Plans for the Holidays II

I wrote a poem recently, with the same title as this post. The poem, I hope, reflected the optimism with which i approach this particular holiday. I have four weeks off, which I think can be used in a wonderful way to drive through some powerful changes in my life, and lock them in as habits so that they last a lifetime. I also want to optimise and simplify my life a lot, so I will be doing a lot of purging as well.

The first thing I will be doing will be to take stock of all my possessions, as I mentioned in the inventory post, and really, really cut out what i don't need. The purge will be ruthless and of epic proportions...books, clothes, paperwork, random items that I have two of, other items that I don''t need...useless possessions wastefully acquired over the years [what the hell was I thinking?], and so on and so forth. As it happens, I've already done a lot of purging of books, so maybe thats that bit already sorted. Or maybe there is some minor stuff left to do. If the mood takes me, I think I might extend this to purging my computer of wasteful/duplicate files, as well as my email inboxes - but only if I seriously have nothing better to do.

Once I totally know what I have, I'm going to write my will again, but this time an incredibly more detailed one, so that the executors of my will have little or no trouble implementing it.

The other area, which I have already started on, is to gradually change my diet, thus eventually building something immense in the end. So there will be, and indeed there isn't any, right now as I type this, chocolate, caffeine, junk food, and soda in my diet at all, nor has there been any for the past couple of weeks, though I got rid of each item singly, rather than in one fell swoop. The odd thing now is that I don't know what to exclude from my diet next, or what to deliberately include into it next, but as soon as I find it, I'm doing it, iA

The next are a series of productivity increasing measures. OK...I am lazy. Very, very lazy. And I procrastinate a lot. But it's nothing I don't think that cannot be fixed - under pressure I have been known to work hard and bring results in. The problem is that I am tired of motivation coming from outside, when true motivation comes from within. So I've identified three possible measures to get me on my way. The first is to start getting up at 4AM. I am a morning person, so getting up at this time means I will be at my most productive. If I can start the day in a good manner, then I will probably end it in a good manner as well. If all works well, I can also use some of this time for extra prayers. The only possible downside is that I might end up having to go to sleep at the incredibly unsociable hours of 9PM, or worse, 8PM.

Next I have to cut out the tiny procrastinatory habits that I engage in...and although I don't know at this point what they are, I'm sure I will find and eliminate them soon enough. Hand-in-hand with this is to be fully engaged in what I do, that the minor interruptions to a state of full concentration are not affected.

I haven't read in ages, so I want do read some a lot as well. not over the top, but just to get back into the habit of doing something that I enjoy. My bookshelf has quite a few classics that survived the purge, so maybe I'll read them, or I might read some of the books and poems that are mentioned in a hefty reading list that someone gifted me. Or I might read the third book in the Twilight series. I don't know. I just want to read again, and enjoy doing so.

I want to spend increased time in prayer. I don't feel I'm doing enough, that I'm showing my gratitude enough. I think I'm going to experiment with splitting my prayers up into the allotted 5 times a day, and see how that works. I also want to see if its possible to spend a whole day in prayer. If that would happen, it would be awesome. I don't think that would be possible for me, but even by aiming to do so for one day, I might end up spending a substantial proportion of it in prayer, upon which I can build upon in later attempts, thus eventually reaching my goal one day. I also want to see if I can fast a bit in these holidays as well.

I wrote some lecture notes on Khalil Jaffer's series on negative suffering, and they were ok. Now I intend to do the same for quite a few more lecture series as well. Some more by the same lecturer should be ok, as should a few more by other lecturers as well, though here i have a preference for a series of lectures that cover a theme, rather than self-contained ones, though I might do these as well.

Exams are soon, and so preparing for them might be a good idea. If all the productivity stuff mentioned above works out, then I envisage that most of the time gains and increased focus will be spent here. I'm lucky my exams are spread out evenly, with a week separating each, so I will use that to my advantage. I know exactly what to study, and have made my revision plans and timetables, so now its just a matter of not being too lazy to carry it through to completion.

Earlier on, at the turn of the new year, in fact, I wrote some resolutions, and later identified some more ways to stop wasting time in my procrastination post. Three months on seems to me to be a good time to see how much, if any, progress I have made on them. I don't think the results will be pretty, but it has to be done, and I will have to hold myself accountable. Expect a separate post on this when it is done.

So thats it for these holidays..I wish there was more to do, but won't complain much if I manage to achieve all of these.

Here's to an awesome four weeks.