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Introducing Your Optimal Life Equation

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Your Optimal Life Equation (YOLE) is an algebraic formula to describe, contemplate, and re-calibrate the optimality of one’s life.  The relationships of the major elements are shown as well as the potential  impacts a change may have. The equation is introduced, here, and referred to throughout the “The Outliers Handbook“.

When I got the idea to describe an Optimal life with an algebraic formula the flaws in the approach were obvious: The units don’t match and assigning one number to something that, by its very nature, is multi-dimensional is absurd. Such absurdities are built-in to something else passed on as knowledge, every day . . . the IQ. Who in the world thinks something as multi-faceted as intelligence can be fully captured and described by an integer? It can’t. And yet, the IQ is still, somehow, useful. So is YOLE.

Cross-discipline metaphors are useful for the same reason any metaphor can be: Patterns in nature are like other patterns in nature. Sometimes, the same fractal pattern in one natural structure is duplicated exactly in another. Fractals prove that stupefying complexity can emerge from utter simplicity. The reverse is not true.

Those who have no problem “dividing” a mountain by a triangle  or seeing the golden ratio in a conch shell or human face may find YOLE useful. It doesn’t reach fractal-like perfection (Yet) but Your Optimal Life Equation may show how some of the major elements of life may be changed to lead to a more optimally functioning one.

Your Optimal Equation

Where all people have S,W,V,G,H,T,El,j,c and at least one Pg. Not every person has Pr, Pb or EB.

 

YOE-Variables
Key

Talking Through the Equation

The sum total of your Strengths and Weaknesses is all you have to maintain everything you Value, your Goals, the People in your life (H), and the Things you own. The results of that division is multiplied by  the purposeful roles you play in the lives of others, the purpose of your business activities, and whatever you most desire or worship (Your God). The resulting numerator is what you bring into (Is divided by) your larger environment: The physical or virtual stage of  your life and business. The major elements of your Environment are physical location, legal jurisdiction and community. Your business may have a separate environment with its own physical location, legal jurisdiction and community.

Small Changes Can Have a Huge Impact

The legal jurisdiction of one’s physical body and business could be the sole determining factor of whether one is at liberty to accomplish anything, at all. Likewise, the wrong community could leave one alone and bereft of the amplifications (And enjoyment) that a strong and thriving community can provide.

Whether or not one has an immediate family, an optional component of Pr , will have a huge impact on the nature of the most purposeful roles in one’s life.

What You Control . . .

You determine the inputs and amounts of most variables. You may have little to no control over some of them, in the short-term. You can have some degree of control over most of them, eventually. It’s  daunting to realize how most of the important aspects of life are the direct result of personal choice. The sheer amount of decisions one could make to optimize life is probably why people rarely take full control over all the elements they could potentially control. Of course, depending on resources available  (Strengths) an attempt to control everything might lead to a failure to control anything.

. . . and What You Don’t

Your unique disposition of strengths and weaknesses is part of your natural disposition at birth. You have huge latitude in honing and deploying strengths. You also have many options for minimizing the impacts of natural weaknesses. However, it’s still mostly a matter of playing smarter with the hand you’ve been dealt.

Likewise, you don’t choose to live on “The grid” of planet earth. You choose where to locate the various elements of your life on that grid.

You don’t choose the members of your local (And virtual) communities. You choose the location and subjects around which those communities are organized, and possibly united.

On Values

Values present a cost to maintain and uphold. Hold to as few of the best values in life while tending to values.  Discard bad values and replace merely good values with great ones. Great values are consistent with Purpose(s) and decrease net costs to Strengths.

On Goals

Goals are costly to achieve. Achieving goals is usually a good thing. A great thing, however, is achieving great goals. Great goals align with the purposes of your life. Discrimination between good and great goals requires awareness of purpose(s).

On People (H)

People can be among the greatest sources of abundance on earth. They can also be the most taxing. The task here is to have the right balance of people in your life. Those congruent with your purposes will bring abundance to your life (And you to theirs) even if they’re taxing. For one thing, people tend to motivate growth. Growth makes us stronger and leaves us with more strengths to optimize life. Therefore, the tax of people in our lives may be a large cost in the short-term and change the fundamental balance of the equation in the long-term. People are a “Capital” investment in the grandest sense of the world.

On Things

Things, or possessions, require some combination of storage, maintenance, insurance, licensing, money, time, registration, bill processing (Registration renewal, licensing updates, etc.) and on and on. The least number of Things you need to accomplish purpose(s) the better.

On Purpose(s)

Ants, snails, and bugs may have one purpose. People have multiple purposes. The popular myth that people have just one purpose is harmful and tends to thwart the discovery of what one’s purposes may be. There’s a purpose for every role, family member, business activity, ongoing responsibility and activity in your life. The YOLE encapsulates them all into the roles you play in the lives of others, business purposes, and God (Pr,b,g).

On Environment(s)

Personal and Business environments might be separate. Therefore, the equation allows for both E and EB. Each have their own components of physical location, legal jurisdiction and community.

Location has a dramatic affect on the prevailing Law, Jurisdiction, and Community with which you’re interacting with in time. However, physical location is not a static, one-time-only, choice. With cyberspace, jet travel, dual-citizenship, and multi-state and national entities a person’s Environment is no longer determined solely by physical Location. Of course, if your E and EB are tied to one physical location then it makes the equation easier to “Calculate”. The cost of that simplicity will probably increase as technocratic mechanisms of control and taxation become more refined and perfected. Also, as such mechanisms are refined and perfected E, EB, and their subcomponents will tend to merge into one. The more completely merged, the more each component will be the same for more people. Physical locations will always vary but characteristics of legal jurisdiction and community may become so similar that distinctions are of little importance. In some ways this can be seen as one drives across the US stopping into the “Same” fast-food franchises in every state.

Environments are multi-locational and sometimes virtual. Where is the PT (Perpetual Traveler) located if his business is in one country, money in another, investments in another and body in another? His body can only be in one location at a time, of course. But will he be there long enough to be viewed as a resident (Legal jurisdiction)? Even so, his business may be in a different jurisdiction. Complex combinations can grow out of varied components of E and EB.

Reality has ~10 Dimensions, Not Four

Theoretical physicists now presume Reality presents in 10 dimensions. That’s six more than most people assume comprise the Reality in which their life is taking place. To distinguish the standard four from the 10 I’ll use the convention of uppercase Reality (10) and lowercase reality (4). I might turn YOLE into a graphic to account for Reality. For now, think of E as not limited to the dimensions of X,Y,Z and Time/Space but extending into dimensions that may or may not be discernible to the five senses.

People with a keener sense of dimensions, beyond the four, may possess either a physical, intellectual or theological strength. Some choices of Pg enable such awareness and some preclude it. Since anything that obscures the full  dimensions of Reality is a handicap one can better optimize life with a Pg that enables full awareness.

What God?

Desire provides powerful insight into purpose. People align their lives with what they most desire in the moment. What people most desire can be described as their god of the moment.

There are as many gods (Idols) as there are nouns in the dictionary: Money, alcohol, sex, prestige, control over others, Buddha, Allah, nature, Lucifer or the Holy Trinity of the God of the Bible, etc. Gods are swapped in and out over time. Whatever one desires most during a given period is the god of that period. Sex in the morning, money in the afternoon, control over others at night . . . gods tend to become the sole purpose of one’s life for the time period they are most desired. During that period everything about the person tends to be oriented around obtaining or reveling in (Worshipping) whatever it is. Such desires effect physical, mental and spiritual changes in the person experiencing them. In a sense, we become what we most desire.

Business (Job) vs. Calling

If what you do for a living is also the highest purpose of your life, i.e., your business or job is also your calling,  then Pb will be a higher “Number” or of greater magnitude, to be more accurate.. The components of your business environment (EB) will still have a large impact on the equation but the first main numerator of the equation will tend to offset any negatives that may be components of EB.

Some Output Examples

O = (((S + W) / (V + G + H + T)) * Pr,b,g) / (El,j,c * EBl,j,c)

  • Strength(s) and Purpose(s) are the positive inputs used to optimize life. Their number, amount, deployment and alignment determine the positive “Numbers” of the equation, after which, everything gets divided.
  • By minimizing the impact of your weaknesses the impact of your strengths is greater.
  • Choose only the highest quality Values to uphold or maintain because any value presents a cost to your strengths to maintain. Replace merely good values with great values.
  • Choose only the highest quality goals to accomplish because any goal presents an achievement cost to your strengths. Replace merely good goals with great goals. Great goals still tax your strengths but are also components of Purpose and, therefore, counterbalance the equation.
  • Surround yourself with high quality people. All roles and relationships tax your strengths but the right people are components of Purpose and counterbalance the equation.
  • The less Things you own (Store, maintain, insure, move, sell, buy) the better. Anything that owns you must go. Such things make an optimal life impossible unless the purpose of your life is Thing(s).
  • If you have no Purpose(s) the chance of optimizing life falls to zero.
  • If you get stronger (Or deploy existing strengths more efficiently) you can support more Values, Goals, People and Things in your life. However, the least number of these you have, ideally keeping only those that will be factored with  purpose(s), the more optimal your life.
  • If the impact of your weaknesses are lessened you can support more Values, Goals, People and Things in your life because the tax (Direct subtraction) to your strengths is lessened.

This is a short list of example outputs from YOLE. It is, by no means, exhaustive.

On and On It Goes

There’s no end to the complexities of even one human life. The YOLE can be referred to in the middle of a storm (When nothing seems clear because everything is happening fast) or tranquil waters (When everything is fine and you want to focus on what small changes might have the best impact). Whatever the context it can show how some of major elements of life may be changed to enable one’s life to function more optimally. In “The Outliers Handbook” I refer to the equation in the context of the subjects and areas of life being addressed.

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Investors File Criminal Charges Against Kenneth Johnson and Pamela Del Real, FBI and IRS Notified

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As promised by investor Lt. Col. Thomas Baker, the forensic reconstruction of Galt’s Gulch Chile has been completed and was hand-delivered to the FBI and the IRS on June 8th, 2015. Informed by the reconstruction, investor David McLeod filed criminal charges against Kenneth Johnson and Pamela Del Real in Chile (Docket number RUC 4710-2015) on May 20th. More US civil suits against Johnson are likely to follow.

On a phone call with Cathy Cuthbert, she described the forensic recontruction as a wellspring of previously unknown facts and details about what actually transpired around GGC. Timelines, Contracts, Accounting, Wire Transfers, Corporate reports, Recorded conversations between Johnson and investors, Videos, Credit reports, etc. showing Johnson to be at the heart of the problems surrounding GGC he has blamed on others. In other words, despite Johnson’s claims of working for the investors as a developer the reconstruction shows that the “service” Johnson has been providing them is similar to that which the bull provides the cow.

Readers of this GGC series will find it no surprise that Johnson used investor funds to spin a complex web of deceit involving multiple entities, off-shore trusts, multiple bank accounts, share swaps with Mario Del Real and others, inflated prices, ridiculous late fees, absurdly negotiated prices, etc. all while using corporate bank accounts like a personal checking account.

It’s tempting to leave Jeff Berwick out of discussions about GGC now that he’s so publicly apologized. Unfortunately, his involvement in cutting Cobin and German out, starting a different entity into which to take title (IGGSA) and trying to get the New Zealand trust and offshore structures in place is quite evident in the reconstruction documents. There’s little doubt Ken Johnson was the instigator of the most serious problems with GGC, and continues to make all things worse with his presence and current behavior. However, to say Berwick wasn’t right there at the beginning is to not tell the story, correctly, at all. As mentioned in Part 3 my hope is that Berwick will externalize his contrite heart into some modest assistance to ongoing recovery efforts or investors in extreme need. With the introduction of these new charges, with more to follow, the publicity surrounding the aftermath of GGC is not going away, anytime soon.

Note: The criminal charges filed by David McLeod, and some documents of the forensic reconstruction I was able to coax from the recovery team, have been added to the free E-book, “The Creature from Galt’s Gulch”. I will continue to add such elements to the book as I receive them and within the boundaries of preserving the privacy of the investors.

Justice Provided by the People Involved

As described by Cathy Cuthbert and Thomas Baker, the breadth and depth of the forensic reconstruction they’ve put together is quite impressive. It’s not only a meticulous investigation and gathering of documents but they’ve formatted the whole thing into a package that makes it accessible to outside parties.

I’m not sure what may have transpired between Tom and Ken but the USMC motto of “No better friend, no worse enemy” might echo in Johnson’s mind for some time to come. That is, if Johnson is able to comprehend what has just happened to him. The agencies he’s just been reported to will hound him for the next decade. Half of that decade will be spent defending himself against the criminal charges that were filed against him in Chile on May 20th, by David McLeod. And, there’s more to come. A rather obvious tip to Johnson would be: The next time Tom makes an offer of either “Friend” or “Enemy” . . . go with the former choice. Who knows? Maybe the recovery team would still let Johnson wiggle out of his fraud if he’d just hand over the land the investors paid for.

The FBI white collar crime fraud division will find that most of the investigative, forensic accounting, and reconstructive work has been done and hand-delivered to them by the recovery team. With so much work already complete perhaps the agency will bump the case to the top of their case-load so they may stand in front of their logo at a news conference and receive some good publicity.

The Del Real Factor

Johnson is solely responsible for inviting a local Chilean, Mario Del Real, into GGC affairs. And yet, investors have been made to suffer Johnson’s endless complaining about problems he’s had with Mario and his daughter, Pamela. That’s because Johnson performed a bizarre GGC stock swap with Mario hoping to make big money on the value of water in an Andes Water company called Rio Colorado. By the time the smoke had cleared Mario owned most of IGGSA and his daughter was the general manager of the company! In other words, Johnson was no longer the dominant share holder of GGC and had lost all control over the entity that holds the land. What great “Development” work, Ken!

(To understand more about this failed deal see Chapter 7, “The Rio Colorado/GGC Share Swap”, in the GGC E-book.)

If you’ve read my “Stolen Car Metaphor” at the end of Part 7 you know my take that Johnson’s epic fail with the Del Real share swap is merely the lamentations of a thief who bungled and lost the proceeds of a previous theft. The fact that Johnson’s audience for these lamentations are the victims of the first theft is exactly the kind of behavior I find consistent with Dr. Robert Hare’s psychopathy checklist.

Any deal Johnson made with stolen shares of stock can, and should be, overturned. Therefore, whether the Del Reals colluded with Johnson, or are merely his victims, is a matter for a judge to decide (Yes, there is no longer any way to resolve GGC disputes without involving state agencies, unfortunately). Pamela Del Real’s resume (She’s now the general manager for IGGSA) shows substantial accounting expertise. Such expertise will make it impossible for her to plead ignorance if there was any foul-play on the Del Reals part.

Johnson’s Latest Ploy, Revealed

Johnson has now revealed his latest ploy and what’s behind his re-occupation of the GGC hacienda and grounds. And, surprise, surprise, it’s a variation on his usual … lies mixed with just enough truth to confuse and divide his listeners against themselves while holding out a carrot and stick for those who either cooperate or resist.

More specifically, Johnson is trying to confuse and divide investors against lead investor Josh Kirley hoping they’ll put pressure on Josh to relent in his legal actions which have locked up Johnson’s sale and pillage of IGGSA assets. He also wants the investors to help him get rid of his “Del Real” problem. The carrot Johnson offers is the same old title to land he’s been promising investors, and not delivering, for the past two years. The stick is his continued presence and purported counter-attacks on investors who “continue to attack him”. For those not familiar with Johnson-speak, the word “attack” describes the actions of anyone who points out to Johnson another of his own broken promises.

If only the investors will help him convince Kirley to relent, and help him get rid of the Del Reals, then Johnson can deliver, at long last, the coveted Titles to actual land the investors have been pestering him about, all this time.

E-mail Between Host and Parasite

A recent e-mail exchange between Josh Kirley (The host) and Ken Johnson (The parasite) is an excellent illustration of what actually went wrong with GGC. It’s also an excellent example of what happens when “The creature” is confronted with truth.

My thanks to Josh Kirley for making this e-mail exchange available:

On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 12:27 PM, Josh Kirley <joshkirley@gmail.com> wrote:

“Ken,

For two years, you keep sending out the same emails. Always full of juicy drama, promising the release of more information in the future. This behavior is unprofessional. It inspires no confidence. Why can’t you just do your job?Try building something. Try living up to your responsibilities. Produce something. Be accountable. If you are GGC’s Minister of Propaganda, who is the Project Manager? Your accusations are baseless and defy all logic.

Tell me if you can refute the accuracy of the following facts. I swear to their order and authenticity.

1) You are wholly responsible for bringing the del Reals into this nightmare.

2) You pleaded with me to give 1 to 2.5 million dollars to Mario del Real for his Rio Colorado Project. You personally vouched for Mario, insisting the Rio Colorado deal was a “No Brainer” and a “Homerun”

3) I told you that I had my suspicions about del Real and would get back to you after performing some due diligence.

4) Once I told you that I was not willing to put money into a second Chilean investment, you totally reversed course.

5) You refused to provide me with del Real’s Ruta number, or even his full name, intentionally stonewalling my attempts to research his background.

6) You told an entire room full of defrauded investors at the second festival that your deal with del Real was a “totally separate” matter between you and him.

7) You told all of us that your alliance with del Real was “none of our business” and would have no impact on our contracts.

8) When I offered to pay, out of my own pocket, to have del Real looked into for you, you refused my help, saying that you feared if I looked into del Real, he might “get spooked” and walk away from your deal.

9) Weeks later, you came back to me, begging for a million dollars. You said that you were double crossed by del Real and you needed me to buy back the shares that you gave to him.

10) When I would not bail you out, you predictably changed your characterization of my relationship to the project from savior to saboteur.

I’m sorry if I cannot respond to each of your lying emails. But, I have to give priority to my day job. I suggest you do the same. Maybe start by paying employees, repaying loans, and living up to the contracts you signed.

Josh Kirley”

The Parasite Responds

“Josh,

As you know, you are lying about most all that you discuss. There are communications between you, Monica Wehrhahn, Ken Carpenter, Alison Sherman, the Del Reals and more. Do you think that those just disappear because you are now pitching your false storyline to yet another news outlet? This has always seemed to be a publicity stunt for you, just as GGC always have been for Jeff Berwick.”

Johnson then goes on a bizarre rant about Jeff Berwick and BitcoinATM, Wire Transfers, Cafayate, Argentina (If you can believe it) and ends with:

“We are working on completing what Mr. Aguirre was unable to complete, or was unwilling to complete. We are working to fix the $1m+ damages that those labeling themselves “rescuers” of GGC have inflicted upon the farm, buildings and property. We don’t spend our time pitching a false story line for our own publicity, as Mr. Berwick and yourself seem to focus on quite a lot.

Ken”

Notice that Johnson does not dispute, nor even address, any of Kirley’s questions or statements. This is the way e-mail “Exchanges” and “Dialogues” go with Johnson. For readers who may have wondered . . . “Why don’t they just ask Johnson if [Insert simple question here] the above exchange with Josh Kirley is your example. Josh speaks the pure truth and asks sincere questions and, in response, Johnson doesn’t respond, at all.

The last paragraph is classic Johnson-speak. For readers who don’t understand the dialect his e-mails usually end with a payoff like this if you know how to read Johnson-speak. That is, you take all accusations as a literal description of what Johnson, himself, has done or is doing. In his last paragraph, therefore, we learn that Johnson has caused more than a million dollars of damage and is pitching false story lines for his own publicity.

Johnson’s Assaults

I’ve spoken with two people who were physically assaulted by Ken Johnson. The first was a young man Johnson tried to push around (Mentally and physically) during Johnson’s employment with The Dollar Vigilante. This young man would not tolerate Johnson’s nonsense and was the first person to speak up to Berwick about his suspicions about Johnson poisonous behavior. If Berwick had listened it’s anyone’s guess how Galt’s Gulch Chile might have played out without the involvement of Ken Johnson.

The second assault was that of a 70-year-old Salesman that worked for GGC who didn’t fare so well in the “Encounter”. Sandy “Clarence” Sandfort was grabbed by the lapels and thrown over a couch by Johnson when he learned that Sandy was about the leave Chile after all of Johnson’s promises had remained unfulfilled. Sandy was severely bruised and Johnson had almost managed to break a few of Sandy’s ribs. He was so shaken up by Johnson’s assault that Berwick had to fly in the next day and negotiate an NDA and payoff to keep Sandy quiet about the assault. Johnson later broke the terms of that NDA by talking about the assault with a third-party. Hence, Sandy’s retelling of the assault to me.

and Taunting . . .

Tatiana Moroz, who worked for Ken Johnson and wrote the GGC theme song, shares her experiences with GGC and with sociopaths in the liberty movement. Most of what involves GGC is in the first 25 minutes of the video, but, the ladies (With Julia Tourianski, BraveTheWorld.com, and Gigi Bowman, gigibowman.com) go on to tell other fascinating stories around the theme.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqQW5a4dJMk

Contrast the story Tatiana tells in the above video with the excitement she started out with and you’ll get a feeling for the roller coaster ride that was GGC. Tatiana perfectly captures the cognitive dissonance felt by most who’ve followed the promise, and then the reality, of GGC in the hands of Ken Johnson.

Favorite excerpts:

“This nonsense [Sociopaths in the Liberty Movement] is disgusting and ridiculous … and what’s gonna happen, here, is that people are going to leave and they’re not going to want anything to do with it (True Liberty) and all we’re going to be left with is the dirtbags who think this kind of behavior is ok. … And I’m sick and tired of the people that are trying to call attention to the sociopathic behavior within our own movement getting trashed.”

Tatiana’s right, of course. Natural law doesn’t evaporate around people who wish to retain and use their liberties. If anything, we must be more mindful of universal human truths because we are the people exploring the boundaries of liberty. A tolerance for lies, manipulation, sexual assault, and broken contracts is not “What’s up!” in Liberty. Anyone claiming that such tolerance is “Cool” is not a libertarian. They’re just another asshole in disguise.

John Cobin Interview

I had the pleasure of interviewing John Cobin about GGC for 1.5 hours, last week. The interview was mostly for my E-book about GGC. However, of interest, here, is the remarkable consistency of Dr. Cobin’s story with everything he’s said from the very beginning. Cobin is abundantly forthcoming about every meeting, document, e-mail and conversation he’s had with respect to GGC. My reaction to the interview was to tell him that it was a pleasure to speak with someone involved in GGC that looks better and better with each discovered and documented fact about the project.

Cobin said the impression he got from Jeff Berwick and Ken Johnson was that, they alone, might be able to supply the funding for GGC. He had no idea that they would, almost immediately, take his extensive research and information about Chile and GGC and cut him out of the deal. Although he concurs with the possible psychopathy of Johnson he puts Berwick in the same category in terms of the way they defrauded him. And yet, I had the impression that, even now, he would be forgiving of Berwick if approached in some meaningful way to make restitution.

Cobin said Johnson came after him, very agressively, in a libel suit in Chile. Guess what happened when the court date arrived? Johnson was a no-show! I won’t compare a libel suit with a podcast debate, but, I’m becoming quite familiar with Johnson’s cowardice in the face of someone determined to tell the truth. So far, Johnson’s been a no-show on two podcasts about GGC that he, himself, dared me to participate in.

For those interested in Chile I highly recommend the interview James and Johnathan conducted with Dr. Cobin on Monday over at Borderless. Cobin proves himself to be THE reliable source for all of Chile and much of the rest of the “Expat” world, as well. Cobin’s book, “Life in Chile” greatly increased the effectiveness of my 21-day country-vetting trip to Chile in 2012. I look forward to reading his latest book, “Living in Chile” when I can come up for air over the summer.

GGC Theatre

Johnson has been roaming around the property making absurd videos in an attempt to document the damage done by the recovery team. Perhaps the investors share my hope that Johnson continue making these videos as they are helpful in documenting what Johnson, himself, has done.

One of the things Johnson harps on in the videos are the “Damages” done by the recovery team causing a poor yield from the wells. In fact, such poor yields were caused by Johnson’s complete ignorance and inept handling of the well work around the property. Despite the pleadings of the local workers Johnson put Manuel Hermosillo in charge of the wells and the work was terribly bungled. And yet, somehow, the investors end up blamed, yet again, for Johnson’s incompetence. Such GGC Theatre might be a useful prop to help Johnson influence the Chilean locals who have no idea what’s going on with GGC. To those who’ve read the first thing about GGC, however, they are just that much more documentation of Johnson’s failings.

Message to local Chileans:

Johnson’s accusations of others are a reliable confession of his own failings. There is truth in many of the disasters he documents but your messenger is the culprit, not the victim. Johnson’s “Investment” into GGC remains at zero while 76-investors and buyers have given $10.45 million dollars for the purchase of everything you see associated with GGC. 72 of the investors have been begging Johnson to leave for over a year.

What happens next?

First, most of the predictions made in Part 6 seem to be coming true. That includes Johnson hinting that he wants to sell water rights, again. Happily, he’s unable to do so with the current injunctions in place.

Johnson has some time while the ocean water recedes in preparation for a tsunami of new legal problems.

Some think Johnson will stick it out to the end because his claim to be “Working for” the investors is his only defense against the legal actions that have been filed against him. But, Johnson also claims he controls or owns everything (Vacillating between claims of control or ownership) depending on his audience and the phases of GGC. How could someone who owns everything be an employee? How could a trustee (Controls everything) claim to be a trustee of beneficiaries who have been begging him to leave for the past year?

Perhaps Chile, and the local populace of Curacavi, will no longer tolerate Johnson as the criminal charges pile on. If he’s made to flee then we may see more pictures of his backpacks of stolen money while he’s on the run. I think he still has a Paraguayan passport from the passport scandal he was conducting at TDV. Still, all these charges filed with state agencies will haunt him wherever he goes. As of today, Johnson has put a digital data noose around his own neck that will follow him around the globe.

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The Creature from Galt's Gulch
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The Creature from Galt’s Gulch—The Book

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NOTE: Version 1 of this book is ready as of June 11th, 2015.

I’ve put all the articles of the McGillespie.com GGC series into book format and am supplementing it with the latest developments and documents from the recovery efforts. In addition to all the articles of the series the book contains:

  • An Index and description of all people involved, or referenced, in the GGC story.
  • QR Codes for videos, websites, media articles, etc.
  • Links to ALL publicly available articles and documents related to GGC.
  • A Chapter describing the types of fraud that were conducted around GGC.
  • A Chapter describing the five types of contracts that were used with investors and buyers of GGC “Products”.
  • A Chapter describing the Rio Colorado/GGC Share swap.
  • A comparison table of the eye-witnessed actions of Kenneth Johnson to Dr. Robert Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R).
  • Copies of all legal actions or criminal charges filed with regard to Galt’s Gulch Chile.
  • The original “Founders Club” document Cobin wrote, and Johnson later modified, and sent out to all investors who expressed interest in GGC.
  • The original Business Plan that got things started.
  • Download links for all PDF files related to GGC that are too large to be included in the book.

The book will be updated with all the latest developments around GGC including legal actions, criminal complaints, media articles, youtube videos, articles by Terence, and any significant releases from the recovery team.

This is not a traditional book but a working document meant to help the people involved and inform (And entertain!) the public. It’s currently 200 pages, and growing. I may add an index but the e-book format already enables the reader to search for their term of interest, quite easily. It’s currently in PDF format but I could convert it to EPUB and .MOBI if there’s enough interest. Please send me an e-mail if you would appreciate that potential effort.

The purpose of the Book

  • To Document, on an ongoing basis, what is happening with Galt’s Gulch Chile to assist recovery efforts, underway.
  • To be a trusted and reliable source for journalists and media outlets who may wish to write about various aspects of GGC.
  • To tell the truth about GGC while the facts are clearly in the memory of the participants and the evidence is freshly available.
  • To document the crimes of Kenneth Dale Johnson and others so possible future victims may be warned.
  • To Document GGC for legacy reference and lessons that may be gleaned for both GGC restoration and other such ambitious liberty-minded projects.

How to Get Your Copy

Version 1 is ready as of June 11th, 2015. If there’s an update I’ll post the version and date, here, on the page you’re reading.

Go to McGillespie.Com, type your name and e-mail into the boxes under “McGillespie Resource Library”, then hit the submit button. An e-mail will be sent with the password to the McGillespie Resource Library which contains the book and many other resources you might find useful.

For future updates (Or any problems downloading the book) use the “Contact Us” tab or leave a comment, below, on this page with your name and e-mail.

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Podcast Discussions about Galt’s Gulch Chile

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The Jetsetter Show with Jason Hartman

Jason Hartman and Terence Gillespie discuss Galt’s Gulch Chile and many ways to optimize the path for expatriates in Chile and Colombia. Jason has a wonderful transcription posted just below the link for the podcast:

JS 101: What Happened with Galt’s Gulch, Chile?

Borderless Network Podcast

In this episode we have Terence Gillespie on the show to discuss what happened with Galt’s Gulch Chile and some of the lessons that can be learned from what happened there.

Show notes:

The background on Galt’s Gulch Chile (0:50)
Who is Terence Gillespie (4:13)
Why does he care (5:18)
Was Galt’s Gulch a libertarian project? (6:36)
At what point in time did this deal fall apart? (9:40)
How was this theft possible? (11:42)
How much of the blame should go on the investors? (13:15)
What caused the change is perception in August 2014? (17:15)
What was Jeff Berwick’s role in this fiasco (22:30)
What is going to have to happen in order for this to turn into a successful project? (27:35)
Will the $10.5 million be recovered? (32:09)
Affinity Scam
Was GGC a fraud from the beginning? (34:54)
Lessons learned from GGC (36:36)

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The Outlier’s Handbook

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The world discards ideas and people that present multiple standard deviations away from “normal”. And yet, Reality has always been phenomenal and noumenal. To ensure you’re able to thrive in the artificial chaos of this generation you’ll need to be an outlier, in many ways. Here’s “The Outlier’s Handbook” to optimize your trajectory.

The Outlier’s Handbook

(Thriving in Artificial Chaos)

Table of Contents

Part 1 — What Outliers?

“Let Your Reasonableness Be Known to Everyone”

  • Ockham’s Razor: Benefits & Limits
  • The Bookends of Normalcy Bias & Cognitive Dissonance
  • “This Book Goes Too Far!”

What Outliers?

  • Outliers Defined
  • You Know You’re An Outlier If . . .
  • Outlier Benefits
  • Outlier Costs
  • Personal Secession and Other Outlier Mindsets

Part 2 — It’s Your World, Boss!

This Is Where You Live

American Roulette

  • The Constitution is Safe!
  • A Bank with Social Services Around It
  • Democracy: The God that Failed
  • The Corporation
  • The Deep State
  • Fascism, American Style

Lifecycle of Nations

  • “Poverty of Nations” Report Card
  • Imperial Collapse Playbook

Danger, Will Robinson!

Technocracy: The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation

Regional Bloc Head Mercantilism

  • Gee, Maybe Nation-States Weren’t So Bad, After All
  • Solutions Amidst Global Fascism
  • Change Happens Like This, Now

Part 3 — The Usual Suspects

Call Them As You See Them

Origin & Story of Rulers and Authorities

  • Angelic Gen 6 View: Consistency & Insights
  • So, Who are “They”?
  • The “New” Face of Evil (Follow the Blood)
  • Long Term Trends Require Spiritual Unity
  • The Minions
  • A Working Structure of Oppression

They Walk Among Us

  • Serial Killers
  • How Can You Spot One?
  • Political Ponerology
  • 7 signs you might be dating one
  • Protection From Them
  • Speech Patterns
  • I, Psychopath
  • The Hidden Cost of Killing Psychopaths
  • Beware the Backlash

Elements of Their World View

Their Goals

  • ”Ye Shall Be As Gods”

Their Methods

  • The Moral Code of Evil
  • Inversion
  • Undisclosed Adhesion Contracts
  • Counterfeit Money
  • Controlled Markets
  • Technocracy
  • Stacked & Interlocking Pyramidical Structures
  • Consolidation
  • Democracy
  • Eugenics
  • Perpetual Fear
  • Long-Term Planning
  • With Methods Like This, Who Needs the Occult?

Part 4 — Acquiring Immunity

Move #1: Acquire Personal Immunity

Personal Matters

  • Purpose is Everything
  • Managing Outlierhood
  • Growth
  • Ethical Time Travel

Health Matters

  • First Do No Harm
  • Clean Food, Water, Air & Place
  • Nutrient Dense Diet
  • Gut Flora, Probiotics and the Second Brain
  • Optimal Exercise
  • Stress & Breathing
  • Life Extension & Blood Sugar Management
  • Sensible Health Insurance
  • Putting It All Together

Spiritual Matters

  • Intelligent or Random Design
  • Oneism (Monism) vs. Dualism
  • CINO’s & MINO’s
  • Christianity Leads To Science, Islam leads to Murder
  • Gandhi or Jesus?
  • Get Blessed
  • Get Uncursed
  • Supernatural Immunity: The Mind & Way Of Christ
  • The Whole Council of God
  • Spiritual Warfare
  • Practical Examples of Spiritually Based Solutions

Locational Matters

  • The Best Place to Live
  • Where Not to Live
  • Should you relocate?
  • The World is Yours
  • The Illusion of Ownership
  • Mobility
  • G.O.O.D Project – Lessons Learned

Family Matters

  • Instrument of Recursive Perfection
  • Spouse Choice
  • Children
  • Extended Family
  • Friends Worth the Title are Family
  • Community

Legal Matters

  • Natural Law
  • The Constitution is Safe!
  • Jurisdiction Matters
  • Where is the Agreement?
  • It’s Hard to Be a Free Man
  • Unraveling Your Liberty

Financial Matters

  • Money is for Immunity & Purpose
  • Business as Extension of Purpose
  • Tax Penalties for Fear and Poor Planning
  • Mortgage Slavery, Repealed
  • Austrian Economics is Real Economics
  • Investments in Immunity & Purpose Have the Highest ROI
  • Asset Protection

Political Matters

  • Terms of “State” & “Government”
  • The Diversion Of Left – Right Thinking
  • The Votes that Matter
  • Optimal Government = Perfect Self-Government
  • The Chief Asset Of The State: Fear & Belief In It’s Necessity
  • All Matters of Liberty Are Related
  • Caveat Viator: Libertarianism and Anarchy are Aspects of a Complete Worldview
  • Govern Thyself Perfectly and Hold Death Dear

Perspective Matters

  • The Most Valuable Commodity on the Planet
  • Philosophers On Donuts
  • Terms of “Freedom” & “Liberty”
  • Equality & Authority
  • Freedom & Structure
  • Peace Does Not Flow From Passivity
  • Proof and Truth
  • You Can’t Beat Everything with Nothing
  • “Let’s Just Split the Difference and Find a Middle Ground”
  • Stoicism
  • The Opportunity in Uncertainty
  • If Swamp Rats Can’t be Exterminated Why Can You?
  • What About America?

Doing Matters

  • Tony Robbin’s Best Trick
  • Think Spiritually, Act Locally
  • Getting Things Done
  • Low Hanging Fruit
  • Tragic Flaws of Conventional Prepping
  • Expert Tips
  • How To Lose Without Fighting (An Outlier’s Not To-Do List)

Part 5 — Ants & The Human Mosaic

Change The World in Four Moves

  • Humans as an Ant Army
  • Move #1: Immunity
  • Move #2: Specialize
  • Move #3: Move
  • Move #4: Cooperate
  • Humanize the Best Attributes of Animals & Insects

Part 6 — Problems: Solutions

Move #2: Specialize & Pick One

Personal Concerns

  • Training Disguised as Education
  • Shortening Attention Spans
  • Media Agitprop

Health Concerns

  • Eugenics
  • Vaccines Vs. Immunity
  • Socialized Medicine
  • Food Fascism & GMOs
  • Fluoridated water
  • Nuclear Waste & Meltdown Disasters
  • Geo-Engineering
  • Disease(s) Cured

Spiritual Concerns

  • Psychopathy
  • Moral Relativism
  • Odious Debt (Slavery)
  • Wars of Conquest
  • False-Flag Attacks
  • End Times Decoder Rings
  • 501c3 Churches

Locational Concerns

  • Agenda 21
  • Scientific Control Grid
  • Power Grid Fragility

Family Concerns

  • The State as Great Father
  • Broken Families

Legal Concerns

  • Patent Squelching
  • Webs of Undisclosed Adhesion Contracts
  • Drug Wars
  • Licensing
  • Militarization of Police
  • Surveillance State
  • Monopoly
  • Bonus: Beating Traffic Tickets

Financial Concerns

  • Fractional Reserve Banking (The Theft of Human Labor)
  • Disappearing Middle-Class A.K.A Unemployment
  • Currency Wars
  • US Bankruptcy
  • World Banking Systems
  • Institutional(ized) Theft
  • Market Manipulation
  • Global Cooling, Warming …Climate Change?
  • Technocracy

Political Concerns

  • Collectivism
  • Globalism

Part 7 — Appendices

  • In Case of Emergency: Read First!
  • Four Ways to Parse Solutions
  • Reading List for Outliers
  • Outlier Creeds
  • Sovereignty & Law
  • Agorist Manifesto in 95 Theses
  • Agorist Road-map Kyle Bennet
  • 100 Ways To Leave Leviathan
  • Wayne & Barry’s Guide for World Rulers
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Defense

There’s Something Wrong with Every Body

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Find out what’s wrong with yours and deal with it.

That’s what my friend Seroj said when I told him I had hemochromatosis. He’s right. We all have at least one thing wrong with our bodies. And finding out what it is can be a life boosting insight.

Seroj has a form of diabetes and is now glad for it. Dealing with it conferred benefits beyond the condition. He’s healthier now because of (How he dealt with) his diabetes!

No Body is Perfect?

When preparing for Mr. Olympia, Arnold said that no matter how perfect a body appears none have perfect symmetry. All parts have to brought into balance with the whole. His sloped shoulders and small calves made his point.

Lack of symmetry is a visual cue to lack of internal perfection. No body is perfectly symmetrical on the outside so why would the inside be any different?

It’s a miracle our bodies are as perfect as they are. We take for granted billions of complex relationships and functions that keep us alive. Our bodies are changing every second with all cells replacing themselves every seven years. Look at a picture of yourself seven years, ago. It’s not you, anymore!

Not IF, but WHAT?

Don’t waste time wondering if something’s wrong with your body. Just find out what it is. It’s liberating and the benefits to dealing with it may be enormous. The remedy, itself, will most likely benefit the rest of your body and life. If you have the conditions I do then dealing with them may even safe your life!

What’s Wrong With Me?

There’s two things wrong with my body: An inherited predisposition to high blood pressure and a blood problem called hemochromatosis. Both are silent, painless and deadly. But, not for me. Dealing with each has been a boost to overall health and quality of life. The remedies, nutrients, change of habits and diet needed to neutralize these ailments conferred benefits beyond the correction of the initial conditions.

For more on how I’ve eliminated the deadly threat of hypertension see my article on how to eliminating Hypertension without using drugs. The treatment for hemachromatosis is bloodletting like they used to do with leeches to rid the bodies of evil spirits. For more on that journey see, “How To Save Your Own Life“.

The Earlier, The Better

The earlier you find out what’s wrong with your body, the better. The condition(s) won’t go away through ignorance. You may not get the luxury of symptoms for a problem that can probably be balanced or avoided.

I found out about my high blood pressure while donating blood and hemachromotosis when it was diagnosed in my brother. Both of my body’s deficiencies are silent killers if left untreated.

My doctor friends joke that everyone should be their own doctor. Maybe that’s reaching too far. But, we should understand our bodies as well as we understand our cars.

Come to think of it . . . there’s usually something wrong with my car, too!

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How to Save Your Own Life

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One of the contributing factors to my brothers’ death was hemachromatosis. By the time he was diagnosed, a year before he died, it had already caused serious damage to his organs.

It was a hereditary condition and my brother told me to get checked for it. So, I went to a doctor and had blood tests taken along with a painful liver biopsy. In the follow-up appointment to discuss the results the doctor was puzzled. He said I definitely had the condition but was not showing any symptoms. He asked if I had ever donated blood. “Yes, all the time”, I said. “I’m in the gallon club at Cedar Sinai.”

Then the doctor said, “Well, congratulations. You just saved your own life.”

Bloodletting is the only way to get rid of excess iron in the blood for someone with hemachromatosis. Donating on a frequent basis had cleared my blood of excess iron. If the iron hadn’t been removed it would have built up to high enough levels to do severe damage to my internal organs. At my age the damage would have already been life threatening.

This is How

You save your own life by contributing directly to mankind for the sake of humanity with no strings attached.

Not tithing. Tithing is to God.

Not your work. The work you do to create value for others in exchange for money is a wonderful thing. There’s no conflict between that work and the direct contribution I’m referring to here. They’re separate offerings made for a different purpose.

Not an action you take for a direct benefit. Although, its almost impossible to do something for others that doesn’t return to you, in some way.

Like Putting Quarters in a Strangers Parking Meter

Sometimes I use spare quarters to load the parking meters of strangers. I especially like to feed the meters of those who are about to get a ticket. It sounds like a cheap thrill, but, I find it thrilling for less obvious reasons:

  • I hate getting parking tickets.
  • I can’t save myself from getting one, but, I can save someone else.
  • Maybe one day someone will do the same for me.
  • I like the idea of being nice to someone before they’re nice to me.
  • I know the hassle I’m saving my stranger.
  • I know the cost to me is less than the hassle saved for my stranger.
  • I know my stranger will be in a better mood and their mood is contagious.
  • It’s possible their contagious mood travels around the invisible world and improves my own.
  • The state gives out parking tickets to make money, not to encourage people to change their parking habits.
  • Denying the state the proceeds of its deception gives me a thrill. Cheap for me, but not for them.
  • It costs me a quarter. But, it costs the state $25. 100 times ROI in money alone!
  • If my ROI is 100 in money what does it return in the improved and contagious mood of my stranger?
  • If my stranger has $25 more than he would, otherwise, what will he be able to do with the money?
  • If the state has $25 less what may it be prevented from doing that, like all state interference, would decrease the liberty and wealth of society?

Every time I drop a quarter this list comes to mind and makes me smile. Not such a cheap thrill after all, is it?

A Pint of Blood vs. 25 Cents

How much more beneficial is a pint of blood to save a life than a quarter to save a parking ticket? The prospects are enormous and powerful. Powerful enough to save a life. Maybe it would even save your life. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But, not for me.

It did save my life.

Copyright © 2014 by Terence Gillespie. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given to McGillespie.com

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Emergency

The Best Knife in the World

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The best knife in the world is the one you’ll have with you when you need it.

And, just like The Best Gun in the World, the features of a knife you don’t have with you, don’t matter.

A knife may have been mankind’s first tool. A knife can make the difference between life and death although self-defense is not its primary use. There’s so many uses for a knife that it’s just plain sub-optimal to be without one, ever.

I prefer access to four types of knives, at all times:

  1. Kukri for chopping
  2. Full-Tang Hunting & Utility
  3. Multi-tool
  4. Folding knife

Access to all four is no problem around the house, if traveling by vehicle or in a group. All four are too much weight to carry on foot and alone.

The concept of “Best Knife” is to focus on what can be with you at all times. Given size, weight and bulk the only knife I can count on to have with me anytime, anywhere is a folding knife. None of the others can be tucked away in a tuxedo or a bathing suit.

A kukri, hunting knife and multi-tool are what I would bring to a survival situation. A folding knife is all I can expect to have when one occurs. Not having one makes it too likely I won’t have a knife, at all. With so many everyday (Sometimes urgent) uses for a knife I find that unacceptable.

Minimum Criteria

Modern technology enables the luxury of the following minimum attributes for a folding knife:

  • Solid Locking Blade
  • Hard, but not brittle Steel that holds an edge, has some rust resistance and doesn’t break or chip in tough circumstances.
  • Ambidextrous Open
  • Non-slip, hard, tough and lightweight handle
  • Deep carry clip (Accessible but not legally concealed)
  • Fits every wardrobe, comfortably
  • Easy to maintain
  • Fits your hand and can be held rock steady in tough use

Ambidextrous open is mandatory. Ambidextrous carry is not. I carry on the right side front pocket and have never needed to retrieve with the left hand. If I did then the deep carry clip and ambi open would save the day. Either hole or thumb studs are fine for ambi-open.

One should have to destroy the knife before the blade lock fails. How important are your fingers?

Blade materials are getting better all the time. While most steel HRC58 or greater will do I’ve had excellent results with ATS-34, 154CM, D2 and AUS-8 (And have read of extraordinary results with M2 and ZDP-189). ATS-34 and 154CM are metallurgic brothers. The D2 holds an edge better than ATS-34 and I hear M2 and ZDP-189 hold their edge even after the knife dulling exercise of cutting up a few dozen cardboard boxes. I’ve found that D2 and AUS-8 will rust when around salt water. Since my blades are black coated I sharpen’ that rust off.

The Best Knife in My World for the last 8 years is made of ATS-34 and I have no complaints. However, I’m always game to try new metals. My next folding knife will be made of either ZDP-189, M2 or D2 depending on price. The first two metals cost more because of the expense of the metal and the effort and equipment wear involved in the forging process.

I wouldn’t get fancy with handle shape. The closed knife must be flush with clothes and not stick or catch when retrieving.

The drop point tip is the most versatile with plenty of tip reinforcement for most work. Unless you’re stabbing cans or such all day there’s little need to give up cutting surface for a tanto point.

Zeroing in on Your Optimal

Less obvious attributes I’ve discovered optimal are:

  • Not so expensive you won’t use it or take risks with it.
  • Not so expensive you won’t replace it if lost.
  • Not so flashy it draws attention at social occasions.
  • Partially serrated (No more than 1-inch or so).

Optional, but nice to have is an overall length (When closed) that is 1-1.5 inches longer than your palm width. If so, it can be ‘palmed’ to apply blunt force as a hammer or as an alternative to the blade for self defense.

A knife is no place to skimp on quality. And yet, I’d rather have two that meet my criteria than one I’m afraid to use or lose.

My all black tool often goes unnoticed when used during social occasions. With the added advantages of corrosion resistance and salt-water protection I now insist on a black coated blade and handle for a folding knife that has to go everywhere.

That 1-inch of serration has saved me many times when primary blade dulls. I can still cut now and sharpen later which makes all the difference. I won’t give up cutting surface for a tanto tip, but, that 1-inch (Only) of serration has been a lifesaver.

In order to meet all the above criteria the Best Knife in My World needs to be:

  1. 3-4 inch Blade Length
  2. 5-6 inch Overall Length
  3. 6 ounces or less
  4. Black coated blade made from one of (ZDP-189, M2, D2, 154CM or ATS-34)
  5. Black handle – Tough, light, non-slip (G10 Works well)
  6. Drop point tip
  7. Partially serrated
  8. Solid locking blade
  9. Ambidextrous open
  10. Deep carry clip

Even if you tweak some values you’ve got a solid framework for deciding on Your Optimal Folding Knife. However, the most Optimal knife is not The Best Knife in Your World unless it’s in your pocket when you need it.

Settle on The Best Knife in Your World . . . sooner, rather than later. With so many everyday (Sometimes urgent) uses it may be no laughing matter that. . .

“The features of a knife you don’t have with you don’t matter.”

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Beating Hypertension, Naturally

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It’s time to get my high blood pressure under control, again.

Again, because I’ve fallen off the blood pressure wagon after a two-year whirlwind of getting married, buying a house, relocating, starting a business and having a child. My schedules have changed and its time to rework good health routines into my new life.

Again, because I’ve done this before, know what to do and that my ‘program’ works.

Hypertension runs in my family. My grandfather and mother have had strokes and my uncle had an aneurysm two years ago. My BP is too high and medication is the only alternative if I don’t control it myself. So far, I’m the only family member who’s been able to control it without using drugs. I hope this article changes that.

Essential vs. Secondary

I have essential or general hypertension. That’s what this article is about. Essential hypertension is a primary condition caused by how my body functions and, to a large extent, the result of my habits, good or bad.

Secondary hypertension is when some other disease is causing your hypertension. In other words, you might not even have high blood pressure if it wasn’t for this disease. It could be type-2 diabetes, kidney disease, cirrhosis of the liver, Cushing’s disease, sleep apnea and a rare tumor known as a pheochromocytoma.

Most people with high blood pressure have what I have: essential hypertension.

Natural Method is Mandatory

The side effects of Blood Pressure meds are a disaster! . . .

Impotence, insomnia, extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness, flu-like symptoms, arrhythmia, severe depression progressing to catatonia, disorientation, memory loss, liver failure, esophagitis, fatal angioedema and even agranulocytosis, another potentially fatal disorder.

They’re so bad that over 40% of the patients that are put on the BP Meds stop taking them! Since the meds lower your blood pressure without addressing any of the root causes those patients are now much worse off than when they started. And, what happens when you stop taking them? Your BP skyrocketts and have have a stroke!

No joke, that’s what happened to my mom when she stopped taking her BP meds. She had two strokes. When I asked her why she stopped taking them she said, “I felt alright and didn’t want to take them anymore”. It took three months before she could speak in order to even tell me that.

The side effects of BP meds may even cause high blood pressure. I feel my BP rising just reading the list. However, the real problem with the BP meds is that they don’t address the root causes of the condition.

Treat or Cure

Eating is the cure for starvation, not the treatment for it.

Likewise, using natural methods for controlling hypertension is the only way to address the root causes of the condition. All together they may even qualify for the lofty ‘C’ word: Cure.

My experience has been that the regimen for normalizing my blood pressure is something I should be doing anyway regardless of any medical condition.

My Approach – Past and Present

The previous approach was not easy, but, it worked. I used a combination of:

  1. Weight Loss
  2. Diet
  3. Exercise
  4. Food Avoidance
  5. Dr. Atkins recommended Nutrients

This time around I’m going to take another look at the consensus for the root cause of hypertension. I want to take advantage of the latest medical information out there and work some of the suggestions into my program.

I’ll be using an issue of The Blaylock Wellness Report entitled “Eliminate Hypertension Forever!” I subscribed to these reports just for this issue on Blood Pressure. It has some interesting new theories on the root cause and new recommendations on addressing them.

My previous program works. However, a better understanding of the root cause and the latest thinking on treatment may improve my lifetime plan by: 1) More directly addressing the root cause of the condition, and, 2) Making it easier to stay on the plan through the ups and downs of life.

Doctors Know Natural is the Best Way

Doctors know the best way control a patients high blood pressure is through the patients own natural efforts. They also know that patient success rates are low. A good doctor might tell their patients that its possible to influence their own hypertension by losing weight, eating healthier, etc. However, the doctors can’t wait long before prescribing drugs to a hypertensive patient because the condition is a silent killer.

In other words, doctors need to do whatever it takes to get the numbers down. If you can’t or won’t do it yourself, then get ready for your meds.

I agree with their approach. I also know that I can lower my own high blood pressure without taking drugs.

The routines, diet and nutrients that address the root causes of high blood pressure yield enormous benefits for your overall health. In fact, even if you don’t have hypertension anyone would benefit from them.

Theories on Root Cause

Doctors know more about the treatment for Hypertension than the do about the cause. That means I have to sift through the various theories on root cause if I’m going to improve on my previous program. I’m going to focus on two doctors: Dr. Atkins and Dr. Blaylock.

I trust Dr. Atkins because I followed his recommendations and successfully normalized my blood pressure for years using his methods. I trust Dr. Blaylock because his recommendations build on the foundation and conclusions of Dr. Atkins.

Its helpful to read their individual recommendations separately. I’ll paraphrase each doctors root cause theories and recommendations. Then I’ll put their recommendations together and build my own new program.

Dr. Atkins’ Vita-Nutrient Solution

In a book of the same title Dr. Atkins is specific about how he’s successfully treated hypertension without the use of drugs. I followed his recommendations to the letter and was able to successfully normalize my blood pressure. Dr. Atkins says:

“While scientists debate what actually causes hypertension, one thing is clear: it is very responsive to nutrient and diet therapy. At the Atkins Center we routinely see blood pressure return to normal when the Atkins diet is used along with the right nutrients. A low-carbohydrate diet is important, because this helps bring down the elevated insulin response that appears to be one of the major causes of hypertension. To that we add the following nutrients:” (Listed Below).

Atkin’s Root Causes

  1. Hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance (Blood Sugar Stability) – Dr. Atkins says, “Why ban the salt shaker when 60 percent of all hypertension cases are a consequence of insulin resistance. A rich chromium content and low carb foods would be better. The repeated rise and fall of blood sugar apparently stimulates the body’s sympathetic nervous system, which helps regulate blood pressure.”
  2. Lack of the nutrients in the body that control BP – Although Dr. Atkins does not put it this way its implied by the nutrients he recommends.

Summary of Dr. Atkins Recommendations

  1. Low Carb Diet to Stabalize Blood Sugar and Insulin Levels
  2. The Nutrient Program (Below)

Dr. Atkins doesn’t comment on every nutrient he recommends. His total nutritional regimen starts with a broad based Vitimin and Mineral complex (And possibly a superfood type supplement) with the following specific nutrients for hypertension:

Most Important

  • Taurine 1,500-3,000 mg
  • Magnesium 500-1,000 mg
  • Hawthorn 240-480 mg
  • Potassium aspartate 400-800 mg
  • Vitamin B6 100-200 mg
  • Essential oils formula 3,600-7,200 mg
  • Garlic 2,400-3,200 mg
  • CoQ10 100-200 mg
  • Carnitine 500-1,000 mg
  • Chromium 300-600 mcg

Moderately Important

  • Vitamin C 1-3 grams
  • N-acetyl cysteine 1-2 grams
  • GABA 2,000-4,000 mg
  • Arginine 2-5 grams
  • Inositol 500-1,500 mg
  • Kava 100-200 mg
  • Reishi extract 2-4 capsules
  • Choline 1,000-1,500 rng
  • Calcium 750-1,500 mg

Specific comments on the above nutrients by Dr. Atkins:

Taurine – An amino acid that promotes fluid excretion by restoring a natural balance between potassium and sodium, the minerals that govern how much fluid our tissues retain. Regulates water retention.

Vitamin D – Shown to lower BP.

Calcium/Magnesium Balance – Although Dr. Atkins thinks Magnesium is the more important of the two.

Magnesium – Addresses all of the primary causes of excess insulin in the blood, low potassium levels, constricted blood vessels.

Sodium/Potassium Balance – Atkins thinks the sodium side of the equation is overemphasized and that potassium is more important to regulating blood pressure. A low sodium diet only cut readings by a few points. But, a high potassium diet, combined with a sugar-free diet, magnesium and taurine are very effective. Apparently there is a high-potassium high-magnesium salt substitute that may be useful. The longer potassium is used the less effective an anti-hypertensive agent it becomes. Diuretics cause loss of potassium and magnesium and weaning patients off these diuretics was a major goal for Dr. Atkins. The diuretics also cause the body to make an increased amount of its normal blood pressure-raising biochemicals.

CoQ10 – The BP lowering effects of taking 60-100mg per day of CoQ10 only is so significant that Dr. Atkins found that 85% of his patients could end their reliance on hypertension medications. The effects are so significant that he cautioned patients with low blood pressure against taking CoQ10 in case it would lower the BP too much.

Vitamin A – Allows the body to use insulin more efficiently, helping the hormone to get blood sugar into the body’s cells (And thereby helping to beat insulin resistance.)

DHA/EPA Levels – 4 grams of fish oils per day have been quite successful in lowering blood pressure. Taken alone they may not lower BP enough. But, combined with Magnesium, potassium, CoQ10 and taurine within a context of a sugarless diet will avoid the need for drugs more than 80 percent of the time.

Dr. Blaylock’s “Eliminate Hypertension Forever!”

While Blaylock’s theories on causes have a lot in common with Dr. Atkins he has several new theories and recommended dietary changes and nutrients that go along with them. As with Dr. Atkins I am only paraphrasing a long and thorough report. I highly recommend anyone with hypertension read Dr. Blaylocks full report and Dr. Atkins book. Both doctors have excellent advice on most of the elements of longevity, quality of life and other ailments along with natural ways to address them.

Lower Than You Think

Dr. Blaylock says hypertension starts at 120/80. Depending on the risk factor studied the negative effects of the condition rise rapidly after this point. Therefore, you should not take comfort if your blood pressure is only, say 130 over 85. Any reading over 120/80 is a serious issue and needs to be addressed. This strict definition puts 25% of the US as having the condition and 50% at some risk for some sort of blood pressure problem.

Blaylocks Root Causes

Dr. Blaylock describes hypertension as one of three symptoms of something called metabolic syndrome. The other two are type-2 diabetes and abnormalities in blood lipids. Without delving into these other (Related) conditions I would summarize Dr. Blaylocks root causes of Hypertension as:

  1. Excess Insulin – Caused be eating too much sugar, ingesting excitotoxins (MSG, Aspartame, other food additves). Also caused by insulin resistance. Excess insulin causes inflammation and generates huge quantities of free radicals and lipid peroxidation products.
  2. Free Radicals – Caused by eating the wrong foods, not having the vitamins in your body to cleanse them and especially having too much iron in the blood. Free radicals damage the brain stem and the cells
    lining the arteries (endothelial cells) through a process called Lipid peroxidation whereby the free radicals steal electrons from the lipids in cell membranes. Apparently, this damage itself produces more free radicals. The damage to the arteries decreases the control the elasticity of the
    artery. The damage to the brain stem affects nuerons that may be responsible for some kind of primary BP control.
  3. Inflammation – A natural immune system response, but, can be triggered by excess insulin. Chronic inflammation seriously inhibits BP control.
  4. “Beer Gut” – The fat underneach the muscles of your stomach (Visceral fat) and not the fat underneath your skin (Subcutaneous). Excess visceral fat secretes immune chemicals (adipokines or cytokenes) that cause insulin resistance which leads to excess insulin. The link is so strong that surgical removal of belly fat has
    been shown to cure hypertension in
    62% of people.
  5. Bad Diet – Too much sugar intake, too much caffeine and alcohol, not enough of foods containing the right nutrients for BP control.
  6. Lack of the nutrients in the body that control BP – Once again, although Dr. Blaylock does not put it this way its implied by the nutrients he recommends.

Summary of Dr. Blaylock’s Recommendations

  1. Stabalize Blood Sugar by elimintating Sugar and excitotoxins from the Diet.
  2. Control Free Radicals by Getting Rid of Excess Iron in the Blood and other means.
  3. Cut back on Caffeine and Alcohol.
  4. Exercise to Get Rid of Belly Fat.
  5. Add the Following Nutrients to Dr. Atkins Recommended Nutrients
    • Flavoniods (quercetin / hesperidin)
    • Aged Garlic, in particular
    • Alpha Lipoic acid (R-lipoic acid)
    • Ginko biloba
    • Green tea extract (The benefits of Green Tea without the caffeine)

Iron and Hypertension Are Linked

As luck would have it my yearly checkup was scheduled on Day 3. I showed the doctor my article and we discussed the whole program. Because I have hemachromatosis it was also important to talk about how iron in the blood may affect hypertension. While writing the main article for this new blood pressure program I ran accross research that described the link between the two conditions. And the doctor confirmed it.

Excess iron in the blood causes free radicals which are one of the root causes of hypertension. Blaylock says that even an iron level on the high side of normal can significantly raise blood pressure.

Free Radicals – Caused by eating the wrong foods, not having the vitamins in your body to cleanse them and especially having too much iron in the blood. Free radicals damage the brain stem and the cells lining the arteries (endothelial cells) through a process called Lipid peroxidation whereby the free radicals steal electrons from the lipids in cell membranes. Apparently, this damage itself produces more free radicals. The damage to the arteries decreases the control the elasticity of the artery. The damage to the brain stem affects nuerons that may be responsible for some kind of primary BP control.

What this means for me is that I could make all the lifestyle changes for my new program and still have problems if my iron levels are not kept in check. Practically speaking I’m going to need a convenient way to measure them without having to get a blood test everytime.

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Dvorak Keyboard
Health

Dvorak – Your Optimal Keyboard?

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The QWERTY keyboard most people use was designed for the typewriter in the 1870’s. It’s named after the key sequence on the upper left of the keyboard.

There were no ‘typists’ before the typewriter, so, QWERTY was designed for the typewriter. Many key combinations caused the machine to jam so were placed on the new keyboard to slow them down. This was a good thing because untangling the levers was time consuming. Ironically, you could get more typing done by typing slower! Typists were also taught to strike the key hard and release quickly; another jam avoiding technique.

Today, there are no mechanical limits on typing yet most are using a keyboard designed to slow them down. The widespread use of computer keyboards provides the means to escape from this mechanical prison to whoever wants to be free. In fact, most of the typing world is a few clicks and a decision away from keyboard freedom.

And what does keyboard freedom look like?

It looks like typing as fast as you can think. It looks like being comfortable writing as long as you want. It looks like being able to type for the rest of your life with no arm or hand pain.

The Dvorak Keyboard

You probably have a QWERTY keyboard in front of you. Here’s what the Dvorak keyboard looks like:

Dvorak studied hand shape, letter frequencies and combinations and arranged the keyboard to minimize hand movement and maximize the speed of typing the most common letters and combinations.

For instance, the most frequently used letters in the English language are “ETAON RISHD LFCMU GYPWB VKXJQ Z” (In that order). The first 12 of these letters are used 80% of the time. Notice how 10 of those 12 letters are on the ‘home’ row of the keyboard. You can type thousands of complete words without even moving your hands off the ‘home’ row of the Dvorak keyboard!

Notice how all vowels are on the left side of the ‘home’ row (except for ‘y’) with consonants on the right. Since English words are mostly a pattern of Consonant | Vowel | Consonant | Vowel most words are formed with the letters typed by alternating hands like beating a drum. The most common letter pairs in English are “TH HE AN RE ER IN ON AT ND ST ES EN OF TE ED OR TI HI AS TO”. Looking at the Dvorak layout notice that those letters are either right next to each other or easily typed with alternating hands.

The hardest row to reach is the bottom row. That’s where Dvorak placed the least commonly used English letters. Dvorak also factored in right-handedness and ‘inboard stroke flow‘ (Think of the way we roll-tap fingers on a table top from the little finger to the index finger).

Other Dvorak Layouts

Using the same Dvorak principles there are also Left and Right one-handed keyboards, a layout for C programmers and a keyboard for most latin script based languages.

Reviewing the Options

For English and languages based on Latin script you have the following keyboard options:

  1. QWERTY -English or your language version.
  2. COLEMAN – ‘Improved’ QWERTY meant to ease retraining of QWERTY typists.
  3. Dvorak (English or your language version).
  4. Map your Own Keyboard Layout. – An interesting alternative now possible using Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator, KbdEdit or Keyman Developer.

(Non-Latin script languages like Chinese, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Russian, etc. may have to Map their own keyboards if their default hasn’t been optimized).

My Take

QWERTY is not an option for me because it hurts my hands. The faster and longer I type the more it hurts. Coleman is a compromise meant to save on retraining QWERTY typists rather than optimize hand movement for language– No thanks. The idea of mapping my own keyboard layout is fascinating, but, I couldn’t improve on Dvorak and Dealey’s design; They were exhaustive and thorough in their quest to Optimize the keyboard for English.

Speed is One Thing

A fast typer can type as fast as they can think in words. Faster than that is useful for dictation and contests, I suppose. There are four non-speed benefits to optimizing keyboard layout:

  1. Comfort
  2. Long term injury avoidance
  3. Increased daily stamina (And no soreness)
  4. Increased lifetime stamina

Based on soreness near the end of my QWERTY days I’d be in trouble, today, if I hadn’t made the switch.

The Big Picture

Keyboard use is so widespread that almost every job requires it. The more keyboard use the more productivity gains to optimizing it for the user.

Writers, programmers, travel agents, secretaries, bloggers and publishers may get the biggest payoff. However, that list is growing as is the keyboards role in every day life.

Making the Switch

The Dvorak Keyboard is a button push away on on most computers. You change the setting in your preferences and “Voila” the keys are remapped. You don’t need to buy anything.

I switched to Dvorak five years ago because my hands hurt. As a piano player I was a very fast QWERTY typist and my hands ached and cramped at the end of long writing days. If I didn’t do something I would have been in trouble just when I needed to type more than ever.

Actually, Dvorak was not my first choice. Dragonfly was.

Dragonfly

Why type when you can talk?

They say it’s best to write like you talk. People complicate their written words and keep their spoken words simple. I also think more clearly when speaking than writing because of the person I’m talking with. Why not bypass writing, altogether, and go right to the spoken word to capture thoughts and let the computer do the work?

Dragonfly is great, but, it slowed the transition to Dvorak since there was less need to type. That’s not a complaint. I felt more comfortable making the switch to Dvorak because my dependency on the keyboard was less. I recommend that transition technique if you don’t mind learning both Dragonfly and Dvorak at the same time.

I stopped using Dragonfly because my aging Windows computer couldn’t run it and the Adobe Suite at the same time. Now that Microsoft has been banished from my life and a beautiful and powerful UNIX machine awaits Dragonfly will soon follow.

How Long Does It Take?

The websites and books on Dvorak say it only takes a few months. It took me six months. During the transition I was using Dragonfly to dictate most writing right onto the screen. Since I wasn’t typing as much there was less practice time on the ‘new’ Dvorak layout. Otherwise, it probably would have taken the normal two or three months.

Labels on the Keys?

I tried putting labels on the keys, but, found it confusing. When logging into the computer the default keyboard is QWERTY. It doesn’t switch to Dvorak until it boots up and reads your preferences. Therefore, you have to type your password using QWERTY. Having the Dvorak labels on the keys made password entry confusing. I took the labels off and printed out a reference diagram for Dvorak forcing myself to find the keys by looking at the diagram. You have to type without looking at the keys to gain any speed. Why not skip the crutch of looking at the keys right off the bat?

What about Phone Keyboards?

Many people wonder if I get confused when using the keyboards on phones since they are all QWERTY. No, not at all. In fact, I prefer that phones have QWERTY because I can visually find the QWERTY keys faster than Dvorak!

Dvorak is in my muscle memory and QWERTY is in my visual memory. That reads much more confusing than it feels. When typing I never look at the keys; I just feel where the letters are. Since the letters are in the Dvorak layout those are where I ‘feel’ the letters. Without the Dvorak labels my keyboard is still, visibly, QWERTY. When tying in my password in the morning to login I look at the keyboard.

What About Using Other Computers?

99% of the time you use your own computer. If you need to use another computer (And the owner lets you!) just temporarily change the keyboard setting. When you’re done switch it back.

I still hunt and peck in QWERTY faster than many can type. However, I have to take my hands off the keyboard and look at the keys. I was a touch QWERTY typist so memory of the keys is still there. What I’ve lost is the muscle memory of QWERTY. My muscle memory is now Dvorak.

It ‘feels’ similar to being bilingual. The idea of knowing two words for everything is only hard to imagine for someone who has not yet learned a second language.

Nobody Wants to Use My Computer!

People start typing on my computer and can’t figure out what’s ‘wrong’ with it. My wife won’t even do quick web searches, technical support frowns, friends shake their heads . . . everybody hates it.

And I love it!

Anything that keeps people off my computer is a good thing. It adds another layer of security for snoops in places where they don’t belong.

Going From Hard to Easy

You may think switching to Dvorak is going from something easy to something hard. That’s backwards: Going from QWERTY to Dvorak is going from something hard to something easy. Sure, the transition will take some effort and probably shouldn’t be done in the middle of a project. However, thereafter your life will be easier, not harder. That goes double if you’re a writer or depend on the keyboard for your work.

Good Reasons to Delay the Switch

After using Dvorak for five years I recommend considering it for Your Optimal Keyboard in English. It’s hard to imagine QWERTY being Optimal in this age of computers unless:

  • Your job requires using many different keyboards not under your control.
  • You must use a dumb terminal that’s not switchable.
  • You share your primary computer with someone not open to switching.
  • You’re in the middle of a pressing project and are waiting for things settle down before making the switch (Referring to a project here, not life).

Otherwise, save your hands and increase your productivity: Either switch to Dvorak or Roll Your Own . . . .

Rolling Your Own

The optimal keyboard layout is specific to the language. Dvorak was originally developed for English after exhaustive studies of language use. To reach the Dvorak level of Optimal in your language would require the same exhaustive studies. This work has already been done in Latin script languages. But, if you’re not satisfied then there’s never been an easier time to roll your own.

Computer now have the option of using any keyboard mapping you’d like. Marcus Brooks has some great tips if you’re interested in developing your own keyboard layout.

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Mastery

Practice Makes Permanent

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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:

  1. I was interested, but, detached from the urgency of having to “Get started right away”.
  2. The book “spoke my language” covering the subject from many angles and vantage points.
  3. 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.
  4. I had no qualms about looking bad, seeking help or taking instruction from a pro.
  5. 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.

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Finding-Forrester
Creativity

Movies & Series for Writers

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Lips move in poetry only when they cannot not kiss. At least mine do.

Writing has limits. It’s an attempt to translate wonder into words to conjure thoughts of that wonder when read.  Good writing gets to the point. Great writing invades the body and takes hold of the imagination to project an experience onto the mind-screen. Movies start at the other side of the equation and travel direct. They project through the eye  and onto the mind-screen. If the ears are to hear only what the eyes miss then watching movies for writing is getting inspiration from a medium of more efficient delivery. They can leave all but the screenwriter, speechless. That’s why some of the screenwriting in these movies is a masterpiece of brevity and nuance of the spoken (Not written) language.

I’d rather write less about a life worth living than a million words about aspirations. But, other lives are inspirational, too, especially when captured by a good writer (And director).  So, when you can’t get another word down but have time for a movie here’s a list for you. They’re not necessarily great works of art but they’re good for writers.

  1. Games of Thrones
  2. Sons of Anarchy
  3. Downton Abbey
  4. Barfly
  5. Hearts of Darkness
  6. Finding Forrester
  7. Julia & Julia
  8. A Beautiful Mind
  9. Shine
  10. Amadeus
  11. Quills
  12. Tucker
  13. Wind
  14. Sherlock Holmes
  15. Ray
  16. The Aviator
  17. Searching for Bobby Fisher
  18. The Muse
  19. The Killing Fields
  20. Pollack
  21. The Player
  22. Don’t Look Back
  23. Thirty Two Short Films about Glenn Gould
  24. My Favorite Year
  25. Ishtar
  26. The Big Fish
  27. All The Presidents Men
  28. Absence of Malice
  29. The Shining
  30. Purple Violets
  31. World According To Garp
  32. The Swimming Pool
  33. The Hoax
  34. The Prize Winner Of Defiance Ohio
  35. Pandaemonium
  36. Finding Neverland
  37. Miss Potter
  38. Adaptation
  39. Shattered Glass
  40. Funny Farm
  41. The Hours
  42. Mr. Hollands Opus
  43. Deathtrap
  44. The Big Picture
  45. Henry & June
  46. Shakespeare In Love
  47. Wonder Boys
  48. Sylvia
  49. Stranger Than Fiction
  50. Before Night Falls
  51. Il Postino – Inspiration for “Tonight I know How Poets Feel”
  52. Big Bad Love
  53. Misery
  54. Iris
  55. Kafka
  56. Barton Fink
  57. Beloved
  58. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
  59. Deconstructing Harry
  60. Phenomenon
  61. Wilde
  62. Nora
  63. Tom & Viv
  64. Gothic
  65. Whole Wide World
  66. Shadowlands
  67. Adaptation
  68. Ask The Dust
  69. The Lost Weekend
  70. Harry Met Sally – sw
  71. Sleepless In Seattle – sw
  72. Shawshank Redemption – sw
  73. Goodfellas – sw
  74. Casino – sw
  75. The Verdict – sw
  76. The Making of ‘Star Wars’
  77. The Making of ‘The Shining’

More will be added as they get watched and vetted.

 

Copyright © 2014 by Terence Gillespie. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given to McGillespie.com

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