Having "Me" Time

In just a few days, it will be the end of August and it will have been eight months since January.  If you haven't accomplished your goals, perhaps now is a time to reevaluate them and reprioritize.   If you have not yet gone for a health check up, then I recommend you do so.  Health should be a priority.  Surprisingly, not a lot of people regularly have annual checkups and we go through life thinking that we are healthy, all is fine and that we are still young.  Nothing is going to happen to us. The sad truth is, we get older every year.  Our bodies get older, and suddenly we find ourselves faced with health problems we previously never thought of. Backaches seem more common in the thirties.  If I get up too fast, or move too fast, I risk hurting my back which results in endless days of torture and wearing low unattractive heels.  I finally understand while the older ladies are always spotted wearing "comfortable" shoes versus the...

Oftentimes we spend our lives taking care of others and forget the most important person:  ourself.  You find your days and hours devoted to taking care of family members, taking care of clients and customers and work non-stop to meet deadlines.  Work consumes us alive as well as the zillion other tasks we have to get done in our daily lives. Now how much time you spend taking care of family members of course depends on how large your family is.  It can include parents, siblings, your spouse, children, aunts, uncles, grandparents, inlaws, etc.  If you have a large family, this of course will consume quite a bit of your time.  If you have children, you will most often be preoccupied taking care of them.  I don't have any but from what I see, having children is a full time job.  From the moment you wake up, until the time you fall asleep there are things that need to get done.  Many times, parents forget to take care of themsel...

While thinking about "Big Rock" the other day, I wondered what do I do in 24hours and how can I be more effective in achieving what I want to achieve?  I can't make my 24hours become 48 hours in a day  (although I would love to) so I just have to work with the same number of hours but with a prioritization. A typical working day for me goes like this: 7  hours :  Sleep 1 hour  :  Travel to and from fitness 1.5 hour: Exercise +shower+change 9 hours:   Work (assuming this is a VERY good day) 1 hour:    Travel home 1.5 hour:  Dinner + family time 0.5 hour shower 1 hour blog 1.45 hours spare time (in case of traffic, long showers, long dinners, ) Looking at this breakdown, I realize I have roughly an hour extra a day to do what I want to do. What should be my priority during this hour? If there is a long traffic jam, I lose this personal time. It can be family, health or work.  Just one hour a...

We all know there are 24 hours in a day, yet we always want to do more in less time. While reading about effective time management the other day, I discussed the topic with Alex. A lot of people (I included) like to think that if I manage my time better, I can squeeze in more things. I can get more things done because I am more efficient. (This is awesome, I can actually do things that would usually take me two days in one day.) Actually if you really think hard about it. Being effective doesn't necessarily mean squeezing in more accomplished tasks or finished works into the same amount of time. Effective time management is really about prioritizing . It means ensuring that you get what you need and should get done, actually accomplished in the allotted time. An example is given in the book I read about a "Big Rock." The big rock is placed in a glass and those who see it, declare that the glass is now FULL with this Big Rock. The lecturer then takes out a bag of sand an...

I like to dream.  I dream of all the things I want to do and be.  I dream that one day I'll be able to play golf like a pro.  I dream that one day I'll sing like a bluebird.  I dream of traveling the world and having my own set of books. I dream so many things that I wonder where to start.  Each day, each week, I come up with a new dream.  I wonder if this lifetime I'd be able to accomplish them all. There are just so many things to do in life. I have work, I have family, I have errands, I have social obligations.  Perhaps I need to have nine lives like a cat. As said matter of factly by Alex:  "We only have 24 hours in day." It's important to dream your dreams, but its also important to focus your energy on what dream you want to accomplish most and when. If your immediate goal is to lose weight, then ignore all your other dreams for the moment and focus on losing weight.  It'll take time.  It alway...