From My View

I now have this dilemma when i go to buy new things, i usually don’t end up buying them. This is because i am quite a tight buyer when it comes to things i want to have instead of need. Lately, i have been considering if i wanted to buy a tablet. Well the benefits would be i would be on my phone less, and it would be helpful to not always bring my laptop everywhere because it can get annoying. But, there are many drawbacks: other brands look better but are more pricey, what if it doesn’t work and the build is quite flimsy so it is easy to break.

My brain does this with pretty much everything i buy, except if it is a habitual buy such as food from the supermarket. i can happily buy a sandwich, or a snack from the supermarket with no regrets. I have probably spent more money on food than anything else, and yet i am okay with it. Why? It is a primary need for all humans, my brain justifies the purchase saying “you need it to survive”. Let me tell you brain, i don’t need a Cadbury’s Oreo bar to survive.

Financially it isn’t an issue as i am quite a good saver, but i yearn for new things in my life i hope will make it better. The truth is, new things won’t make your life better. Deep down the real reason for why you want that new thing is there, whether to fit in, or try something new. More stuff won’t make you happy. If it was a bad purchase, then it will be a constant reminder of that amount of money you lost.

I probably won’t buy that tablet, i do want it, but i don’t need it.

This is kind of based of Nike’s slogan which I was reminded by yesterday. I was listening to Joe Rogan’s podcast where, he interviewed and talked with Kevin Hart for 3 hours about, basically everything.

Now, I find Kevin Hart to be an inspirational figure for myself. He never stops working, and always has a smile on his face that he can give to others.

Anyways, back to the topic, hart told Rogan that the best bit of advice that he got from his mum was to not quit. Anything you start you have to finish and know that you gave 100% of your mind effort into it.

One of the points that stuck with me is when he talks about how short life is. “If there is something you want to go do, then you have to go with it” , this aligns with a famous Dwayne Johnson quote “if you have got a dream, you have to just chase after it”.

So, I’m pretty sure you can tell I find both these figures very inspirational, and that I love movies when they act together (Central intelligence and Jumanji for example).

If there is something you want to do, just remember, the more time you think about what you want to do , the more time you are wasting. We all have a limited amount of time, use it doing things you love.

So, how have i changed my life since trying to cut procrastination, well i will share it with you.

I have recently been reading a book called “Sleep” by Nick Littlehales. Whilst i will go into the full book (when i finish it) in another blog, it has raised an important piece of information that i did not know before. My chronotype (whether i stay up late or are an early riser) is very important. I always thought i was lark when waking up in the morning, but i didn’t know what it meant. I am more likely to be focused in the morning than in the evening. So, if i was at school and had work to be done in the evening, it is actually better for me to do this in the morning than in the evening. Normally, when i get home, i work for about 3 hours with sometime little work done. Now i know why, i am less focused because my brain wants me to sleep and rest. I am actually blogging right now just after i have woken up as i feel energized and ready to start the day. Use the Munich University questionnaire otherwise to find out your chronotype.

I have also been implementing the 20 second rule into my life. This is where you take a moment 20 seconds between switching to procrastination to think about if this is really want to do, and it is surprisingly effective. Installing buffers on your computer can prove essential to stopping procrastination. Humans want immediacy, if they have to wait for something, they are more likely to continue with what they are doing now than wait the other product.

Finally, i have been using the Pomodoro technique, in which you set yourself a timer of 25 minutes for a time where you will only focus on your work and nothing else. When doing long assignments, this can prove to be quite challenging as you want to continue, and that is the point. Actually starting the work is the hardest part about working, once you get into it, 1 hour will fly by like its nothing, and you’ll be happy you did your work.

So if you haven’t or want to implement these into your life, try it for 30 days, you might suprised yourself with what you can do!

I thought of this when i was looking at myself in the mirror, i have many insecurities, and i do many of you out there will have them too. “Wait, was my head always this disfigured?”. The most common one i got when i was younger was that of which is my eyebrows. I won’t deny it, they are very bushy and hard to control, friends and sometimes people i don’t really know have asked if they can pluck/ shave my eyebrows when i was in the younger years of secondary school. I thought to myself, “are they really that bad?” and then i asked my mum to buy me a pair of tweezers so i could sort them out. I went to get them properly tamed by a professional. I then came into school and guess what, nobody noticed the difference.

That was when i realized that, i went through all this trouble for myself, i wanted to make myself better.

This is a bit short, but i wanted to say this. If you feel insecure, make a change if it makes you happy. Don’t do it for other people. You are the most important person in your life, don’t live for somebody else.

Do ever get those moments, where everything is going well, you can not get that smile off your face and then, you remember that you were supposed to do something that is really important. That smile on your face has completely dissipated, and now you cannot face yourself to admit you failed, and it is okay- it is not the end.

I actually had one of these moments yesterday evening, i knew i had to bake some food for work, but i got distracted and forgot about it instantaneously. But, i woke up at normal time today, and baked this morning before i went to work, and i enjoyed it a whole lot more.

I am not saying to leave your work to the last minute. I physically cannot do that without panicking that i have so much to do, it confuses me how students can do this.

The main message of this is to say that forgetting things is not the end of everything, there are methods of stopping this. For example, all important things i need to accomplish in the day are written in an A5 notebook that i got from the supermarket for under £5. I didn’t write in it today because i was cussed on baking, but let met tell you, that notebook is so important for me to work efficiently. I am quite a forgetful person but without that i would be even worse.

Forgetting things is not the end of everything. From my studying of psychology, the brain is not structured to hold so much information at once. In the short term memory store, around 5-9 items can be stored at once. Having a place to put your tasks is so helpful, i cannot stress it enough.

If you forget something, ask if it was that important that you forgot it. Normally the most important things in our lives are always on our mind. If you constantly forget this, question yourself to see if it is important. If not, how can we change it to make your life better.

Just don’t leave your tasks to the last minute.

Our society today has become crowded with consumerism. We buy so much stuff so it will satisfy the impulsive consumer’s needs at that time. A year ago i bought a LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon for £80, now it is just on my bookshelf, gathering dust. I bought it for my own satisfaction at the time, am i a deep enough star wars fan, i better buy something to show how much i love the franchise. I used to do this a lot when i was younger, but now i can barely buy a book these days without contradicting myself.

I am striving to call myself a “Minimalist”. I have been on this path for about year now where, all the items i own is essential, it is a simpler way of life. About 6 months ago, i owned about 80 books on my bookshelf, now i have 11 books and a Kindle. It makes my life a lot happier and gives me much more freedom with my money.

When you go into the supermarket, you are already there to buy something. Many shoppers don’t think enough about how the owners of the stores design the shop to make you buy more. When i go to my local store, big signs say “lowest price ever!” in the largest font possible. My mother would always go into the shop to get some bread, she would then come out with over 2 bags full of stuff because they were a bargain.

So, what am i trying to say. The best way to save money is to look around your house, see what you have and get rid of the things that you don’t essentially need. This will make your mind clearer when buying because you will know what you need from the store. The average American household has over 300,000 items in it. You don’t need the remote helicopter that you got from your Uncle and doesn’t work.

Have a look around, see what you don’t need anymore, you will be surprised what you find.

I absolutely love my job working as a barista/ deputy chef among other things.

One of the hardest jobs for me personally is to rely on other people. When we are really busy, I try to do everything because I want to show how amazing and skilled I am to all those around me. I am constantly trying to impress others, so it will give me happiness.

I do the job because I like to learn something new and help new customers and old. But, it is a massive benefit for me because I get to communicate with others, otherwise I would stay in my self-made bubble, and possibly be contempt.

What I have learned from this, is invaluable. Although I am not leaving , I think it is important to say that , bursting out your bubble is crucial for growing as a person. Knowing your limits is also as important, you can’t do everything, learning to trust others will help your communication skills.

So go on, burst your bubble!

Recently , I have been getting into the botanic lifestyle – having more plants in my life. It is quite a weird thing to bring up on this blog, but I think it’s important to express this new found interest in case a reader out there will feel inspired to do so.

Anyway, plants, they are pretty amazing. It all started when I was out on a walk with my dad, we were waking through the forest and he turned to me in astonishment that I didn’t know anything about plants. I couldn’t tell the difference between oak and birch trees. So this kind of gave me the inspiration to learn more about plants , they are pretty amazing . Nature is quite a magical concept, getting lost in a forest when I was younger was an experience rather than a fear. The noises and the big trees were awe inspiring.

I highly urge you to go to the nearest forest to you and just take it in. Granted you know your way out of it (roughly). Sometimes not knowing everything about something is exciting. You are In unknown territory, this can be quite meditative.

Anyways, I have got my cactus in my room now (called pickle prickle), among a few other plants around the house. Having the responsibility to look after plants is a privilege, and it also spices up your surroundings.

Try finding out more, you’ll be amazed how important it is to know about plants.

At the moment, i am feeling pretty rough. Pain and sickness do not go well together, and it has become hard for me to focus on anything, especially work. Sickness takes the energy away from you mentally, pain creates physical exhaustion and depression. There is no way to deal with the pain besides bearing it and treating it with the applicable resources. but don’t use it as jurisdiction for your actions.

If you are more impulsive and angry with those around you, that is not just down to sickness, we all still have a choice to act responsibly. This includes at work as well, Thomas Frank’s mum came up with a great phrase which is that ” You don’t take your problems to work”. If you are sick, well you can’t go to work, obviously. But, if you are well enough then it cannot be used to justify your actions. Same if you were depressed, you must act normal now whilst at work, and you can feel these emotions after it.

Do not let these weaknesses defy you, you must rise above them figuratively and emotionally speaking. Your body is fighting against the pain and sickness, so why shouldn’t you. When others will fall to their beds over a cold, there is you seizing the day and not letting anything hold you back.

I am not saying you should never rest, i am saying you must never give up your fiery ambition for anything. Stay in control.

This is going to be quite the mediocre blog post today, but is still something that I want to talk about. Due to the rapid digital growth of smartphones, society has drastically been torn away from reading books: including fiction and non fiction books. Take my mother for instance, when she was younger she Would constantly be reading books as she loved to do it. Now, she is more entertained by scrolling through Facebook than anything else.

I however, love to read books: especially productivity books as you may know. This didn’t occur until about 2 years ago when I made a New Years resolution to read books. A very basic resolution , but it was very effective. For the next two years, I would consecutively buy books on amazon: from game of thrones to The power of habit. Nothing could grab me like a book.

Since I have embarked on the road of a minimalist, I use my kindle to purchase new books,not only are they cheaper, but they are also easier to store.

So, sometimes put the phone down and pick up a book. You will be amazed what you can learn.