New month, new me (again)

Kind of like New Year's resolutions, every time the first of the month rolls around I find myself wanting to hunker down and work toward some goals. They usually end up falling by the wayside, but this month, I'll use this shiny new blog to add some documentation and accountability.

My overarching goal for this month is to get into a healthy, achievable, and sustainable daily routine. I'm very much a creature of habit. For example, if I'm eating like crap, I have to overcome a lot of inertia so that I don't just continue eating like crap. The same is true for many other things – staying up to late, drinking too much, not exercising – the bad habits build up and I can easily get stuck in a rut.

But there is a good side to inertia. It means that when I get started in a good routine, I tend to keep going. For example, before the pandemic I had a great routine of walking 10,000 to 15,000 steps almost every day, which I stuck with for a long time (almost 2 years) before the Rona upended my routine.

First steps and building blocks

Today, I did an crucial first step – I cleaned and tidied up my room and the kitchen. I find that my space directly influences my mood and actions. If it's a mess, I'm a mess. But if it's clean and orderly, it feels a million times easier to do stuff like make a healthy lunch instead of getting Uber Eats and make coffee/tea instead of buying an energy drink or soda at the convenience store. And there is a much higher chance of me doing exercise if I don't have to clear the space first.

Another preliminary step that I find helpful is simply to visualize a good day. What little goals would add up to a good routine?

Daily goals

  • Get up at a reasonable time (7:55-8:25 am, depending a garbage schedule)
  • Have a healthy breakfast (eggs or oatmeal)
  • Drink coffee in the daytime and caffeine-free tea in the evening (not energy drink or soda in daytime and beer/chuu-hai in the evening)
  • Have a light lunch (e.g., salad)
  • Finish work on time.
  • Get in 10,000 steps (morning, lunch, and/or evening walks)
  • Sensible home-made dinner
  • Do some exercise (push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and/or hand weights)
  • Go to bed around 12:30 - 1:00 a.m. (targeting at least 7 hours of sleep)

I think the above is doable. Maybe I won't get all those done tomorrow but I hope to build up to it. I'll post updates to add some accountability to the mix.

Wish me luck, and let's gooooooooo!