Everet Martins's Blog, page 5

Writing is Digging Ditches

Writing is grunt work. Writing is digging ditches. Writing is filling holes. Writing is work and often I don’t want to work. People glamorize writing as a magical craft that only those gifted with the touch of the wordsmithing gods are capable of doing.

Anyone can write, but not everyone wants to put in the work. Everyone wants to say they have written a novel. Not everyone will do what it takes to write a novel. There is however, a trick to it.

If you can suffer, you can write. If you can work and drag words out of your head when you don’t want to, you can write.

Here I am writing this blog post when I really would rather be playing the Witcher III (especially since I haven’t started the first expansion Hearts of Stone and another is about to be released) or doing anything else for that matter. But why am I doing this then? Because I’m practicing the discipline of writing a blog post each week, which is something I had set out to do. I don’t always do it due to other commitments, but when I’m home for the weekend I do.

Ok, but why? Because it reminds me that writing is digging ditches and filling holes. Sometimes it’s immensely enjoyable, often times tolerable, sometimes miserable and I-just-can’t-fucking-wait-until-it’s-over.

So if you want to write, learn to be OK with it not feeling good. It’s work and work isn’t always fun.

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Avoid low leverage activities

Avoid Low Leverage Activities

Here are some things that I do that I feel like are a poor use of my time and would like to eventually hire someone else to do. It’s not that I think myself above doing these tasks, but I don’t think they add value to my life. You only have so much time and as I get older I’ve become more and more aware of that in order to thrive you must savagely cut things from your life that don’t make sense for you to do.  These are low leverage activities.

Shoveling/blowing snow
Mowing the lawn
Car work of all forms
Major house work
Cleaning of all forms

The things I hate doing most are Sisyphean tasks, tasks that are never complete and must always be done again. Cleaning is always the first that comes to mind. I would rather do things that only need to be done once or rarely. For example: writing books, trading stocks, marketing, and other things that are highly leveraged.

Some other examples of highly leveraged activities that I think are a GREAT use of time:

Reading books (acquiring new knowledge)
Developing new skills
Exercising because it gives more energy in all areas of life and SO MUCH more.
Automating repetitive work
Scaleable marketing E.g. Facebook ads are working with $5 a day, now you can spend $100 day on the advertisements for a greater return
Sleeping
Investing in relationships
Developing mindfulness

I think most people spend far too much time doing low leverage activities, making sure the house is always spotless, etc. Let’s say you love the house to be super clean (I do too!) but I you want to write books too. You can learn to tolerate the house being less clean in order to work on something else that will eventually allow you to pay for someone to clean the house. Then the house will be clean AND you’ll have an income producing asset/skill etc. You get the best of both worlds, but it takes sacrifice initially.

Readers: I would love to hear your thoughts. What do you hate to do that you would love to hire someone else to do for you? What are some highly leveraged activities you want to work on?

 

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How to Read More Books

How to Read More Books

I read 81 books last year. I had a goal of 100. I also wrote three novels (Books 2-4 of the Age of Dawn) while holding down a full-time job in IT.  I’m not saying this to pat my own back. I wish I could have read more, but I also don’t have kids. I know people who read 200+ books a year. I also know people who can hardly manage to read a book a quarter. This post is for those of you who want to read more, but aren’t sure how exactly to do it.

How did I manage to do it?

There are two things I do that have made a huge difference in the amount of reading(listening) I do every year.

1) The first is audiobooks. There are so many little spaces of time where you could either be reading or listening to an Audiobook. Cleaning, walking the dog, bike riding, working out, weeding the garden. If you’re serious about reading and educating yourself then you will make the “sacrifice” to listen to an audiobook rather than listening to music or anything else that you might consider more enjoyable. I am torn between having times of quiet contemplation and learning new stuff. That’s a decision you’ll have to make. During the weekend, I’ll keep my phone in my pocket with the headphones plugged in. Whenever I’m going to do something where there might be some time gaps, I’ll throw in my headphones and start downloading a book into my brain. It’s pretty damn to close to the Matrix.

2) Waiting in line at Starbucks/bus stop/cafeteria? Open your phone and read on your Kindle rather than checking Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. It’s amazing how much time people waste on social media when they could be reading. If you’re on Facebook for twenty minutes a day, that’s at least a full novel a month you could’ve read.

Just like writing my biggest tip for reading everyday is to TIME IT. Everyday when I set out to read I put a 30 minute timer on my phone and do nothing else but read until the buzzer goes off. This way I can guarantee I have carved out at least 30 minutes a day to read.

If you give these tips a shot, please let me know, I’d love to hear it. What do you do to read more books?

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With writing there are no guarantees

With writing there are no guarantees

Like life.

I was thinking today about how crazy it is to write as a source of income and for you know, surviving. And maybe even thriving. But, with writing there are no guarantees.

It’s madness. You plop your bum into a chair, let your fingers go tickity-tock over a keyboard and make the mush in your brain into words. You do the best you can. You hope that readers like it and that at the end of the day you’re pleased with your story, and might even make some additional income from it.

There are no guarantees that anyone will read your work, or buy it, or even like it. It’s a tough business and the competition is fierce. You can spend countless hours writing a novel and there may be little to no financial reward. It’s a total roll of the dice. I spent over 300 hours just writing the first draft of A New Light – Book 5 of The Age of Dawn.

It’s a tough thing to do. It’s something I grapple with while I write. Will anyone like this? Am I wasting my time? I could be making a hell of a lot more money if I spent more time getting better at trading stocks and options. Side note: I am having a lot more success in this arena and lately have been feeling a stronger pull towards it.

Who else but a lunatic would do something that has you toiling for months on a project that may in the long run net you nothing more than being better at writing, even then it’s a maybe. Sometimes I wonder if I’m regressing.

So why do I it? Well, one of my favorite aspects about writing is creating something new and putting my visions and ideas out into the world. Business wise, the idea of creating something once that continues to sell potentially forever is a nice prospect.

There are always new ideas rattling around in my skull, seeking escape. I give them that escape through my fingers. They have to be let out, nurtured and materialized. There are no guarantees in this business, but I don’t know what else I would do to give my ideas legs. So, I write.

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5 Things I’ve Learned from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

I started training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) about 4 months ago. It’s a grappling martial art with a focus on joint locks/dislocations, throws/takedowns, and chokes. The goal is to use your body’s leverage to best a stronger opponent. BJJ is what MMA(Mixed Martial Arts) and UFC fighters generally use when you see their bodies tangled up and wrestling on the ground. It is widely considered one the most effective forms of martial arts for self-defense. Brazilian jiu-jitsu has been forged in the fire of ring based combat, proving itself as an almost insurmountable style to compete against.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu is an amazing fighting style, but also has many parallels to living life in its fullest. 

“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.” -Bruce Lee

You will fail. A lot. And it’s ok.

To get better at BJJ, you will often find yourself in positions that could be crippling and certainly deadly. When you’re a white belt, the tyro’s color, you’re always failing and getting beaten. This is my current rank and my experience 95% of the time I put my skills to the test against another opponent. When your opponent is about to choke you into unconsciousness, you “tap out” by frantically tapping a part of your opponent’s body and they will then release you before causing any damage, at least a good training partner should. When you tap out, you concede that the person holding you in that position has the capability to kill you or break your bones, and that you have given up and must trust them to let you go unharmed. It’s difficult to accept. It’s hard for me to accept. I don’t like giving up. Just last week, I was in an armbar and I tried to fight my way out of it when I should have immediately tapped. Part of it was wanting to see what I could do to get out. You learn very quickly to accept defeat when in a horribly compromised position. I ended up with an elbow that’s still sore over a week later. People who cannot stand to have their egos bruised will not last. When you walk through that door you have to discard it, knowing you’re weak as a baby worm in the hands of wolves. It’s humbling and if you’re used to be being good at everything you do, get used to being bad. Very bad. 

2. There will always be someone at a level above you

You will never be complete. The evolution of the craft of BJJ is endless and always evolving, like life. From my limited experience, it seems like new techniques are always propping up and as they start trending you must learn how to defend them. Life is either growing or dying. The more you learn in BJJ, the more you realize you don’t know.

3. There are no shortcuts to success

You must put in the time and dedication if you truly want to get good at anything. I’m all about working smart. Work smart and work hard if you want to get good. There are some guys who come once a week and they might be white belts for five years, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but your advancement will be significantly slower than someone who can commit and find the time to train 4-5 times a week. Life sometimes, though not always, gives you what you put in.

4. Your body is a treasure

Martial arts help you realize the potential of your body. Once you see how it can move and what it can do, you will may find it disturbing how little many people respect theirs. You only get one body (for now), don’t fuck it up. I’m already starting to feel the seams of my body stretching at the ripe old age of 33. Injuries take a little longer to recover from. My work capacity is a bit less than it once was. It’s a gift that you might not appreciate until it’s far too gone to fix. Exercise, eat right, move everyday.

5. Most things don’t matter

When you get into positions where you’re about to be choked unconscious, or your shoulder is a few more pounds of force from being torn free from the socket, the other noise in your life seems to fade into the background, forcing you into the immediate present. When you’re in a compromised position on such a regular basis, you become somewhat inoculated to that stress. It makes you cold, it helps you think clearly under duress.

If you haven’t tried BJJ, I would highly suggest giving it a shot. I love it! Can you tell? Do you practice martial arts? If so, which style?

 

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Playing with Racetams and Nootropics

DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor nor do I play one on the internet. Use caution. Do your own research.

Racetams and Nootropics

In the past couple years I have dabbled with using various nootropics and have found that the racetams have always had the most profound effect.

From Wikipedia: “Nootropics are  smart drugs and cognitive enhancers—are drugs, supplements, or other substances that improve cognitive function, particularly executive functions, memory, creativity, or motivation.” Racetams are a class of nootropics. Unfortunately, the research is scant, however they do work well.

They’re good. Too good.

One of the principals of life is that there is no free lunch. (Also See: Law 40 of the 48 Laws of Power) It’s my belief that using them long term is probably not the best idea. I believe there is always some sort of biological cost. It’s certainly still fun and interesting to experiment.

I recently bought a sample pack from notropics depot and so far have found Phenylpiracetam to be my favorite. It seems to give me an awesome bump in my ability to focus. It also lends a feeling of lightness that I find hard to describe. Music sounds better and colors seem more vibrant. Some of the benefits purported from racetams are improved memory, better recall, increased learning capacity, and better concentration.

If you want to go down this road, you’ll also want to purchase a milligram scale to determine your doses if you buy powders. I would encourage giving the racetams a shot if you’re interested and feel like your brain needs a little tuning for cognitively demanding tasks.

Precautions: check out this reddit for other considerations and information. 

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

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Top 10 Quotes from The Lessons of History by Will & Ariel Durant

I recently read The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant. The book is amazing. Here are just a few of my favorite gems from the book.

1. “But a tornado can ruin in an hour the city that took a century to build; an iceberg can overturn or bisect the floating palace and send a thousand merrymakers gurgling to the Great Certainty.”

2. “Generations of men establish a growing mastery over the earth, but they are destined to become fossils in its soil.”

3. “The startled animals scurry away at our coming; the birds scatter; the fish disperse in the brook. Suddenly we perceive to what a perilous minority we belong on this impartial planet, and for a moment we feel, as these varied denizens clearly do, that we are passing interlopers in their natural habitat. Then all the chronicles and achievements of man fall humbly into the history and perspective of polymorphous life; all our economic competition, our strife for mates, our hunger and love and grief and war, are akin to the seeking, mating, striving, and suffering that hide under these fallen trees or leaves, or in the waters, or on the boughs.”

4. “Animals eat one another without qualm; civilized men consume one another by due process of law.”

5. “Inequality is not only natural and inborn, it grows with the complexity of civilization.”

6. “Even when repressed, inequality grows; only the man who is below the average in economic ability desires equality; those who are conscious of superior ability desire freedom; and in the end superior ability has its way.”

7. “If the human brood is too numerous for the food supply, Nature has three agents for restoring the balance: famine, pestilence, and war.”

8. “In every age men have been dishonest and governments have been corrupt; probably less now than generally before.”

9. “We must remind ourselves again that history as usually written (peccavimus) is quite different from history as usually lived: the historian records the exceptional because it is interesting— because it is exceptional.”

10. “Laws which were once presented as the decrees of a god-given king are now frankly the confused commands of fallible men.”

Buy the book! It’s short and jam packed with more stuff like this. You won’t regret it.

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Available for Pre-order: A New Light – Book 5 of The Age of Dawn

A New Light, the fifth book in the Age of Dawn series is now available for pre-order! I’m super excited about this book and I think you’re going to love it.

Description

When the seal of the Age of Dawn broke, Asebor was once again released upon the world, and with him came the scourge of his Death Spawn army. Walter’s fate had been snared to their brutality after the first raid upon his village. They killed his parents, tortured his friends. Nyset has his heart, reunited after escaping the clutches of the Shadow Realm. The Shadow Realm is a plane of misery for the dead, ruled by the Shadow god.

After taking the Silver Tower, the Death Spawn ravage the western lands with the Wretched leading the horde. Despite the tragic losses, Walter and the group must march on to defend the corner of realm. Nyset, the Arch Wizard, must protect Helm’s Reach from Death Spawn outside and enemies within. She vows to take the Tower back, or die trying.

There’s no turning back now. Walter will make the Death Spawn pay with blood. Asebor must be punished for his atrocities. The Dragon burns in his heart, stoking the fires of revenge.

GET IT HERE
US UK CA AU

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FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE: A STORY IN FIVE SENTENCES

Here is my story for Chuck Wendig’s Flash Fiction Challenge found here:

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2016/03/11/flash-fiction-challenge-a-story-in-five-sentences/

I just realized it’s longer than five sentences, but under his 100 maximum word count. Meh.

 

Traveling at 80 mph, he grits his teeth, and the world streaks past. The office beckons for him to come and turn his gear in the great machine.

The oncoming headlights are blinding. Horns blare. Shattered glass hangs on the air, glittering like stars in the morning gloom.

Wreckage tears through his skin, untold stories of where he’s been. If only I had more time, he thinks.

The world blooms with reds and blacks. His pain is an orb of fading light.

The machine subtracts 1 from today’s calculation. An old pitted gear is replaced.

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How To Travel for Free (Almost) – Seriously

I just finished the draft of A New Light – Book 5 of The Age of Dawn. It was perfectly timed because I’m about to depart for a two week vacation for Australia. Round trip to Australia, in business class on one flight, and with 3 flights within Australia it will cost just shy of $200, due to taxes and miscellaneous fees. Once there, my girlfriend and I will stay at the Park Hyatt in Sydney for a few days for free, before moving onto Airbnb’s for our other accommodations, which we’ll sadly have to pay cash for.

I wish someone told me how to do this when I was younger. I never traveled because I couldn’t afford it, and decided to save rather than spend money on traveling.

So, how did we do it? Credit card arbitraging.

Here’s the idea: you open credit cards that give you a reward point bonus after spending $x dollars. For example, if I open the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and spend $3,000 in three months you get 50,000 bonus points which can be transferred to an airline’s rewards program. Once it’s in the rewards program, you can go ahead and CLOSE that credit card.

It sounds too good to be true.

The psuedo caveat these cards have is an annual fee. Generally they’re waived the first year, but if you forget to close the card before the annual fee hits your account, if you close it shortly after, the fee is refunded.

Then what you’ll do is find a new credit card offer that gives a big hunk of points, hotel stays, etc after meeting the minimum spend.

I know, it sounds scammy. As far as money earned for time worked, it’s probably one of the easiest things to do. I think it comes out to about $500/hour. Once you get a new card, simply put all of your day to day purchases on it. Groceries, gas, amazon, etc. It’s pretty easy to reach $1,000 a month if you do this.

I track all of my cards in a google docs spreadsheet. I put the following columns to manage and track it. Once a card has been closed, I just put a strikethrough on the row.

Card name
Reward
Requirements
Close by date
Get Reward? (Y or N)
Rewards Program #
Notes:

But won’t that hurt your credit?

Yes, a little. Opening new accounts will ding your credit a bit, but it will also increase your credit utilization ratio, which is a component of the FICO score calculation. I refinanced my mortgage and got the best interest rate possible with 6 credit cards open.

As long as you’re not carrying a balance on any of these credit cards and not paying interest, you win!

Other resources

I’m barely scratching the surface with this stuff. There is a whole subculture of people who travel for free or close to nothing in the arms of luxury.

http://travelisfree.com/

http://www.doctorofcredit.com/

I hope you find this helpful. Please let me know what you do to save on travel in the comments.

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