My first challenge

[The budgie smuggler]

Hi everyone. This is my first ever challenge so I’m going to give it my all.

 

long term goals:

 

- look good for my honeymoon/budgie smuggler.

- get my first story published.

- learn to speak Spanish.

 

challenge goals:

 

in order to look good for my honeymoon I will:

 

- weight train 3 mornings per week.

- walk the other 4 mornings per week.

- stick to the diet plan I have created.

 

in order to get a story published I will:

 

- complete my short “fiction writing course”.

- enter at least 1 writing competition during the challenge period.

- write in my writing journal every day.

 

in order to learn Spanish I will:

- do a couple of sessions on a language app everyday.

- converse with Someone who speaks Spanish at least once per week.

[RES]

Nice goals! 

1 hour ago, The budgie smuggler said:

- stick to the diet plan I have created.

Mind if I ask what it consists of?

 

Welcome to the rebellion!

 

[The budgie smuggler]

Hi RES

 

The diet is a bowl of porridge with milk in the morning.

 

A handful of nuts mid morning

 

lunch is tuna with a salad

 

afternoon snack of a portion of cottage cheese and a piece of fruit

 

dinner is beef or chicken, with a selection of veg

 

and I have a horlicks drink an hour before bed.

 

I hope this helps.

[karinajean]

hi and welcome! your user name is PRICELESS. 

[Whimsy]

Hey there! Welcome and thank you. Good luck in achieving your goals too. And I'm a wannabe writer and poet myself. I have enrolled in a writing course too, unfortunately I haven't been able to finish it. I'm cheering for you. And would you mind if I ask what competition you're planning to enter?

[The budgie smuggler]

On 1/3/2019 at 9:26 PM, karinajean said:

hi and welcome! your user name is PRICELESS. 

 

Thanks it just seemed appropriate with my fitness goals.

[The budgie smuggler]

On 1/4/2019 at 9:31 AM, Whimsy said:

would you mind if I ask what competition you're planning to enter?

 

There is a magazine called “Writers Forum” which has monthly contests so I was planning on entering one of those because they have a wide range of them.

[The budgie smuggler]

Although the challenge doesn’t start officially until the 7th I decided to start this week. too gauge my progress I have decided I will do and end of week analysis to keep track of how I’m doing.

 

End of week analysis:

 

Goals I met:

- walk 4 mornings per week.

- write in my writing journal everyday.

- do a couple of sessions on a language app everyday.

 

Goals I didn’t meet:

- weight training 3 mornings per week. (I only managed 2).

- stick to diet plan. (I managed during the week but I got lazy over the weekend)

- complete my short “fiction writing course”. (This will probably take the length of the challenge period to accomplish).

- enter at least one writing competition during the challenge period. (I can only do this once I have completed the 3000 word story).

- converse with someone who speaks Spanish once per week. (I need to find someone who speaks Spanish in order to accomplish this).

 

how I am going to improve going forward:

- change my weight training mornings from; tues, thurs, sun to mon, wed, fri.

- eat breakfast at the same time on weekends as I do during the week so that I  can maintain the eating schedule.

- find someone who I can speak Spanish with.

[NicTheRugger]

Great start to your challenge!

 

Re. finding a Spanish speaker, have you looked into HelloTalk? It gives people the opportunity to speak the language they're learning with native speakers!

[Whimsy]

On 1/6/2019 at 1:52 AM, The budgie smuggler said:

 

There is a magazine called “Writers Forum” which has monthly contests so I was planning on entering one of those because they have a wide range of them.

 

Checked out the website. I'm cheering you on! Good luck with submitting your stories. Crossing my fingers and knocking on wood.  

[The budgie smuggler]

On 1/8/2019 at 1:34 PM, Whimsy said:

 

Checked out the website. I'm cheering you on! Good luck with submitting your stories. Crossing my fingers and knocking on wood.  

 

Thank you for your support, even if I don't come close to winning just entering is a big step for me.

[The budgie smuggler]

On 1/7/2019 at 1:09 AM, NicTheRugger said:

Great start to your challenge!

 

Re. finding a Spanish speaker, have you looked into HelloTalk? It gives people the opportunity to speak the language they're learning with native speakers!

 

I've just had a look its perfect for my needs, thank you for the suggestion.

[BardicGarlic]

Hey, fellow creative writer!

 

Good luck with your journey.

[The budgie smuggler]

On 1/10/2019 at 9:34 PM, BardicGarlic said:

Hey, fellow creative writer!

 

Good luck with your journey.

Thank you very much, I hope you are successful too.

[The budgie smuggler]

End of week analysis:

 

Goals I met:

- walk 4 mornings per week.

- strength train 3 mornings per week.

- write in my writing journal everyday.

- do a couple of sessions on a language app everyday

- speak to someone who speaks Spanish once per week. (Thanks to nic’s Suggestion)

 

Goals I didn’t accomplish:

- stick to diet plan. (Again I struggled at the weekend)

- complete the writing course.

- enter the writing competition. (I have completed the first draft of the story but it will need improvements before I’m happy to submit it)

 

How I’m going to improve:

- I’m struggling with eating that volume of food, so I will come up with some changes for the diet so I’m still getting enough nutrients but am not eating as much food.

- I will keep working at the course, I think I am 2/3 the way through.

- edit and where necessary rewrite the first draft until I’m happy to submit the story.

 

[RES]

Great job on your week!

[Whisper]

23 hours ago, The budgie smuggler said:

Goals I didn’t accomplish:

- stick to diet plan. (Again I struggled at the weekend)

 

I've been struggling with my plan too, the point is to keep struggling with it and not give up.

[Jka14]

Hi! You've got a really solid start to your challenge. Its going really well. To paraphrase @Whisper and disagree with Yoda, keep trying! It's better than not doing. 

 

I'm following your last goal with interest. I've just been invited to a (Spanish) friend's wedding,  in Spain. I speak no Spanish whatsoever so I've downloaded an app (maybe the same one?) And am going to do it on the bus on the way home everyday. Maybe we'll both be fluent! 

[The budgie smuggler]

On 1/14/2019 at 7:29 PM, Whisper said:

 

I've been struggling with my plan too, the point is to keep struggling with it and not give up.

 

It’s true normally the things we find most difficult to do are the things that we need to be doing.

[The budgie smuggler]

On 1/16/2019 at 7:49 PM, Jka14 said:

 I'm following your last goal with interest. I've just been invited to a (Spanish) friend's wedding,  in Spain. I speak no Spanish whatsoever so I've downloaded an app (maybe the same one?) And am going to do it on the bus on the way home everyday. Maybe we'll both be fluent!

 

Thats really cool. I’ve ended up using two apps Duolingo for the lessons and HelloTalk so that I can converse with people who speak Spanish as their first language. I would definitely recommend both.

[Jka14]

@thebudgiesmuggler I've got duolingo too.  Luckily my friend who is getting married is also a work colleague so I literally see her 4 days a week. I'm building up to a conversation! 

[The budgie smuggler]

End of week analysis:

 

Goals I met:

- walk 4 mornings per week. (I actually managed to walk everyday)

- strength train 3 mornings per week. (I managed to strength train 5 mornings this week)

- write in my writing journal everyday.

- complete the writing course.

- do a couple of sessions on a language app everyday

- speak to someone who speaks Spanish once per week. (Thanks to nic’s Suggestion)

 

Goals I didn’t accomplish:

- stick to diet plan. (I have been skipping breakfast and not having the snacks as I find it hard to eat that much)

- enter the writing competition. (I have started work on the second draft and am feeling much happier with it but I haven’t finished the second draft yet)

 

How I’m going to improve:

- I’m struggling with the volume so I will have to drop the snacks but I will do my best to eat breakfast everyday.

- continue to rewrite and edit so that I am happy that I couldn’t have produced anything better.

[The budgie smuggler]

4 minutes ago, Jka14 said:

@thebudgiesmuggler I've got duolingo too.  Luckily my friend who is getting married is also a work colleague so I literally see her 4 days a week. I'm building up to a conversation! 

 

Excelente! I’m sure if you keep up the practice you’ll be having regular conversations in Spanish.

[RES]

2 hours ago, The budgie smuggler said:

- stick to diet plan. (I have been skipping breakfast and not having the snacks as I find it hard to eat that much)

 

Maybe you don't need to. Have you ever looked into Intermittent fasting? It works for a lot of us on here. 

The grain industry spent a lot of time and money convincing us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day...personally I feel better when I ignore them and eat when I'm hungry!

[RvndellMK]

¡Buena suerte con tu desafío! ¿Qué acento quieres aprender más? El español de Sudamérica es muy diferente al de España, por ejemplo.