Rebooting my life

[TempusFugitTempusFugit]

Almost 3 years ago I started a thread for documenting how I progress in developing as a human being.

Only a few days later a lot of things happened, which made sheer survival (metaphorically speaking) first priority, hence trying to get by on a day-to-day basis.

I believe I am ready now to move on.

I will take the liberty of repeating my self from my first thread

I have for some years been reading articles and books about personal development. All these inputs have indeed been inspirational but without some clear distinct personal goals, the time spent reading and thinking has been close to worthless. This is obviously my own interpretation and my conclusion, and others might conclude differently. Nevertheless, I must pursue the road I find best for me.

So instead of reading a lot of information, which is not applicable to me right now, I will instead identify which lines of actions and habits I need to change, in order to allow my self being the person I envision my self be. Instead, I will, based on the analysis, search for specific advices on this board and among other sites, or simply try to do what my analytic brain and/or intuition bids me to follow to solve these issues. This appears to be a much more efficient utilisation of the most precious resource of all, namely time.

One of the best and perhaps most simple advices I have encountered, is the ability of changing or introducing a habit in 21 days, or as stated on this site, 30 days. By using this strategy and by splitting habits (problems?) into small manageable lumps, I foresee better chances for personal success than trying to change everything all in one step. Some will succeed in “all at once” approach, but I am unfortunately not one of these persons.

Assuming change of a habit or introduction of a new habit once a month, will accumulate 12 good habits in just one year, and 60 habits in 5 years. This is a noteworthy accomplishment! I am aware, that some of the personal issues I plan to change may very well be more time consuming than just one month, and others can probably be implemented without any (relatively speaking) effort.

I have made a spreadsheet where I note whether each day is a success (1) or failure (0). Notice, how a full month of successes will give a maximum value – an approach, which I think will ensure positive mental feedback. Once or twice a week, I will give an update in this thread. My first thought, was to update every day, but the accumulated time consumption on this approach, suggest a more efficient approach by reducing the updates. I also find, that this approach may allow a better understanding of the distractions encountered, when looking on the process in retrospective view once or twice a week.

I have identified 3 habits which will have the biggest impact on my life right now

Habit 1: Early riser (October)
Habit 2: Reduce Internet (November)
Habit 3: Declutter my physical space (December)

I will start on habit 1. The goal is to be up 6:00 at weekdays and 8:00 in weekend days.

To introduce this transition in a gentle way October will be scheduled as follows

Week 39: Weekdays < 08:00 and Weekend days < 09:00
Week 40: Weekdays < 07:30 and Weekend days < 08:45
Week 41: Weekdays < 07:00 and Weekend days < 08:30
Week 42: Weekdays < 06:30 and Weekend days < 08:15
Week 43: Weekdays < 06:00 and Weekend days < 08:00

I will also try to monitor the time consumed in front of the Internet from time to time to be ready for making some clear measureable goals for habit 2.

Best regards

[SHARONBALL1]

I have identified 3 habits which will have the biggest impact on my life right now

Habit 1: Early riser (October)
Habit 2: Reduce Internet (November)
Habit 3: Declutter my physical space (December)

I'm not sure I understand why being an early riser will have a big impact on your life unless you go to bed fairly early also or waste your evening hours. Bit I think your plans for how you are going to go about your self imporovement project is right on. I really don't feel all your reading on the subject was wasted. You filed the information away in your brain because you weren't ready to use it yet but it was not really wasted. It is there ready to help you as you set your current goals and work on your self improvement plan.

[TempusFugitTempusFugit]

Date Aim Reality Points

27/09 08:00 08:00 1
28/09 08:00 07:00 1
29/09 08:00 07:00 1
30/09 08:00 09:00 0
01/10 08:00 06:30 1

I was sick 30th of September which explains the slip.

Otherwise, I have deleted my profile on a chat-side that I was spending too much time on. I can already see that my time spend on Internet per day is reduced significantly (perhaps ½ hour per day)

Next update expected to be Sunday or Monday

SharonBall1 thank you for your input, it is much appreciated.

There is nothing “magical” about being an early riser as such. However, mentally I feel much more efficient when I get up early and start the day at work before my colleagues. If I get up late I feel I have wasted the day, so why bother. I am sure other people do not feel the same, but I cannot help myself feeling otherwise. Hence, the wish for being an early riser (again!)

I do agree that the knowledge you have achieved by reading will be present somewhere in you subconscious. But if you do not apply this knowledge at any point in your life, then it does not add any value to your life. I have been reading some PD books in my life without really applying the techniques.

[goldberg]

You can set up your windows computer to only allow you to logon at certain times of the day. This way you can't cheat and will end up spending less time on the internet. It does require some fiddling about though. You need to create another user account which is a standard user, then set up parental controls on that, and you can specify what hours of the day you can login via parental controls. Once you have done this write down the admin password and give it to someone or leave it somewhere such that you can't easily login to the computer.

Alternatively identify the websites that you spend most wasted time on, then on your router put these websites on the site block list (only some routers have this functionality) and again give the password to someone or put it somewhere you can't get at it easily.

For hiding the password from yourself you could also rip up the password into many tiny pieces such that it will take you at least 15 minutes to recover it, or you could keep it at work.

[TempusFugitTempusFugit]

The sickness has continued. However, I still had to go to work due to some deadlines impossible to postpone or delegate to others. Hence, I did not recover as I should but went to work when I was feeling sufficient OK to work. This meant that the end of week 39 and all week 40 has really just been a struggle to go to work and get home as soon as possible and back into bed.

I think I am starting to get better now, so week 41 I hope to back in business!

Week 39

Date Aim Reality Points
27 08:00 08:00 1
28 08:00 07:00 1
29 08:00 07:00 1
30 08:00 09:00 0
01 08:00 06:30 1
02 09:00 10:50 0
03 09:00 09:00 1
Total W 39 5
Max possible 7


Goldberg, thank you for your suggestions. I will keep them in mind when starting on habit 2!

[TempusFugitTempusFugit]

Week 40 was as previously mentioned not very fulfilling in terms of reaching my goals. I was sick most of the week and the remaining days I was extremely tired. I easily slept 10 hours a day.

Date Aim Reality Point

04 07:30 13:00 0
05 07:30 10:00 0
06 07:30 08:00 0
07 07:30 07:45 0
08 07:30 08:00 0
09 08:45 10:00 0
10 08:45 09:00 0
Total W 40 0
Max possible 7

Actually I came to think of how this extreme tiredness has been following me all my life. People who have known me since my teenage years comment that I have always been tired.

When thinking about it, part of my Internet use is actually also a by-product of my tiredness (albeit not all of it). When I am tired I tend to turn on a web-browser and surf without any purpose except hoping that I will find energy to work on my next item on my to-do list.

Thus, I am considering if I should concentrate the next few months on becoming an early riser AND identify why I am so tired and eliminate these obstacles if possible.

Simple things to address later on (future habits?) will be
* Reduce Coffey intake
* Well timed meals avoiding blood sugar drop
* More fresh air
* Increase cardio training

Next update expected Monday 18th of October

I wish you all a nice and prosperous week

[TempusFugitTempusFugit]

Habit 1

Date Aim Reality Point

11 07:00 06:00 1
12 07:00 07:00 1
13 07:00 07:00 1
14 07:00 07:00 1
15 07:00 07:00 1
16 08:30 10:00 0
17 08:30 09:00 0
Total points 5
Max 7

OK week from Mon- to Friday regarding habit 1.

I am still suffering from the extreme tiredness so this explains the weekend days.

I have started bringing extra meals for work, which seems to be working on my blood sugar level. I am still tired, but it is more manageable now.

When starting on habit 1, my goal was 6:00. However, I am not sure I want to pursue 6:00 right now.

1. My gut feeling when getting out of bed at 7:00 tells me it is OK. I do not feel the day has disappeared when getting up at 7:00.

2. Getting up 7:00 means I have to go to bed between 22 and 23, which fits well with my social life

3. Finally, I think I could benefit significantly more by being more efficient in the morning. That is, I can probably cut ½ an hour of my mornings, just by cutting e.g. Internet surfing from the morning

Hence, I will continue monitoring habit 1, but the goal the will be

Weekdays < 07:00
Weekend days < 08:30

If this runs well this week, I will start on working on habit 2 from next week.

Next update expected Monday 25th of October