11:45 AM: In October, I created goals 25 out of 31 days. For the mind category, I achieved 92% of them, missing the mark on two. Ironically, one of the two missed was yesterday’s goal review of October’s goals, which is what I am doing now. The other was a day in which I most definitely complained. For the overarching monthly goals, I did not even attempt to find a worthwhile continued education course. I did not make a goal to do so on any day. I also did not redefine and revisit goals, nor did I make it a point to do so on any given day. Though, I at least reviewed them on the first, if memory serves me.
In the body category I batted 84%. Nearly every one of my misses involved getting to bed before 11 pm and towards the end of the month I stopped even trying. It is worth noting that I did feel better and felt that I got more done when I was getting to bed earlier. Perhaps it’s worth another shot.
Relationships is another 92%. There was a day in which I could have handled an argument with Suzi more skillfully. And I took way too long to get back to Maria on something. I also did not go horseback riding, but I made multiple attempts. And we did go zip lining.
Money is another 84%. Misses included not doing paperwork when I had a goal to do so or spending on a day I’d designated not to.
As expected, worst overall performance is on the house, batting 60%. Misses are neglecting to address very specific tasks for the day, most often because of taking on extra work hours. Often enough because I simply did not look over my list after making it at the beginning of the day.
What I’ve learned:
- If I have a monthly goal that requires perfection through the month, I will abandon it all together. I did this with getting to bed each night by 11 pm. It might be better to break this down week by week.
- I still let extra hours interfere with other categories. I missed very few jiujitsu classes, (two, I think) but each one was because of taking on extra hours and I don’t think I got a late start on at least one of the days.
- Two ways of looking at the month. I can beat myself up, disgusted and focused on failures. Or I can look at the big wins.
- Even though I missed the mark on getting to bed by 11 75% of the nights, I still made it about half of the nights, which was enough to see that maybe I like it and can pursue without rigidity.
- I may not have touched the garage, but I got more work done around the house this month than in the past five years. I’m not even sure if that’s an exaggeration. The back bedroom is cleared, the basement is about 75%, the yard work is in a good place, I decorated for Halloween on the 1st, the downstairs bathroom is about done, the roof is patched, the gutters cleaned, and a bunch of other miscellaneous stuff done. I even cleared out under my fucking bed.
- I have also made more progress in jiujitsu in the past month than I have in the past ten years.
- I had the presence of mind to terminate Dr. Squat’s powerlifting program before I got injured. This was a very reasonable extension of “Reduce reps per set as necessary in program”
- I only smoked twice, and less than half a pack each time.
- While I had a few slips from reason into emotional reactivity, I bounced back quickly and skillfully.
1:19 AM: In striving to get better, I often feel as if I’ve gotten worse.
