BD Tries to Stick Around

[bdwilson]

Going with this title for now. I'll see if I come up with something better

 

My primary goal for this challenge is to still be attempting to hit my goals in the last week. I've stopped paying attention around that stretch in the last two, and it'd be nice to get all the way through one.

 

I'll keep running with my points system, too, though I've shaken up the categories a little and need to pick my priorities. I also dropped some categories when I reviewed my tracker and saw a few that only ever got done if I was going for a Rare or Epic day. I can roll them into other things if need  be.

 

Light on details for this post, but I'm putting it up now so I actually do it before the challenge starts  

[JuiceeTarget]

Following, I like your point system and am fascinated to see how you change it up.

[Waanie]

I like your goal of sticking around all five weeks . Following!

[WhiteGhost]

Here to see you stick this one through to the end

[KB Girl]

Have you thought of something to refresh halfway through? 

[Lateral Planet]

8 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Have you thought of something to refresh halfway through? 

Highly recommend! I've done a couple of challenges by changing the rules after a couple of weeks. It's a good way to respond to changes in real life (five weeks is a long time to plan ahead), or to just keep things interesting for yourself.

[bdwilson]

14 hours ago, KB Girl said:

Have you thought of something to refresh halfway through? 

 

5 hours ago, Lateral Planet said:

Highly recommend! I've done a couple of challenges by changing the rules after a couple of weeks. It's a good way to respond to changes in real life (five weeks is a long time to plan ahead), or to just keep things interesting for yourself.

 

That's a good idea! It might work better for me to refresh every week or two, to keep my focus up  That can be what I try to sort out this week.

 

On 9/10/2019 at 6:46 PM, GoodDoug said:

Following, I like your point system and am fascinated to see how you change it up.

 

 It's pretty similar this time, though the lines on the tracker started to blur together at the end so I've changed that  I noticed I wasn't at all interested in gardening, despite it being on my list, so I've decided if I actually do it, that can go under chores. The same with decluttering, which I really thought I was motivated to do, but turns out not. 

 

I've added cooking, which was something I started doing again over my holiday and am trying to keep up even though I don't enjoy it. I've also added a couple of projects and things.

 

So, September tracker looks like this (though I've added "Track Food" and "Read" to the trackers I didn't have items for yet when I took the picture.

Spoiler

 

 

[Waanie]

Nice BuJo tracking system . Cooking is generally seen as part of the household chores here in The Netherlands. Although I enjoy cooking, cooking every night means that there are nights that I don't want to do it and do it anyway. Having some recipes that you can make within 15 minutes does help with keeping up the cooking .

[bdwilson]

9 hours ago, Waanie said:

Cooking is generally seen as part of the household chores here in The Netherlands. Although I enjoy cooking, cooking every night means that there are nights that I don't want to do it and do it anyway. Having some recipes that you can make within 15 minutes does help with keeping up the cooking .

 

Yeeesss... I really need more of those quick meals. I was counting cooking as part of chores last month, but I really, really hate it. I'd rather get the chores point from doing dishes or laundry  I'm hoping making it a point on its own will help. I'm also trying to figure out a base list of meals I don't despise preparing, so I can just make them routine.

 

*fingers crossed*

[Waanie]

On 9/12/2019 at 7:42 PM, bdwilson said:

I was counting cooking as part of chores last month, but I really, really hate it. I'd rather get the chores point from doing dishes or laundry 

I'm really the other way around . I don't mind cooking so much, especially if it results in something tasty. Canned beans are your friend, they can count as either your starch or your protein, and can be used straight out of the can. They are a great addition to soups, salads and stir-fries. If you need some recipe ideas, just let us know!

[Diadhuit]

 
Yeeesss... I really need more of those quick meals. I was counting cooking as part of chores last month, but I really, really hate it. I'd rather get the chores point from doing dishes or laundry [emoji14] I'm hoping making it a point on its own will help. I'm also trying to figure out a base list of meals I don't despise preparing, so I can just make them routine.
 
*fingers crossed*

Quat part of cooking do you hate? Because there might be different ideas you can use... Random examples: use a crockpot or a microwave if you hate waiting. Batch cooking if you hate the fact that is a daily task and never 'done'. Use partially prepared ingredients (thank God for frozen chopped onions!!).

[KB Girl]

Oh yes, if you dislike cooking definitely do it as little as possible, which means making huge batches and freezing. 

[bdwilson]

I recognize this is something of an obnoxious answer, but it's also true: I hate every single part of cooking, from shopping for ingredients to plating the food. I was going to count the dishes too but yeah, I'm actually okay with that part 

 

My current plan of attack is to get a set number of meals I can prep on auto-pilot. If I don't have to pay attention to it, I can passively hate it instead of actively hating it, which is easier to handle  In the meantime, at least it earns me a point.

 

And I kind of need them, because I am not feeling this challenge at all. I scored another Poor day on Saturday, and other than that I've mostly been hitting Common by the smallest margin. I'm not sure what's different between this month and last.

 

Well, that's not entirely true. I'm playing a video game again at the moment (Star Wars: The Old Republic, which I pick up and play with focus, then set down for months or years) and mostly I'd just rather do that than the things that earn me points. It's easier to manage both on holidays  On one hand, I make time for hobbies very rarely, so I don't really mind that I'm giving it a lot of time now. On the other, I have other things that should get done. But I think that's part of the distraction.

 

Anyway, I might have to think about this a little more, even though the challenge has already started. Really, though, my goal is to engage with it and that's not happening, so I have to solve that to pull it off.

 

Mostly complaining out loud here. This is one I'm going to have to find the answer for on my own, I think.

 

 

 

 

[Waanie]

-hugs-

 

Sometimes you just don't feel a challenge, and it's okay to have an off-challenge from time to time. As long as you bounce back from it after a short while, you're still improving. Can you somehow incorporate time for your hobbies and also keep doing some of the usefull stuff?

[KB Girl]

Yea sometimes a challenge is just all about figuring out how to incorporate goals into life. 

Only thing I can think of is hitting a certain number of points before allowing yourself to play? Would bring out my inner rebel for sure, but maybe it'd work for you..

[bdwilson]

Checking in, mostly to try and keep up the habit of checking in 

 

I think I might've figured out part of what's going on, at least as far as why I'm not connecting as much. Rambling behind the spoiler tag.

 

Spoiler

While I have a big long list of things to do, only a small subset of those are required. They're things like getting enough sleep, going to bed on time, my writing tasks, and mediation. If I do all of these in a day, I'll land in the Common range, which is my minimum. All of the other tasks are optional. They're things I want to be doing, but I can choose to do them or not on any given day. However, I have to do a bunch of them to get a Good or higher day, which is the ultimate goal. So far so good.

 

In my trackers, however, there's no distinction between the two tasks. Other than the fact that some of the required tasks can actually score negative points, I'm looking at them all the same way. I did this last month, too, and it wasn't an issue, so it seemed like doing the same thing this month would be fine.

 

Thing is, I was actually doing those tasks last month, and consistently to a large degree, so even in the end, they really didn't look all that different from the required tasks.

 

That is not the case this month. I've been choosing not to to them, because I've been choosing to spend my time elsewhere (hello video games). That means I look at my tracker page and I just see this big long list of things I failed to do. Even though they're not actually required, unless I want to hit my higher targets, which I am clearly not prioritizing this month. So every time I check in on what I've done, the experience is "nothing" and the conclusion is "this isn't working."

 

Anyway, I'm trying out a different colour (and I hate the one I used, so no final result picture ) to fill in the days I didn't do the optional things, just to decrease the white space for now. Then I've got to think of a different approach. I'm going to try a few out, but there will probably be a churn as I see what'll click.

 

I don't think that's all of it, but I do think it's some of it. The more I check-in, the more I get the sense of "I've already failed why bother" and the whole system I'm using kind of reinforces that. Therefore, new system!

 

Once I figure out what it is...

 

I'm a little sad though. I love those itty bitty calendar.

[Waanie]

Ow, I hope you'll feel more energetic again soon! It's just the end of week 1 now, and you can still change your quests. I'm sure you know a gazillion ways to reduce the number of things you want to do this challenge, so just pick one and go for it . Since your main quest is to keep showing up, you just fail if you do not check in anymore. If you update at least once a week, this challenge is a success. If you also manage to do other stuff, that's a bonus .

[KB Girl]

Maybe keep a list of positive actions in your bujo for a while? It's fun to try to have as many things as possible to write down, but since you're not ticking off any boxes you can avoid the sense of failure

And you could still keep a tracker for those things you must do.

[bdwilson]

On 9/22/2019 at 4:38 AM, Waanie said:

Ow, I hope you'll feel more energetic again soon! It's just the end of week 1 now, and you can still change your quests. I'm sure you know a gazillion ways to reduce the number of things you want to do this challenge, so just pick one and go for it . Since your main quest is to keep showing up, you just fail if you do not check in anymore. If you update at least once a week, this challenge is a success. If you also manage to do other stuff, that's a bonus .

 

I'm clinging to that one lately *lol* As long as I pop in here, even if it's just to complain or ramble, at least I'm hitting that mark 

 

On 9/23/2019 at 9:31 AM, KB Girl said:

Maybe keep a list of positive actions in your bujo for a while? It's fun to try to have as many things as possible to write down, but since you're not ticking off any boxes you can avoid the sense of failure

And you could still keep a tracker for those things you must do.

 

I need to consider this. Someone I know on another site keeps a ta-dah list along with her to-do list, which is a great idea. I'm less good at keeping track of those things, but it might be time to work it back in.

 

In the meantime, I'd almost forgotten I'd set up Beeminder for my to-do list, but fortunately remembered when I'd almost derailed as opposed to actually derailed. It has served its purpose, in that not wanting to give them money got me to actually do things on my to-do list the last two days. Whee!

 

I also convinced myself to go for a short walk yesterday and a longer walk today, so I might try to at least hit the short one on my afternoon breaks. We're getting to the point where it will be too cold for that here, soon, so I might as well do it while I can. And try to come up with a plan other than "let's just not walk, yeah" for winter 

 

But anyway, with those changes I actually hit a couple of Good days here, which is a nice change.

[Waanie]

Glad to see that you're getting back on track . 

 

For the walking, can you take a (youtube) fitness class instead? Something like Zumba or so that gets your heart rate up, but still keeps you inside? It sounds tough to have winters that are so cold that you need to stay inside .

[Diadhuit]

 
I need to consider this. Someone I know on another site keeps a ta-dah list along with her to-do list, which is a great idea. I'm less good at keeping track of those things, but it might be time to work it back in.
 
In the meantime, I'd almost forgotten I'd set up Beeminder for my to-do list, but fortunately remembered when I'd almost derailed as opposed to actually derailed. It has served its purpose, in that not wanting to give them money got me to actually do things on my to-do list the last two days. Whee!
 
I also convinced myself to go for a short walk yesterday and a longer walk today, so I might try to at least hit the short one on my afternoon breaks. We're getting to the point where it will be too cold for that here, soon, so I might as well do it while I can. And try to come up with a plan other than "let's just not walk, yeah" for winter [emoji4]
 
But anyway, with those changes I actually hit a couple of Good days here, which is a nice change.

What is a ta-dah list?
I read that to be happy it makes sense to have an I-did list. But I can't resolve and it's on my to-do [emoji57]

[bdwilson]

On 9/26/2019 at 12:50 AM, Waanie said:

For the walking, can you take a (youtube) fitness class instead? Something like Zumba or so that gets your heart rate up, but still keeps you inside? It sounds tough to have winters that are so cold that you need to stay inside .

 

That's a good idea! I remember wanting to look into Zumba at home sometime last year, but then I forgot and never did  Thank you!

 

It's not always that cold here, but last year sucked. I've heard some people say this year is on track to be the same, so I'm trying to get prepared.

 

On 9/26/2019 at 2:09 AM, Diadhuit said:

What is a ta-dah list?
I read that to be happy it makes sense to have an I-did list. But I can't resolve and it's on my to-do

 

 From what she said, I think it's similar pretty an "I-did" list. She keeps track of the things she's done and other successes. That way she's not always looking at what's still left to be done.

 

I am terrible for making progress and moving on, only to forget that I've actually made the progress and start feeling like I'm getting nowhere. The list might help if I could remember to do one 

[KB Girl]

4 hours ago, bdwilson said:

The list might help if I could remember to do one 

Do it everyday before bed, at some fixed point in your usual routine.. like right after brushing teeth or something. And then put the notebook + pen right there next to the toothbrush. Or just put it on your pillow. 

[bdwilson]

September ended with mostly Common, which is better than it felt like

 

I haven't created a tracker for October, as I'm still playing with other ways to do things. I'll try and settle on one this week so I don't spend a whole month trying to find a new system *lol*

 

In the meantime, I did manage to get some things done last week, so that felt good. 

[Waanie]

9 hours ago, bdwilson said:

In the meantime, I did manage to get some things done last week, so that felt good. 

Nice .

 

9 hours ago, bdwilson said:

I haven't created a tracker for October, as I'm still playing with other ways to do things. I'll try and settle on one this week so I don't spend a whole month trying to find a new system *lol*

Oh yeah, finding the new system can always be very consuming for me as well. Are you going from many small goals to a few big goals, or are you staying with many goals and changing them up a little?