I’m not that crazy.
On the way into the office today I felt a little better about my decision to start riding my bike into the office:
I get more exercise now than I have in a decade, my bankroll is steady, I have more time to pursue the things I enjoy (and not whittling away at my short time on this planet with a long-ass commute) and I also get to live with my best friend. Sometimes going against the grain can work to your advantage.
Of course I’m going to take the plunge at some point, but it’ll probably be vintage (and red/fast). 
Nobody walks in L.A.
It’s long been my goal to simply my life and also do things that enhance it in the process so I figure the next logical step is to focus on a goal that does both: I’m going to start riding a bike to work.
Now, I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t spurred on by a few other changes in my life but really, the more I think about it the more sense it makes. No gas, no traffic and exercise all wrapped up in one nice little package. Anyone who knows me knows of my hatred of crossing intersections (due to an unnatural ability to draw moving vehicles to myself) but that is only going to be about 1/2 mile of my 13 mile (!) commute. The rest of it will look just like this:
Of course there are downsides to this plan, but I think the overall goodness will overshadow them. I am really looking forward to having an hour or two to myself everyday (when I come up with my best ideas) and I’m fairly certain that the beer belly I’m currently nurturing will only be a faint memory. It’s not going to be an easy transition but ultimately a worthwhile one.
The only problem in my plan right now is finding a bike- at 6′3″ there aren’t a lot of frames suitable for me on the used market so I’m trying to find something new that won’t break the bank. To be continued..
Age and the entrepreneur
While I understand all of the knowledge presented (the nutshell that Marc describes) my knee-jerk reaction is that Age & Entrepreneurship (today) isn’t based merely on creative peaks and valleys- in fact, I’m a little shocked that throughout his research Dr. Simonton doesn’t take any outside factors into consideration.The bottom line is that age has no factor in entrepreneurship- it’s the entrepreneurial lifestyle that must factor into age. You can’t spend 24/7 on a startup when you’ve got a wife and kid at home, nor can you bet the farm when you’ve got little Jimmy’s college fund to look after. You can be at a creative peak throughout your lifetime, but I guarantee you won’t get as many at-bats as someone who is fresh out of college (or even still in college) and has absolutely no attachments or debt.
Of course, if you have one big payday early on you’re obviously going to be out of the above group for the most part- the Andreessen/Cuban effect. Your time is even more crunched but you now have ‘life capital’ that allows you to multiply it in various forms. Creativity doesn’t wane, it merely learns to thrive via different channels.
The gist? Take away the resources of time and money and you can’t be a successful entrepreneur.. at any age.
No Mr. Bond.. I expect you to die!
It’s been brought to my attention (in more ways than one) that it may be time to get my arse into shape. I’m not overweight, but the years of fatty foods, smoking and drinking are starting to take their toll, mentally and physically. The fact that I’ll be thirty this year doesn’t really help much either.
Here’s the kicker though- I hate ‘mindless’ exercise. Bamboo shoots in a fingernail is more appealing than going for a run, and is probably a large part of why I’m naturally inclined towards sitting in front of a computer for weeks at a time. It’s just really hard to motivate myself to be active in a way that doesn’t end with me accomplishing something in the end- if there is a goal I’ll use everything I have to get there (and more) with no complaints.
So my quest for physical improvement is going to center around a three-part process that actually appeals to my 12 year-old inner child: Special Agent / Special Ops training. Yeah, it sounds a bit crazy.. but I have no desire to become a bulked-up gym rat or some crazy marathon runner; I just want to be physically active in a way that has defined standards and also serves to stimulate me mentally.
Part One: Meeting the FBI Physical Fitness Test Requirements
Part Two: Completing a certificate or equivalent in one or more of the following: Marksmanship (firearms.. sweet!), Driving (racing school.. sweet!), Communications, Foreign Language, etc. I haven’t quite sorted this out but the gist is that it involves mentally challenging activities that require a special skill set. More on this later as it’s one of things I’m really looking forward to.
Part Three: A modified version of the Navy SEAL training program. Clearly I’m not going to build an obstacle course or go for a two-mile ocean swim but if I focus on the basics here I think I can accomplish a good chunk of it.
So there you have it. I’m going to spend the next couple of weeks hashing out my process and ditching the smoking thing, finally, forever. Training begins August 1st.