Day #472 - Taking Vacations

I think I have decided to pay my buddy a visit, and have a solo trip for the 2nd leg.

Goals of the Day:

• Decide period of leave for the London trip
• Not Achieved
• Have a good celebration with Dearest on our 7th anniversary of knowing each other =)
• Achieved
• Plan out 1 day of the itinerary for Poland (buying tickets/booking tours, transport options)
• Not Achieved

By the time we got home, I was quite tired out~ 

Today's Small Wins:

• Had a good celebration with Dearest over mookata =)

Today's Small Losses:

• Not very focused at work (probably because of the low motivation and lack of sleep)
• Didn't decide the actual period of leave 
• Didn't plan the Poland itinerary

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to meet Dearest for the 1st time 7 years ago
• Dearest patience when I was playing badminton

Day #471 - Mind On Tasks

Today, I shall face my tasks straight on.

Goals of the Day:

• Daily Q2 Planning
• Achieved
• Work on a budget appsheet for Dearest and me
• Achieved
• Practise good habits
• Not Achieved

Had a long chat with Dearest during dinner over something that was troubling her.

I think we had a good discussion to gain clarity on the matter =)

Today's Small Wins:

• Planned the day
• Cooked something simple for dinner
• Worked out a prototype app using appsheet for inputting the daily joint expenses

Today's Small Losses:

• Not motivated at work today -> low efficiency
• Didn't meditate 
• Didn't sleep on time

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest wanting to make the right decision
• The fish I cooked today turned out quite okay
• The prototype app worked!

Day #470 - Moving Forward

I have to move forward.

Goals of the Day:

• Q2 Daily Planning
• Achieved
• Beef up details of the itinerary
• Not Achieved

There was a last minute change of plan to go to Dearest's parents' house to help out with some renovation details.

Today's Small Wins:

• Able to help Dearest's parents on renovation planning
• Gave a good suggestion to borrow the car from Dearest's bro for running around the few places

Today's Small Losses:

• Slept slightly late
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to help Dearest's family
• Dearest's appreciation of my help

Day #469 - Planning

Daily planning is an essential part of lifetime goals.

Goals of the Day:

• Q2 Daily Planning
• Achieved
• Effective (Doing the right things) and Efficient (Doing things right) at work
• Achieved
• Household chores
• Achieved
• Spend at least 1 hour on the trip itinerary 
• Achieved

Getting slightly cranky at work.

Today's Small Wins:

• Did daily planning
• Did household chores as planned
• Put in the effort to beef up the itinerary details
• Meditated for 10 min

Today's Small Losses:

• Slept slightly late
• Had to resolve some issues

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• A marriage with Dearest

Day #468 - Getting Over Mistakes

Getting over mistakes, by correcting them.

Goals of the Day:

• Q2 Daily Planning
• Achieved
• Q2 Weekly Planning
• Achieved
• Practise good habits (meditate, sleep on time)
• Not Achieved
• Book return flights
• Not Achieved (decided to request change of 1-way to round-trip to see if this's possible)
• Plan out dates for London trip
• Achieved

Made a mistake of putting my phone in bed last night.

Dearest didn't have a restful night because I received some midnight messages and my phone vibrated.

Today's Small Wins:

• Did Q2 Daily Planning
• Did Q2 Weekly Planning
• Got the dates restriction for London trip in Oct
• Managed to get the heat stain off the wooden dining table (using baking soda + toothpaste)

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't manage to finish reading the journal paper for tml's work meeting
• Didn't meditate and sleep on time
• Cause Dearest to lose sleep
• Accidentally left a heat stain mark on the wooden dining table

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest emotional regulation
• Time to do some cooking

Day #467 - Mind Over Matter

It's mind over matter.

Goals of the Day:

• Have a good half marathon with my army guys
• Achieved
• Book return flight for the trip
• Not Achieved
• Plan trip to London
• Not Achieved

It was a good half-marathon, even though I clocked a slower time than my usual ones.

Because it wasn't the timing that mattered, but the run itself, with the companions.

Today's Small Wins:

• Half-marathon - Checked!
• Quality time with Dearest over dinner and movie (Crazy Rich Asians)

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't book return flight
• Didn't plan for trip to London to visit John
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• A batch of army dudes to hang out with; friendships that have lasted more than a decade
• Quality time with Dearest

Day #466 - Take Charge Of My Day

Taking charge of my day is the only way to get what I truly want for life.

Goals of the Day:

• Complete my household chores
• Rest early for tml's half-marathon
• Spend quality time with my friends

Day #465 - Take It Easy

The idea is to take it.

Goals of The Day:

• Have a good update meeting at work
• Achieved
• Have a good badminton session
• Achieved

The update went well.

I was feeling more relaxed after that, and had a good chillah session and a few good games of badminton.

Today's Small Wins:

• Good update session
• Good badminton games where I performed

Today's Small Losses:

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

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest coming to see me play badminton =)
• Colleagues coming to the chillah session that I organized and having fun

Day #464 - Work Efficiency and Effectiveness

The things to do right, have to be the right things to do in the first place.

Goals of the Day:

• Complete the update slides for tml as efficienctly and effectively as possible
• Achieved
• Book the accommodation for Krakow and Zakopane
• Achieved

Stayed back at work to complete the slides.

But I think I was doing the right things, instead of just doing things right.

Today's Small Wins:

• Accompanied parents to temple at TPY with Dearest to offer our respects to my grandparents
• Finished the update slides

Today's Small Losses:

• Slept slightly late and felt some breathing discomfort before sleeping

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest willingness to accompany me and my parents to prayers this morning, even though none of my generation showed up
• Dearest was accommodating when my dad wanted to pay respect to his maternal grandma and we had to go to another

Day #463 - A Day of Rest

It's a public holiday today!
A day of rest for me before the week continues for 2 more days.

Goals of the Day:

• Book accommodation for Krakow
• Not Achieved (but have selected the airbnb to book)
• Plan itinerary for Zakopane
• Achieved
• Brainstorm other places to visit
• Achieved (decided to just spend time only in 2 places)

Was a long day of doing research for the trip while Dearest was away helping her mum.

But it was a fruitful day =)

Today's Small Wins:

• Did trip research for Zakopane
• Shortlisted and selected the accommodation with Dearest
• Meditated for 10 min

Today's Small Losses:

• Slept late
• Didn't exercise

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to sit down with Dearest to properly go through the brief itnerary and get feedback on the accommodation choices
• Having time to do trip research

Day #462 - Mountains and Myself

It's not the mountain I'm trying to overcome; it's myself.

Goals of the Day:

• [Office] Determine the research direction
• Achieved
• [Personal] Plan 4 full days of itinerary at Zakopane
• Not Achieved
• Practise good habits (meditate and sleep on time)
• Not Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Pressed on at work to refine research direction
• Went to surprise Dearest at the tracks while she was running
• Quality time with Dearest (dinner chat and gaming)
• Completed Overcooked with Dearest!

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't practise good habits
• Didn't do trip research

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Having a gaming partner =p

Day #461 - Rejuvenated

The weekend has allowed me to rest somewhat and feel rejuvenated to face the challenges I have ahead of me this week.

Goals of the Day:

• [Office] Work out this week's tasks and prioritize them
• Achieved
• [Personal] Settle 4 days of itinerary for Zakopane
• Not Achieved

Although the itinerary is not going as smooth, I was able to get more information to help me plan out the activities.

Today's Small Wins:

• Was able to voice my opinion over work
• Did research for around 2 hours

Today's Small Losses:

• Haven't been meditating lately
• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• The team coming together to form a solution
• A good dinner interaction with Dearest

Day #460 - Intense Focus

Let my intense focus takes control.

Goals of the Day:

• Have a good interaction with Mum 
• Achieved
• Trip research
• Achieved

Planned the trip for the Krakow's part.

Next up, Zakopane (and the Tatra Mountains).

Today's Small Wins:

• Quality time with parents
• Quality time with Dearest (slight cooking and movie, The Help)
• Finished the Krakow's part

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Slept slightly later
• Didn't plan for the next week

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Together-moments at my parents' place
• Dearest's forgiveness after I accidentally made a dent in the wall because of the iron
• The gradual recovery of my throat

Day #459 - The End of Labour Is To Gain Leisure

Today's Small Wins:

• Bought a small gift for grand ma's birthday under the suggestion of Dearest =)
• Quality interaction for Dearest with the rest of the cousins
• Had leisure time on gaming

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't do Q2 planning today
• Didn't do trip research

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest having a good interaction session with the cousins over gaming
• Being able to bring a smile to my grandma through the gift

Day #458 - Learn, Live, Hope

I would need to take charge more of my life.

Goals of the Day:

• Fill up 3 more days of the itinerary for the trip
• Book accommodation for the the current itinerary 

Day #457 - A Difficult Situation

A difficult situation at work.

Today's Small Wins:

• Managed to get something up before project update meeting

Today's Small Losses:

• No progress on the research approach at work
• No progress on the trip research

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to comfort and support Dearest
• Being able to help Dearest's family

Day #456 - Back To Earning Income

Back to work after 2 days of MC, but not totally recovered.
Got quite a bit of work to do, and I wasn't feeling too ill, so back to work I went.

Goals of the Day:

• [Work] - Digest the current literature and come up with a different research approaches
• Not Achieved
• [Personal] - Identify other places to go in Poland (or other countries)
• Not Achieved

Body still feeling weak. -_-"

Today's Small Wins:

• Sat myself down to look through the variables at work

Today's Small Losses:

• No progress on trip research

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Supportive colleagues

Day #455 - If Not Now, Then When?

Good reminder to myself.

If not now, the when? If not me, then who? 

Goals of the Day:

• Do household chores (do laundry and iron clothes)
• Achieved
• Complete trip research for Krakow and start on Switzerland
• Not Achieved

Possible change of plans for the trip as I didn't know if Dearest would enjoy the numerous mountains as much in Switzerland.

Today's Small Wins:

• Worked at trip research for the whole day
• Meditated for 12min
• Slept on time

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't finish the trip research

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Time to do research

Day #454 - Resting on Sick Day

Felt better in the morning, but took up Dearest's suggestion to take Medical Leave to rest enough for my body to recover fully.

Today's Small Wins:

• Rest my body for the most part of the day
• Did trip research on Poland
• Did simple household chores

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Slept slightly late because was doing research

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest taking care of my every need
• Doctor giving me 2 days MC to have sufficient rest

Day #453 - Be Not Sick Too Late Nor Well Too Soon

Felt terrible after coming home from the morning with my parents.
Had to rest for a while before I felt well enough to be up and doing work.

Goals of the Day:

• Quality time with parents
• Achieved
• Finish off the trip planning for krakow's part of the trip
• Not Achieved
• Complete the financial account for July
• Not Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Quality time both with mum and dad, although separately

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't manage to do anything for the rest of the evening because I was feeling too weak

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being able to spend quality with Dad (because sometimes I'm unsure how I could do that)
• Dearest taking good care of me when I was feeling sick

Day #452 - Spending Time Wisely

It's the weekend again!
Time to spend time wisely.

Goals of the Day:

• Q2 Daily Planning
• Achieved
• Household chores
• Achieved
• Settled administrative/financial tasks (return popsical, get a new bank token, change PINS for 3 credit cards, buy facial wash, transfer money to mum, settle financial accounting for July, settle prayings for 7th month, send Lex list of renovation vendors)
• Achieved (except for financial accounting)
• Trip research for Krakow
• Not Achieved

Managed to complete most of the tasks that I set out to do, especially the administrative stuff.

Gave myself some leisure time of playing Maplestory on mobile. haha..

Today's Small Wins:

• Completed most of the administrative tasks
• Quality time with Dearest's family
• Did the 1st 7th lunar month prayings together with Dearest

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't managed to complete the financial accounting for July
• Didn't do trip research for Krakow
• Didn't meditate
• Slept late
• Spent the evening playing Maplestory instead of doing productive work

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• A good dinner filled with interaction with Dearest's family
• My mum's patience in instructing me what to do for 7th lunar month prayings

Day #451 - The Struggle

The struggle is real today.
As I wondered, is it a transition period to a senior position, or is it a case of a misfit.

Goals of the Day:

• Finish off two work tasks (100 data rows of codings, and getting the results for user's tasking)
• Have a good badminton session
• Plan for the weekend with Dearest

Today's Small Wins:

• Finished the two work tasks that I have set out to do
• Good badminton session (although the start was still feeling a bit down)
• Meditated for 10 min
• Discussed the weekend plan with Dearest
• Prioritized rest by coming home early after dinner with badminton folks (instead of chatting)

Today's Small Losses:

• Unable to formulate a research approach

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• A badminton mate who made sure that if I need someone to talk to, he is available =)
• Dearest for talking and comforting me about my struggle
• Playful moments with Dearest right before we sleep

Day #450 - First National Day In My New House

It's the first national day spent in my new house today =)
Seeing the planes fly by for the past few months, and today is finally their performance.

Goals of the Day:

• Organize a good gathering session for Dearest's friends
• Achieved
• Quality time with Dearest
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Had lots of fun interacting with Dearest's friends and making sure they constantly have snacks to munch on
• Managed to host a colleague and his fiancee to tour our house
• Quality time with Dearest

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't manage to exercise much this morning (only ran 0.8km before having a stomachache)
• Didn't meditate

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's friends being willing to travel all way to our house to spend time with us
• The popsical machine was quite entertaining for the group

Day #449 - Prioritizing Important Tasks

Although I'm performing off-site for work, I think I have been neglecting the work back at office.
And if I don't take control of it soon, I think the direction of work will go off the track.

Goals of the Day:

• Take control of the work at desk
• Not Achieved
• Quality time with family
• Achieved

Went back together with Dearest to my parents' house to have dinner with my mum =)

Today's Small Wins:

• Quality time with mum
• Good chat with boss

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Honest chat with boss
• Good interaction between Dearest and Mum
• Smooth process of renting the Popsical

Day #448 - Making Today Count

It's a decision everyday.

Goals of the Day:

• Follow planned schedule (Q2 planning, personal work, meditate)
• Not Achieved
• Start on a new book
• Achieved

My new graphic card came today!

Spent the evening doing household chores and fixing up my new card =p

Today's Small Wins:

• Successfully got the results out of the dataset under an hour at work
• Managed to fix up my graphic card smoothly
• Didn't sleep that late
• Resumed reading on another half-read book

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Didn't do personal work

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Being a trusted colleague
• Fast and sort of smooth delivery of my expensive graphic card

Day #447 - Discipline of Desire

Plan diligently,
Execute with discipline.

Goals of the Day:

• Q2 Daily Planning
• Achieved
• Read for at least 30 min
• Achieved
• Housework (Iron for 30 min)
• Not Achieved
• Work on financial matters (port one bank's calculator from Gsheets to Excel)
• Achieved
• Meditate for 10 min
• Achieved

Received news of someone leaving the team.

Felt a bit sad, but could also felt that something was amiss for sometime.

Today's Small Wins:

• Read finished the book, "Outbreak"
• Meditated
• Leisure time with colleagues (playing Avalon)
• Took time to talk to Dearest during this sensitive period for her

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't do main taks (housework, work on financial matters)
• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Some down time today at work
• Being able to reach home in time for the delivery of the knife holder to be done

Day #446 - I Don't Know Where I'm Going

But I'm on my way.

Goals of the Day:

• Q2 Daily Planning
• Achieved
• Q2 Weekly Planning for next week
• Achieved
• At least 2 hours of travel planning
• Achieved (1.5hour though)
• Housework (30 min of iron, 30 min of tidying up)
• Achieved
• Quality time with Dearest's friends
• Achieved

Started the early morning with hiking with Dearest's friends at Macritchie Reservior.

A good monthly activity so far =)

Today's Small Wins:

• Quality time with Dearest's friends
• Progress in research on one of the important tours at Poland

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Didn't do any personal work

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Able to have fun interaction with Dearest's friends
• Eating chocolate ice cream without feeling too heaty

Day #445 - Organized Mess

Whatever the mess,
Whenever the mess,
However the mess.
The Stillness remains.

Goals of the Day:

• Q2 Daily Planning
• Achieved
• Quality time with parents
• Achieved
• Finish the financial accounting for July
• Not Achieved - decided it's better to do this mid-month because some bank statements have not come in yet
• Travel research (at least 30 min) on Krakow
• Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Planned for the day
• Quality time with parents, and saw my grandma for a bit
• Did some financial accounting
• Did some research on travel
• Shifted my computer desk to have a window view
• Did housework
• Put in the effort to get a free luggage

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Haven't do planning for tml's morning activity yet

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Having a free luggage
• Being able to chat with my cousin for a bit
• My mum's cooking (I ate yong tau fu today~!)

Day #444 - Baby Steps to Success

All the small steps I have taken are all quite varied and add values to different aspects of my life.
It's not a success yet, but I'm betting that all these would add up to an eventual victory.

Goals of the Day:

• Do Q2 Daily Planning
• Achieved
• Do Q2 Weekend planning
• Achieved
• Exercise
• Not Achieved

Today's Small Wins:

• Managed to do all the office tasks I have set out to do
• Meditated for 10 minutes
• Did financial administration for July

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't exercise

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Careful and comprehensive instructions from a colleague
• Having an approachable big boss

Day #443 - Focusing On One Thing

So the only logical thing to do is to just focus on chasing one rabbit.

Goals of The Day:

• [Office] Finish off the outstanding work tasks in the morning when I get to office
• Achieved
• [Office] Prepare a set of variables and list out those that others can help get it easier
• Achieved
• Take notes of the talk after work today on retirement
• Not Achieved

Had to be offsite in the afternoon due to an ah-hoc meeting.

After I ended work, I was closer to home than to the retirement talk at one-north.

So I decided to just go home for the evening. haha..

Today's Small Wins:

• Did efficient work in the morning
• Quality time with Dearest playing video games

Today's Small Losses:

• Didn't meditate
• Too much leisure time
• Slept late

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• New game controllers worked!
• Gaming time with Dearest

Day #442 - Solving Problems

There's a difference between just pointing out a problem, and solving a problem.
I usually choose the latter.

Today's Small Wins:

• Managed to successfully installed my new SSD and switched OS
• Rented the KTV system (popsical) for the upcoming gathering for Dearest's relatives
• Bought flight tickets for the first leg of the trip!

Today's Small Losses:

• Sleep slightly late
• Have undone work back in office
• Didn't manage to do any personal work today (and for quite some time already)

Things I'm Grateful for Today:

• Dearest's patience and understanding in considering my request
• Leisure moments with colleagues
• Diligent teammates