Talvi makes tactical decisions

[Talvi]

Talvi makes tactical decisions

 

Hi there, I'm currently a final year PhD student who is not entirely happy about how things are going in general.  I haven't been on NerdFitness for a year and it has been a fairly static one at that.   Previous challenges had me running, racing, doing bodyweight workouts, yoga, climbing, learning Spanish and doing programming - I had my shit together (pardon my French) and I liked it.   I want to be like that again but I feel stalled and overwhelmed.  This challenge is going to be small and simple but hopefully a step in the right direction.

 

1)      Wake up at 7:00am on weekdays

Rise and shine like Lux

My goal here is to make the most of my most productive morning hours.  Ideally, I want to sleep around 8 hours a night so going to sleep between 11pm and 11:30pm will make this goal much more bearable.   I don't have any *good* waking up routine at the moment - I wake up at different times every day with many snooze buttons and I waste a lot of time on my computer and phone.   I don't know whether it is a seasonal problem or maybe work-related stress, but I hate waking up right down and I'm finding it damn difficult.   Sleeping enough, having a set wake-up time and building a good morning routine should help me start my day better and more productively whilst get out of this slump.

 

2)      Exercise twice a week

I’m not and haven’t been motivated to do any exercise for … like a year…. Ouch!  I remember it being so beneficial to my body and my mood (unsurprisingly) and I’d like to get back into the habit of exercising.  The twice a week can be anything: running, yoga, hiking, ice skating, roller blading, climbing.. as long as I’m moving.  I want to want to exercise so the more fun I have the better.   I'm also signing myself up for two 10km races at the end of March and April.   I like the ambiance of races and I hope that the goal of setting a new 10km PR will get me training again.  In March 2015, I managed to run 10km in 51.09 minutes.

 

3)      Look at my 2017 epic list every week

This is the smallest goal, but I will use it for inspiration and gauge what I should be spending my time on.  It'll help me progress on what matters to me.

 

***

See you around the forums and good luck everyone!

 

 

[Red1263]

Hey hey! Welcome back! I'm looking forward to seeing you rock this!

 

sent from my phone whilst exploring new dungeons

 

 

[Jonesy]

Welcome back!

 

I think this is an excellent challenge set up for getting back into the swing of things.

[Talvi]

3 hours ago, Red1263 said:

Hey hey! Welcome back! I'm looking forward to seeing you rock this!

 

sent from my phone whilst exploring new dungeons

Hi Red and thanks!   I look forward to seeing you own your challenge too

 

2 hours ago, Jonesy said:

Welcome back!

 

I think this is an excellent challenge set up for getting back into the swing of things.

Thanks, I'm just going to start with small but significant changes Maybe in a challenge or two, things can get more interesting...

 

Day ONE (Tuesday)

Waking up [0/3] : I wrote this challenge this morning, so I feel that day one started after after I had already woken up.   Even so, just writing the challenge encouraged me to get up at 7h15, which isn't too bad.

Exercise [1/2] : Off to a good start since I've downloaded Zombies Run and for a 5.19km run in about 33:33 minutes.   The end felt pretty difficult, but I'm sure I can get my stamina back with some training.

[Red1263]

That's great to hear that you're inspired once again! My challenge isn't that interesting this time around [emoji14]

 

sent from my phone whilst exploring new dungeons

 

 

[Talvi]

16 hours ago, Red1263 said:

That's great to hear that you're inspired once again! My challenge isn't that interesting this time around

 

It is amazing how these challenges get me to put in the work.  I feel a little silly about how I can want to change for months and do nothing; then again I can wake up one day, make a challenge and work on my goals immediately. 

 

Then we can have boring challenges together   What interesting things have you been working on lately (before you were struck with the poison arrow)?   

 

Day TWO and THREE (Wed and Thu)

Waking up [2/3] : I've woke up at 7am both days.   Admittedly still spending time on 9gag in bed though.  I reckon I wasted about 30 minutes yesterday playing with my phone and mindlessly checking facebook and 9gag.  Still working on the post-wake-up routine - my boyfriend recommended doing something that I enjoy in the mornings to help me want to wake up and I suppose it would help me avoid the internet too.  I like the idea but I have no idea what to do though.  This sounds stupid but in the summer, I really liked taking care of my window herb garden in the morning.   Any ideas?  mmmmmm

Exercise [1/2] : Signed up to my first race in ages!  The Soli'run 10km on the 26th March, so I better get training

[Red1263]

2 hours ago, Talvi said:

 

It is amazing how these challenges get me to put in the work.  I feel a little silly about how I can want to change for months and do nothing; then again I can wake up one day, make a challenge and work on my goals immediately. 

 

Then we can have boring challenges together   What interesting things have you been working on lately (before you were struck with the poison arrow)?   

 

Day TWO and THREE (Wed and Thu)

Waking up [2/3] : I've woke up at 7am both days.   Admittedly still spending time on 9gag in bed though.  I reckon I wasted about 30 minutes yesterday playing with my phone and mindlessly checking facebook and 9gag.  Still working on the post-wake-up routine - my boyfriend recommended doing something that I enjoy in the mornings to help me want to wake up and I suppose it would help me avoid the internet too.  I like the idea but I have no idea what to do though.  This sounds stupid but in the summer, I really liked taking care of my window herb garden in the morning.   Any ideas?  mmmmmm

Exercise [1/2] : Signed up to my race in ages!  The Soli'run 10km on the 26th March, so I better get training

This! SO This! I think just writing these things plant seeds in the back of my mind to get my butt back into gear! 

 

Ha ha ha! Then We'll have to work together to get more interesting challenges in the future! Lately? Oh boy! I got accepted into a Master's Program for Orthotics and Prosthetics, and then I hit a financial snag and I have to take a leave of Absence (but not after passing my classes with a 3.55 GPA), I'm still working, I've been invited to a wedding to the Philippines, which is happening in 2 years, so I'm going to teach myself Tagalog by reading first. Other than that, I can't think of anything else. How about you? How's your spanish coming along?

[Talvi]

20 hours ago, Red1263 said:

Ha ha ha! Then We'll have to work together to get more interesting challenges in the future! Lately? Oh boy! I got accepted into a Master's Program for Orthotics and Prosthetics, and then I hit a financial snag and I have to take a leave of Absence (but not after passing my classes with a 3.55 GPA), I'm still working, I've been invited to a wedding to the Philippines, which is happening in 2 years, so I'm going to teach myself Tagalog by reading first. Other than that, I can't think of anything else. How about you? How's your spanish coming along?

 

You only had 5 days of boring challenge and then you have already started making it more interesting - no point in waiting around I suppose    Oh wow!  I was actually going to ask about that since I think I read about your first day ages ago but I wasn't sure if it was you.  Congratulations!!!   When do you think the 'snag' will be resolved and you can go back?  I have never seen tagalog before - the alphabet is completely different from everything else I have seen.  How are you finding it?   

 

I haven't been up to much recently apart from visiting my family and trying to salvage something from my PhD (so. very. frustrating.).  I haven't been practicing Spanish this last year, but I am currently happy with the level I have since I can communicate alright with the in-laws.  Ideally, I want to focus on mastering French now.  I can speak to an advanced level, but I am not happy with it.  I find humor difficult and I don't feel fluent enough to show people some parts of my personality.  I feel like it is holding me back socially and (soon when I start job hunting) professionally.  What am I going to do about it?  Who knows...  A question for the next challenge perhaps.

 

Day FOUR (Fri)

Waking up [3/3] : Woke up at 7am this morning and didn't go on 9gag at all!   Spent some time reading NF threads, but that is better for me than scrolling crappy memes. Going to set a different noise alarm for everyday of the week.

 

[Red1263]

29 minutes ago, Talvi said:

 

You only had 5 days of boring challenge and then you have already started making it more interesting - no point in waiting around I suppose    Oh wow!  I was actually going to ask about that since I think I read about your first day ages ago but I wasn't sure if it was you.  Congratulations!!!   When do you think the 'snag' will be resolved and you can go back?  I have never seen tagalog before - the alphabet is completely different from everything else I have seen.  How are you finding it?   

 

I haven't been up to much recently apart from visiting my family and trying to salvage something from my PhD (so. very. frustrating.).  I haven't been practicing Spanish this last year, but I am currently happy with the level I have since I can communicate alright with the in-laws.  Ideally, I want to focus on mastering French now.  I can speak to an advanced level, but I am not happy with it.  I find humor difficult and I don't feel fluent enough to show people some parts of my personality.  I feel like it is holding me back socially and (soon when I start job hunting) professionally.  What am I going to do about it?  Who knows...  A question for the next challenge perhaps.

 

Day FOUR (Fri)

Waking up [3/3] : Woke up at 7am this morning and didn't go on 9gag at all!   Spent some time reading NF threads, but that is better for me than scrolling crappy memes. Going to set a different noise alarm for everyday of the week.

 

Well, in my defense, I was sick for a solid week! I was going insane just sitting in my room unable to do anything even remotely close to exercising! I couldn't wait to have enough energy to move around! Uhhh... Well, the 'Snag' will be resolved, once I learn how to win the lotto or rob a bank without going to jail >.> Well luckily there are no interesting characters that I need to learn about, and the format of the words is actually pretty easy to get, it's just I'm missing the actual vocab  I think it's a pretty good language, just gotta learn to develop an ear for it.

 

Well, I'm glad to hear that your spanish is well enough to be able to talk. Oh French? How's that? I have no idea how to learn that, although I do tend to use Mademoiselle, from time to time. This does sound like your next challenge! In either case, I'm looking forward to it!

[Talvi]

On 17/02/2017 at 8:30 AM, Red1263 said:

Well, in my defense, I was sick for a solid week! I was going insane just sitting in my room unable to do anything even remotely close to exercising! I couldn't wait to have enough energy to move around! Uhhh... Well, the 'Snag' will be resolved, once I learn how to win the lotto or rob a bank without going to jail >.> Well luckily there are no interesting characters that I need to learn about, and the format of the words is actually pretty easy to get, it's just I'm missing the actual vocab  I think it's a pretty good language, just gotta learn to develop an ear for it.

 

Well, I'm glad to hear that your spanish is well enough to be able to talk. Oh French? How's that? I have no idea how to learn that, although I do tend to use Mademoiselle, from time to time. This does sound like your next challenge! In either case, I'm looking forward to it!

Are there not scholarships or other funding opportunities?  Will you be able to go back then? Can you use any of the modules or universities credits you already have in job applications?

 

I wouldn't get ahead of myself and say that my Spanish is even as good as yours, but it'll do for now.   If you know Spanish then French would be relatively easy to learn since its a latin language and follows a number of the same rules.   My problem with French is that I'm at a stage where I can't passively improve - reading or listening by themselves won't help.  I need to study and use grammar, increase my vocabulary and be corrected when I make mistakes.  I think I need a teacher, but I have kept resisting it because of cost and time requirements.  Pfft.

Summary of WEEK ONE

 

Waking up [3/3] : Got up at 7am each weekday after the start of the challenge.   I still waste a lot of time in the mornings, so I want to experiment with different routines after I wake up to find the most rewarding ones.

Exercise [2/2] : Ran a 5km during the week and did a session of runners' yoga on Saturday.  I signed up to a race at the end of next month, which is already a good source of motivation.   Next week, I will try to go ice skating after work.

2017 Epic list [1/1] : Went through the list and wrote down the progress on each goal. Might start a onenote file to use as a progress diary.

 

 

[SymphonicDan]

Finally catching up on your desafio  Simple challenges on the basics can be really effective... it's a big reason why I had such a good 2012 and 2016. How was the second week of the challenge?

 

And sorry the PhD is getting more of a struggle Just know you're not alone; it seems the majority of PhD students have serious problems and I just hope yours isn't too bad!

[Red1263]

Just wondering how your challenge is going?

[Talvi]

Well, the good news is that I have been thinking about the challenge over the last 2 months and it has helped me here and there.  The bad news is that, as soon as I fell off the wagon, I started dodging the NF site like a pro.

 

Summary of the challenge as a whole

Waking up : This was the most most demanding one and the one I failed most abysmally.  I needed more motivation to carry this on.  I can only hope that as it gets lighter that this will be easier.   I have been really busy  and so I haven't felt that I've missed out on much by not waking up at a regular early time.  I don't think I would make this a challenge goal again, but it might be worth tracking for curiosity purposes.

Exercise :  I was hoping for a quite varied fitness routine, but I didn't quite manage doing anything but a couple of yoga sessions and a few jogs.  It is better than nothing but it isn't passable.  Despite dodging this site, I did keep doing things now and then so that was okay.

2017 Epic list [3/4] : I remember doing this for 3 out of the 4 weeks.  It was easy to do and did make me more aware of my goals.  I think this would be a good thing to incorporate in other challenges.

Latest exercise was a 10km race.  I hadn't trained so I just turned up for the laughs.  It was a beautiful day and I enjoyed the atmosphere with the race time of 58:31.  Thinking of signing up to another race in a month.

[Red1263]

I'm glad to see that you're back on here. And I'm also glad to see that you've continued your progress despite NF dodging [emoji14] looking forward to seeing your train for the next race

 

sent from my phone whilst exploring new dungeons

 

 

[SymphonicDan]

Ooh, do you have your Epic Quest for 2017 posted anywhere?

 

It might help you with the sleep goal if you set up a stricter routine. I did that at the beginning of 2016 and it helped my energy levels considerably even if it's more restrictive that seems necessary.

 

Hope your PhD and busyness is under control and not too stressful! Are you posting a fresh challenge?

[Talvi]

Thanks guys!   I might join halfway through this challenge.  There is too much going on now and I need to pull myself together.

 

I haven't posted the Epic Quest list for 2017 on NF this year since I haven't been that active, but I'd be happy to share it if either you of wants to PM an email address

[SymphonicDan]

Ooh, I would be interested to see that - if Skype/NF won't work I'll PM you my email