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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge Update #10

So, I completely forgot about this yesterday! I had so much to finish up, and it completely slipped my mind! At least I remembered it a day late, instead of multiple weeks late.

This Week: Lay Out Clothes

This was, as I'd hoped, the easiest habit of the entire challenge. In fact, it was the only one I was able to keep fairly consistently. It helped me with doing more frequent weight-checks as well, as I could leave the clothes on my scale, and just take the whole bundle to the bathroom with me first thing in the morning.

Final Review

Honestly, while this was a fun challenge overall, and definitely helped me pass the summer, it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. Not having any sort of external framework or support didn't help. If I slipped up, there weren't any real consequences. That was probably the biggest hurdle; if I didn't want to do something, there was no real reason for me to do it.

I'm hoping that with classes starting tomorrow, I'll be in a much better position to do better. Maybe I'll try an X Days of Productivity challenge or something; tomorrow is an orientation, not actual classes, so I'll think about it until Wednesday and decide what I want to do from there.

#productivity #10 weeks of good habits #good habits #habit building #habit challenge #self improvement #summer challenge

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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge Update #9

And I'm back on track with this at last! Well, the updates, anyway.

This Week: Drink Enough Water

Yeah, I haven't been doing this. On one day, I managed 1.5L, and I haven't done better since.

Thankfully it's not an all-or-nothing issue, here. While I can tell that I'm still dehydrated, I've been drinking enough that it's not obvious, because my lips aren't supper chapped like they tend to be (due to being perpetually dehydrated).

So that's definitely something to be happy about. Hopefully, I'll be able to do better when I have a routine again.

Next Week: Lay Out Clothes

I have a habit of stripping right before crawling into bed, leaving my clothes where they'll be right at my feet when I get up next. And then those clothes are what I put on again when I get up again. While that's not as bad when I'm not going anywhere or getting those clothes dirty, it's still a habit I want to break.

At the very least, I want to have an outfit ready to go the day before. I can lay everything out on my sideboard, ideally on my scale to make it harder to avoid my morning weight checks, and I can hook a hanger over the top to try and keep it from getting wrinkled.

Hopefully I can make it harder to put dirty clothes back on again too, by putting them in the hamper (or on the chair, in the case of pants) when I take them off for the day. I wish I had the space to put the hamper where I already leave my clothes, but there just isn't room for that.

#productivity #10 weeks of good habits #good habits #habit building #habit challenge #self improvement #summer challenge

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The Eisenhower Matrix is a versatile time management tool that can be used for both personal and professional tasks. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution, so you may need to adjust the way you use it depending on your circumstances. For example, if you have a lot of urgent tasks, you may need to focus on delegating or eliminating some of them.

#eisenhower matrix #productivity #time management

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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge Update #8

Sorry for the late update; I was bedridden from pain on Sunday and Monday, so bad I couldn't even roll onto my back to do the update on my laptop, then yesterday was very busy.

This Week: Meal Planning

As expected, this one was a challenge. It's very difficult for me to make food last for the full two weeks between grocery runs (here's to hoping I can get my parents back on board for smaller weekly trips when I go back to school--if not, the off-week run will be all stuff for me), because if I don't eat something quickly, there's a very good chance my father will eat it on me. I'm usually going hungry on those off-weeks because he's honestly incapable of practicing portion control (buy a box of 8 hamburgers, he'll make and eat them all in one go. Every. Single. Time). Even with grocery prices the way they are, spending $1000/month on groceries is honestly ridiculous, but that's our average. Of that, my stuff comes to $200--however, I get to eat less than that, because, as previously stated, my father usually ends up eating almost half of it on me. The only thing I get to myself is my buffalo tofu tacos, just because no one else eats tofu. And even then, it's not uncommon for the wraps to be gone early too.

Actually making the plan was fun though, so I suspect I'll keep doing it.

Next Week: Drink Enough Water

I'm perpetually dehydrated, and I'm fully aware of it. I don't know why, as even having water on hand doesn't do it all the time; I will regularly have a bottle sitting full on my desk for three days because I haven't drank from it yet.

When classes start again in a couple weeks, I'll keep two bottles in my bag most likely (one is 650mL, the other around 500). For now, I have a 500mL glass mug, and I can just work on draining that (which works better for me when I use a straw for some reason--maybe half my problem is I don't want to pick the bottle up, whereas I can just lean over for the straw) a few times a day.

At least, even while I'm waiting on a replacement Fitbit tracker, I can still use the app to track my water intake.

#10 weeks of good habits #good habits #habit building #habit challenge #productivity #self improvement #summer challenge

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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge Update #7

This Week: Hygiene Routine

Honestly, this week did not go as well as I'd hoped. Lots of socialization Thursday and Friday kept me busy for those two days, and I was completely wiped Saturday. Like, "do a couple hours of work at my desk, start dozing at 4pm, then pass out and sleep until 11am the next morning" kind of wiped.

So yeah, that was going great.

Here's hoping I can rebound and come back from this easily enough.

Next Week: Meal Planning

I kind of dabbled in this already, having a handful of specific things in mind when I got groceries on Thursday.

Unfortunately, with two weeks between grocery trips, I picked the wrong week to really try and do anything with this. Oh well, I can still plot things out that I want to make, and try to work with the same kinds of ingredients. It'll just be better off next week when I'm actually putting a grocery list together.

#10 weeks of good habits #good habits #habit building #habit challenge #productivity #self improvement #summer challenge

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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge #6

I'm counting down the days to classes rather than the weeks, now that I have less than a month to go. I can't wait to be able to actually do something rather than spending most of my time just sitting around.

This Week: Better Dental Hygiene

I mean, I've been doing better overall, but I'll admit it's been hard to stick to. I genuinely hate flossing. Going forward, I honestly doubt I'll put effort into doing that all the time. I'll do it in the morning I think, but I'll skip it before I go to bed.

Next Week: Hygiene Routine

This is more for everything else that gets neglected. Making sure it gets done in the first place, and done on a more frequent basis.

My list as planned:

Morning:

Brush teeth

Shower

Shave

Oil

Moisturizer

Beard oil

Beard balm

Evening:

Brush teeth

Face wash

Face scrub

Oil

Moisturizer

Misc.:

Derma roller M/W/F evenings between face scrub and oil.

#10 weeks of good habits #good habits #habit building #habit challenge #productivity #self improvement #summer challenge

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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge Update #5

This Week: Daily Duolingo Practice

So far I've actually done very well with this! There were a couple of days where I only got two of three tasks done, because the app frequently sets me ones where I have to speak, and just as often, the app will not recognize when I speak, no matter what. I've tried speaking faster, slower, louder, softer, further from my phone, closer, bottom towards my mouth, normally, like I'm on a call, literally nothing works some days. And other days it's completely fine. One the days it doesn't want to work, those tasks weren't getting done. But I don't feel bad about skipping them, considering I always tried first.

Given that I'm doing more than just a quick lesson to keep my streak up, I'm also feeling a lot more fulfilled about it now as well. I've been actively working towards it, so the feeling is a lot different.

On the bright side, since I can do it while I'm still in bed, this should be an especially easy habit for me to keep up with.

Next Week: Better Dental Hygiene

I'll admit it, this has always been a weak point for me. I hated brushing my teeth as a kid, even more than I hated taking baths (which I also hated most of the time), and that dislike has carried through my entire life. There were a few points in my life where I did well to brush once a week. I'm at least better than that now, and can usually manage once a day at least; plus a second time if I'm heading out anywhere.

My intention for this to actually do it all right. I have mouthwash tablets, and I have floss, but I haven't been using them like I should. For this challenge, I'm going to make sure I brush, floss, and use mouthwash twice a day, every day.

#10 weeks of good habits #good habits #habit building #productivity #habit challenge #self improvement #summer challenge

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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge Update #4

This Week: Read Daily

While I didn't work through any novels like I was hoping, I've definitely been reading. Just ended up going on a fanfiction binge instead. And I still have a few on the list to get to, as well.

Either way, this was probably the easiest of the goals that I had planned. The rest of the summer is going to be more difficult, I'm sure.

Next Week: Daily Duolingo Practice

I could usually get at least something done partway through the day to maintain my streak (with my goal being to get all three quests done every day), but something glitched 140-something days in and I lost that streak. I've tried reaching out to support about the issue, because even if I did miss a day, I had two streak freezes available that also suddenly went missing? I haven't heard back, and it's been almost a week.

To call that discouraging is an understatement, but it's still one of the most accessible resources for me to learn French at this point, so I'm still pretty much out of luck in regards to being able to shift to something else. It does, however, mean that I can stop saving up to get Plus. If something that bad happens and they can't even get back to me, I'm definitely not giving them my money. And I'll do more to stick to my desktop instead of my phone so my ad blocker can deny them the revenue as well.

#10 weeks of good habits #good habits #habit building #habit challenge #productivity #self improvement #summer challenge

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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge Update #3

Apologies for the late update! My mother's on vacation this week, so we've been working on trying to get all the housework done. Unsurprisingly, I've made a lot more progress on my tasks than she's made on hers so far. No idea if she'll get around to catching up or not, though. I've said before that I come from a family of slobs, and I will likely stand by that statement until my dying day.

This Week: Meditate Daily

This has been a lot more of a pain than I was expecting it to. When I tried practicing before, it never seemed to make a difference, so I gave up before I got anywhere. And I'm having the same issue again, but I'm trying my best to stick with it.

Next Week: Read Daily

Thankfully I have enough of a backlog at this time that this habit will let me work through it. I still have Mass Effect: Retribution on the go, and I can easily get more stuff from the library as I go. I'm admittedly saving The Precipice until September, as I want to go into the new school year looking more intelligent with a philosophy book rather than a novel from a video game series--even with how much I love those video games. Same reason I don't intend to wear my MCR hoodie to school.

#10 weeks of good habits #good habits #habit building #habit challenge #productivity #self improvement #summer challenge

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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge Update #2

This Week: Exercise Daily

I didn't get as much in Monday or Tuesday as I wanted to, but my Fitbit came in Tuesday afternoon and has been a pretty good motivator. I've gotten walks in to hit 10 000 steps every day from Wednesday to Saturday, and 4/7 is a lot better than usual, so I'd say I'm on the right track.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to get into yoga again like I was hoping, as I'm in the process of cleaning my bedroom up enough to have the space to roll out the yoga mat again.

All in all though, while it's not been perfect, it's been a lot better than average, and I will consider that a win. It's still progress, which is the most important part.

Next Week: Meditate Daily

I've been trying to get into this a bit better anyway, and with the Fitbit I have access to more guided meditations, so I will likely try to use those more often.

It's funny, while I got that thing just to have an easier time tracking workouts, it's quickly become a hub of sorts for transitioning into the lifestyle that I want to have.

#10 weeks of good habits #good habits #habit building #habit challenge #productivity #self improvement #summer challenge

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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge Update #1

This Week: Adjust Sleep Schedule

Admittedly, it went terribly. I was hard-pressed to get up before noon most days, and the last two nights were terrible.

I was up late last night because of fireworks (I'm Canadian), because I have two anxious cats. Thankfully I was able to time the extra Feliway spray right, so they were just tense instead of losing their minds.

The night before though, was a nightmare. I have a very inconsiderate neighbour next door who was lighting off fireworks in their yard (I live in a trailer park, so I should also note that this was happening about 10m--30 feet, for the Americans--from my house) from 10pm to 2am. For scale, the official municipal fireworks last night started at around quarter to 10 and were over by 10:30.

I'm thinking it was just bad timing, but thankfully I have the longest time to work on this one. And honestly, if I'm still not happy about how it's going come the beginning of August, I'll pick up some melatonin gummies to help shift it back the rest of the way.\

Next Week: Exercise Daily

I'm looking forward to this one more. Especially as I have a Fitbit on the way. I've been tracking my workouts with my phone for a while, but I wanted a tracker so I didn't have to worry about having my phone on me at all times; I want to have my steps counted when I go to the bathroom or the kitchen and leave my phone on my desk. Plus it would be better at tracking my sleep.

I'm already pretty good at going for long walks (taking two hours, going 10-10.5km) two or three times a week. I want to do better though, hitting 10k on a daily basis. As that's the most reliable way for me to be able to get exercise in with my back and knees being how they are, that's what I need to be doing the most to lose weight like I want to.

Hopefully, the easier tracking will make me want to do yoga a bit more as well. I bought a mat a while back with the intention of doing morning yoga, but I don't get to it as often as I'd like.

#self improvement #summer challenge #productivity #10 weeks of good habits #good habits #habit building #habit challenge

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10-Week Summer Habit Challenge

I have ten weeks until classes start. That means, if I want to cram as many habits in as possible without setting myself up for complete failure, ten new habits I can start to put myself into a better position for school.

I'll update every Sunday evening with how the previous week went, and how I feel about the next week coming up.

Here is my timeline for goals:

26 June - 2 July: Sleep Schedule

Start getting ready for bed at 9pm, lights out ASAP. Get up with alarm at 6.

3 July - 9 July: Exercise Daily

Get 10k steps in every day, either all at once or broken into smaller chunks. Also take 20-30 minutes in the morning for a bit of yoga.

10 July - 16 July: Meditate Daily

Even if it's just for ten minutes, take a bit of time after waking up to meditate before I get going for the day.

17 July - 23 July: Read Daily

At least 30 minutes. Physical or digital, doesn't matter. Social media, emails, and comics don't count, though.

24 July - 30 July: Duolingo Practice Daily

Practice every day until all three daily goals have been reached.

31 July - 6 August: Dental Hygiene

Actually make sure I'm brushing my teeth twice a day. Use mouthwash twice a day as well, and floss daily.

7 August - 13 August: Hygiene, The Rest

Every morning: Dental, shower, shave, face, beard. Every evening: Dental, face. Derma roller M/W/F evenings.

14 August - 20 August: Meal Planning

Plan meals for two weeks at a time between grocery trips, focusing on fresh produce early and trying to stick to similar base ingredients to save money.

21 August - 27 August: Drink Enough Water

Make sure I'm actually drinking the amount that Simple suggests. Try and keep to a max of 500mL that aren't water or tea.

28 August - 3 September: Plan Outfits

Set clothes out the night before, in one bundle that I can take into the bathroom with me when I go in for my shower.

#self improvement #productivity #habit building #good habits #summer challenge #habit challenge #10 weeks of good habits

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Critical Thinking Cheatsheet

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#quote #motivation #confidence