October Challenge - Feedback

[The David]

Well, October was all over the place.

1. No coffee until October 27.

-I cancelled this one early. Coffee has helped me a lot, and this was not the time to quit. I did, however, manage to go long periods of time without it.

2. Finish the PhotoReading course.

-This wasn't the right time to focus on it.

3. Ace all of my midterm exams. They should be fairly easy.

-I am pretty much in shock that I even wrote this.

4. Read five books on my free time. At least one should be academic in nature (but not for a class), and another should be an unfamiliar subject.

-Well, I have been reading off and on.

5. Join a new club or organization, here on campus or just somewhere in Chattanooga.

-Fail. But I did become more active in the club I'm in.

6. Stop being a perfectionist. I'll try to make this compatible with goal #3.

-Success! Now that I am making horrible grades and my life has completely collapsed around me, I'm left with the me I was previously terrified to admit that I am. And I'm learning to like that me. I want to do better, but not for the same reasons that I started out with.

7. Exercise every day. I failed this one last month, yet it is of the utmost importance.

-I'm doing a little better. I don't have the energy to do well, but I'm becoming slightly more dilligent. I'm lifting twice a week, albeit mostly with my lower body, so I might be a little disproportionate by the end of the semester.

8. Add structure to at least four hours of my free time every day. I tried Neil Fiore's 'Unschedule' and it didn't really work, so I tried scheduling in work along with leisure. Well, I quickly found out that I can't handle that much structure when I am by myself, so for now I'm just doing four hours a day.

-I made a schedule. I haven't tried it yet. When my medication kicks in, I'll start this one.

9. I am going to try a semi-pesco-vegan diet (if one can call that 'vegan' at all). I'm not going to read labels or anything, and I'll still take vitamins with gelatin, but other than that I'm going for mainly plant foods with some fish. (Cancelled)

-I've cut back on cheese, I don't drink milk, and I'm avoiding the school crapeteria. Eggs might not be so bad.

10. Read a banned book. My local library is celebrating Banned Book Week, and I want the most scandalous one I can find.

-I looked through one.

11. Be treated for obsessive-compulsive disorder as soon as possible.

-I am focusing on depression, as the obsession is more of a by-product. I just got a prescription for Lexapro.

Whichever of you was most successful this month, you start the thread for November. I will be leaving the public eye.

[Kura Ookami]

I've achieved none of my original four goals, but that doesn't matter. It's been a good learning experience for me. I've been a complete success in discovering one way that goal setting doesn't work for me. I have some theories about why. I think i had too many goals at once for one thing and i wasn't enthusiastic about them either. They were useful goals, but ones that i didn't feel compelled to achieve. I've got a singular goal for November that makes me feel excited and I can't wait to begin it.

[NotesMaeve]

1) I will eat breakfast and take my vitamins every morning.

Okay. I did it. It's easy and natural now. YAY!

2) I will drink no more than two sodas per day.

I really stayed pretty close. Had about 4 days I didn't make it.

3) I'll tell the fiance how much I love him every day. I forget to tell him how great he is.

Done-zo.

[Gambler]

1. The most important thing. Finish my final exam, and get the "computer engineer" degree. Learn at least 20 hours for the final exam, no matter what!

He! This was my primary goal and I DID it! I finished my college finally.
I am a computer engineer now.

2. Don't eat sugar, except 2 times a day in a coffee. Eat only musli biscuit.
Next month I will go back to eat candies, this is just a test.

Failed. I was so nervous about my first goal, that....

3. Sleep for 8 hours and 45 minutes every night. Mostly! Try not to sleep afternoon. Get up at 10:40, and gradually move it to 10:00 until the end of the month.

Failed due to my first goal!

4. Copy all my cd-s on DVD-s. I got probably 100-150 cds. This is going to be boooring!

DONE!

5. Send a catalog to my customers and arrange my front page with special offers. Do it decently.

DONE!

6. Play guitar at least 4 hours daly. One hour of improvisation, at least. One hour of practicing my tunes for the site(or recording it with a camera), at least. Two hours preparing tunes for the gigs, at least. Only exceptions can be made due to my final exam.
In that case, I will make it up until the end of the month.

Failed after the 15-day, due to my first goal!

7. Exercise two days a week for 25 minutes.

NOT failed due to my first goal!

8. Do not make big brakes during a work. Only exceptions are girls. And if I have to help my grandma. Or something big. Fun, and surfing the internet couldn't be the excuse.

Pretty much done!

9. Write down transcriptions for my site.

DONE!

10. Do not waste money. Don't buy any magazine except "Svet Kompjutera" and "Yellow Cab". Try to keep it organized.

DONE!

11. Try to prepare food my self, instead of buying it. Especially the fish and soya. I say "try" because I am lazy about this stuff, although I LOVE to eat.

12. Find THE girlfriend!

Not done!

[javamannen2]

Another month went by.
Some progress was made.
Close, but no cigar.
November will bring success.

[Rose of Cairo]

eat no sugar: failed

I'm really addicted

[The David]

Not to mention that it's in everything.

Your refrigerator...your pantry...your bed.

[Addict]

1) My primary goal is to lose 10 lbs of fat this month or in other words, get below 10% body fat.

Completely failed.

2) Work every major muscle group every week. This will require going to the gym 3-4 times a week.
Failed.

3) Run at least 40 minutes a week.
Didn't do it every week, but I often got close. Maybe some better scheduling would solve this.

4) Eat reasonable most days. Spike calories once a week.
I guess this worked.

5) Drink absolutely no alcohol except for one planned occasion.
A few things came up and I drank about 4 times. I went two weeks without alcohol at first and that worked well.

6) Work on a project for at least 15 minutes a day. Write down how much you worked on it.
Completely failed. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I couldn't even do this.

I pretty much ignored my blog for the whole month. My other project hasn't gotten that much attention. And I'm not exercising as much as I want either. This is depressing...

Maybe I should focus on one thing at time. Who knows.

[The David]

That's the realization I've come to as well.

Incidentally, we need a November Feedback thread.