The first week of the new year has already concluded and I've decided I'm going to be making weekly posts summing up how much work I've put into achieving my goals. This will hopefully give me some sort of accountability to not only myself but to my followers on here. The fact that after a week the posts will forever be on the Steemit blockchain gives it an added kick too.

So, to start it all off: Cycling.

It sounds so embarrassing to type out but I did a total of 154.4km (95.9 miles) and it was the most riding in a single week than I'd done since the start of October last year. I guess that is somewhat of an achievement as it bucks my recent lazy trend but it is far from what I should be doing. It also meant I earned a few extra quid to spend on crypto from doing deliveries.

My international bikepacking race entries are being finalised as I type and I will be letting you all know exactly what races I will partaking in this year when I've fully completed the application processes. I will just give you a hint: It's looking good.

Anyhow, aside from riding less than 100 miles, I still did 3 static bike training sessions, drank a lot more water than I had been and leaned towards less junky food choices. It's a good start but I'll be needing to do a lot more than this is if I want to truly succeed this year. Mediocrity is not an option.

Below is my 'heat map' for the riding I did this week.

Being more of a creator than a consumer.

I think I was quite successful in this regard. I got into a good habit of posting on Steemit and had more of a flow of consciousness style on Facebook. I was even fortunate enough to receive some upvotes from large Steem holders which was a happy shock to the system. I managed to grow my following on here too which is super awesome. (Thank you!)

Previously, I had been quite hesitant to overshare on social media in the belief that people didn't really want to hear what I had to say. I actually seemed to have quite a lot of good feedback just posting almost as soon as an idea or thought popped into my head. Usually I would have pondered something and deemed it irrelevant. This kinda flows into the next goal...

Building my self-confidence.

I got some good traction on Steemit and Facebook which helped me a bit in this regard but there is a stark difference between typing and hitting 'Post' and speaking to strangers in real life. I went to a vegan drinks meet-up and I found it incredibly awkward. The event is specifically intended as a place to meet new people but I just found it too much. I ordered a pizza and retreated to a solitary table with my mate. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's because I don't drink alcohol. I've heard drink referred to as 'social lubricant'. Maybe whoever coined that term was right after all. This will be an extremely tough one to work on for me.

Making 1000% on my crypto portfolio by the end of the year.

I haven't really been doing that much trading this year, if any. I'm mainly a hodler that occasionally rebalances. However, I bought a couple of shitcoins that I'd rather not publicise due to the gut-wrenching embarrassment (I'm sure I'll tell you all about it if I get 10,000% returns on them though lol!) and closed some Bitcoin shorts that I'd had open before the plummet from $20k. I think my strategy this year will be hodling big caps that I believe in and mucking around with some really scrappy small caps with shorter term trades. Maybe some Bitcoin swing trading too. I find Bitcoin to be the 'easiest' to swing trade due to the longer price history and higher liquidity.

Either way, my Blockfolio (only includes my hodl coins) is looking good on the weekly...

365 days of NoFap.

I don't want to gross you all out with the gruesome details too much on this one but I'm glad to report everything is going smoothly. I think having my energy more refocused into training and creating content has meant my mind hasn't wandered to where it shouldn't - or at least where I don't want it to.

Someone very dear to me also commented on my appearance saying I looked younger because my skin looked clearer. Maybe it's the results of one week of NoFap? Maybe it's just because I'm drinking more water and eating less garlic bread. Either way, it seems I'm on the right track and I'm determined to keep the positive momentum going deep into 2018.

As a treat for all of you who were intrigued enough to read this far; here is a photo I took yesterday on a trip to Stonehenge I did with a friend who is visiting from California. It was freezing.

Will any of you also take up the challenge of posting a weekly or monthly accountability post? No one seems to have used the tag 'weeklyaccount' yet so I'm going to grace it with it's inaugural use. Tag your post with it and it can be the one-stop shop for being accountable to yourself, your goals, your followers, the blockchain and everyone else on Steemit!

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Shoot me an up-vote if you felt inspired by this content and leave a comment if you want to chat. Always looking for new motivational and adventurous people to follow on here!

Much love,
Joseph