Author: alearningaday

It helps to question the purpose of an action.. especially if it is repeated.

Often, I tend to find myself doing things out of habit – the purpose has long become obsolete..

So, why exactly am I doing what I am doing?

If I don’t see a clear reason, it’s time for change..

Ha ha.. Good morning.. have a great day!! :)

A good reminder..

People are like ice-bergs.. the 10% on the outside that is visible is easy to see.

The 90% below – much tougher to understand..

Each person takes their own time to get comfortable with revealing that 90% to someone..

Acceptance is the key..

To love, we have to give ourselves to people.. and wait..

These things work 2 ways..

Good morning.. Have a great day! :)

Writing my final year project. As a close someone pointed out, it is the ‘last paper in NUS. Lot’s of incentive to get it over with!’.

Not entirely my last 1 I guess. Still got 1 humongous project report to go for a design module and 1 not so humongous one. But, small technicalities aside, it is definitely the ‘big one’..

It’s a special time, staying up and watching my Gtalk ‘online’ list fill up with a slew of batchmates, who I’m sure, are inching towards their page targets of 50/60/100..

Nice times, these university days! While I may complain about writing this monster, I know that the luxury afforded during these years will probably not come by again for a long long time..

31 pages down.. many more to go..

Oh, and Good Morning – I’m hoping to nap sometime soon..

I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occassions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot . . . and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why . . . I succeed.”

– Michael Jordan

Here’s to falling.. and rising again! :)

the more (people) we meet..

the more we give ourselves to..

the more we listen..

the more we understand..

the more we love..

..

The biggest factors that hog up up band-width are –

1) A task that is not in our control..

2) A looming task that I don’t want to do..

3) A feeling of purposeless-ness or direction-less-ness on a task

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These issues are all mental. Generally, when all 3 of these come together, it causes a ‘snap’. Most of the issues I face (atleast) are just in the mind – not-so-positive stress is always mental, feeling of tiredness is generally mental among others..

It always amazes me how I tend to forget everything when I am playing a game of football, or more recently, tennis but somehow, when I’m sitting in my room and waiting to start on a task, every small niggle seems to come back..

The key, I’ve found, is a lack of motivation..

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Not to worry, it’s not just a learning about a problem. The only solution that has worked right now is to break it down into 3 steps(at-least) that I can ‘see’ or visualize, 3 steps that would lead me closer to the goal..

As long as I have these 3 steps for whatever task, I always have enough energy. When I don’t, we go back to line 1.

KEY: Focus energy on 3 small next steps – the first of which could be as simple as ‘Open the document’ but get moving!
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Practical learnings from my FYP. Who would’ve thunk??

It is a very good practice to put big rocks in place. In fact, what else could work better – living life by priorities is the ideal situation. This would mean saying a strong ‘NO’ to any firefighting and just focus on Quadrant 2 or PC or Production capability building activities like taking care of health, nurturing relationships etc..

Now, let’s leave the dream aside and focus on the reality..

Reality is fraught with crises and while you do get better at focusing energy on Quad 2 activities from time to time, for those who thrive under pressure, positive pressure works well as well.

This weekend, for example, there is an obvious big rock. However, before being able to attack the big rock – all I have been doing since yesterday is clearing all the small rocks.. these are those small miniscule tasks that take up bandwidth..

While it may not be the right thing to do, I guess what I am not equipped with yet is the mental discipline to shut them off and just focus on the big thing. At the moment, the way I look at it is that only after clearing the small rocks will I be able to fully focus on the big rocks.

It’s akin to – Cleaning the room and dusting the study table before starting to study for exams (for those who do it…)

It feels like mental preparation..

and generally happens with big rocks I am not SO keen on working on..

Not sure if it is the right thing.. hence, the ‘dilemma’ word. Interesting observation though..

You think everything is going the usual way..

I mean.. life is the usual..

theses to write, papers to write, problems to work out..

the usual drill..

and then suddenly something comes up..

and then something else comes up..

What do we do?

Keep doing what we were doing I guess, with a big smile on your face.. :)

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I know this could sound very weird to someone reading it without any background..

but.. nevertheless, it’s a learning about dealing with variable change.. haha..