Lately, I have spoken to a couple of people who tell me they can’t do certain things. I understand inability because there are really things we cannot do, but these people tell me they can’t because they tell themselves they can’t.

Last night I was chatting with a friend about running together this Sunday for the 10k race. She loves to run, but has not been able to complete her training three days in a row because of pain in her knee. Yet, despite my repeated attempts to tell her that rest is just as important as training, she insists that she has to run today. She told me she can’t stop, which was the most bizarre thing I’ve heard in a while and it didn’t make sense to me. What do you mean you can’t?

This weekend I was at a camping trip with a bunch of younger fraternity brothers, mostly to provide a workshop for them to try and lead themselves. One brother wanted to get into the medical field, but felt awkward talking to professors. This kid is pretty social and did not appear to be socially inept. When asked if anyone ever told him he was weird or awkward, he answered that no one had– he only feels awkward when talking to professors and it’s not something he can do (though he’s made several attempts).

And then there was this one brother who said he aspired to be a trader for the past year, yet had no idea what traders do or how investments work. When asked what books has he read, he said none, yet still insisting he “really wanted to learn to be a trader.”

To me, these are classic examples of people who put up mental roadblocks. They feed themselves excuses or reasons to justify their inability or their lack of motivation to act. My friend, who has learned to take down these roadblocks in his life told me that “there’s a fine line between being a dreamer and a visionary–they both have goals, but the visionary acts on them.”

I think people should really try to tune out whatever excuses they tell themselves and begin trying to break out of their comfort zone. My friend who loves running is obviously addicted to the endorphins she feels when she runs. But a big part of it may also have to do with her fear that her knee is in fact injured and if she stops running, she may not be able to run anymore. As strange as that sounds, it’s probably what she tells herself.

Some things to think about: What’s a goal you want to accomplish in the next two years and what’s stopping you? What’s in your way and what steps can you do to tear it down?

I’ve read many world ending novels the past two years. It’s easily my favorite genre and I wish there were more/better books out there. Reading them always make me wonder–if I was there, would I survive?

While many scenarios are improbably like a zombie apocolypse, there are quite a few that may be probable like an economic Armageddon where a country like the US, no longer believes in the value of fiat money overnight and hyper-inflation happens (google Weimar Republic hyperinflation). Or if some terrorist country decides to nuke us, either with many nukes and hitting many critical spots like major cities and some of our inactive volcanos, or if they use 2 or 3 and create a massive electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) over the country, causing us to lose usage of virtually every single electronic that runs on any kind of computer/microchip, even your car.

When situations happen like that, chaos happens and everyone will do what it takes to get food and non-perishables. Those who are lucky or somewhat prepared may survive for a little while, but those who are not prepared or depend on daily doses of medicine would probably die very soon.

Maybe nukes are a bit extreme, but an economic Armageddon may happen. What happens when we finally realize that this Ponzi scheme the government is doing is not working? They borrow from the Fed for virtually nothing since interest rates are next to zero, and they pay their debts with it. Where does the Fed get the money to loan to the government? They print it. So money is constantly being printed and pumped into the economy. I don’t know about you, but if you think about, cost for everyday items like toothpaste or shampoo have been going up in price, yet the government will tell you inflation is mostly flat. And if you’re saving money by having it in the bank, what are you getting back for it? Tenth of a percent? Maybe half a percent? But if inflation is working against you at 3-5%, you’re losing money. Ron Paul said it best–”Inflation is an invisible tax.”

Most people I know either don’t think about this or don’t think it’s going to happen. But what if it does? How have you prepared for this? Do you own anything important enough to trade with when fiat money is no longer accepted because it’s worth nothing? How are you going to get food when demand is so high, and supply will be so low? Will you continue going to work knowing that your paycheck now may not even buy you a bag of chips? And if no one goes to work anymore, who is going to run the gas stations or the power plants?

Many questions to think about. Most people would read this entry and stop reading halfway through. Others might read the whole thing and be amused. Some might read this and begin thinking about it and doing their own due diligence. Some of those may see what I’m saying and might go out and prepare. Those people will most likely survive.

Happy Monday?

I find it interesting when my friends tell me they’re not ready for marriage and then go on to explain something that totally does not have anything to do with marriage itself.

Top reason of all is, “I want to focus on my career and be financially stable to sustain a family”. Honestly, I don’t even know what that means. Maybe if you are neck deep in debt and you’re trying to get out of it, I can understand that, but generally speaking, what does having a great career and making more money have anything to do with marriage? Are you only capable of focusing on one important aspect of your life at one time? Will there ever be a point where you are completely satisfied with what you have accomplished and will take a step back?

If anything, I believe that marriage supports that unless you plan on marrying someone who is just gold-digging. If that’s the case, you would never make enough. My wife and I support each other in our careers and the because of that, significantly lowers the stress and pressures we have to deal with because even if we failed, we have support.

Another popular reason is that once you get married, you’ll be on lockdown and you won’t be able to do what you have always wanted to do. The reality is that if you’re 30 and you still haven’t done most of those things on your bucket list, it’s mostly because you have been procrastinating and making excuses. I always wanted to travel more, but the reality was that I kept on saying it was a bad time or I didn’t have enough money. The truth was, I just didn’t make traveling a real goal and priority in my life and it would probably never be. Besides, why would marriage stop you from doing those things you wanted anyway? If you married the right person, either you do those things together, or they would support you in doing those things if it isn’t something they’re interested in. Granted, there are some things that I had to rethink like scaling Mount Everest, but like I said earlier, if it was really that much of a priority in my life, I would have done it already.

When I hear these reasons, I feel like people have this idea that marriage is a prison. Once you get married, all yor attention has to be there. In my opinion, that only happens if you’ve settled and married the wrong person. If you married someone who isn’t supportive of you and you in turn will not e supportive of them. You married someone who cares about their own happiness much more than yours. And the mistake here is choosing the wrong person, not choosing marriage.

The older I get, the more I feel like I need to do whatever it takes to stay on earth as long and healthily as possible. I hate running, but I’ve been running habitually lately in preparation for all the qualifying races I need to do for the 2013 marathon. I have lost about 17 pounds this year, mostly by exercising and eating better, but I feel like I need to go as lean as possible. No point of having any excess fat in my body.

After reading the book “Born to Run,” I am convinced that the way we’ve been eating in the West is terrible for our bodies. I have decided to eat as naturally as possible, avoiding virtually all processed foods and even going as far as limiting meat intake in my diet.

Unlike my aunt who eats without flavors because she deems any kind of seasoning as unhealthy (she doesn’t use oil either), I think it’s possible to eat great tasting food, even though it’s not necessarily meat. We always say we should do everything in moderation, but I think I’ll be takin that approach up a notch or two and have meat sparingly.

In terms of exercising, I’ve been running mostly but I’ll be doing weight training and other high cardio workouts (Insanity). I started running with the Vibram Fivefingers and after adjusting to then, they are great. I am convinced that the modern sneaker is detrimental to your health. Did you know that humans have been running marathons every day throughout the ancient times and they didn’t have knee injuries? Did you know that knee injuries didn’t really happen often until the 1970s, pretty much when Nike invented the first sneaker dedicated to running? Did you know that the more “support” you have in your sneaker, the more likely you’re going to hurt yourself because you will be running in poor form?

Tied to my high energy , virtually vegetarian diet, I hope to push the limits in my current physical state. My bestfriend commented that I used to be ripped. Although I don’t care much for vanity, having a good strong body is a measure of health. It would severly limit my risks with cancer and heart disease.

As I said before, “you only live once,” should not imply “carpe diem.” Instead, it’s knowing that you only have one life to live and to live it as happy and healthy (and as long) as possible.