First Duo Staff Routine

Here is a routine that Ken Hill in Omaha, Nebraska and I put together. I think it's pretty awesome for having only taken a couple hrs of brainstorming and rehearsing the day of (with out fire)... It helped that we already had similar styles and skill levels. I almost am never so excited to come up with a routine with someone since I am usually a solo performer, but with this dedicated performer I knew that an awesome product would come out of the work put in.

Since both of us have worked so hard individually, it was pretty effortless and enjoyable to come up with this. We had enough exciting moves that it was easy to orchestrate them together. Like music, it's important that everyone in the band can actually play their instrument! I would be excited to see what we could come up with after a few days of work! Perhaps this winter, we will have some time to come up with a new, revised and polished routine to share with the world.

I loved this article on self-discipline. It seems to capture a lot of what Zen and other things are trying to say but I like this article because Gallozzi sums it up in a short, direct, easy to read way. I feel that this is exactly the right amount of information. This article is definitely something I will be reading over and over and trying my best to put into practice.


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Developing Self-Discipline

Written by Chuck Gallozzi

Will is character in action (William Mcdougall) When British psychologist William Mcdougall (1871 ~ 1938) said, “Will is character in action,” what did he mean? Simply that willpower is the source of our action, and, therefore, the source of our character. For when we will to do good, and do so, we have good character, but when we will to neglect our responsibilities, we have bad character. When people complain or are dissatisfied with their lives, they often blame others for their unhappy state of affairs. If it isn’t the fault of others, then they claim it is due to ‘bad luck’ or how ‘unfair’ the world is. They seem to blame everything except themselves. Such an attitude is self-defeating, for complaints are wasted effort and divert attention from possible solutions. They don’t yet understand that life doesn’t happen TO us. It happens BECAUSE of us. They haven’t awakened to the fact that destiny or fate is not arbitrary and predetermined. Rather, we create our own destiny. After all, our present conditions were brought about by our past actions, and our present actions will create our future circumstances. Why do people blame everything but themselves for their unhappiness? Because it is painful to admit that our lack of success is not due to any quirk of fate, but to our own lack of responsiveness to the opportunities that were presented to us. But once we admit the truth, great power is unleashed. For then we will realize that our lives are not controlled by the whims of fate, but by ourselves, by our own actions, and by our own willpower. It is exciting to realize that we can do anything we set our mind to. Yet, after coming close to reaching this point, some then cop out by claiming they don’ t have any willpower, as if there was a willpower gene that somehow they are lacking. If we find ourselves stuck in that space where we believe we lack willpower, what can we do? Begin by understanding the true meaning of willpower. It’s just another way of saying self-discipline. When you tell yourself you lack self-discipline, it is easier to understand that you can do something about it. You can develop it. But wait a minute! Doesn’t it take self-discipline to develop self-discipline? And if I don’t have any, how can I use what I don’t have? Well, it is incorrect to say you don’t have ANY. You couldn’t have read this far without some discipline, so your challenge is not how to acquire it, but how to get MORE of it. If your doctor told you that you need to lift weights, you would start with light weights, gradually working your way up to the heavy ones, thereby increasing your power. So it is with self-discipline. Anyone can start from where they are and go from there. Perhaps no other skill is as important to develop as self-disciple or self-control. It is the key to self-mastery and the achievement of your dreams. Now, let’s look at some steps you can take to increase your personal power. 1. Acknowledge your own responsibility. Admit that if you sit around doing nothing, you will achieve nothing. 2. Allow yourself to feel the resistance. For example, if you are a student that needs to be studying, but doesn’t feel like it, say something like the following to yourself. “I don’t feel like studying. I feel like pursuing some pleasure instead. But rather than running away, I allow myself to feel the resistance and I admit I need to study. I also need to develop self-discipline. And doing what we don’t like to do develops self-discipline. So, I welcome this opportunity to kill two birds with one stone (study for my exam and develop self-discipline).” 3. Take a few deep breaths. Relax and let go of any tension. Pause and visualize the action as if it were already completed. Study the image of the completed project in your mind for a few moments. This step prepares both your conscious mind and subconscious for action. 4. Now act. After doing so, you will feel a sense of relief as you free yourself from the stress that comes from ignoring an important task. Second, you will enjoy the pleasure of accomplishment. Third, you will discover the task was easier to do than you first imagined. 5. Relish the relief and pleasure you experience. Remember it. Savor it. Focus on it. For it will become the source of motivation. At first, the lure of relief and pleasure will be weak and the memory of it dim, but as you repeatedly do what you don’t feel like doing, the motivation to act will grow stronger and stronger, until a firm habit is formed. 6. Those who haven’t yet developed the habit of self-discipline avoid tasks because they focus on the effort that needs to be made. In their minds, effort is synonymous with discomfort. Change what you focus on. When facing a new task, focus on the relief and pleasure you will be experiencing. Also focus on the memory of how your imagination tricks you, always blowing things out of proportion. Remember that the task will be easier to do than your now believe. 7. When you launch your personal Self-Discipline Development Program, you will do two things: complete tasks and develop self-discipline. Of the two, developing self-discipline is more important. For once you have mastered that you will be able to do anything. So, it is important to be successful. Therefore, when starting out, don’t decide to work on the most urgent task, but choose the easiest one first and work your way up. Pretend you are working out in a gym for the first time. If you begin by trying to lift 100 lb. weights, you will probably feel overwhelmed and quickly give up. But if you start with 10 lb. weights, your workouts will be easy to do and your successes will motivate you to move on to bigger challenges. Take baby steps and work your way up. Trying to bite off more than you can chew will lead to failure. 8. Be gentle but firm with yourself. Act firmly in that you stop running away. Face your task, accept it, and accomplish it. Finish what you start. Follow through on every project. Focus on one task at a time. Don’t scatter your attention. But be gentle in the sense that you don’t have to do all your tasks immediately as long as you start doing some. Don’t expect to go from zero to a hundred in one second. Work up to it. Start slowly, but gradually pick up the pace as you develop your skills. 9. Expect to be tempted to avoid your tasks. Your mind will come up with rationalizations and excuses for putting off till ‘tomorrow’ what can be done today. Remain aware of your feelings and learn to think before you act. Use your reason (rational mind), not your emotions, to guide your actions. Do what is good FOR you instead of what FEELS good. 10. Once you learn how to quickly act on all the tasks, responsibilities, and challenges facing you, you will want to remain fit, always ready to act. Keep in shape by deliberately going out of your way to do things you don’t want to do, even if they are unimportant. The truth is, nothing is unimportant, for if doing something trivial helps maintain your self-discipline, it is no longer trivial. Remember that it is just like working out in a gym. After all, the workout I choose to do is unimportant; it is only the result (physical fitness) that is important. The same is true for your mental fitness. Look for opportunities during the day to ‘work out. ’ 11. Once you can keep your level of self-discipline, you will be ready to move on to the next level by stretching yourself. Now you deliberately seek out difficult and complex challenges that you only dared to dream about in the past. Now that you have mastered self-control, you are ready to make those dreams come true. At this point, you are no longer paralyzed by task-avoidance. Each task you do frees up more time to work on the next project. You have now started on the path of endless growth. Life is not something that happens to you, but you are something that happens to life. Decide today to give up the blame game and take responsibility for your own life by mastering the art of self-discipline. © Chuck Gallozzi For more articles and contact information, Visit http://www.personal-development.com/chuck Direct link to this article: http://www.personal-development.com/chuck/selfdiscipline.htm

Prayer for Me

This is the first version of a daily prayer I just wrote. I felt the need to have some extra consistency of zeal and spirit in my life. It's so easy for emotions to take you down to a level of laziness and procrastination, especially when you don't have a boss or a coach to slap your ass into gear. I needed a series of words that spoke to my deepest self and could wake me up when I'm asleep at the wheel.

I'm not religious by any means. I suppose that if I had to label it, the prayer would be agnostic, or even just philosophical, Taoist. This is a personal prayer. It's what I wanted and needed to help me better my life and reach for greater things.

People who hold on to the belief in a God seem to do so out of a need to just carry on. I understand this need to carry on and carry through, of course; it is a need indeed. However, I do not believe in a God with a face. I feel that I can not for long kid myself into thinking there is a God, at least not one who has a gender or a plan, or that, if there is a plan, I could read about it somewhere. I don't even really know what the government's plans are, and that is here on earth! Trust me, I've tried to believe.

I do believe that there is a Source, however inconceivable. I feel no need to add a face or form to the Source. Also, I believe there is always a deeper Source. And a deeper Source still. There can not be a Source of all Sources. It goes on forever. That idea, the idea that I have no idea, that the universe is forever a mystery, grips my soul like no other. It's an idea that takes charge. It takes courage for me to never give a face or image to the Source. I like things that take courage.

I want to be clear that I don't have it all figured out. That's exactly what I'm saying.... This prayer is out of an effort to do my best... to take a stab at it. I've made the effort to make the wisdom universal and timeless while also applying to my life specifically. It's a custom prayer, like a car out of the shop. However if you feel the desire to say the prayer to yourself, it will probably apply. But regardless I encourage you to take the prayer for yourself and change it a little, or a lot, or completely.

In the prayer, it seems that I am giving this mysterious Source power over me be saying things like, "Please allow me to walk with balance and serenity"... I do this because I know that I am human, and really, I'm a child in many ways. This is a way for me to play pretend with myself. It's like the idea of an artist communicating to his or her muse or genius as a separate entity which comes of it's own volition like wind and hits only those who are receptive. I know that I'm crazy, but it helps a little to pretend that I'm talking to an outside Source. It helps me to remember that I'm not in complete control of my life. That's a lot of pressure. This prayer is a humble attempt to ask Dad for the keys, to cast my vote into the abyss like a message in a bottle that I throw as far as I can into the ocean everyday.

It certainly effects my life in a stronger way to imagine something unimaginable than does any laying of hands or kneeling by a bedside talking in a specific upwards direction to someone with a specific face that someone showed me in a specific book that someone else wrote and illustrated. What do they know about the Great Source? Nothing, as far as I'm concerned. I also know nothing. I say, lets clear the slate.

Finally, I mentioned before that I don't believe that there is one final Source from which all things come because there must be a greater Source still. In the prayer, I say, "The Great Source," which makes it seem that I'm contradicting myself. I want to be clear that it was the first thing that I came up with. It is also my belief that words will always limit us. So, for the reader's sake, "The Great Source" refers to an ever-moving, ever-changing, formless space-less non-place of non-existence. Are you having trouble imagining the Great Source? Me too. That's the whole idea.

So, this is my prayer as I have written it so far. Remember, it's custom, so I can take it "back to the shop" anytime. I hope that you feel something in this prayer and that you might take my suggestion to revise a prayer for yourself, if it helps you. If it doesn't, that's cool too.

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Great Source, please allow me to walk with balance and serenity.
I am a human whose limits are great but unknown.
I stretch myself each day to make unknown limits knowable.
The strength to take the next best step is endless, though I will often feel blind to it's presence.
I have the right to work and not be distracted by the 83 problems and that attempt to haunt me.
I will take care of myself so that I may take care of others,
Not for fame. Not for abundance that can be counted in dollars.
I will walk not proud nor abject but with the balance and self-renewing strength which gets me through this day and the next.
I will work today to the extent that I may still work tomorrow.
Everyday, I will come to terms with being alone so I may do my work.
I will not put off until tomorrow that which may as well be done today.
Pain should not be unusual; it is a by-product of life and hopefully progress.
Intense fear only indicates what I must face next.
Please allow me to walk with balance and serenity.
Help me put that which is important over that which is urgent.
Help me see that optimism is realism.
Please allow me to smile often and sincerely.
Great Source, please allow me to walk with balance and serenity.
Thank you.