Accountability

On twitter the other day, I read a thread by Ali Yahya (twitter handle @ali01) where he described how he was inspired by Benjamin Franklin (no twitter handle) to manage a set of "virtues" on a daily basis. Franklin's virtues originally included Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, and Independence and were managed by tracking with red ink in a book. Over time, Franklin added virtues to track, ultimately ending with 13.

@ali01 modified this slightly. He called them habits rather than virtues. He tracked via a spreadsheet rather than via ink and paper. He started with four habits: sleep well, exercise, meditate, and update his habit list. In order to improve on something, it has to be a priority and have focus. There cannot be too many "habits" tracked, otherwise it this process will diminish them all. Even so, he has added to this list over time, managing 16 habits currently. He believes this has changed his life and helped make him who he is today, personally and professionally.

I've decided to do my own RockStarTri derivative of this. I'm going to start with my resolution themes: 1) Making myself smarter; 2) Improving my weight and body composition; 3) Continuing my Athletic transformation; and 4) Becoming a better person. I've realized this these aren't really goal oriented but more process oriented which is new for me. I expect to add sub categories to each habit  to help track progress, and perhaps add more habits to track.

One additional habit may be to update status via the blog but I haven't finalized this. Stay tuned. 

2019 Resolutions

The overall theme of 2019 is that MrsRockstar and I are going to focus on ourselves more than we have in the past. I've been trying to put together some ideas on some resolutions for 2019 that I can actually help me become a better me.They fall into the following categories:

1. Making myself smarter via reading

2. Improving my weight and body composition

3. Continuing my athletic transformation.

4. Becoming a better person.

5. Regularly tracking my progress (or lack thereof) against these goals.


That's it. More details will come in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

Life Goals

1) My friend Guido recently posted on Facebook that through diet and exercise he was able to eliminate all prescription drugs from his life. I don't know where he started but I currently take 7 prescription drugs. The life goal is to get to zero but let's shoot to reduce 2 in a year.

2) I'm fat at BMI = 42. I need to get unfat. Unfat is a BMI of 30 - for someone 6'2" that means 234 lbs. If I can get halfway in a year, BMI=36, 280 pounds, that would be good progress.

3) I can't lose weight at the expense of muscle. Need a stat to measure.

4) I need to get in shape (see number 3). Disney half in Jan19, StA in Apr19.

5) Fit into 2xl clothes and some XL. The 2XL are often too tight.

6) Need to find something to engage my brain.

7) Need to gain flexibility. A good goal would be to be able to touch my toes. Haven't been able to do that since high school.

8) Need to sleep through the night.

A life update

I officially retired from my work career in May of 2016. I was young to retire. Many thought I was so driven at work that there was no way that I could stop playing that game especially in the context that I generally played it well.  Many considered my retiring some sort of a ploy and figured I'd reappear at some other firm quickly.  My over/under was 6 months. Everyone else's was shorter.

The reality was that I was burned out. My health was crap. I lost any semblance of a work/life balance. I was not nice to be around and I wasn't performing at the standards that I expected of myself. In almost everything.

Since then I've been keeping busy with various projects but my focus has been simplifying my life, trying to avoid drama, getting my health under control, and dealing with the noise that otherwise can't be avoided while trying to live a life worth living. I did introduce some complexity by trying to relocate to the South but mostly I've been concentrating on the present.

I don't miss work. I've become mellower and less stressed (although my family will quickly interject that I still have my moments).  To paraphrase the great Chico Escuela "Retirement has been berry beery good for me.

I've decided to dust off the blog to chronicle what I do miss and what I'm going to do about it.

Stay tuned.