Hello comrades and welcome to the second improvement megathread of July! 
It's gonna be the middle of the month soon, it's a good time to review our progress and remind ourselves of the goals for this month.
Some discussion ideas:
Poster caption: "Learn, like Lenin!"
poster lore
The book held by the boy, “Childhood and School Years of [Vladimir] Il’ich’ [Lenin]", was written by Anna Il’ich’ Ul’ianova-Elizarova the eldest Ul’ianov sibling born to Il’ia Ul’ianov and Mariia Blank who were also Vladimir Lenin's parents. The statue depicts young Valdimir Lenin and the stamp in the book reads “For outstanding attendance and exemplary conduct”.
Learning more Spanish. I'm not tracking weight loss but I think fasting and vegan diet are doing it for me (I think?)
That makes sense since plants are less calorie dense than animal products. So when people switch to a plant based diet, they can eat more food than before and still lose weight. I lost 3kg recently without calorie tracking just by sticking to my plant based diet 
I backslid and had a tiny relapse some months back and stopped posting in these threads. I'm going to start posting here again, with a commitment to posting even if it's not going well.
I stopped running when I started doing gig work. Gig work is strangely addictive to me in the sense that I feel like I'm missing out on money any time I'm not on the app. So I hadn't had the time to run, but I realized I was making a choice to not make the time.
I've been running again for a week or so. It's going well, but I'm surprised at how quickly my ability dropped off. That first run wasn't even 1/3 of what I was doing in April, but it kicked my ass.
I've put back on some of the weight I'd previously lost. I've been trying to start intermittent fasting again, but it's tricky because my work is erratic. I've had some unexpectedly busy days where I felt like I needed to eat during my fast period. I also cheated in the evenings a few times and did the addiction thing where you're like, "I already had one candy bar, might as well have 5". I think I need to have my fasting hours start and end earlier, but I really like having a snack after work.
I haven't done much other than work and running. I have lots of projects that need doing, some that I want to do, and I want to start reading again. I also need to spend some time with my partner. We see each other daily and everything, but we haven't done anything together in months.
Looking forward to your posts! I think it's important to share even when it's not going well. We all have L's so we can help each other if we share them.
If you want to read more and you're interested in losing weight, you can feed two birds with one scone by reading How Not to Diet. It's a rigorously researched evidence-based book on healthy nutrition and weight loss. I finished reading it this year and it's a banger!
Weight loss progress kinda stalled. I didn't gain any weight but I've not lost any either. This is because I finished my workout schedule and haven't known what to do next. My final workout apparently burned 800 calories and it was really hard and rewarding.
I've been spending most of the week socialising. I hosted a party, went to the beach multiple times, went on a hike, went rock climbing. I've had a really fun week. I think it's important
Also I finally rejoined my org and officially joined a union!
roll call 
If anybody else wants to be added to the roll call, just let me know 
Stickied good luck
I've continued to maintain my 400+ day streak of going on a half hour walk every day, which has really served as the foundation from which I've built my other improvements on. My personal care and hygiene is undeniably the best that it's ever been, and unlike before it's driven by my desire to take care of myself and to keep my momentum going rather than the fear of being judged by others. I won't go into excruciating detail, since it's ultimately pretty mundane stuff that I think most (neurotypical) people are able to do without a second thought, but the main revelation for me was simply cutting out any opportunities for me to get distracted in the transitions between tasks. This involved rearranging my routine to make things flow more naturally into each other, doing prep work to reduce friction (e.g. laying out clothes the night before and making sure all devices are charged), and avoiding opportunities for me to get on my phone.
While I am now totally locked in on my morning routine and there's not much I'd change about it, I'm still struggling to follow through with my longer term goals^[Japanese is a notable exception—I've been really putting in the time and consistent effort with my flashcards and I've already started seeing the benefits in my comprehension] and I end up frittering away most of my free time. I think I'm going to try keeping a daily time diary to keep track of how I'm actually spending my time, since that has helped me stay more focused when I tried it before (it's really humbling to see in black-and-white that you spent three hours straight on random YouTube videos or whatever). Should probably ratchet my app timers back down as well.
On the social front, there's been some very minor progress, but in relative terms it's still something to celebrate. I reached out to a friend who I had been dodging for nearly two months—it was basically just a quick functional reply to something, but it lifted a huge weight off of my shoulders. Trying to keep my goals very modest...honestly, just sending a meme or a song or something once a week would be immense progress. I tend to get wrapped up in sending the perfect message, then not sending anything, then anxiety builds up because, well, if I'm breaking months of silence I'd better have something amazing to say!
Also trying to get better about replying to people on Hexbear...sorry if you're reading this and I've ghosted you before. Believe it or not, I used to be much, much worse, but that's still not an excuse to be rude. Talking to people is scary, and I've gone so long without regular social contact that I think I've fooled myself into thinking I don't need it and can just run at the first sign of trouble. But deep down I know I want to connect with people even if it means I will inevitably hurt people and be hurt. The hardest part is not self-sabotaging by letting my inaction do the hurting and immediately torpedoing any progress.
One thing that isn't yet a major concern but is worth keeping an eye on is my calorie intake. I am a tiny person and (daily walks aside) quite sedentary, so I've become accustomed to just eating two meals—a light breakfast and a heavier dinner + dessert. For the longest time I completely cut out snacks, but lately they've been creeping back in and I've even been having (gasp) lunch, and I think my waistline may be starting to show it (to be clear, it might be a couple of pounds). I've never struggled with weight in either direction, and I'd like to keep it that way. My roommate and I usually share most of our food, but I may talk with them about artificially having them claim the snacks and possibly even storing them in a separate location so as not to tempt me. Honestly, though, I think a big part of it is simply eating out of boredom to get a quick hit of dopamine. If I work more on my long-term projects and social goals, I suspect that the mindless grazing will abate.
So, concrete actions I'd like to take over the coming week:
If you like snacking, maybe it would be easier to replace them with healthy snacks instead of cutting back. For example, I like to eat fruit salads. My favourite is a banana+pear+peach combo with some lemon, honey and cinnamon. Good luck with your goals!
Yesterday I meal prepped 15 vegan burritos, now I have healthy dinner for the next 2 weeks in my freezer. I've been doing this for the past few months and it's an insane life hack. Highly recommended 
Ooh what do you put in your burritos?
I put soybeans, red kidney beans, chickpeas, black lentils, corn, bell pepper and tofu. I also make a salsa sauce with a bunch of herbs and spices Do you make burritos?
Few days of training left and I think I'm doing good, I've never missed a day or anything and I been keeping on my tests. After this I promised I'd help someone out with their epa license while I apply for jobs. Really hoping I find something if not the union option is there. My foot also has been recovering so I'll head back to the gym on the weekend, first cardio then strength training.
I also intend to continue my studies to further improve my hvac skills, wanna get my NATE cert so studying all I can to pass it and some specialties. Self study is tough but I'm gonna do what I can as much as I can. If I got a slump in not finding work immediately then I'll keep studying on my own.
A community which focusses on improving yourself. This can be in many different ways - from improving physical health or appearance, to improving mental health, creating better habits, overcoming addictions, etc.
While material circumstances beyond our control do govern much of our daily lives, people do have agency and choices to make, whether that is as "simple" as disciplining yourself to not doomscroll, to as complex as recreating yourself to have many different hobbies and habits.
This is not a place where all we do is talk about improving "productivity" (in a workplace context) and similar terms and harmful lifestyles like "grindset". Self-improvement here is intended to make you a generally better and happier person, as well as a better communist, and any other roles you may have in your life.
Rules and guidelines: