I’m starting a series of monthly updates to share what I’ve been up to as well as any other favourite things or recommendations I came across during the month. It is also a way for me to document my journey and in the future, I will see how much I’ve grown (hopefully!).

Looking back at last summer’s reflections, I am really proud of my past self for showing up and being more intentional with my goals for the term break. I encourage you to also set a goal (at least for the next 30 days) to challenge yourself.

In the beginning of my term break in April, I felt a little frustrated with the sudden change in my plans. However, I decided to still make the most of these few months before my next school term starts again in August.

What I’ve Been Up To

With my cancelled plans, I had more time to slow down, organise and do the things I love. For example, I took my old electronic keyboard piano out from its dusty corner in the storeroom and taught myself 6 new songs using YouTube piano tutorials.

To be honest, I hesitated to play the piano because I felt that it didn’t give me any productive results. However, after a call with my friends, I was convinced to do something for myself, regardless of the activity producing anything useful or not.

I found that playing the piano helped me to destress and rest. This in turn helped me raise my energy and be more productive when it is time to work. Besides, playing the piano always brings me happy memories and I’m glad I made time for it during the past few weeks in quarantine.

I also pushed myself to do arm workouts every day using ‘weights’ (I made do with 2 heavy textbooks). Although I did not really see significant visual changes to my arms and shoulders, I felt that I challenged myself mentally and pushed my limits.

In addition, I read 6 books since my exams ended and created my first lead magnet – journal prompts for students to review their terms. I found that regular reflections and goal setting helped me to go through my school terms more intentionally and not over or under-commit. It also serves as a way for me to record my achievements and lessons learnt.

Other Takeaways and Lessons Learnt

1. Focus on ONE highlight a day. Everything else is a bonus.

I don’t know about you but I tend to be overly ambitious about what I plan to complete in a day. This creates more stress and makes me feel awful about myself when I can’t seem to follow through with my plans.

I recalled a suggestion from the book Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky. It mentioned that in order to live each day more intentionally, we should define our daily highlight before the day begins. These highlights are peak moments, wins or successes in the day.

My coach, Sam, also said to pick one (big or small) task to do every day which would bring you one step closer to your goal. All other tasks will be bonus tasks to complete on the same day.

I combined both suggestions and found that I was more focused and productive when I had just ONE main task or thing each day. It could be to draft a post, finish learning a new song to play on my piano, or call a friend. Following this method means that I have no excuses to not get things done. When I complete my bonus tasks, I feel even more energised. Even if I do not get to complete the bonus tasks, I still feel accomplished.

I also found it more rewarding and it helped me build my self-trust and momentum again. I invite you to focus on just one highlight today and leave everything else as a bonus.

2. Self-trust is everything, but learning to move forward in a non-judgemental way is even more powerful.

I am referring to building self-trust by following through with what you said you’d do. This is important in terms of honouring your own commitments. What I found even more crucial (at least in that moment) is the action taken right after being aware of yourself deciding not to follow through.

Do you beat yourself up? Do you entirely avoid your plans? Or do you pause, take stock of how much time is left and get as much work done as possible within the timeframe?

3. Make time for the things you like and the people you love.

Sometimes it seems almost impossible to do this, but a little goes a long way.

Take a moment now to reflect on what things you would like to do, just for the sake of its enjoyment. It doesn’t matter if it seems counter-productive.

If you think you are too busy and don’t have enough time, check out my blog post on making time for things you love.

4. You don’t necessarily need to be more disciplined. You just need to make things exciting again.

I often hear myself saying, “I need to be more disciplined in X,” or “I can’t seem to be disciplined enough to do Y.” A friend disagreed, saying that being ‘more disciplined’ is not a problem for me. Instead, I am feeling too bored of the task.

Usually, we get into things that felt exciting at first, but overtime became a bit mundane. For me, it was writing. I noticed myself procrastinating and self-sabotaging my plans a few weeks ago. To regain my momentum, I made mini challenges to myself to make things interesting. It worked and that was how I managed to post my journal prompts and this blog post!

Another way to go about this is to think of how you can make it easier for yourself. It could be simple things such as selecting your workout clothes the night before, or listening to your favourite tunes while working.

What I’m Working On In June 2020

I’ve been looking forward to embark on my summer internship since the start of this year. It would be an interesting experience to (partially) work-from-home too. I aim to improve my domain knowledge on operations management and hone my technical skills further.

I also want to brush up on my German because I do plan to travel there again, either for an international exchange program or as a graduation trip. I’ve been using GermanPod101 and other language learning resources to help me. Since they announced that their Absolute Beginner Pathway series is free for 3 months, I jumped at the chance to improve my conversational skills. Hence, my goal would be to complete their Absolute Beginner Pathway before the promotion ends. I highly recommend it as a resource to learn any new language as well.

Lastly, I want to keep creating more consistent content on this blog as well as on my Instagram. Let me know what topics you would like to hear more from me!