Grow.

Today I'm writing about change, growth and self-improvement.

Hung out with a bunch of friends a few days ago, it's always nice to get together. One of them sent me home, and I ended up talking to him under my block for 45 minutes. He's gonna go climb a mountain soon, I wonder when I'm gonna climb my first mountain. I will definitely add that into my to-do list. Heard that to climb mountains, one has to train (duh haha) carrying loads. Ok I'm gonna look forward to my first summit.

Was talking to him pretty in-depth about what we're doing and achieving in life. Realised that I have been VERY stagnant and definitely VERY slack. 


Sure, I have a degree. But everyone has one. Read this -  link . It talks about how everyone is special, and thus no one is special or exceptional anymore.


Sure, I'm working and I receive a stable pay at the end of every month, but that's about it. I'm not exactly doing anything great, awesome. 


In other words, I am NOT growing. I am NOT learning. I am NOT self-improving.


And yes, I am ashamed.


Now, read this -  link . It's Lee Kuan Yew's take on life... Worth a read, I feel.

LYK says,

"The human being needs a challenge, and my advice to every person in Singapore and elsewhere: Keep yourself interested, have a challenge. If you’re not interested in the world and the world is not interested in you, the biggest punishment a man can receive is total isolation in a dungeon, black and complete withdrawal of all stimuli, that’s real torture.So when I read that people believe, Singaporeans say: ‘Oh, 62 I’m retiring.’ I say to them: ‘You really want to die quickly?’ If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli to keep going..’ Have a purpose driven life and finish well, my friends."

I think I really need to find some way to have a purpose driven life. I've also started reading some political blogs which talk about how foreign talents are coming into Singapore and how Singaporeans are less hardworking than these foreign talents and are thus, increasingly. on the losing end in terms of productivity. I think I really need to be less complacent with life and make the best of whatever I am lucky enough to have. 


Quite lost with regards to where I should start... So I found this self-improvement blog via Google. Jang jang! Read here - link .


Quoted from the website... 

"There is never an end to the journey of self improvement. The more I grow, the more I realize there is so much out there I don’t know, so much that I have to learn. "

Below shall be my own reminder on what I shall try my best to improve on... Little steps to take... From the website above. You don't have to read this. It's for my own benefit.

1. Read a book every day. Actually I am still reading. But more of the novels. And also magazines. ARGHHH! Think I shall start reading the books recommended by the website... Like Think and Grow Rich, Who Moved My Cheese, 7 Habits, The Science of Getting Rich, Living the 80/20 Way, The Tipping Point, Outliers and The Difference Maker. I suspect my brother in law has these books. I've seen them lying around....
2. Learn a new language. I can speak, read and write English and Mandarin (duh haha). I can also speak Cantonese, understand a little of Hokkien, and self-introduce myself in Japanese. That's all. Ok I shall pick up Japanese, Korean, Malay or French soon. 
3. Pick up a new hobby. OMG. What should I pick up? I can't think of anything. I used to dance ballet a long time ago... Maybe I'll do squash, dancing, or return to swimming which I have a gold in. Or maybe fencing and kickboxing/ muay thai? But I need to brainstorm on something feasible and not too expensive.
4. Take up a new course. To help me gain new insights which I had not considered before. Maybe seminars, workshops and classes. This is tough....
5. Create an inspirational room. "Your environment sets the mood and tone for you. If you are living in an inspirational environment, you are going to be inspired every day."  Yay I'm almost there for this one. Been packing and stuff. My brother in law will be taking one of my beds... So I can revamp my room. 
6. Overcome your fears. "All of us have fears. Fear of uncertainty, fear of public speaking, fear of risk… All our fears  keep us in the same position and prevent us from growing. Recognize that your fears reflect areas where you can grow. I always think of fears as the compass for growth." Actually my greatest fears have materialized. I have no choice but to face them and it's tearing me apart in some ways. I'm probably not the same person I was anymore. Anyway, I'm afraid of church. And afraid of having no money. But I'll be using my savings on a soul-searching trip soon, and maybe I should make myself go to church. This is tough.
7. Level up your skills. Another tough one. :/ Need to think about it. I know this sounds bad.... But I'm not very sure if I have any particular skill. Argh.
8. Wake up early. "Waking up early (say, 5-6am) has been acknowledged by many (Anthony Robbins, Robin Sharma, among other self-help gurus) to improve your productivity and your quality of life. I feel it’s because when you wake up early, your mindset is already set to continue the momentum and proactively live out the day." This is my personal KRYPTONITE. I am a late sleeper, and so my choice wake-up time is 12 noon. But ok I shall make it a point to sleep earlier (say, 12 midnight) and wake at 6.30-7am to jump-rope, run, do some house chores, etc, before going to work.
9. Have a weekly exercise routine. "A better you starts with being in better physical shape." I run sometimes and I walk home, around 20-30mins everyday. And I walk a distance to lunch everyday too. Ok this is bad. I'll make it a habit to run 3 times a week and swim a little. Maybe join my friend every Sunday at gym because she has a free pass for me to 'hitch a ride' on. YEA BABY!
10. Start your life handbook. "A life handbook is an idea I started 3 years ago. Basically, it’s a book which contains the essentials on how you can live your life to the fullest, such as your purpose, your values and goals. Sort of like your manual for your life. " Wow I need to brainstorm on this one again. Damn. I feel lazy already.
11. Write a letter to your future self. "What do you see yourself as 5 years from now? Will you be the same? Different?  What kind of person will you be? Write a letter to your future self – 1 year from now will be a good start – and seal it. Make a date in your calendar to open it 1 year from now. Then start working to become the person you want to open that letter." Wow another hard one. Argh.
12. Get out of your comfort zone. "Real growth comes with hard work and sweat. Being too comfortable doesn’t help us grow – it makes us stagnate." I'm quite aware of my comfort zone and its boundaries. Working very hard to get out of it. Thus this blog post came about. Now to constantly get out of that zone....
13. Put someone up to a challenge. "Competition is one of the best ways to grow. Set a challenge (weight loss, exercise, financial challenge, etc) and compete with an interested friend to see who achieves the target first." HAHAHA let you guys onto a secret. I am constantly competing with others with regards to all different aspects. For all you know, you might be my secret competitor. ;) Anyway, I'll do this secretly. I don't like people to know when I lose :P
14. Identify your blind spots. "Scientifically, blind spots refer to areas our eyes are not capable of seeing. In personal development terms, blind spots are things about ourselves we are unaware of. Discovering our blind spots help us discover our areas of improvement. One exercise I use to discover my blind spots is to identify all the things/events/people that trigger me in a day – trigger meaning making me feel annoyed/weird/affected. These represent my blind spots." Doing this daily. I also get feed-back from the people around me sometimes. I'm absolutely imperfect. This one's tough cos you may know your blind spots but a leopard rarely changes its spots.
15. Ask for feedback. Come and give me feedback! I usually try to take it. Haha. I'll be slightly upset with myself and self-reprimanding.
16. Stay focused with to-do lists. "I start my day with a list of tasks I want to complete and this helps make me stay focused. In comparison, the days when I don’t do this end up being extremely unproductive." I will try.... Highly suspect I lack the discipline to do so though....
17. Set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). " BHAGs stretch you beyond your normal capacity since they are big and audacious – you wouldn’t think of attempting them normally. What are BHAGs you can embark on, which you’ll feel absolutely on top of the world once you complete them? Set them and start working on them." I'm not even sure what this refers to, in my case. Time to think about it again.
18. Acknowledge your flaws. I acknowledge mine.
19. Get into action.  Starting from tonight I will.
20. Learn from people who inspire you. "Think about people you admire. People who inspire you. These people reflect certain qualities you want to have for yourself too. What are the qualities in them you want to have for yourself? How can you acquire these qualities?" Another hard thing to do - to emulate others' examples... I want to be more kind, less lazy, more driven, less selfish... It's hard though. I also think about people I lost actually. And reflect on how I might have behaved to have lost them. And learn about my mistakes that way ;)
21. Quit a bad habit. "Are there any bad habits you can lose? Oversleeping? Not exercising? Being late? Slouching? Nail biting? Smoking?" PLENTY. Oversleeping. Not exercising. Overeating (LOL). Being late (YESSSS). Slouching (YESSS). I don't smoke or bite my nails. Ok I shall make a list. 
22. Cultivate a new habit. For me, waking up early, exercising, reading a new personal development article a day, becoming more caring, watching out for my health. 
23. Avoid negative people. " As Jim Rohn says, “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. Wherever we go, there are bound to be negative people. Don’t spend too much of your time around them if you feel they drag you down." OK. And I will prevent becoming one myself. I was pretty down for a while. Please forgive me. 
24. Learn to deal with difficult people. Haha I do this all the time. Especially in a family of females, and also in a customer-service job. I still get upset by them though. Gotta improve on that.
25. Learn from your friends. "Everyone has amazing qualities in them. It’s up to how we want to tap into them. With all the friends who surround you, they are going to have things you can learn from. Try thinking of a good friend right now. Think about just one quality they have which you want to adopt. How can you learn from them and adopt this skill for yourself?" Yep I do have friends with great qualities around me. I shall learn from yall, dear friends.... ^_^
26. Start a journal. I have this! A public and a private blog, a hand-written diary, and notes in my iphone. Yay.
27. Start a blog about personal development. I think I will skip this. Or simply try to blog about my life and how I am improving in life, on this blog. I'm not good enough to lead others for sure.
28. Get a mentor or coach. I will skip this. Once again, self-improvement of myself shall not include anyone else. Cos the person will probably give up on me. Haha
29. Reduce the time you spend on chat programs. I don't really chat anymore. I read them, but I don't reply so much/ quickly anymore. Is that bad? Haha. In real life I chat a lot to people physically though.
30. Learn chess (or any strategy game). Uh. Maybe not. I can do checkers though.
31. Stop watching TV. Noooo! That's how I bond with my mother! Hahaha.
32. Start a 30-day challenge. I have something in mind already. Now to put it to plan....
33. Meditate. This is Greek to me. 
34. Join Toastmasters (Learn public speaking). *Chloe's jaw drops* I'll read more first. 
35. Befriend top people in their fields. I will try. 
36. Let go of the past. Yep. Eventually I will. Working hard for this one.
37. Start a business venture. Hmmmm.... Maybe when I'm slightly older and have the funds. I will think about it.
38. Show kindness to people around you. "You can never be too kind to someone. In fact, most of us don’t show enough kindness to people around us. Being kind helps us to cultivate other qualities such as compassion, patience, and love. As you get back to your day after reading this article later on, start exuding more kindness to the people around you, and see how they react. Not only that, notice how you feel as you behave kindly to others. Chances are, you will feel even better than yourself." I'm trying this daily already. 
39. Reach out to the people who hate you. Does anyone hate me? Sorry if you do. Anyway I'll try not to hate anyone too.
40. Take a break. I'm good at this. Haha. 
41. Read at least 1 personal development article a day. Maybe not personal development based, but I'm starting to read articles which make me more aware of myself, and my surroundings.
42. Commit to your personal growth. 

Wow I'm really tired after this post. Shall think more about it on the trains etc. Meanwhile, do think about this for yourself, my dears who are reading this. We should all strive to life the best out of this lifetime, we're only us this once. Since I'm Chloe Huo, I'll try to become the best 'Chloe Huo' I can be.

It's hard. But I will try.