Author: signordal
Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977−2002)
Back in 2007, in the wake of the brouhaha over James Frey’s fabricated memoirs, David Sedaris received some flak for straying from the strictly factual in his personal narratives — yet classifying them as nonfiction rather than fiction. In our current era of alarming “alternative facts,” drawing clear lines between fact and fiction has never seemed so important.
But comic writers have always received a special dispensation when it comes to accuracy. We who consider Sedaris a Great American Humorist applaud the way he shapes and embellishes his stories, helping us to perform a sort of mental Pilates, tilting and stretching our perceptions to reveal core truths. Do I care whether he markets his books as memoirs or fiction? Not really — just so long as he keeps producing them.
Sedaris addresses these issues — obliquely — with the publication of Theft by Finding, the first of two planned volumes of selections from his diaries. In pulling back the curtain on some of the source material for his work, he provides an invaluable peek into what struck him as worthy of note over the years and, more interestingly, how he transformed himself between 1977 and 2002 from a meth-fueled college dropout living hand-to-mouth on odd jobs to a wildly successful writer and performer.
Sedaris generally finds material for his writing close at hand, and his diaries are filled with accounts of close encounters of the uncomfortable kind, many of which eventually made it into his books, beginning with Barrel Fever, Naked, and Me Talk Pretty One Day. These experiences include disturbing homophobic taunts and gobs of spit launched at him in 1970s–’80s Raleigh, North Carolina, his hometown; being trapped in planes for hours beside unbearably loquacious seatmates; and enough incidents of vitriol and violence outside bars or inside a Chicago IHOP, his de facto cafeteria and hangout for years, to make you want to retreat to a monastery. There are riffs on his chalk-throwing French teacher at the Alliance Française in Paris and on his obsessive patrolling for roadside litter near his home in Sussex, England. And, of course, there are reports through the decades on the close-knit Family Sedaris.
Just don’t expect the whole truth and nothing but the truth in these accounts. Diaries, like memoirs, are by their nature subjective. And as Sedaris states up front, “It’s worth mentioning that this is my edit. Of the roughly eight million words handwritten or typed into my diary since September 5, 1977, I’m including only a small fraction. An entirely different book from the same source material could make me appear nothing but evil, selfish, generous, or even, dare I say, sensitive.”
N.B.: Some entries have been revised as well as expurgated. Is it any wonder that a beautiful stylist who hones his work through live performances and countless drafts couldn’t resist a few tweaks? “I have rewritten things when they were unclear or, as was more often the case in the early years, when the writing was clunky and uninviting,” he notes. In other words, what we’re reading has been filtered many times over through the fine strainer of David Sedaris’s exacting literary standards. We’ve been spared the dreck. What’s left may have been enhanced for maximum effect. It is never boring.
Intentionally or not, the quarter century covered in this volume presents a quintessentially American rags-to-riches narrative arc. The earliest entries are the bleakest, excavated from “solid walls of words,” much of it “complete bullshit.” It’s a portrait of the artist in a perpetual funk — broke, drugged, doing filthy maintenance work at his parents’ Raleigh rental properties or picking fruit out west, living on pancake mix augmented by occasional care packages from his mother. Still, you can spot the germ of Sedaris’s offbeat sensibility in observations like this, from 1981: “Half the people I know have dead animals in their freezers: reptiles, birds, mammals. Is that normal?”
By 1982, Sedaris was seriously thinking about going back to college, declaring, “I used to think I could teach myself anything I needed to know, but I’m not sure I believe that anymore. I’d like to be educated and mature.” Leaving Raleigh for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in winter 1984 is the first major turning point of his life, though he’s still doing drugs and barely supporting himself with poorly paid hourly labor, stripping wood and cleaning houses. But his ambition has been woken, and in an extraordinary entry dated February 1988, the recent graduate is remarkably clear about his values:
Reasons to live:
- Christmas
- The family beach trip
- Writing a published book
- Seeing my name in a magazine
- Watching C. grow bald
- Ronnie Ruedrich
- Seeing Amy on TV
- Other people’s books
- Outliving my enemies
- Being interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air
Within months of writing this wish list, he lands a job teaching a writing workshop at the Art Institute, and his sister Amy makes it into the Second City touring company. About his own achievement, he comments, “Dad is super proud of me” — a situation rare enough to mention. (Years later, in 2001, when his sister Lisa tells their father that David is #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, he says, “Well, he sure isn’t #1 on the Wall Street Journal.“)
The next big turning point for Sedaris was moving to New York City in 1990. His first entries note the high cost of pot and groceries, and the ubiquity of electrical tape in stores. He meets Hugh Hamrick when borrowing a ladder and comments shortly, “This spring I am, if I’m not mistaken, in love.” He’s cleaning fancier homes than he’s ever seen but also lands a job as an elf in Macy’s SantaLand. Fans know what the airing of that story, on Ira Glass’s Morning Edition in December 1992, led to — but I don’t recall this hilarious line: “Yesterday a woman had her son pee into a cup, which of course tipped over. ‘That’s fine,’ I said, ‘but Santa’s also going to need a stool sample.’ ”
Before the books start coming, along with the endless global reading tours, and the moves abroad to France and then England, he and Amy write and produce a number of Off-Broadway plays. Ben Brantley raves in The New York Times in a 1997 overall review of the Lincoln Center Festival (which included the Sedarises’ “Incident at Cobbler’s Knob”), “This brother-and-sister playwriting team has an unparalleled ear for American cultural clichés and an equally fine hand for twisting those clichés into devastating absurdity.”
Meanwhile, his mother dies not long after her lung cancer diagnosis, his father continues to carp on him, and Tiffany, the youngest of his four sisters (who committed suicide in 2013), frequently calls in tears, increasingly unhinged, ranting and picking fights.
As Sedaris’s literary star rises in the early 1990s, his diary becomes noticeably more artful — and funnier. Many entries are obviously crafted to be read aloud at live events, dry runs for stories featuring Stadium Pals, pet spiders, aggressive beggars, and his uphill battle with the French language. While his diaries in general tend toward the descriptive and observational over the confessional, Sedaris occasionally mentions his feelings, such as his guilt over having “fallen deeper into the luxury pit” after moving into a fancily renovated Paris apartment: “We sit around like people in a magazine, but it’s not the sort of magazine I’d ever subscribe to,” he writes in August 2001.
Theft by Finding takes its title from a British expression for discovering something of value and keeping it. These diary entries have value, all right. Sedaris has essentially raided his own deep freezer for this book — and serves up a surprisingly satisfying meal from the choicest items.
The Barnes & Noble Review http://ift.tt/2sjgR3c
5 Factors That Can Help You Achieve Success
Success is a word that can easily grab one’s attention because it’s important to each and every one of us. No matter what background we come from, we all want to achieve success. We reach for it in our quest to achieve greatness.
Different people have different interpretations of success, but we all expect the same result: to win. If we had to settle on a particular definition, we might say that success is the realization or attainment of a desire or want.
Earl Nightingale, one of the forefathers of self-improvement, defined success as “the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” Whatever you’re working towards — a college degree, a higher-paying job or improved social status — if you consider the destination to be worthy, then arriving there constitutes success.
There are five important factors to keep in mind when it comes to achieving success. This list is not definitive as there’s always more to add and each individual’s list may vary. Keep these in mind and you won’t go wrong.
Self Image
In his book, Psycho-Cybernetics, Dr. Maxwell Maltz said that an individual’s self-image may be the most important factor in how he or she lives life. Dr. Maltz delves into how our self-image — the image we have of ourselves and how we think others see us — affects our lives.
A reconstructive plastic surgeon, Dr. Matz realized that while plastic surgery only benefited approximately 0.5% of the population and only on a surface level, the other 99.5% had scars that go deeper. These individuals had unresolved and untreated emotional scars stemming from the past.
The way to heal those metaphorical scars is not to go under the knife, but to have those people examine their self-images. Once they are able to treat their inner scars, they will be able to achieve peace of mind.
It’s important to note that self-image goes well beyond what we think of ourselves. What we believe others think of us or the light they see us in play an important role, too.
Self-Esteem
Often confused with self-image, self-esteem is the value that we place on ourselves. Unlike self-image, self-esteem is based on worthiness and not on the actual image that we have in our minds.
The common reason why many people confuse the two is that they’re closely related. In fact, our self-esteem is often derived from our self-image. As Psychology Today states, “Perhaps no other self-help topic has spawned so much advice and so many (often conflicting) theories.”
Whatever value we believe we have or how much we think we are worth constitutes our self-esteem. Stanley J. Gross, Ed.D, a licensed psychologist in private practice, says, “Self-esteem is not set in stone. Raising it is possible, but not easy…self-esteem grows as we face our fears and learn from our experiences.”
Self-Confidence
Self-confidence is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the confidence we have in ourselves and our abilities. It’s the belief that we have in ourselves and what we are capable of.
In 1890, philosopher William James wrote in Principles of Psychology, “Believe what is in the line of your needs, for only by such belief is the need filled…have faith that you can successfully make it, and your feet are nerved to its accomplishment.”
This was James’ way of revealing the virtue of self-confidence. This attribute hinges greatly on the two preceding elements: self-image and self-esteem. How we see ourselves and what we believe our self-worth is will have an incredible impact on how confident we are in ourselves.
Self-Discipline
Self-discipline is an attribute that almost everyone knows is important for success. Unfortunately, it isn’t the easiest to implement.
Self-discipline involves taking action to achieve your desired outcome, even in the face of adversity, temptation or any other obstacle. As Mark Tyrrell says in Uncommon Help, “Exercising self-discipline can make the difference between an averagely talented person doing something amazing with their lives and a naturally talented person realizing very little of their potential.”
Discipline is absolutely vital to your success. Ignoring discipline or trying to find a way around it will only push success further and further away.
See Also: How To Improve Your Self-Discipline
Self-Love
Self-love may sound like something that appeals primarily to narcissists, but it actually refers to how well you treat yourself. How we treat ourselves physically, mentally, emotionally and in any other areas of our lives indicates how much love we have for ourselves.
Writing in Psychology Today, Deborah Khoshaba Psy.D. states that “Self-love is a state of appreciation for oneself that grows from actions that support our physical, psychological and spiritual growth. Self-love is dynamic; it grows by actions that mature us.” Self-love is also important in helping us grow as individuals.
Carl R. Rogers, one of the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology, wrote, “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” Keeping a healthy diet and associating with successful, productive people are both good examples of self-love.
See Also: Yoga Helps You Love Yourself
The important thing to take away from these five factors for success is that each and everyone revolves around one important element: yourself. It all begins from within. None of these attributes relies solely on external factors. They are all within your control. Gain proper control and understanding of these factors so you can take action and achieve success.
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Remodeling Of A Tropical Restaurant In An Open And Comfortable Space
When we have as many advantages as this structure located in La Gi, Binh Thuan, Vietnam, the project is already half accomplished. Located in a lot on the central coast of Vietnam, in a tropical area that has mountains, rivers, forests, and beaches, its success was practically assured. Therefore, this restoration of an existing restaurant began by seeking to create a more modern and functional space than the existing one…
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Happy birthday, Everglades National Park. Established in 1947,…
Happy birthday, Everglades National Park. Established in 1947, the park protects 1.5 million acres of world-famous south Florida wetlands. Although the captivation with the Everglades has mostly stemmed from its unique ecosystem, an alluring human story is deeply interwoven with its endless marshes, dense mangroves, towering palms, alligator holes and tropical fauna. Visiting this vast and wild park, it’s easy to recognize its importance. Photo courtesy of Jacob W. Frank.
3 Powerful Strategies On How To Improve Concentration
Admit it.
You’ve identified your most important task (MIT) for the day, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down to work on it. Ten minutes in and the urge to check your email, send a text and visit news sites kicks in. You do your routine check and get back to your MIT and, after another 10 minutes, you are on your routine check again.
Sounds familiar?
Most people think this is normal and this way of thinking forces them to spend way more time on a task than it actually requires. No wonder why work weeks aren’t 40 hours anymore.
On Focused Attention
The ability to focus for a long time on a single task is diminishing in 21st-century knowledge workers despite it being one of today’s most valuable skills. It’s not something you put on your resume but it’s something you actually use on a daily basis to get stuff done.
I’ve always wondered how come I can complete my tasks well ahead of the other people at work. I noticed that most of them allow all kinds of distractions while working so they end up spending way more time to complete their tasks.
We all know what these distractions are and they aren’t going anywhere soon. So, instead of talking about distractions, we will focus on the solutions to help you get more things done in less time.
Today, I am going to share three powerful strategies that I have implemented and tested in my personal and work life. These are the strategies that taught me how to improve concentration.
Redefine Your Friendship with the Internet
The Internet is the core of all distractions, so let’s start with it.
These days, most of us have social media, emails or instant messaging apps open while working on a task that requires a lot of brainpower.
Most people think they can focus on a cognitively demanding task while surfing the internet and receiving constant notifications. It’s a huge misconception and research has proven it, too.
If you want to improve your focus, you need to look at how you are using the internet. Is it making your life easier or is it distracting you from your most important task (MIT) on most days?
If it’s the source of distractions, then you need to set new terms. This requires three elements.
A. Get notified on your own terms
Don’t let an email message from a coworker or social media notifications ruin your flow.
Turn off notifications from all social sites as well as your email on your smartphone. If you really want to get notified, choose to receive notifications only for emails or messages that are extremely important.
If you can’t turn off all notifications on your phone, at least minimize them. Decide what is important in your life.
B. Acknowledge FOMO (Fear of Missing out)
While working on a task, we all have a tendency to check social media or news sites because we feel like we are missing out on something important if we don’t. Millennials are badly impacted by FOMO and it really disrupts their ability to focus.
Instead of checking social or news sites 633 times during workday, have a couple of times during the day when you can go all in on it. Try it out for a couple days and notice how liberated you’ll feel.
C. Build a cave
If you have an option to work in a separate space, such as in a closed door office or just away from your colleagues, then turn that space into a focus cave for a couple of hours. Here’s how cave environment looks like:
· Tasks to be worked on has been identified already
· No distraction (electric or human) allowed
· Brain music (ex: brain.fm) for focus is on with earphones
· Coffee/Tea is ready to be sipped
Schedule Your Training Sessions
Learning how to improve concentration is like going to the gym to lose weight or build muscles. To improve focus, you need to have training sessions throughout the workweek as well.
The best way to do these training sessions and get stuff done at the same time is to use the good old Pomodoro technique. No one can beat Pomodoro technique when it comes to focusing.
If you aren’t familiar with the Pomodoro technique, here it is in a nutshell:
· Select your MIT.
· Set the timer for a specified time (example 30 min).
· Work on one task for the set time period with no distractions allowed.
· Take a quick break of 5-10 mins and then get back to another session Tip: Take a break away from your
Tip: Take a break away from your workspace.
You can download a Pomodoro timer easily from the internet. I use a tool called Tomighty.
If you can do 4 to 5 sessions of 30 to 45 minutes a day, you can’t even imagine how much stuff you can get done. Beginners find it hard to complete 4-5 sessions, so if you can’t, don’t get discouraged. Just start with 2 or whatever is comfortable for you.
If you are a beginner, you won’t be able for focus for 30 minutes straight on a single task because your brain isn’t used to it yet. Just start with a small number and increment from there.
See Also: Hack the Pomodoro Technique to Boost Your Productivity
Learn to Multitask
So far, hundreds, if not thousands, of research papers have proved that multitasking is bad for the human brain. Am I stupid to recommend multitasking then? No.
Even with all the research and literature proving multitasking is bad, more and more people are getting into it every day. One common complaint people have is that they have so much to do so they have to multitask.
To make a better use of it, learn how to differentiate your tasks. Some of them can be done simultaneously but others require intense focus.
For example, you can easily fill out a status report while chatting with your colleague on an instant messaging tool. On the other side, there are tasks, such as writing software design documentation, that require 100% focus and can’t be done effectively while multitasking.
So, the takeaway here is to look at your list of tasks every day and decide which tasks require intense focus and use Pomodoro technique to go through them.
Pro Tip: Use afternoons for multitasking and morning for tasks that require focus.
Steps On How To Improve Concentration
Here are the step-by-step instructions on how to apply these three strategies to increase your concentration:
1. Before you start anything else at work, look at your tasks and identify those that require 100% focus and which tasks can be completed while multitasking.
2. Select your MIT (most important task).
3. Make sure all notifications are turned off, except highly important ones.
4. Set your Pomodoro timer to your desired working time.
5. Work through that time and resist the urge to give up, browse the internet or check your phone.
6. Once the time is over, take a break for 5 to 10 mins. Step away from your desk and get some fresh air if possible.
7. Return to your desk for another intense session. Continue with your existing task or start a new one.
8. After you are done with your most important tasks, you can continue completing the other tasks on your lists which you can do even while getting interrupted.
Conclusion
It sucks to be late for deadlines or to stay late at work just because you can’t finish your tasks due to all the distractions. However, if you follow the methods outlined above, I can promise you that you can accomplish your tasks in half the time. Now, imagine having extra time for things you love to do because you learned to curb distractions and save time due to improved focus.
What are the common barriers that prevent you from focusing on a single task for more than 30 minutes?
See Also: 4 Habits That Will Improve Your Focus And Destroy Procrastination
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Spectacular Home Designed by Maxime Jacquet in California, USA
This fantastic home was designed by Maxime Jacquet and is located in Calabasas, California, USA. This is a city known for the large number of rich and famous people who have made it their place of residence. Of beautiful exteriors and with wonderful views over the mountains, this splendid construction with Mediterranean airs, white walls, and red roof tiles, has extensive garden areas and a relaxing swimming pool. In the..
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5 Hardcore Business Lessons Growing In a Broken Home Taught Me
According to statistics, about fifty percent of children will experience the pains of divorce before their 18th birthday. Unfortunately, I happened to be among those who made up that statistic.
The common fear of those coming from a broken home is a lack of motivation. Don’t get me wrong. I have learned to retrieve some hardcore business lessons from my broken home that could motivate even those with the faintest of hearts.
To give you an idea, here are five hardcore business lessons that helped me build the successful business I run today. I believe these could be great inspiring factors for you.
The Desire for Independence is An Asset
Most often, the desire for freedom is a primary motivator for entrepreneurship. Having grown up without handouts, I didn’t find it difficult developing an independent mindset. Although it seemed a bitter pill to swallow, it helped prepare me for the entrepreneurial adventure I saw myself in a few years later.
Just like me, make sense out of your desire for independence. See your freedom as an asset for development and not a burden. Your ability to properly utilize this freedom is what will build your foundation.
See Also: Taking Ownership: Are You Taking Full Responsibility For Your Life?
Give Maximum Attention To Customers
While growing, I knew what not being welcomed felt like. I found it better to stay out because I didn’t feel I was treated right most of the time.
This made me realize that if I wanted to satisfy my prospective customers and turn them into repeat client, I needed to treat them like the kings they are. People love attention and will do everything to ensure they get it. In a broken home, I have come to realize that treating people well means directly growing your business.
Treat Your Employees And Customers Well
My first-hand experience of a broken home opened my eyes to the benefit attached to treating people well. One of the biggest mistakes many small businesses make is not treating their employees well.
They wholeheartedly believe in the saying that the customer is the king so they make their employees go out of their way to make customers feel favored. However, what they fail to realize is that, eventually, the overall customer experience is going to depend on how their employees respond to the leadership and the business.
Now, let me tell you a secret. If your employees are treated with dignity, trust, and respect, they will indeed show these things back to your clients. They would treat your customers the way you would, value your business’ goals and may even go the extra mile and make some personal sacrifices for the greater good of the company.
See Also: 6 Benefits of Motivational Training for Employees
Leaving A Great Impression On Your Customers
Growing up with a bad impression and constant depression pushed me to aspire to leave a better impression. This is repeatable in business and unless you have a million dollar marketing budget, word-of-mouth marketing is going to be crucial to the success of your business.
Leaving a great impression may well come down to your ability to get personal with your customers. If you’re the typical salesperson, you may be shown the door in no time.
However, if you take the time to learn their problem, get familiar with who they are and what exactly they are looking for, you would certainly be able to pitch to them in a way that appeals to them.
Hard Work Would Always Have the Upper Hand Over Talent
I used to believe that if you’re talented or are a little more intelligent than the “average entrepreneur” out there, the journey to success may turn out to be an easier one.
But, let me put it without any sugar coating: NOTHING beats hard work!
When you’re an entrepreneur, there’s no shortcut to success, even if you have some unique talent or a higher IQ.
Conclusion
In all situations and circumstances, your ability to reason is what will make you successful. Like me, don’t ever back out and become a chicken wing. Draw out the positives, work hard and relate every instance with your ideal business projection. The truth is anyone can be successful irrespective of the circumstance.
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Holiday Home in La Barceloneta, a Neighborhood of Barcelona, Spain.
Located in the easily recognizable city of Barcelona, more specifically in the neighborhood of La Barceloneta, in Spain, this small apartment has a total area of only 48 square meters, which—despite being relatively small—is sufficient space for a family of two, and more-so when it’s only used as a vacation home. The renovation was undertaken by architectural firm Egue y Seta, who wanted to remove the walls of the old..
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May 30th
There is no secret to success except hard work and getting something indefinable which we call ‘the breaks.
Sig Nordal 