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2018 Changing Behaviors This year, my first challenge was a “what the hell am I going to do challenge”. So I threw in some stuff that I thought would be good to focus on. Those goals were good but I still felt a little lost and kept thinking about 2017 and what worked and didn’t work. 2017 was a stressful year and I let my impulses kind of run wild. I’ve always been a wants over needs type of person but have had a difficult time figuring out a way to change that. I just want to do everything now and feel silly taking it slow. Mentally, that’s what I want and I don’t want to wait to do anything. Physically, I put things off if I’m not sure how to do something or if it requires manual labor. 2018 is going to be about changing my behaviors. I want to have a good routine and strategy for overcoming my impulses. It’s time to start small and work my way up to the person I aspire to be. To accomplish this task I need a clear and fairly simple plan. My challenges are rarely simple so this will be clear but probably not simple. I need knowledge to help create that plan. I’ll need motivation or motivational tools to help when things get tough. I also need to make sure I have a support system (Thanks Rebels ). 2018 Changing Behaviors Levels LVL 1 - Organization LVL 2 - Night LVL 3 - Morning LVL 4 - Nutrition LVL 5 - Movement LVL 6 - Financial LVL 7 - Knowledge LVL 8 - Expression LVL 9 - Self-Discipline LVL 10 - Sustaining Each Level will last approximately 1 challenge cycle (28 days). If I do not follow my plan or fail to achieve my desired goal, then I do not move up a level. These levels are meant to build upon previous challenges and continue the habits gained from the previous level. For example, when I reach level 6, I should still be doing what I did through levels 1 to 5. The goal here is not to get as many points as possible but to develop the habit. If I end up skipping something or putting it off, I need to examine the reason why. Standard Goals Save $84 Got to the gym 4x Read 3 books Donate Plasma Monthly Focus - Feb : Sleep (7 to 8 hours) & Mar : No Spending on Non-Essentials Level 1 Goals Follow Dailies Cleaning Routine (1 pt each - 84 possibly points - GOAL = 58 points) Make Bed Bedroom Floor Clear Dish Free Sink Follow Weekly Cleaning Routine (1 pt each - 28 possibly points - GOAL = 19 points) Dust Mop Floors Vacuum Laundry Trash Clean Counters Clear Surfaces Follow Bi-Weekly Cleaning Routine (1 pt each - 8 possibly points - GOAL = 5 points) Scrub Bathroom Clean Sheets Toss Expired Foods Wipe Down Appliances Follow Monthly Cleaning Routine (1 pt each - 6 possibly points - GOAL = 4 points) Clean out car Clean out fridge Wipe down fridge Clean inside Microwave Sanitize sponges Deep Clean granite floors Follow Bi-Annually Cleaning Routine (1 pt each - 1 possibly points - GOAL = 1 points) Wipe Baseboards Follow Annual Cleaning Routine if applicable No Annual Cleaning task for February

So, here we are for the next challenge. I basicly want to keep doing what worked for me the last months and finetune it a little bit. I'm also thinking about to use the information from one of of Steve's recent articles. But i could not really think through on what habits to work on how. Will use the thread to think about it. Here is Steve's Article: https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/how-to-build-healthy-habits-that-stick/ Ok, here are the challenge task: Habits: 30 minutes of daylight lamp Mon:☐ Tue:☐ Wed:☐ Thur:☐ Fri:☐ No youtube on phone: Mon:☐ Tue:☐ Wed:☐ Thur:☐ Fri:☐ Sat: ☐ Sun: ☐ Diet: No pasta / pizza / sweets on weekdays Mon:☐Tue:☐Wed:☐Thur:☐ Fri: ☐ Excercise: biking to work 5 days each week Mon:☐ Tue:☐ Wed:☐ Thur:☐ Fri: ☐ Taiji (be on time and don't skip) Mon:☐ Thur:☐

Well, it's the start of 2018 and I'm at my heaviest ever (191.6). Focusing on creating habits will be my foundation, although I've learned that even habits kept for +6 months can unravel. No M has been the longest running habit I've kept (don't bother asking what that is) but even after a good year of No M, I fell off the wagon. However, I started No M again and its been 2 months as of Dec 31. I've been working out sporadically through Dec, so KH2 will be Daily Exercise. This one comes pretty easy for me, especially since white water kayaking season starts in about 4months and I need to be fit for that sport (especially at 57). So here is my plan for the year: Develop the following Keystone Habits: KH1: No M since Nov 1, 2017 KH2: Daily exercise - Start Jan 1 Future KH's: Quit Smoking, more to come Goals for the year: 1) Weigh 165 lbs 2) Press palms to the ground w/ knees locked 3) 4 pullups 4) 135 lb bench 10 times in perfect form 5) Complete all relevant Solid Works tutorials I will achieve success for the month if I: 1) Perform some type of exercise daily (including place holder workout) 2) Lose 5lbs 3) Complete 4 hours Solid Works training

Hi, I'm looking for people (more the merrier) who'd be willing to form a Facebook group, or text, or email.... Help me stick to my routine and not fall into a funk. My focus is more on mental health than physical, but I am aiming to eventually start doing some hiking, jogging, martial arts, dance, and other stuff. I think my diet is pretty good as is and I'm happy to offer advice on cooking (I'm a pretty good cook). My nerdishness is in being a totally fantasy and SciFi bookworm (I prefer bookwyrm). After all, very little can't be improved with either lasers or dragons (or dragons with lasers?). Also a bit hooked on certain video games... Dragon Age, Mass Effect. I am a history nut, I have a ridiculous amount of knowledge about ancient history and not a whole lot to do with it. Anyways, I don't have much in the way of a real life support system beyond my therapist. I could use some friends to keep me inspired or nag me a little or just chat about nerd stuff.

For 2017, I chose a word to help guide me through my goals for the year. My word was 'Connection' because I wanted to be more outgoing and connect with people - being an introvert I actually need to remind myself to do that. I wasn't sure how I'd done, but when I mentioned that word and goal to friends of mine at the end of the year, they said they could tell I was putting myself out there more, so that was nice. For 2018, I've been struggling to find the right word for what I want to achieve, because frankly I have lots of goals. 'Center' was one thought, and another possible word that I really liked was 'Win'. But they weren't quite right - too focused on me, when I'm trying to be more outgoing toward others. Then today in church, the sermon focused on a favorite verse of mine. Isaiah 60:1 - 'Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.' As part of his sermon about how we can shine in our lives every day, the pastor used this phrase - 'Be Extraordinary at the Ordinary.' And suddenly I had my perfect word for the year, a word that will motivate me to do my best even at the little goals, and to shine all the while with a positive attitude and kind words for everyone around me. SHINE Since the RPG leveling up side of Nerd Fitness has never motivated me much, I'm going to add stars - - to my signature when I succeed. Then I can keep better track of things and have that visual reminder of my progress as I go. My goals for this first challenge are fairly simple, and I'm using the 3 R's of forming a habit to try and make them stick. Reminder, Routine, Reward. SHINE has the bonus connotation of constantly reminding me of Firefly. So I got myself a nerdy/geeky theme to boot! Yay me! Goal #1 - Sleep More I'm supposed to being getting 7 hours of sleep minimum, but lately I've fallen back into bad habits of staying up far later than I should. My goal is lights out by 11:20 on work nights. Reminder - I have two alarms set for 10:30 and 11:00pm nightly. Routine - Shut down the computer at 10:30 sharp, the first alarm. That gives me half an hour to get ready for bed, pack my lunch for tomorrow, read a devotion, or whatever. And the 11 pm alarm will give me time to crawl into bed and read a book or brush the cat for a little while before lights out time. Reward - for 15 stars or more on this challenge, my reward is too be better rested. But I further shall reward myself with a new book. Maybe this one... Goal #2 - Drink More I really need to drink more water. Once upon a time, I drank tons every day at work, but I'm so busy I don't think about it these days. However I can tell that I'm dehydrated, and I also think I have the tendency to think I'm hungry when what my body really wants is H2O. So... Reminder - This one is trickier. What can I do to remind myself to drink? I do have to run to the copier, and to my co-workers cubicles to drop off work - coming back into my own cube could be my cue. Routine - When I return from getting copies, I will take a drink before sitting down. I might not do it every single time, but my goal is to drink eight glasses - 64 oz of water at work every day. Reward - for 15 stars or more on this challenge, my reward is be better hydrated. But I will reward myself by upgrading my next massage to a hot stone massage. That's very motivating, right there. And so is this... Goal #3 - Exercise More In early March, we have the annual Fight for Air stair climb by the American Lung Association, in my building which is the tallest in the state. I work on the 15th floor, so I can train for this challenge, I've already climbed the 600 steps from my floor to the top once already, and I know I need to do more. This is prep work that I can do while the weather is crappy, to start getting in shape for a 5k. Aside from lunch hour stair climbs and my weekly Zumba class, what I really need to add back into my routine is a home strength program. Reminder - When I come home from work the first thing I do is take off my boots. Routine - When I take off my boots, I'll also change into work-out clothes and on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I'll do some kind of strength training - I haven't figure out what quite yet. Reward - for 8 stars or more on this challenge, my reward is that I'll start converting some of this fat over to muscle. But I'll reward myself with a new top. Goal #4 - Floss More Seems silly to make this a goal, but I recently had a root canal - Yuck! And I switched to a new dentist at the same time for my regular cleaning and check-up. The hygienist was friggin' BRUTAL. It was like being in a torture chamber while she worked on me. I gotta go back and face that again? I don't know, maybe it's me and I just really need to take better care of my teeth. Or maybe it's her and she's psycho. But either way, I ought to floss more than I do, which is very little at present . Reminder - I've put a bowl of floss sticks right next to my toothbrush and paste, super convenient. Routine - Whenever I brush, I will also flush, either before or after. Reward - for 20 stars or more, my reward will hopefully be kick-ass checkup the next time I go to the dentist, but that's not until June. In the meantime, I'll reward myself with a new movie from the bargain section. I already have this one, clearly.

Haha, finally after a couple of months of working (and years of talking). I finally starting a challenge with some goals! Stopping at a door in a dark hallway, and old building at the corner of Sol Luna Verde Academy of the Practical Arts, shadows long from the nearby magically ran glass lamps on the wall that weren't maintained well. A new area of school I discovered today, where I can finally start my new adventure. I breathed a sigh of relief when I confirmed the numbers over the large oak door open and seeing the flickering of candles shadows. It was late for the night starting a short holiday, peering through the door I noticed a dark haired man sitting at a desk facing away from the door. I gave a strong sturdy knock onto the large oak door that seemed to echo through the old stone halls. "Come in," the professor spoke with a welcoming low voice. I walked in noticing he hadn't moved from his position, but was steadily writing something in large book with a large white quill. My feet barely made a noise as I walked across the aged stone floor, feeling the heightened amount of energy in the room. The candles around the room, high on their wicks told me he was busy with something beyond my own controlled magical abilities. Feeling an eeriness of the silence besides the room's crackling fireplace and the professor etching away with his work. He looked over at me and gave me a nod with a stone face, he gestured the nearby soft chair for me to sit down. I smiled and had taken a seat. "How can I help you," the man asked still with a warm voice, but was still paying full attention on what he was writing. "I've come here to apply for the alternative study program," I said with a clear but shaky voice. The professor's quill stopped moving and the eeriness of power I felt changed, as the candles softened a little, replaced with a gentleness of welcoming warmth. "So you have found me..." He turned to me now with a warm smile, setting his quill aside. "Did you bring the needed papers?" "Yes," I said nervously, quickly opening my knapsack to pull out the small grouping of scrolls for the important papers I was told I would need to apply to the program. Papers that had shown the variety of classes I had taken over the last few years. Some from other schools and the new classes that I had been doing at this academy since I transferred last winter. Along with an essay to share my future goals, and how they may relate to a program that was going to help me get into an adventure. "Thank you," he said when I passed unopened scrolls to him, where he opened and quickly scanned over them. I couldn't help but notice that perhaps his smile was growing as he was looking over the papers. However knowing myself, that could easily be my own hope to get into the adventure's program. "Looks like you are able to meet the requirements for your classwork, everything looks good here." I noticed how he only quickly looked over the essay that had taken me too many painful writing hours. "I can see your passion to enter my program. I more than understand the hope of having a bit more than just being stuck with your nose in the book. I'm taking it you already discussed with your advisor on lengthening your years here. " I nodded and shrugged, feeling a little bit more relaxed after he brought up some of my requirements were met "I wasn't really planning on the fast track anyway." I barely had a clue where I was going, except I knew my joy of studying in the concrete walls was far from a personal joy. "My only worry is knowing how some students try to get into my program who may think this is the easier way through the academy." He was now sitting back in his desk chair turned to me, with his legs crossed toward me. "I hope you have your journal on you?" "Journal?" I felt a little faint. What did I forget, I never heard anything about a journal to have for requirements. "The journal, the academy requires you to have to be a magical user," he stated slowly not seeming worried by my response. "While also hoping you use it as part of the foundation of your magical skills." "Oh yeah..." I gave an apologized look, as I quickly pulled out the hot pink leather journal that I owned for the last last ten months. I gave a small thank you to wherever in the universe that I started a small habit sometime in the last two weeks when I handed it to him. I had good intentions with the journal, my difficulty was more of making a habit out of it. "Looks like you've gotten some work out of it." he noted as he held it in his right hand. Where I then noticed some black tattoos that covered the back of his hand, he closed his eyes for a moment. Not even moving to open the pages. "Hmm, yes a good strength of power in you. But not quite where I can accept you in the program fully... yet." He paused top open his eyes, and hand me back my journal. "Your magic, and use of tools isn't quite balanced." He caught my quick look of confusion, and gave me a look of reassurance. "I mean I would prefer a better habit with the journal. When you enter the program, you will be surprised by how much is in our world that can go unseen easily by everyone. Our world is interesting, and I need to be able to trust that you can survive the tasks I give you throughout your studies. Can't have any dead bodies in this class, the academy tends to frown on that." He gave a soft chuckle to his own joke. I nodded to him, "So what should I do instead Professor...." "Glen, Professor Ore Glen." He offered his hand to me for a handshake, "Nice to finally meet you Bouncer the Resilient. You'll see the last requirements you need to be able to take my class." He pointed to the journal I was working on getting back in my class. "Just a small quest, but enough to see if you can handle entering my program by the time the new year starts." He gave a nod, and a voice of optimism. "If you happen to fail them within the next five weeks. I know we can still work on getting you into the program. However, I have high hopes for you being able to enter soon enough. Plan on coming to see me in four weeks, and we'll see where you are at." He stood up to help walk me out, "Thank you Professor Glen," I said with a smile as I walked out into the slightly brighter hallway. "Remember the quests are in the front of the journal, easy to find and easy to go to. anything you can figure out to help you grow will also help." I nodded, confused what he meant being in my journal. Since I didn't see him open it. But I didn't feel it was the right time to ask question. ---------------------------------------- The walk to my dorm seemed to take forever, but knowing I better wait to check the goals until I could plan it out. When I lit the lamps and candles in the rooms to make it easier to read. Opening it, I found his hand writing on the first page with the black in. To my relief the goals were easy enough, however a tad boring then I had hoped. I already had been doing most of these goals. Taking a breath, I realized that the end of the term for studying was going to be long. But hopefully I was going to figure out how to do something a bit more interesting, soon enough. Copied from last challenge/slightly edited: 5 main goals: Write a "Daily To Do List" daily (technically I have a page for homework and another page for everything else, but if I write anything down on one page I'm more likely to use the other. Getting words on the page to start reserving energy on actively working on my to do list). Write 444 words a day It's NaNoWriMo... I'm embracing the writing, with a tracker within the fun game (so I don't have to remember to actually track it). Walk to work on Sundays the one days the buses don't go in my new town, over 3 miles one way (few hills) this will be nothing but a good training to my dream park job that I found out is 6 miles one way (with many large hills) (or another day of the week to make it up, when my mom talks me into driving her borrowed truck). Apply to a New Job opening or Go to Interview once a Week I need a new second job/I want out of my janitor job... I always get a job if I actively look for one (easy enough goal to work on before winter break, and still have a ways to go on settling in my new home) Study 15 mins a day in both classes until Exams If I do 100% of studying daily, I'm giving myself $200 for free spending money (I can't believe I'm giving it to myself, but this is a habit I've been avoiding. And need some habit before I walk into upper level classes next semester). (Also changed my award from electronics, towards other things toward my goals but still more fun then I like spending). (Note exams are during Week Zero). I'm looking into adding a few goals, along with changes to happen after the first week of this challenge my Fall Semester will be ending (and Spring Semester will be starting probably around the time the next challenge starts). So far I've been 100% for awhile with writing this week (slowly working on catching up). Missed one journal day yesterday. My mom used her witty ways that I ended up driving to work (which was for the better that day in the end). Thinking of walking on Thanksgiving or Friday to the wooded area I haven't been to in over a month. Other goals, I need to write up my present future goals that I want to add. But knowing I need to take it slow. However, I do know sometime this challenge I'm adding an exercise routine, since I realized a dream job right now involves being very active outside.

Ok lets start this. I liked the setup from the last challenge pretty much. But life head other plans and i fell of the truck. So this time, i will use the setup from last time with some fine tuning. I will start tomorrow. Tracking is done with habithub. Check: ✓ Fail: ✘ Todo: ☐ Skip: - Week 1: Habits: * Use the daylight lamp for 30 minutes each day: ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Use Headspace daily for 10 minutes ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Plan each day: (Go through the my todo app and plan the todos for the day) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Brush teeth at 11pm (i tend to be in bed to late. With this i hope to structure my evenings a bid better) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * No Social Media on my Phone(Block Facebook and Youtube on the mobile browser) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Diet: * No Sweets during the week (i want to cut down on those. My first steep is to limit it to the weekend (friday - sunday)): ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * No Pasta during the week (same as for the sweets only allowed from friday to sunday): ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ * Don't drink liquid calories: (just water, coffee with milk or unsweetend tea) ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ ☐ Excercise: * Go to Taiji class and be on time(Mondays and Tuesdays) ☐ ☐ * Use the my bike for the work way(15 Minutes each way, 3 days a week) ☐ ☐ ☐

Hullo. Me again. Doesn't matter if you don't know who I am. I've been back and forth on the Rebellion forums for years and it has always done me good to keep my life in balance. I haven't been around for a while because life's been crazy and I found myself "accidentally" ignoring the forums and my challenge goals. Other things to do. But now I feel like I need the structure of the challenges again to reboot the end of my year and stop this little funk I've been in for the last month or so. Stuff about me in general: I live in Australia. I identify as female. Roller derby is my team sport of choice. My fitness journey has so far gone like this: Yoga --> BW --> NF --> more BW --> Roller derby --> gym --> Lifting --> Roller derby --> broken ankle --> sedentary --> rehab --> skatey --> gym rehab --> moar derby --> meltdown --> little to no cross-training --> now. I'm at work and my brain is starting to turn to jello. Long Story: TL;DR Life. Madness. Had some panic attacks, been in a funk. Haven't been cross-training or eating like I should. Also decided I should really address my self-esteem issues. Gonna do it. Get better. Be awesome. Kick ass. etc. Long Term Goals (very vague I know) Food prep every week, eat less snacks, fuel body for athleticism Cross-train in equal amounts to derby practice. Win an MVP award in a derby game next year Be able to clean my house without getting all angsty about it Stop being so mean to myself. Challenge Goals! This challenge is all about the hinge habits. Small habits I need to work on so that they can lead to bigger and better things. Like fitness, and a clean house. My motivator is monetary this time around. It's not very druid-y to be motivated by money I know - but heck, the warm fuzzy feeling of a clean house isn't doing it for me so I've gotta try something. My challenge will be scored in $1's. Every time I achieve something, $1 is added to my score. At the end of the challenge I'm going to use the total I've earned to buy something nice for the new house I've moved into. 1. Stop Pity Eating. Replace bought snacks and soft drinks with alternatives. Chocolate. There is always a fundraising box of chocolate bars at work which I have been snacking on WAY too often. it's time to stop that. They aren't even as good as I think they're gonna be. Instead I can bring a snack to entertain myself while at work. $1 for every time I go to buy a chocolate bar but have an alternative, or resist. I have to consciously think about buying the chocolate and reason myself out of it though. No just counting the amount of times I walk past the box. Soft Drinks. Not gonna lie, my partner and I played the McDonalds monopoly game hard. I know fast food is bad for me, so that's why I usually eat much less of it. But to begin with I'm going to work on cutting out the sugary soft drink part of it. $1 every time I have the chance to buy a soft drink and choose an alternative. Like water. Or tea. 2. Just do some damn exercise. I know I should cross-train. It makes me a better derby player. I've just lost the motivation. And now that I've moved house I don't drive directly past any gyms so I can't even guilt trip myself into stopping by on the way home from work like I used to. So I'm going to start with the basics. Push ups and single leg squats on alternating days, with one run on the weekend. Following the 50 pull ups system for the bodyweight exercises so I do the form and work my way up. And following the C25K system for the run so I can work on my cardio endurance from the ground up again. $2 earned for every push up I can do at the end of the challenge. $2 earned for every controlled negative pistol squat I can do at the end of the challenge - that's just the going down part. Asking myself to do a full pistol in a month is probably asking a bit much. We'll see. $5 for every km I can run non-stop at the end of the challenge. Bigger bribes here because I really, really, really want to get better at roller derby. 3. Keep the house sparkly. We bought a house. It's brand new. An ex-display home. No one has ever lived in it. You know those cartoons where they clean a room and the whole thing literally sparkles? that's what it's like. It's absolutely beautiful. And I want to keep it that way. Working sort of off the Flylady system of house cleaning, I'm going to focus on keeping one area of the house spotless every week. Week 1: Master Bedroom/bathroom/walk-in robe Week 2: Living space and dining room Week 3: Entrance and outdoors Week 4: Kitchen $1 for every day I clean something in the right zone. Maybe bonus points for doing extra. I dunno yet. $1 for every box of stuff I unpack during the challenge. Right now I feel like I'm camping in someone else's house. 4. Brain Train. Toot toot. That's the sound of me tooting my own horn. Read those Sport Psychology books you fucking downloaded for fucks sake. After my meltdown one of my teammates suggested a sports spychologist* psychologist might be able to help me work on my lack of self esteem. And being that I live in a small country town, there is no sport psychologist. So I googled it. Found some books. Downloaded some books. Read one and it really resonated with me so I started another one. But I've stopped reading them lately. No time? that's a bad excuse I know. Books to work through: The Brave Athlete: Calm the Fuck Down and Rise to the Occasion (currently half way through) - by Simon Marshall & Lesley Paterson The Subtle Art of not Giving a Fuck - by Mark Manson. Read the sample and sounded real good. Unf*ck yourself: Get out of your head and into your life (re-read) - by Gary Johnn Bishop. If I finish the others I would like to read this one again. I'm sensing a theme. $1 for every night you spend some time reading about your brain. *it's late. my typos are getting bad but that was too funny to delete. what do you think a spychologist does? Like I said. total $$$ scored is how much I get to spend on house stuff. There;s already a list of things I want and will probably buy but if I see something I just want just 'cos, that will be my goal. I like to track my challenges on a spreadsheet so I can see how many days I've skipped. Also excel does the math for me. yay.

Last challenge went well. I saw data points that tend to make me believe I am making progress. I feel better and the house is coming along. Will it be in a magazine tomorrow? Uh no, and probably never, but the way I am working towards it, it is less likely to make me embarrassed if someone comes over unannounced, or it gets in my way while doing things. Plus as I realized last night, I am no longer playing catch up with school, I am ahead by almost 2 weeks in one class and well on time with the other. This means, I really am starting on an even playing field. Am I where I would like to be? No. But I am trying to focus on getting there. My path is becoming clearer, and while it is still fairly overgrown with shrubs and trees and hard to see, it’s getting better. I made it through the rebuilding process. I have a fairly strong foundation now. I am drinking my water and I am doing my exercises. So, while I can’t for the life of me come up with fun names for my goals or a way to geek them out with gifs and things, I am going to make it simpler and focus on the task at hand. Gifs can come later in the posts for fun and well and break in the “Man, Bean updated another novel” posts. Which, I am also going to try and update with a table this time. I am getting tired of the novels too. I am also going to have 2 parts again since that worked well last time to remind me I am not exactly doing nothing over here and when I did my final update, it showed me how much I really have done. So expect that too. I lied. I am going to have a theme for my goals or rules as I will call them this challenge. They are stolen from Zombieland since it sounded like fun for once. The challenge for me starts on 10/17/17 since I am too tired to start it today. RULES: · Rule 1: Cardio: (1 pt) – Since I am hitting my step goal on all the days but weekends, I am increasing my goal to 10500 steps. Hopefully this will also force me to work a bit harder on the weekends. · Rule 2: Double Tap (2 pts) – This is to double Tap the sugary sweets that keep appearing. I don’t need them. I get 2 points if I completely avoid them, one if I had just 1. · Rule 3: Beware of Bathrooms (1pt): This one comes down to the keep it clean. I have gotten better about a good chunk of the house, but I can check the downstairs bathroom daily too. Or at least the vanity · Rule 8: With Your Bare Hands (1 pt): So bad name, but generally, keep working on my exercise and do a new exercise the basic burpee. The mini last challenge showed me how bad I am at them. I am hoping to get 25 of them by the end of the challenge. · Rule 11: Use Your Feet (1 pt) –I would like to aim for 15 minutes a day of walking. Be it outside in the world (which is preferred) or inside on the treadmill since the weather is starting to get a bit unpredictable. · Rule 13: Shake it Off (1pt): My carpal tunnel from 10-15 years ago has started to raise its ugly head. So I need to start doing some exercises and stretches to ward it off. I can’t find any of my old PT info on it, but I did some looking and I will be trying to work on the Wrist Extension Stretch at least once a day. · Rule 14: Always carry a change of underwear (1pt): Laundry is getting done, but not folded and then I get children in the morning complaining they have no pants, no underwear, no sweaters. This should help cut down on the “lack of pants” problem. · Rule 17: Don’t Be The Hero (1 pt): – The Agents need special time too. By making a point to spend time with them, I almost kind of get to be their hero. Maybe. OR I lie to myself that works too. · Rule 18: Limber Up (1 pt) : Continue my stretching. It is fixing things and I need to keep it that way, especially when sitting all the time. Add a new stretch (which is the one I will be counting) is called Knee to Chest. Hopefully it helps (if I can get my knees to my chest). · Rule 19: Break it Up (1pt): This will be my conquer chaos goal. I am going to leave it at 3 locations. If I do more, great, (and I will probably leave the stars as extra incentive), but I need to spend at least 5 minutes working in that room a day. Since the weather is turning bad, I will be doing my bedroom instead of the garage, along with the computer room or the basement. · Rule 22: When in Doubt, Know Your Way Out (1 pt): – In this case it means know what has to get done, what should get done and what can wait if it’s getting late. A plan is SO important in my life, I need to make sure I am making it. · Rule 27: The Buddy System (2 pt) – For my partner, I am recruiting all of you here at NF. You will be accounting systems when I don’t update and I will be there to remind you that you’re someone’s kid too. (This may have made more sense in my head) · Rule 32: Enjoy The Little Things (1pt): This is my favorite rule from the entire movie. I need to take a minute to enjoy. To remember the good things going on and not the bad. So I will be posting 1 good thing that happened each day. This way, it should help me keep the trolls in my head in check. Total points overall : 15 Part B: Life is not slowing down for me to get myself under control. So I need to do all of this while doing everything else. I am sure more will come up as I think about it, but here is the top level stuff. These are things I know must be done between now and when challenge ends: Things that have to get done this challenge: Get my challenge posted Sort out Challenge info Figure out start date for the challenge ( I may start early) Update bullet journal Get challenge set up in journal Set up grid/table/something (excel) Finish preparing to bring plants in over the winter Spend time with Hubby's family that is coming into town Halloween costumes planned Create/build acquire Halloween Party at Youngest school Help at Youngest’s school Parent teacher conference week Eldest Parent Techer conference Youngest Clean out beds for garlic Compost beds for garlic Plant garlic? Girl scout Sleep over Decide when to pull the garden Pull last of garden in back Pull garden in front Make a Proper List of doom Make Calendar of world for Agents in November Start Christmas lists for Agents fix my car's glass hinges (stupid things rusted)

G'Day all my fellow rangers, I'm back for another 4-week challenge! Last month was a bit of a hectic one, and as a result, I found myself in a pretty unorganized time in my life. I didn't do so well in my last challenge and I want to bring myself back into a disciplined lifestyle. So for this challenge, I'll be focusing on sticking to good habits and building a solid routine. Quest Challenges Post to Photo Journal Every Day Been using my photo journal as motivation for taking on new adventures and challenges. Want to get back into doing it regularly Meditate 10 minutes a day, 10 Days in a Row Want to start routinely practice the Wim Hof method. Complete 4 Fitocracy Quests Non-Quest Related Challenges Finish My Font-End Web Development Certification This is part of Free Code Camp's 500-hour course for web development. I'm on the very last project of the course, but have been putting it off for a while. Do Strength/Physical Training x5 A week Cardio After Every Strength Workout Cardio use to be my strong suit, but I've been neglecting it a lot since getting into strength training. I am going to make it a habit to dedicated 30-minutes or more of cardio at the end of my workouts. Stretch, Every Day Do Yoga x2 A Week Days I don't do strength work I'll be doing yoga to promote recovery Practice Piano and Guitar, x6 a week Been taking up Piano and Guitar to help improve my memory after reading Deep Work. Goal is 30 minutes minimum a session Read 1 chapter a day from a book on self-improvement Weekly Reports: Week I Report Week II Report Week III Report ____________ I am really excited about doing all of these challenges. I feel like having my goals laid out in front of me would help me remind me what I want to work towards and make them into habits. To keep myself more motivated I am taking a page form Cal NewPort's "Power of Habit" and giving myself a reward for each challenge I complete. Since it's still week 0 I am going to spend some time today building a tracker to help unlock each new challenge and reward. Created a stat tracker and reward roulette spreadsheet on Google Sheets. More info on project

After doing so well on my Whole30 (-17.8lbs & -2 inches to almost all my measurements) I want to keep galloping ahead. I’m not going to do a whole30 but I want to continue some of the eating habits and this time get in more workouts. I’m going to use this week to come up with a way to track my progress and I’m moving back to points. Points : 100% = 244 : 75% = 183 - Will be added to my Jonesy's Fun Adventure I learned a lot from my whole30 and I don’t want to lose that knowledge. I also don’t want to restrict myself as much. I need to find a good balance and that is something I’ve always struggled with. Food No soda, No snacking, No sweets(occasional sugar in food is ok just no candy, cookies, etc), No eating out. Exceptions : Fancy coffee on Monday and Friday, Events, Work outings, Special Meals with Friends or Family Weekends have no restrictions. Points : 5 per day for good days - 3 per days if I slip I feel like I started out good last challenge and then got sick. I also found an archery club that has $5 Introduction to Archery classes every Thursday, except during Fair times (next one is 9/28). Exercise 5 days each week (at least 20 mins) Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri & Sat/Sun (Rest Days Wed - may be sub for another day if something comes up, Sat or Sun) Try Archery! Points : 20 per 20+ min workout - Bonus points for Archery: 50 I can’t skip my responsibilities and I’m running low on funds. Budgeting is a priority and I thought I’d try donating plasma for some extra cash. I went in on 9/9 and have to come back since I donated blood in August. Forgot about that. Life Daily Cleaning Bujo before Bed Weekly budgets Donate Plasma Points : 1 point per each Weekly Game Goals : Each week I will draw a quest from my list of quests from Jonesy’s Fun Adventure. Redraws are ok if I know for a FACT I won't be able to accomplish. Points : Points based on Game and count as extra credit!

Hey, it's my 13th challenge! It is scary how fast they go by. There are many goals and desires that I am mentally juggling this month. For my sanity, it is becoming important to keep most of them in the "I want to do this" category and not the "I have to do this" category, so I pared this challenge cycle down to just two things. 1. Lose 1% body fat 2. Keep the habit of exercise My first goal is based on my desire to eventually get to 20% body fat (hopefully sometime next spring?) This is a "must" category not just for vanity, but to make me a better athlete and to help me sort out some digestion problems along the way. I have a food plan written up for the next five weeks and I will stick to it. My second goal is a "must" as well. By keeping the habit of exercise, I mean that I will do either my GMB Elements workout or my physio+bodyweight workout six mornings a week, as soon as I have had my morning tea. I set this as my priority because of an article written by Jacob on his blog. It talks about what four things are required for someone to make a change, and though he is talking about changing from a consumer lifestyle it applies just as well to changing to a fit lifestyle. My main barrier to becoming a fit athlete is the perceived cost. I think it will be hard. I don't like being uncomfortable. I hate feeling foolish or weak. All things that exercise makes me feel from time to time. By making simple at-home workouts a habit, I attack this barrier from two directions. First, I lower the level of discomfort by reducing any mental strain of deciding when and whether to exercise, and make sure that it gets done when I have energy. And second, I raise my ability to withstand discomfort through repeated low levels of exposure. In other words, I only now realised that the more I do something the easier it gets. There are a couple events that will make this challenge a little more exciting. First, I'll be going to Halifax in a week to visit an old friend. I have already updated her on my exercise commitment and she is willing to encourage me (read: not let me have breakfast until I am done). Second, the hot weather and frequent heavy smoke is playing havoc with my headaches/asthma/energy so I am excited to have it clear out soon (I hope). I have an early birthday hike planned for October 5th and I am praying it won't be cancelled due to forest fires. That's it! I'll post my starting BF% tomorrow, and I'll check in every couple days, even if only for a few quick words.

This challenge I want to focus on my eating. The last few months I’ve been pretty bad about home cooking, coffee and sugar. Because I’ve been so lazy about food, I go the easy route which is pre made foods or snacks which tend to be sugary treats. I know that diet it essential to getting healthy and losing weight and it’s something I always struggle with. It’s time for my yearly Whole30! Whole30 400 pts at Completion Start 8/13 - End 9/11 Complete 30 days of no Dairy, Sugar, Grains, Legume and Alcohol. Try 4 new vegetables. Accountability : At least 15 Pictures of the foods I eat Review recipes I try and share them here At least 1 sentence update a day for how I’m feeling Continue with previous August habits Health = Cleaning 10 Mins a day Floors/Counters/Mail/Trash/Laundry Mana = Water or Tea 6 cups + Strength = Exercise 3 workouts a week 4 yoga sessions 4 gym sessions Stamina = Sleep In bed by 11pm & Up by 6:30am Wisdom = Finances Pay bills on time Create weekly budgets Constitution = Food Home cooked meals Whole30 Reduce Snacking (3x a day)

It's my seventh challenge and I'm ready to do this! Whatever this is. I'm ready for that. --- Quest #1: Workout 3x per week (continuation/upgrade from last challenge) My yearly goal is to work out 2 x per week. I'm eleven workouts behind, so if I just add one extra per week, it's still gonna take nearly the rest of the year to catch up...which means it's definitely time to scale this up. The good news: I'm feeling really motivated to workout more. The bad news: More workouts take more time. So I will keep these workouts short and sweet. I will do them before work in the morning. I will succeed. Quest #2: Lights out at 10 pm (continuation from last challenge) I am still committed to getting to bed earlier, and my partner is in on it. Strategies that will help: Not overscheduling myself, heeding my alarms at 9:20 that I need to get in bed. Quest #3: Write a poem every other day and post it before 9 pm (continuation/upgrade from last challenge) This quest messed up my bed time quest last time because I like to stay in bed and write. I also feel more pressure to produce really good poems as the project goes on longer, so I spend more time on them. Which is fine--but I'd like to have a deadline. Quest #4: Manage my $$ (new quest!) I used to be A+ 100% amazing at keeping up with YNAB and various other money-related tasks. It's been minimum two months since I've done that. My partner and I have a shared money date (as we call it) and I have a solo money date where I sit down and do a bunch of boring money stuff and usually have a treat as well. I will reschedule my solo money time because it's still in the middle of the day on Tuesday...even though I haven't worked for myself in almost a year. I am committing to at least one session of one hour per week of managing my money, whether it is on my own or with my partner. Overall thoughts I wish I were doing a nutrition quest but I think the upgraded time commitments on both money management and workouts is going to be a lot to handle. I've pretty well built a habit of eating veggies where possible (okay, I don't order salad when I eat out because it makes me sad) so I'll keep up the basic levels of good eatin' I currently have.

So here we are again. I'm a bit late posting this challenge. I had two other challenge ideas to choose from for this round, and they were both great, but I haven't been feeling it enough to take the plunge. I took my longest break from working out in AGES over the past two weeks. I had a headache/spine pain issue for a week, during which I managed one sort of half workout before accepting that I couldn't handle working out in that state. Then by the time it faded I was on vacation without a plan because I hadn't known if I would recover enough to even be able to do ANYTHING so I wasn't prepared. I managed two runs during the two week period, and that's it. And the first week was 100% justified, but the second week was on me. And that's really sort of infuriating. I worked out 3x/week + runs EVERY WEEK for an entire year last year, even on vacation. and this year I just can't seem to get it together. Yeah, I have a wrist problem that's getting in the way, but that's not enough to account for all of the trouble I've been having. And when I don't work out, I start to feel terrible. I feel weak and my life feels out of control and my emotions feel out of control and every little thing feels like it can break me apart. I feel like I'm just going to keep slipping until I totally lose all of my progress completely. I start to feel like my whole life is coming apart. And I'm not ok with that. So today I did a bodyweight workout at home. And this song came on. And I pushed through. And it was a start. A lot of the problem is just mental. I'm frustrated with the things getting in the way of progress, so I avoid doing even the things I CAN do, and that makes my progress even worse. It's a vicious cycle. So this is going to be my challenge theme instead of the other stuff I was planning. My body keeps telling me no. I feel tired and bloated. My wrist hollers if I try to put weight on it. My shins rebel when I increase running mileage. I want to take about 200 naps per day and drown all of my problems in tv and sleeping. But screw that. I felt on top of the world when my workouts were going well, and I'm not going to let my body's creaking take that away from me. So this challenge is all about refusing to be defeated. If my last challenge was about channelling some inner peace, then this challenge is about channelling some SCREW THIS. The Year So Far For my challenges this year, I decided to focus on one single habit per challenge instead of doing the usual 3+ goals / challenge. There are 10 challenges in 2017 so I can potentially establish 10 new healthy habits over the course of the year. Challenge 1 - walking daily / aiming for 16 miles/week - is still going strong. I score usually in the 12-16 mile range per week and I walk most days, which is acceptable. Challenge 2 - morning routine - this took a while beyond the actual duration of the challenge, but I have a kickass morning routine now. I started doing it again as soon as I got home from vacation, which is the sign of a great routine. And I even did a modified version of it while I was ON VACATION, which is an even greater sign that it's the right thing for me. Challenge 3 - I had a smoothie for breakfast and a salad for lunch every day to see if this would create a healthy basis for the rest of my eating. It unfortunately didn't stick because I started experimenting with skipping breakfast instead, which I prefer and have continued doing since I started. Challenge 4 - Guardian. I focused on being productive at work and approaching my mental wellbeing from the perspective of the guardian archetype. Getting work done = being a guardian for people. Being a guardian = personal fulfillment. It's been hit or miss, but it does help on the days that I do it. I do a little mantra on work mornings to help focus on being a guardian, and I think this one will get more effective as I continue to practice it. Today I went on a walk and stopped to pull some cardboard out of the street that was in the path of the cars. #guardianedit Challenge 5 - I was feeling frustrated and negative instead of celebrating my accomplishments, so I banned any updates that weren't basking. I could only talk about the things that I basked in and I couldn't talk about the things I was feeling down on myself about. This made a big impact on me and helped me reset my mindset. Now of course I feel frustrated by the vacation/sickness break and I'm sharing that as part of the explanation for this challenge, but I ALSO plan to continue basking as a habit going forward. Challenge 6...this challenge. See below. It feels silly to approach this challenge since I already had this habit down. And I still work out weekly, so it's not exactly...NOT a habit either. I feel sort of ashamed to be tackling this again. Or rather, I feel like I'm breaking the imaginary "rules" of my 10 new habits experiment. Which is silly. And, y'know, a master has failed more times than a beginner has even tried. So my goal is to work out 3x/week. Work out = bodyweight, HIIT, or other strength training. Yoga, running, etc. are all good but not workouts in this context. I want AT LEAST 2 of those workouts to be my standard bodyweight routine. The 3rd is usually bootcamp class, but since I haven't been going to that lately, I might sub in a basic BBWW for that 3rd.

Hi guys! So this is going to look almost exactly like my last challenge! But with Lord of the Rings Gifs! We are still building the habits. Aka, they vanished during zero week, so there is more work to be done. Though to be fair to myself, last week was INSANE. Quest 1: Eat Breakfast (aka channel my inner hobbit) Every morning I'm at home, must finish breakfast before I leave the apartment (or between the apartment in my car - can't get into my car until the food is gone) - I'm adding the car part because I have to wait for two separate elevators between my apartment and my car so eating while waiting for the elevator is acceptable to me. I would very much prefer to eat at home though - I'm going to get bonus points for eating before leaving apartment. Quest 2: Jounal (this is basically a journal, right?) Either do it (accomplishments, things I'm grateful for, freestyle or list of feelings I felt that day) or consciously decide not to do it. Either is fine, but I need to think about it! It really seems to help me process my day. I'm actually attending a yoga/journaling workshop this Sunday, so hopefully I'll get some tips and tricks! Quest 3: Self-Care (unrelated but fantastic gif) To be documented in journal usually, when I journal. I really liked something Taddea posted about boring self-care and I liked that a lot. I really liked making self-care in general consciously part of my day in the last challenge, it really helped keep me grounded. Other things: I'll be lifting, eating, sleeping, kicking ass at work, going to therapy, etc as usual. Going visit a nerd this upcoming weekend, we may lift together! Would be super fun. I ordered both a sunrise alarm clock and a happy light with some gift money so that was nice. Oh and I've been doing the dating thing. Let me know if you want to hear the horribly punny tinder messages I have received. Oh, and my meet is July 15th so that'll be fun Meet prep FTW!

[posting from my phone so forgive my typos & grammar] Life story; CURRENT GOALS 1. Get out of bed when your body wakes up. When I'm on work time I generally need to be out of bed by 6am to have enough time to cruise through my morning routine, but I've often woken up earlier then my alarm and tried to sleep more and made myself feel worse when I do finally get up. I'm going to make a point of hauling ass out of bed when I wake up if it's within a few hours or so of my alarm going off. 2. No screens in the morning before work. This is well-known to be counter-productive. I try to lose myself in social media or pinterest to avoid thinking/getting anxious about going to work and then I feel like shit physically and mentally. I can do anything else with this time; read, write, draw, crochet, exercise, etc... I'm constantly feeling guilty for not spending time on any of my many hobbies and the morning time is supposed to be great for productivity. As a well-known night owl, we shall see. 3. Track food; Stay within +-500cals of 2000calorie target and aim for 100g of protein. I've neglected my food tracking because I was stuck on the couch for 3 months and feeling sorry for myself. And the last two weeks I've been on holidays; no one needs that sort of stress on holidays. For those interested in how I decided on 2000cals; 4. Burpees in the morning. I have not historically loved burpees. But they work literally everything. And if I can get through burpees before doing anything else I can tackle anything else that the day throws me. Thats the plan. And I need to work on cardio and strength for derby. I still have my gym membership so I still plan to use it, but I need a baseline of exercise to focus on. I am late to this one but better that then not starting at all. I plan on starting this on Tuesday the 6th because I won't be home until then. *hi fives self* Go team!

So, I am choosing one habit per challenge this year and focusing specifically on developing and exploring that one habit. Then each challenge, I am maintaining the old habits while tackling a new one. At the end of the year, if all goes well, I will have TEN GREAT HABITS. Challenge 1: Walking daily (aiming for 16 miles per week) Challenge 2: Morning routine Challenge 3.... It's food time. Here are some misc. things about me and food: So, that's me and food in a nutshell. What works for me seems to be limiting my food enough that it's a little boring, and getting plenty of fiber/vegetables. It's a challenge because food is also such a hobby for me that I don't want to limit it in that way. So I think what I need to do is somehow find a balance. And I want to avoid setting excessive rules or tracking overly much, because even when it works, I don't think it's totally sustainable. And I want healthy eating to become something I do on autopilot, just like exercise is. So. I think for this challenge, I'm going to experiment with a hypothesis. The blog nomeatathlete mentions this concept at one point: I think there's something to this. Although I'll add protein to the salads because I'm not aiming for no meat. So, I want to experiment. If I have a smoothie every morning and a salad for lunch every day, then eat whatever I feel like for snacks and dinner, will that balance me out? Details The smoothies and salads can vary, obviously. I have a basic green smoothie formula I use a lot, but I can also just tinker with other options. I have a roasted veggie salad recipe and a cobb salad recipe I really like. I'll need more variety than that to keep salads interesting, so please do share if you have any favorite salads! I do want to experiment with black bean pasta salad, but loaded with lots of veggies. Oh, and there's that Mediterranean salad I like too. So that's 4. And thai steak salad with goat cheese and raspberry vinaigrette. I think I'll use the term "salad" loosely here. Like, if I make a ton of ratatouille or something, that's a large pile of vegetables, which is basically a salad. I can also make an omelette and chop it up on top of a salad. I just need enough variety that I'm not like "ughh, salad" after a few days of this. I like craisins on a salad. And caesar with avocado. And so on and so on. Mark over at MDA also eats a big ass salad for lunch every day, and swears by it, so there's another basis for this to work. The other thing I kind of want to do is build up my salad database. When I have a tasty salad somewhere, I want to figure out how to recreate it at home. I've had two at the cafe where they hold a gaming meetup that I really liked - a spinach bacon salad with tomatoes, creamy balsamic, and sunflower seeds, and a caprese salad with tomato and mozz and balsamic glaze on greens. I haven't quite figured out a good creamy balsamic dressing yet. Or a balsamic glaze. Dressing is going to be the key to success here. Other good ones I've had...there's one I don't remember that well, but I think it had arugula and goat cheese and some sort of crispy topping that didn't feel super unhealthy. Hrm. And there was one at a pub with figs, portobello mushrooms, and either feta or goat cheese, which was also amazing. Planning There are a few things I need to prepare for. What if I don't want breakfast one day? Does skipping the smoothie and just having a banana mid-morning count against me? I don't think it should. That will be allowed. And also, I think there will be times when I just really want some eggs or some pancakes. Or get a chance to go out for breakfast and have something other than a smoothie. And I think for now I'll just observe what happens without judgement if it does. I'll see how often this variance actually happens, and then adjust from there if I need to. There's also travel. It's harder to make a smoothie when I'm staying with friends or the boyfriend. I guess I can do it at the boyfriend's. Although sometimes we don't eat breakfast and lunch is our first meal of the day. I'm not worried about the time with friends. It's not so common that it's an issue. The time with the boyfriend will need some care though. We both like eating out as a hobby, so it's hard to say I'm just going to have a salad, especially when there are so many salads I don't really like at restaurants. So, I'm not sure. I don't want this to turn into deprivation or forcing myself to eat a mediocre salad when there's something else amazing in front of me. It might be dangerous, but I kind of want to play this by ear too. Maybe have a salad for at least one meal out of every three days I'm with him? Or maybe focus on just getting a certain quantity of vegetables in general? Or on eating paleoish? I don't know yet. There will probably also be times when I end up having something other than the planned salad for lunch. In those cases, I think I'll just try to adjust by having it for dinner instead. I don't like eating salad for dinner unless it's amazing, so I won't plan for this to happen. I'll just be prepared to adapt when it does. Other Stuff So none of this is a specific goal, but I have other ongoing habits / fitness stuff that I'll often report on here: Yoga 3 workouts / week 2 runs / week Meditation Shopping ban running Jan - March (and maybe longer) - no eating out unless travelling or socially, no shopping unless I need to replace something that runs out Aikido

So, I've moved to Michigan! Detroit is lovely so far, and @Taddea Zhaan is an excellent nerd to hang out with (she even helped me unpack!) This challenge is going to be all about building habits (and hopefully finishing, unlike that last one where I disappeared for two weeks because I moved then had a work trip?). I find that I have a lot of expectations of myself - "should". Such as I should eat three meals a day, but they should be healthy, but I should go to lunch with my coworkers and network, and I should go to all the happy hours to network, and I should do mobility daily, and I should do yoga three times a week, and I should start hiking, and I should start running so I can do 5k's again, and I should join the rock climbing club, and I should continue going to therapy, and, and, and.... So, for zero week (I'm sure it will change) I'm going to make a list of all the things I "should" do, and how often I "should" do them. Just to get a baseline. I find once I start writing down all the stuff I do, I magically feel way more on top of my game, I think when something is a habit I stop giving myself "credit" for it. So I'm also going to write down all the stuff I ACTUALLY do, and keep a tally. I've done that with work tasks before, and it's super helpful come review time, or when your manager comes up and asks what you've gotten done today/this week/this month. So why not do it for personal things? Then maybe I can decide which of my shoulds/accomplishments I actually WANT to prioritize, which ones I NEED to prioritize, and which are an external force that I can disregard. *theme for later - debating star wars (DID YOU SEE THE TRAILER) but I've done that before so no idea!*

Rolling Stoney changes her shape This challenge is all about change for me. 2017 was going to be a big year, but it happened in a way I didn't quite expect. My plan was to cross-train hard, eat well, do the derby, work hard, buy a house... but literally none of those things happened. I broke my ankle. Derby, cross training, working, and being able to cook my own food all went out the window. My partner got made redundant so our house loan got canned. And my boss is selling her cafe so I may not even have a job in a few months. But as of last month I can walk without a limp again and I'm so close to getting back to derby training that I can at least throw most of my focus that way and still feel like I am moving forwards in life. My long term goals look like this; Walk again sans limp. completed 23/3 Be cleared to skate again. (planned 19/4) Skate a whole 3hr training session. (planned early May) Re-Pass my Minimum Skills. (planned June) Play a full Roller Derby Bout. (planned August) Find a new job. My goals this challenge are focussed on adapting to the change that I'm currently experiencing in many parts of life while still trying to complete my current long-term goals. I need to prepare my physical form for my triumphant return to roller derby by cross-training what I can and eating well to fuel said training increase. So going to the gym is a thing. Between working and training I burn energy like a wildfire so I need to prep food accordingly so I don't eat like shit at work when I can't be fucked getting something rounded and healthy. I need to prepare my resume and a portfolio for if or when my job goes kaput so I am ready to attempt to jump into a new job. As a teenager and an adult I've always been a design oriented person and I loved jewellery design. There are two in-house jewellery studios in town that I aim to approach for training and hopefully a job, but I can't do that without a portfolio. And finally I need to keep myself accountable and organised so I'm trying out this whole bullet journal thingo. It's working good, even if mine aren't pretty like the ones on instagram. Change of Body Gym 3x week. (Lower body, Upper body, Core, Cardio & Yoga) I had great plans at the start of the year to continue the cross-training I had been doing in my derby off-season, but that plan got de-railed after I broke my ankle. After 3 months of being immobile I have to start back at the start, but that's okay. I have a gym membership and a plan. I had to split my workouts into upper, lower and core because I was spending too long at once at the gym and it made me reluctant to go more then once a week. My lower body workout it pretty short right now because of my limited ankle strength and mobility, but I need the habit to be there. Yoga can be done at home. Change of Job Work on jewellery/design portfolio, post daily My job is on tenterhooks right now. Potentially my boss may sell her business and the new owners may or may not keep me on. With that and my partner's recent redundancy I have found myself needing a change. After having 3 months off work I realise that hospitality is no longer what I want to do. I cannot do the work for so little thanks anymore. Back in school I was really passionate with design and specifically designing and making jewellery. I don't know what it was about melting bits of metal together but I loved it. There are no jobs available right now but I plan on getting together a portfolio of sorts and approaching the two local studios in town and seeing about a job. I figure I can't do that without some substance so I'm going to use this month to work on some designs. I will post the designs as evidence. If I happen to not want to draw jewellery specifically I can draw anything else and it still counts. Change of Food Meal prep 1x weekly Meal prepping healthy meals was another thing I was getting really good at before I broke my ankle, and sticking to the food I planned to eat was also working really well for my energy levels. When I broke I wasn't totally in control of what I could eat and as I didn't have to leave the house I just ate what I could carry with one hand. Going back to exercising and work means I need all the energy I can get and I can't keep grazing on whatever I can find at work because it inevitably ends up being cake or pancakes or just coffee. It makes me sluggish and bloated and I am perfectly capable of prepping food to take with me. Change of Habit Bullet Journal Daily I'm testing out the whole bullet journal thing, and I think so far it's working for me. While I do tend to drool over the beautiful instagram ones, I don't have the handwriting or the patience or the funds to pay for all the beautiful stickers and many pens to make it beautiful. Thankfully it's also a functional thing so I'm going with that. I'll work on my penmanship later. I need to update my journal every day and use it for anything I can think of. Adding in to-do jobs, writing down my gym sessions, planning meal prep... So far it's working really well for everything and I want to continue feeling organised. It's something I've struggled with my whole life.

Hello Nerd Assassins! Or should that be Assassin Nerd's, we don't kill nerds here, right? Looks like I joined the Rebellion just in time for a four week challenge which I'm stoked about. Here are my goals for May: 1) Walk 1 mile first thing every morning (establishing the habit of exercise) 2) 80% of my calorie intake will be made up of whole foods over a week (establishing the habit of eating right) 3) Eat 300g veg on 3 of my daily meals (some days I eat 4 meals a day due to my work schedule) 4) Work for 5 minutes each day on my blog (establishing another habit) The daily exercise thing is to get me in the habit of working out before I leave for my day job. Working out after work sucks for me The job isn't overly physical but coming home and going to workout isn't the greatest. I'm building up to the Floor 1 program from GMB, but baby steps, baby steps. For Food and Nutrition, I'm already on a 30-day challenge to eat only 3-4 meals per da with no snacking. I've just given up calorie counting and macro-tracking and am enjoying the intuitive eating style of game. These extra efforts of eating mostly whole foods and 300g veg per meal were goals from further down the road. I maybe feel like I'm cramming too much in to too little time (I'm not sure if Leo Babuta is going to yell at me, but he doesn't seem the type ). Working on the blog is a Freedom Goal. It's important to me to be self-sufficient. EDIT: What the hell just happened?! I woke up on Tuesday this week and had a small breakdown apparently; the good kind though, I think, nothing to worry about (I'm British and prone to hyperbole). I'll blame Steve and the LUYL book I think.... I was listening to the chapter about sacrifice while working and some bolt out of the blue hit my mind. Apparently I think that slowly building habits is great and all, but the above gaols are a little too slow for me. They quickly changed to the following on Tuesday: 1) Eat Paleo. That's a little vague but I took it as a challenge to eat as high up the paleo diet plan as possible. I'll check what level I'm working at in a bit 2) Exercise every day. Yep every damn day. Strength workout 3 times a week, Interval training the other days, and Yin yoga if anything else would kill me. 3) Work for five minutes on my blog every day. That's still a good-un. I'm handing in my notice at work on Friday so I can work on my blog & fitness full time. I've been dreaming about doing this for probably eight years now so it's time to jump, I think. Wish me luck nerds.

Okay starting today, I am taking in the sights as I breeze into a new town of regular habits, creativity, and a stronger me! I'm looking for 75% success on all my goals! Goal 1: 6 cups of water per day - in meh/okay process Goal 2: PT 3 times per week (min of 15 minutes per session) (will take note of extra sessions as big wins) - in very minimal process Goal 3: practice guitar for 15 mins every day (following book - report on chapters worked and how it feels) - in pretty good process Goal 4: 30 minute writing sessions 4 times per week (free writes would be great - editing only after initial 30 mins) - not started yet Goal 5: Bonus Goal -- set up workout area and create workout program binder -- put it up and write it down!! Simple in detail, strong in desire, tiny steps expected!!

I am Odinson_Rising, and I am...unworthy. That, however, will not always be the case. I will find my path, and I will lift my hammer once more. There is plenty of work to be done before that happens, though. I feel it's reasonable to say that I've recently experienced what felt like my own personal Ragnarok. In the aftermath of these life-altering events, I've come to realize that, although I can't control all the things, I want to be smarter, stronger, fitter, and more flexible, so that I can not only endure the challenges of life, but thrive under the worst conditions. I feel like this challenge is a good (nth) first step. First I will continue my exercise rituals. I need to adjust a little bit, so my plan is now to work out at least 5 days a week, with six being preferable, and the 7th being an active recovery day. That means five committed workout days, allowing for some variance during the week, if necessary. Metric=workout commitment met. 5 days=A, 4 days=B, 3 days=C, 2 days=D, fewer=F Second I will continue my studies. I need to dial in my goals a little better, as far as how much studying I'm going to do. As such, I will read(STUDY) for at least 30 dedicated minutes everyday. I will schedule these minutes on my calendar, and I will honor this commitment at least five days a week, with seven being preferable. I'm allowing two variance days each week. Additionally, I will task stack throughout my day. At the end of each day, I will review my activities, and see if I could have task stacked anywhere during that day. I don't have a way to grade this yet, but I'm writing my activities down in an honesty log so I can remember to reflect on them later. Metric=Days studied. 5 days=A, 4 days=B, 3 days=C, 2 days=D, fewer=F Third, I will be looking to increase my water intake. All too often, I replace water with Rockstar. So, I will log all of my water intake, and will shoot for a 2 Liter goal. Metric=volume consumed daily, averaged each week. 2L=A, 1.5L=B, 1L=C, .5L = D, and less than that =F As with many other aspects of my life, I need to regain control of my nutrition. I've enjoyed the keto diet in the past, and I'm going back to that for now. In an effort to give myself tools for controlling my nutrition, I'm hopping on the Keto Chow bandwagon for a while. I've been making and drinking the shakes for a week now, and I enjoy them, which is a plus. For this quest, I'll focus on two macro targets. I will hit my target macros of 121g protein and less than 30g carbohydrates daily. I get 52g protein and 6g (net) carbohydrates from my twice daily shakes. this leaves me responsible for 49g protein and under 24g carbs, spread over the remainder of the day. Metric=yes/no. yes/yes=4 points, yes/no=2 points, no/no=0 points, measured daily, and averaged each week. A=4 points B=3 points C=2 points D=1 point F=0 points GPA = (#POINTS EARNED)/4 I will be treating this, and all future challenges like a GPA, and 2.0+ will be required to call the challenge successful. In addition, I will be able to look back on my challenges and reapproach failed quests in order to improve on them.

Still working on getting the habits and routines into place that will help me reach my goals. Thus, what is possibly the least exciting challenge ever... My only recourse is to spice up my thread with quokkas. Goal #1: Daily Morning Routine 5AM wakeup (7AM weekends) Meditate (preferably at least 10min) with Calm app Journal/pray Mobility? Sun salutations? Pack breakfast and lunch (weekdays) Goal #2: Daily Evening Routine Get connected NF, post on my thread +2 others At least one row of my current afghan project Throw away or to-donate 5 items Chores 15min Update bullet journal Read in bed Bed by 9pm Lights off 9:30pm Goal #3: Get a handle on the eating thing Limit alcohol to 1 day/week Decide on and implement a plan for variances, specifically free food/drink work events - doesn't have to work, just have to try something Meal prep on weekends: breakfast protein, lunch protein, 2 veggies "Get connected" is to offset my introvert homebody tendencies. Meeting anybody for anything counts. Going out with fiance counts (if it feels like a date....the grocery store doesn't count lol). Setting up a future date counts. Sending a spontaneous text/letter/email to a friend or family member counts. Basically, any action to engage with people other than hanging out with fiance at home counts. Shockingly enough, I'm actually working out consistently these days. Currently working on completing the 'Intense challenge', which is 10 spin classes in 21 days - to earn a free month of spin. After that free month is up I'll probably shift gears (he. hehe.). As the weather warms up, would like to do more running and Spartan WO's. So I'm not making an exercise-related challenge goal because...it's happening anyways. In 5 weeks, I will be headed to Maui for vacation! Terrifyingly, I will be with my slimmer sisters in bikini-land. Ideally I would be able to just be confident and not compare but, *sigh* I am only human. My anxiety is mostly overwhelmed by excitement for beaches and warmth and freedom and pineapple. I will load up my Kindle and prepare for major relaxation mixed with active fun (hiking, snorkeling, possible surfing lesson). 5 full days in paradise (bookended by a day of travel on either end), here I come!

Last challenge went pretty great for me, but after finishing the Whole30 I made a series of poor eating choices. I certainly don't feel like the Whole 30 was negated, but I'm feeling a bit bloated and my skin and digestion are making their displeasure known. Fiance is on board with continuing to eat mostly Whole 30 (WHAT YAY), and I'm thrilled that we're on the same page. Me and fiance. Eating semi-W30 together Overarching Goal: GET LEAN (<25% body fat) GOAL #1: Wake up at 5am every weekday, 7am on weekends. I've been inspired by a blogger to start waking up earlier. I recently had the epiphany that when I don't take melatonin or Benadryl before bed, I feel alert after 7-8 hours of sleep. Last week I found myself naturally waking up earlier and feeling energized (!!!), so want to try out making it a habit. I've called exercise my keystone habit, but the trouble with that is I tend to work out in the afternoon -- at that point work has worn me out mentally, the SADs may have kicked in, and the couch is calling my name. GOAL #2: Gym/Run/Walk daily I'm floundering a bit post-Spartan because I don't have another race until May (and that's just a marathon relay, so ~6mi). The yoga studio I love is running a promotion (3-month membership for 2-month price), and I'm tempted to sign up. For now I'm going to pay attention to what my body is craving, and get my daily dose of endorphins. GOAL #3: Fine tune eating The first two weeks of the challenge I'm going to try allowing non-W30 food every day -- that's allowing a bit of rice, legumes, even gluten, dairy, alcohol. Can I do daily moderation without just going nuts? Not sure. The second two weeks I'm going to try a mostly stricter system...maybe 5 days on, 2 days off. Focus on having a vegetable and protein at every meal.