The Art of War - AquilaTheFlying's Battle Log

[AquilaTheFlying]

 

Only the dead have seen the end of war.

 -Plato.

Got the last of my sugary treats for the next 6 weeks, and had what will amount to my last late wake up.

 

Pumped for this challenge. Have written out six logs, one for each week.

 

 

They're divided into 40 squares, 8 long by 5 high.

Downwards, we have: "factor" - meaning the part of the challenge I'm completing. Then, in order, we have: Running, Meditation (morning), Meditation (afternoon), and "white sugar / flour?".

 

Left to right, across the top, is "day & date", then "Monday", "Tuesday", etc.

 

The intersections between the meditation and running grids and the days have the intended workout written in, which will be crossed off when completed.

 

The "white sugar / flour?" section is left unmarked, as I will either be ticking for 100% aversion or crossing and receiving no points for the day. I will mark on the day after so as not to tempt myself to sneak in a quick treat after having already gotten the good mark for the day.

 

So that's it for now. This, being the first one, and sugar/flour being a big part to cut out, is gonna be a tough one; I do get the sense that we don't mind a bit of baptism-by-fire here 

 

Alright, then. Having a few    and some sugar tonight while I can still enjoy them, up early for running workout 1 of 24.

 

Thanks to everyone who's been encouraging so far, and the very best of luck to all you other recruits starting on your first mission like I am 

 

You can do this. We can do this.

 

Best of luck to people already on Lv. 2 and beyond, also. Hopefully this is the start of something great. I will be sure to keep this updated daily.

[Yraen]

Great log. Need to make me something like that. Good luck in your challenge.

Also the nerd side of me won't let this go. Most scholars agree that Plato didn't say that. It's an common error so don't feel bad about it but it irks me none the less.

[AquilaTheFlying]

May or may not be: source is probably Santayana but not absolutely certain - further research needed.

[Yraen]

Yeah I know. I actually read that page before I posted just to triple check my data.

[AquilaTheFlying]

I think we're gonna get on great 

[Yraen]

I think we're gonna get on great

Funny, I was thinking the same thing.

[AquilaTheFlying]

 

The future begins today.

Wayne Gerard Trotman

Alright, so here we go, I guess. Day 1/42 of my first challenge. Woke up, got dressed in running clothes - including new running shoes (fancy-fancy), kettle on, cup of tea with no sugar.

 

Plan for today: drink tea, do some light readying. Next up, 20 minutes meditation. Drink another tea, some more light reading, leave at 9:20/9:25 to get to work for 10.

Job is 4.1 miles away, running workout today is 4 miles exactly. Solution:use workout to travel. Workout not only gets done no excuses but serves the purpose of saving me travel money.

 

Will update as necessary throughout the day.

[AquilaTheFlying]

First day's morning meditation: check. Off to work. Feeling positive and collected.

[AquilaTheFlying]

So, quick summary: afternoon meditation session done, as running workout.

 

Running workout was harder to calculate than I thought, as the workout I'm following involves doing things in a lot of stages - walking a mile, running every half mile and so on - and there don't seem to be any good tools available for this kind of close monitoring (tried to download a few, but apparently my Nokia Lumia 610 is infamous for GPS malfunctions so no help on distance tracking there, then!).

 

Still no white flour/sugar today, and I'm frankly exhausted. It's been quite the wake up call to look through my cupboards and see all the sources of sugar and flour in there. Even the tinned soups had sugar and white flour - who knew, eh?

 

Still, though, it does lend to me some credence of the goal itself. The new vigilance I've acquired was obviously quite appropriate.

 

Will be in bed soon. At least I slept well last night. Onwards and upwards, I guess!

[Yraen]

Great work on your first day! My personal philosophy on running is run for as far as you possible can then run a couple times then run farther your next workout. But then I hate running so don't take my advice on anything related to it.

[AquilaTheFlying]

Yeah, this first challenge is just getting me into the habit of being structured with it. The challenge after that I might use an approach somewhat similar to the one you mentioned to stretch that 5k into a 10k. Thanks for the encouragement

[AquilaTheFlying]

Mini-Challenge #1 from Campus Tours.

 

• Is your overall quest achievable (over a short or long period of time)?  Is it reasonable? Aye, I believe so. 

• Do your 3 quests all build towards your main quest in little ways, or are you taking on too much? Do your quests have sub-quests or is it just one thing to focus on? Each is "sniper focus". Small shot, big results. Pareto Principle.

• Are your main goals realistic? Can you scale them to smaller steps to fit your life better, even if it will make it take a little longer to achieve them? Can, and have!

• Are your goals able to be measured and tracked?  What will you use to track them? Meticulous tracking is kinda my deal! You can read about it in bowel-clenching detail in my Challenge thread.

• How are you grading your goals?  Are they pass/fail (“every dayâ€, “not even once over the six weeksâ€)?  Is there a reward for the effort, or are you only grading yourself on whether or not you “lose the weight†or “run the distanceâ€? Pass/Fail for percentage every day or session, consistency bonus at completion if every goal hit.

• What is your plan for continuing/altering/grading those goals if you become ill or injured? Two of my challenge goals would be utterly unaffected by illness or injury, the only one vulnerable to this is my running quest. My plan would be to try my best to continue but to replace if impossible to finish with another nutrition or health-based quest for reduced points reward.

• Did you take into consideration any special occasions (Labour Day, Independence Day, birthdays, anniversaries, etc) that may occur during the challenge?  What modifications do you need to build into your goals for those? I actually started the challenge on my girlfriend's birthday, but I've just worked the timing of my activities into slots that won't affect our daily lives much. An example is doing my meditation after she leaves for work, so we haven't lost any time.

• Do any of your main goals conflict with each other? Will one goal make it hard to do another? I think my goals compliment rather than conflict with each other: they're all equivalent steps to the same goal.

• Do you already have the time in your schedule to actually complete the goals you’ve set?  If not, what are you planning to do to make time for them? Yes, because I'm clockjacking my schedule. Rather than take transport to work, for example, I leave earlier and run, thereby killing the get-to-work bird and the do-the-workout bird with the same stone.

• Are you trying to build multiple habits, or is all your energy focused on your main quest? Both. I'm building individual habits: discipline, vigilance, sticking to a routine, and so on: these are all part and parcel of my main quest.

All done, then 

+1WIS at the end of the 6 weeks.

TYVM!

[AquilaTheFlying]

Running: check. Morning meditation: check. Diet getting tough, though. Even just sourcing food to eat with no white flour/sugar is proving very tough. Doing well, though, and I imagine that after the first week I'll be over the hump energy and appetite wise.

[Muscle Professor]

You have some awesome goals to work towards. Im a big fan of meditation myself, so I be watching your thread for sure. Keep pushing your limits and keep fighting the battle brother.

[AquilaTheFlying]

Thanks, guys!

[AquilaTheFlying]

You have some awesome goals to work towards. Im a big fan of meditation myself, so I be watching your thread for sure. Keep pushing your limits and keep fighting the battle brother.

Thanks so much! Do you have any advice, then, for an absolute beginner? I've been cycling zen and mindfulness one after another.

[Muscle Professor]

Movement meditation has always been my thing. Practicing movement meditation has helped me with getting more focused when I do still meditation. I would suggest trying to practice movement meditation without any music or background noise to help build up a mental tolerance for silence, because the end goal in my opinion is to find peace in silence. I also have a youtube channel where i post a lot of fitness info if you would like a link to it.  

[AquilaTheFlying]

I would like that very much, if you could P.M. me that link it would be greatly appreciated.

[AquilaTheFlying]

Hey guys, I know I've not been on that much lately, but it's because I've been rushed off my feet with work. In the meantime, I'll keep updating my percentages on my progress bars and pop in for quick updated. Starting Monday I'll be back with a more detailed and structured approach.