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12 Steps Guide To Maximising Our Greatest Asset Of Time

October 13, 2010 //
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“Money is not the primary asset but time is”

-Gordon Gekko-

This quote from Wall Street reminds me of the often forgotten focus in which our society has. We are so filled up with making money but have no idea what to do when we have it.

I have met people who spend so much time being financially well-off that they have no idea what to do later with it. They spend their time buying material items or travelling but none of them fulfills them in a way that it should.

I think we often forgot our TRUE goals and dreams in the pursuit of this cultural obsession with money.

This is a 12 step guide to help you use the most out of your TIME:

  1. Know what’s most important. We often get so caught up with life that we forget what’s most important in life to us. We need to take time off to focus and know what areas of our lives or work which are most important. Understand Pareto’s 80/20 analysis. Knowing what’s most important is the first step for maximising our time.
  2. Focus on the important. Knowing what’s important is unimportant if we don’t do it. Learn to focus on what’s important. Spend time increasing our activities on what’s most important.
  3. Buy more experiences. We often get caught up with material items like houses and cars. Realize that we come to the world with nothing and leave the world with nothing. Experience is all that we have. Learn to enjoy life more by buying experiences instead of getting caught up with paying for the huge mortgage or car loan.
  4. Cut down on your material purchases. Most material purchases bring no fulfillment whatsoever. Take time to ask yourself: What material item brought you happiness? Very often we would not think of any material item which does. We have little joy from them but often get caught up with the need to pay for them either through a credit card etc.
  5. Plan. Plan our days better. Focus on the most important. Planning gives us the focus we need to do those things we are important and which we love.
  6. Reflect. Always generate new ideas. Learn to think outside of the box for ways to cut down time. Learn to automate, outsource, delegate our work.
  7. Don’t waste time on things which brings about small amount of fulfillment. Example include gossiping, watching television etc. Find for things which we really enjoy and which gives us more enjoyment. When we enjoy more, we tend to be more productive when we have to work.
  8. Always know what you truly want. You might have dreams like to travel to a certain country or to set up a business. ALways focus on it. Know what you truly want and work towards it. Keep your mind focus on it. Don’t get into the thinking where you believe that only when you have x amount of money that you will start. Start now. Plan now. The money would come.
  9. Use money. Don’t save too much. Saving are for wimps. We are brought up in this culture where we believe in saving and that it is a good habit. To me, it’s a bad habit because more often than not people believe that having x amount of money is the goal rather than the fulfillment of one’s dream. Don’t worry about a rainy day. Even if it rains, you’ll be dry after some time.
  10. Saving money doesn’t help you achieve your dreams. Planning does. Start now. Save to fulfill a dream, not for emergency.
  11. Learn to think away from the general norm. Most of what the general norm does doesn’t make sense. Many fail to think because it’s much easier for us to follow the norm than just think outside the box. As a result, most of us end up with the same results.
  12. Enjoy Life. This is the most important. If we don’t know how to enjoy life, it doesn’t matter how much money we have. Because even if we have that amount of money, we still won’t enjoy it. Enjoyment comes free from circumstances. It doesn’t matter if you have 100 dollars in the bank or a million dollars in the bank.
Categories Happiness, Mindset, Motivation, Productivity

No Expectation

August 8, 2010 //
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It is amazing at times to know how life lessons just tend to comes in different forms. It comes in unexpected ways and from unexpected people. The lessons that I learn in the past week have been so amazing that it just puts a smile on me every single time I think about it.

I couldn’t elaborate on what I have learned for those stories are way too long.

But there is one lesson which I think reminds me again and again of the importance of having no expectation.

Expectation is one of those areas in which people fail to control. It is pretty easy for someone to have expectations which does not make sense and therefore puts them in a tremendous amount of stress. It is not too much to say however that the number one reason for many mental or emotional problems therefore arises from expectation.

I think part of it is a culturally issue. We are all brought up in a society where high expectations are expected from us. We are brought up in a culture where we believe that achievement and goals are the most important in one’s life. I don’t buy into that.

I am not saying that achieving things are not important. It is important to a certain extent to have some plans and expectations. It is our attachment to these plans and expectation that creates the most problems for us.

There is where the skill comes in. Is it possible to INTENT something while having NO EXPECTATION of the outcome ?

Instead of focusing on the end-result, we just focus on doing things for the mere sake of it. We focus ourselves on our processes we are on rather than the end-result we are after. Most of the time we are too focused on the end-result because we are fearfully that things might not happen our way. It’s only when we learn how to let go of our expectation that we truly learn to live deeper. Our efficieny increases. Our focus increases, and most definetely our joy as well.

So today learn to do, but not to expect. Focus on the path, not on your destination.

Categories Consciousness, Mindset, Productivity, Thoughts

Unblocking Mental Clutter

April 7, 2010 //
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We are all so caught up by many things in which have been influenced by the outside world. There are times where I feel so overwhelmed by the forces and power of influence that I feel so heavy and deep down within me. I know that almost everyone in our society would feel that way sometime or another.

We are filled with to-do lists, responsibilities, urgent deadlines, etc. We are so blocked by other emotional and mental concerns that sometimes we even forget to understand why we do those things. It is perhaps not too much to say that many of us has lost our sense of direction. We do things but we forget the reason why.

We go to school/college without understanding why.

We go to work without understanding why.

We go into relationships without understanding why.

We end up spending so much of our time in so many things that we fail to realize what’s truly important to us. We fail to understand the true essence of our lives and just spend most of our time following the norm and living in the flow of things. We end up just living on autopilot.

When we feel overwhelmed by tasks in which we don’t truly understand why, we end up being restless and heavy. We end up being filled with mental clutter.

We have to learn to clear our minds from things in which are unessential. We need to simplify.

**********

Simplify is actually a big word.

In a society in which we are deeply entranched with the notion that the more is better, most of us just have no idea where we are going and that the mental clutter is actually slowing us down.

In many places around the world, there is a growing movement in which people start to live more simple life. This is something like the simplifying movement or the minimalist culture.

I believe that the areas in which we could simplify are many. Many things actually take down a lot of our mental space. Think of our minds as computers. If we were to fill our computers with endless software, the computer would definetely slow down.

However, we should also be aware that it doesn’t mean that we don’t fill our computers with no software whatsoever. We should fill our computer with things that are essential to make sure that the computer works or other program which we truly want.

Bring that to the metaphor of life. We should only spend “mental space” on things which truly matter. We shouldn’t allow things which doesn’t matter to fill our mental space. This makes us slow and less effective.

I see many people filling up with “softwares” such as worry, gossip, the latest drama series, anxiety and other stuffs which doesn’t matter. It slows them down and make them less effective; be it at work, their family or other tasks they are at.

My life now is just filled with learning. That is my main priority (although I believe that would always be a priority to me.) I am spending a lot of time in my work and studies. These are the major “software” that are in my computer now.

I have made the choice to unclutter myself mentally. What could you do today to unclutter yours ?

Categories Mindset, Productivity, Thoughts

How To Get Out Of A Rut

March 23, 2010 //
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We have all gotten in a rut at some moments in our lives. It is only natural that we would get in a rut because it’s not easy to constantly remain in a state of excitement and motivated in the pursuit of our goals.

Why We Get Into A Rut ?

We would normally get into a rut because of several reasons. They might be because of external or internal sources. I would highlight a few reasons why we get into a rut sometimes.

  1. Not enough rest. This is apparent enough to many of us. However, we are brought up in this culture where we believe in the essence of hard work. Most of us believe that being hardworking and busy makes us feel valuable. It is the whole social conditioning thing and because of this most of us have inadequate rest. If you constantly feel tired and feel lazy, don’t blame yourself. It is just the way in which the body reacts to tell you that you need to take a real good rest, mentally and physically.
  2. Unclear direction in life. We would normally feel in a rut whenever we lack direction in our lives. It is only normal that we would sometimes feel lost and confused in life because of this bombardment of external influences. This external influences questions our belief in our goals and the person we want to be in life. This lack of direction forces us to feel like we are going no where.
  3. Bad social influences. From my experience, there are times where people CHOOSE to get into a rut. It is not because they ended up there, but because they feel more comfortable being helpless. As much as it’s hard to imagine someone wanting to be in a rut but they actually like being there because it helps them gain more approval from their friends. The phrase “misery loves company” certainly hold true here.
  4. It’s time to listen. There are even times when being in a rut is a good thing to happen to you. Sometimes when we are in a rut, we take time to listen to our inner signals and realize that it’s time to change our approach to our lives or our work tasks. These times when we are in a rut actually serve as indicators that we should be changing our approaches.
  5. Monotonous approach. Another reason for being in a rut is just plain simple: that we are bored. Perhaps our lives needs some change. When we are constantly in the same routine, is easy to be in a rut because we are just bored of it.
  6. Lack of physical exercise. I find it especially true for me when it comes to this point. For the past month of so I have been lacking in exercise. Because of this, I have found out that I constantly feel “low” and unmotivated to perform my work tasks.
  7. Bad habits. It’s only natural that people who have bad habits end up constantly in a rut. Habits like sleeping late, constant consumption of alcohol, excessive sugar intake, bad eating habits all are natural reasons why we feel like we are in a rut. Read the rest of this entry »
Categories Mindset, Motivation, Productivity
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