So now, it’s my turn to approach the bar. If I lower the bar first, then I must lower the bar for everyone. Since this bar has been set for such a long time and many have already been challenged by it, it would be unfair to lower it just for myself. I have decided to keep the bar where it’s at… Now as I run toward the bar, I think to myself, “Will I make it?”

…

I sure hope so. If I don’t, I will try and try again. This is a lesson well learned. Thanks, Stan.

I may have an answer. Singers performing on stage need to hear their own voice and they are pressing their in-ear monitor into their ears for a snugger fit. Most professional singers who perform on stage use in-ear monitors, devices that are usually transparent or skin-coloured. These devices allow them to hear their performance along with the mix (of other instruments/voices). Thus, just when a singer is about to sing a difficult run, you may notice the finger in the ear.

What about singers who are not on stage or wearing in-ear monitors and are blocking their ears? I would have to ask, “Is that singer a professional?” Most likely, such a singer is blocking the ear to appear professional. It would be mostly for style and not very practical. Blocking the ear does not allow you to hear how your voice sounds to others, but it does lower the volume of unwanted noise. To hear how you sound without monitoring, the best way is to use your hands and cup behind your ears with your palms facing forward, angled toward your face.

So there you have it. Blocking the ear does not make you sound better or allow you to hear how your voice sounds to others. It simply blocks out noise.

To get myself into bed earlier, I’m going to eliminate the thing that keeps me up. So what keeps me up? It’s the computer (with internet access)!

What am I going to do? I’ve set an alarm on my BlackBerry for 9pm (1 hour before bed time) to inform me that all connectivity devices are to be turned off. There are no exceptions! If I’m in the middle of typing up a blog post, I would have to save it, turn off the laptop, and complete it another day. If I’m sexting some random that I met at a party, the phone is going to be turned off. Too bad! If I’m watching a really good YouTube video, I’m not even going to let it finish playing! Okay, I most likely would watch the remainder of it, but if there are 10 minutes left, then I’ll watch it another day. I’m going to give this a try and hopefully my will power remains strong, resulting in at least 7 hours of sleep every night.

You can do the same. What’s your biggest distraction from bed?

Our Technology
Our ancestors began using tools to increase the chance of survival. Discoveries such as fire brought heat, light, and the ability to cook. Inventions such as the compass helped in navigation. Innovations such as irrigation has increased crop production. Think about the internet today, it brings communication with other parts of the world to your fingertips. We have become masters of our environment.

Our History
Our cultures are diverse, we have a vast amount of languages, we trade resources, and we share our talents. Human history spans over thousands of years. Knowledge of ourselves and our world has grown exponentially.

Our Ruins
Technology advances the most in times of war where research and manpower is devoted to weapon and defence development. With nuclear weapons, the Earth can be destroyed within a few hours. Warfare is always a threat. That is, war between humans and humans; a race to destroy each other.

The End
Our technology enables us to destroy each other. When we attack each other with such great power, we are destroying ourselves. War has its consequences. When we no longer exist and our ruins are discovered by some future intelligent species, not only will we look idiotic, but they would think, “What a waste of history, technology, and culture!”

The video shown above is one of my favourite videos. It displays training at the gym with psychological, behavioural and physical factors. In this review, I will be commenting solely on the psychological factor of self-efficacy expectations (confidence). After all, the title is suggesting that it’s a psych up. For a behavioural review from a coach’s perspective, read Dave Tate’s review.

From what I gather from the video, the person performing the squat is Matt. He is attempting to set a personal record (PR) of weight squatted. His goals are clearly documented in the video. Frank Yang is the man who is doing most of the psych up, especially at 1:32 in the video.

There are 4 sources of self-efficacy expectations:
1) Personal Accomplishment
2) Vicarious Experience (Watching similar others perform successfully)
3) Social Persuasion
4) Emotional Arousal

Matt’s performance goals are set and are illustrated in the video prior to his attempt. This goal is in his mind before and while he is performing the squat.

Here’s how Matt performed with my comments:

• 215 lbs -- Matt -- Easy warm up
• 245 lbs x 1 -- Martin -- Success (Vicarious Experience)
• 255 lbs x 1 -- Martin -- Success (Vicarious Experience)
• 235 lbs x 2 -- Matt -- Success (Personal Accomplishment)
• 245 lbs x 2 -- Matt -- Success (Personal Accomplishment)
• 275 lbs PR -- Martin -- Way too heavy, Frank attempts to psych up Martin by screaming (Emotional Arousal)
• 255 lbs PR -- Matt -- Again psych up from Frank, but failure to complete squat (Emotional Arousal)
• 255 lbs PR -- Matt -- Second try -- Matt looks in mirror, engages in self-talk with social persuasion from Frank -- Successful -- Big achievement (Self-talk + social persuasion + emotional arousal)
• 265 lbs PR -- Matt -- More screaming psych up, but failure (Emotional Arousal + Previous Accomplishment)

Why was this psych up so effective and how did Matt reach a new PR?
Matt had all 4 sources that enhanced his self-efficacy expectations. He started with a warm up and then watched Martin successfully complete a few heavy repetitions. Matt successfully completes several repetitions, increasing his confidence. Personal accomplishment is most significant in increasing self-efficacy expectations. Emotional arousal can only do so much, but Frank does a wonderful job at this by maximizing the use of it. Frank is also consistently persuading Matt that he can do it.

What could have increased Matt’s self-efficacy expectations (confidence)?
By not having Martin attempt the 275 lbs PR, Matt may have done better. Consequently, Matt observed failure from someone similar and it also lowered Frank’s social persuasion value.

In brief, the video demonstrates a successful psych up. When training, it’s about pushing yourself and putting in effort. To be successful (in the gym), you need to work hard to gain personal accomplishments and have others psych you up. That’s why spotters are good. They ensure safety and help you improve.

My goal is to achieve a more balanced audience. Seriously, too many dudes are watching me, haha. As a result, upcoming videos will have less beatboxing and more singing. Will there be less clothes you ask? You wish! I prefer to keep my videos at a G rating. So stay tuned!

Here are some examples:
East Asian (Original)

Afro-Caribbean

Caucasian

West Asian

Check it out for yourself!

Link: Face of the Future

Emotions bind people together. When we have strong emotional ties, our choices and decisions are influenced by our emotions. Does it lead to poorer decisions? That is debatable. It becomes an ethics debate.

For example, from Chuck, season 2, episode 10, despite being a CIA agent, Sarah lets her father escape from doing jail time. She had a disappointing father, yet she had strong emotional ties. This lead her to do something wrong in others’ eyes. Some people will think, “How could she let a criminal escape?” However, being emotionless is also frowned upon. Some people will think, “How could she do that to her own father?”

We are all influenced by our emotions, some more than others. That is why I encourage you to read my post on managing emotions. I list several important questions that we should ask ourselves when making decisions that affect others. For a more detailed paper on how to make decisions, check out How to Make Decisions: Coherence, Emotion, and Practical Inference by Paul Thagard, a professor at the University of Waterloo.

Links: Puissance – Managing Emotions
Emotion Articles by Dr. Paul Thagard
How to Make Decisions: Coherence, Emotion, and Practical Inference by Paul Thagard

I think that we’ve been quite adaptive with stress because it can be useful in so many situations, but stress is now a common occurrence in our everyday lives. With such busy lives, it’s not easy removing all the stressors. We simply live with too much stress. In the past, people felt stressed when they were hungry or in danger. Today, people feel stress on the drive to work, at work, and at home.

Since stress can be harmful, let’s take a look at what we can do to reduce it:

• Reduce commute time – traffic is a stressor, more time to do other things is a relief
• Schedule some “me” time to do what you enjoy
• Spend time with family and friends – socializing helps
• Work to eliminate stressors
• De-clutter your environment
• Write things down
• Manage your time
• Listen to music
• Exercise for 30 minutes a day
• Plan ahead
• Sleep

Lastly, have confidence because you can do it!

Emotions are useful because it makes us do things that protect ourselves or close others. Sometimes these actions can be irrational, so emotions can go overboard quite easily. The key is to understand our emotions and to use them to our advantage. Many of our decisions are based on how we feel about it. Believe it or not, emotions have a huge influence in decision making for most people including myself.

In decision making, emotion acts as extra weighting toward certain options. Look at the following example, with ‘x’ as emotion:

The intensity of the emotion is variable. Emotion tied to one reason that supports a ‘Yes’ decision:
Yes = x(Reason 1) + (Reason 2) + (Reason 3)
No = (Reason 1) + (Reason 2) + (Reason 3)

In our decisions, if we know the intensity of ‘x’ and its location, we can consciously minimize its affect on our decision-making process. Some decisions are made better without certain emotions such as fear, anger, jealousy, anxiety, and even courage in some cases. If it’s anger, the best way to minimize it is to take some time to calm down.

Moreover, if it’s a decision that will directly or indirectly affect another person, it’s best to empathize. Understand how it would affect the other person and how it would make them feel. This is very important because your decision reflects your character.

Here are some important questions to ask:

• Why am I making this decision? Who does it benefit?
• How do/would I feel about this decision?
• How do/would other people feel about this decision?
• Am I being too irrational? Do I need to calm down?
• If I make this decision, would I be comfortable telling everyone about it?

From an evolutionary perspective, we have emotions because it has to be useful in some ways. Emotions make us do things that we wouldn’t normally do. In a way, it makes us human. For example, it could influence us to splurge on new products, treat our partners better, or harms others. As we can see, emotions can be both beneficial and harmful. We should get in touch with our feelings, understand them, and manage them when necessary.