Mini Goal - 100 Days, 10 Burpees a Day - COMPLETE!

I made it! 100 days, 10 burpees a day!

Mini goal complete!

This week ended my mini challenge of completing 10 burpees a day, for 100 days!

This sounds easy - it's only 10 burpees - but it's not! Not only is completing 10 burpees in a row surprisingly tough, the more difficult part is sticking with it for 100 days!

Admittedly, I wasn't able to complete all 100 days in a row without missing a couple of days (not on purpose!). But I made up for those days, sometimes doing 20 burpees a day!

As I became more accustomed to the movement, and became a little stronger, I added a clap push-up within the burpee.  I tried to finish the goal with double-clap push-ups, but I wasn't able to complete all 10 burpees without stopping.

On the last day of my challenge, my wife recorded me completing 10 of the single clap push-up burpees in a row - yay!

Benefits

I'm definitely stronger due to the challenge.  It's definitely not a full workout or enough gym time, but it is something.

I know I can complete 100 day challenges.  This is the longest workout related challenge I've ever completed (I couldn't even finish P90X, even after making it over 60 days!).

I have a new, healthy evening routine.

What's Next?

I'm at the point where completing my burpees everyday is natural - and now it only takes about 40 seconds! - so I'm considering extending this mini goal to 200 DAYS IN A ROW!

We're discussing another challenge, possible one that can become part of our daily/weekly habit. Having a goal that becomes part of life (like the burpees have) is an interesting goal.

I believe focusing (again) on some of my time wasters would be good.  I'd like to build better habits around actions that suck up my time.  Possibly limiting streaming television shows or my time on social media platforms. (I still have a lot of time wasters!)

For now...

I completed my mini goal of 100 days, 10 burpees a day!!

Yours in exploiting life!
Quinn

Can I Reset My 2014 Resolutions?

The New Year resolutions I made only weeks ago have been put on the back burner.

My motivation dwindled as January rolled on.

Can I start again?

Wrong train of thought...

I will start again!!

I'm going to challenge myself to start acting on my wants!!

Life is about choices...your choices, my choices.  Time for me to decide what I want.

One month of 2014 is nearly gone...and I don't have much to show for it.

Time to hit restart on my new year!  Only eleven months left!!

2014 Goals:

1) Workout and a basic yoga, four times a week.  (Ultimately, I'd like to be performing the full P90X workout again.)

2) Spend quality time with my wife in the evenings and on the weekends.  (Snuggling on the couch and watching a movie counts.  Both of us watching separate shows, ones that are just filling our time and we're not gaining a benefit from, do not count.)  I need to find a way to measure this one...

3) Add six paying clients to PPF.  (Baby steps...but forward motion.)

4) Take a Spanish course and have a basic proficiency in the language.  I've always wanted to learn Spanish, but I haven't been able to get into Rosetta Stone.  We're planning a vacation this year to a location where Spanish would be very useful.

How are your New Year's resolutions going?  Still committed?

Yours in exploiting life!

Quinn

Weekly Update - It's Already November!!

A few exploitation notes from this week -

More fun this past weekend - as well as plenty to come!

Last Sunday we met friends at Broder for brunch.  This is a small Swedish influenced restaurant, serving breakfast and lunch. We tried several dishes and drinks...and most were delicious! I would say the atmosphere was the main draw - get there early though, as there is always a wait for the few tables available!

Afterwards we drove out to the Sandy River Delta Park - this is a gigantic off-leash dog park, amazing! It was pouring rain but that didn't stop us from exploiting the fresh air, good times, and great company! (If we let the rain stop us, then we'd have nothing to do all winter long in Portland! Bring it on!)

November is also kicking off Yovember! This is a month of practicing yoga every day! This should be...bendy... We plan to do 20-30 minutes a day, which should be just enough to get a great workout, but not take up all of our free time - though this probably means less Hulu time! Yay for us!

We continue taking advantage of our weekends, and this weekend is no different. We're heading over to Astoria, OR for a fun filled weekend - there's so much exploiting to be done!

As a follow-up to our water intake challenge - we did pretty well. We drank our intended ounces until the final couple of days - that is a lot of water!! I've since tried to drink at least 80 oz., but I'm pretty consistent at 64 oz.  If nothing else, the challenge week definitely made me more aware of how little water I drank before.  That's what it's all about, awareness!!

Hope you've been exploiting your time and life! Been anywhere fun and exciting? Any new challenges?

Yours in exploiting life!
Quinn

Observe and Eliminate Time (Life) Wasters

I'm more conscience of the time wasters in my life lately.

I'm not sure if it started with this Unexploited Life blog, or from reading through Mr. Money Mustache's blog (and being a bit envious), but I've definitely become more observant.

I noticed the dishes piling up (one of my house tasks), the floors getting dirty (joys of a shedding dog! and another one of my house tasks), my to-do list growing, my belly expanding, and my t.v./movie intake increasing!!

Celebrate the small wins!

I woke up!!

I'm starting small but I'm breaking free from my t.v./movie addiction!!

I haven't watched my evening television shows (damn free Hulu and cheap Netflix!) for almost two weeks - and you know what, a huge difference!

I now have plenty of time to keep the dishes clean.  I now have plenty of time to sweep the floors. I have plenty of time...to make my to-do list longer (OK, so I need to focus on my to-do list next). I have plenty of time to workout!

Continue observing!

I still see areas for improvement.

Since my wife wakes up at 4:55 a.m., I should have about two hours of 'at home working' time every morning (except Toastmaster Thursdays)!

So...I started focusing on this in the past few days.

Where do my mornings go?

After countless hours of study and research (ha!), I realized most of my morning time is going to sleeping in (at least laying in bed) and reading online news articles, articles which I again read during lunch and in the evening.

So I cut the news crap out!! (Most of it is B.S. or fear reporting anyways...in my opinion.)

I haven't read any news articles in seven days - again, small wins!

I still check my Facebook and Twitter accounts - which give me all of the big updates, though I have to filter for my contacts that I have similar beliefs with, since most of the posts appear a little bias.

I still catch myself reaching for my phone or wanting to jump online during lunch - this will be a tough habit to break! I did jump on a weather station to see the forecast for this past weekend - not sure if I'm counting that as 'news' or not, but it was definitely needed as plans changed!

I'm still having a hard time getting out of bed.  Yesterday I got up and worked out - crazy!! But then today I lounged around...wasting this valuable time...

Keep the small wins coming!

I'm looking forward to being even more productive with my found time (after observing and eliminating my time wasters)! I'm laser focusing on that to-do list next!

What are your biggest time wasters? How did you (or are you trying to) break the habits?

Yours in exploiting life!
Quinn

What is a Time (Life) Waster?

How do I define a time (life) waster?

Any activity that gives me that stomach sinking feeling that I should be doing something else with my time.

Excuses, or habits, that I revert to whenever I find myself bored and unmotivated. Activities that bring regret.

Starting new T.V. shows, when I have no interest in them. Reading multiple news sources (when they all say the same thing).

Sitting through useless meetings at work. Sleeping in to an unreasonable time. Eating unhealthy, tasteless fast food. Procrastinating.

Activities that I wouldn’t want to rave about to friends and colleagues.

What are activities that I don’t consider time (life) wasters?

Any activity that brings me joy and the feeling of wanting more time to continue. Activities that bring new stories.

Spending time with my wife. Spending time with family and friends. Spending time outside. Reading a good book.

Traveling and experiencing new places, cultures, and foods. Trying new restaurants (especially when ordering the chef’s choice).

Spending time on activities that are achieving my goals. Helping others. Trying new hobbies. Trying new drinks. People watching (not the creepy kind, but while enjoying some sunshine or a cup of coffee).

These activities let me experience life, live life, and exploit life.

What do you consider time (life) wasters? What do you consider exploited time?

Yours in exploiting life!
Quinn