Scott Berkun is a thoughtful and articulate person. I’ve enjoyed hearing him speak on the “myths of innovation,” and “getting useful design critiques.” I even met him last year at the airport waiting for my flight to SXSW. In just a couple minutes, he gave me excellent input for a panel I was preparing for about “the new work style.” One that stuck with me: All workers must produce something. And if they produce something, their location is irrelevant.

I’ve also been inspired by the way Scott has transformed himself from a UX designer at Microsoft to a best selling author and speaker. So, it was a no-brainer to pick up his book Mindfire: Big ideas for curious minds. Scott self-printed the book (well, I mean printed it via Amazon…). In a future post I hope to interview him on how he promoted it.

I’m about to turn 40, and Mindfire reinforces many of the insights I’ve had the past couple of years. On motivation and attention Scott writes:

Reclaiming attention starts with a leap of faith in believing the following sentence: you do not need more than what you have. When you survive that leap, which you will, it’s easy to convince yourself that you need less of the attention consuming things in your life than you currently have. You’ll soon find that every important ambition for your life is best served by treating your attention with the conservation it deserves. Instead of splitting your mind to keep busy, move your body to somewhere worthy of all the attention you have.

It drives me crazy to see Americans with every advantage not making the most of their lives. I believe many of us are self limited, or settle too soon. It is our responsibility to keep challenging ourselves, which by definition requires making ourselves uncomfortable regularly.

A funny thing about the human mind is it tends to believe what it wants to believe. We allow what we want to have happen distort our reasoning on how likely it is to happen, so we obsess about things that scare us, even if they are unlikely. We worry about snakes, or getting on airplanes, when the real threats to longevity are cheeseburgers, chocolate shakes and long hours lounging on the couch.

It is funny how we feel like we need to be consistent in our beliefs somehow. I have an old friend that always likes to remind me I was once a vegetarian (and use a PC instead of a Mac). Of course, it is good to stick to your morals. But if you can’t get good at assimilating new information, you’re screwed.

If you have kept the same beliefs and theories your entire life, then you haven’t been paying attention. To be wiser, smarter, and more experienced than you were a decade ago means you’ve changed. It’s good to think differently about life than you did before; it’s a sign future progress is possible.

Having aligned my attention and suspended disbelief, I’m also practicing being realistic in my commitments.

The phrase “I don’t have time for” should never be said. We all get the same amount of time every day. If you can’t do something, it’s not about the quantity of time. It’s really about how important the task is to you.

Paradoxically, I’ve found that prioritizing my time to follow my ambitions leads to more opportunities to live in the moment. Those moments are the most meaningful in life.

[In the western workplace,] success demands indifference to the wonders of the real, or the magic of the ridiculous… people living their passions, like street musicians, chefs, or craftsmen, are people who are not indifferent. They are fully present, and give us a chance to join them in the moment, but only if we stop to listen.

I talk about how the fuelband tracks cycling, and exactly how much “fuel” it awards for running, biking, pushup, and sit-ups.

Full size Nike+ fuelband review graph image

After years of bike commuting, the drive train on my 15 year old mountain bike (circa 1990s GT Backwoods) is starting to skip. I asked my biker friends on Facebook to recommend the ultimate urban commuter bike.

My criteria: Lightweight, geared for hills, low maintenance. My budget is only around $1,000. I don’t want something custom, just something practical. Ideally, also stylish with fenders and and a rack.

From Johnson Donglecorn: I recommend any internally geared hub, I like Rohloff. I also recommend a steel frame. I’d find an older (2000ish) Lemond. They use really nice Reynolds tubing (853 for example). Buy an IGH built up wheelset, and build the rest from your spare parts bin. Also,  I really wanted a Civia Bryant when i test rode one for fun.

Scott Nonnenberg: I’ll try to be the zen perspective here. First, decide your minimum requirements. Then, spend as little time as possible finding one that achieves those things and be done. You’ll be overwhelmed and/or led astray by the market’s focus on differentiators and not the core things that matter to you. I didn’t fully do this, but I did just go to REI and bought one that rode well and was reasonably cheap ($600 – Scott SUB 30).

The principle is taken from this article in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. Take a look at my note summarizing it.

With regard to the bike,  musts haves are: disc brakes, rack, fenders. Nice to have: wider tires to make the bike more versatile, internal hubs or other drive train changes to reduce maintenance costs. Solely my opinion: Mountain bike style handlebars will help with maneuverability, and you want enough gears to reduce sweating while riding.

Matt Terich: There are a lot of stock commuter bikes that are decent and stylish with internal hubs. Public and Linus come to mind. Very affordable. For commuting, albatross bars would be better than flat.

Eric Artzt: I have been riding a Rawland with an SRAM 3-speed internal / rear derailleur combo. Although the above is awesome, in retrospect given cost and weight considerations, if I had do-agains, I would go with a real derailleur and no front derailleur. I would definitely go for disc brakes and a rack/fender compatible frame. Additionally, get the bolt-on wheel skewers — basically, you want to be able to u-lock the thing with one of the compact locks, without worrying about parts being removed. There are some incredible deals right now on off-the-shelf disc based commuter bikes. It’s a bit hard to justify going fully custom.

I can’t wait to read Scott’s journal article above. I think about this kind of “maximization vs. satisfaction” stuff a lot.

 Scott Neilson: If I was replacing my 50lb Dutch wonder, I, Like Johnson above, would take a hard look at a Civia Bryant. My friend Matt is very happy with his Salsa Vaya too.  Unfortunately, those are both well over the $1k budget. You could join the hordes of Surly folks and get a Disc Trucker or, like Matt says, go the Linus route. My friend Clarke (a serious cyclist and aesthete) is very happy with his Linus Roadster, I just wish it had discs.

 Matt Leber Go test ride the Civia Cycles Bryant at Counter Balance Bicycles near U Village. It’s a little above your budget but is a nice bike. While a Rohloff hub would be nice, the hub alone is your entire budget. The Alfine on that Bryant should do the trick. The belt drive should be virtually maintenance free. I’d comment more but I’m off to go clean my chains on 2 bikes.
 Jason Morris I think internal gear hubs feel like your pedaling in sand. There’s a higher transmission friction loss than a chain drive. Unless you’re just cruising on the boardwalk, you’ll feel it.
Scott Neilson I hadn’t heard that about planetary hubs before. I’ve been very happy with the Nexus 8-speed that’s on my Jorg & Olif Dutch bike but, of course, a little friction would be hard to discern while riding around town on 50lbs of the early machine age. Here’s a good review of the Civia bryant which is my top vote for Adam’s dream commuter.

Summary

The Scott SUB 30 was kind of what I had in mind. However, I’m going to try and find a Bryant for a test ride. Drive train maintenance is always what ends up stopping me from riding. I think I would prefer flat bars for commuting, but we’ll see. Oh, with regards to Scott & Eric’s comments on consumer psychology, I’m definitely a “satisfier” (not a maximizer)!

Since today is “black friday” – here are my picks for this year. I’m not officially asking santa for these, and I don’t make any money if you buy one. I just think they’re cool!

In the last 6 months I’ve established a habit of regular exercise and eating less sugar (here’s my 4 hour body cheat sheet). I should’ve been doing this all along, what was it that made me finally able to change?

The power of a breakthrough moment is incredible. One experience can completely change your life. One moment, you make all of your decisions one way – then you see something in a new light, and from that moment on you see everything differently.

What goes into a breakthrough? Is there a way to induce a forcible paradigm shift in a persons thinking? What is involved in really getting something?

I think the keys are experience, and seeing correlation (positive feedback).

Experience is key to learning, though it seems like such an inefficient way to learn. So much time and effort is wasted in life trying and failing in order to experience understanding. For many lessons, experience is truly a requirement. Motivation alone, now matter how much you have will not give you understanding. It may even require reaching “rock bottom”, but once you are receptive you can recognize whether something is working for you, and if not – try something else.

If you try something, get positive feedback, and see a direct correlation – you’ll keep doing that thing. You might even change your schedule to make room for your new priorities.

Hedge your bets with:

• Breaking whatever you are trying to do into tiny steps
• Positive reinforcement for those baby steps
• Telling people about what you’re trying to do
• Reminders (photos), that re-inforce the underlying why

An interesting implication of this is you can use it for your own persuasive power. If you are trying to convince someone of something, simply make them feel like it was their idea. Show them the positive implications of some tiny step. In the meantime, I’m looking for more breakthroughs for myself.

I’m a big fan of Tim Ferriss. My earlier 4 Hour Workweek Quotes post has been very popular, so I thought I’d share some more quotes. These quotes are from the author himself, whereas the earlier quotes were from other significant people that the author cited.

1. Focus on being productive instead of busy.

2. It is far more lucrative and fun to leverage your strengths instead of attempting to fix all the chinks in your armor. The choice is between multiplication of results using strengths or incremental improvement fixing weaknesses that will, at best, become mediocre. Focus on better use of your best weapons instead of constant repair.

3. What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do. As I have heard said, a person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have. Resolve to do one thing every day that you fear.

4. Excitement is the more practical synonym for happiness, and it is precisely what you should strive to chase. It is the cure-all. When people suggest you follow your “passion” or your “bliss,” I propose that they are, in fact, referring to the same singular concept: excitement. This brings us full circle. The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I want?” or “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?”

5. ‘Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’ You won’t believe what you can accomplish by attempting the impossible with the courage to repeatedly fail better.”

6. What you do is infinitely more important than how you do it. Efficiency is still important, but it is useless unless applied to the right things.

7. Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness? Which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?

On-bike workout schedule

I have 3-6 months to pull this off. The question is: what is the most time-effective way to get in shape? I’d like to avoid 4 hour long rides via the scenic Renton airport or on the body-rocking (tree root infested) Burke Gilman trail if possible. I think the alternative is interval training.

I’m hoping that – like the sprinters in 4HB – I can train at less than full interval lengths and get the full benefits. If I concentrate on sprints and strength, I’m hoping that early season races will help with overall aerobic fitness.

Another idea is to take a track racing course that I’ve heard is offered locally. I’ve never done it, and could gain some fixie cred (not that I want it). Oh, and I live smack on top of one of Seattle’s 7 hills – and don’t have a car. So I’ve got that going for me.

My Quora question: What is the best 12 week training plan to prepare for a cycling criterium?

Strength (weight) training

I’m guessing that I can start with the 4HB chapter on “Becoming super human.” I’ve already got the tights for it. My interpretation is that the main requirement is lots of dead-lifting. The glute exercises are easy, but I may need to join a gym to find enough weight to dead-lift (and large enough kettle bells).

Another fallback is the P90X “Legs & Back” workout video. You can find it on bittorrent sites, if you can make it past the Russian bride ads. When doing the workout, I substitute push ups and sit ups for the back part. I’ve found it to be challenging, effective, and comprehensive (meaning I walk funny the next day if I haven’t done it in a while). It can be done in an hour from home.

Training with power (and other forms of measurement)

Serious bike racers attach power meters to their rides to measure their power output. Non-serious bike riders use power motors to get up hills. You can also measure your heart rate to determine how hard your body is working. Measuring both enables you to determine how efficient your body is becoming as you train it.

The only problem is, I haven’t yet found a power meter for less than $500.

So far these seem to be the most affordable (not sure about quality):

• the Polar CS600X
• iBike products

I’ll find a few others and set up some craigslist alerts. If you know of any for less than $500, please comment below.

A quick Google search turned up this book: Training and Racing with a Power Meter, which looks like a good training guide. Again, I’d love to find some way to optimize the process to the minimum effective dose. I’m also wondering if simply timing myself up a hill will suffice (the hill eliminates the wind factor).

Lastly, inspired by 4HB, I will estimate body fat and take my measurements. This should help with motivation. Haven’t decided yet if I’m going to post it here.

Skills & Tactics

My earlier racing experience (insert photo of wrecked bike and bloody leg) has given me a little knowledge of how to not get taken out by an idiot, not get dropped, and occaisionally get to the front. I’ve ridden the two courses a number of times. I’ve also been riding a little bit on rollers, which I can tell has improved my bike handling. I have a feeling there are going to be a lot more rollers in my future due to the extremely sunny Seattle spring time (I only like to ride in the rain).

I would like to read up on sprinting form though. I’m sure improving my form (I’ve never really worked on it) would go a long way.

If all else fails, I’ll recruit some friends with dogs and bull-horns to throw a little mayhem into the last lap of a race to give me an advantage.

Bike

2006 Pinarello Dogma. My mistress. I may upgrade my Ultegra pedals to Speedplay pedals if I have the hankering to upgrade something. The cleats on my cheap Pearl Izumi shoes keep coming lose.

I do need a bike-fitting and tune up. I’ve never done a bike fitting. A friend recommended Rusty at TN Multisports. Maybe they can evaluate my riding form too.

Diet & Supplements

I’m starting with the slow-carb diet as a default. Need to tweak it for strength building and recovery.

Recovery drinks [link forthcoming] – I swear by these since using them to complete P90X. A big glass after a work out prevents me from being sore the next day, and I’ve noticed makes me come back stronger faster. Really wish these were around (or I wasn’t so cheap) when I raced before.

Protein Powder [link forthcoming]. Both seem to help with building muscle and more importantly give me something sweet to drink when I’m craving a milkshake. I often add bananas, almond milk, and Hagen Daz vanilla frozen yogurt.

Magnesium & Caffeinated Gu for the short races. I haven’t propperly measured the effect of either. I will report on their effectiveness as the season progresses.

4-Hour Body Photo Cheat Sheet

click for larger version

I wrote previously about my trip to Machu Picchu when I visited Peru in May. Breathtaking as it was, it wasn’t the highlight of the trip. The highlight was seeing the work of the team at Kausay Wasi Clinic in Qoya. My father in-law has seen hundreds of patients with the team there over the last several years. The clinic provides basic health and dental care to thousands of Peru’s people who live in the rural Sacred Valley area.

“The Clinic treats approximately 10,000 patients per year, and US visiting medical teams perform approximately 300 operations free of charge in specialties such as ears, nose and throat, facial reconstruction, cataract, orthopedic surgeries for children, and gynecological surgeries for women.”

To visit was a life changing experience. The patients that we saw come through the clinic were overwhelmed with gratitude for the care they received. Care they would not have gotten if not for the efforts of the two sincere and effective founders Guido and Sandy Del Prado.

If you are traveling to Machu Picchu, or just want to make a difference, please sponsor a family. $200 will cover an entire family’s medical care for one year.