complete The Nerdist Way

So in June I tried to keep track of my finances, and I did okay, but I didn’t compare them to my proposed budget. And in July I basically ignored everything financial on my retreat. But I need to set something up for the start of the school year, and I need to get this goal off my list. So I’m going to work really hard on it this month. Set up a new page in the book, keep every receipt, and actually commit to achieving this.

In June I’m finally tackling the financial part of The Nerdist Way. I should have done it in April, and then in May, but I’m actually doing it now. I have a journal and everything! (More on that in another entry in another goal.)

I’m also keeping track of my Nerdist Points, but I had a thought the other day: if I don’t set myself point goals, then what’s my motivation to write them down? So I’m setting myself weekly and monthly goal point totals, and hopefully that will mean that I’m actually being more mindful of this activity, my boot camp, and my life in general. Because I am nothing if not obsessed with lists and charts.

(I’m also writing this entry while listening to the “Are we obsessed with goals?” episode of Stuff You Should Know. Very interesting thoughts for those of us looking to set and achieve goals…)

This afternoon during my lunch hour I finished reading The Nerdist Way. To be honest, I found the last half of the third section almost unnecessary for me, but I may have been reading it too quickly or perhaps I didn’t quite let it hit me in the manner it was intended. Regardless: I have finished reading the book. Go me.

However, there are a number of sections that I have bookmarked which outline exercises that I still need to complete. So I’m still keeping this on for another week or two, until I complete all my “required” exercises. I will probably go back to it over and over again, specifically for the exercises and for some of the third chapter. Because self-improvement is never over, apparently.

The time management chapter of The Nerdist is at once brilliant and annoying. Brilliant in that it not only makes you take stock of how you’re spending your time and become more aware of your timewasting, but it also gives little hints about how to tweak your life to make it easier day-to-day. That’s the brilliant stuff.

The annoying stuff is that I am really lazy and so the tweaks are time-consuming and I’d rather not be doing them, and the awareness is making me both more aware of how much time I waste but is also changing my behaviour (in the sense that once you start measuring something you change it). It’s also slightly annoying to be tracking the time that EVERY SINGLE THING TAKES (including showering, sitting on the couch eating toast and watching movies, and even writing 43T entries). I’ve been doing it for three hours and 15 minutes and I’m already rolling my eyes when I go back to my tracking book. But I’m being slightly productive. So it’s working.

I’ve completed most of the exercises in the “Mind” section, with only a couple that I need to spend more time and brainpower on. The second chapter, “Body,” often reads like an ad for a personal trainer, but it does have some definite good points as well. Hardwick teamed up with his trainer to write that section, and they give some solid suggestions for exercise and some less-solid suggestions for eating. But whatever. It’s not necessarily all going to apply to me, but it did convince me to get an exercise ball to sit on when I watch TV instead of always slouching on the couch. So that’s a step in the right direction.

The Nerdist Way is a book written by comedian Chris Hardwick. It’s kind of like a self-help book for nerds. I normally hate self-help books but I’ve been having to read a couple of them for my therapy, and when I heard about this one I decided to give it a whirl. I don’t know how helpful it’s going to be, but it’s certainly the best self-help book I’ve ever read, and it’s even enjoyable. The first thing I had to do was make a character sheet for myself, which was actually fun. So I’ll work through it and see how it goes.