My Ice Bath Experiments

Hey readers what I did here actually entitles me to the title of my blog The Adventures of being Dpak you see for two weeks I put about 20 kilos of ice in a tub of water and baithed in it for 20 minutes. Why did I do this you ask ? ... to impress the babes I say (if someone asked me thats probably what I would say)

But seriously it was to lose fat inspired by the Tim Ferris book The 4 Four Body if you do not have the book yet you should really get it because after reading the section in it about giving women 15 minute orgasms a few times you might read the other parts and get some awesome fitness tips.

Here are my Vids

ICE BATH 1

Ice Bath 2

Ice Bath 3

Ice Bath 4

Ice Bath 5

Ice Bath 6

Ice Bath 7

Ice Bath Conclusion

Things I Learned In 2009

1) Life is good. We have more opportunity to go anywhere, hangout with anyone, learn anything, and be anyone. the hard part is figuring out what you want and sticking to it till you achieve it.

2) Life is too short for bullshit:

• If people annoy you let them know but do it as best you can not to upset them because there life is too short as well but don't tolerate it too long.
• Don't settle for second best if you want something pay the price for it, wait it out and make a goal and make the effort to get it.
• Do new things, plan cool things to do don't get lost in routine, time is passing and you are getting older.

3) Take a break. with having unlimited opportunity there is always so much to do and if you keep doing it you will get overwhelmed so take a break and enjoy your past achievements.

4) Your mind is the enemy. This is big when you actually understand your mind you will see that it is almost evil in the way it treats you:

• You will decide to have the perfect diet and training program so you can achieve some really neat fitness goals and you will do your best but you lose concentration eventually and your mind goes "Oh I don't feel like exercising today" and when you give into it it will do it again the next day until you have forgot about it and when you are trying to keep a good diet it will say "oh one wont hurt" and when you give into that it will say "Oh well your diet is ruined now so might as well eat like crap all the time"
• Bad things will happen and the event in it self won't be as bad but your mind will keep thinking and thinking about it even though you will know better and thus will make the event worse mentally and physically.
• Out of nowhere it will pull out past mistakes and regrets that may have layed dormant for years at the back of your head and it will use these things to upset you when there is nothing you can do about them and you could use the energy better to be happy and look to the future.
• The mind will also project the future in a bad way so you think of yourself as not good enough so you will be ify about future endeavors, you will fictitious arguments with others in your head that may never come to pass.
• It will make you sleep an hour longer in the morning even though that hour will not give you any extra rest and will lead to things getting undone.
• It will make you leave projects half done or unstarted in favor of wasting time with surfing the net and watching TV that is not even interesting.

Yes the mind does trick, torment and hold you back in innumerable ways it is the cat that is playing with the mouse which is your goals and peace of mind but being aware of it makes it easier for you to deal with it


5) Do not be too rigid in your view always be willing to try something new even if you do not believe in it because if you do not you could waste years in achieving a goal. An example of this is with my exercise i always thought that you need to exercise in a certain way to achieve your goals but this year I did something different and with less effort and in a shorter time I achieved more of my fitness goals then I had done in the years past.

6) Be gentle to others everyone has the same capacity to be proud, feel pain and get angry as you even even the people who really piss you off and when you get upset it is never the situation or person that upset you it is your reaction to it and when you react badly it has the effect of growing in your mind and upsetting you further

• Don't blow your horn when someone does something wrong in traffic, they made a mistake it happens and they might be in a rush it happens, how would you feel if someone blows there horn at you.
• Don't share that which is bothering you with others because talking does not always help I actually think it may do more harm then good because when you put troubles into words it has the effect of making the problem more solid which leads you to churning it in your head longer instead of forgetting about it. It is also a privilege to have someone listen to you when you share your troubles you are upsetting them as well and doing this to the people who care about you is cruel.
• Remember that "Negatives Only have Power Over You When You React to Them" and everyone has a "Point Of View"

7) Brian Tracy is my new hero.

8) America is an awesome country.

9) you need balance in everything you do, too much of one thing even if it is good is not a good thing.

10) 2010 is going to be the best year ever

How to Change your Bad Habits

Hey yoall as you all know I like writing Blogs and like reading other peoples blogs too and on occasion I find something so awesome that I have to put that into my blog. I found one such blog on the zenhabits site. The site is really something the dude writing parts a lot of life wisdom. Click on the picture below if you want to see the original blog.


So here it is these are the methods you can use to change your bad habits.

Keep it simple
Habit change is not that complicated. While the tips below will seem overwhelming, there’s really only a few things you need to know. Everything else is just helping these to become reality.

The simple steps of habit change:

1. Write down your plan.

2. Identify your triggers and replacement habits.

3. Focus on doing the replacement habits every single time the triggers happen, for about 30 days.

That’s it. We’ll talk more about each of these steps, and much more, in the cheatsheet below.

The Habit Change Cheatsheet
The following is a compilation of tips to help you change a habit. Don’t be overwhelmed — always remember the simple steps above. The rest are different ways to help you become more successful in your habit change.

1. Do just one habit at a time. Extremely important. Habit change is difficult, even with just one habit. If you do more than one habit at a time, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Keep it simple, allow yourself to focus, and give yourself the best chance for success. Btw, this is why New Year’s resolutions often fail — people try to tackle more than one change at a time.

2. Start small. The smaller the better, because habit change is difficult, and trying to take on too much is a recipe for disaster. Want to exercise? Start with just 5-10 minutes. Want to wake up earlier? Try just 10 minutes earlier for now. Or consider half habits.

3. Do a 30-day Challenge. In my experience, it takes about 30 days to change a habit, if you’re focused and consistent. This is a round number and will vary from person to person and habit to habit. Often you’ll read a magical “21 days” to change a habit, but this is a myth with no evidence. Seriously — try to find the evidence from a scientific study for this. A more recent study shows that 66 days is a better number (read more). But 30 days is a good number to get you started. Your challenge: stick with a habit every day for 30 days, and post your daily progress updates to a forum.

4. Write it down. Just saying you’re going to change the habit is not enough of a commitment. You need to actually write it down, on paper. Write what habit you’re going to change.

5. Make a plan. While you’re writing, also write down a plan. This will ensure you’re really prepared. The plan should include your reasons (motivations) for changing, obstacles, triggers, support buddies, and other ways you’re going to make this a success. More on each of these below.

6. Know your motivations, and be sure they’re strong. Write them down in your plan. You have to be very clear why you’re doing this, and the benefits of doing it need to be clear in your head. If you’re just doing it for vanity, while that can be a good motivator, it’s not usually enough. We need something stronger. For me, I quit smoking for my wife and kids. I made a promise to them. I knew if I didn’t smoke, not only would they be without a husband and father, but they’d be more likely to smoke themselves (my wife was a smoker and quit with me).

7. Don’t start right away. In your plan, write down a start date. Maybe a week or two from the date you start writing out the plan. When you start right away (like today), you are not giving the plan the seriousness it deserves. When you have a “Quit Date” or “Start Date”, it gives that date an air of significance. Tell everyone about your quit date (or start date). Put it up on your wall or computer desktop. Make this a Big Day. It builds up anticipation and excitement, and helps you to prepare.

8. Write down all your obstacles. If you’ve tried this habit change before (odds are you have), you’ve likely failed. Reflect on those failures, and figure out what stopped you from succeeding. Write down every obstacle that’s happened to you, and others that are likely to happen. Then write down how you plan to overcome them. That’s the key: write down your solution before the obstacles arrive, so you’re prepared.

9. Identify your triggers. What situations trigger your current habit? For the smoking habit, for example, triggers might include waking in the morning, having coffee, drinking alcohol, stressful meetings, going out with friends, driving, etc. Most habits have multiple triggers. Identify all of them and write them in your plan.

10. For every single trigger, identify a positive habit you’re going to do instead. When you first wake in the morning, instead of smoking, what will you do? What about when you get stressed? When you go out with friends? Some positive habits could include: exercise, meditation, deep breathing, organizing, decluttering, and more.

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” - Mark Twain

11. Plan a support system. Who will you turn to when you have a strong urge? Write these people into your plan. Support forums online are a great tool as well — I used a smoking cessation forum on about.com when I quit smoking, and it really helped. Don’t underestimate the power of support — it’s really important.

12. Ask for help. Get your family and friends and co-workers to support you. Ask them for their help, and let them know how important this is. Find an AA group in your area. Join online forums where people are trying to quit. When you have really strong urges or a really difficult time, call on your support network for help. Don’t smoke a cigarette, for example, without posting to your online quit forum. Don’t have a drop of alcohol before calling your AA buddy.

13. Become aware of self-talk. You talk to yourself, in your head, all the time — but often we’re not aware of these thoughts. Start listening. These thoughts can derail any habit change, any goal. Often they’re negative: “I can’t do this. This is too difficult. Why am I putting myself through this? How bad is this for me anyway? I’m not strong enough. I don’t have enough discipline. I suck.” It’s important to know you’re doing this.

14. Stay positive. You will have negative thoughts — the important thing is to realize when you’re having them, and push them out of your head. Squash them like a bug! Then replace them with a positive thought. “I can do this! If Leo can do it, so can I!” :)

15. Have strategies to defeat the urge. Urges are going to come — they’re inevitable, and they’re strong. But they’re also temporary, and beatable. Urges usually last about a minute or two, and they come in waves of varying strength. You just need to ride out the wave, and the urge will go away. Some strategies for making it through the urge: deep breathing, self-massage, eat some frozen grapes, take a walk, exercise, drink a glass of water, call a support buddy, post on a support forum.

16. Prepare for the sabotagers. There will always be people who are negative, who try to get you to do your old habit. Be ready for them. Confront them, and be direct: you don’t need them to try to sabotage you, you need their support, and if they can’t support you then you don’t want to be around them.

17. Talk to yourself. Be your own cheerleader, give yourself pep talks, repeat your mantra (below), and don’t be afraid to seem crazy to others. We’ll see who’s crazy when you’ve changed your habit and they’re still lazy, unhealthy slobs!

18. Have a mantra. For quitting smoking, mine was “Not One Puff Ever” (I didn’t make this up, but it worked — more on this below). When I wanted to quit my day job, it was “Liberate Yourself”. This is just a way to remind yourself of what you’re trying to do.

19. Use visualization. This is powerful. Vividly picture, in your head, successfully changing your habit. Visualize doing your new habit after each trigger, overcoming urges, and what it will look like when you’re done. This seems new-agey, but it really works.

20. Have rewards. Regular ones. You might see these as bribes, but actually they’re just positive feedback. Put these into your plan, along with the milestones at which you’ll receive them.

21. Take it one urge at a time. Often we’re told to take it one day at a time — which is good advice — but really it’s one urge at a time. Just make it through this urge.

22. Not One Puff Ever (in other words, no exceptions). This seems harsh, but it’s a necessity: when you’re trying to break the bonds between an old habit and a trigger, and form a new bond between the trigger and a new habit, you need to be really consistent. You can’t do it sometimes, or there will be no new bond, or at least it will take a really really long time to form. So, at least for the first 30 days (and preferably 60), you need to have no exceptions. Each time a trigger happens, you need to do the new habit and not the old one. No exceptions, or you’ll have a backslide. If you do mess up, regroup, learn from your mistake, plan for your success, and try again (see the last item on this list).

23. Get rest. Being tired leaves us vulnerable to relapse. Get a lot of rest so you can have the energy to overcome urges.

24. Drink lots of water. Similar to the item above, being dehydrated leaves us open to failure. Stay hydrated!

25. Renew your commitment often. Remind yourself of your commitment hourly, and at the beginning and end of each day. Read your plan. Celebrate your success. Prepare yourself for obstacles and urges.

26. Set up public accountability. Blog about it, post on a forum, email your commitment and daily progress to friend and family, post a chart up at your office, write a column for your local newspaper (I did this when I ran my first marathon). When we make it public — not just the commitment but the progress updates — we don’t want to fail.

27. Engineer it so it’s hard to fail. Create a groove that’s harder to get out of than to stay in: increase positive feedback for sticking with the habit, and increase negative feedback for not doing the habit. Read more on this method.

28. Avoid some situations where you normally do your old habit, at least for awhile, to make it a bit easier on yourself. If you normally drink when you go out with friends, consider not going out for a little while. If you normally go outside your office with co-workers to smoke, avoid going out with them. This applies to any bad habit — whether it be eating junk food or doing drugs, there are some situations you can avoid that are especially difficult for someone trying to change a bad habit. Realize, though, that when you go back to those situations, you will still get the old urges, and when that happens you should be prepared.

29. If you fail, figure out what went wrong, plan for it, and try again. Don’t let failure and guilt stop you. They’re just obstacles, but they can be overcome. In fact, if you learn from each failure, they become stepping stones to your success. Regroup. Let go of guilt. Learn. Plan. And get back on that horse.

Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones. - Benjamin Franklin

Don't Make Stupid Bets

Don't make stupid bets especially if you are a man of your word.

Stop Waisting Time

For My blog today I have picked part of a book - "Built For Show" By Nate Green

This book is totally awesome its all about training hard and looking good so that when it comes to the ladies which is why we boys workout things are not too hard .... well that's the plan anyway :P. I have read many training books in the past and I have to say that this is one of the best but you don't have to take my word for it just click on this picture of Mr Green below and you will be able to see what everyone else thinks of the book

Now that I have plugged his book I don't think he will mind me taking an idea from his book.

This book had a really cool section in it about having enough time to exercise but not at the cost of the things you love and I just had to share it with everyone and you can apply this to things other then just exercise.

Before we go any further I have to ask do you find yourself saying things like:

- I wish there was more hours in the day. or
- I wish had more time or something to that effect

Unfortunately for us:

Time Limited, it will always be running out, you can’t make more of it nor can you renew once it goes.

Wait minute did I say you can’t make more time I am sorry I lied yes you can I’ll but before I do think about waht you will do with the extra time I'll tell what I will do.

1. I would learn to play the guitar.
2. Learn Touch Typing so I can write more blogs.
   
3. Build my body like Nate Green
4. Learn Break Dancing and start backflipping off the walls
   
5. and I will date supermodels
   

If only I had more time ... sigh.... :D

OK so how do you create more time without losing the things you love?

Well you list out all your time wasting activities figure out how much you can cut back without missing it and whoom I wave my magic wand and you have more time

I have created a table and done an example to help you all make more time.

Before we go any further I will define what “Time Wasting Activities are”

- These are activities that do not increase your health, wealth, happiness or sex appeal. :P

Just click on the images to make them bigger.

sorry about the typos you know what I mean

I did not bother calculating how much time I can save but you can see that I can save quite a few hours just by doing less of the things that don’t satisfy me. By doing this exercise I even learned that I really enjoy window shopping so I might do more of that when I want to relax.

If you like this exercise then just download the image below, print it( maybe some resizing in Word will be needed), think then do the exercise and more time will magically be available to you.


Damn its 1pm I gotta sleep.

Thanks for reading I hope this blog makes your life a bit better

good night
DP

Become a Master Chef

Have you ever tried to learn to cook properly, I have as I find the idea of being able to cook things other then grilled chicken, steamed broccoli and eggs to be extremely appealing. With cooking you get to explore your creativity, have alone time, impress others and literally enjoy the sweet taste of your hard work.

Unfortunately my desire and efforts to be a master chief have not always been tasteful. I'll give you an example; Not too long ago I bought a cook book for a hundred dollars so it was not a cheap book, I picked a cool recipe took my time to go buy all the ingredients, found some time to cook it and it turned out revolting, I spat out the first bite. after various similar efforts I kinda gave up but then I discovered Chef Todd

I have to share this guy with because he is just amazing:

He is Chef Todd Mohr and he will make you a master cook with his free videos on cooking on the internet. He knows what he is talking about and he presents it all in a fun and passionate way for FREE.

Here is an example you will learn something from just this one video and there is almost 200 more to go through:



And Click on the picture below to get to the rest of his videos:


Happy Cooking
Dpak

The Story Of My Car Part 10

I should probably start writing this story again before my memory fades too much because the story of my car is in no way complete and its quite a story thats worth saving and sharing. I had the mind of a child going into this I believed in my TV heroes that I grew up watching(Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Captain Planet) and as an adult I still watched these shows and ascribed to motivational speakers that said you should expect the best from people and that you get what you expect from others there is a level of stupidity to all this that only experience can teach you . Not to say that I expect people to be perfect I know people make mistakes and sometimes they have good intentions and are just get misunderstood what I did expect was honesty, fairness, professionalism, responsibility, gratitude and care for the people that pay you money and I can't say that I did not find these people but the good people are far ... far outnumbered by crooks and incompetence. Its just like Sylvester Stallone says "The world is a very mean and nasty place" you need to take your lessons and adapt or you will become a bitter and angry not wanting to take part in any of the cool things that he world has to offer.

When I got this car I was happy to get it so out of shape because I actually to work on something mechanical, to open things get my hands dirty, figure out how it all fits together screw up or fix it its a strange urge that only others with the same mind can understand and I did get to do this and learn lots of cool things but all this mechanical knowledge is actually quite useless to the modern man we just earn money and pay someone to do the work the things I learned that I think are priceless are on understanding yourself and dealing other people.

That is enough foreplay I think :P lets begin. I have the car at home I got a manual license so I can drive it but the car still has a dozen problems with it Andrew I believe had sold me this car because he had lost all hope with it ever getting back in shape he even tried to mislead by giving a very minimal estimate of how much it was going to cost to fix this car.

First of all he could never get the cars paint correct. Car paints usually have a code to them and in ballina while inspecting the car I saw that the cars color was not was not the orignal to which Andrew said don't worry about it I have the code and I will send it to you.... this was a lie a couple of calls and texts later I knew he was not going to do it. This would not be a problem I could just go down to an automotive paint shop and get the paint matched but the paint was not a standard color out of the dozens of blues you can have there was no matching code for my car. I do not know why this was not painted standard maybe the guy who painted it had a dozen different paints left over and decided to mix em all and see what happened or maybe he wanted match it exactly to his girlfriends eyes I don't know what what I do know is that I was left with was two very sucky options: which were to either spend over 2 grand painting the whole car and have the cars airbrushing covered or have my car 2 colours.

The second thing that I know that there was no way Andrew could have fixed was the fenders. For those of you that don't know the fenders are the metal cover above the front tires they hold the front bumpers in place. This was pretty badly damaged and thus needed replacing and if I replaced them it would take away the nice airbrushing that was on them.

One of the nicest and most unique things about this car was the pretty mural on it and the car was sold advertised as the new owner being able to enjoy this but the seller knew in this case that there was no way that this could be saved and that is probably why he let it go. This would dishearten most people but not me when you have no choice you figure a way :).

Lesson Learned - when people sell you second hand vehicles with problems they usually do not tell you everything and will mislead you. You are better off either buying a new car or getting something from a friend you will see often or something from a dealer.

This is not a conclusion I have come to from my own experiences I have seen this happen time and time again to other people around they buy vehicles expecting it to be functional then having to have to pay double or quadruple the initial amount. Its not just the money its the time spent and the inconvenience of having your vehicle malfunction in the middle of nowhere and then you have to rely on people to fix your vehicle who will charge you money and will only do a minimal patch up.

For me this journey was easier because my goal was learning but for others that just need a functional car for work and play this anguish will break up your marriage, give you an ulcer and make you a serial killer please just get your vehicles from proper sources its not worth getting it from anywhere else no matter how cheap.

Thanks for reading I will have the next part up soon.

Be well .. lol