giblets

27 Sep 17 Days to go: 201 Days to Marathon 2: 16 I am really not feeling the motivation today. Usually I kick my mornings off by reading a few journals, commenting and writing my own, but everything feels like an effort this morning. I assume the main cause of this is I am really not enjoying being at work right now, because my personal life is going swell and I am enjoying spending time with the in laws. My son has totally got walking down pat now and is walking all over the place, it wont be long before he is running and I have to chase him everywhere! Looking forward to that a little bit but he is fun right now too. The bottom line is work just blows. But, we do what we don't want to so we can do the things we do want to, so I will keep powering on. Didn't go for a run yesterday as my knee was really sore. I think I had adjusted my running style on Monday because I had a shin splint, which caused the knee problem. Seems to always be the case, I have a small niggling issue which I subconsciously try to compensate for, which causes a bigger issue. That same theory could be applied to the rest of life, we tend to try and cover up our small issues which results in bigger problems. For me it was anxiety, I tried to cover it up with gaming, which resulted not just in the anxiety getting worse, but neglecting so many other areas of my life as well, such as studying and personal development. I hope to get back out there running today but the knee isn't at 100%, so I might have to do the taboo and rest it two days in a row. Ultra trail registrations open today and I still haven't decided if I should be registering or not. I wanted to wait to see how my body went after the marathon to see if I felt confident training it up for the ultra trail, and I think I have gone ok, but I also haven't looked at any training plans. I talked to some family about it and they think it would be serious hard work, with the mental challenge being the biggest. I am always up for a mental challenge so that spurred me on a little - but I can't help thinking about the half marathon I did last year with no training when I almost had a mental breakdown in the middle of it because I was in that much pain and was not prepared for it. I think as long as I get out there training every day and try to do some hikes (and running hikes) every weekend or so that I should be ok. It will be a big impost on my family so I need to talk to them a bit more this morning. This might be my only chance to do it in my life so I need to grab it with both hands. Ok I think I have jump started my brain and I can get on with my morning routine. I can't say I am thankful for the weather today - it looks a little gloomy! Battleplan for today 1. Talk with my family about the ultra trail, and register. Find a training plan that I can try to follow for the next six months. 2. Reinvigorate work somehow so it is not impacting me as much. Maybe part of this is to control my emotions at work a little better? Not just the active emotions but subconsciously as well. 3. Come up with a plan for the weekend so I don't feel like I haven't achieved anything with the extra day off. Grateful corner 1. Close friends, who are going to go try and pick me up a vacuum cleaner on sale this morning before it sells out! Happy wife happy life, team! 2. My determination. The more I talk to people or read about some challenges at work or with running, I realise I get through a lot of stuff in life without even thinking about it because of the brute force that comes with my high determination. It might be something else but it feels like determination. 3. My Raspberry Pi. I know I get angry at you little buddy, but I had a realisation last night that I think the frustrations come down to not setting up the cooling on your CPU quite right, so it is my own fault. I need to remind myself of how much money you have saved me on power bills so far alone! I'll sort out the cooling issue for you, even when my new laptop arrives and takes centre stage.

26 Sep 17 Days to go: 202 Days to Marathon 2: 17 Yesterday sucked hard. My to do list at work now goes across two pages, and I simply can't keep up. Too many people are competing for my time when all I want (or need) to do is plow through some of these jobs so I don't get angrygrams. The trick of keeping my phone in DnD mode really worked, so much so that I totally forgot I still had it on when I got home from work and missed some messages. I like the power it gives you back of you get your messages or notifications when you want to, not when the phone wants you to. I intend continuing it today. I think I need to couple this with shutting the door to my office today so I can at least make some headway on these tasks. I was going to do some work last night when I got home but I ended up spending time with my family and in laws, and then googling USB C hubs and chargers for my new laptop. I think I am actually going to have to go into an Apple store - their USB C charger is the best on the market apparently, especially when the standard isn't quite clear and people are frying boards. Pretty much didn't achieve anything yesterday which upsets me as well. Gave myself zero stars for productivity. I was going to take the day off and enjoy the fantastic weather we are experiencing in Sydney, but I know I won't be able to relax with the amount of work I have to go. Does anyone have any tips or methods of how they relax when they can't stop thinking about work? Got back out on the road and did my first run since the marathon. Boy oh boy did it hurt - my right knee is still recovering. It was uncomfortable throughout the whole run, I only did 5km, but the rest of the afternoon I could barely move/walk. I had to lean on the wall or rail to get up and down stairs. It's back to feeling ok today, so I will go for another jog and see how I go - I am not pushing myself at all at the moment, I just want to rebuild the habit of going every day. Running feels different now, I think it is because I know I can push my body to 42km, that when I get a little worn out from 1km or so, I don't hesitate to keep going. This might accelerate my training from here on in, once I get my knee sorted of course. I have done away with interval training now as well, I just love pushing myself to run further and further without stopping. It's a massive sense of achievement, and I don't think I had it either before the marathon or when I was doing interval training. Purchased my ticket to Permission to Think Freely with Adam Roa and Cam. It's a long way away but gives me something to look forward to. Might include that as a counter from tomorrow. There is another development workshop coming up that I saw the advertising for yesterday that I thought I might be interested in. I can't remember the name right now though. Battleplan for today 1. Keep my office door closed. Plow through as much work as I can. I need to get back on top of this because instructing takes up so much of my time and I cannot progress any of my tasks. 2. Order this USB C hub/charger so I can sweep it out of my mind as another distraction. 3. Get back out there jogging again, try to get 2 days in a row. 5km is fine, aim for the longer runs on the weekend. Focus on the routine. Grateful corner 1. This journal, it allows me to clear my mind before the day starts to get into the flow. Without it I think I was bottling up way too much. 2. Camomile tea. Keeps me nice calm and relaxed. I need to drink more of this during the day to help control my emotions and focus upon what truly matters, like Mark Manson said in his talk a few weeks ago. 3. The weather. I seriously cannot talk up how great this weather is in Sydney right now. Wayland knows what I am talking about. Even though most of the day I can only see it through a window, it is still enjoyable. I can't wait to take advantage of it on the weekend again.

Oh the sleep in, how I miss ye But there is too much to get done in the mornings mate! Prime time to be maximising cognitive tasks. I did enjoy that quote as well, though I never understood why people don't want to go first. It's the herd mentality. They're too afraid to do something wrong and be laughed at/ostracized from the tribe. I think there is less pressure when you do go first, because you have freedom to make mistakes and not have to copy someone else!

Captain Caveeeeeemaaaaaaaaaan! WoW was my jam as well before I gave up, and like you, I had stopped enjoying it. My theory is that with MMOs and people like us who can't moderate, we flip the script. We go from gaming so we can be social, to being social so we can game. When that happens, we get annoyed with having to group or talk to people because they just slow us down from the end result, whether that be a dungeon, a raid, or a mount like you said. Having just had my first son, I can tell you giving up gaming is the best thing you can do as an investment in your family. Initially I really got annoyed when he wanted attention because it would mean I wouldn't be able to heal a fight or get those tasty PvP points. Now I really enjoy when he wants attention and I can give it to him. Way better than any dungeon or group or PvP arena. I have not changed anything else, just dropping gaming. Good luck on your journey!

YESSS!!!! Ticket purchased! No pressure or anything but I heard the MC is going to be on point

Have you tried this surge of "poke" cafes instead of MccyDees? I had my first salad from one of those places on the weekend and it was pretty good. I was skeptical of the seaweed crackers but they turned out to be alright! Either way, I am glad to see more healthier fast food options appearing (assuming it is healthier), so you might want to try some of them out instead.

I'll definitely check this out, cheers!

25 Sep 17 Days to go: 203 Days to Marathon 2: 18 So I totally missed yesterday's post, and I have no excuse, my morning routine is/was still not right and compacted by the fact it was the weekend so my foot was off the gas a little. I ended up getting out of bed and compressing a bunch of files on my computer as I am really struggling for space. As I am using an RPi 3 as my desktop, that means I essentially couldn't do anything else for an hour or so, and fell back to watching videos on my phone while I waited. Lesson learnt, because I didn't realise until about lunch time that I hadn't posted yet and by then it was too late. Today it's the first thing I am doing after making some tea - that will be the new routine. No checking the phone yet either which is good, I have now put it into alarms only mode and only take it out when I am expecting a call or something. Lets see how long that lasts. The reason I really need to take control of how much I look at my phone is I listened to a great TED talk yesterday on boredom by Manoush Zomoroni. For some reason I can't insert links so it is here - Even just the statistics alone is scary and puts phone usage into perspective. I have been having a love-hate relationship with phones over the last few months ever since entering the detox, where I became more aware of everyone using their phones constantly and not just enjoying the moment. I like to think I have a head start by already deleting all social media off of my phone, but I still respond to notifications too freely. I am going to keep my phone in this "do not disturb" mode all day again and see how we go - I have tried similar things during my detox, I remember talking to Bob about it. If I could find an alternative to listen to podcasts on I think I would go so far as downgrade to a feature phone similar to what CG EYE did. Not a lot else happened yesterday, spent time with the family and had a few beers to celebrate the last week before picking up more family to stay for the week. Last week was a great one, got a distinction for my online debate essay, recovered from the marathon without being too badly injured and I think I am getting on top of my finances for the moment. I did do a lot of reflecting as well which was good to do, I do not think I do enough of it. I probably spend too much time listening to podcasts during my quiet time rather than just sitting with the moment and reflecting on how I am going. Definitely addicted to podcasts - there is too much to listen to out there and to help me learn, as well as audiobooks, that I don't like being without one for even a few moments. I cannot remember the last time I actually listened to music - I don't have any installed on my phone anymore. So what is the plan for this week? With family staying over it is going to be challenging, but I do need to get back ontop of my productivity. I have taken my foot off the pedal, and now rather than sorting it out I seem content with just talking about it. That will stop as of today, and I will take charge of this beast. What is going to force my hand to make this happen is that I am going to be teaching for the next 8 weeks as well as attempting to manage work admin and study and all the rest. No time for dillydallying! Unfortunately with having family staying this week I was hoping to finally finish off my noise maker for my son, including cutting and grinding the mint tin it will be stored in, but that will not be happening. It will need to be a next weekend job, and I feel bad that I keep putting this off rather than getting it finished. The soldering is done, that is the hard part, now just need the software to back it up and the casing for it. Again, just allowing myself to be distracted from my goals and not coming back to them, need to take charge. Battleplan for today 1. Contact my lecturer to talk about the consistencies between the feedback for my two assignments. I need to make some improvements to my writing style not just for the third and final assignment, but for the next semester and beyond as well. 2. Enjoy teaching for at least today, and for the next two months. Last time round I really did not enjoy it, it was during the detox, and I was battling anxiety really bad. I feel a lot more relaxed about it all this time around and more in control in my emotions so I am optimistic. What do I have to lose anyway? 3. Get back into my studies, or a routine that will aid me in doing my studies, which will generally revolve around getting my morning routine under control again. Do some research on ideal morning routines, look into the Miracle Morning. Grateful corner My house. I was spending some time yesterday on the floor in our living room with my son just playing around, and then again last night talking with my family. I am truly thankful for the opportunity of the house we are in, it is a once in a million once in a lifetime house and I was in the right place at the right time for it. No wonder it has a history of people not wanting to move out from it! I have another year here before we move into my next job so I need to enjoy it as much as I can, I doubt we will have such a spacious house like this again.

#represent

You can bounce ideas off of them on how to abstain from gaming, and they can bounce ideas off you of how to grow such a full beard

Think how much you will enjoy other aspects of your life if you continue to live deliberately. Be wary that returning to gaming doesn't impact development of your self awareness.

There is some great training apps out there for free @Hitaru. You might need to hit the road hard after relaxing and having so much fun hanging out with @Cam

Tomorrow sounds like an awesome day @imquitgaming. Don't get sucked into staring at your phone and just enjoy it!

Would you consider investing your spare money in something that would help these other hobbies you want to achieve? I don't know anything about Go, but is there something that would make you better? I think any investment in technology if it is new seems to be a waste, as it depreciates so quickly. For example, a laptop I wanted to buy about three months ago for $800 but didn't because my credit card bill was too high, is now down to $580. That is a big loss in less than a year. You'll get more value out of buying something second hand or a year or so older. In this case, the Switch, it is only going to go down in value, so I think buying it won't be a good idea.

23 Sep 17 Days to go: 205 Days to Marathon 2: 20 There is about to be a third @SlackRamen, with @Zeeko about to move here as well! Was the obstacle course like the American Ninja Warrior show or more like the US College races? Both look like a lot of fun but require a lot of practice. I remember doing obstacle courses when I was a scout way back in my school days and it was a blast. Because I was the smallest they used to throw me over the obstacles and walls. The red counter is how many days until I have gone a year game free, so I am up to day 160 today of not playing games. I like goals and targets and seem to work better with them so I figured why not make a new target after the 90 day detox was up, and there were several people talking about a year game free at the time, so I chose that. My morning routine still needs some work. The part that is annoying me right now is I know a few improvements I could make but I don't implement them, like drinking a glass of water as soon as you wake up and not touching your phone immediately in order to get into the creating content mindset rather than consuming. I just can't motivate myself to do either task, though I have really overhauled how I used my phone, and generally now I just check my notifications before getting on with the day. I should be at a point where I get on with my day, do my morning routine, then check my notifications. The drinking water would really help though as I tend to be dehydrated most of the time (as the majority of humans are these days) and with the heat we are experiencing I sweat a lot more. I'll try again tomorrow to start forcing myself to do that. Well I chose a bad time to try and go back to daily posts with the work trip, but at least now I am back home with the right intention and ready to get this sorted. Some good news too, got my results back for my last assignment and I achieved a distinction - that's the highest mark I have received in years! So I am super happy with that. More evidence of how much I was wasting myself prior to the detox. There are some consistencies in what the lecturer has pointed out I did wrong though with the first assignment, so I need to contact her for some tips or direction on how to sort that out. I have identified the marathon re-attempt, there is one in the Melbourne Running Festival next month on the 13 October. So I have registered, flights booked, here I come! I think it is going to be a lot of fun, and will get the family away on a mini-holiday so will kill two birds with one stone. A lot of my wife's friends live in Melbourne so they can go hang out and do whatever they do while I run around scenic Melbourne and finish at the MCG (if I avoid the time cut offs). I have also found out it is not called a "slow bus", it is a "slow band". If you are not running fast enough when you pass through several check points then you're given an armband which basically means you can't finish the whole race as you will take too long. The aim is not to get one of those! This marathon is a bit quicker, the slow bands are given to 7:30 min/km instead of the Sydney 8min/km, but that's ok. I feel like I have been wasting a bit of time this week by watching a lot of Youtube on various subjects, so I need to wind that back a bit. I haven't been feeling that great so it has been an easy escape while resting, either from the flu or still recovering from the run, I don't know which. That shouldn't be a problem this weekend though, it is just me and my boy and some fantastic weather - so look out playgrounds and maybe the zoo, we're going to have an awesome weekend! And no frustration from wanting to just stay home and play games! Battleplan for today: 1. Have a lot of fun with my son - maybe the park, a playground, who knows. Whatever we feel like. Apparently right now that includes drawing on our face with a pen. 2. Drink lots of water - this might be a source of my problems as well. 3. Do some cleaning of the house to catch up on some chores. Will need to come back to my grateful points later, the keyboard is being hijacked by a small human.

Welcome mate!

Monday Morning Podcast (MMP) with Bill Burr. He calls topics how he sees it which others are too scared to talk about, plus he is hilarious! Some other ones that people haven't mentioned so far: The Anxiety Guy James Aldricher Show (not sure if I spelt his last name right) The Minimalists Skeptics Guide to the Universe

Welcome @Aeryes! I am impressed you have achieved 44 days cold turkey!

Love the Blue Mountains! I want to do the ultra trail in may next year so I need to spend more time up there training. We might have to compare notes on good spots!

I was committed to going back to daily posts starting today but it hasn't worked out! Been on the road since 4am for work so I'll need to set aside time for a post this afternoon. Intention for today is to note down things I'm grateful about as I go along. The fantastic weather today in Sydney is a good start! Edit: since I'm on my mobile for the first time ever I'll try uploading a photo of the weather I'm taking about, and I'm outside to enjoy it!

Just listened to his podcast where the dates were mentioned so it's in my calendar!

You've got this mate

The two themes that always seem to occur in every self-help/productivity/motivational speaker/book/blog/podcast @Parkreiner is - 1) meditation and 2) journalling. If all these entrepreneurs swear by those two steps at the beginning of every day regardless of the situation, then it must be effective and the "silver bullet" for getting in the right mindspace. I initially found it hard to get into meditation, probably similar to what you mentioned, but also because I tended to fall asleep because I don't allow myself to slow down that much usually, but if you set an alarm or timer or use a podcast to help you get started, you will find it beneficial. Now after some practice I can meditate several times during the day, even if it is only for a few minutes, to help me stay grounded. What usually spurs me to do it now is if I am faced with a difficult decision and/or feeling anxious, and meditation allows me to not only calm down but find what the root cause is. Journalling in the morning allows me to do a "mindsweep" of my problems, come up with a plan for the day, and attack it.

They are the best type of vacations @Manun!

Keep going @Andre2807! It's those rough days that identify the self coping tools that will work for us continue to progress our development.