Jlailin dreams...

[Jlailin]

Hello all!  I meandered down from the pretty mountain tops in Hawaii to come back to reality.  I'm still in a bit of a dreamy, wistful mood, so I don't feel up to a full out challenge.  However, I shall devote this challenge to planning the year and framework for the next challenge!  

 

Planning Goals

(Several of these goals were totally stolen from the wonderful @Wobbegong  )

 

• List/mind map/diagram out all the things I want to do--these can be life goals, year goals, tiny little short term goals, etc.  This will mainly be a brain dump of all my hopes and dreams.
• Organize part of that brain dump into a list of things to achieve/work on in 2018. Approximate timeline, importance, and order if relevant (for example, it's kind of nonsense to train for a 10k before finishing 5k training, but pistol squats and reading more have little impact on each other).  
• Brainstorm potential pitfalls for each goal and ways to overcome them. Give special consideration to known roadblocks such as willpower fatigue, self-sabotage, and forgetfulness.
• Cull goals that no longer seem important after a period of reflection, and add in any others that might have escaped notice in the first round. Organize general outline of goals by 4WC. Create a calendar and system of benchmarks to check progress. If you have extra time this week, think about how you can gamify this experience. 
• Write goals into that pretty, pretty EC planner I use, so that I actually see and do them

 

Vacation Recovery Goals

• Stop making the excuse that my stomach is on Hawaii time and get back to a proper Chicago time intermittent fasting schedule  
• Unpack and clean
• Clean the fridge (yes, this one is so bad that it gets its own separate goal)
• Do back exercises every day 

 

 

[Wobbegong]

You summoned me and I appeared! Those stolen goals do look familiar. I should probably get back to working on that, hahaha, planning has unfortunately been my worst goal this challenge. Plenty of time to turn things around, though. 

 

I love the idea of vacation recovery goals. Coming back after a vacation is always such a jolt, it's great to see actual action items you can work on to ease back into your Chicago life. 

 

Best of luck with everything and welcome back! 

[Scaly Freak]

12 minutes ago, Jlailin said:

 

• Clean the fridge (yes, this one is so bad that it gets its own separate goal)

 

It's not an emergency until the items in the far back growl at you.

[Jlailin]

21 minutes ago, Wobbegong said:

You summoned me and I appeared!

Every time I tag someone, I am mentally doing this.  xD

 

21 minutes ago, Wobbegong said:

Those stolen goals do look familiar. I should probably get back to working on that, hahaha, planning has unfortunately been my worst goal this challenge. Plenty of time to turn things around, though. 

 

I love the idea of vacation recovery goals. Coming back after a vacation is always such a jolt, it's great to see actual action items you can work on to ease back into your Chicago life. 

 

Best of luck with everything and welcome back! 

Thank you--for the luck and goal/challenge inspiration!   

 

15 minutes ago, scalyfreak said:

 

It's not an emergency until the items in the far back growl at you.

You know, I wouldn't be surprised if some did.  I'm pretty sure there are living things back there, but whether they've evolved enough to develop vocal chords is the question.  >_> 

[Siferiax]

Yay! This sounds like an excellent challenge to start the new year
It makes me happy you're back! And I will continue to follow along with your progress.

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[Jlailin]

So I've been completely lazy about my planning goals...  No good excuse, just me being a lazy lump about it.  

 

I've made some progress on the vacation recovery goals.  I'm pretty much back to my intermittent fasting schedule on Chicago again.  Having a structured work routine helped for that one.  ...My sleep schedule, on the other hand, is a completely different story.  I think my brain just wants to remain in Hawaii with my family (especially after that ridiculous false missile alarm this past Saturday), and so I'm having a hard time re-adjusting.  I love my very independent life here, but I miss having my family just around all the time.  I thoroughly enjoy bothering my older brother (in a nice sibling sort of way) when I'm bored.  He always has something entertaining like a new kendama trick, silly toys, or a new video game.  He also drove me around to do raids and chase walimers for Pokemon Go.  It was so much fun.  I do like being on my own, but I miss the camaraderie of living with my siblings.

 

Unpacking has also not happened for the reasons listed above.  Eh, if I empty the suitcase before the month of January is complete, I will consider it a success.

 

I cleaned one third of the fridge out of necessity.  I had no place to put my pork belly as I dehydrated the skin overnight for my mini porchetta.  I did not find any moving living thing in the fridge yet, but then I also did not actually open to box I had left in there from the summer.  Some things are better left unknown.

 

I've been pretty good about the back exercises.  I've been doing them at least every other day, which isn't ideal, but it's survivable.  The thing is that I need to remember to do them while I'm still wearing my outside home clothes and not my pajamas, so that I can lay on my living room floor without needing to get a new set of clothes.  My problem is that I keep remembering after I change and then I can't be bothered to change again to go do them.  I used to do them in the morning, but yeah, the Hawaii sleep schedule is not helping on that front.  

 

Anywho, slowly getting back into my routine.  I'm back in all my dance classes again!  Yay!  

     

[Blethan]

Totally with you on the 'not feeling up to a full challenge'.

This time of year is always weird. Everyone is like #newyearnewme ... and I'm like “ Im like its so dark and horrible... I'll just be happy with myself for getting out of bed “XD

 

Goals looking good though! What’s an EC planner though? I'm always on the hunt for new organisational tools... Its probably my biggest weakness (next to pure laziness!)

[Wobbegong]

34 minutes ago, Jlailin said:

So I've been completely lazy about my planning goals...  No good excuse, just me being a lazy lump about it.

Mood. 

 

As someone with an identical challenge, seriously, why is it such a pain. I want it to be done, I just don't want to deal with doing it. 

[Jlailin]

25 minutes ago, Blethan said:

Totally with you on the 'not feeling up to a full challenge'.

This time of year is always weird. Everyone is like #newyearnewme ... and I'm like “ Im like its so dark and horrible... I'll just be happy with myself for getting out of bed “XD

See, I remember a time when I used to be like that.  I don't know what happened.  I think I just got older and wiser, and I figured out that hibernating was so cozy.  xD 

 

Quote

Goals looking good though! What’s an EC planner though? I'm always on the hunt for new organisational tools... Its probably my biggest weakness (next to pure laziness!)

Thank you! It's an  Erin Condren Life Planner.  It is one of the more expensive planner options out there, and the first time I saw it I swore I'd never buy something so expensive that I had no use for.  ...not even six months later, I shelled out $80 for a customized 18 month one because I was starting a business in the middle of the year and desperately needed a way to stay organized (plus the $80 could be written off since it was a business expense  ).  This is my second one now, and I love it.  There are cheaper options out there, but I also use a lot of organizational (and yes, some decorative) stickers from Sweet Kawaii Design, which are sized primarily for the ECLP.  I know I don't need the stickers, but they're just so gosh darn cute and they motivate me to actually plan.  I end up doing a combination of planning, journaling, and scrap booking.  

 

11 minutes ago, Wobbegong said:

Mood. 

 

As someone with an identical challenge, seriously, why is it such a pain. I want it to be done, I just don't want to deal with doing it. 

Exactly!  I even got as far as doing the list in my head, actually having a dream about writing it down that evening when I slept, and then getting lazy about taking out a piece of paper to do it in the waking world when I woke up.  >_>  

[Blethan]

Holy crap!

Those stickers are amazing!

I nearly picked up a pack of puffy dinosaur stickers the other day. No reason, they were just cute as hell. But I didn't. And I've regretted every decision since XD

[Jlailin]

30 minutes ago, Blethan said:

Holy crap!

Those stickers are amazing!

I nearly picked up a pack of puffy dinosaur stickers the other day. No reason, they were just cute as hell. But I didn't. And I've regretted every decision since XD

Stickers are life!  xD  I adore the SKD stickers because they're actually repositionable, and I'm such a klutz that I almost always put down my stickers crooked twelve the first time.   If you do end up buying from her, she does pretty great sales on major holidays.  There's a facebook group you can follow along for her sale announcements too.  I usually hoard my cart for half a year and then check out when a holiday sale hits.  xD  

[Jlailin]

I finally did some planning!  Yay!  It's mostly home-related at the moment, but it's a nice spreadsheet list with dependencies, notes, and costs when applicable.  The list isn't anywhere near complete, but at least this goal has been now started!  

[Wobbegong]

3 hours ago, Jlailin said:

I finally did some planning!  Yay!  It's mostly home-related at the moment, but it's a nice spreadsheet list with dependencies, notes, and costs when applicable.  The list isn't anywhere near complete, but at least this goal has been now started!  

Hooray! I was just about to ask. I've also made some serious progress with my planning goal today, so I was thinking of you. Success!

[Siferiax]

Good to hear you've started planning!!

 

Just looked at the ECLP website and hmmmffdpll I need to resist looking more XD

I'm that person to do buy such expensive things and then never use them lol.

 

Being able to plan like that must be nice though ;-;

I don't get further than planning one week at a time.

 

Anyway I hope you can get back to sleeping on the correct schedule soon.

Good luck with real world adjusting [emoji6]

 

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[Jlailin]

On 1/19/2018 at 5:48 PM, Wobbegong said:

Hooray! I was just about to ask. I've also made some serious progress with my planning goal today, so I was thinking of you. Success!

Yay for planning goals getting completed!  

 

10 hours ago, Siferiax said:

Just looked at the ECLP website and hmmmffdpll I need to resist looking more XD

I'm that person to do buy such expensive things and then never use them lol.

Haha, yes, I have definitely bought planners before and left them sitting on the side rotting away... but in this case, the expense actually helps me because no way can I let a $60 planner just languish away because I was lazy.  xD 

 

10 hours ago, Siferiax said:

Being able to plan like that must be nice though ;-;

I don't get further than planning one week at a time.

It's definitely a learning curve.  I started off in the planner only planning 2-3 days ahead of me.  Then I eventually graduated to planning in weeks, and now I can sort of do high level planning for months.  Years are still a stretch for me though.  Any goal in my spreadsheet that's more than 3 months out gets a lot more nebulous in its description.  

 

11 hours ago, Siferiax said:

Anyway I hope you can get back to sleeping on the correct schedule soon.

Good luck with real world adjusting

Thank you!  Me too~  I am still having a really hard time getting to sleep at the correct Chicago time.  Even if I'm in bed with my eyes closed, my brain is just buzzing awake.  I have to distract myself with a book till I doze off again, but if I startle myself awake again (which I seem to keep doing) I have to repeat the whole process.  I don't feel like I'm actually properly getting to sleep until around 2am or 3am, which would make sense because that would be 10pm or 11pm Hawaii time.  ~_~  ...This is the start of week three of being back, so hopefully this changes soon.

 

As for other updates:

• I FINALLY EMPTIED AND PUT AWAY MY SUITCASE!  WOOHOO!  ...It only took a little over two weeks, and the stuff in the suitcase hasn't all found their proper homes yet, but I no longer have a giant open suitcase taking up the majority of my bedroom floor.  My room feels so much nicer.
• No new progress on the fridge, but also no back sliding.  I've at least been eating all of the new things I've put in there.  
• Back exercises are still closer to every other day than every day.

 

[Wobbegong]

7 minutes ago, Jlailin said:

It's definitely a learning curve.  I started off in the planner only planning 2-3 days ahead of me.  Then I eventually graduated to planning in weeks, and now I can sort of do high level planning for months.  Years are still a stretch for me though.  Any goal in my spreadsheet that's more than 3 months out gets a lot more nebulous in its description.  

You could always have a really nebulous description of a plan for farther out goals and include a planning phase as they come closer? So plan out three months fairly clearly and the rest of the year kind of vaguely, and include at the end of March "plan April - June" and at the end of June "plan July - September" etc? That way you can review your overall yearly plans and tweak and clarify as necessary to make things work for you?

[Jlailin]

24 minutes ago, Wobbegong said:

You could always have a really nebulous description of a plan for farther out goals and include a planning phase as they come closer? So plan out three months fairly clearly and the rest of the year kind of vaguely, and include at the end of March "plan April - June" and at the end of June "plan July - September" etc? That way you can review your overall yearly plans and tweak and clarify as necessary to make things work for you?

Ohhhh.  I really like that idea.  I do feel like the year gets away from me towards the middle when I haven't had time to really think about what I want to do.  I dislike arriving at a month without at least some planning done for it.  This would help!  Putting it onto my planning spreadsheet!  Thank you!  

[Wobbegong]

Hooray! I'm glad I made a useful suggestion. I hope it works out super duper well for you and you adopt it as a planning method for years to come.

[Siferiax]

Hooray for unpacking your suitcase!!!

And it may sound a bit weird, but maybe you just need to make sure you're really really tired at bedtime. For example by using an alarm to get up extra early or doing a tough workout.

I dunno. I usually try to sleep with the new schedule asap.
Either by staying awake longer till sleep time (if for example I arrive in the middle of the day in the new time zone) or just going to bed early and getting up at a normal new time zone time. (If you get there in the evening)
I learned from my mom to immediately sleep with the new timezone. She did a lot of business trips a few years ago (funny enough mostly to Chicago )

Good luck with that planning then!
I wanna do it too, but I think I'll just do challenge to challenge

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[Wobbegong]

1 minute ago, Siferiax said:

I dunno. I usually try to sleep with the new schedule asap.
Either by staying awake longer till sleep time (if for example I arrive in the middle of the day in the new time zone) or just going to bed early and getting up at a normal new time zone time. (If you get there in the evening)
I learned from my mom to immediately sleep with the new timezone. She did a lot of business trips a few years ago (funny enough mostly to Chicago )

Same. For me the best way to avoid jet lag is to pretend it's not even a thing. Reset all my clocks before the plane touches down, immediately follow the schedule of my new timezone no matter how different it may be from my old one. Usually flying makes me disoriented enough that this is not a problem, since I apparently have a thing about airplanes where I get on them, watch take off, and then immediately fall asleep. 

 

Never EVER check "what time it is" back in your old timezone, and completely override your body's signals (force it to eat at a new time, ignore hunger at old times, sleep and work out on your new schedule, etc). Hit the ground running, plan for a longer-than-usual sleep the first night, and then just push through. 

 

But that probably doesn't work for everyone. 

[Jlailin]

3 minutes ago, Siferiax said:

And it may sound a bit weird, but maybe you just need to make sure you're really really tired at bedtime. For example by using an alarm to get up extra early or doing a tough workout.

Sadly, the extra early alarm does not work for me... I am too good at turning it off in my sleep or expertly reasoning with my sleepy self in the morning to convince myself I really don't have to wake up an hour earlier.   I am actually pretty sure that I need to do a tough work out here though... Since I've come back, I feel like I've been a human log.   Even when I stayed at home in Hawaii, it was in a house with stairs and multiple rooms to traverse across.  When I stay at home here, I am in an itsy bitsy apartment (that I do take stairs to get to but none while I'm inside).  I'm debating whether I should try going back to my body weight routine at home or join the gym at work.  

 

9 minutes ago, Siferiax said:

I dunno. I usually try to sleep with the new schedule asap.
Either by staying awake longer till sleep time (if for example I arrive in the middle of the day in the new time zone) or just going to bed early and getting up at a normal new time zone time. (If you get there in the evening)
I learned from my mom to immediately sleep with the new timezone. She did a lot of business trips a few years ago (funny enough mostly to Chicago )

 

3 minutes ago, Wobbegong said:

Same. For me the best way to avoid jet lag is to pretend it's not even a thing. Reset all my clocks before the plane touches down, immediately follow the schedule of my new timezone no matter how different it may be from my old one. Usually flying makes me disoriented enough that this is not a problem, since I apparently have a thing about airplanes where I get on them, watch take off, and then immediately fall asleep. 

 

Never EVER check "what time it is" back in your old timezone, and completely override your body's signals (force it to eat at a new time, ignore hunger at old times, sleep and work out on your new schedule, etc). Hit the ground running, plan for a longer-than-usual sleep the first night, and then just push through. 

 

But that probably doesn't work for everyone. 

I do try to do this strategy pretty immediately as well.  The part I fail at is the going to sleep/staying awake later part.  I feel like I can adjust my wake up time pretty easily, but my body is stubborn about what time it wants to sleep.  ~_~  ...I think sentimentality is also a part of my issue.  I need to plan some sort of fun event for me to look forward to here in Chicago rather than keep looking back at my time in Hawaii.  Mergh.  Must. Not. Get. Homesick.  ...I do also feel like it's become more of an issue as I've gotten older and more ingrained with my regular working schedule.  I remember the good old college days when I could pretty much sleep whenever and wherever.  Ah well, I will get there eventually.  

[Siferiax]

I am too good at turning it off in my sleep or expertly reasoning with my sleepy self in the morning to convince myself I really don't have to wake up an hour earlier.

This means two things:
1. Your alarm is too close to your bed
2. Your alarm is not loud and annoying enough

^^

Also yes! Do plan something fun! And yes also go do a workout!

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[Jlailin]

On 1/22/2018 at 2:14 PM, Siferiax said:

This means two things:
1. Your alarm is too close to your bed
2. Your alarm is not loud and annoying enough

...I will actually sleepwalk across the room to turn it off and then fall back into bed.  >_>  Yeah, I can be a pretty determined sleeper.  XD

 

On 1/22/2018 at 2:14 PM, Siferiax said:

Also yes! Do plan something fun! And yes also go do a workout!

I am working up my mental power to do a work out!  I have been going to my dance classes, and I can feel the difference of muscle loss because I haven't been strength training for the past two and a half months.  ~_~  This week's time is pretty much already all accounted for, but I will do some sort of strength training next week Tuesday!  

 

Other updates:  

• Did my back exercises!  Yay!
• Fridge is still the same, but I need to clean it by tomorrow night because I will need room for the cake I'm making with white chocolate mousse filling. >_>
• I've added some things to my planning list.  ...I might actually tackle one of the tasks early because IKEA has a $25 off coupon this weekend.  I was supposed to wait for my next pay check, but I do have enough in my account to buy my shoe cabinets this month... and it will be cheaper in the long run with the coupon.  Just need to make sure I'm really good the rest of this month and actually bring home lunches instead of buying (which is what I'm supposed to be doing anyways).
  • I don't know if I'll get through my full planning exercise I've outlined above, but at least I have a giant list of stuff.  I can just keep looking at it and revising it every quarter, and I can use it to fuel 4WC if I so desire (although most are more task-ish than goal-ish, but eh).  

[Siferiax]

26 minutes ago, Jlailin said:

...I will actually sleepwalk across the room to turn it off and then fall back into bed.  >_>  Yeah, I can be a pretty determined sleeper.  XD

 

That is sort of impressive XD

 

26 minutes ago, Jlailin said:

I am working up my mental power to do a work out!  I have been going to my dance classes, and I can feel the difference of muscle loss because I haven't been strength training for the past two and a half months.  ~_~  This week's time is pretty much already all accounted for, but I will do some sort of strength training next week Tuesday!  

 

You can do it! I believe in you!

 

26 minutes ago, Jlailin said:

Other updates:  

• Did my back exercises!  Yay!
• Fridge is still the same, but I need to clean it by tomorrow night because I will need room for the cake I'm making with white chocolate mousse filling. >_>
• I've added some things to my planning list.  ...I might actually tackle one of the tasks early because IKEA has a $25 off coupon this weekend.  I was supposed to wait for my next pay check, but I do have enough in my account to buy my shoe cabinets this month... and it will be cheaper in the long run with the coupon.  Just need to make sure I'm really good the rest of this month and actually bring home lunches instead of buying (which is what I'm supposed to be doing anyways).
  • I don't know if I'll get through my full planning exercise I've outlined above, but at least I have a giant list of stuff.  I can just keep looking at it and revising it every quarter, and I can use it to fuel 4WC if I so desire (although most are more task-ish than goal-ish, but eh).  

 

Good job on your back!

Also nom cake ^^

[Jlailin]

I've made a bunch of lists in my spreadsheet document, and I'm seeing a couple of consistent themes.  I've consolidated them here into my big goals for the year.  ...I kinda did the mind mapping thing backwards, I suppose.  Typically this all should come before the details, but oh well.  I think writing the details out first helps me better articulate the big picture.  Anyways, here we go:

 

Big Goals for 2018

• Redo apartment.  Make it look like an actual adult (albeit a nerdy, kpop obsessed, cat loving adult) lives there rather than someone just out of college that has just kept collecting ALL THE STUFF.
• See EXO in a North America tour concert!  (However, this is entirely dependent on if they actually have a North America tour this year.  They've had them for the past two years, so I'm hopeful it will happen again.  It's just not in the budget to travel to see them internationally this year... that's probably a 2019 goal.)
• Perform in a dance team
• Get to and maintain a weight under 130lbs (I'm flexible with this number if my body ends up being super awesome and composed of more heavy muscle, but I do feel like trying to target to get below 130lbs helps me do all things I need to in order to better my body composition)
• Resolve finances with business partner

 

Other updates:

• Fridge was cleaned more!  This was solely because I needed a place to put my friend's birthday cake, which was delicious.  I also made the cutest little swans carved from strawberries to garnish it.  
  • ...the middle shelf still needs to be cleaned, but the top and bottom shelves have now both been cleaned!  Yay!  Two thirds of the way there!
• Back exercises are going well
• Sleep schedule seems to be doing much better!  I think having my friend's birthday party this past Saturday helped a lot.  I ate divinely good sushi.  We went to Momotaro, which is said by some to be the best sushi in the city.  I had a piece of otoro there that was the best thing I've ever put in my mouth--like seriously.  Oh so good.  The fish literally melted, and there was a faint medley of sweet and tangy from some sort of ponzu sauce.  My face was so happy after eating it that everyone at my table immediately also ordered a piece.  xD  That was probably the most expensive meal I've ever eaten, but it was worth every penny.