GOMAD or why train at all?

My fitness goal this year was to put on 5lbs of muscle. 

Easy right?

Well you'd think so.

Since the start of the year I've been doing four gym sessions a week and I've been eating like a pro. Chicken, turkey, tuna, sweet potato, brown rice - all the good stuff.

When I weighed myself at the start of the year I was 11st 5lbs, and when I weighed myself a month ago I was ... 11st 6lbs. 

Jesus Christ. All that hard work for what? One pound?

You could argue, that I was losing fat and gaining muscle, but this wasn't good enough for me. I decided to take the next step ... the GOMAD diet.

What the flip is a GOMAD?  It translates to a Gallon Of Milk A Day. That's 8 pints! 

What happened?

One month later I jumped on the scales and I was ... 12st 4lbs

That's nearly a whole stone. Obviously it's not a stone of pure muscle. It's likely a mixture of muscle, fat, and water, but with a bit of cutting this next month, the results should be a little clearer. 

One evening my girlfriend caught me struggling to hold down a particularly eggy mouthful of milk. She said 'why are you putting yourself through this? Just to look better?'

'No, not at all,' I said.

I'm not a vain person. I'm a balding twenty-six year old with a patchy beard and a poor sense of fashion. I'm not lifting for vanity, so why then?

I've come to realise that lifitng is a metaphor for life. 

If I'm not willing to go to the gym, not willing to lift some weights, eat some raw eggs, drink some milk, then I'm wasting my time. If I'm not willing to do these relatively simple things, then who the hell am I to want to do bigger things in life? I have to do this, to prove to myself that I can do more.

Tasksmash

For a long time I've been using an application called Tasksmash.

Is it about task-smashing or is it about tasks-mashing? ... well ... let me tell you about it.

It was developed by a certain Mr Tynan and I personally believe it's productivity's best kept secret.

This guy was has lived a pretty interesting life, most of which he's blogged about. He's been a professional gambler, a character in the infamous book about pickup artists - 'The Game', he is a pretty amazing travel-hacker, and he currently lives in an RV.

Oh yeh, and he recently bought his own island.

I've been reading his blog for about five years now. I've seen him grow and develop through the years, but I think the coolest thing he's ever done is Tasksmash.

Initially it appears to be a pretty standard to-do list web app, but this one is all about not breaking the chain. If you finish all your tasks in any given day, it goes green, if you don't do anything, it goes red.

The aim is to build a big long streak of green days. You know you've put in a poor effort when you look back at a month and it's all red.

Currently Tynan is focused well and truly on his blogging platform SETT. It looks great. It looks like he's already got heaps of users, and it could take off at any minute.

But out of all the craziness that is Tynan, I want to thank him for creating something so simple and brilliant. So ... thanks Tynan.

I'd recommend you all to sign up and to go mash some tasks.

Success By Proxy

The other day I was talking to a director friend, and we were talking about how a lot of our friends have been kicking ass recently. It seems like people are just taking everything up a step and are making waves in their respective fields.

At this point it's easy to feel jealous. 

'Why am I not doing as well? Why am I so shit?'

In years gone past I would have fallen into that pit of despair, but not anymore. I'm starting to realise that I'm great at picking friends.

If everyone I know is winning, then by proxy, I am too.

Releasing An eBook

The other day I dipped my toes into the self-publishing world.

It was nice and wasn't in the least bit demeaning.

I released my short story 'His Dirty Little Portal' as on Amazon. 

In the first few hours I was a little scared, but as the download numbers rose and I got my first good review, I relaxed. 

With the love and support of my friends and family we managed to push the book to number 6 in the Free Short Stories category of the Kindle Charts. 

I wasn't expecting much, so I'd call that a success. 

The thing I'm most happy about though, is how many of my friends got the story. How many of them messaged me after reading it with sincere questions regarding the 'screaming' web designer.

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I was inspired by the guys at Dead Ink. 

They're a digital only publisher who have a strong sense of aesthetic value -- They create beautiful looking eBooks. 

They seem to know what they're doing. 

Here's to the next one.

The 21st Century Storyteller

I've come to believe that we're moving into a post-medium world for storytellers. 

Chuck Wendig is primarily an author of books, but he also writes for film and for Transmedia.

Danny Stack is primarily a UK Scriptwriter, but he's also writing for comic books and he's making short films.

John August is primarily a Hollywood screenwriter, but he's also writing short stories, developing software, and even writing musicals.

The medium seems to matter less and less, but the story is still king.

Being Web Generous

I'm trying something new.

It's called being Web Generous.

I want to add some balance to the internet. 

For every cheap-shot Youtube comment, I want to offer a genuine compliment.

For all of the great work out there that goes unnoticed. I'm going to do my best to message the creator and tell them how great their work is.

I want to find a great photographer on Flickr, and share their work to my friends.

I want to see a wicked showreel on Vimeo, and send it to all of my filmmaker friends.

I want to bring the good manners my parents taught me to the internet.

And I don't want to do it alone.

I want you to do it too.