I would like to welcome everyone back to my blog. This blog and I haven't exactly worked out the way I had originally intended, and apologize for the lack of content in the last few weeks. I will not try to make excuses. Excuses do not lead to results. I also cannot promise that I will adhere to any schedule I set forth. I can only promise that I will make every effort to do so.
Now, let's get to the post at hand. Since it has been a few weeks since I last wrote, today will be sort of a catch up post. I'm going to go into a few different things from the past few weeks. Hopefully, I will get back to more focused posts next week.
The last blog post I had was in regards to preparation and focus. The biggest portion of my life where these ideas are brought to the forefront is when I play Magic. Last year, I experienced my first taste of major success playing Magic. I did reasonably well in several high level events. While my performances could have been better, they were still better than any of my previous results. I was certainly looking forward to doing even better this year.
However, something happened during that time frame that I did not consider. I used to play Magic locally every Monday and Friday and occasionally on the weekend as well. Toward the end of last year, though, my schedule at work changed, and I was no longer able to play on Monday or Friday. I didn't think about it at the time because I was still going to be able to attend major tournaments on the weekends when they came up.
What I did not consider is that Magic is a game with a large skill component. Playing regularly helps you maintain your skills and even improve them. As of now, I am playing far less Magic than I did last year. It has definitely had an impact on my abilities. I have been to a few major events so far this year, including a couple in the last few weeks. My results have been less than stellar.
I learned a while back that when I lose at Magic, I have no one to blame but myself. I can look back at my losses and point to the situations that caused me to lose. From there, I can then attempt to avoid those mistakes in the future. I realized after looking over my losses in the last few weeks that I was making more mistakes this year than I did last year. It took me a while to understand why there would be a difference. I soon realized that I had gone from playing 10-15 hours of Magic a week down to less than two hours a week on average.
Since my schedule changed at work, my preparation and focus have dropped, and I'm just starting to see the effects. I have the option to still play Magic during the week. Instead, I have chosen to use that time doing other activities. If I wish to have the same success I enjoyed last year, or preferably, more success, then I need to get back to playing so I can keep my focus at the appropriate level.
Similar to this, I also wrote about how I had slipped in my health goals. My focus slipped and I had a few weeks where I didn't put as much effort into it. As a result, I gained back all of the weight I had worked to lose. Once I realized what had happened, I made myself focus on it again.
I have worked hard on adhering to my dietary plans. I am still not exercising at a level I should be, but for me exercise is much harder than dieting. I am still attempting to get myself to exercise more, but it is a larger obstacle. However, I have had success again just in the dieting. I weighed in at 328 this morning, which is about where I was before I slipped. My goal is to continue this downward trend, and I still want to achieve my goal of losing 100 lbs by the end of the year. I believe it is still attainable, and I will continue to take the steps to accomplish it.
The last item I'm going to update on today is my attempt to write a novel. I started working on the world building process as well as outlining the general story. So far, I'm pleased with what I have. For now, I'm going to continue with the groundwork. I don't want to start writing until I tweak a few more details of the background, but things are progressing well.
It's been a crazy few weeks, and once again, I must apologize for not keeping this as up-to-date as I would like. I'm not going to say when the next post will be, because I have a tendency for that to be inaccurate, but I will make every attempt to have a new post next week. Thanks again, to everyone who takes the time to read this. I welcome all comments.
-Eddie
