It's my turn - 30 day challenge (you are welcome to join)

[Vasilisa]

I need to start 30 day challenge and let you, guys, know about it, because it'll hopefully keep me going.
Starting on Monday 08.10 I will:
1. stay away from any kind of sugar (raw or processed), except natural fruits (also very limited quantity 2-3 a day max).
2. no salt after 3 p.m. (I tend to retain water if I eat too much salt)
3. go to bed by 11 p.m. (my usual time 1-2 a.m.)
4. no forums except updates on this one.
5. limit watching DVDs to one movie per week
6. excercising every day for 40 min.
7. devote 2-3 hours daily to my professional development
8. every day meditation, praying - 30 minutes at least.

[Daffy Duck]

Cool. That's a lot to take on at once for new habits.

"devote 2-3 hours daily to my professional development" -- How do you plan on doing this? Reading books? Practicing techniques?

[Vasilisa]

Well, I tried to do one thing at a time - I succeded at that, but now I want a major change, something to make me feel different.
Besides, all those bad habits are interconnected; for example, I go to bed late, because I'm watching movies, reading forums and eating sweets or whatever I have in my fridge.
I don't have much time during a day, so I'm going to do it in the evenings - just aquiring new skills, reading career-oriented books, getting ready for tests, talking to people who definitely can give me a direction and etc.

[UldisU]

Some notes from my experience:
1) I need more precise definition for such tasks as exercising and professional development, otherwise I cannot decide if I pass criteria.
2) How do you plan to deal with possible breaches (30 days is long time). Start all over again, count that day out ? E.g. if you accidentally watch 2 dvd's one week ?

I wish you good luck, persistence and courage !

[spirit4711]

I agree with UldisU. It supports me to declare results, not activities. For exercise e.g.: I run 10 km in 30 minutes after this month.

For professional development: in what area? What results?

Have fun with the challenge!

[Vasilisa]

O.K. the first day result.
1. no sugar - done!
2.no salt - done
3. Yes, I went to bed at 11, but I was tossing and turning until probably 2 a.m. But, anyway, - done.
4. No forums for the whole day!!
5.No DVD s or Tv yesterday!
6. Did that ! - 30 minutes of dancing workout and 10 minutes of swimminig.
7. Oops!! didn't have enough time for devoting 2 hours. Spent about 40 minutes getting ready for my test.
8.did that.


UdisU and spirit4711, my purpose for this trial is changing my routine in general, teaching myself to be more active, to work on will-power.
If I have one breach in a day ,say, N1, 2, 3, 4, I'll just wave it. If I have more than one breaches I'll count that day out.
If I don't have time to exercise one day I will split those 40 minutes between 2 next days; if I watch more than one movie, I won't watch a movie the next week.
My professional area is education and I'm working on getting to the point when I can teach in the University, plus I'm working on my own web-business.
I know, it's a lot to ask of oneself, but I'll do it with small steps, while I'm taking care of my family, and my child is getting more and more independent.

[Vasilisa]

I'm a little late with updates, was too busy. It appeared to be not that easy to find 2-3 hours for career developing, 1 hour for gym and go to bed 2 hours earlier than usual. I seem to be constatntly on the run. But it's actually fun!

Every day I seem to break one thing from my list.
Like on Tuesday I HAD to agree to go to Indian restaurant for dinner, so I had some salt after 3 p.m.
On Wednesday I went to bed at 11-30, just couldn't make it earlier.
And yesterday, On Thursday, I ate a little bit of sugar (honey in my tea).
Today everything is still going smooth, so we'll see. May be by the end of the month I'll be able to follow my own rules religiously.
But so far, I'm happy with my results. Though I wish I could do better.

[Vasilisa]

Hooray! On Friday I did it!
All was done and I went to bed at 11 p.m. And no sugar or salt after 3 p.m.
On Saturday I exercised only for 30 minutes, was too busy and devoted to my work about 1 hour.

[Ekb]

Hey good to here you are going well! keep it up and tell all!

[Vasilisa]

Thank you so much, Ekb for encouraging me!
Now my update.
O.K. On Sunday I completely blew it. I went to bed too late, didn't exercise and didn't have almost any time for work (only about 30 mninutes), also had no prayer.
On MOnday I was pretty mad with myself, so
I got it!!
1. Ate no sugar
2. no salt
3. went to bed around 10-30 and was alseep around 11.
4. no forums
5. NO DVD
6. dance workout for 20 minutes, some exercises for abs and hips - 20 minutes
7. read a book I need for my Internet business (If everything goes well with it, I'll let you know)
8. Meditated for 30 minutes (may be more, I drifted right into sleep after that).

On Tuesday I did great too. The only thing - I ate my lunch late, around 3 p.m. So, my last salt intake was around 3-20 ish.
For my career - I had an interview, so all preparation to it and the interview itself I counted as working on my career. So I spent about 1 extra hour getting ready for a teast after that.

Today, on Wednesday , (my 10 day) I already had my 40 minute workout (all swimming),2 hour 10 minutes of reading, everything goes great so far.
I'll keep you updated.