Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post - What do you use to manage your 30-day trials?

Bruce Achterberg · 01-03-2008, 01:05 AM

Hey guys,

Short version:

I'm yet to post the 30 day trials I'm doing for January 2008, but suffice to say that all 4 of them revolve around improving my health/physical body.

What I'm interested in, however, is what you (ie. Steve + the other people participating in the 30 day trials) use to manage your trials. Ie. What documents do you use, if any?

Long version:

To be a bit more specific, do you just use a paper calendar and cross it off as you go? Do you use certain software? Do you just wing it and remember what day you started on and what day you will finish? Do you keep any logs, and if so, what type of data do you record and what format do you use?

If you'd like to, I'd really appreciate it if you could share some specific details (ie. maybe posting a sample of whatever it is you use). It's obvious that different trials will have different requirements (eg. Steve's raw foodist trial must require a lot of data logging/maintenance when you compare it to, say, giving up drinking coffee), but I think a lot of the ideas from specific implementations of whatever system you use will be universally applicable.

I've personally tried creating little calendars for trials I've done in the past, but I largely found I didn't need them. I'm able to retain my commitment just fine if I make sure I covered any important things I need to factor in before I start the trial.

I also use to rate my performance on a scale of 1-10, but then I realised that with 30 day trials, either you met your requirement for a day, or you didn't, so a rating isn't required.

That said, I do see that there could be certain benefits to using logs, possibly recording info, etc (benefits such as accountability, useful records that you can use later, etc), and so long as it doesn't take excessive amounts of time to maintain, I'm open to trying out some ideas and I'm particularly interested in hearing what other people do (especially Steve, since Steve is crazy efficient and tends to have really good systems).

I could have sworn Steve said something about using a calendar and crossing days off in his blog, but I think I might have confused it with some other ideas/articles (specifically, this post and this article). I've searched through the other blog posts Steve made on the topic of 30 day trials (including the comments), but I didn't find anything other then someone mentioning that they use a calendar (an idea I've already tried myself).

Thanks to all who share their ideas! I'll be sure to share any I manage to come up with.

01-03-2008, 01:05 AM	#1 (permalink)
Bruce Achterberg Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: New South Wales, Australia (GMT+10) Posts: 970	What do you use to manage your 30-day trials? Hey guys, Short version: I'm yet to post the 30 day trials I'm doing for January 2008, but suffice to say that all 4 of them revolve around improving my health/physical body. What I'm interested in, however, is what you (ie. Steve + the other people participating in the 30 day trials) use to manage your trials. Ie. What documents do you use, if any? Long version: To be a bit more specific, do you just use a paper calendar and cross it off as you go? Do you use certain software? Do you just wing it and remember what day you started on and what day you will finish? Do you keep any logs, and if so, what type of data do you record and what format do you use? If you'd like to, I'd really appreciate it if you could share some specific details (ie. maybe posting a sample of whatever it is you use). It's obvious that different trials will have different requirements (eg. Steve's raw foodist trial must require a lot of data logging/maintenance when you compare it to, say, giving up drinking coffee), but I think a lot of the ideas from specific implementations of whatever system you use will be universally applicable. I've personally tried creating little calendars for trials I've done in the past, but I largely found I didn't need them. I'm able to retain my commitment just fine if I make sure I covered any important things I need to factor in before I start the trial. I also use to rate my performance on a scale of 1-10, but then I realised that with 30 day trials, either you met your requirement for a day, or you didn't, so a rating isn't required. That said, I do see that there could be certain benefits to using logs, possibly recording info, etc (benefits such as accountability, useful records that you can use later, etc), and so long as it doesn't take excessive amounts of time to maintain, I'm open to trying out some ideas and I'm particularly interested in hearing what other people do (especially Steve, since Steve is crazy efficient and tends to have really good systems). I could have sworn Steve said something about using a calendar and crossing days off in his blog, but I think I might have confused it with some other ideas/articles (specifically, this post and this article). I've searched through the other blog posts Steve made on the topic of 30 day trials (including the comments), but I didn't find anything other then someone mentioning that they use a calendar (an idea I've already tried myself). Thanks to all who share their ideas! I'll be sure to share any I manage to come up with.