2019 Week 2 Challenges

Before I could even recover from my illness, week 1 passed away. What is my progress?
 

Week 1 Review

 
1.Reduce Phone Usage
 
The least number of times I unlocked my phone was on 1st January. On rest of the days, the unlock count was twice or thrice of that. If I was able to do it on one day, I can reproduce the same results for other days. I will target below 100 for the next one week.
 
2.Chew thoroughly
 
For a lazy person like me, it was indeed a tortuous task. I have read somewhere that you need to chew 24 times before you swallow. But from experience, you need to chew at least 36 times. I don’t see any immediate improvements in my health but scientifically I should see some results in near future. The disadvantages being no one will want to eat food with you because you take forever to finish the meal. You will find eating such a boring task that you will stop eating junk because the fun of it is lost.
 
3.What am I feeling today
 
It was a neutral tone for most of the week. It didn’t prove to be as useful an exercise I wanted it to be. I will get rid of this.
 
4.Gratitude
 
Even though I was sick for the entire week, feeling grateful for what I have definitely made me feel good. I will practise gratitude twice a day from next week.
 
5.Cameras, Exposure and Photography
 
The first week of the course didn’t seem to be that useful. It is just a revision of basics. From the topics, it looks like the 4th week of the course is useful. This week I am going to focus on that.
 
6.Duolingo
 
It takes just 2 minutes every morning. I already did 6 lessons. Easiest way to learn a new language.
 
7.Academics
 
I have 5 research topics for this week. But none of them seem interesting enough to pursue further.
 
8.Books
 
Mental Agility
 
This book is more of a compilation of research papers than a reader friendly book. The language and content takes a lot of time to comprehend the content.
 
Common Sense on Mutual funds
 
The style of the book is not like the usual books I read. There is a detailed introduction which ate up a lot of my time. Haven’t learned any concepts yet which are worth sharing.
 
4 Hour Work Week
 
The first few chapters are only for motivating you to look at the concept of taking mini retirements instead of a final retirement. No action points yet to start working on.
 
What didn’t go well this week
 
I was sick hence couldn’t exercise and take care of my skin. I haven’t interacted much with people I could not put to use the common ways of resolving conflicts.
 

Plans for Week 2

 
1.General
 
I will stop checking my phone the first thing in the morning and write down 3 things which will make my day fruitful.
 
2.Health
 
a)Physical
 
Exercise
 
I am not feeling better yet. But once I am, I will do 30 squats and 300 times skipping daily.
 
Food
 
I will soak two almonds in the night and have the same next morning.
 
Skin care
 
Since I haven’t done the last week routine, this week I am just going to apply turmeric.
 
b)Mental
 
Gratitude
 
I will practise gratitude twice a day.
 
Don’t imagine
 
I tend to think of negative outcomes for a lot of scenarios. I don’t get anything positive from it. I will make a conscious effort to stay away from such negative thoughts.
 
3.Relationships
One of my favourite takeaways from The Relationship Cure book is collecting emotional moments. I will find opportunities to build emotional connections with people around me.
 
4.Hobbies
 
a)Photography
 
I will do the fourth week of the course Cameras, Exposure and Photography.
 
b)Writing
 
I will continue with the Creative writing course of Coursera.
 
c)Language
 
Learn one verb in Kannada a day and use it somewhere.
 
5.Academics
 
I received material for one of my subjects. I will read a topic from it daily.
 
6.Mental agility
 
This week I am going to start reading the Mastermind – How to think like Sherlock Holmes. This might teach me a few tricks.
 
7.Second source of income
 
I will continue reading 4 hour work week as I didn’t learn anything actionable last week.
 
That is all for this week. What are your goals for this week?
 
Happy week 2 !