I have Amazon.com to thank for this since their profiling of me put a book called "Accidental Genius" up as something I may like (it works).  Mark Levy published the book in year 2000 and has since released the second edition in 2010 which he notes reworking about half of the original content to refine the process after 10 years of use.

The premise: use freewriting to unlock your mind and create your best ideas.

Freewriting, in a nutshell, is "private" writing (writing for your eyes only) but with some additional guidelines that focus the minds attention with more effective precision.  I've been doing private writing for quite a while because I find I'm able to better articulate ideas through the written word than through my internal dialog.  In fact, this blog exists mostly as an outlet for ideas that for my own peace of mind, I've had to refine through the writing process (the introvert in me).  But using Mark's tips and insights have opened up new avenues as I've been doing 10-15 minute exercises frequently on a wide range of topics and find the results to be better than I imagined. 

One of the key points is to keep you pen moving or fingers typing at all times.  This is a bit difficult as the mind is wont to wonder and I write a lot of what probably looks like gibberish but sticking to it guided me to taking ideas deeper and making disparate connections that probably wouldn't have transpired otherwise.  That is just one of many pointers and exercises that I believe if used consistently will lead to positive results - even if not the results you were expecting.

As Mark writes:

"As expansive and impressive as the mind is, it's also lazy.  Left to its own devices, it recycles tired thoughts, takes rutted paths, and steers clear of unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory. You could say that one of its primary jobs is to shut off, even when there's important thinking to be done.

Freewriting prevents that from happening.  It pushes the brain to think longer, deeper, and more unconventionally than it normally would.  By giving yourself a handful of liberating freewriting rules to follow, you back your mind into a corner where it can't help but come up with new thoughts.  You could call freewriting a form of forced creativity."

In the short time that I've been practicing freewriting I've found it beneficial to a whole range of uses: writing goals and figuring out what I really want and how to best articulate it; drilling down into current challenges to better understand and in formulating solutions; reinforcing learned material by freewriting on the subject matter; creating ideas by allowing my mind to go while I record it;

And on and on and on....  Often, I'm my own worst enemy and freewriting slows my impulsiveness down and gives my ideas time to ferment and usually evolve into something quite different from my original notions.  It's worth the small investment in time and money to learn this process.

Article first published as Product Review: Scott's Classic Reel Mower on Blogcritics.

The second time I had to abandon the lawnmower and head to the filling station to lug a gas can home I decided it was time to make the purchase. It had been brewing for a while and after I read that running a lawnmower for an hour emits as much greenhouse gas as driving a car 100 miles I could think of nothing else while pushing that noisy beast around our yard. I was going to give a reel mower a chance.

I started my research on Amazon.com because I do find the reviews very helpful. The Scott's Classic Reel Mowerhad around 650 reviews with an average of four stars. After reading a few good reviews I went to the bad, and found that the complaints were mostly about a plastic gear that broke for some folks, but they were a comparatively small group compared with those who raved about the mower. The $119.99 to ease my conscience was worth the risk of a plastic gear.

So like a kid on Christmas I busted the thing out of the box and a quick assembly later I was pushing the reel mower through the lawn and...uh...the blades were spinning but the grass wasn't getting any shorter.

Thirty Google minutes later I discovered that there is some adjusting that needs to be done, so armed with a flat-head screwdriver I tweaked four screws that align a fixed edge with the spinning blade that allows the grass to be cut with a scissor motion. Bingo, it cut beautifully and easily.

In fact, it may have been my best experience cutting a lawn ever. For starters, I could hear my iPod (though the neighbors probably weren't too happy to actually hear my singing) and at 26 pounds it is easier to push and maneuver than my gas-powered mower. It took the same amount of time and I didn't need to stop halfway through to refill the tank.

Seeing how much fun I had, my wife decided to give it a go. Cutting the lawn isn't something she's really able to do much with our young children running around, but with the Reel Mower she's still able to keep a watchful eye and hear what's going on around her. Additionally, she enjoyed the workout it provided. Everybody's happy.

According to my research, the maintenance appears to be rather low. The blades do need occasional sharpening and I followed the advice of one gent online who recommended wiping them down with WD40 after each cut to prevent any rusting.

Would I recommend it? Definitely, starting with the neighbors that seem to fire up the big John Deere every time we sit down to a nice outdoor door dinner.
 

Lisa and I watched a couple TED Talks vids the other night - which is a great substitute for watching TV - seriously, pick one night a week and watch TED speakers for the evening - good for the whole family and will stimulate your brain cells.  Anyway, we re-watched this short clip by Derek Sivers which contradicts some popular goal setting tactics.  3 minutes, have a watch:

This is interesting and the opposite of what lot of "experts" recommend but the studies done actually show that you are less likely to accomplish your goals if you tell people about them. Sounds crazy because it seems rational that by telling people your goal you will be more motivated to act on it but the experiments conducted showed the opposite. When sharing your goals with people you get positive feelings and brain chemicals trigger a sense of "accomplishment" even though you really haven't moved any closer to your goal.

So... accordingly, the best method for goal management is the following:

1. Write down your top few goals (1 year / 5 year)
2. Review it daily (and refine if necessary)
3. Determine a list of sure and potential action items for each
4. Visualize what the outcome looks like until the image is clear in your mind
5. Keep it to yourself but work diligently towards accomplishing each step
6. Reward yourself accordingly for each successful step towards your goal

As I've mentioned, we are kicking off our first garden this spring.  Lisa and I are really excited about it.  We're excited because it is something new and interesting to learn, will produce some high quality, delicious organic food (assuming I don't botch the entire thing), and we're looking forward to the work (I'm a constant tinkerer and this will give me something to focus on).

I've gathered a lot of great insight from Jason Aker's, "The Process Oriented Gardener," and recommend it to anyone just starting out.

If you are on the fence about growing a garden, there are a lot of good reasons to go for it:

• Healthier food
• Save money (or make money if you sell your goods)
• Good exercise
• Learn about life, biology, botany
• Family-friendly activity
• Create food security by becoming self-sufficient
• It is an enjoyable and fulfilling hobby

So far, what has it taken?

I'm a beginner and still learning but if you've gotten this far, good chance you are too.  The first thing I recommend is knowledge.  Jason's eBook is a good start plus there are a lot of resources available online.  We're growing organic which has some different processes than you may receive from some commercial sites.  Once you do a little research, start writing your plan.  I drew a picture of the space and began listing bullets of info as I learned what pertains to our geography and goals.

Next...

Physical Labor:  I've cleared away a section of yard approximately 80sqft and fenced it to keep the rabbits out.  I dug up the sod and transferred it to some barren spots in the yard.  I spread this out over a couple of weekends but could have easily accomplished in one.  The intent is to plant veggies that rabbits don't eat around the perimeter and we'll probably plant an area of cloves not too far to provide an alternative food for rabbits and vegetation we may use for compost.

Money:  First thing I purchased was a rain barrel ($100) which I was going to do anyway for watering the landscape.  I don't think it will take too long to recoup this expense in saved water costs.  There are cheaper DIY alternatives out there which Jason discusses and a little online research will reveal.  Same goes for compost bin.  I purchased a large one for approximately $135 from Tractor Supply Company.  I could have started a pile for free or made my own bin for around $20 but went with the bin for aesthetics since I don't want to shock my neighbors with too much too fast.  Buying seeds is relatively cheap.  We plan to learn how to harvest and preserve our own seeds.

Time: I haven't spent a ton of time.  Prepping the ground and building fence took most time which was probably about 12 hours of work.  Research and reading resources has added up to only a half-dozen hours or so.  Installing the rain barrel took 10 minutes and composting takes as much time and effort as taking the trash out, which I have to do anyway.  So far, it hasn't been very time intensive but then again we haven't planted the seeds yet.  Truth is, time goes by quick when working on the garden because it is still new, exciting, and fun for us beginners.

Overall: It's been easy.  There are a lot of things I didn't know and might have done wrong if not researching and there are still plenty of things that I'm sure I could do better.  The lessons will be plentiful this year and I expect a good few years before we get the process down.  If you have any inclination to do it, start now.  Start small and maybe do container planting or carve out a small section to try your hand.  After getting my hands dirty, I think that many people will find it more rewarding than whatever initial mental roadblocks exist.

The real work and learning curve is going to kick in soon as it is getting close to planting time. I'll let you know if I change my tune down the road.  But for now, I'm growing life, and that is quite an adventure.