FR: So I Learned Something [30-day challenge recap]

[voyager]

About a month ago, I started a 30-day challenge with red from the boards. That means 30 days of continuous sarging. As I had mentioned in another thread, it is really hard to find things to do on weekdays - and going out on weekdays is very different from what I've seen. Weekdays are very low key, it's easy to find a table and just start shooting the shit. Of course, the people out on weekdays tend to be people who work somewhere nearby so it would never hurt to meet them and make friends with them so you encounter some familiar faces behind the bar on weekends. Another benefit was that the momentum from the week helped propel me during the weekend. There were plenty of times on the weekend when red and I said "fuck the 10 to 2 rhythm" and would start sarging at 8 or earlier and stay out late at the after-hours places. Then grab some food at a diner. Then I'd drive home to Fort Worth and go to sleep at 6 AM.

Going into the challenge, I expected to have major breakthroughs - major milestones in my game. I can say that's not true. There were no big "eureka" moments. But there were lots of little ones. Going out stopped becoming a big deal and just started to become part of what I do and who I am. I stopped giving so much of a shit about how a set would go. My approach anxiety has plummeted. I hesitate less. I escalate more. I play to win harder. I am more direct. I am less outcome dependent. I have a better idea of who I am. I have a better idea of what I want. I make less excuses.


Here are some warnings and things I didn't like about the challenge:
What weighed me down was the lack of sleep (and well, lack of time). If you work full time in Fort Worth, sarging frequently in Dallas may not be your best bet. IsiMan had commented on how beat I looked on St. Paddy's day and he was absolutely right - I hadn't gotten a full night's rest in over a month at that point (final tally was 33 days in a row). I also started neglecting getting my ass to the gym as frequently, because I made going out a priority instead. I was a zombie at work, drinking half a pot of coffee every morning. I really missed being able to cook my meals for the week and get a full night's rest to recover on Sundays. There was a solid week where I was quite sick and loaded up on all sorts of meds, but I just wanted to fucking finish this challenge. It was a matter of pride at that point. I also neglected all the other things I liked to do during the week - all my hobbies went out the fucking window as soon as this hit full force.

Would I do it again?
Sure, just let me recover from this one. I'm considering doing a solo 30-day challenge in a month at some point. I just don't want pick-up to dominate my life, so if I am unable to reshuffle my schedule to accommodate another challenge - I'd be fine with going out "only" 4x a week.

That said, I'd recommend doing it. It really pushes you to strengthen your resolve and take action.


EDIT: This post needs an ANIMAL FACT: