January Reflection
How Am I Feeling?
It's the end of the first month of the year and week 4 of my 8 week sprint. And my body & brain are tired. I'm going to rest the remainder of the day. I did a big hike uphill yesterday evening and was completely drained afterwards. I slept like an absolute rock and stayed in bed until 7:30 this morning. I'm listening to my body and I'm going to spend 2 hrs at the Steamboat hot springs today for some much needed R&R time. I'm halfway through & cannot afford burnout at this rate.
I'm one resistance workout short of my goal and I'm also one cardio training short of my weekly goal.
I've been cranking every day for this month. As I've mentioned before, I do my best work in the morning time with a cup of coffee.
And I don't think I've slept past 5:30 am this whole month until this morning.
What Went Well This Week / Month?
Posted first EHQ interview to the blog / podcast portion of the site
It's not 100% ready but I'm making solid progress on the EntrepreneurHQ podcast. I've recorded two interviews so far and I began the process of working with a VA to help automate the backed processes of editing, transcription, posting to YouTube and the blog, etc.
Sold 3 out of 5 spots to Zero To Blog course
Feel like I was able to get a little more clear on the direction for EHQ. I've changed the sign up form to a wait list rather than sign up process due to the fact that most people are telling me they want to know there's a solid community in place first
Came to an equity agreement with tech cofounder to roll out a new productivity app
My partner drummed up a new consulting gig for a new coworking space
Met the founder of a social good coffee company in Germany who we could potentially end up doing some work with eventually
What Didn't Work Well This Week / Month?
I'm one weight training workout short again
I'm one uphill hike short of my weekly goal
I'm running on caffeine at this point. I'm tired and getting close to burn out if I don't dedicate the remainder of today to some rest
What Do I Want To Change For Next Week / Month?
If I wasn't part of this 8 week sprint, I would totally change my resistance training workout. The third workout I added this week was a leg workout. I'm already getting a fantastic leg workout through ski touring up mountains and XC skiing.
I would also change the sprints to 4 week sprints. 8 weeks is too long. I already have enough data to know what my body needs. In an ideal world, here's the schedule I would do.
Monday - Resistance Training
Tuesday - Deep Work
Wednesday - Outdoor Cardio Training
Thursday - Deep Work
Friday - Resistance Training
Saturday - Outdoor Cardio
This is not saying that I wouldn't work on the Resistance Training or Outdoor Cardio days. It's just stating that I would be doing "reactive work" rather than deep, focused, & undistracted work.
Screw it. I've been battling back and forth whether or not I should change my goals 4 weeks in or not. But if I truly believe in optimization, then I need to listen to what my brain & body are telling me.
The main thing I'm changing here is the resistance workouts. I'm still going to shoot for my uphill hiking goals.
I don't want to live in a state of shame when I don't feel like 3x per week is something I want to continue committing to. Update to my goals:
2x per week resistance training
2x per week uphill ski touring at 2k vertical ft.
2x per week of 6hr deep work sessions
No alcohol
Daily Writing & Publishing
The reason I'm doing this is so I can allow for a day of rest on Sunday. I'm not going to keep beating my head against a brick wall if my current scheduling isn't allowing for ample rest time. Not listening to the body = burnout. I'm in this entrepreneurial game for the long haul. And I believe that allowing for proper rest time is crucial to having the energy to maintain optimal balance between achieving professional goals, physical health, and personal fulfillment.