Yes. There is no need for you to struggle. You can just let things go and work their self out. It will all work out in the end. Or will it?
It’s May already and it’s been all so fast since I started on this journey. 400 days, more than a quarter of that time has already passed. There’s been a lot of learning along the way, especially hindsight from mistakes.
The most exciting thing that has happened since this project is my journey on becoming an entrepreneur.Due to my extracurricular activities I’ve gotten into some interesting working environments. And I’ve somehow managed to get myself accepted for a workshop on entrepreneurship this coming August. Now, the main challenge is getting up from the dip I’ve been and run the final sprint to finishing my BA in Economics. It is going to be a lot of work to finish the thesis but I want to stick to it and see what I am capable of.
What I’ve discovered from the journey so far is that it is a lot easier to just do things rather than psyching myself up to just simply doing the work. Sound simple enough, doesn’t it. Oh yeah, that’s the second learning point – things are usually just that simple.
With these lessons imprinted into my memory, I’ve worked consistently on changing my rhythm and get rid of some bad habits. The greatest achievement so far is surprisingly enough something as small and simple as “eating habits”. After having a little pep talk from a personal trainer I received a tip on eating every 3-4 hours to maintain a stable blood sugar level. Right after I received the tip, I’ve started on developing the new habit right away. Slowly but surely since that day in December 2011 I’ve learned how to eat regularly and also felt a positive change in my energy level. Although surprisingly, the unexpected change is that I’ve learned to appreciate eating bread, fruits and vegetable more.
After savoring the feeling of having control over my eating habits I’ve gone to the next step which is exercising. This week my goal was to got to Zumba 4 times. So far I’ve done 3 out of 4 and feeling very happy about it despite some of the muscle pain. Still there’s 2 more days before the week ends… Managing to change this basic routines have been nothing but a simple test. Also, there is still this challenge of erasing my greatest time thief of all, which is reading manga online… Still, I struggle lightly every day to achieve my goal. Yet today I feel somewhat happy, proud and victorious over my small achievements so far.
Today has been a very interesting day, full of activities, thoughts, discoveries & amusing dialogues. Never have I been as excited, enthralled, overjoyed, annoyed and hopeful for things to work out as I’ve planned… I’m a humble learner in this journey and as I move on, I realize, I have yet more to learn.
C’est la vie.
There are so things that I want to go through but don’t have time at the moment, so I’ll just note them down for now:
Career- Which career do I really want to pursue?
What about the wedding?
Tracking 400days-project
About relationships
About hobbies & interests
About financial independence
Personal development – does it really matter?
Decisions & commitment
Life changing experience(s)
Order…
So many things to go through… Can’t wait to get them all sorted out.
Finally the weather is clearing up here in Stavanger. It’s been 2 months of gray weather & rain, and it is about time I got to feel some sign of spring! Some clear sky & shiny sunshine lights my mood up especially when my bank account is close to choking itself. I’ve made several mistakes, one after another. First, I knew I should have not gone for a trip to London and Ireland. However how could I not to when I have not seen my cousin for over a decade? It was a trip worth doing but now I am paying the price… Luckily I got to take extra shifts at work so I could get my hands on some extra cash…
Funny that – I am supposed to be the one studying economy yet I am unable to handle my own personal economy as I am too busy spending (what I don’t have)… Arg! I’ve accepted my fault and decided to solve this issue. Don’t know how it will work but I have to try something new too because obviously the system I had before didn’t work all too well. Also, we are moving to a new apartment this month, so that will be an extra cost as well. Along with the team building trip to Aberdeen next week… *sigh* I feel delighted and excited about the trip and just too happy that by that time I’ve had worked my share without giving up any work days to travel.
Things are moving forward despite my slightly pessimistic reflections. Sure at the moment I’m struggling financially – but all in all things are going well. I’m looking at the bright side of life because I have a job to go to and an alternative income source to develop if I just find the will to act upon it. Also, lately I’ve been able to hang out with mom and talk with our relatives in Philippines. Nothing compares to the wackiness, drama and excitement from chatting with our loved ones over the phone. I miss my grandpa, my uncle, my cousins and my aunts… Mom and Dad will be travelling to Philippines this summer and I can’t help but feel a slight twinge of jealousy but at the same time I’m looking forward to the stories they will share once they get back.
I am dedicating this year to develop myself and work on my weaknesses. Unfortunately, the usual trend has already set in. I plan, I make a good start then I start slipping off. Now – I am starting to slip off. Due to the after effects of travelling to London in January, I’m behind on my studies, my economy is at the edge of destruction and I’ve not been to the gym for 3 weeks. Fortunately, there’s some progress in some areas. I’ve decided on my bachelor thesis and started developing it. There’s also progress in developing relationships, so somehow it balances out.
What I’ve noticed these past few weeks is that despite the challenges and mistakes I’ve made, I’ve somehow managed to continue because I’ve had good friends to talk with and that I could always depend on mom for moral support. That and by simply not stopping to act upon on my goals. There is sometimes this feeling of uncertainty when I am doing something but despite this emotion – I urge myself somehow to just act, strengthen my resolve and create a result.
Today is the 10th day towards my new lifestyle. It’s such a short time… It’s not even a full 2 weeks time. Yet lately I’m already starting to feel the effects of working the plan. Especially on my body I’m suffering from muscle pain after doing squats during a work-out session. My body is not used to the movement and the pain is excruciating and a constant reminder of how I let myself go for the past years. Recently I noticed that perhaps one of the reasons I didn’t succeed with my former personal goals is because I have rejected my health -and blindly went after what I found interesting. Also performing sports or any other form for physical activity brings more than good health as a positive effect. I remember when I was playing volleyball in Egersund I had a similar level of activities as I have today and perhaps I was even more ambitious back then. Yet in those days I had no qualms of doing what was necessary because I my parents, the teacher and my coach to tell me what to do. Also I had an innate commitment to myself – of what I wanted to do and get – even when I didn’t write the target or the plan. How odd… How come when I was trying to learn exactly how to set a goal, write a plan and work the plan – I recall the times when I was 14 years old til I was 17…
Although, there are some differences back then and now. When I was 14-17 years old I lived together with my parents and I didn’t have to worry about preparing food, laundry, dish-washing and other house chores. Mom was very specific about keeping the house clean and sometimes I would help her out, though almost always unwillingly… After moving out at the age of 17, I discovered that I’m not very good at studying if my surroundings are untidy and/or noisy. A nother thing was, in 2007 I started living with my boyfriend and it was a period of adjustment for the both of us. I was accustomed to having someone doing the basic housecleaning for me or reminding me to do something. So, there I was young, naive and a rookie to the adult life – trying to learn how to live on my own, understand my needs and abilities to cover them, all the time while I was learning how to live with someone I love. And man, was it hard… Then distractions became a big temptation. Games, movies, comic books, etc. There was always something to put my hands into however whatever I did, didn’t feel like it was giving me anything. Welcome to the path of chaos…
I started questioning about “life”. What is the point in life? What is my purpose? How can I discover this? Where should I start? All these questions and no definite answer to be found. Only hints and advises from relatives, friends and books. I was living in the western world where freedom is an absolute and it was all up to me to discover and decide what I wanted to do with my life. The only problem was – I wasn’t sure I knew what I wanted…
To relate my stories of the past back to the time when I was doing sports, I’d like to mention just one word – Focus. I lost focus when I moved out from my parents home. At my parent’s place I was living under someone else’s rules and way of life. Then I moved out. I needed to find my own way of living, my self.
So I traveled – I went to see the world. I explored my thoughts, my abilities, listened to other people’s stories and experiences. There have been moments of inspiration, love, pain, suffering, joy, surrender, bliss and excitement. Time flew by. It is now 2012 and what I have accomplished today is concoction of hints, tips and tricks, advises, experiences and ideas on how I should live my life. It’s time to put things in order and act out on my conviction and put the things that I’ve learned to the test. Do I have what it takes to do what I’ve set out for this year?
It’s the 10th day and I am 390 days from my target. I have muscle pains and a schedule to act out. I am scared to fail but eager to succeed. Therefore til January 2013, I’d just have to endure and have fun on this journey. No matter what I’ll see to it that I give my best til day400 arrives.
December 29, 2011 I created the annual and budget plan for 2012. Aiming to reach my targets in education, career, health and relationship, I’ve started setting weekly goals for each subject and considering that it was holiday and there was no school, I focused on doing what I can on the career, health & relationship sections. The main challenge was the health – going to the gym and working out. With a goal of going to the gym 2-3x a week, I was concerned that I have yet again taken more than I can handle. Yet today I discovered that the plan is actually working. It’s a nice surprise and hopefully the progress will remain steady forward.
It’s 2012 and just like everyone else I’ve made a handful of New Years’ Resolution. To prepare myself for this year I planned the work and now it’s mainly up to me to work it out. However lately I feel that I am in a constant battle with myself.
On developing the year plan, I’ve used all the tools & tricks that I’ve gathered throughout these past 2-3 years on time management, personal management and self-awareness. I’ve noted down my habits and willingness to act. The weekly plan up to week 17 has been filled and I have already a good overview on my activities for the next 3 months. My goals have qualitative and quantitative measurements. They’re realistic, not to optimistic but not overly pathetic & pessimistic either.
My priorities are in order. I set education as my first priority, career as second, health as third and relationships as fourth. I plan to complete my bachelor degree in economics and 1 semester of a year course in arts. At work I’d set to learn as much as possible about cosmetics, perfumes and alcohol. At my business I’d set to help 5-12 people in developing their own business. About my health I’ve set my goal on doing exercises 2-3 times a week and lose about 5-10 kg during the year. Lastly but not the least, I intend to visit my parents in Egersund 2x a month.
I’ve always been an ambitious person and its been more than once or twice that I’ve set myself to fail due to my inability to balance my expectations to my abilities and willingness to act. This year, my main goal, is to improve my relationship with myself. To prove to myself that I can set goals, act upon them and reap the fruits of my labor. My main challenge however is self-discipline, or to be precise, my lack a good one. Being impulsive, curious and sporadic has set its tracks on my habits. Therefore I decided to work on the basics with hope that I’ll succeed and meet at least 50-70% of my goals for this year.
January 1, 2012 at 4:00am til 11:00am I was at work. Since December I’ve been polishing the plan, proof checking it and started already on working on the habits of going to gym and eating a balanced diet. There are however very many temptations and distractions along the way. Thus I need to work on the commitment along with the self-discipline. 2012 will definitely be an interesting year.
Being a temperamental, impulsive and curious person, most of the times I can seem very emotional & sensitive. “Moody” has been a word and habit that I’ve tried to change for some time now. After reading “The 7 habits of highly efficient people” by Steven Covey, I’ve gotten across this 90/10 Principle.
The principle is based on that 10% of what happens to us is out of our control and that 90% is based on our reactions. It’s like being proactive & maintaining a positive perspective in life at the same time.
I’ve read the “7 habits” in December 2009, and ever since it’s been a tradition for me to go over the things I’ve learned from the book. I try to think back and see if I have established some of the habits.
It’s been a while since then, and I feel like I’ve learned a few things. I have an idea of who I want to be and understood how I do not want to behave. Perhaps this 90/10 Principle can help me along my journey next year?
