Note: I’m currently having weird commenting issues, so if you try to comment and get a very angry “Access Denied” screen, it’s not you, it’s me. If you do get this error, could you be so kind as to let me know (my email is stephanywrites@gmail.com!). My hosting company has told me this is fixed, so it shouldn’t still be happening!
July Goals
1) Finish my organization spreadsheet. Complete! Yay! The real test will be… will I be able to maintain this spreadsheet on a regular basis?
2) Figure out a workout routine. Complete! I have decided on four workouts every week: two long walks and two cardio sessions at my apartment gym (alternating between the stationary bike and the elliptical). Do I do four workouts every week? Absolutely not. But that’s the goal!
3) No caffeine after 3 p.m. Oh, this goal is so much harder than I imagined it would be. I need to figure out a good caffeine-free soda alternative for the weekends (not Sprite/Starry, blech).
4) Start wearing my Apple Watch again. Complete! I usually only wear it on the days I’m going to do a solid 30-minute workout, so I know I will close my rings. And I think that’s fine – it doesn’t need to be part of my daily routine!
5) Figure out my 401k situation FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING HOLY. COMPLEEEEEEEEETE!!!!!!! I did it, I did it, I did it!!!! I’ve had this goal on my list since February, and it’s finally done. It wasn’t even all that complicated! There were just a lot of little steps, and I procrastinated hard on getting them done. I checked my new 401K account, and the rollover happened seamlessly, so yay!
August Goals
1) Adhere to a 10:30 p.m. bedtime. I don’t get much sleep these days because I’m terrible about going to bed at a decent time, and I’m always up with the sun. I’m going to start with a 10:30 p.m. bedtime and hopefully start to inch it closer and closer to my ideal time of 9:30 p.m. The trick is that I’m going to set an alarm for 10:15 p.m. every evening, which is my cue to STOP EVERYTHING I’M DOING so I can do my skincare routine, brush my teeth, and set up my CPAP for a night of restful sleep.
2) Watch two movies. I’m woefully behind on my movie-watching goal for this year. I should be on movie 8 in August, and I’m only on movie 4. Oops! I don’t know why I resist watching movies, but I really do want to mark this goal complete!
3) No caffeine after 3 p.m. Rollover goal.
4) Work on improving my walking speed. I have short legs and thus, a short stride. And my stride got even shorter when I was having inflammatory pain, as I wasn’t too concerned with how fast I was moving, only that I was able to move at all! I’m at a place where I’m ready to test myself a bit more when it comes to my fitness, and I’m going to start here. My walking speed is pitiful, but I’d love to get my average speed one minute faster by the end of August.
5) Get a light for my bathroom. My bathroom is well-lit around the counter, but less so around my tub area. I don’t love taking showers in the near-dark, so I need to figure out a better lighting situation. I bought a wireless motion sensor light that I thought would work, but it was a dud, so it’s back to the drawing board.
Do you have any August goals? What’s your bedtime?
If I have caffeine after noon I am COOKED for the night. I am so, so jealous of people who can sip a coffee at 6 pm after dinner and sleep like babies.
You mention being up with the sun—can you use an eye mask? I never sleep without one and LOVE it! It came in clutch when we were in northern Europe and it was light until 11 pm and then again by 4 am!
An eye mask might be helpful! It’s usually not the sun that’s waking me up, just my own internal body clock. (I can take a nap in the middle of the day with my blinds open, ha.) But doesn’t hurt to try!
I would try the eye mask! Same as you, I can nap in the middle of the day, all the light but the sun wakes me -up around 7-715 (I’m in Orlando). The sun seeps around the curtains and around the door. I recently added some curtains to some windows outside of my room and I feel like it gives me a few more minutes lol
I should try a mask again myself – but it usually shifts while sleeping and I take it off in my sleep 🙁
Woot! You are killing it with your goals!!! I am especially impressed by the 401k success – those multi step complicated tasks are awful.
Not sure if either of these would appeal to you as alternatives to caffeinated drinks, but I have variously enjoyed mixing bubbly water with Koolaid drops, cranberry juice, and jalapeno limeade from Trader Joe’s. The carbonation of the bubbly water is key to feeling “special,” and the sweetness of the juice is crucial for making it taste like a treat rather than boring old seltzer.
Nine thirty bedtime is always my goal – it is the best!
That’s a great trick! I have seltzer on hand but it just feels like the “healthy” choice, which I find hard to make on the weekends. LOL I AM A CHILD. But maybe I just need to make my bubbly water a bit fancier!
YAY on getting your 401(k) rolled over! Those little tasks just NAG at a person.
I love to go to bed at 9:00 and read until 9:30, and sometimes I make it. It’s a good goal. Also, maybe try the eye mask like Elisabeth suggested. I haven’t tried that myself.
I was dragging my feet for MONTHS on that 401k task and it was much easier than I anticipated!
My August goals are to try to enjoy the last few weeks of summer without students around at work. LOL. I know I do my job *for* the students, but it’s easier to get stuff done when they’re not around! Ha.
Okay, I went off caffeine years ago and I hate it. I have basically switched all my drinks to water, sparkling water, or Gatorade Zero. I do herbal tea in the morning, but it doesn’t hit the spot after about 9:30am. When I go out to eat, I get water because the CF options are trash.
OH! We were at a VRBO this weekend and the shower had SO MUCH LIGHT! Our shower is a tiny cube and it’s really dark in there and shaving is an adventure every time. Will I cut myself? Will I get all the hair (the answer is no)? I feel like I need to ask my husband if we can do something about it, but I fear the answer is going to be no. Ha!
I’m not a huge fan of caffeine-free alternatives, either! I totally understand.
Get yourself a light for the bathroom! There are tons of wireless options that you just have to stick on a wall. But then again, I don’t know how well they work because the one I got was trash, ugh.
3 pm!!! I am amazed. I cannot have caffeine after like 9:30 am. But believe you me, I stock up prior to that!
Related, probably, to the caffeine is my bedtime, which is prior to 8:30 pm! Usually, anyway.
Alsooooo – and this says something quite unattractive about me – I cannot imagine not wearing my Garmin all day every day. I take it off only to charge and shower! When my old one died I was bereft, BEREFT, STEPHANY. I think it would be much mentally healthier not to wear it all the time but I’m constantly interested in odd little metrics like “what’s my heart rate right this second” and “is my body battery dropping?” I do note thing like my steps and intensity minutes, but NEVER calories, and although I note these things I don’t really…”care” is the wrong word, I don’t know what the right one is. I guess I don’t get emotionally attached to them. But I rely on my watch so much, so it’s a very strange dynamic in my brain.
I still wear my Oura ring daily, which gives me the same stats as my watch, just about. I’m only wearing my watch to track my workouts, really (even though my Oura ring does it, too, but I feel like the Apple watch has better metrics). I also like seeing my heart rate and stress levels and how I slept, etc. It’s helpful info!
Aw yiss to getting your 401k taken care of!!! That’s a nice headache to have in the rear view mirror.
I stayed at an Airbnb this spring that had a motion sensor light for the shower and it was every bit a dismal as you describe. Shudder! If it’s the same one that you tried, I don’t think you have to worry that the next thing that you try will be worse.
Way to crush the goals!
Birchie, I don’t know what it was, but your encouragement on my last goals post pushed me to just FINISH THE JOB. So thank you! I had your voice in my head cheering me on, haha.
I really hope I can find a GOOD wireless light for the bathroom. I hate showering in the near dark!
My bedtime is SO early! Haha. I almost need to set a goal to stay up LATER. I tend to put the kids to bed at 8.30 and then just, fall asleep myself. But ideally I’d read until 9.30, a bit of time to myself.
Nice work on the 401K – those kind of lingering admin tasks are so annoying, and feel so good once they are done.
I am one of those weird people who can have caffeine after dinner and still sleep. I usually don’t, mind you, but if I’m at a restaurant or friends house, and need to drive home, I will have a coffee. And then sleep easily when I get home. So I’m no help!
I, too, can usually have caffeine in the evening and still fall asleep just fine. I just know I sleep BETTER without caffeine in the evening. But the fact that it doesn’t fully disrupt my sleep makes it hard for me to turn it down, argh.
You CRUSHED your goals in July! Woot! Woot! Nice work getting the 401k completed!
My sleep schedule is beyond abysmal. Ugh.
My walking speed has slowed down so much over the past five years, but I’m not letting it bother me. If I’m outside walking, I’m happy.
I usually don’t have caffeine past noon. I’ve given up caffeine several times over the years, and I always go back. In the afternoon, if I need something besides plain water, I drink sparkling water. This summer, I’ve had some diet Squirt, which is nice on a hot day.
I am so relieved to have that 401k monkey off my back! Finally completed!
I’m sorry your sleep schedule has been so terrible lately. 🙁 I hope it improves soon!
Hmm! I know they make caffeine-free diet coke. You like Dr. Pepper if I remember correctly- do they make a caffeine-free version of that? I pretty much don’t worry about my caffeine intake during the day, and my sleep doesn’t seem to be affected by how much I have. I mean some nights I sleep better than others, but it doesn’t seem to correspond to caffeine intake. On that note- I also have to get myself in bed earlier. Or I should say, sleeping earlier. I like to read in bed and sometimes I don’t want to stop and go to sleep.
Nice job on getting some nagging tasks completed in July!!!
P.S. I did have trouble commenting on yesterday’s post- I figured I would try again today and it looks like the problem is fixed. I’ll definitely let you know it if happens again!
I’m not sure how I feel about caffeine-free Dr. Pepper, but it can’t hurt to give it a try (if it even exists, which I’m not sure it does?!). Having caffeine in the evening doesn’t ruin my sleep; I just sleep a LOT better when it’s not in my system so late in the day.
Getting to bed earlier is a forever goal for me!
Way to go on the 401K thing. I’ve intended to fill out paperwork, requesting a discount on tuition for Reg for most of the academic year (last year) and I’m bound and determined to fill it out now. I worked on it this morning. I doubt were going to get a discount, but we have some special circumstances and that involves submitting our tax forms and because Coach is part of a partnership – our accountant always gets an extension. Blah blah blah. Do they really want ALL the pages of these tax forms? It’s overwhelming.
My goal (loosely set, because that’s how I roll) over the summer was to get a ton of writing done and I have, so that’s awesome. I still want to get more done and I start back sitting on the 17th and next week I’ll be in transit to colleges. My other ‘always aim for this’ goal is to clean out my closet. I tore it apart a week ago. I have some loose ends to tie up, but I’ve made so much progress.
I do best sleeping from 11-7. I feel like my body prefers that time. I’d like to go to bed closer to 10 and get up at 6. I tend to stay up late and get things done when everyone else is asleep. Now that Mini has a job and needs to wake up in the am, our show watching ends earlier and we are inching back towards the 10-10:30 bedtime window.
Way to go on killing it with some of your big goals, especially since it’s been such a busy summer for you! I love that you take the time for yourself with your writing. <3
It always feels so good when I get to bed by 10pm. Imagine if I was in bed at 9pm!!
Yay! Congrats on figuring out your 401k sitch! That must feel so good!
I am excited to hear how your walking speed goal goes!
Thank you! It is such a relief to have the 401k situation handled. It was such a stressor for so many months!
401K rollover huzzah!!!
Yeah for getting some goals crossed off.
Four week workout sounds hards to me these days. I am desperately trying to get back to three days but every time I start the program I have to stop because I am hurting so bad. I guess I just keep restarting the program at week one when ever I can’t go on and by the end I can manage it.
My bedtime is around midnight these days but it would be better to go to bed around 11pm maybe even 1030pm. But I usually don’t get up before seven or eight. So yeah….