JoeSoChallenges Update: June Rewind

I don't think I've given a 30-day challenge update since May. Although I decided to skip July, I did have a pretty successful June -- See a Friend a Day. Whether I met them for coffee, a passing handshake, or a weekend road trip, I resolved in June to see a different friend every day (with no repeats). "New friends" counted toward the goal, but strangers did not. In other words, if I didn't meet up with a friend somewhere I couldn't just say hello to a stranger and count that as meeting a friend. This one started out really easy and ended up really hard (because I couldn't use any repeats). I succeeded 24 out of 30 days, with 5 of my 6 misses coming over the final 8 days of the month. That final week I had a very busy time at work, and, well, I just kind of ran out of friends.

JoeSoChallenges Update: The Month of May

Hooray for sunshine!

For the month of May -- perhaps the greatest month of the year, what with its flowers abloom and sunshine aplenty -- I decided to challenge myself to not watch any non-sports television. This choice made sense for several reasons. I have kickball and softball games 2 or 3 nights a week, the NHL and NBA playoffs kick into high gear, baseball season lazily rolls into Summer, my yarden needs lots of work, travel season opens, and people start cooking out on the regular. What a month! What a perfect time to ditch the TV! No crime documentaries, no stoned South Park marathons, no random Netflix browsing. I also had a chance to re-up on all my favorite podcasts, so I can fall asleep listening to 99% Invisible or Science Friday instead of Disappeared or Family Guy. What a great month! I violated my challenge once (because I had a bunch of Bob's Burgers episodes in my Hulu cue about to expire) and I felt like I had earned it after driving back and forth from the Hipster Capital of the World.

JoeSoChallenges Update!

Let me update the world at large about a few things happening in the world of JoeSoHeady. As you may know, I started 2014 by identifying some habits I wanted to add, drop, or change, and came up with a monthly 30 Day Challenge plan to take me through 12 months of self improvement. January -- no alcohol; February -- read for pleasure every day; March -- no caffeine and stretch every morning.

Welcome back coffee to my life! Wooo!
Dunkin' Donuts original, whole bean

I powered through January without a sip of booze. February flew by, my nose e-buried in an e-book most waking minutes. Then came March. Cold, gloomy, will-spring-ever-arrive March. Oh, beware the ides! What a month to drop caffeine! What a time to rely solely on sleep, nourishment, and sunlight for energy. The first week came and went. Oh how I yearned! Just a sip, just a taste, just a hint of a warm creamy cup o' Joe. 

Now, granted, the tone of this post might lead you to believe I strode through March like a (decaffeinated) Clydesdale coming down the home stretch, but I did not. I had my first JoeSoChallenge violation last month. In fact, I had exactly two and a half violations, and when April 1st hit I drank a whole pot a coffee, but I still call it a great success. Since March ended and I've allowed myself to return to caffeine, I can proudly say that I've skipped it at least 2 days, had decaf or half-calf a couple of times, and only brewed myself 1 cup at a time rather than the whole pot. Hopefully I can keep forming good habits in this department... Wool Sea.

Kickball season returns!

Heading into April I have daily exercise planned for myself every day this month. I designed my monthly challenges with this in mind. I figured I would drop caffeine in March, and added in the daily morning stretch to help replace that morning coffee routine. (You can't change a habit without replacing the old routine with something else.) Plus, doing the stretching every morning would start to prepare me for the daily exercise challenge coming in April. Kickball also started this month, so that gives me a planned exercise at least 1 day a week. I can count (serious) yard work or gardening as exercise too, so April made sense for that reason.  So far, I've had significant exercise every day!

April 1st I did major yard work; on the 2nd we had our first kickball game (and won 12-2); on the 3rd and 4th I rode the exercise bike for at least half an hour (and watched Sal Khan's talk at CMU); Saturday morning I went for a jog, followed by throwing the ball around, with Clay and Dan, and today I did a bunch of yard work and gardening again.

Yard work and gardening counts as exercise if you do a lot. Prepping the garden!

No Alcohol 30-Day Challenge Update

I've taken it upon myself to enjoy many different beverages recently, during my 30 day no alcohol challenge. I've had a lot of coffee and ginger ale. Take a look at just a few of the drinks I've enjoyed...

6-pack!

a glimpse of my spreadsheet

JoeSoChallenges

Some, like Matt Cutts in this TED talk (see below), suggest that it takes about 30 days to make (or break) a habit. They don't necessarily mean an addictive habit, like smoking, but getting in the habit of doing something positive that you've always wanted to do. He says that if you "force" yourself to do something for 30 days, like exercise for an hour a day, you can create a new habit. As it becomes habit, it gets easier and easier to keep doing. You build up some momentum and make it semi-permanent. You just have to get through the hardest part -- the beginning. 

He makes some other great points too. After doing some of these 30-day challenges he observed that the passing of time -- month by month -- became much more memorable. It gave him a way to think about that time period -- the month I ate no meat, the month I read instead of watching TV, etc. That part of it appeals to me as much as anything since I consider myself both a dabbler and a 'documentor,' so to speak. Doing these challenges combines both documenting and dabbling -- all in an effort to improve yourself as a person. I love it.

A friend of mine recently mentioned he and his wife have planned out some challenges for the new year -- no meat in January, using 1 car instead of 2 in February, and so forth. So I decided to start with no alcohol this month. Ten days in, so far so good, and I think I'll have a fairly easy time finishing this one out.

Next I plan on reading at least 30 minutes a day, which I think I'll have no problem with, since I used to have that habit anyway. Cutts says to think about it this way: you can do anything for 30 days. Start with some easy ones. Build up your confidence. In March I want to do morning stretch + no caffeine, then follow that up in April with daily exercise. I made a spreadsheet to track each challenge each month, and then I can also use the chart to mark off days that I keep up a habit after the month is over. So, if I do no TV for 30 days, then I can continue marking off days in the future that I don't watch TV. That gives me a way to follow up with the "new habit" once the initial 30 day period ends. Besides, I just love to create data in spreadsheet format. 

Perhaps after a lifetime of 30 day challenges I can create the JoeSoHabits Data Base.