This is post 11 for the year. Unfortunately this is week 16 so I'm behind a bit. I'll see what kind of plan is the best for catching up, I imagine doubling up every other week is the best plan.
Visual progress is important. It inspires me. Carving my first carving (a rabbit made from a carrot) was quick and easy. The whole thing probably took an hour at most. As I made each cut large features of the rabbit quickly came into focus. This was his head. These were his forepaws and his haunches. The rough outline took very little time and a lot fewer cuts than I would have thought.
Then I decided to work on a bird. My first attempt was going to be from a block of basswood. The block was way too big. So I took a branch pruning saw and cut a small subsection off. It was still way too big. I started working on the project but after an hour of work I had barely rounded off the edges of the block. I hadn't made any appreciable progress towards the shape of the bird in my head.
Luckily I went to hang out with some friends of mine. One of them has a very nice woodworking shop and he cut some small blocks out of a piece of scrap wood for me. I remember distinctly he kept asking me if the pieces were small enough. He really pressed me and I'm glad he did because I wanted much smaller blocks than what he had originally cut.
But I felt like I was cheating. The progress was huge and it was taking a matter of a minute rather than the painstaking hours I thought it would take. I felt like the carving wouldn't count. It wouldn't be the product of hours of work (it ended up taking quite a few don't worry) and so I felt like I wasn't really 'learning to carve'. Throw in the use of power tools and I start to feel like this bird was going to be cheap and tawdry.
When I went back to work on my new smaller pieces it was still rough going. It took me probably around four to five hours to carve the bird. I still need to sand and finish it and I estimate that will take another hour or so. This time though I could start to see the progress I was making. Even after an hour I could see the block starting to move vaguely toward the shape of the bird. The closer I got the more excited I became. I started wanting to spend more and more time on the carving.
After I 'finished' the bird I realized I wasn't happy with the shape. Staring at it I realized not only what I wanted to do but what kind of cut I needed to use to get it done. In the span of a few hours spent working I had started to learn how to look at the problems in carving. Seeing that progress in my ability to evaluate a particular piece was even more exciting than seeing the progress in the shape of the bird.
I ended up talking to my wife about the idea of hand made goods versus mass produced goods over our vacation and she pointed out that we as a society value time very highly. If someone puts a lot of their time into crafting something we value it more highly even if it is physically indistinguishable from a mass produced version.
But I don't want to make things needlessly difficult. I don't feel more productive or accomplished if I add busy work to a project to pad out the hours it takes to complete. So I think it's a finer distinction of time spent in careful crafting and consideration of the task at hand.
Ultimately visual progress in both forms (progressing projects and improving skill set) are important motivators for me. Both inspire me to put in more time and increase my enjoyment from the task at hand. People are intended to create. Each us, no matter how deeply buried, have an instinct to create. One of the most saddening things to me about living in a consumption based culture is that so many people don't take the time to cultivate our ability to create.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Year 2: Thought 10: What effect does brain pre-caching have?
How you approach someone in a conversation can drastically change the
way they respond. But can it also drastically change the way they
think?
I think it is common knowledge that the way you phrase a question in a survey or even on a voting ballot has a tremendous impact on the way people answer. I remember reading through the questions on the primary ballot I filled out last year. Some seemed reasonably neutral (which makes sense as the political party is trying to find out what its constituents think on certain issues) but others were obviously biased. "Should we vote to stop wasting money on X?" is clearly trying to get a specific response.
Why bother? If you're going to phrase your questions in such a way as to get the answer you want what is the point? I guess it's useful to try and convince people that your constituents are on your side, but that seems to defeat the point of what you're trying to do. You're eventually going to have to deal with your constituents complaining that you didn't really do what they wanted. Unless repeatedly asking the question in that form lets you control the narrative around the story. Then you can convince people that they want what you want even when presented the same argument in a different light they wouldn't want it.
This is one thing I really don't like about people. When I say people I include myself. It is too easy to use our brain's natural tendencies against us. If you prime people with certain words their brain kind of pre-caches related words and ideas. You have to lean heavily on the rational deliberate part of your brain to cut through the spin. The hard thing is letting the cruise-control part of your brain know to alert the rational deliberate part of your brain that now is the time to kick in. If you don't have a reflexive push-back against the idea being presented you aren't terribly likely to say "Let me make sure there is no trickery going on here".
One thing I have changed my mind (slightly) about is gun control. I'm not for mass gun restrictions but I am definitely in favor of ending the ability to buy a weapon with no waiting period from a gun show or on the internet. Having any kind of 'don't have to register it' loophole is also incredibly bad. I was reading an opinion piece today by a Senator who was against this happening. A few years ago I probably would've read his article (without really understanding the piece of legislation it was referring to) and agreed with what he said. We do need to defend the right of the populace to bear arms.
But when I knew what the piece of legislation was about it changed my reading of the entire article. I wasn't pre-disposed to agree with him. The "we need to make sure we keep the right to arm ourselves" argument had no relevance to the legislation. I do agree that people should be able to own weapons (even guns). I do agree that this legislation wouldn't have stopped a majority of the mass shootings (we in fact as a society really need to improve our views of and access to mental health care). But his entire premise that it's ok to have an unregistered gun I don't agree with. However if I hadn't already had some thoughts in my head about the gun legislation I could easily see myself reading that article and agreeing with everything he said, because my brain wouldn't have loaded all the necessary context in.
So it's important to watch this trait in myself. I'm very glad my brain tries to be efficient and pre-load information it thinks is relevant to the discussion at hand. But it doesn't always pick right and if those assumptions I'm running on aren't clearly stated I can waste a lot of time arguing with someone I don't necessarily disagree with.
I think it is common knowledge that the way you phrase a question in a survey or even on a voting ballot has a tremendous impact on the way people answer. I remember reading through the questions on the primary ballot I filled out last year. Some seemed reasonably neutral (which makes sense as the political party is trying to find out what its constituents think on certain issues) but others were obviously biased. "Should we vote to stop wasting money on X?" is clearly trying to get a specific response.
Why bother? If you're going to phrase your questions in such a way as to get the answer you want what is the point? I guess it's useful to try and convince people that your constituents are on your side, but that seems to defeat the point of what you're trying to do. You're eventually going to have to deal with your constituents complaining that you didn't really do what they wanted. Unless repeatedly asking the question in that form lets you control the narrative around the story. Then you can convince people that they want what you want even when presented the same argument in a different light they wouldn't want it.
This is one thing I really don't like about people. When I say people I include myself. It is too easy to use our brain's natural tendencies against us. If you prime people with certain words their brain kind of pre-caches related words and ideas. You have to lean heavily on the rational deliberate part of your brain to cut through the spin. The hard thing is letting the cruise-control part of your brain know to alert the rational deliberate part of your brain that now is the time to kick in. If you don't have a reflexive push-back against the idea being presented you aren't terribly likely to say "Let me make sure there is no trickery going on here".
One thing I have changed my mind (slightly) about is gun control. I'm not for mass gun restrictions but I am definitely in favor of ending the ability to buy a weapon with no waiting period from a gun show or on the internet. Having any kind of 'don't have to register it' loophole is also incredibly bad. I was reading an opinion piece today by a Senator who was against this happening. A few years ago I probably would've read his article (without really understanding the piece of legislation it was referring to) and agreed with what he said. We do need to defend the right of the populace to bear arms.
But when I knew what the piece of legislation was about it changed my reading of the entire article. I wasn't pre-disposed to agree with him. The "we need to make sure we keep the right to arm ourselves" argument had no relevance to the legislation. I do agree that people should be able to own weapons (even guns). I do agree that this legislation wouldn't have stopped a majority of the mass shootings (we in fact as a society really need to improve our views of and access to mental health care). But his entire premise that it's ok to have an unregistered gun I don't agree with. However if I hadn't already had some thoughts in my head about the gun legislation I could easily see myself reading that article and agreeing with everything he said, because my brain wouldn't have loaded all the necessary context in.
So it's important to watch this trait in myself. I'm very glad my brain tries to be efficient and pre-load information it thinks is relevant to the discussion at hand. But it doesn't always pick right and if those assumptions I'm running on aren't clearly stated I can waste a lot of time arguing with someone I don't necessarily disagree with.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Year 2: Thought 9: Intentional Eating
I have never really paid attention to what I eat. I've started tracking calories of everything I eat lately. It's been an interesting experience. I'm not particularly concerned with being overweight, but I am interested in losing some weight to try and take pressure off of my knee. I had my ACL replaced about 6 months ago and have been paying more attention to what impacts my knee since then.
My brother got a weighted vest for Christmas. He runs a lot and being able to add 18 pounds (the max weight for the vest) will help him train in a different way than just running for a longer time. I tried it on around Christmas and realized how much of a difference such a relatively small change in weight makes to your knees and legs.
My right leg is a lot weaker than it was before my ACL tore. It is drastically weaker. I've been talking to a guy about working on some exercises to strengthen it, but trying on that vest made me realize that one of the best things I could do would be to drop any excess weight I have. Now, I use the word excess very carefully. I'm not obese. I'm not really overweight. However I am above my body's expected weight (by about 15 pounds).
One interesting thing I've learned from my knee experience is how much I'm willing to do to keep the ability to run. It is something I've taken for granted for 30+ years, but it is something I'm willing to go to great lengths to preserve. So, I'm counting my calories now.
When I got married the first large scale dietary shift in my life happened. I started eating a lot more healthily, largely because my wife cooked the meals and she was used to (and liked having) a healthier diet than I was used to. I ended up losing about 15 pounds (most of it was probably fast food). However I hadn't at the time taken any kind of intentional steps about what I was eating. It just so happens that my wife started feeding me healthier food for dinner every day of the week and as a natural result I lost weight.
Last year the only resolution I kept was my resolution to not eat french fries. I did it for a specific reason and I enjoyed the results of my year long fry fast. This year I binged pretty hard (much harder than I had planned) on fries. I probably ate fries two or three times a week for the first two months of the year. Once I started tracking my calories I eventually ended up eating a medium sized order of fries when grabbing fast food on my way home one Friday night. I guesstimated they were 200-300 calories. They were in fact 500. That's as much as the sandwich I ate.
I think seeing the cold hard numbers of what I eat has been pretty enlightening. The first thing I ended up stopping was eating candy at work. Well I didn't completely stop, but I went from 3-5 pieces a day to 1. Those Reese's end up adding some calories to your diet if you eat 3-4 a day. I also cut down to 1 calorie drink a day. The rest of time it is 0 calorie hot tea or water. Those two things cut a surprising chunk of calories out of my day. Next was potato chips (replaced with pretzels).
So I haven't really given up any meal or the number of snacks I eat a day. But I've been working on substituting my high calorie items with slightly lower calorie items. It's been interesting to do the math every day and see where my largest sources of calories come from. I'm very blessed that my parents convinced me to love fruit as a kid because they provide a great lower calorie snack.
I still laugh a little in my head. I'm not a diet person. I'm not a calorie counter. I've always been a little confused by (and derisive of, if I'm being honest) people who were. But taking the time to really analyze what I'm eating and where my calories come from has made me more sympathetic to them. It's also showed me that I spent my entire life eating without thought. If it tasted good and I was hungry I ate it, with no thought to whether or not it was good for me or necessary.
I like seeing another part of my life fall under the sway of intentionality. After I drop the weight I want to drop I don't see myself continuing to track every calorie, but I do think I'll be more intentional with weighing what I'm eating with what I'm doing. It's easy to slowly gain weight over the course of years and then feel helpless to get rid of it.
And hey, if I ever run into a pub trivia where they want to know how many calories are in a peppermint I'll know. It's 20 calories.
My brother got a weighted vest for Christmas. He runs a lot and being able to add 18 pounds (the max weight for the vest) will help him train in a different way than just running for a longer time. I tried it on around Christmas and realized how much of a difference such a relatively small change in weight makes to your knees and legs.
My right leg is a lot weaker than it was before my ACL tore. It is drastically weaker. I've been talking to a guy about working on some exercises to strengthen it, but trying on that vest made me realize that one of the best things I could do would be to drop any excess weight I have. Now, I use the word excess very carefully. I'm not obese. I'm not really overweight. However I am above my body's expected weight (by about 15 pounds).
One interesting thing I've learned from my knee experience is how much I'm willing to do to keep the ability to run. It is something I've taken for granted for 30+ years, but it is something I'm willing to go to great lengths to preserve. So, I'm counting my calories now.
When I got married the first large scale dietary shift in my life happened. I started eating a lot more healthily, largely because my wife cooked the meals and she was used to (and liked having) a healthier diet than I was used to. I ended up losing about 15 pounds (most of it was probably fast food). However I hadn't at the time taken any kind of intentional steps about what I was eating. It just so happens that my wife started feeding me healthier food for dinner every day of the week and as a natural result I lost weight.
Last year the only resolution I kept was my resolution to not eat french fries. I did it for a specific reason and I enjoyed the results of my year long fry fast. This year I binged pretty hard (much harder than I had planned) on fries. I probably ate fries two or three times a week for the first two months of the year. Once I started tracking my calories I eventually ended up eating a medium sized order of fries when grabbing fast food on my way home one Friday night. I guesstimated they were 200-300 calories. They were in fact 500. That's as much as the sandwich I ate.
I think seeing the cold hard numbers of what I eat has been pretty enlightening. The first thing I ended up stopping was eating candy at work. Well I didn't completely stop, but I went from 3-5 pieces a day to 1. Those Reese's end up adding some calories to your diet if you eat 3-4 a day. I also cut down to 1 calorie drink a day. The rest of time it is 0 calorie hot tea or water. Those two things cut a surprising chunk of calories out of my day. Next was potato chips (replaced with pretzels).
So I haven't really given up any meal or the number of snacks I eat a day. But I've been working on substituting my high calorie items with slightly lower calorie items. It's been interesting to do the math every day and see where my largest sources of calories come from. I'm very blessed that my parents convinced me to love fruit as a kid because they provide a great lower calorie snack.
I still laugh a little in my head. I'm not a diet person. I'm not a calorie counter. I've always been a little confused by (and derisive of, if I'm being honest) people who were. But taking the time to really analyze what I'm eating and where my calories come from has made me more sympathetic to them. It's also showed me that I spent my entire life eating without thought. If it tasted good and I was hungry I ate it, with no thought to whether or not it was good for me or necessary.
I like seeing another part of my life fall under the sway of intentionality. After I drop the weight I want to drop I don't see myself continuing to track every calorie, but I do think I'll be more intentional with weighing what I'm eating with what I'm doing. It's easy to slowly gain weight over the course of years and then feel helpless to get rid of it.
And hey, if I ever run into a pub trivia where they want to know how many calories are in a peppermint I'll know. It's 20 calories.
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