Day 1460 - Back from Travel and Guests

Day 1460 Record Keeping
Day 1431 Fixed Meditation (15 min, metta/vipassana)
Day 1306 Writing (1 13 min Pomodoro)
Day 845 Rowing (10 min/1800 m)
Day 586 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, hip stretch & back smash)
Day 236 Social Media (DID NOT DO)
Day 87 Weekly Meal Prep SRHI = 32
–
Great sleep. It's been rough.

My friends from Texas stayed with us and we did some traveling. Getting back into a routine has been like pulling teeth, and I have to imagine that if Endurance is the cumulative effect of Willpower, then it too can be depleted. Today I'm back, at minimums, but I feel pretty good.

During the visit I was able confront some really difficult situations with almost complete aplomb. Those were situations that even a few months ago I would have exploded over. So I think I've made significant improvements meditation-wise, and I think this cross training is paying off. I did quite a lot of mobility, and in two instances used a frozen water bottle to really work my quads. I did some pretty intense climbing to get to the top of a tower in Valencia - the views were great, but my poor legs were shot. I found the frozen water bottle worked really well. Kelly Starrett had a video on working on quads, and he said they were excruciating to properly mobilize. He was absolutely right. When Starrett says it's excruciating, you know it's gotta be bad.

I think a lot of the difficulty I have in getting back to my routine is that I know that certain aspects are just going to get better in a few months. We are leaving Spain very shortly (in April) to repatriate in the States, and this feeling of purgatory has got me unconsciously thinking "what's the point?" This especially applies to meal prep (having more space to do a proper one and get food in bulk) and exercise (I won't have my rower anymore and will have to find other exercises to do). I also think it'll be a lot better in terms of light and energy. So many of the small willpower drains that sap me as an expat can be recruited to push my habits.

Nevertheless I will endeavor to do as much as I can now. I'm only at minimums, and the book I just finished reading, Cal Newport's Deep Work, has me seriously questioning my social media habit. My Meal Prep habit is shot. Even though I did it today, it's definitely no longer a habit. It underscores the theory that just as it's harder to form a once a week habit, it's also easier to break.

But at the end of the day it feels good to be back. Picking habits back up is more than half the battle.

EDIT: Something I forgot to add was that I'll be taking the SRHI for the meal prep in order to test whether it's better to just start from scratch or soldier on in order to regain the automaticity. There is some research out there that suggests once we make that fold in our brain that it's always kind've there, and therefore it's easier to reinstate.

Day 1394

Day 1394 Record Keeping
Day 1366 Fixed Meditation (10 min, metta)
Day 1241 Writing (1 Pomodoros)
Day 780 Rowing (10 min/ 1700 m)
Day 521 Mobility/Stretching (hip stretch & back smash)
Day 171 Social Media (SRHI = 81, quora)
–
Horrible sleep. Woke up tired and depressed. Today was a  really good example of how feeling bad didn't really impact my routine. Discipline over motivation.

Day 1393

Day 1393 Record Keeping
Day 1365 Fixed Meditation (10 min, metta/vipassana)
Day 1240 Writing (1 Pomodoros)
Day 779 Rowing (10 min/ 1800 m)
Day 520 Mobility/Stretching (hip stretch & back smash)
Day 170 Social Media (SRHI = 80, research)
–
Ok sleep. Tired.

Day 1385

Day 1385 Record Keeping
Day 1357 Fixed Meditation (10 min, metta/vipassana)
Day 1232 Writing (2 Pomodoros)
Day 771 Rowing (10 min/1900 m)
Day 512 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, achilles stretching)
Day 162 Social Media (SRHI = 81, research)
–
Good sleep. Just really exhausted in general.

Day 1381

Day 1381 Record Keeping
Day 1353 Fixed Meditation (10 min, vipassana)
Day 1228 Writing (DID NOT DO)
Day 767 Rowing (10 min/2000 m)
Day 508 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, back smash & hip stretch)
Day 158 Social Media (SRHI = 81, 4 Pomodoros, Quora post)
–
Great sleep.

Day 1380

Day 1380 Record Keeping
Day 1352 Fixed Meditation (metta/vipassana)
Day 1227 Writing (1 Pomodoro)
Day 766 Rowing (10 min/1800 m)
Day 507 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, back smash & hip stretch)
Day 157 Social Media (SRHI = 78, 43 min, tweets for week)
–
Ok sleep. Severely depressed and anxious today. Been a rough week with that, but I'm still automatically doing all routine with high degrees of intensity (even if it's not necessarily a lot of minutes put in).

Day 1379

Day 1379 Record Keeping
Day 1351 Fixed Meditation (metta/vipassana)
Day 1226 Writing (1 Pomodoro)
Day 765 Rowing (10 min/2000 m)
Day 506 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, back smash)
Day 156 Social Media (SRHI = 78, 20 min, blog post draft)
–
Ok sleep, bad dreams.  I had a horrible night sleep, bad dreams, and had a horrible wakeup which made me cycle into really bad, depressed, anxious thoughts for the entirety of the day. Nevertheless, I did it all!

Day 1378

Day 1378 Record Keeping
Day 1350 Fixed Meditation (metta/vipassana)
Day 1225 Writing (1 Pomodoro)
Day 764 Rowing (10 min/1900 m)
Day 505 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, back smash & hip stretch)
Day 155 Social Media (SRHI = 79, 20 min, blog post draft)
–
Good sleep.

Day 1377

Day 1377 Record Keeping
Day 1349 Fixed Meditation (metta)
Day 1224 Writing (1 Pomodoro)
Day 763 Rowing (10 min/1800 m)
Day 504 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, back smash & hip stretch)
Day 154 Social Media (SRHI = 78, 20 min, blog post draft)
–
Horrible sleep.

Day 1374

Day 1374 Record Keeping
Day 1346 Fixed Meditation (DID NOT DO)
Day 1221 Writing (1 Pomodoro)
Day 760 Rowing (10 min/1700 m)
Day 501 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, achilles work)
Day 151 Social Media (SRHI = 81, 20 min, twitter research)
–
Good sleep. Been having a surprisingly good run of good sleep. My sleep cycle is all off from the travel, but it's pretty regular and deep, roughly 8 hours long, so not excessive. I've also been meditating as I go to sleep, so maybe that's had an impact. Did not have time to finish my routine with meditation today because I ran into a social plan.  I'm really pleased how well this week has gone once I finally formalized dropping to minimums at confronting wobbly habits. Social Media has seems to almost be at a super habit, which is great. 

Day 1373

Day 1373 Record Keeping
Day 1345 Fixed Meditation (10 min, metta/vipassana)
Day 1220 Writing (1 Pomodoro)
Day 759 Rowing (10 min/1700 m)
Day 500 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, back smash and hip stretch)
Day 150 Social Media (SRHI = 80, 36 min, tweets for week)
–
Good sleep. 

Day 1372

Day 1372 Record Keeping
Day 1344 Fixed Meditation (10 min, metta/vipassana)
Day 1219 Writing (1 Pomodoro)
Day 758 Rowing (10 min/1500 m)
Day 499 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, achilles smash and stretch)
Day 149 Social Media (SRHI = 76, 20 min, Quora answer)
–
Good sleep. 

Day 1365

Day 1365 Record Keeping
Day 1337 Fixed Meditation (affirmations/miscellaneous)
Day 1212 Writing (1 Pomodoro)
Day 751 Rowing (walking, 45 min)
Day 492 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, back smash & hip stretch)
Day 142 Social Media (SRHI = 77, 40 min, tweets for week)
–
Good sleep.

Day 1351

Day 1351 Record Keeping
Day 1323 Fixed Meditation (affirmations)
Day 1198 Writing (3 Pomodoros)
Day 737 Rowing (1 hour, walking)
Day 478 Mobility/Stretching (DID NOT DO)
Day 128 Social Media (quora post)
--
Early to Rise
Day 506 Sleep Recording  (DID NOT DO)
Day 477 Bedtime Curfew (DID NOT DO
Day 315 Wakeup Alarm (DID NOT DO)
–
Great sleep. 

Day 1330

Day 1330 Record Keeping
Day 1302 Fixed Meditation (10 min)
Day 1177 Writing (4 Pomodoros)
Day 716 Rowing (walking, swimming)
Day 457 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, back smash, hip and achilles stretch)
Day 107 Social Media (10 min, SRHI = 70)
--
Early to Rise
Day 485 Sleep Recording  (DID NOT DO)
Day 456 Bedtime Curfew
Day 294 Wakeup Alarm (DID NOT DO)
–
Ok sleep. 

Day 1329 & Still Traveling, Scrivener Draft Writing Progress

Day 1329 Record Keeping
Day 1301 Fixed Meditation (10 min)
Day 1176 Writing (2 Pomodoros)
Day 715 Rowing (walking, swimming)
Day 456 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, plantar & back smash)
Day 106 Social Media (1 hour, SRHI = 71)
--
Early to Rise
Day 484 Sleep Recording  (DID NOT DO)
Day 455 Bedtime Curfew
Day 293 Wakeup Alarm (DID NOT DO)
–
Great sleep. 

Traveling. Arrived in Honolulu yesterday. It's pretty relaxed, so today I had a chance to do most of my habits and swim in the ocean. The new method I have for arranging multiple edits on Scrivener is really helping my writing. 

Basically it's a vertical split screen, with one page that acts as a log. So I'm able to bust out a quick rough draft, then keep the old draft on the right and the one I'm currently writing on the left. Using James Patterson's advice in his Masterclass on quickly going from one draft to the next to keep forward momentum going really helps with this. I'm doing a Rough Draft, Global Edits, Section Edits, Paragraph and Line Edits, and Research Inclusion, plus a log and a scratchpad for writing and rewriting paragraphs over and over again to get the wording right. 

THIS BLOG describes divides it up as Structural, Stylistic, Copyediting, and Proofreading. I'm sure I'll change things up as I do this more, but so far it makes me pretty excited to work and tinker with text, and that's a pretty big change. The log allows me to fold in Pomodoros – which worked so well in the past especially with first drafts – into the greater editing process

Day 1321

Day 1321 Record Keeping
Day 1293 Fixed Meditation (10 min)
Day 1168 Writing (2 Pomodoros)
Day 707 Rowing (45 min, walking)
Day 448 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, calf stretch & back smash)
Day 98 Social Media (1 hour, SRHI = 73, extended instance)
--
Early to Rise
Day 476 Sleep Recording  (DID NOT DO)
Day 447 Bedtime Curfew
Day 285 Wakeup Alarm (DID NOT DO)
–
Ok sleep.

Day 1318

Day 1318 Record Keeping
Day 1290 Fixed Meditation (20 min)
Day 1165 Writing (4 Pomodoros - extended session)
Day 704 Rowing (30 min, walking)
Day 445 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, hip stretch & back smash)
Day 95 Social Media (20 min, SRHI = 72)
--
Early to Rise
Day 473 Sleep Recording  (10|11|7|8:30)
Day 444 Bedtime Curfew
Day 282 Wakeup Alarm (DID NOT DO)
–
Ok sleep.  Resurgence of my cold yesterday had me not doing much.

Day 1316

Day 1316 Record Keeping
Day 1288 Fixed Meditation (DID NOT DO)
Day 1163 Writing (3 Pomodoros - extended session)
Day 702 Rowing (20 min, walking)
Day 443 Mobility/Stretching (DID NOT DO)
Day 93 Social Media (DID NOT DO, SRHI = 72)
--
Early to Rise
Day 471 Sleep Recording  (111:45|8|9:30)
Day 442 Bedtime Curfew
Day 280 Wakeup Alarm (DID NOT DO)
–
Bad sleep.  I thought I was over this cold but felt horrible today.

Day 1315

Day 1315 Record Keeping
Day 1287 Fixed Meditation (10 min)
Day 1162 Writing (5 Pomodoros - extended session)
Day 701 Rowing (30 min, walking)
Day 442 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, squat and calf stretch)
Day 92 Social Media (10 min, SRHI = 73)
--
Early to Rise
Day 470 Sleep Recording  (10:30|11|7|8:30)
Day 441 Bedtime Curfew
Day 279 Wakeup Alarm (DID NOT DO)
–
Great sleep.