Screen capture of my progress page as of February 16th.
Here we are just over the halfway point. Maybe it would be easier to keep the habit chains unbroken if I had stayed home with a set routine all month. Instead I did a Vegas trip and a Mammoth snowboarding trip. It turns out that when driving eats 5 hours of your day it’s harder to get things done.
The Mammoth trip should have been okay, but I hurt myself and haven’t been able to exercise. I was up all day and night in agony on the 12th so I’ve got gaps around then. I haven’t exercised since the 12th because today was the first time I’ve walked without dragging my foot zombie-style. My sleep schedule got messed up and I’ve slept past 9 the last two days.
Tomorrow I’m going to regroup and get back on track.
Here’s what I’ve learned this month:
- Meditation is hard. You can’t quiet your mind by force, you have to replace the racing mind by focusing on your breath. Because I’m a visual person it might help to focus on a candle instead of just the sensation of air going past my nostrils. When I imagine a soft ball of light a few inches from my nose focusing is easier. Sometimes I get a few moments of bliss where nothing is in my head except the moment, then I realize I’m succeeding and I lose it. Slippery stuff this mindfulness.
- I don’t miss beef or booze at all. I could give up most beef permanently, though I would want an allowance for phở . It feels like avoiding beef helps the overall diet because indulgent meals like hamburgers, BBQ, and filet mignon (along with their potato based complements) are off the table. “Fresh-Mex” places are helpful because fish tacos, black beans, and salsas are low in calories and high in flavor. I’ve lost 7 pounds in 16 days (currently at 241lbs.), my eating habits are very different, and I don’t feel deprived.
- The more I blog the less I check my RSS reader. I divided my feeds into 10 “can’t miss” feeds, about 20 “pretty great” feeds, and then the rest. I’ve only been reading the “can’t miss” ones. Turns out that now I enjoy writing more than consuming.
- Easy workouts and being indoors suck. I want to hike, snowboard, and lift weights, probably because I haven’t been able to do anything the last few days because of injury.
- This public challenge is the best. I feel like a different person. Even when some things slip the overall direction is great. It’s good to track a few goals that are easy so even if I slip I’ve got plenty of date squares to check off in Making the Chain. Going public with your goals is the best way to make sure you’ll meet them.
2 Comments ↓
Thanks for reminding me that unless your goals are known to others, we are more likely to forgive our own shortcomings. Being public about it causes our pride to take over.
I came by your site via TiddlyWiki (something I’m still trying to determine useful - and how exactly to implement into my life/business).
…but in the 6 degrees sort of way, I found distraction in “Making the chain”. I remember a quote somewhere saying that a modern man is presented with more information in one day than a renaissance man was in a lifetime. Perhaps that’s why we need GTD tools. Dunno.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dunno - just for fun. :-)
Thanks Raymond. I was on the GTD bandwagon for a while but now I try to do less altogether than to manage the deluge. It’s like the difference between strategy and tactics. See The 4 Hour Work Week for more about doing less work for better results.