The following text is from Part II of my “Stephen Hopson Interview” at Adversity University:

10.  Shaun, at Adversity University, I often talk about the value of changing our perceptions in order to deal with adversity.  How have you dealt with adversity in your life?  Give us specific examples of adversity and what you did to overcome them.

Adversity is a fancy word for difficulty or misfortune, right?  If you asked me this question a few years ago, I would have said that the best way to deal with life’s difficulties is to simply not deal with them, because that’s how I used to live my life.  If something was challenging, I’d look for a way out of it — and do something that I thought would be easier.  If I was struggling to overcome something, then I would purposely avoid it — and leave it unresolved.  If I came across something new, then I would be reluctant to try it — because I was afraid of being embarrassed if I wasn’t good at it.

The thing is, with this approach I ended up doing nothing most of the time:  I did nothing to advance my career, I did nothing to increase my skills set, and I did nothing to improve my life — all because I was terrified of failure.  I avoided life for a few years under the belief that “If you don’t try, you can’t fail.”

Unfortunately, applying the brakes in this manner resulted in something worse than failure:  Since I put a ceiling on my potential for life, the only direction I could go was down — and down I went.

Read the rest of this interview at Adversity University

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liferebootdotcom: hey lj
LJ: hey
LJ: brb
LJ: hi
LJ: how are you?
liferebootdotcom: I am ok. how are you?
LJ: I’m alright
liferebootdotcom: my Uncle Bob died. he’s not really my uncle, just a friend of my father’s — but he was closer to me than most of my real uncles
liferebootdotcom: he lived across the street from my parents’ house for longer than I’ve been alive
LJ: I’m sorry to hear that.
liferebootdotcom: I’m trying to find a bright side to this but I can’t
liferebootdotcom: it’s funny how people die all the time and you can be pretty indifferent to it
liferebootdotcom: and there are different levels of indifference. heath ledger died, and I don’t really care. when cassie’s grandmom got a phonecall and then passed on the news that some friend of her friend’s died, we (mostly indifferently) responded “that’s a shame”
liferebootdotcom: hell, even when the attacks on 9/11 occurred, I had problems understanding the realness of it because nobody I knew died
liferebootdotcom: but now Uncle Bob’s dead. 69 years old, from cancer
liferebootdotcom: started in the lung
liferebootdotcom: spread to the abdomen
liferebootdotcom: spread to the liver
liferebootdotcom: spread to his brain
liferebootdotcom: and killed him
LJ: death is always much more harsh seeming when it directly affects you
LJ: cancer is awful
LJ: the same thing happened to my grandmother
LJ: but I always tend to look at it this way:
LJ: I would rather be dead, then spend 20 years suffering form an illness with no chance of getting better
LJ: and it’s not that you should be indifferent
LJ: its just there is not much you can do
LJ: and with situations like that, death is usually a blessing
liferebootdotcom: my father agrees with you. said the same thing. described it as a blessing
liferebootdotcom: considering the suffering he experienced in the last years of his life, I can understand it being put that way
LJ: truth be told
LJ: feelings like that are never put to rest
LJ: we cover up grieving because its what we do
LJ: but it creeps up on you
LJ: and that is life
LJ: and this we accept.
LJ: I don’t know
LJ: I’m sorry that you are feeling hurt. It’s hard to tell people how to deal with it. it’s sort of something most people have to figure out on their own…
liferebootdotcom: I’m just trying to write something about it that’s real, and it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever tried writing
LJ: write the things you remember. write what you feel and don’t edit unless its grammatical.

My Uncle Bob liked to tell this one story about my older brother. It was years ago, when my brother Darren was really young. If I was even alive when it happened, I certainly have no recollection of the actual event. All I remember is the story Bob told us. [Click here to read more →]

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The following text is from Part I of my “Stephen Hopson Interview” at Adversity University:

1.  One of my favorite questions when I want to learn about someone is by asking them to give me their 5 second introduction when I pose the question:  “What do you do for a living?”

I’m a former computer guy who left the industry to start a new career as a writer.  Was that within five seconds?

2.  Tell me in 3 to 5 sentences something we can’t read in your bio or at the “About Page” at your blog “LifeReboot.”

Judging from my blog alone, one might think that I am a self-proclaimed know-it-all, and that I spend every waking moment of my life telling other people why they should be more like me.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In real life, I am often considered shy because I like to listen and observe more than I like to talk.  In other words, I’m not the guy who takes his personal philosophies and forces them down the throats of everyone he meets.  Instead, I give advice only to those who seek it (namely, the people who choose to read my blog).

3. How long have you been blogging at “LifeReboot”?

I got the idea for LifeReboot in December 2006.  I created the blog design in January 2007.  I quit my job and moved out of state in February, the domain was transferred to me and the blog went live in March, and the blog was finally “popularized” by Digg in May.  So my answer really depends on what stage you consider to be the true act of “blogging.”

4.  How did you come up with that very interesting and eye catching title?

It was inspired by David Hume’s Bundle Theory.  Hume says that life is not one singular entity, but a series of perceptions.  In other words, a lifetime is a collection of small, individual, “packaged” lives.  You start a new life when you land a new job.  You start a new life when you enter a new relationship.  You start a new life when you move out of state.  With the start of a new life, you are simultaneously ending another one.

This notion of reinventing yourself as a new person due to your own choices fascinates me.  Consequently, when I left the computer industry I recognized that I was ending one life and starting another.  The name “LifeReboot” just made sense.

5.  Why did you start “LifeReboot”?

Read the rest of this interview at Adversity University

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I was recently contacted by Stephen Hopson of Adversity University. He started a series of interviews at his blog, and he wanted me to participate.

After reading through one of his existing interviews, I agreed. Stephen sent me a list of interview questions, and I began composing my responses to them. Most of the questions were fairly straightforward, but eventually I reached a real stumper:

What would you say was the defining moment that forever changed the course of your life?

I thought long and hard — is there really one single moment that stands out from the rest? Just like anyone else, I’ve had many experiences that have been life-altering. [Click here to read more →]

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Yesterday I was writing at the library when I noticed a girl working at a nearby table. Like me, she had some work laid out in front of her. Unlike me, she also had a wireless laptop set just beyond her work. In addition to her trusty personal computer, she also had her mobile phone set on the table within arm’s reach.

During my writing session, I noticed how she would frequently turn towards her laptop to click around on the internet. In addition to this primary distraction, her cell phone vibrated every few minutes. Each time this happened, she let out an exasperated sigh, picked up her phone, glanced at the display, pressed its buttons maniacally, and set it back down. [Click here to read more →]

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One goal I hope to accomplish in 2008 is to write my first manuscript. I’ve discussed my strategy for reaching this goal in my previous article: Just Two Pages - Front and Back.

Don’t let the title of this article mislead you — I have been keeping up with my daily goal. For the past nine days, I’ve forced myself to fill two sheets of notebook paper in order to stay on top of this goal. Sometime later today, I’ll force myself to fill another two sheets which will bring me to a total of twenty pages for the first ten days of January.

So far, the physical act of writing has been a success:

The part that I feel I’m failing at is the story. I’m making my characters do things that I haven’t personally experienced or taken the time to research — so the story could be unrealistic. I’m flying by the seat of my pants every time I sit down to write the next set of pages — so I have no idea of where the story intends to go. Last night, when I spent two hours typing out everything I had written up to this point (and simultaneously re-reading all that I wrote), I noticed how my manuscript is blatantly amateur.

The thing is, my intention for this manuscript was to write a manuscript. It was never my intention to write a best seller, to win a Pulitzer, or to even have the manuscript published. The entire purpose for successfully writing a first manuscript is to have the experience of writing it.

In other words, I’m writing for about one hour every day with the understanding that it is throwaway writing. The finished manuscript will not be my best work. It will have plot holes and worldly inaccuracies. It will have boring periods of nothingness. It will have characters that fail to come to life. In short, my first manuscript will be a failure.

I’m comfortable with that. The process of writing fiction is somewhat unnatural to me, but I’m working to get better at it. In order to get better at anything, you need to fail the first time.

…

Since a few readers said they’d love to see the manuscript, I’ve included all that I have so far below. Although some authors are incredibly protective — secretive, even — when it comes to the first drafts of their work, I’m choosing to let it all hang out. All I ask is that if you have something to say about it, be honest. If you hate it, please don’t tell me you love it. [Click here to read more →]

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Whenever I want to get serious work done, I take a 5-minute drive to my office. Once I’m there, I immediately shift into “working mode” — I knuckle down and accomplish whatever needs to get done quickly, often in under half the time it would take to accomplish the same task at home.

Although this may be the primary reason I take advantage of my office, it’s certainly not the only reason. Other luxuries of my office include: free access to books, free access to newspaper and magazine collections, free computer and internet access, and free movie rentals. Furthermore, my office is filled with an entire staff of personal assistants — all of whom will try to help answer any question I need answered, or assist me with any problem I need resolved. Best of all, I don’t pay huge operating costs for my office — it costs less than one dollar a day to run it year round.

If you’re jealous of my office, don’t be. You already have access to your own publicly funded office exactly like mine. This is because “my office” is my local public library. [Click here to read more →]

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One of my goals for 2008 is to write my first manuscript. I decided that “Publish my first book” would be a foolish way to word this goal because I’ve never written anything longer than a short story. Therefore, believing that I could successfully write a manuscript and that it would be good enough to publish would be a blatant demonstration of naiveté — kind of like setting a goal to win the lottery without taking the first step of playing it. [Click here to read more →]

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2007 is drawing to a close. You’ve sent out your Holiday Greeting Cards. You’ve had your annual Holiday Shopping Spree. You’ve exchanged presents and expressed thanks. You’ve attended Holiday parties hosted by your family, friends, boss, or co-workers — but the final party still remains.

New Year’s Eve: The time when you pinpoint an area in your life that needs refining, and then resolve to correct it in the coming year.

If you’re a smoker, then your resolution may be to kick the habit. If you’re in debt, then your resolution may be to get out of it. If you’re overweight, then your resolution may be to give up sweets, to exercise at least twice a week, or to start using your treadmill as more than just a dirty clothes hanger.

And if you’re like me, you’ll review your goals from last year before setting new ones. [Click here to read more →]

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Every year, my parents send out a Family Christmas Photo to all of their friends and relatives. For as long as I can remember, the process of actually taking this annual family photo has been an exercise in patience. Consequently, whenever my mother says “Oh, why don’t we take the Christmas picture since we’re all together?” her suggestion is met with a series of reluctant groans. [Click here to read more →]

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