First Forms

[Psyberion]

It's been a while since I visited this site the last time, and during that time I've fell back into old habits. I'm here again now, and I'm quite determined to actually get a grip and stay on target this time. If not for my physical fitness I need this for my mental fitness and dicipline, and if I am to get where I want in life I'm going to need a metric tonne of that. So I'm really going to make sure I don't miss more challenges, and that I stick to my plans.

 

As I've fallen back into old habits, what with eating take-out, spending whole days doing jack-s**t and only walking to my job (about 1000feet) for exercise, I'm going to keep this challenge quite similar to my first one, with some tweaking.

 

In all of the quests I am going to track my progress in terms of percents finished. Doing what I'm supposed to every day of the challenge, i.e. 28/28 days, will result in 100% completion. Only doing what I should 21/28 days results in 75% completion.

 

Quest 1: Quitting take-out

Same deal as last time. Take out is bad food, it's expensive and frankly I don't really enjoy it. It grants instant satisfaction, sure, but I always end up feeling swollen and it feels like letting myself down. So no more fast food! Like last time I am giving myself a few exeptions because of times I know I will eat at restaurants, so that I don't have to feel too guilty about that. Those exceptions are 25/8-28/8. Hopefully I will not actually need to make exceptions all of these days, but I will grant myself the right to do so.

Finishing this quest at 100% will grant me +2 WILL.

 

Quest 2: Proper hydration

I'm quite terrible at drinking water. Most of the time I drink coffee, tea or something else caffeinated. While I'm not going to quit caffeine (I'm a computer scientist, I need it to function..) I am going to start drinking more water. My goal is to drink at least 2L (67fl.oz) of water each day, with an additional 2dl (6fl.oz) glass of water per cup of coffee. I.e. if I drink one cup of coffee one day (like that ever happens) that would result in me drinking 2.2L of water.

Finishing this challenge will not grant any stats, but I'll get to be well hydrated for once.

 

Quest 3: Beginner bodyweight workout + running

For my third quest I think it's time to actually start working with my body. Last challenge I tried the Shaolin Workout, which did increase my flexibility but made me physically and mentally tired from doing the same thing every single day. This time I'm going to give the beginner bodyweight circuit a go, along with some barefoot running. I'm going to do both three times a week, alternating the days (circuit Monday, Wednesday, Friday, running Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). It might sound like a lot to start out with, but the running will be quite slow as I'm just starting out with the barefoot running. It'll be fine.

Finishing this quest at 100% will grant me +2 STR and +2 STA.

 

Quest 4: No more zero-days

Once again I want to make sure that I do at least something productive every day. The goals have changed slightly since the last challenge, but never the less this is important. Every single day of this challenge, I am going to do one of the following:

• Work on my RPG
• Study to become a HAM operator
• Study electrical engineering
• Study computer-lingual semantics

Finishing this quest at 100% provide +2 WILL.

 

There we go, that's my four quests down for this challenge. Keeping the last challenge in mind I think that Q4 and Q2 will be quite easy, although I'll have a hard time tracking Q2. Hopefully the other two quests will work fine as well, but they'll be harder to stay on target with. As with the last challenge I'm going to post my progress every day, so that I don't forget what day I did or didn't do a challenge.

[Psyberion]

As the challenge starts today, I should post progress. However, because I just realized that the new challenge started about an hour ago, and it's 11PM here so I have to sleep. Therefore I'll give myself one day off, so that I still have a chance to get 100% an all challenges. Otherwise two of them would be failed right from the start.

[sarakingdom]

Good goals.  They're big wins, and good solid foundation habits.

 

I'm going to make a suggestion on the fast food - for the first two weeks, stock up on a few frozen meals that meet your definition of reasonably healthy, in case there are days you come close to slipping.  Changing that habit is going to mean fighting a lot of rewards you get for eating fast food: speed, convenience, taste engineered to kick your tastebuds into submission, and the whole slog of having to prepare your own food.  So for those first two weeks, it will be a serious win just to cut the connection between the urge for food and going out for fast food, and replace it with another behavior.  Any means necessary.  Having some stuff you don't have to cook and don't feel like crap eating means you can still get all those rewards while breaking the habit.  It's not optimal, and it's not your end goal, but it's a short-term tool, and will make the change a series of smaller steps, rather than a big willpower drain.

[Psyberion]

Yes, I felt like these are pretty good to start with. Nothing too advanced, but it'll get me going.

 

That is a great piece of advice, thank you! I'm going to have a look at the store the next time I'm there! I have a slowcooker that I'm going to try to use as much as possible for keeping nice and healthy food in the freezer. I'll just have to remind myself to actually use it.

 

As for today, here are my progression for today:

Q1: No fast-food eaten today, 1/27

Q2: I've finished drinking my water in just a few mouthfulls. 1/27

Q3: I did the bodyweight circuit after work. It was a lot tougher than I was expecting. Nevertheless, 1/27

Q4: I've both done some electrical engineering and semantics today, so that's 1/27

 

That's all quests done today! 1/27

 

A short note before I conclude: I forgot to mention that I'll grant myself +20XP if I finish the entire challenge at 100%, and I will give myself an exception for the working out 25/8-28/8, as I am going away for the weekend to stay with some friends. Hopefully I'll have time to go out running on the 25th before I go, but I won't punish myself if I don't.

[Kishi]

I like the idea of approaching the challenge as a function of percentages. It shows you that it's not about getting everything perfect, but about getting enough things right enough of the time to get the results you're looking for.

 

And hey, you gotta make time for people and life. That happens sometimes, doesn't it? So cool.

 

More chi! Train harder!

 

Speaking of, are you involved in any kind of formal practice at this time, or is this an in-between season for you?

[Psyberion]

Yea, I think it makes sense; it's impossble to keep everything up all the time. It's also a really convenient way to measure how well I'm doing, as it's completely unbiased. If I gave myself grades A-F I'd probably skew what I actually deserve, because who likes to fail right?

 

The season is about to start about now. I should try to find some nice martial art to try. During the summer I've pretty much decided that I'm not giving Wing-Chun another go. I am a bit excited about Aikido or Krav Maga though, so I should probably give one of those a go.

 

Anyway, I'm back from my mini-vacation. I've made the decision to simply remove four days from the challenge all together, so that I could relax and not bother with the challenge while I was away. So here is my current progress:

 

Q1: I had fast food once last week. 3/23

Q2: I've been drinking my water every day. 4/23

Q3: I did skip workout Wednesday and today, so that's 2/23

Q4: I did not do anything productive Wednesday because I was busy cleaning and packing. I did work on my RPG today though, so that's 3/23

 

All in all that makes 2/23 days with 100% completion. It's not great, but it is what it is. I'll just have to do better from now on!

[Kishi]

It's all good, man. And there's plenty of time left to do better and do great things.

 

How'd the week end up for you?