This is awesome. Living for real seems like one of those things you shouldn't even need to consider, but we're all so distanced these days, creating our own individual little bubbles; opting for the easy digital reactions instead. Gotta get better at socializing IRL too. Just saying things spontaneously. Being present.

Great goals; good luck with the new ones!

Little update. I didn't strictly fulfill my goals, but I'm sleeping more, playing less (War Thunder uninstalled) and nostalgia nights are rare now. LeechBlock helps a lot. Some achievements: so far I "virtually aced" 2 of 6 classes, got a new cool research project going on, 3 days ago I finished a 3 hour test in 40 minutes, I'm focusing more in my internship and I've just declared over 300 hours of college activities, due to be approved.

New goals:

• Attend the gym more regularly
• Virtually ace all my classes
• Don't get late for class anymore

My nights have been... weird? Sometimes I'm tired and sleep early, sometimes I work until sunrise and either miss morning classes or feel like trash all day. The guy at the gym mentioned that I should research about sleep hygiene, but I hope things will settle as I get everything right. By the way, it's 2:00 am right now, time to sleep hehe.

Sleep hygiene huh, that was a new term to me.

I've read up on sleep cycles a bit earlier. Seems good to have a fixed routine, where you go to bed at the same time each day, and learn to relate said time to sleep, so you fall asleep easier. Then get up at the same time regardless. If you don't sleep enough one night you'll sleep better the next, theoretically... it does sound way easier in theory than in practice though. Things don't always work according to schedule anyway, but for the most part that's probably more so bad discipline than chance, IMO. I need to get my times sorted too.

Helps to wind down a bit before you really shut your eyes as well. No blue light for the last couple hours, IOW no screens.

Anyway as for my goals...

1. Finish one more overdue audio project.

I did! Just one in it's entirety, but that was the goal so...

1. Get to at least three concerts.

Not a single one thus far. No time. Think I'll get into these later.

1. Improve bedtime norm by at least -1 hour. Ideally I want to get from around 2 AM to before midnight.

I think I've managed this as well, though it's still not ideal. I'm down to just a bit before ~1 AM now.

For June, though it's halfway in already:

1. Publish at least a hundred overdue blogs currently in draft stage.
2. Finish at least one more overdue audio piece.
3. Improve bedtime norm by at least -1 hour more. So before midnight this time.

Been a long time since and update so some decent progress to report.

I started a new job in may.

Have been chronically off-line since then sorting out life and getting settled into the new role. It's been great so far, more pay and less stress. I've gotten my energy back outside of work to achieve more and I'm significantly happier which feels like a big win.

I joined a gym recently. I'm about 9 weeks in, I've skipped 2 of those weeks and averaged 1 to 2 visits the rest of the weeks. The original goal was 3 times a week. I still struggle with it mostly from anxiety and not knowing what I'm doing. It's been helpful to time my visits for less busy times of the day so far. I'm also going to start some personal training mid October for about 8 weeks so hopefully I'll see some really strong progress from this as well as a better direction as to what my goals are and how I go about achieving them.

I've been a lot more social recently. Due to my core social circle moving over COVID it's been hard to restablish myself socially but I have been doing a social activity of some kind at least once a week. It's still a struggle and I'm not quite sure how I'll go about meeting people and getting to a stage where I'm not lonely. I think it will stem more from being self assured than from actual socialisation as I do have a lot of friends. Feels like it's more of an internal issue.

Financially I'm ok at this stage. Hoping I can be made permanent in my current role next month as that will really solidify my position. I've been investing and gotten a housemate to increase my resilience.

I haven't animated in a fair amount of time. I'm going to do a sketch collab entry but I imagine I'll be rather rusty. I am starting up some regular collab calls with friends on discord to just brainstorm and chip away at ideas. I'm hoping this will lead to me creating some cool stuff as well as getting better at working collaboratively. Also making plans to go to the Australian newgrounds meet up which will be outside my comfort zone but a still very excited to meet some of my friends irl. :)

Congrats for the new job, happy meet up for you!

Some changes in my life.

I've decided to come back home after lunch to take care of it, and then go back to the uni to work until night. My fridge is full of fruits and no more junk food, and my house is more limpid and organized now. I'm sleeping more now too.

I don't fear failing classes anymore, so I'm going on a 8/80 routine of either going to class and fully enjoying it or missing it entirely if attending it would sacrifice sleep or get me wet in rain, worst case scenario I can request an exam in the following semester to validate my knowledge. I've been preempting future assignments and finishing them beforehand, to have more time by the end of the semester, homework is finished as soon as it is given

I've abstracted lots of aspects of my life, e.g. I now have a checklist to write down groceries list right before going out, rather than keeping it all in my head all the time. I call my current life humorously as "transactional life v1.0", as I'm always trying to finish thing I started and never moving on before doing so.

Some objectives:

1. Know my friends better. I've made lots of friends, but I feel like we should hang out and know each other more.

2. Develop personal projects more. I've been absorbed by the uni, little time is left for myself. I publish nothing here.

3. Study workout. I asked a friend and he confirmed I should study myself and not just rely on personal trainers.

I haven't posted in here in awhile. I had broken my leg, recovered, and then been so deep into prep for the national championship that I haven't had time to think about much else.

I compete next Friday and Saturday, fly back, get back to work at the gym on Tuesday and compete again on the 29th.

After that I'll write up some goals. A lot of them are going to be based off of weight gain. I'll compete at 200 pounds on the 29th and then will probably return to my more natural weigh of 205-210 within the week after. After that I'll be looking to gain about a pound a week for the next 5 months while following some very high volume weight lifting programs. Then cutting off 1 pound per week to get me back to my 210 weight range and be ready to compete again in July.

There may be some competitions in between that I do for fun, but they'll be at the higher weight class against the big boys.

I'll try a new approach "sleep early if you can, sleep late if you must"

8 hours of sleep is a must to have energy all day, less or more I wake up like trash

I've been apprehensive regarding sleeping early, but it'll be healthier to accept it's not feasible for me right now

and I'll avoid entertainment during the night... dull movies drives are driving me crazy!

Yet with this one you truly had a lot of progress to report! Inspiring changes. Work and work-outs and social life and everything. Wholesome self-improvement. Hope it still goes well!

Wonder how these went for you?

Regarding the sleep issues: watching movies or such late at night definitely seems to mess with those routines, I think it's just all the blue light you're exposed to via screens, it disrupts that natural circadian rhythm and makes it harder both to get to bed and to actually fall asleep when you are. Good idea on changing that!

Woooah man, how did that happen? Related to the training? Hope the latest contests went well!

Was looking at a video of Eddie Hall setting the 500kg deadlift record a while back recently, and holy shit was that inspiring. He instantly got a nosebleed, gave himself a brain hemorrhage and concussion and temporarily lost his vision... but he did it! And recovered fully a couple weeks later. Didn't seem healthy at all but it was just such an impressive show of willpower. Makes you feel like humans are really capable of ANYTHING.

As you're in the weight game maybe you know all about that though, but if not: pretty motivating video.

Been a whiiile since I posted here now, seems like the depressing and dark heart of winter's a good time to get back to this, the latest goals were...

1. Publish at least a hundred overdue blogs currently in draft stage.
2. Finish at least one more overdue audio piece.
3. Improve bedtime norm by at least -1 hour more. So before midnight this time.

I'm not sure I actually managed these in June, but I've definitely managed the first two by now. Plowed through quite a few audio pieces and blogs before summer, and some audio after.

As for bedtimes I'm still really struggling with maintaining a good routine. Up until just recently I was getting better. Was regularly getting up around 9 compared to the usual 10-11. Back to 11 now, but hopefully that's just temporary, got a cold, had to send my car to the junkyard and have generally been feeling a little low, but new goals...

1. Finish the yearly resolutions I've yet to finish this year.
2. Get to the track one day without ice and see how fast I can run a lap.
3. Start up one-month-free gym membership, hopefully that'll lead to more next year...

Broke it in the very first event of my regional championship competition.

I've seen it quite a few times. I've also watched his record fall over the years with much less "effort" than he put in. So it's crazy to think that's not even close to what people can actually do.

Oh holy shit. O_O I assume it broke when the weight fell on it huh, thought at first the reason you fell over in the first place was the leg breaking... looks like that could've resulted in way more serious injury at least! Glad it healed alright.

His record falling, would that be by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson's lift, which might not have been entirely legit? Others too?

Our potential really is inspiring... going by hydraulic press videos it seems that regular human bone (dried, though, maybe it makes it a bit sturdier) can withstand a pressure of up to nine tons straight on, so there's the bone limitation in particular. Ligaments and muscles and all though, I wonder what the threshold is for how much we're truly capable of if in perfect form. Probably still plenty of physiological secrets to be figured out.

Yeah, it healed quickly. The doctor suggested that it was one the faster heals they witnessed and attributed my diet and commitment to continue movements that didn't hurt to the quickness of the heal. I was doing what I could on it and spending hours in the pool over and over again. A month later it was full weight bearing.

I guess my math was off, I've seen some very close powerlifting deadlifts, but not quite that high. But yeah, I don't know why anyone would suggest Björnsson's lift wasn't entirely legit. And not to be harsh at them at all, especially since it's my sport as well, there is literally nothing legit about a strongman deadlift lol.

Per powerlifting rules it wouldn't count in the slightest. In powerlifting you can't use straps (strongman do), can't "hitch" the bar, (basically use a back and forth motion to work the bar up your body or lean way bag, rest the bar on your legs and pull back on it. Something strongman do.), and the biggest factor, is you can't wear deadlift suits. (strongman do)

They are literally wearing a metal suit that has so my tension on it that when the weight of the bar bends the suit, the suit wants to force it's way back into it's original position. This adds anywhere from like 50kg to 100kg to how much someone can do.

Again, not any less impressive, but just pointing out that strongman deadlifts are the least legit lift on the market by definition.

Nice. Maybe that leg's stronger than before then too now - broken bone gets tougher no? If that isn't the case only with microfractures.

Aha, hadn't factored in any of the above there, but the more you know. XD it seems you're still basically lifting said weight by your own strength though, albeit maybe assisting/controlling it a bit better, so that's still legit in my book.

The potentially non-legit thing I was reading about in regard to Björnsson's lift was that it was done in his home gym, with his dad administering the weights, so people question if it really was as heavy a lift as they say it was.

If we're speaking of the same event here, the one where he seemed to have no problems with said weight and said something like 'I could've done more' when he was done with it. If he's repeated said feat in a more controlled environment there shouldn't be any such doubts of course, either way these are some insane-level weights...

Quite well :) I've watched movies with a couple of guys, went out to dinner twice, we are planning to play airsoft, it's been nice. Personal projects and college assignments are currently overlapping, so for instance, I'll present a zombie game as my final assignment for Advanced Computer Graphics. As for workout, I've read about Eugen Sandow, I have improved my diet and sometimes I run, but I've not studied anything at all and I'm not exercising.

I decided to study about this stuff! So I had two problems: blue light late in night and sleeping in total darkness, one prevents sleep and the other prevents waking up! Copying a friend's night habits, at night I simply took a shower, read and then slept! Today I woke up at 7:00 am. But it's too early too jump in conclusions, due to Hawthorne effect ;)

Two new steps:

1. Backup my stuff. I already studied that and got a HDD, it's all about doing it now :P

2. Read some more books, enough to meet my goals at the Reading Challenge

3. Study workout. I'm overall scrawny, specially my legs, I'll focus on that

Woo, airsoft! Have a little collection of such weaponry but never had any acquaintances really interested in doing battle. Sounds fun. And like all good progress with all things overall, cool to hear.

Hawthorne effect in regard to the incremental improvement club, or IRL people observing your progress there too? :D Sounds great too though, 7 AM's way earlier than my currently mediocre attempts at getting the sleep thing sorted. I feel like I know exactly how to fix it but... lacking motivation.

Having a dark room's beneficial for sleep though, so that's a tricky one. I have a thick nylon cover over the curtain to really keep the light out, but have been considering getting a wake-up lamp or something to ease in a morning light too. Seems like the ideal way. Unless you have finances for something like: https://www.eightsleep.com/pod-cover/

Good goals! Regarding the backups ideally you'd have one local copy and one off-site as well. ;) There are some decent free file hosts out there if you just want to just save the most important content without investing in it, like https://mega.io/

I used to have that for photos and such, moved over to a lifetime plan with https://pcloud.com/ a couple years back instead. Enough space for everything there. It's really nice with peace of mind.

Hmm the last month here didn't go too well, caught a cold and all plans derailed a bit, that's how it goes when you're prone to leaving things for later...

New year though: new motivation! For January:

1. Get a gym membership and start training properly at least once a week.
2. Get to the track one day without ice and see how fast I can run a lap.
3. Finish a title track that's been on the backburner way too long.

From there on out may all just get better; a focus be gained that remains through the year; incremental steps and dues keep growing throughout...

New year, new me, theoretically... let's see how things are going so far...

I did! Finally. It was in the latter half of the month, but I've been working out relatively regularly so far, and am (apart from in great pain from notable initial muscle soreness - a sign of way too little exercise prior ) feeling soo much better for it. So much more motivated. If I'd started with this earlier maybe I'd have managed the full set of goals this month...

Nope. Maybe a valid excuse though: we do have snow currently, and ice, not ideal running weather. On track at least.

It's still on the backburner...

For February I'm hoping to:

1. Finally get that title track done.
2. Finally get to that track when the weather clears up and test current cardiovascular capacity.
3. Keep gyming regularly but not so intensely I end up quitting before I start noticing any real improvement - think twice a week's a good routine for starters.

Interesting to see if that #3 routine improves my discipline a bit too. Here's to starting to really get things done in better time...

How y'all doing?

yeah, new year!

I achieved incredible self awareness in the past weeks... I'm understanding my feelings so deeply I can perform "rituals", pick music and choose tasks in order to maximize my producitivty... or simply realize I'm not in the mood to do anything and go home or play games!

I didn't backup anything lol

book reading has been... regular I think?

regarding sleep, I tried everything, nothing works! I'll forget this, keep working midnight if I feel like.

it's the sort of issue that might solve itself spontaneously over time, I guess

1. go sweet-free: I felt really bad past weekend, my parents and a friend suggested to eliminate sweets entirely from my diet (but keep eating fruits etc.)

2. cook moar: my meals have been... really basic! eggs, pasta, rice or a combination of these

3. be listed on the first page of top ranking problem solvers in my university on BeeCrowd: gotta catch up with my friends!

I gave up on working out for now... my free time is completely irregular and the sleep issue is problematic, I've been mostly running and walking for now, I think I'll play volleyball and basketball with my friends, maybe acquire some basic gym equipment and train at home, I need to think over it right now

I can't tell if this is entirely beneficial or not. XD But it sounds like you found a semblance of peace; focus... how did you manage this if I may ask? Any specific event/experience/wisdom that led to such enlightenment?

It's never too late for this... until it is too late. :P Backups really are important, you don't realize how much so until you lose something... speaking of I ought to backup some files...

Nice. Here too!

Regarding this, I found that working out intensely seems to stabalize my sleeping habits too. I've been going to bed unexpectedly early lately, I'm just tired when the time comes and... I sleep! Feels pretty incredible. Have previously never really had that cue. If I didn't force myself to shut the light I could keep going all night, I grew tired but not to the point I felt a need to sleep, more so the more tired I got the less I wanted to, but working out somehow seems to remove that sensation/add in a natural limiter...

Whatever kind of exercise you manage though I'm sure it helps, I don't work out everyday and it seems my bedtimes still go up and down a bit accordingly, but it's getting better.

Good luck with them goals! First one sounds... great if you're motivated yourself too. Otherwise a bit depressing...

so I did backup my stuff after all. I used DAR (http://dar.linux.free.fr/)

I think the reluctance to do it at once is due to the headache of coming up with a complete and correct backup scheme... the amount of devices and their types, rotations, file integrity, file validity, compression, automation, cryptography, synchronization, recovery, availability etc.

for now I'll keep it simple, and improve from there!

Ah with linux! Interesting, had never heard of DAR before... I've been using Bvckup 2 myself for a few years, it's not free, but very simple and fast, for Windows then.

How many devices do you have though? What kind of things are you backing up? Was thinking this was more so in regard to just regular data - a personal computer backup regime. Seems you may have a bit more complex a setup than I do...

I mainly run backups to an external drive with my main computer, and occasionally duplicate archive HDDs with a docking station. Very fast process there too when you can connect the HDDs directly via SATA, and just copy everything bit by bit from one to the other. Totally automatic. Long term file-integrity may be an issue, but hopefully with at least duplicate copies one copy simply fails before integrity issues develop with the other; it's possible to clone the surviving drive again. With more important files I keep a third copy online, encrypted.

Curious to know how your backup process works practically.

In regard to my goals this month btw: pushing them to March instead.

I've been working out regularly but not as regularly as I hoped, and that title track... competition thereof is beyond my control at the moment. Waiting on another vocalist. Hopefully it all gets sorted this month; new goals next time...

I tried to find an exact recipe, but I was unable to

what can I say is it takes a lot of self-observation and experiments

and so my productivity declined! time to rethink my life, try new habits and enjoy a temporary boost

Hey, been a while since I've visited this thread, though I think I'm in need of it once again.

I'll give a small update since it's been so long: I've improved in music substantially, and I'm currently in my 4th semester of college to get a degree in applied maths. I've also been living out of town (though out of my extremely charitable dad's pocket), and things have been manageable so far, though college is really getting tough now.

I feel like I've let things slowly get out of hand the past few months, and my productivity has gotten low, though I shouldn't discard the efforts I've put in my college degree. I realized recently I have a sort of "ehh what you do in school doesn't count! only real maths are what you do on your own!" mentality that has left me feeling like I've actually not done anything, and I need to get rid of it.

As for music, however, I'm cautiously optimistic, but I shouldn't let it get over my head. I've not been happier with my skill since I've started, but I've also kinda made myself forget how tough and miserable making music can get at any point in time. Moments like that are just as likely to happen as they've always been.

March 12th, 2023.

So, setting some goals for this month period:

1.- Do an hour of advancing on college homework or projects at least 5 times a week, to spread assignments out and prevent days where the only thing I can do is homework.

2.- Do at least 30% of the stuff on your daily to-do list. No longer considering math hours, those are college hours now, so it should be slightly easier.

3.- (Vague guideline) Try to do things as soon as you think about doing them more often.

Need to get my discipline back. I'll check up on this in a month. It's really nice seeing how this thread's still active, good luck to everyone on their goals!

The competition that I had on the 29th qualified me for a World Championship.

Just found out a couple of days ago I'll be competing in London in July.

Hmm so the method didn't work after all? The effects wore off? Or the routine just faltered...?

Hope you come to some new realizations or similarly life-altering epiphanies that benefit you!

Self-observation's definitely good. Seems to help you in everyday endeavors if you can distance yourself from the task at hand too. If you're not so invested in something that you're unable to see beyond it. The long-term effects. The effect it has on other things. The way someone else would perceive it...

Hey hey Jatmoz, long time no see!

This one really is a good one. I keep trying to maintain the mindset to get to everything right away; never wait a day if I don't have to, yet things pile up and eventually the habit wanes... the mindset/method comes and goes in waves.

I believe the key to truly upholding something like this is exercise though. Which also needs to be routine. Routine exercise = consistent motivation. So personally long term step 1 = get in better shape/stay in better shape, step 2 = use the improved mental fortitude said shape carries with it to the fullest for consistent; continual future improvement.

Thank you; good luck to y'all too!

Speaking of exponential improvements! Omigod man. That's pretty cool.

Do you know the date too? Congrats; good luck then!

They were vague about the date, it shouldn't be a super long event, but they gave us the dates of July 28-30th. It should just be weigh ins the day before and then the competition. I don't know why they have three days listed.

One day for awards maybe, some additional celebration/ceremony...?

Was thinking if the event was at the start of the month maybe I could've actually flown over for a day and seen this first hand, it's not far from Stockholm after all, unfortunately that'll be during my way-out-in-the-wild-with-no-direct-flights-to-the-UK time then...

Hope you get to partake in way more of these international competitions! ;)

New month new me hopefully, let's see...

I did! Finally. Pretty happy with how it turned out, though it's been on the backburner so long now I'm mostly just happy it's done. Time to focus fully on bigger projects.

Nope... in my defense it hasn't really cleared up yet, ground's icy, but I probably could have anyway...

Haven't managed this either. No gym at all last week. Busy times and bad discipline. The only thing I'm really going with regularly is cold showers every morning, but I need more movement...

Think I'll try to build things up a little more incrementally again, for April, small steps that should be easily attainable:

1. Get back to my daily routine of five push-ups/ten sit-ups every morning/night.
2. At least one day at the gym each week, ideally two.
3. Make something for the Flash Forward Jam 20/4.