Welcome

Greetings.

Welcome to "This Rugged Life." The focus here is about living a life of adventure, enthusiasm, competency and presence. This will be explored through interviews, analysis and reviews of people, events, and ideas that push the limits of our mind and body.

In today's age, possessing the couth, persistence and discipline to live such a life is much harder, and thus, even more important. Distractions come at us from all angles, and being innocuous, they are the most dangerous kind. So many of these distractions seem innocent, or even helpful. Television, twitter.com, 60 Second Abs, all of these reward the instant gratification, short attention span, low-effort medley that has become our society.

And I am as guilty as most. I have a twitter page. I have a facebook page. I have cable television, and I spend too much wasted time on internet discussion boards. I am being rewarded by a declining ability to focus deeply on one task, and a disturbing tendency to give in to instant gratification over long-term fulfillment.

In fact, I believe that the only two things that might distinguish me from most is that 1) I am at least aware of what is happening to me, and 2) I am determined to stop the bleeding. The goal here is to begin rewarding wisdom, long-term focus, discipline, and other honorable characteristics over the short-term, whatever-is-easiest mentality.

You are welcome to come along.