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Last month's theme was NO. Saying no more, noticing opportunities to say no, and removing distractions and input. The theme I set up for March was "f*ck yeah or no". I want to do stuff I only feel f*ck yeah about. But, I'm struggling a bit with this philosophy. a) I have to do boring stuff like go to work. b) I get tired of "f*ck yeah" all the time. Instead, I want to focus on mindfulness, processing, and being intentional about what comes into my life. The same as before, but an amped up version of "no". Combat the FOMO. I want to involve myself in experiences that are good enough I want to live them twice, I want to keep being aware of how much I take on, and I want to be a little bit bored. I want more downtime than I know what to do with...it's not my strong suit. Q1: Salad every day! Same as last challenge--a salad every work day (4 days a week). Last month was pretty easy but I want some more time to settle into this habit. Q2: Skill practice/flexibility work Last challenge I wanted to do one session of skill practice/flexibility work per week. This challenge I'd like to do two sessions per week. Q3: Daily Social Media Check-in Last challenge I set up some tracking and kept my social media use down during work hours. It was pretty effective, but it didn't touch any social stuff I did on my phone or my home laptop. I just want to track if I've accessed Twitter or Facebook on any device, each day. How many days can I go without checking in? I found last challenge that the longer I went without going to Twitter/FB, the less interesting it was to me. And I want to track why I went to social media each time. I've also tried to turn off my Google Now feed on my phone...but it isn't working. So I want to track how often I go there. Q4: Daily Writing Write every day for 15 minutes. Any kind of writing. The end. I haven't been getting enough sleep so FIRST AND FOREMOST that has to stop. But I'm pretty good at regulating that, so no official quest. -- A few obstacles: My partner's parents are coming to visit for a week I'm going to a HUGE HUGE conference the last week of the challenge. It's always crazy intense and exhausting, and as I've gotten more involved in the community, it gets more and more exhausting. I'm already overwhelmed trying to figure out where I'm going to be when. So, I'm going to do a special challenge week like I did last year, adjusted based on what I learned: Goal 1: Stay hydrated (3 nalgenes per day) Goal 2: Lie down on the floor for ten minutes every day. Goal 3: Bring sneakers so you can work out in the swanky hotel gym. Goal 4: Check-in with my conference buddies at least once a day.

OKAY! So, last challenge was a keep-on-keepin-on kind of challenge. I'm gonna mix it up and see how it goes this time, which means zero week = experimentation time! I've been thinking I'll try a monthly theme. This month: JUST SAY NO. I want to be more aware of all the stuff I let into my life (both physical and emotional) and I want to say no to more of it. I don't need to help that random recruiter on LinkedIn! I don't need to go check out that sale! NO. And now, draft one of my quests: Q1: Daily salads! I'm tired of eating freezer lunches at work, so I'm planning a daily salad (see last challenge for details). My goal is to eat salads four of five work days. Q2: Skill practice/flexibility work I'd like to eventually tackle the GMB Elements course, but my major concern at this point is the time investment (daily workouts are not my current jam). I currently stretch after workouts (so, approx 3 times per week). I'd like to add one session of stretching & skill practice. I'm thinking hamstring stretches (maybe the splits challenge but without the challenge part) and/or handstand work. Mostly I just want to start building some fun exercise into my schedule. Q3. Social media ramp-down I check social media more than I'd like to. This week I want to just *track* how much I time I spend on facebook & twitter (using TimeStats chrome extension). Q4. TBD! Possibly something to help me remember my monthly theme, or possibly not. We'll find out soon enough!