A Room of One’s Own

Good morning everyone! I’m just feeling so damn pumped up, was listening to Flo Rida’s Good Feeling all the way to Monash and boy was it an amazing drive here. Thanks to my baby, Giselle, love you.

First of, I’d like to thank all of you for reading what I write on this little site of mine. It’s so amazing how just over 10 days ago I had less than 1000 all-time views and now it’s 2349. Thank you, you guys have been amazing!

Anyway to the topic of the day, A Room of One’s Own. I came across the term I while reading Robin Sharma‘s The Greatness Guide Part 2, and he attributes it to Virginia Woolf.

“Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” Martin Luther King Jr

Now what i think Robin meant through this idea is the concept of having your OWN space. It doesn’t have to be a physical space, but just a space in our head for you to be alone. For you to do your own think. Analyse your life, evaluate where you’re going, whether you’re in line with you values…. Reflection. I cannot emphasise this enough, it so so very important for everyone to do this. Having this time to think, it can be done anywhere as long as you’re comfortable and like it, whether it’s in the car, in your room, Starbucks, and so on. It’s just aye an hour of your day, preferably in the morning, for you to think.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” Steve Jobs

So many of us are busy being busy, do you want to end up climbing the wrong mountain? Doing all that work for the wrong goal? That’s why this concept is so DAMN important. It’s a time when you walk away from The world, a time you find to avoid any and all distractions. You’ll be amazed at where your mind will wander of to. This little bit of your day will provide you with so much clarity that will definitely make you’re life easier, less clumsy, cluttered and messy.

“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.” Henry Ford

It won’t happen instantly, it’ll take time. Start by getting a journal, I use a Moleskine one cause I want it to last,and it looks good :), but you can use any book. Just leave it open in front of you with a pen in your hand. Listen to some chilled out music, or a motivational/inspirational podcast, and let your mind run free. Here are somethings to help you out.

Think about:
1: where do you want to be in a year.
2: what are your top 5 priorities.
3: what is your Genius? Your talents, skills, wtc
4: what are your top 5 values.
5: talk to yourself via writing.

I know that you probably dont have any reason to take my word for it, but please trust me, it has done wonders for me in the past 3 weeks. I was in such a shitty place a couple weeks back, and now I’m blogging everyday, waking up early, swimming, reading an hour a day, watching a lot less TV, making more friends… All these things I’ve been blogging about have made a world of difference to me… This could be my second coming? Steve jobs, Howard Schultz. 🙂 read my previous post A Rekindled Spirit.

“When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.” Plato

Another point I must emphasise, ELECTRONIC BLACKOUT. I love gadgets, I social media, I love my iPad and I love my iPhone. But when it comes time to think, put them away. Don’t reply messages, don’t check FB, don’t tweet, don’t read emails, just think. In fact, do this when you’re socialising as well, but I’ll address that in another post.

Turn off everything, Go Ghost Prototcol, Go Dark, Go Covert Ops, Go Black Ops, Go Ninja.

When you’re in your Room of Your Own, Go dark. Tell all your emails, texts, notifications etc that you would like an hour break. That’s why is a lot better to do this in the morning. I like doing this at about 6am, like what I did today. my aim: 5am Thinking Time by the time I start university again. I’m not asking you to wake up at 5 or 6, but the Earlier it is, the less the potential distractions, which will make your Thinking Time more effective. But please, make sure you sleep enough. Don’t skimp on sleep, you can do it for the short term, like a week before an exam etc, but never for long periods, I wrote about this in a previous post, Waking Up Early & Sleeping Well and also check this one out, Getting to Greatness without Burning Out

“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.”
Voltaire

Clarity leads to Awareness leads to better Results. Robin Sharma

Have a Great Day Ahead,

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

The Power of the Hug

Good evening everyone, here’s a little post to end the day,

It’s the simplest thing in life that we are most guilty of taking for granted, these little things that can spur the best type of joy, happiness or love; enjoying the stars in the night sky whilst lying down on the cool grass, or having a great conversation with someone or the look on the face of someone you care about when you perform some simple random act of kindness, such as giving them a flower. It is these moments that can really make life worth living. However, my favourite among the simple things is, the hug.

The hug is such an underrated way of showing appreciation or affection. It can help someone feel safe, feel at home, feel like they matter, feel like wanted, most importantly it can make someone feel loved. The act of embracing your fellow human is so universal, so versatile. It can be used for almost anything whether it be a moment of congratulations or a moment of condolence; a moment of bliss or a moment of sadness; a moment of friendship or a moment of love.

The Hug is a simple act of which results in a more than proportional result, when executed right.

A hug should be all embracing, not mere bumping of the shoulders at an awkward angle, no person ever felt appreciate from a half hearted borderline pathetic hug. Do it right. Make the person you are about to hug feel like you actually want to do to and that it’s not just a formality.

I never truly appreciated the power held in a hug until an uncle of mine talked to me about it after he saw me give my mum a “hug”. He said that he never went a day without giving someone a proper hug because that hug made his day all that much better.

So stop being stingy with your hugs. Show the people you care about that you actually do care about them. You’re actions speak much louder than words. If you tell someone you love them or care for them, make sure your actions are in sync.

Good night,

Now go give your parents a hug, 🙂

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

Small Daily Improvements Lead to Stunning Results

Good morning again,

I was just watching one of Robin Sharma‘s Vlogs and came across this:

“Small daily improvements overtime lead to stunning results.” Robin Sharma

He makes such a good point, we underestimate the importance of daily improvement and practice. No matter how small the progress, daily progress eventually builds up a momentum that will propel you further forwards. W just have to keep moving forward.

“The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.” Confucius

Once we “Just do it” and get something started, we just need to keep improving on it, a 1% daily improvement is better than a 10% gain one day and then being stagnant. Daily improvement will lead to breeding a great habit, daily practice.

Practice is so incredible important in our journey to achieve greatness, in a our attempts to climb mountains, cross rivers, you get the picture. If we do not practice, how do we expect to achieve results & goals?

All experts began as amateurs, all geniuses began as beginners.

Over the past week or so I’ve been focusing on a few things.
1. Waking up at 7
2. Swimming first thing in the morning
3. Blogging daily
4. Reading for an hour daily
5. Sleeping well

I didn’t achieve all this on the first day, but over the past 10 days I have seen great results, it just took daily improvements. I started by waking up at 8:30, and then 8:15 etc. I started my morning swimming by swimming 5 minutes the first time, and now I’ve progressed to 20 minutes and doing it at least 5 mornings a week. The blogging, well you know that story. The reading has been pretty steady, an average of 45 minutes a day now. And I’ve made it a point to go to bed by 10:30 everyday, so that my sleep cycle is readjusted, and the adjustment is indeed happening. I find myself feeling more refreshed in the mornings, and wanting to sleep at around 10. Next week I’m. Going to try waking up at 6:30, let’s see how that goes.

Anyway, I hope you get my point, daily improvement. Tattoo that on your brain. Before going to bed, take your journal and write about the things you did well, the things that weren’t so brilliant and the ways you can’t make tomorrow better. It set’s your actions in alignment with your goals. Don’t be busy being busy, don’t work so hard climbing the mountain only to realise that you climbed the wrong on. We all have limited time in a day, be smart about it.

Improve daily, be in line with your vision, put more living in your day.

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

Music

Good morning 🙂

How’s your morning been so far? I know my post is a little later than usual, was catching up with a friend I bumped into at Starbucks.

So, while chatting with Lauren I figured out today’s blog topic… Music. This hit me while I was listening to the great music here at Starbucks. (I do not get anything from starbucks, this is not product placement 😉 )

So anyway, what kind of music do you listen to?

Music is the soundtrack to our lives. It so incredibly important. It adds colour to our lives, makes life more exciting, cheers us up when we’re down, calms us down, and most importantly, it relates to us. It appeals to our emotions, our feelings.

As for my taste in music, it is…. varied.

What do you think I like?

Most people would say hip hop, and they’d be correct, but my taste is not limited to only that. Let’s take a list at my top 10. (plays collected over the past 2+ years)

1. Right round – Flo Rida
2. Marvin’s Room – Drake
3. Ultimate victory – chamillionaire
4. I’m on a boat – lonely island
5. Danza kuduro – Don Omar
6. Up all night – drake
7. Cookie jar – gym class heroes
8. Heartless – Kane west
9. Champagne showers – LMFAO
10. Tik Tok – ke$ha

So yes, most of my music is concentrated on hip hop and mainstream stuff, but further down my list you’ll see 30 Seconds to Mars, Slash, Michael Buble, Sinatra, Tiesto, Aoki, Santana, Linkin Park, Busta Ryhmes, One Republic, and … Taylor Swift. Yes, that is correct I listen Taylor Swift, sue me.

Each artist or genre appeals to a different side of me, a different area. And I’m sure you feel the same way too. I can’t listen to one style for too long, hence the varied selection. Right now I’m going through a Sinatra & Buble phase, thanks to my singing lessons.

Aside form listening to music, making music is great as well. Singing has been great for me. It’s helped me and I would really love to have a band in due time and make some great covers with certin people. Making music is a great form of personal expression, whether it is playing a song you know or composing your own stuff. It’s a great outlet for stress, creation and expression. Everyone should dabble in making music… it will boost your confidence and help you express yourself better. Whether its playing the piano, DJing, singing, mixing, producing, strumming the guitar, etc…… Anyone of them would be great…. It all matters.

So yea, don’t forget about music, don’t underestimate it’s power. It can motivate you, it can cheer you up, it can perpetuate your emotion, it can make you feel like a champion. Music is a force to be reckoned with…. a great source of power.

Here’s my cover of Frank Sinatra’s The Way You Look Tonight. Click here. it’s a little pitchy, I think, but definitely an improvement. #progress

Have a great day ahead,

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

Green Ways

Good morning readers, unlike the few days before this, I am not being accompanied by a Cafe Mocha, but my a cuppa green tea.

Speaking of green tea, today’s post will be green related.

I finished a chapter in Branson‘s book yesterday, the chapter in question is titled, Gaia Capitalism. It basically iterates his point on going green but still being able to make money, responsible capitalism if you will. He raises some very valid and interesting points. All of us can make a difference, if we all take small actions, over time it will mean something. So here are some suggestions, simple. Some I already practice, others I am adopting now.

1. BYOB. Bring you own bags when you go shopping.
2. Plan your travel/driving plans for the day so that you don’t waste time and fuel.
3. When driving try not to accelerate much,need a constant pace.
4. Car pool
5. Use less paper. Go digital, reuse paper, practice double sided printing.
6. Keep your tyres properly inflated, it helps your fuel economy.
7. Start using your own water bottles and/or containers when buying drinks (Starbucks, don’t buy bottled water unnecessarily)
8. When buying vehicles, try to look at the more fuel efficient ones.
9. Unplug unused chargers and appliances
10. Don’t leave computers on overnights
11. Collect rainwater
12. Watch Food Inc

Really try and watch Food Inc, it really opened my eyes.

Anyway, I hope that this post helps you guys. It may not seem like much, but if more people starting doing it, over time it will make a difference.

Oh, and I had a another idea. I love this Earth Hour thing, but I think it doesn’t happen enough. So I’m looking at making it a regular thing at my house and hopefully spread it from there. Wish me luck 🙂

Have a great day,

Put more living in your days

Straight From The Heart

Arkay 6

Do we watch too much TV?

Good morning dear readers, thank you for tuning in this fine cool morning, so cool that my mother was wearing a shawl in the hall. Lovely 🙂 I actually rolled down the windows on the way to Monash. I’m chillaxing at Starbucks listening to some nice music (the play some really good music) but instead of green tea, I’m indulging in a Cafe Mocha today. 🙂

I was thinking about how A couple weeks back I would’ve either still been in bed or watching tv at this time, and this thought got me thinking about the amount of time we spend watching tv and then I thought:

are we too distracted by mindless TV shows?

I understand that people like to watch tv for entertainment and to unwind but I think society has become too distracted by some really ridiculous shows. I am in no way innocent of these claims, and this is why I’m writing about it.

There were entire days I used to spend watching tv shows and for what? A story line? To appease my curiosity? To distract myself? To escape reality? Fill the time?

The answer: all of the above.

I would watch tv for the storyline and really can’t stop until the serial dies as I need to satisfy my curiosity. I also watched it to distance myself from life, I was feeling down and out and tv would help ease that hurt but it wasn’t really helping me, but distracting me from dealing with the issues plaguing me, it helped me escape reality. And most sinful of all, it just filled up my days, it helped the time pass in a time when I felt like I was in a coma, life was just passing me by… I wasn’t acting on life.

But what I’ve come to realise is that even though tv is a part of modern daily life we shouldn’t spend too much time with it… Because honestly, it’s such a waste of time. I am currently following about 13 tv shows, and I will not be following anymore! Thank god some of these shows are coming to the end and I will not replace them. I have started limiting myself to an hour of tv a day (especially weekdays), so that I don’t distract myself from more worth while endeavours such as spending time with my family, socialising, reading and writing.

The TV shows i follow include: Castle, Fringe, Gossip Girl, Hawaii Five-0, House, How I Met Your Mother, Leverage, Modern Family, New Girl, Sherlock, Suits, The Big Bang Theory, the Good Wife & The Mentalist.

I actually think tv is the worst way to spend your time because there is no stimulation, at least when I’m playing a console game I have to think and my mind is at work, when I watch tv is feels like my mind is in a coma, please remember I’m talking about TV shows and not movies or documentaries.

It’s an industry dedicated to distracting us from real life. Movies aren’t as bad because they don’t comprise of 20 or so weekly episodes and there are a lot of good movies that stimulate one emotional and mentally.

I love watching comedies, but I guess the issue is not about watching tv, but excess amount of tv people consume nowadays. I mean im not going to stop watching my serials, but I certainly will be making an effort to watch a max of 60 minutes of tv daily.
wish me luck 🙂

9 Alternatives to Mindless Television

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay 6

Getting to Greatness without Burning Out

Good morning everyone, I hope you are having a great “Star Wars” day, may the 4th be with you.

Today I’m going to talk about how to reach your goals without burning out; very much inspired by Robin Sharma.

Robin calls it “Strategic refuelling”. It basically means taking a break after an intense sprint of hard work and excellence. Too many of us work too hard and don’t take the appropriate enough of rest to compensate for it. That is a life out of sync, out of balance and can only end in disaster. We need to refuel, take a break… Rest. Rest is way too underrated.

I heard this on one of Robin’s podcast,”life isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon”. Bullseye.

We can all achieve greatness if we want too, and join the pantheon of The Crazy Ones, but we must manage ourselves well. All The Crazy Ones took breaks to recharge, Branson had an island and Jobs had his retreats .

I learned this the hard way when I toasted my health and burnt out. That was more than 2 years ago, and I’m still recovering (but doing much better). We take our health for granted until we lose it. Please trust me when I say, nothing is more important than your health. Please please please, take this to heart. There’s no point being rich but sick and not being able to enjoy the spoils of your labour.

Always try your best and reach for the stars, but make sure you take breaks and rest up. Sleep well, eat well, exercise and have fun. Take a few days off after an intense project, you earned it. Take a trip to the beach after busting your ass off in work. Treat yourself to a vacation when you achieve a goal.

Strategic refuelling, one of the major keys to excellence, prolonged achievement and greatness.

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay 6

Thank You

Good morning everyone, I hope you guys all have a great day 🙂

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

JFK

I would like to thank everybody who has been supporting my blog, the people who have taken time out of their busy days to visit my little site. Thanks to all of you my site has flown passed 1000 All-Time hits. Even better, thanks to you the previous daily record of 84 hits has been shatter, the new Daily record, set by you guys, is now 159 hits. Thank you.

“The only people with whom you should try to get even are those who have helped you.”

John E. Southard

I really do appreciate all the support, I was just so happy when I saw the total tally for the day. The average for the last week, before yesterday, was about 50 hits a day, so yesterday was a real big milestone for my blog and me. Thank you.

“I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.”

William Shakespeare

Please keep on reading, commenting and recommending. There’s a new addition to the site, if you look on the right of your screen there’s a email notification widget, so that it will be easier to follow my blog. You guys are already taking time out your days to read but I have one more thing to ask, if you guys could use the Follow” widget on the right to get email notification of new articles, that would be great. But anyway, I already appreciate the fact that you guys are reading my work.

“I awoke this morning with devout thanksgiving for my friends, the old and the new.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thank you,

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay6

Waking Up Early & Sleeping Well

Good morning all, and what a wonderful morning it is. I’m sipping on my green tea,chilling at Starbucks listening to whatever chilling music it is that they are playing. But whatever it is, it feel like a great morning, don’t you think so?

Today’s post is a simple one, one very close to home for so many…waking up early and sleeping well.

I feel that waking up early is integral to feeling like a champion, yes it may be hard wake up, hard to fight the desire to sleep in, (normally its difficult because you’re not sleeping well) but the rewards of waking up early are so damn great.

It feels like I have more time, that by the time I’m done swimming, showering, eating breakfast, blogging, reading for at least an hour and running a few errands, it’s only 12pm, which feel great cause before, when I used to wake up at 10/11 the day used to feel so short because it’s normal to feel that the day has come to an end when it gets dark, it’s natural. I so prefer sleeping before 12, getting 8 hours of sleep and then getting up to the to greet the sun. Not only, is it normal, it feel great.

It’s incredibly important to get enough sleep, don’t skimp out on that, skimp on tv time, but don’t skimp on sleep. At least 8 hours. Some people are blessed in a way that they auto wake up after 6-7 hours of sleep and still feel like a million bucks, but that isn’t for everyone. Follow what you’re body is telling you, aim to sleep early so that you can wake u early. I learnt the incredibly hard way about the importance of sleep… Because one day, if you continue to skimp on sleep, work hard and party hard, your body will burn out… And that, won’t be good.

I’ve spent the last few years reviving myself from my premature burnout, please do yourself a favour and take care.

Balance is just so damn important.

We can all reach greatness but we won’t all do it at the same pace, know your body, know yourself, listen to your body and most important take time to have solid, straight, proper, restful sleep at night and then start the day early.

The most simple advise, something we all learn so early in life but then forget because we don’t give sleep the importance it truly deserves.

Moving on

Sometimes the cards we are dealt are not always fair. However you must keep smiling & moving on
Tom Jackson

Moving on, is a simple thing, what it leaves behind is hard.
Dave Mustaine

Moving on, so easy to talk about it but not so easy to actually do it, but it is an integral part of growing up and and growing into the best version of yourself.

Moving on doesn’t mean forgetting, it means being able to close a chapter or your life, whether it’s a mistake or a loss, and get on with the next phase. It means getting to the next step without holding back, without holding on to what was once and move towards what could be.

It means having the courage to face the world, to get out of your safe zone after the shit has hit the fan. To be able to say, “yea, I screwed up, but i’m not going to give up.”

“What don’t kill me can only make me stronger”

Is hard to move on, to let go of that that was once so sweet but then turned bitter, to let go of memories of great times, but if we decide to stay and hide amongst those good memories past, we will never be able to carve out memories.

As difficult as it is to move on from a rough patch, or mistake or bad phase or our lives, it’s even harder to move on from “reliving” the “Glory Days”. Being trapped in a vicious cycle of replaying a part of your life that was so great, it is living in a little comfortable dream and not letting yourself live what could be even better life. Living in an illusion that those were the best days and that you won’t get better ones, but how do you know you won’t get better days? Especially if you’re too busy watching replays and not out there trying to live life the best you can.

I’m not saying that you should forget shut the good old days, or forget about the bad times and mistakes; remember them, talk about them, reminisce, but don’t let it hold you back. It is all those parts that build who we become, learn from them, gain from them, appreciate the experience but don’t live your life wishing you had done things different, spending your days reliving good memories instead of making new ones, letting bad memories haunt you instead of learning from them.

Have a great day,

John Reynolds: Tommy, that’s a hundred thousand dollars on a goddam golf swing!

Thomas Crown: It’s a beautiful Saturday morning, John… What the hell else have we got to do?

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay 6

Keep Moving Forward

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