the challenges of your life head on.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">One thing to always be aware of is that you are the only one who controls your life. You and no one else. Numbing yourself doesn&#8217;t make the problems disappear. It simply makes you less willing to care about them for a short period of time. When that time is up though, the problem is still going to be there. In fact, it&#8217;s probably going to have grown a little while you were gone. The big bad things we call problems don&#8217;t numb themselves. they don&#8217;t take breaks and they don&#8217;t do anything to avoid you like you avoid them. They&#8217;re like zombies that just keep coming. They&#8217;re numbers keep growing and they just get hungrier. The only way to handle a zombie is to take off it&#8217;s head. Remove the head and the rest just falls. This is the best tactic for taking on life too. You want to attack it. You want to find anything that you think is a problem and take off it&#8217;s head before it has a chance to hurt you. Problems, like zombies tend to multiply if left alone for too long. That&#8217;s why you want to deal with them while they&#8217;re small and their numbers are few. You just can&#8217;t do that if you&#8217;re checking out et the end of the day or avoiding your life all together. If you want to live the best life you possibly can you need to do just that, LIVE. Look for those problems and cut of their heads while it&#8217;s still early.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">In Tim VanOrden&#8217;s lecture he talked about his response to a situation that any of us who eat alternatively to the Standard American Diet (SAD) deal with. Friends invite you to go to the bar for a drink and to get some food. You don&#8217;t drink though and you don&#8217;t eat anything that they do or that the bar serves. When you decline, 9 times out of 10 you&#8217;re going to hear &#8220;C&#8217;mon, live a little&#8221;. I&#8217;ve heard it myself more times than I can remember. Tim had one of the best responses I&#8217;ve ever heard and that I&#8217;ll be adopting from here on out for this situation. He simply says &#8220;If you want to live a little, then go ahead but I want to live a lot&#8221;. Those zombie like problems are just going to keep getting stronger and hiding from life won&#8217;t make them go away. It&#8217;s only going to get worse if you try to hide. So live&#8230; a lot. Attack your problems before they multiply and remember to aim for the head.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.<br />
-JB<br />
________________________________<br />
Today&#8217;s Music: Comfortably Numb<br />
By: Pink Floyd<br />
Available on:<br />
<a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=[SITE.CODE]&amp;offerid=[OFFER.OID]&amp;type=3&amp;subid=0&amp;tmpid=1826&amp;RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Falbum%252Fcomfortably-numb%252Fid274759513%253Fi%253D274760348%2526uo%253D6%2526partnerId%253D30"><img style="border: 0px initial initial;" src="http://ax.itunes.apple.com/images/badgeitunes61x15dark.gif" alt="Pink Floyd - Oh By the Way (Studio Album Boxset) [Remastered] - Comfortably Numb" width="61" height="15" /></a></p>
</div>
]]></content:encoded>
			<wfw:commentRss>http://www.thestandardsofliving.com/2009/11/17/cmon-live-a-little/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
