“The Future doesn’t belong to the faint-hearted, it belongs to the brave.” -President Ronald Reagan

On Friday, we say goodbye to a technological achievement beyond compare, a machine so far ahead of it’s time when it first arrived, and a conveyance that to this day, inspires awe in all who see it. We say goodbye to 30 years of solid work, of countless successes, and two dark and tragic failures. We draw the final curtain on a conveyance that carried more than 355 people from 16 nations from our planet into the great unknown, and all but twice returned them safely back home.

On Friday, we say goodbye to the Space Shuttle, as Atlantis makes its final voyage, one final liftoff into orbit around our small, blue planet.

I, for one, will miss the program terribly, but I also believe that the time is right to say goodbye.

Without goodbye, new adventures can’t begin. Without goodbye, we can’t grow, as a people, as a collective consciousness, as a civilization. Without goodbye, there’s no chance to ever say hello to what might be next.

In 30 years, the Space Shuttle has provided us with countless pieces of technology, the majority of which we take for granted every day of our lives. Invisible braces, for instance. Memory foam mattresses, and even water filters.

When Apollo was put to pasture, people thought the end of the space program was near. Same thing with Mercury, Gemini, and now, the Shuttle. The fact is, nothing could be further from the truth. The economic effect of the end of the Shuttle program will in fact, be very real, but the economic effects of not looking towards the future would be much, much worse, not only for NASA and the thousands of proud men and women who work there, but for the United States as a whole.

To grow, exploration has to continue. It can’t ever stop. It can never rest on its laurels and be content. Exploration must always be looking for the next thing – And sometimes, to do that, you have to say goodbye to an old friend. Does that knowledge make the end of the Space Shuttle program any less sad? It does not. I’ll miss them. Wherever I was in the world, if there was a launch, I was in front of a TV, until that amazing 5th of April of 2010, when I was there, live.

Here’s the thing: We BUILT this! We did this! We built something amazing, something that could leave our planet, go into orbit, and return! We did this! And I have no doubt we’ll do it again for the next generation, and the generation after that. And we’ll go further than just into orbit. We’ll go to Mars. We’ll go to Saturn. We’ll establish colonies on the moon, and beyond. Right now, NASA’s Voyager, launched in 1977, is currently entering the Heliosphere, or the edge of Interstellar space. It’s leaving “our” galaxy, and seeing what else is out there. We sent that craft up when I was five years old, and it’s still going strong! That’s some Star Trek stuff right there!

And as we continue to discover, there will no doubt be further losses, as well. Loss goes with discovery, and you can’t have one without the other, no matter how careful you are. I recall President Reagan, in his speech the night of the Challenge disaster, when he said: ”We will never forget them, not the last time we saw them this morning as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God.”

We will continue to soar, because that’s what we do. We are a race of beings who have never been satisfied knowing “just what we know.” We need to learn more. It’s who we are. The Space Shuttle helped us do that, and now it’s time for new machines, and new brave men and women to lead the charge into the next era of space exploration.

Thank you to every single person who worked on the Space Shuttle program. The contributions you made to science, medicine, technology, and our common quest for knowledge can’t be spoken of highly enough. You’ve laid the groundwork for the next level.

I, for one, am incredibly excited to see where that next level takes us.

May I be so honored to say one final time, “Godspeed, Atlantis.” Wherever you are on Friday, take a few minutes out of your day at 11:26am EST, and turn on your TV, or look up to the skies, and wish Atlantis Godspeed as it races towards the heavens one final time. And if you are so moved to, say a small “thank you,” as well.

Peter Shankman
7/6/11

Ever notice how some things are really easy to find? “Now where did I put my car keys? Ah yes, in my coat pocket.” “Honey, where’s the dog?” “He’s in the backyard!” Other things, as well! “Officer, can you tell me how to get to the freeway?” “Sure, pal. Take this road one mile, make a left, you’ll see the sign.” Easy, right? Some things, though, really aren’t so easy. The hardest thing to find? Your creativity.

Weird, right? You can’t go up to someone on the street, or a fellow employee, and ask if they’ve seen your motivation. “Bob, I’ve been slacking of late. Any idea where my creativity went?” “Why yes, Peter! You left it in the conference room last Thursday. We put it in the filing cabinet for safe-keeping.”

Wish it was that easy, huh? Truth is, when times are challenging, finding your motivation and creativity is, as well. It’s even worse if you have a job, and are getting by – there’s no proverbial “wolf at your door” to kick-start you into a new idea phase. So you go, day in, day out. And you become complacent, which leads to stagnation, which leads to eventual failure. That’s a problem.

That said, read on for a few ideas on ways to avoid stagnation. Ways to avoid falling into the world of mediocrity – ways to jump start your imagination, your creative idea process, and your brain back into high gear. They don’t cost a lot of money, don’t involve a swami or a really big mountain, and can usually be done in an afternoon, if not an hour or so.

Get up, stand up; (then jump around): Sitting in front of your computer and staring at the screen is not the way to get new ideas. Put your Instant Messenger on “Away mode,” shut off the monitor, and walk away from the computer. Then, put on a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, and some running shoes. Go for a walk or a run. It’s been proven that upping endorphins opens up the blood vessels, which leads to clearer thinking. Bad day? Go for a run. Need a change but don’t know what it needs to be? Stairmaster. Can’t figure out how to get a client to understand that you’re right and they’re wrong? Bench press. The key is to get your heart pumping, get moving, motivated, and head back into the office with a fresh start from your brain. Better than Adderal, safer than cocaine, and while working out can be habit-forming, it’s a good kind of habit to have!

N-E-W I-D-E-A-S: I keep a bunch of board games in the office. Scrabble, Chutes and Ladders, you name it. Brain-freeze? Play a game. Grab a co-worker who doesn’t look busy, and make the challenge. Once it’s on, it’s on. Play a timed game – one hour – whoever loses buys lunch for the rest of the week.

Weight a second: I keep a few weights and a Yoga mat by the door. Can’t get out of the office? Drop for 20, 30, 50 pushups. Or sit ups. Stretch. Do something physical. 20 seconds or more, and you’ll note a full chemical change in your brain. It really works. I also drop for pushups every hour on International flights. Forget about “airplane germs.” Pushups kill them.

Overcome a fear, and stagnation goes out the window: What scares you? Really scares you? What wouldn’t you do? Perhaps it’s skydiving. Perhaps it’s bungee jumping, or even going to a nightclub wearing something that will land you in purgatory for eight years. Whatever it is, do it. One idea is to keep a “fear tip jar” in the office, and every day, dump excess change, a single or two, whatever you have around, into that jar. When it gets to the point where you feel like you’re dragging or starting to stagnate, grab all that money, and do something scary. Like skydiving, SCUBA diving, rock climbing, or Bungee jumping. The incredible rush you get from that, which makes your mother wince, is sometimes exactly what you need to pull your creativity back from the brink of doom.

Talk to a child, think like a child. Did it ever occur to you that a six-year-old doesn’t worry about the stock market? Or whether or not the Fed is going to raise interest rates, or whether another 20,000 layoffs are coming? Ever try to figure out why? Children live in the moment. Children don’t understand the worry of anticipation, or the trauma of the “potential.” Children know what’s going on because they’re seeing it happen in front of their eyes and nowhere else. Talk to a child, think like a child. How to do it: Find a child. A neighbor’s kid, a brother’s kid, they’re all around you. Find one. Explain to the parents that you’re more than willing to watch the kid for a few hours, giving the parent a well-deserved chance to relax and enjoy pampering themselves at the local mall. Then turn off the cell phone. Turn off the computer. Get down on the floor with your little charge and play with them. Do what they want, whether it’s having imaginary tea or taking the Matchbox cars through the imaginary car wash. Ask questions! Ask them why the purple car is going before the red car – the answers will amaze you! Remember them – they work in real life, too.

These are simple solutions – but they all have a common theme – the theme of doing something different. The fact is, everyone gets “rutted” into a formal daily grind. It takes it’s toll, whether you know it or not. Add in a bad economy or a mass layoff, and you’re looking doom and depression in the face. The only way to beat it is to do something out of the ordinary. Something unexpected. Something that wakes you up with a violent shake and says “Yo! Time to KICK SOME ASS!”

“Somewhere, right now, someone is training while you are not. When you race him, he will win.”

So I get up early because I believe it’s worth it. Here’s some of the benefits you can get from doing it, and as a bonus, here’s how to actually do it!

It's time to wake up...

Top ten reasons to get up early every day:

10) Learn! You can browse seven websites in a row (news, news, gossip, financial, gossip, sports, weather) without being interrupted by one email. You’re now smarter for your entire day.

9) This early, it really IS all about you. You get a few minutes of pure “you” time. For me, it’s waking up and making coffee. While I’m doing that, I can pet Karma and NASA, and not in just a “scratch behind the ears once because I’m late” way. I can sit with them as I drink my first cup of coffee and enjoy the calming effect that a pet has on you. I have no doubt this helps to set my mood for the day.

8) We’re not as big as we think we are. I can watch the sunrise. We take certain things for granted. Light, air, clouds, etc. Get up one morning and actually watch the sky turn from dark to light. It’s amazing. It changes your entire perspective from how big we are to how small we are when you realize that we’re nothing in the universe, just starstuff on a much, much bigger plane. That affects how you think, and changes for the better how you look at things.

7) You’re automatically early. Getting up even a half hour early eliminates the “rush” that comes with leaving the house in the morning. Get up earlier, and you’re calmer. You remember everything you need to take. You walk out without being stressed. This leads to a calmer day. Also, studies have shown that being on time is one thing that good leaders master, as well as demand. Want to be on time? Get up earlier.

6) EAT! Getting up early lets you have breakfast, which, as trite as it sounds, really is the most important meal of the day! Before you go to sleep, set out a bowl, a spoon, and a pot. When you wake up, pour some whole-grain oats and water into said pot and turn on the flame. Make your coffee and pet your cats or watch your sunrise. The oats will be done in 10 minutes. Add some fruit or whatever you like – I’m a fan of just a touch of butter and some salt. Eat your oats, and feel the sustained energy kicking into your system. Throw in two hard boiled egg-whites for protein as a side dish. (One if you don’t exercise.) See my other blog for more tips on better ways to eat fast, but healthy.

5) Speaking of exercise… When I was training for my Ironman, there were days I had to do 100 mile bike rides. Most people get up at 6, and are biking by 6:30. The problem is, that means most people are in the park/on the roads at the same time. I got up at 3am, and was in Central Park by 3:30am. I got to ride for three hours, by myself, with no distractions. I owned Central Park for three hours! Getting up early and exercising, whether at the gym or by yourself, puts you in a very small, yet very powerful group of people. Get up, get it done, and get on with your day. Come on – You know you’re not gonna go to the gym after work, and now you don’t have to!

4) Easier commute! I don’t have a commute, but for years growing up, I did. My parents and I would ride together into the city when I went to high school, and we were always on the road by 6:20am. At 6:20am, we’d be in Manhattan in 10 minutes. If we left even 20 minutes later, at 6:40, the trip would take an hour. Get up early, get to the office, and your commute is done before traffic goes to hell. Easiest commute ever.

3) Be a power player. Be a market maker. Want to know who the real power players are in the business world? Try scheduling 7am breakfasts with them. I’ve been at 7am breakfasts with some of the biggest and most powerful CEOs in the world – Why? Because they know that the demanding schedule they have won’t allow for lunches. What did Gordon Gekko say? “Lunch? Aw come on, Marty. Lunch is for wimps!” He was right. Want to meet with the power-players? Egg-white omelet and coffee at 7am at the Plaza.

2) Do something you “never have the time for.” When do you think I write a lot of these blog posts? When do you think I answer a ton of emails? Review new software? Write my book? Yup. While you’re still sleeping.

1) Change the world. The number one reason to get up super-early? 30 minutes can change the world. Getting up early each day can truly make all the difference in your life. Imagine getting up early and just doing a few of the things listed above. Would you be more productive? Make more money? Reach more people? Get more deals done? I bet you would.

That was the “why.” Here’s the “how.”

Top Six ways to make sure you get up early.

6) DRINK! Keep a giant glass of water by the bed. As soon as the alarm goes off, BEFORE YOU SHUT IT OFF, drink the entire glass of water. Water is the most awesome wake-up tool for your body ever. Drink the water, it opens up brain cells, rejuvenates your eyes, allows you to come out of sleep. Drink water!! (Thanks to Lara Dalch at Dalch Wellness for this tip.)

5) MOVE! Set the alarm clock somewhere you can’t reach it. Get out of bed to shut it off (after you’ve drank your water) and you’re up and mobile.

4) FEED SOMETHING! Get a pet. Seriously. Feed the pet ONE DAMN TIME at 5am, and you’ll never sleep through 5am again for the entire life of the pet. Trust me on this.

3) THERE IS NO TRY. Don’t think, just do. It’s amazing what we can rationalize at 5am. “Oh, I’ll just sleep for an extra hour, then do the treadmill at double the speed for half the time so I can still make it into the office. You know that’s BS, you know you’re not going to, and you know there will be no working out for you today. Don’t think. Just get your ass out of bed. Think later.

2) GET OUT! The Bedroom is for sleeping and sex. Once you’re awake, get your ass out of it. Go to the kitchen for your coffee. Go to the living room or your home office for your computer (see #10 above.) You’ve slept. Now get out of the bedroom.

1) SLEEP! Hands down, the number one way to get up earlier? Get to sleep earlier. I know, I’m blaspheming here. How dare I waste a perfectly good night where I could go out and be a drunken idiot, or go to a boring party? End result, I LIKE going to sleep earlier because I know what it’s going to do for me on the flip-side. I still go out, but I limit it. Remember when you were a kid, and your parents made you go to sleep early on a school-night? There’s a reason for that. Go to sleep earlier. Countless studies have been conducted showing that lack of sleep is hurting us, causing us to lose money, hell, even making us ugly! – Chances are, not sleeping enough is the root of a lot of your problems.

Bonus: Even remotely overweight? Got sinus issues? Always feeling tired? They might be connected. Learn about sleep apnea, and see if you have it. Turns out, I have massive sleep apnea – to the point where it was actually raising my blood pressure. Losing weight is the best thing you can do for it, but there’s a host of other things you might want to check out.

I have never been more sure of something in my life – Today, I’ll prove it.

I’m on the 6:20am Amtrak from NYC to Boston right now. For a brief moment, I switched off my Sprint EVO 4G, and am using Amtrak’s free WiFi to prove a point.

I also installed a little Add-on to Firefox (I usually use Chrome, I switched to Firefox for this experiment,) called Firesheep.

If you haven’t heard of Firesheep, prepare to be really, really frightened.

I’m not a true tech geek, so please forgive me if I don’t totally speak Geek. Essentially, FireSheep allows you to see who’s connecting to various sites that don’t encrypt their HTTP login cookies, like Facebook, Evernote, Yahoo, Amazon, Dropbox, Gowalla, Twitter, WordPress, and others, to name a very limited few.

Once you see who’s connected, it’s a simple matter of double clicking on their name, and YOU ARE LOGGED INTO THEIR ACCOUNT, AS THEM.

No, I’m not bullshitting you.

Firesheep has garnered a LOT of press over the past week since it was released, and rightly so – This Firefox add-on scares the living HELL out of me.

Now keep in mind – I am NOT logging in as anyone else, or logging into anyone else’s websites or folders as anyone else during this experiment, I’m simply trying to prove a point:

FREE WI-FI HAS NEVER BEEN, AND NEVER TRULY WILL BE, SAFE. WE BELIEVE IT TO BE SAFE BECAUSE THE MAJORITY OF US HAVEN’T BEEN TOLD OTHERWISE. UNTIL NOW.

Right now, within TEN MINUTES of this train leaving Penn Station, NY, someone has just logged onto Evernote through Amtrak’s Wi-Fi, someone else has logged into Yahoo, and someone else has logged into Windows Live. I guarantee that if this wasn’t the 6:20am train and 90% of the people on it weren’t sleeping, I’d be seeing a LOT more accounts. And as the trip continues, and as more people wake up, I will.

Ooh – Two people just logged into Facebook.

Here’s the kicker: If I were to click on their name from the list RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, I’d have access to every piece of data that B… has on Evernote, that J… has on Yahoo!, and that S… has on Facebook. Every photo. Every audio recording. Every conversation they thought was private. Every potential life-changing or relationship-ruining piece of data. Every company-crushing-if-public memo. I could download it, use it to my advantage, post it to a public place (like You-tube,) or even DELETE THEIR ACCOUNT if I felt like it.

This is REALLY scary.

Using free Wi-Fi is essentially the same thing as leaving your house with all the doors and windows open – But this takes it one step further: This posts a big sign up as soon as you leave, to anyone who happens to be looking, that says “I’M NOT HOME NOW, HERE’S WHERE ALL MY SECRET STUFF IS, AND HERE’S A MAP TO FIND IT. FEEL FREE TO TAKE, USE, OR DESTROY WHATEVER YOU WANT.”

The last time I wrote about sounding the death bell for Free Wi-Fi, it was from a business and corporate perspective. This time, it’s from the perspective of YOU.

IF YOU ARE USING FREE WI-FI, NOTHING YOU “DIGITALLY OWN” IS SAFE.

Companies who provide free Wi-Fi have NO incentive to protect it – It’ll lead to more questions from people that the workers there have no idea how to answer. And let’s face it – If you provide a secure password to your secure network to everyone who walks in, how secure is that network?

Answer? Not secure at ALL.

And if big companies put a fix in play to stop Firesheep, something else will come up. Free Wi-Fi networks will ALWAYS be the weakest link in your security chain.

For the safety of you – your business – your home – your friends – your relationships – your children – SPEND $50 A MONTH AND BUY A portable Hotspot card. I don’t care which one you buy – Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, whatever.

And no – a portable hotspot isn’t 100% safe, either – Nothing is – But if you’re using your own hotspot, and you have some level of security on it, then you at LEAST have a better chance of being safer – I.e., there are more inviting targets to go after, that can be accessed quicker, without having to hack a WEP password or the like.

Stop using free Wi-Fi. Please. It might be the best $50 a month you’ve ever spent.

I jumped at the chance – When else would I get a chance to drive a car before it hits the market?

I was also fortunate enough to drive with a gentleman I met today for the first time and with whom I immediately became best friends – Ed Ugel, author of the new book “I’m With Fatty,” a wonderful and hysterical story about Ed going through a massive diet and exercise program to lose a ton of weight.

Meeting Ed in the lobby of the Courtyard by Marriott was like meeting a grayer-haired version of me. Within five minutes, it was blatantly obvious that we not only shared the same sense of humor, but the same love of food, and quite possibly, the same brain, as well. I knew we were going to have a truly awesome trip and probably create a friendship for life.

We met Brad Busboom, a Project Manager from General Motors, who’d be our guide (read: Chaperone) for the entire trip. Brad turned out to be 24 years old, while Ed and I were a ripe old 38. I have no doubt the majority of conversations Ed and I had over the four or so hours we were driving scared the living hell out of poor, young Brad, and he’s now running to find some serum that will prevent him from aging.

I should give you a second of background on how Ed and I met. I was in some hotel a few months ago, playing with my new iPad, and looking for a new book to read. Somewhere on the iPad library store’s list of books was “I’m With Fatty.” Having struggled with my weight most of my life, I immediately downloaded it, and within a day finished it. It was awesome. One of the funniest books I’ve ever read dealing with weight loss, and hell, just one of the funniest books I’ve ever read in my life. I can’t recommend it enough.

I immediately found Ed on Twitter and dropped him a note complimenting him on the book. A mutual follow, well, followed, and we started talking. I eventually asked if I could interview him for my blog (to be posted soon) and he agreed. During the interview, he said he was going to be out in LA the same time I was, and I invited him on the Volt drive. This is important for a reason later.

So this morning, The Volt showed up around 8:30, and Ed and I hopped in. Right away, I knew it was going to be a funny trip, as Brad from GM told me that I was driving, and Ed had to sit in the back, (GM rules.) Ed’s response: “Do GM’s rules prevent me from tying you up in the trunk?”

We pulled out of the parking lot, and the first video was shot.

By the time it was over, we knew this was going to be a ridiculously fun trip.

The Volt itself was a BLAST to drive. First off, you turn it on, and nothing happens. Well, the car turns on, the two screens come to life, and you know the machine is on – It virtually breathes electricity. But there’s one thing missing from your typical automobile:

There’s no noise. It’s silent as a library.

Once you get over that, you gingerly put the car into drive, and it’s like someone kicked you in the ass. You’re gone. You feel the car moving, and yet it’s still silent. It’s weird – But awesome.

Getting on the highway, you really feel the power of electricity. This car hauls ass – One tap on the accelator, and we were blowing past a semi doing 70. When Ed and Brad stopped screaming, they agreed with me.

One cool moment was when we ran out of battery power, and the Volt seamlessly switched to gas power – We didn’t even notice it:

We had no choice but to stop for food around 10:30 – We were all starving. I asked Ed, the healthy, “I just lost a ton of weight and wrote a best selling book about it that’s going to make me millions” guy, a simple question:

“Healthy or good?”

“Good,” we both said, as I pulled a u-turn (The Volt makes an awesome u-turn) and barreled right into a Carl’s Jr. for some humongous burgers.

Because, you know, it was 10:30am. And 10:30am is… Well, anytime is Burger Time.

Getting back on the road, we made pretty decent time, even during a monsoon.

Finally hitting San Diego, we actually had a little bit of free time – So we cruised around Coronado, home of the US Navy SEALs. I’ve always had a bit of thing in my heart for the Navy SEALs ever since taking a two week bootcamp taught by a former SEAL. (Hoo-ya, Instructor Walston!) So it was nice to see where they actually train.

During the few moments when it didn’t rain, it was actually a pretty nice day, weather-wise!

Me and Ed - Two former Fatties.

Working our way back, we dropped Ed off at the train station, then Brad dropped me off at San Diego Airport. What an amazing day, in a spectacular car.

When my lease is up on my Infiniti this summer, I think I might actually get one. Not even counting the spectacular tax credits you get, we did something like 150 miles on 2.4 gallons of gas. We got about 42 miles to the gallon while using gas, and of course, no gas used while we used the battery.

Think about it – I live in NYC, and rarely use my car anyway. If the majority of my trips are to the drop zone (70 miles away) BJ’s Wholesale Club (12 miles away) and my parents (11 miles away) I could possibly go through the entire car lease ($350 a year, btw,) and never have to buy a tank of gas. That’s amazing. That’s truly, truly amazing.

So yeah, I might buy one.

Here’s the life lesson part. Someone emailed me after I put the photo of me and Ed up online – They said, “How cool, how did GM manage to get him to go with you?” I answered, “they didn’t, I asked him.” They were confused, since I said it was the first time I was meeting him.

“Wait, why did he agree to go?”

I said simply, “Because I made it sound like fun.”

I’d be willing to bet that we don’t do 90% of the things we want to do because we’re too afraid of the outcome, so we never try.

I emailed Ed after I finished reading his book, and we struck up a conversation. When we both realized we’d be in LA the same time, I invited him to come. It’s really that simple.

Do what you want to do. Worst that can happen, is someone says no, to which you’ll figure out another way. But chances are, they might say
yes.

Thanks to Chevy, Brad, Chris Barger, my new friend Ed, and the kick-ass Volt! What a fun day!

Comment to me – The Volt: Would you buy one? Why/Why not?