My New Year's Resolutions

Looking Back on 2012

Greatest lesson of 2012 was to accept that you cant do everything, so stop trying and instead focus on the important things.

Hardest thing of the year was realising that I was spending alot of time focused on the wrong things.

Favorite memory was the day me and Emma had in Oslo walking round the city and parks.

What I loved about 2012 was the summer especially the Olympics.

Things i've achived this year :

• Walked on average 10,000 steps a day
• Not Got injured
• Lost 20lbs of weight
• Got my base fittness sorted.
• Been incharge of two projects
• Organised a stag doo.
• Almost sorted my diet out! - Ongoing using Food Boxs idea
• Almost sorted out my monthly budget! Using Money "Envelopes" idea

Looking forward to 2013

i wish learn some form of programming skill, play round with a coupe of Rassberry Pi's build a few apps and stuff.

Want to get better at Running.

Biggest Goal is to save enought money for me and Emma to get Married.0. GET MARRIED ASAP, BY WHATEVER MEANS POSSIBLE

1. Push my Fitbit average from 10,000 steps per day up to 15,000

2. Loose 3 Stone 

3. Push my sleep average up from 6 to 7 and half hours sleep. 

4. Run a little everyday + and train for a marathon or 2

5. Do some mixes and upload to Soundcloud

6. Improve flexibility to help with my running.

7. Write some sort of eBook about my food box principle.

8. Do that push up, squat, dip , pull up challange that I keep saying i will do.

9. Make some music

10. Read more Fiction and Non Fiction

11. Start doing some digital art work.

12. Stay positive

13. Eat Breakfast every day

14. Gain focus on important things atleast 3 key things a day.

15. Save more, spend less - sort a budget out

16. Track my food, drink and water - Drink more water less alcohol 

 

 

 

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I hate Newsletters!

What I hate about newsletters is they tend to just be one way traffic. They pretend to be personal but in reality they are anything but. I got one today from the magazine iCreate with the opening lines ...
"Hello Phil

The iPad mini is out this week and hopefully you're as excited as we are."

This really annoyed me and initially I didn't understand why.The Truth is I'am not excited about the iPad mini and iCreate don't really care if i'am or not...to be honest I struggle to understand why they are excited about it..other than they feel they need to be to keep their foot on the bandwagon. God forbid we are still really excited about the iPads we already own...god forbid anyone for being satisfied with any Apple product they own, not when something new and shinny and less flawed is on the market, does it have NfC...never mind maybe the next one will!

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Blackberry saved the day when i was in Antarctica, still got a lot of love for them!

 

Playing around on my Blackbery Playbook (which was a gift from my dad), just discoverd that I can load the Posrerous web interface and upload a picture from my picture directory, just like it would be if I was on my Mac.I know that currently the jurys out on Blackberry, but this is really cool and I cant fault them. This is not the first time I've been impressed by their versatility as me and BlackBerry have history.

I think back to when my Macbook hard drive froze up in Antarctica and as a consequence it effectively bricked my iphone as I couldn't connect it to anything with out loosing my content. All I wanted to do was change some music, upload some stuff of my external harddrive, stuff I'd bought of Apple, but because of their rules I couldn't.  Since then I haven't spent another penny on music or movies from itunes and I intend to keep it that way. 

In stepped my BlackBerry Bold...up until then it had been just a work phone. But in my time of need it allowed me to listen to music, watch movies and all the stuff I planned to do with my iphone. No fuss...it just got on with the job...drag and drop. I think I probably would have gone mental if it wasn't for that phone...don't forget..i had no laptop and was completly reliant on the charity of others when it came to using a computer.

Since then I've returned home...ditched the iphone and I've moved onto Android..which is alright. The operating system allows you to do lots of really cool stuff but it does seem to be a bit random at times..i do like it though, but yet to me BlackBerry is like that slightly awkward freind who you quite like, but who lingers a bit too long sometimes just in sight, until it becomes annoying cause they are not making any effort to engage with anyone so you go over and you stop and chat and you remember that this person is actually alright. Its the same way with BlackBerry you just have to ignore the negative press, the stuff they make is actually not that bad, in fact I would go as far to say that my BlackBerry experiences have been the best of both Apple and Android (if you have ever experienced using their tactile qwerty keypads iam sure you will agree that they are such a better interface than anything else on the market). My only real gripe is I just wish they had more developers on board and the application weren't so expensive. 

 

All that said I do hope they linger for a while longer as I now realise I do enjoy my little stop and chats with my slightly awkward friends. 

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Marginal Gains!

Marginal Gains: this is the lesson I learnt from the Olympics . When asked what's been making the difference for the Team GB cycling team , Chris Boardman said it came down to "Marginal Gains" ...lots of small changes that came together to make a big difference.

When asked after the 5,000m whats been the key to his success Mo Farah said that he started doing the small things that make a difference , Ice baths , sleeping in the afternoon. Obviously he still been doing over 120 miles a week but it's been the small things that make a difference.

It got me thinking if small things make a big difference then this can work in the reverse. It's the small things that can sabotage your efforts, that one occasional beer or burger. My future focus is therefore going to be on identifying Marginal Gains as well as Losses.

Two things I did today to work towards my goals (gains) : had a after work walk and resisted the urge to go for a run (rest).

Two things I did today to detract away from my goals: didn't push my steps above 10,000 which is my daily minimum. Also drank 3 330mm beers which where coors light ...but still !! Not Good!

Got to keep an eye on this theory!

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A quick reviewing my Crappy Day which turned out ok in the end

Early Start Up just before 6 (Crappy because I was supposed to be off - this should have been a Lie in)

Went For a 20 Min Run 1min Run 1 Min Walk x 10 - Ok so thats not crappy!

Did some work at home - Drawing up As-Built Drawings (Crappy because I was supposed to be off)

Drove to Leigh and did some work (Crappy because I was supposed to be off) from 2:30 to about 4 then went shopping at the trafford Centre until 6:30pm

Then got stuck in Traffic for 3 Hours : Official end to Crappy Day

Weighed myself …I've lost 10lb since start of July (Result)…not such a crappy day after all :-)

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Burning the candle with no Beer

There is a cycle which I seem to go through. It involves procrastination and deadlines and eventually burning the candle at both ends.

Traditionally when this happens the night before a deadline I stay up late and try to get as much done as possible. I then try to get up early to get a head start. 9/10 times I get really stressed and therefore struggle to get to sleep. This is where beer comes to the rescue, as it normally knocks me out. It also normally wakes me up as my bladder kicks in around the time I need to get up.

Last night I due to my fitness drive and something called the #3men3stone challenge I chose to dodge beer all together and the results where....

Still felt crappy but at least I knew it was down to the lack of sleep and not a mini hangover...infact this is the least crappy I've felt after a candle session for as far as I can remember ...definitely a good thing.

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Phil shared an Instagram photo with you

Hi there,

Phil just shared an Instagram photo with you:

view full image

"20,000 thats forward progress #3men3stone "

Thanks,
The Instagram Team

Phil shared an Instagram photo with you

Hi there,

Phil just shared an Instagram photo with you:

view full image

"16 st 10.00 lb #weighin #3men3stone that's another 2lbs down "

Thanks,
The Instagram Team

Ok let's see if this works! #weighin #3men3Stone

#weighin #3men3Stone

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Parking Ticket Hack/Revenge!

Yesterday I took a trip out to Manchester to catch up with a friend. Initially I was going to take the train from Liverpool but as its January and money is tight,I decided it would be cheaper to drive and park up at a N.C.P in the middle of town.

To park in the N.C.P the maximum stay is four hours and the charge to do so was £6:90.

I was gone 4 hours and 9 mins.

Those 9 mins which I spent lost struggling to find my way round the unfamiliar streets of the city have cost me £25, because at 4 hours 6 mins a parking attendant issued the ticket in the photo...how nice of them!

The cost of parking for 4 hours 9 mins was £32 pounds... Add to this the cost of the tram as I rushed back and it was an expensive visit!

What is annoying is the penalty would have been the same if I hadn't bought I ticket...therefore I would have received a discount of £7. I also wouldn't of had a deadline to work too so I wouldn't have rushed and could have saved some money on the tram also. By trying to play by the rules I got stung almost on every level.

This got me thinking if you can only receive one parking ticket for an offence every 24 hours, the next time I get a ticket for being slightly late the cars staying there overnight to get maximum value for money, by my calculations I could leave it there for 14 hours to break even and after that the next 10 hours I'am actually getting for free!

I probably will never do this, however thinking about it and sharing it on here has definitely made me feel a whole lot better ;)

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