Bike riding update

It’s been a hot few weeks this summer with temperatures reaching over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in Southern California.  I have been hearing people complain nonstop about how hot it’s been, but this heat hasn’t stopped yours truly from consistently biking to the office twice a week.  Things are only going to get better as the weather starts to cool down.

Biking to work continues to be a fun and enjoyable workout for me.  The steep uphill climbs improve my muscular endurance.   With each passing week, I feel my strength and stamina improving with each ride.  I can feel myself riding faster with less fatigue.

Runtastic Road Bike

I just discovered this great free app on iTunes called Runtastic Road Bike.

Runtastic Road Bike uses your phone’s GPS to provide you with important details of your ride such as: distance traveled, duration, average speed, maximum speed, elevation, calories burned, average pace, and route taken.  The app tracks your ride in real time and uses Google maps.

Learned helplessness

Experiments on dogs

The psychologist Martin Seligman performed experiments on dogs.  When dogs were repeatedly hurt by electric shocks from which they could not escape, they eventually stopped trying to avoid the pain.  These dogs curled up and became helpless.  When the dogs were given the chance to escape, they made no attempt to do anything, even as they continued to be shocked.  Psychologists call this phenomenon learned helplessness.

Learned helplessness in people

It is a common misconception to believe that most people will do whatever they can to escape a bad situation.  In reality, people who don’t feel like they have any control over their situations eventually learn to helplessly accept their circumstances. 

When you’ve been pushed down with multiple setbacks and adverse events, it’s hard to be optimistic.  If someone goes through a series of failed attempts to accomplish something, their brain learns to believe that an outcome cannot be controlled.  An individual can become conditioned to behave helplessly, even if opportunities to escape become available.

I just won another Saveup prize!

As I’ve shared before, Saveup.com is a website that I visit on a daily basis.

The website lets me check on my wealth building progress and rewards me with credits every time new money deposits into any of my linked accounts. 

The data aggregation used by Saveup.com is provided by a company called Intuit, owners of Mint.com. 

Each morning, I login to saveup.com and enter to win some online drawings.  You are given 3 plays a day and can exchange 100 credits for an extra play up to 5 extra plays.  This helps me get my “lottery fix” for free.  As long as I am earning, saving, and investing money, I continue to get free credits from Saveup.

I usually just pick a prize or two that seems interesting and fun and enter the raffle drawings.

Two days ago, I logged into my Saveup account and was pleasantly surprised to find out that I won another drawing!