I am Keith Hernandez » What’s Good

Close to the Chest

keith hernandez — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:56:14 +0000

It’s not easy keeping secrets. Too often, i am the one chirping at the office about some new move, new opportunity or new venture. I get excited and want to hear what other people think, discuss the possibilities. Usually, in turn for my giving, I get some great info back. It’s the essential basic tenet of sharing: give a little to get a little.
So, when it comes to personal moves, I can’t keep it close to the chest. Some say it’s like poker, you don’t want to show your hand, but I do exactly that and then some. With poker I talk o much, it calms my nerves and keeps me focused. I talk about the mathematical odds on the board, the cards I could have or should have and this seems to work for me. It rattles others that I am so open. They think I am lying or distorting the truth and in actuality I am pouring everything out on the table. This is the same with business decisions. It is not my style to hide my feelings and let my thoughts known. This is not typical and can be seen as weakness, but i know it opens up the conversation so we cn have deeper impact. Going to have one of these conversations today at work. Wish me luck

Get these posts going…

keith hernandez — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 13:49:32 +0000

Alright, so I decided on my next 30 day habit and it’s going to be writing at least one post on this here website. I’ve tried multiple times to get this rolling on a daily basis and failed. What makes me think that this time will be different is the success of this little 30 day habit thing that I started in mid-January.
In january, I read a blog posting on Tim Ferriss’ website talking about another blogger who had a simple way to add productive habits to his life. After reading it, I decided that I wanted to be healthier and running would be a good option. The initial goal was simple: run at least 10 minutes a day, everyday. When I told people about it, most thought that was too easy and I wouldn’t see any advances. They were right about it being easy, that was the point, to make the goal manageable. At first, the dilemma was getting to the gym, once there I would usually push to 15 to 20 minutes, but there were times when I thought of skipping it and heading home. What kept me on track? Mant times it was the negotiation in ny head that 10 minutes was nothing, little over a mile and that if I did it the wine or beer I had later would taste that much better. Often, these days were my best runs. Now, maybe my experience is different, as I took to running and started running longer distances. The 10 minutes became 10K and eventually,over time a half marathon. The two things that kept me moving were not wanting to break the streak and the attainable goal of only 10 minutes. With this as my routine, I have gone from 204lbs to 180lbs in about 12 weeks. Running is now a happy part of my daily routine, like taking a shower or brushing my teeth. And that’s the key; it is now a habit, something that arrives naturally during the day. I find time for it, enjoy it and welcome its inclusion in the day.
Hot off the heels of that success, I decided that writing would be the next thing that I wanted to include in my life. With a couple of co-workers, I am reading The Artist Way, a book that helps one release their creativity. One of the activities is the book is to write three pages of thoughts, notes or whatever first thing in the morning, everyday. This aligned with exactly the same time that I was thinking about starting a new habit. Or what the book calls syncronocity. It was easy for me to jump in, I would usually write whatever came into my head while on the subway, commuting to work everyday. Sure it looks a bit silly writing in a journal on a train,but I am used to it now and love it. The writing is a great exercise in free thought, scrambling down whatever comes to mind. Its a great way to air out things that are aggravating and just flow. Now, I want to step it up a notch. Looking for this next habit to kick into high gear the formal writing that I used to love. The idea will be to post at least one original, creative story a day. Video, quick links and two sentence blurbs don’t count. The story should have some beneficial aspect. Besides that, I am free to write. Excited to add this to my list of habits, the 30 days begins now…

The Artist’s Way Begins

keith hernandez — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:52:19 +0000

This week, along with a few co-workers, I have embarked on the challenge of reading and following the activities in the seminal book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. The intentions for all of us are to open up our creative spirits and allow ourselves to discover aspects of us that we did not realize exist.
Our first meeting took place in the training room on the 4th floor, we talked about the basics of the book, how it can be difficult to stay with it and how parts of your life will change because of doing it. I will not divulge much else we talked about, as we decided it was best to keep it in the circle of trust that we created. My hopes are that the creative energy realized in the course we are doing will help spark this website and I can make it a thoughtful and creative place to post my thoughts.
The first action in the book, after all the basics are layed out about how we are in fact all artists, we just need to allow it come be present, is to create a morning pages. The morning pages is a notebook intended to be a stream of conciousness activity conducted each morning, right when you wake up. Three pages of hand-written notes, on whatever the fuck comes to mind, is to be completed before anything else, every day. I must say, I started doing the morning pages about a week ago and it has added a sense of clarity to the day. Getting out some of the emotions, some of the crap that lingers in the back of your mind has lead to days where I want to write at the end, where I feel like doing more and creating more. I am only at the beginning stages of this, so let’s see if there is a “dark” period, but right now, I am pumped to see where this activity takes me.
Will keep the website posted on my progress and hopefully will see a difference in the amount and quality that I write on here. The experiment begins…now.

Ole To You

keith hernandez — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 16:31:53 +0000

A very engaging and interesting discussion on the way we look at creativity. Such a fun inspiring talk:

“It’s impossible, that’s for sure. So let’s start working.”

keith hernandez — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:40:45 +0000

Over the weekend, I watched Man On Wire, the documentary about Phillippe Petit’s breathtaking tightrope walk across the World Trade Center’s twin towers in 1974. The movie is at once an astounding heist film (his high-wire act was unannounced and very illegal) and a re-affirmation in the power of one’s passion, dreams and motivation. From the very energetic Petit:

To me, it’s really so simple, that life should be lived on the edge. You have to exercise rebellion. To refuse to tape yourself to the rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge. Then you will live your life on the tightrope.

Watch it and you will want to really live. Any and everything that you dare thought was impossible gets slammed up against the wall by this film, which yells “Watch me!”

Don’t Underestimate the Shuffle Step

keith hernandez — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:07:49 +0000

I participated in a company promotional video last week and my hopes are it can be half as awesome as this:

Obstacle #2, Local Gym Closed

keith hernandez — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 00:09:22 +0000

So after running for 20 minutes last night, I noticed a sign on the way out of the NYSC saying it will be closed for “normal electrical maintenance”. What a mind fuck!
With the weather hitting 6 degrees this morning, it was apparent that today would probably be one of the hardest to follow through on. Luckily, my dumbass signed up to play co-ed football and our game was in the middle of the East River.
Instead of walking the mile to mile and a half, I decided to jog, in my jeans and winter coat, to the field.
Its going to take many creative runs like this to get through, hopefully this will be the last one outdoors in 6 degree weather.

Obamanomics hits DeKalb Ave.

keith hernandez — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:52:27 +0000

DeKalb Avenue Merchants Association has been together a doozy of a list of restaurants, bars, hat shops and general stores that are celebrating Obama’s Inauguration day with sales and deals galore. It’s great to see as this neighborhood has been super supportive of Obama’s campaign, not only the people who live here but the small business owners, who have had signs and shirts in their window for almost a year.

Will be hitting up many of these specials over the course the weekend. Are any other neighborhoods as giddy about the big day than Fort Greene?

Click to see all the local establishments offering deals.

Day 5, Obstacle 1: Brick-ass Cold

keith hernandez — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 04:15:41 +0000

When walking out your front door feels like your getting slapped in the face, the last thing you want to do is lace up your running shoes and go for a run. But here I am, 1/6 of the way through the little goal I set for myself trying to figure out excuses on how to get out of it.
Fuck it, its done, is what I thought. There is no way I am going to even go out there today. Emailed my manager and arranged to work from home, leaving me with no reason to set foot out the door but to follow my goal and keep this positive habit going.
Honestly, the thing that got me was the positive peer pressure. I told way too many people at work, wrote it too many times in emails and on Facebook to give up after only 4 days. What a chump I would be if I gave so soon. So I trudged out to the busstop, took the 10 minute ride to the Brooklyn Heights NYSC and ran close to 3 miles.
After I was done, I read a sign that will hit me with obstacle #2: The gym will be closed all weekend. Fuckers.

Jumping on the Power of Less Train

keith hernandez — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 23:33:09 +0000

Fell into this blog post by Tim Ferriss (author of 4-Hour Work WeeK) and thought THIS is the way to take on learning new habits. Fuck the resolutions (well, not really, I am going to use this system to see if I can realize all of them).

The plan is pretty simple. Find one habit that you want to form, something that you think will have a significant impact on your life. Set a manageable goal of doing that habit every single day for thirty days straight. Make it public, write about it and do it every day. That’s really it.

There is a little more on his site and the creator of the program’s blog, Leo Labauta Zen Habits, but really this is what you do.

I have decided to take this challenge and started yesterday with the first month. My goal: run 10 minutes each day. You might think “10 minutes is ridiculously woosy, why not 5 miles?” and you would miss the point. The idea is to really concentrate on the task and make it something that you can actually do so that once you hit that 30th day it is something innate in your daily routine. Yes, doing a 10 minute run should be a joke most days and I will probably run closer to 20-30 minutes, but think of those 4 degree days where that 10 minutes is going to be beat. Getting through 10 minutes will be harder than running a half marathon.
The other merit to this is that instead of setting a lofty goal of running a marathon by the end of the year (which I did, stupidly) this is a daily goal that if one day is missed, you can jump right back on. So many times with resolutions or goals if a few days or a week is missed the goal is shot. With this, it can be a manageable habit.

I am going to go for all 12 months, with a new habit forming activity for each and will use this site to provide feedback on how I am doing. To read more about the philosophy, check out Tim Ferriss’ post:

The Power of Less: Changing Behavior with Leo Babauta

And please do check out Leo’s website, a great resource for simplifying your life: Zen Habits