Its more or less that time of the year when reflection comes into play. Serious endurance training brings about a fatigue which has most of us thinking quite a bit, wondering about lost things, scatter brained at work and being a bit lost albeit looking in fantastic shape.

My Cape Epic report is an emotional one and is taking a bit longer than I thought as I am trying to capture what went on and how much of amazepenguinballs happened out there. The over exuberant energy that is bounding out of me was evident for all last night when I presented to a crowd of new and old Ironman guys on two things: pacing and nutrition.

I have been absent for a week on this blog but in reality I have never been more present. Never been more in the moment. Proper distraction involves riding that wave that has you totally out of touch with the world that consumes your attention. The only things which got attention in the last week for me were my infallible hunger, my amazing bicycle, my tired legs and my amazing partner for the trip. The rest came a very distant second. Simple. Effective. Beautiful.

Immaculate as we are able to be as humans, we are so easily distracted by nonsense and it was good to get back to a few simple things. Getting back to reality means that you realize that not much changes when you are away and the world will not collapse if you are not there. That, in my opinion, is pretty groovy.

It’s preposterous to think that life could always be so simple, but a good dose of it every now and again is a fabulous thing. Believe it or not, cycling 700 odd kilometers over more mountains than I care to remember and with more rocks than I knew existed on earth has left me with abounding energy for tasks that lie ahead. My body, apart from stitches and grazes, cuts, bruises and an upper respiratory tract infection, feels great, strong and willing.

So it is all good. I survived an adventure, an ordeal and an amazing experience. Reflecting on that has been fantastic. I expect to be sharing the full brunt of it with you in a day or two, but I am not sure how on earth I am going to get you into my headspace for the last week.

Until then, there will be more posts up as I go through what other people have been going through in the last week. I am excited already as I see there have been breakthroughs everywhere.

Go on, be great, it’s all good.

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Its tough to type as I have tendonitis in 4 of my fingers, courtesy of a failed front shock on day 1, where we rode 8km in the middle of train tracks near the end. What that has meant is that i struggle to do basic things like hold onto my bike when its very rocky, especially going downhill at 50km/h.

Epic has been a unique day each day. We started day 1 in about 300th position and ended in in 34th which we were super excited about. Day 2 was custom built from hell, when we managed to destroy the rear derailleur on a bike 6km into a 95km stage that we had specially come to pre-ride as it was mostly single track and beautiful. We lost 1h40 fixing the bike and it was a very long day.

Today, day 3, we held tough and reinstated some pride with a rise from 150th out the gate to 36th at the end. Couple more days to go, with various degrees of hurt and my hands are the biggest concern.

Couple things to note:

1. SLUDGE – not one puncture for us to far in a race riddled with them.
2. ROCKETS – our recovery is fantastic.
3. BIOSPORT – looking after us like champs, even when we have off days.
4. MOREWOOD – incredible bikes.
5. SPORT-X – super solid days so far energy wise.
6. WHASP – the kick is there when we need it. love it.

I am scared I have missed someone but I am super tired and ready for feet up and hand recovery.

chat soon.

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‘Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune.’ ~Walt Whitman

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

I’m a pretty positive person — I consider it one of the keys to the modest success I’ve had in creating new habits and achieving things in the last few years.

I couldn’t have run three marathons without a positive mindset, nor created Zen Habits, mnmlist, or The Power of Less. I couldn’t have lost 50 lbs., quit smoking, eliminated my debt, or quit my day job.

Positive thinking, as trite as it seems, has changed my life.

I’m not going to sell you on it, but if you’re interested, here’s the condensed guide to changing your own life:

Realize it’s possible, instead of telling yourself why you can’t.
Become aware of your self-talk.
Squash negative thoughts like a bug.
Replace them with positive thoughts.
Love what you have already.
Be grateful for your life, your gifts, and other people.
Every day.
Focus on what you have, not on what you haven’t.
Don’t compare yourself to others.
But be inspired by them.
Accept criticism with grace.
But ignore the naysayers.
See bad things as a blessing in disguise.
See failure as a stepping stone to success.
Surround yourself by those who are positive.
Complain less, smile more.
Image that you’re already positive.
Then become that person in your next act.

Focus on this habit first, and you’ll have a much easier time with any other.

‘A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.’ ~Herm Albright

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We all know I am a little obsessive about health and fitness. I get asked more about weight, diet and optimal performance than I do about my happiness and what makes me smile, and I came across some amazing information today. I wanted to share, as I always do.

Human health and physical fitness are important, crucial things to consider, and millions find them fascinating subjects to discuss, analyze, and optimize. I’m one of them. Millions more overanalyze; they make things harder than they need to be, and they generally get poorer results in the long run. Or, they may get objectively good results, but their lives are consumed by the minutiae of calories, miles, reps, and nutrient counting. I’d say there’s got to be an easier way to do things. There has to be a path that utilizes our big brains without them getting in the way. There’s got to be a balanced, rational method to obtain optimal health and fitness that successfully marries our tendency to think with our animal instincts. Getting fit and being healthy should be simplistic, intuitive, and, most importantly, enjoyable.

Does wildlife obsess over calories eaten or reps performed? How do deer maintain their trim figures and impressive athleticism without a dietitian and weekly personal training sessions? Conversely, why does the house cat grow obese and lethargic, while a bobcat with nearly identical genes stays fit? It isn’t just the simplistic calories in/calories out model. It couldn’t be. Wild animals don’t count calories. They don’t worry about eating before bed, or getting enough exercise to burn off that squirrel they had for breakfast. They just are. They simply exist in an ecosystem hundreds of thousands of years in the making. Evolution has made sure, by its impartial, unconscious hand, that the flora and fauna live in harmony with each other and internally. The bobcat thrives on rodents and small birds because its digestive system and metabolism evolved eating these things; the house cat gets fat because its digestive system and metabolism aren’t suited for grain-based kibble. If the balance is upset in a given environment, organisms die out or move on, but things always reset. This is simply how nature works. When thinking about how to optimize our health and physical fitness, perhaps we should consider how animals do it – and how our ancestors did it.

We’re animals – no one disputes that. We are subject to evolution and natural selection – that one’s a bit more controversial, but it’s true nonetheless. If you keep those two facts in mind while noting the lesson of the fit, lean bobcat, a thread begins to emerge. Shouldn’t the same concept hold true for us? Isn’t there an evolutionarily suitable, effortless lifestyle for us humans, too?

There is, and I call it the Primal Blueprint. It eschews complicated workout regimens, tedious calorie counting, and weight loss gimmicks. My Primal laws are based on a rock solid foundation: evolutionary biology and anthropology mixed with modern human ingenuity. I take what worked for tens of thousands of years throughout human prehistory and incorporate contemporary science to confirm its veracity. When you go back and look at the fossil records of our hunter-gatherer, pre-agricultural ancestors, you find that they were healthy, strong, and largely free of degenerative diseases – especially compared to the health of post-agricultural and even modern humans.

The result is an incredibly simple, incredibly effective way to live, move, and eat: eat the things our ancestors ate, get the amount of sleep our ancestors used to get, and make the same movements our ancestors used to make before agriculture.

Take Action

If you take anything from this post remember these two action items:

1. The ideal human diet should consist of only whole, unprocessed foods – meat, fish, fowl, plants, fruits, and nuts. Whatever you can kill, pick, or dig up and eat on the spot. This is what your ancestors ate and what your body is meant to consume.

2. By the same token, the best exercise consists of natural, full-body movements – lifting heavy things, sprinting, walking, swimming, hiking, climbing, crawling. This is how your ancestors moved and how your body is meant to function.

Amazing Results

The results of following these simple rules are numerous and almost immediate:

• The weight melts off, if you have some to lose, or added muscle appears, if you could stand to gain a few pounds.
• You reset your taste buds. Sugar becomes cloying; processed industrial vegetable oil tastes unnatural.
• You realize you don’t need grains, beans, and potatoes to feel full.
• You crave real food, and you realize that real food tastes good – better than anything you could find on a convenience store shelf and more satisfying than anything in a fast food restaurant. Hunger no longer dictates that you eat every few hours.
• You get stronger and faster, sure, but you learn to move again. You regain lost mobility.
• You get sick less often as your immune system begins to function more effectively.
• You take pleasure in real movement and become more confident in your own skin.
• Eating and moving becomes intuitive, easy and fun.
• The world becomes your gym. Can’t make it to the weight room? Pick up a rock, toss it a couple times, pull your own body weight, then go running in the park. As long as you can manipulate your own body weight, you’re strong enough.

Man is an opportunist above anything else. We love the easy way out, but we tend to make fitness and nutrition so incredibly complicated. Just cut out the foods we’ve only been eating for a few hundred generations (and do eat the things we’ve been eating for thousands of generations), drop the ridiculous fitness contraptions to focus on natural movements, and streamline your health. And don’t be afraid to turn off that big brain every once in awhile.

I am currently in over my head with endurance sports, but something I wanted to try for this winter is to do some really PRIMAL things. I want to forgo cooked meat for a while, not cook my veggies, put a lock on my microwave, go rock climbing and climb in trees. I have been going forward on a bicycle or running down the road for so long lately that I may have forgotten how to go sideways, how to climb and most importantly, how to rebuild normal strength after getting all leaned out for what I have embarked on. I am not saying I am going to go all in like this, but I am going to try and get close.

So many people do not know how to get healthy and fit. The gym will never give you what the outdoors can, and Woolies pre-made meals will never help you gain optimal movement or weight. Its just that simple.

Go on… be great. Be primal. Be what you are supposed to be, you animal!

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Now here is something all future Cape Epic entrants might want to take note of.

When you enter the Cape Epic, your right of passage is lined with past Cape Epic participants as well as future hopefuls who will all tell you that you are going to die out there, that your equipment is going to fail on you and that you will cry. Plenty.

I took the warnings to heart when I went about seeking the best partnerships for my Cape Epic experience, including my robust riding partner, who had a tendency of being a juggernaut. The basic test for being part of our support team was a simple sentence:

“Can Brett break it?”

Nice and easy eh. Not so much when you are the product manager. His reputation precedes him. After some vigorous testing and some tense moments, we have come out with the following plan to make sure we get to the end in one piece, with zero mechanicals.

We will both be on these bikes, albeit with slightly different specs.

Fitted SRAM, Rock Shox, Continental Tires and our own personal bits and pieces (including some amazing Industry Nine Wheels on mine) we are ready to rumble. The bikes got through Sani2c without a single issue. They are completely amazing. Morewood, we love you!

Equally as important is our nutrition. We have gone with a two-prong attack. Our biggest concerns are replacement of glycogen, blood sugar levels, focus after 4 hours on the trails and constipation. Yes, you read that correctly. Here is the attack strategy:

On the bike we are fueled by Whasp Nutrition (energy drinks and gels and special little caffeine boosters for hour 6) as well as controlling our lactic acid levels and blood sugar levels with Sport-X‘s Endurance Packs for in race and recovery. We have been playing with both sets of products over the last 4 months and have both had the same, favorable results. Consuming 6-8 gels a day, 6 bottles of energy drink and about 20-30 tablets a day takes special preparation and a bit of HTFU when it gets over 33 degrees out there and the last thing you feel like is warm naartjie juice with 2 pills. yum. We are lucky to have such great partners.

Nothing kills vooma quite like Whaspgel… no wait, wrong comparison. Nothing kills your momentum quite like a puncture. We have been extremely fortunate and we are aiming to keep the good fortune (of puncture-free days) going with Sludge products in our tires every day. Seriously. If you are not using Sludge, no matter what the man says, you are cutting yourself a little short. Local is lekker if you haven’t noticed all our products are local and Sludge is no different.

The last thing to really keep an eye on is intensity in the first few days. Cape Epic is for us, about days 5, 6 & 7. The real time gaps will appear on these days, so its best we watch our intensities in the first few days.

My trusty Suunto T6 is going to keep me going and we are itching for another one, hopefully it`ll arrive in time. Suunto have done such a great job with the T6 that its almost permanently out of stock. I`ll be watching my cadence, speed, heart rate all simultaneously all day, making sure the effort is measured, rather than powered like it was at Sani2c.

So we have done our 6 hour days out there in the heat, drinking, riding, watching ourselves, taking pills and trying not to die. We are being looked after post-riding every day by two amazing companies.

First off is Biosport, who are going to massage our legs in the first few days and I am told that by day 5 we will be skipping legs for hands and neck massages, such is the nature of this beast. Line and her team are looking after a huge contingency this year, giving us lunch and shakes and general words of “don’t quit freak!”

Line has been instrumental to my entire season and I cannot thank her enough for believing in us.

Our bikes will be getting some daily service by the only guy I let work on my bike. Kyle from Legacy Cycles has walked a long way with both Brett and myself. Kyle understands bicycles and the way they move out on the trail and where any issues come from better than anybody I know and we are excited to have him restore the beasts to working order after banging over Western Cape rock for 6 hours a day.

That’s it for today. I`ll talk about our title sponsor, our kit, our special recovery tools (beer and wine) tomorrow. Have an amazing day.

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I have been pondering what to do after the Cape Epic and Ironman are done. This has popped up and I am most certainly going to be making my way over to do the dirty on the dancefloor, with a beer in one hand and an ice cream in the other. Downtime is particularly important to me this year. Super excited about this.

It’s been to New York, Moscow, Paris and London, and now Smirnoff, the number one spirit brand in the world, is bringing Smirnoff Experience™, ‘Mashup Street’ to Johannesburg on 15 May 2010. Tickets can only be won, not bought, so visit www.smirnoffexperience.co.za to find out how to win.

Smirnoff Experience™ is fast becoming the world’s top collaboration platform. The ‘Mashup Street’ theme created for South Africa celebrates collaboration between South African street cultures and popular music genres to create a one-of-a-kind music experience. The popular theme also extends to collaboration between fashion, food, art and even drinks. Smirnoff Experience™ ‘Mashup Street’ is a place where Kwaito vibes with Preppy, Afro funk hangs with Goth and Pop chills with House.

To cement the global relevance of the concert, Tiësto, the world’s number one DJ, will be headlining the experience. Following the success of his recent genre-bending collaborations with Nelly Furtado, Three 6 Mafia, Calvin Harris, Tegan & Sara as well as remixes of MUSE, Bloc Party and The Editors, Tiësto is pleased to announce a very special collaboration with one of South Africa’s hottest new bands.

Tiësto – the world’s number 1 DJ!

Tiësto comments:

“The concept of mixing and remixing music genres and cultures is somethingthat continues to inspire me. I’m excited to be part of Smirnoff Experience™ in South Africa. It’s been a long time since I have played there and I love the country. South Africa has some great emerging talent and I can’t wait for everyone to hear the collaboration that I am working on.”

South Africa won the honour of hosting the Smirnoff Experience™ in a closely contested international campaign that involved 140 countries.

Besides the best international and local talent, concert-goers will be treated to a sensory journey that showcases ‘Mashup Street’ culture in its very finest form. From the moment ticket holders enter ‘Mashup Street’, it will be clear that they are attending an international event that is truly one-of-a-kind.

Tickets are limited to the 18-and-over market.

You know what that means..

Smirnoff Experience™, ‘Mashup Street’ is coming to Johannesburg on 15 May 2010. Tickets can only be won, not bought, so visit www.smirnoffexperience.co.za to find out how to win.

Did you get that?

Get your tickets… check the site. Sell a puppy. Do whatever you have to. I know I am going to.

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settle it, once and for all. 2 links to click…

Link 1

Link 2

Thanks for all the emails about this. Now go outside and run barefoot instead of sending me emails about it ok?

hugs.

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1. Its the week leading into Cape Epic.
2. Our new kit is hopefully arriving this week.
3. I have 2 weeks of work to do in 1 week.
4. I am connecting some amazing people this week work wise.
5. The weather today is good enough to make the entire week great.
6. I am alive.
7. So are you, if you are reading this. Do NOT take that for granted.
8. Sanity prevailing again on CT roads after the Argus masses have left.
9. I am just excited man. Ready to rumble.
10. I have 2 massages booked this week.
11. I am going to start the most extreme endurance event in the world in 6 days time!
12. I have an amazing partner to do it with.
13. We have freaking awesome backup for the entire race.
14. We are taking #realbeer to the race.
15. I am doing a wine tasting with people from around the world at the Epic.
16. There is just something about work lately that has me super excited.
17. I have such amazing sponsors. Flip. You`ll be hearing all about them this week.
18. I am looking forward to being in totally over my head at some point this week. How else would I know how far I can go?
19. Endless music. This week is going to be about endless music, played loudly and singing everywhere.
20. I am feeling crazy busy, but content. That makes it a great week ahead.

tell me what you are looking forward to. I do want to hear.

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Many people, even close to me, even me at times, I think are feeling overwhelmed these days. Our attention is being pulled in too many directions, leaving us feeling overloaded, distracted, chaotic, spread thinly, without focus.

I get asked daily where I find the energy to do what I am doing, making 3 jobs work at once at the moment. The thing is, not 1 of them is sustainably working just yet for me to do only that, and being a young white male in SA means I need to be looking out for myself a little more than in years past. Just the way it is.

There are a million blogs, people, services, media, competing for our attention. Our attention is limited, and valuable, making it one of the most precious resources we have. I could spend my day reading blogs, twitter and connecting on Blackberry Messenger with my friends. Literally the whole day could be wasted, I kid you not.

The world wants that attention. Only you can decide where it goes. Repeat that sentence to yourself right now. Now do it again!

Your attention span determines the shape of your life. Then the amount of attention you give each energy dependant thing in your life also determines the shape of your life. Surely you can see that? Attention = reality. If you watch and read the news all the time, you will become obsessed with the latest crises. If you watch and read about celebrities, your life will revolve around them. If you socialize on social networks all day long, this will become your world.

If instead, you choose to give your attention to work you’re passionate about, that you feel is important, that will change your life and the world in some small way … this will become your life.

If you choose to give your attention to your friends, family and other loved ones — really give your attention to them instead of only half-heartedly while also checking text messages and emails and other updates — your life will be rich in many ways.

And so I urge you to sit up and take a deep breath. Walk around your office slowly. We are about to reclaim your attention!

1. Limit your friends. Not real-life friends, but social network and blogging and forum friends. Not that these can’t be good relationships, but having too many makes them meaningless. And each friend will take up a little bit of your attention — when you read their updates, click on their links, reply to their messages, look at their photos, and so on. The more you have, the more attention they’ll require. Limit them to just the essential. Read more on the people you care about, and less on the people you want attention from.

2. Limit your feeds. Blog subscriptions, newsletters, other updates and news subscriptions and so on. Limit them to a handful of essentials, and let the rest go. The more you have, the more attention they require. I recently cut my Google Reader down to 20 feeds, from the 80 or so I was following. Out with the drivel.

3. Limit your communication time. Going into your email inbox? Just give yourself 10 minutes to read, reply, delete, and get out. Going to do Twitter? Give yourself 5 minutes. Seriously, set up a timer. Don’t let these things take up all your attention.

4. Stop watching the news. FULL STOP. It sucks.

5. Give your attention to the important. This is the crucial part: choose what you give your attention to, and do this choosing carefully. What is important to you? Writing? Photography? Design? Coding? Creating a new business that helps others? Your kids? Figure this out, and give this the majority of your attention.

6. Become conscious of your distractions. Once you’ve decided to focus your attention on the important, become more aware of distractions as they come up. Make note of them, and as you get the urge to be distracted, learn to pause, breathe, and return to the important.

7. Surround yourself with the positive. If you want your life to be positive, let the positive have your attention. This applies to blogs, people, projects, and more.

I am not saying that I can do all of this, or that I am even doing 1 of these things. They are positive points that come to mind from my feeds, from my time spent trying to regain my attention. I am pulled in many directions each day at the moment, trying to claim a life of meaning and quality over quantity. I am getting there. I cut out 2 projects this week, and have cut out 8 this year in total already. Things that were just stealing attention without providing any real incentive.

Mind clutter dot com is not a great place to be. Reclaim your attention today.

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He that can take rest is greater than he that can take cities. – Benjamin Franklin

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist.

Ask any physician and they will tell you that rest is essential for physical health. When the body is deprived of sleep, it is unable to rebuild and recharge itself adequately. Your body requires rest.

Ask any athlete and they will tell you that rest is essential for healthy physical training. Rest is needed for physical muscles to repair themselves and prevent injury. This is true whether you run marathons, pitch baseballs, or climb rocks. Your muscles require rest.

Ask many of yesterday’s philosophers and they will tell you that rest is essential for the mind. Leonardo da Vinci said, “Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer.” And Ovid, the Roman poet, said, “Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.” Your mind requires rest.

Ask most religious leaders and they will tell you that rest is essential for the soul. Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Baha’i, and Wiccan (among others) teach the importance of setting aside a period of time for rest. Your soul requires rest.

Ask many corporate leaders and they will tell you that rest is essential for productivity. Forbes magazine recently wrote, “You can only work so hard and do so much in a day. Everybody needs to rest and recharge.” Your productivity requires rest.

Physicians, athletes, philosophers, poets, religious leaders, and corporate leaders all tell us the same thing: take time to rest. It is absolutely essential for a balanced, healthy life.

Yet, when you ask most people in today’s frenzied culture if they consistetly set aside time for rest, they will tell you that they are just too busy to rest. Even fewer would say that they set aside any concentrated time (12-24 hours) for rest. There are just too many things to get done, too many demands, too many responsibilities, too many bills, and too much urgency. Nobody can afford to waste time resting in today’s results-oriented culture.

Unfortunately, this hectic pace is causing damage to our quality of life. We are destroying every sense of our being (body, mind, and soul). There is a reason we run faster and work harder, but only fall farther behind. Our lives have become too full and too out of balance. Somewhere along the way, we lost the essential practice of concentrated rest. We would be wise to reclaim the ancient, lost practice of resting one day each week.

To get back into balance, just consider the countless benefits of concentrated rest for your body, mind, and soul:

§  Healthier body – We each get one life and one body to live it in. Therefore, we eat healthy, we exercise, and we watch our bad habits. But then we allow our schedules to fill up from morning to evening. Rest is as essential to our physical health as the water we drink and the air we breathe.

§  Less stress – Stress is basically the perception that the situations we are facing are greater than the resources we have to deal with them – resources such as time, energy, ability, and help from others. We have two choices, either reduce the demands or increase our resources. Concentrated rest confronts stress in both ways. First, it reduces the demands of the situation. We have no demands on us as long as we have the ability to mentally let go of unfinished tasks. Secondly, rest reduces stress by increasing our resources, particularly energy.

§  Deeper relationships – A day set aside each week for rest allows relationships with people to deepen and be strengthened. When we aren’t rushing off to work or soccer practice, we are able to enjoy each other’s company and a healthy conversation. And long talks prove to be far more effective in building community than short ones on the ride to the mall.

§  Opportunity for reflection – Sometimes it is hard to see the forest through the trees. It is even more difficult to see the forest when we are running through the trees. Concentrated rest allows us to take a step back, to evaluate our lives, to identify our values, and determine if our life is being lived for them.

§  Balance – Taking one day of your week and dedicating it to rest will force you to have an identity outside of your occupation. It will foster relationships outside of your fellow employees. It will foster activities and hobbies outside our work. It will give you life and identity outside of your Monday-Friday occupation. Rather than defining your life by what you do, you can begin to define it by who you are.

§  Increased production – Just like resting physical muscles allows them opportunity to rejuvenate which leads to greater physical success, providing our minds with rest provides it opportunity to refocus and rejuvenate. More work is not better work. Smarter work is better work.

§  Reserve for life’s emergencies – Crisis hits everyone. Nobody who is alive is immune from the trials of life. By starting the discipline today of concentrated rest, you will build up reserves for when the unexpected emergencies of life strike… and rest is no longer an option.

Properly developing a discipline of concentrated rest requires both inward and outward changes. Consider these steps to reclaiming the lost practice of weekly rest in your life:

1. Find contentment in your current life. – Much of the reason we are unable to find adequate rest is because we are under the constant impression that our lives can and should be better than they are today. This constant drive to improve our standing in life through the acquisition of money, power, or skills robs us of contentment and joy. Ultimately, rest is an extension of our contentment and security. Without them, simplicity and rest is difficult, if not impossible. Stop focusing on what you don’t have and start enjoying the things that you do.

2. Plan your rest. Rest will come only from intentional planning and planning rest will come only if it is truly desired. Schedule it on your calendar. Learn to say no to any tasks that attempt to take precedent. Plan out your day of rest by choosing creative activities that are refreshing and encourage relationships. Understand that true rest is different than just not working. As the Cat in the Hat wisely said, “It is fun to have fun but you have to know how.” Avoid housework. Plan meals in advance to help alleviate cooking responsibilities. And by all means, turn off your television, e-mail, and blackberry.

3. Take responsibility for your life. You are not a victim of your time demands. You are the creator and acceptor of them. Refuse to complain or make excuses and start changing your habits. Remember, you are only as busy as you choose to be. Leave “if only” excuses to the kids. If needed, alert your employer about your desire for rest and tell them you will be unavailable on that particular day.

4. Embrace simplicity. Embrace a lifestyle that focuses on your values, not your possessions. It is difficult to find rest when the housework is never finished, the yard needs to be mowed, or the garage needs to be organized.

5. Include your family. It is much easier to practice the discipline of concentrated rest if your family is practicing it too. The fact that this gets more difficult as your kids get older should motivate you to start as soon as possible.

6. Live within your income. A debtor is a slave to his creditor. It is difficult to find rest for your mind when you are deep in debt. The constant distress of your responsibility to another may preclude you from truly enjoying a day off. It is possible; it’s just more difficult. Don’t overspend your income, live within it.

7. Realize the shallow nature of a results-oriented culture. If you live in a results-oriented culture where productivity alone is championed on every corner, rest is counter-cultural. And thus, the saying goes, “If you rest, you rust.” Rest may even be seen as a sign of weakness by others. Unfortunately, that view of humanity’s role in this world is shallow. It is true that many of the benefits from concentrated rest are not tangible; but then again, only a fool believes that all good things can be counted.

Rabbi Elijah of Vilna once said, “What we create becomes meaningful to us only once we stop creating it and start to think about why we did so.” The implication is clear. We could live lives that produce countless widgets, but we won’t start living until we stop producing and start enjoying. Capture again the lost practice of resting one day each week and start truly living.

Read more from Joshua at his blog, Becoming Minimalist, subscribe to his feed, or check out his new ebook, Simplify.

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