Life in Renovation

Keep evolving.

[lifeinrenovation]

It's hump day, keep #grinding⠀ ⠀ #gains #lift #lifeinrenovation #fitdad #dadfit #weights 🏋

[lifeinrenovation]

Been cleaning up the calendar; had to get the priorities in there first!⠀ ⠀ Super pumped to crack a full week of @powerathletehq's #JackedStreet this week. Couple with some minor diet tweeks... Well, I'm looking forward to this body reconfiguration!⠀ ⠀ How's that #NewYears #Resolution working out for you?⠀ ⠀ #LifeInRenovation

[lifeinrenovation]

We've upgraded the meal planning hardware... How do you plan the weekly meals for your horde? A long while back I picked up a paper pad version of this that was a bit better. It ultimately forced you into planning at least one meal a day - supper. From there it's just leftovers and #bacon. I used this to optimize the use of food as we tend to eat nearly 100% unprocessed, it's saved us money and time (plus we use less food now). But I could see this working for a family making an effort to make more meals at home. Plan for one or two a week and get everyone involved in cooking (my toddler's developing some sweet knife skills) and make enough so you can pack lunch before you go to bed. #lifeinrenovation #mealprep #mealplan #mealplanning #family #dadlife

[lifeinrenovation]

Morning pages

Plans and routines are a fine thing to have, but you need to be flexible as all hell if you want them to work out. I reminder I gave to a person in a Facebook Room I'm in was that these routines and plans you create are yours - you control the rules and as such can rig your system for success.

I think I've mentioned it before, but two years ago when I was getting back into the gym my week one goal was merely to "show up". As in, "walk into the gym, mission accomplished". Of course, I felt silly so on day one I walked in and worked out. But on Day four and five, when there was pressure at work to go out for lunch or slog off early for a beer, the system was perfect - all I needed to do was walk into the gym and I could put my check in the box that I achieved my goal. That ended up in a 5-day gym week with workouts and would eventually lead me to taking on a new workout program, shaving three inches off my waist and probably a 20 to 30 lbs body composition change.

So as I put "my sleep in day" on hold because the lovely is still dealing with some health issues that keep her from having quality nights of sleep, I don't groan about it. Her end destination is to get back on the healthy train, my complaining about it won't help and certainly my forcing her to get up so I can have "my sleep in day" is counter productive to her goal planning. Relationships are a team environment, after all... oh and also I'm a dad now (and have been for near three years), so if I'm complaining about not having "my" time at this point in my life someone needs to seriously sit me down and sort me the fuck out.

And now I need to translate this flexibility in process to the new venture - striking out on my own to add value to the world around me. I owe nothing to no one but myself in this process, the world doesn't even know it needs the value I can provide, let alone even aware they'd be willing to pay for it. So I get to that point, the point where people know and value what I provide and are willing to pay for it, that process is all mine. Yes there are guidelines along the way, there's certain performance markers that would indicate to an outside party that I'm legitimately serious about this process, but it's on me and those I choose to bring into the process. Just this week I did bring someone in, someone who's not afraid to shut me down and appreciates the process and the flexibility my lifestyle needs right now. But I've set a deadline too, because without an end marker how will you ever light the fire you need to get there.

[lifeinrenovation]

Morning pages

Sleep might be the force multiplier for habit formation. Last night I took some time to be social and recharge these extrovert batteries of mine - being extroverted doesn't mean I'm necessarily social or even personable, but it does mean I draw energy from crowds... I'm like a siphon from The Vampire Diaries only not a sociopath and, oh, BTWs, I watched that entire series and thought it highly entertaining... where was I?

Right, so as a result of the social outing last night I got home late, wasn't in the mood to get directly to bed and decided to burn a bit of oil, waste some time on the internet, with TV, etc. As a result, I'm not in the mood to wake up as early as usually and am now finding myself in a bit of a "rushed" state today - not really, but I'll just need to be uber effective with my time.

Contrast that with the week to date, getting to bed with at least seven hours of sleep ahead of me and I have to say, the ability to remain committed to my habits was intense. I was committed. Today, I'm just going through the motions while focusing on a meeting I have this afternoon to hopefully kick start some entrepreneurial fire in me. I'm not sure how to track this data, and maybe it'll always just be anecdotal in nature, but sleep is definitely a major contributor to my focus and productivity.

Curious where to look for for more info on this, if anyone has any references I'd like to know.

[lifeinrenovation]

Morning pages

Clearly, I need to get up just a bit earlier as I'll be pushing the envelop to get in a quick set of morning "pages" today. This means I need to get to bed a bit earlier as well, this week of testing the routine and getting into the rhythm of journal-ing and writing and focusing on my Most Important Tasks has been good, but it all rushes to a end-of-the-week head tomorrow, and a return to status quo on Monday. The question now is, "can I maintain the momentum?"

Momentum is something I struggle with, I can create it, I can leverage it, but rarely am I able to sustain it over longer periods of time. Take this morning for example, I couldn't think of a third MIT for the day. This is odd. It's not like I've completed anything on my Dreamline for the year, but yet there I was drawing a blank to the point of just jotting down the standard "Get to the gym". Don't get me wrong, I still need that reminder to get physical from day to day, but I didn't need it this morning - I was already thinking about the days workout before I wrote that down.

I've come to realize this week there's a distinction between routine MITs and legit MITs. Not that establishing good routines isn't the goal and shouldn't be considered an MIT, but when the routines have started to root, it's time to move on.

And so, tonight, I'll review the Dreamlines and start getting things back on track. If I no longer need to spend energy reminding myself to "get to the gym" - meaning that I've found a way to automate that routine - then I can start focusing on a new goal that requires that activation energy. That's not to say I've achieved any Dreamlines related to fitness, I haven't. So keeping tabs on the metrics is still important to ensure I'm incrementally gaining on this goal. It just means that I no longer need to be so attentive to activating that goal.

Anyway, gotta run.

[lifeinrenovation]

Morning pages

Mantras, or affirmations can be pretty powerful things. Lately I've been echoing one in my head - un-rushed - and it's kind of neat how after a week or so of writing this down every morning I now catch myself when I get into the "hurry up" mode, recalling my "un-rushed" affirmation and resigning to either: a) leave some space to figure out why I needed to hurry up - i.e. what didn't I plan for; or b) understand that the world is far larger than just me - no one else should have to hurry simply because I am feeling rushed.

There's a lesson in here about "planning" or what have you, but that's not the point I've really come to. After all, no plan survives contact with reality, it's the flexibility of the plan that allows the end state to become achievable. I accept there will be moments when being rushed is the only thing left in the tank, like say when I need to outrun "ice wolves" during the great freeze of New York City as depicted in one of the most important films of our time, The Day After Tomorrow. But by and large, everything else can be planned and paced and by reminding myself of that each morning with the simply phrase, "I am un-rushed", has helped to cement that.

Perhaps I'll put research the affects of affirmations on my radar and develop some proper content for this site in the future, in the meantime, I'll continue to un-rush myself.

Today I'll be implementing the "productivity cookies" to help me cement daily progress on my goals and dreamlines. I think it'll be fun, just casual little reminders each day to ask me if I have the time and space to attend to those long-term goals and visions I have of my lifestyle. After all, it's my lifestyle (and to a large extent my family's) that I'm looking to design here, no one else should have to make space for me to do that. I do need to make sure the family is in on the take as much as possible. I lose sight of that and get wrapped up in the progress piece. Perhaps tonight I'll sit down with the lovely and revisit the family plans. If nothing else, to get moving on the Tumbleweed's move to the spare room so we can modify his old room to be a small office and guest space. This is needed, I'm working on projects on the kitchen table like a crack addict... who has a kitchen table... and uses it for project.

So, maybe I'll add that to the list of most important tasks I need to get to today: have the discussion about overall family plans and prioritize our efforts for the next three months.

[lifeinrenovation]

Morning pages

And so it begins.

I've been lugging around tomes like The Four Hour Body and The Four Hour Chef and all sorts of uniquely sized books on lifestyle change and harnessing your inner woo shit since like 2008. Some of them I've taken a lot of action on - like 4HB's "minimum effective dose" (MED) prescription to any changes you need to make in life - and some I keep revisiting but never really dive much deeper down the rabbit hole to see real change - see The Four Hour Work Week among others.

So far this year has been rife with challenges. Financially, after realizing I'd been carrying on like an idiot I buck up and get a plan together only to see the first quarter of 2017 absolutely hound me with financial road blocks: car repairs here, an emergency trip there, medical-related situations that ultimately contribute to the gaining momentum of overall decision fatigue to the point where I just throw money at everything and forget the plan. The good news is, the plan is never truly forgotten. And as I discussed yesterday the problem isn't the plan it's the lack of flexibility in my current budget.

While they can all boil down to a financial impact, not all the challenges have been financial in origin. The beauty of the house has been dealing with the aforementioned medical challenges which pushes me into "crisis support" mode. Maybe I don't need to be in this mode, but I feel compelled to switch into it. She needs support so she can focus on the situation in front of her. This leaves the little decisions to me, but those mount up and at least once a week result in grabbing expensive takeout food, or not optimizing the fridge to use the food up. Everything boils down to food in our freaking house :)

But since about early March, when I got back into regularly journal-ling and back into habit focus I've started to feel a shift in me. That inner Woo shit activating and saying, "look, you can be stressed out, but take that energy and direct it". I was chatting with the beauty last night about just this concept, if your brain is going to spool or ruminate on something then harness that effort and turn it into productivity. It's harder to do than say, sure, but for me, things like writing every morning, journal-ling and focusing on top tasks each day - and celebrating when I achieve them - is huge. I'm... entering "state".

The ironic thing is, when I'm in state I'm still spending money. Mostly coffee, but also things that propel the effort forward. And this is where the "productivity cookie" comes in - that 2.5 lbs plate to add to each day, setting myself up for monumental gains. Despite, some of the shit I need to coordinate on the home front right now - and believe me, some of it is borderline dire - I'm down right happy right now.

[lifeinrenovation]

Morning pages

New systems. I made a decision last week to flip a few routines and habits on their head in an effort to help stimulate change. We'll see how well this holds up as once again I'm biting off a potentially too much at one time: kicking starting a business (or at least some freelancing), completely changing up the workout routine to something counter-intuitive to what my "needs" might be (i.e. I'm wider than I want to be and I'm doubling down on weigh lifting), and going back to the Slow Carb diet as outlined in The Four Hour Body.

The latter I don't think will require much, if any, activation energy. The new workout program will need to be scaled somewhat as I don't have a solid one hour per day to workout, and the business/freelancing thing is coming into creation just in time for my busiest season at work. But for some reason, that's exactly why I think it will work. November to December I was brain dead at work. January to March I was ramping back into things, breathing new life into our existing strategy and turning some support models on their head. April to June will be "test and pivot", and starting in July things get super interesting. So why all this personal change and evolution as well? Because there's no time like now!

Here's the thing, there's never a right time for me to do anything and I can stand around idle and wait for "the next down time at work", or I can just go with it and make subtle changes everyday to my process that gets me to my end goals. Flexible process equals inflexible end-state. By being flexible in my approach I am constantly keeping my eye on the end goal. Here are a few of them:

500 lbs deadlift (I'm at just shy of 300 right now)

Sustained 33 to 34 inch waist

$2,000.00 buffer in my bank account at all times (right now I have about $300 of flex every month, so we need some wiggle room)

Reduce debt by an additional $5,000.00 in principle this year (again, only $300 in flex each month which almost always needs to be used for something

Regular dates with my girl (since the tumbleweed came along we've been on like 10 dates together... in three fucking years. I love that kid to death, but I gotta up my game here)

Get our spare room set up and the tumbleweed's "big boy" room furnished (it's time for us to get settled in our apartment, like, seriously - stop the fucking patch work and start moving towards our goals)

The deadlift and the vanity waistline measurement I have a plan for (albeit counter-intuitive) and that will just come down to grind: work out daily and don't eat like a shithead. The other stuff all requires more capital coming into the house. As you can see, we don't have a lot of monthly flex for cash (this is after accounting for ALMOST everything, so we have gas, massive grocery bill, household supplies, etc. all mapped out here), so to do things like reduce debt by further $5,000.00 requires us adding income to the house. Here is where the process will be flexible. I've never started a business before, and have never formalized any sort of freelancing effort (though I have done freelancing in the past). But, so long as the process remains flexible, and we're constantly iterating toward that goal, then the goal will be achieved.

At least... I think ;-)

[lifeinrenovation]

Morning pages

So I've been thinking about yesterday's question of how to scale for gains as a knowledge worker. The epiphany last night was to establish a system of quick check ins throughout the day, something that interrupts me during natural breaks from work and reminds me to check in on my most important tasks.

The latter point I think is key. If the interruptions are scheduled during the natural working hours then I run the risk of interrupting a productive flow with a reminder to check how productive (i.e. on task) I am. At one point in time at the office I had my work calendar setup to interrupt me every 90 minutes or so. I still feel that working spurts of 90 minutes is solid - I read that somewhere and I'll dig up the reference for a later morning pages - but the interruption thing seems counterproductive to that model. It seems to establish a system that needs almost too discipline.

So looking at my current schedule and routine it's something like this:

Wake up - do five minute journal, take dog out, get breakfast ready, and then write my morning pages

Get to work at 8 or 8:30 a.m. and get pumping for the day

Around 11:30 a.m, I'm typically on the downturn of work so I can get to the gym, I'll hit the gym anywhere between this time and 12 p.m. depending on the tempo of the day

Gym and lunch from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Back to the grind until about 4:30 p.m.

Then by about 5 p.m. I'm home - supper cooked, dog walked, kitchen cleaned

9 p.m. on a bad night I'm wrapped up all the chores and ready to zone out

A quick glance gives me a few ideas as to when a quick "productivity cookie" would work. Likely intervals are 8:30 a.m. (that's typically when I'm settled into the office - any earlier than that and I'm probably already hyper productive, so this one is more of a "don't forget you're here to work" reminder), 1 p.m. (following workout and typically when I'm putting food into my mouth), then perhaps again around 8 p.m. in the event it's been a well organized night and I was wrapped up the evening chores quickly.

I'm thinking I'll set these up for next week while I have the week off test how they work in the controlled environment, I'll probably start them on Tuesday.

And yes, I'm going to call them "productivity cookies" - not because I'll eat a cookie with them, but because in the gym, that's what I refer to the 2.5 lbs plate as - the plate that led me to a 300 pound deadlift yesterday and a 230 pound squat. BOOYAH!

[lifeinrenovation]

Morning pages

Yesterday was reaffirming.

Progress is a hell of a thing, but you don't get there without the knowledge of where you started and tracking some sort of metric along the way. Yesterday was fitness test day and while I didn't post numbers that broke any records - maybe one or two of my own - it still feels good to have a few numbers in your pocket that you can track and potentially improve over time.

Which leads me to the concept of incremental gains. Tiny gains that build over time. Take my time in the gym recently for example: each time I hit the squat bar I'm adding at least 5 lbs to the bar. It's not much on it's own - and if I don't complete my full set or don't feel my form was as perfect as it could be, I keep that weight for the next time I do the exercise - but if you track it over time, within three months you're regularly squatting 200 plus pounds and a one-rep max that's heavier than you ever thought you could push. In three months. All from just tiny, incremental gains.

So lately I've been testing ways to add incremental gains into everything on the professional side of life: business planning, communications planning, management, leadership, etc; it what ways can I establish a system such that there is constant incremental gains towards an end point. It hasn't been overly easy, and largely I keep defaulting to the Four Hour Work Week's "Dreamlines" concept as the best way to attempt it.

Incremental gains in this forum require a little more work on the planning end, I've learned. With the squat rack, you kind of know, "Okay, lets add five pounds - if I complete the set without trouble then we'll add five the next time". It's easy to stack the gains because it's easy to find the two-and-a-half pound plate to throw on each side of the bar. In professional endeavours, you have no idea what that little plate looks like; is it a phone call, a business plan, tracking spreadsheet, you just don't know. And this is what I've been struggling with in terms of finding foot holds to help reach for the next target.

What is the knowledge-workers equivalent to the two-and-a-half pound weight plate?

Sadly, I don't think this one is one size fits all, hence a bit of planning on a regular basis and regular self checks might be the only way to make sure you're on track.

[lifeinrenovation]

Morning pages, March 28

I went three days without the routine. It wasn't at all productive.

It wasn't intended to be productive, I think I just needed the downtime; but man, coming out the back end of it wasn't pretty. Diet took a hit. Missed a workout routine. Even fell into the shitty thoughts of self-loathing - you know where you have the conversations you know you should have with someone else with yourself and you self-talk your way into figuring there's no ultimately point anyway. Maybe you don't and I'm just crazy, but it's happened quite often and I find that by doing my morning pages and completed my Five Minute Journal in the morning goes a long way towards ensuring I have a healthy mind frame for the day ahead.

If nothing else it sets me up for success in that I now have a framework for the day. Part of what I like about the Five Minute Journal is the "What are the three things I need to do to make today a success?" question. I tend to turn it on it's head a bit more and make it a "Most Important Tasks" - some days I add a few extra lines to the list, but most of the time I keep it to three. I've found over the last three weeks that having a life of four or five tends to results in two or three items being pushed into the next day, where as the list of three tends to almost always get done.

The challenge right now is marrying my overall, personal daily Most Important Tasks with that of my professional requirements. Right now what I've found worked - but haven't stuck to it very well - has been to go through a similar process at the office when I first hit. I get to the desk, Mr Rogers style get changed into my office clothes while getting things booted up, then sit down and write out my tasks for the day before any and all other things. Following that, I do a news scan - I'm a public relations professional, so this is a critical task first thing in the morning - but after that things fall apart. It's the email thing really, the perception of doing "work" when you're not actually doing anything.

Take for example a policy change that dictated I had to burn off some vacation before the end of March. Taking time away from the office while still having to achieve things at the office is a great way to force yourself into working smarter and establishing natural filters to remove noise and get things done. As much as I hate to work on vacation, I didn't plan to take vacation at this time, and so in order to enjoy the days I am taking off, I've had to think ahead on numerous tasks weeks out so that they can be suitably automated. I'd like to think I do this all the time, but clearly I don't - otherwise I could be taking more time away from the office to do the deeper work my office needs.

So there's a decent lesson already known but learned through force experience. Now to finish my morning coffee - this brew is far more fruity than I typically care for but the caffeine content is just right.

[lifeinrenovation]

Sometimes you #fail. Decided to go for broke on a recent push press challenge. It didn't work out well - racked the weight, pulled away from the stand, then promptly did nothing but sweat for 5 secs and re-racked the weight on the stand. Every now and then, you have to make a jump. Otherwise you'll end up stuck. And when you're stuck there are no #gains, just standing around the gym in dumbass daze

[lifeinrenovation]

Complaints

Don't complain for one full day - if you think you don't complain, go for one week

That was the weekly challenge that greeted me on my Five Minute Journal this morning and I have to admit, it made me stop and think: how often do I complain? What defines a complaint? Is it verbally uttering your dissatisfaction, or does it start at the thought? That moment when you roll your eyes and think, "really?"

If a complaint is made in no one is around to hear it, is it actually a complaint?

I think we complain a lot more than we like to think we do, and I feel it's not overly healthy. To me it just seems a way to externalize a fault and not take ownership on it. Don’t get me wrong, some things are outside one’s control, but I honestly feel there’s ownership in everything you do. So for me, complaining shouldn’t be an option.

That said, I’m not going to kid myself - I’m going to try not complaining for one day, starting now... let’s see how this goes :)

[lifeinrenovation]

🎵 That's why we stay in the lab at night 🎵 One down, now time to iterate. Probably time to move to a desk. 👷🌃 #lifeinrenovation

[lifeinrenovation]

The extrovert's dilemma

It's been a good week of getting back on track, and today I reward myself by celebrating my roots...

I am Irish and so can you!

St. Patrick's Day was made for extroverts, or at least became the international holiday for extroverts, and I am one such person - constantly motivated or re-motivated by the people around me. That's the difference between introverts and extroverts as I understand it. It's not that introverts are anti-social individuals with no desire for human contact, it's that they tend to find their energy from within, and need that alone or somewhat secluded time in order to recharge. Extroverts recharge by surrounding themselves with people. I'm just going to say I'm right on this one, and not bother linking to any research because I'm lazy and you can Google just as well as I - if I'm wrong come back and tell me.

So off I go to enjoy a pint and some coffee with a kick on this joyous of days, and I'm reminded: I'm really sort of excited to get out of the house and hang out with folks. I did a shitty job of planning this day with the wife, so lesson learned there: communicate and coordinate a bit better. I take that piece on the home front for granted. She understands I need that time, that outward time engaging with others is my time to recharge, her's is to chill with some candles and read a book. She still goes out, and hopefully she'll be able to slink away from work today to come hang for a pint or two with me, but ultimately I suck at planning my recharge moments and suck at coordinating them.

In my Five Minute Journal yesterday the weekly challenge was to call someone up and make plans with them. Earlier in the week an acquaintance of mine posted a list to his Facebook wall about the plague of loneliness that afflicts today's man - it's true. And the article did specifically point out the male gender as being the worst at this effort of plan and socialize yourself. Hell, I've socialized more in the last three weeks than I have all year to date and we're still only talking one movie, an afternoon at the neighbourhood pub, and a visit from a friend whilst I was home tending to the wee man. Even counting today's adventure, I've socialized once a week for the last four weeks. That seems like a healthy rhythm for an extrovert who's also a dad and works a job with rather intense periods of efforts. But you look beyond these last four weeks and the last thing I planned was a New Year's Brunch from my buddy and his daughter.

And I wonder why I get into funks or have not very productive thoughts of my overall situation.

The morning journal helps with that, as does this little writing exercise I'm on - derived from the book The Artists Way. And yes it means kick starting the day at 5 a.m. to accomplish the journal, the morning writing, and the other tasks that go along with being an adult, a dad, and a partner. But the unexpected outcome of raising a bit earlier and writing out my thoughts has been a desire and a head space to plan. I'm reaching back out to friends, I'm far less reactionary to the world around me, and more productive at work. Now I just need to keep that lane of communication open with my partner, so she's in the loop as to what I need, and when.

[lifeinrenovation]

Measurements and starting

I talk a lot about measurements, likely because I continually keep learning how important this concept is when applying to the world of habit transformation or formation. Without continually and consistent tracking, you'll never manage to make the changes needed.

Equally as important is finding the thing to manage. Chasing the wrong metric can lead to a conclusion you never intended. Tim Ferriss' The Four Hour Body taught me this when he opens the book early on with an example of how using only the scale to measure one's success in becoming healthier is faulty. By focusing only on the number on the scale, you lose sight of things like your waist line, your hip circumference (and as such your hip-to-waist ratio), biceps, thighs or other indicators of health and good body composition (i.e. reduced overall body fat). So when you hit those weeks where the scale isn't changing significantly (as it almost never does for me), you're not aware of the other progress you're making (like losing another inch off your waist despite having gained weight). But don't let research or other time wasters deter you from starting, just because you don't have the perfect metric, doesn't mean you shouldn't start.

Take my first foray into weight loss, WeightWatchers. Back in the mid-2000s pretty much the only metrics the system used was your weight and height (essentially monitoring a very elementary body mass index, or BMI). Then it had a fairly formulaic way of dividing up what you can eat through a "points" system. WeightWatchers was great at helping me initially get my health and well being back on track. I re-learned how to eat and cook, I learned that weight loss starts in the kitchen, and probably learned a lot about my eating (or more appropriately overeating) habits.

At the time (as I can't speak for the program today) the only weekly metric you managed was your weight, and because of the strict reliance on BMI the program didn't have a lot of flex space for those who wanted to build muscle. But that didn't deter me from starting. In fact, I became a lifetime member (though I'm not active today) after achieving my goal weight and sustaining it. I'm about 15 lbs heavier today (almost ten years later), but I can also lift and push a lot more and my waist line hasn't significantly increased since I took steps to get that in line a few years back.

I guess the point I'm making today is measurements are important and you shouldn't start anything without a metric to measure. Identifying the right metric is even more critical, but it should in no way deter you from starting. Much like my foray into adjusting my financial fitness, I don't have a lot of metrics to work with other than the weight of my debt and the amount of money I currently make. And much like WeightWatchers, I need to invest in order to start seeing results. With weight loss, I didn't know if WeightWatchers was going to work, but I paid and accepted the system. With starting a business, I already have paid for all the resources, I just haven't started. But, thanks to some organization a few months back I at least have a goal in mind, and a metric to measure. The question is, can I build a business in 15 days?