A century and a half!

#150

Well, well, well! My New Year Resolution at the start of this year was to outdo last year's 100 posts, which soon got downgraded to a hundred posts. Not bad, still the same as last year's. A little more than halfway through the year and I'm at exactly the midpoint. Not at all bad, eh? Look at that, a hundred posts, and only fifty more to go - still doable IMHO. 

New year resolutions are highly debatable these days. Some feel it's a great way to welcome new beginnings, start new habits, and embark upon a new journey to get rid of a bad habit, and more. Others meanwhile feel it's a myth or overrated. I'm on both sides - I don't mind treating January 1st as the start of something new while I also don't want to wait for a supposedly 'special' day. 

Want to start a new habit? Treat the start of your new habit on any day. Don't wait for January 1st. Who even sets resolutions anymore? Even the jokes are outdated, right! Moreover, we have way too many books, quotes, concepts, mechanisms, and what have you, telling you how to do that in myriad ways - Atomic Habits, Tiny Habits, The Power of Habit, GTD, habit stacking, etc. All that's left is to simply take action. I know it's easy to give advice and a lot harder to actually follow it, but as Agatha Christie says: "Good advice is always certain to be ignored, but that's no reason not to give it." :) 

If you introspect why one might not end up following one's New Year's Resolutions, here are the top five reasons:

1. Operating on a short-term mindset and expecting immediate results
2. Not having an action plan
3. Focusing on too many things to change at the same time
4. Starting with a habit that is too big in itself
5. Thinking of New Year Resolutions as things we do, not the things we are

Okay, this is a relatable and possibly accurate list, but how do we fix it?

Other than breaking down a big goal or habit into SMART format, how about writing a 'who do you want to be in a year?' narrative? I offer this one suggestion because it's not only tried and tested but also ONE suggestion, as opposed to a barrage of suggestions that might become difficult to follow all at once.

In order to think about this and write it, set aside time to do so. It might also encourage you to introspect more using Introspective Questions into reflecting on how your past years went by and what you would like to change about them.

Good luck for the rest of 2021 and stay safe!

Walk, walk, walk!

#149

Any task done mindfully can become a form of meditation. This is true of walking too. Usually, when I go for evening walks, I'm invariably either listening to music, a podcast, or talking to friends and family. Rarely do I just 'walk.' One day, my phone ran out of charge and so I decided to go up to the terrace to simply walk, without any accouterments. Interestingly, I could walk a lot faster for a longer period of time since I did not run out of breath as quickly as I do when I'm talking, but it wasn't as effective as walking with music or a podcast. Another way to continuously walk for longer is to listen to a YouTube clip on walking! 

Enter Leslie Sansone.

My mother introduced me to her videos and her energy is contagious. She's a fitness instructor who has released more than 100 DVDs on aerobics and other exercises since the 1980s. Wow! Since I'm a beginner as of now, I often go with the 10-minute walk or the 12-minute brisk walking videos, which itself feel challenging as the pace picks up. The title of this post is in reference to Leslie's videos, where she keeps repeating 'Walk walk walk' over a hundred times, but not in an annoying manner at all. It is in fact, quite encouraging to follow along, and feels more effective when wearing shoes.

I'm sure all of us are aware that walking boosts creativity, adds longevity to your life, and helps with problem-solving, as I have experienced myself when walking in silence and pondering over unsolved mysteries at work and about the world in general. As Cal Newport calls it, 'productive meditation' can help you solve something you intentionally think about during your walk. 

I try my best to do paced walks rather than dawdle since only the former is effective as confirmed by research, though I do tend to amble when walking along with my husband, discussing the highlights and lowlights of our respective days and planning for our future, unraveling intriguing questions along the way. 

For now, I use Google Fit's 'steps' and 'heart points' to measure my progress. They've recently also introduced a 'paced walking' option, which determines your speed for the chosen time period. I've heard that smartwatches like Apple Watch are smart enough to detect slow and brisk walking, so your steps are only counted when you walk fast enough and not otherwise. It's tempting to explore something beyond a basic Fitbit, but I'm going to stay put for now until I decide to make daily brisk walking an active goal to consistently work upon.

Did you know?

Tesla came up with his idea of AC current (alternating electric current) during a stroll and William Wordsworth is said to have walked a whopping 180,000 miles in his lifetime!

On Personal Development

#148

I enjoy bettering myself every single day. The days in between where I take rest and either do nothing or something that doesn't add as much value to my life, such as mindlessly scrolling through Instagram reels, I used to call 'cheat' days. I've now upgraded to use the term 'self-care' day. It helps put a positive spin on things. It also reminds me that amidst super productive, high energy days, it's okay to sleep in a little extra once in a while and focus on introspection.

Here are a few tidbits around how to focus on personal development:

Keep learning

This obviously resonates with me the most because I'm always about learning more and learning new things. Some, I like to expand breadth-wise while others, I enjoying exploring deeper to understand a concept further levels down. In today's world of MOOCs, there's no restrictions on modes of learning - you've got online courses, self-paced interactive courses, textbooks you can order and have delivered within a couple of days, online tutors, and much more! Even merely reading books around self-improvement go a long way in enhancing your skills, be it technical skills, soft skills, or even things to focus on every day, such as meditation.

Find a mentor

At work, mentors have helped me in different ways. At home, my husband proves to be an effective mentor as I'm able to go to him for any kind of help. I get coached by him in various streams of life, be it self-reflection, mental strength, physical fitness, and so on. By finding someone who knows something you don't yet know but want to learn, I believe this is the fastest mode of learning - what better, quicker way to get to know something from an expert than straight from the horse's mouth! Finding a 'Guru' in any field - spiritual realm, goal-related, life coaching in general (Thanks Mom!), topic-wise, will go a long way in not only helping you realize your own potential but also achieve your goals in a more streamlined manner.

Another way to go about this is to find role models. You can always do something I call 'cross-domain emulation', meaning find a role model in one field, admire what they do and how they do it, and then in your own different field, mirror their experience. It's more like learning about values through others.

Daily reflection

Be constantly aware of how you can improve. I've switched my daily 'done' stuff into weekly reflections - they give me greater happiness as it helps me see how much I've actually accomplished in an entire week! Especially across categories - work, household, personal goals, new habits, hobby

Positive visualization

Visualize your journey to the top to be successful. This helps energize me even if I'm lying down but not sleeping, to take a ten-minute break. Optimistically visualizing you attaining your goals will also allow you to step outside your comfort zone and take up something scary. Imagine yourself to be a superhero - how would you tackle every obstacle in your way? Try to be uncomfortable for 5 minutes each day - see how this transforms you into a mentally stronger individual. Even if you're only visualizing ideas or a vision that you haven't yet started working upon, try to take action on it by converting them into meaningful goals.

At the end of the day, remain humble and grateful for everything you're working on to improve yourself and don't worry if you are unable to view immediate results - it's all happening behind the scenes. Quoting the lyrics one of my favourite Miley Cyrus songs:

They say that good things take time

But really great things happen in a blink of an eye

In retrospect, I wholeheartedly agree and I hope you do too.

Stay safe!