In a previous post, I forgot to mention that I completed reading “Atomic Habits” by James Clear. This accomplishment marks the completion of two out of the four books I purchased in late March this year. Instead of choosing one of the remaining titles from my prior purchases, I decided to acquire another book called “Conversation Casanova” by Dave Perrotta. This particular book offers a lighter reading experience, and I sure could use a break.
By the way, I must emphasize that “Atomic Habits” is an exceptional book that I wholeheartedly recommend. Its insightful teachings have already made a significant impact on my daily life. In fact, I have successfully applied one of its strategies to combat urges, and the results have been remarkable. Once I have thoroughly tested this approach, I plan to share it with all of you. Who knows, it might even inspire me to create a Challenge post centered around it.
Effective study time for today was 3 hours.
Gonna practice drums now before hitting the bed. It’s been a few days since I last practiced.
I have guests over at my place. I have been attending to their needs all day. Still managed to squeeze in two hours of study. They’re gonna stay at my place for a few days.
Got yelled at by the cops today. So a VIP is in my city. And the cops had blocked all the traffic to make a green corridor for the said VIP’s convoy. They weren’t even letting pedestrians cross the streets even though the convoy was like several minutes out. I was one among those pedestrians waiting to cross the road to get to my car. When the convoy finally passed, I reached my car and found three officers surrounding it and a patrol car behind it. One of the cops started yelling at me for parking there even though I didn’t break any laws. It was parked on a roadside not obstructing any signs or flow of traffic. It was not even on the same side as the VIPs convoy. Anyways, I kept calm and allowed that cop to let it all out. He was even threatening to tow my vehicle. I knew he couldn’t, what charges could he have pressed? I calmly pulled out my phone without speaking a word acting like I’m about to call my friends in higher places following which they let me go
So, two elder cousin sisters and two aunts had come over to my place yesterday. Three of them left after lunch today. One of the aunts is gonna stay with us for a while. Anyways, mom spent all day in the kitchen preparing elaborate meals for them. She was utterly exhausted by the time they left. Our domestic help is also on holiday so it was especially difficult for mom. Not much help was offered from our guests either.
Mom took a long nap in the afternoon. While she was sleeping, I sneakily cleaned the house (Jhadu and Pocha). Sneakily because she wouldn’t let me clean had she known.
Studied for an hour in the evening.
Days are going by very fast. Life is hardly long enough to get good at one thing and I have an entire fucking list, smh
Good night.
P.S. I take too freaking long to write these journal entries. Need to be quick with these so I have more time for other stuff.
I missed a journal entry last night. It’s because I started watching the ‘whatever’ podcast. I got so engrossed that I kept watching it untill about 2:30 am. Staying up that late messed up today’s schedule too. And now we have this problem of water shortage. Our aquifers are running dry. If only every house in my colony had a recharge pit like us.
Anyways, enough complaining. I have no excuse for why I didn’t study a single minute today. Come to think of it, I didn’t do a single productive thing today.
Can’t afford to repeat this behaviour. I have to be careful how I spend my day tomorrow. And for that, I need to start by going to bed on time tonight.
Bro, the last time I participated in a challenge, it was a disaster. I get way too preoccupied with it and constantly keep checking my phone.
Btw, I checked out your challenge… it’s quite innovative and you’ve designed it quite well… I bet it’ll be tremendously helpful for people who benefit from Challenge posts. It’s just not my cup of tea.
I can relate. In the beginning, I also joined a few challenges and found myself getting more and more engaged with the online forum. Eventually, I realized that I, too, became addicted to constantly checking my phone. It seems like some of us need to find new apps to help us control our mobile addiction while for many others, it’s actually a positive thing, like a blessing.
Today was a tough day for me. I was doing okay, but stress got the better of me and I lost it today. Before that, things were going pretty well. I was spending time on challenging mental activities that were helping me grow. I had hope and felt good about the progress I was making. But then, it felt like life got jealous of me because I started studying sincerely. Out of nowhere, my laptop, which I used to watch lectures, suddenly stopped working. It’s disappointing because now I can’t continue moving forward, but this is temporary, I am expecting to get my machine next week.
You’re still moving in the right direction. Don’t let it get to you by calling it a setback. It’s only natural to have a few relapses on your road to recovery.
Happens with me all the time. In fact, just a few days back I was doing great with studies and then guests showed up to stay at our place. I would still maintain my frame and ignore everything when I sat down to study. After a while they understood I take my work seriously and would be careful not to disturb me when I was studying.
We just gotta push through these hurdles cuz they’re gonna keep coming.
Studied effectively for one hour today. Did a light workout after several days.
I have a lot of official and unofficial work piling up. Some of it is not very straightforward and involves having conflicts with people. Will be an opportunity for growth.
True, I’m hoping to obtain the items shortly. I’m literally sick of calling the technician. I was ready to collect my laptop last Friday when he said the IC issue was resolved, but a new problem with booting had arisen. I was like, Great, I’m not calling anymore because I’m sick of it, better wait for him to give a green signal to me. I’ll spend my time on other things that don’t require another monitor to follow instructions.
I can identify two fatal mistakes that result in me having a bad day.
Waking up too late
Long hours on YouTube
How do I fix them?
Waking up too late
First of all, I need to hit the bed early because I need 7 hours of sleep.
Secondly, I can sleep outside. I think the fresh air and the light of dawn will help me feel fresh when I open my eyes. Currently, when I wake up, I feel too tired despite having adequate sleep of 7-8 hours. I usually end up sleeping a few extra hours because of that tiredness.
Long hours on YouTube
Gonna have to rely on my willpower for this one but I know for a fact that this strategy doesn’t last long. Need a long term strategy. Looks like I need to revisit “Atomic Habits” to come up with a sustainable plan of action.
Ah! That reminded me of another book that I finished today - “Conversation Casanova”. It was okay.
