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My last challenge wasn't entirely successful, but I've identified a major obstacle: screen time. Once I sit down and pick up the tablet or phone, I lose track of time and get nothing done. Hence not enough sleep, inconsistent exercise, and a cluttered house. So similar goals as last challenge, but with the addition of paying attention to screen time. 1. Screen time - stick to the time limits I set on the time-devouring apps. No more hitting Ignore Limit --> Remind Me in 15 Minutes. This will help with getting everything else on the list done. 2. Strength - dumbbells and PT twice a week. 3. Space - still need to do some decluttering. We're starting a bathroom remodel in a few weeks, so time to clean out the vanity/medicine cabinet/walk in closet. One thing that has been going well is cardio. I've been doing the Walk to Mordor (although I haven't updated my distance here for a while) and doing fairly well with walking before work. Next week my gym starts it's annual virtual Ironman (5 weeks to cover Ironman distances running (or in my case, walking), swimming and cycling, so I'll be adding in some stationary cycling. It will also be the kick in the pants I need to get back in the swimming pool, for which my back will be grateful. I've also done well sticking to my reading goals. I had 2 LONG books for my book groups so I had to set a page goal, which I managed to meet most days. I would like to keep this up - less screen time = more reading time.

I've been having a hard time coming up with a good goal for this challenge round, hence the lateness. However, I think I've found it. I've spent the last couple of weeks spending most of my spare time working on work tasks. Mostly, organizing a large pile of information accumulated over a decade into a better, more searchable, and easier-to-use form. This is not how "spare time at home" is meant to go. There is meant to be time for actual fun and personal projects and the like. So I am going to inject some fun, even if I have to schedule it, while still allowing myself to chip away at my digital chaos. Ongoing habits: These all need care and feeding. Exercise after my coming-home laundry routine Washing and prayer on hearing my alarm (if I am home and able) Reading NerdFitness when.... I still don't have a good habit here, but read it! Get rid of one thing every day New shiny things for this challenge: I have played a game called Angband on and off since 1999. In the game, you are a character descending through the 100 levels of the Mines of Moria to kill Morgoth. I have never won, and the closest I've ever been is about 20 levels from the bottom. I just killed my latest character today, so I'm going to make a new one and see how far I can get. I also play on BoardGameArena, and they are forever putting up new games that I don't take the time to try out. Goal here is to try one per day on days where this is a realistic thing to do. (Reading rules takes time!) I have a pile of work tasks consisting of Stuff that needs to be sorted into my new organizational system. There are currently 578 items on that list. (I split the tasks up a lot, so most of these are fairly small.) Some more will be added as time passes (as I find new things, or break, say, a pile of links in an email into a bunch of smaller tasks), but obviously the goal is to have that number be smaller at the end of the day than at the start. I may also try to work on things that will improve things for me long-term, like my stock research and buying of last challenge. I am thinking of figuring out a good way to organize recipes to easily make meals. But this is more of a bonus item. Okay, feels like a challenge. Let's go!

Okay, okay, so "bang" is probably overstating it, but I wanted to be positive! I've been so complain-y lately, this sounded better hahaha. My 2 week winter break was desperately needed and I'm so thankful for it - honestly, I think the entire first week or so was legitimately just recovering from fall semester. I slept, ate, and existed as a lump for multiple days on end because that was all I had the mental and physical capacity for. But by the end, I was starting to exist as an actual human being again...just in time to go back to work! Yay! I still have about a week until my new grad school semester starts though, and this one should, theoretically, be better than the last one (though I still have at least 4 and a half sections of my thesis to write by the end of April...ugh) so I'm hoping to pick things up a bit more and really get some balls rolling for 2022. But I have a few too many things to do (ah, ranger brain...) so I'm going to try a 4-pronged challenge this time: Quest One: Get Moving So one of my major goals is going to be getting ready to start an archery team (or at least club) in August. One thing I very much want to do before that can happen is increase my draw weight at least slightly. I also need to just get my body going a bit in general! So my goal is going to be 5 workouts, theoretically one a week - admittedly a big jump from my last challenge but I think I can do it. Also I'm going with "can be short and small but needs to be an actual designated workout" as my definition this time, so no more "well I ran around with my kid a lot, that can count". Examples of things I might count include but of course are not limited to: -a yoga video -at least one set of dumbbell things I've been doing to help my draw weight (I think they're called tricep rows? I probably should learn that) -a walk or run -an actual shooting practice (though let's be honest, I'm a complete wuss about the cold, so this probably won't happen until at least the spring unless we get an unseasonable warm snap) Quest Two: Eat Better I'm still struggling to gain weight, though I have my GI appointment at the end of this month and hopefully that'll give us some more possibilities! But I also need to improve my nutrition anyway, because it's been pretty bad. I signed up for a weekly cooking challenge - basically, they give you a theme or inspiration every Saturday, and your job is to try to cook something that week to match that theme or inspiration. One meal a week shouldn't be too bad, and I really do miss cooking. Plus I'm making it even more complicated and saying that my challenge meal every week must include at least one "high priority" ingredient: -chicken, cheese, or potatoes (to slow down my guts and help me gain weight) -any red meat or spinach (for the high iron content because I'm becoming anemic again) -any "unusual" vegetable (not necessarily actually unusual, but at least unusual in our kitchen) Quest Three: Get the House Together I'm meaning this to be both literal (as in, our actual house) and a bit metaphorical (like, the semi-external structure around the family). It's not a perfect category, but I'm trying to differentiate this from my personal life goals below. We're hoping to move sometime between this summer and summer 2024 (preferably before fall 2023 but we'll see if that happens!) but our current house needs a lot of help before it can be shown. Also I'm sticking family-type goals in here. But I'm going to do this checklist style: I made a list of stuff I want to get done this year, and all the things below are the next "milestones" in getting those things done, so I think that will make more sense than focusing on frequency like my first two quests. 1. decluttering: clear out one bag of clothes I don't want anymore as well as clearing/putting away EVERYTHING on or under the sidetable in the playroom, including the sidetable itself since we probably don't want it anymore 2. start a 529 for my kid 3. institute Spanish time at dinner - likely starting at just 5 or 10 minutes, but holy bajesus my kid needs the input and practice. I will count this as "complete" if we do it for at least 14 days, since we've been trying to get this started for like two years now and haven't kicked ourselves enough in the butt to make it happen despite the fact my husband and I are both proficient speakers 4. complete at least through row 12 on my son's quilt - currently about halfway through row #9 Quest Four: Personal Life Goals This is my category for non-health related personal goals! It's also going to be checklist style, but it's much shorter: 1. read a book. Any book that is not related to grad school counts. Preferably two books, which should be do-able since I'm a super fast reader, but let's start small and go from there. Starting in English because the local library does a winter reading challenge where you can win a coffee mug if you read 5 books before March 15th and I collect coffee mugs, so I really want to win one, but I read much faster in English than any of my other languages. 2. use at least 3 "new" nail polishes. I have a stash of polishes that I have bought and never used, and I'm trying to make sure I use each one of them at least once. These can be manicures or pedicures and might even include using more than one color at a time - as long as I can move 3 bottles to my "I've used this at least once" cabinet, it counts. 3. I'm also trying to use up my makeup items since that pile was starting to grow bigger than I needed. Starting with eyeshadow, because I have a ton of it and lipstick still really isn't a thing with my mask. I'm going to wear eyeshadow at least 16 out of 24 work days (so 2/3 of days, counting from my return to work yesterday) 4. of course work on my thesis! Am I cheating by putting this here? I kinda think so, yeah. But oh well, if it helps get me motivated, it's a challenge goal now too! Let's see, by February 5th I need to have finished section 4 for sure(the one I'm on now) and let's go with...be halfway through section 5. Is this challenge arguably way too big and I've gone right back to biting off more than I can chew? Maybe! I really did try to make each one not too big so it'd stay as reasonable as possible, and a few of them I've already started since I had these goals in mind before I got around to typing this up (to be laid out in the next post)...so...never say never, right?

Hello witches and wizards, and welcome back to Hogwarts this September! I'm Professor Annyshay, the current headmistress of Hogwarts. You've been sorted into your houses and are ready to tuck into a delicious feast. Now it's time for me to say a few brief words before we start the term. This year the houses will be working together to support general wellbeing. Gryffindor = Breathwork It takes courage for me to be present in my body without trying to change anything. Breathwork can be anywhere from 5-30 minutes. I'm aiming to do it most days of the week. Hufflepuff = Snacks I ten to skip snacks and go too long between meals and then get a bit shaky. I'm going to be more intentional about aiming to have a morning and afternoon snack. Ravenclaw = Writing I'm trying to get back into the habit of creative writing, but this will start with keeping my streak on 4thewords.com. That means writing 444 words a day. Slytherin = Decluttering Since I'm moving across country, I need to be ruthless with my possessions and get rid of the things that don't truly bring me joy. I'm going to try to do at least 15 minutes of decluttering each day. More details will come as you go through your time here, but for now... let's eat!

My chances of moving in the next 1-3 months have just shot through the roof, so this challenge will be a pivot into preparing for that. Fortunately for me, I am not a good little consumer, so I don't tend to acquire a ton of stuff. Unfortunately for me, this means that I often have trouble getting rid of the stuff I do have, because I made a conscious choice to acquire it and have now formed an emotional bond of sorts. I may be one of the few Westerners who really took to the advice to thank your things for what they have done for you before getting rid of them. It gives me a chance to acknowledge the value of the item to me in the past, run through my memories, and give it a respectful, loving send-off. Basically, we get to have a good breakup with closure. There's going to be a lot of that coming up. So while I have not abandoned my time blocks or my trusty rusty D&D structure, that's all going to have to take a back seat this challenge. (Maybe a quickie report on how it went just to keep myself somewhat accountable.) This one's going to be all about the stuff. My plan is twofold: I must identify categories of stuff and commence the purging and/or packing, and I must tidy areas that are visibly messy as there will be viewings, photos, and suchlike at some point. The details of this plan are still nebulous (which means nailing them down is a good goal for today, no?) As always, my challenge will be a basic summary of my goals and how I hit them (or don't) on a daily basis without a lot else. With any luck, it will be a series of boring but successful reports. So follow along if you like me (I appreciate the support!), but don't expect me to entertain you.

Hi everyone! Remember me? If not, don't feel bad because I kind of dropped off the face of the forums for the last 3 weeks of the previous challenge. But I am trying again, with the same goal...and more! I'll break apart the decluttering into separate levels, or zones, or whatever. It's kind of like an MMO where you stick to certain areas that are appropriate for your character's level range. Like in an MMO, the player can venture into higher level areas, but the player can also get killed more easily in said areas. Low level: Level 1 - The Bedroom: the starter area, where I began the last challenge. This area is already partly decluttered, and will be where I begin this challenge. Level 2 - The Sun Porch: long ago, items that lived in The Bedroom were banished to this area. Contains old university notebooks and textbooks, as well as furniture we no longer use or have space for but for some reason refuse to get rid of. Level 3 - The Dining Room Table: a small area. In fact, it's not even an area, it's a fucking table. It is the table that seemingly spawns clutter from nothing. Mid level: Level 4 - The Entryway: similar to the Sun Porch area, but a smaller space. Needs organizing more than anything. Clutter to space ratio makes this area look more intimidating. Level 5 - The Garage: the realm of tools and forgotten objects. Currently in disarray. Will remain in disarray until the fence around our yard is built. Level 6 - The Workshop: when things are banished from the house, they go to the workshop. There is a fridge in there, still in its box. Legend says this fridge has been there since 2017, waiting to be powered. High level: Level 7 - The Basement: end game content. Boss fight. Do not attempt. Bonus lifestyle/vanity level: Level 8 - My hips and thighs: self-explanatory. I have a photo shoot coming up on June 12 (hey, look at that, the last day of this challenge) and I want to look good for it. I've already got decent exercise habits, but nutrition could be slightly improved. Alcohol consumption could definitely be improved. Or should that be un-improved? Disproved? In any case, I'll be cutting booze out of my diet for the duration of the challenge. This challenge I will be working mainly on Level 1 and Level 8.

Haaaah, hah. Ha. This mini challenge (and now full challenge) gives me anxiety. But fuck anxiety. Here are some "Before" photos of my room for accountability. UPDATE March 23, 2021, to actually set measurable goals. The goal will be to establish a habit: I will work on freeing up some space or organizing things in some way for 10-20 minutes every day. That's it. That's the only goal. If I end up in a decluttering flow state and work at it for hours, great, but I'm only aiming for 10-20 minutes. What I've learned about myself in the past few years is that the bar needs to be so low it's barely above the floor for me to be able to follow through with things. Now on with the pictures... Picture 1: A clusterfuck. A gratuitous cat photo, as well as the back of my room. There is a crawlspace I could put things into...if clutter wasn't blocking the fucking crawlspace door. Only one thing in this photo sparks joy, and it has fur and four legs. I guess my bed also sparks joy. And the three Worbla rolls in the corner that I managed to get for 60% off at Michael's when they were having a clearance definitely sparked joy. Okay, so three things spark joy, but hundreds of things do not spark joy, which is a problem. The laundry was actually folded (thanks mom!) in this shot, though, which is the only semblance of organization. Picture 2: More clusterfuck. The other end of my room. This photo unfortunately does not include a cat, but it does include a second crawlspace that is...also blocked by clutter! I'm pretty sure it's already full of clutter, and possibly cat vomit since the cat got stuck in there a few weeks ago, but that'll be a surprise for later. Some exercise equipment is present in this shot, for when I have enough floor space to actually move. If you are disappointed by the fact that the neatly folded pile of laundry is actually sitting atop an unfolded pile of laundry, well you'll be disappointed even further when I tell you that the unfolded pile of laundry is, in turn, sitting on top of a box full of clutter! The box is on a chair, with more clutter under it. Help. Picture 3: Does the clusterfuck ever end? No. The answer is no. A continuation of Picture 2, because I needed two photos to capture all the bullshit in one side of my room. The real MVP here is the little storage unit on the left. The poor thing is tilting to one side and I hesitate to put anything else in it lest it topples over in a clutter avalanche, causing me to just fucking ragequit right then and there and set my room on fire. The basement is worse than this. The garage is also worse than this, but not as bad as the basement. Both entryways are only slightly better than this. The whole house is a mess and it's overwhelming. Years ago (2015 or 2016) I gave a HARD PUSH to declutter as much as I could, and definitely made some progress but it's just. Never. Enough. I live with mom, and dad passed away less than a year ago, and it's just like mom and I never had the time to actually deal with the clutter and things just kept piling and piling and piling and piling and piling up. We haven't gotten around to getting rid of his stuff yet, mainly because some of it (like, say, the ATV sitting in the garage) has to go to Quebec and the provincial border is still closed because of COVID. Here in New Brunswick, we've had a fairly low COVID load due to the fact that a) we have a low population density, and b) nobody wants to come here, so my job and workouts etc. have been business as usual and I've had no free time. There's never enough time. But I can't go on like this? Yeah, this is why this mini challenge is giving me hardcore anxiety. It has to be done, but I just don't know how 😐 It will get done. I don't know how, but it will. Somehow. Little by little. Hi. I'm Naxius, and this is a respawn. There are three pieces of loot I really want. I can afford them all because having kept my job throughout COVID plus all the cons and competitions I normally go to being cancelled has left me with a surplus of money. This loot consists of: an embroidery machine, a Cricut Maker, and a 3D printer. If I can clean my room by the time this challenge ends, I'm buying myself one of these things. Because I'll actually have the space to use it.

Greetings fellow Rebels, this is Rebel Pure, transmitting from a secret Rebel base in Perth, Western Australia. It is a strange and wondrous thing to think that at the end of this challenge I will finally be able to return to university. Before that happens I need to get myself back on track though. Comparing my Mood Tracker for the last few weeks compared to how it was at the start of the year times have felt average when before they were productive and joyous. How can I get those times to return to me? Midway through this challenge I will be attempting an adventure - The Charity Walk. It is a 42km night walk for charity. I was meant to raise $500 through donations for entry however did absolutely minimal fundraising and as such will just fund the remaining myself (I sold an expensive doll which will help to fund this). I have never walked such a distance in my life. The past few weeks I have spent completing my Zombies, Run C25K program will hopefully have assisted with this adventure. They did recommend walking longer distances closer to the event but I am a minimalist in how I like to spend my time and so I have not. Interestingly, if I choose to do so on the night, my Zombies, Run C25K program would end during the charity walk. Depending on how I'm feeling, I may choose to hold the final session until the week after the charity walk. The end of this challenge is also cutting it close to the date where I am meant to have completed my three month goals. And so, for my other goals in this challenge I will be working on those. These are separate from my Quest for Adventure goals but some overlap (Quest for Adventure Goals) TLDR Challenge Goals 1. Finish the Zombies C25K program (~ 6 XP towards my Hiking Badge) 2. Complete Charity Walk (20 XP towards my Personal Growth Badge) 3. Check in with my Passion Planner twice daily (No XP, I just need to remind myself to use it more regularly to keep on track of things) 4. Finalise my mission statement. (I'm pretty sure I have the wording I want for this, need to mention it in my Epic Quest thread) 5. Unplug for 24 hours on the 14th of Feb (No better thing to do for Valentine's Day) 6. Complete 1 story outline/timeline (Words are hard. Won't get me XP but will help lead to it) 7. Finalise assignment tracker for university (I want my unit outlines already!) 8. Finish KonMari before university starts

Want to Play a Game? Who's in? This has helped me get things done in the past; so I thought I'd introduce others to it. There are various games & different time limits. I'm on the east coast USA; but am willing to "call" games for other time zones even if I've finished my tasks for the day.

Hi everyone! I've returned to the Rangers instead of doing a battle log this time. My challenge will be a bit unstructured compared to the last few. I felt that I needed to change things up a bit. I will post my quests in a bit. My last challenge

Clean desk! Clean desk!

Terra: Part 1 - Changes in Attitudes I am going to go back to the basics of life. I have gotten away from the things that I know work best for me and it isn’t a good thing. So lets get back to the building blocks of life and enjoy! I find that in times of change or upheaval I turn my radio to Jimmy Buffet. Jimmy has decades of wisdom in his lyrics and so I will celebrate life and hope to live life to the fullest. That is my warning to you, there will be lots of Jimmy quotes and songs in my challenges over the next several months!!! I found NerdFitness through Mark's Daily Apple blog years ago and now I'm going to return to the basics! https://www.marksdailyapple.com/ I have gotten me a Primal Blueprint 90-day journal. I know I’ll miss days so it should work out perfectly for the next three challenges. I’ve started and will be trying to focus on the the daily worksheets to keep me on track. I have come up with 5 goals after looking back at the last several months as part of my baseline evaluations. Goals: 1- Reduce excess body fat 2 - Declutter my home 3 - Improve endurance 4 - Continue my Brazilian Jui-jitsu practice and the strength/conditioning classes 5 - Find ways to improve my work environment That seems like a lot of stuff but I don’t have to focus on every goal every week. I can focus on one thing at a time if I want. Not to mention goal #4 is just maintenance of my habits that are already part of my life. I’m writing up each goal on the experimental pages of my workbook and I will post to my Instagram account for accountability. I’ve also been in a mode of thinking more, doing less however, getting stuck in my head is keeping me from being accomplished in all areas of my life. I must do more, even if I am not confident or tired I must do something to move towards my goals!!! I am considering treating myself to some pampering (massage or pedi) if I can put my books down and be more productive. My updates might be more sporadic but I hope more content filled and I am going to try to Instagram more so you can see my efforts. Visual proof of my efforts is the goal!

Considering that my user name is a Doctor Who reference, and that it is one of my most intense nerdoms (I’ve seen almost every episode of the old doctors 1-8 from 1963 and on, even sat through some horrible animated and audio recovered versions of the “lost” episodes) I was shocked to realize that I’ve somehow never done a full up Doctor Who challenge since I joined in 2013?! I think I subconsciously wasn’t ready to do something so close to my heart and have the chance to screw it up, so a few times I’ve considered it and said to myself “next challenge” or “oh I’ll have to put more thought into that before going forward with it”. Well you know what? It’s time. After a couple of taking-it-easy challenges ramping back up from taking a while off last year for my wedding planning, wedding itself, and honey moon, I’m ready. Last challenge was the most successful I’ve had in a really long time, and I have recently discovered a new love (ballroom dance) and started really diving into it, and am ready to ramp it up to full gear. I’ve got my sonic and I’m ready to travel time and space and get. shit. done. So as still not to dive in too quickly, because I've learned my lesson there, I’ll be ramping up my goals all through the challenge, each week I will face off against a new Doctor Who enemy alongside a different regeneration of the Doctor. By the end of the five weeks (I’m starting this week in zero week!) I’ll be all up to speed in All The Things. Well, not all the things because I’ll still be focusing on dance and lifting (continuing to suppress the Ranger Brain and not add other things in like a nut job) but I’ll be diving in HARD. I’m also going to go back to lifting 3x/week and give up doing barre once a week. I wanted to do it to get posture work in, but I’ll just add in more core-type accessories to my lifting days instead. I miss it too much. So without further ado, I present Raxie’s Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Challenge!

Jumping in mid-challenge. I'm going to throw down my basic goals for the month here and try not to fret about how disorganized I'm being (but secretly actually fretting about it). I had some progress during the last challenge (going to Muay Thai 3x a week now, yay!) and some setbacks (screwed up my glute med so I can't do half the stuff I want to do, boo!). So I'm just going to maintain as much as I can of what I was already doing, with an emphasis on actually, you know, *achieving* the other goals. Mostly that means prioritizing because I suck at that and end up chasing after whatever shiny urgency flits across my field of view. Because productive procrastination is my forte! too...many...rocks!! Exercise Muay Thai 3x/week - this was achieved last challenge, I'm just going to keep it up. A little PT each day - because if I don't fix this &$^%# glute I can't *do* any round kicks, or slapping knees, or most of my conditioning drills for Muay Thai, so ya, I'm motivated. Diet 6-8 glasses water a day - I don't really need food goal. I've been doing my tracking and protein and whatnot for so long it's second nature now. But I have slipped on hydration. Life Coding - OMG I just need to do this already. 15 minutes a day. Which is a laughably small amount but I just need to kick my own butt into gear on this one. Priorities, people. Declutter - I need to toss, donate and sell stuff. Preferably sell, because the hubby and I have gotten serious about paying off our debt and have a plan in place. But every bit extra we can bring in helps. And that's it. I'm going to keep cutting down the number of goals each challenge until I finally get a working baseline. I am a bit dense and it takes me a while to get the whole 'start small' thing, but eventually I'll beat my head against it long enough to drive the point home!

Hooray we have made it to 2018!! I am pretty excited. The last year was a year full of ups and downs for me, but overall it was just horribly busy. Busy in both good ways and bad, but just when I look back at the year it just seems like a whirl wind of emotion and stress. I really lost track of my goals and a bit of the fun-loving, motivated person I have grown into over the past few years. This is the first year in YEARS that I don't already have 100 things planned, I can actually look at my calendar and it isn't CRAMMED full of things every single weekend. I am so beyond excited about this. I want to take this year to breathe - settle back into my habits that kind of got lost along the way, and reclaim myself, my time, and really focus on me. The last challenge was kind of a mental cleanse for me, I abandoned a lot of the side fitness projects I had been trying to do and overwhelming myself with. I really like what I ended up with, while I still want to pursue archery, OCRs, rucking, boxing, and gymnastics... I needed to break it down to the top couple of things to really focus on and I am really glad I did. I am going to continue with that for this challenge, but instead of focusing on the Rangerbrain decluttering portion of it, I am going to focus on really diving deep into those couple of things I have chosen to focus on. Those things are lifting, dancing, and food. The goals are below. Passing is meeting my goals 100% of the time for all 5 weeks. Variances are already worked into each goal so this isn't unreasonable. Fitness Goal 1: Pick Things Up and Put Them Down I did really well with reducing my lifting days to twice a week from three times a week and I'm going to keep on with that. Stronglifts 2x/week Variance: Can shift a workout to the next week and do 3x/week as a make up ONCE this challenge Fitness Goal 2: Dance Dance Dance I completely fell in love with ballroom dancing last year while learning our first dance for my wedding and I want to really focus on it. I did ballet for 15 years when I was younger, and I'm eyeing a ballet studio that I might hit up for adult classes when I work up the courage. If I don't, that's OK, I'll do online barre classes in my room. Either way I need to do stuff to work on my posture. Dance Class 3x/week Barre or ballet 1x/week Variance: Can do a quick 10-minute pilates workout instead of barre ONCE this challenge. Fitness Goal 3: Recovery ROMWOD (Range of Motion Workout of the Day) has done wonders for me, and I picked up with it regularly again last challenge and I want to stick with it. I'm going to try to start doing it in the morning instead of before bed and see how that works for me, since I really miss my morning yoga practice but I don't want to add anything extra to my plate. ROMWOD 5x/week Variance: ROMWOD Warrior (a once a week twice as long WOD) can count as 2 sessions once a week as a make up TWICE this challenge Food Goal: Eat Clean My definition of clean isn't quite paleo or gluten free, but I know it works for me. Last challenge I took it easy and just wanted to not eat like an a-hole through the holidays... which aside from one holiday and pet-loss induced binge session I did really well. I'm ready to drill this down to be more specific. Here are my rules: No added sugar to recipes or beverages Gluten-free-ish. Whole grains are OK (and not like bread, like actual whole grains I can see and pick up, like farro or wheat berries) and this is limited to once a week. No cheese or milk. Dairy is OK in the form of ghee and sometimes butter in cooking. Eat out only once a week Drink alcohol once a week, and only up to three drinks are allowed that night. Try to stick to wine and cider, one of the three drinks can be beer only. Variance on sugar and cheese is allowed once a week (probably will co-align with eating out but it doesn't have to) Life Goal: Laundry & Decluttering I've been so busy my apartment has become my dumping grounds as opposed to my sanctuary. This needs to change. 15 minutes of decluttering per day 5x/week Laundry twice a week and put away clothes within 24 hours of washing them. Variance: Can skip TWO declutter sessions throughout the challenge. Laundry can be done less if it isn't needed.

Wait, am I posting a challenge early? How is this possible? I will consider this one tiny skirmish won in my long-running war against procrastination. Procrastination is a major obstacle to many if not most of my long-term goals. I find myself putting off even simple, straightforward tasks like reading my mail (most of which is junk) and paying the bills. The result? Piles of papers on my desks (at home and at work), overwhelmed e-mail inboxes, overstuffed closets, and a lot of stress as I scramble at the last minute to get things done on time. De-cluttering, getting rid of unimportant and unhelpful things (including attitudes and behaviors as well as material things) will provide an environment that is less stressful and that helps me focus on doing what I need and/or want to do now and hopefully decrease the appeal of procrastination. The other obstacle I'm struggling against recently is inertia, or perhaps a bit of complacency? For years I had a mostly very healthy diet, exercised extremely regularly, and had remarkably low stress levels, without having to put much effort into it. In the last year or so, all of that has melted away. Substantially increased stress at my job, even worse increased stress for my husband at his job, and unexpected health problems have left me anxious, stress eating, and mindlessly surfing the web before exercise and/or sleep (in other words, my procrastination is worse than ever). At the same time, I've realized that as I get older my body just can't bounce back like it did in my younger years. It's time to admit that what I've always done isn't working for me anymore (although this challenge will incorporate goals that have been successful in previous challenges) and start a more systematic approach to my health and life. So here goes: Goal 1: Get rid of cookies. This will hopefully be a fairly easy one to help me build some momentum. It refers only to the cookies in our break/lunch room at work. I had given them up completely for a while, but they seem to have crept back in to my diet. I'll count the number of days I eat cookies out of the number of possible cookie-eating days (week 0 will be easy because I'll only be at work for lunch one day due to travel, which presents all kinds of other healthy eating challenges...). Starting the challenge at 0/17, the plan is to keep it there. Goal 2: Get rid of mental clutter. This is an extension of my meditation goal from the last challenge I did, and helps me manage stress, sleep better, and make better decisions. I will finish day 7 of the 7 day introductory meditations in the Calm app today. It's helpful, but consistency is key. Since I'm starting today this will be a 35 day challenge, so the goal is to meditate 35 days. Starting at 0/35. Goal 3: Get rid of physical clutter. I'm debating I briefly debated whether it would be better to make this a process goal (spend x amount of time each week working on it) vs an outcome goal (have my desks at work and at home cleared of all the piles of papers by the end of the challenge. Knowing my procrastinating tendencies, I would probably put if off to the last minute, get all stressed out, and dump piles of paper into a drawer somewhere. So a process goal it is. I will spend one hour a week at home and one hour a week at work dealing with paper. Looking at this week's schedule, I already know it probably won't happen before I leave town, but I will allow myself to make up the time during the next four weeks. Starting the challenge at 0/5 hours at home, 0/5 hours at work. Goal 4: Get enough sleep. This probably means getting rid of some idle internet time. If I get enough sleep I feel better, am more productive, and make better decisions. The goal is lights out at least 8 hours before the alarm will go off in the morning. Starting the challenge at 0/35 nights.

So hey, Im a day late but here goes. Im HappyCat, a long time divorced 40 something empty nester still trying to figure life out and get a handle on this health and fitness thing so i can have a lot more energy to enjoy all the things i used to enjoy when I was younger and fitter and not feel like im barely surviving. Im interested in camping, hiking, 4x4 touring and lately been looking into geocaching but not really sure how to get started with it. I foster cats for a local shelter and spend a lot of time in my yard (i grow organic fruit and vegetables), i also juggle a full time job, a couple of part time ones, ageing parents, fledgeling adult children and a severely neglected group of friends. Im tired, Im grumpy, i feel far too old, get off my lawn. Challenge 3 - Takng It Up A Notch Basic challenge framework is staying the same as before. Moving on from Rebels now that Ive had a successful challenge, since my interest lies in hiking, camping, rucking, off roading etc Im thinking Adventurers will be a good fit for me. Flu hit me hard in the off week and im still trying to shake it off (I dont get truly sick very often, when I do Im a very angry, frustrated patient) Main Quest: To create and entrench self care routines for body, mind and spirit Mini 1: Cardio - 45 min daily/10,000 steps, with 2 rest days available each week to be used if needed. Time to take the cardio up a small notch. Mini 2: Eat a healthy, low carb, minimally processed diet, not less than 1200 calories and not exceeding 1500 calories in any given day, with 2 cheat meals available each week to be used if needed. This is workng for me, not changing anythig this challenge Mini 3: Journal - thoughts, feelings, dreams, whatever 10 min once a day before bed Continuing from last challenge, been very slack with this while Ive been sick Mini 4: Go Hiking (3 hrs minimum) twice, bonus piints for an overnight camp Potentially got a lot going on this challenge so not sure I will be able to get away, but at least if I can get out and get a couple of half decent hikes in its a win. Mini 5: Unpack 1 box of crap from my junk/storage/pantry room each week Emptying my spare room to get it ready to rent out meant having to really confront the amount of junk and crap Ive stored away over the last 10 years. Now that its condensed into my tiny pantry room, I cant move in there and the landlord will pitch an absolute fit. It has to be addressed and dealt with once and for all. hoarding is bad m'kay Life Quest: Lose 4 clothing sizes and self loathing, gain energy, charisma and inner peace - to make this more concrete and measureable, I'd like to lose 2kg per challenge ( averaged out at half a kg per week i think this is reasonable) This was workable last challenge so going to continue it this challenge without adjustment. Accountabilibuddies - Walking to Mordor and Back Again Continues from previous quests Epic Quest: This one is a 3 parter: Continues from previous quests 1. Pay down my credit card - Ongoing * Take card out of wallet and stash somewhere I will forget about DONE * Set up automatic transfer on paydays to transfer $50 to the credit card account DONE * Hide the account from view online DONE I believe this will take approximately 1.5 years 1 year and 4 months to go 2. Save a $5000 emergency fund - Ongoing * Set up an automatic transfer on paydays to transfer $50 to the emergency account until credit card is paid off DONE * then increase transfer to $100. * Hide account from online view DONE I believe this will take approximately 2.6 years 2 years and 7.5 months to go *had to dip into this for vet fees, time increased by 1.5 months* 3. Save $30,000 towards a home deposit & stamp duty - Ongoing * Set up an automatic transfer on paydays to transfer $50 to the home deposit account until Emergency Account is up to $5000 DONE * then increase the transfer to $150 * Hide account from online view DONE I believe this will take approximately 6.6 years 6 years and 5 months to go

Hi, I'm Naxius and I live in a clusterfuck. I'll fancify this post later. For now, a quick Google search for "negative effects of clutter" or anything along those lines is all that's necessary to know that excessive clutter in one's living space is bad. You know, if the "ugh!" feeling in the pit of your stomach when you walk into a room filled to the brim with excessive, unorganized, and unnecessary bullshit isn't enough to make you realize it. Decluttering has been a side goal in most of my challenges ever since I joined NF in mid-2013. The common theme in all these previous decluttering attempts was failure, with a side dish of frustration. For some reason, I just couldn't make myself do things--cleaning up and throwing things away included. My mind operates in mysterious ways. Sometimes, things just "click" seemingly out of nowhere, and I become motivated to do a thing. In 2002, it was the beginning of my physical fitness journey. In 2004, it was the sudden desire to upgrade my high school marks and go to university. Now it's the overwhelming urge to declutter the entire fucking house. The main goal for my current challenge was to clean my room, a task I have been attempting to accomplish since...1995? There have been setbacks in this month's challenge so far because I live with my parents (yay, student loans!) and decluttering efforts often depend on more than one person, but my desire to slay the clutter demons has not faltered. THIS WILL BE DONE! And this will be fun. To make it even more fun, I am inviting everyone who has too much clutter in their lives to join me in the quest to get rid of things. The rules are as follows: 1. Score one point for each item you throw away, donate, set on fire, or get rid of in any way. Any potentially usable item that gets thrown out or donated counts as a point. For example, an old t-shirt that gets thrown into the trash bin counts as one point because the t-shirt could still be used as a pajama top, or to do chores around the house where one might get dirty. The shirt is not useless, but it's clutter and just taking up space at this point. Another example would be a half-empty or near-empty shampoo bottle. There is still some shampoo in it, and it could still be used, but it's not that great for your hair, or you don't like the way it smells, or you already bought a different shampoo that's better, etc. The point that the bottle has potential usefulness but is just sitting there taking up space. Tossing it into the trash will be one point. Tossing a shampoo bottle into the trash if it has no potential usefulness usually happens automatically, and therefore would not count as one point. Or at least I don't count it as one point. Some empty containers/bottles may be counted if they could potentially be used as storage containers or re-used in some way. The choice of whether or not to count it is up to you. tl;dr version: only count items that have potential usefulness. Trash that missed the bin and has been sitting there for a while doesn't count. But...it is also true that some players spawn in areas that contain more low-level bad guys. If someone starts CLUTTERBUSTER in a hoarders-level of an area and there are piles upon piles of trash all over the place, then counting pieces of trash is acceptable, where ten pieces of trash = one point, as this can help generate momentum. 2. (Coming soon) Percentage score based on how many rooms in your living space are clutter-free. 3. Multiplayer mode! Family members or roommates can join your party. Simply ask them to keep count of the things they throw away. For the purpose of score-keeping, players with multiplayer parties will have their scores in red. It's that simple. Post a reply to this thread to record your clutter kills. Keep track of your total on every post in order to avoid losing count. Before and after pictures are also encouraged, as is writing about your decluttering exploits in an epic, fantastic manner. Who can slay the most Clutter Critters?? Scores (last updated April 8)

I think SMART goals aren't necessarily great. You have to guess for a month what you think you might be able to accomplish, and it's very easy to set yourself too much or too little to do, and then get impatient for the next challenge to start so you can go afresh. My approach this challenge will be: work out what the next best 5% (or 1%) improvement I can make to my life at this point deduce a corresponding mini habit work out how to integrate this mini habit into my existing habit cycles once I have successfully integrated it & feel confidence that it's under my belt, move on to the next 5% (or 1%) improvement The last line means I don't have to set upfront some artificial timeline of when I think I might get to that point: I can it when I'm ready. So my 5 pillars of improvement this month are: 1. CHARISMA Next 5% improvement: When people (who aren't immediate friends/family) ask me how I am, reply with "fantastic!" "brilliant!" or similar. Although as I'm incredibly sick at the moment, I think I can get away with "I've got bronchitis, but otherwise fantastic!" until I stop feeling deathly lousy. 2. POSTURE Next 5% improvement: When I bend over to pick things up, do a squat down (bending knees and hips) rather than bending my lower back to do so. I think someone in my earlier life must have said something untoward about my bottom sticking out because I've been very conscious of that for no good reason, so I wonder if that's why I've developed a bad habit? In any case, time to change! 3. PHYSICAL WELLBEING Next 5% improvement: Search the internet for vitamins that are in a form easier for me to take (e.g. chewable vegan, or liquid with a pleasant flavour). 4. RECHARGE Next 5% improvement: Rest a lot to get over this chest infection. 5. DECLUTTERING Next 5% improvement: Tidy/organise the cupboard under the kitchen sink.

"But when we really delve into the reasons for why we can’t let something go, there are only two: an attachment to the past or a fear for the future." — Marie Kondō The road so far, Prologue & Introduction: Gearing Up Hello, this is a respawn of first challenge. The last time I was here the system was different and not sure I fully understand the new one yet (still looking for bbcode/html editor.. does it even exist anymore?). In the year between, I took up paleo/primal eating, lost weight, and at this point-- finally found myself needing accountability for healthier habits. Still exploring where to go health-fitness-diet wise, but for the time being my main concern is to just start. So yeah, hope to see you around. Objectives Acquire what you need, leave behind what only burdens. Do KonMari Tidying-Up At least halfway. I have started with clothes, shoes and bags, but there's still so much to sort out. I'm going to list the categories and draw a line on the middle somewhere. This looks (and is) like a 'life' goal instead of a fitness one, but though not sure how to explain it, I do think this is the most important one. It's a wonderful book, BTW, and would totally recommend it (and have). Get Moving While not a stranger in dieting, I'm practically a mollusc at exercising/ being active. I don't.. really move unless I (really) have to? So my main objective is to move more, and loosen the stiff muscles while hopefully also building my stamina. Walk 30 minutes and do 25 crunches per day, except Sundays. Do reddit bodyweight warm-ups for 10 minutes every other day. Lose Weight Target: 58 kg (127.8 lbs) from 61.8 kg (136.2 lbs) Keep food and weight log. Decided to use an app, since it's the easiest and it logs time automatically. Eat low-carb paleo/primal. Avoid lactose as well, since I'm a lactose intolerant person in denial. Deal with eating out and portion gauging. This is pretty much the bane of how well my eating goes. I eat out 2-3 times a week and often would either 1) Feel guilty if I don't order a 'proper' menu, and 2) Overestimate how much I can actually eat, which also happens with the foods I prepare on my own. I used to be significantly bigger than I am and while it's not exactly habit, kind of got used to (be able to) eat a lot more than my current capacity. Compound one with the other with the sprinkling of oversized meals and there's a recipe for guilt/avoiding waste eating. So yes, Training myself to only order and cook what I want to/can eat. Also keep it as paleo/primal as possible. Be prepared to have/store leftovers. It's okay. Only trying/tinkering with one new cake/baked goods/dessert per week. I love baking. I don't like eating the results, though, so they usually go to friends, but there's still a significant (?) amount of tasting and trying that accompany every new recipe. I have too many recipes I'd like to try, so, limiting them to one each week at the most. Calendar Official-updates of the challenge will be every Monday and Friday. Might make a table calendar of what should be done when.

1. Decluttering My MIT (Most Important Thing) at present is to create space so that I have time and energy to spend on the things that matter most to me. So this month I aim to: a - advance the decluttering in the spare bedroom, b - organise all my cupboards downstairs, this includes: food cupboards (kitchen), under-sink cupboard (kitchen), non-food storage cupboards (kitchen), bathroom cupboards, bathroom-stuff drawers (lounge), understairs cupboard c - organise all my paperwork: file away required paperwork, remove unnecessary paperwork d - get my email & information inflows under control (began unsubscribing from email things last week, will also want to trim down my bloglovin' feed too) 2. Heal Hands I'm probably washing my hands over 50 times a day, and they're in a bad state at the moment as well as looking 20 years older than the rest of me (sob). To counter-act this I want to: a - moisturise before bed every night b - track every time I wash my hands & the reason(s) why c - evaluate whether I can eliminate this reason for handwashing or find an alternative solution (e.g. gloves, using handwipes instead) 3. Heal Body For years I've known I should be taking my "brown inhaler" and never have done, as my asthma has been relatively minimal. However, since baby has started at nursery, things have been going downhill. Last week I ended up at a walk-in doctor's surgery barely able to breathe and wracked in muscular pain around my ribs due to the constant coughing/sneezing. A high dose of steroid tablets immediately relieved the problem and now I am wondering why I didn't start taking my inhaler months ago. Anyhoo, time is good now. a - take brown inhaler twice a day Baby and I also need to up our vitamin doses to fight off these constant infections. Pre-prep: order some vitamin drops I can mix into baby's breakfast cereal b - give baby daily vitamin drops at breakfast c - take daily vitamin tablet at breakfast (after taking 8 steroid tablets a day at breakfast for 5 days, I feel I can now manage the 1 vitamin tablet required) 4. May Mini Habit Last month I set out a mini-habit challenge to take my yoga mat out of the wardrobe every evening and put it on the floor. Evidently I set the bar too high as I did not do this once. So now I am making it even easier to do: a - open wardrobe door fully and touch yoga mat 5. Overall Wellbeing I need to build in "rest/recharge time" into my weekly routine, as it's foolish to continue to attempt to plough on at any cost trying to get stuff done every night without a break. I've been doing that now for 5 months and my health has really suffered for it. a - Figure out how & when to best rest b - Think of fun activities to do while baby sleeps upstairs I also need to make sure I'm eating as well as I can. To this end, my short-term plan is: c - Buy ready-made healthy foods and fruit snacks d - Don't buy any more crisps e - Don't buy any more chocolate That's a lot of stuff, but if I do even 40% of this I'm sure I'll be feeling a heck of a lot better! Here's to a healthy May

Because doing shit over and over again is how we establish routines, right? May 2016 challenge: ESTABLISH A MORNING ROUTINE Phase 1: - Don't hit snooze. Seriously. Place the alarm clock away from the bed where I can't reach it. - Mini WAKE-UP workout routine: 20 air squats, 20 jumping jacks, 20 push-ups, 10x3 Y-T-Ys, 20 side-to-side bridges, 20 split v-ups. - Stretching (either misc. stretches or NF Yoga, haven't decided yet...or bought NF Yoga yet). The emphasis here will be on stretching, and generally improving flexibility. The small amount of exercises beforehand is just to wake up and warm up. Why is improved flexibility a must all of a sudden? It all started on a weekend back in late March when I signed up for a pole dancing boot camp class. I did the thing, and it was fun, and I thought of signing up at this new pole/aerial fitness gym on a part-time basis (because a 4th gym is totally what I need, right?) but figured that my free time was too limited to go full-time, and especially too limited to compete in mid-June. And then I went on Facebook and saw a message... Pole/aerial fitness gym owner: "You were catching on really quick at the boot camp. You should compete in June :)" Me: "Ok! :D" Oops? Or maybe not so oops. It's a decision that was leaning quite far on the "HELL YEAH" side of things. But now I'm facing the issue of limited free time (did I mention I have two cosplays to finish?) and having to increase flexibility (Phase 1) and dropping body fat (Phase 2) ASAP. I do NOT want to be jiggly if I need to wear really small shorts in front of hundreds of people. The pole art classes are really fun so far, though, and so is the recital/competition buildup. It's like taking gymnastics, dance, and cosplay and smashing them all together lol. Oh wait. This means I have to make parts for a 3rd costume also. Aaahahaha hah. Fuck. Phase 2: - Make a big-ass breakfast smoothie. I'll figure out the ingredients later, but it will have both matcha and protein powders. - Fill a big-ass glass jug of water that I will bring to work. - Prepare a biiiiiiiiggg salad for lunch at work, preferably with chicken. For the last several years, I've been eating eggs or egg whites (or both) and oatmeal every morning. This often results in RAAAAAAGE in the mornings because cooking is just not my thing and eggs often fall out of the pan when I try to flip them, or fold onto themselves, etc. Then I have to fight the cats to keep them away from the eggs while I eat them. The morning smoothies will be a welcomed change since they will not involve cooking and will not make the cats envious of my food. I can also add oatmeal right into the smoothie, removing the need to wait for the microwave to do its thing. Smoothies will be easier and healthier, and I just need to figure out a type of vegetable to throw in there. tl;dr version: smoothies = less rage (more zen!), less wait, less cooking. TRIPLE KILL! Having water at work (filtered, hence the necessity to fill it at home in the AM) will prevent me from having too much coffee, which will allow me to sleep sooner and then wake up for Phase 1 feeling less like shit. I need to get at least a 2L glass bottle. It has to be glass, because plastic or metal makes water taste like, well, plastic or metal. The salad with chicken breasts is purely for fat loss. I'll probably need more than a salad at work, though, since I'm the type of person that eats every freaking 2 hours. I'll have to bring sweet potatoes to work as well, and protein cupcakes/bars ("bars" that are cooked in a muffin tray.) Bonus: visualize myself thinner, more ripped, and looking like a fucking celebrity while I do all of the above. TRAIN FOR THE JOB YOU WANT, RIGHT? Phase 0: - Prepare outfit for work the next day. This is now a lot easier since work gave me t-shirts with company logos on them. Now I just need to pick pants. - Stretching or NF Yoga before bed - Go to bed at a reasonable hour, for fuck's sakes Phase Sunday: - Cook protein cupcakes/bars for the week - Boil chicken breasts for the week - Bake sweet potatoes for the week SIDE QUEST: decluttering. This one is definitely not forgotten ;P Grading system: Fuck it. I'll just count the fails and figure something out later. Grading drains willpower points.

Main goal: continue de-cluttering the house. Other goals: - Not have alcohol - Drink coffee less, drink water more - Work on cosplay (deadlines are approaching) - Go to bed at a reasonable hour. Brush teeth at 10:30 to get this started. - [locked] NF Yoga ...if the decluttering gets done. I've tried meeting these goals before, and started failing consistently at these goals within a day. What will be different this time? Who the fuck knows. Maybe motivation to establish new habits will strike from out of nowhere and I'll succeed this time. I am starting this challenge early so that if I fail at a thing a lot, I can change the challenge around before the start date. I've made a Google calendar of shit I need to do (mainly the usual tasks + cosplay + decluttering), which is also something I've tried before without any success whatsoever. The only difference this time around is that I've 1) turned off the annoying notifications that Google kept sending to my phone, and 2) am making it a point to see this calendar not as a to-do list, but as an excuse to say no to other things. I have no idea how I'm going to grade/measure any of these goals yet. I'm not even going to count water glasses, because that makes it feel too much like a chore. Now that I think of it, keeping track of things in general feels like a chore, so I'm not going to track anything. Oddly enough, this motivates me to actually do things a lot more. Physical clutter: - Clear the second crawlspace in my room (STORE NES AND SNES GAMES IN HERE AFTER, which will clear the last desk drawer) - Store the Thor and Loki and Darth Maul figures into the boxes they came in (for the time being, until shelving is figured out) - Organize class notes in the entryway (BOSS FIGHT!) - Put the following items on Kijiji (includes resizing pictures and writing item descriptions in a hilarious manner, because funny ads sell): Old BMX Old Skateboard Old mini-scooter Various pairs of shoes (plus bonus earrings!) Handbag Bows Xbox 360 - Re. Kijiji, take photos of the following items: Clothes I no longer wear Jewelry I no longer wear Mental clutter: - E-mail clinic with the pictures - E-mail clinic to ask about healing-related thing - Take care of fishing reels (sort the bag of fishing stuff while I'm at it) - Change name/contact info with coffee business (1) - Change web site name/write letter for coffee business (2) - Get salesman license for coffee business (3)

House Beautifying Make further progress on any of the following: bathroom organisation bedroom tidying spare bedroom decluttering house entranceway tidying & cleaning Mini Habits Start & maintain the following daily activities: Record the start & end time of daily household cleaning & tidying. Speak word of thanks for having the gift of this day. Lay out yoga mat with rolled up towel on it. Bring notebook and pen with me on work commute (3 days/week). Take notebook & pen out of bag while on the tube 'to' journey & write 10 words. Turn off television when I come downstairs, having put baby to bed. Re-defining 'Achievement' Part of the reason my bedtime is later than I want is because I often feel like I haven't "achieved" enough for the day. So I need to redefine what achievement 'looks like'. I will feel I have been productive if: I have not watched television in the evening (Tuesday - Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners and Saturday - The Voice are allowed exceptions) When necessary, I make a list of required internet tasks I need to complete that evening, and stick to just those. Shoring up the Small Things I have a number of minor things on my to-do list. The longer they stay there, the more irritating they become. As they are generally not 'important'/'urgent', they tend not to get scheduled. I will prioritise the completion of minor tasks, because having lots of small, undone things causes psychic clutter! Foooooooood I will use my oven I will use my slow cooker In both these cases, this involves: reading the instructions following any necessary pre-requisites (e.g. oven needs to be on at max temp for 1/2 hr before I use it for the first time) finding an appropriate recipe buying appropriate food using the device I think the slow cooker could potentially be a gateway to a healthier & more productive life.

Let's get this challenge started!! MAIN QUEST: To be most talented, most interesting, and most extraordinary person in the universe, basically. Last challenge was all about getting back on the horse and reestablishing some basics. I learned some valuable things in the process, and I got a bit of excellent news in the acting department (I will be in the ensemble of a production of Evita this summer!), all of which is leading me towards this, my building blocks challenge. And what better building blocks exist than Legos? QUEST ONE: THE ENDGAME [+2 STR] When you buy a Lego kit, you typically have the endgame: build what's on the box of the kit you just bought. Like a Lego Millennium Falcon. For me, I have a few fitness goals before I turn 30 at the beginning of next year, and so it's time to really focus in on working towards these things. And so, at least twice a week, I will work on: Lifting Pull-up Progression Pistol Squat Progression Leg Raises Progression Handstands A = 100% complete | B = between 50-100% complete | C = 50% complete | D = for effort Since ideally I want to be lifting 3x/week and therefore working on all of these things at least three times a week, if I pull off that third session for any of the above, I will reward myself with $5 per item towards Poe Dameron's Lego X-Wing. Because REASONS GUYS. If my Lego X-Wing didn't give me Lego!Wedge (I got Lego!Porkins instead WTF, Lego) I WILL GET LEGO!POE. (Because I sort of have a big crush on Poe...) QUEST TWO: THE SPECIAL [+3 DEX] To be most talented, most interesting, and most extraordinary person in the universe, one must also be able to fling the kit out the window and exercise their creative mind. That requires flexibility. And so, I'll be spending at least 10 minutes a day, 5x/week, working on exactly that. I'm going to have to up the ante on this if I hope to get even close to center splits by my 30th birthday! (Because fuck you, conventional wisdom, nearly 30 year olds can learn to do the splits too.) A = 5x/week | B = 4x/week | C = 3x/week | D = 1-2x/week QUEST THREE: PREPARE FOR PLAYTIME [+2 DEX] Building without all your necessary tools is difficult at best, impossible more realistically, and makes you look unreliable at worst. You should have all the pieces of whatever it is you want to build before you build it, after all! As mentioned, I was cast in Evita, and those who have followed me in the past know that I lament that my Latin-based dancing is atrocious. I refuse to show up to the first dance rehearsal with two left feet and awkward hip shakes, so at least once a week, I will work on tango, salsa, samba, etc. This can be through my World Tour Zumba game, classes, following along with online videos, anything, as long as the focus is on learning how to dance like I'm in a musical set in Buenos Aires. Pass = Danced | Fail = Nope Like Quest 1, ideally, I'll be doing this twice a week, so every week I manage to work on Latin-based dancing twice, I will earn myself $10 towards Poe Dameron's Lego X-Wing. LIFE QUEST: LET'S GET ORGANIZED [+1 WIS, +1 CHA] Okay, so my life has become somewhat of a disorganized mess, and I need it to be significantly less so. This is due to both my ADHD (forgetfulness + easily distracted + hyper-focus) and my eternal procrastination. So, every day, I will create a to-do list and I will make sure I eliminate at least five things from said to-do list no matter how long that list gets (and if the to-do list is somehow less than 5 items long, I must complete 100% of that list). No excuses. I will be productive and get shit done. A = 7x/week | B = 5-6x/week | C = 3-4x/week | D = 1-2x/week SIDE QUEST: PICK UP THE DAMN BLOCKS [+1 CHA] You know what's really painful? Stepping on a Lego piece. Just ow. So, it's good to pick up after yourself. For me, I have, metaphorically speaking, too many Lego pieces, which causes a mess, and really, I need to get rid of a few. So here is my decluttering quest. There are two pieces to this: Over the course of a week, I need to spend at least 60 cumulative minutes on the task of decluttering. By the end of the challenge, I need to have taken at least twenty items (average 5 items/week) either to Trade Smart, Goodwill, or another charity in addition to what's already in my donation pile. Weekly Grade: A = 60+ minutes | B = 45 minutes | C = 30 minutes | D = 15 minutes Challenge Grade: A = 20+ items donated | B = 15-19 items donated | C = 10-14 items donated | D = 5-9 items donated Time to get down to business!!!