#11 - Standing At Work

Challenge: Standing at work. All day.
If you’re reading this, chances are you’re sitting down, which means you’re probably digging yourself an early grave. That's what I've learned at least. After examining the lifestyles of more than 17,000 men and women over 13 years, a recent report found those who sit for most of the day were 54% more likely to die of heart attacks.



Since graduating college and being a workin' man, I've definitely been less active. I decided a change would be well-received by my heart. So I had my desk permanently raised. It wasn't too difficult for a week, especially since I sit enough during the occassional meeting during the day.

Take-aways:
1. My feet hurt. I made an appointment with Dr. Scholls
2. It's awesome not to have to get up to leave my desk. Yep, I just stay standing and move my legs to where I want to go.
3. Standing and eating is weird.

NEXT CHALLENGE: HOLDING AN ITEM IN MY HAND ALL WEEK

#10 - No Clocks

Challenge: Not looking at a clock

For decades, scientists have believed that the brain possesses an internal clock that allows it to keep track of time. A UCLA study and I have confirmed this to be true.

Analogy: If you toss a pebble into a lake, the ripples of water produced by the pebble's impact act like a signature of the pebble's entry time. The farther the ripples travel, the more time has passed. A similar process takes place in the brain that allows it to track time. Every time the brain processes a sensory event, such as a sound or flash of light, it triggers a cascade of reactions between brain cells and their connections. Each reaction leaves a signature that enables the brain cell network to encode time.

I was able to keep time in my head, from meetings that always occur at the same time each week, to the siren testing happening at 1pm, to the location of the sun. I did ask people once in a while the time.

Take-aways:
1. Managing mine time was difficult when I didn’t exactly know it.
2. I found myself either early or late to things and felt like the day moved extremely slow.
3. It was nice not to feel responsible and have a good excuse for being late. Sometimes, I think we’d all be better off living in a world without time.

NEXT CHALLENGE: STANDING AT WORK

#9 - MEET MANY PEOPLE

Challenge: Meet lots of strangers

People I met this week:
Adam – at a wedding, musician
Jill – Adam’s wife, works with Kristin
Katelyn – Kristin’s co-worker
Dan – Groom’s drunk brother
Will – smart dude, Katelyn’s hubby
Teegan – Kristin’s co-worker
Erica – Kristin’s boss
Matt – Groom at wedding
Brittany – Bride at wedding we played music in, Kristin’s former boss
Dawn – HealthPartners co-worker, really helpful door opener
Greg – talked fantasy football in The Local’s bathroom
Bridget – Librarian at Ridgedale, helped me pick out good movies
Cassandra – stellar hairstylist, from Portland
Beth – wine making genius, helped me with my first batch
Adam – guy on lightrail, talked Apple shop
Amber – subway sandwich artist
Claudia – subway sandwich artist
Tom – Tony’s friend, talked winemaking
Stacy and Jenna – Tony’s friends, now my friends
Oscar – new apartment caretaker
Nikolas – Oscar’s little boy

Take-aways
1. Trying to make friends in my adult life is way more enjoyable than making friends elementary or junior high.
2. Choosing to be friendly and meet new people has positive effects in so many ways.
3. Dale Carnegie was really right on about human nature (see How to Win Friends and Influence People)

NEXT CHALLENGE: NOT USING A CLOCK

#8 - Book In a Week

Challenge: Read a book in a week.

372 pages in 7 days. That's the fastest I've ever read a book. "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins was a book I kept hearing about from people. I figured it has to be somewhat entertaining since they're making it into a movie. And it was. I recommend it. I'm onto the second part of the trilogy, but downloaded an audiobook. It seems like cheating, but I am much more excited to get in my car to drive anywhere now.

Take-aways
1. Reading a book in a compressed amount of times really makes it more enjoyable versus reading sporatically and feeling out of touch with the book.
2. I can see why so many people read. It's sometimes better than a movie because I get to use my imagination. And what an imagination I have.

NEXT CHALLENGE: MEET AS MANY STRANGERS AS POSSIBLE

#7 - No Profanity

Challenge: No cursing for any reason.

I f***ed this one up. Swearing has become a common part of my vernacular. I'm not sure if that's good or bad. It just is. I try not to swear around anyone who I know would be offended by it. But other than that, I just don't give a s**t. That said, it's probably good to practice restraint and discipline of the tongue. It was very difficult, especially since I played a round of golf and two nights of softball this week. I swear more in competition.

I ended up with a total of 15 swears for the week. Most times, I would remember the challenge immediately after swearing.

Take-aways
1. Trying to be even-keel in sporting activities is difficult, but has allowed me to enjoy golf more.
2. I think I swear because I feel a need to show and release frustration. Holding my tongue makes me feel better about myself after competition.
3. I do not think I will stop swearing, but will try to limit it in competitions.

NEXT WEEK'S CHALLENGE: FINISH A BOOK

#6 - No Car

Challenge: No driving my car or any car.

Three days before this challenge was over, I nearly gave up. It was becoming a headache to coordinate rides everywhere and with a busy weekend ahead, I just didn't think it was worth pissing off some friends and family. But I couldn't give up and so I proceeded to inconvenience others, particularly my wife. (Thank you God for friends and a wife)

Riding the bus and light rail to work was actually nice. It was an hour and a half ride each way, so I had lots of time to read or work on music - it was kind of forced but nice to have. Except for the day when the light rail broke down and it took me over 2 hours to get work.

Interesting Nugget: 145,000 Minnesota households do not have a car.

Take-aways
1. Dependency on others is a hard pill for me to swallow. But relying on others isn't a bad things sometimes. It shows that we all need to help each other out and we're all better for it.
2. Riding public transportation, walking or biking has some huge benefits. It's cheaper, cleaner and you feel better than others who drive everywhere, like look at all the lazy people driving everywhere.(I only felt this way for a week)
3. Driving is way more convenient. If you've ever not had a car for a period of time, you know the freedomless feeling.

NEXT CHALLENGE: PROFANITY PROHIBITED

#5 - No Cell Phone

Challenge: No use of cell phone. Landline phones are acceptable.

I'm not sure how people functioned prior to cell phones. Maybe times were less busy back then. But this was a difficult challenge as I found myself in more than one frustration situation with no way to reach anyone. Planning ahead of time or via email was key. Needless to say, I failed on Day #1 to call friends as we needed an extra players for softball. I was extremely torn on whether to fail my challenge or possibly forfeit our softball game. I guess you see where my priorities lie. I did rebound and make it the next 6 straight days.

Take-aways
Texting to people via email was super helpful. Here's how you address an email to someone's phone and it will come across in a text.

AT&T – cellnumber@txt.att.net
Verizon – cellnumber@vtext.com
T-Mobile – cellnumber@tmomail.net
Sprint PCS - cellnumber@messaging.sprintpcs.com

You can also do the reverse and send an email to someone by texting their email address instead of phone number.

NEXT CHALLENGE: NO CAR