I mentioned on Twitter that I had taken a power nap, but wasn’t sure if it was effective (I was a bit groggy afterward). footndale asked if I had followed the instructions on this excellent infographic on napping. I thought I would share.
Ahhh. 2008.
The new year… broken in a little bit but still with that new year smell.
We’ve rounded the corner to February and its first holiday: Groundhog Day! Hey… that means it’s time to set some resolutions!
About ten months ago, I completely stole an idea suggested by Dave Seah. Tired of committing to New Year’s Goals that were forgotten by mid-January, he suggested a new take was in order. Starting on the second day of the second month, or Groundhog’s Day, instead of the crazy first day of the first month, we can set goals when our minds aren’t caught up in the egg nog, Christmas Gifts and New Year festivities.
Subsequently, on the third day of the third month and the fourth day of the fourth month (etc.), we review those goals to ensure we’re still meeting them.
I’d like to cover two aspects in this post. First, the results of my actual goals as they stand. Second, my thoughts on this experiment and where it can go from here.
Groundhog Resolution Review day is here again. Last month, I completely revamped my goals to more accurately align with the craziness going on in my life at the moment.
Previous Goals
Prep our House to Sell
- Meet with 2 realtors to determine a selling price. 10/19. Completed 10/19.
- Sort through all our junk to have a garage sale. My mother-in-law has been recruited to handle the actual sale, but everything needs to be sorted and moved to her house by 10/18. Done
- Declutter for showings by 10/23. Late, but done.
- Bang through as much of the Honey-do list of repairs as is possible. This list will most likely grow after meeting with the realtors. 10/23. Done, I think.
Look for a new house in Indy
- Review listings suggested by realtor. 10/12. Done
- Visit Indy and attend some showings. 10/28. Done
- We have found, and made an offer on, a house in Fortville a suburb of Indy.
Business dealings
- Touch base with my remaining contacts here to see if they know anyone down there. 10/19. Failed. Didn’t really contact anyone with everything else going on.
- Create a networking website (with a minimum of a blog) for Indianapolis freelancers. 11/2. ???. After last month’s mention of “Indianapolis freelancers” I was contacted by Noah from IndyLance.com a freelance group in Indianapolis. Too bad it was after I had already registered my own freelance domain name.
- Freshen up my business website. 11/11. Late My schedule has cleared up a bit, so picked up this task again.
- Attend the User Interface conference in Cambridge, MA. 11/8. Canceled. Despite looking forward to this conference, I just didn’t think it was right to attend, leaving the boys in the care of others while both parents were gone.
Servanthood Leadership
- Find one active way to serve my sons each day. In progress. I started strong, doing things like helping the kids make their beds or taking dirty laundry down for them, but sort of stopped doing things deliberately toward the end of the period.
- Continue to remember that we must function as a family, and therefore its important to continue to do deliberate activities together at least once per week. Pass. We tried to do something fun with the kids each weekend. The Bee Movie is pretty good, BTW.
Be fit
I’m not going to set much of a goal here, other than keeping an eye on my diet.
- Cut soda and junk snacks from my diet. 10/19. Failed. Halloween is bad, bad news.
- Begin tracking dietary intake again. 11/2. Failed. I haven’t been diligent in starting to track my food again.
Write More
I’m going to start using my daily journal entry as a place to track these goals with more regularity. At the next review, I should have a nice bullet list to know where my successes have been.Failed. Again I started strong, but didn’t finish well. I stuck my journal in the nightstand during a frantic cleaning, and haven’t pulled it out since. I did keep a little bullet list of accomplishments, though.
New Goals
Only a couple of new changes here, otherwise I’ll keep working at the failed and “in progress” ones listed above.
- Move? We don’t close on the new house until December 20th, unless the builder finishes up the remaining changes sooner than than. We though we might move to Indy and live in corporate housing after Thanksgiving.
- Enjoy the start of the holidays. If we really are moving, I don’t want to rush through Thanksgiving and forget the purpose: Being thankful as well as spending time with friends and family.
What the heck are Groundhog Day Resolutions?
From last month’s installment:
The whole idea for moving New Year’s Resolutions to Groundhog Day instead was an idea by David Seah. The best part of the idea is a monthly review to see how the goals have gone and to readjust as necessary. To make it more memorable, Dave suggests doing the review on the day that matches the number of the month (2/2, 3/3, 4/4, etc.)
The GHDRR quartet
There are four primary followers of the Groundhog Day Resolution Reviews (that I know of). Below is a link to the others. I’ve posted to their October reviews; I’ll update to the new ones if I remember to.
- Our fearless leader, Dave Seah at Groundhog Day Resolution Review Day 7.
- Corrie Haffly at October Review for Groundhog Day Resolutions.
- Gary V. Vaughan at GHD Resolution Review Day 7.
Previous series posts
My previous claptrap on the subject:
To quote Keanu: “Whoa”. Another month has passed and it is now time for my Groundhog Day Resolution Review for September 9th. Here goes:
Be Fit
Getting (and staying) fit can be hard to do. This month has been particularly challenging. I mentioned in last month’s post that I was having some issues with the software I was using to keep track of my food, it was just too cumbersome. I haven’t had a chance to look at any other software, so I haven’t been tracking my diet at all. That has made it much easier to make poorer choices. Items of bad choice are ice cream (I rediscovered vanilla ice cream with maple syrup as a topping) and soda, which I’ve been drinking again for the caffeine.
Turning to stimulants was a response to less sleep and trying to get more done. The lack of sleep resulted in my skipping more morning exercise routines than in any previous month since I started exercising back in April. Partially, I find aerobic workouts (on a treadmill) boring. I’ve also grown tired of my weight routine. The time to complete three sets of each exercise after an already late start has butted into the normal routine of getting ready and off to work.
This past week, I looked into Tim Ferriss’s post From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks. After two days using a single set to failure system, I feel as though I’ve been exercising harder than the previous 3 set method I was using. I need to evaluate if it was just a fluke from not exercising during vacation, or if there really is a difference in the exercises done this way. If the feeling of a true workout continues, I’ll keep his method of strength training.
I’m resisting my urge to build my own application for tracking food and exercise. I’m not sure if this is just a mental tangent I’m using as an excuse to avoid tracking things, or a legitimate opportunity. Either way, I just need to track things to really keep track of my progress.
Write More
The idea I stole of writing a One Sentence Journal was successful, at least the first three weeks of August. Each day, I write a minimum of one sentence in a journal, but this week, I simply have forgotten to write anything at all.
My blogging efforts have been improved this month over last month; although you wouldn’t know it by reading the RSS feed. Longer posts have been interesting me lately, but by the very nature of their size they are much more difficult o write. I have several sitting in the queue waiting to be finished.
Deliberate Dates
Uh oh. I’ve failed here… The Wife asked me to ask her on a date again. That means I didn’t follow up like I should have.
Previous series posts
Best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek
In his first point on timing the creative urge, he mentions one way to extend a creative work cycle:
I don’t believe that it isn’t possible to do more than 4 hours of good creative work per waking cycle. This can be extended only slightly by caffeine power naps (down a cup of espresso and then take a 20-minute nap) or “ultra-naps” that are multiples of the 90-minute ultradian cycle (I prefer 90 minutes or 3 hours).
For some reason, I never thought to use the ultra-strength power of espresso as I’ve mentioned my previous experiences with Caffeine Power Naps. Still, its good to see I’m in league with a best selling author.
It’s August 8th (08-08) and time for another Groundhog Day Resolution review. David Seah, creator of the GHDR, sums up the whole thing in his latest review entitled Groundhog Day Resolutions Review Day 6.
Since I’ve been slacking the last two months (in posting an update, at least), I’ll get right to it.
Be Fit
Last Month:
Six days a week I get up entirely too early (between 5:00 and 5:30 am) and hit the gym. Well, the gym in our basement, anyway. I alternate my exercise routine between strength training and aerobic exercise. Traditionally the aerobic exercise has been brisk walking on our new treadmill. While I was hoping to be able to jog, I unfortunately have a bad ankle which has prevented me from doing so. On strength training days, I switched to less reps at a higher weight back in May. For some exercises, I’m still dialing in the correct weights.
For my diet, I have switched to a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet in accordance with my doctor’s recommendation. This has been easier to do now that The Wife is also watching my diet and purchasing foods that are better for our whole family. I was tracking my foods online, but the app I was using has just become too cumbersome for daily tracking.
The weight goal I set at the beginning of the year was to lose 30 pounds by my birthday. That day is approaching quickly (toward the end of this month), and I still have about 9 pounds to go. Unfortunately, that means I will not make my goal by the intended date. Ultimately, though, it is healthy habits I’m looking to instill in myself over an actual weight. Goal Status: Fair (Good on exercise, poor on diet).
This Month:
I will continue my morning workout routine. So far it has been successful. On the diet side of things iI need to do a better job of ensuring the foods I eat are within my dietary restrictions. For example, while shrimp are low in fat, they are high in cholesterol. Also on bad eating days, I tend to skip the tracking, which (I think) leads to even more bad eating.
Write More
Last Month:
Blogging has pretty much been out of the picture for me. Ever since I started exercising in the morning, I’ve found it difficult to make any other time for writing. I’ve continued to maintain a list of potential blog posts and have even done some mind mapping exercises to determine what I might write on a few topics. Alas, nothing has come of that. Status: poor.
This Month:
I’m stealing an idea from Gretchen at the Happiness Project, by starting a One Sentence Journal. I’m using my moleskine notebooks and making sure I write at least one sentence in each (one personal and one business) each day. My goal is to use this as a springboard back into the world of blogging. I’m one day into it.
Remember significant events
Last Month:
I called or sent cards to everyone on my calendar last month. I guess that’s a win.
This Month:
Keep on truckin’… This goal can probably be moved into a maintenance mode going forward.
Deliberate Dates
Last Month:
I might mention the night The Wife and I went to see Die Hard. Unfortunately, that was the month before. Time flies. As a family, we bought a bike rack and have taken the kids on family bike rides on local trails.
This Month:
Uh… I dunno. I need to make time, as usual.
Previous series posts
- Be fit
- For the past two weeks (except Sundays), I have gotten up at 5am to spend about an hour working out on the weight machine. So far, success has been based on my not giving up. Weight loss has been negligible. My exercise has been anaerobic lifting, lower weights for more reps. My hope was that it would mean a better visit to the bathroom scale, but so far that has not been the case. It may be that I’m adding muscle and losing some weight at a relatively equal pace.
- I started back on the No S diet, although its been more of a guideline than a rule. I’m still avoiding unnecessary snacking, but I’m still trying to adjust to the new exercise routine. I’ve also been taking Sundays as a free-food day. A lot of this is because we tend to eat out the most on Sunday.
- Goal status: Good.
- Write More
- Three posts total for an average of less than one per week. I noticed that working out has significantly cut into blogging time. I’m not sure how to shift to an alternate writing time, but I’m hoping to make better with the writing. I have a few ideas for new blogs: one for the business as well as another idea in the works. However, I feel I have to close out some previous commitments before starting new blogs.
- Goal status: Poor.
- Remember important annual events
- No events to remember. Success!
- Goal status: Satisfactory
- Deliberate Dates
- Since we’ve been back from vacation, I haven’t taken the time to date my wife officially, but we have been watching Lost - Seasons 1 and 2 - on DVD on Saturday nights (with a romantic basket full of laundry to be folded). She thinks Lost jumped the shark at the start of Season 2, but continues to watch it because its some specific time together.
- With the boys, it has been harder. Soccer and t-ball seasons have begun. That’s five nights a week spent driving to practices or games of one sport or the other. That leaves little time to deliberately do things with the boys. Even geocaching has been difficult to organize. I took a bicycle ride with the Youngest today, which was a very nice time together.
- Goal status: Fair.
Previous series posts
When David Seah suggested the monthly review of Groundhog Day Resolutions, I thought the idea was brilliant. It is one thing to have goals, but another thing to actually review how you are doing on them. Little did I know how quickly a month passes.
I have written before about power naps before — short naps in the middle of the day that refresh and renew.
Now it seems that researchers have discovered that afternoon siestas have health benefits as well. A recent study (registration required) discovered that Greek men who took a regular afternoon naps were 37% less likely to die of heart disease than those who did not.
While the researchers admit that a single study does not make this conclusive, there are many physicians who see the benefit of a mid-day rest.
Specialists not involved with the study said there are sound biochemical reasons to believe that a nap may help protect against heart disease.
Essentially, they said, sleep at any time of day acts like a valve to release the stress of everyday life. Blood pressure is reduced and heart rates slow. At the same time, the immune system shores itself up. Increasingly, researchers are recognizing the role the immune system plays in heart disease.
As I’ve mentioned before, my dad takes an afternoon siesta every day right after lunch. He is the youngest 74-year-old I know. While I am sure this is only one part of his story of success, I can see how some rest during the day can be beneficial.
In my own experience, a 20 minute power nap has greatly benefited me on days I’m feeling drowsy. If I had the ability to integrate this into a regular daily pattern I would, but most client sites won’t put in a nap room just for my benefit.
