Day 12 - Balance

Another Friday complete, thankful for the weekend. Work has been crazy, and is not helping me on my goals plan there. Sometimes, I can make a nice tidy to do list, put on some focus, and produce super large amounts of work in a single day. Then there are weeks like lately, by the time I have just written my to do list for the day, 3 urgent emails have hit my inbox, and I have to jump on them first, and this repeats all day long. I manage to stay afloat, but never progress forward. I leave work feeling like I accomplished nothing because my to do list sits untouched, even though I have been busy and working like crazy all day.

I could stay late, and probably make some additional progress, but my goals this month require me to leave work on time, so I am focusing on my primary challenge components first. Next month I might have to knock my wake up time back another 30 minutes or so, so I can meditate and still get to work early, AND get home on time still. I work best early and the first half of the day, so its better if I adjust my schedule that direction.

Day 12 results
Wake 5 am - Done
Meditate - Done (25 mins)
Work Goals - Not done (frustrated)
Daily Blog Entry - Done
Yoga - Done (40 minutes)
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

So at this point, I am doing pretty good with almost everything except the following:
-Meditation consistency
-Making sure I don't have a 2-3 minute delay when the alarm goes off
-Finding a way to feel successful and less stressed or distracted at work

I will work on those above items over the weekend, I should have time to lay out some plans. Work is my main concern, I am struggling with distractions again as my stress levels are increasing. I definitely have a stress component that can drive me to lose focus.

Not bad, I am definitely happy with my progress and accomplishments so far. I am almost halfway through, and feeling very good. Energy about the challenge is still high, and any of my struggles seem minor and I have strong motivation to tackle them. So while this challenge is very busy and requires a lot of work, I do not think I overdid it at all. I am very happy that I found a balance to push myself hard, but not so much that I become too fatigued or frustrated.

Day 11 - Balance

Better day, not a ton to update.

Day 11 results
Wake 5 am - Done (small delay, 4 minutes)
Meditate - Done (25 mins)
Work Goals - Done (but could have been better)
Daily Blog Entry - Done
Yoga - Done (25 minutes)
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

Need to focus on my work productivity. The stress from the individuals around me is likely adding to my lack of focus, and its creating issues. I am finding my frustration and anger increasing, which is something I rarely have at work anymore. Need to stay focused and aware, and separate myself from any stress that pops up.

Did a second meditation yesterday, seemed to be something I needed. Had good focus, and worked on some writing as well.

Day 10 - Balance

One third complete. Tired. The need to sleep in is trying to overtake me in the mornings. I am just going to make sure I get to bed a bit earlier, and do my best to get a good nights sleep. Overall I am a bit fatigued, likely a combination effect due to the time of the month, busy at work, and the slight sleep changes. Just have to stay focused, remember to keep plugging through the hard points.

Day 10 results
Wake 5 am - Done (although had long delay between alarm and exit, about 7 minutes)
Meditate - Done (20 mins)
Work Goals - Done
Daily Blog Entry - Done
Yoga - Done (25 minutes, half pilates/half yoga)
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

After debate as to whether I need to refine my meditation techniques now or after the challenge, I have decided it has to happen now. I am not finding progress at this point, if anything, I am struggling more to focus during my sessions. Spent time last night, and again this afternoon looking at some meditation techniques and tips. I downloaded some music, and I am going to try to mix it up a bit. Part of this is to improve my effectiveness/progress, but another aspect is after 10 days, I am going to need to keep my motivation high with some variety as best I can. Maybe in the future I will find a technique I like best and stick with it, but for now, I really probably need to experiment more and keep interest high. It will also help me drag bum out of bed with no delay each morning.

My husband is being very supportive of my challenge; positive comments, helping out, and accommodating my busy schedule. Need to remember to toss him a heartfelt thank you.

I am realizing a few of my long term goals are still fuzzy, along with the smaller goals I need to do in order to achieve them. I will try and work on that over the next few days during my home 'work' time. Still too scattered and undefined to make real headway on my future career and other goals, it needs some serious refinement, which I guess is just part of the process. I find that with each of these challenges, I am learning what works and does not for me.....and for me, I need super serious detail. I am looking around at some down-loadable programs. Topics like mind mapping, goal planning, and time management. Nothing strikes me yet, but some have created new ideas while I have looked at them.

"deep breath", yup, I am tired. Feeling drained just typing this. I am debating on meditating for a little while this evening or relaxing with a book. Maybe I will just do both, and be done with it. I refuse to feel disappointed in myself anymore, and I think that is what has brought me to the point I am at now.

Day 9 - Balance

Tired today, was not feeling very good, and had the smallest thread in my mind that considered calling in sick to work. It would not have been 100% because I was sick, I could have made it through the day, it was more of a combo of feeling bad and needing a day off.

BUT, when one has to get up at 5 am 100% of the time, meditate, do a few morning checklist items no matter what, suddenly just finishing up and going to work did not seem so bad after all. So I dragged my sorry bum into work, and was actually pretty productive...HA.

Day 9 results
Wake 5 am - Done
Meditate - Done (25 mins)
Work Goals - Done
Daily Blog Entry - Done
Yoga - Done (20 minutes)
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

Had a nice conversation with the DH tonight, well, more like evolving over the last few days. He has a strong focus at times, to a point that sometimes we struggle balancing other items in our relationship and life. He is happy to work on these issues, and I am happy to give him the freedom to partake in his 'hobbies'. I am careful though, I do not want him to think he needs 'permission' from me to do something he loves and enjoys. Conversely, I also do not want us to grow apart over time . I have talked to him about making this easier, how he can learn to balance our relationship, our home, our loved ones, and have him enjoy his favorite past times all the same.

Our discussions are becoming more relaxed, less defensive the last year or two. Its hard to move past the standard assumptions in relationships, the sort of over commercialized portrayal that the spouse is always out to get the other. That everything is always an attack, a nag, or an order. I prefer to think of us as partners, 100%. Suggestions, open discussions, and solutions are the best path. I love to observe, its true to my nature, and I love to share these observations. Its always hard to verbalize these as curious comments rather then an attack on someone's choices.

Actual definition of the above.....I got a free dinner out, AND got to talk a lot about my rambling brain and having my needs fulfilled.......what more can I ask for? :)

Off to do some planning on my meditations and my home 'work' time, both which are too unfocused right now and its driving me crazy.

Day 8 - Balance

Second Monday of the Challenge. After Friday at work and my slow down, felt I kicked it back up a notch today.

Day 8 results
Wake 5 am - Done
Meditate - Done (25 mins)
Work Goals - Done
Daily Blog Entry - Done
Yoga - Done (30 minutes)
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

The habits are coming easier, and in general, the challenge is flowing pretty smooth at this point. I still need my checklist, but I roll from one task to the next easily without usually realizing it.

Getting up is still my hardest job of the day, with every ounce of my sleeping mind wanting to stay under the covers and not move. I also woke at 3:20 again this morning, although was able to go to sleep again quickly.

There was a comment by Dr Wayne Dyer, that always....well...scares me...lol. He mentioned that when you wake automatically early in the morning, its your absolute best time to get up, its when you are most open to communication with 'yourself', your intuition, your spirit, ect. Best time to write, or meditate, or whatever comes naturally to you. This 3:30 in the morning stuff for me, its not amusing. If he is right, and 3:30 is my time.....BAH. Guess for now I will work on 5 am first, and if the 3:30 doesn't go away, I will incrementally back up my waking time to see what happens. Although I would like to talk to my 'spirit' or the universe or whomever happens to control this, about adjusting that time to a slightly better alternative if possible. I would like to avoid seeing 3:30 am outside of bed until maybe we have children if at all possible. :)

Contemplating my meditation tasks, may have to do some studying on how to tackle my time spent under contemplation in the mornings. Don't want to ask too much of myself in this challenge, but I want to keep it productive. There is a balance in the act of balancing it would appear.

Day 6 & 7 - Balance

Its currently the late evening of the 7th day, I am catching up the weekend. I did not blog both days, I was pretty productive on 'work' goals on Saturday, and decided to lump the weekend into one post.

Friday was my bad day, and I felt yesterday I did well to recover, and today even further.

Day 6 results
Wake 5 am - Done
Meditate - Done (30 mins)
Work/Home Goals - Done (although kept it light today)
Daily Blog Entry - Done (although it was a retro post updated from friday)
Yoga - Done (50 minutes)
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

Day 7 results
Wake 5 am - Done
Meditate - Done (60 mins)
Work/Home Goals - Done (stayed VERY busy all day, extremely productive)
Daily Blog Entry - Done
Yoga - Done (30 minutes)
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

I managed to get out of bed without TOO much effort both mornings at 5 am. Both times when the alarm went off, I hovered in bed for about a minute, but quickly got up before I started to doze again. Would like to get rid of that delay, but I have to say, I did good.

One thing about being up at 5 am on the weekends when you don't have any particular place to be, you have A LOT of free time on your hands! I think this is a nice offset, since I am so busy with the schedule I have laid out, having those extra hours still gives me some level of free time to relax on the weekends. I remember Saturday, I trotted downstairs famished, thinking maybe it was after 1 pm based on my stomach, and the kitchen clock was just a few minutes after 11. I probably gained 6 hours alone on the weekends. Even if I did not sleep until 8 am most weekends, I usually was lounging in bed until at least then.

I will say though, its Sunday night a bit after 7, and I am toast. Went to bed a bit late Friday night, and a very busy weekend with no extended sleep, and I am exhausted. This is good, I will sleep well tonight, and it likely means I am making progress on regulating my sleep cycle better. The last couple mornings I have not had the 3:30 wake up time, and seem to be sleeping more solid. Although it helps that my 'bum' is finally healing after breaking my tailbone. Its not as uncomfortable to lie in bed, and getting better during meditations.

Meditations were fairly productive, Sunday more so then Saturday. Some moments of good focus, but still a lot of work on keeping track of where my thoughts are heading. I work with a couple breathing techniques, focus on my goals of the challange and long term, and usually will spend some time during each meditation visualizing completing all my goals for the day. I am not using a ton of structure around my meditations yet, still trying to see what works for me and push the daily habit and time spent over content at this point.

I am heading into week two feeling pretty pumped. After a productive and successful weekend, I am excited to see where this goes during the 30 days.

Day 5 - Balance

Well, yesterday started off with promise, but ended with a bit of a break from the challenge. Work was not as productive as I would have liked, and the rest of the day seemed to follow a similar trail from there. I had something on my mind, and it dominated work and again when I got home, breaking up my normal habits I had in place. In turn, I got very little done in the evening as I should have.

Was a bit upset about that, but decided to take that frustration, and use it as energy to get up this morning at 5 am on a Saturday, meditate, and start my day correctly (which I was worried about).

Day 5 results
Wake 5 am - Done
Meditate - Done (20 mins)
Work Goals - Incomplete (poor day at work for the most part)
Daily Blog Entry - Incomplete
Yoga - Incomplete
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

It was not a total loss of a day by any means, just not up to the standards I would like in this challenge. Just need to remember that if I need a break from the busy schedule, I need to remember to wait until Saturday or Sunday. :)

One week post 30 days unplugged

I finished my 30 day unplugged trial a bit over a week ago (9 days to be exact), and today was pondering some significant shifts in my way of thinking as a result of this trial:

-Internet and TV news: I truly want nothing to do with them anymore. I will listen to the news updates that last for 30 seconds on the radio usually on the way to work in the morning, but outside of that, I have no desire to look up or watch ANY news. It was a SERIOUS habit previously, I probably went to the local news site and CNN.com countless times a day. It was a time waster, and a constant source of discussion and gossip at work and with friends. Now, I find myself popping on the internet, and where I would previously type in cnn.com immediately to start a 'surf time', I just stare at the screen. I cannot make myself go there. I immediately ask 'what is the purpose of going there', and when I can answer nothing but stress and a waste of time, I either leave the PC or find something more productive to do. Its not a battle or struggle at all, which frankly has me floored. When I say I was a news addict, it was pretty bad.

-PC games: I have done nothing since I have gone back online last week. I used to play an online game (World of warcraft), not obsessively, but I am sure I was on quite a few hours a week all the same. Its been 9 days, and I have not even considered going online at all. I need to actually cancel the account, but seriously, I think so little of the game now, I just keep forgetting. That will be $15.00 a month saved, and who knows how many hours.

-Blogs: I used to visit many blogs. I had a variety of haunts, covering topics from self help to just humorous. I would say the majority of them I visited more out of curiosity and entertainment, and a good percentage were not helpful or inspiring in any sense I can find. As a matter of fact, some of the people I read previously just were so not healthy or balanced at all, and I found myself 'worrying' about them when not reading their blogs. Far too much unhealthy attachment. Since going back online, I cannot bring myself to visit them, AT ALL. I am going to clean out all my bookmarks and RSS feeds this weekend, and purge the system. I have decided I really want nothing to do with folks that are a negative influence on me. It almost feels like cutting ties with some friends, but really, I cannot come up with any reasons to continue down that path. This applies to twitter as well, although that was a minor distraction.

This is a very refreshing outcome. I was worried when I came out of the 30 day challenge, I might go on an electronics binge so to speak. Quite the contrary, its been easy to continue to abstain to some degree. It helps that I rolled into another challenge shortly after that continues to use my free time in a productive manner, so I do have to remember that keeping 'busy' helps this out tremendously I am sure.

I might post again in the future, after a few weeks at least, and see how this holds up. I know some habits are likely to slip back, but many of the above items I mentioned seem far far away from coming back into my routines.

Day 4 - Balance

Stressful day, nice test of my focus and willpower.

Meditation this morning was more difficult then the prior three. I tried to vary much I think, and lost focus much earlier then prior mornings.

Work was busy and a ton of distractions. Went to lunch for a celebration, and totally messed up the flow of the day. Need to overcome those distractions.

The DH and I carpool to work, so there are times when he gets stuck in late meetings which I have pretty much prepared for in this challenge. Got home late today, but because I am cooking large meals with leftovers, just started yoga late, not a big deal since I did not have to cook. Although, I was very tired by the time I got home, so had to push to get the yoga mat out and get started. Initially, thought I was going to just do a short yoga session, but I decided I needed to push through, and ended up going much longer then intended.

Day 4 results
Wake 5 am - Done
Meditate - Done (15 mins)
Work Goals - Done (if a little less then I would have liked)
Daily Blog Entry - Done
Yoga - Done (45 mins)
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

I consider this just a challenge day, not a big deal. The last few nights I have worked through the evening on my home 'work' projects much longer then I had set aside, so tonight I will take it a bit easy and just meet the minimum. Do not want burnout early in the 30 day. My husband has been stressed at work, and I believe I am picking up too much on that vibe, will try and work on that in my meditations.

Even though it was not a 'great' day, I consider it a good results day, because I had several obstacles and pushed through. Nothing serious, but a nice test of my schedule and drive.

Tomorrow is Friday, happy for the weekend, and looking forward to seeing how I handle the morning hours without work :)

Day 2 & 3 - Balance

Another day done, I think days 1-4 are the hardest so far in my challenges (both 30 day challenges and other various changes I have done). Just sort of that jolt to the system of habits, a whole new day with all new things to think about. I think they all run something like this:

Day one I run on adrenaline and excitement for a new challenge.
Day two I am still pretty excited, but starting to wonder what I am getting into.
Day three I am seriously questioning why I was doing this again, and maybe pondering I was a bit overzealous in my goals.
Day four I am still wondering what I was thinking, but now more accepting, and taking a deep breath for the long haul.

Once the excitement wears off, I remind myself of my goals for the month, refresh the long term goals in my mind and how this challenge applies, and then turn my face into the wind and keep on trucking.

Kind of interesting to see the patterns. A few years prior, I would have been lucky to make it through day 2 or 3. If I did, usually it was because I modified the plan quite a bit...lol...which makes me chuckle.

The act of looking back and seeing how far I have come in just a few years is really something to see for me personally. It gives me such a sense, not really of accomplishment, but more of amazement. I do not see it as an ego filled achievement, but more something of wonder and fascination. If I could bottle that feeling and knowledge and give it to all my friends, family, everyone....I would be overjoyed. I cannot ever seem to put into words what it feels like to know that you can do TRULY whatever you want.....period. Its so hard to tell someone how this feels, without sounding like you are bragging, or worse, it ends up making them feel guilty about what they have not completed.

The bigger piece in all of this, is when I look back at the sea I have crossed, it makes the ocean in front of me seem all that more large and exciting, and I pick up my pace another notch.


Well, on a non philosophical note, here is how my last two days have gone. I have been unable to post as I would like during my lunch hour at work, just too busy. So I am going to switch my posts to the evening, and keep the updates 'same day'. So today covers day two and end of day three so I can catch up:

Day 2 -3
Wake 5 am - Done
Meditate - Done (20 mins)
Work Goals - Done
Daily Blog Entry - Done
Yoga - Done (35 mins & 25 mins)
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

Very very happy with my results. I have kept to my busy checklist to the letter, and I am rolling through my balance habits.

Meditation is flowing easily, and synchronicity has taken care of any planning on what I should cover in my quiet time. Although, now that I am meditating each morning, I wonder why I thought it would be very hard?

Work has been very busy, but today I finally started to feel like I was making a dent in the backlog. I am really trying to break the stagnant flow at work, where I always have so much work on the to do list, it seems too daunting. I am ready to be clear of that once and for all, not only for the clear head, but so I can continue to work more on my self created projects that motivate me (part of my reasons for this and future challenges). Another reason to not blog at lunch, is I will use that time to continue my progress forward on work tasks. I usually spend a small amount of time a day up from my desk, saying hi to a friend or chatting with my husband (who works 3 cubicles away ironically enough), so its not like I am chained to my desk for 9 hours. :)

I need to firm up some of the weekend schedule, so I don't forget anything (meal planning, shopping, errands, ect).

Day 1 End - Balance

My first day complete for my newest challenge. Very busy day, and constantly doing a mental check to make sure I was on track. All went very well.

Wake 5 am - Done
Meditate - Done (20 mins)
Work Goals - Done (although my definitions need some refining and more detail)
Daily Blog Entry - Done
Yoga - Done (20 mins)
Evening Prep - Done
Home work time - Done

My timing all worked out correctly, and so far I think I have laid out my schedule well. I need to spend some time better defining my work goals, I have quite a bit going on, and I feel that I may stray and feel disappointed if I do not clarify that a bit.

My energy for the challenge is quite high, and I am finding it very easy to still limit my TV and PC free time.

Telling people around me about my results of my 30 day unplugged challenge has had interesting results. I haven't had anyone come right out and say they would love to do a challenge, but I do get a lot of high energy positive comments, and for quite a few folks I think I got the gears turning. I would love to hear someone tell me in the near future that they were going to try something that was important to them.

I really hope to inspire people, especially those that have known me for many years. I want to change myself and show everyone what is possible. There have been a few that have had trouble understanding my purpose for growth, especially in the direction of eliminating items like TV and news. I am learning to not worry about this, as I am not going to connect with everyone.

My energy right now has to remain focused, which truly should revolve around completing my challenges so I can work towards my larger goals. It feels a bit 'selfish' so to speak, but since I have spent most of my life helping others, I have to learn to accept my energy 100% internally for a change I think. Hrmmm, interesting thought......

Day 1 complete, 29 days to go, and not feeling daunted at all.

Start of day 1 - Energy Balance I

Well, I am half way through day one, and so far, right on track. Yes, it’s a bit early to be updating (I will usually do a post day after), but part of this challenge is to consistently update/write, using my lunch hour as the set time. I used to use my lunch hour to surf the web, and I am trying to stay out of that habit post unplugged challenge.

Did not sleep well last night, I believe I was worried about jumping out of bed on time. I kept waking up, thinking 'its gotta be close to 5', and I would glance at the clock and it was only 12:30. I continued to wake up every hour after, and was even quite wide awake at 3:30 (as usual). Part of my hope in this is to get my sleep cycle corrected. I am not tired in general, and usually sleep fairly well, so just some new alarm clock and challenge excitement I would guess. :)

Meditated for a full 20 minutes, although did not mean to. I had set my phone timer to 10 minutes (or so I thought), but at some point I decided it best to check the time, and realized it was counting down 10 hours. I had already been meditating for 20 minutes on the dot! I thought it would be harder to go a full 20 minutes, guess I was wrong on that one.

Got to work 5 minutes early, and set in motion my plan for the day. Still plugging through my list, hoping to have a nice satisfying day.

Very happy with day one so far. Reading over my notes, I sound a bit obsessed with the schedule and flow of the day, but this challenge really is going to stress my ability to stay on track ALL day. I am liking that aspect, I usually don't organize my days quite so strict, but I think this will help clean up some minor areas. For example, we have 'flex' time at work, so its not imperative that I be in at a particular time, as long as I am pretty consistent, and work the required hours, no issues. But I would like to get in early and lock in a time every day, rather then let it fluctuate 10-20 minutes, usually based on my alarm clock arguments. So I am just refining a few things in my schedule into stronger habits, and I am motivated quite a bit on that angle.

rolling along.....

New Challenge Tomorrow - Energy Balance I

Tomorrow is the start of my next challenge. 30 days of energy balance, likely phase I. Not sure about the name, but nothing is striking me other then 'balance' at the moment.

My general goals are as follows:

• Wake at 5 am 7 days a week
• Meditate daily (final goal of 20 mins day)
• Yoga daily (final goal of 45 mins day)

In general, I am trying to improve my mental flow and discipline, especially my physical energy on several levels. In another challenge or two, I will likely incorporate some food changes to add more to the balance side. For now though, I do not feel the pull in that direction, I have a pretty strict diet as it is, its not in dire need of a shake up yet.

Overall, this seemed actually a bit too small of a challenge to me. Total time spent a day was going to be just 65 minutes max, plus I am getting up a bit earlier, so I felt this was actually a bit 'light' as compared to the requirements of my last 30 day. I would rather push these challenges to the limit, I want to be ambitious and surprise myself.

I added a few misc items that I do now, but only sporadically. Items like taking my supplements consistently that help balance my digestive track, dry brush daily, and some general flow with my day at work. Going to toss in a few 'habits' for working on my blog and my other All are items that help my energy and flow, so very relevant to the theme. So another item to my general goals:

• Improve daily habits
  

When I combine the few extra items along with my three main goals, suddenly I have a complex balance to work out every day. I determined a few items that were keys to my success:

• Getting up consistently, VERY key
  
• Prep as much as possible the evening prior, I cannot afford to run late in the morning
  
• Leave work no later then 4 every day, preferably earlier (tied to above)
  
• Pre-plan food for week and freeze extra meals so that timing flows in evening with exercise and I have emergency meals available if timing gets crunched
  
• Continue some limitations of electronic time from last month , will allow for consistent completion of to do list

I have laid out a detailed time line for each weekday, and an adjusted version for the weekends. I have shifted items like grocery shopping to sunday mornings, as I usually stop on the way home from work, which I will not have time for. I created a detailed checklist for every day, as so many things hinge on another being completed, I need to keep track of them all.

I still need to work on a plan to mix up my yoga and meditation over the 30 days. The first few days I have a basic outline to get me going, so I have a bit of time to work through that. My focus the last couple of days has been gathering a few items for the challenge I needed (new alarm clock, prepping my meditation area, ect), along with making sure I have planned thoroughly for this. I have also been running through alarm 'practice sessions', as mentioned in this article.

My energy is high to start another challenge. I relaxed a bit over the last few days after completing my unplugged events on Feb 12th, so I feel fully ready to start now. My husband is also going to work on some new habits as well which will help me along.

Here I go again....

Final Day - Unplugged

FINAL DAY

Woohoo. I am definitely ready for this one to be over. Its not so much that I am ready for the restrictions to be over, but more that I am ready to move on to the next challenge. I will say that there are a couple items on this challenge that were easier to uphold then I had expected, and going forward, I shouldn’t have a problem keeping to low level usage. Television being probably the easiest one. I did not really miss TV at all, and I will definitely keep that limited going forward since its not a healthy alternative, and its not something I seriously 'need' I guess you could say.

Results of this 30 day trial:
My goals of this trial was to clear my mind, and to try and increase production at work and at home. I think I succeeded in two of the three items I was trying to achieve.

My mind has definitely cleared. I feel much less scattered, and I have some clear outlines of what I would like to do this year, and in the next few. I have more 30 day trials planned, and have developed them to help me in achieving larger goals. On many levels I feel much much better mentally, and would like to continue this growth and maintain at minimum my current state.

In regards to productivity at work, this has been my greatest success during this challenge. I haven't probably achieved a full 100% of my abilities, but if before I was functioning at 50-60%, I am probably functioning closer to 95% at this point. I was spending WAY too much time on the internet and non work emails on any given day, and simply by eliminating that I instantly gained much more productivity. Conversely, I have still had to stay disciplined and not find other ways to waste time, which I believe I have succeeded fairly well there. I have set up some projects at work that I am now implementing, and keeping my motivation up on them as well. I may do a secondary 30 day work challenge to run congruently with my next challenge I start on the 16th. So I am very happy with my work results, and will continue with my restrictions of no internet and phone (text, ect) use at work, and limit my non work emails as much as possible.

In regards to productivity at home, I had spurts of greatness, but many days I probably spent too much time falling back on a book rather then a home project. I could feel disappointed at this, but as someone I look up to has mentioned before, failure to complete something is not a failure in your abilities for that actual project, but failure in your preparation and layout of that plan. I did not specifically outline what goals I wanted to achieve at home, more I had some vague ideas of always staying productive. I also did not plan for the level of incapacity I had in this challenge. The first 3-4 days of the challenge itself I was almost immobile by the time I got home from work. Then 11 days ago I injured my left hip dirt bike riding plus caught a stomach virus, and have since had a difficult time staying active. By the time I get home from work, I end up exhausted, and need to rest. Could I have pushed myself a bit more? Yes. But for now, I will focus on the two other very positive results I had, and focus on the things I still managed to get done at home. I did a lot more cooking and prepping in the kitchen. I cleaned out some issues in my office including tackling an older PC and getting it cleaned up. I cleaned out my office closet and started in on some filing issues. So I still managed to get some projects done, but maybe not to their full level I had hoped for.

Overall result in my opinion, SUCCESS.

Couple of lessons I have learned from this first 30 day challenge:

Always have a very clear and outlined plan, making sure it is a challenge, but achievable. I think my home productivity issues were a combination of over optimistic expectations combined with a gap in a plan. I expected to remove ALL extra curricular activities (internet, pc games, tv…ect), and use 100% of that time to work and be productive around the house. That was a mighty big leap based on the amount of time I previously spent not working, and I ended up feeling very fatigued and negative about doing more work. I fell back on reading in my free time, which wasn't a bad alternative, but ended up being more time then I expected. So maybe I should have outlined specific free time for reading, and very specific goals for day to day productivity after work and on the weekends.

Second, find ways to stay motivated for the full 30 days, possibly adding additional steps near the end or have a plan in place to keep interest high. I have found that this last week of the challenge my discipline has faded slightly. A couple emails to friends that I let go on longer then should have. Convincing myself that 2 minutes looking up a recipe on the internet is acceptable. Nothing serious, mere minutes of mistakes in a cumulative day, but all in all, definitely slipped near the end. I believe for my next challenge I will try and create variety especially near the end when motivation will be lower. Like maybe order new yoga dvds or a class that will happen in the last third of the month. I am going to try and keep spending to a minimum, but all in all, I hope to set up the meditation and yoga for the long term, so any money spent will be on items that I know I will use outside of the challenge. I am also trying to recruit a family member or two to join me in the challenge I start on the 16th, in their own way. My husband is looking to do his own plan, and I am working towards having my mother and maybe sister do their own as well. Nothing I do hinges on someone else's participation, I am 100% responsible for my challenge, but all the same, maybe having other folks to chat with and help motivate will also help me through the full 30 days with high energy.

Over the next day or two I am going to organize a going forward plan, that will limit my TV, game time, and internet use. I feel that a written plan would be in my best interest, and will keep me from sliding back 100% into old habits. Many things to ponder.

For now, I am going to relax and enjoy my last day of being unplugged.

Day 22-26 - Unplugged

Well, not a ton of updates this week. Between a very busy work week and not feeling 100%, I just haven't had the energy to update. Usually I update from work on a lunch break, but not even time to do that, and the husband has been working on a project at home so I have given him 100% free reign of the PC. But all the same, not a ton of changes.

Work was super busy this week, and after missing Monday due to illness, I spent all week double timing it to try and keep up. I will say this though, I was 10 times more productive this week without any side interruptions. I emailed shortly back and forth I believe once with a friend, but I killed it pretty quickly when I realized it. Otherwise, no slip ups on the internet, and no side tracks to TV at home.

One thing I am noticing though this weekend, is as I am winding down to the end of the trial, I feel my discipline slipping a bit. Sort of 'I have done so well, just a small look at this shouldn't matter'. I would like to finish strong, so just need to stay on top of everything. I think being worn out mentally from work, and physically from being sick, I want to 'reward' myself by easing up on my rules a bit. My ultimate goal though was to make it 30 days, and not 'almost' 30 days....so just need to remind myself of that.

There is also the fact that one person who sort of laughed and said I would never make it around day 4, will be at a function I am attending next Saturday. It would be great if I could show up and tell her thank you for the extra jolt of motivation that first week, it helped me greatly. I don't intend on saying that in a mean or sarcastic sense at all, I truly do want to thank her. I think a lot of folks do not believe in pushing their discipline, maybe because they do not see it as something one can truly improve. I would like to be able to offer her a new perspective on the matter, so she understands that anything is possible if you truly want it.

Even though I didn't know what exactly I would wanted from this year, outside of knowing I wanted to tackle quite a few 30 day challenges, I believe I have put the pieces together. One frustrating aspect I have brought up time and time again, both internally and in discussions with my husband, is that I KNOW all the right things to do, but I have lacked the ability to put them all into motion. I know what to eat that makes me feel better, I know what to do to help clear my mind up, I know how to stay in shape based on my bodies needs, I know what I am capable of at work, and I know what I am capable of if I put my mind to it at home and career wise. But I have always struggled to get everything firing at once. I have always pushed each piece forward, usually one pushing in front of the others, only to fall back later to a different focus at that time, and so forth. It seems sometimes that I am crawling forward, flopping back and forth, two steps forward, one and a half steps back.

The clarity I have felt in this 30 day challenge made me realize something. Its not that this year is my '30 day challenge' year, more so that it is the year of learning the discipline to put in place all the knowledge I have gathered the last few years. Using the 30 day challenges will just allow me to put 100% focus on one area of my life, and by the end of the 30 days, the habits and discipline formed will carry me forward towards the ultimate goal. The challenges will be my tool to feel more in control of what I want and know I can do.

Also, in consideration, I almost believe I need to go overboard on my goals in each 30 day trial, so that when it is complete, even if I back down a bit on whatever I was trying to accomplish, that level is still a large improvement and is easy to maintain. Example, this 30 day unplugged, I could have very easily allowed say an hour of TV now and again, or some internet time on the weekends, and probably would have been just as productive. But after going 100% unplugged like I have, it almost feels like a very minor allowance of internet and TV relaxation would be an indulgence, and that is what I want. It will be very easy for me to maintain a high level of control after this extreme version of being unplugged. I am excited for the year, this should be a lot of fun.

I have put some consideration into my upcoming challenge that will start on the 16th. It includes daily meditation, getting up at a set time 7 days a week, and daily yoga/exercise. Going over this challenge, the meditation and yoga will take up about 90 minutes of my daily routine. With me waking earlier each day, truly only 45-60 minutes of my current schedule will be devoted to this challenge. It almost seems like too easy of a challenge, if I consider how many hours a day I gave up of average internet and TV time this month. This concerns me from several angles, one being I do not want to default back to too much plugged in time, I need to keep myself busy. So I am weighing an addition to this program, but haven't decided what my strategy is yet. I still want to stay very focused, and would like to keep my goal very clear and not spread out with too many tasks. The meditation and waking time tie together because my best time to meditate is in the early morning, and in order to do that, I need to wake up at a regular hour so I have time to complete meditation before work. The yoga and exercise tie to the meditation for me, because especially the yoga, helps to clear my mind greatly and get my energies flowing freely which will help my meditation.

I am having some food issues at the moment, after being ill earlier this week my entire digestive track has crashed. So maybe I can tie some food cleansing with the meditation and yoga and still stay focused on an achievable goal. If I tackle food intake, it will have to be 100% laid out so I do not deviate or spend more hours researching a subject I already have confidence in. Another angle I may take is tying in a work goal at the same time. It will require me to maintain my no personal internet or email at work which is a good follow up to the 30 day currently, but on the flip side, does not necessarily tie into the yoga/meditation theme very well.

I have another week to decide, next weekend I will be preparing and laying out my plans in detail for a start on Monday, so many things to consider in the meantime. Note to self, need to get another alarm clock this week.

Day 22-26 Results:

• Work Productivity -High (very happy with my productivity)
• Home Productivity - Med/Low (sick and sore have taken there toll)
• Energy about challenge - High
• Physical Energy - low
• Mental clarity - High

Day 18-21 - Unplugged

Well, I am now officially in the homestretch as I see it. Only 8 days left.

While I don't have day to day details, I know that over the last 4 days, I have done VERY well. No little checks here and there, nada. It does help when I am active on the weekend, but considering I was home all day sick monday, and didn't check the PC or TV all day, that’s a pretty good test. Granted, it wasn't a productive day by any means, I still held to my rules.

Friday was a normal work day, Saturday we went riding and then I came home to recover from that ride. Sunday, I cooked a bit, relaxed from previous day of riding/injuries, and then went to my brothers for the Superbowl. I had already outlined that I could watch the Superbowl in my rules of this challenge, so I relaxed, enjoyed time with my brother and his friends, and in general had a good time. Was sick in the evening, and home all day Monday….and while sometimes I would say it is hard to avoid TV when home sick, I felt bad enough I pretty much was laid out and dozing or reading all day. Not much else I could manage.

Not missing TV, not missing shows, not missing the news, not missing hours spent surfing for various this or that on the internet. There are times when it would be 'nice' for something….but all in all, I don't feel like I am truly missing out. Financial woes pasted across every headline on the news, tragic deaths and accidents, people hurting other people in some way, some actor getting drunk and doing something dumb, not missing that AT ALL. Yes, I cannot have an intelligent conversation about current world affairs at the moment, but how often do those come up? Usually its more of a gossip type conversation, with someone saying 'did you hear what so and so did', 'OMG, I did not, I need to check that out'…..and so on. Not really a high intelligence level conversation. So I am not missing much at the moment, sort of peaceful about it all really.

The result of this, I am putting a lot of thought into what limits I will set on my internet and TV time going forward. My head feels fairly clear at the moment, and that is pleasant. So I want to keep it that way as much as possible, but while still balancing a particular amount of free time. I have some fuzzy plans drawn up in my head, still have 8 days to hammer them out, but probably not going to spend a ton of energy on those. Feeling relaxed, and not going to force any issues going forward unless I know I am comfortable with them. I don't want to fight any 'rules', I want to be in balance with them, in agreement so that it is easy to follow the path I put forward. Example, if I have trouble coming up with positive reasons to read the news and such, then its obvious I need to seriously limit that behavior. If I understand why, then I can build limits around it that I can accept. If there are other pastimes that give me similar pleasure, but have more positive outcomes, I can direct time that way, and be happy with that compromise and in turn easily follow the path I have set forward.

Day 18-21 Results:

• Work Productivity - Med/High (a lot coming at me, hard to stay on path at times)
• Home Productivity - Med/Low (being sick and injured put a serious dent in production)
• Energy about challenge - High
• Physical Energy - low (again, sick and injured and recovering)
• Mental clarity - High