Did I tell you this? On July 1, I set a timer for sixty minutes and then I sat down and wrote. The first time the timer went off, I got up off my butt and did a jumping jack.
I’d set the timer another two to four times throughout the day to write and each time it would go off, I’d get up and do one more jumping jack than I did before. By the end of the month, I did eighty jumping jacks in a row. In total, I did 3,240 jumping jacks in July.
It’s a nice little cardio blast for your heart after participating in a sedentary activity of sitting and writing.
In addition to the jumping jacks, I worked out 29 out of 31 days, an average of 27 minutes a day. I’ll take those statistics.
Here are the rest of my grades.
A’s
Work out
Meditate
Remind myself that the quality of my thoughts determines the quality of my life
Answer an email
Call and talk to mom
B’s
Write 100 words on meditation
Take Vitamin D
Write 500 words in book
C’s
Duolingo
I would have received more A’s, but my computer was in the shop for the last couple of days of July and I didn’t have access to my Scrivener files to write. I could have done Duolingo on my phone, but I hate using my phone.
How’d you do?
It gets easier the longer you do it. I promise.
Okay, I can’t promise. I just know it got easier for me. Don’t trust a data set of one. But don’t dismiss a data set of one, either. Or maybe you can dismiss a data set of one. I don’t know. It’s shocking how little I know. Just shocking.
What language(s) are you learning through duolingo? I used it to learn Spanish, but it wasn’t giving me the progress I was looking for. Now I use udemy.com. I can highly recommend udemy!
Spanish. It’s not really working for me, either, but I’m giving it some time. I’ll check out udemy, too. Thanks!
btw, you can create an Udemy account for free, but you will have to pay for the courses you want. The courses are video based.
Be sure to only buy courses when they’re on sale. They have regular discounts.
I bought several courses like Spanish, Thai, Linux related courses and NLP. I bought mine all when they were on sale. I paid about $10 to $20 per course. So, it’s not for free, but you get a lot for very little money.
I’ve got 13 courses now. All I need is some more time 🙂
Thanks for the tips!
Duolingo is a fantastic app!
Good goals overall.
– Financial Nordic
It looks like you are doing well with the goals. Congrats! I always learn something from your blog. Thanks for the tips on Scrivener and Duolingo. I’m going to check these out. If you are still working on the book covering happenings with your family, you might want to check out “Train Tracks: Family Stories for the Holidays.” It’s a book in a similar genre that could prove helpful.
Thanks! It’s on the list now. 🙂
As a writer, someone you may want to follow is James Altucher. I’m an advertising writer now trying to break into other areas. Like your work, I find his writing to be both interesting and inspirational.
Thanks! I’ve heard of him. He wrote and self published a very successful book.
Agreed and thanks!
jumping jacks ruined my ankles. of course, i was obese when i ruined my ankles. maybe you can get away with them given your lighter weight and stronger muscular support of your joints. if your joints can handle them, try burpees instead.
Burpees are brutal, but I like that idea!
When you post that you write 100 words on meditation, how do you do this exercise? Could you please give me more information?
After I meditated, I would open a Scrivener file, date it, and then write 100 words about what I thought of that day’s meditation. I’m working on an article with these thoughts, so you’ll see some of them soon. 🙂
Its hard to know a lot of stuff, because the more you learn the more you find out that there is so much more to learn.
I like the quote “Jack of all trades, master of none is still usually better than a master of just one.” I tell my nieces all the time to find a guy that can do stuff like fix a car, fix a computer, repair household stuff, they will have a lot less stress and a lot more money.
I want to learn how to fix a car.
I decided to learn all that myself in my 20s. Self sufficiency. And having no disposable income at the time. And engineering street cred
You’re a badass!
Reader’s Digest and time-life fix it guides, lol
Also, the auto parts store had free handouts on ‘how-to’s’ for fixing common items to help them sell more parts. Nowadays it’s YouTube and the internets
“The quality of my thoughts determines the quality of my life…”
I like that one!
Great work, keep kicking booty!
It’s a simple, but effective reminder. 🙂
Its not hard if you have patience and it doesn’t hurt if you have some mechanical aptitude. Its also hella rewarding to fix something that’s broken and be able to use that thing right away to drive somewhere far.
I have a bucket list item to some day rebuild a muscle car and be like the guys on fast and furious. Need a garage first though.
True that, esp patience. Go in knowing that those plumbing projects will involve 5 trips to the home center. Because stuff.