July has been a hot and humid month here in New England, but it has been full of many wonderful ideas, to many in fact. I started this blog on July 1st (originally on a free WordPress account), I set a goal to read one book a week for the rest of the year, and I also pushed myself to be more uncomfortable.
Welcome to a new series of monthly reviews. In writing these I hope to get some insight into what I spent my time on, what I accomplished, and how I can improve. Many things that I do feel productive in the moment, like thinking of new business ideas, but don’t offer any real, tangible value. By sitting down and looking back at the month, I can make small improvements for next month. Compounded over time this will hopefully make my life hundreds of times better.
General Thoughts
As I said, July was a month full of ideas. My brain operates at a high pace and I often have to take conscious steps to slow it down. This is what leads to the ideas. It is a great tool for solving problems, because I come up with many solutions quickly, but it is not so great for trying to get projects done.
My biggest takeaway from this month is that I need to focus on one or two things at a time. So next month, August, I will be dropping some of my habits and activities that are not top priorities.
Here’s a list of what I was focusing my time on in July:
- Writing: This blog.
- Reading: One book a week.
- Chess: Three 10-minute rapid games a day with the goal to improve my rating.
- Yoga: Morning routine stretching for muscle and joint health.
- Meditation: Morning routine for clearer thoughts.
- Hiking: I had planned to do a 30-mile 12,000 feet of elevation gain trail run over 16 hours.
- Biking: Possibly training for a triathlon in the future, but also for fun and transportation around town.
- Exercise: For physical and mental health.
- Entrepreneurship: Starting my own side hustle / business.
- Working: For money, got to pay the bills.
- Journaling: Writing down notes from books, thoughts throughout the day, and for the general benefits of journaling.
All of these things take up a good portion of my time separately, so when I tried to focus on them all at once I would end up missing deadlines for other projects.
Here’s a list of them in priority of importance:
- Working
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Exercise
- Reading
- Writing
- Journaling
- Biking
- Hiking
- Chess
- Entrepreneurship
Some of these might seem like they should be moved up, for example entrepreneurship, how will I start a business if I don’t focus on it? Well, you are right, I won’t, but the other things on the list rank higher in my priorities at the moment.
I need to find more time in my day, and as I cannot slow or stop time – and I dare not get less than eight hours of sleep due to the many negative effects that has – I need to start cutting out the less important task.
The bottom four items on that priorities list will be dropped for the coming future. I tried to start too many habits at once. Lesson learned, hopefully. There will still be some level of activity in those areas, but they will take a back seat while I work on the top priority items.
What Went Well in July
I stepped outside of my comfort zone and found new things I am going to explore. I went to my first chess tournament, a local unrated one with low stakes, and tied for third. There were many aspects I enjoyed and many I didn’t, particularly how it was run. This has led me to start my own local chess club, which I will be spending one night a month on. This may seem counter intuitive to my priorities list above, but I think this club will have many benefits other than playing chess, like networking and learning about marketing and business. It seems like it is worth the small amount of time I will spend on it each month.
Another thing that has gone well is this blog. I have published 18 articles (not including this one), and improved my writing skills tremendously, even in such a short amount time. Additionally, I have been reading more often. I read a lot before, but now I have a goal, read one book a week.
I have continued with my current habits of meditation and yoga, and started working towards old or new ones, like lifting weights, journaling, and writing.
Here’s some stats on my habits:
- Books Read: 4
- Number of Meditation Sessions: 29
- Number of Yoga Sessions: 29
- Chess Rating: 1535; Started at 1330, peaked at 1546
- Miles Hiked: 13
- Miles Biked: 36.5
- Days Exercised: 18; Most of these days are after July 19th, when I set my intention to working out every day.*
- Blog Posts Published: 18; Not including this one.
In addition, I have saved more money than I was hoping to. In late June my cat needed emergency surgery, which ended up costing me and my girlfriend $1500 each. We are in our early twenties and do not make a lot of money, so for us that is a huge chunk of our pay. Luckily, Fraser, our cat, is doing well and recovered. Even with that financial set back, I was still able to contribute nearly the full amount I strive to put into my Roth IRA each month.
What Did Not Go Well
Thankfully, there were no big negative events that happened to me in July. The two worst things that I hope to improve on are my battle for time and attention, and the restless feeling to start my own company, which comes from the longing to have financial freedom.
I have to remind myself that these things will come in time and if I try to focus on too many things at once, they will all be half assed. Better to do one thing well, than many half assed.
Goals for Next Month
My main goal for next month is to maintain better focus on my priorities, but that is not a tangible goal and could be misinterpreted even by me (Which is a nice way to say that when I get lazy I have a way out).
So here are some tangible goals:
- Read four books
- Twelve blog posts
- 30 Meditation sessions
- 30 Yoga sessions
- 30 Journal entries; 1 a day
- 25 Days of exercise
- Forming a local chess club and have everything set up for the first meeting to be the first week of September.
See you next month to see how these goals went!
*My goal is to work out every day, not lift weights every day. Rest days are important, so the definition of exercise is subjective. Some days it might be going for a walk in the morning, others it could be lifting weights. I also follow the two day rule on all my habits, meaning I cannot miss more than two days in a row.
