GHD Resolution Review Day 4
Three months and three days ago, I adopted David Seah’s Ground Hog Resolution Day idea, and made a list of my GHD resolutions. The idea is not to try to make resolutions for New Years Day, when exhausted and hung over from the excesses of Christmas and New Year’s eve, but to wait until Groundhog Day a month and a day later on 2/2, and then to review progress every month-and-a-day after that, 3/3, 4/4 etc. I didn’t join the party until 4/4, so I’m a bit behind Dave, and everyone who started on Groundhog Day proper, 2/2. Now that the somewhat mystical 07/07/07 is here, so I deliver this, my 4th post in the series, to account for my progress this far.
How’d it go?
1. Keep a regular morning routine
Considering that I spent a week in a tent surrounded by excited drunken metal-heads at the start of this review period, and then moved from one side of the planet to the other the following week, and then chased my motorcycles up and down the state of Florida for another week… my morning routine has actually been surprisingly consistent this last month and a day. That’s not to say that I’m actually achieving the Nirvana of getting up at 6am, and being at my desk ready to start work by 8am having showered, shaved and sh.. well, you get the idea 
Despite the time zone change, and an irregular bedtime I am at least waking consistently at 8:30am.
Result: Making Progress
2. Read a book every week
Since I had the brainwave of incorporating audio books into my reading schedule, this over ambitious resolution has seemed much more attainable. On dead trees, I finally finished the prodigious The Singularity is Near; as well as reading the first half of Flow, and the entirety of Hellboy: The Chained Coffin. I also listened to 50 Spiritual Classics and The Teachings of Don Carlos, and you can find my reviews of all of these and other books I’ve read recently in my book list.
If my counting is not broken, that equates to 3 complete books, one more started and another finished, for a total of 4 complete books! Yes, one of them is a graphic novel, which I devoured in one evening, but I’m the boss of counting the books that I’ve read, and I say I’ve read 4 since the last review!
Result: Total Success, yay me!
3. Set aside time for martial arts
So, with all the best intentions in the world, I had planned to find a Wing Chun club that trains in Orlando as soon as we had settled in to our new apartment in the middle of the month. And yet, I seem to have become so absorbed by other goings on, that it never quite materialized. I have, however found what looks to be a very promising club a few miles from here which I will investigate this week.
Yesterday, while Octavia was dutifully engaged in her daily 30 lengths of our pool, while I was sat on the veranda with computer in lap and breakfast in hand again, I realised that if I were still in Worcester, my Tae Kwon-Do 4th dan grading would be looming heavily on the horizon by now. I decided to spend a guilty hour going through the 19 patterns I ought to know for that, only to discover that I was more than a little rusty on some of the advanced ones. Much more effort needed here.
Result: Total Bummer.
4. At least 2 blog posts per week
Including this one, I count 12 posts since the last review. Although I said I’d be aiming at a post every 2 days, I obviously didn’t take into account 5 days at Download, relocating to Florida, and importing my bikes when I equated that to 15 posts. With hind-sight, 12 posts is more than respectable for this last month. Since my posts are usually moderately long, 12 to 15 is plenty if I’m going to give you guys a chance to leave some comments behind for me.
Result: Success
5. Weekly Reviews
Oh man, I came soooo close. I haven’t really been getting on with Journler since the update to 2.5, and have started migrating to iGTD (I have a post in the works about the whys and wherefores). Last week, inspired by a checklist in the Zen Habits archive I copied to my bookmarks, I even scheduled an hour in for a full and proper weekly review for the following Sunday. Which would be tomorrow. Bugger.
Result: Nice try, but no cigar 
What went wrong?
Nothing. I’m delighted by my progress this month, and by the whole GHD Review idea, which keeps me focused on the resolutions. This month I successfully attained two resolutions, made extremely solid progress towards another two, and have plans in the works for the remaining straggler. I feel confident that I’ll be on top of all 5 resolutions by the end of the year, and be able to set myself some new goals to attain on Ground Hog Day 2008.
What to do about it?
Tomorrow, I have an hour scheduled for my first weekly review since forever, but rather than get ahead of myself, I’ll be happy to manage that one plus one more by the next review.
I’m rather ashamed of how my fitness has taken a very severe back seat since I stopped regular training when I left England a year ago, so I’m going to incorporate 30 minutes of Tae Kwon-Do into my morning routine — at least until I’ve joined a Wing Chun club. I hope to have shaved another hour of my wake-up time, and be getting up at 7:30am to fit that in by the next review.
4 Responses so far
2007.07.08@8:19 am
Awesome! Glad to see that you’re pleased with your progress, which cheers me up too. I think part of the interesting thing about resolutions is just seeing how it works out so you can capture a sense of what the new habit would be like, sort of like beginner’s luck. For example, if you have one great 630AM day, that gives you an idea of what a whole lifetime of 630AM days could be like. That’s an interesting idea with some interesting ramifications, actually…I might have to write about that.
Continued good luck! Wing Chun is cool, good luck finding a club!
2007.07.09@9:57 am
Hi Dave,
I hadn’t thought about it in terms of ‘beginners luck’, but you’re right… it’s nice to hit a home run every now and again if you can keep the pressure off enough to know that you don’t have to hit a home run every single time. And with practice, you’re batting average is bound to improve, until those home runs come along all the more regularly.
The thing that appeals to me most about GHD Resolutions Reviews is that I have them at the back of my mind the whole time, and I’m always pleased to make some progress. I gave up on New Year Resolutions decades ago, mostly because they recede into history so fast after 1/1 that it’s next to impossible to keep to them.
Thanks for the encouragement
Cheers, Gary
2007.07.11@5:09 am
Seems like your making good progress, which is great!
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s me. i.e.:
I didn’t even contemplate seeing if i could mirror Gary’s GHD Resolutions until this very minute. In addition, i tend to fail miserably at keeping to routines.
…
What to do about it?
I should stop trying to emulate Gary and make my own resolutions, which would obviously better reflect what on earth i want to achieve.
**
Ok, maybe this GHD Resolution stuff isn’t for me – but in any case, i wish you good luck on your resolutions.
2007.07.13@2:13 pm
LOL.
Yes, it definitely helps to pick your own resolutions!