29 Before 29 – Results

I celebrated my birthday two weeks ago marking the end of my 29 Before 29 list. I accidentally gained 20 pounds at one point this year, signaling increasing age and the death of my fast metabolism. I didn’t believe Alexis when she would pat me on the stomach and tell me I was getting a belly, but the scale doesn’t lie!

Below is a list of the goals I completed, some with a hyperlink to a more in-depth post.

Health

#1 Eat Fours Serving of Vegetables for 200 Days

508 servings of spring mix, 163 servings of kale, 116 serving of carrots, and 47 servings of broccoli made up the 956 servings of vegetables for the year. That’s most vegetables I’ve eaten in a year BY FAR, four times more than last year. I learned that just because I eat a lot of healthy food doesn’t mean I can get away with eating a lot of junk food. There is no volume of vegetable consumption that can counteract daily trips to Taco Bell and Chick-Fil-A. I plan to rectify that problem with my next list.

#2 Drink 10 Cups of Water for 200 Days

This was a bad goal. I would procrastinate til the end of the day, drink 10 cups of water before bed, and then get up three times in the middle of the night to use the restroom. A better goal would be to eliminate soda or to drink a glass of water every morning upon waking. For futures lists, I’ll include an option of replacing goals if the original goal is not fulfilling the intended purpose.

#3 Eat Four Servings of Fruit for 200 Days

218 servings of blueberries, 202 servings of Naked Juice, 174 servings of apples, and 140 servings of bananas made up a large chunk of the 917 servings of fruit for the year, four times more than last year.

#4 Meditate For 200 Days

I meditated for 5 minutes for 201 days. You’d think I’d get better at meditating the more I did it, but my mind continues to drift. It was still effective, though. Feels like a calming mental reset, increasing the distance between emotions and reactions.

Triathlon

#5 Bike 5,000 miles

I biked exactly 5,000 miles, putting in 176 miles on the trainer the final day, and 1,274 miles the final month to reach this goal. I’ve had mileage goals the past four years and this is the first time I’ve reached one. I did not accomplish my running and swimming goals, but here’s a look at my updated distance totals for each of the last four years:

Goal #5 Bike 5,000 Miles – 5,000.08 Miles (28B28: 1941.46 Miles, 27B27: 1935.53 Miles, 26B26: 2042.82 Miles)
Goal #6 Run 1,000 Miles – 437.79 Miles (28B28: 732.71 Miles, 27B27: 589.57 Miles, 26B26: 654.60 Miles)
Goal #7 Swim 500,000 Yards – 209,663 Yards (28B28: 162,913 Yards, 27B27: 69,311 Yards, 26B26: 154,868 yards

#10 Learn To Do All Bike Maintenance

By watching YouTube videos, and lots of trial and error (including ruining a brand new shift lever) , I learned how to replace brake cables, shift cables, shifters, front and rear derailleur, chain, and cassette. The benefit of learning bike maintenance includes lower cost parts (buying online vs the bike shop), no labor costs, instant bike maintenance  (rather than waiting on the bike shop), and a better understanding of how my bike works. There’s a learning curve to bike maintenance, but the volume of miles I’ve put in has made it worthwhile.

Lethal Engineering / Lethal Tri

#14 Ultimate Computer Setup Video

#13 Halloween Video

#17 Finish Basement Workshop

I get immense satisfaction from making things and my workshop is now fully equipped to support that.

Business

#19 Pursue Two Railroads For Additional Business

This was a half-hearted effort. I only filled out supplier applications for two of the Class I railroads. I didn’t place any cold calls, send any emails, or attend any conferences. In order to continue to grow our business, I need to be more proactive.

#20 Train One Other Person for Checking Responsibilities

We’ve got a fantastic group of employees and focusing on training them has been a great investment.

Adventure/Other

#22 Bike The Entire Cowboy Trail

My first multi-day self-supported bike trip. Cycling 175 miles across the sandhills region of Nebraska was exhausting at times, but the views in a couple spots made up for it.

#26 Read 20 Books

My favorite of those 20 books were:

1. Superhuman by Habit
2. How to Fail At Almost Everything and Still Win Big
3. Dune
4. Why Buddhism Is True
5. A Mind For Numbers
6. The Wright Brothers

#27 Net Worth > $100,000

You’re not supposed to talk about money, but discussing earnings/savings/investing with my friends who are good at it as well as reading the Mr. Money Mustache blog has shifted my perspective from living paycheck to paycheck to saving as much as possible. Our net worth increased by ~$60k this year to $121,872.

#28 Track Goals for 200 Days

I’ve got an excel spreadsheet that I fill out daily, with a sheet for each goal.  I filled out this spreadsheet 316 times, staying on top of all my goals.

#29 Review Goals for 200 Days

With 29 goals, it’s easy to forget some of them. By filling out my spreadsheet daily, I was reminded of all my goals.

Overall, I Completed 16 of My 29 Goals

Sixteen completed goals is far more than the previous four years I’ve made these lists (25B25: 3, 26B26: 7, 27B27: 3, 28B28: 5). This is a result of my commitment contract. The threat of having to pay money to my friend Matt Brand was enough motivation to consistently pursue my goals. I didn’t stick to my contract completely, giving up sometime in April and not paying Matt for the failures. However, I sent him over $750 in fines before then. He spent the money by buying me subscriptions to the great literary magazines of ‘Girls and Corpses’ and ‘Portable Restroom Operator’. What a great friend!

I’m Turning 30 Next Year

A monumental birthday deserves some large goals. 30 Before 30 List coming next week.