Life

The Walk Of Life (Added to notion)

“I walked 26000km around Europe for 3 years and only felt lost once I arrived home.”

It was a crazy idea. But I just had to get out there again, and find myself, God, or at least… something. I felt so hollow.

So in late November of 1995, with just a rucksack, spare socks, underwear, a map of Europe and a bible, I caught the ferry from Hull in England to Zeebrugge in Belgium, and started walking.

I basically crossed the West of Europe along the canals to the river Rhine, followed the Rhine down to the Alps, crossed the Alps & back, then through Eastern Europe over the river Danube to Russia.

Problems on the border of Georgia, stopped me travelling further, so I returned to Slovakia to then walk North through Poland and Scandinavia.

Once again in Slovakia, I then covered from a point I left off in Italy (Mestre by Venice in the North) and set off walking down through the Balkans up to the Serbian Border.

Cars would stop beside me in the pouring rain, and ask if I wanted a ride to the next town.

“No thanks, I must walk to Jerusalem” I answered.

This was usually met with a blank stare, and off they drove.

At first I covered 20km each day, then built it up to 30-50km per day, the longest being over 100km when I walked day and night to find suitable shelter in Croatia.

Finally becoming tired of walking daily, I settled in Slovakia.

Bujinkan (Added to notion)

Bujinkan is dedicated to the study and promotion of traditional Japanese martial arts as taught by Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi in Noda-shi, Japan.

The Bujinkan martial art comprises nine different but complimentary martial arts traditions that encompass all aspects of personal combat and self-protection skills. The training consists of unarmed and armed personal combat techniques, as taught in Japan. This martial art is truly martial in that it is centred on centuries-old, combat-tested techniques. It’s not a sport martial art, nor are competitions between practitioners arranged.

While this sounds very serious, and indeed it is, Bujinkan is also about self-knowledge, improvement and living without fear.
As Hatsumi-sensei says, “…to become people that can live.”

[Read more…]

Sailing

For me, the lure of sailing is the ideal combination of tradition and innovation, relaxation and excitement. The self-enforcement of discipline and order, and anticipation of the unexpected that invariably occurs at sea.

Lessons learnt in sailing, I believe can certainly be applied to today’s businesses, families and other areas of life. For example at sea, I learned:

how little a person needs, not how much

and

how wind to a sailor is very much what money is to life on shore.

I’d love to one day, perhaps during early retirement, take young boys & fathers out on bonding, “back to nature” trips to enforce some of the life skills that are so often missing in the buzz of electronic & car based town life and entertainment.

I started yachting in late 2011 and have since sailed over 18 days and 3 night passages almost 400 n.m. (nautical miles) in:

The Canary Islands x 3
Gibraltar x 2
Spain x 3
Morocco

I’d love to one day sail across the Atlantic and perhaps sail around Greece, Polynesia, The British Virgin Islands, New Zealand, Fiji and Samoa.

The Lure Of Blue Water Cruising

Getting carried away with the romantic side of ocean cruising is all too easy. All those dreams about trade winds blowing over palm fringed beaches and idling across entire oceans on the back of steady breezes,escaping the drab routine of everyday life, setting off into the blue exploring life on a small ship in a wide sea….

It’s a dream shared by many but realised by few.

Sailing Advice

If there is one word I’d use to sum up all the advice I’d ever give on sailing, it’s would be “dependable”.

Your crew, yacht, tools, materials, plans – You should know that they are should be “dependable”, should anything go wrong.

I use lists I’ve created to ensure that everything is diagnosable, accessible and everything has a back-up option.

Be a Dependable Skipper – Get qualified

For Mediterranean sailing the ICC (International certificate of competence) is enough to start with, but on any waters that have tides – you’ll be looking to get the RYA “day skipper” certificate, and before that the RYA “competent crew” certificate.

Have Dependable Documentation

Carry a crew & boat list for the authorities (keep several copies or print a special boat stamp and card to use)

The useful website http://www.noonsite.com/ will help you know what you’ll need in each country you sail to.

The crew list should include the following:

The names of the skipper and all crew and their date and places of birth
Passport numbers, places and date of issue and nationalities

The boat list should include:

Boat name, flag, port of registration
call sign
Brand and model of yacht
Length, beam and draft.
net and gross tonnage
Construction material
Number of masts
Brand and horsepower of inboard motor
Number, brand and horsepower of outboard engines and type of fuel used.

A dependable plan when the wind gets up:

When in doubt and the yacht is moving under wind, either in the harbour, close to shore or out at sea, use my heavy weather sailing checklist.

Here’s a handy wind speed conversion chart: http://weather.org/conversion.htm

Sail dependable waves

When sailing, we tend to worry about wind strengths, but it is usually waves that cause the most damage. So here’s where to get the best sea state forecasts:

US Navy website: www.usno.navy.mil/FNMOC/ (click on ‘oceanography products’)
Surfing site: magicseaweed.com

Waves are often at their steepest and most dangerous as they near the coast. Wave height is a crucial consideration when entering a harbour, especially if there are any sandbars at the entrance. If in doubt, stay out for the night or seek a safer harbour.

Dependable anchorage

Always have an exit strategy planned wherever you set anchor, in case the wind shifts or blows you off at night.

Dependable Fog precautions

Although somewhat similar to the heavy weather precautions, here’s my “fog checklist” which differs slightly.

Plot position at first sign of worsening visibility
Maintain plot eg with GPS
Hoist radar reflector if not permanently rigged
Put on lifejackets
Launch or at least prepare dinghy
Increase lookout and, if under power, stop engine periodically to listen
Sound foghorn every two minutes
Consider sounding into shallow water (big ships won’t catch you there)

Skippers Mantra:

Is the boat safe? Are the crew safe?

If so, then check…

Is the boat happy? Are the crew happy?

If so, then you’ve done your job well.

2 very useful sailing acronyms:

When doing the daily engine check before setting out: “WOBBLE”

Water, Oil, Belt, Bilges, Leaks, Everything & Electrics/Battery

When hoisting / bringing down the mainsheet: “KMT”

Kicker Ease, Mainsheet Ease,Topping Lift On

When the main is up and ready, backwards KMT – “TMK”

Topping lift off, mainsheet tighten, tighten kicker

Apart from the sailing checklists and cheatsheets contained on this blog, I’ve for 3 useful ones at http://checklistables.com/tag/sailing/ as well.

Finishing off with my dream boat:

http://www.discoveryyachts.com/our-yachts/discovery-55/

Morning Routine

I want to be ready to influence my world – before my world is ready to influence me.

I’ve found that how I start my day – determines largely how I spend my day. In a nutshell, how I begin and spend each day is really important to me – and influences the rest of the days I have left.

What could be more important than getting a firm grasp on how we start each day with a morning routine?

So long ago, I created the habit of getting up around 5 am. Sometimes a little earlier, sometimes a little later. My first battle of the day is to win the battle of the bed. Putting mind over mattress. According to Jocko Willink, this habit alone is the cornerstone of discipline and serves you more dutifully in the key areas of your life.

daniel shaw reading — Can it get any better? – the morning routine from a balcony overlooking the Austrian Alps…

During the weekend, while travelling, or when the clocks change – I don’t miss my morning routine because I love it, and it instils a sense of purpose, peace and ritual in my day. I consider it the single most important time of the 24hrs that each day contains, as these small actions are done over time and have led to the long-term benefits that I currently enjoy in life.

And I would encourage anyone wanting to raise their living standards to spend time building this one habit. It’ll make a difference in every area of your life for sure. Here’s how I do it:

The morning routine

Going to bed relatively early the night before for 7-8 hours of sleep helps (even though it’s usually interrupted by my little daughter), and I currently wake naturally sometime around 5-6 am, so that by 7-8 am I can spend a bit of time with my wife and daughter over coffee, then travel to my office.

(I rarely work from home, as I believe home is to be used and called as “home” – my place of rest & refuge, and work – well I don’t like to waste time when I’m working, and therefore only do work there)

I use dayscore.net to create a check-list for building this habit that I have as a bookmark to open on my tablet home screen as soon as I wake up, and I tick the items off during my morning routine, which usually takes me 1-2 hours:

Drink a glass of water – Remember that you’ll have far less energy when you’re dehydrated. And get less done.
Quiet reflection time of meditation / prayer / spiritual reading
Exercise – home workout or trail run (keeps me vibrant and full of energy throughout the day). Sometimes I have a protein shake after this.
Look at goal list / mindmap / dreamboard
Plan the day in my pocket notebook (prioritise my 5 most important tasks for the day, single out the most important task, look at any tasks I have to do every week on that particular day, and ask what I need to do? Who do I need to talk to? Who am I waiting on? What would have to happen for this to be an excellent day? For me to end the day proud?)
If it’s Monday, then I do a weekly review.
Make sure I’m well presented (shower, shave, brush teeth, clothes)
Eat Breakfast (quick look at twitter & facebook)

My day then begins with spending time with my family, settling into an office space clear of clutter (mess creates stress), and getting to inbox zero, before doing my most important task of the day, before moving on to the rest of them.

For beginners, I’d advise starting with just one or two items on the list and then building it up into something that fits you best. For me, it’s still just 1 to 2 main tasks/goals per day.

More about the benefits of setting up and keeping to a morning routine can be heard in this excellent podcast:

productive morning rituals

He who every morning plans the transaction of the day and follows out that plan, carries a thread that will guide him through the maze of the most busy life. But where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incidence, chaos will soon reign. – Victor Hugo

Money

I don’t claim to be millionaire, but thanks to a bit of hard work, meeting the right people, ingenuity, luck, tips and principles, I’ve managed to get out of the “minus” of the 1st 50% of the western world and get into the remaining 50% who are not in debt, and create wealth daily.

A book which I’d recommend anyone to read is “The Cashflow Quadrant” by Robert Kiyosaki – who reveals the distinct differences between “working for a company”, “being your own boss”, having others “work for you” and finally having an “invested interest” in those who make money.

It’s hard to believe sometimes, but there really is enough money to be made for everyone, and deciding to create extra wealth can be a very fun hobby 🙂 Apart from the extra opportunities money can bring, it’s my experience that you can build some real friends and relationships in the process, as well as have the privilege of working close to your true passions in life.

Talking about money is sometimes hard to do, but the starting point is doing just that, and being honest with yourself and all others involved in your money.

I hope that this list will lead you through the strain and stress than money issues can cause…

Making Money:

Stop wasting time, your time is the most valuable thing you have.
You don’t work, you don’t eat. You don’t polish, you don’t shine.
Having said that, work hard but never depend on a single income. If you are dependent on a single income source, you’re at great risk. Do not put “all your eggs in one basket” as they say. Make not just financial investments, but also investments of your time and energy to create multiple sources of income.
Increase your personal worth at every chance you get by learning new things, skills, talents, languages.

Grand Law: Increasing your incomings and decrease your outgoings.

Input & Output: The only way money is made is through the input of Power (Time, Energy & Money) and is a direct result of the intelligent application of Power.

Loss of Money results from applying Power in the wrong place.

Systems:
What is a system?
A group of interacting parts forming a complex whole. Concerning “money” we are looking for systems that convert Power into Money and ways to increase the amount of input and increase their output.

Spending Money:

Spend less than you earn.
If you buy things you do not need, soon you may have to sell things you do need.
Plan ahead every time you spend money.

Managing Money:

Record everything: your income, your expenses – daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. That which is monitored can be improved.

Maintaining Money:

Take care of your things. If you can’t earn more per hour than the time it takes to do a task that you have to pay for, then do it yourself.
Eliminate any debt you have as your 1st priority.

Spend less than you earn, or at least make more than you spend.

Stop trying to impress other people.

Saving Money:

Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving.

Investing Money:

Never test the depth of the river with both feet.

Sharing Money:

Give without strings or regrets at least 10% of your income regularly – it’ll make you richer.

Running

Either pushing yourself to extremes and learn the harsh reality of your physical and mental limitations or just coasting quietly down a solitary path just watching the earth spin beneath your feet.

But when you are through, exhilarated and exhausted, at least for a moment everything seems right with the world…

WMY teaser final – 021714DN02 from David Norman on Vimeo.

Running teaches me discipline

I love running for going against the grind, pushing myself daily in all kinds of weather, and then applying that to my daily personal / business life.

Running makes you an athlete in all areas of life…trained in the basics, prepared for whatever comes, ready to fill each hour and deal with the decisive moment.

Kosice Marathon 2011 — At the finishing line of the Kosice Half-Marathon 2011

That’s one of the reasons why I organise the yearly “tvrdak race” with my good friend Richard Voda. for those around Bratislava to deal with and overcome unexpected obstacles when running through life…

…Apart from a handful of 3km and 10km local competitions without doing any training whatsoever for them, I haven’t done much running at all in the past.

However in October 2010, thinking that a baby might be on the way, and how unfit I’d become, I created the habit of going for a simple 5km run, ideally 3 times a week on a small river island near my flat.

daniel shaw runner — my runkeeper profile

I didn’t think I’d keep it up for long, but 3 years along the line, I’m still running 2-3 times a week, usually in the early morning. Some days I run fast, some slow, some a mix of intervals. I leave it up to how I feel on the day, and record each run in my Runkeeper app.

My goals are not to run any long distances or achieve any great speeds, but mainly to:

Keep me fit so that I have energy in the upbringing of my daughter and…
Keep me fit so that my mind is productive.

daniel shaw marathon — Running The Bratislava Half Marathon 2013

Of course there are many other side benefits, such as the ideas I get along the way, the complete solitude of that half hour alone, being out in nature in the early hours of the morning and a chance to listen to some motivating music.

In addition to my 5km 3 x a week, it’s my goal to also run 2 half marathon contests per year ( half marathon – 21km ) as well as a couple of obstacle courses to check if my overall running health is declining or increasing, and a obstacle run or keep my overall determination to win in check.

Start Running

You can on become a runner if you run, so start today and start light. Remember that it only takes 2 weeks to lose strength and 6 weeks to gain so keep that in mind when you start running, or decide to take a break.

Run right

This short claymation video is a good refresher on the proper running form. Using the tips illustrated in the video may help prevent injuries and make running more comfortable, especially if you’re running barefoot.
The main tip is to land midfoot, rather than on your heel, because heel strikes generate more impact.

Running Form in 30 Seconds from Greatist on Vimeo.

For lots more on this pose running technique, see Pose Tech or the similar 100-up form.

Only one person and one person only will determine how good of a runner you become…
You will become as good as you let yourself be. That one person is you.

Start by deciding a purpose for every run you take and know what that purpose is before you start – whether that is to just relax, beat your personal best, increase speed, endurance etc…