Day #410 - Clear Mind, Clear Purpose.

Since the start of the week (I think), I have been putting in time and effort to review my life priorities using the 5 Choices framework again.
Felt a bit lost, so I'm hoping this would help to clear things up and propel me forward with a clear direction.

Goals of the Day:

• Plan the weekend
• Achieved
• Review life priorities using the 5 Choices framework
• Achieved

Went out together with Dearest to meet our insurance consultant to discuss some insurance matters for our parents. 

By the time I got back, it was quite late in the afternoon.

Slacked a bit, but only had some time to do the review of my life priorities during the night time.

Today's Small Wins:

• Learned about insurance matters for parents
• Planned the weekend a bit
• Did some review on life priorities
• Did household chores
• Leaving house together on time for our appointment

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Didn't sleep early
• Slacked

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Both of us are committed to protecting ourselves and our parents

Day #409 - Focus.

Gotta get my focus back on.

Goals of the Day:

• Plan for the weekends
• Not Achieved
• Focus at work and at course
• Achieved

Did my best to learn as much as possible from the course, even though I'm quite sure I won't be able to utilize them anytime soon.

Played a new card game today with my colleagues and it was a blast!

Today's Small Wins:

• Did my best at the course
• Organized a great chillah~ session for my colleagues today 
• Had a nice catch-up conversation with Dearest right before we sleep

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Slept late
• Didn't manage to plan for the weekends

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Having a good session of interaction with colleagues who regularly come to participate
• A good conversation with Dearest
• A good evening spent with Dearest

Day #408 - Respecting Your Need to Rest

I have been feeling physically weak for the past few days.
Did I overwork my body from exercising?
Hmm...
Giving myself some time to rest.

Goals of the Day:

• Rest early
• Not Achieved
• Decide on the change of course
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Had a good conversation with Dearest before sleeping
• Familiarize myself with the game that is supposed to be played tomorrow at work

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Spent too much time on tv

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's reminder for me to rest my body

Day #407 - The Confidence in My Friends' Help

A morning conversation with Dearest triggered my thoughts about helping or receiving help from our friends.
And I found this quote to be quite apt on how I feel towards my bunch of friends.
It is not about how much my friends can help me, but the knowing that they will when I need them, propels me forward.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Go through 2 days of lecture before class
• Somewhat Achieved
• [Personal] Go through Choice 2
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Review through Choice 2 exercises

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to go home early to rest

Day #406 - Difficult Routes; Beautiful Destinations

No one forced me to do this.
No one asked me to do this.
I chose this road myself.
And I will reach there.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Being productive at work (I only have 1/2 day before my course)
• Achieved
• [Work] Listen attentively and try my best at the course contents
• Achieved
• [Personal] Review my previous 5 choices workings
• Partly Achieved
• [Personal] Plan for short-term goals according to the roles in my 5 choices
• Partly Achieved

Was distracted from personal work because of World Cup.

Tried to get wugui to predict which is the winning side, and bet on it with Dearest.

We lost. Hahaha..

Today's Small Wins:

• Meditated for 10 minutes
• Get started on organizing my life again using the 5 choices
• Did household chores
• Managed to resist eating heaty dinner because my gums hurt

Today's Small Losses:

• Slept late
• Distracted from work

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• I could understand a bit better about the concepts of the statistics course today
• A chance to understand Singapore's politics better
• Good chit chat with the guys

Day #405 - Showing Respect

Some people might not deserve respect.
But that doesn't mean that I wouldn't respect them.
It's a matter of who I am, not who they are, that I show respect.

Goals of the Day:

• Review my 5 choices (roles and priorities in life) and do planning for the week
• Not Achieved
• Complete cashflow for the month of May
• Achieved

It's the start of the statistics course.

But the start didn't go that well.

It's either the professor wasn't instructing well, or I'm lagging behind in the class.

And I'm quite sure it's the former.

Today's Small Wins:

• Exercised (managed to run around my estate under 9 minutes again)
• Cooked some vegetables for myself (instead of just having meat for dinner)
• Completed the cashflow for last month

Today's Small Losses:

• The internal review meeting went okay, but not as well as I have hoped for
• Didn't meditate
• Didn't allocate time to review the 5 choices

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• The opportunity to learn something new
• Being able to go home early after class

Day #404 - Friends and Good Times

The older we are, the more important the friends we hang out with.
Our time is limited.
So it's best to spend them with the ones that we truly cherish.

Goals of the Day:

• Have a good gathering with Dearest's friends
• Achieved
• Have a good evening with Dearest's relatives
• Achieved
• Cashflow for BOC
• Achieved

It's quite an event-packed weekend.

And I felt I have achieved most of what I wanted to do.

Today's Small Wins:

• Quality time with Dearest's friends
• Quality time with Dearest's relatives
• Did cashflow for a few banks for the month of May

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Wasn't that productive in the morning

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• I was able to drive Dearest's family to the restaurant safely
• A nice meal at a nice restaurant
• Good conversations with Dearest's sibling and cousins
• Good interaction with Dearest's friends

Day #403 - Making Time for Family Time

I have decided to make regular visits back to my parents' place every weekend.
It's one of my priorities, and I want to make time for it.
We all have time.
But what are we making time for?

Goals of the Day:

• Wake up and eat breakfast with Mum
• Achieved
• Household chores
• Achieved
• Quality time with Dearest
• Achieved
• Mobile App Development learning
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Had quality time with Mum and Sis
• Did household chores
• Had quality time with Dearest by watching a movie (Pacific Rim!)
• Spent around 30 minutes on mobile app development learning

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to spend a good evening of dinner and movie with Dearest
• Being able to chit chat with my mum and sis

Day #402 - Dare to Win. Dare to Lose.

Dare to win, and Dare to lose.
I won't always win.
And I won't always lose.

Goals of the Day:

• Have a good badminton session
• Achieved
• Rest early to have breakfast tomorrow with Mum
• Achieved
• Call Mum to arrange breakfast 
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Managed to gather the courage to call mum on the phone to arrange breakfast tomorrow morning
• Had a good badminton session
• Realized that my current badminton skills are probably worse than a newcomer, but had the mentality that it was okay

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Woke up a bit late today

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• The will to fight even though I'm losing
• An assurance of my pending promotion

Day #401 - Productivity Starts With Me Starting

Less words.
More work.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Prioritize tasks and list out tasks to achieve today
• Achieved
• [Personal] Quality time with Dearest after work
• Achieved
• [Personal] Meditate
• Achieved
• [Personal] Planning for the weekends
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Exercised in the morning
• Quality time at the movie with Dearest
• Meditated for 10 min
• Did brief planning for the weekends

Today's Small Losses:

• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Even though they were shitty seats, the movie experience was still nice with Dearest =)

Day #400 - Dearest's Support

I realized after 8 days of her absence, Dearest's presence provides encouragement and motivation for me to strive in life.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Work out priority tasks
• Achieved
• [Work] Reduce distraction
• Achieved
• [Personal] Fresh installation of all programs (e.g. Java, Android Studio) for Mobile App Development
• Achieved
• [Personal] Pay bills
• Achieved

It's a good day of being productive!

Today's Small Wins:

• Managed to do a fresh install of Android Studio! There was the old problem of not being able to see any objects inside the main_activity.xml. But managed to solve it after a quick search on the web. I guess there is no need to buy a new SSD to make more space for learning. haha...
• Completed Lecture 5! once with the video tutorial, another time with as little reference as possible
• Paid bills on time
• Slept just a bit after 11pm

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's presence; keeps me motivated =)
• Time to achieve what I am aiming for
• Able to go home on time

Day #399 - Starting The Day Right

Started the day as I wanted by waking up at 6am and going for a 2km jog.
Feeling a little tired in the office now, but my body will eventually adjust.
Starting the day right.
Living my life right.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Plan and prioritize task
• Achieved
• [Work] Remove distraction and give focus to work tasks
• Achieved
• [Personal] Upload final set of pictures from NZ trip
• Achieved
• [Personal] Get ready pc for reformat
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Uploaded the final set of pictures to FB for my NZ trip
• Reformated my PC to get ready fresh installation of Andriod Studio
• Slept on time
• Exercised (morning 2km jog)

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Waking up knowing that Dearest is beside me

Day #398 - Life Overhaul?

Sometimes I feel the need to have a life overhaul just to jump-start myself.
But those changes hardly last.
I guess the trick is to start small then.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] - Finish report #2 
• Somewhat Achieved
• Get ready pc for reformat
• Not Achieved
• Quality time with Dearest
• Achieved

Had a good evening of dinner and watching our wedding video together =)

The house seems more welcoming today when I got home. ;)

Today's Small Wins:

• Dearest is back!
• Quality time with Dearest
• Sleep on time

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Didn't prepare for reformat

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest is safely home =)
• Beautiful memories of our wedding day
• A nice evening with Dearest

Day #397 - Obstacles

It's urban attack 6 today!
Obstacle after obstacle.
They lead to a desired victory.

Goals of the Day:

• Focus on experiencing the obstacle course
• Achieved
• Have a good visiting session to po po at the hospital
• Achieved
• Plan my time well today
• Achieved

Although I failed at the 5th obstacle, but I felt good that at least I got that far, and tried a few obstacles during the practice too.

Today's Small Wins:

• Got out of my comfort zone to compete in an obstacle course
• Visited po po at the hospital
• Planned my schedule for the day

Today's Small Losses:

• Spent too much time on tv
• Slept late
• Didn't meditate
• Didn't do some of the things that I have planned

Things I'm Grateful for:

• A chance to compete
• Po Po's health

Day #396 - Cultivating My Strength

It still feels daunting on whatever I want to do.
It seems hard, challenging, impossible.
And these are what make it worthy, of overcoming it.

Goals of the Day:

• Household chores
• Achieved
• Mobile App Lecture 5
• Attempted
• Exercise
• Achieved
• Meditate
• Achieved
• Financial Accounting
• Achieved

There is some problems with the Android Studio again.

I think I need to think of ways to reformat the computer.

Not sure where I screw up in terms of the installation of the various files.

Today's Small Wins:

• Did household chores
• Exercised (short jog)
• Meditated for 10 minutes
• Did financial accounting
• Praying and quality time with Parents

Today's Small Losses:

• Slept late
• Spent quite a bit of time watching TV

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to spent time with my parents
• The 2 dumplings I got from my mum

Day #395 - ACT

I'm determined not to let this long weekend be wasted.
I'm gonna A.C.T.

Goals of the Day:

• Plan out the weekend (based on my roles and priorities)
• Achieved (for today's plan)
• Household chores
• Achieved
• Financial Accounting
• Not Achieved
• Learning - Complete Lecture 5
• Not Achieved
• Family time with relatives
• Achieved

Was kinda late when I got back home.

Today's Small Wins:

• Household chores done!
• Family time with relatives
• Planned out today's schedule 

Today's Small Losses:

• Haven't plan out the rest of the weekend
• Spent the morning watching tv; not good
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Homecooked food (got soup!)
• Opportunity to interact with my relatives (with mahjong)
• Advice on cooking from relatives

Day #394 - Going Through Dirt

Going through dirt, is perhaps the prerequisite for blooming.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Be focused at work
• Not Achieved
• [Personal] Allocate time to visit grandma
• Achieved
• [Personal] Have quality time with the guys
• Achieved

It's perhaps the first time I watched the first match of the world cup with the guys.

Today's Small Wins:

• Managed to complete the first draft of the report #2, but have yet to integrate into the main report
• Visited grandma at the hospital (she seems a lot better than yesterday)
• Had quality time with the guys watching soccer
• Called mum to ask her how is her cough

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't sleep immediately after the match; was up surfing net for a while
• Haven't plan for the long weekend
• Not that focused at work; felt less motivated
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Guys for coming all the way; they kept me company
• Grandma in better health than yesterday
• My courage to push myself to do what I want

Day #393 - Real Wealth is Good Health

Health is the real wealth.

Goals of the Day:

• [Personal] Sleep at 11pm
• Achieved
• [Personal] Visit grandma after work at the hospital
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Meditated for 10 min
• Visited grandma
• Slept on time

Today's Small Losses:

• Had to go to camp twice today for work
• Wasn't productive when I got home at night

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• My grandma for being alive
• Me being safe in the house

Day #392 - Play out the Game, Act well your Part

What's my game?
What's my part?
I would need to define these in my own terms.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Be clear of Q1/2/3/4 tasks at work
• Achieved
• [Work] Don't be distracted at work
• Achieved
• [Personal] Have a good celebration dinner with the Armour team for the recent Relay race
• Achieved
• [Personal] Put in 30 minutes for financial accounting
• Not Achieved

It was late when I reached home.

I did cater time for financial accounting, but I got distracted at home with Facebook and Youtube. -_-"

Today's Small Wins:

• More clarity of work tasks and more motivated to do them
• Overcame my discomfort to interact with unfamiliar people and went to have dinner with the Armour team. (turned out quite well)

Today's Small Losses:

• A long streak of no meditation
• Slept very late
• Didn't manage to do financial accounting because of distraction

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's safety
• Dinner treat from my generous commander
• I didn't wake up with a dry throat

Day #391 - Decision. Choice.

I'm responsible for the choice that I made; and the choice I didn't make.
My life is my will.
And I will have to accept what I'm responsible for.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Refine slides and finish report draft for project #2
• Not Achieved
• [Personal] Install Android Studio again and try out Lecture 5
• Achieved
• [Personal] Do planning for the week
• Not Achieved

It was quite relatively frustrating day at work.

Some of the work that we did before weren't recorded, and I couldn't back to verify the results.

Had to go to camp twice for this also.

The good thing is that I could reach home earlier since the camp is nearer to home.

Today's Small Wins:

• Installed Android Studio and tested it somewhat
• Gained clarity into the results output at work
• Exercised (arms strength training + 2km run)

Today's Small Losses:

• Ate a fatty dinner (KFC)
• Didn't meditate
• Slept late
• Spent too much time on leisure (1h)

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Back-up plans at work for reporting
• An ex-colleague messaging me to have a quick chat
• The exercise facility right below my block so that I could exercise conveniently

Day #390 - Keeping Momentum

Trying to keep momentum in my life is not easy.
There's always a constant struggle to coast through life in front of the screen.
But to know that I will not amount to anything this way, frightens the shit out of me.
So, I move.

Goals of the Day:

• Exercise
• Achieved
• Complete my financial account for the month of May
• Not Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Did arms strength training for 20 minutes
• Had some quality time with Dearest; cosy-ing and playing Overcooked

Today's Small Losses:

• Spent too much time playing games instead of doing productive work
• Didn't do my financial accounting for the month of May

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Having a house with a nice view outside the living room
• Dearest's perspective that we each should have a large degree of autonomy over our own finances 

Day #389 - Family Time

Family time is a priority.

Goals of the Day:

• Spending time with family (fathers' day dinner)
• Achieved
• Housework
• Achieved
• Share Day 5-6 of my NZ trip
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Did housework
• Uploaded pictures of Day 5-6 of my NZ trip
• Spent time with Dearest to filter down wedding photos; not done yet
• Family time; visited popo in the hospital and had a big fathers' day dinner with the rest of the relatives

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Didn't sleep on time
• Didn't allocate time to do personal work on mobile app learning

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• My father's presence in my life
• The fun that Dearest and I had today while travelling back home; the singing of 领悟, and trying to act out the lyrics
• Good interaction between my family/relatives and Dearest

Day #388 - Light at the End of the Tunnel

I am the light that drives the motivation.
It must come from within.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Work efficiently on report #2
• Not Achieved
• [Work] Ensure a smooth presentation for the review meeting later for project #1
• Achieved
• [Personal] Enjoy the badminton session
• Achieved
• [Personal] Make plans for the weekends with Dearest
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Had a good review meeting
• Enjoyed the short badminton session and a good dinner chit chat after that
• Planned the weekends with Dearest

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• A good review meeting at work
• A good challenge in badminton
• Being able to plan the weekends with Dearest

Day #387 - A Different Perspective

Accepting who and what I am today.
Becoming who and what I might be tomorrow.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Get started and finished the slides for project #2
• Achieved
• [Work] Get started on report #2
• Achieved
• [Personal] Upload pictures from NZ for Day 3 and 4
• Achieved
• [Personal] Arm Strength Training at night
• Achieved

Whee~!

Managed to achieve all the goals I have set for today.

Mini-accomplishment~

Today's Small Wins:

• Relatively good progress on project #2
• Exercised; focused on arm to prepare myself for the upcoming urban attack
• Put in effort to share my experience (in NZ)
• Had a good talk with Dearest about some of her thoughts

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't practise good habits (didn't meditate and didn't sleep on time)
• Miscommunication with Dearest that resulted in us eating dinner separately
• Noticed that my negative feelings at work have influenced my behaviours at work too. Gotta work on this.

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to hear Dearest's thoughts
• Having time to share my experience (through photos) with my friends on social media
• Having had interesting experience (army days~) to share with my colleagues

Day #386 - I Choose to be Happy

Today, I make a choice to be happy.
And I make a choice to take a small break from office work.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Get started on report #2
• Not Achieved
• [Work] Go home on time (or earlier)
• Achieved
• [Personal] Arm strength training
• Not Achieved

Went home early but got busy with dinner until Dearest came back.

We wanted to spend time together, so I bought Overcooked on Steam and we played until we decided to exercise another day. haha..

Today's Small Wins:

• Got off work early
• Cooked dinner
• Quality time playing game at the TV with Dearest

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't start on report #2
• Didn't exercise
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Playing games with Dearest that we both enjoy
• Being able to go home early after days of OT
• Financially able to consider my purchasing options

Day #385 - Giving My Best

Giving it my best, even though I hope to leave.
Perhaps after this period I would seriously consider alternatives.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] – Integrate the report into the main draft before 10am
• Achieved
• [Work] – Review the slides by 2pm
• Achieved
• [Work] – Create structure for the 2nd project’s report
• Not Achieved
• [Personal] – Reach home in time to cook dinner
• Not Achieved
• [Personal] – Arms Strength training
• Not Achieved

Had to do OT because I volunteered to do the report formatting.

And it took quite long because the formatting was sort of messed up.

Didn't manage to reach home to cook dinner for Dearest and me.

But at least we got to eat dinner together, which was great =)

Today's Small Wins:

• Report and Slides done for Project #1
• Reached office early to do work
• Managed to correct most of the formatting errors inside the report

Today's Small Losses:

• Did OT (OT is hardly ever a win)
• Didn't meditate
• Didn't exercise as wanted
• Didn't manage to start on my report for Project #2

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dinner prepared by Dearest when I got home!
• Dearest's listening attentively to me raving about some games
• Being able to correct the format error that I accidentally added into the report

Day #384 - Brand New Week

It's a brand new week again!
It's gonna be tough struggling to close one project deliverable, and to start preparing for the closing of another project deliverable.
It's another report to write.
And a few more nights of OverTime I suppose.
Still, I strive to come home on time to eat dinner with Dearest, and to have time to exercise and do my personal work.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] - Have a good Internal Review Meeting
• Somewhat Achieved (got whacked a bit, but I took it in, together with my teammate)
• [Work] - Finish the report and slides
• Report is finished, left the integration part. Slides have to be reviewed again tomorrow
• [Personal] - Sleep at 11pm
• Achieved

Did OverTime until 10pm before eating dinner and heading home.

Today gave me stronger reasons to seek a different path.

Today's Small Wins:

• Finished the report! (sort of)
• Had an okay presentation, but it's still a win cause I did it

Today's Small Losses:

• Did overtime; less time for Dearest and myself
• Got a bit distracted a work towards the end of the afternoon

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• My employee's rights to take a cab back home paid by the company for doing OT
• Teammate's support in finishing the work
• Dearest encouragement and support, even though she is feeling uncomfortable from her period

Day #383 - Planning Not to Fail

The day was planned out from yesterday already.
I had only needed to follow through.

Goals of the Day:

• Exercise (focus on the arm strength)
• Achieved
• Visit po po
• Achieved
• Cook breakfast for the week
• Achieved
• Lecture 5 
• Not Achieved

Didn't achieve my Lecture 5 again. -_-"

I think it has been a few weeks already.

Today's Small Wins:

• Exercised
• Meditated for 10 min
• Cooked breakfast alone so Dearest can have more me time
• Visited po po to show our care and concern for her (it wasn't too weird when we were there alone with her and gu po)
• Interacted with my cousins for a bit by playing switch with them
• Was being creative and added mozzarella cheese to my eggs and potatoes

Today's Small Losses:

• Quite a bit of time taken up to cook dinner for myself
• Took a while for me to wake up
• Spent some time to resolve a conflict with Dearest

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Our love for each other
• Time to chill
• My calmness

Day #382 - Starting Late

It's never too late to start.
Even though it's late in the day, but if I start now, it's not too late.

Goals of the Day:

• Plan for tomorrow's schedule
• Achieved
• Create explicit objectives for personal work
• Not Achieved
• Meditate
• Achieved
• Sleep at 11pm
• Not Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Planned schedule with Dearest
• Had my teeth checked
• Brought back some stuff from parents' house and packed them at home
• Visited my parents and bought lunch for them
• Did housework
• Did some financial accounting for May

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Didn't sleep on time

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Parents' Good health (Dad's slightly sick, but Mum's healthy)
• My dad packing all my stuff into boxes of different sizes
• Time to do financial accounting

Day #381 - Stop Waiting

The idea is to stop waiting for something to happen, and just make the decision to enjoy the present, and also to push for that something to happen.
Waiting is a game that you play when you can do nothing to achieve the desired output.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] Get 1st draft of report out
• Achieved
• [Work] Work fast enough to conduct and enjoy the chillah session and go for badminton
• Achieved
• [Personal] Plan for the weekend ahead
• Not Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Finished off my section of the report
• Managed to have chillah session and went for badminton
• Had a short gaming session with the guys

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't plan for the weekend
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• My capable teammate who wrote most of the report and slides
• Leisure time to have chillah session and play badminton