#hackmylife – Prologue

“To follow the path:
     look to the master,
     follow the master,
     walk with the master,
     see through the master,
     become the master.” (Zen poem)

“If at first you don't succeed, call it version 1.0.” (Anonymous)

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I had an epiphany last week. I thought about it, then thought about it some more. And the more I thought about it, the more I knew it had to be done. And it starts tomorrow.

Call it an experiment in evolution. Call it an awakening. Call it what you want. But here’s what it is in essence: time to put up or shut up.

I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. But I’m more sick and tired of not doing anything about it. It gets very comfortable to do that. You get annoyed at something, you complain, then you get more annoyed, then you complain again, and the wheel goes round and round.



Yeah, like a hamster.

No more.

For the next thirty-one days, I am stepping so far out of my comfort zone that I might never be the same again. I certainly hope so.

I am a program that was developed by life's source code and through decades of GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) from others as well as myself, corrupted data and not enough healthy maintenance on the hardware or software. But I'm a hacker. I don't settle for the normal and mundane. I don't follow the herd. So, if I am going to be true to who I am at the core, I am going to hack my life.

So, what will I be doing?

Let’s start off by killing off one of my biggest problems – procrastination. It has to go. Like yesterday. That starts tomorrow. Just kidding. No, that starts now. I will not allow something I need to do to wait to be done. That doesn’t mean that there won’t be delays in the case of a priority. It just means that I will dedicate time to the to-do list and knock some items off. Commitments will be met, no matter what it takes. Learning will be accomplished, no matter what it takes.

Another enemy to be conquered is my constant bad habits. There's too many to list – self-doubt, self-worth, fear, negative attitudes regarding money, just to start – but they need to be defeated. No, not just defeated. Killed. Annihilated. Assassinated. You get the idea.

Next, I will work on my writing. Each day, for the next thirty-one days, I will write something. Not just any something, by the way. I can’t let myself off the hook that easy. No, it will be things that are relative to what’s happening in the world. It will be thought-provoking. I’m open to suggestions, of course. Bring ‘em on.

Health is my next challenge. I will work on my weight. Not because I am one of those guys who think that you have to be a certain weight to be considered attractive. Quite the contrary, I think attractiveness is based on state of mind, not state of body. A “beautiful” woman can have a seriously ugly personality, and that can destroy any of the initial attraction that existed in the beginning. So no, I’m just doing it because I want to live a long live, free of medications that will keep me sick and dependent on even more pharmaceutical remedies for the rest of my life. That, and I’d like to be able to shop for something in the 30s for my waist.

Spirituality is my next hurdle that must, must, MUST be improved. I've made some strides in this, but I'm losing my stride. It's becoming too familiar, and familiarity breeds contempt. I can't develop contempt for the inner spirit within me, so this must be worked on. I can't take this for granted anymore. Not only will I suffer, but those who are around me will, too.

Lastly, I will dedicate time to those who deserve it. My family and friends (real life and online) have always been my biggest supporters, and I often feel that I don’t do enough for them. So I aim to change that. How, I have no clue. But that’s the challenge. You know who you are. You know my heart’s in the right place. Whatever issues we had in the past, let it stay there.

That’s it. New changes. New challenges. No excuses. Are you with me?

#hackmylife starts now.