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.
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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