Monday, 14 December 2009

20 Day Challenge - The end


So the 20-Day mission finally came to an end yesterday.

Was crazy hectic. I know I haven't really been updating you guys on the progress. I meant to, I swear I did. I've been so damn occupied, I couldn't even dedicate a few minutes to blogging about the days as they went by.

To say I have made some progress would be an understatement.

At the begining of this whole thing, I set out to achieve some things that I think I had always either been putting off or just hadn't done. In pursuit of achieving those, I ended up having done some other things I didn't even plan to.

Now for the details...


  1. Design better stuff
    Though I did start work on some designs, I just never got around to finishing them. But I didn't wanna design things and rushing them off onto the internet, without being 100% happy with them. That's the graphic side done.
    The web side of things has proven to be quiet a journey. I'm in the process of designing two websites. One for at work and the other is a design for my business. You'll see both early next year.

  2. Be more organised
    I though I had managed to get this done; until for some reason, I misplaced my ID. I guess that's what you get for messing up the organised chaos I had already gotten used to. At least I found it again. :)
    But apart from the ID issue, everything else is nicely organised. My business stuff is in order now. Especially my clothing company.

  3. Quit Coke
    This was crossed out at the beginning, simply because I was a bit unsure about putting it up on the list. Not because I didn't wanna quit Coke, but because I wanted to see if I could actually do it. The first 10 days were a complete failure. I remember at some point I had two 2litre bottles in my fridge. LOL. I guess that was the final binge before going 100% cold-turkey. Which I did. (YAY!) I can proudly announce that I haven't had a drop of Coke in over two weeks. I'm back to the soft drink I lived off of back in my high school days - Sprite.

  4. Love more
    Done. LOL. What you want me to say? I love more now. In every way. Over the past 20 days, I've gotten somehow closer to everything that's close to me. *if that makes any sense*

  5. Achieve more
    No idea how I planned on measuring this. So I can't really say if it's done or not. Hmm... let's leave it at maybe. :)

  6. Exceed expectations
    This I can safely say I have done and will still continue to. In all aspects of my life. I guess that old 'mantra' under-promise and over-achieve was in full effect over the past four weeks. Though I wasn't constantly exceeding expectations, I did give it my all. *must remember to look up 'mantra'*

  7. Eat Better
    Eish... Ya, well... I tried. Actually I think I failed dismally. The reason I'm saying this is because over the past 20 days, I ate far worse than I thought I would. My food consumption (LOL) wasn't very constant. So I can't really say I was eating any better.

  8. Eat more
    Uhm... Even though I wasn't eating better, I was definately eating more. Might not have been more often. But I was definately having huge helpings. Does that count? It was more like mini-binges really. :)

  9. Experiment with food
    Done. I ordered, ate and cooked some things I wouldn't normally eat/order/cook. Nothing too abnormal. Just some things I had always put off. Which is what this whole challenge was about - getting things done.

  10. Spend more wisely
    Something wrong with the English in that one... Anyway. I managed to become very money-wise during these past 20 days. If nothing else, this is definately one thing I can take away from this whole experiment - having spare money in my pocket. Such a nice feeling. :)

  11. Save more
    Done! Can you see this smile on my face --> :) ?? [if not, then see #10]

  12. Design more
    Done. See #1

  13. Be more
    Well... This I've always been. Just pushed the envelope a bit further this time around.

  14. Learn more
    Haven't really learnt too much. I mean, nothing more than usual. Nothing extraordinary. I've always been keen on learning new things, so there wasn't really much of anything to achieve here.

  15. Live better
    To me, that translates into having less stuff to stress about. And to be honest, I can't even think of one instance (except for the ID thing) where I was actually stressing or worrying about anything. So yeah, living has been much better lately.

  16. Stress less
    *I swear when I wronte #15, I wasn't aware the next one was stress-related. Nice.*

  17. Be more aware
    I think the me before this challenge was a lot more laid back and I didn't really pay much attention to a lot of things, especially when it came to my business stuff and where money's concerned. But since starting this whole thing, I've been paying a lot of attention to the finer details in my life. And it has really really paid off. I'd recommend this to anyone.

  18. Live more
    I've definately been living more. I've been more impulsive. Done some minor things without thinking twice (like I normally would) about them. It's been nice.

  19. Do more
    This was on the list, not only for me to do more for myself, but mostly for the next person. I think I've achieved that. Fully.

  20. Try something new
    I dunno if I've done anything new lately. I think I've done the same things I've always done, maybe only a little differently than how I normally would. That's all. Nothing much has changed.
    *Maybe I should try something old next. LOL!*

  21. Give more
    I overpaid my taxi guy a while ago. Does that count? LOL. I think what I've given more of has been my time more than anything. That's paid off nicely too. :)

  22. Take less
    I don't even think I've been a taker all this time. I just think I have been more aware of what I take. Thereby minimising that more than normal. I can't think of a particular instance where I took less than the next person, but I'm pretty confindent in that I've achieved it.

  23. Open more
    I've done this. I think my colleagues will be the first to attest to the fact that I've opened up more of my private life over the past few weeks than in the 12 months I've been here.
    Over the past 2 weeks (the past two Fridays), I've hosted parties for them at my place. That's gotta count for something right? :)

  24. Blog more
    Done. But not as much as I would have liked to.

  25. Take more pictures
    I think I over-achieved on this one. I was the designated photographer at the parties at my place, so I think that pretty much covers everything.

  26. Love her even more
    I do/did and she knows it! :)

  27. Design bigger and better stuff
    As you can see, I'm pretty obsessed with designing. Making it's third appearance on the list now. :)

  28. Watch less TV
    I think this was in an effort to spend more time staring at my computer screen. I can't say there was much of a change there. But considering I managed to design some things, I can say I did this. Though I feel I should've/could've done more. It's cool though...

All in all, the challenge brought about some nice changes in my life. Made my a +1 better person. I'm not where I wanna be, but I now know what it takes to get there and that it is possible to get there.


Peace and love!


:P

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Thursday, 3 December 2009

What I wanted

I wanted to design something.

Something that I'd give to my friends and family. For whatever reason. Not as a Christmas present or anything along those lines.

I wanted to design something that would remind them of me every time they looked at it. Something that would last for as long as it can without ever fading into the background.

Something that would bring some inspiration to them each time they saw it. Motivation to face another day.

I hate the fact that I never got around to getting that idea out of my mind and onto a canvas. I hate the fact that I procrastinated because of lack of resources where I currently live. I hate the fact that the year is coming to an end in a few weeks and I still haven't realised my vision of designing something.
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009

20-Day Challenge: Objectives

A list of things I'l be doing over the next 20 working days (17 actually). I'm on a mission to...


  • design better stuff

  • be more organised

  • quit Coke

  • love more

  • achieve more

  • exceed expectations

  • eat better

  • eat more (YEAH!!!)

  • experiment with food

  • spend more wisely

  • save more

  • design more

  • be more

  • learn more

  • live better

  • stress less

  • be more aware

  • live more

  • do more

  • try something new

  • give more

  • take less

  • open more

  • blog more

  • take more pictures

  • love her even more

  • design bigger and better stuff

  • watch less TV (...uhm... no.)

Read on or stay tuned...

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Teh 20-Day challenge: Day 3

Yeah, I know it's a bit off to only start blogging about this after two days have gone by. But blogging is also one of the things I plan to do more of.

So here's the deal.

The plan was to change my way of doing things. Might not be a major overhaul, but even if it's just slight changes here and there as I go along.

Obviously some things I wont put up here, but others I might. For those that I do put up, I hope might inspire you to look at things in your life differently.

I think to start off with. The biggest change has to be with how I handle stuff relating to work. And finding a balance between personal and business.

For some unknown reason, I woke up on a high this past Monday. I was determined to make that day better than the days before it. And so the 20-Day challenge ensued. Yeah I said 'ensued'.

Initially I didn't plan on making changes over a certain period of time, I just thought that it's gonna be just that one day and everything would be back to normal the next day. Needless to say, it didn't go back. The main reason I decided to limit this adventure to 20 days is becuase I was convinced I'd be going on leave from work on the 11th of December, so I wanted to get things done before I go on holiday. *turns out my leave is later than the 11th*

Come Tuesday morning, I was just as hyperactive. Not wanting to lose my momentum, I got to work and immediately started working. Not something I do very often, as I normally start (really) working at around 9am. But yesterday was different.

Amongst the things I wanna upgrade/change/re-arrange/modify is my work ethic when it comes to my tee business. I realised that I wasn't handling things as effectively as I could.

So, today I created a spreadsheet of all the pre-orders and everything else in between. Then sent it off to my better half to work her magic on making charts and stuff, so I can see how the whole biz is doing. What can I say, I'm a creative, so numbers don't really meean much to me. I wanna see pictures and colours and stuff to understand what I'm looking at.

So from now on. Everything will be done Excel-lently. No more writing orders down on pieces of paper. OK, I'll still be doing that, but that's not where they'll stay.

:)

Later!
Pic courtesy of Gettyimages. Please don't sue me, I'm on a mission.
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Monday, 21 September 2009

No idea why...

I have no idea why I've lost interest in sharing my experiences with you on this blog. But seems like I have.

Sad. It's a sad, sad situation!
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