Chanda

I wasn't active in the forums. But didn't forget the goals I set for myself. Pleased to report that after a few challenges were I dropped out... I finally levelled up again! Summary: 1. Fuel: Breakfast -> Score A 2. Body: 60min Yoga -> Score A 3. Mind: Home stuff -> Score B+ 4. Life: Perfect Day Framework -> Score: B+ Full report here: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/58782-chanda-living-the-good-life-i/?p=1380721

If the challenge below looks familiar, thats because it is... I am going to do the same challenge I set myself last time again with some minor modifications (edits shown in green or crossed out). Why? Because I am looking for more consistent performance and also because it is working for me. In order to fulfil my need to bring some order into my day to day while still enjoying life, I need to: accept myself, slow down, simplify, accept that "Good is Good enough" and be kind to myself. Why? Because back in March I had a nasty surprise when I discovered I was on the verge of reaching burnout for the second time in my life. Thanks to my high demand job, motherhood, being a perfectionist who likes to do things quickly and my own sense of responsibility, I have been using up more energy than I am regaining during my down time... My reserves are on empty. I'lll spare you the details except to say, there are a number of actions I am taking to turn things around. Some of these I incorporated into this challenge. I am not re-inventing the wheel, a lot of it is the same old stuff... just with a different focus and expectations. Main Quest:To slow down and smell the roses. 1. Fuel: Eat smaller portions, more vegetables, less "mindless snacks". With some luck consistency I will loose a little weight by reducing the snacking, if not... maintaining is good too. Tracking: Daily rating: Great, Good, Goof. 2. Move: Four sessions per week (more is OK). Since I have a 5 km race at the end of July, these should ideally be 2 runs or hill walks and 2 yoga sessions but I'll take whatever my heart leads me to do. Tracking: Weekly average workout count: Great = 5-4, Good = 3-1, Goof = 0. 3. ScheduleRest: 1. Shift get up time to 6:30AM weekdays and 7:30AM (or earlier) weekends, while still getting 7 to 8 hours sleep. Currently average is 7:30AM weekdays/8:30AM weekends. Shift by 10-15min per week. 2. Whenever possible, arrive at the office by 8AM and leave the office by 2PM. This is part of a larger plan to re-arrange my day so I can manage work and being a mother. Tracking: Daily rating: Great, Good, Goof. Life Quest: 4. Doing: The No Procrastination Challenge on weekdays (optional on weekends). Follow Leo's approach, except instead of the "No wine" penalty, its "No TV series" "spend time doing something fun" reward for being good. And instead of "reading and meditating", doing the NF challenge activities time organising&decluttering my desk is the first item on the 3 most important tasks (MIT) list. Tracking: Daily rating: Great=3MITs , Good=2-1, Goof=0. Diet/Fitness Side Quest: 5. Being: This is a mental fitness quest. Follow Weeks 2 to 7 of the 8 week Mindfulness program. Tracking: Daily rating: Great, Good, Goof. Scoring: For each of the 5 goals an overall rating of Great/Good/Goof is worth 3/2/0 attribute points, giving a total of 15 points. I will decide on what actual attributes I allocate based on where I feel the benefit/improvement was greatest at the end of the challenge. I level up if I earn 7 or more attribute points. Number of earned attribute points will also determine final challenge score... A to F based on 15 to 0. You may have noticed I am being very lenient with my scoring. It is part of training myself to accept that being good is good enough... I don't need to do it all and be perfect. Deep down I really want to earn all 15 attribute points. I challenged myself to set the level up border as low as I dare to go as a lesson that not everything needs to be perfect. I almost went with 8 attribute points as my level up border. In the end I reluctantly decided on 7. This was hard because 8 is more than half of 15, which in my mind is a clear "pass"... while 7 is slightly less than half of 15, it feels like a lot like a fail. Yet... arent "2 Goods and 1 Great" good enough? I think they are... and that is a 7 according to my scoring scheme! “Smile, breathe and go slowly.â€Thích Nhất Hạnh

Thank you everyone for your kind words. Its been a hard 7 weeks for me and my family. I never got back to the forums, but I did have my goals in mind during the challenge period. Some days it was all that kept me from falling apart, specially during the first week. I just never tracked any of what I did formally. Considering the circumstances I'm not going to beat myself up over not tracking stuff... I was in survival mode. Here is how I rate my performance for this challenge: 1. Fuel: There was some heavy snacking at some points but for the most part I did not over do it and my portions were same or smaller than usual. I started off with 63.5kg and last week I was 63.3kg. So I maintained my weight. I did "Good". 2. Move: I went for several runs and did yoga several times. Not as much as I would like but I would say I averaged between 1 and 2 times per week. Thats another "Good". 3. Rest: By the last week of the challenge I was getting up at 6:30AM on week days. Thats another "Good". 4. Doing: There were many days when I did not formally set MITs. But. except for a week when I did pretty much nothing, most days I did get the more important stuff done. Over the past 3 weeks there has been a noticeable reduction in my procrastination. I'll rate this one as another "Good". 5. Being: Got stuck at week 3 and never progressed further. This one was a "Goof". This makes if 4 Goods, at 2 points each thats 8 points which means that I level up. Old signature info: Lusitanian Druid, Level 7 STR: 12 | DEX: 12 | STA: 15 | CON: 18 | WIS: 20 | CHA: 19 New signature info: Lusitanian Druid, Level 8 STR: 12 | DEX: 12 | STA: 15 | CON: 20 | WIS: 23 | CHA: 22 Overall I am satisfied that I did the best I could do under the circumstances. I'll go as fas as saying that I have had a huge "growth spurt" emotionally and in terms of will power.

I saw your signature... Thats how I knew to use the line. I will need to check out Pessoa. I am Portuguese but have been living outside of Portugal most of my life. My written portuguese is terrible, so reading some well written stuff may actually help!

Don't apologise! I think its awesome that you are here and being so welcoming of everyone. I see in your signature you are the Druid Ambassador. Thank you! Thank you Heidi. I will have to be extra supportive of myself in the next few weeks. I do not know how I will manage, I found out this morning my father passed away last night. I am flying out tonight to be with my mother and brothers for a week. It is entirely possible that I will drop out of the challenge at least for the first week.

I'd never even heard of clubbells before! Yoga in general the way its practiced these days by most people in the western world is very much about the physical side of things, so it is only natural that such new practices show up. That was just beautiful to watch... clubbell or not. I hope to one day be able to move like that!

Boa Sorte! Vai valer a pena!

Thanks. I've been a Druid since my first challenge... this is home. Just skipped the last couple of challenges and dropped out of a couple before that. It feels good to be back with a new attitude! The scoring is something I changed radically this time around... some of my past scoring systems would have been worthy of NASA tracking its space missions.

Oh a rainbow post... pretty! And a fellow Flybaby to boot. I've recently been rediscovering my things tha tI enjoy too! Looking forward to seeing how you go!

When I see 1200 calories it seems impossibly low to me (I eat somewhere between 1600 and 2000 every day). However, I can see it working if on the weekend you balance out by eating more... In fact, it sounds pretty good to me. Loosing that kind of weight is impressive stuff!

Wow you sure can write! Great challenge. Interesting thing about cutting back on alcohol, at least for me, was how much I actually saved financially. I look forward to seeing how you go!

Welcome to the Druids! Nice to have you with us for this challenge. I am too tired now, but if I think of any good yoga sites I'll come back and share the link. Wonders off to go find a cookie. See what you started?

This is what you call keeping it as simple as you can? I bow in humility! Your goal about your job is excellent and really touched a cord. I am struggling myself in that area. Thanks for the reminder that my own attitude has a lot to do with my experience! I look forward to seeing how you go!

Welcome to the Druids! Looking forward to seeing how you go with your goals. I find it interesting how you are approaching your eating. Love the quote you picked. Sounds very buddhist/taoist... and yet its Shakespeare. Awesome!

Welcome to the Druids. Yoga does grow on you and is quite addictive. I hear you on the sleep disturbances and comfort eating... I know it all too well. Good luck finding your inner zen and letting your authentic self out to play!

Sounds good... Welcome home!

In order to fulfil my need to bring some order into my day to day while still enjoying life, I need to: accept myself, slow down, simplify, accept that "Good is Good enough" and be kind to myself. Why? Because back in March I had a nasty surprise when I discovered I was on the verge of reaching burnout for the second time in my life. Thanks to my high demand job, motherhood, being a perfectionist who likes to do things quickly and my own sense of responsibility, I have been using up more energy than I am regaining during my down time... My reserves are on empty. I'lll spare you the details except to say, there are a number of actions I am taking to turn things around. Some of these I incorporated into this challenge. I am not re-inventing the wheel, a lot of it is the same old stuff... just with a different focus and expectations. Main Quest:To slow down and smell the roses. 1. Fuel: Eat smaller portions, more vegetables, less "mindless snacks". With some luck I will loose a little weight by reducing the snacking, if not... maintaining is good too. Tracking: Daily rating: Great, Good, Goof. 2. Move: Four sessions per week (more is OK). Since I have a 5 km race at the end of July, these should ideally be 2 runs or hill walks and 2 yoga sessions but I'll take whatever my heart leads me to do. Tracking: Weekly average workout count: Great = 5-4, Good = 3-1, Goof = 0. 3. Rest: Shift get up time to 6:30AM weekdays and 7:30AM (or earlier) weekends, while still getting 7 to 8 hours sleep. Currently average is 7:30AM weekdays/8:30AM weekends. Shift by 10-15min per week. This is part of a larger plan to re-arrange my day so I can manage work and being a mother. Tracking: Daily rating: Great, Good, Goof. Life Quest: 4. Doing: The No Procrastination Challenge on weekdays (optional on weekends). Follow Leo's approach, except instead of the "No wine" penalty, its "No TV series". And instead of "reading and meditating", doing the NF challenge activities is the first item on the 3 most important tasks (MIT) list. Tracking: Daily rating: Great=3MITs , Good=2-1, Goof=0. Diet/Fitness Side Quest: 5. Being: This is a mental fitness quest. Follow Weeks 2 to 7 of the 8 week Mindfulness program. Tracking: Daily rating: Great, Good, Goof. Scoring: For each of the 5 goals an overall rating of Great/Good/Goof is worth 3/2/0 attribute points, giving a total of 15 points. I will decide on what actual attributes I allocate based on where I feel the benefit/improvement was greatest at the end of the challenge. I level up if I earn 7 or more attribute points. Number of earned attribute points will also determine final challenge score... A to F based on 15 to 0. You may have noticed I am being very lenient with my scoring. It is part of training myself to accept that being good is good enough... I don't need to do it all and be perfect. Deep down I really want to earn all 15 attribute points. I challenged myself to set the level up border as low as I dare to go as a lesson that not everything needs to be perfect. I almost went with 8 attribute points as my level up border. In the end I reluctantly decided on 7. This was hard because 8 is more than half of 15, which in my mind is a clear "pass"... while 7 is slightly less than half of 15, it feels like a lot like a fail. Yet... arent "2 Goods and 1 Great" good enough? I think they are... and that is a 7 according to my scoring scheme! “Smile, breathe and go slowly.â€Thích Nhất Hạnh

Oh burpees love it! I am in. 1+2+3 coming right up. I would do more but I am sick and don't want to get my heart rate too high. Will be doing unmodified burpees. I remember the days not so long ago when I first learned them and did them modified to the point you wouldn't recognize them as a burpee. So do I get this right Sunmage's cat gif tax is 6 burpees for posting? And 5 for laughing at a cat gif? This might actually get me to like cat gifs.

I am back. I read your status update the other day... Congratulations are in order!!!! So happy for you!!!! Hope you had a nice relaxing weekend and were able to renew yourself. Love your challenge for this time around. As usual you inspire me!

After a nice long break its time to dust of the cobwebs and start moving again. The smell of Spring is in the air! Over the next 6 weeks I will be doing my own private bootcamp. I spent the past week "twicking my plan" so I am not counting it - that is why I also didn't post. I start officially on Monday and I will actually run for 6 weeks until 13.Apr. I all report on the status on 06.Apr like everyone else but will only level up if I keep it going until 13.Apr so I have a full 6 weeks. Main Quest: I am a loving and organized person. In order to become the loving and organized person I dream of being I need to be fit, healthy and not weighed down by stuff. In one way or another, that is what ALL my goals are about. 1. The 3 Main quest Goals: First things First: Healthy Me! To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear. -- Buddha (c. 563 BC to 483 BC) Since this is a fitness site the first 3 goals are related to fitness. After all I have to look after myself and be fit and healthy if I want to be the best person I know I can be! a. attend yoga/tennis classes (except work/sick/holidays) DEX +2 b. 3 x exercise (anything counts: run/yoga/body weight) STR +1, STA +1 c. no mindless snacking in the evenings (planned desserts and post exercise protein snack allowed) CON +2 2. Life Quest: Finishing the unfinished:How you start is important, very important, but in the end it is how you finish that counts. -- B.C. Forbes I keep using all the stuff I think I need to be doing as an excuse for not doing the things I want to do. Over the next 6 weeks I plan to deal with it all… or at least a large chunk of it all. a. 1 hour per workday spent on dealing with tasks I have been neglecting: 100 small tasks/projects completed or deleted! WIS +2b. at least 7 hours per week at home spend on decluttering/organizing/finishing tasks: 100 small tasks/projects completed or deleted! WIS +2c. one full round of "deep cleaning" around the house. CHA +2 3. Side Quest: Good Sleeping Habit for a Perfect day: Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. – Ben Franklin The Life Quest will be using up a lot of my energy both mentally and physically. Good sleep and relaxing each day will be used to recharge at the end of each day. a. Up early (6-6:30am) CON +1b. Relaxing time (from 8:30-9:30pm) CHA +1c. Bed early (10-11pm) STA +1 Starting: 03.MarFinishing: 13.Apr Warning Signs that I took on to much: Yes, its a lot but its over a specified time period. So I think its sustainable. Nonetheless, I am implementing 2 warning signs to tell me that I have taken on too much. If so, I will re-avaluate the list. 1. If I start getting grumpy and short tempered.2. I dont find the time each day to play with the girls. Lets do this!

For those that missed it, we have a Druid advent calendar: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/40842-mini-quest-the-great-druid-advent-calendar-tree/ I will be offline until 2014… I hope you finish this challenge strong and wish you all a great start into 2014!

Day TWENTY-FOUR: Twas the Night Before Christmas What did you think our Advent would end with? Dick Van Dyke version: Celebrities version: And in true NF style… Lego version:

Day TWENTY-THREE: Should I Workout Today? The answer is YES!

Day TWENTY-TWO : 30 day yoga challenge As a Druid you simple must give yourself the gift of taking on the 30 day yoga challenge! http://www.doyouyoga.com/challenge/http://www.youtube.com/user/DoYouYoga/videos

Day TWENTY-ONE : LoTR Christmas Its not a Nerd Christmas unless we also visit Middle Earth Jingle Hell: