Day 6 / 108 Challenge

#6

"I bow for the well-being of my body and spirit"

There it was. My first morning filled with voices guiding me to seek comfort. It was a half-win as I slept in for 30 minutes which was offset by studying for 30 minutes.

Luckily I had energy to finish studying after I got back from the gym in the evening. However, that was it. Posting a market digest, and now writing this journal, I am DRAINED. I thought about just being done for the day, but I gotta take a look at couple investment property prospects.

A picture from my coworker's desk

Despite all these complaining above, I feel great both physically and mentally. It is surprising how I felt worse when I was "taking time to recharge" by mindlessly watching videos and eating whatever I wanted before. Discipline is the best medication.

---

Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No snack temptations, but wanted to eat extra meal instead
Water intake (min 3L)	3L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Completed chapter 5 & ch.4-5 reviews with 2 flows
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling + publishing daily market digest
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	PUSH DAY 1. Bench 175lb 4x5 2. Close-grip bench 140lb 4x6 3A. Incline DB 1.5 press 40lb 4x6 3B. BB curl 50lb 4x8 4A. Dips +35lb 6-6-6-5 4B. DB curl 20lb 4x6 5. Standing leg raises 30-20-15-15
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(PRODUCE) Investment Property Prospects

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- Kitchen is only half-cleaned. I thank whoever created dishwasher for that half.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 3

Day 5 / 108 Challenge

#5

"I bow to always appreciate my body and spirit"

I am not sure if I necessarily liked it, but I woke up at a "normal hour" for the first time since I came back from the vacation. 5am I woke up with a client call, and I decided to stay up and get the studying done in the morning. Luckily my mind was awake enough that I had a productive session.

One thing I appreciated today was my preparation from the night before on which clothes to wear and what to bring to the gym. Not having to spend energy on that made the morning less chaotic.

Gym was packed today. Unlike the stock market's January Effect theory, gym version of it is true and sound. Never have I ever seen that many people in my gym before. I also came across a good article on how stock market's January Effect theory is becoming less sound with data pointing towards a big up market in November and December on average vs. January. There is my next weekly newsletter material.

---

Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	Was so busy today that I didn't even have a chance to notice any temptations
Water intake (min 3L)	3L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Completed chapter 5 reading with 2 flows
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling + publishing daily market digest
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	FUNCTIONAL LEG DAY 1. Hex-bar deadlift 315/335/345/350lb 3-2-1-1 2. Reverse lunge squat 140lb 4x 5ea. 3. Power clean & shoulder press 110lb 4x 3 4A. Front & side lunge +40lb 4x 4ea. 4B. Side lateral raises +30lb 4x 6 5. Abs 5x 8 explosive weighted crunch
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(EDUCATE) Listening to 1 hr long educational podcast

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- It is great that I complete tasks and produce a lot, but I need to get in the habit of cleaning the kitchen right away. Especially after meal prepping.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 3

Day 4 / 108 Challenge

#4

"I bow to find my true self"

Another early morning start, but at this point I am trying to take advantage of my adjusted sleeping schedule. As soon as I woke up, I headed straight to complete 2 sets of Pomodoro flows.

For those of you who are not yet familiar with Pomodoro technique, it is simply breaking your focus session into two parts: hyper-focus mode and rest mode. I choose to work on a task without any distraction for 25 minutes followed by 5 minutes of doing something I enjoy (unrelated to the task). This way you get to be laser focused 50 out of 60 minutes, which is way more efficient than trying to focus 50 straight minutes.

My fellow challenger also recommended me to listen to Andrew Huberman podcast episode with David Goggins. They spoke about a structure in every human brain called anterior mid-cingulate cortex. Many scientific studies point to a positive correlation between the size of anterior mid-cingulate cortex and our "willpower" or "will to live". It can also grow in size when we continue to do things that we simply hate and do not want to do.

Looking back in my 75 Hard Challenge days, I mostly hated the reading part. But I had to read at least 10 pages a day. One morning, I vividly recall me feeling like I could conquer the world if I wanted to. I now understand why I felt that way. I believe by repeatedly reading every day despite my hatred towards it, increased the size of my anterior mid-cingulate cortex. Thus, my eagerness to achieve things at the moment.

I am now seriously considering adding "doing at least one activity that you hate" as another wildcard portion of 108 Challenge.

---

Challenge Log

Today's distraction 😈

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	Avoided chocolates presented in the office
Water intake (min 3L)	3.75L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Completed chapter 4 with 2 flows
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling + working on a weekly newsletter
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	REST DAY - Outdoor walk commuting to the office)
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	Listening to 2.5hrs long educational podcast + meal prep & cleaning

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- Not a big setback at the moment, but I lack in planning the day part. I still wake up and spend few minutes strategizing my day. Instead, I could be strategizing the night before, so I can simply get to work as soon as I wake up in the morning. Food for thoughts.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 3