Mosquitoes give you strength...and other random stuff

#104

Every time my night sleep is disturbed by mosquitoes, thanks to the fumigation folks spraying it right outside the building and into the drain so that all the mosquitoes come inside the house, I wake up angry. Outraged. Furious. It’s good in a way because then I get a lot of things done before 9am. But the downside is that I get tired soon enough after that. Well, power of constraints have its pros and cons. Doesn’t pretty much everything?

I always used to spend time learning lyrics of songs that I liked. That doesn’t always help though. I have been binge listening to T-Swift’s Folklore and Evermore albums for the past 5 days. Not knowing the lyrics to even a single song helped me finish my work faster and more efficiently. The lyrics didn’t interfere with my coding and brainstorming sessions. I’ll admit, it was nice. Somehow, it’s easier to implement this with English and a few languages I’m not fluent in, such as Kannada. It doesn’t work well with Hindi songs because even if I don’t know the lyrics, I can still understand what’s being sung. Maybe it's because in whatever songs I listen to, the singers sing coherently and/or slow enough for me to comprehend. Not so much with English songs. Besides, my volume is at an optimum level that I can just about hear the tune but not so loud that it disturbs me.

Technically, power of constraints is used in the context wherein limitations bring about more creativity than if you had complete freedom. For instance, composing a generic poem versus composing a limerick or a haiku. Haiku places limits on syllables to 5-7-5 while limerick limits your rhyming scheme to AABBA. It also restricts your ability to weave a story that starts with 'There once was a ...' Although the power of constraints has greater applications and implications in the corporate world, you can use it in myriad aspects of your day and life. For instance, I had a meeting scheduled at 8:30 in the morning one day where I had to finish preparing breakfast within 20 minutes. I was able to improvise as well as realize that I can work much faster than usual to get things done. Boy, that breakfast tasted even more delicious than regular days! :) 

While all this is hunky-dory, sometimes freedom is good. And necessary. Constraints inhibit your ability to come up with all possible solutions if the given time frame is short. For instance, I have my upcoming Toastmasters speech on Saturday and I haven’t even started working on my script yet. The constraint is that the project is about 'Understanding your Leadership Style.' It’s restrictive for me at this stage because my examples aren’t that many. They aren’t varied either. I perhaps have a couple of 'older sister' examples of leadership and a few mentoring opportunities at work that I can knit into anecdotes with lessons learnt at the end.

But then again, power of constraints helped me with this blog post, so what am I complaining about? I told myself I’d write a post on anything that just came to my mind at that moment on a fresh Monday morning at 7am. What I wrote wouldn't be as important as the fact that I wrote. For 10 minutes, undisturbed, with a Pomodoro timer, and that’s it! Write and publish. No edits. No reviews.

Fin.

Time-Wasters

#103

I recently read an article on 25 things you need to stop wasting time on. Life is short. 

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that’s the stuff life is made of" - Ben Franklin

Among the 25 items, I felt 4 of them were most pertinent to our current situation, wherein we're boxed in, can't travel, can't visit others, and can't pretty much socialize in person for a while. So, let's figure out what's taking our precious time away and what we can do instead.

Here goes:

#1: Distractions

In life, there will be distractions, especially in a world of incessant notifications popping up. It's not all distractions you need to get rid of, it's those that keep you from creating special moments with special people. Meeting a friend or relative? Keep your phone in your bag. Give them your undivided attention. It's going to be these little things that'll matter to them then and to you in retrospect. Be there. Be present.

Little things matter, so pay more attention to them.

#2: Compulsive busyness

No matter what we tell ourselves, we ain't that busy! We can afford to take out time just to be with ourselves, introspect, be with nature, with silence, or simply meditate. Maintain your sanity by practicing to be peaceful from time to time. Compulsive busyness isn't cool. Being level-headed is.

#3: Negative thinking about your current situation

It's a downward spiral. Negative thoughts to worrying to sadness to depression. 

"Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere" - Glenn Turner

If you can take action on what you're worrying about, just do it. Else, write all your worries down in one place. Either crumple up and discard that piece of paper or else look at it at a later date. Postpone your worry. Or schedule it. Whatever works for you!

#4: Needless Drama

Be wise to walk away from the nonsense around you. Step one is to identify the nonsense around you. Step two is to figure out how you're going to say no to it. Shutting off chaos really helps. My phone, the OnePlus Nord has a wonderful feature called the Zen Mode. Enabling it for an hour helps me focus on my task.

Practice focusing on the positives around you. Trust me, there are plenty.

Overall, take a step back and reassess what really matters to you. 

Cheers!

#25Under25

#102

This post is inspired by @VyoWorld and @RG's posts on 24 under 24 and 43 under 43 respectively. I must admit, they wrote their posts in 2009 and here I am, 12 years later, implementing the same idea - sheesh! Nevertheless, writing this is DEFINITELY a feel-good activity, so it doesn't matter when you write it and how many achievements you write down. What matters is that you do it.

Writing this post elicited a roller coaster of emotions in me. I experienced waves of exhilaration and adrenaline mixed with the feeling of "Whoa was that really me who did all that?", "How did that happen?" at times. But the below pic sums up the feelings :)

Steve Jobs once said:

"You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."

All the things I started out to do in 2020 now seem slightly interconnected and it feels as though they all came together to nudge me towards greater self-confidence.

"Agar kisi cheez ko dil se chaaho to puri kayanat usey tumse milane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai." Famous words uttered by Shah Rukh Khan in Om Shanti Om, loosely translating to "When you truly want something from within your heart, the entire Universe will try to make it happen for you." TBH I wasn't deeply desiring to become more self-confident specifically, but it's one of the elements of becoming a holistic individual in terms of character, which is what I aspire to be.

Here is a list of 25 things I achieved last year. Maybe there were more or maybe there weren’t, but I turned 25 last year and what better way to celebrate a milestone birthday than reminiscing one’s deeds and being grateful?

1. Posted my 100th blog post on the date of my birthday
2. Joined Toastmasters
3. Won best speaker award for the ice breaker contest in Toastmasters within a month of joining
4. Got accustomed to hosting people over at home for lunch, started enjoying the process
5. Joined a document review community at work and found joy not only in writing but in reviewing others’ writings as well
6. Had a wonderful opportunity to interact with Megha Bajaj, an author we invited for a women's community at work 
7. Started a 100-day drawing course (effort may ensue...)
8. Started a second blog on Book summaries and a third one on Finance
9. Became a part of Kindness Unlimited and met one of the kindest souls ever aka Nirmala Tai. Thanks Gauri for introducing us!
10. Started conducting interviews for Amazon in April, crossed a count of 90 by November
11. Won the runner up award for the story writing contest in Toastmasters and received a gift voucher as prize
12. Took on a mentee at work
13. Read 50+ books in 2020, logged 'em all in Goodreads
14. Drove over 100 kmph in my car for the first time ever
15. Learnt VueJS (a frontend technology) for a project at work
16. Tried my hand at baking cakes for the first time
17. Set a 'daily 5k steps’ challenge when WFH started, albeit I converted it to a weekly challenge after a few months
18. Enjoyed a hearty meal at Avartana @ ITC for my first wedding anniversary
19. Bought an amazingly efficient pan organiser and I'm lovin' it!
20. Got elected as SAA (Sergeant-at-arms) in Toastmasters Elections
21. Experimented with cooking different cuisines - Mexican (rice), Thai (curry), Chinese (noodles), North Indian (chapathi and chole), South Indian (lots of items since it’s our staple diet), Gujarati (kadi), Maharashtrian (sabudana khichdi), and Italian (pasta)
22. Took the plunge and switched teams to explore unchartered waters 
23. Reopened my Instagram account to post pictures of dishes that I made
24. Kept in touch with school and college friends a lot more often than previous years, wishing on birthdays and now anniversaries too - wow! How times change...
25. Maintained a gratitude journal almost every single day and realized what a humbling experience it is

Fin.

HNY2021

#101

Wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!

May all your wishes come true and resolutions be upheld.

This year, my resolution is to simply remain consistent with all that I have taken up until now. (Hints at upcoming post on past achievements, wink wink)

May we all welcome a wonderful year ahead and have the best times yet!