I’ve been feeling very guilty lately. Guilty because I’ve been working at home more than usual (it’s snowing in Seattle!). Guilty because I’ve not been able to keep up with many of the goals I’ve set out for myself over the past month. Guilty because I just started a new job and will be taking a month off to travel to Palm Springs and India. Guilty because I haven’t been able to finish a series of essays I have been stewing over. Guilty because technically I am writing this blog post on Thursday, even though to me it is still Wednesday “night.”

Aaaaaaawwwww.

Below are the top ten favorite posts on this site so far, in descending order. This is not based on page-views, comments or any other metric, they are simply the posts that mean the most to me at this very moment. Which is your favorite?

• 10.) Held Hostage by Technology
• 9.) Chose Your Friends Wisely
• 8.) The Dangers of Multi-Tasking
• 7.) The Power of Affirmation
• 6.) Stay Healthy With Nutrient Dense Foods
• 5.) Photoreading My First Book
• 4.) Milk, does it really do any-body good?
• 3.) The Cleansing Power of Breath
• 2.) Want Big Rewards? Don’t Be Average!
• 1.) Yoga & Meditation Retreat Experience

I see that this blog has recently been picked up on a social networking site, and as a result, had a 10x increase in traffic over the past 24 hours. To those who had recently subscribed to the feed, thanks and welcome! I figured that the best way to introduce you to what Set Higher Standards is all about, is to re-post the “about” section of the site.

Welcome to the latest installment of my photoreading progress. I finished reading book number eight this weekend. “Eat. Pray. Love.” by Elizabeth Gilbert. It was really awesome. A story of her year of travels. I photoread it and activated it, but ended up reading large chunks of it just because it was so good. Also, the story reminds me of a good friend who is on a similar journey right now. It made me slow down and soak in some of the chapters in more detail.

It really does pay off to take some time (and spend some money) to get your computer/office layout dialed in. Mine is very minimal, but with the addition of a brand new chair yesterday (a $65 floor display model from Office Depot), is just about perfect! The only thing I am waiting to upgrade…is my computer. I really want this and this. Yes Gavin and Richard, I am very very envious.

I’ve had this setup for the past few months and using the computer is so much more enjoyable. My previous setup was just wrong….lighting was poor, table was always cluttered, wires all over the place, bad Feng Shui. Now I have:

Think your computer setup beats this? Not a chance!

During Tony’s recent Unleash the Power event LIVE in Atlanta, Tony discussed the “formula for happiness” with Dennis, a participant who told Tony that he simply wasn’t “going for it” in life, instead settling for “mediocrity.

This 10 minute video is well worth the time. Watch it today and let me know what you think.

I found the discussion of “blueprints” fascinating. This is something I have spent a lot of time thinking about myself. Sometimes, we create a model of the world that actually prevents us from being happy. Either our standards are just not high enough, or our world-view just isn’t in line with our true and deepest goals.

For example, one might set a standard for themselves that being a good person means they will not harm others and will always treat all living things with repsect. However, that same person might eat steak every day. They might never give money to beggars on the street. They might never volunteer their time for any charititable casues. Such a person will never feel truly fulfilled. Their blueprint for life is not in synch with their actions.

The more in synch you can make you goals, thoughts, expectations and actions; the better chance you have of feeling fullfilled and successful in life.

Within minutes of pressing the publish button on the previous post, I got a call from the Seattle Police department that led to two more freaky coincidences. Keeping track of these is going to be a lot of fun :)

I am fascinated with coincidences. The odd daily events that make us do a double-take, scratch our heads or just plain chuckle out loud. I find that the more I notice these coincidental events in my life, the more things seem to be going right. Perhaps it is the universes way of saying, “Hey buddy, your on the right track!” These deja-vu moments aren’t always what we would consider good at the outset, but they are always highly educational and a welcome break from the daily grind.

Therefore, I am beggining a new ongoing feature on Set Higher Standards. I will be keeping a running list of all the coincidences I experience in my life. To get back to the list, just click the “Articles” link at the top of this web site. The hyperlink to the coincidences page will be listed there.

Staying healthy is more than just watching your total calories, fat and protein intake. Macro-nutrients are important (carbs, fat and proteins), but Micro-nutrients are equally if not more crucial to a proper metabolism, healthy body and keeping your energy levels high.

Micro-nutrients refer to all the vitamins, minerals, enzymes that exist is in food. When you make food choices with an attention to micro-nutrients and nutrient density (i.e. the amount of micronutrients per calorie), you realize just how poor a diet most people have. The bulk of a standard diet, is calorically dense but not nutrient dense. In this post I’ll discuss micro-nutrients, their impact on health and some easy ways to make sure you are getting enough of them in your diet.

So I managed to survive Thanksgiving, Vegan-style. I joned a few friends at their home. They are not vegan, but were gracious enough to accomodate me. While they made a traditional turkey (with stuffing and gravy) and pumpkin pies, everyone shared the vegan side-dishes. The vegan menu included:

* Tofurkey
* Vegan gravy
* Sage stuffing (made with vegetable shortening instead of butter)
* Rosemary mashed red potatoes (olive oil instead of butter)
* Green beans almondine (olive oil instead of butter)
* Cranberry sauce
* Salad (which noone touched!)
* Peach pie in a vegan crust (which turned out to be a disaster….so I just ate the crust!)

Had I planned a little better, I could’ve made a vegan pumpkin pie….but stuffed as it was with all the other things!

I am running behind on my goal to finish 30 books in 30 days. Lucky for me, today begins a long four-day holiday! I am not travelling either.

I should be on book #14. Yesterday I finished #6, “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson. Today I finished #7, and it was a short one, Eugene Sandow’s “Health and How to Get It.”

I have six books on my bookcase that I have still not read. I figure to be done with these by Saturday. If I pick up a few more at the used book store over the weekend, I will be back on track.

No, I’m not playing XBOX, just fiddling around with my blog template. Even though Cutline is the best Wordpress theme in the Galaxy, I am having some fun (and frustration) trying to get it just the way I want it.

It is about 50% of the way there. Unfortunately, my knowledge of CSS/PHP is super-low and I have hit a roadblock. I can’t figure out how to:

1. Make the entire center portion of the page (header, body text area and sidebar) have a white background. There is a 50 pixel gap between my posts and the header I can’t close!
2. Add a little more buffer space between the body text in the white area and the background.
3. Add a thin black border and drop shadow to the entire white area to further set it apart from the background.

If you happen to know how to do any of these things….pls let me know!

If only this was part of Lisa’s My Microsoft revamp!

Absolute genius. Guaranteed to make you feel good. I’m addicted.

I’ve been a bit obsessed lately about improving my weight training program. I have thrown my split-routine out the window and am now focusing on a total body working centered around compoud movements. Specifically; squats, dumbell presses, dips, rows. I also do ab work and a few sets of biceps and triceps (just for the heck it). My total workouts are 20-24 sets and take about 1 hour.

The past two workouts have really felt great. I don’t have any aches and pains, and my body maintains a good pump throughout the workout. I realize this is way to earlier to make any conclusions, but things are looking good. Thanks Jason for the recco to give this a try! If you are at all interested in weight training and fitness, subscribe to his blog.

Ultimately, total body workouts are geared toward those interested in performance gains, whereas a split routine will favor a bodybuilder more concerned with asthetics. For a performance minded individual, there is less of a need to focus on isolation exercises (curls, tri press, calves, etc). The focus is instead on compound movements, and performing these more often (i.e. 3 days a week instead of 1-2 as would happen in a typical 3 day split routine).

Cassandra talks about this subject, and references a great article on T Nation about the merits of each. Alwyn also has an interesting perspective on the matter.

Which method of training is right for you? I really think this quote on Alwyn’s blog sums it up:

“Even at an elite level of athleticism, there are only 10% of people who need to stress over the details. Most people think they’re there when they’re not. You have to understand whether you’re a part of the 90% or the 10%.” -John Berardi

For me, I was trying to train like a bodybuilder, when I lacked the basic platform of strength and mass to get any good from it. The result was injury and slow gains. We’ll see if my body responds better to a total body routine.

Hearing Howard Lyman speak at the Vegan Holiday Festival got me thinking about dairy. Howard emphatically stated that the number one thing every person must do to save their health, is to stop consuming dairy products. Dairy, in his view, was much much worse than chicken, seafood or beef. As Howard was a 40-year cattle rancher, I was surprised that this would be his #1 recommendation to those on the standard American diet.

Tanya just let me know that today is a great day to set intentions. In fact, it is also a great day for letting go and discarding things that have been festering inside this little head of mine for far too long. I never liked festering things anyway. Just saying the word makes my skin crawl. I am looking forward to making some space. More room for growth in a positive direction. Wow, if I knew this day was coming, I wouldn’t have had to bother with all that fasting!

The event was a huge success. No one would have guessed that Robert came up with the idea only 10 weeks ago. I would estimate a couple thousand people showed up, in what just might have been the largest Vegan-specific gathering in North America! There was plenty of food, free samples and great information.