Deliverable

Yesterday worked well, so I’ll try it again…

I will complete at least 100 minutes of work on the book before noon today.

–update:–
complete

Thoughts
This has been very effective. It makes it much easier to get up in the morning, because I have a specific thing to do, and a specific time frame to do it in. The format seems flexible enough to use with a changing schedule. I think I’ll expand this next week to see how far I can take it.

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1 Day Challenge: 100 on the Book Before Noon
Start date: Friday, 8/4/06
Check-in date: Friday, 8/4/06

I wanted to challenge myself, so…

I will complete at least 100 minutes of work on the book before noon today.

–update:–
Complete

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1 Day Challenge: 100 on the Book Before Noon
Start date: Thursday, 8/3/06
Check-in date: Thursday, 8/3/06

For the next 3 days, I will complete at least 50 minutes of work on the book before noon.

Check-in
Wednesday, 8/2/06: Complete
Thursday, 8/3/06: Complete
Friday, 8/4/06: Complete

I expanded this challenge for days two and three.

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3 Day Challenge: Book before Noon
Start date: Wednesday, 8/2/06
Check-in date: Friday, 8/4/06

I’m a big fan of the 30 Day Challenge. It’s been helpful to have this tool to develop consistency around the things that have been holding me back.

One drawback is that some challenges don’t fit so neatly into the 30 day category. The 7 day yoga challenge was one. There’s also my two day “9 to 5 Day” challenge from earlier this month. It doesn’t make sense to do that type of challenge for thirty days, but it’s one that I’d like to eventually make a consistent part of my life.

Enter the 1-7 Day Challenge. It’s a way to crawl before you walk. The beauty of this type of challenge is that it more easily fits into a 5 day work week. Perhaps you’d like to make gettting up at a certain time a priority for the coming week, but want to be free to get up whenever you like on the weekend…

Create a 5 Day challenge for yourself:

• Evaluate your schedule and create a specific set of wake up times for the week.
• Put those wake up times in a “5 Day Challenge” format and post it online.
• Check-in on Friday morning.

This eliminates the feeling that you have to do this habit for the rest of your life. It’s something that you’re trying out. It’s something that wouldn’t even work to do for 30 days straight. It might be something that you’d like to do every once in a while. It’s a way to set goals for yourself that are believable, and thus achievable. It’s a way to gain strength slowly but steadily.

That’s the concept. We’ll see how it works out.

Consistency. Consider for a moment the following:

• Consistently working 40 hours a week (for someone else) = fixed paycheck twice a month
• Consistently working 40 hours a week (for yourself) = no guaranteed bi-monthly paycheck, but potentially limitless earnings over a lifetime

Those who work a traditional 40 hour week for someone else trade their time for a guarantee. In return for those 40 hours of work they receive a guaranteed source of income. They may also receive a pension and health benefits. If they live within their means and save they may have the opportunity to one day purchase a home. Perhaps they get to take vacations. It’s an entirely honorable life. My parents did this and they seem to be happy.

The thing about working for someone else is that you have to show up. You have to go in when you’re tired. You have to go to work when you don’t particularly feel like it. That’s the trade off for the regular paycheck. The payoff to this approach is that the consistency involved reaps exponential rewards. If you show up and work for someone else for 40 years, live within your means and invest 10 percent of your check twice a month, and you’ll probably be able to afford that retirement place in Boca Raton with the annual trip to Cancun.

It’s the law of exponentiality: If you do something (anything) consistently, the payoff is exponential.

I want that exponential payoff. What I want to do is apply this “40 hour week” type of thinking to my own self-employed life.

To that end, I’m proposing a tiny 2 day challenge:

For the next 2 days I will clock in and clock out for an 8 hour work day. I will approach my day as though I was working for someone else.

We’ll call this “someone else” that I’m working for “CEO Me”, and “CEO Me” wants to make it clear what he expects of his employee:

What my work is:

• The book
• Sending out headshots/resumes
• Working on my voice/speech
• Reading a play
• Working on a monologue
• Practicing
• Songwriting
• Contact development
• Brainstorming / Developing new income streams
• Anything else I can think of as I go along

What my work isn’t:

• Working on my personal website/blog
• Working on my photo gallery
• Reading bloglines
• Watching TV
• Watching movies
• Doing laundry
• Doing housework
• Doing home repairs
• Grocery shopping
• Running errands
• Anything else that I can think of as I go along

For today and tomorrow, I’ll clock in at 9 a.m. and clock out at 5:30 p.m. (Tomorrow, I may clock in at 8 or 8:30 to accomodate my schedule, but we’ll see…). I’ll put in 8 hours on the work listed above. I’ll take a 30 minute break for lunch. I don’t expect this to go perfectly. I’ll check in with an update to assess how it went.

–Update: Thursday 7/6/06–
My 8 hour day is officially over. I was in at 9, took a 30 minute lunch break at 1:30 or so, and finished at 5:30. Alot of the day was spent working on an organizational chart for “Me: The Company”… Figuring out all of the things that I do as a self employed person and figuring out how to best delegate responsiblities to my multiple employee personalities. It was helpful, and I think will clarify my work for tomorrow. I did have a time in the morning, and once in the afternoon where I got really sleepy, and took a couple of 30ish minute catnaps. I know that if I was officially in an office, I’d be fired by now for that, but I did say that I knew this wasn’t going to go perfectly, so I’m going to cut myself some slack. We’ll see what tomorrow holds.

–Update: Friday 7/7/07–
In at 8, out at 4:20 today. I moved my schedule earlier because of an afternoon appointment which I’m racing to now. I think I was somewhat more productive today. I ate an apple in the mid morning, which headed off the big sleepy moment. Must be a low blood sugar thing. Ate lunch at my desk today, because I need to head out early, though at this point it looks like it’s not as early as I’d hoped. Managed to get alot of my home tidying done in the morning, which is good. This has been a positive couple of days. I feel like even if I’ve not been completely productive yet, at least I’m trying. I can walk away from the desk knowing I’ve not pissed the day away completely. I plan to work more with this schedule in the future.

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2 Day Challenge: 9 to 5 Day
Start date: Thursday, 7/6/06
Check-in date: Friday, 7/7/06

I’ve decided to do a 7 day Bikram Yoga challenge. They have an introductory package where you’re able to take a week of classes for 23 bucks. I’ve wanted to try this for some time, but wanted to be able to commit to doing all seven days. I feel like my other 30 day challenges have given me the strong foundation that will allow me to do this.

Here’s the challenge:

For the next 7 days, I will attend one Bikram yoga class a day.

It’s pretty straightforward. I will shoot for taking the first class offered each day, but I won’t let that keep me from completing the challenge if I can’t. I also may provide addendum’s to this post with my progress throughout the week.

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Updates:
–Day 1: Saturday–
Holy crap. Definitely one of the most intense workouts I’ve ever had. What the heck have I gotten myself into? Please let it get easier as it goes along.

–Day 2: Sunday–
I think I can say that it was a bit easier today. It’s still hellishly hot, and you’re literally bathed in sweat for the entire 90 minutes, but it took me longer to reach the “Oh my God, let this be over” stage. I also gave up any remaining modesty that I might have had and ditched my t-shirt 10 minutes in. It’s just too freakin’ hot to keep it on.

–Day 3: Monday–
I crashed last night at 10 p.m., got up around 4:30 this morning and made it to the 6:30 a.m. class today. It’s still pretty darn brutal. The standing poses are the most difficult… at least with the floor poses you get to lie on your back in between to let blood flow back into the joints. I bought some Glaceau “smart water” after class. It’s supposed to have electrolytes which are supposed to be good for you. I’m hoping to avoid the fatigued feeling that I had for alot of yesterday. I’m thinking that might have been dehydration, so I’m going to keep pouring the water down for the rest of the day. Also there were a couple of people in class today who didn’t sweat. They are very clearly mutants.

–Day 4: Tuesday–
Made it to the 11 a.m. class today. I had alot of dread going in, but it actually went pretty well. I got thru most of the poses and only had to take a couple of breaks. (I think she may have had the heat a bit lower today, which no doubt helped.) I’m also not as wiped this afternoon, and have been able to focus better.

–Day 5: Wednesday–
I got thru the postures better today. Definitely feel my strength and flexibility improving. (Went to the noon class…).

–Day 6: Thursday–
Somewhat tougher today. The instructor cranked up the heat more, and was moving through the postures faster. There were a couple of times where I had to sit out the 2nd half of the posture because my heart was really racing. I guess the moral is that every day is different. I went to the 4 p.m. class today.

–Day 7: Friday–
Woohoo! Final day of my 7 day challenge. The heat really kicked me hard today, but it was what it was. I showed up and did the best I could which is what it’s all about.

Final Thoughts
It’s been an enlightening 7 days. This has been some of the most difficult exercise that I’ve ever done. The heat adds a whole new dimension to things, both mentally and physically, but I love the way my body has felt. The first couple of days knocked me out more, but I seemed to get used to it about 3-4 days in. (I also felt better when I hydrated immediately after the workout.) It’s definitely something that I hope to pursue in the future.

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7 Day Challenge: Bikram Yoga
Start date: Saturday, June 24th
Check-in date:Friday, June 30th