2022 Week 5/52: The Brain Changing Benefits of Exercise

Hi everyone! Time for Goal Check Sunday Week 5/52! 😃

Goal #1: Manage My Eating Disorder

❌ (1) Goal not met in eating between 1200 to 1700 calories during the hours of 7:00 AM and 7:00 PM for Week 5/52.

It was almost unavoidable that I would overeat this past week due to celebrating the Lunar New Year because that’s always been the case. What makes overeating dangerous for me is that I’m a binge eater. The temporary high I receive from overeating is so immensely pleasurable that I usually repeat it for the rest of the week. Sometimes for the rest of the month. And sometimes the whole year. I’m extremely afraid that the next time I eat over 1700 calories, I won’t be able to get myself back on track.

Goal #2: Become more organized starting Week 2/52

✅ (2) Goal accomplished in spending 15 to 30 minutes organizing every day using a timer for Week 5/52.

Playing this Instrumental Pop – Work Playlist | Productivity Music has helped me organize every day this past week! I’m not yet used to organizing daily, but every action I take is a vote for my new identity as an organized person.

Goal #3: Write consistently

✅(3) Goal accomplished in writing between 2 to 8 hours every day for Week 5/52. My dedicated time blocks and listening to lo-fi music when writing has kept me on track!

In Week 5/52, there were days I did not feel any inspiration because all I could think of was how weak my willpower was because I did not manage my eating disorder well. Thanks to Atomic Habits and the writing blocks I implemented, I completed my writing and managed to write reasonably well!

Goal #4: Read books to gain knowledge and new perspectives

✅(4a) Goal accomplished in reading 30 minutes a day for 5 days for Week 5/52. I’m reading Trevor Noah’s Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood and I’m loving it. He talks about serious subjects but adds humor. Trevor tells the story of how when visiting his grandfather, his mother would warn him not to drink or eat anything that was offered up by his step-grandmother.

We visited them sparingly because my mom was always afraid of being poisoned…The first family were the heirs, so there was always the chance they might get poisoned by the second family. It was like Game of Thrones with poor people.

Trevor Noah, Born A Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

🚧(4b) Goal in progress: I will summarize/review 6 books in 2022 and post them on this blog.

Book 1/6: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone

Book 2/6: If I Had Your Face

Goal #5: Improve my listening skills

✅(5a) Goal accomplished in listening to one Design Matters Podcast for Week 5/52. This week, I listened to Debbie Millman interview Ira Glass.

I have never met anyone who took a decade to get decent [in radio]. In fact I feel so aware when we’ve hired interns and production fellows on our show. I wouldn’t have been able to get an intership on my own show when I was in my twenties.

Ira Glass, Design Matters with Debbie Millman

Ira Glass has an amazingly friendly and heartfelt voice. I believe him when he says it took him so long to get decent. I think I’m also a slow learner and that it takes me a long time to get decent. Maybe not as long as a decade but definitely four years or more to get good at a skill I care about.

✅(5b) Goal accomplished in listening to one TED talk for Week 5/52. This week I listened to Wendy Suzuki: The brain-changing benefits of exercise.

Wendy urges us to work out because exercise protects our brain, specifically our hippocampus (major role in learning and memory) and prefrontal cortex (cognitive control functions). The more we exercise the stronger our hippocampus and prefrontal cortex become so that it takes longer for neurodegenerative diseases and normal cognitive decline in aging to affect our brain.

Goal #6: Emulate Krista Tippet’s (Winner of the National Humanities Medal, Peabody Awards, Webby Awards) way of speaking.

✅(6) Goal accomplished in emulating a sentence of Krista Tippet’s for Week 5/52 from this Design Matters Podcast.

Goal #7: Learn how to grow microgreens from Mark starting 6/1/2022 (Week 22/52)

🔜(7) Goal N/A for Week 5/52.

Goal #1: Maintain my mental and physical health

✅(1a) Goal accomplished in singing two positive songs and one song of my choice every day for Week 5/52.

✅(1b) Goal accomplished in meditating and practicing 25 minutes of yoga 5 to 7 days for Week 5/52.

🔜(1c) Goal N/A for lifting weights 3 to 5 days a week due to my stiff/sore neck.

It’s been around 9 weeks and my neck is still stiff/sore from my poor sleeping posture. It’s almost entirely better though! I think I will get back to lifting weights next week starting with 3 lb weights.

✅(1d) Goal accomplished in doing a physical activity for Week 5/52.

✅(1e) Goal accomplished in sleeping before 11:30 PM every day for Week 5/52.

Goal #2: Work on my marriage

✅(2a) Goal accomplished in continuing my weekly marriage meeting (#183), financial checkup, and date night with Mark for Week 5/52.

✅(2b) Goal accomplished in helping Mark organize for 15-30 minutes every day this past week for Week 5/52.

Goal #3: Encourage my mom to expand her worldview starting Week 5/52

✅ (3a) Goal accomplished in teaching my mom English for Week 5/52.

✅ (3b) Goal accomplished in practicing Senior Yoga with my mom for Week 5/52.

✅ (3c) Goal accomplished in teaching my mom how to become more proficient at using her iPhone for Week 5/52.

Goal #4: Prioritize friendships

✅ (4a) Goal accomplished in meeting up with friends 1 to 3 times a month for Week 5/52. I met up with Brink, Happy, Mister Fraiser, and Cranium to celebrate Lunar New Year.

✅(4b) Goal accomplished in chatting with 1 to 3 friends over the phone/zoom for Week 5/52. I chatted with LV for Week 5/52.

Goal #5: Remember my late father through cooking starting Week 9/52 on 3/3 (my father’s birthday).

🔜(5) Goal N/A of posting recipes on this site for Week 5/52.

Week 5/52 Goal Summary

✅Accomplished goals: 17

❌Goals not met: 1

🔜Goals N/A for Week 5/52: 3

🚧Goals in progress: 1

This week’s completion percentage: 94.4% (17/18)

Week 1/52 completion percentage: 91% (I missed the 5 to 7 days of mediation and practiced 25 minutes of yoga goal.)

Week 2/52 completion percentage: 100%

Week 3/52 completion percentage: 92.8% (I missed the sleeping before 11:30 PM everyday goal.)

Week 4/52 completion percentage: 100%

Week 5/52 completion percentage: 94.4% (I missed the eat between 1200 to 1700 calories everyday goal).

2022 Average completion percentage thus far: 95.6%

Dear readers, how was your progression towards your 2022 goals? 😃