🗒 Clean Slate September: Challenge (Sep 1 - 30)

[anomalily]

I’m issuing a challenge: Clean Slate September, which will run from Sept 1 - Sept 30.

The goal for Clean Slate September is set a goal and stick to it for the month of September in WHATEVER category works for you. This could be budgeting, this could be exercise, donating, reaching out to friends, time spent locked in a room away from children on zoom school.

Pick ONE thing (just one) and make it a goal.

Also it has special forum badge and even a STICKER for people that complete the whole month.

Basic rules:

1. You must establish a goal and it needs to be measurable, actionable, and reasonable.
2. You’re allowed one week *where you wave a magic wand and “re-cast” your goal . This means if you go off the rails, or something big comes up, you can set a new goal. Don’t get discouraged just because you have an off week! Give yourself a clean slate.
3. Each Monday (or Tuesday for the Aussies/Kiwis) report back on the thread on how you did
   for the week You can report on where you’re at, and what your biggest challenge and victories of the week were. Then, you’ll put your predictions/goals down for the budget week ahead.

What do you get out of participating?

• Deep Satisfaction of your goals
• Community support for whatever your goals are
• Clean Slate September success shout outs on the podcast
• And if you do all 4 week check-ins, you get a STICKER mailed to you. I will mail these anywhere in the world.

If you’re in to participate (or on the fence and need encouragement), comment below with what you’re hoping to get out of Clean Slate September.

[anomalily]

I’ll start…

in September I will get back on a weekly schedule for radio show production, instead of haphazard. Same record/edit/transcribe schedule every week.

[diapasoun]

Meditation and ritual minimum three days a week.

I’m hoping to get peace and understanding out of it.

[rural]

Dang it. One section of important work document edited a week (minus data that doesn’t exist yet). Even though no one is watching very closely to see if I’m doing it.

[daffodil2001]

I need a clean slate with meal prepping and food—everything has been all thrown off since I got an infection (bacterial, not covid).

Week 1: Clean out the fridge (finish leftovers, deal with any science experiments). Purchase easy snacks. Make one loaf of banana bread with freezer bananas.

Week 2: Make a meal plan and grocery shop. Cook one meal myself (husband has been doing all the cooking since my infection started). Make one loaf of banana bread with freezer bananas.

Week 3: Cook three meals myself. Make one loaf of banana bread with freezer bananas.

Week 4: Cook three meals myself. Make meal plans for next six weeks. Make one loaf of banana bread with freezer bananas.

(Can you tell we have way too many bananas in the freezer?)

[Sunflower]

I need this!

I will do one Spanish language learning thing each day.

Things that count (I am a super beginner):

• Duolingo
• watching a tv show in English with Spanish subtitles
• watching a tv show in Spanish with English subtitles
• Coffee break podcast episode
• Thinking up a phrase I use frequently in English and learning how to say it in spanish via google or other methods

You can see that I’m really setting a lofty goal here

[Panda]

HOKAI SO

I need to work on super nerdy Latin project for my previous boss/old professor (I told him I would keep working on it, but uh I haven’t done anything yet…). I’ll make my goal to do the stuff for 2.5 hours per week.

Here’s hoping I have more success than my attempts to stick to a grocery budget

[Ms_Terror]

Mine seems way too simple for this challenge compared with the others posted already but I’m going to stick with it. Going to keep up the daily get out the house for some exercise/walk and add in at least one friend date/ catch up per week to combat some of the baby bubble isolation the last 2 months. Looks simple but I’m going to have to work hard this month!

[Greyweld]

I need a clean slate with gentle physical activity.

The goal is to do any gentle physical activity, 5 days a week for:

• 15 minutes daily in week 1
• 20 minutes daily in week 2
• 25 minutes daily in week 3
• 30 minutes daily in week 4

Gentle doesn’t necessarily mean “lacking any challenge whatsoever.” It means I am not making myself cry from exhaustion over exercise. No pain no gain-sayers need not apply.

I’m thinking:

Short jogs, but only for so long as it feels good. So like 5 minutes.
Leisurely walks.
Yoga. Beginner yoga. Verrry beginner yoga.
Body weight exercises, possibly weights pending doctor approval.
Tai chi videos.
F***ing. Yup. Counts.

Activity does not have to be consecutive minutes, but does have to be intentional. No “well if I add up walking to my mailbox and around my kitchen it probably gets me five minutes.”

Activity does not have to be the same the whole day.

I think I’m going to spin up habitica to track.

[galliver]

@Greyweld

Yoga. Beginner yoga. Verrry beginner yoga.

notamedicalprofessional, but I have heard: avoid twists. Also maybe consult with doc.

[kenner]

Excecising 4 days/week. Walk/bike/swim are my usual three and I’ve fallen off recently given that my state is on fire and the air quality is pretty horrible, but there’s a gym a couple miles away doing a decent job with their pool setup so I should at least set up regular indoor swimming.

[Illathrael]

I’m in.

Goal:
Go on a walk 5 days a week.

Reward:
Stave off depression and soak up some vitamin D.

ETA: Should also help strengthen the foot that is still recovering from reinjury.

[beep_boop]

My goal is to do some back or core exercises for at least 5 minutes in the morning 5 days/week.

[plainjane]

4 meals per week consumed in a civilized manner, aka not in front of a computer or tv

[Cannibalsox]

So something I’ve been COMPLETELY ignoring/neglecting is that my bloodwork from February showed somewhat high cholesterol. The doctor wasn’t too concerned, but given that I’m already vegan and already exercise a shit ton, it was a bit concerning to me. COVID hit soon after and this stopped seeming urgent, but maybe now’s a good time to address it. I do know that I eat a lot of sugar, white flour, and fat, so I’m going to take steps to alter my diet to reduce those foods and I’m going to educate myself about elevated cholesterol as well. I’ll track my actions on those fronts here weekly!

[nnls]

In September I am going to meditate every day for at least 5 minutes. But I will aim for longer most days.

[Candygirl]

I don’t know what specifically I want to add, but be kind to myself every day is what pops in my head. This could include exercise, or personal care (paint nails, facial scrubs etc). But it has to be something that contributes to my personal general well being.

Too broad? Could stick with stretching every day which is something I should work on.

[CalBal]

Ok, I am going to sign on to this one also. My goal will be:

Five (5) hours of work per week on setting up a path forward for new work/job. Specifically this means working on refreshing software I already know and/or learning new one(s) and/or setting up a website as a portfolio. Five hours a week is too little, probably, because the weather outside is still warm(ish), and I still need to finish clearing the path in the back 40, but I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot by choosing a value that is just too high. Aiming low and then overshooting is better than outright failure, right?

[katscratch]

Tracking my actual spending instead of just looking at my checking balance and making sure it’s not getting smaller by the end of each month.

I’m assuming this will curb my new very fun habit of spending lots and lots of money gaming coupons for baby/household supplies for donation.

[michieda]

Since yesterday reminded me I’m still grieving I’m going to keep my goal super simple. I want to weigh in every day and track it on my Fitbit app. I do better health wise when I’m tracking my weight versus the head in the sand approach I’ve been in for a few months. One small step forward for September.