Dan Owen's Experiments

Lower my LDL cholesterol

Created by Dan Owen Jun 26, 2010

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Overview Attempt to lower my LDL cholesterol through medication.

My cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels hover near the upper end of the optimal range, sometimes creeping over. Since all the men in my family suffer from heart disease and have heart attacks, this is a source of concern for me.

Overall chol... See experiment

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Dan Owen Liza, I considered hypothyroidism a few years ago, but ruled it out because other than fatigue I have so few other symptoms -- in particular, I have healthy weight and by existing standards healthy cholesterol. To be honest, though, I never had a TSH test. It's something I should probably consider. I don't know anything about adrenal fatigue.

Jun 26, 2010

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Liza Cunningham Here are the symptom checklists on my blog site, in case it helps. I wrote a lot about TSH because its an unreliable test (even though many doctors use it). The Free T3, Free T4 tests along with symptoms are more accurate. If you have 50% of the symptoms noted here is worth testing. Otherwise, you are right, it could be something else. Adrenal Fatigue goes along with... See more

Jun 27, 2010

Getting Unstuck

Created by Dan Owen Jun 20, 2010

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Overview I’ve noticed in the last week that I’m caught in the trough of a recurring cycle: a period of tremendous productivity that grinds to a halt when I encounter a high-anxiety obstacle in one of my projects.

Normally, I bring to bear lots of my procrastination-busting tools, which usually involve engaging wit... See experiment

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Dan Owen Liza, I have a huge number of tools I use to ease myself into difficult projects; one problem I face is that I can easily spend more time on the ritual than on the work itself. This experiment is an attempt to come at this problem from a completely different direction: to disengage COMPLETELY from the work, then come at it again after engaging with something completel... See more

Jun 26, 2010

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Dan Owen An interim status report: I'm loving the reading part of this. I've been climbing into bed at 7:30 or 8:00 pm and reading for an hour or so before falling happily asleep. The writing part is going in fits and starts: my tendency to polish as I write is such an aggravating obstacle. Essay #2 is turning into a major piece of writing, drawing together very diverse ar... See more

Jun 26, 2010

No RSS for a week

Created by Dan Owen Sep 13, 2009

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Overview Turn off all RSS feeds for a week while I get some other reading done (of the old fashioned cellulose-based kind). A possible precursor to deleting most feeds for a seven month experiment. See experiment

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Dan Owen One of the observations I've made about the whole process of experimenting is what I think of as the Cascade of Changes: when you change one variable in a system, you destabilize the whole system, and part of the experiment is to observe how the whole system changes. Part of the requirement of fearlessness is to be prepared for the unanticipated consequences -- I've m... See more

Oct 11, 2009

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Matthew Cornell Great stuff, Dan. I always come away richer after reading your insights. Controlling for changes is tough - I really know nothing about doing "real" science this way. Fortunately, I have a brilliant scientist on board ;-)

Oct 15, 2009

Turning off the fire hose

Created by Dan Owen Aug 18, 2009

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Overview The fire hose is the source of new obligations and agreements I make in my life – information I choose to look at, projects I undertake, commitments I make to others. I have a feeling that I take on more than I can ever complete; although this feels like a major source of anxiety for me, I’m not sure it is or whethe... See experiment

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Dan Owen Matt, I'll e-mail you my tracking spreadsheet. Re: aggravating but not urgent tasks. I agree. About 6 weeks ago I took a day and just did those tasks: man, was that a satisfying day's work! That satisfaction carried me forward for a couple of weeks after that. Maybe it's time for another push.

Sep 03, 2009

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Matthew Cornell That's inspiring, Dan. I love those days too.

Sep 04, 2009

How will I know if this day is a success?

Created by Dan Owen Aug 18, 2009

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Overview Answer the simple but vexing question, "Was today a success?" by defining success in concrete terms. See experiment

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Dan Owen Matt: I'm tracking this exactly as you suggest: a spreadsheet with five boxes, one for each area, and a specific goal with regard to each. In the checkbox I simply write YES or NO for whether I was successful that day. Then I journal about it. Still lots of resistance around this, but my anxiety is far less amorphous and much more specific, which is always the firs... See more

Sep 03, 2009

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Matthew Cornell Keep it up, Dan. I'm interested in how you handle the resistance.

Sep 04, 2009

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Dan Owen

  • Member Since
  • 08/10/09
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