Hi everyone
I'm starting this thread as a space for everyone to review their success, what worked etc for the August Challenge. Feel free to leave yours - I'm finding it helpful to look back on the month in preparation for starting my September Challenge.
Background
August
My challenge: 4 hours of lab work a day (I'm a PhD student in my final section of lab work before the big write-up starts!) I chose this goal because I needed to get a bunch of boring, tedious repitive measurements done, and this seemed a good way to force myself to get in there and get them done.
July
For my first challenge on the forum I decided to persist with not drinking Coca-Cola. I chose this goal originally because I was drinking up to 10 litres a week, which wasn't good for me. I find it very addictive, and didn't want it in my life anymore. For that reason I wanted to keep it up, and I found recording my success or failure kept me on track.
How did it go?
August
Early on, I was very successful. Over the first two and a half weeks I averaged 4 hours 20mins in the lab each day. However later in the month my priorities changed. I am preparing a paper for publication, and preparing an important presentation for a conference, and hence spending significantly more time at my computer. Initially I tried to do both but eventually I caved in and realised that I couldn't keep it up. I spent a total of 30minutes in the lab in the final week of August. My average for the month was 3 hours 20minutes.
July
What can I say - in a nutshell, I haven't drunk a single drop of Coca-Cola all month. As of 31st August, I have not drunk coca-cola for 35 days (my "Seinfeldian chain"). And yes, sometimes I still want it, but I manage to resist. I'm now planning to keep tracking until the start of 2008 which would be a chain of 157 days. Note that in July I was 27/30 so it hasn't been perfect from the start.
What I learned for future challenges
August
The main thing I learned was not to pursue something which has become unneccesary or unimportant. And I guess this is a danger in picking a challenge for the month. But I still got a lot of lab work done early on in the month, and that was the main goal. However, as September is very much a mixed bag for me work-wise I'm going to go back to a personal-life goal which I will keep up throughout the month.
July
I realised during July that not drinking coca-cola made me feel much better. I tended to buy and drink it in the evening, something which I don't do with my other caffeine source (coffee), so I was sleeping better. I found replacement drinks which I prefer, and my shopping bill went down. One thing I found is that I (unlike lots of people I know) love ice-cold drinks, but with a shared freezer it was hard to freeze cubes in trays. Investing in some disposable plastic ice-cube bags which can be stuffed in a small gap in the freezer has really made water more pleasurable for me, as has keeping a spare bottle of water in the fridge at work so it's nice and cold. Thus keeping this habit going has been pleasurable and enjoyable for me, and now I'm getting pleasure out of it. Talking to my boyfriend about it the other day, I realised that I sounded like a recovering alcoholic regarding giving up coca-cola. And realising that for me personally it is addictive, and that I can't really just have it occasionally without wanting it all the time, has really woken me up to how harmful it can be to me, and has also encouraged me to continue with this challenge.
So that's my review, now onwards to the September challenge! Please feel free to add your review or comment on mine.
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I hate to just post a link, but I reviewed the challenge on my blog already. It's called Early Bird Challenge: recap and lessons learned
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Hi all.
I'm very happy with my outcome for this month. My goal was to do a complete workout of T'ai Chi Chih (http://www.taichichih.org/) which takes a little over a half hour, every night except Tuesdays when I have about 2 hours cut off my evening at home.
I missed twice. I recall the last time I did not feel well. I feel I have pretty much developed the habit, but I'm going to keep my eye on it even though I will focus on something new this month.
I am on medication with the goal of preventing migraines which I had been getting about 9 times per month. In June and July I was down to 3 per month. In August, when I began the T'ai Chi Chih, I had *1* migraine. I definitely want to see if I can see something similar in September!
Thanks for having this place where I could be accountable. I believe it helped me with my goal.
Anita
I'm very happy with my outcome for this month. My goal was to do a complete workout of T'ai Chi Chih (http://www.taichichih.org/) which takes a little over a half hour, every night except Tuesdays when I have about 2 hours cut off my evening at home.
I missed twice. I recall the last time I did not feel well. I feel I have pretty much developed the habit, but I'm going to keep my eye on it even though I will focus on something new this month.
I am on medication with the goal of preventing migraines which I had been getting about 9 times per month. In June and July I was down to 3 per month. In August, when I began the T'ai Chi Chih, I had *1* migraine. I definitely want to see if I can see something similar in September!
Thanks for having this place where I could be accountable. I believe it helped me with my goal.
Anita
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Hi all,
I had mixed success with the August Challenge. My goal was originally to get to bed by 10 and I really struggled with that at first and then I realized it was too big a swing and changed it to 11. I did better with that and my performance picked up at the end of the month but it was still far from perfect.
But that's ok. I'm just going to roll it over into September and try again. I'd been working nights for a long time before I quit and I think I may have asked too much to so completely switch my sleep cycle all at once. Plus, to be honest, I know that Leo and lots of other smart people say it takes 30 days to forge a habit but I think for me it takes 60-90. I'm just sloooow or something. So I'm just going to keep at it until I get it!
On the bright side though, I did fabulously well with my daily exercise challenge, which was on my watch list from previous challenges. I had a near perfect record and I really feel I've strongly established this habit - so much so that I'm going to drop it from my watch list and just focus on the getting enough sleep habit. If I start slipping, you'll know - I'll just add it back to my reports here. Plus, I've had some real motivating successes with it: I completed a beginning runner's training program this month and am up to running a half-hour continuously three times a week - which thrills me because I've wanted to get back to running for the longest time and just hadn't quite been able to stick with it before. And I've dropped ten pounds since I've started the exercise challenge this summer without any kind of formal diet, though I do watch portion sizes (when I remember!). So I'm feeling really motivated to keep this habit up.
Congratulations to all on your successes this month and good luck going forward.
\
I had mixed success with the August Challenge. My goal was originally to get to bed by 10 and I really struggled with that at first and then I realized it was too big a swing and changed it to 11. I did better with that and my performance picked up at the end of the month but it was still far from perfect.
But that's ok. I'm just going to roll it over into September and try again. I'd been working nights for a long time before I quit and I think I may have asked too much to so completely switch my sleep cycle all at once. Plus, to be honest, I know that Leo and lots of other smart people say it takes 30 days to forge a habit but I think for me it takes 60-90. I'm just sloooow or something. So I'm just going to keep at it until I get it!
On the bright side though, I did fabulously well with my daily exercise challenge, which was on my watch list from previous challenges. I had a near perfect record and I really feel I've strongly established this habit - so much so that I'm going to drop it from my watch list and just focus on the getting enough sleep habit. If I start slipping, you'll know - I'll just add it back to my reports here. Plus, I've had some real motivating successes with it: I completed a beginning runner's training program this month and am up to running a half-hour continuously three times a week - which thrills me because I've wanted to get back to running for the longest time and just hadn't quite been able to stick with it before. And I've dropped ten pounds since I've started the exercise challenge this summer without any kind of formal diet, though I do watch portion sizes (when I remember!). So I'm feeling really motivated to keep this habit up.
Congratulations to all on your successes this month and good luck going forward.
\
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Congrats to the August challengers, looks like there was a lot of progress made.
You've inspired me to try a full month on a challenge.
I've decided to narrow down my focus for the September challenge to just two projects:
1. Paperwork: Purge filing system, get filing up to date, finish setup of Autopay+Autoreminder billpay system.
2. Life simplification: Purge final ~20% of un-needed belongings by donating, selling, tossing; get to the bedrock.
This will get me much peace of mind, if I can get these two projects behind me in order to focus on other projects.
During September I'll be looking to get at least an hour a day onto each of these two project, with at least
one "burst day" per week on each.
-steve
You've inspired me to try a full month on a challenge.
I've decided to narrow down my focus for the September challenge to just two projects:
1. Paperwork: Purge filing system, get filing up to date, finish setup of Autopay+Autoreminder billpay system.
2. Life simplification: Purge final ~20% of un-needed belongings by donating, selling, tossing; get to the bedrock.
This will get me much peace of mind, if I can get these two projects behind me in order to focus on other projects.
During September I'll be looking to get at least an hour a day onto each of these two project, with at least
one "burst day" per week on each.
-steve
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I had mixed sucess with my August challenge. Did well with my morning routine which is now working well without too much thought. I may miss one thing on a day but I always catch up with it the next day.
I have decided to limit my challenge for September to one thing which is going to be to keep a food diary. I had a last bender yesterday but have started writing things down this morning.
I have decided to limit my challenge for September to one thing which is going to be to keep a food diary. I had a last bender yesterday but have started writing things down this morning.
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My goal this month was to do something everyday to advance my career, and I had a modest bit of success this month. I only managed to do this 16 days out of 30, but that ratio is better than in July, which itself is better than June.
I spent the early part of the month using this opportunity to study for the GRE. When the day came, I did a lot better than I expected to do, thanks in part to this amount of preparation.
I also spent some time working on my web portfolio (though not as much as I would have liked) and looking for new job opportunities.
For September I will try to avoid all beverages but water and decaf, unsweetened tea. I'm sad to see there isn't a new forum up for this, however; and I have not started the month off on a good foot. I think officially I'll begin the challenge tomorrow and go until the 3rd of October.
I spent the early part of the month using this opportunity to study for the GRE. When the day came, I did a lot better than I expected to do, thanks in part to this amount of preparation.
I also spent some time working on my web portfolio (though not as much as I would have liked) and looking for new job opportunities.
For September I will try to avoid all beverages but water and decaf, unsweetened tea. I'm sad to see there isn't a new forum up for this, however; and I have not started the month off on a good foot. I think officially I'll begin the challenge tomorrow and go until the 3rd of October.
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I would say my August challenge was a success. Ive been gradually getting up earlier and earlierfrom 6:45 to 6:00. I still have a hard time going to bed although Ive made it to bed by 11:30, I usually stay up 15-30 minutes longer reviewing my day or reading. That has to change as I need all the sleep I can get and I want to get up even earlier during September.
While Ive continued working out, I havent been doing it as often and I havent been to the dojo as much as I should have. Its been a gradual return since my 2 month break.
My morning routine is pretty much down to a science but I plan on making some adjustments this month and I'll rearrange my evening routine.
While Ive continued working out, I havent been doing it as often and I havent been to the dojo as much as I should have. Its been a gradual return since my 2 month break.
My morning routine is pretty much down to a science but I plan on making some adjustments this month and I'll rearrange my evening routine.
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