One more month until 2026.

Happy Sunday and two weeks down into the Project!  This week has overall been very successful, with again, room for improvement for the first week of December and the last month of 2025.

First up, the morning routine!  Utilizing the reward of coffee after my morning workout has been great, especially since this past week I have made sure to follow through with it even on my days off.  At the beginning of the week, I stuck to the five minute workout, but by Thursday I was itching for a little bit longer and was naturally doing between ten and fifteen minutes.  Last week I mentioned that it was hard for me not having a workout ready or should I say planned, so I was going to have YouTube videos already lined up.  Well, I ended up not doing that and just went with what felt good for that morning.  Whether it was a walk, a stretching/flexibility workout, or a strength training workout.  Although, I added something different today and am tentatively going to incorporate it.  Belly dancing.  Originally, I talked about adding dancing but nothing was really speaking to me or getting me excited.  Until, belly dancing popped in my head.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and did almost twenty minutes without realizing it. 

Next up, my hobbies for the week.  It's almost like I had a switch up from last week, did great on working out every day but slacked on the hobbies, hahaha.  I'll even out eventually, lol.  Taking a look back on the week, it's clear I need to tighten up my evening routine.  Unfortunately, I've been getting distracted by social media and phone games, but still managed a few things.  That being said, I did not practice any chess this week, didn't do a typing lesson, nor did I make a new recipe this week.  So clearly need to make some tweaks to that.

However, I did manage to work on learning a language, but did decide to switch it up.  Learning French is still on my list of languages to learn, but replaced it with Spanish.  Growing up in Texas, I did take Spanish class middle school and some of high school, but have not retained much.  Given the current politic climate, I decided it is my duty to learn Spanish.  I found SpanishwithTati.com and decided to utilize the list of most used 1000 words.  I purchased a binder and already had loose leaf paper on hand, so I've been making notes and will be also making note cards to practice for this week.

In addition to the language replacement, I decided to add in learning how to Code.  I've been a dog groomer for almost 20 years and have not learned any other life work skill.  What better time than now?  One perk of my social media doom scrolling is finding resources.  Coddy.tech popped up in my feed and they offer free coding lessons.  Unfortunately, it is much like Brilliant.org (where I take math lessons) where you accumulate "energy" in order to work through the lessons.  So, it's roughly 2 lessons a day.  You can pay for more, but that's one of the points of this project is finding FREE resources that I test out and can share in the future.  What works/what doesn't work type of deal. 

Moving onto what I've been reading this week... well, I really haven't been.  Hence why also needing to work on my evening routine.  At work, I usually listen to an audio book.  But with the holiday this past week and a lot going on mentally, it was hard for me to concentrate on my book and ended up listening to music.  This upcoming week though, I'm determined to get back on track with my reading/audio books.

Right now in my Libby carousel, I have:
- A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley (kindle)
- Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (audio book, 31% the way through) (est. 16 hrs)
- A Promised Land by Barack Obama (audio book) (est. 29 hrs)
- Hitler: Ascent 1889-1939 by Volker Ulrich (audio book) (est. 35 hrs)
- A Brief History of Time by Stephen W. Hawking (audio book) (est. 6 hrs)

 Clearly, most of my audio books are not short reads, so I especially need to get listening, also given the fact that two of them are due in 11 days.

Moving onto the goals for the upcoming week.  With the positive momentum I'm having with working out and the current desire to work out a little bit longer each morning, I am going to add five more minutes to my morning workouts, with the goal of ten minutes per workout.  Since adding five more minutes, I need to adjust my wake up and bedtime routines, changing my times.  Starting tomorrow morning, my new wake up time will be 6:15am and starting tonight 10:15pm bedtime.  

Before going to bed tonight, I am going to try and plan out a new evening routine, where I can put in my hobbies during the days that I work.  They are very easy to incorporate on my days off, but my work days are where I am struggling.  With that evening routine, is adding the time to read again.  Reviewing the previous two weeks of this project, I think I will make a NO PHONE rule from 9:15pm.  I'll start that tonight and report back next week how it went.  But I have realized I get sucked into my phone before bed and then get drawn to either social media or a phone game and then before I know it, it's my bed time or even a bit past it.  

That does it for this weeks update.  Like I've mentioned, overall I feel this week was a success.  Room for improvements this week include making actual time for my hobbies, no phone time, and reading time.  Wish me luck!  And let's all have a wonderful December!

Until next time! 

One Week Down.

Happy Sunday and down the first official week of this Project!  It's definitely been a whirlwind of a week, with lots of ups and downs, but I got through it and happy to report back the victories and needs for improvement.  Just in case you didn't read last weeks post, here's a basic overview of what I was hoping to achieve:

For starters, a morning wake up time of 6:20am and a bedtime of 10:20pm.  I was giving myself grace on my days off on wake up times but still needed to maintain the 10:20pm bedtime. Every day of the week also had a different workout and hobby planned.  Right now, the goal is to spend 5 minutes working out and 5 minutes on a hobby.  If either spill over the time, that is not an issue, but the overall goal right now is turning these activities into daily habits/rituals.  The more granular you make them, the more likely you are to keep them.  That being said, Sunday is for baking & Pilates, Monday learning Chess & flexibility/stretching, Tuesday learning French & boxing, Wednesday Math practice & karate, Thursday improving Typing & strength training, Friday trying a new recipe & dancing, and lastly Saturday with a walk & video games.

Minus my days off, I ended up achieving the wake up and bedtime routine solidly.  It has been extremely helpful during my work days, I haven't been as exhausted, I've been more alert and it has helped improve my mood.  However, I'm not ready to move forward in adding more time to my hobbies/workouts, which would also affect my wake up and bedtime routine.  Before diving into my explanation, let's go over the week.

Sunday I did manage some baking, I made biscuits and a cheddar jalapeno loaf. The biscuits were okay, a little dry, but something I could work with.  The loaf was really good though!  Need to add more jalapenos because it didn't have the kick I was looking for, but super tasty.  I used this biscuit recipe by _ and this load recipe by _.  Today I'm going to be trying a 2-ingredient biscuit recipe, will obviously report back how it went.  As for my workout, that was not done.

Monday was more successful.  I found the Chess app (also known as Chess.com), where you can learn to play Chess for free. I'm practically starting Chess as a complete newbie.  I knew the pieces names and some of the basic movements, other than that, I am a novice.  I've gone through a few lessons and started making notes in a notebook.  As for my workout, I did a bit of stretching working towards greater flexibility!

Tuesday was a success in my workout, although I am going to have to search for a few other workouts for boxing on YouTube, but did not manage to work on learning French.  Since that day, I have been searching for more free resources, which I will share at a later time.

For Wednesday, the dreaded hump day, I had a lot going on that day and did not manage a workout in, which was also hindered by the fact I didn't have a workout/lesson picked out to make it easier for me to do the workout.  But, I found Brilliant.org for my Math Practice. Like Chess.com they also have an app which makes it even more convenient.  It is a free app, but there is a downfall with it.  You are given keys to unlock the lesson and you're only given 2 a day for free.  So if it's concepts you already understand, you tent to breeze through the lesson quickly.  It seems there are a wide range of lessons that they offer, but it will take a long while to unlock them at this rate.  So, I have been utilizing the app daily, but I'm going to look into other mediums for learning.

On Thursday, I did a simple arm workout with 5 lb weights.  It reminded me why I need to add more strength training into my workout routines, hahaha.  But for my hobby, typing, I ended up not completing that after work.  I had a long, hard day and ended up getting home around 6pm and then falling asleep at around 7:30.  I was thoroughly exhausted.  I even ordered take out on my way home because I wasn't even up for cooking anything.

Friday is where it gets... well, interesting.  Since I went to bed so early Thursday night, I was wide awake at 2:30am.  I tried falling back to sleep, but by 3:30, I ended up getting up.  This is where a problem started.  I ended up doom scrolling for about 2 hours.  This is precisely why I am trying to add more hobbies to my daily life.  Doom scrolling has been taking over my life and affecting my mood negatively.  By the time I realized how long I had been doom scrolling, I got up to start my day and decided to throw in some Typing practice.  Bad. Idea.  My mood quickly soured because I couldn't get out of my head and was getting frustrated because I kept making mistakes while typing.  I wanted to chuck my keyboard right out the window.  When I caught myself about to physically smack my keyboard on my desk, I decided to call it quits.  Not a proud moment, but a moment nonetheless.  I'm going to have to seriously do a full detox of my IG feed, because it affects my mood so negatively that it trickles into the rest of my day.  Needless to say, I allowed my emotions to get the best of me and did not workout or cook a new recipe.  In my defense on the recipe, I forgot that was going to be for Friday lol.

Last up, Saturday, which was a much more successful, enjoyable day.  I woke up on time, got my walk in, and when I got home from a long day, I made Buldak ramen and played some Borderlands 3.  Finished off with eating some Tillamook Coffee Ice Cream.  I then had an everything shower, got into some cozy pj's and watched Home Alone 2.

Looking back at this week, I will say I've been in an overall better mood, I've been happier, and feel good knowing I'm actually doing things to add more richness and value to my life.  There are definitely room for improvement, but I would call this a success.

A few things outside of this that I was hoping to maintain was my daily reading habit, which I'm sad to say has not fully been maintained.  I am lucky in the fact that at work I can listen to audiobooks and managed to finish one audiobook, Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg and started Becoming by Michelle Obama (which I'm almost through with).  However, physical reading has been lacking.

Another huge accomplishment for me this week was going and submitting my application for my Passport.  I'm almost 38 years old and have never owned a passport.  This is a huge deal for me, because I never could save up the money in order to make getting a passport a priority, but for a birthday present to me, I made it a priority.  I can't wait to get it in.

Now, let's talk about tweaking and rooms for improvement.  

As I mentioned, I am going to be sticking with the 6:20am/10:20pm routine.  Missing a couple of hobbies and workouts shows that I am not ready to add onto my routine, which I'm not upset or ashamed about.  The main focus right now is getting into the subconscious habit of a routine, meaning I don't have to think about what I am doing next.

Utilizing the coffee after the workout I feel was a very smart move, because it gives me something to look forward to, a reward, to help reinforce the habit. But I think I'm going to be switching out a few workouts.  After doing the arm workout, I realized more strength training needs to be added to my routine.  I've researched that 3 days a week is best, but I'm also afraid I will get bored, so I plan to stick with just 2 workouts a week.  I'm also going to have a backup plan that if I can't find a workout in time for a specific workout I'd like to do (say boxing or karate) I will do a simple walk.  

However, to help alleviate that a bit, I am going to add 10 minutes a day on Sundays to plan out for my week ahead.  When I mentioned about clearing out my IG, I've been trying to find and follow more women who recommend books, tools, tips, etc. on improving your daily life and mind, and found a couple videos that recommended roughly planning out your week ahead on Sunday.  So, I will take the time to do that AND find resources/workouts for the certain hobby days to help set myself up for an even more successful week. 

Other than that, I am going to try and recreate this week with my original guidelines that I crafted last week and see how it goes.  I've also been toying around the idea of creating another IG account that coincides with this blog, in order to share all the free resources I am utilizing to help other people.  Especially given this administrations current tactics, I live in the US, women especially need as much help as possible to fight back against this regime.  

I think that'll do it for now.  Thanks for stopping by and until next week! 

Let's Work on Being Relentless, Not Restless.

It's coming close to the end of the year and like so many individuals, I am reflecting upon 2025 and trying to recollect my achievements for the year.  Unfortunately, my biggest achievement was simply surviving, which hey, a win is a win.  But I don't want my 2026 to be that way.  Granted, the only actual goal I made was reading 25 books in 2025, which, I'm on track to completing (currently sitting at 19 of 25 books).  Something I can add to my achievement board. However, I'm aiming for a more diverse and intellectually stimulating 2026.

There are three books that I've read that gave me a different perspective in making change to my life more permanent and sustainable:

Atomic Habits by James Clear
13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do by Amy Morin
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

All, essentially, broached on the topics of in order to make sustainable change you need to alter your habits and routines.  We are all ingrained with daily habits and routines; we perform them without hesitation or thinking of what to do next.  If we want to change our lives, we need to change our habits.  In comes this blog, The Restless Archer.  

For years this blog has sat, previously showcasing my transgressions with my life, woe is me mentality, yet not putting forth effort to create change.  Reading back through my now deleted posts, I was blaming the world for my problems, envying people with far more "spectacular" (social media highlight reel) lives, wallowing in my own self-pity.  How pathetic.  The only person in control of your future, is yourself.  You cannot blame society, your past, or individuals for actions you refuse to take in order to dictate your future.  Like Bingo says, "Get it together, Sheila!"

So, what to do?  Essentially, make goals, break down goals into actionable steps, but make them granular, as @gabbbyle mentioned on her IG reel.  What does Gabby mean by granular?  Making the steps you take so basic and easy to follow that it's almost impossible to not follow through.  Her example she used in her reel was, go to bed at 10:30pm, so I can wake up at 6:30am to go for a run at 7:00am.  Utilizing her ideas and merging them with what I have read, I'm taking the steps even further.

For example, say you wanted to be a 5:00am wake up person.  Well, if you are use to waking up at 8am every morning, jumping from 8am to 5am is a huge leap and you are more than likely not going to stick with it.  Here comes the gradual aspects from Atomic Habits.  Instead of starting off trying to jump into the 5am morning routine... aim for 7:50am, just ten minutes earlier and account this into your bed time.  Instead of a midnight bedtime, aim for 11:50pm.  Do this for a week, then keep subtracting ten minutes each week until you hit your desired wake up goal.  Make sense?

Another aspect of new habits is creating a reward system after you've completed the new habit.  Let's say you want to be a morning workout person, after you have managed a morning routine where you now can add working out to your routine, maybe reward yourself with your daily coffee/matcha/shake after you did your workout.  It takes a daily habit you already have an place it after your new habit, helping solidify a new routine.

Moving on to the BIG goals. These are goals that may take me several years to accomplish, but I'm going to utilize this list and break them down into smaller, more manageable goals.
01. Workout for 1 hour every single day.
02. Learn 6 new languages (Spanish, French, Russian, Arabic, Korean, Japanese)
03. Move out of the United States.
04. Read everyday for 45 minutes a day.
05. Learn how to play Chess.
06. Advance my math skills.
07. Leave my current line of work for a new field.
08. Have more hobbies.
09. Be a 5am Morning Girly!
10. Be Debt Free.

There are a few goals I have specific to 2026 which are to read 30 books in 2026 and craft a brand new daily morning and evening routine.

I have some ideas of how to break these down, that I have written in my journal.  But right now, I'm going to be focusing on what I'm going to work on this week, what small changes I can implement this week to help me towards accomplishing my big goals.

In my journal, I wrote down small ideas for each day of the week.  The goal is to incorporate at least 5 minutes of a hobby, 5 minutes of a workout, and wake up/go to bed 10 minutes early every day this week.

SUNDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Baking
Workout: Pilates

MONDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Learning Chess
Workout: Flexibility/Stretching

TUESDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Learning French
Workout: Boxing

WEDNESDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Math Practice
Workout: Karate

THURSDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Improving Typing
Workout: Strength Train

FRIDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Trying a New Recipe
Workout: Dancing

SATURDAY 6:20am wake up / 10:20pm bedtime
Hobby: Video Games
Workout: Walk

Luckily I do read every day but right now its been about (on average) 10 to 15 minutes.  So my daily goal of actual reading will be a 20 minute goal.  I'm very lucky with that at work I listen to audio books which helps me achieve my reading goal faster, but I took several months off of listening to audio books and switched it with music.  It ebbs and flows with listening to books and listening to music.

One other goal that hasn't been mentioned is keeping up with this blog to help maintain accountability and progress.  It would be amazing if I could update it everyday, but like I have stressed throughout this post, it's best to set small, granular goals in order to achieve the large ones.  So, I'm setting a goal of every Sunday to report back how the week went and a set up for the following week.  

What are some of your big goals?  Whether it be for the new year or the next five years.  Let me know!  But also share how you plan to break these goals down into simple, granular steps that sets you up for absolute success. Until next week!