Dan Owen's Experiments

Getting Unstuck

Created by Dan Owen Jun 20, 2010 | Category Other

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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 Then a few crises hit -- sick relative, disappearing employee, deadlines -- and my whole system more or less collapsed, including some psychosomatic back pain that kept me off the job site entirely.

What I then did in late-August -- and should have done in late June -- was hire more help. This enabled me to move forward on both the site and in the office, an... See more

Sep 09, 2010

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Matthew Cornell Thanks for the updates, Dan. I'm enjoying your progress and insights. Good news re: realization of needing to hire; sounds like it helped. Movie star - Ha!

Sep 16, 2010

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Lower my LDL cholesterol

Created by Dan Owen Jun 26, 2010 | Category Other

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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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Lizzy 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

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Dan Owen Three month test period is coming to an end on Sep 30. I'll be getting both a liver enzyme and a cholesterol test in early Oct. I learned something new: time of day matters when taking a statin: cholesterol levels are highest late in the day, so you should take any statin after dinner. If you take it earlier, the likelihood of liver damage is much higher. This may... See more

Sep 09, 2010

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No RSS for a week

Created by Dan Owen Sep 13, 2009 | Category Other

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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

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Turning off the fire hose

Created by Dan Owen Aug 18, 2009 | Category Other

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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

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How will I know if this day is a success?

Created by Dan Owen Aug 18, 2009 | Category Other

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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
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