How I learnt Time Management the hard way...

These days I'm so caught up in the middle of things that it hardly leaves me any time to do something I totally enjoy 100%. Of course, I enjoy doing everything that I'm involved with right now, but there comes a time eventually that when things don't work out the way you want them to, it gets on your nerves. In my case, I'm left with no choice but to finish it because there are other things that have to be attended to after that. But then again, you don't achieve the results that you hope to achieve because your attention keeps getting diverted due to various reasons. So, I decided to do some things differently.

I recently attended a leadership training camp conducted by by school's international student's interest group. We began with a personality test that identifies you on the basis of an important characteristic that broadly classifies you as a person. When working in a team or a committee similar to the one I'm in, it becomes a lot easier to choose the person you want to delegate tasks to. The test was conducted in part by our beloved Ms Boey, TPIS advisor and mentor.

My test results showed that I'm a very conscientious person with a strong penchant for detail. For me things are never 'fine' or 'okay' until they meet my expectations, which is something that I noticed about myself and it takes me more time to arrive at decisions than most others. This is after analyzing the pros and the cons of my judgement. This could be a good or a bad trait depending on the situation I'm dealing with. Something that I noticed was that when I applied it to my studies, the outcome is something thats very impressive, to both myself and others, particularly my teachers. People are happy with your work and ask you if you want to try out something similar or more challenging. The offer is often irresistible particularly if you've enjoyed working on that particular project. Unfortunately, that may not be the only project at hand and finding a time slot to allocate for the new one can often leave the others in jeopardy. Meeting deadlines becomes really hard and the process leading up to it can often leave you exhausted to do anything else. I learnt this the hard way. Procrastination is something thats easy to do but is never the solution. If looked upon it from the correct perspective, it can have a tremendous influence on ones own personality. When you ask yourself the question 'Why', it often highlights your weakness or the method of approach that you're probably getting wrong. This approach did it for me. It helped me find out that it is better to excel at a few things rather than being an average at many others. So these days, I'm more cautious when it come to accepting responsibilities, no matter how tempting it may be.

This doesn't mean that I have a relaxed schedule now. Boy oh boy, I'm already paddling in deep waters. I sleep much lesser than the hours required, that doctors recommend to people my age, and you'll probably find me answering my cellphone even in the wee hours of the morning. But then again, one of the key advantages I have on my side is age. I am young and I know I can push myself a little further every time. And as time passes, I keep getting better and better. And whatever I do, I try my best to enjoy it. Even the all-nighters seems enjoyable. I'm just wary of reaching my tipping point.

As for my conscientious nature, I think I'll let it be there for a while and take care to be that way only when required. In places which doesn't require much detail, I'll forcefully pull myself out of it. By doing this, I find that I have a lot of time to do carry out my errands and I'm able to achieve the results that I had hoped to achieve. It has been a great learning experience for me personally and I enjoy every bit of it.

Till next time,

Ciao, <3

Steve Jobs - "...Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish"

I really admire and look up to Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple Computers Inc. and of Pixar Animation Studios, for the wonderful motivating speech that he delivered urging graduates to pursue their dreams and see the opportunities in life's setbacks—including death itself—at the Stanford University's 114th Commencement on Sunday in Stanford Stadium. He highlights the following:

You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.

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. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

"...Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish"