“No surge” revolutionized how I run. Then it revolutionized how I live my life.
Without trying to be productive, I became more productive. Without trying to maximize my life, I started maximizing my life. Something changed and I didn’t feel prone to procrastination.
What changed? I had started applying something I learned from competitive running to how I lived my life: a pacing mindset.
As an accomplished long-distance runner, “no surge” is a mantra that runs through my mind when I run. It’s the mantra that I have carried with me in my most successful races. I used the mantra when I ran a 15:36 5K. I used the mantra when I ran a…
Inside the darkness of NXIVM, Keith Raniere’s sex trafficking cult
NXIVM had personal development seminars that claimed to enlighten people and make them happy. People claimed attending the seminars cured them of their smoking habit or fear of public speaking. The organization had Hollywood celebrities, children of heads of states, and business leaders adding to its credibility. Many saw its leader as a god.
A child pornography scandal gave him 15 and a half years in prison
When I was a kid, I remember Jared from Subway, who, in commercials, claimed he lost over 200 pounds just by eating Subway sandwiches and constantly presented before and after photos of his progress. He even showed his jeans of when he weighed more than 400 pounds as a comparison to his then much slimmer weight.
While my brother and I knew that you do much more than eat Subway sandwiches to lose 200 pounds, the effects still stuck with us — Subway became our go-to “healthy” fast-food restaurant. …
I learned going all out all the time was misguided
I used to think every run I went on needed to feel like I was dying. I used to think every run needed to be a full-throttle, 100% effort. In middle school, every run was an all-out effort. We did a 2-mile warm-up around a field in the back of my school, and I was always breathing so hard trying to keep up with the top guys in my school.
I did get better as a runner, and I did get faster. But what I realized was I got better despite going all out every single run, not because of…
A martyr teacher eventually becomes burnt out
I want to push back against this notion of teaching I’ve seen in society and Hollywood’s perception of teachers: teachers are not martyrs who give every piece of themselves to the job. The profession should not be a gateway into martyrdom, and immense suffering should not be the life of every teacher across the country.
According to Natashia Hill on Edweek, teachers are blamed for a lot, from low test scores and student misbehaviors. But Hill attributes the “superhero” or “martyr” teacher as the one that hurts the profession the most. It’s this teacher that single-handedly transforms and recharts the…
He is a regular, relatable person who loves to have fun
As a runner growing up, watching Nick Symmonds run enthralled me. Symmonds was a USA track star in the 800 meters who had a unique style of running — he would often never be in the front or even near the back of the race, out of sight and out of mind, until the very end of the race. At the end, with 200 meters to go, Symmonds would pull forward like a slingshot, passing several people at once and doing everything he could to pass everyone with a finishing kick. In 2008, at the US Olympic Trials, Symmonds went…
You pay people to do things you can’t for a reason
“What’s the worst that can happen?” my roommate Samuel Sullivan asked me.
Yesterday, I tried to cut my own hair. I watched a couple of videos on YouTube after a long run and thought it didn’t look too difficult. And if I messed up, what’s the worst that can happen, right? My roommate Sam and I talked about what’s the worst that could happen if I messed up my haircut — the worst that can happen was that my hair would look terrible and I’d look like shit. …
Satire
Some accused Netflix of causing their divorces
Netflix executives, outraged Netflix users have been taking advantage of using one account for multiple people, have decided to resort to more draconian measures to make sure people are not abusing a Netflix account.
“In particular, we want to make sure each person pays for their own account,” one executive said. “I am sick and tired of having a family of four thinking they only need one Netflix account for their whole family.”
Citing a rising number of lawsuits of plaintiffs accusing Netflix of being for causing their divorces as well as strained relationships with family, Netflix has decided to…
When I’m ruled by the numbers game, it’s not fun anymore
The past month or so, I haven’t checked my stats on Medium. I have no idea how I’m doing this month, and I don’t plan on knowing how I’m doing this month.
The no stats challenge is one of many I’ve pulled, but I’m glad this one’s sticking. I have better things to worry about, like my Master’s, teaching as a special ed teacher, studying for the LSAT, and more. But most of all, not checking my Medium stats is making me focus more on the actual process of writing itself.
Somewhere down the line, I realized too much stat-checking…
Chinese culture’s way of handling health problems
Someone in my family slipped up in a big way a couple of years back. They were talking about my grandfather’s cancer, and my grandfather was within hearing distance.
“Cancer? What cancer?” He asked.
It was a slip-up in a big way. In Chinese culture, when elderly people get sick, it’s traditional to tell a caretaker, but not the actual sick person themselves. I think the custom is, pardon my language, dumb as hell. If I were old and sick, I’d most certainly want to know. …
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