Focus!

(CC) Original Photo by Metaveld BV

"Controlled focus is like a laser beam that can cut through anything that seems to be stopping you."

Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within

A month ago I wrote a post on how I get things done. Since then, I have been measuring time spent on daily activities. My goal was very simple: to find out how I waste time and why. That was the first step to be more time-efficient. Unexpectedly, I found a technique that helps me stay focused. If you need to improve your attention span (and I know you do :-) ), you might find it useful.

The technique is very simple. That's probably the reason why it works so well for me. The idea is to log time and activity that you perform. It is important that you force yourself to do that whenever you switch focus. Whenever you want to perform a new activity, add an entry. Be honest with yourself. Adding a new entry should make you think whether to perform that activity. My sample log looks as follows:

Date	Time	Activity
Sat 28-01-2012	15:01:10	food
Sat 28-01-2012	16:08:43	limoncello
Sat 28-01-2012	16:40:22	blog
Sat 28-01-2012	16:45:11	limoncello
Sat 28-01-2012	16:55:03	blog
Sat 28-01-2012	17:00:07	limoncello

According to the log, I made and ate food at first. Later I was interleaving two activities: making limoncello and writing blog content. Note that during writing the blog, I didn't check Facebook or email. If I had wanted to do that, I would have had to add an entry.

Why does this technique work? I believe it's related to pain and pleasure. Adding those log entries is pain in the ass. The pain associated with it overshadows a possible pleasure associated with Facebook.

How to log entries? You can start with a piece of paper. Alternatively, you can also write them in a text file or on a cell phone. I like to automate life, so I created a program that automatically timestamps log entries and saves them in a text file. It works on Linux, but maybe you'll be lucky enough to use it on Mac. This console program is easy to use. Type: log food, or log blog, or log myEntry to add a new entry to the file log.txt in home directory. If you have no idea how to download and use the program, don't bother with it. Piece of paper is your best friend!

Road Trip: God Bless America

The adventurous Gzowski crew is back: Tom, Mike, and myself. We are back to Canada after driving 4500km for 5 days! 4 days of driving for 1 night of partying. How ridiculous is that? As we started driving on Sunday, I could not believe that we would end up in New Orleans. It was the most random excursion I've ever been to. My thoughts are still as chaotic as the trip and the previous post. I'm writing this blog post to share the best highlights from our cultural exploration of USA.

Road Trip

• Car (our new home). It took us about 30 hours to get to New Orleans. Mike's car was the place to drink, eat, sleep, live. We spent our first night on a Pizza Hut parking lot somewhere in Kentucky.  Mike was sleeping on driver's sleep, Tom in the trunk/back seat, and myself on the passenger's seat. The car was so comfortable that we decided to sleep there for two more nights! Apparently there are more people who share our passion to cars. We spent the second night on McDonald's parking lot in New Orleans. When we woke up, we spot a car next to ours. A girl approached our car and said: "Looks like we've got neighbors!" :-)
• Living the life. When you go on vacations, you brain goes on vacations as well. Basically, we spent a lot of money on random things, like a baseball cap, fedora, ponchos, various decorations, unnecessary food. We also bought a kettle, which was one of the best investments. We boiled water to make tea/coffee at each stop: McDonald's, Wallmart, Burger King. Although we had drinking water, we didn't have many opportunities to take a shower. After one day without shower, you notice that you look different. After 2-3 days, you just don't care.

• McDonald's. We are loving it. Besides their delectable hash browns, they offer free access to the Internet. McDonald's strategically located their restaurants at highway exits. It made keeping in touch with our friends very convenient. Unexpectedly, one night when we were writing postcards, McDonald's donated to us fries. How nice of them?

God Bless America

• No KFC in Kentucky. We didn't see any Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant as we were passing by Kentucky. Too bad! We badly wanted to try the forbidden-in-Canada double down sandwich. The forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest. We finally found the sandwich in Tennessee!

• Jack Daniels in a dry county. When we were driving through Tennessee, we noticed a sign saying "Jack Daniel's Distillery. A national historic site". Pretty cool! Although, I'm not a fan of whiskey, it was very interesting to see how they produce it. Apparently, it is a very slow and expensive process because alcohol is filtered drop by drop though charcoal. Nonetheless, the more interesting fact is that the distillery is located in a dry county. It is a county that forbids the sale of alcohol.
• Southern states. The trip was our first experience with southern states. They seemed like a totally different world to me. The states are very traditional (with lots of churches) and people are welcoming. I got the impression that the time slows down there and no one is in a rush. People speak with a distinctive accent that is initially hard to understand. Also, if you listen to the radio, you quickly notice that the only music they play is country :-)

Money-efficient Local Diet

• Greasy food. Together with Tom, we decided to think globally and act locally. We supported local economy by consuming tons of super-greasy food. No, I'm not talking about McDonald's and similar chains. Those are relatively healthy. I'm talking about food that contains 40-50% of saturated fat! There was so much fat that a paper bag was totally wet after keeping them for a while. We bought 2-3kg of super-greasy chicken legs to appreciate their unique taste for 2 days. On top of that, we had potatoes, or rather potato-butter. Unforgettable experience!

• 0% - 5% juice. What is the definition of juice? Who cares :-) We bought some liquid that resembled juice. When I think of it, it still tastes like a dish washing detergent.
• Law enforcement. To make sure that each of us appreciates the healthy food we made a law: You have to eat anything what is stereotypical American, greasy, unhealthy. Avoid fruits and vegetables. If someone offers the food to you, you have to eat it. You have the right to make the other person eat the same type of food.

New Orleans and Mardi Gras

• New Orleans. It is a very unique American city. It definitely has European flavor. It can be seen in the architecture, roads, and symbols.
• Mardi Gras. The festival is great party attended by thousands of tourists. They crowd the streets, wear beads, cheer, show their breasts, or shout "show us your tits!". In fact, it is a lot of fun and goes beyond what you can see in public places every day. Before going there, I had no idea what Mardi Gras is. It took us 4 days to drive there and back just to experience that one night. Was it worth it? Definitely! We also met a fair number of Canadians who were proudly singing O Canada. Among them, there was Tom's brother. We all celebrated the family reunion in New Orleans.

It is a long post but I must repeat a sentence that I heard hundreds of times: we are so fucking cool!

It Started with Breakfast...

I'm writing this blog post in the car. We have been driving for over 26 hours (with stops) from Kitchener to New Orleans. We are some 30km from Birmingham, Alabama.

Sunday
10:30am Wake-up. Tom is at my place. Last night we went to Mexican Fiesta - a Polish event in Cambridge; we also visited Guelph to check out what's going on there.

Tom: Good morning!
Kacper: Hey Tom!
Tom: I'm hungry, let's go for breakfast.
Kacper: Yeah, let's see who else wants to go... Looks like Mike is coming over.

Tom, Mike, and myself are members of Gzowski Club. We envisioned the club as a place for people who like to have a good time. We promote Polish culture among Canadian students in Ontario. We often hang out together and organize informal events.

Tom: What do you say about Phil's [club that hosts a retro night] tonight? Hmm, I'd like to do something exciting today...
Kacper: You know what? I've been thinking about doing something unusual for several days! I don't know what it is, but something that you don't do often... I just got a text message from Andrea. They also want to go to Phil's tonight.

Text from Mike: R u guys still hanging? Lets road trip somewhere!
Text from Kacper: We were just brainstorming. Come over now! Bring your passport, just in case.
Text from Mike: K ill be there in like 30-40mins. Dude niagra falls casino!!!!!

12:00pm We make a delectable breakfast: roasted salmon and fried bacon. I talk to my parents on Skype saying that Tom and Mike came over. We've got a car and we're looking for adventures. My parents seemed very happy to hear that! After the Skype call, together with Tom and Mike we are thinking about possible destinations. Oshawa? Ottawa? Montreal? New York? Chicago? Mexico?

Tom: Guys! My brother is in New Orleans. Mardi Gras festival is there. Let's go!
Kacper: Well, it's like 2 days of driving. Let's check flight tickets.

Tom and Mike are checking prices, while I'm packing my back pack. Flights to New Orleans are for $600-$700 per person. Unreasonable. We have no choice, we have to drive there. The trip is on.

Mike: Ok guys, I need to pack my stuff as well. Let's get into the car and drive to my place.

1:00pm We are at Mike's place. He packs his stuff and we decide to visit Kasia. In the meantime we message tens of other friends and update statuses on Facebook. Apparently, everybody is too busy to go for a trip of our lives. Mike's mom is a bit worried about him, but Mike decides to take things in his own hands :-)

2:00pm Tom packs his back pack. I upload some pictures on FB. Guys are singing the much-loved "Hangover" song.

Tom: One more thing. I've got a project deadline. I have to submit a project by 5pm. We need to go to Conestoga College to the computer lab.
Mike: Did you take your passport?
Tom: Oh, shit! My passport, thanks buddy!

3:00pm We are in the computer lab. Tom finishes the project, Mike checks directions from Kitchener to New Orleans, and I check hostels. According to Google Maps the route is 2023km long and it takes over 20 hours to get there. The road leads through the whole USA: Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississipi, Louisiana. Pretty cool!

4:00pm Just before departing from Conestoga we accidentally meet our friend Anna. Funny, cause we've been texting that day for a while. That was the last moment to say bye!

4:05pm We are heading towards the border with USA in Detroit! Although we can't believe it, the trip is seriously on!

It was one of the coolest days in my life! We all 3 woke up in the morning without planning anything particular. We just wanted to go for breakfast, maybe to the club later. None of us expected setting off for a 2000km roadtrip to New Orleans. How COOL does that sound on a scale 1-10? :-)

It's extremely hard to find that spontaneous people. Similarly to you, each and every one of us has projects, work, and other commitments. Money? We are all students, so we are far from being millionaires. Let's see what adventures await us on this trip!

How to Get a Free Flight to Costa Rica?

Red-eyed Treefrog is one of the most recognizable frogs that live in Costa Rica. The country is known for its beautiful and unique nature. I have been thinking of visiting Costa Rica for some time. Recently I found a way to get a free return ticket from Toronto to San José. The coolest thing is that the idea is very general and it will work for you as well. Many people that I talked to said that they would like to travel but they have no money. I'm going to tell you how to save enough money to book a ticket to Costa Rica. I'm pretty sure you are interested :-)

I had not been smart about money until last October. I ignored many opportunities and never cared about promotions. One day in October I decided to educate myself about finances. I also realized that small things eventually add up. I invested some time into looking for financial products that best matched my requirements. Basically, I didn't want to pay for using bank accounts, credit cards, etc. I wanted to earn interests instead. I recommend you doing the same exercise, because it just pays off!

(CC) Original Photo by 401K

Alright, so let's get back to the main topic. One can get a return ticket to Costa Rica for about $550. That's the amount we are talking about. My goal is to get that amount within 1 year without spending any extra money. How do I do that? There are three components:

1. Discounted grocery shopping. Once I went to do the shopping on Tuesday. It turned out that every Tuesday Zehrs offers 10% discount for students. Normally I wouldn't bother about 10%, but I buy food every week. Let's say I used to spend $100 weekly to pay for groceries. A year has 52 weeks, which amounts to $5200. If the discount is 10%, I spend $90 on groceries and save $10 each week. Thus, my yearly savings are $520. Pretty good, eh?
2. Credit card with cash back. Get a credit card with no annual fee. Find one that offers cash back option, i.e. you earn money for making transactions. How does that work? If I spend $90 and the cash back is 1% I get 90 cents back. It's that simple. There are no hidden costs. The cash back percentage depends on the card, so read the conditions. In my case it is 0.25% on the first $500, 0.5% on the next $500, and 1% on the rest. Let's do the math quickly: $90 * 52 = $4680 (this is how much I spend on groceries yearly). Taking into account how the cash back is computed we have: (0.25%*$500) + (0.5% * $500) + (1% * $3680) = $40.6. So yearly I earn a little bit over $40 just for spending money on groceries.
3. Savings account. A while ago I opened a Tax-Free Savings Account at ING Direct. It's totally free and they offer 2% yearly interest rate. It isn't much but better than nothing, right? Each week I put the saved $10 on that account. According to their calculator I will earn $5.33 after 1 year.

This is it! I'm not doing anything that requires extra energy or effort. After one year the total savings are $520 + $40.6 + $5.33 = $565.33. It is enough to buy a ticket to Costa Rica! How COOL is that? My savings scheme is very conservative. You can always find a better credit card or invest money in mutual funds instead of using savings account. If you decide to open an account at ING Direct and you like this blog post, feel free to use my orange key: 36162996S1. On the other hand, if you find a better savings account, let me know!