Saturday June 30 Saturday, Jun 30 2007 

Today I planned to get my 3 daily disciplines out of the way as early as I could. But I slept in, then had a dentist appointment. I then had a long lazy breakfast, cleaned my car, did some guided meditation (Paul Scheele) and a De Bono creativity exercise, so I didn’t get started until 3pm. I had a self conversation in my journal for 30 minutes, read for 30 minutes (“Happiness”) and then went and kicked the footy with some friends at the park for an hour and a half.

Tonight I’m going to a 21st. Should be good fun. Tomorrow’s my day off! Zero obligation. Really I should have gotten more done today so I really could have the day off. I think I’ll go and buy some clothes tomorrow.

Friday June 29 Friday, Jun 29 2007 

Today I woke up early and did the a Paul Scheele paraliminal from the Natural Brilliance course.

I went to site for work today, so I spent about 4 hours walking around in the country taking soil suction readings. Very peaceful. I’m counting that as my exercise for today.

I came home and read 45 minutes of my book, “Happiness”. The book is glowing in it’s praise of the Scandinavian country systems, which is very encouraging because I’ll be spending 6 months in Sweden between January and June coming up.

In the book, I also learned about a study which was done within a corporation; with a control group and a group that was given an 8 week course in meditation. The group that did the meditation course rose an average of 20 points in happiness on a 100 person scale! That’s huge. This made me realise something I already knew, that I’d like to get into meditation. I’m going to Penn State University on exchange this semester, so I’m going to join the YAMS (Yoga and Meditation Society). I’m also keen to do an Improv Comedy course at PSU.

I then made myself a big healthy tuna salad for dinner, and then had my daily self conversation. It was great. It really lifted my mood. I just ask myself big open-ended questions and start writing whatever comes to mind, being mindful of focussing on the positives in life.

I’ve read somewhere that personal development is just communication skills, whether it’s communication with yourself or with others. This exercise I think is great for self awareness and reflection. My primary focus over the next 12 months is on social, communication, conversation and relationship skills, so I can definitely see the benefits in making this a daily discipline.

Well it’s Friday night, so I’m gonna go and socialise! That’s my primary focus, which is great, ’cause it’s also fun!

Until tomorrow!

Thursday June 28 Thursday, Jun 28 2007 

Today I woke up at 6:30am and I worked on my project first thing. I started a new project today. It involves working on my conversation skills. I’m trying to improve my general social skills, as my quarterly evaluations have exposed my social life as my weakest area. Basically, I chose a random word (“concert”) and related a personal experience of mine to the word. From there, I just wrote for 30 minutes. One topic led to another, and I ended up having a long conversation with myself in my journal. I think a better way to do this would be to speak it though… There’s a thought. I’d have to find a quiet spot. The emphasis is on relating my own unique personal experience.

After work, I read “Happiness for about 45 minutes (almost finished it now), and I went for a long walk/jog with Tony Robbins giving me a private lecture from the comfort of my mp3 player.

Until tomorrow…

Wednesday June 27 Wednesday, Jun 27 2007 

I got up at 6:30am today and went for a run. I did some hill sprints. There’s a quite steep 200m hill next to my house. I went for a walk and a jog to warm up, had a stretch, and then did the hill 6 times, 3, a break, then another 3. The aim of this exercise is to get consistency in the runs.

Set 1:

1:03   1:01   0:50

Set 2:

1:05  1:08  1:07

 So my consistency wasn’t so great, but like I said yesterday, we all have to start somewhere! I felt good for doing it. My run went for about 40 minutes all up, including stretching, warm up, cool down etc.

 I read for half an hour (“Happiness” by Layard) while I was catching public transport home from my student exchange pre-departure seminar.

Just now I recorded myself singing Dave Matthew’s “You Might Die Trying”, and did a De Bono exercise.

Until tomorrow!

Tuesday June 26 Tuesday, Jun 26 2007 

Today I woke up, showered and did my half hour of reading on “Happiness” by Richard Layard.

After work I went to dinner with some relatives. After that, I came home and played my guitar for half an hour. I learnt the basic structure of two Paul Kelly songs (“From Little Things Big Things Grow” and “Deeper Water”), and a Dave Matthews song; “You Might Die Trying”.

I just finished my half hour of exercise: I did this regime: http://www.sivamdesign.com/home/fitness/files/schd_wow.html very poorly. I have awful core strength, I struggle to do even one crunch properly. I can’t seem to get my head around the inverse push-ups, and my right leg starts to shake uncontrollably whenever I exert. Well I suppose we all have to start somewhere.

Monday June 25 Monday, Jun 25 2007 

Today I intended to wake up and go for a 5km run, but I felt awful when I woke up, so I scrapped the idea. I’m not sure if I had a touch of food poisoning or if I’m getting sick. Hopefully the former.

So instead I went for a jog/walk (about 60:40) during my lunch break, for 30 minutes.

After dinner, I lay in bed and finished off Daniel Goleman’s “Emotional Intelligence”. Excellent book. I read for over an hour.

After the book, I cleaned the kitchen and then got to work on my project, which at the moment is recording some of my songs so I can start to get some more gigs. I recorded my song “Flow”, and rendered it to mp3. The qualitiy is awful, so I plan to re-record it on my Dad’s computer sometime soon. I also recorded my song “Foolish Game”, and the Van Morrison song “Sweet Thing”. It’s great to hear my own voice, it’s the single most important activity to ensure improvement in singing in my humble opinion.

Another Personal Growth activity I did today was one of the exercises out of Edward De Bono’s “How To Have Creative Ideas”.

 So thumbs up for day one. Tomorrow I’ll get up and read for half an hour in the morning. I’ll go for a run after work, and then I’ll do some more musical type stuff after dinner.

 Cheers!

My Goals Sunday, Jun 24 2007 

Long Term:

To achieve inner peace and happiness

To achieve financial independence

To achieve a network of fulfilling relationships

To enjoy being creative and writing songs and playing music

To own a house in nature in a beautiful part of the world, and visit it regularly

To have a beautiful family

To work in a career that allows me to make a real positive, tangible difference in the way people lead their lives

Be fluent in: English, Swedish, Spanish, French, Mandarin

To master: Guitar, Piano, Singing, Songwriting, Public Speaking

To be “well read”

To be “well travelled”

To stay in peak physical shape until the day I die

To be highly conscious of my diet and exercise

Short Term: (Five Years)

Visit: New York City, Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, St Petersburg, The Swedish Laplands in Summer, Paris, Geneva, Florence, Rome, Venice, Athens, The Greek Islands, The Eagles Nest in Bavaria, Ceske Krumlov, Prague, Berlin.

Read: Emotional Intellience – Daniel Goleman, Social Intelligence – Daniel Goleman, Messages – , The Selfish Gene – Richard Dawkins, The Undercover Economist – Tim Harford, The Art of Travel – Alain De Botton, Accordion Crimes – E. Annie Proulx, The Sea – John Banville, The Famished Road – Ben Okri, Anil’s Ghost – Michael Ondaatje, Meditations – Marcus Aurelius, Manhood – Steve Biddulph, Happiness – Richard Layard, Impro – Keith Johnstone

Learn: Swedish, Singing (4 octave range), Improv Comedy, Blues Guitar, Self Defence, Public Speaking, Salsa Dancing, Windsurfing, Photoreading, Speed Typing, Journalling Techniques, Yoga, Massage, Conversation, Psychology, Civil Engineering, Urban Planning.

Experience: Skydiving, A Vipassana Meditation, Do Voluntary Work in a Third World Country, Complete a Triathlon,  Visit Auschwitz, Walk the Kokoda Track.

Complete a BA(psychology), a BE(civil engineering). To receive first class honours in my engineering degree. To achieve an 80% average in all classes for the remainder of my studies.

To complete a postgraduate degree in planning or engineering for sustainable development.

Stoic Inspiration Sunday, Jun 24 2007 

This is an idea I derived from the stoic philosophy.

 For the next 6 weeks, I will spend:

30 minutes (solid) reading

30 minutes exercising

30 minutes working on a specific project

Every day except for Sunday. On Sunday I have no obligations.

This will take self-discipline, something that I desperately need to build.

Every day, I’ll do a post outlining the details of my day’s achievements.

I have the feeling I’ll be adding 30 minutes of meditation to that list as well soon enough.

Cheers.