Sixteen Goals in Sixteen Weeks: Afterthoughts

So… what’s done is done, right?

Wrong.

About halfway through this project I started sensing that I was actually involved a much larger process than I initially imagined, that what I thought was a little experiment to get me through the summer was just a teaser of things to come. Now, I realise that the changes I made to my life this summer, though commendable, are not the end-all-be-all.

On the contrary, this is just the beginning.

As it turns out, the main accomplishment with the Sixteen Goals project was not the goals themselves, but the fact that I incorporated into my life the habit of forming habits.  In short, I’ve taught myself how to change, and now that basic training is over, it’s time to move on to bigger and better changes.  Real change.

There won’t be any more web-based journals, at least not at the moment.  Although I enjoyed the catharsis of having everything “out there” where people could see it, the next step is more personal and private, and will remain that way for the foreseeable future.

Many thanks to everyone who commented, liked, retweeted, +1-ed, and e-mailed, both now and throughout this project.  Although I wasn’t able to respond personally to everyone, please know that your interest in my self-interest was both touching and pleasantly surprising.

I hope everyone has a great autumn.  This is truly a magical time of year.

 

Day 1 / End of Week Sixteen / Final Roundup

So, here we go!

• Goal One: Complete a sixteen-week fitness programme – DONE.
• Goal Two: Repair my relationship with food – DONE.
• Goal Three: Meditate every day – DONE.
• Goal Four: Go out and have fun once a week – DONE.
• Goal Five: Read eight works of fiction – I only read six books, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it – after all, that’s six more books than I read last summer.  Or the summer before that.
• Goal Six: Put a thousand euros in savings – DONE.
• Goal Seven: Drink summer wine – DONE.
• Goal Eight: Rock a sundress – DONE.
• Goal Nine: Improve my sleeping habits – DONE.
• Goal Ten: Leave the house at least once a day – DONE.
• Goal Eleven: Take care of my skin – DONE.
• Goal Twelve: Organise my hard drives – I dropped the ball on this one – sounds like a good project for autumn!
• Goal Thirteen: Care for my hands and feet – DONE.
• Goal Fourteen: Switch to a standing desk – DONE.
• Goal Fifteen: Visit a spa – DONE.
• Goal Sixteen: Plan an end-of-summer celebration –  DONE.

So hey, fourteen out of sixteen ain’t bad at all.

This isn’t over… I have some stuff I want to say tomorrow, little afterthoughts.

 

Day 2

I can’t believe this project is nearly finished.

There’s not much more to say, really.  I’ll do the roundup tomorrow, and then we’re done.

 

Day 8 / End of Week Fifteen

I guess this will be the last weekly roundup!  Next week, it’s celebration time.

• Goal One: Complete a sixteen-week fitness programme – I’ve taken a break from cycling because I can no longer sit down on the saddle.  So I’m back to just the normal fitness plan, plus yoga.
• Goal Two: Repair my relationship with food – I’ve been eating really well, really proud of that.
• Goal Three: Meditate every day – Consistent, short sessions seem to be the new rule.  I need to start making exceptions again and do longer sessions.
• Goal Four: Go out and have fun once a week – My friend and I went out on Sunday, and it was tons of fun.
• Goal Five: Read eight works of fiction – I think I need to admit that I’m going to come up a little short on this one.  But that’s okay, I’ve read six books so far, and that’s more than I normally read in a summer.
• Goal Six: Put a thousand euros in savings – DONE.
• Goal Seven: Drink summer wine – I’ve slowed down a bit since last week, but I still had some wine (and cooked with it, too).
• Goal Eight: Rock a sundress – DONE.
• Goal Nine: Improve my sleeping habits – The nights get ever cooler, which is wonderful.
• Goal Ten: Leave the house at least once a day – This is definitely part of my daily routine now.
• Goal Eleven: Take care of my skin – There are some leftovers from last week, but it’s all under control.
• Goal Twelve: Organise my hard drives – This is another thing I think is going to have to remain partially done, for now.
• Goal Thirteen: Care for my hands and feet – I finally, finally got my feet under real control this week.  Trade-off: my hands look sort of so-so.
• Goal Fourteen: Switch to a standing desk – DONE.
• Goal Fifteen: Visit a spa – I’m going this weekend, end of story.
• Goal Sixteen: Plan an end-of-summer celebration –  I’m going to take myself out to a nice restaurant and have a nice meal, on my own.

Let’s bring this thing home.

 

Day 15 / End of Week Fourteen

It’s all becoming very real now, the home stretch.

• Goal One: Complete a sixteen-week fitness programme – Cycling is coming along nicely, as well as the regular fitness plan.
• Goal Two: Repair my relationship with food – Oh, I have eaten so well this week!  Salads, chicken, fish… really great stuff.
• Goal Three: Meditate every day – Still not meditating for as long as I’d like, but at least it’s consistent.
• Goal Four: Go out and have fun once a week – I’ve been having so much fun, and yesterday I even went to the beach, which I hardly ever do.
• Goal Five: Read eight works of fiction – Still on book six.  Yes, I know this doesn’t look good.  Watch me snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
• Goal Six: Put a thousand euros in savings – DONE.
• Goal Seven: Drink summer wine – Oh hell yes, I’ve been drinking wine every day.
• Goal Eight: Rock a sundress – DONE.
• Goal Nine: Improve my sleeping habits – The nights have been so cool and wonderful this past week, and I’m really sleeping well.
• Goal Ten: Leave the house at least once a day – No problem.
• Goal Eleven: Take care of my skin – I do have one blemish, but it’s nothing major.
• Goal Twelve: Organise my hard drives – Ack, trying to make time.  I need to schedule it.
• Goal Thirteen: Care for my hands and feet – Both are looking better than ever.
• Goal Fourteen: Switch to a standing desk – DONE.
• Goal Fifteen: Visit a spa – Yeah, thinking about doing this on the last day.
• Goal Sixteen: Plan an end-of-summer celebration –  So far I’ve planned spa, wine, and having fun.

Time to start reconnecting with my life.

 

End of Week Thirteen

Meh, I just feel kind of blah this week.  The bike incident this morning didn’t help.

• Goal One: Complete a sixteen-week fitness programme – Well, I was going to add biking to my regime… you know how that’s going
• Goal Two: Repair my relationship with food – This week is going to be the week of simplicity.  Fruits. Vegetables. Fish.
• Goal Three: Meditate every day – Chugging right along.  Looking forward to longer sessions starting tomorrow.
• Goal Four: Go out and have fun once a week – Yeah, I’ve gone out and done fun things… I could probably stand to actually schedule an event this coming week, though.
• Goal Five: Read eight works of fiction – Still on book six.  Need to step it up.
• Goal Six: Put a thousand euros in savings – DONE.
• Goal Seven: Drink summer wine – Still haven’t opened any this week, but Natalie bought me a bottle of rosé as a departure gift, so I’ll open that this weekend sometime.
• Goal Eight: Rock a sundress – DONE.
• Goal Nine: Improve my sleeping habits – The past two nights have been great.  I expect nothing but improvements from here on out.
• Goal Ten: Leave the house at least once a day – No problem.
• Goal Eleven: Take care of my skin – It’s taking care of itself now.
• Goal Twelve: Organise my hard drives – I’ll get on this in the next week.
• Goal Thirteen: Care for my hands and feet – My feet are great; my hands, not so much.
• Goal Fourteen: Switch to a standing desk – DONE.
• Goal Fifteen: Visit a spa – This will happen sometime in the next three weeks, for sure.
• Goal Sixteen: Plan an end-of-summer celebration – I may include the spa visit in this.  We’ll see.

Time to start reconnecting with my life.

 

Day 24

Today’s one of those weird transitional days where there are suitcases everywhere but no actual movement yet.  Natalie goes back home to Australia tomorrow, and for the first time in more than two months, I’ll be living alone again.  It’s both sad and exciting.  On one hand, we’ve had a great summer together.  On the other, I do enjoy my solitude, and it’s been in short supply.

Natalie’s departure also means that I will no longer have any excuse for slacking on goals.  “But it’s hard to keep up with these things when one has house guests” has become my unfortunate mantra over these past ten weeks, and although I think I’ve kept up with my goals pretty well, I’m aware that I could be doing a lot better.

So today, while Natalie is out doing her last-minute gift shopping for friends and family back home, I’m going to take some time to recalibrate and think about how I want to spend my effort for the rest of the project time. There’s only a little over three weeks left to go, and I absolutely want to make the most of it (read: I don’t want to get to the end and be facing up to a huge list of incomplete goals).

While this exercise will not specifically move me forward on any one goal, I think it’ll give me some much-needed perspective that I’ve lost track of over the past couple of months.  After all, it’s hard to keep up with these things when one has house guests.

 

Day 29 / End of Week Twelve

I can’t believe the project is 75% finished.  Things are moving along so quickly now, it’s crazy.

• Goal One: Complete a sixteen-week fitness programme – Running during the day is just impossible. On days when I don’t manage to wake up before sunrise it’s just miserable.  Other than that, it’s coming along okay.
• Goal Two: Repair my relationship with food – She says as she shoves the last slice of banana bread in her mouth.  Don’t get me wrong – banana bread is a wonderful thing to eat, something I would never deny myself.  But I’m not sure I needed to eat that much of it.
• Goal Three: Meditate every day – I hate to say this, but in terms of this goal I’m kind of looking forward to Natalie’s departure next week.  It’ll be much easier to do longer sessions when I’m alone.
• Goal Four: Go out and have fun once a week – My fun outing was kind of subtle, just a visit to my favourite restaurant followed by a trip to my favourite posh supermarket, but hey, it’s hot.  That’s my excuse.
• Goal Five: Read eight works of fiction – Still on book six, but I think I can finish it by the weekend.
• Goal Six: Put a thousand euros in savings – Time to start thinking about the last instalment, which should be due this week.  Still figuring out how it’s going to work.
• Goal Seven: Drink summer wine – In six days I’m going to have a lovely bottle of wine all by myself.
• Goal Eight: Rock a sundress – DONE.
• Goal Nine: Improve my sleeping habits – Now that it’s just me and Natalie again, sleep is easier, but I still find myself wanting to sleep when she wants to go out and do things.
• Goal Ten: Leave the house at least once a day – No problems there.
• Goal Eleven: Take care of my skin – This has become a no-brainer, as it always is in the summer.
• Goal Twelve: Organise my hard drives – Just waiting for the house to empty out.
• Goal Thirteen: Care for my hands and feet – My feet aren’t quite as good as they were, but I’m not worried.
• Goal Fourteen: Switch to a standing desk – DONE.
• Goal Fifteen: Visit a spa – Going to wait until after the house guests are gone.  Looking forward to it.
• Goal Sixteen: Plan an end-of-summer celebration – Four more weeks to party time!

Time to start reconnecting with my life.

 

Day 36 / End of Week Eleven

I’m feeling so much better about this week’s end-of-week review.  It probably has a lot to do with the two days of blissful solitude I just experienced.

• Goal One: Complete a sixteen-week fitness programme – I’m becoming more and more thankful that the programme isn’t harder than it is.  In the heat it’s about all I can handle.
• Goal Two: Repair my relationship with food – I’ve had such a great time with food this week, I don’t even care that some of it was fried.
• Goal Three: Meditate every day – My sessions are still short, but they’re regular, and that’s the most important part.
• Goal Four: Go out and have fun once a week – I had a bus adventure this week that was off the charts.
• Goal Five: Read eight works of fiction – On book six now.  Just started it, but it’s a real page-turner.
• Goal Six: Put a thousand euros in savings – No further action required on this yet.
• Goal Seven: Drink summer wine – I had a bad experience this week involving house guests and alcohol, so I’m not all that keen on drinking at the moment.  I may wait until everyone leaves.
• Goal Eight: Rock a sundress – DONE.
• Goal Nine: Improve my sleeping habits – I had two blissful nights of uninterrupted sleep when Natalie and Carlo were gone, and then they ruined it by coming home at 7am and banging around the house as usual.
• Goal Ten: Leave the house at least once a day – Such an easy thing to keep up with.
• Goal Eleven: Take care of my skin – My skin is still awesome.
• Goal Twelve: Organise my hard drives – Just waiting for the house to empty out.
• Goal Thirteen: Care for my hands and feet – The baby oil is still doing wonders.
• Goal Fourteen: Switch to a standing desk – DONE.
• Goal Fifteen: Visit a spa – Going to wait until after the house guests are gone.  Looking forward to it.
• Goal Sixteen: Plan an end-of-summer celebration – I can’t believe it’s only five more weeks!

Time to start reconnecting with my life.

 

Day 39

I’m starting to get giddy about autumn coming.  The weather is pretty miserable today (hot and sunny with humidity so thick that it has turned into fog in places), and all I can do is dream about cooler temperatures and winter and snow.

My plan for today, therefore, is to shower and try to get on a bus before I get too sweaty, and ride the air-conditioned bus around until I get tired of it.  Then I’m going to go to a shopping mall and sit in an air-conditioned coffee shop and read the rest of my book.  Then I might do a bit of shopping, because everywhere has clearance sales on at the moment (in preparation for autumn, yay!).

This evening we’re going to have a quiet evening, and then tomorrow Natalie and Carlo are going on a two-day excursion to the west coast, and I will have the house to myself.  Bliss!

I will take that time alone to assess how things are really going with my goals, and I’ll work out what I need to do to get everything finished on time.