Welcome to 2024! It is going to be an amazing Year.
As we move into the New Year, it is that time when people make Resolutions to get in shape, lose weight, eat better, get organized, travel more, drink less – Dry January anyone? Many set these Resolutions with a desire to follow through, to actual improve. We pressure ourselves to set them, to make them happen.
According to Forbes.com the top 2024 Resolutions are: Improve Fitness 48% Improve Finances 38% Improve Mental Health 36% Lose Weight 34% Improve Diet 32% GREAT!! Sounds like a good list and something most of us could get on board for. https://www.forbes.com/health/mind/new-years-resolutions-statistics/
In the same Forbes article, they also say about 62% of people feel pressure to make a resolution. They go on to site a lot of other statistics as well. NOT SO GREAT that you feel peer pressure to set resolutions. Why?
In 2023, Fisher College of Business did a study on Resolutions, they found only 9% of Americans complete their resolution. 23% quit in the first week, and 43% by the end of January.
I stopped doing “Resolutions” as a New Years thing years ago, do not get me wrong I have my list of things I want to improve, 2023 was all about that. BUT I did not feel an outside pressure to do it. I also did not hammer myself if something did not go as planned. I was HONEST with myself on what I wanted, and HONEST with myself in the successes and failures, looked at the task/resolution/thing, re-tooled it and STARTED again on it.
What I really want to talk about is STARTING. Make your Resolution to START, and to keep STARTING until you are doing it. The list of things you want to improve is great, but you have to START, and when you fall off, you have to START again.
They say it takes 28 Days to make a Habit… Maybe 28 Starts to actually do it? Make Starting your Habit, your Resolution. We all fall off, fail, do not complete, whatever term you want for it, we all fail at some point, Losing is part of the game. Get up, brush off, and START again.
Resolve to Start this year! You will feel better about it, you will likely be more honest and open with yourself about it, you will take a small loses and turn them into Big Wins by Starting, again and again if needed.
Its been a while. I use IG and FB, even TikTok, Lemon8 and Clapper, almost daily, but I never seem to get to here. I have to make this part of the weekly routine at least. The move to Mill Creek is done. Baby is due end of January 2024.
SCARED TO DEATH about all of this.
At 54, I had more or less given up on the baby thing, as had Rebecca. Reality is, its mostly on her. She has to carry it. We are both happy, excited and scared.
Rebecca is reading baby related books none stop. I am casually reading them between Bible study, Calling Jesus, and a few other books.
42 weeks straight of Peloton work outs and 14 or 15 days in a row. Did a Shilajit experiment. Tried Alpha Brain (Joe Rogan’s supp). A few other things. Working on a Shilajit post (did it work? doesnt it work? stay tuned), as well a post discussing all of the things I have tried and ranking them in effectiveness, at least for me. As if the first few months of 2024 were not going to be busy enough with the baby, I hope to start a Family Project. Pod cast style, recording the Anderson-Dickinson family history. Interviews with family members (have to figure out how to work the Canadian side into this as well). I also want to do some wine related content, and food/cooking.
Get back into Day Trading as well.
Rebecca and Baby are the priority. The other things are “when I have time” LOL 2087 maybe? I dont know – I am pretty solid on schedule and time management though so I will figure it out in 2024.
March 6th 2023 I started on this journey… my “90 Day Plan” or challenge. I kicked it off for many reasons, mainly, I needed to do somethings different, I needed to get in shape, I was going through a significant break up, my father had died a few months earlier and I was not going out that way, I needed/wanted to make more money and learn some new skills doing it.
Todays post is a reflection on that 90 day plan, what worked, what did not work, how can I improve it, do I need a new 90 Day Plan or can I just keep pushing with the elements that worked and move forward? Or is an actual “Plan” what I need?
So lets break down my specific goals and steps, each in their own category and take a look. What goals did I hit, miss, fail miserably on? What steps/tasks/things did I hit, miss, miserably fail on. Did this 90 Day Plan work over all? Sort of work? Brilliant success? Dismal failure?
The Goals: From my original post that kicked this off: I need to get Real Real with myself about some things. I need to “unbecome everything that isn’t really (me), so (I) can be who (I was) meant to be” That is my journey. The next 60-90 days will all about that. Social media will be minimized (exc to post about this and food/wine pics, one of the skills I hope to improve is the picture taking), TV shut off, outtings limited to things I have to do for work or have a commitment to, intense Bible study, intense dive into some books, Ted Talks, deep cleaning of the house and myself. I think I have 10 books right now I want to get into, some of them are daily 2-3 page inspiration things, some are read and note take, contemplate, internalize. get back to the trading desk and trade Options and Forex again.
I took that post and created a list of Goals for this 90 Day Plan. Increase 2023 Income by $40K Get into better Physical and Mental Health Work on Relationship Skills Work on Other/New Skills – Learn new things Get more God Focused/Centered
With this goals in mind, I set up a task list to get this done, and a pretty aggressive daily schedule. The Schedule was as follows: Monday – Fridays Morning – Up at 415am, Peloton 10-20 mins, Jesus Calling, Pray, Breakfast, Go to Work Afternoon – At Work Evening – Peloton (ride and/or body conditioning class 20-30 mins), Bible Study (reading New Test from front to back, one chapter a day), Read 20-30 pages from Book List, Dinner, One hour TV max, Light of His Presence, Pray, Bed by 9pm
Saturday Morning – Up by 6am, Peloton 10-20 mins, Jesus Calling, Pray, Breakfast, One Hour+ Home Maint/Cleaning Afternoon – If I have an outing to do, do it, else Home Maint for an Additional One of Two Hours. Home by 3pm though Evening – Bible Study (reading New Test from front to back, one chapter a day), Read 20-30 pages from Book List, Dinner, One hour TV max, Light of His Presence, Pray, Bed by 10pm
Sunday Morning – Up by 6am, Peloton 10-20 mins, Jesus Calling, Pray, Breakfast, Church Afternoon – This is my “Free Day”, if you do not Rest after a week of hard work, what is the point? Evening – Prep for the Week, Dinner, One hour TV max, Light of His Presence, Pray, Bed by 9pm
The Tasks to get this done: Daily Bible and Devotional Study Daily Reading of Positive Mindset/Attitude Books – 20-30 pages per Day (10 books in 12 weeks) Work Out twice per day, Morning and Afternoon, approx 1hr per Day total Clean the Garage Yard Work Demo Master Bathroom for Remodel Clean the House better than I had been (fold laundry was a big one I got lazy on) Listen/Watch Daily PodCasts and TedTalks – Positive things Eat Better, smaller portion, healthier Cut Alcohol consumption by over 50% Learn some new skills related to Video, Photo, Social Media, Writing Start Trading Again, at least on Forex
How did I do? Lets break it all down…
Goals: Income Increase – As of right now, I am plus $20K for 2023. That is from standard income sources. I believe I can hit the +40K this year, but likely fall into the 25-30K. Irons are in the fire. Things are moving, but it is SLOW. Long term, I will add two or three new income streams over the next 6-12 months. Outcome: Success. The $40K number was made up, had no basis for using that number. Have increased by $20K, that is pretty signif, and things in the works to add to that.
Better Physical Health – Def in better shape than I have been in the last 10 years. According to Peloton, the last 90 days was 151 work outs, plus a different app I tried for about two weeks, which was 10 per week, so another 20ish. 171 work outs in 90 days. 65 Active Days according to Pelton, so I def did not hit my Every Day, Twice a Day Goal, a huge gap was the last two weeks since the Car Accident. My back has been problematic, that cost me 15-20 work outs, and then a few week ends out of town. When I did not have access to my Peloton, I simply did not work out. That is an aspect I need to do something out. I changed up my diet a bit also, less alcohol (50-60% cut in consumption), added a lot of fruit to the diet, and salads a few times a week. All of that contributed to better health for sure. Outcome: Success. I am 100% in better shape. I did not hit my 2/Day goal, but I did some work. I corrected some signif diet issues.
Better Mental Health – I have always been on the “positive” side of things. I realized early in life that Attitude is Important, and to not dwell on the negative. That said, we all have our moments, God Knows I have had mine. A large part of this Goal was Reading. Bible Study, Church, TedTalks and Podcasts. During this 90 Days I came across GaryVee, a Social Medial Marketing expert, this life outlook is ridic positive. I have consumed 20-30 hrs of his content during this 90 Days, bought one of his books “Twelve and a Half” Check him out https://garyvaynerchuk.com/ On top of that I got through 5 of my 10 books, but read two other books for the Book Clud we started at work. So 7 books in 12 weeks, not the 10 I wanted, but still pretty solid. Getting into better shape, fixing diet, cutting alcohol also contributed to staying positive. Seeing results of things I did, also assisted. Outcome: Success. Need to stick with it, keep reading now that I have started again. Keep working o Attitude, Gratitude and Positivity.
Relationship Skills – I have always been very independent, but always liked having someone around. Security feeling. But I want things my way (like we all do to some extent). That is a problem when in a relationship. My access to working on this Goal was reading. So the success in Better Mental Health was a part of this also. I did not get to all of the books I planned for this goal. I did get through Being Happy, but did not get to The Marriage Rules, which I had started in the past, but needed to get back into and start over, reading it with a purpose. Essentially my skill gap is in the Empathy and Consideration for others. I am rather emotionless when it comes to myself, on daily things, a lot of things do not matter to me, they are what they are, to me. I make a medium sized deal of things that are a big deal, I do not make a big deal, or even a small deal (or even a deal) over things that are a small deal. So my deficit is that because those small things do not matter to me, why do they matter to someone else? Well, they OFTEN do matter to someone else. That is not right or wrong, it is just what it is. I need to consider that more often and work on that. Outcome: Mild Success. Just my realization of that is a success. Now I have to put it into practice, as well as sharpen up on Empathy and Consideration.
Learn New Skills – I enrolled in some online classes, bought some of those dreaded “courses” for $29 (its a $497 value though!! so $29… ) Need to finish the Photography and Film one, a 14 day program. Its pretty solid , or seems so. In all I signed up for three or four sets of classes, I was like $150 total. I have used some of this stuff already, started a few new social media accounts on different platforms and posted. My picture taking is still lazy, I need to work on it. My video editing skills are simplistic (not enough reps yet). BUT getting into this has net’ed me some 3-4K videos and posts, a lot of 1-2K posts and dozens of 50-500 view posts. Have to start somewhere. I also have plans to do a Wine show and YouTube it. Maybe the biggest take away from the Social Media stuff is “if you wait until you are ready, you will never do it” so I have started to just do it. I ran a couple wine classes at work as “practice” for a wine show, now I just need to do it. Outcome: Mild Success on the way to Wild Success. one or two of the new income streams I am generating
Get more God Focused and Centered – Daily reading in Jesus Calling, daily Bible Study, go to Church. Seems easy right? Wrong. I was out of town a lot of weekends, especially the last 40ish days, so missed Church the last 5 weeks in a row? Jesus Calling was a success. rarely missed a day , Bible Study did not miss many days. Made it through Matthew, Mark, Luke and almost done with John. Daily Prayer, twice a day, plus trying to give Praise throughout the day , much harder than I anticipated. I definitely prayed at least once a day, usually twice. The Praise and Thanks throughout the day was much harder. All of that said, I feel Closer. I feel better. I Believe more than I did when I started this. It is a path that I need to continue on and improve. Outcome: Mild Success. This is a life long path though, need to keep moving forward.
Now the individual tasks I planned. This is where I adjust. The goals do not need to be adjusted, the How I get to them does though. Daily Bible and Devotional Study – Need to get to the 2/Day Prayer, and Thanks and Praise through the day. Likely no adjustment needed on this one, just hit the marks.
Daily Reading of Positive Mindset/Attitude Books – 20-30 pages per Day (10 books in 12 weeks) – Bit off more than I could chew. I simply ran out of time every day. Up at 415am and in bed 9pm, and could not fit 20-30 pages in. Rescale this for 10-20 pages, or two books per month. Continue with reading, but get more realistic on it.
Work Out twice per day, Morning and Afternoon, approx 1hr per Day total – Its the right goal. But maybe not 7 days per week. Def 5. But maybe two days per week it is just morning or just afternoons. This will allow for more reading time, and likely help me avoid burn out. What I was trying for was in AM 10-15 min cycle and 5 min stretch, then in PM 15-30 min cycle, 10-20 min strength and/or core work out, 5-10 min stretch.
Clean the Garage – Got this 90% done. Was a lot more work than I thought. I took 3 loads to the dump. removed a LOT of stuff. Books and books and books, thing I would never revisit. I touch every piece of paper in this garage, and made decisions. Papers from high school and college, frankly brilliant papers (lol), that really have no meaning at 53 years old. The NSA, CIA and Tri Lateral Commission are not coming for my advice at this point. Tossed them.
Yard Work – Started this late in the program, like two weeks ago. Lots to do, going well. This will be all summer.
Demo Master Bathroom for Remodel – Bit off FAR MORE than I could chew time wise. I am so far behind on this one. The entire job should be done. I am not even demo’ed yet. Car accident set me back on this, but really, it should have been completed before that happened. Need to get this done ASAP.
Clean the House better than I had been (fold laundry was a big one I got lazy on) – Decision made on this, already in progress. About 2hrs a week to maintain it.
Listen/Watch Daily PodCasts and TedTalks – In progress, Slowed down a little the last three weeks. I do not think this has to be a daily thing, but something I pay attention too for sure and continue to invest time into.
Eat Better, smaller portion, healthier – Done. This was pretty easy actually. I have upped my water intake significantly. Added salads a few times per week. Do not eat the whole steak or whatever just because I can. Added a work out stack to my diet (pre workout, post workout and protein mixes check out my link for discounts on these products https://ep-nutrition.com?aff=10057 )
Cut Alcohol consumption by over 50% – Amazingly easier than anticipated. Do not get me wrong, Wine is still my Thing. But I was drinking a bottle per night, plus wine tasting on Saturdays and some Sundays. I am maybe two bottles a week now, plus the tasting on some Saturdays. This has increased my energy a ton, making the 4am wake ups a lot easier. Also just in general I feel a lot better. Will keep this going.
Learn some new skills related to Video, Photo, Social Media, Writing – As described above, did not get as into this as I wanted, but did make progress. The biggest part of this was in pushing myself to do things I do not like. I do not like being on camera. I do not like being the “face” of something. I ran video gaming events for years, and on large events, I almost never did the announcing, or the intro/welcome to the event or the close out, I almost always had someone else do that. I do not like being front and center. Now I put myself on my phone and do 1-5 minute “about me” things and post them to 5 or 6 different platforms. Still not comfortable, but doing it anyway. Will continue with new skills learning and pushing myself.
Start Trading Again, at least on Forex – Really did not do this, and it is easiest way for me to hit the +$40K income bump. Before I took the position I have now in the flooring industry, I traded for about 6 months. The last few weeks doing that I made about $1000-$2000 per week, with the last week making $2000 per day average. I took the job, lost track of a big trade and blew my account up with a $13k loss. Its been almost 2 years now… need to shake that and get back on it. Forex is the easiest lowest entry point way and it is what I went to school for five years ago. Have to get back on this.
Changes Moving Forward The biggest is likely easing up on myself and not pushing as hard to “get it all done” Not that I do not intend to hit the needed markers and goals, but to not put too much pressure on myself to hit it for hitting its sake. But enough pressure that I do not let it slip and blow entire days off. Reading will be reset to a more realistic level. Work outs will still try for twice a day with a minimum of one cycle session and one strength or core session and stretching. When I can will cycle twice a day. Likely reduce to 5 days a week. Diet and alcohol will continue as they are.
90 Day Play Outcome: Success. Not as big as I hoped, but honestly, almost everything related to this was made up and written down and I just went for it. I had no evidence of my ability to do this, except my own dedication and Will Power. I do not like to fail, or lose, but I am not afraid too lose. So I went for it.
I will see how the next 30 days go, and if needed will put a 90 day plan back into action. I will get back into near daily video updates of some kind to help me stay accountable.
THANK YOU to those that followed me on this and cheered me on. Thank you to those that said I could not or would do it, I did it for you. I like to prove people wrong, especially about what I can do or cannot do. Special thanks to Donovan, one of my oldest friends. Your journey the last couple years inspired me to do something different. Follow his IG Page if you want to see someone dedicated to getting fit and being a better man every day than he was yesterday. @donovanthecolt Mom, my Sister, RS, my D&D group, DVC, VJ, SG, a dozen or so people from the old days at Bothell High, and many others. You followed me, commented, when I would run into you in the real world would tell me you you found some level of inspiration in my humble journey. Thank you all! This 90 Days has been life changing in many ways. The journey will continue…
So first, I apologize Week 9, I forgot you… So I will include you with week 10.
Digging deep into who you are, discovering the Why, and even the Who, What, When and Where, are important. If you have not taken a few days at some point in your life to really dig in and ask yourself “Why…” like Why do I react that way to situation X, why do I believe in Thing Y, etc, you are missing something.
Often these tidbits are not Life Altering, or some huge discovery about yourself, but they are important. BUT if something is big and life altering, then you have done yourself a favour.
Self Awareness, and being HONEST with yourself about who you are, what you believe, how you want to live, how you want to love, is some clarity that I believe very few of you ever really get. We all know Who We Are, but do we REALLY know Who We Are? The answer will shock the fuck out of you.
Elements of Self Awareness – Self Love, Confidence, Self Acceptance These elements are not used to fool yourself into a delusional state, that would be the opposite of Self Awareness. You could easily use “Confidence” to hide things, build up around them. That is not real Confidence. Confidence is there to allow you to be Honest with yourself, look yourself in the eye and accept what you truly see (self acceptance) and then employ Self Love to improve upon it, or realize it is what it is, accept it and move on. Not every weakness you find or see needs to be worked on. Sometimes they are just what they are, and the effort to truly improve them is not worth the time and extreme added effort, when you could do so much more with that effort on either a different weakness, or a strength and gain exponentially more. BUT Accepting It is ALWAYS worth it, Acknowledging it is ALWAYS Worth it.
What have I discovered recently about myself with this process? Glad you asked: I allow the status quo to set in too often, give up the fight for change too easily. I am not straightforward enough with employees and co workers when it matters most. (sort of part 2 of the status quo weakness) When something finally has to be done, I knee jerk react to it, because I allowed the status quo too linger too long and now it has to be solved. I am smart, determined, flexible and capable of almost anything I set my mind too (as long as I cure the status quo part…) I avoid confrontation in situations that really need it, and confront at times in situations that do not need it (part of the knee jerk reaction from above).
There are a host of other things as well, strength and weakness, but these were the higher level ones and things I have chose to work on actively.
Now on to the Fun Stuff: On May 5th – 7th I got to head to Eastern Washington for some fantastic wine events, a tour of Cascade Cliffs and the Leonetti release party. While there did some tastings at Gramercy, L’Ecole, Lagana, Col Solare and Jacob Williams. Some FANTASTIC wines in that group. I will get some content out around those this week and a post or two.
Happy Weekend and looking forward to a great week a head for all of you!
Its becoming more and more clear to me that this 90 Day Journey is really just the tip the iceberg . The 90 days is to establish new habits and routines, but the vast majority of what I am doing needs to be a new lifestyle. Develop more humility, gratitude, peace, love and joy in my life. Accountability = Happiness and Change = Opportunity.
Maybe with the “new lifestyle” I do not go as hard as I am right now, but it will need to be close to as hard else I will lose the drive to continue, maybe its backed off to 80-90% or something. 4am maybe becomes 415 or 430, 30 min Peloton rides, maybe become 20 mins, but still daily, with a 10-15 min in the AM (right now its 10-15min in AM and 20-30 min in PM). Not sure, maybe its no change and I just keep going full speed?
Peace, specifically Inner Peace is where I want to go today. John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The Peace in this passage is not peace as we usually think of it – “a state or period in which there is no war or war has ended” (Dictonary.com) The Peace that Jesus is speaking of is true peace, inner peace, for the Apostles to be good with what is to come and be at peace with it, knowing that it is as designed and that God has them. Peace in this sense is a Right Relationship with God/Jesus.
Not a Believer? OK you could use this other definition “Peace as an individual virtue or state, that is, tranquility or serenity”. It is Inside, Inner Peace with how things are.
The last few days have been a joyous struggle. Without details, it has been a happy time, a conflict filled time, a struggle, Emotional for sure. The last week was a roller coaster, and it still is right now today, one of those stomach in your throat, upside down, sharp drop ones (hate roller coasters as a ride now days).
I went to sleep Sunday night with a lot of internal struggle, and woke up Monday AM (today) with a calm and peace around me. Not because things worked out, in fact they are in flux and in conflict, but in the middle of that “war”, I have found Peace with it.
Grand Canyon University had a Weekly Devotional “Fruit of the Spirit – Peace” in Oct 2015 that describes Peace as such: Peace is knowing that the Lord of the universe is by your side and resting in that. It’s not just knowing, but it is also living it out. Peace is sitting in comfort and knowing that God is next to your side no matter what. Peace is something that you can’t attain physically because the world is almost always going to be a rocky place. https://www.gcu.edu/blog/spiritual-life/weekly-devotional-fruit-spirit-peace
Now I do not know if this Peace I feel is truly God Inspired, or if in my head I have just come to terms with some things… or both? They are not mutually exclusive. One could easily argue that you do not come to terms with things without an assist from God, that would be my view point.
What do I do with this gift of Peace? I give Thanks for it. I show Gratitude when and where I can. I continue to pray on it and hope that His path for it is revealed and that I continue to walk along it. If possible, I share it with others (like with this blog post).
Life is a battle at times, maybe at all times. Take the Peace when you find it, cherish it, pray about it, meditate on it, do whatever fits with you to walk with the Peace and continue to feed it. as much as possible. I hope that you find Inner Peace, if you do SHARE IT in the comments here, or on whatever platform you found this post on. We all deserve some Peace. Ask for it! Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Thank You to everyone who reads these posts and engages with my daily updates out on the social platforms. I hope you find some sort of value in them, even if its just entertainment at my journey and struggles. You are appreciated!
Staring to get comfortable with my Daily Update vlogs, still need a lot of work on them though. But feeling good about them. That is step one into the longer format videos I want to do. Did a couple of food ones also, with the Shrimp and Grits one hitting almost 15K views on the TikTok so that was nice.
This week was filled with some time challenges, I did not get as much done as I wanted, but still a lot. Work outs are going well. Core is three days a week, peddling is 5-7 days and then arms, chest & back and legs are one day each. I am hoping some Ab’s start to show soon.
Garage is coming along, need to finish it this week. Then Master Bathroom demo needs to start this coming weekend.
May is shaping up to be a BUSY month with a major wine tasting the first weekend and then Las Vegas the 2nd weekend.
Short post this week, plus a day or two late. Will focus more on Week 8 results and thoughts.
Essentially the half way point on my 90 Day Journey to a better me. Over all so far so good. I am accomplishing the things I wanted to get done for myself, not all of them as even as I wanted, but with a little give and take, I am getting it done.
Lets reflect for a few minutes on the Why and What/How of the program I put together.
Why do this 90 Day Journey? First and foremost for myself. I have things I want and need to work on to make future relationships successful. To also set myself up for some business successes in 2024 and 2025. Also though, I would be lying if I did not say in part due to a break up. RS and I had an amazing relationship over all. But we hit some snags along the way, and I feel we both allowed some resentment to set in, and never cleared the air. Maybe I will just speak for myself though on this. I allowed some resentment to set in and hang out. I should have been able to flush it and move on, but when I would try and “solve” the issue, I felt as though it was resisted, or that no headway could be made. So I held on to it, instead of finding a better/different way to process it out. I am definitely someone who “wants answers”, I do not like unsolved things, so I held onto the arguments, the issues, in hopes a solution would present itself, in hopes I could solve the issue and then it would be done and gone, and we could avoid making that mistake again in the future. I did not get that solution or answer, often, so instead of really making a decision as to if that Thing needed to be answered, or if I was just being a dick about it by holding on to it, I chose to hold on to some of them and allowed them to grind me down. End of the day most of the issues we had, IMO, were pretty minor, at times a lot of small things (which can add up to a large thing), but individually likely not worth fighting or holding on to, when I am more than capable of flushing them and moving on. I did not do that though. I held many of them, wanting answers, wanting to solve them, where there maybe was no real solution other than flush it and move on. The couple of items that needed to be discussed, Ok, we needed to discuss them, but they were clouded and junked up by the small things around them, creating too much chaos to handle as a group. I needed to prioritize them and find better ways to discuss the items/issues that had to be handled and let the small stuff go. WAY longer explanation for the RS part of “Why do the 90 Days” than I thought it would be.
How and What am I doing in this 90 Days? What is working and what is not working? How is the progress? A self designed program, much of which was lifted from other programs I have looked into, but with my 0wn spin and reading list. It involves a lot of working out, Peloton, weights, stretching. Things I need to do to get into better shape, stay in shape. My fathers passing shook me. While he was not in some great physical shape, 82 is not “old”, and based on what took him from us… nah not letting that happen to me, not that way. I have always been in decent shape, but now I want good or great, Decent will not cut it. Change in diet is also a big part of this. I have cut alcohol consumption by 50-60%. A lot more fruit and veggies, salads are a regular part of the diet also now. Gone from 2 or 3 energy drinks per day to 1 or 2 (2 is rare over the last 6 weeks). Smaller portions than previously as well. Reading and Study is a cornerstone of this. Really likely the biggest part of this program, and unfortunately the part I am running behind on. Bible study, daily affirmations, Church, 30ish pages a day in a selection of books that I want to get through that are all leadership, self help, sorts of books. Prayer a couple times per day as well. Studying some new skills, and advancing ones I already have. Working on video editing, need to get back to trading strategies and placing trades in Forex and SPY Options, social media marketing tools. Progress so far is good. I hoped I would be a bit further along in some progress markers, but over all Good. I am still weighing in at 198-203 on a daily basis. But the small bit of gut is a little smaller, chest is more defined, arms more defined. Legs are pretty cut I feel (all that Peloton…) Book not as far I wanted, will catch that up in Weeks 7 and 8. Study is a bit haphazard. I start working on a subject and find something I feel I need to bump a head, and then go down a rabbit hole or two, and finally get back on course. I am working on two relationship programs right now as well the video editing.
Goals from this 90 Day Program? Better shape. Better mental health, learn to deal with the small relationship stuff better, also learn to deal with the big relationship stuff better (more productively), add $40,000 to my income this year from other sources (side hustles as the kids like to call it). Round some corners, sharpen some edges in places that I need to be softer in, or need to just make a core value and non-negotiable. Step into the leadership role that I already have in daily life and work life, but really step into it and own it. I am so much better than I allow myself to be on a daily basis. Cultivate a TRUE Positive Mindset. Gratitude, Thanks, Peace. Change = Opportunity Accountability = Happiness
The vast majority of this 90 Day Plan will persist well beyond the 90 Days. The 90 Days is to form the habits, the other 270ish days in the year are to make those habits real and gain from them. Move life forward, make some shit happen!
Week 5… Finally finished “Before the Coffee Get Cold”, literally took me until the last couple pages to “get it” The story and style was just not working for me, then the last few pages and WHAM! If you have not read the book, its worth the read, but seriously it took me almost 3 weeks to read it, because it just was not clicking for me. So I am about a book and a half behind where I wanted to be right now, so a lot of reading coming in the 6th week. Lessons from the book? I need to digest it for a couple days I think, but it has me sort of reeling, but I think maybe I am allowing it to pull me in the wrong direction. The book is essentially about time travel, with a lot of rules, to go speak too, or see, something in your past and have that final conversation, even though it will not/cannot change the future. At the end of the book, it is about travelling to the future, to see what happens, or see that someone, have a convo you cannot have. Anyway the last few pages hit me like a brick.
On to “Being Happy” a favourite of mine that I have read a couple times. I need this book. After that is “Marriage Rules” a book RS and I started and neither of us finished, nor put things into practice. Not staying with this book def hurt us, or maybe did not help us is all, either way I believe it would have made a difference. It is also a book I need to dig into. Those are my next two books.
I started to dive into the video editing and shooting classes the last couple days. Also into content creation ideas (posted about that last time I believe). I am thinking I may start an all new IG and Snap for this, may also have to dive into TikTok. May also get an all new phone to use for content creation, dedicated to just that. The reasoning and such is way more than I want to post about likely. But I have a method to the madness.
So I broke the news on a daily update post, but I have been sponsored by EPN Supplements https://ep-nutrition.com/ So please check them out. Discount code is CANDERSON for 10% off. Their products are great. They taste good, not chalky, they mix well, dissolve. They are the first products of this nature that I can see myself actually using long term. I had the Weight Loss Stack sent to me.
I have to put the 7 Days lessons into practice still. Also get back to listing to the hypno CD nightly. Its all about Positive Mental Attitude. I feel so much better when I start and end the day with positive things. Positive In, Positive Out. Garbage In, Garbage Out. Its why I try and do the daily morning post about the start of the day. Its why I am blogging the weekly things. It is HUGE to me that anyone cares when I post these things, but quite a few of you, even if you just click the heart and do not read it (but I assume most of you do read it), it means a LOT to me that you even take 10 seconds to look at what I post and let me know. So THANK YOU for the support.
Change = Opportunity Accountability = Happiness Gratitude and Peace are what I am seeking in my personal life, and I am seeing glimpses of them.
Physically, I am moving weight around on my body. Nothing dramatic yet, but I see the change, others probably do but cannot pinpoint it. I think my entire presence is changed a little, so that is probably what people are seeing.
If you have not checked out GaryVee https://garyvaynerchuk.com/ DO SO! This guy is ridic. Smart, business minded, funny, straight shooter, positive positive positive. Inspirational is an understatement. Check him out and if you somehow do not find him to be an inspiration, then listen to him a second time.
Some sayings I am adopting… Change = Opportunity Accountability = Happiness Negativity can lead at halftime, Kindness always wins the game Kindness is cool Truth is cool
This last week I spent a lot of time studying. The main source of study was GaryVee, this guy is a straight shooter, businessman, social media expert. Check his site https://garyvaynerchuk.com/ His attitude and insight is ridic. The last four sayings I am adopting are all via GaryVee. I also watched some video editing stuff for iPhone. Got a new white board to schedule things out a bit better and get some clarity around my tasks I want to complete.
I may change this post format to a vlog post in the near future, as well as my short daily updates, and some other content I have been planning. The 90 Day Plan is in full effect and working as designed.
This week was not without some drama and relationship bs. That said, it was petty and was purely out of hurt feelings, I get it. It hurts. Still hurts. Will hurt for a while. RS is an amazing woman. She deserves all the happiness she wants and desires. I am sorry I was not able to be that person for her any longer, and that pains me. The last year and a half was some of the best times I have ever had, loving, caring, fun. She is a great person and I wish her good luck on whatever she does. I hope that we can get past the jabs, and sideways FB posts and the like and just move on.
I have been slacking a little on the reading, I am still in Before the Coffee Gets Cold, should have been done with this last week and onto the next book. Have to finish it up and get onto the next one.
Vlog and content ideas I am working on: Bible Study Wine of the week Winery of the week Food Focus 90 Day Updates – Daily and Weekly I am hoping to start doing test runs this coming week on some of these.
Change = Opportunity Most people are afraid of change. Stop being afraid. Change opens doors, how you choose to look at those open doors will determine the opportunity. Seemingly negative things are opportunity and can be positive, but you have to get out of your own way to see that. Change your mindset.
Accountability = Happiness Being accountable is taking responsibility for your relationships, motivation, personal life, business life and how passionate you are about life. Its about how much you also get done. This frees you up to really allow Happiness to surround you. Here is GaryVee’s thoughts on it https://garyvaynerchuk.com/5-reminders-that-accountability-leads-to-happiness/
That is all for this week. Looking forward to week 5 and beyond.
