January taught me something important - rating my progress on a daily basis can feel defeating when I don't get a check-mark for each goal everyday. I've decided to move to a weekly rating where I can take a more balanced approach to my goals and, just maybe, feel less like I'm failing to make progress when I don't complete a task every single day. Knowing I made some progress with each goal throughout the week may be more satisfying and definitely help to maintain my motivation.
So, I'll sum up January here, then move to a weekly post where I discuss each goal and what progress I made. I'll probably also include other, more personal posts about my non-goal related adventures going forward.
January Progress
- Faith
- Bible reading: YES! I'm using a "read your bible in a year" app to help me through my daily bible reading and, yes, I am caught up - having completed all readings for January 1 through January 31!
- Intentional prayer: NO. Unfortunately, I did not dedicate any time to personal, private, and intentional prayer in January.
- Focus
- Carnivore - YES! - Mostly...I'd say I'm probably 90-95% strict carnivore for January. I made a few minor exceptions such as eating dill pickle, and having chicken and beef from the Chinese and Mexican restaurants where I didn't have control over what ingredients were in the sauces - but I only ate out three times (I think that's right), and only consumed protein and fat (in whatever sauce it was cooked in).
- Exercise - YES! I added this to my goals after announcing what my goals would be. I figured, if I'm going to focus on my diet, I should have some form of movement as part of my "get healthy" focus. So, I started doing some simple movements, including reboudding (almost daily), squats (~3-4 times a week), sit-ups (~3-4 times a week), and, when it warms up outside, I'll start walking several times each week - luckily, there were 2 days in January where it was nice and comfortable outside and I was able to get in some laps at the local track.
- Book reading: YES! I completed my first book of the year! The goal is to read one book of interest each month in 2026. My first book was "The Best Beer Run Ever." I'll post a full review later, but I enjoyed this one!
- Creation
- New skill study: YES! I have been studying and practicing using various components of AI. I also enrolled in an IBM AI Prompt Engineering certification offered through Coursera and have completed 1.5 modules of the first course.
- Podcast progress: YES! I recorded the first five episodes of my podcast and published the first two episodes on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts! I also spent a great deal of time trying to perfect my workflow (a work still in progress). The latest three are still being edited for publication.
