Traaki puts the year to bed.

[traaki]

Three days late and a dollar short, I'm here!

 

Challenges for the challenge:

* End of year always has a bunch of wrap-up work I want to get done

* Christmas is coming (oh god help me)

* I'm realllllly tired and out of sorts after Thanksgiving. 

* I'm looking at some big life changes. 

 

ANYWAY we all know that December is a burning trash heap of stress, obligations, disappointed friends and family, disrupted schedules, unhealthy food choices and big expenses really great month so I'll just get down to brass tacks.  

 

Quest #1 (HEALTH): Complete 104 workouts by the end of 2017.

At the start of this year, I committed to doing 104 workouts over the course of t the year (=2 per week). My count is behind on my spreadsheet, but I think I need to get 14 workouts in this month. If I get two done this week, and I keep to my new standard 3/week schedule, I'll do 105 for the year. This is more about maintaining the habit and hitting the goal than having the Best Workouts Of My Life, so I'm going to be flexible & charitable about what counts, so long as I'm active.  15 minute dance party? Sure. Walk at work that's longer than my usual? Sure. 

 

Quest #2 (WRITING): Complete the basic levels of my kickstarter rewards. 

Would I rather be working on my NaNo novel, or doing literally anything else? Yes, yes, I would. Instead, I will get the following rewards finished & mailed to their recipients: 

* Poetry cards

* Handwritten poems

* Poetry books

I am using Asana as a project management tool. Just need to start setting time aside for this. 

 

Quest #3 (LIFESTYLE): Read 16 books. 

I'm at 14/16.  I can get this done.  

 

Quest #4 (FINANCE): Put $5k in savings by the end of 2017.

I will need to do one money date with myself to get my budgets in order from last month and this month. I think everything is on track for me to achieve this goal, but Black Friday + holiday shopping = money shenanigans for sure.

BONUS QUEST: Write 250 words every day. 

Because it's fun and helps me stay sane.  

 

I really like how I've organized my year in terms of goals and priorities, and I'm excited to take some time at the end of the year to do the same big review/goal setting activity I did last year.  This year was in large part about establishing some benchmarks for myself so I could decide if I want to do more, less or the same in the areas that are important to me--so even if I didn't hit the goals (damn you, one regular push-up!) I at least know more about myself and my goals. 

 

THANK YOU all for being here.  As the end of November has been unravelling entirely, as I stare down the barrel of December, the thing I kept thinking was: I have to post a challenge. Something about being here, taking the time to put my plans together, checking in on my buddies (even if I'm not the most frequent commenter....), well, it all helps me keep focused and keep getting better. 

[traaki]

One other thing: All of the above is less important than me getting sleep, going outside, eating vegetables, drinking water, etc.  So, if a grocery trip impedes my ability to get my money date but allows me to get healthy food, that's okay. 

[Twilight]

Great challenge setup. YOU CAN DO IT!  

[traaki]

4 hours ago, Twilight said:

Great challenge setup. YOU CAN DO IT!  

Thanks, Twilight!!

[Manarelle]

Following, you've got this. Finish strong. 

 

[WhiteGhost]

Following

[RogueLibrarian]

I'm here! The ponies say you can do it.

[traaki]

20 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Following, you've got this. Finish strong. 

 

Thanks, Mana!! 

 

13 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Following

Hi! Welcome!

 

2 hours ago, RogueLibrarian said:

I'm here! The ponies say you can do it.

Yes! The ponies are never wrong!

[traaki]

Quest #1 (HEALTH): Complete 104 workouts by the end of 2017.

I'm going to be working out during my work breaks today. Not a normal schedule for me, but everyone in my house is sick and I woke up with the Dreaded Sore Throat so I'm hesitant to push it too hard.  On the other hand, I haven't worked out in about ten days and I'm *sure* that has nothing at all to do with my desire to not work out. So, hopefully this is a middle ground that will work for all purposes. 

 

Quest #2 (WRITING): Complete the basic levels of my kickstarter rewards. 

I confess that I was putting this off till NaNo was officially over. I stayed up til midnight last night and broke 39,000--not quite what i'd hoped for but much more than I thought I'd get yesterday.  I'm going to leave it alone for the month of December while I work on KS rewards, and then start revising in January. 

 

Quest #3 (LIFESTYLE): Read 16 books. (15/16).

Finished a book yesterday, too, so basically I'm a super hero.

 

Quest #4 (FINANCE): Put $5k in savings by the end of 2017.

No progress, just anxiety about progress.

 

BONUS QUEST: Write 250 words every day. 

Two for two so far.

 

Here's hoping I can stave off this cold that has invaded my home and stay healthy!

[traaki]

Okay, I insisted on my two roomies hanging together tonight so I could get some backlog done and while it was a RIP-ROARING Friday night of budgeting and email, I got SO MUCH DONE. 

Lessons learned: 

* It's fun to hang out doing boring stuff while they play MTG (even if it's not as fun as MTG)

* Don't leave your effing money dates alone for so long.

* Money dates with myself are even more important now that I have a roommate, since I now have two shared expense documents to keep up with. 

 

I *think* I'm going to be okay to hit my savings goal but it's gonna be dicey with the lack of income over the holidays + the higher expenses.  It'll be a fun challenge to try to make it work, though, and if I keep that attitude, we're golden. Based on my income estimates, I'm a bit short. So time to tighten the belt and get it done!

[traaki]

Check-in!

 

Quest #1 (workouts): I did my cooldown as a workout yesterday.  It felt incredibly pathetic but I'm fighting off the cold that has laid both of my roommates low and I figure at least it was *something*. At least I committed to moving my body and did it.  So I'm on a very exacting schedule now through the end of the year--three per week, no exceptions, and I'll finish on December 31.

 

Quest #2 (kickstarter): I finalized the last few things I needed to do for the book. I got an author portrait done that I love & have been organizing the poetry cards. So, lots of extremely boring progress got done this weekend. 

 

Quests 3 & 4 have had no progress since my last check-in on Friday.  Also have not achieved bonus quest but that's okay. I feel good about how things are going for the first time in a while. 

[traaki]

End of week two already!? 

 

Quest #1 (HEALTH): Complete 104 workouts by the end of 2017.

I have 11 workouts left.  I'm still on schedule, though things have been a bit weird here. I'm near one of the big SoCal fires and air quality has been terrible (also my house burned down when I was a kid and being this close to an evacuation zone has been...uncomfortable).  My sister ran a few errands and had chest pains from the smoke, sooooo yeah. Also, I am sick. Also, I have asthma. So I've literally been trying to be as still and peaceful as possible.  I went for a walk today & the air was much better so I *might* be able to do at least a low-key workout tomorrow morning.  

I don't feel bad about not exercising--it's not like I expected giant wildfires--but it is a lesson in Why Procrastination is Bad. Now my whole year of working toward this goal feels jeopardized by this random event.  BUT! Even if I fall behind I can catch up. 

 

Quest #2 (WRITING): Complete the basic levels of my kickstarter rewards. 

I haven't done anything on this since my last check-in, but tonight I plan to do some of it.  I've been a wreck since this fire situation happened, not able to sleep, etc, so yeah.  

 

Quest #3 (LIFESTYLE): Read 16 books. (15/16).

I've been working on my last book of the year. Slowly. Surly. 

 

Quest #4 (FINANCE): Put $5k in savings by the end of 2017.

Did a bit more budgeting/YNABbing. Tomorrow is payday so it will be a good time to go in and do some more estimates. 

 

BONUS QUEST: Write 250 words every day. 

I wrote on Tuesday!

 

Tonight all I ask for is uninterrupted, nourishing sleep with no new evacuation orders. 

[Manarelle]

On 12/4/2017 at 2:49 PM, traaki said:

Quest #1 (workouts): I did my cooldown as a workout yesterday.  It felt incredibly pathetic but I'm fighting off the cold that has laid both of my roommates low and I figure at least it was *something*. At least I committed to moving my body and did it.  So I'm on a very exacting schedule now through the end of the year--three per week, no exceptions, and I'll finish on December 31.

 

Out of curiosity, does "workout" have a specific definition? If you're in a bad situation for reasons outside your control (air quality, injury, weather, etc), does "workout" scale accordingly, or are you only counting a preconceived notion of "workout" that assumes best-case situations?  I have breathing issues in the cold, so my "workout" standards change in winter. I still get up and push myself, but I know I'll be able to do less, compared to in summer. Keeping fingers crossed that the wildfires stay away from you. Be safe!

[traaki]

4 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Out of curiosity, does "workout" have a specific definition? If you're in a bad situation for reasons outside your control (air quality, injury, weather, etc), does "workout" scale accordingly, or are you only counting a preconceived notion of "workout" that assumes best-case situations?  I have breathing issues in the cold, so my "workout" standards change in winter. I still get up and push myself, but I know I'll be able to do less, compared to in summer. Keeping fingers crossed that the wildfires stay away from you. Be safe!

I'm pretty flexible with it--I have a pretty set bodyweight workout routine that I do, but I'll also count hikes, longer walks, that kind of thing.  And like you said--right now I just have to lower my standards.  I think honestly the important thing is to keep showing up so the habit stays intact, and then once I have energy for it, I'll go harder.  

 

Thanks for the well wishes!! The closest one to me is about 30% contained and they're starting to let people back into the evacuated areas, so that's a good sign. I can't believe how bad it is, though. 

[traaki]

Quest #1 (HEALTH): Complete 104 workouts by the end of 2017.

I got in a "real" workout! I did pushups! My sister joined me! I've got 9 more left. Just checked my schedule this week and I should be able to get all three in that I need to get done.  After that

I will be travelling/holidaying which is always very challenging but I think I can I think I can I think I can I think I can. 

 

Quest #2 (WRITING): Complete the basic levels of my kickstarter rewards. 

Sooooo didn't touch this at all over the last week means this week I really need to focus on it.  I'm going to try to work on it in little snatches during my work breaks, and also have some nights set aside for it this week. 

 

Quest #3 (LIFESTYLE): Read 16 books by the end of 2017. 

Haven't been reading much--I'm a bit bored by the book I've selected but have social reasons to finish it, soooo....I think I'll probably end up reading it on the plane. 

 

Quest #4 (FINANCE): Put $5k in savings by the end of 2017.

I need to do one more money date, maybe next week though, to make sure I can hit this goal.

BONUS QUEST: Write 250 words every day. 

I haven't been doing this and I think I will feel better if I do.  So I am going to resist the urge to cancel the bonus quest. 

 

--

 

In general I feel insanely stressed out by the impending holidays. I wish I'd gotten more done in advance but as I've gotten grinchier I have been procrastinating more and more on various holiday activities.  In general I've been procrastinating a lot, which is never a good sign.  Maybe time to put my bonus quest to good use so I can figure out what that's about....

[Manarelle]

I sympathize with the grinchiness. Christmas is not really my thing, so the constant over-the-topness of everyone else can get quite obnoxious. Were you able to keep to your schedule for workouts and money dates? Hope the travel/holiday schedule isn't too much for you. Hang in there, it's almost the new year!

[traaki]

On 12/21/2017 at 7:53 AM, Manarelle said:

I sympathize with the grinchiness. Christmas is not really my thing, so the constant over-the-topness of everyone else can get quite obnoxious. Were you able to keep to your schedule for workouts and money dates? Hope the travel/holiday schedule isn't too much for you. Hang in there, it's almost the new year!

I always get less grinchy in the days immediately preceding the holiday but basically I have zero anticipation of the holiday...always just sort of grin-and-bear-it until things slow down more.  

 

I *have* been able to keep to my schedule, so that feels great.  

[traaki]

End of week 4!

 

Quest #1 (HEALTH): Complete 104 workouts by the end of 2017. (102/104)

WOOHOOOO! I am on track for my workouts for the first time since I went to Scotland in June!!!! Today's workout was uh...symbolic.  I drank way too much last night (my partner's grandmother passed away and we went out for drinks with his cousins), but I got my ass up and I stretched as much as I could manage. But I still did it.  I've got two scheduled for the upcoming week and should be able to get them done no problem. 

 

Quest #2 (WRITING): Complete the basic levels of my kickstarter rewards. 

Still working on this, but the proof is in my bag awaiting one last read-through and then I'll be done with that. Cards are close to done and I'm hoping to finish them before the end of the year.

 

Quest #3 (LIFESTYLE): Read 16 books by the end of 2017. (17/16)

I not only finished one book, I finished *two*! I read this article about how to read more and am going to make liberal use of the rule that I throw any book I don't enjoy across the room immediately so I can hit a higher number next year.

 

Quest #4 (FINANCE): Put $5k in savings by the end of 2017. ($5k achieved!)

I did it! I can now start to focus on paying down ye olde credit card debt (though I will still be stashing *some* for savings each month). 

 

Overall I'm pretty thrilled with how this challenge went--I had to push to get where I did but it paid off across the board.  I'm excited to start the 5 week January challenge with the momentum built up here.  GO TEAM!!

[Manarelle]

Congrats at hitting all your goals! And still with time to spare before the end of the year! The throwing a bad book across the room is a good idea. There are some books I've tried so many times to read, and need to accept that it's just not going to happen. Alas. Looking forward to seeing you slay 2018!