My "30 Days to Successs Journal" - Day 1

[wilson]

Hi all,

I stumbled across Steve's site when I was browsing another forum several days ago.

I believed that I had visited Steve's site before but did not pay attention until this time. This site is really an eye-opener and so many articles here resonate with my own goals and targets (stuck in a rut for a long time). And one thing I really like is that Steve shares a lot of his own experience including success and failure which inspires me a lot!

It is nice to be here to support each other for growth!

I believe Action is the most important element for success. And because of Inaction, I haven't achieved anything really impressive so far. So I decided to try out the "30 Days to Success" which is also inspired by Steve.

It's an ambitious one. I mix several elements into one trial and one of the habit I want to try would be the facilitator for other habits. Here is my plan:

1. Wake up every day at 5:00am.
2. Eat healthy food like Apple, low fat cheese, banana as breakfast. - 15 mins.
3. Plan for that day and come up with a to-do list. - 15-30 mins.
4. Work on my part-time online business. - 60 mins.
5. Train my memory. - 60 mins.
5. Go for jogging. - 30 mins.

I think that once I can wake up at 5:00am, then I will have time to do the other trials and I did all for today! It's a good start!

However, one big drawback is that once I could not get up at 5:00am, then other trials will probably fail. Anyway, I just do it and let's see how it goes.

I will post my updates here to share with you all. Cheers.

Wilson

[Zulu]

Looking forward to reading this.

I tried something similar once. Here's something I learned (which many may disagree with): the only way to do something is if you like it doing. I remember forcing myself to speed read every day, but it just irritated me too much to keep going.

Let us know how you "feel" throughout the experiment, how motivated you're feeling, etc.

[toasterwater]

Thats great news to hear that you are trying to improve your life by taking action. I too, was inspired by steve's site, and because of that inspiration, i have already undergone some changes. The following is a list of changes that i followed through with since discovering steves site.

1. I am a vegetarian- This is really incredible for me because i have always been an avid meat eater. I originally tried it out (using the 30 day method) with hopes of increasing my energy levels. After i started it, I read more, and found steves link to factory farming. This truly opened my eyes, and i decided to do it for the animals.

2. I am a reader- This is also incredible for me in that i hadnt read a book by my own free will for about 6 years. Now, i have always been a big online reader, but this whole book thing has taken my reading and knowledge accumulation to new heights.

3. I am more open minded- I have always been a pretty closed minded person. I am by nature, very stubborn, and skeptical of almost everything. After reading from steve's site, this has changed. Now i am willing to investigate new ideas before passing them off as bogus. (if you need more proof of this, check out some of my other posts on experiments that im doing with online business, and the stock market)

4. I'm an early riser- This one I cant completely accredit to steve. My old roommate (he moved out about a week ago) used to set alarms to start going off at 4am. I decided that since i could not sleep throught them, that i would have to adjust to that schedule and start waking up at 4am. After reading on steve's site, I've been inspired to not only keep this schedule, but to also utilize my time to the best of my ability.

5. I plan my days- Something new that ive been working on for over a month now is keeping a calendar, up to date with all of my appointments, and reminders, and such- and planning my days in advance. This is my way of setting little goals for each day.

Im sure that there are other changes that i can accredit to Steve's site, but ill leave it at that for now. As for youre new schedule, i have some advice that should help you optimize your goals.

I would suggest that you change the order of events in the morning to this:

Morning
- Wake up every day at 5:00am.
- Go jogging.
- Eat healthy food
- Train my memory
- Work on my part-time online business. - 60 mins.

Evening
- Plan for that day and come up with a to-do list

Here is the reasoning behind these suggested changes

1. The most difficult part about this schedule is the early morning part. It is difficult to wake up in the morning, and even more difficult to work at a focused, and efficient rate due to morning tiredness. If you exercise first thing, that will wake you up, and give you a boost of energy to help you through the morning

2. Any one who has experience with exercise can tell you that its best to eat after you run. This is for obvious reasons.

3. After you have exercised, and eaten a healthy breakfast (fruits-apples being my personal favorite- are great for energy) you should be in a good state to start your memory work.

4. I find that at the end of a day, I can reflect on my accomplishments (or lack thereof) and it is easy to make a plan for the next day. Whenever i try planning my day in the morning, i either get sidetracked, or cannot develop a sound enough plan. This may just be me, but its something you may want to try. So instead of planning your day in the morning, try it the night before.

Okay, I just realized that i have written way too much for an online forum, but I hope this advice is helpful, and I wish you good luck with your 30 day trial and lifestyle changes. If you have any difficulties, just post, and I (along with others from this site) will be happy to help you out.

[child]

I agree with toasterwater here, with a little twist:

Originally Posted by toasterwater

I would suggest that you change the order of events in the morning to this:

Morning
- Wake up every day at 5:00am.
- Go jogging.
- Eat healthy food
- Train my memory
- Work on my part-time online business. - 60 mins.

Evening
- Plan for that day and come up with a to-do list

I think you should do what is more important first , that is your online business here or it seems.

I dont know your usual wake up time but if you do it step by step, it would be easier (for example getting up early just a half an hour for a week then progress)

[Trustme]

Problem is if you pack everything into "one" challenge than it will be tough to keep it up if you fail one item. I have completed lots of these challenges and made important changes to my life (I got up at 4:25 am today by the way) but I still fail around 80% of my challenges when I start them for the first time.

[wilson]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the advice. I have just completed my Day 2 Trial successfully. Tomorrow( Monday ) will be a challenge for me as it is a work day and I used to sleep not very well on Sunday night.

Let us know how you "feel" throughout the experiment, how motivated you're feeling, etc.

To be honest, I felt quite drowsy in the morning. On Day 1, since I had got only 5.5 hours sleep, it was a struggle to work and concentrate in the morning. I even had to take a power nap for 10 minutes in the afternoon to refresh myself. However my drive to sleep at night was very strong, I slept at 10:00pm and felt asleep almost immediately. I used to take much more time to do.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake which was to eat congee last night that I got to wake up to go to toilet at 2:00am! Then I didn't sleep quite well. So I had 4 hours quality sleep + 3 hours poor sleep. I felt a little less drowsy today( Day 2 ) than Day 1 and did not feel tired for my body.

I also feel good because I can brag to my wife telling her that I have achieved a lot before she wakes up.

I would suggest that you change the order of events in the morning to this:

Morning
- Wake up every day at 5:00am.
- Go jogging.
- Eat healthy food
- Train my memory
- Work on my part-time online business. - 60 mins.

Evening
- Plan for that day and come up with a to-do list

Thanks for the suggestion toasterwater. Actually I have my reasons for my routine :

1. Wake up every day at 5:00am.
2. Eat healthy food like Apple, low fat cheese, banana as breakfast. - 15 mins.
3. Plan for that day and come up with a to-do list. - 15-30 mins.
4. Work on my part-time online business. - 60 mins.
5. Train my memory. - 60 mins.
5. Go for jogging. - 30 mins.

I can't concentrate if I am hungry so I have got to eat something first thing in the morning. And I had an experience for passing out without eating breakfast before going to work, I have to make sure I have some fuel first.

I delay the jogging part because I want to run after the sunrise. I think it is much better for health as we need sunlight and the sunlight in the early morning is mild enough for us.

But I do realize that exercise can boost up my energy level so I may do some stretching exercise first thing in the morning. Also, I drink 2 glasses of water when I wake up which also boosts my energy a bit.

I plan in the morning simply because the system I follow says so. I might change it in the future in another trial.

It's good to get all the advice and encouragement from you all. I will keep it up and keep you posted.

Cheers,
Wilson

[Hsiang-Lin]

Great idea and effort wilson. I tried this thing with my friends as well and it somehow magically motivated me to take action after a long period of slump. I'm kinda back in a slump now, but I'm doing something similar to you in the Health and Fitness section with the Daily Workout Thread.

Keep it up!

[scoby]

I'm interested in memory training.

Can you tell me what methods you are using? Do you have a specific memory goal (work or study related) or is it for general improvement?

I'll be following your progress with interest, Best of Luck.

[wilson]

I'm interested in memory training.

Can you tell me what methods you are using? Do you have a specific memory goal (work or study related) or is it for general improvement?

I'll be following your progress with interest, Best of Luck.

I bought an email course for training memory which is called GMS. I am receiving the course in pdf 3 times a week.

My specific goal is to make my learning much more faster for my part time business. It requires vairety of skills and the technology related ( internet ) changes all the time.

Also, I believe that a good memory can help me to acquire more knowledge and increase my apetite to learn more if I can memorize more.

Ok, I have completed my Day 3 trial successfully. I felt really drowsy for the whole day. I took 3 seperate power naps at lunch break and could not cancel out the drowsiness. Maybe because I still did not sleep quite well last night. It may be probably due to the pressure to work on the other day.

I will also add one element to my challenge. That is the rating for each item. I will rate for each item, say memory training, from 1-10. As I believe quality is even more important than whether you do it or not. So I need to rate myself consiously that I not only do the tasks but also do it well to the best I can.

Thanks all for your support.

Will Keep you all posted.

Cheers,
Wilson

[wilson]

Done for Day 4 trial successfully.

Adding the quality rating seems getting me more concentrated. I got 6-7 out of 10 for every task.

But I still feel drowsy and even tired for my body. I got 7 hours sleep from 10:00pm to 5:00am already. One thing I do notice is that I was somehow awake before 5:00am. But I don't know when. I forced myself to sleep until 5:00am.

Does anyone has similar experience ? I am thinking that I sleep too much. I will try to get up as I am awake tomorrow to see what happens.

Wilson

[cultivategreatness]

I wake up at 5:05.... cuz i like Palindromes! :-)

[wilson]

I wake up at 5:05.... cuz i like Palindromes! :-)

Interesting. You've taught me a new vocab : Palindromes.

I finished Day 5 challenge. I felt very legathric this morning. I was awake before 5:00am but could not really get up until the clock rang since I just could not open my eyes - I was awake but I felt very tired.

The quality of finishing the other tasks are also not very good. Listening to some motivational songs like "Eye of the tiger" did help a bit.

I will try to sleep a bit later to see if it helps to facilitate a better and deeper sleep.

[Trustme]

Originally Posted by wilson

Done for Day 4 trial successfully.

One thing I do notice is that I was somehow awake before 5:00am. But I don't know when. I forced myself to sleep until 5:00am.

Does anyone has similar experience ? I am thinking that I sleep too much. I will try to get up as I am awake tomorrow to see what happens.

Wilson

I think you already answerd your own question. You sleep in cycles. Light sleep is followed by deep sleep. You may awake for some moments after each cycle and fall asleep immediately afterwards multiple times a night. If you get up in the middle of a cycle (because your alarm went off) you feel drowsy half the day no matter how much total sleep you got. So it might be better to get up when you naturally awake - in this case before 5 am or sleep for another 90 minutes (the average span of a sleep cycle).

Volkmar

[wilson]

Day 6 and Day 7 are completed !

I still feel drowsy in the morning. However, I managed to sleep 30 minutes later last night and were not awake during midnight like last few days.

I am looking forward to next week's performance.

Wilson

[wilson]

I just finished Day 8.

I still felt a bit tired and drowsy in the morning but it's much better when it's compared to Day 1.

One little thing that I did today seems to be helping me more focused on executing my new habits : Put the time frame for doing the task.

For example, I put 6:00-7:00 for my part-time online business. Then I just sticked to it and was really focused on doing this task that I would not think about other tasks or tried to do other things withint this time frame.

Let's share you thoughts about this "little thing".

Wilson

[wilson]

I did complete all of the tasks but in low quality.

1. Wake up every day at 5:00am.( <= back to bed for 2 hours at 5:30am )
2. Eat healthy food like Apple, low fat cheese, banana as breakfast. - 15 mins.
3. Plan for that day and come up with a to-do list. - 15-30 mins.( Started at 5:00pm, yes in the afternoon )
4. Work on my part-time online business. - 60 mins.
5. Train my memory. - 60 mins.
6. Go for jogging. - 30 mins. ( only for walking )

Maybe due to posture, I got a neck pain in the morning that I feel painful when I turned my head. Absolutely no mood to do anything but rest and web browsing. Fortunately, today is Sunday so I could rest for several without doing anythings and worked on my list again.

I would not say I fail for today but the quality was not good. Hope that the Voltaren will work and I will get better tomorrow.

[wilson]

All are partially done.

No jogging for 4 days due to the neck pain. But I am recovering and should be able to do it tomorrow.

Hopefully, I will be back on track tomorrow as well.

Wilson