My Childhood Dream Come True

So, American Gladiators is having open tryouts this weekend in Austin. I loved the show as a kid, and it should be fun to try out, even if I humiliate myself in front of hundreds of fitter, faster, and stronger applicants. It's just for fun, and I'll be there with several friends, some of whom are trying out as well. I'll post an update after the audition, hopefully with some pics or vids of the event itself. I just wanted to put it up here so I have no choice but to actually go through with it...

http://www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators/

A Lesson in Pain

So, I forgot to log my workout and food for the day last night. I had every intention to, but then I got wildly distracted with something much more important and, by the time I had finished, I completely forgot about logging and fell quickly asleep. And now I must pay.

It sucks too, because I just freaking got out of the shower, and 250 push-ups, crunches and knee bends is sure to build up at least a light salty covering. Not to mention the grueling workout in store for me in class tonight means I really can't wait to do it before bed. Argh. Well, it had to happen sooner or later right? Guess I'll go get it over with...

Bored...

So, I'm at work with nothing to do for the last 2 hours and nowhere to be for another hour. I'm bored. I figured I may as well blog and kill some time. There's not really much to report so far. The list is going ok. Not great, not horrible, just ok. I have definitely found a few items to be more challenging than the rest. Several of them I have been successfully doing for months now, just not with any type of strict regulation or tracking. Eating and drinking healthier are easy at this point (thanks e!), even on a daily basis. Writing out my eating and workout habits for the day, however, along with getting 6 hours of sleep a night, are not so much. I find myself procrastinating journaling until just before bed, at which point I'm already tired and want to just skip it, but not tired enough to actually think for a second that the punishment tomorrow would be worth it.

On the weekly front, I think the musical practice will be the hardest to keep up with. Most weeknights, I don't get home until around 10pm, and the last thing I want to do is something productive. It's already Tuesday and I still haven't had my first practice, which means I can either put it off until Thursday/Friday/Saturday, or suck it up and just do it around 11pm tonight or tomorrow night. Neither sounds particularly appealing.

On a better topic, thanks to everyone who wrote back or commented/browsed this blog! I think a key part of actually keeping up with this is having lots of others supporting and cheering me on, so your e-mails and comments are greatly appreciated! I'm also open to suggestions for new goals or ways to achieve my current ones. Anything at all is welcome! That's it for now. I will hopefully have more exciting news to blog about later...

First Day Blues

Well, it's around 8:30 am on my first day adhering to the list, and I am already regretting it. I woke up in kind of a bad funk this morning around 7:30. I tried valiantly for half an hour to force my restless mind back into a state of blissful dormancy, but it would have none of it. So now I am fully awake, with a whole list of crap I need to do, not wanting to do any of it yet, and longing for nothing more than a few more hours of lethargic reprieve. Argh...

So, my plans for the day are minimal, but I hope to get at least a few things crossed off for this week/month. I'll have a muscle milk for breakfast (Cookies 'n Cream is freaking awesome!), then head to conditioning around noon. After that, I might try to convince some others to grab a healthy lunch. No solid plans for the rest of the day, but I will try to get some practice time in as well as squeeze out a few e-mails from my new contact list. If I'm feeling uber productive, I may also read more of my current book, Blink, instead of WoWing or wasting time in front of the TV all evening, but I don't want to commit to that just yet. Anyway, just wanted to give a quick update. I am off to (grudgingly) start my day!

Prep Work... Check!

Well, I procrastinated most of the week in getting to the preparations needed to start this crazy adventure on time, but I technically still have one day left, so I guess I'm ahead of schedule! I finished all of my prep work today, as I was in an unusually productive mood. I jotted down a few details for anyone interested below...

1) Find some teas I actually like
I have at least one tea I actually enjoy now, an organic Chai tea. Mixed with a little pink-packeted fake sugar, it is actually fairly tasty, and is at least a step in the right direction.

2) Buy a workout/food journal
I got a Moleskin Pocket Ruled Notebook to log my workouts and eating each day. If you like journaling, sketching, or even just for jotting down quick notes, Moleskins are pretty freaking awesome, and I highly suggest you try them out.

3) Get to under 170 lbs. for at least a week to start
I just weighed myself after getting home from another grueling Friday night conditioning class, and was right at 170. This is after a full day of eating and drinking, so I feel confident in knocking this one off the list before my final weigh in tomorrow morning.

4) Create list of friends I really want to keep in contact with
With a mix of high school, college, and various other friends, I now have a list of 20 very lucky individuals that I will try to keep in better touch with from now on. Hopefully they all still like me.

5) Make at least a loose daily schedule (time to blog, read, sleep, eat, etc)
I have a detailed workout schedule on Google Calendar now (18 hours a week!), and a rough estimate of days I want to try to practice piano/guitar and blog. Bedtime is 1am every day but Saturday, which should give me some padding for my 6 hours a night (this will be a tough one to keep).

So all the prep work is done, now to enjoy my last day of freedom...

First List Amendment

After some feedback, it appears I was too light on myself with only a set of 100 push ups, crunches, and knee bends, so I'm upping it to 250 for missing a daily goal. With 100, I probably would have been too tempted to eat that 4th plate at the buffet or have a non-diet drink for lunch, but for 250, I will probably think twice...

New Daily Punishment:
250 pushups, 250 crunches, 250 knee bends

Preparations

Some things I need to do to prepare for the upcoming onslaught. I'll cross these off as they get done...

1) Find some teas I actually like
2) Buy a workout/food journal
3) Get to under 170 lbs. for at least a week to start
4) Create list of friends I really want to keep in contact with
5) Make at least a loose daily schedule (time to blog, read, sleep, eat, etc)

Crap I Need to Do, Or Else

Well, here it is, my "Crap I Need To Do, Or Else" list. So, what exactly is a "Crap I Need To Do, Or Else" list? Well, I'm glad you asked! Basically, it's a list of crap I need to do with the added caveat of some form of punishment for when the list is not adhered to. Yes, I am a masochist. But I'm also a psychology minor, and realize that goals without reward AND punishment are rarely achieved. My reward for doing stuff is getting my crap done. My punishments vary by type of goal, which I have separated into Daily, Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly tasks. There is also an Eventually list that plays into the Yearly goals. I will find a better way of posting my list of goals so that they don't whither and die under more recent posts, but here it is for now. The punishment is listed next to the type of task.

Daily – 100 pushups, 100 crunches, 100 knee bends

1. Drink more water and green tea (at most one diet coke)
2. Get at least 6 hours of sleep
3. Eat at least one healthy meal
4. Update workout/food journal
5. Pray

Weekly – No Video Games Next Week

1. Update blog
2. Lift weights at least twice a week
3. Attend at least 2 material, 2 conditioning, and 2 teaching classes for Kung Fu
   
4. Attend church at least every other week (once I find one)
5. Practice guitar or piano at least 3 times a week
6. Keep weight under 170 lbs. (more allowed if muscle mass)
   

Monthly – No TV Next Month (Live or Recorded)

1. Increase reps or weight
2. Go out with friends in Austin area
3. Talk to all family members
4. Read at least one book
5. Find and research a new and interesting topic
6. Find an opportunity to take photos

Yearly – Pick One Random Item from the Eventually List to Start by Next Week

1. Contribute to Roth IRA
2. E-mail long-distance friends at least twice a year (need to make list)
3. Visit at least 2 long-distance friends
4. Take at least one class at ACC or UT
5. Take better care of my car (oil changes, maintenance, less harsh driving)
6. Dental visit at least twice a year
7. Do at least 2 items from the Eventually list

Eventually

1. Find a new church
2. Test for 3^rd degree black belt
3. Test for 2^nd degree black sash
4. Learn a new language
5. Get a new job (possibly in management)
6. Look into investment houses
7. Look into franchise or start-up business
8. Install surround sound in bathroom
9. Clean up/hide wires and cables in living room
10. Get media center fully connected and operational
11. Build deck or pool in backyard
12. Paint upstairs bedroom

Some notes:
1. The Eventually list is just a bunch of things I'd like to do at some point. Since they don't adhere to a schedule very well, I decided that getting any 2 things on this list accomplished a year would suffice.
2. If I fail at doing my Yearly tasks on time, I have to select one RANDOM task from the Eventually list. This task will not count towards the 2 for that year, and must be started within the first week of the new year. If I fail to do that, well then, I fail at life and probably shouldn't have a list anyway.
3. Rather than inundate this blog with daily successes ("Yea! I ate a healthy meal today!"), I will instead update with larger milestones, failures and subsequent punishments, and changes to the list itself.
4. I plan on starting this crazy concept next week (Sunday, 1/27/08 specifically). I may not be able to adhere to everything at first due to some prep work required for certain items, but I’ll make clear where the exceptions are before starting.

List Making

So, the latest rage among my friends has been to make a list of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days. It is an alternative approach to making New Year's Resolutions, and one that seems to have caught on rather quickly. I agree that new year's resolutions are old hat, and are even more likely to fail than normal To-Do's for a variety of reasons. They are always the same (lose weight, work out more, eat healthier, blah blah blah). They are never well defined (how much weight, how will I work out, what is healthy eating). On top of that, they are usually not very well planned, often thought of on New Year's Eve when someone asks you, "So what are your resolutions this year?" Or worse, on January 1st, when you think to yourself, crap I need to do better this year...

In some ways, the 101 in 1001 list resolves those issues but, for other reasons, I don't really like this concept either. Most of all because I think defining a list so specifically (both in quantity of tasks AND time to accomplish them), forces the list maker onto a predefined path. Some people may not have 101 things they want to accomplish while others have well beyond that number. Some items may take years to get done (finishing a degree, turning first profit on a business, earning enough to retire), while others can be done immediately. Lists will be padded with easy tasks to accomplish first, giving the maker a warm fuzzy when he/she gets to check something off. Eventually, however, the tasks will get harder, the list will not change so frequently, and as the final days count down on several seemingly impossible tasks left, the unavoidable sense of failure will come.

While the concept of New Year's Resolutions or 101 things to do in 1001 days is admirable, I think both are inherently flawed so have decided to create my own list: Crap I Need To Do, Or Else...

Details on this innovative new concept are forthcoming.