January In Review, February Check-In

Katie got me a new planner for Christmas last year. It’s such a strange thing because at one point in my life, I would’ve looked at you completely dumbfounded if you had gifted me a planner. I’ve always been pretty good at keeping up with my daily routines and weekly schedules. And don’t even get me started on that cheesy goal-setting programs, mind mapping and 5, 10 or even 20-year plans!

Yet there I sat on the couch in the living room a few days before Christmas (we couldn’t wait) holding a Clever Fox Weekly Planner Pro and was so. Damned. Excited about it.

My life went completely crazy in August of 2021 when I parted ways with my local TITLE Boxing Club (now closed, not surprised but rest in peace nonetheless). Not only was I having to keep up with my daily schedule as Metadata Administrator for Warner Brothers-Discovery but I was also having to keep up with a roster full of clients, often running as many as 15-17 personal training sessions per week. Add to that my busier-than-ever social calendar thanks to being married to a social butterfly who is also Knoxville’s networking queen! It got to be too much so a couple of years ago I finally started using an analog planner.

I’ve always enjoyed the art of handwriting even though mine is horrible and has been since I took my first serving job at O’Charley’s at the age of 19. Having the actual paper planner allows me to visualize my schedule in a way that my iPhone’s calendar simply can’t — AND it somehow comes to life when I include my scribbly handwriting and multi-colored highlights! In the last two years I also started making daily to-do lists to not only help me be productive but also help me cycle through the day’s needs in a prioritized way. This planner allows me to do just that complete with a weekly review, to-do lists for both work and personal life and a daily habit tracker.

With that in mind, I’m using it to keep track of my goals this year in three-month increments and I intend to use this blog as a public accountability platform, much like I did in 2021.

With that in mind, here are some highlights from January.

Goals I’ve Kept Up With:

Get Blood Pressure in Order + Regular Blogging

Even though I’ve retired as a personal trainer, I’m still maintaining my blog over at BaldrFitness.com. I started my new workout program Viking Dad Bod 2023 a few weeks ago and have been providing weekly updates on my progress. A weekly blog is pretty good, I think, so that satisfies that goal. I pair that with the blood pressure goal because that is one of the main focuses of the Dad Bod program and my weekly posts have shown that my blood pressure is finally starting to go down again! In just three weeks I’ve been able to lower it from 180/117 to 167/115 with no medication! It’s still high, of course, but the trend is going in the right direction and I’ll be on meds again here in a couple of weeks so it will only continue to improve.

3-Month Goal – 18% Debt Paid Off (75% 12-Month Goal)

My new budget structure just went into effect on January 1 but I’ve been able to pay off about 4% even without the structure. This will continue to grow with each new payday so I think I’m on track here, just maybe a hair behind.

Continue Learning Italian

At the time of this writing, I’m currently on a 13-day streak on Intro to Italian on Duolingo. When we go to Italy later this year, I can’t wait to tell people io sono l’uomo zucchero!

3-Month Goal – Read 3 New Books (12 Books 12-Month Goal)

Last week I finished reading The Greatest: My Own Story by Muhammad Ali. I’m already about halfway through the year’s second book, Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor E. Frankl. To add to the geekery, I made a spreadsheet that lists every book in the house I haven’t read yet and have been utilizing Google’s Random Number Generator to determine which book I read next.

3-Month Goal – Bathroom, Front Door and Back Deck Complete

Our bathroom project is nearly complete. One room is fully painted and the other has the trim complete. We’ve removed the vanity light fixture and its companion mirror, put up some wallpaper behind the vanity and installed both a new light fixture and new mirror. We also installed a new bathroom ventilation fan complete with proper ventilation through the attic to the outside of the house. All we lack is a new storage fixture in the bathtub, hanging the new shelf, finishing the paint job and installing new fixtures on the vanity sink. Plenty more to do but that’s a weekend gig that we’ll have completed in no time.

Goals that Need Revision:

3-Month Goal 15 Pounds Down, 12-month Goal 30 Pounds Down

Like I’ve mentioned in my BALDRFitness blog, I no longer really have a weight-loss goal. I’m focusing more on body composition change and blood pressure readings – and it’s working.

New Goals:

None yet.

Goals I’m Letting Go:

None yet.

Rad Things from January:

We rang in the New Year in New Orleans, shot some killer promo material for Katie’s business, I made a bomb-ass healthy pizza, I said goodbye to the building I’ve worked in for 11 years, we spayed our kitty, went to a macaroni cook-off party dressed as Emo kids, got an Office-related tattoo and I flexed in the mirror … like, a lot.