The Monthly Challenge

It's been a while since I've posted on here, and it's been even longer since I've accomplished something from the challenge list. I've been absolutely swamped with work and training for a half-marathon (and possibly full marathon.) But just for kicks, here's a summary of erverything I haven't done.

Day 18: Find Your N.U.T.s

N.U.T.s are your Non-negotiable, Unalterable Terms. N.U.T.s are the things you’re committed to, the things that matter more than anything else: your kids, your career, your primary relationships, yourself, your purpose, your spiritual practice, your hobbies, your integrity, your morals and your psychological well-being.

N.U.T.s are the boundaries that define you as man, those things which, if repeatedly compromised, will gradually—but assuredly—turn you into a pissed-off, resentful man who will likely blame others—especially your wife—for your unhappiness.

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Some men find their N.U.T.s over time, while others sit down and make a list. Either way, here are some of the questions you’ll want to ask yourself:

• What’s most important to me in life?
• Are there activities I used to do for fun that I no longer do? Is someone interfering and am I resentful because of it?
• Are there valuable friendships with men I’ve let slip away?
• Where am I currently having problems (unhappy, frustrated, sad, angry, resentful) in my life, and did compromising myself—and what’s important to me—contribute to my feelings and/or the situation?
• What dreams have I abandoned?
• If I’m going to be the man I want to be, what will I have to do differently?

This is a bit more complicated than it sounds...I have some ideas, but it's going to take a while to get a solid list.

Day 19: Schedule a Physical Exam

The manly man is a healthy man. So today’s task is to call your doctor and schedule an appointment for a full physical.

I actually cancelled two doctors' appointments earlier this month. Not because I don't think I need them, but because the doctors were kind of terrible. So not only do I need to schedule a physical, but now I need to find a new GP and schedule a physical...It's on the "to do" list.

Day 20: Perform Service

Today’s task: Commit to do some service. You obviously don’t have to do the service in the next 24 hours. Your task is simply to find a project or opportunity you’d like to volunteer for and sign up if you can.

I will sign up to volunteer for some service this week.

Day 21: Write Your Own Eulogy

Today’s task: Write you own eulogy. Confront your mortality and really give some thought about how you want to be remembered. You don’t have to follow the guidelines or example given here. Be as creative as you want.

Haven't started on this one yet...

Day 22: Improve Your Posture

I've been trying to improve my posture for the past few days now, but it's really hard to realize when you're slumping down or slouching over. I may have to find some string and try that button-to-belt trick listed at the bottom of the TAoM post.

Day 23: Learn a Manual Skill

Today, you are going to pick a manual skill you’ve always wanted to learn, and take the first steps towards mastering it [...] Obviously, you can’t learn these skills in a single day. This task simply requires that you take a least one step towards learning a new manual skill.

After 5 months of arduous training on my bicycle, I've picked up enough knowledge to be able to repair the basics while on the road. As a kid, I used to take apart and reassemble bicycles all the time, but never really knew exactly how things worked. To get a bit more of a technical understanding of how everything works (and breaks) I signed up for a free class on bicycle maintenance through my company. There are also clinics at Performance Bicycle every week or so which I may also stop by.

Day 24: Play!

Manning up doesn’t mean turning into a robotic stiff. You should also maintain some of your boyish spirit. You need to make room in your life for things that you don’t have to do, but that you simply do because it gives you pleasure. So today you have to spend at least 30 minutes in pure play.

Dodgeball!

Day 25: Start a Debt Reduction Plan

We’re not going to pay off our debt overnight, but we can at least get started. Today’s task is to sit down and establish a debt reduction plan

Got no debt? Don't need no plan.

Day 26: Take the Marine Corps Fitness Test

Take an hour after work today and do the Marine Corps Fitness Test. No matter what kind of shape you’re in, it will help you know how fit you are, give you a benchmark to base future progression and regression on, and grant you either some motivation to improve or a sense of satisfaction that you’re ready for action.

Somehow, I was convinced that it would be a good idea to wake up Sunday morning and run 8 miles at 6 AM. Thankfully, the run got delayed until about 7AM, but I was still a bit tired. So, the Marine Corps Fitness will be done tomorrow. I'm fairly confident that I'll be able to score in the high 200s.

Day 27: Start a Book

I'll restart Hunter Thompson's Hell's Angels

Day 28: Write a Love Letter

When the time comes, maybe I'll revisit this one.

Day 29: Conquer a Fear

I'm terrified of birds. Anybody have a pet parrot? If I can let a bird sit on my shoulder, I'd consider that a very large step.

Day 30: Get a Straight Razor Shave

After I get a massage, I will pamper myself with a straight razor shave.

Final Status

In February, I had to talk to a stranger each day. Today, I had to talk to 3.

Person number 1 was a cyclist who was riding right behind me on my way into work this morning. First I almost spit on him, then he popped his tire so I turned around and tried to help him out. Nothing terribly exciting, but he was a stranger and we talked.

Person number 2 was the facilities guy at work. When I got ready to ride into work this morning, I thought I was being cool by only bringing my house key instead of my whole keychain. I had forgotten that I had a locked drawer at work which I needed to get into, and the key for that drawer was on the keychain back in my apartment. People made fun of me. Then I had to talk to the facilities guy to help me try to break into the locked drawer. He did not make fun of me. Thanks, facilities guy.

Person number 3 was any number of people at the bars JBlake dragged me out to later that night. Believe it or not, nobody terribly interesting goes to Hollywood bars.

I haven't posted on here on a while because I've been slacking a little bit on this month's challenge...

Day 9: Take a Woman on a Date

Last Friday, I enjoyed a half-day at work and took my lady on a date in the afternoon. We had planned to go picnicking in Griffith Park and then head over to the Autry Center after. But we ended up just relaxing in Griffith Park the whole time, drinking some wine and watching the Merry-Go-Round. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

Day 10: Memorize “If”

I have a terrible memory and really should do this. But I haven't yet. I also procrastinate too much.

Day 11: Give Yourself a Testicular Exam

I think I'm clean.

Day 12: Create Your Bucket List

A long time ago, I joined a site called 43 Things. I've updated my list on there and on their sister site, 43 Places. It may not be the ultimate list, but it's a good start to the Bucket list. I'm sure there are tons of things I just haven't thought of...

Also, the second part of today's challenge was to get started on one of your bucket list items. Well, I've always wanted to push all of the buttons in a crowded elevator. So, the next time I'm in a crowded elevator, it's go time.

Day 13: Declutter Your Life

I will do this before the end of the weekend.

Day 14: Write a Letter to Your Father

Working on it.

Day 15: Make a Meal

See Day 13.

So, halfway through July, here is my updated list:

Day 3: Find a Mentor

Here’s your 30 Days to a Better Man-Day 3 task in a nutshell:

• Pick an area in your where you think a mentor can help you and draw up a list of three potential mentors.

• Describe why you think they’d be good.

• By the end of the 24 hours, contact this mentor. Send an email or letter, call them, or drop by their office. You don’t actually have to visit with them during this day, but make contact with them in some form.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find a mentor when you're at Disneyland all day. I went camping immediately after and the same thing applies... I did come up with a few names though, and I'll try to ask one of them before the month is over.

Day 4: Increase Your Testosterone

The challenge for day 4 was to do at least three things which increase the amount of testosterone your body produces. The easy part was that I almost always do at least three of those things every day, but today I made sure to do more. Seven out of nine ain't bad:

1. Get at least 8 hours of sleep tonight.
2. Do not smoke at all today.
3. Do no eat anything with soy in it.
4. Meditate for at least 10 minutes.
5. Do resistance training.
6. Eat a serving of good fat.
7. Eat a serving of animal protein.
8. Eat a serving of cruciferous vegetables.
9. Have morning sex (if you partner is willing, of course).

Day 5: Cultivate Your Gratitude

Day five's task is a two-parter.

Part 1: Cultivate Your Personal Gratitude

It's time to take stock of all the good things in life that we have to be thankful for. So task #1 is to make a list of 10 things that you're grateful for.

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Part 2: Show Your Gratitude to Others

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So task #2 is to give 3 thank you’s to 3 different people today. These have to be specific thank yous. I’m not talking about the waiter bringing your soup and you saying, “thank you,” in return, although you could at the end of the meal say, “I just wanted to tell you how grateful I am for the extraordinary service you gave tonight.” It’s okay to thank people just for doing their job well. Yeah, they’re just doing their job, but I think we all know plenty of people who can’t even rise to that level, and I’m personally grateful when people have enough integrity to do so.

So here is my list (in no particular order):

• My health, or what I have left of it.
• Living in a first-world country with easy access to food, shelter, and running, potable water. However, I have heard that this Obama character is a socialist...
• Having an unconditionally loving family. I could probably murder someone, and they'd still love me. I'm not saying I would, but that's just how awesome they are.
• The sounds and smells of being in the middle of nowhere.
• Being able to walk to pretty much anything I'd need. Especially considering I live in LA.
• Electricity - thanks, Ben Franklin.
• The internet. Just like the printing press before it, the widespread adoption of the internet combined with distributed computing, natural language processing, etc. is going to create an information revolution (assuming that the revolution hasn't already begun.) That, and I'm just a big nerd...
• The internal combustion engine. Without it, travel of all distances would be so much more time-consuming.
• Michael Bloomberg. Sounds like a really random thing to be grateful for, until you find out that he pretty much paid for my whole college education. I always say I hated college, and I did, but I'm still grateful for the chance to learn as much as I did, despite being miserable for the majority of it.
• Not working, AKA vacation and/or weekends. Don't get me wrong, I like my job (most of the time), but after spending a long week in the office, there is nothing better than spending a long weekend relaxing. A few months ago, I had one of the most relaxing days I'd had in a very long time and it was incredible. I love the lazy days where the only thing to do is enjoy the present.

For the second part of the challenge, I'm in the middle of writing letters to three people:

• Bill - my Mom's boyfriend of God knows how many years and probably one of the most generous and sefless people I've ever met. (If you're reading this and you know him, please don't tell him.)
• Coach Powers - My high school track coach. Few people have ever made me work as hard as him and without his help (and the help of my track team) I never would have imagined how far I could push myself, and how much pleasure can come as a result of so much pain.
• Dr. Kraft - A professor I had in college who really changed the way I view people. I thought I was open-minded before I met him, but I really had no idea what that meant. I still have a lot of room to grow, but I'd credit him for really challenging my perspective and allowing me to become a more accepting person.