Pkchukiss - Reality Wine

I missed out on practically free money today. This morning, my boss called to ask whether I was able to work on my off-day. Though I didn’t ask her the reason, it most probably was because of the flu virus that has been running rampantly through the office. At its height, 7 of my colleagues were down, and the service level for that day plunged to a shockingly low 37%.

I had to reject her of course. I had originally decided to go down to the administrative centre for one of the local polytechnics to enquire about the diploma course, and whether they would accept university rejects.

But when multiple calls went unanswered, I decided that it was not worth the trip for today, so I shot an email instead, and got down to surfing the Internet. Ok, the decision seemed a little brash, but I didn’t want to risk wasting money and time going down to a place that was either

1. too busy to answer my call
2. not even open

If they were so caught up in their work, I doubt they would have time to entertain me today anyway. I thought I’ll postpone the trip to Monday, my other off-day.

It can be a seriously tough call making the choice between making more money on the job, and doing something to facilitate your future.

So having done none of the two options, I decided to make full use of my time. No use letting cash fly by without having gotten some compensation!

I went online, and plunged into the world of self-improvement. There are many gurus out there, and probably some red herrings; but I can safely say that bloggers with the most positive comments are normally heading the right way… Right?

There was Steve Palina, called the polyphasic mutant by denouncers of daily 100 min sleep, LifeHacker, Achieve-It and many others.

Oddly enough, there was a central theme around their websites. Goal setting. Then take action, and never look back. I am shocked that I didn’t even get that simple concept! It was like the aeroplane safety video: people see the video, but they don’t comprehend and internalise what is being said!

Come to think of it, my first brush with self-improvement came during my secondary school days. The school invited a coach to teach us strategies to tackling tests, and deal with abuses. Goal setting was the central theme, but I caught a different light bulb than the one that the coach was trying to hand to me. I was focused on the methods to cheat maximise study efficiency, and missed the bigger frame.

Only now did the large picture hit me. No matter how tough, setting a goal focuses your energy into doing what you need to do, instead of what you want to do. You would be a lot less likely to get the idea of wasting your time away than if you were to sit around without a goal.

As it is, the army has adopted this principle into everyday training. Objectives are set, instructors keep on pushing the trainees to get the desired result, and they get something done most of the time, even if they do not hit their targets. The only difference in the civilian world is that you are the one behind the wheel.

Now that this has finally dawned upon my thick skull, I guess it will be a tiny bit harder to procrastinate now!

Filed under: General