believe

Tequila and Salt

-- received from Louisa --

This should probably be taped to your bathroom mirror where one could read it every day. You may not realize it, but it's 100% true.

1. There are at least two people in this world that you would die for.

2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.

3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.

5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

6. You mean the world to someone.

7. You are special and unique.

8. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.

9. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

10. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take another look.

11. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

So ...
If you are a loving friend, send this to everyone, including the one that sent it to you.
If you get it back, then they really do love you.

And always remember ...
"When life hands you Lemons, ask for Tequila and Salt and call me over!"

I've actually given up on forwards a while ago to the point where I generally just delete email forwards. But, I do really like the last sentence *LOL*, plus it was from Louisa. :)

"Louisa, there goes... I really do love you. :) Then again, it's hard to not love you, cause you're one very lovable gal. :) Be sure to stay that way! (HUGS)"

Personally, I only agree with the ones I've bold-ed. Here's some further comments...
#2: I don't actually like the use of a certain number - why 15? But agree with the idea of there are more than a handful of people who loves me. Surely there is! :P).
#6: I prefer to think that I mean the WORLD to more than someone! :P
#8: It's a little creepy isn't it?
#9: If you think it's not true, then you need to make it true. Learn from your mistake!
#10: The world is round. It can't turn its back on anything. There is now front or back. :P
#11: Hmm.. Actually, don't forget the rude remarks; just strip it off! Don't take the delivery method personally. Find the actual message of how you can be better. If it comes from someone close, try and understand why it's been delivered that way. Even better, explain to them that they could probably work on the delivery method. :)

Quarter Life Reset Button

Looking at how I spend my time, some of the things that I do or feel out of habit are pretty silly. But I guess it is how it is. I mean if I think of myself as a program, it's only normal that after almost 27 years of continuously running I am quite lacking in efficiency - which is the issue here. I've got too many little useless background tasks that needs trimming or even idle processes (or zombies).

So - I'm pressing the RESET button! I'm so excited!

I've noticed lately that I'm at the happiest when I'm doing things, when I'm busy, when I've got deadline to meet. Basically when I feel productive. I love it! I don't have time to think about useless dragging my self down thoughts. Hmm.. I probably should fix my head and learn to stop those dragging-me-down thoughts. But at the same time, just doing things work too. Surely it's more difficult to get those dragging-me-down thoughts when I have achieve some sense of accomplishment.

Lately I've been lacking that sense of accomplishment. Time to make it happen.

I've got a few things I can do and want to do.

Step 1: De-cluttering. Sort out my priorities. Throw out old useless / meaningless routines that are mere habits. Use the time to do things that have meaning or useful for me!.

I shall put my focus and attention on spending what little time I have on things that I "enjoy doing" or "need to do". For example:
* I need to control my eating habit - for health and cause I care about how I feel and look.
* I need to do and enjoy doing yoga - cause it keeps me sane and happy.
* I need to work - for money.
* I need to find something that I enjoy to do for work - so my days become better.
* I enjoy taking photos.
* I need to find a home with my hubby - and this will also attribute to my contentment level.
* I need to cook at home more - because this helps me appreciate the eating out more and helps my eating habit in check. Plus, I enjoy it too.
* I enjoy eating out and love catching up with friends n my siblings, I can join these two together :)
* I love getting massages - so I've decided that this will be my splurge / indulgence from now on.
* etc etc ...

I am going to stop doing the habitual should dos that are basically just time sink. I mean, come to think of it, I now only look at my money thing about 1-2 times a week. It's pretty great considering I used to spend half an hour everyday on it (what a waste of time).

Step 2: The other thing that I've noticed is the important of "positive thoughts". I have the tendency to think that the "glass half empty". It's not all that bad except that this pessimism doesn't go very well with my insecurity issue. It creates this big loop full of jumps from pessimism to insecurity to pessimism to insecurity (am I making sense?). Oh well - anyway - I find that when I'm happy, I'm more likely to be productive which leads to sense of accomplishment, which then makes me happy and makes me want to do even more things. So - time to think happy thoughts. After all, I have such great life. Full of amazing and loving people. Full of opportunity. Great things. Nothing really to put me down. ^.^

Step 3: Stop procrastinating! Just do. I'm shedding my piles. For the next month, I'll do whatever I have in my pile. I'm putting deadline to all those books and papers. They need to be done by 5th June or they're gone from the pile. I'm doing it. If I actually care and want to do them, they'll be done by then. Doing it! Doing it! Doing it!

Whoa! I feel like a train with full steam ahead but can't go anywhere cause I'm still chain to my desk. :P LOL - but it's OK - I'll use this steam to clean up my work to do list. I'm doing it.

Darling, GAMBATTE with the Lit. Review! Love you so much!

Splurges vs Habits

Last week I talk about how to keep enjoying indulgences. Found this article on The Simple Dollar that's definitely relevant and worth reading.

The Simple Dollar » Splurges, Habits, and Projection

In short,

"A splurge is healthy every once in a while. It’s an irregular expense - not one that you spend money on every day or even every week. It also fills you with joy when you do it - and you still feel happy about it a day later. In short, you derive quality of life from that purchase.

A habit is never healthy. When an experience (particularly one tied to spending) becomes routine and normal, it should either fulfill a basic need in a simple way or it should be reconsidered.

...

The difficulty for many people is that splurges become habits without the person realizing it.

I like!

Problem Solving

Issue: "I start or want to do all sorts of tasks / things / projects but don't finish them!"
Priority: HIGH
Life Impact: Major

OK - I'm sick of this. I have a big pile of things sitting on my desk at home waiting for me to do it. I have a long list of to-do things in my mobile always waiting for me to action on. I have a few emails in my mailbox waiting to be replied to. I have a very pretty and constantly growing Excel spreadsheet at work consisting of things I need / would like to do.

Bleh!!!! Nooooooo!!!

Action: "Stop Procrastinating! Just DO!"

"I Don't Know" vs "I'll Find Out"

Have a read at this article from Zen Habits, "Are These Three Words Ruining Your Life?".

This is so applicable to me at the moment.

I keep saying "I don't know" what I would love or like to do for a living. The fact is if I keep saying this, I will never know.

It's time to change it to "I will find out" what I want to do instead of waiting and hoping for it to fall on my lap (in a million years time).

Indulgence

Roughly 10 months ago I made a decision to do something about my weight issue. I begin to control my food intake and consciously doing activities that will burn more energy. It's definitely a very steep learning curve for me and I'm still struggling.

Lately, I noticed that I've slowly slipped back to my old habit of being controlled by my taste buds instead of my brain. I eat and eat and eat even though I don't need it or know that I shouldn't. Thankfully the knowledge that I gained throughout the learning process isn't all wasted. I now have a voice in the back of my mind that reminds me the cost of over eating and the hard work I've put in to get where I am now. Hmm.. But I probably have to say, the voice is not loud enough to stop me from indulging every now and then (a bit too often lately). :P

Not to worry though cause I've just been introduced to the destroyer of indulgence; i.e. overindulgence.

I've been grabbing brekky on my way to work almost daily the past month or so. Muffins, Bircher Muesli, Fruit Toasts, Raisin Toasts. Plus a cup of skinny latte. Yummm...

But last Friday, I gobble down the muffin and feels unsatisfied. The muffin just wasn't rich enough anymore. It no longer feels like an indulgence. D*mn! Sigh... The very thing that ruins the taste and memory of muffins or raisin toast or a delightful brunch is having them daily.

I'm going back to basic. Loaf of bread with jam for brekky. Something standard. Something plain. So that when I go out for brunch on Saturday; they feel luxurious, divine and scrumptious..

Monday Life Lesson: "Nothing destroy an indulgence as fast as overindulgence."

100% Effort, Coffee, and Beluga Whale

I don't normally run after tram/train. I am not a runner. It annoys me too much to miss the tram/train when I've put the effort into trying to catch it. Plus, there is the embarrassment of having the tram/train door closed on me; so I choose not to try. It's a choice I've made and have been comfortable with.

But today, I was left home a little late for the 10 a.m. Bikram Yoga class. Somewhere along Chapel St; I saw the tram coming my direction; I was half relieved and half annoyed. I was 3 blocks away from the next tram stop and the tram was a block behind me. Grr...!!!!

Somehow, I decide to do something different! I run... sprint like crazy to race the train/tram... and I caught the tram!!! Yayyyyyyyyyyyy! :) It feels EXTREMELY good to put in the effort and get the result - which brings me to think that I should perhaps revisit my original choice. Think about all the time I could save by just trying to catch the train/tram and caught it; even if I do miss and get embarrass sometime (as long as I don't trip!).

Next topic - coffee. I wasn't a coffee drinker. Somewhere along the way - I've become addicted to the foamy skinny latte in a takeaway Styrofoam cup from cafe. It's against my money principles though. It's crazy to spend about $3 every day for a cup of skinny latte. That means in a month I've thrown away $90!!! I could go and get 1.5 hour massage. Grrrr... I'm annoyed! But at the same time, I am starting to enjoy the taste of it. Combined with muffin or friand. Yumm... definitely makes my mornings better. Is it worth the expense though? Is it comparable to 1.5 hour massage monthly? For now, I think it is... :P

Hmm.. I stumbled upon this web page; The world's amazing animals | NEWS.com.au and it reminds me of the Beluga Whale that I intended to see during my recent New York trip. Sadly, I found out that Marina, the Beluga Whale in Coney Island had died in late 2007 (news).
(Picture taken from China Picture Moment : Beluga Whale Kiss.)
(Picture taken from THE BELUGA WHALE.)
Aren't they super cute? I want to see the real thing before they extinct...

Monday Reminder: Be Conscious of YOUR Life Values...

Jonathan Mead contributed a great reminder post at ZenHabits yesterday, "How to Become a Late Riser | Zen Habits". The title definitely intrigues me. It isn't something that I'd normally expect to find in a Personal Development website. But then again - ZenHabits isn't just a normal Personal Development site. It's one of the better ones! :)

The reminder?

"Do NOT live by someone else's values!" (More about it at "Are You Trying to Live Up to Other People’s Values?").

I'm sure we've all done this mistake at some point in life. Well, I'm definitely prone to this. It's easy to get carried away and excited by someone else's success stories and think that we want the same thing.

I will start practising the tips from the post on to my gigantic things-to-achieve-list, "Set my goals consciously."

How well do you know yourself?

How well do you know yourself?

Me? I'm as confused as ever. ^.^

Over the past couple years, I have changed in many ways. My mind definitely has grown. Weirdly, though in general my life hasn't been as simple as it used to be; there are some parts of it which has become much simpler. Overall, the changes are for the better. But there are changes that I'm still not certain about its purpose.

Now, focusing on the improvement type changes; I know that there are still many ways for me to be better and many more challenges I'd like to overcome. Plus, plenty other things I'd like to achieve.

Time has always been my enemy. As my friends and family would testify, I'm often heard complaining about time. The 24-hour day is not long enough. The 2-days weekend totally does not compensate for the 40-working-hour a week. Strangely, I even at rare occasion complain about the 40-working-hour being not enough.

At the same time, I often waste my time doing mindless web-browsing, reading silly girlie book that makes me blush when I get asked about, or just wallowing over things. Yes - I am the very definition of procrastinator.

Shanon got me to listen to this talk on Ted by a guy called Tim Ferriss, titled "How to Feel Like the Incredible Hulk". During the talk, Tim passed on two important and major lessons to me.

First in the order of the topic being discussed in the talk was, Distinction: Effective Vs. Efficient. It might sound very much the same thing, but they are different.

The definition of effective is "having an intended or expected effect" or "producing a strong impression or response; striking" (The Free Dictionary). Efficient, is defined as "working or producing effectively without wasting effort, energy, or money" (The Free Dictionary).

Now, which is better? It all depends on the task. How often will you be doing the task in hand? If it's something that you'll have to do over and over again, it makes sense to think, plan and try to do it as efficient as possible. If, however, it is something that you will only get to do once or twice, you might want to do it effectively.

Keeping in mind that we probably won't get to make an impact as many times as we'd like; I dare say that - for the important and grand tasks - go with effective! :)

Second, the Parkinson's Law (wikipedia) states that:

"Work expands so as to fill the time alloted to it."

In doing things, we seem to always be able to create sufficient complexity to fill the need for complexity.

Oddly, this has just come to my realisation quite recently. I suppose, it's a really good coincidence for imprinting this useful knowledge on to my weak memory. Make deadline! Hmm.. as if life span is not deadline enough. :)

I know - and keep reminding myself - life is short. I need to get in action. Soon. No - scratch that. NOW!

Speaking of "now", I've been intrigued by the "The Power of Now" and the "4-Hour Work Week" (which happened to be written by Tim Ferriss!) books. I'll put them on my reading list. Though judging by the speed at which I'm reading the "What Colour is Your Parachute?" book, I'm not quite sure when they will actually be read. Tsk Tsk Tsk. What a procrastinator.

Last note before I go to bed, I hereby testify that lists are procrastinator's best friends.