What's another word for 'future'? More like how 'current' is for
'present'/'now', and 'then' is for 'past'. Hold on, I'll check my
dictionary app.
Okay, it says 'time to come',
'forthcoming', 'in store', or 'prospective'. Hmm I think I like
prospective the best so I shall use that in the title.
Now,
getting on with what this post actually is :) It's a compilation of the
stuff that currently fill my days/thoughts and what I hope will fill my
days/thoughts in the days to come, hence: current and prospective.
Right
now I'm in the midst of my holidays so this means that I have much time
to sit around all day and just do what I like (which may not always be a
good thing for me, having so much unobligated time. Why is there a red
squiggly line under my "unobligated"? Is it not a proper word? They have
it in the Google search but they don't have it in the Collins
dictionary. Huh. Well okay, unoccupied/idle time.) Anyway, the point is
that I've been spending my time reading books. And you might think this
is a good thing, you know how expanding your pool of knowledge and
broadening your perspectives etc is supposed to come with reading,
making it a beneficial pastime; but I think that it's starting to become
more of an impediment than a help. This is because I think I'm a bit
excessive about it. okay maybe that's an understatement. I go through
one book in a day and have been doing so for about 2 weeks now, not to
say that I've read 14 books, but close. They all have about 350 pages
each. The sad part about this story is that I haven't ad any time to do
other things. Almost all I do everyday is read, eat, sleep, read, eat,
sleep. I borrow a book from the library one day and return it the next,
yeah, I guess I should probably say it's an unhealthy obsession.
Literally. haha well because of this (and because of a pretty serious
foot injury that came with a sprained ankle), I haven't been very active
or exercising regularly which is bad. Especially for one like me who enjoys life's simple pleasures like a few squares of Kinder Bueno or a Happy Hippo, also from the Kinder company, every once in a while. (if you don't know what these are, you've been missing out on life!! Big time!) I also like Vanilla soft-serve ice cream and Froyo sometimes. SO back to the point: My holidays are dwindling away quite unproductively and I'm getting fat.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Excellence and one-hit wonders
This is a topic that's been swimming around in my head for a while now; I
even had quite a lengthy discussion about it with my sister in the wee hours
one night.
So I used to be in the choir in my old school where we had some amazing and incredibly insightful people for conductors. They didn’t just teach us to sing well, but also imparted valuable life lessons that I treasure to this day. There was this one quote in particular that really spoke to me: “Excellence is not an act but a habit.” By Aristotle. In context, they were telling us not to put on a good show only for big, important performances (i.e. competitions or events where we are judged and assessed), but to dedicate the same amount of effort, focus & dedication to the casual performances (like those for school-based events). In other words, not just be like a “Peacock choir” where everything is just-for-show and the best is only displayed when the stakes are high, but to consistently bring a good Hand to the table; making Excellence a Habit instead of a one-off Act.
In the same way, people are always telling us that “consistency is key” (to success/good grades, etc.) but I didn’t fully grasp the concept consistency until recently, when I had an epiphany! J So you know how we look at the world in terms of our schedules, like in block periods? For example, I’ve got this week with all my assignments due, then the next 2 weeks are my major exams then for 2 months after that it’s holiday! What I’m trying to get at is that our outlook on life consists of a few milestones, or important events that we mark out on our calendar as they determine our “fate” in some way (testing and grades determine which classes/schools/scholarships you’ll get to apply for), and leave the rest of it (the ordinary days/ maybe even the individual days of a long break) with no clear vision or goal. In the days leading up to the big exams, we study so hard and deprive ourselves of all the luxuries in life (like going out, shopping, eating fancy, watching movies, stalking people on Facebook, SLEEP) to bury ourselves in study material; we suddenly become so Systematic, as we plan out our study schedule, Efficient, as we time ourselves with revision and practice papers, and Productive as we are spurred on by stress of each passing day (and possibly the caffeine in our system from all that coffee. Or tea). Now we may think this kind of discipline is good for us (and sure, it is, if you keep it up even after your tests are over) but in truth, I think it’s more detrimental than helpful. This is because most of us will immediately let everything go and indulge ourselves in all the activities that we were deprived of for the past weeks. We indulge to such an extent (because we can; don’t have school/ a care in the world) that our lifestyle becomes very unhealthy. Sleep at unearthly times, wake up after noon, shop till we have no more money/ we can fill another closet, stare at the computer screen till we have to get new glasses. And basically, if we don’t plan our holidays and fill it with events like what we did while studying, we just waste it away, day by day, transforming into a big blob of goo. Shapeless and helpless. (this often leaves us feeling horribly unprepared for the new school year and thinking how the holidays passed by so quickly)
So I just wanted to say, through this long but hopefully not confusing post, that Consistency means doing the same thing as you would no matter what the circumstance. And obviously, “doing that same thing” means putting your 100% in aiming for Excellence in all that you do, in every situation. This is REALLY a lot easier said than done but I’m pretty confident that if one was focused enough to apply this in their life and see it through, they would lead a pretty eventful and fulfilling life, and not regret a thing.
So I used to be in the choir in my old school where we had some amazing and incredibly insightful people for conductors. They didn’t just teach us to sing well, but also imparted valuable life lessons that I treasure to this day. There was this one quote in particular that really spoke to me: “Excellence is not an act but a habit.” By Aristotle. In context, they were telling us not to put on a good show only for big, important performances (i.e. competitions or events where we are judged and assessed), but to dedicate the same amount of effort, focus & dedication to the casual performances (like those for school-based events). In other words, not just be like a “Peacock choir” where everything is just-for-show and the best is only displayed when the stakes are high, but to consistently bring a good Hand to the table; making Excellence a Habit instead of a one-off Act.
In the same way, people are always telling us that “consistency is key” (to success/good grades, etc.) but I didn’t fully grasp the concept consistency until recently, when I had an epiphany! J So you know how we look at the world in terms of our schedules, like in block periods? For example, I’ve got this week with all my assignments due, then the next 2 weeks are my major exams then for 2 months after that it’s holiday! What I’m trying to get at is that our outlook on life consists of a few milestones, or important events that we mark out on our calendar as they determine our “fate” in some way (testing and grades determine which classes/schools/scholarships you’ll get to apply for), and leave the rest of it (the ordinary days/ maybe even the individual days of a long break) with no clear vision or goal. In the days leading up to the big exams, we study so hard and deprive ourselves of all the luxuries in life (like going out, shopping, eating fancy, watching movies, stalking people on Facebook, SLEEP) to bury ourselves in study material; we suddenly become so Systematic, as we plan out our study schedule, Efficient, as we time ourselves with revision and practice papers, and Productive as we are spurred on by stress of each passing day (and possibly the caffeine in our system from all that coffee. Or tea). Now we may think this kind of discipline is good for us (and sure, it is, if you keep it up even after your tests are over) but in truth, I think it’s more detrimental than helpful. This is because most of us will immediately let everything go and indulge ourselves in all the activities that we were deprived of for the past weeks. We indulge to such an extent (because we can; don’t have school/ a care in the world) that our lifestyle becomes very unhealthy. Sleep at unearthly times, wake up after noon, shop till we have no more money/ we can fill another closet, stare at the computer screen till we have to get new glasses. And basically, if we don’t plan our holidays and fill it with events like what we did while studying, we just waste it away, day by day, transforming into a big blob of goo. Shapeless and helpless. (this often leaves us feeling horribly unprepared for the new school year and thinking how the holidays passed by so quickly)
So I just wanted to say, through this long but hopefully not confusing post, that Consistency means doing the same thing as you would no matter what the circumstance. And obviously, “doing that same thing” means putting your 100% in aiming for Excellence in all that you do, in every situation. This is REALLY a lot easier said than done but I’m pretty confident that if one was focused enough to apply this in their life and see it through, they would lead a pretty eventful and fulfilling life, and not regret a thing.
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