More doors close.. and more questions to ask about myself. More wonder about what more exciting things the future has in store…

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My super-public- habit tracker – Feb progress: Daily Exercise 7/11 Blogging 9/11  No snooze 11/11

Counts are now skewed… Need a more efficient tracker. Ideas?

“Listening intently is far more valuable than speaking immensely ”

Such a powerful statement!

Fear is good, panic is bad.

A passing comment I heard from someone who was getting over his fear of public speaking. The statement is very powerful.

We fear fear. But fear is awesome! Fear prepares our body for fight. Fear prepares our body to perform at our best. Fear is an indicator that we care. Fear shows us we are alive.

It is important to recognise our fear & learn to enjoy it. Fear keeps us going – don’t fear fear! Enjoy it instead. The panic will go away on its own.

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My super-public- habit tracker – Feb progress: Daily Exercise 5/9 Blogging 7/9  No snooze 9/9

Slept an entire day without any alarms. Should count towards no snoozing 😉

We know that we shouldn’t just sit on money. We should do something with the money – spend it, invest it or share it.

It’s interesting to think of happy memories as a currency too.We earn “happy memories” by our own actions – time with loved ones, an exciting experience or just simple gestures. Through life we collect many of these happy memories – now we have choice to keep them locked in some locker or they can be put to use.  Don’t just have a happy memory – cherish the happy memories, share your happiness , look back at them often.

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My super-public- habit tracker – Feb progress: Daily Exercise 4/7 Blogging 5/7  No snooze 7/7

Bad end of the week! Picking it all up again!

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.

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My super-public- habit tracker – Consecutive days  of : Daily Exercise 3 , Blogging 5 , No snooze 5 (Started Feb 1 – Count as of yesterday)

My day wasn’t going too well yesterday. It started late, I had to switch tasks often and a task I was working on got so complicated my head started to fry up.

Things changed at 4pm, I decided to leave my work behind and just go to the gym. I knew I wasn’t doing great mentally-  so I deserved a break and needed to change my mindset. When I came back to work again – I didn’t quite feel very happy or very productive(no gym magic). So I started to fake it – I made sure I cracked a joke every few minutes & I chuckled loudly. Walla! I continued working past mid night & had a very productive time!

So my lessons?

1) There are times when I am down. I’ve gotten better at identifying them & walking away.

2) Walking away to the cafe was my default response – I’ve now managed to take myself to the gym instead.

3) When walking away still doesn’t help – fake it! Laugh a bit & soon the world changes around you.

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My super-public- habit tracker – Consecutive days  of : Daily Exercise 2 , Blogging 4 , No snooze 4 (Started Feb 1 – Count as of yesterday)

When negotiating a pay rise or a bigger project, we are asked to compared ourselves to those who weren’t as lucky as ourselves. When you receive a less than expected reward- you are told its ok, they got lesser. While this is not so convincing, the more convincing argument is usually – you were lucky to even be here, just imagine the plight of those many others in country XYZ; you are very privileged.

Now I agree completely with the privilege theory. However I think there are two emotions getting mixed up here. First is the idea of privilege and how that means you need to give back to help those in need. Second is the idea of privilege and how you must ensure your privilege is fully utilised to achieve something bigger. Of course, by achieving larger things you can give back more as well. But importantly, we need to recognise that because we are privileged we have 2 duties. The duty to give back to others, but you also the duty to achieve more.

Fully utilise the privilege to achieve more. Remember your privilege and give more. Don’t remember your privilege and settle for smaller things.

It’s dangerous to confuse the two emotions – because instead of doing more because you are privileged, you are settling more!

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Don’t break the chain (Started Feb 1 – Count as of yesterday)

Daily Exercise 1 , Blog 3 , No snooze 3

It’s a month into the year- how are your resolutions working for you?

If you are stuck like me (my exercise/reflection habits) , I recommend that you think hard about the goal. Convert the goal into a process goal or a theme goal rather than one final milestone. For example, Instead of “get fitter and lose x kg” goal, move to “exercise everyday” or better still “exercise at least 7 mins everyday” or EVEN better still “exercise at least 7 mins first thing in the morning”.

The trick is to find a way to measure something everyday- I mark a calendar on a fitness app. I am looking to spend time each day reflecting and learning- but my diary habit hasn’t kicked in. I am starting to like the calendar on the right side of this blog to measure it.

Still working through these struggles – so let me know if you have better ideas!

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Don’t break the chain (Starting Feb 1 – as of yesterday)

Daily Exercise 0 , Blog 2 , No snooze 2

From Leo Babauta’s Zen habits:

What I’ve been learning is that happiness and contentment and greatness isn’t out there. It’s not where everyone else is, even if it seems like it. You can spend your whole life chasing this happiness, contentment, dreams, greatness, coolness, and never reach it. That’s because it’s right where you are now.

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Instead, turn to where you are right at this moment. Pause and feel your body, your breath, and all the sensations surrounding you right now. See how this moment contains so much that you don’t normally notice, if you start paying attention.
Realize that this moment is enough. All around you, right now, is a moment that is as high quality as any of the possibilities that often enter your mind of what you should be doing or where you should be. Those ideal experiences aren’t of any higher quality than the experience you’re having right now.

In December last year, I hit about 70 consecutive days of exercise. I thought a new habit was born.

In January this year, I exercised 7 times in total. That’s less than 20% of the days & horrible turn for the worse.

In January I did change one habit successfully – never snoozing an alarm! Happy to say I’ve survived quite alright without the snooze feature! I also wanted to reflect and blog more often – in January I managed 12 out of 31 days. I will continue to push towards the daily habit!

I think the key to both the exercise & the reflection habit is to get them done early. To an early February! Until next month 🙂