I’ve become almost obsessed with tracking and improving my daily habits over the last five months. I can’t remember what inspired me to do it, but I’m glad I did. It’s been life changing.
Before we dive in, here’s a quick reminder of my goals for June:
- eat paleo – meat, fruit, vegetables and nuts (50% of the time).
- Intermittently fast (8 hours eating and 16 hours fasting) under new stricter rules (80% of the time).
I also wanted to maintain the other habits I’ve already established at 80% – no alcohol, sleep 6.5 hours, maximum of three cups of caffeine before midday, two litres of water and taking my supplements.
Here’s how I did:
On the face of it, that doesn’t look great. I failed to get Paleo over 50%. I failed to get my intermittent fasting over 80%. My sleep slipped below 80%.
That said, it was very close. There are a bunch of things to be happy about:
- Whilst my paleo consistency didn’t hit 50% or over, I made a very significant improvement from last month. Things are heading in the right direction.
- Whilst my intermittent fasting consistency didn’t hit 80% or over, it was super close at 77%. I also have to remember, it’s only been two months of holding myself to a much stricter set of rules (only water and black coffee in my fasting period).
- Whilst my sleep dipped below 80%, it wasn’t by too much (73%). I also managed to keep my average sleep nice and high at 6 hours, 56 mins.
- All other habits I wanted to maintain are sitting nicely over 80%.
If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you’ll know that I avoid goals. Instead, I prefer to establish a direction I want to head. From that perspective, I’m heading in the right direction with everything. I have to remind myself that my progress won’t be linear and there is more to learn. And ultimately, my overall progress over the last five months is more than I could ever hoped for.
As for what to learn from June, there are a few things that jump to mind.
- Events that take me out of my routine, tend to knock me off course. For example, I went to visit my Mum for three nights at the beginning of the month. My daughter also had a weekend of birthday activities towards the end of the month. I lost my consistency too much over these periods. I need to plan better for these type of things. I don’t have to be perfect in these periods, but it makes sense to at least think about damage limitation.
- Sometimes I just get a bit lazy with my habits and forget. Taking my supplements is a good example. There’s no reason for that to be under 100%.
- The fix for my sleep is to be more disciplined with getting to sleep earlier. I naturally wake up very early and then find it hard to go back to sleep. I also have a dog and a daughter that helps with that. So, if I go to bed late, there’s a very good chance I’ll struggle to get my 6.5 hours in.
That brings me to my goals for July. They will be exactly the same as June.
That’s because I see my next big milestone as being able to get paleo to 50% or over and everything else 80% or over. And not just one month – for a few months. I want it to feel natural and effortless. I’m close. It feels like I’m starting to find a baseline with these habits. But, it could take the rest of the year for it to settle into a consistent baseline, which I’m totally fine with.
So, just a recap on my July goals:
- Eat paleo – meat, fruit, vegetables and nuts (50% of the time).
- Everything else, 80% or over – no alcohol, sleep 6.5 hours, intermittently fast (8 hours eating and 16 hours fasting), maximum of three cups of caffeine before midday, two litres of water and taking my supplements.
Let’s go. 👊