Doug Theis Leave your comfort zone.

Every habit you want to build can be broken down into a sequence of steps.

For example, a gym workout can be broken down into the following steps: getting off your butt, changing your clothes, putting a gym bag together, traveling to the gym, doing your workout, showering, and going home.

You know working out is good for you but when it comes time to exercise, your brain doesn’t just see the glory part of the process where you’re pumping iron like you’re training for the next “300“ movie— it sees all the before and after steps too. Because our brains love taking the path of least resistance, these before and after steps are often seen as barriers.

You know you should workout today but your brain is telling you things like,

Don’t forget about the time it takes to drive to the gym, pack your stuff, do your workout, and travel back home. That’s going to take hours. Do you really have time today?

More of the TNW post

Last week, we started on a journey that I called “The Wale Rules” – some of the things that I have picked up along the way in my life, a number of them in a very hard way.

I believe that experience is not the best teacher. It is the most painful. It is the best teacher when it is someone else’s experience.

Our primary goal should be to learn by instruction. When that fails, then we have to learn by experience.

The wise man learns from the mistakes of others. The fool insists on making his own.

We are where we are not because we were perfect, but because we learnt from our imperfections. That which we learn, we are able to share.

More of the Daily Nation article by Wale Akinyemi

A review and update of a controversial 20-year-old theory of consciousness published in Elsevier’s Physics of Life Reviews (open access) claims that consciousness derives from deeper-level, finer-scale activities inside brain neurons.

The recent discovery of quantum vibrations in microtubules inside brain neurons corroborates this theory, according to review authors Stuart Hameroff and Sir Roger Penrose. They suggest that EEG rhythms (brain waves) also derive from deeper level microtubule vibrations, and that from a practical standpoint, treating brain microtubule vibrations could benefit a host of mental, neurological, and cognitive conditions.

Microtubules are major components of the structural skeleton of cells.

The theory, called “orchestrated objective reduction” (“Orch OR”), was first put forward in the mid-1990s by eminent mathematical physicist Sir Roger Penrose, FRS, Mathematical Institute and Wadham College, University of Oxford, and prominent anesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff, MD, Anesthesiology, Psychology and Center for Consciousness Studies, The University of Arizona, Tucson.

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Do you wish you could tackle all those things you’d like to do “someday”? I just completed 101 things in 1001 days, and, aside from having a blast and getting things done, I also changed my life by becoming more adventurous, confident, and social. I’ve seen many people make a list and then ignore it within two or three months. Here are nine tips for making and completing your own list of 101 things in 1001 days and changing your life in the process.
1. Identify your weaknesses and fears, and choose tasks to help you confront them

Let’s face it: we all have some weaknesses. Make a list of traits that you want to work on improving, and think of some concrete steps you can take. For example, I completed a task to not complain for a week. It was a bad habit I had fallen into. I read advice on how to manage it, and it took me several extra days of practice and starting over before I found my self-awareness increasing to the point where I could stop myself before the complaint slipped out.

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Most runners shy away from doing specific strength exercises, but there are efficient ways to build your run strength in less than 20 minutes.

It’s a conundrum. Research has clearly proven that strength training enhances running performance, even when running volume is reduced to make time for pumping iron. But most runners hate lifting weights. What to do?

The best way to have your cake and eat it too here is to do very time-efficient strength workouts that give you meaningful benefits without keeping you in the gym so long you go nuts. Fortunately, that is possible. The following strength workout comprises just four exercises and can be done in less than 20 minutes. It works because the exercises were selected to provide precisely the benefits runners need most, and in the highest degree.

Split-Stance Dumbbell Deadlift
This exercise strengthens the hamstrings, quadriceps, glutes, and hips in a very running-specific way. It’s a better choice than regular deadlifts because it emphasizes the single-leg strength runners need and strengthens the hip stabilizing muscles that are weak and cause injuries in so many runners.

More of the Triathlete Europe article from Matt Fitzgerald