How to snap out of feeling lethargic
This past week or so I have been feeling really lethargic. Like a subdued feeling has come over me and left me somewhat distant from the world. My weekend has consisted of roaming around, not really achieving anything or enjoying my time off work. This has continued into the first day of the week, and while this has not affected productivity, I have not been my chirpy self. I am not sure if this is a result of not eating meat, however I decided it had to stop and it had to stop right now.
So how do you snap out of this lethargic, subdued feeling? EXCERCISE!
Finishing work today I hopped on the stationary bike and completed 23 minutes of HITT cardio. When I had finished I was shaking a little and very thirsty. After cooling down and rehydrating myself I am feeling great. It really is unbelievable how different I feel.
23 minutes, just 23 minutes is all it took to make me feel focused, determined, energised and back with the living. I just had to share it with you immediately. If it has this effect on me when I am feeling down, imagine the results when I am my usual hyper self.
Whether coming back from injury (like me, groin) or if you have just fallen into a rut, get yourself out and do a little exercise. You owe yourself 20 minutes a day at the very least.
Let me know how you get on if you decide to take my advice. I would be interested to know.
Posted to Life, Productivity
Deciding how to challenge yourself
So having completed January without a drink, and February will be completed without meat. It leaves me with the question of what to do next month. I have had some suggestions from me friends but can’t decide what March challenge should be.
It’s my birthday in March so I don’t want it to be so hard it spoils it for me. Especially as I am to become 30.
Let me know your suggestions, i’ll see if anything takes my fancy.
Posted to Life
February Challenge
I decided this month I wanted to try and see what life would be like without eating meat. I will find this one extremely difficult because I like the taste of meat. At least February is a short month so if I hate it I only have to do it for 29 days this year.
The best thing about doing monthly challenges, is that you get to give something a real go and at the end of it you don’t have to feel guilty if you go back to how things were before.
My starting weight is 163lbs, it will be interesting to see what effects this has on my mind and body.
I will be drinking alcohol this month, however something has changed within me, I no longer have to reason with myself to not have a drink. I just don’t feel like I want one any more. I will however still have a few when I socialise with friends on a night out, but I wont be drinking when I watch football, movies, or sat in the house anymore.
Posted to Life, Nutrition, Productivity
January Review
Every January millions of people make new years resolutions they stick to for a few weeks. I only made one - To act. I also set myself a January challenge to not drink alcohol, which I have now completed. As a side effect I have increased my overall productivity in many areas. Since the beginning of this year I have made the following positive changes to my life :-
- Not had one single cigarette
- Not had one drop of alcohol
- Consumed clean foods with only the odd treat
- Performed regular exercise
- Read 2 books
- Listened to 5 audio books
- Cancelled my satellite TV
- Lost 9lbs - Start weight 172lbs - End weight 163lbs
- Become a regular poster on my blog
I really feel like I have hit the ground running, my energy levels are through the roof, I feel determined to do absolutely anything.
The key to a major change in your life is to start small, work on the little tasks, get the results under your belt and continuously improve.
Thanks for stopping by, hope your getting something from the site. Check back tomorrow for my February challenge announcement.
Posted to Life, Productivity
Save the cheerleader, save the world
OK maybe not. Peter Petrelli from heroes needed to save the cheerleader to save the world. You however, can save the world just a little bit at a time.
Making a conscious decision to do your bit for the world and environment will help us all save the world together. It really is the little things that matter, like using reusable shopping bags, recycling where possible and turning off devices at the mains when not in use.
Doing a little often is enough to build momentum. Just like creating an interesting blog.
Posted to Blogging, Life
1 way - 100% guaranteed to change your life for the better
I have done it, Just like that. All it took was 10 minutes of my life and it will be the best decision I have ever made. I cancelled my satellite TV subscription. Yes, cancelled, not reduced but totally cancelled.
I decided enough was enough, I was never going to emulate the success of the likes of www.37signals.com, www.stevepavlina.com, www.iwillchangeyourlife.com, www.lifehacker.com etc. Sitting around every night watching pointless programs over and over again convincing myself that I will change it all tomorrow.
So there it is, I now have around 5 hours every evening to do whatever I want. One things for sure though, I won’t be sat in front of the box, I will be at the gym, working on this site, reading, learning, pushing myself, being curious.
Please leave comments or drop me a line if you have done something similar.
PS I also saved £50 a month that is going straight into my savings account 
Posted to Life, Productivity
Curiosity killed the cat?
One of the best blogs in the business is that of Seth Godin. His latest video post on curiosity is superb and really gets you asking questions of yourself and your purpose. Curiosity may have killed the cat, it also lead to some of the greatest advancements in human evolution.
Give it a watch, it’s only 5 minutes long, better than watching TV right? Link
Posted to Life
How to read more books
One of the things I have become much better at in the past few years is reading more books. Some of them for fun, some for work and some for personal development. The hardest part of self development is discipline and you here phrases often like “I wish I had time to exercise/read more”.
Well why not combine the two with the use of audiobooks? I was lucky enough to have been given the new iPod Nano for christmas and thought I would give audiobooks a try. Let me tell you they are great and I love them. Simply hop on the treadmill or bike and away you go, half an hour later you have read/listened to a good chunk of a book and managed to get your heart rate going at the same time.
I think they’re great, there are tonnes of them available too. Audible is probably the biggest supplier of them and you can find a huge range of books on most topics.
Posted to Life, Productivity
January Challenge Update
Since beginning my January challenge I have been recording my weight on a daily basis. My eating habits are still the same, fairly clean eating with the odd bit of indulgence. The results so far are pretty amazing really since I have only dropped alcohol.
01 Jan - 173lbs
02 Jan - 173lbs
03 Jan - 172.5lbs
04 Jan - 172lbs
05 Jan - 172lbs
06 Jan - 169.5lbs
07 Jan - 169lbs
08 Jan - 168lbs
09 Jan - 167lbs
10 Jan - 167lbs
11 Jan - 166.5lbs
12 Jan - 165.5lbs
WOW that’s 7.5 lbs in body weight gone it 12 days. Most of that will be water but a few lbs will be body fat.
I get weighed every morning at the same time right after a visit to the toilet. This keeps things consistent which is important otherwise you have no real idea of the progress your making. To demonstrate this fact I got re-weighed today after breakfast and I had gained 2lbs.
I will continue to keep track of my progress and will post another update on my January challenge at the end of the month. One thing I can say is I feel more energetic for it and more motivated. There really is nothing like progress for giving you more motivation you should really try it, it doesn’t need to be the first day of the month to start either.
Go on, give it a try, write down your goal and todays date with your current stats in a .txt file. Stop drinking, start running or whatever it is you want to do and take your measurements at the same time everyday. Only then will you really know how your body responds to things.
Posted to Life, Nutrition, Productivity
January Challenge
I am not a massive drinker, however I do like a beer now and then and the odd bottle of wine. As a new years resolution I have decided to set myself a January challenge and try and go the whole month without a single drop of alcohol of any kind.
For a (almost) 30 year old this is harder than it seems, however I do know people who have stopped drinking all together and they assure me it makes you feel like a different person. Combined with regular exercise it can transform your life.
So lets give it a go and see what happens. Not a drop for January, I am already 6 days in.
Posted to Life, Nutrition
