Tony Hernandez dot co

Category: Productivity

  • Learning To Swim

    Since I’m a 31 y.o. dude, you’re probably thinking that my “Learning To Swim” title is an artistic reference to becoming free or liberated in something. No. I was a 31 y.o. dude that was very good at drowning!

    Brown people don’t swim. That’s the truth. Since we grew up in predominantly poor neighborhoods, no one has the luxury of owning a swimming pool, leaving near a park that has a swimming pool, or living next to a natural body of water (ocean, lakes, rivers, etc).

    Added to that, the fact that I have banged-up, arthritic joints due to my hemophilia, I was a fish with broken fins, destined to fail.

    Here’s how poor I was. A few blocks down from my neighborhood, lived our good friends and my parents compadres*, the Gonzalez’. They were and still are, like our extended family. Well there house just so happened to be right next to a canal. You’re thinking Oh no, well I’m here to say Oh yes, we used that thing as a Water Park. Looking back, it was extremely dangerous, unsanitary, and just plain stupid. To me, however, it still brings a smile to my face. There truly is something special about being the children of immigrant parents in America. You get great stories like these. We even had a funny name for our “Water Park”, Chicano Big Surf. Good times.

    O.K., maybe we weren't this bad

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  • Life Experiments

    So I’m learning a lot lately about productivity, lifehacking, and other self induced life changing experiments. We as humans are always looking for that next, get rich quick while losing 50 lbs. in a month, miracle. But what happens when you try something life altering and habit breaking not for your betterment, but just for the heck of it?

    Here are three articles about guys who have tried a few off the wall studies, and their the guinea pigs. No matter how different the project they all have the same result: hilarity.

    Enjoy.

    I Think You’re Fat by A.J. Jacobs

    How To Make Visa Obey Your Every Desire by John Hargrave

    Will Doing EVERYTHING My Wife Tells Me Turn Me Into The Perfect Husband? another gem by A.J. Jacobs

  • The Low-Information Diet

    Once upon a time, like last month, I was always checking in on some type of screen. Whether it was on my computer or on my iPhone, I would regularly check Twitter every minute and my e-mail and facebook every five minutes. The reason people do this, I believe, is everything from feeling important to creating a false sense of “busyness”.

    The straw that broke the camel’s back was when people were trying to have Twitter arguments with me. Yeah, you read right. Arguments. Via Twitter. It’s as lame as it sounds.

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  • Just Do It? I Just Did.

    So one of my favorite things to learn about is productivity. GTD changed my life. Life was once overwhelming; a never ending onslaught of to-do’s, wish lists, requests, etc., making my existence one unmanageable mess. I felt like I was awash in a blinding light, unable to see or move. Simple things like creating a “Next Action” list made that mountain into a molehill. Now my projects, plans and aspirations have turned that light, coming at me from all directions, into a LASER of focus.

    After all this success, you’d think that the last thing I would do is change what has worked, but that’s exactly what I’m doing.  Kind’a. As of late, I’ve really been enjoying the work of Tim Ferriss. His approach is different from David Allen’s. Whereas Allen teaches one how to manage and compartmentalize everything, Ferriss preaches a more simplified application. You’re to-do list becomes more manageable when you do less.

    One of my own personal goals was to have an American Outlaws chapter here in Arizona. The American Outlaws are the largest supporter group of one of my dearest passions: The United States Men’s National Team.

    The United States Men's National Team

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