Monday, January 26 - Day 23

Looks like I need to schedule time for writing this journal over the weekends, it really just slipped my mind (which is kind of the point of the journal, not letting things slip that is).

If I've learned anything this weekend, its that I need to figure out a way to remain available to my friends, while still keeping enough time locked off for my goals. Laziness, particularly on Saturday mornings, has got to go. Now if this was anything new, I'd feel a little better about this, but unfortunately this is just cyclical behavior.
 
So, problem identified, now is the time to solve it. I'm shifting some weekend activities to weeknights, as well as exercise, going back to the two-a-days Monday through Wednesday shifting back to one-a-days the rest of the week.
 
Overall, the year is getting off to a bumpy start, which is to be expected given my lack of focus. I've been trying to back into things that require straightforward decisions, and methodical execution. My goals require simple consistency, and my mind is doing its best to find complex reasons for erratic behavior. Don't know if I've mentioned this before, Homer Simpson once said "Ah, beer, the cause of, and answer to, all of life's problems", which is pretty much what I think about our minds, a great thing but not to be trusted.

Thursday, January 22 - Day 19

Well, somehow I talked myself out of going to the gym this morning, the argument had something to do with an early meeting I had today but this is just a symptom of not being properly focused. I'm willing to cut myself some slack with all the inauguration hullabaloo, but Saturday will need to be filled with some serious goal setting, and execution plans. If the fact that I just sort of spaced out five or so months of this journal isn't indication enough, I will state for the record that I've gotten a little satisfied with myself, and it's terribly unattractive. I have some fairly simple goals for my life, but they require a level of sacrifice and dedication that I've been lacking.

Enough of this self-flagellation, my "problems" are easily addressed, but hard to execute, and I need to embrace the love of challenge and reject the allure of comfort.

So, my dear reader, you should be treated to some tales of new adventures soon, as well as reports from my creative endeavors. Peace out.

Wednesday, January 21 - Day 18

Yeesh, went back to work today after four days off, and did not distinguish myself. Alas, you can't bat a 1000, and some days you punt at the office, will endeavor to be a bit more focused tomorrow.

Been so long since I've journaled that I feel like there's a million stories I need to catch up on, but will limit today's to one from a couple of days ago. I pride myself on my ability to take the cold, and can be cocky in demonstrating this. So, when I zip off to the gym in the morning, I'm usually in shorts exposing my lilly-white legs to the elements. Also, I don't tend to pay attention to the weather forecasts, so its not hard to take me by surprise. Anyway, I hop out of the truck the other day to take the 45 second walk to the gym, and stop at the corner paper box to grab a Washington Post. I was using dimes and nickels, and by the time I had fed 35 cents into the slot, it struck me that it wasn't just random winter cold, but truly epic, freeze your hair off cold. Losing dexterity in my fingers, I tried to finish loading the full 75 cents into the things yap with my jumpy, shaking digits, finally shoving the last coin home. The comical wrestling match that followed would've been a hit on YouTube, but the door wouldn't budge, and then I punched the coin return to try and start the whole process over again. At which point I realized I was losing feeling in all of my extremities, and ran like a small dog to the front door of the gym.

I don't know why I find that as amusing as I do, it really shows me in a less than flattering light. Whatever, need to grab some chow, need to remember to write about the inaugural festivities.

Tuesday, January 20 - Day 17

To quote one of my favorite characters, El Borbah, "Jumpin' Jesus on a stick!" it's been 16 days since I last wrote, AND I never got around to posting the first two to the site. I've been doing plenty of things, none of them super-productive, and its time to bring a degree of seriousness to this enterprise called life.

Quick recap:
1. I've ended my experiment in part-time employment, and now work five days a week.
2. I joined the ranks of the rest of slob-dom, and packed on the pounds over the holidays.
3. The novel is not finished.
4. Lost of lot of money in the market crash.

All of which just means it's time to knuckle down, and live hungry. I've really come to embody what I most dislike, low on discipline, high on calories. This is not about body weight, this is about sloppy thinking and poor execution. I don't mind falling off the "wagon", we're all human, it's just that this is beginning to get repetitive and that's not an acceptable path.

So, I'm going to get this posted so that I don't go another two weeks only to find that I'm posting in February! Till the next time, get goals, then stay focused on them.

Sunday, January 4 - Day 2

Okay, haven't had time to update the site with the goals for the new year, but will do so in the next day or so. I think this year will be dubbed "Outcome Focus: 2009" in honor of my conversion to the religion of "Think and Grow Rich". Napoleon Hill began writing the text in the teens of the previous century, and his message couldn't be fresher, and it's essentially "it's on you". I've heard these messages since I was a small child, from many mentors, and they've served me well in what could be called "the beaten path". In my professional life, I've made continuous progress financially, however it is in the context of the system, nothing exceptional. There are sacrifices I've made that I'm coming to think were foolish, but I have learned the value of freedom, and that's irreplaceable.

This post really isn't going anywhere, I'd best wrap it up, need some sleep!

Saturday, January 3 - Day 1

Holy Smokes, looks like I missed posting the last three months of the year, which all in all is probably not the worst thing to have happened. In October I got the notion that I needed to be able to syndicate (RSS) my journal, so I could push it into my social networking presence. Which is all very interesting till I realized I'd need to switch over to a content management system, then I started trying to set up that development environment on my computer, then I realized I had no idea what I was doing and was just kind of flopping around. Next thing I know, it's January, and I'm writing this entry.

I'll spare you a rehash of the past few months, to be brutally honest, not a lot happened. In fact, it got progressively less productive with every day. The collapse of the economy hit me, both in the practical sense of losing a lot of coin, but also psychically. Again, "whatever", need to let the lesson of these past few months be "why do we fall? so we can learn to pick ourselves up" and leave it at that.

Looking forward to the coming years, I believe that I've learned some valuable lessons this past year, and feel a wonderful sense of new horizons.