Writing Take 2 Week 2

Generally, I've been writing a good chunk this week.  It helps that I have something to write about (CrossFit Games Training), but this has sort of eliminated the need for creativity, as I'm just writing about planning and stuff.  I think that's fine, I'm just not sure how much of a habit it's forming.  I'm going to keep doing it though, because I'm actually going to start posting stuff about training now that I have a goal and a plan.

I've really got my eating, crossfit, sleep, water, mobility stuff together this week.  I think all of those will be key focus points going forward.  The only thing I haven't straightened out is soda/tea.  I found that if I stay caffeinated enough with soda, that I don't make any diet mistakes, and the time to sleep effect isn't terrible.  Next week, I'm going to start weaning off of soda with no attempt at caffeine reduction.

I haven't really been doing the gratitude habit much.  I've done it a few times, but I usually think about something else or just fall asleep.

Again, I haven't really done any debt reduction stuff, because I'm focused on getting these real estate turnovers out the door.  The first one will be "done" this weekend, but that's usually just a step in the whole process; so, I'm thinking it'll be another couple weeks before I dedicate any time to it.

Solid week overall.

Writing Take 2 Week 1

This was a short week of actually trying to write; so, I guess I did pretty well.  I'm shooting for 15 minutes or more per day.  The suggestion was for 5-10, but when I did it before, I found that I never got anywhere with that little amount of time.  I could have gone longer, but that's not really how my brain works.

I've gotten to write some things out that I've been thinking about, and that's been nice, but I really want to get some in-depth stuff out.  I'll just keep sticking to the 15 minutes this next week and see what happens.

I haven't done much for the financial stuff.  I'm mostly dealing with real estate from that perspective.

I still try to do the gratitude thing at night as I'm going to sleep, but my mind wonders so quickly, I often fall asleep before I've gotten 3.  No big deal though.

Food and procrastination are going ok, but I need to focus more on efficiency overall.

Reduce/Eliminate Debt Week 5

Along with Eating Healthy, this is sad been my most successful Sea Change month so far.  I had two focuses: killing monthly recurring payments and making better impulsive financial decisions.  

I was hugely successful with the first.  I tried to tackle these by identifying, prioritizing, and systematically killing each payment.  By the end of the month, I was able to reduce payments by $196/month!  I have a few that I wasn't able to finish, and I will continue to work on those, but I'm extremely satisfied.

The second goal was mostly unsuccessful and really just made me feel guilty.  I said the Financial Intention every day, but it didn't really help.  I have a thought that I could really help reduce that bad behavior by just making a rule that I can't go to convenience stores.  It's stupid and small, but I think it would save me from impulsive little purchases as well as buying things that aren't healthy (basically the only thing healthy in a convenience store is water).

Writing

Leo wants me to Read More this month, but I'm not really interested in that.  I read already, and I don't need to put pressure on that.

Instead, I've decided to do the Writing month again.  I really think I could benefit from it, and I don't think I gave it a fair shake last time.

Reduce/Eliminate Debt Week 4

A little less productive this week.  I guess I got all the easy stuff taken care of already.  I'm still making some progress (at $102/month saved), and I hope to have a good chunk more taken care of by the end of next week.

I'm not really getting anything from the Financial Intention thing.  I think I broke it from the beginning because I didn't really buy into it.  I always say that whatever you think is going to work, will.  Whatevs.

One side note, is that I feel like I'm spending time on this everyday, and that it doesn't seem very sustainable.  The hope I guess is that eventually, you wouldn't really have stuff to work on everyday.  Depending on what module starts next month, I might keep going on this one to just clean everything up.

Did really well on eating, gratitude, and mobility this week.  I didn't get to workout as much as before, because I hurt my back a bit, but that gave me renewed motivation to get my mobility going again.  On the diet front, I decided to eat super low-carbs and reduce calories (~1000/day according to fitbit) this week and next week to see if I can cut up before Vegas.  I'm not gonna get all Jersey Shore on you, but it's working :)

Reduce/Eliminate Debt Week 3

I've been making great progress on reducing my recurring payments.  So far, I've eliminated $80/month.  I've got another $200 or so that I think I can get rid of as well.

Although, I've been saying the stupid Financial Intention everyday, I'm still buy stupid stuff like chips and soda.  It's funny how bad decisions in one area are also bad decisions in other areas.  I've decided to add a reminder at around 5p to restate the Financial Intention, to see if that keeps me on track at night when I'm weak and stupid.

I'm still killing it on crossfit, but I'm slipping a bit with the eating and mobility.  Shouldn't be hard to get back on track.

Reduce/Eliminate Debt Week 2

It's been pretty easy to do my weird Financial Intention mantra every day.  I even tweaked it a bit to fit my issues.  I've been a bit better about making progress towards reducing recurring payments as well.  

I actually did an audit of all my recurring payments and was surprised at what they added up to.  On the up side, there were a good chunk of them that can be cut out with little or no pain.

I finally think the Financial Intention stuff is starting to pay off.  I still buy stupid stuff like popcorn at the movies, soda, dining out too much, etc., but I'm at least thinking consciously about it and make a few better decisions here and there.

Other Habits

Killed it on Paleo this week during the week.  I've also been going to crossfit everyday for a while now.  I'm super ripped at this point #lie.

I'm still doing the Gratitude habit, and I continue to enjoy it.  On a side note, I think it helps me fall asleep faster.  Weird.

Reduce/Eliminate Debt Week 1

This week started the Reduce/Eliminate Debt module which consists of creating the daily Financial Intention habit as well as making progress towards longer term habits like paying debt automatically and such.  

I've been good on my weird morning phrase that I say (out loud).  I have been unsuccessful at actually doing the stuff in my "mantra" or completing any of the financial tasks that I've given myself.  I think I just started with ones that were hard.  I need to break them down better to bite off reasonable daily chunks.

Still going strong on the Gratitude habit.  I like it.