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Using Contacts to Manage Objects & Vendors

By Terence Gillespie September 5, 2014

Contacts can be used for much more than storing phone numbers and addresses. I make a new contact for every object, thing or vendor that needs to be tracked or managed. Camera’s, phones, kitchen appliances, software, computers, A/C Units, subscriptions, vendors, utilities . . .you name it. Simply keeping a little information on each item in the notes section of a contact makes a huge difference when action involving the object is required.

Naturally, there’s a folder in the filing cabinet for most things and vendors. But, 99% of the time all I need to pay a bill, upgrade software, fix the A/C, renew a subscription, cancel a service, etc. is contained in the contact notes. And, since contacts are synced everywhere I can access them from anywhere enabling me to take action from wherever I happen to be.

When it comes time to sell, ask for help or turnover over the management of an item the contact has all the relevant details. A quick read brings anyone up to date.

Why the Notes Section?

I tried using other fields, but, it made it too complicated to share between people and applications. Now, the only standard contact fields I use are Name, Address, Phone #s, Email, Web address, Company and Title. Everything else is input in the free form notes section of the contact.

Most Objects Have Vendors

Surprisingly, almost every object or thing is associated with a vendor. Therefore, I found that all the fields needed to track vendors can be used to track almost any object, as well.

My Template or Roll Your Own

Through experience I’ve discovered there’s about 35 things I may need to know about an object to perform most tasks that involves it. In practice, only 10-15 of these are needed for any given item although I keep the rest in to help my eye locate fields, quickly.

When a new contact is created I cut/paste the 35 fields (See below) into the notes section and fill out the ones applicable to the item. Feel free to use my template, roll your own or even keep it free form. The idea is to keep everything you need to know about an item to perform work about it, at your fingertips.

Powerful Benefits

Synced Everywhere – Contacts (And Calendars) in most software are the most likely to be synced across the web, multiple computers and your phone. Data stored in one of these structures is usually available everywhere you are. You probably won’t need to purchase new software.
Enables Action – Most actions revolve around objects, things and vendors. Having the details at your fingertips for everything in your life eliminates the prime reason for not taking action: Having to find supporting materials.
Enables Delegation – I used to avoid asking for help to avoid having to list the 20 things people need to know to perform the action I needed help with. Having a contact with all the relevant data about every object in your life makes delegation a breeze. The contact is updated with every transaction. When you need help just forward it and ask for help. Ask the person to update the contact, as needed, and forward it back to you when they’re done.
Capture Process & Procedures – Voice mail access/shortcuts, directions to the mailbox, directions to a store, web menu navigation, who you last talked with and what happened, what are the usual procedures that happen around this object or vendor? Why be forced to rediscover this info every time you deal with the vendor? Why be forced to write down directions or access instructions every time you need help? Also, If you delegate a task involving the item then the person who help you has a place to capture process and procedures.
Enables Turnover – When it’s time to turn over the management of an object, thing or vendor you’ll be very glad to have all the relevant information and history in a simple contact you can attach to an e-mail.

Pointers to Physical Locations

Most items have a physical location or a folder in the filing cabinet associated with them. These locations don’t change often and rarely need to be accessed. However, if their location changes update the field in your contact. It will greatly assist in delegating and turning over the management of the item. It will also keep you from procrastinating should the folder be required to perform the next action.

Search Tags

I recommend putting search tags in each contact for two reasons:

They help find an object or vendor when you can’t remember its name. Just search by keyword to find the item.
They enable grouping items by keywords since most software will search and group by any text in the notes field of a contact.

For instance, every contact related to flying has the word ‘pilot’ in the notes of the contact. When focusing on that aspect of my life I can search for all contacts containing that keyword. Clever use of keywords enables some incredible uses. If you were to put keywords in each contact relating to Project, Role, Area of Focus, Entity, Responsibility etc., then you could spontaneously group all contacts:

Tied to a credit card that’s about to expire.
Whose address has to be changed if a business address is changed.
Related to my search for land in Wyoming.
Related to my role as a father.
Related to my rental house on Main street.

No need to go overboard; keep it simple. But, you can get a lot of bang out of the two seconds it takes to put a keyword in a contact.

Tracking Them Tracking You

More often than not you need to be more organized than the vendors you employ. When one of your search tags, above, shows a vendor who tracks you by a certain address you need to have that address in the contact you keep on them. You don’t need to put your full address, credit card, etc., just an abbreviation for it.

Also, the Journal History may help navigate the internal processes of a vendor, if needed. For instance, if you’re trying to obtain service it’s better to say, “I spoke to Bill Myers on 4/3/09 and he told me to call back, today, and ask for Nancy if the rebate was not received” than to say, “I forget when I called or who I spoke to, but, still haven’t received anything in the mail”.

Keep it Secure and Updated

Techniques that optimize action tend to consolidate data. Protecting access to your contacts is urgent if you use this method of tracking objects & vendors.

Make sure to keep the contact updated, regularly. Type in a few words in the Journal History section each time an action is performed.

Track Objects & Vendors, not Projects

I once tried to use contacts to manage projects. It didn’t work because it overloads the notes section of the contact. It’s best to use contacts to manage the objects that projects revolve around. Consider using a separate contact to track the following items:

Software, vendors, bank accounts, web ids, voice mail instructions, magazine subscriptions, websites, guns, air conditioner, appliances, phones, cell phone, light bulbs, batteries taken by alarms, web subscriptions, Organization affiliations, Camcorder, camera, certifications, car, cable, internet provider, Costco card, voice mail instructions, utilities, car insurance, rental house contacts/crucial info, copier/printer, etc..

My Template

Whenever a new object, thing or vendor enters your life create a new contact and Cut & Paste this little template into the notes section of the contact. Put the Name, address, phone and e-mail of the contact in the normal fields for the contact. Then, quickly scan the template fields and fill in whatever you think will be needed to track the item.

As payments, transactions, name changes occur take a few seconds to update the contact notes. Just a few words in the Journal History can be a lifesaver when coming back up to speed on an item.

As mentioned, the template, below, is what I use, personally. Feel free to create your own or use no template, at all. Whatever keeps the right data at your fingertips and equips you for action is the best solution.

——Paste template, below this line, into notes section of the contact——-

Search Tags: [Put text here to enable you to find this contact]

Shared Drive Location(s): [Path on computer to directory or files about this object]
Physical File Location(s): [Name of reference folder in filing cabinet, Any applicable physical storage area]

Type: [Object, vendor, website, service, utility, etc.]
Services: [brief description of what this object does]

Info this contact has on Us: [How does vendor track you, what have you told them?]
Account #: [What is this vendors acct# for you]
Userid: [login or otherwise]
Password:
Entity:[Is this account with you or with an entity?]
Name: [What name do they have, if any?]
Address:
phone:
e-mail: [E-mail used by vendor to contact you]
spoken password:
credit card on file:

Method of Payment: Text
Entity who Pays:
Bank Account:
Automated?:
Frequency:
Amt. Due:
Date Due:

Info Unique to this Contact:
Serial #:
SKU #:
Model #:
Where Purchased?:
Order #:

Vendor Provides Multiple Services?
Vendor Has More Than one Primary Product:
Who do we talk to at this company?

Procedure(s):
To Pay Vendor:
To Change Address:
To Add Services:
To Cancel Account:
To Use Product/Service:

Journal History: [Brief description of your last interaction/transaction]”

——Paste template, above this line, into notes section of the contact——

Example Contact

Note how many of the fields, below, are not even filled out for this piece of software. That’s because those fields aren’t needed to manage the item. The idea is to keep it as simple as possible. I rarely fill out every field. However, using the full template for each item enables my eye to locate fields, quickly.

Search Tags: Omnifocus, GTD, Task Manager, MAC

Shared Drive Location(s): \Applications\Omnifocus, \date\path\here
Physical File Location(s): None, downloaded from web

Type: vendor
Services: software task manager for MAC based on GTD system

Info this contact has on Us:
Account #: OS6465738
Userid: none created yet
Password:
Entity: LLC
Name: My Name
Address: My Address for credit card purchase
phone: My Phone for credit card purchase
e-mail: My e-mail
spoken password: none
credit card on file: LLC Credit Card # Here

Method of Payment: LLC Credit Card
Entity who Pays: LLC
Bank Account: LLC account
Automated?: N/A
Frequency: N/A
Amt. Due: $79 one time purchase
Date Due: N/A

Info Unique to this Contact:
Vendor Provides Multiple Services? Multiple Omni software packages
Vendor Has More Than one Primary Product: omni graffle, sketcher, outliner
Who do we talk to at this company? web purchase only

Licence key = xaoe-4536-axeu-2563-oex5

Procedure(s):N/A
To Pay Vendor:
To Change Address:
To Add Services: www.webaddress_here.com
To Cancel Account:
To Use Product/Service:

Journal History:
Downloaded 14 day trial on 5/1/2010
purchased on 5/14/10, order id=OS6465738, received license key above

input license key into product and activated successfully

Simple and Powerful

Having the relevant data on hand for every object, thing and vendor in my life has been amazingly empowering. I’ve been able to accomplish things while traveling, avoid the hassles of finding support materials before taking action, take simple actions in time to avoid penalties and even turnover intractable admin tasks, as a result.

Mastery

Practice Makes Permanent

By Terence Gillespie September 5, 2014

Practice makes permanent, not perfect. How and what you practice determines what is made permanent.

The saying should be, “Perfect practice makes perfect” though I prefer the word “Optimal”. Perfection is a neurotic goal whereas Optimal is possible within the limits of strengths, weaknesses, values, goals and purpose.

Fine, so how does one practice optimally? One of life’s ironies is that we’re least able to practice optimally when first starting to learn. And, what’s practiced first has a dramatic impact; good or bad.

The Perfect Swing

A golf swing is among the most complex and elegant feats the human body can perform. Having rarely picked up a club I read “Search for the Perfect Swing” before learning to play golf. The book taught me what a perfect golf swing looked like from many vantage points. The more I read the more I wanted to play. So, after reading the book I took a few lessons and, with the help of a pro, bridging the gap between mind and body was a joy!

Playing golf is now fun, not torture. A lot of this has to do with getting off to an Optimal start:

I was interested, but, detached from the urgency of having to “Get started right away”.
The book “spoke my language” covering the subject from many angles and vantage points.
The lessons were efficient because concepts and language were understood. The instructor was freed up to show how to physically swing the club rather than explain language, lingo or why he was leading me in certain directions.
I had no qualms about looking bad, seeking help or taking instruction from a pro.
Distinctions between what felt natural and what were optimal techniques were made from the start. The danger here is that what feels natural is mistaken for optimal instead of just easy. As I learned from playing the guitar what comes natural or “easy” is only one component of what is truly optimal technique.

While better golfers struggle to remove bad habits from their swing, without messing up the whole, I have the luxury of building on an optimal foundation. The few times I get to play are truly enjoyable.

Preparation vs. “Just Do It”

People say, “Don’t think about it, just do it!” as if offering brilliant insight. In fact, advising action without thought is terrible advice, especially, if you don’t know what you’re doing.

A three second delay before “Just speaking” saves a world of hurt. The same goes for thought before action. A little thought before “Just doing it” saves time and may save the effort of undoing, redoing or repairing what wasn’t done right the first time.

Let’s say you’re moving to a new house and loading all your possessions into a truck. While others are mapping out the space you just grab things and start loading them. No need to get “bogged down in the details”, you say, “Just cut to the chase and start loading!” You’re brilliant . . . .until you run out of space or start breaking things. Now you have to unload the truck, map out the space, reload the truck and repair/replace the broken items. Gee, I guess “Anything worth doing is worth doing twice”!

Imagine the same mistake in learning how to play golf. How hard (Or impossible) will it be to unlearn and remove bad habits from muscle and bone because you didn’t waste time learning the fundamentals and just jumped right in and got started!

Diligence vs. Insanity

If practice makes perfect then diligence leads only to perfection. But, diligence, alone, could just as well lead to insanity. If what you’re practicing is flawed, or mechanically wrong, diligence could halt, reverse or permanently degrade performance and make expertise impossible.

Diligence is an admirable quality after you’re clear on the fundamentals of what you’re being diligent about.

Optimal Feels Unnatural, at First

When learning a new skill there’s a tendency to mistake what feels natural with what’s optimal. What feels natural, at first, is usually just what’s easy. And what comes easy is rarely optimal in terms of long term technique. Learning to play the guitar is a good example.

When you pick up a guitar and hold it “Naturally” neither the left or right hands fall into the optimal positions. In fact, when shown how to place the hands, correctly, the first thing people say or think is “This hurts!” It not only feels unnatural, it hurts. Nobody would put their hands in the correct guitar positions “Naturally”. And yet, as painful as the optimal playing position is, at first, it’s the only way to avoid long term damage to your hands and master the instrument. Get it wrong at the beginning and you’ll pay, pay, pay every time you play.

Going by what we “Feel” is usually an excuse to do what’s easy. And what comes easy is only optimal after gaining expertise. What’s easy, at first, may be a disaster in the long term.

Self-Taught is No Badge of Honor

What’s so great about being Self-Taught? Tiger Woods is a natural born golfer and he isn’t self-taught. So, what’s the brag about?

Being self-taught is ok for things around the house or supporting skills incidental to your work. For important skills, however, it’s no badge of honor unless:

You don’t care enough about the activity to put effort or time into it.
You don’t want to spend money on training.
It’s not a long term interest for you.
It’s not important enough to make a fuss about.

There’s nothing wrong with any of this if the skill is trivial. For important skills, however, throw the badge of self-taught in the trash. All it takes, nowadays, is watching a DVD, reading a book or watching videos on the web to get started on the right foot.

The Benefits May be Indirect

Slowing down to prepare or practice the right habits into muscle and bone could pay huge dividends. Ironically, the dividends may go into different skill than the one you’re learning. That’s because doing one thing well has a lot in common with doing anything well. The optimal characteristics, behaviors, look, feel and approach to optimizing one thing parlays into everything you do.

In a previous article about expert marksmanship I ask:

“What profession or task would not benefit from the discipline and precision required to become a Rifleman?

What about adjusting your sights is not transferable to adjusting a miter saw?
What about establishing your NPOA is not transferable to target marketing?
What about zeroing a rifle is not transferable to Optimizing workflow?
What about the shooting by the numbers is not transferable to visualizing your goals?”

then suggest . . .

“For those who haven’t yet settled on a profession precision rifle training exercises a myriad of mental and physical ‘muscles’ that can be applied to future pursuits, yet unknown.”

A Modern Jumpstart

Having so much information at our fingertips is a big help when it comes to learning new skills. Before engaging in serious practice why not:

Do a web search to find experts who communicate well about their expertise.
Watch Youtube videos of experts.
Order and watch Training DVDs.
Checkout Lynda.com for a huge library of software training.
Find books written by experts who speak simply and teach well.

We often hear adults remark that “Kids today know so much more than I did at their age”. That’s probably true. But, they have to. There’s two billion more people on the planet than when I was a kid. When learning skills to contribute and compete it’s more important than ever to practice foundational skills correctly, from the start.

Personal Examples – Good and Bad

Here’s some personal examples of skills and activities I practiced well from the beginning and some that I didn’t.

Good

Golf – The book Search For The Perfect Swing: The Proven Scientific Approach To Fundamentaly Improving Your Game came along at the perfect time and seemed to have been written just for me. It saved me from frustrations that would have made me give up the game. Instead, I enjoy getting a little better each time I play. That’s all I care about with golf because it’s the people, outdoors and elegance of the game that I enjoy.
Flying – I found a natural born pilot passionate about the art and craft of flying. He was not shy about being hard on me, when needed. Also, unlike many flying students I stuck with the same instructor for most of the hours required to earn the general pilots license. That’s important because getting familiar with multiple teaching ‘styles’ is an obstacle to most flying students. Another part of optimizing flying practice from the start was the wealth of DVD training videos on every aspect of flying. Not spending money on them would have been very expensive.
Guitar – My parents found the best teachers right off the bat for me. I still marvel at the awkward habits ingrained into many guitar players who weren’t as lucky.
Piano – Already an accomplished guitar player, choosing a good piano teacher came naturally.
Handgun Shooting – Another example of the optimal grip feeling anything but natural, at first. Through books, DVDs, youtube videos and a friend who is a Federal law enforcement trainer the stance and grip that now feels natural was put into place with Optimal instruction.

Bad

Motorcycling – Early dirt bike riding was a good start because I crashed more often and learned from each one. However, street bike riding is a zero crash high risk scenario. I commuted by motorcycle for seven years, but, had no idea what I didn’t know until being clued in by a friend. Better late than never, I suppose. The book “Proficient Motorcycling” would have been perfect to read before any street bike riding.
Weight Lifting – Everybody thinks they know what they’re doing and almost nobody really does. My early weightlifting was fraught with bad form, working out too many days a week, too many repetitions and no idea how to recover other than eating lots of chicken and eggs and sleeping all day. Ridiculous and nothing but bumping into obstacles and moving backwards.
Rifle Shooting – My dad was great in getting us out into the woods to shoot and being safe about it. He also taught us good trigger technique. However, my brother and I were clueless when it came to holding the rifle, using a sling to stabilize, lining up the sights or learning about anything but our pellet guns and his .22LR. I’m not complaining because he probably taught us more than most dads. However, I wish there had been something like the Appleseed Project back then.

Elegance is Worth The Effort

As you progress into mastery the conscious mind no longer has to focus on fundamentals if they’re practiced well from the beginning. The mind is freed up to focus on overall performance. Sometimes it’s the elegant details and sometimes its the context of the performance. These could turn out to be the most beautiful or critical aspects of your performance. Both are worth the effort of optimizing from the start.

Defense

The Only Thing Better Than Becoming a Rifleman

By Terence Gillespie May 17, 2010

. . . is helping another become one.

A reader I haven’t met became a Rifleman on Sunday and credits my essay with finding out about Appleseed. Hearing the news truly made my week!

Though working on a few candidates at home they’ve yet to attend an Appleseed. But, America’s latest Rifleman, Mark Hudson, went a step further and managed the feat of documenting his training while mastering it. I hope it’s not too long before Mark receives word that the next Rifleman found Appleseed through his article (Which contains excellent checklists and pictures to inspire and assist in preparing for the event)!

Of course, not everyone writes. Just telling folks what you’ve been up to is enough. Those inclined to listen pay more attention to actions than words, anyway; something Appleseed founder Fred knew from the start, no doubt.

All week I’ve been thinking about the popular notion that everyone on the planet is only six degrees of separation away from each other. I think it’s only two degrees for Rifleman. After posting on a favorite forum about Mark’s success one of the Appleseed instructors who worked with Mark, last weekend, actually saw and commented on the post!

To Those Who Have Ears

There’s no way around the looks you’ll get when recommending Rifle training over another trip to Disneyland. Guns are provocative by nature like a beautiful woman. Speaking of which, my wife was concerned watching me gear up for Appleseed. It was fun to return home and burst her bubble with pictures of families, father-daughter teams and boyscouts right along side the warriors she was expecting.

It wasn’t long after that Isabel was dropping hints that she’d be willing to learn if she had her own rifle (Of course!). So, I bought her the one she picked to go with her outfits, in black & silver.

[Photo taken just after Isabel’s promise to attend the next Appleseed with her husband. She is holding the bribe it took to extract that promise.

What a natural and relaxed stance for a gal who’s never picked up a rifle. Now, if that elbow was vertical under the stock and . . .]

Isabel says she always wanted to learn to shoot and my enthusiasm made her speak up. Make that zero degrees of separation in the Gillespie household.

I planned to make this a longer article by mapping out ways to overcome common objections to the innumerable benefits of Rifle training. However, I’m learning from experience that it’s best to save words for those who have ears:

If you don’t see the Liberty aspects of the training then go to learn about your Heritage.
If you don’t care about the Heritage aspects then go for the Marksmanship.
if you don’t care about the marksmanship aspects then go for Precision.
If you don’t care about precision then go to spend time with family members that do.
If you don’t think they need the company then go to meet quality people who are passionate about any one of the above.
If none of these things motivate you then volunteer to babysit for someone who does. . .

Which brings me to something else I learned from Mark that will serve to keep future articles more brief and to the point. As with so much worldly wisdom the Greeks said it first in Latin, “Verbum sat sapienti” or

“A word is sufficient to a wise man”.

After reading some of Mark Hudson’s views on Life, God and Family I think we get a rare glimpse of one, below.

Defense

Appleseeds of Life & Precision

By Terence Gillespie April 5, 2010

Family oriented expert rifle training? Yes, happening at a range near you thanks to the Appleseed Project. You don’t have to go to Switzerland, anymore, to find whole families at the rifle range!

This is expert marksmanship being taught by enthusiastic riflemen who know what they’re doing. You won’t be awarded your Rifleman Patch until you’ve earned it. And what it takes and the word “Easy” don’t belong in the same sentence.

According to Fred, the man who started the Appleseed Project, “The purpose of the shoot is to promote history and marksmanship, to
provide marksmanship training opportunities, to train people to become
Riflemen and to teach them now to train other Riflemen”.

“April 19th, 1775, When marksmanship met history and the heritage began.”
“Liberty, Heritage, & Marksmanship“
“Are you a Rifleman or a cook? Attend an Appleseed event and discover your heritage.“

Rifleman Introductions

I recommend four articles written about Appleseed by two esteemed Riflemen. Read Bill Buppert’s article about his second Appleseed back in 2008 where he brought the whole family “On The Road With the Appleseed Project: Creating Liberty One Rifleman at a Time”. Bill contributes his expertise through Appleseed to “Wake up the sleeping giant in America”. He kindly recommended first shooting .22LR and setting up my Ruger 10/22 with Tech Sights for which my shoulder and bank account are thankful.

Massad Ayoob documents his Appleseed experience in three parts including Lessons from Appleseed and the Guns of Appleseed.

My Appleseed One

My first Appleseed was in Sacramento, two weeks ago. The full service range is in a breathtaking part of the country. The fresh air and scenery were a perfect backdrop for an inspiring day.

Apart from the welcoming smiles of the volunteer staff the first thing that struck me was that whole families were there for the training! There were also two father daughter teams and three father son teams.

One third of the attendees were women including three rifleman trainers. Perhaps the only thing more impressive about the lovely ladies on the next mat over is that they were outshooting the men! Grrr. . .

The Rifle

I brought a Ruger 10/22 with tech sights and a plain GI sling with six magazines though four would have been fine. See Mas Ayoob’s Guns of Appleseed or Appleseed’s Liberty Training Rifle for tips on setting up your rifle.

Training for Precision

The training starts with the big things first moving in a circle around your shooting position. Every physical and mental factor leading up to the bullet exiting the barrel is covered. The quality of the shot is viewed as a reflection of the quality of the setup, trigger squeeze and follow through.

Every detail counts in an endeavor of precision and the training involves two days of getting every aspect of the setup into your muscles and bones. For the purposes of this article, however, I’ll briefly describe two aspects of the training that I particularly enjoyed: Natural Point of Aim (NPOA) and firing the shot “By the Numbers”.

What follows are this budding Rifleman’s summary of two, of many, aspects of the training. They give a flavor of the training though words are no substitute for the real thing.

Natural Point of Aim

The idea of NPOA is to setup your body around the rifle so that both are in a state of relaxed tension pointing at the target. Once in your NPOA your breath will cause the front sight to rise and fall vertically through the target. Much of the morning is spent learning what it looks and feels like to get into your NPOA in the prone position.

Adding breath control and their six steps of shooting by the numbers lays an excellent foundation for squeezing off consistent shots. The next step is learning to get into your NPOA in standing position and one seated position (Since body types vary you’ll be shown five seating positions to choose from).

Like most endeavors of precision Appleseed’s descriptions and demonstrations are easily described and demonstrated by the experts. However, teaching your body and mind to reliably and consistently setup your NPOA for the three basic positions is not easy and feels anything but natural, at first. This is especially true for the self-taught (Myself included) who need to unlearn bad habits and replace them with correct technique.

The pace of the training is brisk, methodical and complete. There are no shortcuts taken in building a solid Rifleman foundation. Considering the wide variety of people at the training it’s impressive to see everyone focus together to handle the pace and quality of the instruction.

Firing the Shot “By The Numbers”

Here’s another summary that gives a flavor for the training, but, is no substitute for the full descriptions and experience of being guided through each “Number” in real time by experienced Riflemen:

Line up the front and rear sights.
Bring the lined-up sights onto the target.
Take a deep breath in, then out using the rise and fall of the front sight to establish NPOA.
A: Focus your eye on the front sight. B: Focus you mind on keeping the front sight on target.
Take up the slack and squeeze the trigger straight back (While concentrating on the front sight).
When the hammer falls: Keep your eyes open, take a mental photo of the shot (Referred to as ‘Calling the shot’) and hold the trigger back for follow through.

The instructors are enthusiastic and patient with a keen eye for recognizing and correcting your weak areas.

After the first two hours I started wondering where else I could get such quality training at the price? “Nowhere” is the correct answer. Even if you offered to pay a family member’s gas, lunch and ammunition it would cost you more than Appleseed’s two day training for $70! (Women and children are currently free which I’ll be using to pursuade my wife to join me).

Appleseed Before Practice

Practice makes permanent, not perfect. What you practice determines what is made permanent.

Apart from zeroing your rifle I recommend attending the first day of an Appleseed before engaging in intensive practice with your rifle. In fact, have someone else zero your rifle if you trust them to do it. That frees you up to soak in the training and practice the right habits into your bones on every subsequent shooting occasion.

I spent the first half of the day unlearning bad habits. Best to err on the side of coming to an Appleseed before making bad habits permanent.

Master A Tool of Tools

Mastering a precision tool bestows benefits beyond the area of the tool, itself. In the case of a Rifle the benefits are profound. What profession or task would not benefit from the discipline and precision required to become a Rifleman?

What about adjusting your sights is not transferable to adjusting a miter saw?
What about establishing your NPOA is not transferable to target marketing?
What about zero’ing a rifle is not transferable to Optimizing workflow?
What about the shooting by the numbers is not transferable to visualizing your goals?

The benefits ricochet (Sorry) to and from all endeavors of precision. Inversely, the discipline and precision of master carpentry, for example, can be parlayed back into many aspects of the Rifleman’s craft, as well. For those who haven’t yet settled on a profession precision rifle training exercises a myriad of mental and physical ‘muscles’ that can be applied to future pursuits, yet unknown.

It’s been said that the 1st and 2nd amendments are the only rights required to guarantee the other eight Bill of Rights and all non-enumerated natural human rights. Apropos to their power learning to speak, write, express, worship and defend is optimally approached with an eye towards precision. It is somehow not enough:

To understand the power of speech, yet speak imprecisely.
To be willing to die for the freedom of worship yet be unspecific in praising God’s glory.
To treasure Life and Family with no proficiency in the only historically proven means of their final defense against tyranny or uninitiated aggression.

It takes time, study, effort and keen interest to acquire mastery of these tools of tools. Yet, it’s worth every effort to acquire them even apart from the daily blessings they bestow.

The Day’s Results

According to Appleseed my maximum effective range is 400 Yards. That means I was able to get three consecutive shots to group within a man sized silhouette at 400 yards. In theory this is one step short of Rifleman, but, it’s not that simple.

The “Red Coat Test” (So named because the targets are red to symbolize the British uniforms in the Revolutionary War) is shot from only one position and is not as strict as the Army Qualification Test (AQT) test given the following day where you shoot in three different positions while being timed.

I spent most of the day soaking in the fundamentals and replacing bad habits. That’s probably par for the course for guys who didn’t have the good fortune of Appleseed-like training when starting to shoot. Also, since I didn’t re-zero the .22 after installing iron sights I failed to realize they needed serious adjustments beyond the settings possible on the sights. Therefore, I spent the day looking at groups still 4 inches off the target. For the last two hours an instructor (Thank you, Pat) lent me his 10/22 rifle with a scope. This was great timing because I was able to see the results of the days efforts on targets instead of groups.

I was able to attend only one day of this two day event. Perhaps I could have shot Rifleman the next day though it would have felt wrong to do so with a borrowed rifle. I’ll be back for a proper two-day Appleseed in the next few months. In the meantime, this one day of training has set the tone for practicing the right habits into bone and muscle.

Prep for Appleseed Two

If you’re planning to attend an Appleseed their “What to bring to an Appleseed Event Checklist” is great. Make sure to bring a hat for the sun or a raincoat for the rain. I also recommend binoculars (If you’re not using a scope) to see your patterns between courses of fire where you won’t be walking down to the target. My personal prep for Appleseed Two is to:

Bring a backup rifle – Just like the “What to Bring” sheet says – bring a backup rifle. There’s just no time to make major adjustments to your primary without missing key elements of the training.
Zero both rifles prior to arrival – They cover sight adjustments in the training, but, the elevation adjustments on my tech sights were maxed out and required disassembly to correct. Since I was only there for the Saturday session an instructor loaned me his backup rifle so I wouldn’t be sidelined. Also, to keep the line safe shooters are discouraged from working on their rifles outside of the preparation period. There’s really no time to focus on making major adjustments to your rifle. It’s best to come with a zero ‘d rifle with all the kinks worked out before hand.
Replace the factory with an auto bolt release – Smooth magazine changes are required for the AQT. Placing my finger just right does the trick, but, it’s a distracting hassle that annoys at the end of the day.

Goals

Earn the Rifleman’s patch with the .22 LR.
Requalify with a .308 to remap the training into a true 500 yard round.
Persuade my wife to take a drive in the country and and see what her husband is excited about.
Invite my friends to come along (I’ll drive, pay gas, share ammo and prepare your rifle, if requested!).
Spread the word – Fulfilled with this article, but, not likely to end here.

Planting Seeds of Life & Precision

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction” – Ronald Reagan

On April 19, 1775 better men than I were faced with a choice: Freedom or Slavery. They chose Freedom and paid dearly for it. The men and women of Appleseed have not forgotten and are planting seeds of life & precision in the hearts of new generations of Americans. At a time when dozens of HD screens in every home are turning brains into mush these guys are off the couch breathing the fresh air of the countryside and passing on timeless values and skills.

Politics aren’t required to embrace something fun for the whole family that instills values, skills and benefits far beyond the training, itself. The precision skills parlay into any future profession so why not take a cue from Bill Buppert and make Appleseed part of your homeschool curriculum?

Family oriented expert rifle training is happening at a range near you. Thanks to the Appleseed Project we don’t have to go to Switzerland, anymore, to find whole families at the rifle range! Who knows? With all these sparkling new rifles and Rifleman budding forth maybe it’s not too much to hope for the stabilizing peace and freedom that historically follows in their wake, was purchased by our ancestors and is currently enjoyed by our Swiss friends.

— Special thanks to Shoot Boss BaldDragn and assistent trainers James, eaglescouter, Jules, DoubleD, NorCal22Gal and Pat who trusted me with his rifle.

Banking

Optimal Barter Equation

By Terence Gillespie January 19, 2010

An item with money qualities might be a good barter item. To be an Optimal Barter Item it must also directly fulfill multiple human needs in the circumstances of the barter.

For each scenario under consideration ask yourself what items would directly fulfill multiple human needs and be widely accepted in trade in excess of the trader’s need. If the item is also transportable, divisible, storable, measurable and hard to counterfeit then it’s a winner: An alternative form of money in the circumstances of the barter.

Since anything can be used in barter it’s worth making an equation as a tool to separate the wheat from the chaff:

(M * N * LP)_1-n = Optimal Barter

Where M are the money qualities, N is how directly the item fulfills a need and LP is the Life Priority of the need fulfilled. Note the 1-n subscript. That’s because an item can fulfill needs across multiple categories of life. In fact, the best barter items do.

Money & Substitutes – (M)

One way to compare barter items with each other is to compare each with money and rate them according to how they measure up. The top items on the resulting list are possible money substitutes. Their fulfillment of human needs, however, is another matter entirely. See ‘Ammo vs. Money’ where I compare ammunition with all the attributes of money.

When barter is king money is dethroned: It takes a backseat to the direct fulfillment of human needs. The concept of money and its substitutes is still useful, however, because many items that fulfill human needs are also decent money substitutes.

Water, food, syringes, antibiotics, IV Lines, portable water filters, firearms, ammunition, batteries and radios are worth more than the money used to buy them even in good times. In a crisis some of these are needed so badly they might overcome the biggest stumbling block of barter: The lack of a double coincidence of wants.

Direct Need Fulfillment – (N)

Water quenches thirst, Food satisfies hunger, Tarps block rain and wind.

The more direct the fulfillment the higher quality the item. I’m a big fan of substitutes but they’re not as easily recognized in the midst of a crisis as the real thing. Since barter items are best stocked after covering the essentials for your family it’s best to focus on items that fulfill needs, directly. There’s one exception to this line of thinking.

The best barter items span multiple categories of use: They directly fulfill some needs and indirectly fulfill others. Water is an easy example: It directly quenches thirst and cleans skin and has an almost infinite number of other uses. Water’s indirect uses multiply it’s desirability as is the case with other Optimal barter candidates.

Life Priorities – (LP)

It’s a constant burden to mankind that choices must be made with imperfect knowledge. With perfect knowledge ordering priorities is a cinch. However, wait too long for specifics to prepare and risk not being prepared, at all.

My Life Priorities are the same in good times and in bad. In a crisis I’ll rely on intuition to reorder priorities according to the scenario. For instance, although Water is #1 the urgency in finding a source is greater in a desert than in a rainforest. Medicine is #5 though in the absence of sickness or injury securing communications might pay bigger dividends. These are not compromises; just working flexibility and a trust of intuition after being prepared, in general.

For the purposes of preparing in advance for a non-specific crisis I’ve chosen to order life’s priorities in the following categories:

Water
Shelter & Clothing
Food
Security
Health & Medicine
Communications
Power
Hygiene & Sanitation
General Tools
Transportation

Going through your own reasoning process and placing these categories in order is surprisingly useful. Knowing your priorities is key in making disciplined and balanced choices when allocating limited resources.

Narrowing Down the Barter List

Think through your Life Priorities and order them into categories (As many as you find useful).
Consider the bolded items in the Comprehensive Barter Item List as barter items worthy of consideration (And please send me your suggestions).
Group the resulting items from step 2 that strike you as filling the most pressing human Needs into your life priority categories.
Sort items within each category by your sense of its importance.
Use your Life Priority categories and assign a primary category and then the secondary categories that the item serves.
Take each item compare it with the attributes of money and assign a value where 10 = Money and 0 = nothing in common with money.
Keep sorting using the criteria in steps 4 thru 7 until you narrow the list down to 20 to 50 items or however many you’d like to use as input to the Barter Equation.

The resulting items are the best items to use as input to the equation.

Consider Three Scenarios

Consider narrowing down your preparation scenarios to three:

The most likely threat to your physical location.
The threat that comes to mind when consulting your informed intuition.
The everyday potential threats and outages that normal life presents.

For example, my three are Fire, Dollar devaluation/Inflation and Electrical Power Outages.

Applying the Equation

Grabbing some promising barter items from the Comprehensive Barter Item List for my three scenarios here’s my impression of the values that should be assigned to them for each variable in the Barter Equation. The equation has not yet been applied. They have merely been sorted by their primary Life Priority category and then by their respective Money qualities. This is as far as people usually go when when considering barter items.

The higher the N the more direct its fulfillment of LP1 (As Ordered by my Life Priorities, above).
The higher the M the more qualities of Money the Item has.
LP1 is the items primary fulfillment category (In my opinion) and LP2 thru N are its secondary fulfillment categories.

Sorted by Primary Life Priority, then by Money Qualities

Barter Equation not Applied.

Item	N	M	LP1	LP2 thru N
Water Packets	10	7	1	3,5,7,9
Portable Filters	5	5	1	3,5,7,9
Duct Tape	7	7	2	4,5,7,8,9
Tarps	8	6	2	4,7,8,9
Aluminum Foil	4	8	3	5,7,9
Coconut Oil	10	7	3	5,7,9
Eggs & Milk	10	6	3	5
Baking Soda	3	5	3	5,7,9
Ammunition	8	8	4	3,6,9
Syringes	5	6	5	7,9
Alcohol Wipes	6	6	5	7,9
Antibiotic Lotion	8	6	5	7
Fuel	8	6	7	4,5,6,9,10
Generator	8	2	7	4,5,6,9,10
Soap Bars	7	6	8	5

Applying the Optimal Barter Equation (First Dimension Only)

Here is where the items rank after using a spreadsheet to apply the equation to each items M, N and the LP of their primary category only. In other words, this is where the item would rank if its fulfillment of needs in other life priority categories was left out of consideration.

(M * N * LP) = Optimal Barter

Rank	Item	N	M	LP1	LP2 thru N
1	Water Packets	10	7	1	3,5,7,9
2	Coconut Oil	10	7	3	5,7,9
3	Eggs & Milk	10	6	3	5
4	Ammunition	8	8	4	3,6,9
5	Duct Tape	7	7	2	4,5,7,8,9
6	Tarps	8	6	2	4,7,8,9
7	Antibiotic Lotion	8	6	5	7
8	Aluminum Foil	4	8	3	5,7,9
9	Portable Filters	5	5	1	3,5,7,9
10	Alcohol Wipes	6	6	5	7,9
11	Fuel	8	6	7	4,5,6,9,10
12	Syringes	5	6	5	7,9
13	Soap Bars	7	6	8	5
14	Baking Soda	3	5	3	5,7,9
15	Generator	8	2	7	4,5,6,9,10

Applying the Optimal Barter Equation to All Dimensions of Each Barter Item

Applying the equation now to both the primary and secondary life priority categories the item serves. Notice the increased liquidity of items that serve a broad number of categories.

(M * N * LP)_1-n = Optimal Barter

Rank	Item	N	M	LP1	LP2 thru N
1	Water Packets	10	7	1	3,5,7,9
2	Duct Tape	7	7	2	4,5,7,8,9
3	Ammunition	8	8	4	3,6,9
4	Coconut Oil	10	7	3	5,7,9
5	Tarps	8	6	2	4,7,8,9
6	Fuel	8	6	7	4,5,6,9,10
7	Eggs & Milk	10	6	3	5
8	Portable Filters	5	5	1	3,5,7,9
9	Aluminum Foil	4	8	3	5,7,9
10	Antibiotic Lotion	8	6	5	7
11	Alcohol Wipes	6	6	5	7,9
12	Generator	8	2	7	4,5,6,9,10
13	Soap Bars	7	6	8	5
14	Syringes	5	6	5	7,9
15	Baking Soda	3	5	3	5,7,9

The above fifteen choices were chosen only to show how to apply the equation. It would be interesting to apply the equation to all barter items and see the results. If there’s enough interest that would be a fun exercise for another article.

The resulting Top 10 items of your application of the equation are most worthy of your barter resources. They will directly fulfill the needs of your family while providing a backup form of money or trade liquidity during barter economies. Your proposed trades with these items are more likely to be accepted by fellow traders than those who haven’t gone through the exercise.

Whiskey, Cigarettes & Chocolate

These three items have proven themselves to be good barter items in real barter ‘economies’. The equation handles them well if you add them to your Life Priority list and give them a high “M”, which they deserve.

For instance, perhaps you would swap my priority of “Transportation” with “Vices” to account for Whiskey and Cigarettes. You would also rate these items high in “M” because they do fair well as money substitutes.

Chocolate fits naturally in the Food and Health categories and has a high “M” if the climate is not too warm.

The value of everything varies continuously in time. That doesn’t mean there’s no value in evaluating their relative standing in the only moment we have: Now.

Optimal Barter Items are like Superfoods

To be honest I had a different equation written when beginning this article. After going through the entire process it became obvious that some items are to barter what superfoods are to health: They provide a kind of comprehensive nourishment; they fulfill multiple high-priority needs!

I did not rig the equation to favor items that met multiple needs. I only discovered that no item that fulfilled only one need could compete with the liquidity or desirability of a barter item that fulfilled needs across the spectrum of life’s highest priorities.

The Trade Trumps the Traded

As with the use of money trade is more valuable than what’s traded. Who makes that judgment? You do by making the trade. After all, if you’d rather keep the items you’re exchanging then why don’t you? Even protesting ‘no choice’ admits you value what you get more than what you give. And, your fellow trader feels the same, no?

The Trade Trumps the Traded, every time, as evidenced by the fact that the Trade was made.

Human Needs Trump Liquidity

The purpose of your Optimal Barter Equation is to zero-in on the barter items most worthy of your limited resources. They’re the most liquid components of your preparedness plan. Since the top candidates are also essential it’s a judgment call to decide when you have enough. While your overall preparedness will be well served with these items be careful not to prioritize barter items over the broad range of essentials needed by every family.

Diet

How to Quit Drinking Coffee

By Terence Gillespie September 10, 2008

The best way to quit drinking coffee is to replace it with something else. For coffee you’ll need direct and indirect replacements.

The indirect replacements are for the routines, sights, sounds, textures, tastes, feelings, circumstances and occasions that surround your coffee drinking.

The better your choice of replacement(s) for the drink and all these other things that surround your drinking the easier the quitting will be.

In the rest of this article I’ll tell you what replacement(s) I chose and describe my current experience with quitting.

Should you quit drinking coffee?

Not knowing if or why you want to stop drinking coffee is probably why you haven’t quit, already. Or maybe your why is not enough to motivate you.

In the case of coffee we’re bombarded with conflicting stories about whether its good or bad for us. Both sides of the health argument for coffee are about even and the question will probably never be resolved.

If coffee controls you instead of you controlling it then you should quit drinking it. You’ll know it’s controlling you when you can’t start the day without it. Or, if you get a headache when you don’t have enough.

Replacements

Quitting is a transition to something else. Here’s a few things to keep in mind about picking and using replacements:

The best replacements usually have a lot in common with what you’re trying to quit. Things we have to quit often involve routines, sights, sounds, textures, tastes and feelings surrounding the thing we’re trying to quit. You may need replacements for them, as well. For coffee, there is the taste, the caffeine buzz, the smell, the warm liquid flowing down your throat and the routine of grinding the beans and setting up the machine.

You may need a series of replacements before settling on the final. That means Your Optimal final replacement may not be the best first replacement to use. Your body may have to detoxify or have other reactions and compensations it has to cycle through before you can ultimately quit. In extreme cases that may mean moving from something toxic to something less toxic and eventually to something non-toxic. The final replacement should be something actually good for you.

But, we’re talking coffee, here, not heroin. One or two replacements will probably do it. I used four replacements for coffee: Two for the morning and two others for the afternoon, see below.

It may be best to allow yourself as much of your replacements as you want as long as your replacement is not toxic. It may serve as a psychological reward for following through on the quitting.

My Replacements for Coffee

My first replacement is tea, with caffeine.

For me, it is the perfect first replacement because it has so much in common with the way I drink coffee. Tea is hot, I add milk and stevia to it, it prevents my caffeine withdrawal headache and the physical routine surrounding its preparation is almost identical to making coffee. We have one of those “Instant Hot” water dispensors in the kitchen so I get the added benefit of having the tea ready, almost instantly.

My second replacement is tea, without caffeine. By this time I’ve ramped down on the amount of caffeine in the tea, so, probably won’t get a withdrawal headache any more. If I do then alternating with caffeinated tea is the quick remedy. After about seven days the whole craving for coffee in the morning is gone. That’s surprisingly quick for someone who couldn’t imagine starting a day without coffee only a week ago!

My third replacement, used in the afternoon, is a nap. I was using coffee as a crutch to power through the afternoon without a nap or a break. I decided not to fight afternoon naps any longer and just take one. The benefits of afternoon naps have been enormous! If fact, I feel it gives almost a full extra day of productivity every day! Wow, talk about a replacement.

Every once in a while I have a diet Rock Star after waking up from my afternoon knap. So far, its been a great way to start my ‘second day’. It’s one of those sugar free health drinks that has healthy ingredients. I’m skeptical about the pink, blue and yellow stuff they use in sugar free drinks and prefer stevia. But, for now, I’m enjoying the Rock-Star until I find something better. Leading candidates are pelligrino with a little fruit juice added for taste or some of the exotic teas my wife gets on her trips to China.

How Long Does It Take?

The whole thing took about a week, for me.

As much as I was addicted to coffee it just didn’t take that long to quit drinking it. I had a headache for the first 3 days if I didn’t have enough caffeinated tea. A little bit of tea and “Poof”, headache gone.

One of the surprising things for me was accepting the fact that I’m a slow riser. It takes me a while to leave dreamland and cut over to wakefulness. Because of this I find the routine of making the tea just as useful as the tea, itself. Therefore, when I wake up I go right into preparing the tea and, by the time its ready, I’m ready for the day.

How Will You Know When You’ve Quit?

You’ll know you’ve quit when you can take it or leave it.

Coffee will take its place among the multitude of drink options available to you depending on occasion and mood. You’ll be able to start your day with a clear mind and ready to go to work even though you’ve had no coffee.

A few days ago, we were over at a friends house and I was starting to fade. We were late in getting together and didn’t want to leave, yet. The conversation was interesting and another couple had just walked in the door that we wanted to socialize with. I made myself one cup of coffee. It was just the thing needed to keep the conversation going for a while until it was time to go. One cup of coffee and that was it. No coffee needed the next morning and no problems sleeping that night.

Coffee is now just another drink option. I neither crave it, avoid it or even think about it. If I want a cup I have one. I’ll even just have a decaf since I don’t need the buzz to think clearly, anymore.

Start acting and feeling like this and you’ll know you’ve quit.