Early Reflection

When I first started this blog, I figured I'd post to it every week. I thought I might even write a couple blogs per week sometimes. That didn't happen. I could have spread my first few posts out, but I didn't because I wanted there to be some stuff up here for anybody who came across it in the beginning. For the sake of posting something new, I wanted to reflect a little and share some personal goals and hurdles of mine.

Recently, these two dudes I follow started a challenge about leading a healthier, more balanced life. They have both been workaholics at some point in their life, so I always take note of their advice. I always try to learn from people further down the path than I am. The challenge is called the Gauntlet of Goals, and it’s pretty cool. I’ll explain it really quick.

Basically, there are 7 categories: Diet, Fitness, Prosperity, Lived my Life, Knowledge, Charitable Deeds/Did Something for Someone I Love, and Habits. It’s a ton of stuff, but each category is pretty essential to lead a healthy, balanced life. All of these categories can make you a better person and your main goals will fall within at least one of these categories. The categories are put into a spreadsheet that divides each month into weekly sections. Now, I’ll take Habits as an example to explain how it works. Each day you do your Habit, you get a point. If you do your habit every day for the week, you get an extra point for the week (8 points total). No half-point bullshit. There are other bonuses, but you get the idea. The points aren’t really worth anything, but it’s a way to track your progress and reflect on your performance throughout the week. Depending on the type of person you are, just filling the spreadsheet out and seeing your behavior in black and white is really helpful and motivating. If you’re competitive, do it with somebody you know. That way you can watch each other do it too.

I’m a big fan of gathering data, especially about yourself and how you spend your time. If you leave it up to you, it’s easy to lie or cut yourself a little slack. It’s also impossible to know, for absolute sure, that you spent the amount of time you said you would on doing something. It’s a much bigger problem for people who work from home, but it’s true for everybody.

So, for this week, I’d recommend reflecting on those categories listed above and defining some goals you have. Then, do something to track that progress. It doesn’t have to be a spreadsheet. Just track it in whatever way is easy for you. The important thing is to identify and execute. As I mentioned before, be as specific as you can be. Good luck.

P.S. I didn’t proof-read this one because I’m in a rush. If there’s typos, I’m human.