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Daily Habits: August 2022 (Uh oh, have I lost it?)

September 4, 2022

Let’s get straight to the point – August was a write off.

I expected it to be. I was on holiday for ten days, so I decided beforehand to still track my habits, but let go of any expectations.

Here’s how it looked:

Ouch.

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I’ll make a few brief comments on each habit, and then get to my goals for September.

  • No Alcohol – I’ve been sober for 13 and a half months, so didn’t expect this to drop below 100%.
  • Sleep 6.5HR – the hot weather we had in the UK, my daughter not sleeping well and late nights on holiday were the main causes for a low 52%.
  • Paleo – I ate what I wanted on holiday, as well as the period before and after – hence a very low 16%.
  • Intermittent fasting (16 hour fast, 8 hour eating window) – I ate a very big breakfast every day on holiday, but held my consistency before and after – managing a fairly decent 45%.
  • Caffeine (max 3 cups, before midday) – same as above, I held my consistency before and after holiday, settling at 61%.
  • Water: 2 litres – this was a habit I tried to keep up whilst I was on holiday, and I did exactly that – 84%!
  • Supplements – I held my consistency before and after holiday, and took about 5 days of supplements with me on holiday – managing a good 68%

As I said above, not great – but as expected.

As I look forward to September, I’m reminded of the TWO most important things in building consistency with my habits over the last six months:

1. Visually track progress on a daily basis

2. Focus on one habit at a time

It’s the second one I really need to pay attention to as I build towards all habits being at 80%+ for the end of the year.

With that in mind, I’m going to keep it super simple in September. My goal is to get the habits which I previously considered in the bank (i.e easy to keep at 80%+) back to over 80% – no alcohol, intermittent fasting, caffeine, water and supplements. I’ll see where sleep and paleo fall and then plan my goals for October. Even though I have no goals with them, I am quietly confident they will improve.

Being on holiday has also given me a bit of time to reflect and think about where I want to take my health habits over the longer-term. My goal is to get all of the above habits to 80% by the end of the year. If I am being realistic, even if I get there, it will be coming in hot. So, I’ll need to spend at least the first three months of next year resisting the temptation to add in anything new. I need to prove to myself that these are in the bank and easy to maintain at over 80% – however long it takes.

That said, once I have achieve this, I have a few ideas for other habits to focus on:

  • Mobility exercises
  • 150g protein per day
  • Increase sleep to 7 hours
  • Reduce caffeine to 2 cups per day

Whilst it’s tempting to add these types of habits now (even just to track them), I know it’s the wrong thing to do. It will distract and overwhelm me.

OK, let’s do September 👊


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Filed Under: Habits, Health

   

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