Opening thoughts:
It’s been tooooo waaaarm. I’m shocked I’ve been doing well this week – possibly due to the “new shiny” influence of “playing” Focumon.
Changes to existing goals:
- I’ve put in a couple of breaks here and there for stuff that’s overwhelming, since my birthday is next week, and I’ve injured my wrist.
- /gotwheels hasn’t been given a break so far, but given cycling is how I injured my wrist, it likely will…
Closing thoughts:
Nothing major on my mind currently! Stuff’s just working pretty well for the moment, and that’s a nice place to be.
3 Likes
Opening thoughts:
It’s been a busy week, what with my birthday and getting my exam results (some good, some okay) and my final degree grade (pretty darn good).
And yet also less busy in that my wrist is, if anything, getting worse – and we can’t figure out why. Ugh.
Changes to existing goals:
- A couple of breaks to various goals added to rest my wrist, mostly /gotwheels but also a couple of FFXIV-related ones.
Closing thoughts:
I have a couple of things going on or coming up that are going to take some serious energy (a medication taper, the interment of my grandparents’ ashes, family visits), so I’m not adding anything more to my plate right now – and am actually looking forward to dropping my goal for changing passwords off the daily rotation, oof.
But nominally I have more time now, so I’m looking forward to potentially adding some interesting new goals. We’ll see!
3 Likes
Opening thoughts:
I thought I was going to give it a little while before I did anything to rock the boat, in terms of Beeminder goals – and then promptly set up a bunch this week. That said, they’re mostly short-term ones; I’m not trying to add any new long-term habits.
Still, let’s take a look I guess!
Derailments:
- /noworkathome - This one derailed the very first day it was set up, which was very much on purpose – I set it up knowing it would derail that day, because I did something I really don’t want to develop into a habit. More below!
- /yoghurts - This was a case of not realising the goal was due, somehow. I need to get better about handling it earlier in the day!
- /fastfood - We keep planning things badly and ending up resorting to junkfood for dinners. In part I guess I’m slightly being punished here because my partner has ADHD, not due to my own choices, but I didn’t try very hard to find a solution in this case, so, yeah.
New goals:
- /noworkathome - I work in the living room and only do fun stuff in my “office”, as a way of being able to end work at the end of the day and “go home”. Psychologically that’s pretty useful for me! But I also like being useful and it’s easy for me to end up working “at home”. This goal is designed to extremely limit that!
- /bookspinaugust - There’s a challenge on Litsy called Book Spin Bingo, and this month I am veeeery close to a blackout on my card, if I can only spend enough time reading. I made this goal more for figuring out if it’s possible than anything, so I also put it into No Excuses Mode so I could set it up to archive. That way, if I can’t fit in enough reading time, I get one derailment at $5 and the goal can be archived right away. It’s looking good, though!
- /no-ordinary-deaths - For the same reason, I ended up making individual goals for each book. They’re odometer goals, so I can just add the page number I’m up to; this one’s for finishing Molly Conisbee’s No Ordinary Deaths, which I’ve already done, so this goal is just waiting to finish at the end date!
- /grimoiregrammarpta - This one is for Caitlin Rozakis’ The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, which was fun and which I finished last night.
- /stonyjack - This one’s still on the go, helping me finish Victoria Shepherd’s Stony Jack and the Lost Jewls of Cheapside, which is about a hoard of gems and jewelry found in Cheapside in 1912. It’s a bit rambly at times, but I am enjoying it.
- /paladins-strength - This one’s for finishing T. Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Strength. I’ve fallen a bit behind, but I hope to catch up!
- /gwenandart - And finally, this one’s for Lex Croucher’s Gwen & Art Are Not In Love, which is pretty fun, though the Arthurian references kinda hurt it more than help it for me personally. (Especially since the Gwen and Art in question are not that Guinevere and Arthur.)
- /rezero - My inbox was building up again, so I made a quick goal to knock it back down. I can no longer link to Google to get automatic reporting since I use Proton, so it’s just a manual whittle-down goal.
Changes to existing goals:
- My wrist still hurts, so some breaks got extended a bit.
Closing thoughts:
No thoughts, only books! I’ve been really in the mood to read, so these reading goals have been very satisfying in nudging me to actually finish the books I’ve started, and inch closer to that blackout. And that’s really the main thing on my mind this week!
4 Likes
Oops, I’d forgotten to actually add the “more below” part about the “work from home” goal. I’ve edited it in!
2 Likes
Is the “no work at home goal” a beenary goal, or something more complicated? It seems like a good idea.
It’s a Do Less goal, with a rate of 1/30 and an autoratchet set at 1, and no respite after derailments, so I can only ever have 1 unit of buffer.
This might sound really strict (or even worrying to users who know I tend to crew the inbox in a crisis 
), since sometimes work does need me after my usual hours, but I can always walk downstairs, take my laptop back out and work in the living room, if I really need to. I just don’t want to work from my gaming PC, and having to go downstairs and set my workstation up again sounds like a really good way of making sure I am really deliberate about when I decide to get back to work after hours!
4 Likes
Opening thoughts:
Welp, along with the continued pain in my wrist I’ve now done something to my foot, so that’s annoying. I’m still trucking along, though.
Derailments:
- /snackattack - I was really peckish…
- /planitout - This wasn’t really a derailment, but I let the pledge increase from $0 to $5 stand anyway and just fixed the graph myself. I forgot to add data for it, since it gets done after all my other goals.
Changes to existing goals:
- /writethosereviews - Realised the rate was still set to 6/7 per day (6/week), so I dropped it to 5/week – I’m trying to avoid obligations on the weekend, even fun ones.
- All the temporary reading goals were completed and have now archived! I did manage to get a bingo in the reading challenge.
- Since I am going to be mostly offline next week from Friday 12th until Tuesday, while traveling to attend the interment of my grandparents’ ashes, I’ve gone through and put breaks on a few goals. Most of them I’ll either work ahead, make up for it after, or already have enough buffer, though.
Closing thoughts:
And that’s it from me for the week! No major plans, given the givens.
2 Likes
Opening thoughts:
It’s not been a bad week. Today’s very busy (getting ready for the trip to Wales for the interment of my grandparents’ ashes), but I should be able to manage to get everything done!
Derailments:
- /ironandoj - I didn’t actually derail in the sense that I did the thing in time, but forgot to add data. I keep forgetting to add data, though, so I decided I’d let the charge stand and think about maybe putting on No Excuses Mode, to make me take it more seriously again.
New goals:
- /iqoro - IQoro is a device meant to train all the muscles involved in swallowing in order to help prevent acid reflux. It is supposed to be very effective in certain cases (hiatal hernia mostly), which… we don’t actually know whether that applies to me. I’m sceptical in general – it’s a piece of plastic! – but there are some encouraging and genuine studies, and the device is approved for prescription on the NHS, so… let’s give it a shot, I guess! It’s better for me overall than lifelong proton pump inhibitors, if it works.
Good results are supposed to take about 6 months of consistent training. It might be the placebo effect (probably is) but it feels like there’s some improvement already when I do it right before meals. I might set the end date for the goal to six months away, to remind myself when to evaluate fully.
- /ffxivcosmoboard - A new mount got added in FFXIV, and people were paying ridiculous prices for it (in in-game currency). I thought that was very silly, so I set about proving you could get one in less than a week without ridiculous levels of effort, with the help of a Beeminder goal to help me judge how much to do each day and track my progress (I didn’t think I was likely to derail). I’ve already completed the goal (it took me four days), so the goal will be archived when it reaches the end date!
Closing thoughts:
I discovered that cycling actually seems to improve the pain in my wrist (at least, it does the next morning: that day it hurt a lot), so once I get back from Wales I’ll probably try to get out on my bike a bit more frequently. So this is a note to self to maybe increase the rate on that goal!
2 Likes
Opening thoughts:
I’m back from the trip to Wales and feeling pretty tired and run down. I’ve ended up organising for an impromptu long weekend, which means there’s no time to add breaks to my goals, but a lot of them are carrying buffer anyway, so it should be fine/I can catch up or add breaks to help me catch up later.
Derailments:
- /healthcheck - The intention of this goal was originally to stop me doing this physical health check I’m supposed to do too often, but now I actually forgot to do it! That’s probably a good sign for my anxiety. I’m pleased I’m paying for this reason (though I do still need to do the checks and the goal will still help with that).
- /yoghurts - I actually like yoghurt, but it’s really hard to motivate myself to eat it for health reasons like this…
New goals:
- /email - I keep getting backlogs building up, so this one is designed to take me to zero and then stay there. I may need a meta goal reminding me to add data, we’ll see. I do kinda miss having the Gmail integration, happy as I am with Proton in general.
Closing thoughts:
Today’s a busy day getting stuff done and catching up with things so I can have my long weekend relatively free from chores and so on… so I’d best go get on that!
2 Likes
Opening thoughts:
Nothing major to talk about this week! My time off was spent doing fun relaxing stuff, as planned, and it went pretty well.
Derailments:
- /ironandoj - I had a weird blip of forgetting all my medication/supplements for a couple of days running. Hopefully I’ll get back to normal now…
New goals:
- I made a bunch of goals for finishing books for my Book Spin challenge on Litsy again! They’re all set to reach their end total by 30th September; I should probably have made the goals a little sooner and had a bit less of a race to the finish, oops.
Here they are:
- /honeywitch (for The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields)
- /pagans (Pagans, by James Alistair Henry)
- /thebookshopbelow (my ARC of The Bookshop Below by Georgia Summers)
- /thedukeathazard (The Duke at Hazard by KJ Charles)
- /youshouldbesolucky (You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian)
- /bitch-by-lucy-cooke (Bitch: What does it mean to be female? by Lucy Cooke, which has a terrible title for a book about evolution and females throughout the animal kingdom).
Closing thoughts:
I’m pondering some kind of goal to push me to read my Book Spin Bingo books a bit faster every month, but I don’t actually think it’s a good idea. I’m such a mood reader, I can’t always guarantee I want to go for a blackout on that challenge just because I did last month and want to this month as well. But maybe individual goals for books I’ve started, to nudge me to keep making progress, or something like that… I’ve done that in the past to great effect, after all!
2 Likes
Opening thoughts:
I thought this was a quiet week, but turns out there is a bit to talk about. Here goes…
Derailments:
- /thebookshopbelow - I fell behind on one of the reading goals due to a busy goal. Oh well
- /yophurts - I’m doing so badly at this lately, though this was partly forced (the yoghurt we had wasn’t good anymore, and we didn’t manage to get any more in time).
- /steamdeck - I hoped to be getting back up to speed with this, but buffer kept slipping away. Oh well, it’s an important nudge to make time for stuff that’s fun for me and games other than FFXIV.
New goals:
- /medsbeforemidnight - This month’s goal for the new month’s resolutions thread! I’m hoping it’ll help avoid me derailing my iron supplements goal (for instance) due to my tendency to leave taking my meds until quite late. Admittedly midnight is still late, but it’s before the deadline for the iron goal, so it should help.
Closing thoughts:
If you were wondering, all the reading goals worked and I managed to get a blackout on my Book Spin Bingo reading challenge.
And of course I’ve got a new one going for October, so I’m sure there’ll be more goals sooner or later. I could possibly do with one to help me make consistent progress with The Posthumous Papers of the Manuscripts Club (Christopher de Hamel), because it’s huge and daunting. Hmmm!
4 Likes
Opening thoughts:
I kinda hurt my leg/back/both last week, so this week I’ve been keeping it fairly chill, which needed me to add some breaks. I’m gonna keep it that way 'cause I’ve also been feeling pretty tired, in part because I didn’t get the greatest sleep (which is related). But let’s take a look at the specifics…
Derailments:
- /snackattack - I think something about meal timing isn’t great at the moment, because I keep getting soooo hungry mid-evening, but after the cut-off time for this goal.
New goals:
- /ffxiv_shb-a - A new goal for working on achievements in FFXIV! This one working toward killing 2,000 rank A marks in Norvrandt, i.e. the Shadowbringers expansion. It’s set assuming I’ll do one hunt train a day, but I’m currently doing several per day. I’m not too worried about when I finish it, though, as long as it’s before the next expansion – so I might add breaks and so on as we go along.
Changes to existing goals:
- All last month’s reading goals archived successfully!
- /inactive & /gotwheels - Got breaks due to the back/leg shenanigans. Hard to stay active (or go cycling) when any pressure on your right leg causes radiating pain and/or your back is hurting.
Closing thoughts:
Welp… that was a week. No other thoughts for now!
2 Likes
Opening thoughts:
Welp, with some sick time this week and the breakage of the washing machine over the weekend, it hasn’t been the best week, ahaha. Onward and upward, right?
It did prompt a bit of a review of my goals and what’s useful/doable at the moment, about which more below.
Derailments:
- /noworkathome - Twice, even. First, I consciously planned to work on my gaming PC to be out of the way of the washing machine technician… and then even when I was off sick, I couldn’t resist doing a bit of work, but I did it on my gaming PC. Oh well.
- /yoghurts - I’m so bad at remembering this goal these days…
Changes to existing goals:
- I added some breaks to stuff like my exercise goals to account for the time off.
- /serialreader - This goal is getting archived, because it’s not adding much for me anymore, and I don’t have many books I’d currently like to read through the app right now. Maybe it will come back sometime later when I develop a wishlist there again!
- /planitout - I’m archiving this goal because I don’t currently want to write so many to-do lists.
- /blogcomments - I’ve lowered the rate on this one so I don’t have to do it every day.
Closing thoughts:
Hopefully this will be a bit more reasonable as a set-up, because I don’t really have many more goals I’d want to drop. But we’ll see!
1 Like
Opening thoughts:
This has been a quiet week, which is probably good, because I’d been feeling a bit overwhelmed! But that means there isn’t a lot to report.
Changes to existing goals:
- /2025reading - After lowering my goal to 300 books for the year, I ended up catching up significantly, and just met that goal. With two months left to go, I’ve increased the goal to 350 – and the original 400 might still be in sight, who knows?
- /2025pages - I’ve extended this one a bit too!
Closing thoughts:
Yep, that’s really it! I need to think though about whether I want some goals to help me get a blackout in my Book Spin Bingo card again… I’ve finished two books since I last posted my card, but there’s still quite a way to go. If I want to make goals for it, I’ll have to start over the weekend!
5 Likes
Opening thoughts:
This week has been all hands on deck for getting my October reading goals finished, so it’s quite a busy post.
Derailments:
- /2025backlog - I was like… 50 pages from finishing a book which would count, but I decided not to count partially finished books since I never have for this goal, and I let it derail.
- /yoghurts - I was trying so hard on this one! But I ended up forgetting.
New goals:
Closing thoughts:
That’s it for now! I really should think about making some reading goals earlier in the month for November’s book spin, but… we’ll see, I suppose!
2 Likes
Opening thoughts:
Beeminder goal-wise, this has been a pretty quiet week! It’s been a bit more busy personally, with a very busy workday on Wednesday, but mostly all’s been quiet there too. I’m not complaining!
New goals:
- /ffxiv_sranks - I was a bit stumped for what to pick for this month’s “New Month’s Resolution”, so I ended up going with an FFXIV achievement. It’s a low rate (5/day) vs the sheer number I need to eventually meet the achievement (5,000, and I recently got to the 1,000 milestone achievement), but hopefully it means I’ll quietly make progress in the background while I’m spending more time working on other stuff.
The mechanics of this one could get a bit annoying: S ranks are an elite overworld hunt mark in FFXIV, typically tackled by many people at once via organisation in Discord groups and similar. No problem there, I’m part of such a group. They also aren’t always available: after server maintenance, it’s a couple of days before they can be spawned, and that’s not a guarantee until after a few more days on top of that. Once killed, they can’t be spawned again for a couple of days. Some of them have very annoying spawn requirements, like killing 150 specific enemies.
That’s all somewhat ameliorated by the fact that each server can get their own version of each S rank, and usually that ends up happening at slightly or very different times. So aside from when there’s just been server maintenance, there’s usually a few per day, well more than five, particularly if I’m willing to swap data centres for it.
So I think this is a reasonable setup for the goal, but we’ll see how it goes!
Changes to existing goals:
- The reading goals created last week were all completed, and are ready to be archived once they hit their end date.
Closing thoughts:
I’m once again giving thought to whether I want to create some reading goals for Book Spin Bingo before the last week of the month. I think my hesitation is that it reduces my flexibility to swap around and read whatever some, so… maybe I actually like it this way?
2 Likes
Opening thoughts:
Wow, this has been another quiet week. I’m pretty okay with that right now, I think; it’s been a hectic year, I need some chill time.
Derailments:
- /steamdeck - I’ve been keeping this mostly afloat by playing bits of Rogue Legacy, but it’s also (as a roguelite) a very annoying game at times, and I got annoyed and didn’t want to play it for a bit, ahaha. The only other game I have on the go very actively is Final Fantasy XVI, and I didn’t feel like getting back to Persona 5 yet… so I let this one go.
Closing thoughts:
I am contemplating some kind of goal for getting some kind of outside time 5/times a week or something… I do have a steps goal, though, which kind of nudges me in that direction, so maybe I’m loath to make another goal right now when I could admittedly use the chill. I’ll think on it!
2 Likes
Opening thoughts:
Another quiet week! Both in terms of Beeminder goals, and more broadly. So it makes no sense that I’m exhausted, but here we are.
New goals:
- /graveimportance & /thewagesofsin - Reading goals! Trying to get ahead of the end-of-the-month rush to finish books for a blackout in Book Spin, in one case, and in the other trying to get a reread done in order to read the next in the series next month.
Changes to existing goals:
- I put some breaks in a couple of goals that I don’t want to prioritise right now. It’s mostly fun stuff, which is funny given I’m tired and feel like I need to rejuvenate… but these seem to add to the tiredness, so it’s time for a break: /bicolorgemstones, /fates, /steamdeck
- /ffxiv_ew-a - I finished off the Shadowbringers A rank hunt achievement (that goal will come to an end soon, but I finished it ahead of schedule so it’s not ready to archive yet), so I turned up the dial on this one to the same rate I had the Shadowbringers one on. This goal will be slightly slower going because there are only a maximum of 12 Endwalker A ranks per world available at the moment (whereas Shadowbringers has 14 if all are alive).
Closing thoughts:
I guess that’s it for now! I can’t think of any way a Beeminder goal can help me out of the current funk, so I’m just going to maintain things as they are and maybe put breaks in any non-essential goals that seem to be adding to the fatigue, as I notice the “ugh” coming on.
3 Likes
Opening thoughts:
Yep, still pretty worn down. Just that time of year, I guess? And it’s been a long, long year.
Derailments:
New goals:
Changes to existing goals:
- /ffxiv_shb-a - As previously mentioned, I finished off this achievement! So now the goal has been archived.
- /inhaler - I had my asthma review and got switched to a new inhaler with a different dosage schedule, so the support team adjusted this one for me.
- /graveimportance & /thewagesofsin - These reading goals are both completed and archived!
- I’m continuing to add short breaks to some of my goals to help cope with the overwhelm.
Closing thoughts:
I need to come up with a new goal for December, but there are a couple of options, so I’m mulling that over some more first.
2 Likes
Opening thoughts:
Given the death of one of our rabbits (Hulk), yesterday, I’m going to keep this brief.
New goals:
- /rinseandcrush - I have a goal for taking recycling out, but that’s kinda ughy sometimes because the recycling still needs rinsing/crushing/etc – and even if I do that, is stuff dry to put in there? So this goal, with a rate of 5/week, has me tending to that part of things separately, and keeping on top of it even on days I don’t take the recycling out.
Changes to existing goals:
Closing thoughts:
Nothing to share right now.
5 Likes