Your heart is pounding. Breaths, quick and shallow. Hands, shaky. Stomach, tight. Are you nervous or excited? What’s the difference? 

I choose excited. And it is a choice; one that you can consciously make. A very crucial choice. The physical signs are similar, if not exactly the same. Plus they both usually occur before an uncommon event, normally one with social implications or pressures. But the connotations? Opposite. Nervousness undoubtedly carries a negative connotation, apprehension about the perceived outcome. Excitement, on the other hand, denotes positive anticipation. Yeah, I think that’s it: apprehension vs. anticipation.

So next time you have to give that big speech, want to talk to that cutie, ask your boss for a raise, take the game deciding free throw: Are you nervous? Nope. Excited. Go beast it.

Photo is Knife’s Edge, Zambia.

Not to spam, but if you like the post, check out my new blog http://www.howtobeast.com/

Im lazy, so heres a link, I think all of Tynan's reader will appreciate it:

http://www.howtobeast.com/two-sides-conversation/

From James Altucher’s blog:

Diversify your thoughts. I spent too much of my life thinking about money. And then thinking about women. And sometimes thinking about money and women at the same time. I don’t know how they counted this but someone once told me we think 60,000 thoughts a day. All 60,000 of mine would sometimes be about money and women, with a little about food and defecation. Meanwhile, there’s 100 billion other fun things to think about each day. I live 100 feet from the Hudson River. Across from me on the river is West Point. Mountains and leaves surround all of it. It would be so easy for me to diversify into pleasant things but too often I’m obsessed down one category. Obsession and Anxiety is equivalent to Subtraction of thoughts. It makes you a counterfeit person instead of an authentic person.

The post is about diversifying all areas, but I think he is really onto something with this section on thinking. I definitely tend to obsess over a handful of things throughout the day: usually just food and women. Sometimes something else, too. It could be designing my blog, my krav maga test tomorrow, etc. The thing is, unless I take out a notepad and decide on a next action then record it, I continue to have repetitive, circular thoughts that go nowhere…. except maybe to boobs or cheeseburgers.

The other thing that having limited, repetitive thoughts does is limit your ability to get into flow; therefore hindering your productivity and enjoyment of the task at hand. I believe that by diversifying your thoughts, and appreciating your current surroundings or current task (or something else, I’m not positive here I really need to practice this more), getting into flow will be almost automatic. This is huge.

Habit is everything, and it is not confined to the usual daily activities like exercise or flossing. I have successfully incorporated most day-to-day habits: I write, exercise, read, brush my teeth, take vitamins, stretch/foam roll, review the day... and moisturize. Meditation is one I have struggled with...

But this post is about larger, higher level habits. Like achieving goals. Too often people quit. I quit. I change the goal. One day I choose to pursue promotion to project manager, the next to leave and start my own business. One day to pack on muscle (gain weight), the next to shred fat (lose weight). Frequent changes like these have several effects, none positive: productivity and sense of purpose diminish: a consistent self alignment is lost.

Thinking on this now - it is the largest problem I currently face. And where there is a problem, there is an opportunity for improvement. Vast improvement in this case. Goals without definition are like buildings without doors, they have little use. Yet they still take up space. The plan? Set goals and stick with them. Identify a timetable, probably shorter (think months, not years; gain promotion to next level, not to 3 levels up; gain 10 pounds, not be 10 pounds heavier with less body fat): this will provide a direct focus. A clear purpose. But more importantly, stick with them. Until completion. My newest habit. And by far the most significant.

In my life, everything is a hobby. Work, bodybuilding, krav maga, girls, basketball, my blog - all hobbies. I roll up to work and step into the office each day, eager to solve a new problem, develop a new solution. I step into the gym, prepared to break a personal record. Into my krav academy, ready to perfect the latest defense. Into the bar, excited to meet a new girl. This list goes on.When you view life as a collection of hobbies a few things happen. The most important? A natural balance emerges. No longer do I obsess over lifting weights, building computers, or playing basketball. Instead I have a handful of activities I love to do. And you know what, I am constantly making progress somewhere across the spectrum, and this is extremely satisfying. In the rare case I begin to become consumed by one of them (for example, last week I spent hours redesigning my blog.. take a peek), it is not long before something occurs in a different area to snap my life back into balance. It is natural. Last week this took place in the form of meeting a new girl while buying a scarf. My focus was immediately shifted. And today? I just finished a rest week, and I am pumped to get back at it in the gym.Do you view your life in a similar fashion?

This is something that is obviously of extreme interest to me as someone who has become more and more dedicated to transforming my body (aka bodybuilding). I have written before on my basic approach to nutrition here. I am also about to publish a book that goes into detail about the fundamentals of nutrition and resistance training, so stay tuned.

However, the purpose of this post is to divulge my secret to gaining or losing weight. I manage to eat roughly the same amount of food whether I am bulking (gaining weight to gain muscle) or cutting (losing weight to lose fat). I say the same amount of food, because it terms of actual volume, it is very similar. However, the aggregate calories end up being quite different, and thus I either gain or lose weight. How do I do this you ask?

Simple – substitution. Many similar food items have vastly different caloric densities. The easiest way to explain this is through examples. So here some of my most common substitutions are.

When cutting I will drink fat free milk (80 calories/cup). However when I am bulking I will drink whole milk (150 calories/cup) and add in some chocolate syrup (100 calories/serving). That bulking milk comes out to 250 calories for a cup, over three times as much as the fat free milk.

When cutting I will buy Pepperidge Farm’s Italian Sesame bread (80 calories/slice). When bulking, I opt for Pepperidge Farm’s Hearty White bread (120 calories/slice) which contains 50% more calories. If I am making a turkey sandwich and I am losing weight I will just add mustard which has virtually no calories. If I am bulking? I will add two slices of cheese (80 calories/slice) and some mayo (100 calories/tablespoon). So for a sandwich that feels about the same in my stomach I am consuming about 300 calories when cutting but over 650 calories when bulking, that is over twice as much (assuming about 150 calories in turkey meat).

Hey all. I am super pumped to have finally completed and self-published my first book. I want to thank some of the guys on here for helping, albeit indirectly. Tynan's suggestions to price it at $2.99 to get it in the recommendation system, for example. Also, the discussion in JohnCaptain's post here about releasing his book was insightful. 

Anyway, the book covers all of the basic parameters of nutrition and resistance training in a concise 60 pages. I did a bunch of research into scientific journals and learned a lot in the process of writing it. I honestly think it can serve as an invaluable resource for anyone new to weight lifting, or who lifts without much thought or structure. The idea is to optimize the time you are already putting aside for your fitness. Click here if you want to take a look on Amazon. It's $3 (free for prime members).

Anywho, I was super excited and wanted to post here. If anyone has any questions about self-publishing I would love to answer. I'd love to hear feedback as well. Do you guys like the cover art? Thanks all.

As some of you may know, Captain Power, a member of Sett, currently published a book. I am writing this because I got it on kindle a few days ago and just read it today. 

It is an awesome book - once I started it I did not stop until I was completely through a couple hours later. It is a biography of sorts, split up into very small chapters that almost all deal with bodybuilding or "game." The genius of the book is that all of these mini-stories also teaches a core concept - whether it is a weight loss tactic or a brilliant way to tease a girl. 

These are also the reason the book is so addicting - once you read the first one, you cannot help but devour the next one, and so on. And if that wasn't enough to keep me chugging along, he strings a narrative of how he seduced a billionaire's wife throughout the book, before revealing how it all went down at the end.

Anyway, great read. Self improvement principles strung together in a very entertaining way. I recommend you guys check it out -  it is only $3 on Amazon.

Hello friends. Just letting you know I am offering my eBook The Simple Art Of Bodybuilding: A Practical Guide To Training And Nutrition for FREE on Amazon over the weekend. 

I am offering it free because if it gets a lot of downloads it increases visibility within amazon which will boost sales after the promotion. So a download with no intention of reading is still appreciated. 

For the past seven days I have fought against a virus of some kind. It kept me out of the office, out of the gym, and out of my krav maga academy. It held me prisoner in my own apartment. That is how I felt, at least until today. I still haven’t fully recovered or gone to any of the sacred places I listed above. However, I went out to lunch with family and friends, performed a few sets of pushups and pullups (on my door frame), and am writing this post!

During this week, which seemed to last an eternity, I had plenty of time to sit and think. Something I consider invaluable when healthy (and busy). All I did was nap and watch Breaking Bad (until I finished it; then more naps, of course). I was not angry or miserable, though a bit frustrated at first. Just mentally clouded and physically exhausted. I believe in fate and accept my current circumstances. These things happen, and I am thankful it happened during a relatively uneventful week.

And now that I am on the way back up, I am super-excited to get going: creating solutions at work, hitting PR’s (personal records) in the gym, improving my krav skills, etc. I am going to crush it like never before.Seriously. Better than ever. Why? Being sick and abstaining from my regular activities showed me how awesome everything I get to do everyday really is. It was eye-opening. I will appreciate these things that I have taken for granted.

Post is from my blog http://www.howtobeast.com