Day 18 Catching Myself When I'm Off

So my 30 day challenge has been quite an adventure so far.  Yesterday, I started my pattern of letting my commitments fall by the wayside but today I've recognized what I've started doing and I'm re-committing today.  The more awareness I'm building the quicker I'm able to catch myself when I'm off the path and re-connect to what I want for myself.  Here's a reminder of the commitments I've made for this first 30 day challenge:

Items to do Every Day (Non-negotiable):

1. Drink 24oz. of water every morning. (Body)
2. Study Body, Mind, Mastery by Dan Millman for 45 Mins. (Mind/Coaching)
3. Exercise for an hour (Body)
4. Work on Art Pieces for a minimum of 1 hour. (Artistic Expression)

Limits I want to put on myself (Non-negotiable):

1. Only 30 mins at a time at the computer.  A minimum of a 15 minute break until I can use the computer again.

There have been so many things I've been learning with this process...but, it doesn't necessarily feel like learning as much as it feels like remembering.  These lessons I have known all along yet making them practical (to practice-all) has been a wonderful journey and challenge...and it never ends.  

Reminding myself that this is a practice that will continue as long as I live is humbling, especially for a recovering perfectionist.  Moving from a striving for Perfection to a commitment to Mastery has been a great realization and one that I've been getting more and more comfortable with as part my default mindset.  "Neurons that fire together wire together" as my psychology professors would say.  

Reminders occur daily by studying Body, Mind, Mastery.  It's been very satisfying so far and at Day 18 I'm really seeing the benefits of this consistent action.

My 30 minutes has run up on my computer time (and past...grrrr) and the day is too nice to not fully enjoy it.  I'm really enjoying this limit on computer time but need to keep duct tape that my timer to it.  I'm going to do that now.  Have a great weekend!

Day 14 Check-in

What a Journey!

It's been so interesting to see what has been happening throughout this process.  Here's a reminder of what I've committed to...

Items to do Every Day (Non-negotiable):

1. Drink 24oz. of water every morning. (Body)
2. Study Body, Mind, Mastery by Dan Millman for 45 Mins. (Mind/Coaching)
3. Exercise for an hour (Body)
4. Work on Art Pieces for a minimum of 1 hour. (Artistic Expression)

Limits I want to put on myself (Non-negotiable):

1. Only 30 mins at a time at the computer.  A minimum of a 15 minute break until I can use the computer again.

First, I'd like to share some of the things I've noticed and then move on to a new exciting idea that I'd like to share with you.  By drinking 24 oz. of water every morning, I'm finding that my energy levels throughout the day are much more constant and at a higher level than if I don't.  In fact, if I miss my water in the morning, by 11am I start to feel sluggish.  Something that I'd always felt starting in high school at about this time.  Was I always dehydrated?  This is a fantastic habit I want to continue.

Exercising for an hour.  I've been playing small and counting even my walks with my dog as time spent exercising.  For the next 16 days I'm going to make the effort to step up the intensity of the exercise as I know I can handle more.  It's hard to know how the effects are here, but perhaps some of my high energy level has something to do with this.

Working on art pieces has been fun as it's enjoyable to spend time each day being abstract and creative that doesn't have anything to do with my direct work.  There's no more pining to express myself as I'm feeling fulfilled with the amount I'm doing.  Huge difference from when I had the desire and all my energy was wasted thinking about expressing myself instead of doing it.  I've been having fun using the old wax crayons from my grandfathers house and playing with melting them to create effects.  Here's a quick pic of one of my pieces in progress.

The computer is one of the harder places to regulate myself as I do a lot of work from the computer and find myself getting lost working on something.  The first week I carried a timer around and hit start every time I sat at a computer, it worked great and my house projects happened a lot more.  Also, I didn't notice a drastic decrease in productivity as well.  In fact, I had to be more focused when I did get to the computer so that I could get more done.  I must re-commit to the timer.  Perhaps I should tape it on.

There have been the low points, that I'm still addressing.  For example, I'm having trouble doing everything during weekends and when I'm around others all day.

The fun has been in trying to figure out solutions for myself and re-committing to the goals I've set.  Out of these struggles new ideas have come to the forefront.

These new ideas have sprung forth like geysers and old ideas have bubbled back up to the surface.  This time I'm doing a better job of capturing them and putting them into my notebooks and filing system so that I don't have to keep on re-thinking them over and over without making progress.

One of my most exciting ideas is directly applicable to this blog and involves bringing my personal development to another level wherein I'm able to not only serve myself but also put information out there and share my experiences with those interested.  Even if I only help a few people I feel as though I will have been of service and more satisfied than if I just did it for myself (also, it's a good motivator for me).  So what is this exciting idea you ask?  Having gone through the practice of reading a book consistently for the first 14 days, I've realized that every book shares a certain philosophy.  Thinking about a philosophy is one thing, but acting upon a philosophy is another thing all together.  My new idea is to focus on a book for 30 days and extract the key principles and ideas while at the same time putting those ideas into action.  During this time I will journal my experience through blogging.

My goal is to be able to transform these ideas into practical aspects that I can use in my life and at the same time share these big ideas and my experience of them.

I'm going to start with Body, Mind, Mastery by Dan Millman.  Stay tuned...

Six Days in...Philosophy in Action

Day 6 into the 30 day challenge.

Already, I have slacked :(

A quick reminder of the philosophy I am looking to put into action....

Items to do Every Day (Non-negotiable):

1. Drink 24oz. of water every morning. (Body)
2. Study Body, Mind, Mastery by Dan Millman for 45 Mins. (Mind/Coaching)
3. Exercise for an hour (Body)
4. Work on Art Pieces for a minimum of 1 hour. (Artistic Expression)

Limits I want to put on myself (Non-negotiable):

1. Only 30 mins at a time at the computer.  A minimum of a 15 minute break until I can use the computer again.

A strong start on day 1 and 2, completing all of my items.  During these first two days I noticed the most pronounced change occur with the limits that I put on my computer time.  The amount of practical things I got done skyrocketed.  All the tasks were quite enjoyable and partially because they are all things that I want to be doing.  Morale was great.

Weekend days 3 and 4 were a 30 day challenge disaster.  I spent the weekend traveling and coaching a roller derby tournament that my girlfriend was playing in.  We ended up winning the tournament but I missed my obligations.  I didn't work on any art or study my book.  The exercise I got was minimal as I wasn't actually playing myself.  The temperature had to be in the 90's and humid inside the rink though and I drank enough water to meet my goal 10 times over and I got a fantastic sweat on...so at least it was a good cleanse for the skin.  Computer was a non-issue as I didn't spend much time on it at all.

Reflection on days 3 and 4.  I need to be able to keep these tasks at the front of my mind every day.

NEW Strategy: Print out my tasks and paste them on my fridge and leave them on my desk so that every day I need to fill one out.

Let's see how this correction will help.

Day 5 was extremely busy as I was catching up on all the work I didn't do over the weekend and had a number of meetings to attend and Floorball to run. The bad habits from the weekend seeped into my first day of the week.  I'm hoping the new strategy will help with this.

Day 6 is today and I'm back on the train.  Whenever you fall out of your commitment you have 2 choices.  Re-commit or Quit.  I choose to Re-commit.  Which reminds me of one of the songs that another derby league had for their intro this weekend....2 Legit, 2 Legit to Quit.

I'll let you know how the new strategy goes and heres some of the artwork that I created in the last 4 days....

Onward and upward!

Philosophy in Action Round 1

Time to start the experiment of building some Fundamentals as this is what Philosophy in Action is all about.

First things first, Here is what I want to Master.

1. Myself (Body, Mind, Emotions)

2. Coaching (Allowing others to reach their fullest potential)

3. Artistic Expression (work through my stumbling blocks through art)

Items to do Every Day (Non-negotiable):

1. Drink 24oz. of water every morning. (Body)
2. Study Body, Mind, Mastery by Dan Millman for 45 Mins. (Mind/Coaching)
3. Exercise for an hour (Body)
4. Work on Art Pieces for a minimum of 1 hour. (Artistic Expression)

Limits I want to put on myself (Non-negotiable):

1. Only 30 mins at a time at the computer.  A minimum of a 15 minute break until I can use the computer again.

Alright, so I have 5 things that I want to do Every Day for the next 30 Days.  It's currently Oct. 2nd. and 30 days from now will be Sept. 1st.  I will be checking in periodically to let you know my progress, what I'm learning, and I'll share some of the art I've been working on.

Make it a great day!

Putting Thoughts into Action

Hello all,


So it's been a while since I posted.  There has been a lot of Philosophizing and not a lot of Action. I am writing this in order to keep myself accountable for putting the philosophy I have been reading into action.  Balance is now needed at this point in the cycle and it's time to Envision a solution to adding practicality to all of the philosophy that has been studied.


My Goal: Focus on creating non-negotiable habits for a minimum of 30 day periods.


My Inspiration: Masters of their fields before me.


My Hope: It provides a journal of change to inspire others as well as a means to keep myself accountable.


My Desire: To live the truth that I Create for myself.  Be the person I would like to be.


In this series of posts I'll be checking in to keep you updated on my projects and progress.


Let's see what happens!