Update 5 on my new year’s resolutions
You can only improve what you track and measure. Therefore, I journal my progress for my 2020 resolutions.
Runner’s breakfast - congee of red & white rice, banana, jujube dates, milk
- 25 books I am absolutely on track with 4 finished books and another about half way done. I think deleting twitter helped. Also being back alone for work in Ningbo helped. an hour a day of reading and this goal is no problem this year.
- run 2 marathons, one sub 4h, one sub 3h I took 5 days rest in between Shengsi Island and Ningbo. The weather just wasn’t good enough in Shengsi with lots of wind and rain the last few days before my departure. Back in Ningbo, I am finally returning to my routine of early morning runs. Only impediment now is that the local authorities have blocked access to the pathway along the river, in effort to control migration of local residents and stop any potential spread of the Corona virus. I am a little bit behind my goal of 250k per month, but should be able to achieve when just running around 10k every day for the last 5 days of the month. Luckily it’s a gap year and February has 29 days this time around. My updated training log.
- visit Germany once
Less homesick than I was after returning from Germany, but still have to keep this goal in mind for Eli & Jade.
- go on a bare-bones camping holiday with Jade & Eli
No update, it’s winter still and this is definitely something for summer, before Eli goes to kindergarten.
- sleep 7 to 8 hours per night, aim to be in bed by 9:30pm
Doing very well on this one the last few weeks. I mostly never sleep less than 7 hours, and sometimes even get to so sleep 8 hours and more. Now, what I want to improve next is sleep efficiency through closed mouth sleeping. Coincidentally as I was just thinking about my dry mouth phenomenon in the morning, the great Floris Gierman recorded a podcast with Patrick McKeown, who is a fervent advocate of nasal breathing. That podcast will be live soon, but in the meantime I dug more into Mr. McKeown’s so called Oxygen Advantage and the positive effects nasal breathing has on sleep, the brain and physical endurance.
- use a scale to check my weight every day
Back in Ningbo and just today my bluetooth enabled scale arrived. Logging weight from tomorrow. Additionally, I bought a blood pressure monitor and will measure my BP regularly every morning. While this might look like overkill, Dr. Maffetone in his book made me more aware of how important and revealing regular blood pressure measurements can be.
- do not use my phone within 90 minutes of waking up or going to bed
Yes, making progress, but still no total abstinence. It has become obvious to me how much I use my phone, especially before and after bed, and how much of that usage is needed to set an alarm or text my loved one, or simply wasted on reading the news and watching youtube.
- earn a promotion
The corona virus has had a huge impact on the Chinese economy as a whole, and I don’t know yet how that will affect my company and my position in particular. Since getting back to the office though, I have been hard at work on sourcing great products and pushing our marketing for Germany forward. I hope that the situation will return back to normal, and our business can thrive and enable me to get a promotion regardless of this massive dip right now.
- write weekly progress of 2020 goals every Monday 5am for 30 minutes + 30 minutes diary
I skipped my first updated last week. The superficial reason was, because I was preparing to go back to work in Ningbo, but the actual reason was pure laziness and dissatisfaction with own progress, especially in running.
I am finally back to work and the succesful routine I got used to last year. Live in Ningbo still is a little inconvenient thanks to the Corona virus and the policies enacted by the government. Most shops and restaurants are still closed, as are roads I used to run on. And wearing a mask and getting your temperature taken 6-7 times a day, doesn’t really add a comfortable feeling. I see things moving in the right direction however, and look forward to the next few weeks when the situation should have normalized. I am still wondering whether my Marathon in Yangchen will be cancelled, and how soon Eli is safe to return from Shengsi Island back to the big city of Hangzhou.
To that effect, turn your goals into habits and progress will be noticeable and much more attainable.
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