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Regaining Lost Discipline Final Post |
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 12 June 2009 22:33 |
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Well, due to some weird screwup of mine, this challenge will come to a close much sooner than I first thought. You see, so far on all my posts about this, I've been listing the days inclusively (e.g. Days 5-9 include days 5 and 9), but I usually omit the day I'm posting in that little equation, so I ended up skipping counting some days, and those days added up over the period of the month, so I'm really five days farther ahead than my blog states. This is my last day of this 30 day challenge, and it feels awfully anti-climatic. There were two purposes to this challenge, one primary and one secondary. The primary purpose was to beat off the apathy that had hovered over my head for months. A month ago, I didn't much care about challenging myself in any way, and it pleased me to live every day very passively, watching a bunch of TV and not thinking many deep thoughts. The secondary purpose was closely linked to the primary one, in fact, it is the means by which I hoped to fufill the primary one. I wanted to regain my lost discipline, and I hoped that this would cause me to become more interested in life. All in all, it's worked pretty well. I'm excited about the future (the near future as well as the distant), and I think I now have the motivation and discipline required to do some of the things I'm planning to do. Learn Javascript in two days? No prob. In fact, I should have a blog entry about this up in a few days. I applied myself to learning Javascript, and now I know Javascript. Kinda cool how putting a bit of effort into learning something spawns knowledge of that thing (I know it sound like an obvious fact, but if you think about it, it's still kinda cool.) I plan on doing lots of exciting things in the near future, and I already have some plans that I will put into action in the coming weeks. Concerning the discipline itself, I haven't been outstanding. Close to 90% of the time, if it was at all possible for me to fufill my self-imposed duties, then I followed through. However, I got lazy quite a few times, and I made a lot of exceptions, most of which I do not regret making. I've done things like this before, a month of focused discipline, but this time I decided to focus more on the spirit of the law than the letter. I accepted a few skittles from a friend because I didn't want to make a big deal out of my no sugar policy, I spent a bit of time playing video games with my aunt and younger brother, and I skipped one or two exercise sessions because I thought they would be more harmful than beneficial at the time. Last night I stayed up late because I had some friends over. I very rarely have friends over, so I cared more about enjoying that and having fun than following my nighttime exercise schedule and waking up at 6:00. In other situations, I wouldn't have done this, but this challenge was much more about beating back apathy than actually disciplining myself, though I still respected the discipline aspect most of the time. No TV or Computer (exceptions) This was probably the main part of the challenge. I wanted to stop sinking all of my time into watching movies online, idly browsing the web, or playing video games. These are mainly passive activities, and I learned that they did contribute a lot towards my apathy. The less time I spent on the computer, the better off I was in terms of motivation and just general perceived quality of life. The world is so wonderful if you just take the time to stop and look at it, instead of having it brought to you via passive entertainment. There is something so...inhuman about the whole thing. It feels unnatural to spend too much time sitting in one place and doing nothing to engage your mind or body. I played some video games with my Aunt and younger siblings because it was nice, and it was not the time sink it usually is because I exercised moderation. I did not use the computer to play video games, and I didn't play any when I was by myself. I read books, sketched, studied, or thought instead. The one thing I really regret about my performance in this challenge is taking advantage of the loose nature of my ban on the computer. I didn't watch any movies, play any video games, etc., but I did waste quite a lot of times on a few seperate forums. I knew I would not get anything constructive out of doing this, yet I did it anyways. This week I probably spent at least five hours just browsing forums, probably more. I'm not sure to what extent I'll practice this once the challenge is officially over. Instead of focusing on restricting myself from the TV or the computer, I think I'll just focus on positive actions that I can do to replace watching TV or browsing the web. Getting up at 6:00, No Naps I found the benefits of waking up early to be mediocre at best. I usually hear rants and raves about how productive people are in the morning, but with nothing much to do (for the first few weeks of the challenge at least), I kind of just stared off into space for a few hours and then started my day at my normal wake up time. I'm just not motivated to do very much in the wee hours of the morning, though it does make the day seem very long when I wake up this early. My performance with this particular aspect of the challenge hasn't been phenomenal. I intentionally slept in once and accidentally slept in three or four times. The intentional sleeping in can, I think, be excused because I had friends over last night, and I didn't want to force myself to wake up and be tired all day today. The accidental sleeping in was mostly my fault (didn't check alarm), but one of those times can only be explained by means of alien intervention, because there was no reason I shouldn't have gotten up. My alarm clock was set, the volume was super loud, I slept soundly (and early) that night, my alarm went of (I'm told), but I just didn't wake up. I'm not going to continue with waking up at 6:00 after this challenge is over. I might aim for waking up at 7:00 or 8:00, but to me, waking up at 6:00 seems pointless until I find very specific things to fill that extra time with. No Sugar of any Kind This was the easiest part of the challenge. Thanks to large quantities of fruit juice, there were virtually no sugar cravings. Last time I did something like this, I was craving sugary things up to the twenty-first day. This time, there were no cravings from the start. Yesterday, when I was offered candy and ice cream several times, it not only wasn't difficult to say no, it was downright easy. I looked at the delicious treats and said to myself, "Hmm, sugary things. Meh." I made very few exceptions to this part of the challenge, but there were a few. I accepted small bits of candy from my little sister (she was too cute to refuse), and I also accepted a handful of skittles from a friend (also too cute to refuse.) . During the first week or so, I had some sugar free treats, but I stopped that pretty quickly because it somehow felt like cheating to me. I think I'll continue to refrain from sugar once this challenge is over, at least most of the time. I'm not sure if I'm correct, but I'm going to attribute my phenomenal energy levels to keeping away from sugar (thus making it to bed on time). I used to be drop-dead tired almost all day. Naps were a regular thing, and it was often hard to concentrated on what my teacher was saying. Within a few weeks of starting this challenge, most of my lethargy just up and vanished. It's not like I'm super energy man now, but I was so bad before that the improvement is very noticeable. 2 Sets of Pushups and Situps a Day The benefits here were pretty minor, but still, I'm satisfied with the results. My abs have definitely improved, and while I don't really have a six pack, the muscles are at least visible to the trained eye. The same applies to my biceps. I was able to attain a maximum of 27 pushups and 40 situps in this one month period. Not great, not bad. I missed my pushup goal, but I beat my situp goal. I missed a few days of exercise due to a really nasty headcold/fever, and I also deliberately skipped two sessions. One I can excuxe because it was very late, and I didn't want to flood my system with adrenaline and have a hard time going to sleep (and I couldn't have done it earlier), one was just pure lazyness after recovering from my cold. I plan on keeping this up for at least another month. The effort required to do this isn't much at all, and I'd like to start building up my body. Well, these are the results of my 30 day challenge. Hope it was interesting/informative! Now go out and do one for yourself! |
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Regaining Self Discipline Days 13-21 |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 08 June 2009 00:09 |
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My post just got deleted...I really, really don't want to write it again! Ack, I'll just skip all the unimportant stuff and power through. No TV or Computer Okay, I haven't been great, but I also haven't been really bad. My dad's boss decided to give us a 60" TV, and it was so beautiful! I tested out how the 360 would play on it for about half an hour, but that's all the gaming I did on it. I watched a few movies with the family. For the computer, I facebooked. In my last week of school, I caved and got a facebook account. I made allowances considering I would probably never see these guys again, so I spent maybe about half an hour a day on facebook. I had a paper due on friday, and I had a forum thread concerning my topic. I maintained the thread and wrote the paper, taking up about an hour a day. I pretty much abandoned the whole 5:00 block of time for computer. I want to start this up again, but I want to have it more flexible, especially since school is now out, and I need to use the computer for work. Instead of minimizing my time spent on the computer, I'll just minimize the time I waste on the computer. So, I'm only checking facebook and email once a day, and I'm not going to be playing any video games, reading any pointless articles, or watching any TV on the computer. Getting up at 6:00, no naps I was only able to get up at 6:00 four out of seven days this week. One day I came down with a fever and had to sleep for most of it, One day I accidentally slept in due to my stupidity, and one day I accidentally slept in due to a hole in the time/space continuum (I'm still not sure why my alarm didn't wake me). I'm not tired during the day. No Sugar of Any Kind Still doing fine here. Had a few cravings due to lack of fruit juice, but that was quickly remedied. I ate three or four skittles because someone offered and I didn't want to make a big deal of being off sugar. Other than that, I was good, and a non sugar diet is treating my energy levels well. 2 Sets of Pushups and Situps Daily This was slow because I was sick for a couple of days and I literally could not have done the exercises, so my numbers haven't improved awfully. I'm still at around 25 pushups and situps. |
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Last Updated on Monday, 08 June 2009 00:48 |
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Regaining Self Discipline Days 9-12 |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 28 May 2009 02:11 |
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Nearing the two week mark, and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm much more motivated about life, and I feel ready to confront it again. This might be due in part to hanging out at a Personal Development Forum filled with very alive and motivated people, but I'm also sure it's due to this challenge. I feel much more like an active participator in life rather than a passive observer. No TV or Computer (Except for Blogging and Research) I am glad that I expanded my computer usage to blogging and research, but doing so has made it much easier for me to hang out on the computer, as I knew it would. I spend alot of time at the personal development forum mentioned above, too much time. Sometime I check every hour for new posts, and it's getting to be a bad habit. Starting tomorrow, I'm moving all of my computer usage aside from blogging into a one hour time period at 5:00 pm every day, unless absolutely necessary (I have to write an english paper soon). Aside from this, I've been mildly good at keeping myself occupied away from the computer and TV. One day I spent a lot of time drawing, without getting bored, and it was pretty fun. Turns out I'm not that horrible at it, though I'm definitely not great : P. I spend my extra time thinking about things I'll do in the near future, coming up with plans, reading a bit, and not being nearly as bored as in the beginning of the challenge. I've had one small lapse of discretion. I played a video game with my aunt for about half an hour. I also went to go see the new Star Trek movie (which was awesome) and the Hannah Montana Movie (which was meh). I don't consider these to be against the purpose or rules of this challenge. I mainly wanted to stop killing time by watching TV on my computer, which I have totally stopped doing. Getting Up at 6:00, No Naps Eck, had some problems. One, I wasn't feeling well at all this morning, so I slept in a few more hours, which I think is fine. I couldn't have done anything constructive with that time anyways, so why not rest up? Two, I accidentally took a nap a few days ago. I wasn't even sleepy! I was just lying down and staring up at the ceiling, deep in thought (about Furbys!), when I woke up an hour later. Other than that, this has been going pretty well for me. I don't get tired during the day at all, which is still surprising me, and I'm thinking maybe it has something to do with staying off sugary things. No Sugar of Any Kind This is the one thing that's really gone off without a hitch. If I just drink lots of fruit juice, there are literally no cravings, and I think this has a lot to do with my increased energy throughout the day. I was a bit tempted to get a Starbucks when I was at the mall (I wasn't craving it, I just thought it would be nice), but I got an all fruit Jamba Juice instead, and that sated my hunger for sugary things. 2 Sets of Pushups and Situps a Day Still nothing much to report here except that I couldn't do them this morning cause I felt so bad. Now I'm up to 24 pushups and maybe 20 situps. I've got to move the evening session earlier so the adrenaline doesn't ruin my sleep. |
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Regaining Discipline Days 5-8 |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 23 May 2009 02:51 |
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I'm back to report on my regaining discipline challenge, and so far it's been going pretty good. As far as the actual purpose of the challenge, regaining discipline (duh) and lifting the curtain of apathy hanging over my life, it's actually been working as far as I can tell. After a little more than a week, I am a little more motivated and excited about life than I was before. Now, I'm more focused on taking life by the horns and throwing it to the ground, whereas before I was duck-taped to a board, waiting for the horns to come. It's not all sunshine and roses, and the progress isn't as astounding as I'm making it out to be, but it's still there, and that's a good sign. Something interesting happened a few days ago, I ran at near sprinting speeds without getting nauseous or exhausted. In the past, I always started to feel sick after a few minutes of running, but after following the rules of this trial for less than a week, I was feeling great. I'm not sure what to thank for this, but thankful I am. Just a side note, today is the second day of a five day break from school. I'm staying at home all day, though I may go out tomorrow. Anyways, on to the specifics: No TV or Computer I'm having a few qualms about my own dedication to this specific part of the challenge, though I find that it is the most effective part. I'm finding it really difficult to JUST blog and post about my blog topics on some forums. I inevitably need to look up some information, or do other things that require the use of the computer. So, following the advice of a member of a personal development forum, Trezker, I'll now be adding a clause to my 'no computer except for blogging' restriction, making it 'no computer except for blogging and research'. Also, since the challenge began, I've been using my laptop to play music because my mp3 player was broken. I would open the laptop, make a playist, press play, and then close the lid, so I really wasn't doing anything but listening to music (which doesn't count as computer usage!!). My mp3 player is now working, so it doesn't really matter, but I figured I'd mention it for posterity's sake. Now that I'm on the subject of music, I should also mention that I've been listening to ALOT more music than I used to. I go through at least two albums worth a day, often while cleaning, but mostly just staring off into space and singing along with my 'rock star' voice. The last time I restricted my usage of the TV or computer, there was a corresponding increase in my music listening. With alot of free time, one does what one can to entertain oneself. On a slightly different note, I'm accidentally watching a bit more TV than I'd planned. I live in a small house with many, many siblings, and the TV is always on in the main room. It's difficult to be out there, eating or whatever, without orienting myself to the TV. Perhaps I'm just being outrageously scrupulous... On a lighter note (this post is like a song....ha...), I'm slowly crawling out of my habit of staring into space and doing nothing. Just today, I read a book, 'My Side of the Mountain', that I haven't read in a long time, and thought about trying to memorize it (to give myself something to do), but dropped the idea after the first two paragraphs. I'm starting to get back into my old habit of setting goals in my head by thinking 'what could I do that no one else would have the guts (or patience) to do', and it's becoming fun to think of material for future blog posts. Getting Up at 6:00, No Naps I made a mistake!! Today, one day out of eight so far, I very accidentally forgot to unmute my laptop so the alarm could go off in the morning. I slept in an extra two hours, which is actually a bit odd because that would mean that I got twelve hours of sleep last night! I went to bed extra early so I wouldn't be tired after getting up in the morning and so I could maybe start doing some schoolwork, getting ahead in certain subjects. Waking up late completely ruined my plans! Other than the one slipup, waking up early hasn't been very difficult at all, and it makes the days seem much longer than they used to, which is a good thing, because I like to have a surplus of time, even if I don't know what to do with it all. A few days ago I watched the sun rise. It is indeed a beautiful sight. I've only been exhausted enough to desire nap-age once, and I admit I dozed for about five minutes, but then I shook it off, got up, and listened to some music. This surprises me a bit because the last time I tried something like this I was nap-wanting-exhausted for at least an hour a day. No Sugar of Any Kind One screwup and that's all! I forgot about my oath to shun all sugarfree products, and I ordered a light lemonade at mcdonalds. I actually remembered my oath after getting the lemonade, but... I didn't stop drinking it. I had just run a few miles and played football, so I was really thirsty, and there was nothing else to drink. To anyone I have offended by my severe lack of discretion, I apologize. Another little thing I've noticed is that, since the start of the challenge, I haven't really craved any sweets, treats, or sugary things. I can look at some candy, say to myself 'Hmm.. That is candy', and move on without even being tempted to eat some of it. When I think of spooning a nice dollop of tapioca into my mouth, my reaction is 'meh'. This is a complete one-eighty from the last time I tried this, when it took almost twenty days for the sugar cravings to stop. I really think this has a lot to do with my current habits of making fruit smoothies and drinking lots of fruit juice. The fructose satisfies me so that I no longer desire sugary things. 2 Sets of Pushups and Situps a Day Nothing much to report here. I'm up to 22 pushups, but I'm unsure about how many situps I can really do. I'm guessing it's lower than I initially thought, because I'm now doing them at a decent rate. Probably about fifteen, using only my abdominal muscles and keeping my feet flat on the floor. After that, my feet start lifting off of the floor. |
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Last Updated on Saturday, 23 May 2009 03:43 |
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Regaining Discipline Days 1-4 |
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Written by Administrator
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Monday, 18 May 2009 23:21 |
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Well, I'm here to report on the first few days of my 'regaining self discipline' challenge. No TV or Computer I wasn't really aware at first how much free time I had in a single day. I'm always moaning about how fast time seems to be going, but I really don't know what to do with the free time I now have. Usually, all of my free time (after school and on weekends) is spent either playing video games, watching exorbitant amounts of television, or idly browsing the web. Now that I don't have any of those crutches to fall back on, I literally do nothing. I mean, I don't read, draw, or even think very deeply. I just sit down and stare off into space, letting my mind wander. There is definitely an inherent problem in taking something away from yourself without having anything to replace it with. All that's left is a gaping hole, an empty vacuum. You can't simply ban yourself from watching tv without introducing new activities to take its place. I've used some of my free time trying to come up with new ways to spend it, but I've realized that my deeply set apathy was far more penetrating than I'd imagined. I can't really think of anything that I want to do (that doesn't require a computer) . I don't really want to do anything academic because that type of knowledge doesn't really satisfy me in any way anymore. I used to enjoy academic knowledge for its own sake, but not the past few months . That type of knowledge is usually not immediately useful or applicable in any way. I like to draw, even though I'm not that good at it, but I get bored after two minutes of sitting down with a pencil and doodling on a piece of paper. If I continue drawing, I eventually grow frustrated at my inability to produce something beautiful, so I quit, sit down, and stare off into space some more. I think I might actually enjoy doing something physical, like taking long walks or skateboarding, but that's a definite no-go in the heat we're getting in California. It was 105 yesterday! Anyways, I'm still a bit stuck as to what to do with my time and I'd welcome any suggestions. Getting up at 6:00, No naps Okay, this really shouldn't be that hard, since I usually get up at 6:00 to get ready for school anyways, so I added a 'no nap' clause. I usually stay up till the ungodly hours of the night, and I'm hoping to exhaust myself into a good sleep schedule by removing my ability to nap. I've been following the letter of the law, but not really the spirit of it. So far, I've woken up at exactly 6:00 everyday except today, when I woke up at 6:14. However, on Saturday and Sunday, without anything electronic to amuse myself with, I invented a completely novel activity! It's call spozing. It's the achievment of a state inbetween staring off into space and dozing! I've spent a few hours honing this amazing ability, only to dump it now. As I've said, it breaks the spirit of the law, so I won't do it again : P. I've been feeling okay on the new sleep schedule. I go to bed at around 10:00 or 11:00, so I get at least seven hours of sleep every night. I only become tired when I have absolutely nothing to do. Waking up isn't that hard if it's done right away, without allowing time for convincing yourself that sleep > wake. I downloaded a nice little alarm clock program for my computer, Computer Alarm Clock. It lets me choose any sound file as an alarm sound, so I wake up every morning to some of my favorite music, though even the melodious tunes of Yellowcard can get obnoxious at 6:00 in the morning. No sugar of any kind 'Kay, I admit I had a few screwups here. The very first day of my challenge, I ate a packet of Mike and Ike's completely on accident. The very next day, I had a bite of a donut. However, after that, I don't think I've eaten anything with real sugar in it, including the high fructose corn syrup they put in lotsa fruit juices (Dole is the only brand I trust). The problem is that I've been eating some sugarfree sweets and stuff, which is kinda contrary to the point of this challenge, an exercise in self discipline. So, I've decided to dispense with all others artificial sweeteners as well. Instead of eating lots of treats, I'm making lots of fruit smoothies. You'd be surprised what a few bananas, some milk, mixed berries, and some ice could do! They're possibly the most delicious thing under the planet. I was able to pick up some bananas for $0.50 a pound and some frozen mixed berries for about $2 a bag. A bag of mixed berries can make four smoothies. So, adding the cost of milk, a 400 cal smoothie costs about $1.50 to make. Not bad at all. I'm not sure if it's just the no-sugar, but I do feel just a bit more healthy than I used to. I have a skin condition called eczema, which makes my skin dry and scratchy, and which was recently going through a pretty bad period, but it's cleared up quite a bit without using any topical steriods. My clarity of thought has also improved slightly. I think these are good signs. 2 sets of pushups and situps a day Okay, to clear up any confusion, I made a mistake in my initial blog post and said that I'd be doing pushups and pullups, but I actually meant pushups and situps, which has been going pretty good so far. I'm up to seventeen pushups (actually not that pathetic for me) and seventeen situps (and I mean real situps...I can probably do a hundred sissy situps). I only forgot once, which was this morning. There was a time issue, and I'll try to keep it from happening again. I hope to be up to at least thirty pushups and fourty situps by the end of the one month trial. Well, that's it for now. I'll try to post often. |
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 May 2009 01:51 |
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