If I don't put these down then I probably won't get to them until September. The design is to put out a weekly goal list and progress report every Sunday, and to also put out a monthly goal list on the 1st of every month.
So for the month of November
Body - Drop to 190 by Dec 1st, begin track training, put together race schedule for 08
Mind - Draw a fairly accurate self-portrait, Work halfway through Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, cTake 4 GRE Practice exams, Work on penmanship everyday
Spirit - Write a letter with everyone in my immediate family
For the week beginning Nov 4th
Body - End membership at the gym, fix bike
Mind - Complete the first project in the Drawing book
Spirit - Write to Kelsey & Grandma
Thursday, November 8, 2007
1st Success
Today I woke up at 6am on the dot, according to the clock in my room, which is actually about 8 minutes fast. This slight inconsistency may lead to a small problem if I ever get into a situation where I need to base my sleep schedule on a real government monitored time, but until I get to that stage I think I'll just be happy with what I've got.
Primary Goal - Wakeup at 6am, Check
It was actually pretty difficult and there was a lot of rationalization going on from both ends of the spectrum, with part of me wanting to head back to sleep, and the other half of me trying to follow the guidelines I set up last night. For me, and I think for most people, its always been a matter of getting htat first step out the bed, and then enough steps away to leave the gravitational pull of the uber comfortable sheets and sprawling warm body who I'm lucky enough to lay next to every night. In the end I simply told myself I can go back to sleep after I'm done with my posting for the morning. A perfectly respectable compromise, one whic I'm not sure if I intend to followup on, but it was enough to get me out of bed this morning.
For some reason I just received an intense urge to be in the middle of a clear mountain morning, 7000 feet above sea level with a snowboard strapped to my feet. Breathing in the delicious sharp air and preparing for that first run.
Its been too long, going on three years since I was last up a mountain side. Well, snowboarding that is.
Goals for the day
Body - Workout in the park 4x25 pushups, 4x5 pullups, 4 x15 jumpups
Mind - Drawing & GRE Practice
Spirit - Letter to Grandma & Train Solon 15 minutes
Primary Goal - Wakeup at 6am, Check
It was actually pretty difficult and there was a lot of rationalization going on from both ends of the spectrum, with part of me wanting to head back to sleep, and the other half of me trying to follow the guidelines I set up last night. For me, and I think for most people, its always been a matter of getting htat first step out the bed, and then enough steps away to leave the gravitational pull of the uber comfortable sheets and sprawling warm body who I'm lucky enough to lay next to every night. In the end I simply told myself I can go back to sleep after I'm done with my posting for the morning. A perfectly respectable compromise, one whic I'm not sure if I intend to followup on, but it was enough to get me out of bed this morning.
For some reason I just received an intense urge to be in the middle of a clear mountain morning, 7000 feet above sea level with a snowboard strapped to my feet. Breathing in the delicious sharp air and preparing for that first run.
Its been too long, going on three years since I was last up a mountain side. Well, snowboarding that is.
Goals for the day
Body - Workout in the park 4x25 pushups, 4x5 pullups, 4 x15 jumpups
Mind - Drawing & GRE Practice
Spirit - Letter to Grandma & Train Solon 15 minutes
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Following a true blue pattern
Given the various amounts of energy I spend towards doing things which have no real import, I'm wondering if I shouldn't come up with two different classes of daily effort, one being Passive Effort, and the other being Active Effort. Recently it seems everything I'm doing revolves around passive effort, simply floating from idea to idea with no real trajectory of thought or coalition of energy. Akin to dogpaddling upriver when I'm quite proficient with a freestroke, the feeling is quite strange, especially considering I want to enter into Harvard's GSD within the next year or so, hopefully next year, but if not, then the year afterwards, which would put me in the awkward position of having way too much time to do way too much. However, at this juncture, I simply want to transform most of this PE to AE. Its hard. Active Energy takes concentration and willpower, and the ability to ignore distractions while simultaneously returning to work once the unavoidable distractions are dealt with. I don't think I've ever had a long bout of Active Effort, which is a shame. Most of this probably lies at the feet of my high passive effort threshold. I've never had to really work for anything in my life, never had trouble fulfilling any longterm goals, although in retrospect, there is always room for improvement had I chosen. In a way, I've created my own worst enemy, willing to accept better than mediocrity, when I could be creating the best. And its basically a matter of walking down the various paths I know are in front of me without trying to hop on any others. And to keep walking everyday, regardless of pain, weather, difficulty or opposition.
This blog is one of the paths I've chosen, one of the ones I've jumped off and on continuously for over a year. And once again I wanted to quit it, because it didn't match up perfectly with my current goals. It was a blog designed to fit the wandering mind of a struggling athlete, and here I am, writing about esoteric paths with no resemblance to a workout plan, nutrition analysis or story of frustrated bicycle repairs. Yet, this blog is still mine, and represents more than just the 44 weeks left before an Ironman begins. That title of 44 weeks also applies to setting a goal and then finishing it. It still applies. This time I have 8 weeks, 8 weeks of study time before my GREs, a little over 9 weeks before the application is due. And the goal setting is applicable again. But I want to do better than floating in on a high threshold of Passive Effort. I want to use all the Active Effort I found in my Ironman to push myself everyday. To transform myself into a person who gets up and gets it done. Everyday.
Starting with this blog.
Starting with my handwriting.
Starting with waking up in the morning.
Starting with studying everyday.
Starting with corresponding with the people I love.
Starting with training and eating right.
Starting with a goal and continuing everyday with effort.
Already my mind is met with attempts by Passive Effort to creep in on these vows of lazibacy. Like not writing down that I want to make a goal for each day, or a list of goals. Or a goal for each week, and each month, and each quarter... each year. But these goals are so necessary, and the first and most important daily goal I have, the one which will provide the bedrock behind all my future success, is to wake up early. At 5am, everyday. Starting tomorrow, and continuing everyday.
Each day, at 5am, I will wake up, and write down one goal for my pyramid (body-fitness, mind-LA, spirit-family). Then throughout the day I can update this blog with progress on those goals and with little snippets from my life. So that someday, I'll have some catalog of performance to look back at, that'll be nice.
This blog is one of the paths I've chosen, one of the ones I've jumped off and on continuously for over a year. And once again I wanted to quit it, because it didn't match up perfectly with my current goals. It was a blog designed to fit the wandering mind of a struggling athlete, and here I am, writing about esoteric paths with no resemblance to a workout plan, nutrition analysis or story of frustrated bicycle repairs. Yet, this blog is still mine, and represents more than just the 44 weeks left before an Ironman begins. That title of 44 weeks also applies to setting a goal and then finishing it. It still applies. This time I have 8 weeks, 8 weeks of study time before my GREs, a little over 9 weeks before the application is due. And the goal setting is applicable again. But I want to do better than floating in on a high threshold of Passive Effort. I want to use all the Active Effort I found in my Ironman to push myself everyday. To transform myself into a person who gets up and gets it done. Everyday.
Starting with this blog.
Starting with my handwriting.
Starting with waking up in the morning.
Starting with studying everyday.
Starting with corresponding with the people I love.
Starting with training and eating right.
Starting with a goal and continuing everyday with effort.
Already my mind is met with attempts by Passive Effort to creep in on these vows of lazibacy. Like not writing down that I want to make a goal for each day, or a list of goals. Or a goal for each week, and each month, and each quarter... each year. But these goals are so necessary, and the first and most important daily goal I have, the one which will provide the bedrock behind all my future success, is to wake up early. At 5am, everyday. Starting tomorrow, and continuing everyday.
Each day, at 5am, I will wake up, and write down one goal for my pyramid (body-fitness, mind-LA, spirit-family). Then throughout the day I can update this blog with progress on those goals and with little snippets from my life. So that someday, I'll have some catalog of performance to look back at, that'll be nice.
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