A man with a plan
I’m 52 years old and will be 53 in March. For some time now, I’ve been feeling the need for a change in my life. To put it simply, I want to do more and be more before my hourglass runs out of sand.
So, for the next 68 days I will be trying to change my program of life. Why 68? That’s how many days remain in 2024! If all goes well, I’ll tweak the program and try it a slightly different way during the first quarter of 2025.
Inspired by Dr. Benjamin Hardy and The Gap and The Gain, I’m planning on focusing on four areas of my life. Those are – Intellectual, Spiritual, Emotional, and Physical. Each day I’ll try to record a “win” in those areas
I’m sharing this with you, dear reader, with the hope that you will a) keep me honest as the days roll by, and b) maybe be inspired to make your own changes. My goal is to post on here each day my wins and a reflection of some sort about the day.
Rules
Here are the list of rules I will be following throughout the next 68 days (beginning October 24th, 2024):
- Follow the schedule as closely as possible (schedule below).
- Read 8 pages of Summa of the Summa per day.
- Observe Office, Morning, Evening, and Night prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours each day.
- Fasting (Coffee/Water only) on Friday.
- Lukewarm/Cold Showers on Wednesday & Friday
- Complete WINS sheet each day.
- Avoid sugar and processed food.
- Phone on Airplane Mode except 10:00 to 10:30 AM and 4:00 to 4:30 PM.
- Complete one Spanish lesson per day.
- Finish one page of cursive with left hand.
The Four Areas
Intellectual – for my intellectual work I have chosen to read 8 pages of the Summa of the Summa each day. I’ve had this book on my shelf for about 25 years but have only read bits and pieces. It is a summary of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica by Peter Kreeft. I’ll also be working on my Spanish each day using the Duolingo App. In addition, and this sounds crazy but I want to push myself, I’ll be working on my cursive writing but with my left hand rather than my right since I’m right handed. I’ve been reading a lot of studies about the brain and neuroplasticity so this is my own non-peer reviewed experiment. I’ll be trying to find out if it’s possible for me to learn to write in cursive with my non-dominant hand. Weird? Crazy? Sure, but what the heck; why not!
Spiritual – I’ve committed to praying the Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours each day. If you aren’t familiar with the LOTH, it is the universal prayer of the church. In fact, many clergy, priests, and religious make vows to pray the prayers every day of their life. How awesome to join them in this “work” – liturgy means work or work of the people. That’s the work God gave us, to pray!
Physical – For these 68 days I will be following the Fit Father Project and its workout program. It is basically bodyweight and medium weight type workouts (dumbbells or kettlebells). I doubt there will be any before and after pictures but we’ll see…
Emotional – I struggled the most with finding ways to address my emotional health. So, for the remainder of the year, I’ll be expressing gratitude for the events of the day, dialoguing with my wife using our Marriage Encounter tools, and focusing more on spending time with my family (walks, games, cooking, etc.) These are all things that help me keep an even and often positive emotional state.
The Daily Schedule
Below is my daily schedule whether working in the office or at home. It’s not set in stone because my day varies so much and so I see it as a guide rather than a strict militant schedule.
- 5:00 AM – Wake, Water, Exercise
- 5:45 AM – LOTH/Daily Readings
- 6:00 AM – Wake Catherine & Shower
- 7:00 AM – Drive, Listen, or Read
- 8:00 AM – Breakfast
- 8:30 AM – Work
- 12:00 PM – Simple Lunch
- 4:00 PM – Drive or Read
- 6:00 PM – Evening Prayer
- 8:00 PM – Cursive & Spanish
- 9:00 PM – Dialogue & Night Prayer
I created a “worksheet” with all of this information and a place to record my daily “wins”. If you are interested in taking a peek at it, you are more than welcome to here. If you want the document version to tweak for yourself, reach out to me.
Finally, to add to the craziness and fun, I’ll only be using A.I. to supply my images and title for each post here starting with this one. I promise it will be the first image generated, it will be weird, and it will be entertaining.
Have you ever done anything crazy like this? Let me know in the comments and subscribe to follow the progress… Thanks for reading!
James M. Hahn, Author 