Saturday, January 26, 2019

Can You Match These 20 People With Their Habits


As a second follow up to my post The 15 Laws of Habits...here’s another fun quiz on habits to test your knowledge and intuition.

Listed below are 20 habits and 20 people.  See if you can match up the habits with one of the 20 people listed. After you finish doing so, think about the habits. Which habits are productivity habits, which habits are health habits, which habits are dress habits, which habits are really experiments, which habits are comfort habits, which habits are style habits, which habits are superstitious habits, which habits are stress-release habits, which habits are fussy habits, which habits are leisure time habits, which habits are neurotic habits, which habits are just eccentricities.  Try and list your own habits in these different categories, as well as in any other categories you can think of. I used to have a habit of easily getting into a rage, which does not fall into any of the categories above, and which, I am happy to report I was able to conquer. My mother's death motivated me to change - as I report in this post. Also, you may want to think about the difference between addictions and habits.  Is the difference simply that addictions are bad for you and hard to quit, whereas habits are good or harmless for you?  Okay...on to the 20 people and their habits quiz.  Ready? Here you go...

These Are the Habits:

1.     Habit of drinking 40-50 cups a day
2.     Habit of taking cold air baths every morning (by stripping down and opening the windows)
3.     Habit of wearing  sweaters in Chennai
4.     Habit of rocking in a chair to relax
5.     Habit of eating homemade food even when he went to a restaurant
6.     Habit of carrying hand-sanitizer everywhere to avoid germs
7.     Habit of spending long airless stints underwater to come up with inventions
8.     Habit of beginning work at 3:00 a.m. and ending at 11 p.m.
9.     Habit of avoiding adverbs
10. Habit of making his interviewees drink soup.  If they added salt before trying the soup they were out, because it indicated they had too many assumptions
11. Habit of running a comb through his hair 100 times a day
12. Habit of carrying mustaches in a jewel studded case and offering them to his friends
13. Habit of not eating food that does not have an ancient Greek or Hebrew name
14. Habit of cracking safes
15. Habit of working on a personal scrapbook for 66 years
16. Habit of painting with a hangover
17. Habit of always crossing the threshold of a plane with the right foot
18. Habit of eating purple foods such as beets, eggplants and grapes 3 times a week
19. Habit of wearing earplugs, earmuffs and a blindfold when he writes
20. Habit of collecting taxidermied animal heads

These Are The People You Have To Match With One Of The Habits Listed Above:

1.     Francis Bacon
2.     Voltaire
3.     Richard Feynman
4.     Amanda Seyfried
5.     Donald Trump
6.     Stephen King
7.     Salvador Dali
8.     Charles Dickens
9.     Nikola Tesla
10. Minoo
11. Bill Gates
12. Hugh Hefner
13. Thomas Alva Edison
14. Richard Buckminister Fuller
15. Benjamin Franklin
16. Jennifer Aniston
17. Sir Dr. NakaMats
18. Jonathan Franzen
19. Nassim Talib
20. Mariah Carey

How Many Did You Get Right? Here Are The Answers:

1.     Habit of drinking 40-50 cups a day - Voltaire
2.     Habit of taking cold air baths every morning (stripping down and opening the windows - Benjamin Franklin
3.     Habit of wearing sweaters in Chennai - Minoo
4.     Habit of rocking in a chair to relax - Bill Gates
5.     Habit of eating homemade food even when he went to a restaurant - Hugh Hefner
6.     Habit of carrying hand sanitizer everywhere to avoid germs - Donald Trump
7.     Habit of spending long airless stints underwater to come up with inventions - Sir Dr. NakaMats
8.     Habit of beginning work at 3:00 a.m. and ending at 11 p.m. - Nikola Tesla
9.     Habit of avoiding adverbs - Stephen King
10. Habit of making interview candidates drink soup.  If they added salt before trying the soup, they were out, because it indicated they had too many assumptions - Thomas Alva Edison
11. Habit of running a comb through his hair 100 times a day - Charles Dickens
12. Habit of carrying mustaches in a jewel studded case and offering them to his friends - Salvador Dali
13. Habit of not eating food that does not have an ancient Greek or Hebrew name - Nassim Talib
14. Habit of cracking safes - Richard Feynman
15. Habit of scrapbooking for 66 years - Richard Buckminister Fuller
16. Habit of painting with a hangover - Francis Bacon
17. Habit of always crossing the threshold of a plane with the right foot - Jennifer Aniston
18. Habit of eating purple foods such as beets, eggplant s and grapes 3 times a week - Mariah Carey
19. Habit of wearing earplugs, earmuffs and a blindfold when writing - Jonathan Franzen
20. Habit of collecting taxidermied animal heads - Amanda Seyfried

Before You Go:

Hope you enjoyed this 3rd and last post on habits. I'll be interested to know what are some of the interesting habits of people you know. Meanwhile, thanks for the feedback, (comments, likes, shares) on my recent posts. I appreciate the kudos from old friends, new friends, and relatives who have become friends. You keep me going.

ALSO, thanks for sharing my journey to wisdom, meaning and a better life.  Like you, I am trying to find my way through this complex maze we call life, and I am honored to have you share my journey, as I continue to seek the wisdom hidden in plain sight.

FINALLY, A Happy Birthday shout-out:  to those with January birthdays. I hope you will use your birthday month to examine your habits -  and to decide which ones to keep and which ones to discard. Ideally, you should also select some brand new habits to introduce in your life - ones which you will be proud of when December 31, 2019 rolls around. You can use the inspiration from my post The 15 Laws of Habits to drum up some motivation.

To all my readers, have a blessed “doing good for yourself while doing good for others week”, and see you next week
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Saturday, January 19, 2019

How Well Do You Know The Habits Of These People?

As a follow up to my last post, The 15 Laws of Habits, here’s a fun quiz on the habits of well-known people. Let’s see how you do on this test of your knowledge and your intuition.

Which of these was not one of Einstein’s habits?
1. Drinking caffeine free coffee
2. Building houses of cards
3. Never wearing socks
4. Sailing
5. Writing letters
6. Listening to Wagner and Debussy’s music with pleasure
7. Joining Christmas carolers on his violin
8. Sleeping 10 hours a day
9. Walking over 2 miles every day

Which of these was not a habit of Steve Jobs?
1. Going on walking meetings to brainstorm
2. Dining at Jin Sho Sushi restaurant in Palo Alto every night
3. Waking up at 6 a.m. every day
4. Asking people for things or resources he lacked or needed
5. Driving a Mercedes Benz SL55 AMG
6. Practicing Zen Buddhism
7. Wearing black mock turtlenecks
8. Taking his family to Kona Village in Hawai every year
9. Eating sushi and soba
10. Rehearsing relentlessly on stage for presentations
11. Eating carrots

Which of these was not a habit of Beethoven?
1. Daydreaming
2. Improvising
3. Falling out with his teachers
4. Publishing his own music
5. Walking every afternoon
6. Counting 60 coffee beans for every cup of coffee he drank in the morning
7. Studying music under Mozart
8. Annoying his landlord by causing water to drip through the floor onto the living room below because of the way he took his baths
9. Retiring to bed early

Which of these habits is not associated with Andy Warhol?
1. Regularly clearing his house and getting rid of stuff
2. Sporting a wide variety of wigs
3. Calling the same friend at 9 a.m. every day to dictate the previous day’s events
4. Drawing movie stars
5. Sending body doubles to lecture for him
6. Volunteering at homeless shelters
7. Painting each of his fingernails in a different color
8. Hosting coloring parties
9. Recording his thoughts and conversations with people on tape

Which of these habits is not true of Mahatma Gandhi?
1. Fasting
2. Wearing a dhoti
3. Running home from school as a boy so he wouldn't have to talk to anybody
4. Practicing non-violence
5. Switching hands while writing
6. Spinning cotton by hand
7. Practicing celibacy
8. Enjoying a good drink and a hearty meal
9. Writing
10. Protesting through marches
11. Reading
12. Amateur boxing

Bonus Question: Can you guess who this is by looking at this list of habits?
1. Eats according to Dr. Richard Bernstein's book The Diabetes Solution
2. Watches Tom Bilyeu podcasts on YouTube
3. Gifts the book Tools of the Titans by Tim Ferris to young people
4. Meditates regularly
5. Has long talks on the telephone
6. Bounds up the stairs for exercise
7. Checks out 10-30 books from the library
8. Watches old Hollywood movies like Talk of the Town
9. Blogs
10. Practices intermittent fasting from time to time
11. Sleeps on a mattress on the floor
12. Spends time people watching rather than going on rides at amusement parks

Answers:

Einstein:
6. Listening to Wagner and Debussy’s music with pleasure. Einstein did not like either of these composers and their music provoked his disgust.

Steve Jobs:
2. Having dinner at Jin Sho Sushi restaurant in Palo Alto every night.
Steve Jobs had dinner at home with his family every night.

Andy Warhol:
1. Regularly clearing his house and getting rid of stuff.
Andy Warhol was a famous hoarder.  The Warhol in Pittsburgh is a 7 floor museum dedicated to the stuff he collected over his lifetime. In the last 13 years of his life Andy deliberately created 610 boxes of stuff, which he referred to as time capsules. Contents included flyers from galleries, junk-mail, fan-letters, gallery-invitation cards, unopened letters, solicitations for work, freebie LPs, a lump of concrete, eccentric pornographic assemblages by Warhol's friends and associates, thousands of used postage stamps that the artist tore from envelopes, packets of sweets and unopened Campbell's soup tins, now open and on display at The Warhol.

Mahatma Gandhi:
8. Enjoying a good drink and a hearty meal. Mahatma Gandhi was a teetotaler and an ascetic when it came to his meals.

Beethoven:
7. Studying music under Mozart. Beethoven did not study under Mozart. He studied under other teachers, Joseph Haydn, notable among them. He fell out with most of them, Joseph Haydn included.

Bonus Question:
Mmm…..wonder who that is?

Hope you enjoyed this quiz.

Before you go, you should check out previous posts in which Steve Jobs, Gandhi and Einstein are featured or mentioned:

Posts in which Steve Jobs is featured or mentioned:



Posts in which Gandhi is featured or mentioned














Posts in which Einstein is featured or mentioned













Acknowledgements:

Thanks for the feedback, (comments, likes, shares) on my recent posts. I appreciate the kudos from old friends, new friends, and relatives who have become friends. You keep me going.

NEXT, thanks for sharing my journey to wisdom, meaning and a better life.  Like you, I am trying to find my way through this complex maze we call life, and I am honored to have you share my journey, as I continue to seek the wisdom hidden in plain sight.

FINALLY, A Happy Birthday shout-out:  to those with January birthdays. I hope you will use your birthday month to think about your habits and decide which ones to keep and which ones to discard. If you can think of new habits to replace your old discarded habits with, it's a double win.

To all my readers, have a blessed “doing good for yourself while doing good for others week”, and see you next week.
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Sunday, January 13, 2019

The 15 Laws of Habits


1. It's easier to start a new habit than to give up an old habit. What does this mean? Don’t start new habits that would be hard to give up.  You can see all the habits people find hard to give up – smoking, drinking, doing drugs, playing video games, criticizing.  Do you really want to start any of them, knowing that?  If you are already into any of these habits, get out while you can.

2.The company you keep, the places you hang out at, and where you source your information and advice from is key to picking up habits. Spend time at bars, you are likely to drink, spend time with video game players, you are likely to play video games a lot. Join a book club or a walking group, and you will read books and walk more. Learn to discern.

3.To develop a new habit, you have to take the first step. If you’ve never been to a gym, you have to sign up and go.

4.There are alternatives to many habits.  For example, therapy, exercise, meditation, yoga and sleep can be an alternative to prescription medicine for stress and insomnia. Low carb diets, intermittent fasting and weight loss programs can be an alternative to metformin and glucophage for diabetes.

5.Alternatives that do not work when you first try them may well work when you try them later.  I tried to meditate several times in my life starting from my 20s, but I succeeded later in life.

6.It is okay to be nervous about a new habit.  Some new habits are more nerve-wracking than others. Driving is nerve-wracking in the beginning. Public speaking is nerve wracking in the beginning. Understand that many things which are nerve-wracking become less and less nerve wracking as you develop confidence and do it again and again.  This was true for me with learning Excel when I switched from an advertising copy career to a commissions administration career. It was also true for me when I learned driving and I learned public speaking, just to name a few areas of my life which were nerve wracking.

7.Besides being nerve-wracking, everything is tough in the beginning.  Remember how tough it was for you to learn to ride a bicycle.  Or to learn to swim, or to skate, or to golf.  What’s tough in the beginning, gets easier as you become habituated to it.

8.You may ask, “Minoo, how do you write and publish a blog post every week?” The answer is: I have been at it for 8 years and 450 posts. So I have gotten better and better at both coming up with ideas and writing. Or you may ask me, “Minoo, how come it is so easy for you to meditate?” The answer is: I have been meditating as well for the past 8 years.  The more you do something, the better you get at it. Take a page out of my book. Better still, take a page out of your favorite athlete’s book – keep doing something, and you will get better and better and better and better and better at it. 

9.There are tools to give up habits.  If you have a spending problem, you can create an expense tracker and track all your expenses.  If you have a hard time being on time, you can use the alarm on your phone, or set your clock back so you are always on time. If you have an addiction, you can join AA. If you have been unsuccessful in giving up a habit without tools, then there's no question about it - you need to use tools. Do not resist this or procrastinate on this.

10.A habit can be liberating.  A regular exercise habit liberates you from gaining weight and being less healthy than you want to be. A reading habit liberates you from boredom and ignorance. A purposeful writing habit or community service habit can liberate you from the "now what" feeling that happens after you achieve any milestone.

11.Some habits you should take up just because they are character building. I have a friend who regularly cleans the bathrooms of the Buddhist temple she goes to. This is an example of a character-building habit.

12.It is easier to give up a bad habit if it is inconvenient for you to continue it.  I once met a person who told me she used to smoke when she lived in India, but she gave it up soon after coming to America, because she did not like to have to go outside to smoke. If you want to give up a habit, make it inconvenient for you to continue it.  For example, if you want to give up alcohol, live far from a liquor store, avoid social events where liquor is served, and avoid people who enable your addiction.  Make it inconvenient.  If you want to give up cakes and ice-cream and anything else that’s bad for you, don’t stock it at home and if you know it's going to be served at a party, eat before you go to the party.  You will have an easier time of giving up an unhealthy eating habit this way.  Do you know after I went low-carb, I stopped buying potatoes and rice and bread altogether.  Take a leaf out of my book.

13.Repetition is the key determinant of success with new habits.  You have to take the first step. Then you have to do it again.  Then you have to do it again.  Then you have to do it again.  Then you have to do it again.  People who excel at things often do so only after they have been at it for 10,000 hours. Repetition is essential and it is powerful and rewarding.

14.Good habits lead to great habits.  The more you exercise, the more you can exercise. The further you can go. And the more challenging things you can attempt. In yoga - you may find yourself starting with the easy Lotus pose and eventually being able to do the difficult crane pose. The 2 mile walker becomes the 5 mile walker. The 5 mile walker becomes the 10 mile walker. The 10 mile walker becomes the 13.1 mile walker. The 13.1 mile walker becomes the 26.2 mile walker.

15.Finally, we become associated with our habits. Depending on when and how you know me,  you will associate me with this blog, or with the Fiesta advertising campaign I created, or with wearing sweaters in the Chennai heat, or with wearing sunshades at night, or with drinking till I passed out, or with playing my own compositions on the guitar. For your information, of the above, this blog is the only habit which still stands.

Hope this post inspires you to give up any habits that are bad for you.

More importantly, I hope this post inspires you to embark on new habits that are good for you.

What better time than the start of a brand new year to do both? When December 31,2019 rolls around, you should be able to celebrate at least one habit victory - preferably the most important one.

I suggest you firm up your resolve by writing this in the Dec 31st box of your 2019 calendar – “Celebrate my habit victories with Minoo”.

How are we going to do that?

Leave that to me.  When Dec 31 2019 rolls round, just let me know your habit victories of 2019, and we will figure out a way to celebrate them.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks for the feedback, (comments, likes, shares) on my recent posts. I appreciate the kudos from old friends, new friends, and relatives who have become friends. You keep me going.

NEXT, thanks for sharing my journey to wisdom, meaning and a better life.  Like you, I am trying to find my way through this complex maze we call life, and I am honored to have you share my journey, as I continue to seek the wisdom hidden in plain sight.

FINALLY, A Happy Birthday shout-out:  to those with January birthdays. I hope you will use your birthday month to give up bad habits and start good ones.

To all my readers, have a blessed “doing good for yourself while doing good for others”week, and see you next week.
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Sunday, January 6, 2019

The Duck Without A Quack


Where the muse beckons, we have to follow….a children’s story from my pen...
Once upon a time there was a Mama Duck who had 5 baby ducks.

4 of the 5 baby ducks quacked.

But one Baby Duck didn’t.

Mama Duck was worried and had Papa Duck take him to Doctor Duck.

The doctor said, “Baby Duck , “Open your mouth wide and stick your tongue out and say “Aaah”

So Baby Duck opened its mouth wide and stuck its tongue out and said “Aaah”.

 “Everything looks alright”, said Doctor Duck to Papa Duck; “just give Baby Duck plenty of water and his quack will be back.”

Papa Duck took Baby Duck home and gave him plenty of water.

That evening as all the baby ducks gathered round Mama to hear their bedtime story before bed, Mama Duck said, “now who wants to hear a story?’.

4 baby ducks said Quack, but one baby duck opened its mouth wide and said “Aah”.

 “I see the problem,” said Papa Duck to Mama Duck, “when we went to Doctor Duck, Doctor Duck told Baby Duck to say aah”.

 “Well, if that didn’t work, maybe you can take him to Shaman Duck tomorrow” said Mama Duck.

Shaman Duck knew how to do all sorts of magic.

So Papa Duck took Baby Duck to Shaman Duck, hoping Shaman Duck would help Baby Duck say Quack.

 “No problem “said Shaman Duck and he said “Web Deb Web Deb” while we waved a wand over Baby Duck.

 “Take him home and give him lots of water and by evening, he will quack like his brothers and sisters”.

That evening as all the baby ducks gathered round Mama to hear their bedtime story before bed, Mama Duck said, “now who wants to hear a story?”.

4 baby ducks said Quack, but one baby duck said “Moo” in a deep loud voice.

The other baby ducks jumped.  Mama Duck jumped.  Papa Duck jumped.

A cow mooed back from a nearby cowshed.

 “Well, that didn’t work,” said Mama Duck. “Perhaps we should get Baby Duck a tutor. Take Baby Duck to Lake School tomorrow and ask Teacher Duck to teach Baby Duck to Quack.

So Papa Duck took Baby Duck to Lake School to ask Teacher Duck to teach Baby Duck to say Quack.

Papa Duck went to a classroom, found 2 empty seats for Baby Duck and himself and they waited along with the other student ducks in the classroom for Teacher Duck to arrive.

When Teacher Duck arrived, the student ducks stood up and said “Good Morning Teacher Duck.” Papa Duck made Baby Duck stand up too.

Teacher Duck gave the lesson and Papa Duck and Baby Duck listened quietly with the other students.

When Teacher Duck was finished, Papa Duck said “Thank you, Teacher Duck.  We so want our Baby Duck to learn to quack”.

That evening as all the baby ducks gathered round Mama to hear their bedtime story before bed, Mama Duck said, “now who wants to hear a story?’.

4 baby ducks said Quack, but one baby duck said “Good Morning Teacher Duck.” Mama looked at Papa Duck. “That didn’t work.  We need a miracle.  Tomorrow, take Baby Duck to Lake Church and ask Pastor Duck to pray over him”.

So Papa Duck took Baby Duck to Lake Church to ask Pastor Duck to pray over him.

Pastor Duck made the sign of the cross and said “Bless you, my child” and said some prayers over Baby Duck.

You can guess what happened.

That evening as all the baby ducks gathered round Mama to hear their bedtime story before bed, Mama Duck said, “now who wants to hear a story?”.

4 baby ducks said Quack, but one baby duck said “Bless You, My Child”.

Mama Duck had an idea. She turned to Papa Duck and said, “Tomorrow, take Baby Duck to Lake Circus and ask one of the bird trainers to train Baby Duck to quack.”

So Papa Duck took Baby Duck to Lake Circus to ask Trainer Duck to train Baby Duck to quack.

Baby Duck watched the circus performers, animals and humans practicing for the Big Show.

The man in charge of the trapeze artists blew his whistle for them to start.

Baby Duck saw a young trapeze artist make the sign of the cross.

 “Bless you my child” said Baby Duck.

A clown with a white face thought that was very funny and laughed.

Baby Duck got scared of the clown with the white face and ran away from Papa Duck shrieking “Bless You, My Child. Bless You, My Child”.

Papa Duck decided to take Baby Duck home.

That evening as all the baby ducks gathered round Mama to hear their bedtime story before bed, Mama Duck said, “now who wants to hear a story?”.

4 baby ducks said Quack, but one baby duck said nothing.  It was scared to say “Bless You My Child” in case the clown with the white face appeared.

The next day Baby Duck was alone with one of his baby sisters exploring. Sister suddenly got her webbed foot stuck in a pot.  “Quack” said Sister Duck, afraid.

Baby Duck looked at Sister.

Baby Duck looked towards the lake where Mama Duck was paddling with his other 3 sisters.

Baby Duck ran towards Mama.

 “Ah, Moo, Good Morning Teacher Duck.  Bless You My Child”, he shrieked at Mama Duck.

 “Whatever is the matter?” wondered Mama.  “Something Must Be Wrong.”

Baby Duck shrieked, “Ah, Moo, Good Morning Teacher Duck.  Bless You My Child” again and ran towards Sister, looking back at Mama to make sure Mama Duck was following him.

Mama Duck followed Baby Duck all the way to where Sister was with her foot stuck in a pot.

Following Mama Duck was a Cow, Doctor Duck, Pastor Duck, Teacher Duck and Police Duck who had all heard, “Ah, Moo, Good Morning Teacher Duck.  Bless You My Child”.

 “Bless his heart,” said Doctor Duck, seeing that Baby Duck had led Mama Duck to Sister Duck.

 “Bless his heart,” said Pastor Duck, seeing that Baby Duck had led Mama Duck to Sister Duck.

 “Bless his heart,” said Teacher Duck, seeing that Baby Duck had led Mama Duck to Sister Duck.

 “Bless his heart,” said Police Duck, seeing that Baby Duck had led Mama Duck to Sister Duck.

 “Bless his heart”, said Baby Duck, proud and happy.

And you know what – Police Duck gave Baby Duck a job on the Police Force on the Rescue Squad.

It never worried Mama Duck and Papa Duck again when Baby Duck said, “Ah, Moo, Good Morning Teacher Duck. Bless You My Child”.
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