Intek's Journey (Round 1)

[Intek]

Hey everybody. I'm getting in on this month's challenge so here's what I have planned. My overall goal is to optimize my physical & mental health and break the cycle of boredom & monotony in life.

Diet

Replace rice/grain with vegetables 1 meal everyday

Eat one fruit everyday

Fitness

Hundred Pushup Program

1 Academy Quest Per Week (Any Class) [side Quest]

20 Minute Walk Daily

Level Up Your Life

10 Minute Daily Meditation

Small Talk with Strangers (Day off and When Outside)

Read 15 Minutes a Day

I'm also doing a Gold Star and Demerit system to track my progress for both the ups and downs. Any tweaks & suggestions are welcome.

[lilwillow76]

I have to admit that I'm nowhere ready to conquer a "small talk" goal! And I'm all about the gold stars!

[Jothra]

I will put gold stars ALL OVER MY BODY.

Seriously, though, I like your nice, concrete goals. You have a solid plan.

Out of curiosity, what is your gold star/demerit system?

[Intek]

I will put gold stars ALL OVER MY BODY.

Seriously, though, I like your nice, concrete goals. You have a solid plan.

Out of curiosity, what is your gold star/demerit system?

The system is pretty much when I update, I give a gold star on an action for going above and beyond what is expected or just a plain old good pat on the back for a positive action that I should keep doing. Demerits are to highlight when I slack off or a reason why I didn't get something done. It'll come with an actionable plan on how to make it better the next time.

First Update:

Ate breakfast yesterday morning and replaced toast with half an avocado. Did some meditation with the Calm app and went on my walk.

Lunch didn't have any grains at all.

Gold star: This morning, I really wanted to sleep in for an extra half hour before work. I made the decision to do my walk then because it was either one or the other and I wouldn't have gotten it in at night. Got to listen to an awesome episode of one of the podcasts I usually listen to.

Demerit: I didn't do my reading yesterday because I spent to much time on my laptop. Plan of action is to cut a 30 minute block strictly for reading even though I'm only requiring 15 minutes.

[fleaball]

Sounds like a great challenge. How did the rest of the week go?

[Intek]

Another Update:

 

Went on my walk every morning so far. I switched up my route this morning to keep things fresh. It's nice to get it done in the morning and see some people along the way. The days when it's completely empty is relaxing too. I noticed there's some ducks a a couple herons along the river.

 

Meals have turned out easier than expected. Breakfast has been either bananas and yogurt or eggs with bacon. I picked up some acidophilus at Whole Foods just to make sure my gut flora is in check. I've noticed two things during this whole thing. I noticed how much the average meal is centered around rice or grain of some kind. Also, I really look forward to having some of that grain at dinner time when I haven't had any during the day. I think it's more out of habit than anything.

 

Daily reading is on Level Up Your Life. I'm doing this book first as a complementary guide to the whole concept behind NF. There's some pretty cool ideas behind how the whole thing works and puts Phase 2 into perspective. I actually read in the morning today and it turned out better than reading after I get home from work.

 

Side Quest: 25 Box Jumps Complete

 

Gold Star - I'm doing a gold star just for getting a successful week in. It might not seem like much but getting a week in to do something different is helping me take care of myself. It was the whole point of doing this lol. I want to keep this going.

 

Demerit - I had some pizza on Friday. Not that the decision itself was a bad thing. I told myself initially that I wasn't having any. A few minutes later, I found myself bargaining to have a slice and then a small second slice. The silver lining with it was that I stopped myself after that second slice. I tend to overeat when it's around and that was a small victory in itself.

Plan of action is that when in a similar situation, either decide to have some, or not, and stick with it. Better to decide to have some initially than to talk myself into changing my mind.

[Intek]

It's been a couple weeks. Keeping up with this isn't easy but it's easier than when I started. Right now, I'm munching on celery sticks and apples with hummus and almond butter on the side. I haven't eaten like this in awhile. It's kind of nice.

 

Some changes I've noticed since I started:

1. I can stay engaged with reading better than when I first started. I used to fall asleep after 10 or so pages because I used up so much brain power. Now I can go a chapter or two and be okay.
2. Instead of checking social media and web browsing on my break, I meditate now. Even if it's just for 5 minutes, I take advantage of that time to just rest my mind and reset. I'm a heavy thinker so that helps "empty the cup."
3. Social situations still freak me out but I'm starting to get the idea of small talk. I still hate it and don't like to do it but I get it. I normally either go too deep too fast or am like "whatever" and keep a distance.
4. I'm not a sweets type of person but I get sugar cravings after dinner for some reason. It's normally fine after getting some fruit but an observation I noticed.
5. The Hundred Pushups program definitely helps with upper body strength. It's still not easy to do but I'm doing better than before.

Side Quests Completed:

1. Meditate 5 days in a row (Current streak is 9 days)
2. Veggie Powered

I've been attempting the "Now That's What I Call High Quality H2O" achievement for about 3 weeks. I was a day away from completing it and it slipped away. It's like when you keep dying at the last part of the level and when you get past it you're like, "That was it?"

 

Gold Star: I want to do a gold star for 2 different things.

1. First is small talking with my Lyft drivers. I'm normally the quiet person when it comes to service people (barbers, receptionists, etc) when they try to get a conversation out of me. I had a 20 minute conversation with one of them and I got to learn a lot about what was going on in the area.
2. I lost 6lbs since joining the Academy a month ago and I just wanted to give a gold star not for the weight lost but for making healthy changes that help make me a better me. I see I can either use my time wisely and find what works for me or waste time and become my own worst enemy.

Demerit: So I went out for a couple days after work last week (bowling and Dave & Busters) and that completely threw off my workout schedule. It really sucked because I felt bad that I was behind and wanted to figure out a way to make it up without cramming everything together.

Plan of Action: Prioritize activities and schedule my day so I know what needs to get done and make room in case things happen. When I get good enough with this, I can start scheduling things a week or so ahead. The objective is to make a schedule I can stick to and make necessary adjustments if needed. As long as I get in all my positive habits in the most effective & efficient way possible, I'll call that a good day.

 

So that's my update so far. I'm going to post more often to keep track of what's going on. Even if I start slacking, you'll know about it. As stated before, any feedback and constructive criticism is appreciated.