Day 1467 & Working Depletion With My Depletion Protocol

Day 1467 Record Keeping
Day 1438 Fixed Meditation (10 min, metta/gratitude)
Day 1313 Writing (1 13 min Pomodoro)
Day 852 Rowing (15 min/2400 m)
Day 593 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, calf stretch & squat work)
Day 243 Social Media (PAUSED)
Day 88 Weekly Meal Prep SRHI = 58
–
Ok sleep. Continuing to take the SRHI to see just how long my meal prep takes to get back to a habit.

Working Depletion With My Depletion Protocol
I was horribly tired before I got through the entirety of my routine. And I could tell because I kept cycling through procrastination mechanisms: cycling through email, facebook, and reddit. 

I had enough wherewithal to check my old article - Towards an Ego Depletion Protocol - and go through the checklist and countermeasures. I'll go through them here:

  1. Stop, drop and eat!  Did not do.
  2. Write down observations of what I'm feeling and what's happening. I was feeling tired and my task switching time was increasing a lot with every switch. I felt a fuzziness in concentration. And I was cycling through unproductive internet site in order to procrastinate.
  3. Write down reasons why I could be depleted. I did not sleep much at all last night. I was quite down and had a very protracted emotional discussion yesterday where I had to confront a lot of my own weaknesses. I also exerted more by increasing my rowing by 5 minutes in the morning. I also knew I had to do more today what with my meal prep.
  4. Watch a Youtube clip of a comedy or stand up comic. Watched 3 Key and Peele Youtube videos.
  5. Drop all habits to a smaller daily minimum. My remaining habits were already at minimums.
  6. Reverse my routine. I only had two more things to do.
  7. Get out into the sun. Did not do this.
  8. Read a list of my accomplishments. Did this.
  9. Read a list of affirmations. Did this.
  10. Meditate. Did not do this.

I went through this utterly exhausted and depleted and just went through this mechanically, doing the things that were the easiest. I did not write down anything, just did #2 in my mind. I did not do anything active like get out into the sun or meditate. And it worked.

The thing that helped was being prepared. I already had a list of affirmations and accomplishments written down, so all I had to do was read it.

I think in the future more preparation is important. Having a guided meditation audio track or simply a text would be helpful as a crutch in such an instance. As would having a snack on hand specifically for moments like this. 

Perhaps the most important thing that's needed is some sort of method for calling it. That is, it would be nice to have some way to trigger myself into realizing that I'm just wasting time. 

But all in all I think it was a successful test of the protocol. I think the next thing I have to get into is how to mitigate willpower loss in task switching, something that will only get worse as I add more habits and skills into the day. But that's for another day...

Day 1461 - 4 Years of Daily Recording!

Day 1461 Record Keeping
Day 1432 Fixed Meditation (10 min, tantra/vipassana)
Day 1307 Writing (1 13 min Pomodoro)
Day 846 Rowing (10 min/1700 m)
Day 587 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, hip stretch & back smash)
Day 237 Social Media (DID NOT DO)
–
Horrible sleep. Today marks 4 years of daily recording! Admittedly, this year has had a lot of holes, but still, it's important to keep going. Larger post to come!

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 1427 & Back from Flu

Day 1426 Record Keeping
Day 1398 Fixed Meditation (10 min, metta/vipassana)
Day 1273 Writing (DID NOT DO)
Day 812 Rowing (DID NOT DO)
Day 553 Mobility/Stretching (DID NOT DO)
Day 203 Social Media (43 min, tweets for week)
–
Great sleep. Had the worst flu ever for the last 2 weeks. Easing back into it. The new year has unfortunately been filled with a lot of interruptions, but that's just how the cookie crumbles I suppose.

Day 1412

Day 1412 Record Keeping
Day 1384 Fixed Meditation (10 min, gratitude/vipassana)
Day 1259 Writing (1, 20-min Pomodoro)
Day 798 Rowing (10 min/ 1900 m)
Day 539 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, hip stretch & back smash)
Day 189 Social Media (Quora, 4 20-min Pomodoros)
–
Horrendous sleep. I really need to figure out what's going on to reset my sleep. The last two weeks have been filled with depression and severe anxiety, and that is on top of the severe jet lag and my usual inability to deal with cold weather. 

But now that I'm back at my habits things are going smoothly. I'm just getting back into the rhythm before pushing things. Lydia is also doing a 30 day strict paleo challenge (minus not paying attention to alcohol), which I'm doing too. So far it's only a week, but I feel it's going well. 

I really want to start pushing things. Yesterday I felt so good, and it was only marginally curbed by my severe lack of sleep last night. But I know that managing Endurance is particularly key in these moments. 

Yet, cross training is sneaking in. I'm cross training meditation depending on the day. Quora is a great addition to my social media habit. Even aside from social media, it's just a great way for me to organize my thoughts and explain specific points. I hope to modify those answers for my article section on this site. And I already have a mobility change-up planned. 

Day 1411 & Happy New Year!

Day 1411 Record Keeping
Day 1383 Fixed Meditation (10 min, vipassana/gratitude)
Day 1258 Writing (3, 13-min pomodoros)
Day 797 Rowing (10 min/ 1700 m)
Day 538 Mobility/Stretching (10 min, hip stretch & back smash)
Day 188 Social Media (all tweets for week, 53 min)
–
Bad sleep. Back from a long much needed break. I attempted to push my writing to finish my proposal before the new year. I failed. I found it incredibly difficult, but, just like my previous year's NaNoWriMo win in 5 days, I found shortening my Pomodoros to 13 minutes much more efficient. It's bizarre, but I would stress out all day about doing 20 or 30 min sessions, and fail to do anything through phenomenal procrastination.

Nevertheless, 13 minutes for some reason was low enough for me to get started and almost addicting. I continued to do more and more as I got into the rhythm of 13 minute sets, often not taking a break, as Pomodoros usually call for. 

I wonder if this could be a potential method for easing into particularly difficult skill pushes...

I want to really spend more time focusing on writing, in what productivity blogger and author Cal Newport calls Deep Work. I'm now reading his book –  Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – which I find quite fascinating.

I'll be doing a 2017 year in review shortly, as well as sharing some thoughts in parallel skill pushes. 

Day 1395 & Mobilization Partitioning, Social Media Superhabit

Day 1395 Record Keeping
Day 1367 Fixed Meditation (10 min, metta/vipassana)
Day 1242 Writing (DID NOT DO)
Day 781 Rowing (10 min/ 1900 m)
Day 522 Mobility/Stretching (Research)
Day 172 Social Media (SRHI = 81, 3 pomodoros, quora - SUPERHABIT)
–
Good sleep. Once I got back I was attempting to partition several of my habits into different exercises depending on the day. One of the major ideas I got from finishing the book Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success was that cross training is good for accelerated skill development. But I needed time to just settle in, so I set all my habits to minimums. After getting over being sick last week, It's time to start in on doing that with mobilization, since I've basically been repeating the same few exercises each day, not at all tapping into the tomb that is Kelly Starrett's fantastic book Becoming a Supple Leopard.

Usually I'm horrible about planning to make changes outside of my routine. After I'm done, I'm usually done. This seemed like a good idea, to replace the routine with a research and planning element. So starting on Monday I'll be attempting to switch out, using Starrett's handy 14-day mobilization makeover. We'll see how it goes.

In addition, Social Media became a a superhabit by staying stable at over 80 on the SRHI for a week. I've started with Twitter, and have added answering Quora questions, which are really helpful in clearly and concisely articulating specific aspects of this project.

My goal next week is to really hit the ground running with finishing my book proposal. Like a Proposal Writing Week akin to my push for NaNoWriMo. I remember back when just getting a rough draft was difficult. I'm still finding the art of editing incredibly difficult, but luckily I've got a few Udemy courses on the subject from their recent 10 Euro sale.

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 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!