Hey guys. I'm doing a quick check-in on the Daily Stoic New Year, New You Challenge I undertook. Some great shares (see below) with Beth Smith on this along the way. Mom has also been reading the daily emails and playing along to some degree. I'm not 100 percent, but I have made some reasonably impactful changes. Mom and I both commented recently that we already do a lot of these things, so that is good.
Day 1: Watch Today’s Sunset and Tomorrow’s Sunrise - done
Day 2: Take a Cold Plunge and Shock Your System - done, I've been taking cold showers all month and believe it helps with inflammation, as well as with my psoriasis; I especially enjoy the cold showers after doing the steam room at the club
Day 3: Find a Place of Isolation, Then Count to 1,000 - done
Day 4: Pick A New Skill and Add It to Your Game This Year - done, journaling daily and created a system of note-taking and cataloging quotes, meaningful passages, etc.
Day 5: Visit A Part of Your City You’ve Never Been To Before - done, Mom and I went to McKinney Falls State Park
Day 6: Write Your Personal Ten Commandments - done, see Anything goes Thursday #2 - My flat ass rules
Day 7: Pretend You Have To Get a New Job—Today - done, I spent some time thinking about things I would enjoy doing in retirement like officiating basketball, coaching youth sports, etc.
Day 8: Open Your Mind: Read Something by Someone You Disagree With - I missed this one
Day 9: Find Your Most Prized Possession—and Get Rid of It - Ummm, I thought about giving away my table tennis bat but decided against it (strike two)
Day 10: Free Yourself from One Social Media Account or News App - cut ties with the WSJ digital and am now reading the paper version at the club
Day 11: Go Outside and Pull Weeds - Strike three - but I've been to the putting and chipping greens quite a bit, and I plan to rake some bunkers soon
Day 12: Pick A Physical PR to Beat...and Re-Beat This Year - Handicap will get to 9 or better in 2020
Day 13: Set Up Your Personal Board of Directors - Still working on this one
Day 14: Sit Down, Write a Letter to a Friend About the New You, and Send It - Plan to write Coach Rogers and Moyer Smith (two exceptional mentors)
Day 15: Cut out one recurring expense - done, cut WSJ digital and a couple of other subscriptions to things I was not using or getting enough value
Here are some fun notes from Beth she recently shared that I think you will enjoy:
Thanks for your message. I love this back and forth too, keeping me accountable and thoughtful about each challenge. Things still on my list: watching a sunset, pulling weeds, have not finished cleaning out my closet. Things I've done but we have not discussed: I don’t really do social media and don’t have news apps on my phone. BUT I have given up my hour of morning news reading for the rest of the challenge, which is brutal for me but definitely making me more productive starting my day. My yoga teacher and I had a great conversation on how I was attached to knowledge to avoid taking action. That really resonated with me and have thought about it ever since. Giving up that news hour was a great shake-up in that habit. Feel like I have a decent Board of Mentors for my personal life but I would like to challenge myself to do something creative this year. As a part of that need a separate group of mentors, so going to work on that for this particular challenge. Kevin and I are doing an Olympic distance Triathlon in April, WAY out of my comfort zone and out of shape in all 3 disciplines but will definitely count for my Physical Challenge of 2020!!!
