Well the weather is definitely on the warmer side of things now. June is over, and that means 2018 is also halfway over. The second half of the year starts, and the third quarter of the year starts as well. I made note last month, on how I needed to get better at time management so that I didn’t feel overwhelmed everyday—sufficient to say that is still something that I need to work on. I’ve also realized that I really have no tolerance for the high humidity of summer; I remember throughout both my undergrad and grad years I wouldn’t blink twice at biking when there was a heat index in the low 100s—I’d bike a little slower, but I’d still ride my bike. Now I step outside and I almost immediately feel sick to my stomach—so there are other things I need to work on as well this second half the year. So there will also be a couple of posts that are showing where I’m at in terms of my 101+ goal list, and how I’m feeling with my Level 10 life. But for now lets look back on June.

So my goals for June included:

At least 435,000 steps (adding in about 500 steps a day to make up for the deficiency from May)

Shakeology daily (breakfast or dinner)

Reading (finishing) at least 4 non-fiction books & writing the reviews

Finishing up the reviews for the other books

Packing my lunch daily

Walking around Boomer Lake at least once on the weekend (early morning)

Getting through the first month of InsantiyMax30 (its an 8 week program)

Networking and adding value to my online connections

Keeping a money log & having at least two consecutive non-spend days

Finish up the project management e-bundle course that I bought

So how did I do with each one?

At least 435,000 steps (adding in about 500 steps a day to make up for the deficiency from May). So I managed to surpass my goal this month. There were a few days where I was either just below 14K, or below 10K in terms of steps. But then there have been days where I managed over 20K and more than made up for those few days. My total for the month was: 486,851 (so close to hitting 500K in a month). This has me at 2,616,804 steps for the year and for my 101+ goal. If I can manage to keep moving daily (especially on the weekends) and I don’t have that many trips planned, I should hopefully actually make my goal of 5 million steps by the end of the year (crossing fingers). 

Shakeology daily (breakfast or dinner). I only missed two days this month (both on the weekend) of having my shakeology daily. One day was because of allergies and I wanted something a little more solid in my stomach, and the other was when I knew that someone was going to be in the kitchen all day, and I wanted scrambled eggs for breakfast that day (I thought I could make the shake for lunch, but that never happened).

Reading (finishing) at least 4 non-fiction books & writing the reviews. I managed to finish “Thinking in Bets: making smart decisions when you don’t have all the facts” by Annie Duke; though I haven’t written the review yet. I’ve been bouncing between different books this month, and have been going more with the fiction books to escape reality and therefore am lacking a little on meeting the goal of the number of books I want to finish by Sept 28 2020.

Finishing up the reviews for the other books. I wrote and posted the review for “Mini Habits for Weight Loss: Stop Dieting. Form New Habits. Change Your Lifestyle without Suffering” by Stephen Guise. So I managed to get one book review checked off, and then added another book to review (see above). So this is still something that I need to work on (again it comes back to time management or staying up late or getting up early to get things done).

Packing my lunch daily. This one has been fairly easy to do, mainly because there really isn’t any place open on campus to grab lunch other than the student union (and only a few places are open in there). My biggest trouble is trying to vary my lunch enough that I’m not getting burned out on things and almost willing to deal with trying to find something at the union for lunch.

Walking around Boomer Lake at least once on the weekend (early morning). I’ve managed to do this at least one morning each weekend (I think). I’ll know for sure when I download the pictures from both my cameras to the computer (and look at the date stamps). This is something I actually do enjoy doing—its my time to wake up, and its always interesting to see what birds (usually ducks & geese) are starting their days as well. Plus this past weekend I managed to see a box turtle (and its been a few years since I’ve seen one of those). Plus it’s always nice to see the rabbits out and about as well.

Getting through the first month of InsantiyMax30 (its an 8 week program). This has been a total fail—I think I managed one or two days of working out with this program. It isn’t that I don’t like the program, because I do—right now it’s the fact that I’m not committed to doing it daily. I’m hoping that maybe doing an hybrid workout program, or totally randomizing the workouts will help me get into a routine again.

Networking and adding value to my online connections. I’m still struggling with this, namely in trying to find the time to do it, where I won’t feel rushed. I know that I can’t add value to everyone at once, so I think I need to prioritize my connections so that I know who I should be trying to add value to first (or the most). In the best case scenario, I will be able to network/add value to 5-15 people a week.

Keeping a money log & having at least two consecutive non-spend days. So I tried to a money saving challenge this month (see the posts on the June money saving challenge and update). Needless to say, that didn’t workout to well. I did manage a couple of days this month of not spending money, but I also know that I did spend money as well—namely on an extra coffee & morning treats before I’d turn on my computer and clock in for the day. So while there was two consecutive no spend days, they were at the beginning of the month. I’m going to try to figure out a different way of doing my money log/saving challenge for July—maybe tie it in with some other challenge as well (no disposable cup challenge—to where if I want another cup of coffee, I have to have my travel mug with me; and it would be cheaper than the mixed coffee drinks anyway).

Finish up the project management e-bundle course that I bought. Nope, I managed to get through a couple of small personal development courses this month (organizational skills; goal setting & getting things done; increase your happiness; job search skills; work-life balance; personal branding; and developing creativity). I think right now I’m going to be going between both personal development & professional development courses, just so that I don’t get bored.

So knowing that we’re headed into the second half of the year, and that there are certain areas that need more focus than others, what are my goals for July going to include?

July Goals:

At least 434,000 steps (basically back to trying to get 14,000 steps/day).

Shakeology daily (breakfast or dinner)

Reading (or finishing) at least 3 non-fiction books & writing (and posting) the reviews

Writing & posting the reviews for all other non-fiction books I’ve read, but haven’t reviewed yet.

Packing my lunch daily

Starting to get my storage unit in order

Walking around Boomer Lake at least once on the weekends (early morning)

Keeping a money log & having at least two consecutive no spend days

Continue working through the various e-courses that I’ve bought

Figuring out the best workout plan and implementing it this month

Continue working on my transition plan

Networking & adding value to my online connections; though trying to be strategic in doing so—realizing that I can’t add value to over 1200 people in a month.

Restart my photography challenge (daily posts to instagram & twitter; then I will do a weekly recap for my blog and facebook pages)