New Challenges and movement in life.

This has been a crazy fall and the summer before it was not much less so. I have done a lot of moving around, first coming from Minnesota all the way to upstate New York for the summer then from there to central Massachusets for the fall. I think all the physical moving on top of all the professional and personal moving too has just made deliberate change very hard because there is all of this chaotic change.
 That said, it's time for a new 30DC and I think this one could be a real keystone for me.

 30DC - Morning Routine
Starts 10.22.12 Ends 11.22.12
In these thirty days, I want to follow this specific morning routine.
 -Get up no longer than 8hrs after going to bed.
-Drink a shake or eat nuts to take the edge off hunger.
-Take Meds/Vitamins.
-Walk/Workout/Run
depending on the day one or more of these should happen. Week 1 will -rotating just walking/workingout week two I'm going to try rotating in running.
-Eat Veggies and Tea/Coffee when you get back.
-Drink Water.
-Choose the three big items to do for the day.
-Do one hour of non-reactive work. (AKA don't check your email)

I will track this to the best of my ability through the 30DC. These will be the only things I'm tracking this month. Remember, Email is everyone else's agenda for your day.

Stepping Out

This year has been full of stepping out in faith. Moving on from jobs I loved, traveling half way across the country to re-connect with family and take a chance on a relationship. It has been a lot of moments of fear and uncertainty. A lot of trusting that my backup plan is real, is true. Knowing that I can only fall so far and that there are people in my life who will help me pick up the pieces if things don't work out. But really, I know now, after a year of taking big steps, that I can pick up my own pieces. The start of this all came out of really digging mentally into the old school movement of Stoicism. It's not really what you think of when someone says they are "stoic". It's more a philosophy of control of ones inner self and the choices we make. I'm no expert. I'm really just starting to scratch the surface of what Stoicism encompasses. But the philosophy intrigues me. One of their most impactful practices for me is that ancient Stoics would spend a day or more a month in sack cloths on the streets "being poor" meditating on the idea "is this really what I feared?". Now of course if you are sure to go back to a hot bath and a rich supper at the end of your "poor day" it is nothing like being actually poor. However the mindfulness of this practice really struck me. It lead me to ask a lot of questions about my own fears and willingness to tak risk. What is the worst case senario? Why am I afraid of that? What would I do if I found myself there? Coming up with at least a partially fleshed out plan on what I would do if I wound up in a worst case scenario for any given risk has really helped me have the faith to step out and do some great things. And now, I'm on the eve of a big "risk". Right now I'm prepping my life to move into a small RV and travel the continent. It's a big risk, but the worst case scenario, it's really easy to handle, so I can step out in good faith. So the next time you find yourself in fear on a big, or for that matter little, risk, try this out. - Take stock, define what the risk is. - Come up with the WORST thing that could happen. I.E. if you are going to get a new job and are worried you might not fit in or be good enough at it, the worst case is that you would get fired, then you might not be able to pay your bills, and you might end up losing your apartment, then you might lose your car and possibly end up on the street homeless and destitue. - Ok, now that you have that horrible scenario all planned out and are in a complete panic, come up with a plan for what you would do if you do wind up in that situation. I.E. I will go and ask for my old job back first, if that doesn't work, I would go and apply for unemployment, if that doesn't work, I would talk to my family member who has some spare space and ask if I can live there for a while to get my feet under me and look for a better job, while there I will cook and clean to help out, I will also study a new skill online that will make me even more employable, especially in a field that I like or enjoy. And so on. - Now that you have a plan, put the fear down, as best you can. Rinse and repeat this cycle as new fears come up. You are a creative and resourceful person, you can make it through anything life shoves your way. If you doubt that, pull up youtube and look up some Paralympics footage, you can't fail to be inspired by the tenacity of the human spirit.

Life Thought

No one is going to kick you ass for you. You are going to have to do it yourself. No one is responsible for your failure, your distraction, your lack of motivation but you. You are your own worst enemy in this day and age. Time to start being your own best friend. Put systems in place. Track things. Reward. Punish. Do all the things for yourself that you wish somebody else would do. Don't be your own worst enemy, or at least, try to be a frenemy.

Low Carb Flu

The low carb lifestyle is hard. But it's hardest when you're starting. Not only is there all that psychological addiction, socialtal pressure, habit and just darn tasty food to fight. There is the dreaded low carb flu. A day, two days, a week of feeling like crap. Feeling dumb, maybe achey or just really off. Not everyone gets it, but most people who do report feeling less able to think, being less smart. Personally, it hits me like a real case of the flu. I get achey, cranky, dumb. Generally I feel worthless and I'm miserable to be around. It lasts usually about 4 days then I'm good, I get all fat adapted and the body is happier, the mind clearer. So what's my personal recipe for dealing with it? Step one, let go of progress for the week. I let myself be slow on my runs, I don't worry that the scale and measurements aren't changing, I try to forgive my lack of productivity at work a bit. The second week will rock, I just have to stick it out and get there. Step two. What do I do about the awful cravings and headaches. Two things eat protein and fat whenever the cravings hit. Nuts are an awesome go to here as are some veggies slathered in grass fed ghee or some tuna with paleo mayo. I hit those snacks whenever I need to. I have a list of safe stuff and have a ton of it on hand. I will need it. Secondly, I'm not drinking enough water. Like ever. And for some reason when I go low carb I drink even less and wind up more dehydrated, so half the time my headaches are from that. Or from cutting back my caffeine too much since I'm not guzzling down diet sodas or cream laden coffees. So that's my personal tool kit. Let go, hit the protein and healthy fat, and water it up!

Running and Habit

For the past four weeks I've been running three times a week. I'm following the couch to 5k running plan as outlined by Cool Runnings. I'm doing it by listening to a free podcast from Robert Ullery who has taken some techno music and overlaid a voice track that tells me when to walk and when to run. I'm also tracking the runs with Digifit though I've had a bunch of trouble with using my heart rate monitor and my phone, overall it's been a pleasant experience.

So I'm running. More consistently than I have in several years. I'm feeling pretty good. It's hard, but it's super doable. This week though, was a huge mile stone. Not in distance. Not in speed. But in attitude. I have experienced this cool mental shift. This morning, on an off day, I was charging around the house getting ready for my day, and one of the most prominent thoughts in my head was "Boy I could run today." I'm not sure that has EVER happened to me. Like, ever.

There is a lot of talk about how it takes 21 days (or 30 depending on who you listen to) to form a new habit. Like, that's how long it takes your brain to form some new neural pathways or some such. So here I am, at about 30 days, wishing today were a running day. So you know what, they might be right. I'm going to keep running, I hope for a very long time. It's been great for my back and with my minimalist shoes, my knee has been pretty chill about it too. And armed with this experience, I'm going to try to tackle a new habit for July. We'll see how it goes 30 days from now.

Level Up

The life I want to lead is one of constant personal development. Lately, I've been dreaming up some pretty big goals. And really I'm executing on some of them and getting some incredible progress in life, but of course with my eyes on the moon, making it to the top of a hill doesn't seem so great. Recently I've come across a number of pieces of advice on the improvement process that seem really pertinent and timely.

First, know what the end goal is. Steve Kamb calls this setting your level 50. Right now, I have some pretty pie in the sky goals, just for kicks, here are a few of them. Run an Ironman in the next five years, do a backflip, be able to call myself a programer, be able to call myself a writer, travel to a tropical location and work there for a month or more, make a comfortable living online, live in an RV, help a friend run a business online, have a product that sells while I'm asleep, be truly fit and trim for the first time in my life, practice meditation, help people, live a mindfully, have my village of people. Putting these on paper, they seem both accomplishable and intimidating and some of them are a bit esoteric. But, that's me. A bit all over the map. A bit of a dreamer.

So onto step two, the long slow climb. I've been listening to "A Life Without Limits" the biography of

Chrissie Wellington four time Ironman world champion. In it she goes to great lengths to discuss the fourth discipline of the triathlon, the mental game. She talks a lot about the idea that the ability to suffer, the ability to work hard is as much of a trained "muscle group" as being able to run fast is.  In this vein, she speaks about the importance of intermittent goals. Goals that get you to a 3 hour marathon, not just the 3 hour goal itself. 

Matt Fraizer posted recently about the idea of slow changes building up to large ones. The main idea being that if you tackle one habit, at five minutes a day to start with, you build momentum towards a larger goal. The new habits, the small goals, I think they build a sort of mile marker set along your journey. With mile markers in place, I can see clear forward progress, where if I just look at my big goals, progress seems non-existant. 

In order to execute on this, I'm going to stick with my theme of "big three" and break down my three big goals into a few mile markers for the next bit of the journey. Small goals + time should equal big change, now just to convince myself on the time piece. 

Big Goal: Run and Ironman

-Medium Step - Run a 5k

-Small step one(for this week) - Run 3 days this week on the Couch to 5K Plan

-Small step for life, do a PT routine every morning.

Big Goal: Make My Living Online/Work from the tropics

-Medium Step - Save 5k for a trip

-Small Step - Rock at remote Jobs

-Small Step - Quit SoMN Alliance (give notice for post october game)

Big Goal: Get Fit

-Medium Step - Lose 30lbs in my thirtieth year

-Small Step - Log all food eaten in fitbit

-Small Step - Drink Water every morning

So that's a decent breakdown I think. I want to spend some more time thinking about how to break these down a bit further and put in a more week by week goal for at least a 90 day look out. I've neglected the more "spiritual goals" for right now. I may in the next few months try to use a month to build the habit of meditating, but I want that one to happen at a more organic time when I really am feeling it.

Overall I think I have some really ambitious goals for me personally, but they all feel important and achievable. I've already taken some huge steps in the last year with my health and stepping out in faith to find remote work and to move half way across the country again. So I'm going to build on this momentum in a conscious way and hit my level 50, which I plan to detail out some more soon.

Captive Audience

I think sometimes, the bigest problem I have, is that I don't have myself as a "captive audience" I know that in the right moments, the right situations, my focus is a laser, my creativity is boundless. But these moments are rare. Distraction abounds in daily life. It's so easy to get caught up in just one more something, anything, hoping from one line of thought to another.

Tonight I had a chance to have myself as a captive audience. I am volunteering at a local theater, running the light board for a show. It's a fairly long show, 3 hours plus, with only 80 light cues. This leaves me ample time to sit in the dark and stare. Or, since I brought my laptop tonight, type. And type I did, in the three hours of semi attention to both the show and the story I was writing, I pounded out 1400 words. Fourteen, hundred, words. That's a ton for me. And all of it felt natural, had flow.

I'll be running this show for the next month or so, five shows a week. So i'm hopeful for some awesome continued productivity. But more so, I hope to help myself establish the habit of writing. This means that I'll be really really pushing to keep up with writing on the non-show days. Trying not to lean on the fact that I've written so much durring shows, and really pushing on write daily, establish the daily habit.

Also to that end today I did some work to clean up my computer, ipad and iphone to have less distractions.  I've tried to focus each of them in on the task niche that I've set up for them.

In my mind, my computer is a device for production. Typing, programing, email, things that have output, not input. To this end, I've moved all my games to a separate login, so that I have to log out in order to play them. This should help to keep the casual logins to check the Auction House on World of Warcraft to a minimum :-) I also took all the bookmarks off my main browser chrome, only leaving my read later bookmark to help me load up Instapaper. I don't want to be casually browsing the web on my computer if I can avoid it. I'm hoping this habit will also bleed over more to my at work habits. I think over the past few weeks I've done a lot to curtail my casual browsing at work, but it defiantly still tempts me.

The iPad on the other hand, I view as a device of consumption. I've taken the time to sort out all the apps I'm not using, and really nail down the ones that help me consume the right kind of media. I'm using Reeder, Instapaper, Kindle, iBooks, Netflix, Instacast and a few choice other apps to get info into my brain. I do have a few output options on the iPad, namely Daedalus, which I'm trying to figure out how to setup with workflow to Ulysses, my writing program of choice on my computer. However, the main goal here is to use the iPad for internet browsing, reading articles and generally consuming the media I think will help with my output, while keeping real casual mindless consumption to a minimum. I'm an input junky and it's going to be a major struggle to keep things in what I think is actually a healthy realm. I've also eliminated most of the games on my iPad, only keeping those that are two player compatible so I can enjoy playing with friends occasionally on trips or waiting for things.

The iPhone is still a work in process, and I think I may keep it as a more "entertainment" oriented device, or I may move it to communication speciality, we'll just have to see.

Starting the Week off Right

Monday, success, on many fronts, ate well, got my writing done, did most of an hour on business, happy.

Some Success

Just a quick update to revel in my success today. 1000 words down on "paper" and a good hour+ spent on actual business output. Feels great. Here's to more progress tomorrow.

Choice

Monday went horribly. There are no excuses. I started off the day well, got up early, got to work, had a productive day. Took some time at lunch to plan my attack on my evening to both get settled in and get my goals hammered out.

Then, two friends called. Each wanting to re-schedule and have some of my time that evening. And of course, I said yes. So there I was, all burned out and stressed from not getting things done and still being tired from my whirlwind trip, not having a good time hanging out and not getting anything done.

So lesson, it all comes down to choice, and remembering to say no can be just as important as saying yes. Especially for someone like me who says yes all the time.

Week of 2.4.12 Recap

This past week I was away on vacation, visiting in New England. So generally speaking, no progress was made on any of my goals. I do however feel re-charged and inspired and ready to hit the ground running. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of habits I can build through the rest of February into March. Things are going to keep getting crazy and learning to keep moving forward on my goals while I'm dealing with the hurricane of life is a very important thing to do.

30 Day Challenges

So I'm going to be continuing to work on some 30 day challenges for the rest of the year and continue trying to document my progress here. Last month I completed a 30 day primal challenge, working on my big goal of health. I'll post my de-breif at the end of this entry.

This month, I'm going to be working on my goal of Success and Skills. There are two components to the challenge. The skills piece will be to write 500 words a day ( i may edge this up to the more commonly recommended 1k if I'm finding 500 easy to achieve) these words can not be in the form of emails or posts to this blog. The Success piece will be to invest on average 1hr per week day and 2 hrs per weekend day in my "business" ventures. I really want to be moving towards a life of lifestyle design and location independence and i'm never going to get there without putting in the time, no matter how many podcasts I listen to or courses I buy.

So that's this month, I'll be attempting to track my results every few days here and attempting to hold onto some of the progress from the previous two months with Coding and Primal eating.

Primal Chalenge January De-Brief:

Thoughts after 21 days of "trying harder"

Overall, I think I can consider this a success. I defiantly dove back into some much better habits for the majority of this challenge. I struggled over some very obvious points, the biggest one was deny myself carbs. I really need to make an effort to just spend more money on awesome primal/paleo friendly foods that feel rich and decedent. 

Weak points:

giving up carbs is hard and i defiantly have issues both getting into it, getting all grumpy and dumb, and staying there. Once i break out of it, i get loath to go back into ketosis. I think i should get some of those strips and try to make it a personal challenge to stay in keytosis for like X days.

I need to find better ways to get more veggies in. I am consistently finding it difficult to get the veggies in and I think that they are going to be key for continued success. 

Strong Points:

I am defiantly better prepared to do this than ever before. Handling the shopping and the meals did not feel like much of a chore at all. 

Having someone doing it with me was totally key! The accountability of knowing I was modeling the behavior for Patrick as well as teaching him and cooking for him was really really helpful. I need to find ways to make myself accountable online or personally? Maybe I do need to join the NF community. 

I did take off some weight. I'd like to take off more, but I think I look/feel better than i did when i started so I'll take that.

Patrick lost 20lbs in 21 days and has more energy that I've ever seen! He's also inspired to keep improving himself which is like my major drive in life, so that is so super awesome that i was able to help someone get there!