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

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5 things to be Grateful for this Monday Morning


 

Good morning again!

My second post on this cool Monday morning,

I know a lot of people will be feeling the Monday Blues, especially since this morning was such awesome weather to sleep in but don’t wake up in a bad mood. I used to and It didn’t help my day at all.

“Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.” – William Penn

Waking up on the wrong side of bed is an excuse we give ourselves to feel like shit and be grumpy for the day. There are plenty of things to be grateful for today and everyday and this is very good practice for everyone, it has helped me a great deal in the past few weeks (thank you Robin Sharma). Wake up in the morning, think about 5 things you are grateful for, whether it is a great family, a job, a car or just that the sun is shinning. It really does help, take it from me. Have a journal and write it down, it doesn’t have to be a book, I use my iPad and iPhone. Another thing I do every morning is I read my favourite quotes which I have pasted on my wall, I call it my “Daily Wall Reading” and it helps me feel great,motivated and inspired every morning.

“Today is your day, your mountain is waiting, so get on your way.” – Dr Seuss

The difference between waking up on the wrong side of bed and on the right side of bed is how you want to wake up. The above methods sound cliche and cheesy but they helped me get out of a very dark place and help me stay away from the dark place. If it helped me, it can help you and c’mon, no here no harm in trying, is there?

“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.” – Zig Ziglar

I am grateful for:
1. A family that loves me and believes in me
2. I was able to wake up this morning without feeling like I was run over by an 18-wheeler
3. The brilliant cool air that invigorated my soul
4. The responsibility of having little brother that has helped me mature and develop.
5. The people (you) who have supported my blog and help me feeling great, everyday.

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” – Henry David Thoreau

I’ll post pics of my wall reading later.

Have a great Monday and a great week ahead!

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay 6

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Yea, I’m an Apple Fanboy


So yea, I’m an Apple fan boy. I will not apologise for it, I will not hide it, and I certainly will not deny it.

Apple announced its earning and it did not disappoint, I expect the stock to go up again and i really do think, if they keep up the pace, that they’ll achieve a Trillion dollar market capital in a year or two. But anyway, back to me and being an apple fan boy.

Nowadays gadgets are more than products simply because of the difference in rival products and the philosophies of the companies that produce them. It’s the new cultural divide.

I buy apple products because of the ecosystem they’ve created, it all just fits, it all works, it’s simple and yea, they look brilliant. iCloud ties up everything nicely, my MacBook is the hub, though not as important now, of the system, my iPad and iPhone help me maximise my productivity and keep me connected. Apple makes their users feel comfortable and feel apart of something bigger. And even the little things matter, like AirPlay and AirPrint, the lack of mess in their systems, which is a huge android problem (fragmentation). I guess that is what appeals to me the most, the cleanliness of Apples products, the work together perfectly to form an amazing tech ecosystem, everything is in sync. Once you buy one apple product, you’re are more likely to buy another and stay in this brilliant ecosystem. I’m now looking for a way to use Airport Extreme with Unifi and also raise some money for a Time Capsule and Apple TV because I’m trying to bring more wireless was to my home complete the Apple Ecosystem. I just bought an Airport Express and I love it, the ability to play music wireless and control it from my iPhone.

But you get the point, Apple does a great job at integrating its products, far better than any other company. If you’ve already got one apple product, then you know what to do.

Yes, Apple products are more expensive but they last and are worth the money. My iPhone 3G is still alive and kicking, it’s my dads backup phone and the iPhone 3GS is probably going to be passed on to my brother and my iPhone 4, still brilliant.

I’m loving the new iPad, the apps are great, the display is brilliant and I’m getting a lot of reading and writing done now. Newsstand is great, I love reading the Star, Edge Financial daily and Fortune on it. The Bloomberg app helps me keep track of the markets. Twitter on the iPad is amazing. If you want a tablet don’t waste your time looking at anything else. iPad for the win. More when I review then iPad which should be online next week.

Even though I am an Apple fan boy, it doesn’t mean that I hate everything that isn’t Apple. It just means that I like Apple products more than anything else. I like Google, Samsung, HTC and all the other competitors because they keep Apple on it’s toes. The better the products rivals makes, the more apple has to step up. Win for consumer and Apple Fans.

Peace out,

Straight from the Heart,

Arkay6

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