I’m giving away a brand new argus mini digital camera that comes with a usb cable, manual, software, pouch, key chain, neck strap, and battery. I will also cover shipping and handling costs to anywhere in the United States. Simply leave a comment at the bottom of this post with a personal development topic that you would like me to explore on a future post. I will really appreciate original and specific topics, ones that maybe aren’t covered frequently on other personal development blogs. I will pick the winner at random and contact him/her at the email address they left with their comment. Winner will be picked on February 18, 2008, so make sure you leave your comment before the end of February 17th. Thanks for helping improve PersonalHack.com – Andrew

1. Fear will stop you from achieving your dreams.

   I’m sure you have many dreams and aspirations. Maybe one of your dreams is to travel the world, start your own business or find the love of your life. These are a few of my dreams. As I have been working on making these dreams a reality, I’ve realized that one of the biggest roadblocks is fear. To find the love of my life, or in other words meet a great woman I have had to face one of my biggest fears. The first step to meeting a great woman (or mate) is becoming social and meeting lots and lots of people. As I started doing this, I had to deal with my fear of rejection over and over again. I realized that what stops most men from meeting a great woman is fear of rejection. I still remember when how my heart would beat faster and my mouth would stutter when I would go out and initiate conversation with strangers. This is a great example of the physical results of fear that I would push through. It certainly wasn’t easy. However it paid off. I did end up building a great social circle with many great friends. I also did end up meeting a couple of very spectacular women along the way. If I didn’t push through my fear of rejection, I would have never improved my social skills.

2. Fear always leads to mediocrity.

   Becoming great in any field or endeavor usually requires conquering some fear. However if your goal is to just be average or mediocre then you can skip reading this. Still here? One factor that separates the good (average or slightly above) from the great, is the willingness to push through fear. You should be smart about pushing through fear. You should evaluate the fear logically looking at two factors. The first factor is the reality of the fear, is there real danger? With my fear of rejection there wasn’t any. If I approached a new person, initiated a conversation, received a bad reaction, I would still be physically fine. Yes I might feel bad for a few seconds, my pride and ego might get a kick. However I always reminded myself that I’m trying to learn a skill. Additionally it would be foolish to give importance to strangers reactions since they don’t know me that well. As I’ve started pushing through most of my fears I learned that fear is mostly in my head and there is rarely ever any real danger. If there is a physical risk or a real danger, then you need to evaluate the second factor.

   The second factor is comparing the potential payoff (or gain from taking the risk) with the possibility of the a real danger happening. When I went skydiving I realized that it can be physically dangerous. However after looking at some statistics I quickly learned that skydiving is safer than driving. It also seemed that our potential skydiving center was safe and very organized. Additionally considering the payoff of the experience and how amazing it would feel, I decide to join my friend in doing it. It was a surreal experience, and now I recommend that anyone try a tandem sky dive at least once. This is where an instructor is tied to your back during the jump, pulls the parachute for you and gives you landing instructions.

3. Fear will limit your happiness.

   Living in your comfort zone usually turns your life into a boring everyday routine. You are generally taking the same comfy actions and therefore can predict their results. However if you start getting out of your comfort zone and facing some of your fears you can eventually create a rock star lifestyle. I’m not speaking of all the lavage aspects, instead the unpredictability, excitement, and fun. You just have to try getting out of your comfort zone to really see the big payoffs. A quick way to do it is to initiate conversation with a stranger. A simple “Hey, how are you” or a giving a compliment is an easy way to do this. Who knows you might even make a new friend.

4. Fear will cover up your creativity.

   Creativity is risky and uncomfortable. Often people try to work on their creativity, and while it is a great skill to develop, it is risky. The unwillingness to take risks and regularly get out of your comfort zone will inhibit your natural creativity. Your natural creativity is when you have a great idea or think outside the box. You can start strengthening your natural creativity by following the little voice in your head that tells you to do something in a different way. Once you notice that your natural creativity is developing and no longer inhibited, then you can take different workshops that will increase your creativity. Performance art workshops (improv comedy, acting, singing, playing a musical instrument) usually build your creativity.

5. Fear will cover up your uniqueness.

   When we are born we are all naturally unique in certain ways. This is very easy to spot if you observe a young kid. Young kids are very uninhibited and they let their uniqueness shine. We all are naturally unique. Your uniqueness comes from that little voice inside of your head that suggests you try this or that unique thing. Taking unique actions tend to attract a lot of attention especially in public. Additionally it tends to draw more judgments from others. This is why conformity is very easy and safe. However there are many rewards to being unique including a happier self, a more fulfilling lifestyle and an easier time figuring out your purpose. I think the reason a lot of people can’t find their purpose is because they have always conformed. Uniqueness is simply acting in line with your personal values and preferences.

Lack of fear does not equal stupidity. There are of course good reasons why we feel fear. Fear is a protection mechanism to help us survive. For example it’s great that you might feel a bit of fear crossing a busy intersection. This fear keeps your senses alert. What I’m recommending is taking calculated risks.

This Post is part of Project Weight Loss and a follow up to Days 9-14.

Well there is good and bad news to report. I will get the bad news out of the way first, and then focus on the good news.

The Bad News

I did have some struggles keeping up with my healthy eating and exercising efforts between Day 21 and Day 26. Due to some emotional stress and other factors I didn’t exercise those days and did overeat. I must clarify that I have no good excuse though. In that period I did resort to food for comfort. Of course this never works, and it’s just like abusing anything else including alcohol or drugs. It is my fault for getting off track and I take full responsibility. However I did not give up on my weight loss or fitness efforts, as I mentioned in 100 Weight Loss Tips and Tricks, the only way not to lose weight is to give up, and that’s certainly something I’m not willing to do.

The Good News

Overall I have learned a lot of doing this 30 day challenge, and I did lose some weight, however as you will see from the numbers, getting off track for a few days did influence my results.

Day – Weight (pounds) – Body Fat Percentage
Day 15 – 196.8 – 21.40
Day 16 – 196.8 – 22.80
Day 17 – 196.8 – 21.60
Day 18 – 195.2 – 22.00
Day 19 – 195.2 – 22.40
Day 20 – 195.2 – 22.40
Day 21 – 26 – Didn’t check weight or body fat percentage, also got off track
Day 27 – 200.6 – 22.50
Day 28 – 199.2 – 22.20
Day 29 – 197.8 – 23.30
Day 30 – 197.8 – 23.30
Day 31 – Couldn’t check weight or body fat percentage due to being away from home

My weight was highest on Day 2 where I was 203.4 pounds. So overall, it looks like by Day 30 I lost 5.6 pounds. I’m certainly happy about that

More importantly since I have been exercising a lot more often and eating healthier, I’m noticing I’m slowly building up both of those habits. Going to workout isn’t a big deal for me anymore it’s just like going to the store and buying groceries. I also really enjoy the energy boost and great feeling I experience after doing a hard workout. Additionally my taste buds are starting to favor healthy foods over junk foods.

My skin has been looking much healthier, I’m guessing this is due to the healthier food I’m eating and my higher consumption of water. I certainly have been more energetic and getting a lot more things done in other areas of my life which is great.

What I’ve learned

• I need to focus more time on dealing with stress. I’m noticing that when I’m stressed out I’m tempted to resort to food. At this point, working on healthier ways of dealing with stress is just as important as eating healthy and exercising.
• Making a public commitment certainly did help me stick it out, at least for the first 20 days. While I didn’t have perfect 30 day performance, I’m still feeling great about this small achievement, and wanted to thank everyone who has left an encouraging comment or linked to my project weight loss posts
• I need to build more leverage or stronger reasons to stick to my weight loss efforts. A public commitment is a form of leverage however in my case I now know that I need more leverage.
• While there are many tips and tricks to losing weight, what it comes down to is hard work. A lot of the times I ate healthy and exercised even if I didn’t feel like it. Eating healthy and exercising might have not provided me with immediate gratification, however, it certainly was building up long term gratification.
• It’s okay to try and get off track, even if you write about many personal development topics like myself. It’s actually a bit freeing for me to admit that I’m not perfect

Future Weight Loss Efforts

I’m certainly still exercising and eating healthy. I’m feeling great about my slow yet steady results. I will keep you updated on my weight loss progress in future posts. I might also do another 30 day weight loss challenge in upcoming months. Thanks for everyone’s support.