Hey there,
Do you feel life is so same and kind of becoming routine? Well here is the thing, almost 95% people think the same. I watched a video in TED, it was about 'taking a goal for each month' and just follow it. I mean, like simple goals say 'no sugar in your coffee', 'write 50 words per day in a notepad', 'give up social media like Facebook, Twitter etc.,'. Either we have a goal or do nothing months' just pass away. Hence, this is what I am doing this year to kinda spice it up.
January 2014:
I stopped using Facebook at my work. I should say, forget about those increase in productivity, worked on career growth, I actually started reading some good online articles, tried to use internet to learn instead of connecting to so called social media website. I guess now I have a good control over social media now.
February 2014:
Well! Two goals, a do and a don't type. I had decided to give up Coffee for a month, purposely on Feb because it has less days overall. Ha ha! That was to test my brain's addiction formula. And the 'do goal' was to write two or more lines of poem/spoken word poetry each day. Post February, what I found was, not doing something for sometime is easy, but doing something on a daily basis seems to be difficult. You tend to forget, ignore, or be lazy! But yeah made it.
For people who would like to go over my scribbled lines, please follow the link
http://mysharedpage.blogspot.in/2014/05/scribbles.html
March 2014:
Three goals on the third month. 2 don'ts and 1 do! So, did not listen to Coldplay tracks and did not sleep after 8 AM. Looking tough, is it? That was a hope to make a routine wake up cycle. There was one 'do goal' and that was, a blog 'Pic & Pick'. The blog is about taking a picture each day and post it with a small note. What did I get post March? A blog page and a routine wake up cycle, but yeah missed Coldplay tracks badly. There was a track released by Coldplay during march, worth the wait, I listened to it first thing after that month got over, track details below :)
Follow the link to see Pic & Pick blog: http://mysharedpage.blogspot.in/2014/03/pic-pick.html
April 2014:
Fourth month of this year, and yes I got four goals to accomplish. Was able to complete them but had some challenges in following it. :) So, let me tell you about the 'Don't do' goals first, planned not to use Lift anywhere I went & not to use Pen. Funny isn't. Mission accomplished with minor flaws. One day, April 19th, I went out to give a Certification, had to sign in Pen on the entry list. Followed by few signatures on my Credit card receipts. Huh! Another night, April 22nd, I was having dinner with team mates, followed by a meeting to join from the restaurant, a little exhausted day I should say, used the Lift for two floors down :|. Moving to the 'do goals', that easily possible one during Summer, took cold showers. Last one, a little challenging one, I was carrying sticky notes and a pencil asking one same question to few known people & few strangers. As I said, that goal had hurdles and the major ones are, approaching strangers in a crowded place, feeling uncomfortable, afraid of rejection (like someone saying 'not this time'). But you know what, ironically, I got to see one useful video about approaching strangers after April month got over. A video from Brandon Stanton, founder of Humans of New York.
May 2014:
Made it. So the 'don't do goals' goes like this, I decided not to stay at office after 9 PM whatsoever, sometimes even when my work was complete, I use to stay there. Leaving before 9 PM in-fact gave me a good work-life balance. The next one, no Chocolates! People did ask me 'Are you crazy?'. Well, I just wanted to have a break up with Chocolates for a month, you know! :P And then the last 'don't do goal' - no personal emails/social networking at office, and of course this helped to leave early. Do goals! Thought about reading few pages in any book. Was able to complete 2 books. And the last one, was trying to make as much eye contacts as possible. This is an exercise to reflect the focus on the others who looks at me. It gives you a little bit of confidence I feel.
June 2014:
Yes, made it! So Recording a song a day, this was easy. In-fact uploaded two best (in my opinion) recordings in soundcloud.com. Will upload a few more in sometime. Learn Guitar chord, yeah I was learning few chords and even the guitar intro from "Mogathirai" song. I should start playing it everyday. :) A fruit a day, for the first 19 days I was able to have unique fruit a day, but last 11 days there were some repetition. No plastic bags, I use to carry my back bag to get stuffs. This is like go-green initiative. If you look outside, our earth is completely covered by plastic cover these days, the least I can do. No carbonated drinks, I generally drink them less. Still, wanted to stop it for a month. The last one, a little tough one in current world, no internet from 10pm to 10am. Slightly failed, most of the days I followed this goal, except that when I need to connect from home to work or any emergency. Internet is like oxygen for us these days. Isn't!
You can check out my recordings in (please bare with my voice and musical mistakes): https://soundcloud.com/hariprasad-vadivel
July 2014:
7 goals!
No Facebook: Was possible. No shaving: Yeah, I had that close to stubble look :-P, A candy to a stranger: Gave candies to office securities, lift operators, house keeping folks. I loved their smiles with a surprise. A metaphor on something: Slowly I started liking to relate real life with metaphors. Lately I have been saying lot of metaphors. Yeah wrote them in my diary. Write a moment in diary: I use to write diary in the past. Now again, just for this month I was capturing few moments on a day-to-day basis. No movies: Not a tough one, I am not a movie buff but still was not watching any movie. No talking for 1 hr in a day when surrounded by people: This was tough, very tough especially when you are in a Consulting world where you can't shut your mouth. : )
August 2014:
Decided not to follow 8 goals and go crazy. Just one, a trip, to somewhere, alone. Yes, went to Andaman. Follow the below link : )
https://mysharedpage.blogspot.in/2014/09/into-island.html
September 2014:
This month, going to ink my first tattoo. A permanent one. This way, I can get out for the fear that I always have on 'committing to something for life time'. Are you planning to ink a tattoo? Check out this link.
http://mysharedpage.blogspot.in/2014/12/tattoo.html
October 2014:
My birthday month. Pledged to donate eyes. And a coincidence I visited a visually impaired NGO. The below link is my point of view in disability.
http://mysharedpage.blogspot.in/2015/01/we-are-all-disabled.html
November 2014:
A Cycling trip to Coastal area. My first cycle trip. A blog will be published shortly.
December 2014:
My first time guest lecture at a B-school, and a finisher of 10K marathon! :)
2014 was filled with lot of first times in my life. Unlike other years 2014 has become so special and I can remember each precious month of this year due to my crazy/easy/lazy goals.
Do you feel life is so same and kind of becoming routine? Well here is the thing, almost 95% people think the same. I watched a video in TED, it was about 'taking a goal for each month' and just follow it. I mean, like simple goals say 'no sugar in your coffee', 'write 50 words per day in a notepad', 'give up social media like Facebook, Twitter etc.,'. Either we have a goal or do nothing months' just pass away. Hence, this is what I am doing this year to kinda spice it up.
January 2014:
I stopped using Facebook at my work. I should say, forget about those increase in productivity, worked on career growth, I actually started reading some good online articles, tried to use internet to learn instead of connecting to so called social media website. I guess now I have a good control over social media now.
February 2014:
Well! Two goals, a do and a don't type. I had decided to give up Coffee for a month, purposely on Feb because it has less days overall. Ha ha! That was to test my brain's addiction formula. And the 'do goal' was to write two or more lines of poem/spoken word poetry each day. Post February, what I found was, not doing something for sometime is easy, but doing something on a daily basis seems to be difficult. You tend to forget, ignore, or be lazy! But yeah made it.
For people who would like to go over my scribbled lines, please follow the link
March 2014:
Three goals on the third month. 2 don'ts and 1 do! So, did not listen to Coldplay tracks and did not sleep after 8 AM. Looking tough, is it? That was a hope to make a routine wake up cycle. There was one 'do goal' and that was, a blog 'Pic & Pick'. The blog is about taking a picture each day and post it with a small note. What did I get post March? A blog page and a routine wake up cycle, but yeah missed Coldplay tracks badly. There was a track released by Coldplay during march, worth the wait, I listened to it first thing after that month got over, track details below :)
 |
| Coldplay - Track: Magic, Album: Ghost stories |
Follow the link to see Pic & Pick blog: http://mysharedpage.blogspot.in/2014/03/pic-pick.html
April 2014:
Fourth month of this year, and yes I got four goals to accomplish. Was able to complete them but had some challenges in following it. :) So, let me tell you about the 'Don't do' goals first, planned not to use Lift anywhere I went & not to use Pen. Funny isn't. Mission accomplished with minor flaws. One day, April 19th, I went out to give a Certification, had to sign in Pen on the entry list. Followed by few signatures on my Credit card receipts. Huh! Another night, April 22nd, I was having dinner with team mates, followed by a meeting to join from the restaurant, a little exhausted day I should say, used the Lift for two floors down :|. Moving to the 'do goals', that easily possible one during Summer, took cold showers. Last one, a little challenging one, I was carrying sticky notes and a pencil asking one same question to few known people & few strangers. As I said, that goal had hurdles and the major ones are, approaching strangers in a crowded place, feeling uncomfortable, afraid of rejection (like someone saying 'not this time'). But you know what, ironically, I got to see one useful video about approaching strangers after April month got over. A video from Brandon Stanton, founder of Humans of New York.
May 2014:
Made it. So the 'don't do goals' goes like this, I decided not to stay at office after 9 PM whatsoever, sometimes even when my work was complete, I use to stay there. Leaving before 9 PM in-fact gave me a good work-life balance. The next one, no Chocolates! People did ask me 'Are you crazy?'. Well, I just wanted to have a break up with Chocolates for a month, you know! :P And then the last 'don't do goal' - no personal emails/social networking at office, and of course this helped to leave early. Do goals! Thought about reading few pages in any book. Was able to complete 2 books. And the last one, was trying to make as much eye contacts as possible. This is an exercise to reflect the focus on the others who looks at me. It gives you a little bit of confidence I feel.
June 2014:
Yes, made it! So Recording a song a day, this was easy. In-fact uploaded two best (in my opinion) recordings in soundcloud.com. Will upload a few more in sometime. Learn Guitar chord, yeah I was learning few chords and even the guitar intro from "Mogathirai" song. I should start playing it everyday. :) A fruit a day, for the first 19 days I was able to have unique fruit a day, but last 11 days there were some repetition. No plastic bags, I use to carry my back bag to get stuffs. This is like go-green initiative. If you look outside, our earth is completely covered by plastic cover these days, the least I can do. No carbonated drinks, I generally drink them less. Still, wanted to stop it for a month. The last one, a little tough one in current world, no internet from 10pm to 10am. Slightly failed, most of the days I followed this goal, except that when I need to connect from home to work or any emergency. Internet is like oxygen for us these days. Isn't!
You can check out my recordings in (please bare with my voice and musical mistakes): https://soundcloud.com/hariprasad-vadivel
July 2014:
7 goals!
No Facebook: Was possible. No shaving: Yeah, I had that close to stubble look :-P, A candy to a stranger: Gave candies to office securities, lift operators, house keeping folks. I loved their smiles with a surprise. A metaphor on something: Slowly I started liking to relate real life with metaphors. Lately I have been saying lot of metaphors. Yeah wrote them in my diary. Write a moment in diary: I use to write diary in the past. Now again, just for this month I was capturing few moments on a day-to-day basis. No movies: Not a tough one, I am not a movie buff but still was not watching any movie. No talking for 1 hr in a day when surrounded by people: This was tough, very tough especially when you are in a Consulting world where you can't shut your mouth. : )
August 2014:
Decided not to follow 8 goals and go crazy. Just one, a trip, to somewhere, alone. Yes, went to Andaman. Follow the below link : )
https://mysharedpage.blogspot.in/2014/09/into-island.html
September 2014:
This month, going to ink my first tattoo. A permanent one. This way, I can get out for the fear that I always have on 'committing to something for life time'. Are you planning to ink a tattoo? Check out this link.
http://mysharedpage.blogspot.in/2014/12/tattoo.html
October 2014:
My birthday month. Pledged to donate eyes. And a coincidence I visited a visually impaired NGO. The below link is my point of view in disability.
http://mysharedpage.blogspot.in/2015/01/we-are-all-disabled.html
November 2014:
A Cycling trip to Coastal area. My first cycle trip. A blog will be published shortly.
December 2014:
My first time guest lecture at a B-school, and a finisher of 10K marathon! :)
2014 was filled with lot of first times in my life. Unlike other years 2014 has become so special and I can remember each precious month of this year due to my crazy/easy/lazy goals.
