Habit Review

Praying in the face of Stress/ Anxiety

Did you pray this week? Yes. A little bit. I wasn't practicing the presence of God by any means, but did appeal to the Lord in prayer. Especially during quiet times and walks, and time spent praying during my morning/evening ritual. 

How to stay in the fight this week:  "scheduled" prayer is done in morning/evening rituals and by doing my quiet times (ie, prayer read/walks). This habit isn't merely a blending together of those two habits. The intent behind this prayer is to turn to God during times of anxiety or stress which would otherwise cause me to seek shelter in cigarettes, alcohol, lust, etc. Turning to God during this kind of challenge is hard to prepare for, other than trying to turn to God for just about everything else until you get there. I think that'd be a decent thing to eventually be able to do. For now, I'll make this short term goal : Tomorrow (3/23), I'll pray before completing each task on my "To-Do" list, and thank God after I finish it. This week, I'll consider the top 3 anxiety-causing things on my mind each day, and ask God for peace in them. 

No Swearing

Did you avoid swears this week? No. Swearing just pops out while driving, most of the time. I guess that's why it's a BAD HABIT. I would estimate that having a verse reminding me to pray for patience, and a reminder to breathe deeply were helpful. I also was SUCCESSFUL in listening only to delightful classical music or spoken word audio all week, including for the 10.5 HR car ride back from Texas. Awesome! I'm definitely going to keep this up. 

What will you do to improve next week? Continue to pray about it. Keep breathing deeply, and continue listening to classical or audiobook. I could probably also leave earlier so that i'm not in a rush. That would be some angry driving there. SHORT TERM GOALS: This week I will leave 15 minutes earlier than I'd need to in order to get to any given appointment. I will use the spare time to drive slowly, breathing deeply and enjoying the breeze. 

Hygiene

Have you been flossing? Yes. I flossed almost every night this week (didn't one night when I was too drunk). 

How will you keep fighting for this? I'm back in Florida and need to establish my morning/evening routine here even more firmly than in Texas. This morning and lst night were good starts, except without reading from Og or from the bible. Those are two things I definitely want to incorporate into my evening and morning rituals. But the hygiene thing is on it's way to becoming a habit. Just keep doing the ritual. I need to get back into planning my meals for the week. This is on my to-do list. 

Drinking with a Plan

Did you drink with a plan this week? The night I went to Saxon Pub, I definitely drank too much. Downside was that I was hitting on a 40 year old, and spent about $30 on alcohol. yikes! was all in the mindset. Going out alone, I need to be especially careful about drinking well, since I don't have much interaction by which to gauge my intoxication level.

How will you stay in the fight this week: I'm going to take a week off from drinking on my own. In the event that I go out with someone, I'll make my plan and limit before taking a sip. I will also alternate soft and alcoholic drinks. goal: no alone drinking this week. 

Reading Well

Did you read with a purpose this week? I didnt get much reading done this week at all. I did follow through on the short-term goal of starting word documents for stuff I'm reading. I took notes on a few sermons I listened to, and on "The Case Against the Fed", which i listened to 1/4 of on the car trip. Short term goal: Create word doc for "The Case..." and also "Three Cups of Tea". Read 30 pages on average of anything, each day. 

Dedicating Internet Time

Are you dedicating Internet Time? This is the hardest thing to do, besides getting up early. I just don't feel like it's time effective to spend time writing up what i'm going to do on the net. The point of this is to spend time on the Net for a purpose, not purposeless hours of endless browsing. Luckily I haven't been spending tons of time on the net, so the lack of this habit hasn't hurt. But more and more, i'm realizing that the formation of a habit is about the formation of an outlook or mindset about something. What mindset is this habit supposed to bring about ? It's meant to keep me from losing focus of my time and goals. To do everything with a purpose, even if my written purpose is to "unwind & surf". This will be easier with a dedicated notebook now instead of a text log. I will renew my efforts to plan time spent, aside from investing and blogging. Those aren't considered "surfing" to me. 

Sleeping in too late

Have you been getting up early? This is my hardest habit. I think i got up early 2 or 3 times the whole week. Good start, but definitely still a fight. I haven't had a regular sleep schedule, so that hurts. Now that I'm back to boring old pensacola, I think I'll be able to get to bed at a regular time each night (generally). This will help me get up at 7:00 each morning for How Hour

How will you fight this week? Unless something is absolutely essential, I'm going to cut off all work and "To-Dos" at 22:00, and go to bed. This gives me 9 hours time for sleep, of which I'll probably use 8. Giving myself extra time to get ready for bed will possibly help me stay more disciplined. 

Bible Reading / Walking Daily

Have you been reading and walking daily? Not daily. I did this twice out of five days last week. It's easiest and natural to do after a work-out. I've just cleared my mind and am ready for prayer. Any time I work out, I generally do it. So this habit is linked to another one, which may be helpful. 

How will you keep fighting this week? I'm going to do my workouts each day, as they're scheduled and do my prayer and walks after those. If i don't work out for some reason, or something unusual goes on that prevents my walk after a work-out, I'll be doing my walk NLT 2130 on the nights of days I haven't done one yet. This will be the last thing I do before getting ready for bed. 

Workout Daily 

Did you workout daily? I just about did. I think I skipped yesterday (car trip) and maybe one other day this last week. I didn't do P90X each day, but did a run or so. I'm going to keep logging my workouts here. 

How will you stay in the fight? By getting fully back into P90X - Diet, weight recording, pictures, journalling, everything. The more i embrace it as a system, the more momentum is has. 

Daily Planning

Did you plan daily? Just about , but need to tighten things down. I don't always follow the plan exactly, but it's helpful to plan getting up, meals, and key appointments. This keeps my diet, budget, and goals in check. 

How will you keep planning? This will be part of my week-end ritual, and nightly ritual. Weekend : plan as much  as possible for the week. Nightly: Revise, review, and request. 

Investing

This will be covered in it's own post.