Outcome: "Win"
Record: 19-0
Streak: 19

Summary: It's important on days full of unusual things to keep a focus on priorities. Today at work was casual--someone brought in free lunch, I had a nice coffee in the morning, and I got to participate in a cupping. I was feeling free and happy with my friday. Then I got this wierd aesthetic anxiety, like my work-day was somehow less than my best and that I was going to get a loss today. But I figured if I wrote, which I did, and kept up with the French, which I did, and spent any extra time on plan b, which I would have if I had any, then it was ok and I could still count the day as a win. Basically writing, plan b, and ethics are the real fundamental criteria, and if I cover those things, then I'm good.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 18-0
Streak: 18

Summary: Hour of writing, worked, planned for this weekend, did enough French so that I'll finish the lesson tomorrow, worked on project x for an hour, made dinner, and soon I'll read.
Here's how much I'll say about project x: it is no longer active; instead, it is being subsumed under a larger project, which is to start down the path of a plan b in case the book doesn't work, meaning graduate school preparation, looking into different programs, etc. I'll let you figure out what project x was. Right now I'm researching the functions and professional lives of urban planners and green architects, as a start.
I noticed that I tighten my stomach muscles pretty much all day. That probably wastes a lot of energy. Only when I become aware of it do I temporarily relax them. I'm not going to stress about this too much, but I will try to work on it. Like Andy Ried says, "we need to do better on that" Speaking of which, briefly, what the hell Mike Lewis? He went from being one of my favorite players on the team, who I viewed as an underrated Dawkins, to not being able to cover shit on the pass. He still tackles like a beast, and I have faith that he'll turn around, but damn.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 17-0
Streak: 17

Summary: Writing for an hour and a half, French for 15 minutes, normal stuff, tried to adjust my schedule so Eva and I can spend more time, and worked on project x. Tonight will be reading.
I'm ready to reveal project x, sort of. But first Dan must post. That's the deal: I'll stop being mysterious if Dan starts posting again. Hell yeah D-rock on the accomplishments and the regular posting.
So Dan, you know how you've mentioned a point where a person starts living virtuously and never turns back? Like after all the false starts and fuck ups, maybe you can finally launch and maintain it with some kind of permanence? I don't want to jinx myself or be overconfident, not to mention my skepticism as to whether such a point actually exists, but if it does exist, maybe I reached it. Who knows. I'm not inflating my scores at all, and I can't see myself faltering right now.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 16-0
Streak: 16

Summary: Today I did a good job with the things I committed to working on. I maintained good mental control and had a positive outlook. I should mention that last night I read a ton, in a quality fashion, and I'm about 160 pages into the book now after two days. That's the kind of progress that I like to see. I wrote for an hour and a half today. My outline for the first part is finalized, and I'm ready to go full-on with writing it. That should maybe take 2 weeks. I did some of the French lesson, and just now I put some time into project x. Getting a full night of sleep last night was hugely beneficial toward every aspect of my endeavor for virtue today. It's so essential.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 15-0
Streak: 15

Summary: Today, like that one day last week, was another close win. Some things I did well: writing was great, and I overcame my initial malaise that I felt when I woke up. Things I didn't do well: I looked at Philadelphiaeagles.com for injury updates and commentary, which is bad because I committed to stop reading crap like that, since it is incidental to the actual games. I was still bummed about the game, which I think needs to be worked on. By that I mean that I need to do better making sure that the games don't affect me negatively. My project x time was so-so, but in retrospect, it wasn't terrible (I only put in about 1/2 an hour). I'm giving myself the win on the condition that I exhibit good mental control throughout the rest of the day, cook and clean efficiently, and read during my leisure time. If I screw up any of those things, I'm logging on and changing the outcome to a loss.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 14-0
Streak: 14

Summary: Sad loss for the Eagles. I have to try extra hard to maintain my composure. Getting up was nice, the game was horrible, I ate too much at the bar and I'm feeling sick, I cleaned a lot and made lunch for next week, and later I'll probably read. I didn't do anything really unethical today, that I know of, so that's why I got the win (this is supposed to be my day of rest).

Weekly Summary: This was another awesome week in terms of striving for virtue. I took care of the basics--ate moderately, did my job faithfully at work, took care of my domestic tasks, and treated others with respect. I put in a lot of work on project x--this week it actually got off the ground, and if I continue putting in work at the same level, it'll be a huge success. I didn't write a lot because I was working on project x. This will be changed next week. I completed at least 1 lesson in French (I can't remember how much I did)--I only work on that for 15 minutes Mon-Fri on lunch break at work. I finished Hebrew Thought Compared With Greek. It was very interesting, but I felt like I didn't have a way to know whether the guy was right or not, since I'm not a Hebrew scholar (I'm not a Greek scholar either). I just enjoyed the ride. His hypothesis is beautiful, if nothing else. Definitely worthwhile.
Plan for next week: The big adjustment I'm going to make to my system is to require myself to write for at least an hour each day, including Saturday. Project x is the most important project right now, but I can't let it eclipse the writing. As always I need to continue working on my mental control and maintaining a good state of mind. I did better with that this week, but I still have a long way to go. Also, I need to read even more--again, I did more of that this week, but I need to do more. I basically get involved in distractions which are not necessarily forbidden by my system, but are still not the best I could be doing. Here's an example: one day this week I had about 2 1/2 hours that I could have read before going to sleep. While I was finishing up my tasks in the kitchen, Eva started watching Gilmore Girls on her computer. In my system currently, the time between the completion of all my chores and bedtime is free for relaxation, but ideally I should spend it doing something of high value, such as reading. That night I let myself sit down and watch Gilmore Girls for the whole 2 1/2 hours. It wasn't a failure or forbidden by the system, since I'm allowed to relax at the end of the night, but it would have been better if I used the time reading. Well, on the other hand, since it was time with Eva, it was good in that sense, so maybe I could have spent an hour watching that and an hour and a half reading. Or on another night, I talked to a friend on the phone, which is virtuous, but the call really didn't need to take 2 hours, as it did. Like watching GGs, it wasn't forbidden, but I could have maybe talked for 1/2 an hour and read for 1 1/2 hours. My next book is How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler.
Yo Dan, seriously, your goal for next week should be to post on your blog. D rock is kicking your ass with posts, and I haven't seen anything from Kyle in a long time.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 13-0
Streak: 13

Summary: The first half of my day was perfect. I got up leisurely, ate a nice breakfast with coffee, hung out with Eva, showered, and then we did all of our shopping in an hour and half, including shitty driving and parking time. I love that I only drive once a week. After than we unpacked the stuff, I cleaned the bathroom, I did some dishes, and then I put in a solid hour on the novel, using my new strategy of short but numerous time bursts to work on it. It went well, and from here on out I'm chilling, hoping to finish a ton of reading, and later I'll watch a movie with Eva.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 12-0
Streak: 12

Summary: Today was an all around solid day. There was a short stretch of time in the morning when I started to panic, like I sensed that the day was heading toward disaster. At the time I recognized my emotions as irrational, and I actually cured it by going over all the things I was going to do today in my head and drinking a cup of coffee. It worked.
I did all the normal stuff, plus worked 4 or 5 hours overtime for the week (which amounts to basically a full day of normal pay), did a few errands, and then in the evening I completed a big step in project x and wrote for about an hour and a half.
I had a thought while I was writing tonight. I noticed that the law of diminishing returns is especially true for me when it comes to writing, I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's so demanding. But in any event, I lose steam quickly, and I get to the point where I'm basically writing horse shit if I force myself to continue. I remedy this in a variety of ways--sometimes I switch to revision tasks, sometimes I work on project x for a while, and sometimes I take a short break. They all seem to work, but even once I start up again, the amount of recharge that I get keeps getting smaller and smaller compared to what I had at the beginning. Then I imagined a scenario that might be ideal for me in the future. Perhaps I can work during the day in green architecture, or sustainable development--something environmental and technical. Say I get off at 4:30, then I can do some intense yet fun workout for an hour, something like Parkour or even skateboarding. Then from 5:30 to 6:30 I could go to a library or my study and work on an original contribution to the humanities--an essay, literature, or philosophical writing. Maybe this could be profitable financially, maybe not, but that wouldn't be the point. I'd do it every day (Mon-Sat, let's say), so I'd end up putting in a fair amount of time by the end of the week, but I'd divide it into managable time chunks. Having that in my life perpetually would be deeply fulfilling and would provide a refreshing counterpoint to my professional life. At 6:30 I could start dinner, and then for the rest of the day it would be eating, relaxing, chatting, listening to music, reading, cleaning, and... Anyway, that was a vision I had that appealed to me.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 11-0
Streak: 11

Summary: I think I have surpassed my all time high streak. Things were easier today than yesterday, by far. I didn't fight myself, I conserved energy, and I even enjoyed some of my tasks. All the normal stuff + finishing lesson 4 in French, reading 15 minutes of Philly mag, huge step forward on project x, and after this I'm going to read and possibly clean a bit. I'm proud of myself for limiting my delicious cupcake intake to one per day, even though there's a clutch of them sitting on the kitchen island looking at me with seductive eyes everything I walk by.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 10-0
Streak: 10

Summary: I burned some energy today stressing, which is never good, but ultimately I prevailed. It was a close one, mainly because circumstances kept arising that were obstructing or complicating my plans. I was basically in a 4th and long situation at one point, and I connected on a 50 yard pass to my better half, who made a leaping catch, stumbled, almost fell, regained his balance, juked past the defender, and ran with the ball straight into the endzone! (It's Eagles season, and while I think spectator sports have, in some ways, evolved into a grotesque form, I still love watching the Eagles and sometimes I even draw inspiration from it). I exhibited enough patience and flexibility to triumph, and now I'm ready to sleep and tackle my projects again tomorrow.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 9-0
Streak: 9

Summary: I think my all time high streak was around 14, or maybe it was 10, but anyway, I'm getting up there. Today I started healthy, worked with two hours and 15 minutes overtime to save up strategic flex-time for Friday to use on project x, worked on project x for 45 minutes, finished the grammer in lesson 4 of French and started doing the exercises, read Philly mag for 15 minutes, did some laundry, some bills, administrative stuff, right now I'm listening to a new cd with Gershwin and Ravel on it, and in a bit I'll help clean up from dinner and read.
One thing that was awesome today was that I rebounded from a potentially catastrophic state of mind. Because of the ridiculously warm weather today, I started freaking out about global warming, then I thought about N. Korea and nukes, then I basically imagined armageddon and the scenes from the opening of Terminator 2. What made it worse was that I was taping fucking boxes when I wanted to be building a shelter and hoarding great books. But then I managed to control my anxiety attack, and while I don't think that the problems I was considering are insignificant, but if there's anything that can be done, it won't get done in that state of mind. I managed to become rational again.
Here's a hugely successful strategy that I've probably already talked about but had the occasion to revisit today: at least for me, sometimes I do things because I'm more comfortable with a certain way, or because doing things that certain way way appeals to me aesthetically. Here's an example: I've arranged my schedule so that each day I have about an hour and half in the middle of the day to work on my projects, plus an hour to an hour and a half at the library after work. I like this schedule because it works. Then today I realized that another Friday completely off would be very strategic for me, but that if I continued at my current rate, I wouldn't work the hours for that (since I was following my normal schedule). I decided to be flexible and change my schedule just for this week because the objective result would be better--I'm allowing myself a minimal amount of project time prior to Friday so that I can work overtime and get off that day which allows me more project-completing power than I could have had in individual time chunks. There's intertia that I have against adjustments like that, but it's essentially emotional and/or aesthetic. Sometimes I feel like I want one system/schedule to comprehend every situation and then work as hard as I can to stick with that schedule. But it's important to keep thinking and focusing on the result and what will get the best result given the particular circumstances and project. I guess this is just basically being flexible, but to me it's super important yet very difficult to incorporate.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 8-0
Streak: 8

Summary: Quick one, because I want to read: good wake up, healthy breakfast, biked, worked, worked on project x, worked on 2nd draft restructuring, biked, made dinner, cleaned, took care of paper work, now I'm going to perform my nightly toilette, read, and go to bed.

Outcome: "Win"
Record: 7-0
Streak: 7

Summary: A win, like the Eagles. I'm glad finally to make it 7 straight days for the first time this year. Sunday's are for relaxing, but I also need to observe my principles of ethics, which has tripped me up before. Today I stayed strong: I woke up leisurely, cooked a nice breakfast for Eva and I, and then I went for a bike ride in the park. This is when things got crazy. I got a flat in basically the deepest part of the park, and I didn't have the gear to fix it. It was 3:30 at the time, and the Eagles were kicking off around 4:15. I basically dropped the bike and sprinted, Lito Sheppard style, about 5 miles back to downtown so I could watch the game. During the game I ate moderately, and afterward I was focused on the tasks I needed to accomplish in order to go to bed: I retrieved my bike, fixed the tire, cooked lunch for next week, cleaned up a bit, performed my dental hygiene, and now I'm writing this.
Summary for the Week: I worked a full week, made a budget for Eva and I by which we'll have a comfortable amount of saved ducats by the time of our Philly move, invested a ton of time into project x, wrote some, cleared my head and focused my goals, read about 50 pages in Hebrew Thought Compared With Greek, got half way through section 4 of my French program, performed all of my domestic tasks faithfully and with the proper respect, ate healthfully, was moderate in general, exhibited good hygiene, and rested myself well this weekend.
I should say that I'm nearly done with my weight loss goal. At the height of my fattness, I think I was around 210. Right now I'm 180 or 181. My original goal was to get to 180, but now I realize that it's not so much about a number but about getting a body form that looks healthy to me. I still need to loose some weight (I mean shit, I'm not that tall). I keep losing pounds every week, so I'll get there soon.
Things I need to work on: I still need to improve my control over my mental state and my impulses. I feel like the worst level is just being controlled by emotions and impulses. The middle level, where I am right now, is where your emotions and impulses are out of control, but you force yourself to obey your better judgment. I feel like the best situation, like Aristotle says, is to have a calm mind that is habituated to love virtuous things and be in harmony with your good judgment. That way you're not battling with yourself, and you can spend that energy kicking ass.
I need to work on maintaining a more clear conception of what I'm doing and what I'm striving towards. I've been pretty good on this, but I could do better.
In general, I'm happy with what I did this past week. I wasn't even trying to inflate my scores or bend my standards because I wanted a 7-0--I really fought hard this week to do things the right way, and it worked out.
Actually, I think I could read more-- that was deficient this week. Still, I've got less than 100 pages left on my book.
Next week I want to make significant progress on project x, if not complete it. I want to maintain a good mindset; I want to maximize my work time, and thoroughly turn off and enjoy my leisure time. I want to read more. I'd like to finish my restructuring for my second draft of the novel. I'd also like to break 180 pounds, get down into the 170s.

Result: Win
Record: 6-0
Streak: 6

Summary: Within the system that I'm currently using for myself, Saturday's are a day to accomplish domestic tasks during the first half and to read and relax during the second half. So far, and unless something crazy happens,mission accomplished. Eva and I planned the week's meals, went grocery shopping, I did dishes, cleaned, straightened up, and since about 4 I've been reading. I'll continue reading until Eva gets home.
I fuckin love reading. I can't even put it into words. No doubt that ducats have tremendous liberating value, as Derek points out. If I had enough ducats that I didn't have to work, my daily activity, aside from domestic things, would be reading and thinking. My task, from now until I die, would be to find truth. That might mean math, or physics, or cognative science, or linguistics, or literature, or whatever, but I would read and think all day, just for it's own sake. I guess I'd also seek out and admire beauty for its own sake as well. Damn--fine wine and Debussy, then inspiration from Emerson, and then contemplating the core of formal systems with Godel, picking up the latest physics journals, and then falling asleep reading some great literature. I can only imagine. Right now, back to Hebrew Thought Compared With Greek.

Outcome: Win
Record: 5-0
Streak: 5

Summary: Today was a big win. Like I said, I already put in most of my week's hours prior to today, so I basically didn't have work. Instead I advanced my projects. I put in a huge amount of time working on project x. For my novel, I did write some, but I spent more time looking into possible grants and publishing avenues. I also spent time organizing my personal stuff, including credit card, budget, and looking into getting a new printer. I was frugal by eating at home all day and utilizing leftovers. That saved 10$ right there.
Throughout my day I experienced a full cycle of emotions--excitment, nervousness, optimism, despair, intimidation, and confidence to name a few. What pleased me was that while I was experiencing the good emotions I still paced myself to avoid burning out, and while I was experiencing the bad emotions I reflected on philosophical principles to get me though it as well as making my will like iron, basically just doing it and saying fuck-me, I don't care about my bad feelings right now.
Today served to collect my thoughts and focus my goals. It was a good "overall picture" day. I'm coming out feeling good, when I know that last year this same day would have ended in me feeling like a piece of shit and buying cokes and gummy worms at the corner store.

Result: Win
Record: 4-0
Streak: 4

Summary: Woke up well, biked, put in an honest effort at work, read Philly mag for 15 minutes, went through the chapter 4 French dialogue once with the audio, broke ground on a new project that shall remain unnamed and undescribed until it is completed (spent 3 hours total on that), biked home, cleaned, made dinner, and now I'm going to read and go to bed.
I have come to believe that if a person is happy and lives an ethical life, that counts for a lot. That counts for almost everything. Our webring of blogs here seems to encourage improvement and ambition, which are good and exciting, but they're garbage if lacking either ethics or happiness. Well, the happiness thing is more complex, I believe. That depends on how you're looking at the question. I'll save that for another time. But mainly I'm trying to say that looking at a person who is happy and ethical is looking at a person who is doing all right.

Result: Win
Record: 3-0
Streak: 3
Summary: I'm storing up a bank of time this week at work. Even if I don't work overtime tomorrow, I'll still be leaving at 9:30 on Friday. That basically leaves me with a whole day to accomplish stuff. SO in a way, my wins are contingent on how I spend the extra time. I'm confident though, and I'm not going to withhold giving myself the win because of that. Other than working a ton, I had a good wake up, healthy food, exercise, read Philadelphia magazine for 15 minutes, finished studying the dialogue in section 4 of the French, worked on my budget, and now I'm going to help with dinner, clean, and possibly read.

Outcome: Win
Record: 2-0
Streak: 2

Day in Review: First of all, hell yeah Dan for getting back in, and hell yeah Eagles for getting theit shit together and playing like they should be playing. I had a crisp start to my day, even though I went to bed late because of the game, I worked my full day at worked, biked, wrote one letter and one e-mail, worked through the beginning of lesson 4 in my Advanced French course, read Philadelphia magazine for 15 minutes, backed up data in preparation for a full factory restore on my computer, took out the trash, cleaned, and logged an hour and a half overtime at work, which taken together with yesterday's hour and a half, means I basically get half a day off to accomplish shit on Friday.

I'm going to adopt a slightly different scheme. First, I'm going to do daily, weekly, monthly, and perhaps yearly summaries; second, I'm going to do something analogous to a win-loss statistic--each day I excel and live virtuously at the level of, say, a 4 or a 5 under the old system, I'll give myself a "win", if not I get a "loss"; finally, I'm going to keep streak counts, similar to the "day count", which just keeps track of how many solid days, or "wins", I've had in a row.

Today: Win
Daily Summary: I was able to be flexible enough to take care of some unusual stuff and still to be able to finish what I had to take care of. I worked an hour and a half overtime at work, so that's an hour and a half I'll use for writing or pursuing other things. I ate healthfully today, biked to and from work, and when I get home I'm going to cook dinner for the house. After dinner it's Eagles o'clock.
Record: 1-0
Streak: 1
(I just barely didn't achieve a "4" yesterday. I don't have time to get into it--it was kind of shameful, nothing major. I was tempted to count it as a day lived well, but I didn't want to because I want to maintain high standards for myself).

Day 6

I like the look of that 6. I've been killing it so far this weekend. Obviously, that 6 is contingent on me not fucking up for the rest of the day. But so far I have been mainly writing, but aside from that I maintained a pleasant comportment and healthy eating. I'd say since yesterday afternoon I've logged about 15 hours of writing time. Yeah, that means I was up until 6 this morning and then got up around 11 to continue. I'm feeling good, and later I'm planning to get my grocery shopping done, clean up, and get everything set so I can be super chill tomorrow.