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.