In his book "Promptings" Kody Bateman talks about being a Level 4 Card Sender, but what does that mean?
There are 4 Levels of Competence:
1. Unconscious Incompetence: You don't know that you don't know
2. Conscious Incompetence: You know that you don't know
3. Conscious Competence: You know that you know
4. Unconscious Competence: You don't know that you know
So for Kody being a Level 4 Card Sender means that he doesn't have to think about sending cards, he just does it. He also talks about being a Level 4 at tying shoes (bunny ear method, but only a Level 3 at the "standard" method).
For shoe tying it's fairly easy to see the levels:
1. You're really young and have no awareness of your shoes being tied.
2. You know somebody is tying your shoes for you.
3. You learn to tie your own shoes, but it takes intense concentration.
4. You can tie your shoes without thinking about it.
When I was a Level 3 at shoe tying, I figured out a way to be able to wear my favorite cowboy shirt every day…I would only tie my shoes if I got to wear my shirt. However, my shirt ended up in the garbage and I still had to tie my shoes every day.
Look at all the things you do in your life and decide what level you are and then decide if that's the level you want to be at.
The Johari Window
Loosely related to the 4 Levels of Competence is the Johari Window, but instead of measuring skills it measures characteristics. Again there are conscious and unconscious attributes but they refer to self and others.
You pick 5-6 adjectives from a list that you feel best describe you and you get others to do the same for themselves as well as for you.
Here is an online example that I've started for myself. You can go and pick the 5-6 words that you think best describe me. http://kevan.org/jh/ricktompkins
I was thinking about my Johari window recently...I'm glad to see that it's still there. Feel free to add to it.
As one year ends and another begins, it’s natural to reflect on both the past and the future — who we were, who we are, and who we want to become.
My guest today offers three questions that can help make that self-reflection truly fruitful, insightful, and possibly even life-changing. His name is Gregg Krech, he’s executive director of the ToDo Institute, which promotes principles of psychology based on Eastern traditions, and the author of Naikan: Gratitude, Grace, and the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection. Gregg and I begin our conversation with what Naikan is, and how this structured method of self-reflection can hold up a mirror to your life, helping you gain greater self-awareness, and see reality, and the way people perceive you, more clearly. Gregg then walks us through Naikan’s three rich, incisive questions and how to use them to help you discover how you really show up and operate in the world. We end our conversation with how to incorporate these reflections into your daily routine, and even make it a special ritual with which to ring in the new year.
Here are the highlights from the show:
What is naikan? What’s its history?
How naikan fits into the idea of morita (action oriented) therapy
The value of self-reflection
Why we often miss how much other people are doing for us
Moving from a complaint-based life to one of gratitude
The power of asking yourself what you’ve received in the last year
How to work reflection into your daily routine
Why it’s important to look at what you’ve given to others
The hardest question of all: what are the difficulties I’ve caused?
Turning naikan into a regular ritual
I thought this was an interesting podcast! And if you email them, they'll send you a 40+ page self-reflection guide for the New Year PDF. Be sure you tell them that you read about it in my blog post. You won't get any special treatment but they'll know how cool you are.
Bacon Day is tomorrow so this seemed like a good time for a Throwback Tuesday. Today's blog post was originally published last year:
Since Bacon Day is coming up at the end of the month, it seems like a good time to determine the best method for cooking it. This blog post is based on an article from Kitchn.
People often joke that bacon makes everything better. I tend to agree. I use it a lot as a flavoring agent in recipes — a slice or two to infuse a pot of dried beans with porky richness, for example. But on #treatyoself days, I’ll cook up a mess of bacon as a more substantial component to a dish, or as a standalone food. This is the bacon to pile onto burgers or BLTs, or to enjoy alongside pancakes or waffles, dragging the strips through syrup or runny egg yolks.
Yet I’ve never had a consistent, go-to method for cooking that bacon. I’ve cooked it in a skillet and in the oven, and I’ve resorted to the microwave when I was in a hurry. I’ve read about air fryer and sous vide methods I’d like to try, as well as other hacks for easier cleanup or better texture.
To find which method or methods work best, I tested eight that are touted by trusted website sources and compared the results side-by-side. My house smelled amazing, by the way, and my sons and husband were delighted to help me taste test.
Here's a listing of the 8 methods, with their overall ranking on a scale of 1 - 10:
Water in Skillet: Rating: 5/10
Microwave: Rating: 6/10
Nonstick Skillet: Rating: 6/10
Baking on a Rack with Paper Towels Underneath: Rating: 7/10
Air Fryer: Rating: 7/10
Sous Vide: Rating: 8/10
Cast Iron Skillet: Rating: 8/10
Baking on Parchment Paper: Rating: 10/10
Make sure you read the article to see the pros and cons of each method. Your ratings may be somewhat different based on your preferences.
Let me know if you try any of these methods and let me know what you think!
Today's blog post is based on a Facebook Live that I did yesterday. If you're not one of my Facebook friends, I also recorded the Zoom broadcast...the passcode is AR!1Jh^2
On the Zoom, I talked about my friend Erin Baer's book, called "From Beaten to Badass" and how yesterday was the one year anniversary of when she launched the "Make an Impact in 2020" campaign to have every women's shelter in the country receive a copy of her book to be used as a resource for the people working there as well as for the clients that they serve. As of yesterday, 500 shelters in the U.S. had received a copy of the book as well as one shelter in Canada and one in Ireland. There are still about 2,500 more shelters to be reached in the U.S. alone and we can help her do it, and it won't cost you a penny.
I'm trying to get an invitation to a SendOutCards VIP event and this is where you come in...if you go to my website and click the Join Now button I will be closer to getting an invite. The top 83 people in the "A Better Way" Winner's Circle will be invited to the virtual VIP event on January 29th and if I can get 20 more people, in addition to the 10 that I already have, that will put me in the top 20.
So, what happens when you click Join Now? You'll be added to a mailing list to find out about a new business opportunity that will be offering six streams of income starting on February 1st...although one of the six streams, SendOutCards, is available now and you can become a SendOutCards affiliate for 12 months for free.
There's a two minute video on my "A Better Way" website. I tried to share it on Zoom but I guess I shared the wrong screen because you get two minutes of audio and no video. But you can watch it before you click Join Now.
This past year we've seen what can happen if you rely on only one stream of income. It could become just a trickle if your work hours are cut or it could dry up completely if you're let go or your company goes out of business. And it looks like the pandemic will continue at least until summer! But here's your chance to get in on the ground floor of a new business opportunity and it won't cost you anything to get started.
So, the first 20 people that click the Join Now button before the end of this year will have a book donated in their name (or the name of whomever you'd like) to a women's shelter in the state of your choice.
You'll be helping yourself by getting in on the ground floor of a new business opportunity, you'll be helping one of 20 women's shelters receive a copy of Erin's book and you'll be helping me get invited to a VIP event and it won't cost you anything and there is no obligation.
Monday - "General Eisenhower’s 5-Star Holiday Eggnog" From The Art of Manliness. "This makes about a gallon of eggnog, but since we won't be having large holiday gatherings this year, it may be a bit much."
Tuesday - "Getting what you want in 2020" Updated for 2021. "A Better Way is a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity...don't be the person who says ten years from now "I had a chance to get in on the ground floor but I didn't take it."
Wednesday - "Take Your Attitude On A Positive Spin" From Harvey Mackay. "A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and success. Whatever the mind expects, it finds."
Thursday - "Start a Journal #TBT" I keep saying I'm going to start journaling. "Since we're rapidly approaching a new year, this seems like a good time to write about journaling."
This is day 8 of the 30 Days to a Better Man series from The Art of Manliness.
Since we're rapidly approaching a new year, this seems like a good time to write about journaling. I wrote about bullet journaling yesterday, and there's a page on the BuJo website on what they call "long form journaling", which tells how to do "normal" journaling in your bullet journal.
Check out the video to see how to implement long form journaling in your bullet journal.
Here are some excerpts from the AoM article:
My grandpa, Bill Hurst, was a journal writer his entire life. His journal was quite simple. He just kept a small notebook in the pocket of his pearl snap shirts and jotted down a short description of the things he did and the people he did it with. This is something he did pretty much every day for his entire life. He also kept extensive diaries of his time as a forest ranger in the Wasatch Range.
About 12 years ago, my grandpa took all these diaries and daily journal entries and began to write his memoir for his children and grandchildren. The finished product was a 500 page behemoth filled with stories from my grandfather’s life. Here’s just a few of the interesting things I learned from reading it:
My grandpa met my grandma by hitting on her while she worked as a telephone operator.
My grandpa helped pay for college by playing pool.
He worked as a sheep herder during the summers in high school and college. He gives a very descriptive account on how castrating sheep is performed. He did it just like this.
He has a scar from when he was hit by a car while racing his horse through the streets of his boyhood town. The horse died.
As a boy, his family traveled by horse and buggy.
There’s more. Lots more. But while the stories are interesting, what I found more interesting was the commentary my grandpa gave on different events in his life. In these moments, he passed on some insights and lessons on what it means to be a man. My grandpa’s memoir is a treasure trove of knowledge and wisdom from a life well lived. By writing his memoir, he guaranteed that his legacy will live on indefinitely.
But his life story would have been but a few pages long had he not kept a journal.
There are a myriad of other benefits to keeping a daily journal besides remembering what you ate five years ago. So today’s task is to start the journaling habit.
Next he goes on to talk about the fact that great men keep journals. Would we even know about these men if they hadn't kept journals?
In studying the lives of great men, I’ve noticed a common trait: they were all consistent journal writers. Now, I’m not saying that their greatness is directly attributable to their journaling. I’m sure Captain Cook would still have been a bad ass even if he hadn’t kept a diary. But I figure, if great men like these thought it was important to keep a journal, maybe I should, too. Heck, if it weren’t for their journals, we probably wouldn’t know much about their great lives and deeds.
Here’s a short list of great men from history who kept journals:
Theodore Roosevelt
Thomas Jefferson
Charles Darwin
Benjamin Franklin
Lewis and Clark
Andrew Carnegie
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Captain Cook
Winston Churchill
Sir Edmund Hilary
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton
Doogie Howser M.D.
I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
The article then goes on to talk about why you should keep a journal. Here are the highlights:
Your children and grandchildren will want to read it.
It can bring you to your senses.
Journaling grants you immortality.
Journaling improves your health.
But how do you go about it?
Pick a medium.
Analog journals, the paper and pen variety, are what we traditionally think of when we think of journals. You can use something as basic as a spiral bound notebook and a Bic pen or something as fancy as a hand bound leather journal and a fountain pen. Just do what works for you.
This is where bullet journaling can come in, as well as the traditional diary or journal.
With the advent of computers, many people have gone digital with their journaling. The digital world offers a plethora of options to record your daily happenings and thoughts.
Here’s a list of possible desktop digital tools in which to keep your journal:
Word Processor.
TextEditor/Notepad.
JDarkroom.
OneNote.
Evernote.
Evernote is a handy tool. I use it to store emails and a lot of different things.
The internet provides several options for you to store your journal in the “cloud” and even share it with other people. A few options:
Blogspot.
LiveJournal.
WordPress.com
Use Gmail as a journal.
Blogspot is what I use for this blog, although I'm considering moving over to WordPress.
Schedule a time.
Starting a journal is easy enough. Sticking to it on a daily basis is more difficult. If you want to make it a habit, just pick a time in your day for journal writing and make it a non-negotiable in your life. I like doing it at night right before I go to bed. It’s a good way to decompress and review the day’s events. But some people prefer writing in the morning or jotting down thoughts throughout the day. Just do what works for you.
Some days you might not have the energy or desire to write in your journal. On those days, just write something. It can be a sentence long. It can simply be, “I’m not in the mood to write.” Just keep your commitment.
I've journaled before, years ago in a "diary", but that didn't last too long. I tried BuJo earlier this year but that didn't work either but I'm going to revive it again. Although, this blog is pretty much a journal. I write about the things that are on my mind and I try to do it on a consistent basis which works out to 3 days a week of new material and 3 days a week of throwbacks and summaries of the week.
One of the most memorable journal entries I’ve come across was written by TR on the day both his wife and mother died. Instead of spending several pages outlining his grief, this is all it said:
Now that you've figured out what medium you're going to use and when you're going to write your journal, the next big question is what are you going to write about?
This is where a lot of people get hung up on with journaling. They feel like they don’t have anything to write about so they end up not writing at all. There are hundreds of books that give you “suggestions” of what to write about in your journal. Usually they’re cheesy and inane things like, “If you were a cloud, what shape would you be.”
They do offer a 31 day jumpstart to journaling article on the website, and this one on building self-reliance too.
Just write about your day. No need to get fancy with those cute little journal prompts. Some days might be pretty routine, but other days you might be feeling philosophical or have a problem that will require you to write more in-depth entries. Just write what comes naturally to you on that day.
This is how bullet journaling works.
And as we mentioned above, while you might think your life is boring, your great grand kids won’t. They’ll be just as fascinated about you driving a car that runs on gasoline as you are about your great grandpa driving a horse and buggy. If your life really is boring, perhaps keeping a journal will give you an incentive to take on more adventures so you have something to write about.
I'll let you know how my journaling journey goes and I hope that you'll do the same.
One day a professor announced a surprise test. He distributed a paper to each student with the front side face down. Then he asked the class to turn over the page and start the test, but there were no questions on the paper – just a black dot in the center of the page.
“I want you to write a few lines about what you see on the paper,” the professor said.
Puzzled, the students started the test. Once everyone finished, the professor collected all the tests and started reading the answers out loud. Without exception, all the students had written about the black dot, mentioning its position, size and so on.
The teacher told the students: “None of you will be graded on this test. I just wanted you to ponder over something. All of you wrote about the black dot. No one wrote about the white part of the paper. The same thing happens in our lives. We all have a white paper to observe and learn from, yet we always focus on the dark spots. We have so many reasons to celebrate, our parents, co-workers, friends, good health, a good job, the miracles we witness every day, for example.
“However, we often limit our horizons by focusing on just the dark spots – our disappointments, our frustrations, our fears and anxieties. In our day-to-day lives, we tend to take so many good things for granted and focus our energy on insignificant failure and disappointments.
“Take your eyes away from the black dots of your life. Try and focus on the brighter side of life and let positivity govern your thoughts.”
I consider Norman Vincent Peale’s book, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” one of the best motivational books ever written. A positive mind anticipates happiness, joy, health and success. Whatever the mind expects, it finds.
I frequently promote this book in my speeches and writings, because even though it was published in 1952, the advice is timeless. Positivity is one of those attitudes that never changes.
One of my favorite aphorisms goes like this: Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.
If you think positively, you will be more inclined to speak positively. Your positive words will spur you to positive actions. If you get used to behaving in a positive way, you will form good habits. And your habits will help define the kind of person you are. That will lead you to your destiny: what you will eventually become as a person.
Positive thinking has no negatives. Both personal and professional relationships benefit from a positive approach. By all means, surround yourself with positive people; support each other when the urge to be negative threatens.
Sometimes that’s not so easy to do in a professional setting. Difficult customers or co-workers can drag you down. Direct your efforts toward diffusing difficult situations or refusing to fall into their trap. Successful businesses thrive on customer satisfaction, not hostility.
Would you rather do business with a positive person or someone who finds fault at every turn? Conversely, do your customers find your dealings rewarding or tedious? Nothing chases business out the door faster than a contentious encounter.
If you can’t say yes to a deal, find a positive way to say no. “I’m sorry we can’t accommodate your request, but I’m going to call a friend who may be able to help.” You aren’t turning away business; you are leaving a future customer with positive thoughts about your practices. And they appreciate being treated with that kind of respect.
Here’s an extra benefit: Treating others well does wonders for your own self-respect. Sounds like a winning formula all around.
Let’s circle back to the black dot story. I am fascinated with the ingenuity of the professor. Such a simple exercise is easily translated to so many life situations. We all have challenges that tempt us to focus on our own “black dots.” Try hard not to let them pepper your outlook. Consider this age-old story about finding the positive in the face of adversity.
Everyone advised David to forget about confronting the enormous giant Goliath, saying, “He’s so big, there’s no way you can win.”
David replied, “He’s so big, there’s no way I can miss.”
Mackay’s Moral: A positive approach rises above reproach.
So, did you get what you wanted in 2020? I know a lot of people didn't but I know a lot of people who did...including me. I didn't get everything, but I'm working from home now and my business has grown.
It'll be interesting to see what that video was...I think it's from Darla DiGrandi Aguilera but we'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out for sure.
But what can you do to make sure you get what you want in 2021? I have a couple of suggestions:
Get away from only having a single stream (or maybe zero streams) of income
Tune into Darla's training on Monday, 12/28/20
Some of you may have already heard (or seen) me talking about "A Better Way" which is a new business opportunity launching in just over a month (January 30), but you can get in for free until then. ABW will consist of six streams of income, with SendOutCards being one of the six. And when you join ABW, you'll get a free SOC affiliate account (a $99 value) for one year. You can use this time to build a business completely free of charge.
There is no cost or obligation, you can build as many, or as few, of the six streams of income that you would like. Go ahead and click the link so you can be first in line when they're announced on January 30.
There are already brand new people building massive teams. Check out the "Run To 83 for VIP" challenge. I'm in the Winner's Circle but I'm not qualified for VIP yet. But you can get yourself there (and help me get there in the process).
Item number 2 is something else that I'm really looking forward to...here's a description of the training and a link where you can find out more:
This event will be a virtual zoom event on Monday Dec 28th from 1-4 pm PT.
Clear your calendar to attend live (if possible) so you can ask questions. The more questions asked the more value for everyone.
There will be drawings and give-a-ways for those that attend live. If you can not attend live, there will be a recorded playback.
This is not a company or industry specific event. This is an educational event for anyone that wants to learn how money is made and how to put together a plan to create your own economy for 2021.
The cost for this event is only $79 for a reason. I want more people to show up and learn.
If you can not afford the $79. Reach out to me directly for a discounted price. I want you there!
Yes, Darla is one of the people I know who got what she wanted (and more) in 2020. I think it'll be worth it to hear what she has to say about creating your own economy, so no matter what happens in 2021 your finances will be secure.
A Better Way is a once in a lifetime kind of opportunity...don't be the person who says ten years from now "I had a chance to get in on the ground floor but I didn't take it."
Before he commanded the liberation of Europe and led the nation through the height of the Cold War, Dwight D. Eisenhower grew up with traditional Midwestern tastes. In England, commanding forces that would successfully invade two continents, he turned down fancy meals his assigned cook offered in favor of fried steak, corn pudding, chicken soup, and other dishes reflecting his Kansas boyhood. As the pressure of the looming D-Day invasion mounted in the spring of 1944, Ike would occasionally relieve the almost unbelievable stress by cooking his own breakfast, even washing his own dishes.
Ike took pride in his down-home familiarity with the kitchen, and as president, he collected some of his favorite recipes in a White House file. One, found in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, was Ike’s special favorite around holiday time. Archived in the Presidential Papers under “Beverages,” President Eisenhower kept a declassified recipe for bourbon eggnog. As a boy, Ike worked in an Abilene creamery, and like Eisenhower the President, Ike’s recipe takes the “middle way,” combining the enjoyable sweet wholesomeness of postwar America with bourbon-backed strength Ike believed in.
I made Ike’s 5-star recipe after researching my book Brothers Rivals Victors and found his holiday drink spectacular. If you enjoy a glass of nog as part of your yuletide festivities, this recipe is as good as anything you’ll find in stores. It doesn’t take long to make, and you can substitute your favorite rum or brandy in place of the General’s preferred bourbon.
The ingredients are pretty simple:
A dozen egg yolks.
One pound of granulated sugar.
One quart of bourbon.
One quart coffee cream.
One quart whipping cream.
Nutmeg.
This makes about a gallon of eggnog, but since we won't be having large holiday gatherings this year, it may be a bit much. I've been making bro-nog the last couple of years so I may do it again this year.
Monday - "No blog post today" The website crashed while I was weorking on my post. Luckily I was able to copy what I had already written and paste it in the next day!
Tuesday - "The Anti-Crisis Crisis" From The Art of Manliness. "Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create hard times."
Wednesday - "Can’t Sleep Around the Holidays? Follow this Healthy Meal Guide" From Dr. Michael Breus. "Can’t seem to sleep before, after or around the holidays? From foods that hinder your sleep, to a strange 2020 holiday season, I’d bet a lot of us are facing more restless nights these next few months."
Thursday - "Assault Your Assumptions Through Red Teaming #TBT" Another from The Art of Manliness. "My guest today says that instead of waiting to be disrupted by outside forces, you’re better off using techniques developed by intelligence agencies and the military to disrupt yourself first. "
Today's blog post is based on a podcast from The Art of Manliness:
We live in an age of disruption. Companies that were once stalwarts are overtaken by small, plucky upstarts. Our personal lives can also be disrupted. We lose a job or a business fails.
My guest today says that instead of waiting to be disrupted by outside forces, you’re better off using techniques developed by intelligence agencies and the military to disrupt yourself first. His name is Bryce Hoffman and he’s the author of the book Red Teaming: How Your Business Can Conquer the Competition by Challenging Everything. We begin our show discussing what red teaming is and the history of its development, from wargaming by 19th century Prussians to more sophisticated techniques developed by the US military during the war on terrorism. Bryce and I discuss the hidden biases that red teaming is designed to counter, and then get into the specific red teaming techniques you can start using today to challenge your assumptions, stress-test your strategies, identify unseen threats, and make better decisions in both your personal life and your business.
The podcast was really interesting and it talked about the history of red teaming and applications in your business and personal life
As it says above, this was mainly developed by the Prussian army after they were defeated by Napoleon.
They got their best generals together to figure out what they could do to defeat him in a future battle. They did this by dividing into two teams...since the Prussian army had blue uniforms, they were the blue team and the team trying to figure out how to beat the Prussian army (Napoleon's army) was the red team. The red team helped the generals figure out what their weaknesses were and what they could do to overcome them.
Crayola used to have a color called Prussian Blue:
.Listed below are the highlights from the show:
What is “red teaming”?
How the failures of 9/11 brought the idea of red teaming to the forefront
How Prussians developed the idea of war games and the early concept of red teaming
How red teaming has greatly enhanced America’s defense systems
The ways that businesses — large and small alike — use these concepts
What are the biggest errors people and organizations tend to make in their decision making?
What Adam Smith got wrong with his rational choice theory
The biases and heuristics that lead us astray
Using red teaming ideas in your personal life
What is a key assumptions check?
The power of red teaming in a group
What are the four ways of seeing?
What’s a pre-mortem?
How do you bring up contrarian views without stepping on toes?
One of the ways you can use this in your personal life is by doing a pre-mortem. A post-mortem figures out the cause of death after the fact, while a pre-mortem figures out "the cause of death" of your plans before they happen.
Former poker player, Annie Duke, talks about pre-mortems in this article from Marketwatch. Listen to this Art of Manliness podcast with her. I found both sources very interesting and have been reading her book "Thinking in Bets".
This is similar to the Plan B system that I talked about here.
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