Debriefing on First 100 Days Challenge

The first 100 Days is over, and it was a ride, that's for sure!  Things happened that I didn't expect to happen, I discovered things about myself that I kind of knew but I watched the traits unfold in front of my eyes.  I became a lot more conscious of everything. 

As I look back over those 100 days, I can see areas that could be improved upon, at the same time there were very worthwhile things that became apparent.  As much as I ache to re-set the counter and do it again, I also want to pause and note some things that have passed.  A "post-mortem", if you will. 

I look back on the first day, when I set forth the premis for this, and as I read through it, if I were to be asked "why are you doing this?", my answer (according to what I wrote) would be "to get out of my rut", to change my life. 

Every self-help guru you read or listen to would attest to the necessity of "starting with the end in mind", to be very clear on what you want.  The whole area of goal-setting.  But, in a way, one thing that I don't read much on is the definition of "success".  I mean, for example, let's say you want to go from Calgary to Toronto.  If you don't define "success", you could make it as far as Barrie but not Toronto (Barrie is just outside of Toronto).  If your definition of "success" means that you make it to the exact word of your intention, and anything less is 'failure', does that mean I 'failed' in my goal by not making it to Toronto, even though I made it within 25 miles of my goal?  Or, what if I have no deadline?  I made it to Barrie ... maybe in a year, I'll make it to Toronto?  Does that mean I still 'failed' and I succeed only when I step foot, regardless of the time, in Toronto?  ... Or what if I made it to Winnipeg - I have changed my reality, I've stepped out of my rut, but I still fail because I only made it 1/2 way to Toronto?  What defines success?  It kind of bothers me that for all the effort one can put into the task, it all equals failure until that magic number is achieved, until your foot hits that certain point.  Yes, goals are scored only when the ball hits the net, but is the success of the team only evaluated by how many goals are scored? Never really thought about this until this point of the experiment!
When I started this, basically all I said was I wanted to get out of my rut AND I laid out how I was going to do it. I didn't take too much into consideration that I was not only in a physical rut, but also a mental one, a social one, a spiritual one, a financial one, and a few other ones as well.  I didn't put much thought into what would make it successful or not, I just desperately wanted ... needed some kind of change.  I can see now that there was a problem that was created here, which is evident now.  That's ok ... a good place from which to learn a lesson or two!  

I've laid out my questions to myself and am going to answer them separately from here.  I will return with highlighted comments on the results.  And then the next entry will be on the 2.0 Challenge!

A brief addendum:  What is also interesting is to look at people I mention throughout, and see if they have changed their world in those same 100 days or if they are still living in the same world?  Just interesting to note!

1. Define "success". 
-  In the start, I said "to get myself out of the rut." When I described my rut, I listed physical things and emotional things.  When I described my life "out of the rut", it was full of emotion and energy, a quality of life that is now missing. I never really describe what success would be.  I just allude to it being 'on the road out of the rut'. 
2. What did I want this experiment to do? 
- I guess I wanted to take steps out of the rut.  I don't think I thought everything would change in 100 days but I hoped I could establish some habits that would help in this direction. I wanted to add things to my life (so easy to take away and that can be depressing, but adding is exciting).  The hope was that by adding, things that were not helpful would naturally fall away. 
3. How did this experiment change me?  What effect did it have on my life? 
- I look at a person as an amalgamation, a creation of 6 parts, all intertwined.  Affecting one, affects all.  The 6 parts: physical, social, emotional, intellectual, sexual  and spiritual.
- What was affected?  emotional, intellectual and spiritual.  The clean sink was inspiring, but more than that, there was a definite shift in my perception of life, an appreciation, a positivity that I returned to.  I could fake it before, but this time I felt it.  Something happens when you watch your day for good things and ignore the negative.  You notice how much of the negative really is out of your control or  you can put a positive spin on it.  Mostly, it is obvious that the negative is not worth the energy we put into it.  I also gained another level of self-awareness, how my participation (or lack of) with my world, and how that contributes to my rut.  I became very aware and conscious of the habits I have developed - those I do automatically and those that are responses to a stimuli.  And finally, I developed a renewed sense that there`s more to life than putting one foot in front of the other. Maybe God IS trying to tell me something. 
4. What was the cost of the experiment? What did I give it up for it? 
- I tried to maintain a bedtime and that sometimes had a ripple effect on my day.  I was not consistent on a daily basis and I wonder what might have been different if I was.  Maybe I didn`t think the whole thing out? Problems when I was camping, when I was in the hospital, when I had computer problems. Did I "waste" time? I still continued to change. 
5. Did I let the experiment down in any way? 
- Yes, by not writing every day, regardless of the reason.  Perhaps in addition, I was not as focused as I could have been. 
6. What kept me going to the last entry? 
- Time would pass regardless and even if I reduced the entries to only gratitude, it was still an entry. Now, I'm thinking that maybe this mental shift needed to happen first, maybe it is liking building a house.  You don't launch into the house but you start with the foundation.  If your foundation is solid, the house is easier and more sturdy.  Without, the house is easy to be destroyed with the first storm that comes by.  Why did I continue?  the time would pass regardless, at least I'd have something to show for it. 
7. Evaluate my results - was this successful or not? 
- Yes, there was success in my results. I am no longer in that same rut I was in when I first began. True, the success was in different areas than I thought/wanted it to be in, but I see the development of something that should affect the next 100 days. 
8. What could I have done to make it more successful? 
- More focus. Different use of time. 
9. How could the experiment be improved upon?  
- I still like the two parts, but perhaps there needs to be 2 groups of 100 - the first to focus on gratitude and habit, the second to focus on what and how to change.  The Action part.   

Let's see what happens if there is a bit of a shift in focus ...