I’m going overseas in 6 months time, so I’ve decided that there is no better time than now to sort myself out. Working from home full time has started to take its toll on me and I need to do something about it. I have an addictive personality, so I find myself rolling out of bed onto the computer and staying on there until I go to bed again.
This is not the type I lifestyle I envisioned by working at home. The whole point is to be able to spend time enjoying my youth, not locked away in a room.
I have devised a plan to get my life back on track. Part of that plan includes keeping tabs on my progress. I will be closely monitoring developments by blogging on here, which keeps me honest. Here are my current measurements that I will be keeping an eye on:
- Waist 92cm – 36.2 inches
- Chest 95cm – 37.4 inches
- Bicepts 29cm – 11.4 inches
- Thighs 57.5cm – 22.6 inches
- Weight 82kg – 180.4 pounds (to be confirmed)
Back Flex
Front Flex
Belly Fat
Font Body Shot
Side Shot
Back Photo.
I did these measurements myself so they could be dodgy. That being said, it should be a good guidelines on my progress.
An Unproductive Life
This week is typical of why I am so unproductive. I have no energy, eat terribly, have a shocking sleep pattern and don’t exercise. This does not work well for someone with an outgoing personality that used to play competitive sport 7 days a week.
To fill you in on just how unhealthy my lifestyle is, you just have to take a look at the following reflection on this past week. Today I got up and went for my first run in a long time. I managed to last a whopping 6 minutes. My shin hurt, I had to walk home.
Before I went for that run this morning, I had not been out of the house since Tuesday. The week before that I was at my Granfather’s (100 metres to a great beach) and I went outside once.
My sleeping pattern has been appalling. Last night I went to bed at midnight and woke up at 2:30am. I woke in a sweat. I couldn’t sleep any longer because yesterday I slept from 10am to 4pm. Previous to that I had been sleeping from 6am to 2 pm.
Starting to get a picture of just how unhealthy my lifestyle is yet? I took some photos of myself today for some before shots so I can monitor my progress. As you might be able to pick up, I have acne all across my back. I haven’t had acne since I was in high school. I’m assuming it has something to do with being stale on the computer all day and my eating habits.
Eating habits you say? I generally wake up at whatever hour and have some toast. Because I haven’t been grocery shopping there usually isn’t anything to eat here. So what I do is I hold off eating until dinner time which is at about 6:30pm. At about 4pm I start getting shaky and hungry so I never get any work done in the lead up until dinner. Late in the night I will be starving so I will have a nutritious meal of grilled cheese on toast.
I haven’t had asthma since I was a baby. I had it pretty bad. When I got accepted into the Australian Special Forces I was in prime condition. That was 4 years ago. They tested me extensively and I had no sign of asthma at all. A couple of weeks ago I had an asthma attack.
A Successful Affiliate Lifestyle
It’s all very well to talk about what I’m doing wrong, how I can improve and how great things will be. I can admit to myself that I can get carried away with this kind of talk. Then, when I comes to actually doing what needs to be done, I fail. Part of the reason I am writing this post is to hold myself accountable. I’m brainstorming ideas where I can log in and record my day’s activity. That will definitely hold me accountable to both myself and the readers.
In 6 months time I am going over to USA/Canada, haven’t decided exactly where yet but it’s going to happen. I just need to work out the visa situation so I can start booking flights. I have 6 months to get myself in order. Here is what I want to accomplish in the coming 6 months:
- 100 pages of content on a my Australian Gambling site every month, giving me a 600 page website
- I haven’t come up with a plan for my Online Craps site yet, but it needs a lot of work done to it to bring it up to speed
- I need to triple my income
- Be in shape, mentally and physically
Breakdown of how I’m going to Achieve my Goals
My biggest problem has always been consistency. Full speed ahead, then crash and burn. Recover, repeat process again. This time it will be different. My guidelines will be must do’s. Before they were “should do’s.”
Here is a weekly breakdown of what I have to do to succeed:
- 25 pages of content each week
- Gym 3 times a week
- Yoga 5 days a week
- Meditation 5 days a week
There are a lot more things I need to do, but if I can just keep these ones in check the rest will follow. In the past I have made the mistake of trying to do everything at once. Not this time.
Today I have already meditated, gone for a run and done my grocery shopping (dropping a 1.5 litre glass bottle on my bare foot didn’t help). I now have everything at my disposal so there are no excuses.
Something that has been concerning is my energy levels. I’ve always had the thought in my head that the longer I sit at the computer, the more likely I am to get work done. I just sit here every day waiting for it to all magically happen. I recognize what I need to do, now I’m being proactive about it.
With the poor energy levels from lack of exercise, brain stimulation, too much coffee and the monotony of it all I don’t have any energy. All day long I am lethargic. I did Yoga last night and I already feel better for it.
I have the knowledge, I have the desire and I am capable of doing anything I put my mind to. The next 6 months will be a stern test. But, by doing it every day/week/month at a time I will get there.
I will be blogging regularly from now on. I know I have said that in the past, but I need to do this to put myself on notice.
I have always been the guy with massive potential that underachieves. No longer will that be the case. If I am not what I consider successful in 6 months time, I am getting a job. Simple as that.
Bed/Work/Yoga Area
This is where I spend 16 hours a day.
This is my Yoga/Meditation/Workout area.
Hazo hard at work
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Fuck man, you live in Australia, learn to surf! Best stress relief you can get imo, and somehow it changes the way you think about things. Must be the salt water and sun that melows you out. Gets rid of acne too.
Yeah man for sure, I live an hour away from the Gold Coast which is pretty famous. My Grand father has a place at Burleigh Heads if you want to Google it to have a look. I’m trying to spend as much time with him as I can before I go overseas, so i definitely should get some mates to teach me how to surf over the Summer.
Good to hear from you man, thanks for the comment.
Hope all is well,
Nick
Trying to get myself in shape here too – just realised in 12 weeks I’m going to peeling off my t-shirt on a Goa beach, which is not going to be pretty at the moment
Good luck with the fitness drive – let me know if you fancy some kind of a challenge to keep us both on track!
P.S Nice pants
Thanks man, I wore them especially for you
Usually the one thing that gets me motivated is a competition. This time though I know I need intrinsic motivation. I will IM you though about an idea I have.
Great post Nick! I can definitely relate to a lot of the things you mentioned. Lately I have also been trying to do a lot more to be active. I have always been going to the gym about 3 times per week, but have been trying to go even more. I also started training in Muay Thai which have been some of the best workouts I have ever had. The one thing I am still having trouble with is keeping busy at online work. I am going to try getting a part time job to see if that will motivate me to work harder on the sites, but am not sure how that will go. Anyway, if you do decide to come up to Canada keep me posted.
Best,
Graham
Great post, I think it really hits a nerve with a lot of people (including myself).
Have you thought about looking into setting up shop in a shared office space?
I find it really motivating to have an office where I go to work instead of just sitting at home. It is something I have been speaking with a lot of poker players about, and those who “get out of the house” generally tends to be happier/more succesful. This is obviously very person dependant, but I tend to get more stuff done when I “go somewhere” to work.
@ Graham, thanks mate. At this point Canada is top of the list and I’ll be going to Edmonton. I’ll keep you updated.
@ UW – Getting my own office space would be idea. Realistically though, I don’t think this is going to happen in the next 6 months. Perhaps it is something to look into when I head overseas.
Thanks for the comments everyone. It’s greatly appreciated.
Hi Nick, I can totally relate to you regarding the work discipline and lifestyle shaping problems. I used to wake up and go straight to my computer without even taking time to have a breakfast. Since one month I decided to change all that. Now I go sleeping at 12am, wake at at 8am, have a shower, go outside to have breakfast and tea, and only after that I start working in my home office. I will go to the gym starting next week.
I’ve been very interested in meditation and yoga. Did you take lessons or you learned by reading books. If that’s the case, are there any books you would suggest? Like Roger said, you should really start surfing. I used to surg every morning when I was living in Portugal. Now that I’m in Belgium I really miss surfing as it brought physical and mental wellness in my life.
Good luck with your new lifestyle, I’m sure you will achieve great results and it will positively impact your affiliate business. I’ll come frequently to read about your progress and share my own experience