Today marks day 30 of my 30-Day Overcoming Procrastination Challenge. I’m happy to report that I didn’t miss out on any days during this challenge and thus successfully completed this challenge. Woohoo!

As a brief recap, our monthly challenge in CGC for June (2019) was focused on overcoming procrastination. In terms of my specific participation in this challenge, I committed to working on some item from the the long list of items I had been procrastinating on each day in June. Success!

My biggest wins from this challenge have been:

• Finally getting everything in place for my local Nevada driver’s license, and then going to the DMV and getting that handled
• Getting an eye exam (after going without one for something like 7 years, I think?) and then picking out new glasses with my updated Rx
• Random decluttering and organizing
• Getting my email inbox clean and down to zero
• Working down a big backlog of mending that I neglected over the years… I mended so many leggings (and more)! It’s a nice feeling to fix something that wasn’t being used as a result of tears and/or holes.
• Three blog posts (including this one!)

I still have items on my to-do list that I haven’t yet gotten to during this month, but that’s okay. My challenge wasn’t to complete everything on that list, but rather to work on something on that list each day – which I did. Yay!

I’m really glad I participated in this challenge. It helped to foster a sense of accomplishment and positive, forward-motion momentum. And, I’m pleased to say, I’m quite confident that I will continue to work on that list (although perhaps at a slightly more relaxed pace than before). Eventually (and hopefully sooner vs later), everything on that list will get done! 😀

Participating in this challenge also serves as a great reminder to self that says: Yes! I am indeed capable of getting shit done! RAWR!

One thing I’ve noticed, though: Even though I know I’m very capable of committing to challenges and taking action each day, I still have a tendency to put off taking such actions towards the end of the day, or even before bed. This isn’t 100% consistent, mind you. It’s simply a tendency.

For example, today also marks a cool accomplishment: 18 continuous/consecutive months of daily yoga practice – via practicing a Yoga with Adriene YouTube video every single day. Another woohoo! is in order, I believe! (Or, as I have also been known to say: Woot woot! 😉 ) So that’s rad and awesome too, right?

BUT… despite having installed this daily yoga habit, it seems I’ve also installed the tendency of often fitting in my daily yoga video/practice at the end of the day before going to bed. Is that bad?

Mind you, many times I’ve done my daily yoga in the morning. I’ve frequently done it before making dinner, as well. And many, many other times, I’ve done it before bed. (…Which I rather like, actually. I find yoga to be relaxing and it’s a nice way to end my day. )

That aside, I also think it’d be awesome if I actually got in the habit of exercising at the top of my day (or maybe even doing yoga before lunch) instead of fortifying my tendency to get my daily “must-dos” done at the end of the day. Because if I continue the general habit of doing my daily yoga at the end of the day, it also tends to translate to me going to bed later than I’d prefer. (I used to be quite the night owl – and still am to a lesser extent. But I’ve noticed I tend to feel much better rested and energized when I go to sleep earlier, and then get up earlier as a result.)

The issue, I believe, is that I tend to prioritize other actions, such as: work, cleaning/dishes, cooking and meal prep, spending time with Steve (we love doing things together), and sometimes spending too much time getting lost down the rabbit hole of various social media. Why? I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.

The only answer that I can think of that does make sense is that I almost feel obligated to put work and other chores/tasks first in my day, as if they should be my priority. Work and chores, etc, are almost like assignments of sorts; their handling and completion is expected of me. And so it would make sense that I’d seek to fulfill others’ expectations of me first before tending to my own needs and desire.

When I take a moment to reflect on my prioritization, it really does make a lot of sense to make my own wants and needs – my own health, energy, and happiness – my priority. Because once that’s in place, handling work and other tasks are likely flow with more ease. That makes sense too, doesn’t it?

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I’m going to consider doing a challenge where I fit in some daily exercise in the morning each day. It doesn’t have to be yoga specifically. It could be a walk, a short HIIT session on the elliptical, or maybe even some squats or some kind of simple strength training. I think that’d be an excellent habit to get into.

I’m not entirely sure if I want to commit a morning-exercise challenge for July, however, as I’ll be traveling and vacationing for close to half the month. And I really like the idea of relaxing and taking it easy in the mornings during these vacation days.

Either way, I think I’d like to do some type of challenge for July – but exactly what it would entail, I’m not yet quite sure. …Hmmm.

I’m going to think about it. I’ll share my decision in my next post!

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I encourage you to come up with and execute your own monthly challenges! Experiment! See what direction it leads you. And if you’d like some structure, accountability, and support in this area, consider joining CGC. 😉 (Although, the next registration window won’t be open until around April of next year.)

Have you, dear reader, previously participated in any 30-day challenges? If so, which ones? What results did you get? I’d love to hear about it! <3

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Addendum: For anyone who was curious, the challenges I had set for myself for July were to work extensively on a writing/editing project during the first half of the month, as well as ensuring I consumed some daily greens whilst traveling. Both challenges yielded great results! Woot woot!!