Yes, one month of 2016 has furtively passed us by, bringing us into the final phase of winter's grip. It also means that one month of potential self-improvement has hopefully been tackled head-on. Come share your tales of betterment. Or maybe things haven't gone so well? That's okay. Part of the process is aligning yourself to the right goals. Either way, keep on working!
Sheet Update: Those of you who requested the capability to add one-time goals rejoice! You now have that option. I duly created the functionality and updated everyone's sheet.
Also, one last thing. In a week or two I will start pruning those user's sheets who haven't been filled in (I.E. not actually added in any goals). This is to keep the formulas accurate and the document at optimal performance
Shoutouts, let me know if you wish to be added or removed: blackbootz ButterflyEffect byonic caeli Cedar coffeesp00ns Creativity Cumol doesntgolf elizabeth francopoli galen goobster jafle jleopold KARAMAZ0V kleinbl00 lil nowaypablo NSSTomato OftenBen psychoticmilkman Quatrarius thundara thenewgreen kingmudsy
My main goal was to get back down to my early high school weight which entails losing 9 pounds. I've been surprised at just how easy it is!!!! I've already lost ~3.5. I have some more nebulous goals that I haven't put on the sheet and I'm really struggling with those. In particular, I'd like my research/experiments to affect my self-worth less. My experiments haven't been going well, and it's easy to feel like it's because I'm stupid or incompetent or whatever, even though I know that's not the case. I'm just not sure how to tackle this problem...
Congrats on the weight loss, great work! In regards to your other goals, I don't know if it'll help your peace of mind but I can make an analogy to music composing. I'll often start off a new piece and anywhere from the the first 1-10 proper sessions will sound like shit. I wont like how it sounds. It makes me feel incompetent. I want to give up. But after a while of chipping away, remodelling, and experimenting, an idea that works starts to emerge. The failed musical experiments act as stepping stones to the successful experiments, and so through to the working idea. Though the process may not be enjoyable, it is necessary. They say you can't polish a turd but having some manure sure helps fertilise the soil.
Hey caeli, I can relate to your experiment problem because I very often encounter the same. For me it is also mixed with fear of failure, fear of disappointing my boss and losing my job (which wouldn't happen) and then the self-doubt that I am not made for being a scientist. Often those feelings and thoughts run in cycles and I try to rationally "solve" the problem. But the problem are the thoughts themselves. The more you engage those thoughts, the more you go in cycles and the faster you wear out. Behind those thoughts and feelings sits a strong and self-confident caeli. What does it for me (and this is a relatively fresh realization) is to notice I am having those thoughts and then not engage them. The more I do this, the easier I am able to "come back" and focus on what I am doing and tackle the experiment on a more rational way, without the feelings of self-doubt obscuring my view. I hope I was able to help :)
my cleanliness and self-care have improved drastically. My bed is made more, I am taking generally better care of my appearance and health. Physical health is tied to mental health. I'm also getting back into walking, either on my treadmill or outside (weather dependent). My paper, on the other hand, lies unchanged since mid-december. My practicing is coming up, but only because I have a gig this weekend - I need to be more conscious of that.
Just get a duvet and one shake in the morning makes it! Feels good to have a made bed. Maybe you are like me and the only place I am fastidious about is the kitchen, My kitchen always shines. But other places not so much. My house is always very neat but not clean. Don't look behind my toilet. I have been lucky enough to have good cleaning ladies to look after that stuff. I don't like things like that to be dirty but apparently I hate doing those tasks even more.
This is awesome, I love what you've done with the spreadsheet!
Agreed, this is really, really cool. rezzeJ, if I add a couple one-off goals, am I meant to set "Completed?" to "no" right away and then change it to "yes" when/if it's completed, or should I leave uncompleted one-offs as blank, and then mark them "no" when/if the year ends and I haven't completed it?
This is super cool of you, dude. Most of my goals are the opposite of immediate - but they, I've lost like 4 lbs this month, I've almost got the gear room back together and I've been meaning to go give blood and the yoga studio is across the street.
With many ups and downs, January was a fantastic month! For January I had two habits in mind. Meditating 20-30 times per month and going out into the nature at least once a week. I am on a 36 day meditation streak and I have learned a lot about myself :) I also understood very well that taking the time for something like this (10-20 minutes a day) is not hard, I just have to really want it. Going into nature once a week has been going good. The first 3 weeks I only made it to some short 2-3 hour walks around the city. Last week I went deeper into the Odenwald for a 3 hour dusk-night walk. Got to challenge my fear of dark forest a little bit! I am planning my walk for today/tomorrow right now. I wonder where I should go... I had two additional habits that I want to follow but decided to not go for all 4 at once. After the third January week I started running again and that worked out the last 2 weeks to (2-3 times a week) and I am noticing how good it feels. The next habit I am going to tackle will be in 2 weeks. I also reduced my cannabinoid intake. Noticed that the amounts that I was consuming we making me lose focus very easily and be constantly tired. Thank you for setting this up rezzeJ!
Ay. I've been quite slack this month. I have been consistently running though, and I'm showing considerable improvement. So that's a good start. My coffees are also starting to look pretty damn good. So that's two checked off. As for the rest of my goals... I need to try a lot harder. Stretch more consistently, like every day. Mi español no es mejorando. So that needs work. And I've barely touched the piano this month. For the first time in my life I feel like I don't have enough time to fit everything in.
Got a scholarship to take my SOCRA Certification class and exam, so progress towards that goal. Started my applications for grad school, progress towards that goal. I should workout more, but I find that stretching a little in the morning, and more intensively before bed comes pretty naturally at this point and it feels good.
Updated, I've also locked my sheet so only myself and rezzeJ can edit it -- if that causes any problems I'm happy for you to unlock it dude. My goals a bit too nebulous, so while I started off last month reading and writing more, that dropped off and I don't have a clear way to represent that so I am going to have to come up with some SMART targets I guess! Oh, rezzeJ you should probably edit the graph on the main sheet to cap the display at 100% no?
That's fine to lock the sheet, but I'll let you know if anything arises. Nice one initially getting off to a good start! In the case of your success dropping off, I'd probably assign a 'passable' grade to that. In my mind, the 'passable' grade means "I did noticeably better this month than if I hadn't been trying at all." But that's just me, rank yourself how you deem fit. In regards to the graph, it was technically correct that it was going over 100%. It's showing both the success/pass/try harder rates as well as the total percentage of goals filled in. Those things overlap as the the latter is essentially the sum of the former. If everything was filled in for a month, it would cap at 200%. However, it is partly down to the style of graph I chose too. I agree that it wasn't ideal and could've been potentially confusing. I've upgraded the graph style to something that I hope makes a bit more sense.
Sorry that I haven't filled anything in yet :( I'll get on it by the end of the week.