Varelse: taking the reins of my life

[Varelse]

Note: This is my first challenge after several months, so I am sorry if I do something wrong related with the new rules. 

 

As a newbie in this guild, I am sharing a bit of history. I have failed all the times I have tried to level up my life. I think that, in long-term, I am more a Ranger, but the reason I think I have failed in the past is that I have no peace of mind, therefore I am trying to fix it and I think I will be with you during some challenges. Since 2014, I have tried to finish the dissertation that makes me finish the Master I started in 2013. It has been a long time, a lot of money, and it breaks me when I think I was not able to finish it yet. For those reasons, I am going to focus on this. 

 

Goal #1: Finish my MPhil Dissertation

I am not motivated anymore with the Master in Literature Studies I started in 2013, but I passed the course with great marks and the only thing that rests is completing the dissertation. Until I finish it, I will not be able to move on and focus on things that motivate me more. 

 

Week 0: declutter my workspace. (4/5) achieved

Week 1: finish the only chapter I started last year. (4/5) achieved

Week 2: work from 10 h. to 12 h. in weekdays. Begin to write the status of the issue. (0/5)

Week 3: work from 10 h. to 13 h. in weekdays. Begin to write the chapter 2. (0/5)

Week 4: work from 9 h. to 13 h. in weekdays. Finish something. (0/5)

 

A or FAIL. No grading. I need to achieve this.

 

+3WIS +2CHA

 

Goal #2: Mindful eating

Track all my foods and avoid eating when doing anything else.

 

+1CON +1WIS

 

Goal #3: Nerd to 5K

I am on the second week of the N25K running program and I want to run 40 minutes before the end of the challenge. 

 

Week 0: [2'W + 1'R]x12 · [3'W + 2'R]x7 (2/2)

Week 1: [2'W + 2'R]x10 · [1'W + 2'R]x12 · [1'W + 4'R]x7 (1/3)

Week 2: [1'W + 5'R]x6 · [1'W + 6'R]x5 · [1'W + 8'R]4

Week 3: [1'W + 10'R]x3 · [1'W + 12'R]x3 · 24'R + 1'W + 12'R

Week 4: 32'R + 1'W + 8'R · 40'R

 

13 workouts = A

12 workouts = B

11 workouts = C

less than 11 = FAIL

 

+2STA +1CON +1CHA

 

Life goal: Meditate

Meditate 5 minutes per day. Add 5 minutes on week 2. Add 5 more minutes on week 4. (10/30)

 

>30 days = A

>28 days = B

>26 days = C

<26 days = FAIL

 

+1WIS

 

Bonus: Read

As I work in a bookshop, I find interesting the goal of reading two books each week, something classical and something newer. I am reserving an hour and a half of quiet reading in order to achieve this one.

Week 0: Gilgamesh (June 10th) / La Vie mode d'emploi (Georges Perec) (June 10th)

Week 1: Paradise (To Be) Regained (Henry David Thoreau) (June 12th) / Autopilot: Notes on Modern Sonambulism (Juanma Agulles) (June 13th)

Week 2: Bhagavad-Gita (June 18th) / The Savage Detectives (Roberto Bolaño)

Week 3: Ramayana / Complete Poetry (Alexandr Pushkin) (July 9th)

Week 4: The Poetic and Prose Eddas (July 8th) / (not decided yet)

 

Each book = +0.2WIS +0.1CHA

Achieved: +1.4WIS + 0.7CHA

 

+2WIS +1CHA

[Lara]

Welcome back!!!

 

Not easy to do a dissertation in a theme you don't seem to have interest anymore. But it looks like you'll have to swallow the pill. We will be cheering you anyway!! Declutter that desk and make it ready! Are you going to work using pomodoros?

 

Ambitious reading! Wow!

Best of luck!

[Varelse]

3 hours ago, zenLara said:

Welcome back!!!

 

Not easy to do a dissertation in a theme you don't seem to have interest anymore. But it looks like you'll have to swallow the pill. We will be cheering you anyway!! Declutter that desk and make it ready! Are you going to work using pomodoros?

 

Ambitious reading! Wow!

Best of luck!

 

I like the author I am studying (Roberto Bolaño, I strongly recommend his books), but l don't feel motivated and definitively it had been too much time. But I have no choice, so... Go! 

 

Yes, I always use pomodoros. It's almost the only way to avoid procrastination. 

 

Thank you for your words. I'll keep you updated.

 

P. S.: I'm almost finishing Gilgamesh and it is one of the best books I've read in months.

[Varelse]

Week Zero - Wednesday

 

Decluttering

 

 

But I managed to get the things done. My workspace seems a workspace, otherwise there is a lot of work to do yet.

 

Mindful eating

I think I can try to put my phone on airplane mode while eating in order to focus in what I'm doing.

 

Running

Done! 

 

Meditation

Five minutes done.

 

[Varelse]

Week Zero - Thursday

 

Decluttering

Almost finished. Today, I spent two hours putting books in its shelvings

 

Mindful eating

I think I'm doing this, but still without knowing how to track this goal.

 

Running

Rest day.

 

Meditation

Five minutes done.

[Leimanu]

Nice!  I like the idea of adding minutes to meditation.  I also think it's awesome that you have a goal to read two books a week.  I'm trying to read a book a month - I was such a big reader as a kid.

 

Mindful eating goal - are you trying to eat whole foods or less sugar?  Or are you trying to concentrate on your meal with less distractions, such as not eating in front of the tv/computer?  You could try to quantify it by each meal, or by days.  For example, 15 whole-food meals a week or meals without the TV on.  Or 5 days with no sugar.

[Varelse]

17 hours ago, Leimanu said:

Mindful eating goal - are you trying to eat whole foods or less sugar?  Or are you trying to concentrate on your meal with less distractions, such as not eating in front of the tv/computer?  You could try to quantify it by each meal, or by days.  For example, 15 whole-food meals a week or meals without the TV on.  Or 5 days with no sugar.

 

More or less. I want to make smart choices without the need of struggling with a specific diet. Maybe I'll give a chance to the idea of quantify by days. When eating outside, I'll report my menu. I have to eat outside too much every week (literary commitments) and I tend to neglect my choices. In other ways, what are you reading?

 

Week Zero - Friday

 

Decluttering

The same as yesterday. Tomorrow I'll share a pic.

 

Mindful eating

Aware.

 

Running

Rest day.

 

Meditation

Five minutes done.

 

Books

I finished the books of this week. It's been a long time since I've read something that I like such a lot. Now, I must read the next two "modern" books in a couple of days, because I'm interviewing their publisher, who is also the author of one of them. A bit stressing, but doable.

[Leimanu]

5 hours ago, Varelse said:

 

More or less. I want to make smart choices without the need of struggling with a specific diet. Maybe I'll give a chance to the idea of quantify by days. When eating outside, I'll report my menu. I have to eat outside too much every week (literary commitments) and I tend to neglect my choices. In other ways, what are you reading?

 

Oooh, eating outside.  Wonderful.

 

I made two lists of 10 books I want to read that span time from ancient greek to the 1980s.  I meant to do one, but there was enough for two   The very first is Lysistrada.  It's my list, so if I want a comedy play about sex to be what represents ancient greek lit, then that's what I'm going to make it!!!

 

I have a creative writing degree, and that particular program was pretty strong in lit, so I've taken courses in different time periods.  It's going to be nice to return to something like this.  I got the idea from an Art of Manliness podcast where he interviewed an author that supports the classical model of education and she gave herself this challenge as a way to see how the "novel" (I'll call the different forms of story) has changed throughout time.

 

I haven't heard of quite a few books on your list.

[Varelse]

40 minutes ago, Leimanu said:

 

Oooh, eating outside.  Wonderful.

 

I made two lists of 10 books I want to read that span time from ancient greek to the 1980s.  I meant to do one, but there was enough for two   The very first is Lysistrada.  It's my list, so if I want a comedy play about sex to be what represents ancient greek lit, then that's what I'm going to make it!!!

 

I have a creative writing degree, and that particular program was pretty strong in lit, so I've taken courses in different time periods.  It's going to be nice to return to something like this.  I got the idea from an Art of Manliness podcast where he interviewed an author that supports the classical model of education and she gave herself this challenge as a way to see how the "novel" (I'll call the different forms of story) has changed throughout time.

 

I haven't heard of quite a few books on your list.

 

Great, another girl who finds Art of Manliness interesting! Ancient Greek/Rome literature is possibly the kind ir books l like the most, but l've read more epic and tragedy than comedy.

 

Novel has changed, but the main topics are in Homero, I think. If you are interested in diachronic literature, I can say that the book of Perec that I've read this week has EVERY style and genre, just as Don Quixote, but written in the 20th century (Fox ).

[The Borg Queen]

Hi! Welcome back, I am also returning after a long absence. 

 

Those look like some ambitious goals. Good luck!

[Varelse]

Week Zero - SUMMARY

 

Decluttering

A-

I finished today, but it is due to I've spent two days sleeping at my girlfriend's home, so I couldn't declutter my workspace because I wasn't there. As I promised, a pic:

 

 

Mindful eating

A-/B

I overeat a lot during the weekend, but I did pretty well on weekdays. I'll be happy if I  do next week at least like this one (hopefully better).

 

Running

A

No missed workouts.

 

Meditation

A

Sunday I almost forgot it, but I did my 5 minutes on the bus.

 

Books

A

 

[Varelse]

Week 1 - Monday

 

MPhil Dissertation

Spend an hour putting together all my notes.

 

Mindful eating

More or less, but done.

 

Running

Rest day.

 

Meditation

Five minutes done.

 

Books

Done.

[Lara]

My desk only looks like that after I clean it. For like, half an hour?

[Kvedulf]

Following along.

Love the reading goal. It's awesome. Reading is something I'm starting to get back into doing. Always wanted to read the Epic of Gilgamesh. If you're looking for Classical comedy, you can't go past Aristophanes. He's genuinely hilarious!

 

The only thing I can think of in regards to tracking mindful eating is to record 1) what you've eaten. Not count calories or anything, just record what you ate; 2) like what Leimanu said, have a certain amount of meals to be eaten without TV/sugar/laptop etc.

[Sunmage]

On 10.6.2016 at 11:51 PM, Varelse said:

 

Great, another girl who finds Art of Manliness interesting! Ancient Greek/Rome literature is possibly the kind ir books l like the most, but l've read more epic and tragedy than comedy.

 

Novel has changed, but the main topics are in Homero, I think. If you are interested in diachronic literature, I can say that the book of Perec that I've read this week has EVERY style and genre, just as Don Quixote, but written in the 20th century (Fox ).

 

 

Not only girls like Art of Manliness.

Greek and Roman culture and literature are very interesting and there is still a lot to learn from them!

 

I like your approach!

[Varelse]

Week 1 - Tuesday

 

MPhil Dissertation

Done. It could be better.

 

Mindful eating

More or less, but done.

 

Running

Rest day.

 

Meditation

Five minutes done.

 

Books

Done.

[The Borg Queen]

Good declutter on the book case. And good keeping up

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

[Eirlys]

I like the organised bookshelf

 

With mindful eating, I was wondering about this myself for future challenge.  Could you perhaps rate it as success/not based on whether you eat without doing another activity at the same time?  e.g. I read (internet/kindle) while eating, so a big step towards mindful eating would be not to do that.  Perhaps you have something similar?

[Varelse]

Quick update. I'm missing several workouts, but being constant with the Master and meditation. Bussy days. 

[Kvedulf]

That's good. Better to have small victories than no victories

[Varelse]

Week 1 - SUMMARY

 

Decluttering

B

I missed one day and I didn't finish the first chapter (I'm still doing it). But I feel the dissertation like a fresh start, so I'm gladly returning to it when I finish to write this post. 

 

Mindful eating

B

A bit worse than week 0.

 

Running

C

I only did one workout.

 

Meditation

B

I forgot one day.

 

Books

A

At least, I'm doing something right.

 

Said that, last days of week 1 were bussy, but first days of week 2 are being worse. I'm starting to feel bad again (I had amigdalitis during the previous weeks of the challenge), so I hope I'll feel better soon, but it is going to be an obstacle to the running goal. Yesterday I did nothing (no dissertation, no workout, no mindful eating, no...).

[Lara]

4 hours ago, Varelse said:

At least, I'm doing something right.

 

Don't demean yourself. You're doing many things right. You've cleaned your desk, you've started your dissertation, did one workout, are meditating regularly and practicing your mindful eating. It sounds quite good to me.

 

4 hours ago, Varelse said:

Yesterday I did nothing (no dissertation, no workout, no mindful eating, no...).

 

A rest day is always nice.

[SnowOwl]

5 hours ago, zenLara said:

 

Don't demean yourself. You're doing many things right. You've cleaned your desk, you've started your dissertation, did one workout, are meditating regularly and practicing your mindful eating. It sounds quite good to me.

 

 

A rest day is always nice.

See, your perspective was just a little off.

 

You're still here and are moving forward and that's a win. 

[Varelse]

On 21/6/2016 at 2:09 PM, zenLara said:

 

Don't demean yourself. You're doing many things right. You've cleaned your desk, you've started your dissertation, did one workout, are meditating regularly and practicing your mindful eating. It sounds quite good to me.

 

 

A rest day is always nice.

 

On 21/6/2016 at 7:16 PM, SnowOwl said:

See, your perspective was just a little off.

 

You're still here and are moving forward and that's a win. 

 

You're right. I tend to be pessimistic when trying to be realistic.

 

Week 2 was missed, but I've done some improvements. I don't know if running was the smart goal in JUNE, but I'm not giving up yet. I'm moving forward with the dissertation, today I meditate, which is cool, and I have a booknote where I'm starting to track my meals. I'm here, bussy, but here.

[Lara]

6 hours ago, Varelse said:

I'm here, bussy, but here.

 

That's what counts the most.