Getting stuff done

I have been getting a lot done.

I have been counting calories to stay around 1800. I have been drinking 166 or more ounces of water per day. My dissertation is sitting at my proposal stage and I have a population and sample lined up. I stretch and am getting really good at remembering my medicines.

I am looking forward to the next couple of iterations with my dissertation proposal. I think it will be accepted soon.

As for weight loss, there is probably minimal of that yet. I will get to it. My main goal isn't to look better or anything but deal with a fatty liver issue.

I have read probably 50 books over the last month. This would be bigger but I have been somewhat scattered, as two weeks ago I was dog sitting and house sitting.

I have been contemplating a single question: If my life were ideal, what would I do? Obviously, this leaves a few steps in between, but I should start figuring out those steps soon.

Rape of Nanking

I am listening to Jocko Willink's podcast on the Rape of Nanking (via iTunes). Terrible things occur there, but everyone is so caught up on the Nazi references that they do not think of Imperial Japan. As a right-wing person, I have been called a Nazi many times. I have never been called as bad as the Japanese. Maybe this is due to my white heritage.

Of course, as a young boy, I was always taught that Japanese culture was more enlightened than ours. We watched the martial arts movies, with special attention to portions with an Asian master. Many times, these were said to be Japanese.

It is too bad that history leans towards the cold, mass killings of the Nazis. There were many other situations like this. I think it is because of fighting against Western Civilization.

Grading day

I am about to work on some heavy grading. That is true, despite the messed up wrist. These monsoons are driving pain into my wrist.

The monsoons are Tucson's humid season. They cause either my knee or wrist to hurt. This is wrist year, apparently. I am sitting here wearing a wrist brace.

I wanted to get in a blog post. I don't really have much to fuss about that I am not fussing about on Twitter. I am @jtarb1 there.

Remember, feeling as if you are persecuted shows a poor mindset.

Sleep interrupted

My daughter was up at 3AM. I got a little nap, but she never fell back to sleep. It was a rough night for me, because I was up to 10PM.

I have managed to keep a happy face on even though I am tired. She'll probably be awake until she passes out tonight.

Keeping awake has been hard most of the day, so I just keep doing what I am supposed to be doing. Parenting and school grading. I am up to date on that.

I have a little more than 3 more classes before I am ABD. I am excited to get on with the process by getting my prospectus looked at.

How do you stay motivated when you are just exhausted? I normally exercise and just keep busy. Sometimes, I will even nap.

Feeling motivated

Last night, while teaching, I had some students telling me they liked the way I teach. Unfortunately, I am taking time off from teaching to complete the final part of my doctorate.

I enjoy teaching but feeling rather motivated right now.

The sale on my book goes until early July. Get it if you are interested, or try Red Teaming for Renegades, my other work.

They are pamplet length books, but might be of some value to you.

I am getting back to blogging and mTurk work regularly. I enjoy doing the surveys on Mechanical Turk to make a few more bucks every month.

Sale tomorrow

Starting tomorrow, my book Goals-based Homeschooling, will be on sale on Amazon.com. I'll include a banner at the bottom. If you are interested in what goals to start when homeschooling or homeschooling in general, it may be a good time to pick it up.

No news on the car-front. I'll be getting it worked on sometime around the first, but I have honestly been enjoying walking. That is true, even though it has been somewhere around 115 F where I live.

Well, grading to do. So, pick up that book tomorrow. Or grab it on Kindle Unlimited.

Dissertation outline updated

I have been reading Thomas Carlyle today. It is not easy reading, but it is probably some of the most eye-opening I have read in a while.

I have been asked to recommend two books by their authors. This gives me opportunity to put pen-to-paper and give advice.

I have my 10-points document for my dissertation put together after comments. It'll take a bit of tweaking next week, but I believe my dissertation is better for it.

I have some additions to my prospectus and literature review for that dissertation. This is where the meat of work will come from the next few weeks.

The question to ask is what have I done for my dissertation today. I have done a bit, thanks.

Today (titles are hard)

Today, I have been a bit slow on Twitter.

I brought my daughter to the park for her twice-a-week "park day." She is homeschooled so we try to give her a chance out any time we can.

I am blogging and am not sure of the count this week. We may get another Saturday post.

The media attempts to both give Trump more publicity than ever and the left tries to throw everything at him that they can. He will only find more support unless he makes a major mistake. I can't wait to see him in a debate with Clinton.

I have not done much for school, but got a lot of non-school related reading done. I'll have to fix the school related reading.

Miscellany

I have turned in work for my doctoral residency. It is not for a couple of weeks.

I have got some work done on my notes for the class I'll be teaching.

What else? I have been doing well on Twitter. @jtarb1 is my handle.

It looks like the alt-right is finally making it somewhere. I don't exactly know where I fit in, but I have always been a right-leaning independent. I don't know how I feel about everything, but immigration privileges need to be slowed.

I don't feel that they are rights.

Mindset remains key. That must be done through proper habits, proper training and education, and reading good books. I have been reading a lot on burnout from academic journals later.

I'd like to get this doctorate finished as quickly as possible.

Feeling productive

I have a few projects coming up.

First is my doctoral residency: In the meantime, I am reading heavily into my dissertation topic (Burnout, if you wonder). So, I am reading anything and everything on burnout I can come by. I am paying attention to methodology in this social science topic.

Second, is my preparing for teaching a class (History of American Women). I have to stay on top of this topic in order to fill my classes up. I find it somewhat difficult to bring enough material for a 3.5 hour class. I'll be focusing on that.

Third, my mother is coming into town. That means that I cannot slack on chores, or I'll be considered a slob. My mother isn't the cleanest, but she'll appreciate a clean house.

Fourth, I am homeschooling my daughter and that is something that always weighs heavy on my mind.

Leave behind any tips that would include new projects. I need more to fill my time. Haha.

Results arriving from habits

So, I started a program of ditching donuts, and using my Fitlosophy Fitbook Lite 6-Week Weight-Loss Journal on April 4th. Today is the 25th, and I am down 14 lbs.

It has been hard work. I even pushed down to 1400 calories a day. This was part of an effort to combat fatty liver. The GI doctor either hates me or loves me.

I am not sure, but I think I can get much lower. I will keep working towards 1400 calories a day. I have committed to it for three months. It has not been that hard.

I blame willpower. I have read many books on willpower, such as Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength and I think I've finally got to a point where I can beat my gut anytime.

Buy your  Fitlosophy Fitbook Lite 6-Week Weight-Loss Journal at Amazon. You won't regret it.

On Leadership

Leadership is simply the successful way of working with people. That is one thing I have learned from getting past the half-way point of my doctorate in organizational leadership.

It doesn't matter if your leadership style is servant, transactional, transformational, or any other. If you work with a successful group, your example matters more than those in unsucessful organizations.

I don't mean that in a failing organization that you can't be a good leader.

I mean that the way self-improvement culture teaches is that successful businesses have good leaders and failing ones don't.

This is a mistaken thought.

Leadership is the more successful way of working with people. You can have an executive that is failing and still be a successful example-leader in the organization.

Leadership, simply, is what a leader does. It doesn't matter if authority is there or not.

Books and reading progress

I have been reading pretty widely. I finished about 10 books last week.

I have started participating in a goal planning group with Wounded Warrior Project. 

I am working on eating better and lifting weights when I can.

I have a few leads towards material that will get me closer to my goal.

Read of last week (though, I am still working on it): Ikigai by Sabastian Marshall. I highly recommend it.

Playing Pandemic

Tonight, I went over for some family time. We sang worship songs, ate dinner, and played a board game. It was relaxing. The game is a cooperative board game instead of a competitive one. Pandemic if you must know.

We try to sing worship songs in an event called Praise and Pizza every Thursday. It seems to be pretty consistent, but dinner varies. Most nights, we have at least one pizza.

It's Maundy Thursday, if one follows Holy Week. A verse about the Last Supper was said, so I pointed out that it probably happened on Thursday of the Holy Week. It kinda struck, even though we are separated by 2k years give or take.

A relative of mine is having trouble. He is taking an M.Div and his professor said his beliefs were not consistent. I don't buy the argument. A professor is there to encourage growth, but it is difficult to grade a belief. It mostly regarded the entire Calvinism argument and whether my relative was consistent in his defense of it.

What do you think? Should a professor grade ideas and their consistency? Should a professor only grade a good argument?

It is difficult because it is a religious course. Let me know in the comments if you have an opinion.