Mud at the Wall

[studentofthegame]

I buy and read a lot of books. I am starting to accumulate a bit of a backlog though. Here is a couple of lists of books i'm aiming to prioritise and check off.

 

1.

--the alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

-- the secret (Rhonda byrne)

-- way of the superior man (david deida)

-- feel the fear guide to lasting love (susan Jeffers)

--the chimp paradox (prof. steve peters)

--the silent guides (prof. steve peters)

--emotional intelligence (Daniel Goleman)

-- ultimate introduction to NLP (Richard bandler)

-- digital minimalism (cal Newport)

-- how to stop worrying and start living (dale Carnegie)

-- awaken the giant within (tony robbins)

-- tools of titans (tim ferriss)

 

2. 

-- homecoming (john bradshaw)

-- the tao of fully feeling (pete walker)

-- complex ptsd (pete walker)

-- recovery - freedom from our addictions (Russell brand)

 

this second list is the more important of the two and I am reading these concurrently with anything from the first list.

[studentofthegame]

Areas of focus for the next 2-3 months

>morning routine

>diet

>exercise

>days work

>evening routine

>relationships

 

Morning Routine

-- eat small on waking

-- drink water

-- 5-10 mins breathing app

-- push ups while boiling kettle

-- journal

-- quick read

 

Diet

Eat small and often. Complex carbs, protein, healthy fats, fruit, veg, nuts, seeds. Meal prep on Sunday and Wednesday

 

Exercise

Football, kickboxing, gym

 

Days work

Whether this is a paid days work, a day studying, or a day of some other purposeful activity (in other words not sat around being idle)

 

Evening routine

Looking at what needs to be done tomorrow and any prep, some reading, winding down and preparing to prioritise sleep

 

Relationships

Being fully present whether it's with friends, family or with the girl i'm dating

[Gladius]

I love this approach to journaling, it's simple and it gives you something to aim for. And lots of sports in it. Keep it up.

[studentofthegame]

@Gladius Thanks mate. Nothing is locked in yet, I'm currently trying to build some momentum with those areas of focus. The one habit that has really stuck is drinking water frequently. 

 

[Gladius]

@studentofthegame Out of curiosity, may I ask why are you so focused in drinking water?

[studentofthegame]

@Gladius I think people are commonly walking around in a state of mild dehydration, and that applied to me too. I think ensuring proper hydration is the most basic form of self-care you can implement. dehydration affects both physically and mentally and if we are in the game of bettering ourselves then we can't do it when the brain is running sub-optimally because we don't drink enough water.

also, I am trying to build healthy habits, and after years of trying and failing I decided to strip it back and make small, manageable habits stick and build some momentum. filling my water bottle every day and sipping water is the first habit I made stick.

[studentofthegame]

I am a few months into a relationship, a month out from finishing my degree and my daily disciplines have fallen by the wayside.

Even the smallest, most manageable habit of drinking water on waking up has gone out the window.

I'm stressed and losing weight.

A reboot is needed. It's all part of the process. Fall down and get back up again.

[Gladius]

It's great you're clearly aware of what's going on. Something similar happened to me. Summer is usually disruptive for habits.

[studentofthegame]

@Gladius  I read you are off on holiday. Safe travels mate.

[Gladius]

Many thanks, already back. Hope to read your updates soon.

[studentofthegame]

@Gladius thanks bud.

i think my approach going forwards is to have a small list of daily disciplines with an aim of completing as many as possible per day without the all-or-nothing mentality i have that holds me back. If there are 6 items on the list and i complete 4 or 5, that is a good day. Will post more here soon.

[Gladius]

@studentofthegame Seems like the right approach to me. It gives you something to work on with flexibility. Being too strict on yourself usually leads only to big backlashes, on my experience.

[studentofthegame]

Daily self-care habits that need work: my big 5

• prioritising sleep
• eating well and staying hydrated
• exercise
• meditation, journalling
• practising presence

this is the core of what i am attempting to implement that i haven’t already got locked in. Much of it may be rooted in maslow stage 1.

 

[studentofthegame]

Book backlog update:

Finished the alchemist. Can see the value in the book, but much of the message is stuff that I have already heard elsewhere. It could be one that you need to re-read every 5-10 years with a new life perspective for the book to make a deeper sense.

 

--the alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

-- the secret (Rhonda byrne)

-- way of the superior man (david deida)

-- feel the fear guide to lasting love (susan Jeffers)

--the chimp paradox (prof. steve peters)

--the silent guides (prof. steve peters)

--emotional intelligence (Daniel Goleman)

-- ultimate introduction to NLP (Richard bandler)

-- digital minimalism (cal Newport)

-- how to stop worrying and start living (dale Carnegie)

-- awaken the giant within (tony robbins)

-- tools of titans (tim ferriss)

[Gladius]

I read "The Alchemist" 8 years ago. I thought it was a nice metaphoric tale.

Before leaving the flat I was living by then I tried to give the book to my roommate, but she refused as it were the Necronomicon. I don't really understand why so many people despise Coelho, he's such a well-intended writer!

[studentofthegame]

@Gladius do you read widely? Would be good to hear which are some of your most highly-rated books.

[studentofthegame]

Big week ahead for me. I have around 7 days to finish my dissertation and complete my masters degree. I am taking the week off work for the most part and my GF is away on holiday with her family. So I am largely going to be distraction-free. I also need this time to reset, and set a bit of a foundation for myself going forwards.

I think a sustainable approach is to focus on the daily self-care habits I have outlined a few posts back, and not to get overwhelmed in the minutiae of all that is involved. However, for this week I'm going to take advantage of being distraction-free and experiment with using a daily tick-list which is a bit more specific. 

 

Morning 7-9

• sip water, eat small
• 5-10 minutes breathing app
• push-ups while boiling the kettle
• '5-minute journal' morning entry
• read
• have a walk outside

Day 9-5

• work on dissertation
• pick up guitar during breaks instead of using the phone and the internet
• any other business

Evening

• journaling (finish with 5-minute journal evening entry)
• cold shower
• read fiction

[Gladius]

Sweet. If your lifestyle allows such a powerful routine like that is worth keeping it. By the way, I heard once that a perfect chest only requires 30 push-ups per day.

I usually read just fiction, specially classic novels ("Moby Dick" at the moment). As far as I remember, I only bought "Radical honesty" by Brad Blanton. I thought I could use some of that. And of course I also read some psychology articles on the internet. I'll post about it soon.

Hope I'm not spamming your journal too much

Edited September 6, 2019 by Gladius

[studentofthegame]

2 hours ago, Gladius said:

Hope I'm not spamming your journal too much

Absolutely not, my friend. I consider you an accountability partner of sorts. Keep checking in and i’m monitoring your progress too, over in your journal. 

Classic novels sound like something i’d enjoy: can you recommend some more? 

Not quite a classic yet but i’m looking forward to reading the suspicions of mr whicher, which i hear is a belting book.

[Gladius]

@studentofthegame

1 hour ago, studentofthegame said:

Absolutely not, my friend. I consider you an accountability partner of sorts. Keep checking in and i’m monitoring your progress too, over in your journal. 

Cool, same here!

I also liked recently "The Lost World" by Conan-Doyle. And I think I read every page Tolkien and Jules Verne wrote. I'll try to post more about books, I'm a slow reader though.