Monday, May 16, 2011
30DLBL Day 7-12

Hello!

I'm not very sure which day is today, but due to other commitments, there are some days where I have to skip the task for the day.

30DLBL Day 7 - Creating An Action Plan

Day 7's task was to create an action plan for one of my most prioritised life goals. In Day 7, I started a project called Project 3P (Pretty Professional Portfolio). By the end of the project, as the name goes, I would have a Pretty Professional Portfolio! I'm giving myself six months to complete this, so the deadline would be November 2011.

This was a fairly easy task as I've already had the habit instilled (except for the fact that I don't complete my goals most of the time). Oh, speaking of which, I just reviewed the list of goals I have on the blog's side bar, and I've completed three of the goals - completing a full marathon by the age of 21, graduating with a CGPA of  >3.5 and to be admitted to NTU in August this year! =D *gives myself a pat on the back* That meant my goals worked! Other than that, I've miserably failed two of the goals, heh.

• GPA >3.5 Graduated with a CGPA of 3.686.
• 50kg by the end of 2009 Failed, as of today (May 2011), I've lost weight, but not significantly. Most of all, I still weigh above 50kg. =.=
• 45kg by the end of 2010 Failed big time!
• Get into NTU in 2011 Achieved!
• Complete a full marathon by 21 Yes! One of my proudest moments too. :)
• Visit Taiwan by 23 Dropping this as I have changed my perspective on travelling
• NYAA Gold by 25! Still working on it, need to be more persistent
• Visit Japan by 25 Dropping this too

Compared to the life goals I've set few days ago, my goals have changed so much. Travelling to Japan and Taiwan is no longer top on the list, in fact, now I look forward to volunteering overseas. I guess luxurious trips like these can wait. Working holidays and volunteering abroad are my current priorities when it comes to travelling! I've also reflected on the way I set goals for myself on random occasions (when I have the sudden urge), I realised it's not exactly effective. What normally happens is that I'd enthusiastically set the goals, write them somewhere (in this case, my neglected blog) and forget about them the next day. So, today, I jotted down my (monthly) goals on my organizer, and the same thing will happen for subsequent months. One thing for sure, I won't abandon my organizer for years to come because (1) I have spent money on that tiny (A6, which is only a quarter of a piece of A4 paper) but expensive (for its size) leather-covered organizer (2) I don't like the organizer on my iPhone, it seems unreliable (for me) (3) the papers in the organizer is refillable (and again, very expensive)!

I'm planning to create a few more action plans for my other goals, one of them being completing NYAA Gold. I've been stuck for quite a while and now that I have the Residential Project section settled, it's gonna lighten the load so much!

30DLBL Day 8 - Assessing My To-Do List

Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule? By the 80/20 rule, 20% of our inputs lead to 80% of our outputs. This means, only 20% of our daily tasks contributes to most of our achievements, self satisfaction, etc. This is a "More with Less" approach. Low input, high output. Day 8's task focuses on applying the 80/20 rule to our daily lives.

This was done yesterday when I was still having post-camp lethargy. Initially I only listed the tasks I've set for myself for the day - to plan for Cambodia/Vietnam trip, to complete the day's task for 30DLBL and to review my action plans, to take a nap (=.=), to register for AHM, chatting and the like. (Notice that Facebook was not mentioned. That's because I've been restricting my access to Facebook for the past week. It feels great.) These minute tasks were then categorised into 20% (high value, impactful) tasks and 80% (low value, time waster, even) tasks.

Throughout the day, I became increasingly conscious of what I was doing. I added activities into the sheet of paper I had in the morning to have an overview of what I was doing most of the time. I was spending most of my time on 80%. I spent 1.5 hour taking a nap, when I was supposed to take a half-hour power nap. To make myself feel better, I forced myself to do some work, which was a wasted effort. Instead of using the Internet wisely, I spent time reading blogs, reading comments, checking my mailbox excessively, etc. So, today, I listed everything that I have the tendency of doing, including time wasters. While I got enough rest and countered my lethargy, I didn't start the day on a high note today. I skipped my morning exercise because I was a little tired when I woke up. I'm off track for today's to-do list too.

I'm not going to feel guilty, so instead, I chose to do what I feel most inspired and now I'm back on track. Yay. Being aware of time wasters helped too.

30DLBL Day 12 - Declutter Your Space

Day 9-11 were meant to be breaks, so I took the liberty to start Day 12's task. The task for Day 12, which is today, requires us to declutter our space! Other than clearing out your workspace, the task also involves clearing out non-physical space such as mailbox, files/folders organisation, etc.

Well, my physical space is quite... easy. My room only consists of two plastic shelves (bought when the family was moving from Penang to Johor), one bookshelf, one small table and my foldable desk (which is kept when I leave for Singapore). Of all these containers, only 20% belongs to me - two drawers to keep my clothes, the small table to put my commonly reached possessions such as wallet, watch, phone, etc. and the foldable desk I've been using a lot lately. So where did all my stuff go? They're either in Singapore, or packed in paper boxes! HAHA.

I'm soooo glad I didn't have to move when I was young, because even after three years of moving to Johor, my parents *still* have things they bring from Penang everytime we're back. I'm thinking of decluttering my phsycal space in mid-July when I move in to hostel. Pray hard I'll be staying in the same room through my uni years (3.5-4 years). I'm not exactly messy, my things are quite organized, but I take FOREVER to organize them if I have to. Say for example, when I moved in to Bukit Panjang last year, I took two days to unpack and I still wasn't quite done. Sam, despite possessing more, took (a lot) less time to do it. =.= I should've been born a snail, not a human. D=

As for my virtual space! It's rather clean! I have the habit of dumping whatever I don't need on my desktop once in a while, or deleting friends off Facebook! Hee.

For The Past Few Days

During the camp, we had a heart-to-heart talk session around the Ring of Fellowship. Aaron asked what are our greatest fears in life. My greatest fear, at the moment, is to not have a purpose in life. And unbelievably, while sharing, I revealed my dream to become a TV presenter to a group of people I just met. It felt awkward because I have never, ever told anyone other than Kooi Khin, Mei Kuan and Nick. Not many shared their stories. It could be because they are still young (almost 3-4 years younger than those who shared), or that they're uncomfortable doing it. From there, I suspect humans' greatest fear might be to reveal their greatest fears, to expose their vulnerability to the world.

I've been thinking about relationships a lot lately - personalities, attitudes, perceptions, and the like that make human, human.

Do you ever think about this? Do you ask questions when you're puzzled? Who do you talk to then?

Labels: 30DLBL, thoughts