- Shower regularly
- wear deodorant
Pretty simple, huh?
Saturday July 21 – 30 day trials Saturday, Jul 21 2007
I’ve been neglecting this blog for the last few days, partly because I’ve been flat out at work, partly because I lack discipline (Arnie voice).
I’m having trouble staying motivated and focussing on my goal. I think a good way to get myself out of this pattern (which is certainly not new) is to start integrating life habits that will support goal achievement and personal development. These are habits I can incorporate by doing 30 day trials Credit: Steve Pavlina). Here is a list of 30 day trials that look good to me:
- Get up at the same time every day
- Exercise first thing in the morning
- Shower after exercise
- Learn a new word every day
- Dress well
- Nasal Irrigation
- Write a new blog entry every day
- Write my goals out every day
- Visualise my day
- Write a to do list
- Read a book that interests me
- Read a personal development book
- Read a fiction book
- Have a good friendly conversation with someone
- Start a conversation with a stranger
- Ask someone out on a date
- Get a new album
- Go out every evening
- Listen to motivational audio
- Spend 30 minutes writing about my daily lessons
- Have a self-conversation in my journal
- Recount a significant life event in my journal
- Write a post on Steve Pavlina’s forum every day
- Meditate
- Practice my singing
- Practice the guitar
- Learn and/or analyse a song
- Write a song
- Work on a speech
- Monitor my diet
- Write a journal entry
- Clean or organise something
Ok here are my rules: 30 day trials can be concurrent, but there must be a minimum ten day period in between starting new trials. There can never be more than two running at the same time. I say this because I’m prone to setting plans that only an android could execute (Pavlina again). It’s very important for me to keep my plans simple and easy to execute. There will be no excuses! As for the 21 Habits I’ve already posted – I’ll continue to research them and do posts on how to achieve them on this blog, in the order I’ve posted. In all likelihood they will spawn 30 day trials to add to this list as I go. It’s better I think to pick options as I go rather than have a set plan and order and timeframe on how I’m going to achieve my goals. My goal remains the same, my plan of attack is highly flexible.
Obviously, doing one of these trials doesn’t mean I neglect other things, It’s just the thing I concentrate on the most and write about on this blog. For an indefinite period, this blog is the record of my 30 day trials.
I’ll simply pick items off this list at my leisure and start one that looks appealing. This list is by no means exhaustive. I’ll modify/augment it as I go, and I may use 30 day trials that aren’t (yet) on this list.
I am currently on my tenth day of a thirty day trial of nasal irrigation, so tomorrow I can start a new one (While obviously continuing the nasal irrigation one for another twenty days). An obvious one would be getting up at the same time every day, but I’m going to Pennsylvania in three weeks, which has a 12 hour time difference to my home city of Perth, Western Australia. So my next 30 day trial will be reading a book that interests me. I’ll start with “Impro” by Kenneth Johnstone. If I find a book is boring me, I’ll move on. The key for this trial is to be absorbed in a fascinating topic for 30 minutes a day.
Until Tomorrow!
Habit 2 – Moist Lips Monday, Jul 16 2007
Habits 9:15 pm
This habit overlaps quite a lot with habit 1. Staying hydrated, eating healthy and exercising is an important component. Another component is protection from the elements. Another possible cause is my allergic rhinitis, which causes me to breathe through my mouth, drying out my lips. Nasal irrigation is one way to tackle this. Another cause of dry lips is licking my lips. So this habit includes:
- Lots of water
- Lots of vegetables
- Exercising in the morning
- Nasal irrigation
- No licking my lips
- Lots of vegetables
- Wind, sun, cold protection (carry a good lip balm)
- Occasionally exfoliate lips, using a toothbrush, warm water and petroleum jelly.
I’ve heard a lot about lip balm being potentially damaging, so I did some research into the ingredients in a couple of brands of lip balm that I own:
Carmex:
- Camphor – is poisonous
- Menthol – anaesthetic
- Salicylic acid – damages cells
- Phenol – antiseptic – causes skin irritation
Lip-eze:
- butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane – sunscreen
- octocrylene – uv rays
- octyl methoxycinnamate – uv-b rays
- 4-Methylbenzylidene camphor – can cause photoallergic dermatitis
- Butylated hydroxyanisole – is carcinogenic
Conclusion: No more Carmex!. Lip-Eze isn’t too bad, although I’ll look around for a better one.
Habit 1 – Constant Fresh Breath Wednesday, Jul 11 2007
Habits 10:02 pm
My first habit to establish on the way to my goal is a constant stream of nice fresh breath. My daily requirements:
- Brush teeth, scrape tongue, thoroughly rinse with water immediately after breakfast.
- Brush teeth, use interdental brush (floss on steroids!), scrape tongue, rinse thoroughly before bed.
- Rinse mouth with water following every meal.
- Don’t eat any sugar, meat, fish, garlic or onion until the evening meal. This leaves me with water, milk, yoghurt, nuts, fruit, vegetables and bread.
- Have parsley around to chew on periodically.
- Drink lots of water during the day.
- Have a big glass of water before bed.
- Have a big glass of water in the morning.
Wish me luck! I’ll post my thoughts, observations and success stories as a reply to this post every day for 30 days (until fresh breath becomes a fully fledged habit.)
