Last month was mixed.
As usual, I was pleased with aspects of my habits and performance but slipped in certain areas.
Let’s take a look.
Meditation
I really struggled here, mainly due to irregular sitting times.
Back when I did 60 consecutive days of meditation in one of my extended 30-day challenges, I always scheduled a session immediately after my morning run.
However, since incorporating morning stretches, I pushed mindfulness back to the afternoon to start work on time.
While I feel immense benefit from afternoon supine meditation and breathwork, the admin of the day frequently gets in the way and I miss the session entirely.
During October, I think I’ll switch back to meditating as part of my morning routine.
Exercise
I feel good about my workout frequency this month, especially because I’ve been running regularly.
My foot injury remains bothersome but stable and the benefits I experience from frequent cardiovascular exercise more than outweigh the ongoing issue.
I’ve also incorporated a short pre-run home weight session a few days a week, which has been enjoyable.
Hopefully, I can soon return to the gym soon when it reopens, for more intense strength training.
This month I’ve also developed a post-run stretching routine, focusing mainly on hip flexibility.
I suffer from FAI syndrome or hip impingement, which requires daily maintenance.
I’m also of the belief that much emotional energy is locked in our hips, which benefit from regular release after prolonged sitting.
Reading
I’ve been pretty productive on the reading front throughout September, mainly due to buying a new Kindle!
While I own an old Kindle Fire, I disliked the reading experience due to the weight of the device and screen glare, particularly on sunny days and before bed.
Instead, I wanted something that mimicked a book-reading experience.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s no substitute for the tactile sensation of the real thing, but when you consider walking around with a near-infinite library in your pocket, combined with its highlighting and annotation abilities, a Kindle can’t be beaten.
Writing
I’ve just published a post about wanting to release shorter, stream of consciousness style articles, partly in a bid to re-establish a regular writing habit.
In addition to aiding self-reflection and behaviour modification, this monthly review seems to fall into that category.
Although such posts feel self-indulgent, they relieve the pressure of perfectionism and put the fun back into creation.
I’ve also brainstormed other articles I’d like to write, so fingers crossed my October motivation persists.
Personal projects
You can see that writing on this website has been irregular, to say the least. Hopefully this improves as I release my inner critic and start shipping regularly.
My other website remains in the doldrums. Technical issues persist but I think the project has great potential.
I’m just struggling to allocate any additional bandwidth at present.
Work
This month has been busy with client work, as operations expand at the startup I’m involved in.
It’s great to be part of a growing organisation and I’m excited to see what the future holds.
I also started some general client outreach but after a conversation with one company, failed to incorporate any meaningful follow-up.
Time is the main the limiting factor here, in addition to leading my pitch with a vague service offer, which needs further thought and refinement.
Summary
I know that not only can my performance improve, but that I could also collect more data on my daily routine to make evidence-based decisions.
However, I’m taking my own advice and keeping things simple to start.
It’s essential to keep the barrier to completing these posts low while I establish a regular and more importantly, enjoyable, self-reflection process.
