Aeri's Oath Keeping

[Aerisand]

Storing my 6th challenge results & review here:

Total Points: 20

Spoiler

2 minutes ago, Aeri-sand said:

CHALLENGE RESULTS
What it looks like:
 
 
CHALLENGE SCORE: 86 "B"

 

Timely: 88
Productive: 68
Clear: 89
Energized: 100
 

CHALLENGE REVIEW
 
WEEK 1
Productivity: average
Focus: leaning towards physical
 
WEEK 2 
Productivity: average
Focus: leaning towards physical
 
WEEK 3 
Productivity: low 
Focus: leaning towards physical
 
WEEK 4
Productivity: average
Focus: leaning towards physical
 
ALL
Active: earlish
Flow/real fun: plenty, no exceptions
Energy: 3rd and 4th, brain fog on 3rd and 4th, highest by 1st and 2nd
Productivity: sort of constant
Focus: almost balanced, improve productivity a bit more!
 
SUCCESSFUL AREAS
Best area was Working out, then Schedule & Nutrition, BUT sleep time and wake time had a few issues.
 
PROBLEM AREAS
Productivity mostly. Clarity needs some work  (meditation and awareness).
Weekends were mostly chill, and I realize pending work was mostly done on Sundays = at the last minute.
 
TO DO:

Same old; I figured to use and remind myself of these since last week

• Do as much work as possible when it's still early and on time.
• If I haven't finished morning's work, only socialize during breakfast and snack time, for extra time a.k.a. cheating keep it to 5 min. 
• If I haven't done any morning's work, stay in the room until something's done.
• If I've finished having lunch and they haven't or are still having fun, go work and keep the door open for the good times
• If socializing at night, (make sleep prep reminder different) and make sure to go sleep early.

And 

• Simplification: Reduce the challenge's scope in every possible way, perhaps delimit it as a checklist

• Adaptation: Shape the challenge around my current needs, fitness cycles, and worklife requirements. Remember to work on priorities.

• Direction: Tweak the schedule reminders once again, we're getting even closer to something practical 

• Value: For keeping this awesome lifestyle and becoming a master, follow the essence of the master I seek. 

 

HOW AM I DOING IT:

 

Simplification: Specificity

• Delimit and reduce the challenge as much as possible, keeping the bare essentials and any weak points to work on
• Integrate the challenge into the daily routine
• Use specific tasks to get done per challenge area

Adaptation: Priorities and Optimization

• How much I work out each week will depend on my program's cycle; must not overreach and attend all classes simply because I can, remember strength building highly depends on rest
• Determine priorities outside of work, add a couple spots for work related priorities, remove everything else; AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT EACH ONE
• Make sure to tackle earning more, and reducing expenses: Determine allowed expenses and amount
• Have thy priority list written on the window
• Remember / Do something to make brick laying a bit more daring/competitive at least vs myself

Direction: Reminders

• Adjust times
• Remove any unnecessary elements

Value: Guidance

• Summon the essence of a Master of Intent, and follow the path.

 

 

 

[Aerisand]

Storing my 7th challenge results & review here:

Total Points: 20

Spoiler

 

2 minutes ago, Aeri-sand said:

CHALLENGE RESULTS
What it looks like:
  

 

Challenge Score: 89 "B"  (Pretty close)
Timely: 86
Productive: 86
Clear: 90
Energized: 97
 
CHALLENGE REVIEW
 
WEEK 1
Productivity: average
Focus: job hunt
 
WEEK 2 
Productivity: average
Focus: job hunt
 
WEEK 3 
Productivity: high 
Focus: general
 
WEEK 4
Productivity: high
Focus: general
 
ALL
Active: mostly late
Flow/real fun: often, bit less on 3rd week
Energy: lowest by 1st week, brain fog on 2nd week, highest by 2nd and 3rd weeks
Productivity: constant on the 2nd half of the challenge
Focus: balanced, on the 2nd half of the challenge
 
SUCCESSFUL AREAS

• Best areas were Workouts and Awareness; 
• Awareness really kicked off on the 2nd half of the challenge

 
PROBLEM AREAS

• Productivity was only still lame before the 2nd half of the challenge. 
• Sleeping schedule has been kind of erratic, mostly on the last week. 

 

Clearly went a lot better on the 2nd half of the challenge, after shifting focus from productivity to prioritizing.

Challenge ended with a friend's wedding on the 4th week's weekend  dancing classes paid off.
 
TO DO:

• Focus on priorities
• Remove excess; declutter life
• Be efficient; save time
• Facilitate entering the right wormhole; direction & speed

 

HOW AM I DOING IT:

 

Simplification: Specificity

• Define each day's deliverables depending on weekly goals; include size(time) estimates, do sprints 

Adaptation: Priorities and Optimization

• Shift weight given to challenge items; less on workouts, more on schedule, so move nutrition from section "timely" to section "energized" (it does make more sense)
• Do something about each of my priorities; must cover all basics 
• Make sure to tackle earning more, and reducing expenses: Determine allowed expenses and amount

Direction: Awareness

• Consistently ask myself the key questions for value, direction and performance, and remember Death
• Remember I am LOOKING FOR WORMHOLES

Speed: Rapid change at the fastest rate

• Find a way to TRACK MY SPEED and track it for the challenge

Value: Guidance

• Do evaluate progress and use other key questions to find holes and improvements
• Continue to follow the essence of the master I seek

 

 

[Aerisand]

Ding! Level 8 Apprentice of Intent.

Now it's even on both systems  (Epic Quest & NF Academy)

[Aerisand]

Storing my 8th challenge results & review here:

Total Points: 17

Spoiler

26 minutes ago, Aerisand said:

CHALLENGE RESULTS
What it looks like:

 

"C" Challenge: 72 
Timely: 77
Productive: 73
Clear: 71
Energized: 68
 
CHALLENGE REVIEW
 
WEEK 1
Productivity: average
Focus: half productive, half leisure
 
WEEK 2 
Productivity: high 
Focus: half productive, half leisure
 
WEEK 3 
Productivity: high 
Focus: half productive, half leisure
 
WEEK 4
Productivity: low
Focus: half productive, half leisure
 
ALL
Active: not early
Flow/real fun: only some
Energy: lowest by 4th week, brain fog on 4th week, highest by 2nd & 3rd week
Productivity: inconstant; only managed 3 to 4 days in a row of highly focused productivity
Focus: not balanced, need to find a way to not burn out but still be awesomely productive
 
SUCCESSFUL AREAS
Best area was morning routine, BUT it wasn't that consistent
Productivity and Clarity were not too far behind from this one, they were all low and average.

Productivity hit a high streak on 2nd week, a similar high streak for part of the 3rd week = Progress in maintaining focus for longer periods of time, needs improvement.

 
PROBLEM AREAS
Working out simply didn't happen. 

 

Moving at a slow rate. 

 

TO DO:

• Focus on priorities
• Remove excess; declutter life
• Be efficient; save time
• Balance priorities and self-maintenance; be happy
• Facilitate entering the right wormhole; direction and speed

 

HOW AM I DOING IT:

 

Simplification: Specificity

• Define each day's deliverables depending on weekly goals; include size(time) estimates, do sprints 

Adaptation: Priorities and Optimization

• Make sure to tackle earning more, and reducing expenses: Determine allowed expenses and amount

Direction: Awareness

• Consistently ask myself the key questions for value, direction and performance, and remember Death
• Remember I am LOOKING FOR WORMHOLES
• Define essential game variables: my role, goals, missions' path, stats and build, skill tree, currencies, and willpower as HP

Speed: Rapid change at the fastest rate

• REVIEW MY SPEED and work on improving it

Value: Guidance

• Do evaluate progress and use other key questions to find holes and improvements
• Continue to follow the essence of the master I seek

 

 

[Aerisand]

Back to leaning towards Druid in my Druidu Ranger self.

Why? My priorities aren't being the most badass ranger (even though I did get into that mindset for the past couple of months), but the most badass druid in my ways. And it will be more of a mental challenge.

 

This is a way of reminding myself of my self.

 

Also, I haven't included the need to gain a level per month in my challenge, but first I'll work on improving my speed via the simple straightforward ways. Later I'll see what else I can do.

[Aerisand]

I want to remember this.

 

TL;DR: Who has the time to stall reaching hus highest potential? Death tells me "I'm a fickle thing, and I see you." 

Spoiler

On 11/9/2016 at 8:51 PM, Aerisand said:

Today, not long ago, I read my Epic Quest to a friend and explained the universe it's based on, the principles and goals, the missions and all.

It felt good, it reminded me both how far I've come and how little I've traveled. And it brought where I'm meant to be headed to back to light.

 

  I want to achieve level 100, and maybe later, a level 105. I want to live like a warrior. I want to become a master of intent. 

 

Right now, I'm a tiny level 8. I've only got the hang of simple hunts, care-free strolls, higher levels lending a hand from time to time no questions asked. I've little influence in war or economics. Just another lowbie being pushed by the tide.

 

If I have managed to achieve a level 8 in 8 months that's roughly, and for ease of use, a 1 level per month average. If I keep doing what I've been doing (and we assumed all quests have the same duration requirement), that means I'll reach level 100 in 8 years, by the time I'm... 36.

Not bad, however, that's not the point; especially since I've mostly leveled up thanks to physical quests. My other quests have taken longer to get done, that'd slow down the process unless I didn't care about balance or priorities. And I do. -- AND most quests last longer once you get to higher level ones.

 

Let's assume it takes one month longer each time you hit the next 10 levels (as if levels weren't a b***h after 80 and 90, or super crazy after 100):

  Reveal hidden contents

 

1-9 at 1 mo/lvl = 8

10-19 at 2 mo/lvl = 10*2 = 20

20-29 at 3 mo/lvl = 10*3 = 30

... 10*4 = 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90

90-99 at 10 mo/lvl =  10*10 = 100

Made levels 100 to 105 take 10 regular levels each, to honor the value and difficulty (and because that's just how my mind remembers 100 to 105 in online gaming).

100-100.9 at 11 mo/lvl = 10*11 = 110

101-101.9 at 12 mo/lvl = 120

102-102.9 at 13 mo/lvl = 130

103-103.9 at 14 mo/lvl = 140

104-105 at 15 mo/lvl = 150

 

 

That would mean I'd reach level 100 in 559 months = 46 years and a half, by the time I'm 73 years old.

And level 105 in about 1198 months = 100 years total, by the time I'm ... dead.  About 38 years late or more.

 

Whis is NOT cool.

 

My point is I don't want to keep doing what I've been doing. I want to improve, I must be faster, smarter, stronger. That is part of leveling up.

And that's how I get to level up to 100 in time to enjoy it, and up to 105 when I still can.

 

What if I could gain levels faster, what if I could manage to improve so much that the current quests of a higher level are as easy as the first quests were when I started? That'd make it almost constant. Let's mess with this some more, according to my perception of level difficulty:

1-50 at 1 mo/lvl = (9+40)*1 = 49

51-70 at 2 mo/lvl = 20*2 = 40

71-80 at 3 mo/lvl = 10*3 = 30

81-90 at 3 mo/lvl = 10*4 = 40

91-100 at 4 mo/lvl = 10*5 = 50

101 at 5 mo/lvl = 60

102 at 6 mo/lvl = 70

103 at 7 mo/lvl = 80

104 at 8 mo/lvl = 90

105 at 9 mo/lvl = 100

 

In this case where my learning adjusts my speed to be much faster, I'd reach level 100 in 209 months = 17 years and a half, by the time I'm 44 years old.

And level 105 in about 609 months = 51 years, by the time I'm 78 years old. That'd just take an extra 33 years or so after level 100.

That could work.

 

How can I make sure I get there on time?

I could go back to this table and make sure I'm gaining the next level fast enough, and if possible, gain the level faster.

I could gather enough quests to level up in the alloted time, and try to beat it.

 

What happens if I take longer? Couldn't that screw up my times--big time? (lol)

If at some point leveling takes longer, I must find what I'm already working on that is perfectly related to my quests, and make sure to track it so I get extra EXP to make up for the lost time. I must learn from my mistakes, and ride an even faster stream.

 

Now, I don't know that I'll live long enough to see it through. Can't be sure I'll make it to 78.

So, I've got to try to keep speeding up my leveling.

I think first I'll see if I can beat the 1-month mark, then I'll try to beat the new mark, and so on. 

If by nearing level 50, I find myself struggling to meet a 2-month mark, I'll start over, at beating a 2-month mark. And so on, and so on...

 

Wow, I wasn't planning to write this much.

 

So,

  I want to achieve level 100, and maybe later, a level 105. I want to live like a warrior. I want to become a master of intent.

And I want to BE ALIVE for it. 

 

To do something meaningful and leave something awesome behind.

[Miw_Sher]

Happy to see you kept up at this.

[Aerisand]

--- Insert period of challenge inactivity here. ---

 

Next challenge gets to start at week zero, March 12. 

I'd better make sure I'm accountable for it.

[Aerisand]

Planning next challenge...

Need to set up some sort of alarm system for timing the rituals, could use the one I used to use for working out. Will print out a calendar that fits in one page for daily tracking. Not sure if I'll carry it with me or keep it at home. I have a separate tracking system for the learning progression, but this isn't meant to be marked daily, it's meant to track progress in each mission/subject (it's my new Epic Quest system, haven't updated it here though). 

 

I wonder if 45 minutes before leaving for work is too much. Maybe I should leave for work first, and then continue the morning ritual at work before starting my shift.

I'm barely able to get up on time as it is now.

Or I could try switching up activities from both morning and night rituals. Or I could remove some that are repeated in both so they only show up once. Or I could move most activities to the night ritual and keep only the essential for a good mood/day plan in the morning...

 

Well, there's still some time for planning and changing things.  This is the basis I want for my challenge though.

____________________________________

 

 

UNKNOWN TITLE

 

Last invisible-challenge, Aeri approached a wormhole, it accelerated things on some areas though she wasn't much in control. 

It's time to get back on track, and do some tracking.

 

The challenge is steering the wild beast of choice.

"To be mindful, to smile, to love and live."

 

CHALLENGE BRIEF

 

Dailies:

Daily tracking on a 4-part checkbox, in my calendar.

• Ritual morning
• Study
• Review
• Ritual night

Weeklies:
Will analyse performance by the end of each week, brief notes will go on the calendar next to that week.

• Feedback
• Improve processes

 

 

CHALLENGE IN DETAIL

• Ritual morning [45 min]
  • [5] Meditate
  • [1] Detox
  • [3] Declutter
  • [5] Dump Mental RAM
  • [2] Power Food
  • [5] Energy
  • [5] Warm up & Stretch
  • [5] Cleanse & Maintain
  • [5] Remember Death, Purpose & What matters
  • [5] Journal, Daily Highlight & Gratitude
  • [1] Mindful onward
     
• Study
  • Tackle today's step(s)
    Subjects have been scheduled in advance
    Learning progression has been mapped and steps specified for all subjects
     
• Review [~10 min]
  • Main takeaways
     
• Ritual night [30 min]
  • [1] Mindful onward
  • [5] Intent & Visceral Mental Rehearsal
  • [5] Feel, Acknowledge & Let go
  • [5] Cleanse & Maintain
  • [5] Dump Mental RAM
  • [3] Declutter
  • [1] Detox
  • [5] Meditate

[LittleTurtle]

I'm very interested in your morning and night rituals.  It kinda sounds like it might be something beneficial to me.  Can you help me understand a little better about the how and why?   

[Mindrah]

I am also interested to learn about your rituals   

 

[Jean]

+1. Also very interested to see how you'll organize it and manage to balance the morning and night one, as well as keeping the morning one on schedule despite the getting up difficulties.

 

I'm looking forward to see you tackle this.

[Aerisand]

The system I'll be using for challenges is going to be backed up by my Epic Quest's system, so they move forward together; one is contained in the other.

I decided to reduce the areas I'll be working on by prioritizing what I actually care about, this produced three main areas plus health (health is a must, hahah).

 

So, this is my Epic Quest's board, below. I think I should color this to make it easier to see the different blocks.

Each block is a chain of quests in a particular subject: 

• Career/calling quests
• Spiritual quests
• Communication/social quests
• Health quests (not going too deep on research here, since I think I've already given enough time to that and just need to state basics and standards from what I've read)
• Endgame quests (for when all the others have been completed, final block)

This works kind of like a board game, except your character moves on 3 to 4 paths at the same time.

The quests are numbered so it's easy to know what's next. I have the quests' information (a title is all you need for these) written somewhere else, need to re-write it neatly, and preferably keep it with the board. A title is all you need to know for each quest, because all quests follow the same system: they are items meant to be learned thoroughly.

Borrowing the "Holistic Learning" system from Scott H. Young, and making each quest be about: 

1. Gathering information and roughly understanding it
2. Learning that information
3. Exploring/expanding that information
4. Applying that information and learning from it
5. Mapping what was learned and tying it together with anything else that's been learned

These are actually 10 steps in my system, for simplicity.

 

While moving ahead, there are spots on the board where treasures can be found and/or where it's time for a small project to put our skills to the test, and at some points we get to write about our journey.

So we start at quest 1 for each block, start at point 1 for Holistic Learning, and every day we take the time to play this game = do the challenge.

 

On 1/23/2019 at 8:06 PM, Aerisand said:

Dailies:

Daily tracking on a 4-part checkbox, in my calendar.

• Ritual morning
• Study
• Review
• Ritual night

Weeklies:
Will analyse performance by the end of each week, brief notes will go on the calendar next to that week.

• Feedback
• Improve processes

 

Here is the calendar I printed. You can see the full year in one page. Borrowed and modified this from Dave Seah's "Compact Calendar".

 

 

Thank you guys for stopping by! @LittleTurtle @Mindrah @Jean   So, you guys asked about the rituals, how and why.

This will be answered later today!

[LittleTurtle]

Wow!  Your Board and Calendar are seriously awesome!!  You put quite a bit of thought into it!!

[Aerisand]

On 1/23/2019 at 8:06 PM, Aerisand said:

• Ritual morning [45 min]
  • [5] Meditate
  • [1] Detox
  • [3] Declutter
  • [5] Dump Mental RAM
  • [2] Power Food
  • [5] Energy
  • [5] Warm up & Stretch
  • [5] Cleanse & Maintain
  • [5] Remember Death, Purpose & What matters
  • [5] Journal, Daily Highlight & Gratitude
  • [1] Mindful onward

 

• Ritual night [30 min]
  • [1] Mindful onward
  • [5] Intent & Visceral Mental Rehearsal
  • [5] Feel, Acknowledge & Let go
  • [5] Cleanse & Maintain
  • [5] Dump Mental RAM
  • [3] Declutter
  • [1] Detox
  • [5] Meditate

 

The idea of a ritual first came to me thanks to the "Miracle Morning" book by Hal Elrod. He uses the "SAVERS" for his ritual:

• Silence: meditation, prayer, something of the like
• Affirmations: who you want to be
• Visualization: see the outcome you want in your mind, for goals, today, etc
• Exercise: a routine down to the essentials if you don't have much time in the morning
• Reading: learn a new idea or get inspired
• Scribing: pretty much journaling; what you're grateful for, what you're proud of, what results you're committed to today

Later, I read similar ideas or parts of them in different books and blog posts, and I think Holistic Learning could also be related to part of this. So I've slightly adjusted this to try to integrate everything I find essential for a good day, or at least get closer to it.

 

DETOX

 

Detox

I think it's important to detox ourselves from time to time, in every possible area (mental, emotional, physical, spiritual even).

However I only call it "detox" for the physical one, since it's the familiar concept. This one refers to drinking green tea and plenty of water, or doing anything similar, while consciously being aware it is with this purpose.

 

Cleanse & Maintain

Another kind of physical detox, keeps us healthy and it also helps us feel good about ourselves; geared more towards hygiene and appearance.

 

Declutter

This is one way of environmental detox. Removing unnecessary things and organizing, even if done little by little (or especially when done little by little), will ensure my place stays neat and pretty, and it is less of a hassle to tidy up.

 

Dump Mental RAM

This is my mental detox. We clear our mind by writing everything and anything coming from it; ideas can be stored for later; worries, pending tasks, itches and pains; they all can be dumped into paper, this way they will stop nagging at us and be available for action or analysis if needed.

 

Feel, Acknowledge & Let go

This is my emotional detox. Instead of hiding from emotions, we face them, we make them real and take them in our hands. We actually feel them and acknowledge them as they are; we say "this is what you are." We let them be and let go. Whenever they show up, we do this and let go; like saying "Oh, there you are. See you! Bye bye!"

 

ENERGY

 

Power Food

When rushing through the day, it is important to make room for just enough food that will provide an energy boost (from how amazingly healthy it is, would be best).

 

Energy

Same thing as power food, except here we get energy by practicing how to cultivate energy; through Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or something similar.

 

Warm up & Stretch

This is to generate physical energy by moving, truly wake up, improve mood and mobility.

 

AWARENESS

 

Meditation

I'd been reading about meditation last year. Recently discovered several ideas and practices I'd read and re-read for the past 15 years can be found in Buddhism.

So, now I've been reading about Buddhist meditation and practices (and Buddhism, because how could I not). They talk about several stages you can go through while meditating, and I'm definitely interested in doing the work.

One of my quest lines is closely linked to this, so this is an essential part of my daily ritual(s).

 

Remember Death, Purpose & What matters

By remembering death (a.k.a. impermanence) it's simpler to know what's important, this goes hand in hand with being aware of our chosen purpose in life (or our purpose right now, if it seems easier to grasp), and therefore we will be able to focus on the best things to do.

 

Journal, Daily Highlight & Gratitude

This is basically writing about the day that's just begun. Selecting our daily highlight (borrowed from the book "Make Time" by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky) means we choose the one thing that if taken care of will make us feel proud of our day. And we also make sure to note what we're grateful for, as a way to begin the day with the glass half full.

 

Mindful onward

This is simply taking a minute to be fully mindful in order to be able to stay mindful for as long as possible. You could call it a short act of willpower to get the ball rolling.

 

Intent & Visceral Mental Rehearsal

This is a special kind of visualization, or very specific. It takes involving all your senses when going through the mental picture of your day (goals, an upcoming event or something similar) as if you're living it right now. Doing this with focus and direction can be powerful intent.

 

 

I just noticed there are three kinds of actions, right after writing about them: Awareness, Detox and Energy. I am pleased

And I've now modified the morning ritual after analyzing what can be done in a shorter time, done after arriving at work or best be done at night.

• Ritual morning [20 min]
  • [5] Meditate
  • [1] Detox
  • [2] Dump Mental RAM
  • [2] Energy
  • [5] Warm up & Stretch
  • [1] Cleanse
  • [2] Remember Death, Purpose & What matters
  • [2] Daily Highlight & Gratitude
  • [1] Mindful onward

 

The night ritual is very similar, except it goes backwards on purpose. In the morning we want to wind up, so we don't want to associate the same pattern at nighttime. We start calm, we end calm. We ground on mindfulness.

• Ritual night [35 min]
  • [1] Mindful onward
  • [5] Intent & Visceral Mental Rehearsal
  • [5] Feel, Acknowledge & Let go
  • [5] Cleanse & Maintain
  • [4] Prep Power Food
  • [5] Journal & Dump Mental RAM
  • [5] Declutter
  • [5] Meditate

 

You might notice another pattern in the rituals, they both start and end with awareness. 

I think they look better now. I will see about finishing the remaining tasks tomorrow, for having everything ready. I've also got to prepare the rituals' new card with the changes, and the timers.

 

[Aerisand]

STUFF TO DO

• Color the game board to make it easier to see the different blocks.
  
• Re-write the quests information neatly, and preferably keep it with the board
• Mark the places where I get to write about my journey
• Prepare the rituals' new card with the changes, and the timers.

[Aerisand]

On 1/27/2019 at 11:31 AM, Aerisand said:

STUFF TO DO

• Re-write the quests information neatly, and preferably keep it with the board
• Prepare the rituals' new card with the changes, and the timers.

•  
• Finish the journey/writing cards
• Update my resume
• Identify experience and knowledge gaps vs immediate career goal
• Specify challenge
• Create the timers for the rituals
• Adjust Study schedules in TimeTune app
• Start playing

[Mikey Fitpants]

Hi. Reading your your blog I am very impressed with your organisational skills. So, how does your grid work? I'm not clear what you are actually doing. Are you doing any exercise?

[Aerisand]

On 2/1/2019 at 1:56 AM, Mikey Fitpants said:

Hi. Reading your your blog I am very impressed with your organisational skills. So, how does your grid work? I'm not clear what you are actually doing. Are you doing any exercise?

Hi!

Yes, it's a very short routine, meant to be able to do it daily before going to work in order to get pumped up and moving.

It is on the "Warm up and Stretch" item; part of the Ritual Morning.

[Aerisand]

The challenge has been posted as Aeri's Game!