1-2-3 Sundays: Standards, Journaling & Popcorn

1 Theme

Raising The Standards

The standards we set for ourselves dictate how we live our lives.

If we create a baseline for our standards we can see the areas where we're performing well and, conversely, where we're struggling.

The absence of standards creates a void which is filled with stagnation and feelings of unhappiness.

I been seriously considering my standards this week.

I'm doing a photo shoot at the end of July.

I want to be in the best shape I've ever been.

To do this, I have to assess the goal and what it will take to get there. What are the variables I can control?

In the case of the photo shoot its the following:

1. Nutrition - a calorie deficit and protein target
2. Training - 5 sessions per week
3. Steps - 15k steps per day
4. Sleep - the foundation to make everything and anything possible

Without standards, there can be no improvement - Taiichi Ohno

My standards weren't in a bad place before.

I was aiming for maintenance calories and 10k steps per day. Admittedly, the latter wasn't an issue when training for the marathon - the runs accounted for a large part of my weekly step count.

Now, to push me that little bit further out of my comfort zone I'm pushing my standards higher than they've ever been before.  

I've also transferred the idea over to my professional life.

Before I leave the office, I plan out what my priorities are for the following day.

Making standards stick requires consistency and trusting the process.

2 Positive Outcomes

Non-Negotiable

The 4 variables above are my non-negotiables.

I've hit them all this week.

That doesn't mean it's been easy.

Going out for a walk in the wind and rain isn't fun.

We all have to lean into discomfort somewhere in our lives.

Journaling

My journaling journey is over 3 years old.

It was inspired by watching YouTubers like Matt D'Avella and Ali Abdaal.

I noticed a pattern beginning to develop.

People were keeping a journal.

I did the same.

Honestly, I find this is one of the first habits I drop when times get tough.

I've made it a priority to write a couple of lines in it each night.

It's a place where I can put new ideas too.

3 Things I've Learned

Hofstadter's Law

How often do you give yourself a time frame to complete the task?

Does it almost always take longer?

This is what's called Hofstadter's Law

It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.

It came into existence in 1979 when Hofstadter used the term in his book Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid when describing the difficulty experienced when deciding how long it takes to complete a complex task.

Capture

Having a journal is all fun and games until you're going through pages to find an idea you had 3 months ago.

It's not the most practical.

The Notes app on my phone is decent also however I'm not a place to utilise the integration between iPhone and Macbook.

I'm going to upgrade my capture system.

I want to be able to track my ideas and categorise them

Essentially, build a second brain.

I'm looking into Notion for this so if anyone has any experience with this please drop me a message.

The Calories In A Large Popcorn

I booked tickets for Top Gun: Maverick for this weekend.

Before paying you're asked if you want to pre-order popcorn. It shows you how many calories are in each of the options.

The first one on the list was a large sweet popcorn.

Over 1200 calories.

I knew it was going to be a lot but not over what is half my daily calories.

Will I be getting one tonight? No.

Will I get one at some point in the future? Probably.  

BONUS

I made a thread of all my threads on Twitter this week.

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