February Review
I'm proud of my progress! Even though it wasn't 100%, I'm trying to get over my perfectionism and look at that raw progress. And I made progress on my goals! I also got data to move forward and make more well informed decisions.
Meditate at least 5 minutes
I made this goal a little more than half of the time. Much better than zero!
That said, I want this to be a habit. I need to bake this into a standard morning routine where this happens shortly after I wake up. Otherwise I forget and/or don't have a lot of contextual cues to remind me. I also want an alternative if I miss it in the morning. I'm not sure what that would be, but it should be clear and straightforward. Even a lunch walking meditation would be fantastic. Something, anything.
Journal one page
This is almost a habit when I wake up, which is amazing. But making it a part of my morning routine would also be good to ensure it sticks.
Exercise (minimum walk 1 mile, goal is run half mile, 3 sets of burpees, or some sport for an hour)
I built exercise into my day through the various things I do. That's great! Outside of that, it's becoming something I do when I have some time and feel like I want to move. As opposed to feeling reticent to do anything.
But I worry about what will happen when my lifestyle that enforces lots of exercise changes. I can cross that bridge when I get there, but I could also add a small amount of exercise to my morning routine. This will at least grease the groove, and worst case scenario, I at least did a little thing to move my body every day.
Express my mood honestly to my partner
Feel much more comfortable than before talking to my partner about how I'm feeling. It used to feel very scary to share my feelings and now it's only a little bit scary. Progress!
But I can still be more open. I have anxiety that I (monkey brain) shouldn't share because I don't want to burden my partner. But I (human brain) know that they want to hear about it and be there for me. So I can be more diligent about this. Worth thinking about a way forward to do that.
Get ceiling and walls done in the master bedroom of the house
Got the ceilings done and a lot more of the house filled out while we have the materials. Didn't get the walls done, but got a lot of ceilings done throughout the east side of the house.
If I want it to go faster, I can be putting more time in throughout the week. I currently am scheduling time with my buddy to work on, as this motivates me to work on it. Otherwise, it's after work and I get zonked and then avoid it because it's hard work. Having a list I make at the end of every session of what's next would be great. Then I can go in and do things like a caveman with no brain. There is always something to do in there. Including many activities that I could do for a small time that would add up to measurable progress.
Volunteer twice this month
I trained for our neighborhood emergency team, fixed potholes in our road, and worked on Lichen.
I settled on the neighborhood training and put on blinders to any other volunteering. It was great to hyper focus on that one thing, but then any other work fell to the wayside. Scheduling stuff works for me, so I need to find opportunities I can sign up for and be accountable to showing up.
Go to one community event
I went to a community meeting about improving accessible transportation (walking, biking, safety, etc.). It was enlightening, empowering, and fascinating to juggle these problems with other people.
Having a list of the various community events would be a great asset to have. Then I could check in on them and find one that works within my schedule and join if I am available. But I achieved this goal, so not too much. If I were to continue, I would combine this and the previous goal in some way. They both achieve the same purpose of community involvement.
Go to three Aikido classes
Went to a ton of classes! This was kind of a shoo-in, so now I have a regular routine for going to class. I had an outdoor tool handle sitting around that I'm using to do basic jo exercises and stretching. I also made a "practice bokken" out of a piece of metal conduit we had for house repairs. This in particular is great strength training and helps me practice at home.
Jo Exercises for Warmup, Stretching, Acupressure
I hyper focused on this most of the week. I spent much of my free time watching videos or building an Anki deck to study with. If there's one thing I could do, it would be putting limits on how time I spend here. I tended to do this over the goals that are less immediately fun for me.
Spend 15 minutes praticing lockpicking
Found I was close to burning out, so pursued building my theoretical knowledge to aid in my practice. This paid off and feel reinvigorated and empowered to practice.
My current selection of locks is not inspiring nor appropriate. I have a few that I can work with and have worked with for so long, and I know this can become a liability. Soon you are only learning about that single lock instead of the techniques.
No screens from 8pm to 8am
Stopped using screens at least before I journaled and ate breakfast. Mornings have more reading and work towards my goals instead of mindless Youtube. Fantastic!
My willpower at night is bad. In fact, it's the weakest since it declines over time from when I wake up. I need help from my partner, to help keep me aligned. And in general, I need to add more friction in my watching of videos online. There are too many "dark patterns" (at least to me they are dark patterns) of roping you into video after video. And at that point, it's so much easier to say "yes" to whatever stupid video comes up than to context switch. A goal to add friction to watching videos would be worth considering, at least for a month to gather some data.