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how many notebooks do you need?

as a student, i need to write a lot of stuff. for homework, studying, journalling, all that stuff. but in today’s decluttering session, i found out that my room contained a staggering 130+ notebooks, of which only around 10% had ever been used before, and none of which that i have properly, entirely filled in. is it because i don’t study enough? (yes.) or not writing creatively / constructively as i used to? (yes.) if this is a symptom to a problem, why am i not doing anything to remedy it? two issues arise: 

i. i’m not studying enough. pen and paper is the conventional -- but still indisputably -- the foundations of education. i need to write more 

ii. i buy things that i don’t use. which is why i started this blog. minimalism is one way of self-improvement that i have to work on, and this was a reflection of that. 

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motivation

< discipline

regardless, motivation is what drives you towards a goal and what keeps you going when things get though. it's the reason you get up early to exercise or work late to finish a project. positive and negative motivations exist, but it's always best to choose the positive.

the best kind of motivation is for you to be excited and passionate about it. how to motivate yourself at the beginning?

start small - ridiculously easy

one goal only - intensity your focus

examine your motivation. know your reasons. give them some thought and write them down.

get excited. it starts with inspiration from others but you have to take that excitement and make it your own and build on it. talk about it to others, visualise how you will be like in the end, and carry that energy forward to keep going.

build anticipation. don't start immediately: set aside a date in the future and make that your start date. get excited about it. by delaying your start you're building up your excitement towards that goal and increasing your focus.

exercise as an example:

post workout feeling is hella awesome

it's "me-time" -- exercise benefits you and only concerns you

burns calories

it's fun

it's a challenge that pushes your boundaries

visualise how you're going to look and feel when you're strong and healthy!

read all the success stories the internet has to offer, even in forums

stress relief ~

time for contemplation

fitting into new clothes

living long enough to see your grandkids and play with them.

how to stay motivated when you're not?

hold yourself back. master the art of self-limitation. our enthusiasm is limited. only do 50%-75% of what you want to do. plan our a course of action where you slowly increase over time.

just start. use 2 minutes, only two, and then you can stop doing it. but you just have to finish those two minutes.

squash negative thoughts with positive ones.

think about the benefits.

be grateful ***

read about it

build on your successes. celebrate everything.

chart your progress or log it down.

find pleasure in it again.

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the power of less - leo babatua (notes) pt 4

simplifying your personal life 

carefully examine these issues to plan out how exactly you are going to cut out the unnecessary distractions in life. 

what’s important to you? what do you really want to be doing? who do you want to spend your time with? why can this be useful in the long run to me? 

what am i committed to? what are my most important commitments? accept that you cannot do everything. 

do less during your days. instead of having lots on your to-do list and hustling 24/7, make your days stand out by having select important tasks. 

leave space in between tasks and appointments, allowing you to focus on each one more, and to have a transition time.

simplify your to do list to only the essential.

slow down and enjoy every task*** the most important tip, ever. pay attention and be present. unless the task involves actual pain, there isn't anything that can't be enjoyable if you have the right attitude.

create time for solitude.

sprinkle simple pleasures throughout your day.

free up time by multi-tasking the nonessential, e.g. combining transport and reading, eating and working, tidying and listening to music. shut off your phone. do one fewer thing each day.

simplifying your routine

declutter your desk often. it allows you to focus without visual distractions and gives you a serene state of mind. your surroundings are the reflection of what's going on inside your head. treat your room like a temple and clean it like you would your thoughts.

getting started to clean shit up is hard. set aside some time and start with filing papers. sort through your pile of objects and make quick decisions. trash, give away, or keep. find a home for it if you keep it. with papers, be ruthless. don't keep it around unless it's truly important. if you're on the fence with a lot of things, have a 'maybe' box. if you don't open it again in a certain period of time, and either toss it or give it away.

to stop the desk from being decluttered again,

keep an inbox for incoming papers

once a day, process the inbox to empty

have a place for each item, and be fanatic. if stuff doesn't have a home in your home, you have to get rid of it, or it will forever wander around the house.

if you're just not good at putting it back to where the object belongs, build up the habit.

schedule regular decluttering sessions.

reduce your desires for more.

thirty-day list: anytime you want to buy something other than absolute necessities, put it on a list with the date you added it, then don't allow yourself to buy the item unless it's been on the list for thirty days. by then your desire for that item might have passed. this is one way to only let the essential come into your life.

change your habits. observe what's making you have so much clutter and then see if you can create a new one that can reduce it.

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the power of less - leo babatua (notes) pt 3

habits - the secret to longlasting improvement 

start small to narrow your focus and increase your power. sustainability over drastic change. a small success is better than a big failure. 

things that make habits stick 

only one habit at a time: in babatua’s experience, there is a 100% fail rate for forming multiple habits at once, and a 50-80% success rate for just doing one habit at a time, depending on whether you follow the following 

choose an easy goal with the least resistance: do sth you know you can do every day for at least 90% of the time. make it easier than you want. 

choose sth measurable. what gets measured, gets managed. you should be able to say definitively whether you were successful or not that day. 

be consistent: fit it into your schedule as part of a routine. 

report daily. 

keep a positive attitude! expect setbacks, but just note them down, learn from them and move on. no embarrassment. 

some habits to start with 

setting your 3 most important tasks in the morning 

single-tasking 

clear to neutral -- resetting your workplace to a clutter-free environment every day

getting enough sleep 

checking your phone for a limited number of times per day 

exercise 5-10 minutes a day 

follow a morning routine 

eat healthy -- more fruits and veggies 

work while disconnected 

why start slow? 

narrows your focus 

keeps your enthusiasm and energy going for longer 

easier to handle 

ensures success and thus creates a positive feedback loop 

gradual change is longer-lasting and more sustainable. 

how to break bad habits? case in point: the internet 

focus on breaking the addiction for at least one week 

set rules for using the internet and stick to them. e.g. cannot use phone at home, only can use laptop after daily tasks have been finished etc. 

when you get an urge to check your phone or go on the internet, let it pass. urges are like waves, it builds up and it goes away. every urge will pass if you just wait. use delay strategies such as taking deep breaths, meditating, taking a shower (or just wash your face), going for a walk etc. 

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the power of less - leo babatua (notes) pt 2

focus focus focus 

focus is your most important tool in becoming more effective. 

i. single-tasking 

pls don’t multitask: 

less efficient, because of the constant switching 

more complicated, thus more prone to stress and error

don’t break up what you have to do in many sections of time. instead, utilise your brain’s ability to sink into ‘deep work’, or ‘flow state’. this is especially effective during the morning, where babatua recommends you work on your 3 most important tasks of the day (also called eating the frog). your energy and motivation are at their peaks when the sun rises. hence, waking up early will leave you more time to devote to your most important tasks. 

* study new concepts in the morning, consolidate old ones at night. 

rid yourself of all distractions (hint hint: your phone is the no. 1 major contender). if you find yourself suddenly needing to do another thing, write it down and delegate it for later after your time on your task has finished. timing yourself is also a great practice. it reminds you of how much time you have left. 

ii. focus on the present 

to stay calm, productive, effective, and sane. not only can this help your productivity, it does wonders to mental health. his tips: 

be mindful. of your thoughts, surroundings, even what you eat. savour every sensation in the moment and treat it like the best feeling in the world. 

be aware. meditation helps you to become more aware of your drifting thoughts and urges. you will inevitably get distracted, but becoming aware of that distraction will help you focus again. gently allow it to leave and return to the present again. 

daily routines. anything can become your meditation, even exercise. it is all to focus on the present moment. when the soreness in your muscles seems to be too much for you to bear, use this as an opportunity to be more at one with yourself. recognise that pain as a passing sensation, and continue with what you are doing. 

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the power of less - leo babatua (notes) pt 1

the time editing this post is probably gonna be longer than me actually reading the book, but that’s okay. self-help books were meant to be finished under 90 minutes -- you get the material you need and move on. no need to get all wishy-washy about it; most of those are just filler anyway. 

applying limitations to every aspect of your life

limitless is weak. babatua emphasises that limitations are an integral part of focus. without boundaries or confines, one becomes diffused, distracted, diluted.

the energy, power and effectiveness you have gets spread to a thousand places -- akin to excavating an entire acre of desert with one shovel, but when all you had to do was digging with that same shovel in one spot until you hit water. benefits of applying limits: 

simplifies things 

focuses you 

allows the spotlight to fall on what’s truly important 

helps you achieve 

shows others that your time is important -- we show others that we value our time and priorities

makes you more effective -- using your limited time and energy to do something with lasting and significant impact

some questions to get you started 

which areas of my life are overwhelming? 

what would i like to simplify? 

in addition to the tasks i need to accomplish in different areas, do i want to limit the number of possessions that i have, what information i receive, or what responsibilities i have? 

some places to start 

daily tasks 

amount of time spent on phone / internet 

number of things on your desk 

how to choose the essential? 

what are your values? 

what are your goals? 

what do you love? 

what has the biggest impact? -- in your life and career 

what has the most long-term impact? -- different from its size. think forward

what do you need vs what do you want? -- identify your needs and eliminate nonessential wants 

what don’t you need? 

continually edit your progress until you have minimised everything. 

so that’s where the term minimalism comes from -- it’s simplification, essentialism, valuing the limited supply of what you have. 

rr: darius foroux, productivity blogger 

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habits

some examples of good ones i wanna implement.

cold showers 

daily reading (self-improvement books) 

give urself encouragement by acknowledging ur accomplishments for today

journal (no matter one sentence or five pages) 

go for walks in nature (oxc)

yoga 

meditate 

eat healthy 

exercise daily 

take vitamins 

organising 

staying on top of things (i.e. noooo procrastination) 

planning tomorrow 

help someone every day 

ask “how i can improve?” “who do i want to be tomorrow / in 1 month / in 5 years?” “what am i grateful for today?” 

no digital devices in morning and night 

ur goal is not to make this happen all at once. start by small steps, like 2 or 3. try them for a week and see how it works. ask urself, can i do this incremental part of achieving my goal at least 80% of the time from now on? if not, make the goal smaller until it is so easy to achieve. or pick another habit. 

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motivation: get bitter or better (or die)

by HowToBadass on r/selfimprovement 

Adversity is everywhere and always will be. What do you do now?

We see it everywhere around us.

"It's been a hard day. I'll just have a few drinks, sit on the couch and watch tv."

"I have no energy to cook something that sticks with my diet plan. It's a good day to order a pizza and skip the gym"

"My girlfriend dumped me. Probably my fault. I should quit self improvement and take a 3 month depression vacation from my life"

And we all know that group of people who will be there for us when we're down. They're always available to wallow in each other's misery.

Self destructive people always find an excuse for bad behavior. They put their goals on the back burner and lower their standards every opportunity they are given. I'm sure there's some scientific explanation of why stress lowers our inhibitions and creates cravings for carbs, alcohol and nicotine, among others. The dopamine hit from binge watching television. That doesn't matter because we can control these actions. If you really want the best out of life, you need to create structure in your life that fights this effectively. You are supposed to be working towards your goals, not living like a drug addict seeking instant gratification.

The cells in your body give exactly zero fucks about excuses. They just do their job of processing whatever shit you decided to feed them. If you are feeding them protein and vitamins, they will grow muscle. If you are feeding them garbage, they will build a garbage body for you. The human body is like a car. A car that needs premium gas to run properly. Would you try to explain to your car that you were upset one day, got drunk and took a piss in the gas tank? No it's fucking stupid. Stop making excuses for doing the same thing to your body. You can't go out and buy a new body when it breaks down.

Your mind is no different. Stop feeding it garbage. The effects are not something you can pick and choose. Neural pathways are formed and reinforced without your consent. The subconscious mind will fuck you indefinitely. You may be fully aware of what you should be doing but can't stop.

Every time something shitty happens to you, use it as motivation to become even stronger. Don't give in to the voice in your head that says "It's ok, just one little fuck up today.. Everyone will understand.. You earned this" <- Most dangerous part.. You EARNED it. You earned the right to mistreat yourself, to set yourself back.. Instead of working on your education or your business or whatever you really want to do, you "earned" the right to sit on the couch with crumbs on your beard watching someone else live life? Ok, just remember what you earned, when three months from now you have not accomplished your goals.. And remind yourself how it's okay because a lot of other people do it too...

Every bum on the street is not there because they lacked talent or intelligence or ambition. The local bar is full of regulars who had dreams and goals. If you ask them, they will assure you that they still do. Something happened to them and they used it as an excuse to reward/punish themselves with cheap highs or needed to kill the pain instead of facing things head on. Over time the habits take over. If you think there is some huge gap between them and you, you're mistaken.

It's small choices that separate losers from average, and average from winners. It's a series of seemingly insignificant decisions that add up over time.. They sneak up on us in the span of years.

Do you really fucking want it? We all say we do, we all want that next level lifestyle. Then life throws a curve ball and it can either be an opportunity to rise to the occasion and prove yourself worthy of what you want or justification for why you lost.

This does not mean never enjoy life. Or never take a break. The point is to be aware of temptation and Decide to make better choices that are in your long term best interest so you have something to show for your trouble, in spite of your problems, instead of another sad story. People with severe addictions (=diseased brain that can't be simply reverted solely with will power), get help. The last choice is always yours. Even when you feel fucking miserable, do the thing that you know will make your life better in the future. Be conscious of when you’re just moping around. Don’t beat yourself up, but don’t be a pussy—go get what you want out of life.

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day 6/7: thu 2 may progress report

it’s day 6, not day 5 u crummy ass @ me. no statistics today, but generally...

phone use: decreased 87%~~~~~~~ (altho it ended up being 1 hr but before 9 pm it was like 38 mins) 

ooh la la, i’m only counting the thing that matters. keep it up! finish the seven days. 

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day 5/7: wed 1 may progress report

statistics

ugh, basically nothing. i didnt track anything.

what i learned

dud days are my biggest enemy, and i could have avoided it through proper planning a day before

looking to tomorrow

please don't let it be a dud day

study bio 30 minutes after i wake up

bring bio book along to health check up

u aren't allowed to bring ur phone to commutes.

phone use is limited to 30 minutes.

if friends try to find you, you'll just have to say i have to focus and that i will be here tomorrow.

hope this will make up for the dud day.

if the me tomorrow reads this, edit this post with a ✓ in the tags.

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day 4/7: tue 30 april progress report

digital 

phone screen time: 3 hr 46 m 

unlock count: 47 

peak usage: 4 pm - 6 pm 

FUA: youtube (1 hr 20 m)*

desktop screen time*: 3 hr 

FUW: youtube (1 hr 51 m) 

*i really need to stop it. get some help. **was listening to chopin’s lovely nocturnes while purging my closet 

by purging parts of my closet, i was able to evaluate what i truly liked to wear (and that v-necks look absolutely atrocious) 

i began to appreciate the sense of accomplishment and joy one feels from purging. the word reminds me of mia days but it feels so nice for purging to finally become a healthy event

space is valuable, having stuff is choking 

don’t compromise my sleep for anything (i’m finally sleeping early toniteeee) 

task prioritisation is just as important. if i can’t hand in sth today, that isn’t urgent or important for today, and i have better things to do, then it’s just better to not do it and not give up on sleep for it (at the same time, youtube is not ‘better things to do’ 

i will learn about stoicism and how i can apply it to life more in order to raise its quality and its effectiveness (through youtube. but starting from now on, if i have to watch a youtube video, i have to take notes in a separate tab) 

i will also write my thoughts down in the morning after meditation. (let’s see if i will follow through.) 

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day 3/7: mon 29 april progress report

digital 

phone screen time: 3 hr 13 m 

unlock count: 103 

peak usage: 4 pm - 6 pm 

FUA: youtube (50 mins, launch count 13) 

time 

that i spend a lot of my school day just copying stuff from the whiteboard and not really fully understanding it, but not feeling alert or awake enough to ask the teacher questions about it 

if i don’t follow a schedule exactly as planned, i’m gonna waste a lot of time, and i’m not gonna be happy about it either 

minimalism is gonna be a huge benefit to my life, since i can literally cut out the chunk of housework that i spent trying to organise my papers and find some worksheet that i needed to hand in 

if i don’t follow a consistent sleep schedule, i’m just gonna randomly fall asleep at 7 pm and wake up at 12 am and be like “oh shit i still gotta do hw” and then keep doing hw until 5 or 6 am, and then throughout the day ur gonna feel like shit even with coffee so ur basically fucked very thoroughly for the rest of the week 

about youtube addiction. 

in the past few days i’ve realised, even if i have a lot of good videos that i’ve watched, there have been 

i should replace my youtube addiction with something else that’s more productive. read for business, for entertainment etc. whatever gives you inherent pleasure from doing it in itself, not because of reaching goals or having advantages. stuff that gives more energy than it takes. look externally, experiment, try lots of different things -- and that’s what you’re gonna be doing for the bulk of your time that will replace unhealthy habits

actively try to stop the habit. you either fall back into your normal habit, or you have a slight chance of intercepting the normal habit in the tiny period of time between breaking or doing the habit. use meditation to clarify the decision-making process.

it’s escapism.

or -- or, or, i could literally just sign out of youtube, get the crackbook extension installed, only access it on specific days of the week (e.g. every other day). these are actualisation steps that i can take, right now. huh, why am i waiting? a part of me doesn’t want to sacrifice the convenience of just opening up a youtube tab and then having everything spring up, mise en place. now this is the habit that you don’t want to be easily accessed. so yeah brain, rationally speaking, i gotta do this. sorry not sorry. you’re just too addicted.

3 ways to stop procrastination 

memento mori thinking about death and the fragility of life and time. 

imagination and visualisation think about what your potential self can do.

bypass emotions by the 5 second rule by mel robbins. 

but it’s all never gonna work unless i put it into action. let’s see if i can do it starting from now on. writing about it is just not as entirely effective. it’s like i’m granting myself some sense of accomplishment when i haven’t even actually done anything. it’s a start, i know. a good one.

study the material to be covered in class the day before

organise schedule by time instead of by event 

sleep earlier, and more consistently, goddamnit 

stop buying stuff i don’t need 

bonus: how i should work when im productive  

tumblr’s shitty gif quality. this is a book report i’m doing on 《寂寞的十七歲》by  白先勇, legendary taiwanese writer and ‘melancholy pioneer’. seems like my type. this book is the only novel i’ve seriously liked and sat down to read. (i should need to read more)

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day 2/7: sun 28 april progress report

digital 

phone screen time: 3 hr 10 m 

unlock count: 132

peak usage: 9 pm - 11 pm

FUA: youtube 

time

i need to follow my “looking to tomorrow” section in order for it to be effective; i totally ignored all of it today by sleeping my ass off 

sleep deprivation is no joke, the crash is hard and hits real. it’s not just a harm on productivity but a harm on my general mood. i feel crabby, tired and more like a slob. it’s the bad type of tired. not the good type after a run or a study session. if i wanna stop feeling like shit i gotta take the matter in my own hands

dating is really sucking the time out of my schedule in the past few days. i don’t feel good about it exactly either. my boyfriend taxes a lot of emotional energy out of me, even if i like him a lot (maybe it’s just that he expects me to be able to perform at command). it’s just so demanding for me. to be available when he needs me and to think of what to say and do all the time, and ‘satisfy his urges’. ah, one must enjoy the days of being single, you’ll miss it (a bit) (srsly not a lot) 

but i shouldn’t blame dating for this. next month i’ll barely see him since it’s exam season :( we might go out on a sunday to a van gogh exhibition but that’s it. lethargy induced because of poor time management is my biggest time killer 

sad part is that i knew all of this before i even started this blog, or even started this year. it’s really shitty that i need a type of measuring mechanism or accountability system to make me truly reflect and realise how much damage i am doing to myself. i’m 5667 days old now. i want to change; i need to change

i watched a documentary by max joseph about bookstores, and in it he talked about how he only read one book a year *for pleasure, and not for self-help or work. he describes something like a “book fomo” – fear of missing out on everything that you could read, but don’t have enough time. he is 37 years old, and already feels regret at that age. i certainly have time to catch up, and i want to

on the documentary there featured some awesome dudes that i really have to check out sometime soon: eric barker, tim urban (both rly gd bloggers), howard berg (fastest reader in the world w reading speed of 80 pages a minute (wtf)); in particular tim urban was all about measurements in terms of time (just like james clear) and he made a list of boxes to visualise how you’re using housr of each day, week, month, year. thinking in terms of boxes sounds like an awesome way to visualise time, i’ll experiment with it sometime soon! 

tl;dr: SLEEP MORE GODDAMMIT 

tomorrow i really have to estimate how much time i’m using to make progress reports like these, i think if you measure it too much you’re actually wasting too much time on it and that would really defeat the purpose of why i started in the first place, yeah? although it’s just a challenge for this week. there’s no telling if i can do it tomorrow as well, though i really want to.

prioritise tasks properly, don’t just tackle them all at once thinking that u hv time to do them all, NO! srsly calm down, use ur commute time to think about what u need to do first, what u shld do to track that progress, etc. for example to get my academic visa, the most important thing i have to do tomorrow is to contact all of the clinics in hk that hv approved tuberculosis testing and secure an appointment for it

coffee is gonna be the only thing saving me this week so stock up on it and crash on tues / wednesday (seems like they’re the only actual days where i get enough sleep) 

let’s try to see what’s the least amount of sleep i can get without crashing. this is experiment week for a reason! so let’s try 4 hrs tmr, if that’s possible. and since i fucked up today already, i’m just gonna pull an all-nighter 

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day 1/7: sat 27 april progress report

digital 

phone screen time: 1 hr 59 m 

unlock count: 132 

peak usage: 7 am - 9 am

FUA: chrome 

time 

internet use was mostly about blogging here on tumblr and asmr 

work should be relabelled as studying. the 2nd largest use of my time, but my target for today was at least 6 hrs 

entertainment was suddenly bumping into my s/o and then spending the entire evening together spontaneously

sleep was pretty chaotic because i only slept for 2.5 hours the previous night, so i drifted off in a coffeeshop 

daze is a new option that i invented. a lot of times i don’t do anything and just exist. that’s daze, and the fact that it’s that high up on the list is a warning sign that i need to get my sleep schedule back on track so i don’t lose focus that often 

eat was unexpectedly long. mostly because i chose to watch youtube videos while eating grossly overpriced apfelstrudel 

transport - not bad. could utilise that 1 hr with reading / learning / multitasking etc 

walk was good. 7613 steps. took the stairs instead of escalators 

routine should be a little longer since i didn’t account for nightly reflection. suppose it is 1 hr. i guess it’s necessary. 

plan things out by the hour and follow it 

put a limit on youtube and the internet (even on the computer!) 

meditate more :) 

find a physical book to read to bring with you during commutes 

keep tracking my time, don’t put it to waste 

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(enlarge pics for higher quality) 

hey everyone! i’m nikola, long time lurker, first time poster. this is my introductory post (and my first one!) it’s pretty long but it covers what i have to say and what i wanna do for the next month because getting started is always the most important step in everything. (well, following up is harder, so that’s why i have this blog to keep myself motivated, disciplined and accountable.) i’ll post more original content in the near future to keep track of my progress as well. 

and i really wanna know more ppl here bc y’all seem so awesome! leave a reblog or a note with sth short about yourself so we can be friends!! *internet hugs*╰(*´︶`*)╯

this post was getting too long so i gotta break it up :( a little about me: 

i was raised trilingual (but that’s not quite special since everyone in my city does haha) but i’m interested in learning one or two more languages. my sights are fixated on german. (ich liebe deutsch!) 

i also enjoy long-distance running since if i suck, i’m not gonna drag teammates down along with me. (in case you couldn’t tell, i’m not that sporty at all… yet.) 

i think of myself as a more arts and humanities person, but for some reason i’m doing chemistry, maths and economics in a-levels next year. not sure if i’ll be doing psychology or biology as well; it all depends on the placement exam next week. boy i’m pumped. 

i adore everything classical. from literature to history to architecture and music, i fell in love. my dream life would be to live in a massive library shaped like a cathedral with constant tchaikovsky playing in the background. hellyeah.