Starting a thing
It’s December 31st, 2017 and I’m starting a thing.
Well, technically I’ve already started a thing.
And finished that thing.
And now I’ve decided to make it even more of a thing.
?
You see, on December 1st, 2017 I set myself a number of daily challenges (or ‘missions’ as I’ve now decided to call them). They really were nothing spectacular and chosen for no other reason than they felt like good things to do.
No grand plan.
Just some good things to achieve.
Every single day.
The Missions
Here’s what I set out to do every day in December:
- Wake up at 5:41am. Done*
- Go for a long walk after getting up. Done
- Take a photo in the same place and time. Done*
- Do 25 push-ups. Done
- Complete all 3 activity rings on my Apple Watch. Done
The Results
In short, I completed all the missions (with some minor disclaimers).
Wake up at 5:41am. Done(ish). I did set my alarm for 5:41am every morning…or thought I did :)…but a couple of times I was a little later because of some issue or another. Even so, I was still out of bed by 6:00am. Not a single sleep-in during the whole month and it now feels like something I want to continue.
Go for a long walk after getting up. Done. Every morning I got out and did a walk around the neighbourhood for about 40mins straight after I got out of bed. I took the same route every day except the one morning after we had stayed a night in a city hotel. Again, this has felt like a really productive way to start the day and also something I want to continue.
Take a photo in the same place and time. Done(ish). With the exception of the morning we woke up in the city and the alarm issues, I did manage to take a photo in the same place and within a 5–10min window every single day while on my morning walk (see collage below, made with Collect). This mission was good to do but I don’t think it’ll continue as it didn’t feel entirely productive or valuable.
Do 25 push-ups. Done. When I started, I could maybe do 1 full push-up, and even that was a struggle. So I started the first few days with just doing small sets (5–10) of knee push-ups scattered through the day (for a total of 25). On the 11th I decided to bring in full push-ups so I started with 1 a day (and 24 knee push-ups) and have ramped it up now to 20 a day (and 5 knee push-ups). I’m still doing them in small sets through the day but they are getting easier and I’ll definitely continue to ramp up this mission.
Complete all 3 activity rings on my Apple Watch. Done. With the long walk first thing in the morning this ended up being pretty easy to achieve (the move goal was 3000 kJ (or 720 calories), exercise goal was 30mins, & standing goal was 12 hrs). After completing them every day in November as well, I’m now on my longest streak and plan to keep that going.
The Future
After a successful set of these missions in December, this now feels like a thing. Defintely something that I want to continue.
With just these few simple daily missions under my belt I generally feel healthier and my mindset is a little stronger too. After 31 days in a row, they don’t feel like chores anymore and have helped give more structure to my days. By starting out each day and immediately getting a few of them done (within the first hour) I’ve found it easier to get going on other tasks too.
With nothing but upside, I’ve decided to make these missions a big part of life in 2018. There are a bunch of practices and habits I’ve been meaning to start (or at least try) for a long time now and I feel that these ‘monthly missions’ are the ideal way for me to get going.
So, during every month in 2018, I’m going to set myself a few ‘missions’ to do every single day. Should be fun.
‘Missions’ is a special project I started in December 2017. Little daily challenges, completed every month.
