A documentation of my journey to improve my life
Tag: challenge
As I sat knee’s locked and neck cramped squished into my seat on possibly the cheapest airline in the United States I had a lot running through my mind. I was returning home from our annual company trip to Scottsdale Arizona where I had just spent the last 5 days trying to find a balance between accomplishment and indulgence (not an easy balance to strike especially when the drinks are free and the peer pressure is high). I was the only...
A Reflective Run Through Toronto So there I was in Toronto Ontario; centre of the universe, home of Stanley Cup victories long passed and dreams (delusions) of new ones still fresh in people’s minds. I ventured out for a jog to clear my head after a long day at the conference I was attending. My headphones in, a smile on my face, my mind was completely engrossed in the incredible scenery around me. The buildings all had this eerie history...
Step 4: Focus On Functionality Facebook, text messages, TheChive, The Awesomer, IWasteSoMuchTime.com, Youtube, Email, LinkedIn, Geek.com, io9.com, Twitter, Instagram. These are just some of my favorite distractions and they can very quickly turn my day into an entertaining but very unproductive experience. How can I possibly be expected to get anything done when there is an entire world of geeky, awesome, hilarious, entertaining content waiting at my fingertips at any given moment? Well unfortunately the reality is I can’t… If...
The Productivity Plan If you’re anything like me your biggest problem with productivity isn’t motivation; the biggest reason I don’t get anything done is because I’m either overloaded, distracted, unfocused or all 3. Besides battling constantly to try and put a dent in my endless lists of unfinished work and generally struggling with prioritization and time management (see GTD article) I am regularly fighting with personal distractions and a lack of focus. After researching for the last few weeks and...
Pretentious attitudes, long hair, man buns, Lulu Lemon, tight pants, overly bendy, over complicated, stretching disguised as a workout. This was basically my general perception of Yoga and those doing Yoga up to the beginning of this month. Was it a bit (quite) prejudgemental? Well, ya, but I’m not sure this was totally my fault. My only experiences with Yoga to date hadn’t really been the most positive. Besides my one-off encounters with the friendly but strange hippyish types practicing their...
‘Okay what do I have to do today? I should send some emails, finish that excel spreadsheet, call a few clients, make a Facebook post, find some images that look like clouds, and remember to message my girlfriend to make sure we’re still on for dinner at our friends house tonight. Maybe I’ll start with that Facebook post. Oh hey! Looks like Shelby had her baby. I should probably comment on that or she’ll think I’m a dick. Might as well check...
3 months into my journey to ‘scale my life’ It was Saturday morning and I was sitting out on my deck drinking coffee on what looked to possibly be the nicest day of the year (so far). Although the weather and ambience were more than relaxing I found myself lost in thought trying to evaluate my life. I had just completed 3 of the most challenging and rewarding months in recent memory but the question that kept spinning around in my head...
What have I learned living on $250 for a month? I’ve been asked this a few times over the course of my challenge and each week the answer seems to be different. I guess that’s kind of the best part of doing these challenges and writing this blog, I’m always progressively learning and changing my understanding of the world I’m exploring that month. Just thinking about the growth and development I’ve gained over the course of this month makes me believe that...
My name is Richard Groves. I’m 33 years old, a native of Kelowna, BC (one of the few who actually grew up here!) and I like long walks on the beach. I met Ryan about a year ago through the Kelowna Jaycees (Jr Chamber). I live a fairly frugal lifestyle. I walk to work so I won’t have any vehicle expenses to worry about this week (the 50cc scooter isn’t insured..yet!), I never really stopped eating like a Uni student...
THE CHALLENGE “In an effort to BE BETTERTM I’m going to challenge myself to live on $250 for the entire calendar month of March”. Ryan said it with a completely straight-face. I nodded and smiled and made all the right encouraging noises but in my head my initial reaction was ‘why would anyone actually want to do this?!’ My wife Lee and I, both being accountants, already run monthly family budget spreadsheets that we use to regiment our spending. We’re...
