Stiegl’s self improvement thread

[Ice]

That's good to hear. Keep at it!

[Stiegl]

Tuesday (Day 21)

Guitar: Still working on Machinehead.

Fitness: OK Diet, did my core exercises

Storytelling: Working one minute stories

Mentality: Every time I get caught not wanting to do my exercises, I tell myself “it’s just entertainment”. I now view these activities as entertainment that takes me as a positive direction, and that takes the pressure off of having to have an outcome. It makes doing them fun instead of a chore


Wednesday (Day 22)

Guitar: Still working on Machinehead, ironing out the last bits

Fitness: Didn’t do anything today, felt tired

Storytelling: I had a falling out with my friend, I spent my energy coming up with stories and scenarios on how to deal with him when we meet again.

Mentality: I’m reminding myself it’s just entertainment. Didn’t have any troubles doing my activities.


Thursday( Day 23)

Guitar: I think I’ve got machinehead handled. I’ll practice another day and move on

Fitness: Felt really tired, didn’t do anything

Storytelling: I did some one minute impromptu stores like I did at toastmasters

Mentality: It’s just entertainment is working for me.

Meetup: Went to a toastmasters meeting. It’s fun, so I think I’ll join the group and improve my public speaking skills


Friday (Day 24)

Guitar: I’ve got machine head handled

Fitness: Diet was poor, but exercises anyway. I have to get my diet under control

Storytelling: Worked on what to say if I meet my friend I had a falling out with


Saturday (Day 25)

Guitar: Instead of doing that Marylin Manson song, I decided instead to do a song that’s on Rocksmith, so I’m working on Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Lepard

Fitness: Diet wasn’t great. Did my workout. I’ve achieved my pushups goals, but pull-ups are lagging.

Storytelling: Working on making a better online dating profile and what to write. Looking back, it doesn’t really count as storytelling.

Meetup: Went to an introverts meetup. It was interesting, met a cool guy that gave me a lot of information about upcoming meetups and events. It was really useful and I got to practice being awesome.

Mentality: “It’s just entertainment” gives me inspiration to do stuff. It’s really working for me.

[Moiser]

Stiegl, any updates for us?

[Ice]

update?

[Stiegl]

Sorry guys, I totally forgot to post an update.

I unplugged from the internet for a couple of weeks to work on my time-wasting habits. I thought I put the update on before hand. Oops.

Anyway, I finished the 30 day challenge, and I have to say I have developed some good habits

Fitness: I reached my goal on the pushups and kettlebells, but my pull-ups are lagging. I can only do 6 for some reason. I think I need to find a way of training them with greater reps. I’m not getting enough reps off of just the pull-ups.

Guitar: I learned to play all the songs I set out to play. Greendays X-Kid, Tom Petty’s Last dance with Mary Jane, Bush’s Machinehead and Def Lepards Pour some sugar on me. I realized I actually like guitar, especially playing to Rocksmith, so I actually learned a couple of more songs in the meantime and really got better at guitar. I went and picked up a book on some guitar solos and now I’m working on the solo from Sweet Child O Mine.

Storytelling: Big improvement. It took going to Toastmasters a few times (which I’m doing regularly now) to find my “zone”. Practicing the storytelling in this “zone” with the oratory and inflections lets me sound more upbeat and confident…. I hear it when I record myself.

Meetup: It was an interesting experience, but not something I really want to do anymore. I didn’t meet anyone I really clicked with, but it was good experience in meeting new people in different settings.

Mentality: This is where I saw my biggest growth. When I changed the way I look at things from doing something with a goal to “this is just entertainment that takes me in a positive direction”, I started wanting to do things again. I was putting so much pressure on myself to have direct results that it was taking the fun out of it. Now, I just see it as entertainment.


Overall, this has been really good for my growth. I was forced to look at a lot of my habits and thought processes and re-evaluate them. I got rid of some of my self-defeating thought patterns and picked up some new good ones. I’m more productive. I look forward to things. And I’ve made some improvements to myself. I’ve adopted some of these habits in my life and I’m actually going out and doing cool things (like learning some guitar solos) rather than just putting it off. I just feel… productive.

This 30 day challenge was definitely worth it. It definitely moved me in the right direction and forced me to confront some of the things that were holding me back.

[Sigma]

Thanks for posting this. I have Rocksmith as well, and haven't played in ages.

http://breakingmuscle.com/strength-cond ... rk-for-you

I've used this method before and saw an increase in pull-ups. Frequent reps, not going to exhaustion, I'd do them throughout the day.

After some time, see if you can't add weight and do singles and doubles working your way up to a set of five.

Taking a few days off, then rep out normal pull-ups. It should feel easier mentally and physically.