Challenge Update #2 (And My 4 Days in London)
Glen / 
32 Comments / 
October 13th, 2009 / 
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I rarely ever miss posting on a Monday, but I have a good excuse. I’m writing this from my hotel, drinking brandy and coke (which is ridiculously strong. The girl who poured it is foreign and can’t believe people mix the two) and feeling absolutely shattered. I would have gone to the pub but quite honestly, I can’t be bothered to walk.
Judging by that intro, you can tell I have broken my challenge. I went two weeks and one day without touching a drop of alcohol, but meeting friends that I haven’t seen in 9 months turned things around. I will go back to my no drinking after today.
Quick Run-Down
Each week I do a run down from the results of my challenge. For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m currently taking a 6 week challenge to remove things from my life which have little value to me.
Alcohol – I actually passed two weeks without drinking but went a little overboard this weekend. Going to London and meeting friends I haven’t seen for a while just would have been strange to me if I was sober and they were all wasted. I don’t regret it, as I had an awesome time on Saturday night.
Facebook / Random Web Surfing – I’ve been very good at this and have not really slipped up. The only time I used Facebook was to check event details for a location independent meet-up on Sunday which could not have been found out any other way.
Television – I was going to unplug my television, but instead I hid the batteries. The plug is in a strange position and quite hard to put back, so I hid the batteries in an awkward position to help remove temptation. I’m still struggling to replace the time gap but I’m battling through.
IM – The only time I have used instant messaging this month is to have business calls with Diggy. We have put thousands of dollars into a new website we are building so need to talk about that sometimes. I guess this is breaking my challenge but I’m using it solely for business related purposes.
London Baby!
I’m on my final night in London and I’m going to miss this place. I came here to attend a workshop with Pam Slim, catch up with some friends, and attend a location independent meet-up hosted by Lea Woodward. I’ve spoke to Lea for around 6 months online and have been a fan of Pam’s for a while so wanted to build some stronger connections and actually meet people in person.
I have been to most touristy places in London before, but thought it would be nice to take a few photos while I was there:
This was speakers corner where random members of the public could go and speak in front of an audience. The audience are often found shouting back to the speaker during their talk. I found that the crowd were very harsh and unforgiving and also experienced a lot of racism here. It was very interesting to check out though and thanks to Tim Brownson for the recommendation.
This is marble arch. It was the closest station to Speakers Corner so I thought I would take a photo.
I found a brain on the street. Not a real brain of course, but I thought it was quite strange / interesting.
To everyone who thinks I’m insanely tidy and organised. I can make a mess of hotel rooms (which I’m not proud of) but hey, I’m human ;).
Pamela Slim signing copies of her book after the workshop. I had a fantastic time here and met lots of people who are on the same journey that I am. For the first time I also felt really involved in a community of smart, creative people who want to leave the typical 9-5. Despite Pam’s “famous status” she was very down to earth and after spending two days with her, I was an even bigger fanboy than before.
Everyone who attended Pam’s workshop received a free copy of her book. I got mine signed and Pam also left a nice personal message. If the book (not an affiliate link) is anything like her workshop, I know it will be fantastic.
Someone asked me why I would go to an “Escape from Cubicle Nation” workshop when I have already left the cubicle. Well, quite simply, I am a little stuck on my path (which will probably be my next blog post) in terms of direction. More importantly though, I wanted to see how other people teach this process. I would love to help people do what I have done (quit the day job) as much as possible, and actually meeting people in person who are in this situation was invaluable.
I have had an awesome few days in London and in 45 minutes I’m going to the train station back to Newcastle. I never realised blogging-on-the-go could be so much fun.
If you enjoyed this post, I would appreciate if you share it on Twitter, Facebook or Delicious!
Looks like you had a great time in London. I’m looking forward for what you and Diggy are up to.
Oscar
Thanks man, it probably will be at least two months until our big launch. It will be worth the wait though.
Hey Glen!
Totally awesome man, the most random thing is the brain on the street!
It sounds fantastic and would have loved to join you and the really cool experience of meeting so many like-minded people. Im sure you’re going to do really well and will be able to help many people in the future, I hope to be able to do the same
Have an awesome day!
Less than two months baby
Ciao!
Diggy
Haha thanks man. Yep it was very random. If you look closely, you can see the brain on the picture above it as well.
6.5 weeks until pure glory times
Yay for bulmers Cider, good good man!!! It’s made just around the corner from where I live (about a five minute walk)
I’m struggling in my own challenge this month to cut out the junk, I am still wasting too much time online and not on productive tasks, need to refocus, or perhaps i should of defined the challenge a little better.
The first step is knowing where you can improve
Hey Glen! Cool mish-mash post. Great to see you had a cool time in London. That brain thing is just plain weird. Lol! Like, Oscar, I’m also looking forward to yours and Diggy’s new site.
Thanks man. For some reason I always like it when other bloggers include pictures from their lives so thought I would give it a try
I thought about going to that Location Independent meetup but decided to hang out with a friend in stead. What was it like? Did many people show up?
It was very cool, made a few new connections and did a video introduction for their blog. There was probably around 16 people in total (including Pam).
I really have to add a workshop like that to my list of plans!
I sympathize with your challenge. I am having the hardest time quitting smoking and will be posting updates on that also.
Hey Charles,
Yeah, I’m sure you would really dig it!
Good luck on the challenge
It was so great to meet you in person!
I was so impressed by the group assembled, you included of course.
Good luck on this next leg of your journey.
Keep inspiring others to live their dreams.
Big hugs,
-Pam
So and update on my challenge as well then:
TV:
Been slipping a bit, but nothing big really. Watched max 20 min like 2-3 times total this month.
Alcohol:
None. Seems like I don’t have an issue with this anymore. It kind of relates to my quest for an identity shift too, not using alcohol to facilitate in field for example.
No Msn/Facebook:
Been doing great with this. One thing I noticed though is that before the challenge I used Facebook and other things to emulate me being social, which is no good. At the beginning of the challenge I had kind of a feeling that I needed to be more social (even when I had other stuff to do) and that facebook came up in my mind as an alternative to fulfill that craving. I’ve since learned that I don’t need, and really shouldn’t use Facebook as a way of feeling social.
Email/Twitter once per day:
This one is hard, like really. I still have the habit of checking E-mail as a matter of feeling productive (unconsciously) and it’s almost a reflex, even though I have deleted all shortcuts. More restrictions might do it, I don’t know really.
Have been falling back on Twitter too, but I don’t feel it’s anything that really ruins my productive times, though I still see it as a bad habit. Will continue working on these two especially.
Idle surfing:
Have been spending some time on YouTube ocassionally, and mostly because I don’t recognize it as a nono. Have to start reaffirming the list every day.
In addition to update #1 where I said that I tend to reward myself with some useless task after being productive, that has changed for the better.
Also started using a number schedule, which is working very well so far
Until next time,
Jonas
Thanks for the update man. Very interesting to see your own progress and how it matches with mine.
Wow man, cool stuff! I’m a big fan of Pan Slim. I’ve been reading her blog for years (probably since close to the beginning) and her book is hella good. I’d recommend everyone check it out.
So, Glen, it’s cool to see you’re still focused on learning. I read your blog and think “man, this guy has got the right thing going on. I want to get to where he is.”
I guess we’re all on our personal journeys of learning and creating the lifestyles we want. I suppose I’m in a much earlier stage. Having said that, like you, my quest for learning will probably never stop. Keep it up!
Hey Glen,
London is the most interesting and exciting city.
So much diversity amongst the people, and the various English dialects are a pleasure to hear. Plus, there’s a natural fusion of old and new: the city’s beautiful classic buildings coexist with new ones, keeping the history while remaining modern and not falling into tourist trap-iness.
So awesome you got to go there again. I can’t wait to go back. My time there was too short
All the best with your challenges,
Oleg
I am planning on going to London in January and I can’t wait! Glad to hear that your 6 week journey is going well. It’s ok to take a break and drink once in a while, just not so that you do it all the time like you did before.
Vince
Very nice Vince, I’m sure you’ll love it.
I’m not a huge London fan to be honest (I prefer more laid-back cultures) but I can see why people flock there.
Oops, that was for Oleg above. That is what alcohol does to you
(joke, I’m sober)
I’m guessing you’re an even less a fan of NYC
I understand, though. I’m more a fan of nature myself. But when it comes to cities, London, Tokyo, and Boston are ones I’ve enjoyed most so far.
Oleg
glen – am enjoying keeping up with your challenge. i have hopes that for the remainder of the six weeks that you can stick to your goals 100%.
I will give an update on mine. I only did a self-inflicted Facebook ban for 2 weeks up until yesterday. It was probably the easiest thing I have done yet in terms of making for better productivity. I spent the time I normally would’ve spent on Facebook/Forums getting homework and articles written. I am going to do an extended ban in the near future that has more restrictions. I only logged in once because a girl messaged me…
I think there’s something about hotel rooms that turn even the neatest of neat freaks into incredible slobs. Maybe it’s the ugly carpet. Either way, it looks like you had a fabulous time.
Glen –
Your pic of your hotel room reminds me of what my room looked like when I was studying abroad in Australia (ah, what memories).
And seriously, what’s the story behind the brain in the middle of the street?
Paul
I seriously have no idea man. If you look at the picture above it you can see it behind the guy in the purple top and people are looking at it.
I guess that’s London for you
Good stuff mate. Excited to see what this new project is. Can you give us a hint? Is it a blog? Social network? Membership site? Product? Fair enough if you want to keep it under wraps though.
It is is a game. Probably wont me much interest to a lot of people here
Hi Glen,
We are having very mixed feelings about London so we’ll see if we’ll stay here for longer. cheers!
It was nice to share the table with you on the LIP meeting
Hey Agata,
Be sure to let me know what you guys decide. Keep in touch on Facebook when I’m allowed back on
Was great meeting you!
I’m so glad you had a good time in London, it’s an awesome city.
I don’t think many people would have been able to carry on with that challenge for as long as you did.
Looking forward to seeing your and Diggy’s crazy Amsterdam vids
I love the Brain. Very strange indeed. Did you touch it? I know I would have wanted to!