Las Vegas, Learning, and Other Updates

I spent five days in Las Vegas, and came back with a cold. That's the main reason why I didn't blog right when I came back. It's hard to blog when you're stuffy and having trouble sleeping.

I also came back a winner, but when you have a cold you can't enjoy the winnings right away and you can't go back to being an earner right away either. But, my cold is just about over, and I'm ready to get back to work and to blogging!

I Won in Las Vegas!

I won over $500 playing poker, and it all came from two big pots! I didn't have to do anything tricky, as all I did was play my hand. In the first big post, I got pocket queens and won the pot on the turn. In the second pot, I had Q7 suited, flopped trips, and shoved on the turn. Two people called my shove, and ended up winning when neither opponent could beat my three sevens. I understand that's not going to happen every time I sit at a table, but sometimes, all it takes is a big pot or two to change everything.

Even though I came out a winner, I didn't win all the times I played poker in Las Vegas. I tried a live poker tournament at the Quad (the old Imperial Palace), and ended up taking 12th out of 30. Nothing to complain about, but not a place that pays either. I also played a few hours in a cash game where I bought in for $200 and ended down $15. Essentially I broke even, which isn't bad either. In both sessions, I didn't get many good spots to build a big pot or to make any moves.

Learning

I've previously written about coming out of my comfort zone, and chose to learn how to drive a stick-shift as the activity to do to take myself out of my comfort zone. Finally, I've set aside time this Friday to get behind the wheel and to learn how to operate the clutch, to switch gears, and all that good stuff. I know I said that I would do this weeks ago, but it's in my schedule and I am going to get started this week. Eventually, I will know how to operate the vehicle Considering that I live in the city, I'll also be spending a lot of time learning how to parallel park. Unlike most people, I actually didn't have to parallel park to get my license.

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

Going back to the office and to work, so I'm excited to be doing all of that. One of the toughest parts about vacation is ending it and going back to what you were doing before vacation. Half of my Las Vegas winnings went to groceries (I now have food to make for lunch and to take to work), while the rest will go towards a new pair of glasses and lenses that I purchased six months ago. I could only pay for half of it then, and after all this time I have the other half of the payment to get those new frames. It's about time too. I've been needing to zoom in on every website just so I can read it from a reasonable distance. Leaning in hurts my back. I also can't see the community cards from certain seats at the poker table, which isn't too bad, as you should be watching the players when the flop comes. The cards never change once they hit the table!

3 Things I Could Do to Come Out of My Comfort Zone

In a previous post, I discussed how I was supposed to do something that takes me out of my comfort zone. I did that something, but felt like I could have done something more or better. I still feel that way, but I haven't taken any time since then to think about the risk I should take. So, I'm taking that time now, and like with my to-learn list, I'm going to commit to one of them and come up with a short action plan to take this risk. Below are a few ideas:

Learn to Drive Stick with My Fiance

I hate driving. I really hate driving. I hate driving more than cleaning up my cat's poop. My fiance has offered several times to teach me how to drive stick so that I can use his car when I need it. I haven't taken him up on the offer because I hate driving. If I learn how to drive stick, then going to the bank wouldn't be such a hassle. It would also be easier to get to new coffee shops and to review them.

Work at the Library

I got to the library regularly, but only to borrow books. I've never actually gone there to spend a few hours getting some work done. This would be something new for me, and would be out of my comfort zone because I'm afraid the library might be too quiet. When it's too quiet, research has shown that it's not good for creativity and concentration. The library is probably not that quiet, but it's worth a shot to work here, especially since I don't have to buy anything to stay awhile.

Organize a Private Screening of Half the Sky

As a Half the Sky Ambassador, one of the things that I'm supposed to do is organize a screening of the movie. I'm in the middle of doing that now with the St. Louis chapter of Young Ambassadors for Opportunity, but I do need to do a screening on my own. I think I could do a private screening with a few friends, or with my old business coach and a few others from that network. Or, I could break the mold even more and do a public screening.

What I'm Going to Do to Come Out of My Comfort Zone

I think I'm going to do the first one: Learn to Drive Stick with My Fiance. I think it's the one that I need to do the most, and at least with this one I get to do it with someone. Once I get used to driving stick, then perhaps the next thing to do to come out of my comfort zone is to drive to the office or to drive out to the county to review a coffee shop. Or, I could drive somewhere at night. I haven't driven at night for a really long time.

I've Completed One of My September Goals!

Now that I've gotten through the tough stuff, let's talk about the fun stuff. Last week, I made a list of my September goals. I've made progress on some of the, but I actually completed one of them: I have over $100 in my poker bankroll! I've moved up in stakes and it's a wonderful feeling. Creating those charts has helped, and I've made one per day for the past few days. I think I only have one left, and I still haven't created a chart today, so once I finish this chart I can continue reading Harrington on Hold 'Em. It's awesome to accomplish goals.

Me and My Comfort Zone

I'm pretty much done with using SuperBetter to eat healthier, and as a whole, I think I've established a few more good eating habits. I'm conscious of including a fiber-rich food with each meal and of avoiding processed foods since they don't have fiber (or much of anything when it comes to nutrition). I've finished all the quests for the Power Pack, so I've started a new Power Pack on being awesome. One of my quests is to evaluate my relationship with my comfort zone. In a nutshell, I've always been in favor of coming out of my comfort zone and of avoiding the safe and easy routes as much as possible. However, I do think I could do a better job of coming out of that zone.

Falling into a Routine

In regards to my comfort zone, I think that it's very easy to fall into a routine or a normal way of doings things. This makes things that are out of that routine a bit stressful, even if they are small things or things that I've done before. For example, phone calls, meetings, and interviews are always stressful to me, even though I've done them many times before and have done them well. They're only stressful because I don't do them all the time, but because they overwhelm me, I might put off that phone call or find a way to email that person instead of calling them. I do need to work on this. I don't know if having them happen more often will help. I used to cold call people as a part-time job. It never got any more fun or less stressful with each day of work.

I think this is also the case in normal business operations and getting a startup going. It takes innovation to make something happen, but it's very easy to get caught up in what needs to be done with each day. It can also be tough to take chances since you don't want to lose everything you've built up to this point, or to waste money on something that doesn't work or that doesn't end up as successful as you hoped. It's true that starting a business requires a huge leap out of the comfort zone, but I do think it takes subsequent leaps and jumps to keep that business going and to turn it into something big.

How Often am I In the Comfort Zone?

Probably more often than I think, as you can jump out of it to do something, but then if you don't make any more leaps after that, you essentially just move the comfort zone instead of coming out of it. I suppose the tricky thing is keeping track of the line and knowing where your comfort zone is and whether or not you actually come out of it. For example, I put off going to the bank because my bank closed the branch that was closest to my office. To go to the bank, it's now about an hour one way by public transit to spend five minutes depositing a few checks. Now, I wouldn't call this an unwillingness to come out of the comfort zone, but a dismay regarding the hassle it is for me to go to the bank. I know i could just switch banks, but I just bought a whole new box of business checks. If I switched banks, then I'd have to spend more money on business checks. My point is that, with the comfort zone (and the way it can move if you choose to leave it from time to time), it can be difficult to figure out if you're back in it or not.