the 13th letter *still* has no foundation

[the 13th letter]

It’s been long enough. Now it’s time for all-out war!

Same old same old, but different. Still need to think about the “howâ€, though.

[the 13th letter]

Not quite sure about the challenge yet, but I do want to quickly tell a story, before I forget.

So the original plan for my glorious wrap-up post for the last challenge was to tell tales of my heroic efforts at securing workouts for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, if nothing at all. That… didn’t quite work out as expected: I did manage a workout on New Year’s Eve, but soon afterwards everyone wanted to go to bed, and then I had a late-night chat, and… eh. The only two places left to do workouts at night when everyone’s asleep—the kitchen and the bathroom—are not really sanitary enough to lie down on. So, no New Year’s Day workout.

However, with tomorrow being the start of a new challenge and all, I found an unexpected opportunity today to sneak in a stealth workout while no one was looking.

My Mom came out of the bathroom earlier complaining of lower body pains… would someone please send her to the hospital/gynaecologist? Me being the good son I am (and ’cause my Dad was tied up with my Grandpa) I drove and accompanied her to the gynaecologist. This hospital had them situated right next to the delivery room (I believe this is the right name for this…?), which was, at 9.45pm on a Sunday night at the end of a holiday season, pretty damn empty. After twiddling my thumbs for a minute or two, I came up with the idea of sneaking in a round of push-ups in the waiting room. Which I then did. Yes, I didn’t warm up properly, yes, I did them somewhat sloppily, and yes, I felt horribly out of place. But I did that workout.

And that was my first workout in 2015. Go figure.

[Swampling]

Welcome back, and Happy New Challenge, M!

[Courier6]

Although I've read it before, it still is a funny thought, you doing push-ups next to a delivery room, luckily no one seemed to feel like giving birth that day (I know I definitely would have fled if that had happened). But now I definitely know what to do while waiting for my medical appointment on Friday ...

 

Anyways, I hope Sir is spared by the pain in the future.

 

So, this was the first workout. I hope many will follow. Not only in waiting rooms

 

P.S.: Yes, thread still has to be written, I know, kyosa-nim (or however you write this. Me not sprech Korean.)

[AshPS]

Well it's about time!

 

Seriously, glad to see you back!

 

Go M! :triumphant:  

 

Lol, maybe you just need.....unconventional places to work out.

 

Sub'd and following! 

[Kishi]

Ah, I was wondering if we'd get to see you again.

 

Though, I have to wonder, since these challenges have been so problematic for you... have you considered the idea of doing *anything* else?

[dbexx]

Best of luck to you

[RisenPhoenix]

Welcome back, M!

[Cheechoe]

DOOD!!!!

 

 

SERIOUSLY!?!?!?

 

 

IN THE WAITING ROOM OF THE GYNO?!?!?

 

 

 

That's Brilliant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*huuuugs*

 

 

Welcome back, M!

 

 

[the 13th letter]

Ugh, first I was procrastinating answering, and then I got sick. Not a great start. Like trying to drive with an elephant tied to your car.Back now, but still not fully recovered.

Welcome back, and Happy New Challenge, M!

Well it's about time! :pSeriously, glad to see you back! :cheerful:Go M! :triumphant: …Sub'd and following!

Best of luck to you

Welcome back, M!

Thanks everyone! I do plan to stick around longer better than the last time(s).

Although I've read it before, it still is a funny thought, you doing push-ups next to a delivery room, luckily no one seemed to feel like giving birth that day (I know I definitely would have fled if that had happened). But now I definitely know what to do while waiting for my medical appointment on Friday ...Anyways, I hope Sir is spared by the pain in the future.So, this was the first workout. I hope many will follow. Not only in waiting rooms

Lol, maybe you just need.....unconventional places to work out.

DOOD!!!!SERIOUSLY!?!?!?IN THE WAITING ROOM OF THE GYNO?!?!?That's Brilliant.*huuuugs*Welcome back, M!

Re unconventional places, yeah, it does make for some funny stories, but it's actually somewhat risky, so I wouldn't want to do it unless I'm sure no one will notice (except those who don't mind).A little context: Germans are, on the whole, friendly people, but one thing they don't react to too well is looking like a weirdo. Just about everyone I know is extremely judgemental about things that seem weird to them. I've had quite the opposite experience with my two short trips to the U.S.: "You gotta have a bit of fun every now and then," as one of the Portlanders told me. I actually believe that a "typical" U.S. citizen would, if they see someone dress or behave out of the norm, shrug and move along, or not even pay attention to it. On the other hand, a German would probably stare at that person while walking by, with an expression on their face bordering on disgust.Of course, these are only tendencies, not absolutes. Those who come into contact with other cultures, whether by having a mixed heritage or being best friends with immigrants or through work or the like, they all tend to be a lot less judgemental towards weirdos. And I'm not denying that there might be Americans with that same typical-German behavior I outlined above but whom I just haven't met during my two trips to the U.S. But I do think that this constellation of country-typical behaviors is closer to the actual truth than the reverse is.Which brings me back to working out in unconventional places. Back in 2013, when I still lived in a student dorm and dragged the Courier out to a playground to do pull-up variations on the gymnastics bars there… well, we usually went in the early evening, right after it had turned dark. Why? Well, two reasons, actually: First, we didn't want to look stupid, publically, in broad daylight. The playground is at the edge of an appartment complex, so we have quite a few onlookers during daytime. Second, at least for me, I'm pretty sure that had we actually hung around the playground during daytime, when there were real, actual children there, any parents who were there as well would have become extremely suspicious of just what the bloody hell those two overgrown wannabes were doing on their playground… and, in the worst case, have called the police to deal with those suspicious weirdos. That's not something I really want to deal with during a workout, even if we haven't done anything wrong per se. So we avoided going in the daytime. It's just not worth the trouble.Same thing for that Sunday's workout near the delivery room: I paid close attention to people coming and going. Had e.g. a nurse walked in on me, I'm pretty sure they'd have asked me if I needed any kind of (medical) attention, and if not, just what the flying f**k I was doing there.Final, more recent example: On Monday last week I was traveling within Munich by train late at night (9pm-ish), and I hadn't done my workout yet. The train's seats are arranged in blocks of two facing each other, at a good distance, which makes them very suitable for doing bridges on them. But… no deal. The train, although almost empty, was boarded from the get-go by two security guards. I'm quite certain that, had I started, they'd have forced me to leave the train, for disturbing the peace of all… 2 other passengers. Oh, right, and their peace as well, which is what matters here.TL;DR: Unless I'm sure no one gives a shit/there's no one around me, I won't be doing workouts outside of gyms or my own home, because Germans get easily freaked out by people acting weird, up to and including calling the authorities. It's just not worth the trouble.

P.S.: Yes, thread still has to be written, I know, kyosa-nim (or however you write this. Me not sprech Korean.)

Spelling looks okay to me, but heck, what do I know?

Ah, I was wondering if we'd get to see you again.Though, I have to wonder, since these challenges have been so problematic for you... have you considered the idea of doing *anything* else?

I have, but I've decided against it. I have, at various times in my previous 9 challenges, managed to get each of my three goals "CC bodyweight training", "sleep wtf…" and "OMG applicaitons!" to levels where I could actually feel the benefits. So I know it works, I know it's good, and dammit, I want them back in my life, so I have to work on them again. Now, for this over-overtime challenge, I feel like I'm already doing the basics of the basics, so to speak, and all three things are important, and "urgent enough". There just aren't any other viable candidates.Now, if you're asking whether I have considered doing something differently, then… well… that's a whole other story.I trace a lot of my failure in keeping to my goals to a failure of keeping track of when to actually do the deeds. Specifically, the only time I think about my goals are… when I think of my goals of my own volition. I have no visibility built into my system. No temporal or visual reminders.^[1] Nothing. Not really a smart idea… but on the flip side, a very obvious place to start tweaking.Coming from a different angle, I'm again going through a huge library of blog posts and books on the topics of productivity and goal-setting, and I'm pretty sure I already have the answers. Maybe even too many of them.^[2] Time to start digging again, throw them onto a pile, plow through the pile and make sense of it. It's called “researchâ€!So on the surface it might look pretty much the same, but underneath, I'm trying out things to make it work.

---

¹I don't have a smartphone or similar device, so "apps" are out of the question. So are alarms. I don't wear a watch anyway. And I don't have a whiteboard, or a pinboard, or anything similar. My computer runs Linux^[3] (so neither Mac Apps nor Windows programs work with it) and because of my customization, it's closer to a Linux server than a workstation (so most standard Linux programs will run poorly, if at all).So, the best thing I can do is a desktop wallpaper, with a calendar, say. And probably a few Post-Its on my monitor.…and, if I manage to avoid it being a distraction, I could always write a program or two. For example, I've had a rough sketch for a bare-bones timer program for quite some time now.²In no particular order:

• Michael Hyatt's speeches, blog posts and podcasts about leadership, goal-setting and intentional living (in particular, the promo videos and the Q&A session of his "Best Year Ever" program)
• Scott Young, whose early work deals extensively with self-improvement via goal-setting
• Thomas Frank has quite a bit to say about goal-setting in a college setting
• Steve also has, minus college setting
• Cal Newport mostly tries to reduce friction towards doing something, and thus advocates lo-tech solutions like Post-Its
• Matt Might tries to lower the resistance to doing the most productive thing
• Leo Babauta, back when he still talked about goal-setting, talked about looking at the barriers to completing or not completing a good or bad habit, and adjusting barriers to encourage completing good and not completing bad habits and to discourage not completing good and completing bad habits
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People talks about planning your week in advance, and aligning your goals and actions with your character
• the 13th letter, uh, may or may not have forced himself to work by otherwise promising his roommates some money

³Technically "GNU/Linux", but if I called it that, you'd be even less likely to know what I mean.

[Tkal]

¹I don't have a smartphone or similar device, so "apps" are out of the question. So are alarms. I don't wear a watch anyway. And I don't have a whiteboard, or a pinboard, or anything similar. My computer runs Linux^[3] (so neither Mac Apps nor Windows programs work with it) and because of my customization, it's closer to a Linux server than a workstation (so most standard Linux programs will run poorly, if at all).

So, the best thing I can do is a desktop wallpaper, with a calendar, say. And probably a few Post-Its on my monitor.

…and, if I manage to avoid it being a distraction, I could always write a program or two. For example, I've had a rough sketch for a bare-bones timer program for quite some time now.

A piece of scrap paper (not bigger than A6) and a pencil are tools advance enough to have a constant reminder in you pocket and something to track what you do. For me the pencil is annoying enough that I notice it, but not so much that I remove it when I am at my desk. Honestly I don't think you could go even more low tech.

If you manage to write the perfect program, more power to you, but "not having the perfect program" (or just "a" program) is no excuse to skip planning and tracking. Or at least that is what I tell myself when I fall into the hole of "I could write a program to keep track/remind me of that" instead of doing the thing the program should help me with. And if you need something on your pc too, emacs does not need X

For the rest, you have plenty of good sources. Pick one and go with it for a challenge. Does it work? stick with it. It doesn't? change for next challenge. Again, talking with myself, with my passion for research which does not always translate into action, or my "I want to try everything" which does not really give me the time to appreciate anything

Sorry for the bluntness, it is just that I see my same struggle summarized in your post and for me the only way out was to be strict with myself

 

³Technically "GNU/Linux", but if I called it that, you'd be even less likely to know what I mean.

In this nest of nerds you are not the only one running on Linux. The penguin is strong in this thread.

[Courier6]

... The penguin is strong in this thread.

 

Like this?

 

 

Sorry. Too tempting to pass on. *hides under the couch*

 

... the 13th letter, uh, may or may not have forced himself to work by otherwise promising his roommates some money ...

 

He did. And his roommates remained as poor as they were.

[Swampling]

So... M? How are you doing?

[DWD]

Caught up your thread. How come I never knew you were German? The aversion to differences sounds like the rural place I grew up.

Best of luck!

[Kishi]

All right, then, M. Challenge is up. How'd you do?

[the 13th letter]

So... M? How are you doing?

All right, then, M. Challenge is up. How'd you do?

Not good, I’m afraid.I’ve been spending a lot of my attention on things other than my challenge goals; I can barely clock 2 or 3 low-volume workouts, a single day of conscious early sleeping and a single sent application. Some of those other things I focused on instead were noble: I had a Ph.D. job interview in Western Austria, my first interview in 10 applications or so, and I spent time on polishing my C.V.^[1], revisiting old course materials and preparing responses to anticipated questions. And some other “other things which weren’t my challenge goals†weren’t nearly as noble, like my TV marathons watching ABC’s “Castle†series, which I now know a lot better than I probably should.And as I heard today, even those noble things were mostly in vain: my application got rejected. There’s of course some value in the now-improved C.V., and my interview preparation will surely benefit my next interview. But getting to that next interview will be a struggle by itself.So, while this wasn’t technically a no-show, that silver lining that’s supposed to be there feels awfully thin.

---

¹I know that “polishing my C.V.†is normally a euphemism for “procrastinateâ€, but I’m serious here: I had a recently employed colleague (in the industry, not academia) look over my old C.V., then show me hers, and then gather some pointers as to how to effectively highlight what employers are looking for in a hire, combined with my best side. My parents and I went through two iterations of the newly revised C.V. until we all agreed that it properly highlighted what it was supposed to highlight. I truly believe it is not a coincidence that the first application to use my new C.V. resulted in a job interview.

[Kishi]

Well, I'm sorry to say, but you gotta work on that focus then. If you don't mind my saying, it sounds like you set out a challenge, but the things you want to challenge yourself with aren't terribly high-priority for you. Do you think you might be able to change that?

[the 13th letter]

If you don't mind my saying, it sounds like you set out a challenge, but the things you want to challenge yourself with aren't terribly high-priority for you.

In the context of this recent challenge, yes, this is quite true. I’m strong enough to do what I need my strength for (my martial arts classes), I doesn’t really matter if I sleep late and wake up in the middle of the day because there’s nothing in the morning that I could miss, and the application thing was actually seemingly going very well (and thus follow-up on other positions did not feel necessary) until it exploded in my face. So yeah, I know I had it coming. My “foundationâ€, as solid as it was supposed to be, was built on quicksand.

And that is why for the next round, I’m trying to invest more interest in it by making it a lot more painful to fail and easier for me to look at this from a more challenge-empowering perspective. The larger picture behind this is about crafting an environment (in this case, a timetable) that encourages building those other foundational habits because they fit into the picture, not because I try to transplant them from a different situation in which they fit into another one they don’t fit into.

Despite the grim message, thanks for checking up on me, Kishi! Part of what keeps me coming back to the forums, even if only to stumble and fall again, is seeing people who don’t “know†me per se still cheer, provoke and otherwise show concern for me. And you are one of the best at doing just that! I’d probably have dropped off the face of the earth long ago had you not stopped by so often to congratulate me and offer wisdom. (Oh, and the kicks to the ribs. Those too.)