The Next 28-Day Challenge & an Epic Quest Travel Update!

Greetings from (my friend Lindsay’s couch in) beautiful Los Angeles, CA!

I’ve managed to get (and stay) sick for almost all of my time while I’ve been out here in Southern California.  It’s been over a week now and I’m still waking up feeling like death (what fun!), but don’t think that’s going to stop me from posting an update today!  Do you hear that, cold!?  Your weak attempts to slow me down are futile.

But enough about that – on to today’s article!

The Next 28-Day Challenge

Wow. Last month’s challenge was easily the most popular we’ve ever had here at Rebellion HQ, with over 100+ rebels participating.  We’ve added the next challenge section in for this challenge starting today, and we already have 40+people signed up.  Not bad considering I haven’t exactly announced it yet.

If you’re new here and want to know how these things work, it’s quite simple: head on over to the Nerd Fitness message boards, start a new thread in the 28-day challenge section, and post at least three goals you hope to accomplish over the next 28 days.  The first two goals should be fitness related, and the third should be “level up my life” related, whether it’s putting a “get out of debt” plan into place, planning a trip, whatever.

Remember my “how to NOT suck at goal setting” post?  It still holds true:

• “I want to lose weight” is a crappy goal.
• “I want to eat better” is a crappy goal.

You’re better than that. “I want to lose 8 pounds by February 28th” is a goal I can get behind.  “I plan on following a Paleo diet for 80% or more of my meals” is much more specific and makes it far easier to track successes and failures.

GET SPECIFIC!

If you’re interested in accomplishing something worthwhile in February and want to join in some friendly competition, head on over to the Nerd Fitness message boards and join the party.  Hey, 1340+ people can’t be wrong huh?

(Well, I guess we all COULD be wrong, but I think history will show that we’re all doing something right).

Taco Bell fires back

Last week, I wrote about the recent lawsuit that targeted the questionable quality of Taco Bell’s meat. Not surprisingly,  Taco Bell fired back at the lawsuit with a national ad campaign to tell its side of the story, and says it might even consider countersuing.  I’m quite interested to see how this whole thing plays out – kudos to Taco Bell for putting together a quality ad campaign, but I’ll still need to see the meat being produced and tested before I believe it’s of a respectable quality.

I think we had some great discussion in the comments section of the article, and even if nothing comes of the lawsuit, I’m glad that it shocked many people into actually putting some thought into what they’re really eating.

Epic Quest Travel and Random Updates

I’ll be boarding my flight to Syndey, Australia, on February 6th – Superbowl Sunday!  I leave on Sunday, and I arrive on Tuesday…which means for me Monday never really happens.  Okay it happens, but it happens during my 14-hour flight (which I WILL BE HEALTHY FOR, DAMNIT).

This is one week earlier than I had initially been scheduled to leave, so I’ll be spending the rest of today rearranging the rest of my travel dates. I think I’ll be adding a few extra days in New Zealand and some extra time to my Brisbane leg, as I’ll be taking a backpacker bus for a two-week adventure up the coast from there to Cairns (where I’ll spend four or five days getting certified and then scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef).

I’m going to see if I can get to Thailand a few days earlier as well, in time for the Songkran Festival (April 13-15th), a giant city wide festival/watergun fight that shouldn’t be missed.

In some random NF updates, I’ve done a few interviews recently:

• J-Wave Radio (Tokyo, Japan) – I did an interview with J-WAVE, a radio station in Tokyo Japan, about my upcoming trip – they even want me to come into the studio when I’m in Japan in May!  As long as they can help me find the Ninja Warrior studios, I’m all about it.  The whole interview is in English, but I have no idea what they’re saying before or after it (and the very end of the audio really weirds me out, as I don’t quite know what’s going on. Bonus points if you speak Japanese and can tell me wtf they’re saying).
• BlogcastFM – Last week I did an interview with Srini over at BlogcastFM, where I talked about the business aspect of Nerd Fitness.  We talk about the Rebellion, community, the Rebel Fitness Guide, and why I quit my job before ever having made a dime through NF.  It’s a long interview, and I tend to talk quite a bit (can you tell I’m slightly passionate about this stuff?), but it’s a fun listen for anybody trying to start their own online company/community.

I also have a few announcements that I can’t quite talk about yet, but should hopefully be able to bring up within the next few posts. One of them will take place in San Fran in late May/early June and is something that scares the sh** out of me (which is precisely why I’m doing it).

One Month In…

So, how is your 2011 going so far? After one month, are you still holding strong with your goals and resolutions?  Are you on track, or have you already fallen off?

Other than this freaking illness, I’d like to think I’m still on track for my goals:

• I’m currently reading through Benny’s Language Hacking Guide (non-affiliate link) and deciding on what language to learn next.
• I’ve already met up with three NF readers in person while in San Diego, hope to meet some more here in LA, and definitely plan on meeting others when I get to Sydney (I’m lookin’ at you, Dawsy!).
• The next Nerd Fitness e-book is under way (strength and muscle building), and I should have some updates for you really soon.
• We should be launching hooded NF sweatshirts in the next two weeks (which will allow me to cross off the “Have a clothing line” quest from my Epic Quest).
• I’ve already started losing weight (from being sick for the past week), but I’m anxious to start exercising again and eating more so that I don’t come back to the states in May looking like Skeletor.

Your turn – are you still on track?

If you fell off the wagon, how are you going to get back on?

-Steve

Today’s Rebel Hero: Jeanie I. sent along this picture of her doing a chin up on a tree, on a beach, in her Nerd Fitness T-shirt.  Pretty sweet for January.

As it turns out, this photo was taken of her 876th chin-up in a row.  I told you these shirts had magic powers!

Have you ordered your Nerd Fitness shirt yet? Pick one up and send me a photo – you could be the next Rebel Hero!

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