Day #441 - Surging Motivation

Lots of things to do.
But I have a surging motivation to go do them.

Goals of the Day:

• Do Q2 planning for the day
• Achieved
• Practise good habits (sleep on time and meditate)
• Not Achieved
• [Office] Prepare mock dataset and the formulas involved
• Achieved

It's the end of the month.

7 months just flew past for this year.

I gotta find better ways to make use of time.

Today's Small Wins:

• [Office] Managed to get some working solutions for my dataset management
• Did lots of housework (laundry, folding clothes, hanging clothes, ironing)
• Fixed up the new RAMs and SSD

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't practise good habits
• Didn't exercise today
• Screwed up the shifting of OS to the new SSD and can't figure out how to resolve it

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• The Qoo10 package that was placed at my door and wasn't stolen
• Dearest was largely okay with the above arrangement (but prefer not to in future)

Day #440 - Peaceful Resolution

Goals of the Day:

• Regain control over work tasks and life tasks
• Trying to Achieve
• Settle on housewarming dates
• Achieved for Dearest's side, Trying to come up with potential dates for my side

Recently I have been feeling that I'm losing control of my life; both at work and back at home.

Lots of tasks pending, and lots of things that I want to do.

Today's Small Wins:

• Focused at work today
• Peaceful resolution~
• Exercised in the morning
• Put in extra effort for work after office hours

Today's Small Losses:

• Did not do the financial stuff that I have on my weekly plan
• Did not do Q2 planning for the day
• Did not meditate
• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's understanding
• Fun and laughter with colleagues during tea break

Day #438 - Laughter is the Best Medicine

Today' Small Wins:

• Had a good date with Dearest (our 3rd happy ever laughter!)
• Decided on what airline and flight timings to take for the 1st leg of our upcoming trip

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't practice good habits

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to laugh with Dearset

Day #437 - Losing

Today's Small Wins:

• Gained more experience in badminton competitions
• Had a good ending to the past week's of intensive work
• Conducted another good interaction session for my colleagues

Today's Small Losses:

• Got totally thrashed by our opponents (1 pair was just secondary school students)

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to team up with my fellow badminton mate to fight even though we knew we would lose

Day #436 - Couple Time

Today's Small Wins:

• Date night with Dearest

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Quality time with Dearest

Day #435 - Another Taste of Lack of Knowledge

At work, I struggled a bit to interpret and apply my findings.
Knowledge is Power.
I need more Knowledge (Power).

Today's Small Wins:

• Managed to complete the task of the day

Today's Small Losses:

• Time wasted with a carousell meet-up
• Didn't meditate
• Didn't do planning

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest buying vegetables for me
• Dearest's wanting to massage me =)

Day #434 - A Good Sleep

Sleep seems to be getting a bit better.
I don't wake up as many times as before, and I woke up a bit nearer to my supposed waking time.

Today's Small Wins:

• Managed to push myself to go for the Wordpress workshop after work even though it was far, tiring, and I had to rush through my dinner
• Logically think through my needs and decided the follow-up 2-day workshop which would cost me $299 is required

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't do any planning
• Didn't meditate
• Slept really late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's brother sent me home; we coincidentally met at the workshop. haha..
• Dearest stayed up a bit and welcomed me when I got home

Day #433 - Weekly Endurance

Strength can be seen in an instance.
That is powerful and admirable in itself.
But the nobler trait, is to see one endure in silence, in countless instances.

Goals of the Day:

• Do Q2 Weekly planning
• Not Achieved
• Set routine Q2 Weekly goals
• Not Achieved
• Do Q2 Daily planning
• Achieved
• Exercise
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Ran 2km in the morning (< 10min)
• Impressed colleague with my technical skills

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Didn't manage to do planning

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Colleague sent me back home
• Dearest's egg tarts that she bought from JB
• Dearest's shopping for house decorations

Day #432 - Time with Important People

Sunday is the time for the important people in my life.

Today's Small Wins:

• Quality time with Mum
• Quality time with the guys
• Quality time with Dearest
• Did some research on the upcoming trip

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't do planning this morning
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful of Today:

• Good luck while playing mahjong
• Friends to play mahjong and laugh with

Day #431 - New Excites

A morning of excitement.

Today's Small Wins:

• Tried something new (cable ski) organized by Dearest, and managed to do a turn!
• Quality time with Dearest and her bro and cousins
• Household chores, even though I was beat

Today's Small Losses:

• Body felt too tired to do anything productive after the morning
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• The chance to try a new thing and I enjoyed it
• Good interaction with Dearest's bro and cousins

Day #430 - My Reaction To Stress

I was trying to control my reaction to the stresses that were caused by last-minute work tasks.
I think I did an okay job.

Today's Small Wins:

• Did my best to handle the stressful situations at work

Today's Small Losses:

• Was late for dinner with Dearest

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest waiting for me to have dinner

Day #429 - Reminding Myself of My Goals

My aim.

Goals of the Day:

• Financial Accounting for June
• Achieved 80%
• Pay Starhub Bills
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Focused at work

Today's Small Losses:

• Spent too much time at dinner

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• A good dinner with colleagues

Day #428 - Take Action Today

Note to self: Take Action Today.

Goals of the Day:

• Exercise
• Achieved
• Review at least 4 papers in the office today
• Not Achieved
• Financial Accounting
• Not Achieved

Needed to attend to some urgent work matters after lunch.

Therefore, I wasn't able to complete the review of 4 papers.

Went into a bit of OT and chatted with colleagues over dinner.

By the time I got home, it was quite late already.

Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Today's Small Wins:

• Ran 2 km (9:20min) - even though it's a cold morning, I willed my body to push a bit harder
• Chatted with Dearest before bedtime =)

Today's Small Losses:

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

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Time with Dearest
• Some changes to work routine

Day #427 - Turning Negative Situations Into Positives

My sleep has been quite disrupted for the past 1 week or so.
I keep waking up for no apparent reasons in the middle of the night several times.
Usually, I don't really feel extremely tired, but Dearest and I thought it's pertinent to resolve the situation.
We tried a couple of ways, like adding the humidifier to keep my throat moist, switching off the aircon and adding the fan, etc.
Not much of it is working, but at least I thought I should keep a sleep journal to document things.

Sleep Journal #1

• Switched sides with Dearest, aircon @ 24 degree Celsius, wearing long pants, covered with the brown blanket
• Remembered that I woke up twice at 2+am, 3am, and 5am
• Still feel rather okay, especially after a morning jog

Goals of the Day:

• Exercise
• Achieved
• Complete the allocation of time for Q2 roles
• Achieved

Did a huge purchase today on Amazon because of the Prime deals to upgrade my pc.

Spent over $1k SGD on my 4 items. 

Expensive, but I feel it's worth it.

Today's Small Wins:

• Ran for 2km (light jog)
• Completed the allocation of time for Q2 roles
• Managed to get a good discount on the graphics card! (and took out some items that I found out I could get them in a cheaper way)
• Meditated for 10 min

Today's Small Losses:

• Distracted at work because of the Amazon Prime day deals

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's support for me to make the huge purchase
• The big discount for the graphics card

Day #426 - Mondays Are for Fresh Starts

Every Monday is a fresh start.
A reminder to myself to aim towards my goals.
Week 29 of Year 2018.
Let's GO!!!

Goals of the Day:

• Exercise
• Achieved
• Decide on the amount of time to spend on each week for the following Q2 roles: (1) Disciplined learner, (2) Financially Savvy Guy
• Not Achieved
• Quality time with Dearest's family
• Achieved

By the time I got home, I only got around 30 minutes of personal time.

But I used it to game. haha..

Try again tomorrow!

Today's Small Wins:

• Ran 2 km in the morning with Dearest
• Meditated for 10 min
• More focused at work
• Quality time with Dearest's family
• Managed to help solve some computer issues for Dearest's bro
• Leisure time to myself at the end of the day
• Settled some bank matters (applied for another BOC credit card and closed down my DBS eMSA account which was useless)
• Slept on time

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't do planning for the amount of time to spend each week on Q2 roles

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• C's bro for buying us a nice dinner (Korean fried chicken without bones!)
• Able to have some leisure time to myself

Day #425 - Making Time for Important Tasks

But sometimes, we lose sight of something that might be more important to do first.

Goals of the Day:

• Household chores
• Achieved
• Tidy up the study room
• Achieved
• Clear out my Trello
• Achieved
• Resolve my weekly schedule with my various Q2 roles
• Not Achieved

Spent more than the estimated amount of time doing household chores.

Wanted to clear out the clutter in my Trello list first as I'm currently using it daily.

Now, to decide on my schedule with my Q2 roles asap.

Today's Small Wins:

• Did household chores
• Tidied up the study room a bit (1 square down)
• Cleared out the clutter in my Trello
• Had some leisure time by myself before bed

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Slept a bit late
• Didn't manage to resolve my weekly schedule

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• The nice strong breeze in my house that provides the best feeling for an afternoon nap for me and Dearest

Day #424 - Overcome My Procrastination Today!

Using this blog post to overcome my procrastination today!

Goals of the Day:

• Q2 Daily Planning
• Achieved
• Household chores
• Achieved
• Finalize personal schedule
• Not Achieved

The most exciting part of today was visiting the newly opened Sheng Siong with Dearest in the morning.

Today's Small Wins:

• Exercised (ran 2km)
• Did Q2 planning
• Applied for BOC Sheng Siong credit card
• Clearing my Trello to act as my daily MasterList

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't manage to resolve the schedule with regards to the few roles that require my personal work time
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest pushing me to exercise this morning
• A very convenient supermarket near my home

Day #423 - Plan and Execute

Both planning and execution are equally important.

Goals of the Day:

• Focused at work
• Achieved
• Plan for the weekends
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Quality time with Dearest
• Put in the effort to improve my sleep by buying a fan

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's willingness to try to sleep without the aircon for my comfort
• Participative colleagues for my chillah session today

Day #422 - Act, Think, and Communicate from the INSIDE out

Went through a TED talk in the morning.
It says the great leaders lead by answering the WHY first, before the HOW and WHAT.
It feels like the way I should lead my life; define my purpose, find a way to do it, and then see the output.

Goals of the Day:

• Remove distraction at work
• Not Achieved
• Finish planning my schedule
• Achieved

After my career facilitation session with Mui Tiang, it got me thinking more on my WHY in DSO.

Today's Small Wins:

• Had an interactive career facilitation session, even though not much came out from it
• Quality time with Dearest
• Finish doing up my daily schedule
• Meditated for 10 min

Today's Small Losses:

• Distracted at work; felt a bit down

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's willingness to sleep with eye mask and fan on (instead of air con) to help with my sleep
• Dearest's comfort when I felt down

Day #421 - Start The Day With A Positive Thought

I started the day with a grumpy mood because I woke up a couple of times.
It wasn't abnormal to have that, but I thought with the humidifier and the other changes that Dearest and I did, my sleep would be better.
I was frustrated that the sleep didn't go well, against my expectation, or wish.

With that said, I still believe that I should start my day with a positive thought.
As it should every single day.

"My sleep will get better."

Goals of the Day:

• Be focused on work tasks
• Not Achieved
• Use the principles in The 5 Choices to review the weekly schedule and a list of tasks for daily and weekly Q2 planning
• Somewhat Achieved

Still rather distracted at work.

Would have to find some way to kill those distractions.

Today's Small Wins:

• Did most of the work tasks that I have set out to do
• Exercised (ran 2km at 9min+)
• Meditated for 10 min
• Reviewed on The 5 Choices
• Did household chores

Today's Small Losses:

• Distracted at work and back at home
• Slept a bit late
• Woke up several times during the night

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's actions to show her care and concern over my sleep
• Dearest reminding me to go to sleep
• The transport back home was quite smooth

Day #420 - Chasing After A Stick

I'm guessing the moral of the story is that one should not go after every ideas we have, but to address the one that we have now.

Goals of the Day:

• Exercise
• Achieved
• Finish review of Choice 5
• Achieved

What's left of the review of The 5 Choices, is to apply them in my life, or readjust the current ones I have.

Today's Small Wins:

• Ran 2km within 9 min
• Finished review of The 5 Choices
• Meditated for 10 min
• Slept early

Today's Small Losses:

• Lost a bit of focus at work
• Potatoes that have gone bad; wanted to cook them today

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest making a warm cup of herbal drink for me
• A good weather to run
• Being able to share some of my special experiences with my colleagues

Day #419 - Picking Up My Pace

As I started to review again my 5 choices and to reaffirm and make adjustments to my previous commitments, I start to feel more motivated to push myself to achieve what I have set out to do.

It does take a bit of time to review the 5 choices from the scratch, but I think it's definitely worth it.

Goals of the Day:

• Exercise
• Achieved
• Daily Planning (Set goals, close the day)
• Achieved
• Lessen distraction at work, and gain clarity in work tasks
• Achieved
• Review Choice 5
• Achieved

Followed the schedule quite closely today.

Well done to me. =p

Today's Small Wins:

• Ran 2km in the morning
• Did daily planning today
• Focused at work today
• Put in the time to review Choice 5 (still in progress)
• Meditated 10 min

Today's Small Losses:

• N.A.

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Fun interaction with colleagues
• Dearest doing the dishes for us after dinner, especially when I said I would clean the rice cooker later on
• My determination to follow through with my plan for today

Day #418 - Something That Describes My Mum

A strong and brave woman, she is.

Goals of the Day:

• Have a good breakfast with mum
• Achieved
• Plan for the day with Dearest
• Achieved
• Do planning for the upcoming overseas trip with Dearest
• Achieved

It feels good to reconnect with my mum every weekend.

I'm also thinking how can I reconnect with my dad.

Today's Small Wins:

• Quality time with my mum
• Quality time with Dearest's family
• Reviewed The 5 Choices
• Some progress on the research for the upcoming trip with Dearest
• Practiced good habits (Meditated for 10 min, Slept on time)

Today's Small Losses

• Got a bit distracted during personal work time
• Didn't exercise

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to spend time with my mum and Dearest's family
• Being able to do research together with Dearest
• A wife to remind me to sleep early

Day #417 - Couples That Play Together

Stay Together.

Goals of the Day:

• Plan the day with Dearest
• Achieved
• Household chores
• Achieved
• Organize the stuff that I just brought over from my parents' place
• Achieved
• Go through the wedding photos with Dearest and upload them on Facebook
• Achieved (Yeah~!)

It's quite a productive day, with packing and organizing stuff occupying most of my time.

Today's Small Wins:

• Planned the day and realigned the time schedule between me and Dearest
• Finished packing up all the stuff that I brought over (still have a pile of it back at my parents' place)
• Finally reviewed through the wedding photos with Dearest and shared them with our family and friends

Today's Small Losses:

• Time wasted when I took the wrong bus home from buying lunch because I was distracted looking at 9GAG on my phone
• Didn't wake up early this morning
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to plan the weekends with Dearest so as to be productive =)
• Dearest's willingness to go through with the plan

Day #416 - Planning + Action

It looks like these days I'm just dishing out quotes and not living by them.
Today I shall change this!

Goals of the Day:

• Complete the two work tasks required for Monday's meeting
• Achieved 50%
• Make a brief plan and objectives for the weekend and discuss with Dearest
• Not Achieved

Dearest and I enjoyed me time this evening~

I guessed the planning can be done tml morning!

Today's Small Wins:

• Managed to focus on work towards the end of the evening
• Did personal administration before I sleep instead of lazing around

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't complete the work tasks
• Haven't make plans for the weekend yet

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Still able to move fast on the badminton court
• A colleague who is always willing to drive me to badminton

Day #415 - Discipline; Doing What I Don't Want to Do

Discipline is doing something, even when I don't want to do it.
And this is what I need recently.

Goals of the Day:

• Exercise for at least 30 min
• Not Achieved
• Meditate
• Achieved
• Review Choice 3
• Not Achieved

Somehow my body is not feeling well.

Today's Small Wins:

• Meditated for 10 min
• Did some financial accounting

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't exercise (didn't feel too good)
• Slacked in front of TV instead of doing personal work
• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful of Today:

• AED refresher course

Day #414 - Renewed Strength

Felt slightly better today after much rest.
And also feeling more motivated in life.

Goals of the Day:

• More focus at work; Less distraction
• Not Achieved
• Quality time with parents
• Achieved

Went back to my parents' place for dinner with Dearest.

Although it was rather quiet, but overall it was still nice going back to see them.

Today's Small Wins:

• Interaction with parents

Today's Small Losses:

• Slept late 
• Didn't meditate

Haven't been sleeping on time for a period of time.

And my meditation routine is haphazard.

Need to do better than this.

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Mum's interaction with Dearest
• Being able to eat home-cooked food with my parents and Dearest

Day #413 - Overcoming The Feeling of Being Down

Still feeling rather down today.
Perhaps I need more rest.

Goals of the Day:

• Rest on time
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Managed to try the VR game, BeatSaber
• Deconflict schedule with Dearest

Today's Small Losses:

• Not focused at work
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's comfort

Day #412 - Fresh Start

Going for a fresh start; starting from my review of life priorities.

Goals of the Day:

• Review of 3rd Choice in The 5 Choices
• Not Achieved
• Focused at work
• Achieved

Was feeling quite low in energy and down after work.

So didn't really do anything when I got home.

Today's Small Wins:

• Was able to do some R programming

Today's Small Losses:

• Slept late
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's willingness to put aside her discomfort for me

Day #411 - Problems or Possibilities

It's a matter of perspectives; Problems or Possibilities.

Goals of the Day:

• Have a good breakfast with Mum
• Achieved
• Quality time with Dearest
• Achieved
• Go through wedding photos with Dearest
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• A close and intimate conversation with Mum, and me telling her that I will support her
• Watched a movie with Dearest (The Incredibles 2 - something she was looking forward to)
• Had deep conversations with Dearest over several matters
• Had a good chat with Hao; even though we got stuck in the hawker center because of the rain
• Meditated for 10 min
• Being respectful of Dearest's values

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't manage to have time to go through the wedding photos
• Didn't exercise
• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's support
• A good conversation with a friend that was unplanned