Day 51 / 108 Challenge

#51

"I bow to know that happiness does not come from others, it comes from me."

Since I went to bed around 5am last night (more like this morning), my morning started around noon. I had a plan to play golf with my friends at 1pm, so I could not stay in bed any longer. Despite the slightly altered plan to start the day, I got to complete all the tasks I needed to do today.

Main highlight of the day was meeting with another real estate mogul to discuss my plan on the new home that I purchased. After few hours of brainstorming, we were able to narrow down to 3 potential paths, which I now must think over and decide soon.

Not a lot of reflection today, as I wish to remain focusing on the recovery to prepare myself for the upcoming week.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No snacks
Water intake (max 2L)	2L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Exam review
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	REST DAY - indoor golf
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(PRODUCE) Real Estate Investment Discussion

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- Nutrition intake was off today. Try sticking with your routine.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 0

Day 50 / 108 Challenge

#50

"I bow to know that happiness, unhappiness, and desire are all within my mind."

I was somewhat nervous going into the evening as it was going to be my first time meeting my girl's friends and sister. Her sister was unfortunately feeling not too well, so I only got to meet her friends. In my point of view, the party went well, and I was able to get along with all of the attendees just fine. Her friend integrated me a little for sure, but I think I passed her tests.

Returning from the party, I was sitting with mixed feelings though. More so to try to understand my intentions based on actions tonight. Everyone was appreciative, but may have thought I was helping out too much. I was heading into negative realm, but today's prayer spoke to me. I get to choose whether I am happy or not.

Was I trying to impress them? Maybe a little. Was I being not true to myself and tried to do too much? Absolutely not. I was simply being me, a helpful human being, and was trying to be friendly to everyone at the scene.

However, looking back, I could not care less about what they thought of me after the initial introduction. I cared about spending time with my girl, and meet her side of people tonight. My motives behind helping to set up the party, bartending, and cleaning afterwards was NOT to get people to like me. I just wanted to be helpful to my girl, and make her happy.

I also realize that I simply like being helpful and resourceful to people I care about. There is no better way to satisfy me than to watch people I care about be happy.

I also got to know few more things about her during this social setting. I got to know that she used to be interested in photography. Also, when one guy asked how I would describe my girl as with one word, I answered, "caring". She was expecting me to say "being decisive". This was an interesting discussion as I would have never gone with the decisive part, and she did not expect me to describe her as "caring" either.

I also helped her carry some heavy stuffs home at the end of the night when she was instead going to come back the next day for them. Her being appreciative definitely made the chore feel like nothing, and I appreciated that she thanked me for my actions.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No snacks
Water intake (max 2L)	2L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Mock exam 2
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	PULL DAY 1. Chin-ups +45/70/80/95lb 5-3-1.5-1 2. DB row 95lb 4x6 3A. BB curl 100lb 2-2.25-1.5-1 3B. DB tricep extension 25lb 4x8 4A. DB pull over 70lb 8-7-6-6 4B. DB bench press 25lb 4x8 5. Leg raises + 30s boat hold 3x15
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(READ) Mock exam 2 review

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- You did not have to finish the leftover food.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 0

Day 49 / 108 Challenge

#49

"I bow to be true and honest with myself above all others."

Before I forget, I need to jot all my thoughts down. I just had an amazing thought sharing session with a friend tonight over the dinner, and so did he.

He asked me a question, "do you think happiness is overrated?" Knowing that he is slightly a jaded person, I replied, "You know me. I strive for happiness. So what do you mean by the happiness is overrated?" He then started describing being comfortable, so I had to stop him there. I said, "Being comfortable does not necessarily mean that you are happy. Sometimes being uncomfortable for awhile makes you happy."

I then began to follow my chain of thoughts and came to a conclusion that I think that way because I believe that I can choose to be happy whenever I want. Happiness is by choice, not by how you feel at the moment.

When I look back at my regular day, I am uncomfortable (in a sense of I am doing things that require conscious effort to strive to be better) 90% of my waking hours. The rest of 10%, I choose to be happy by gratitude, by reaching out to and caring for family, friends, and lovers. So on paper, it sounds miserable. But in reality, I have never been happy this often in my life.

Being uncomfortable is necessary in order to grow. And to achieve greater things in life, we must grow as a person. Achievement (or being acknowledged) is one of the primal reasons for humans to be happy, so we must be uncomfortable time to time to be happy for longer periods of time.

For example, it makes me extremely happy when I see people I care about happy. One of the ways to make them happy is to provide for them, and to do so, I must have resources. So what do I do for majority of my time? I work on myself to be a better person with greater resources, so I can make my people happy which ultimately makes me happy.

When we also really look at how we spend out time throughout the day, we will be shocked at how much time is being wasted. At least it was the case for me. I did not realize I spend over 4 hours of my waking hours watching videos mindlessly a year ago. Lately I mostly have 30 minutes or so to watch videos, because I allocated half of my free time into more productive and healthy activities that have long-lasting positive effect on me. The quarter of it goes to healthier mindless activities, such as reaching out to a friend or family to chat (which greatly improved my relationships with them). This is where I also be grateful to have people to share and enjoy my resources with, which is an astonishingly heart warming feeling.

My friend also shared his piece of thoughts, and one of them I wanted to leave on today's journal, is that we must respect our bodies as well. Because he had been suffering with insomnia due to his big ambition and anxious mind. I could relate because I was operating on 2-4 hours of sleep every day for a week (see my previous journals) which was obviously not sustainable and healthy for me in any way. Sleep (or any type of recovery) is important, and that is why I still dedicate my time for mindlessly watching videos and getting 6-8 quality sleep every night.

Albanian Mountain Tea

Enough of this, I want to finish my journal with my interaction with my girlfriend today. First, she accompanied me to grab lunch by walking outside with me. Second, she also accompanied me to drop a package off for a client of mine (I asked her since the client was located not too far from her). Third, she invited me over to her place to make sure I feel comfortable before heading over to my dinner meeting. I simply mentioned how hungry I felt, and she offered me some snacks which in return I asked for her to make me some tea. I got to try Albanian "mountain tea" with Albanian honey. It tasted like camomile tea, but better. Lastly, she saw how thinly I dressed for the weather, she offered me a scarf to take home with me. All these interactions, especially the last one, made me feel appreciated and cared, which made me fall for her even more.

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Challenge Log

Requirements
No Snacks No drinks or desserts exceeding weekly limit	No snacks
Water intake (max 2L)	2.5L
2x Pomodoro flows (read min. 10 pages)	Ch 10 ~ 12 review
Productive activity (write a journal or a blog; create a product)	Journalling
Physical activity (min. 45 minutes)	LEG DAY 1. Squat 235lb 4x3 2. Front squat 185lb 4x3 3A. Lunge squat (stationary) 40lb ea. 4x6 3B. Front shoulder raise 25lb 4x6 4A. Leg curl 125lb 6-6-4.5-3.5 4B. Side lateral raises 30lb 8-8-6-6
Wildcard (any 1 of read/produce/exercise above)	(PRODUCE) Daily Market Digest

Should've/Would've/Could've

-- The drink was a tad bit unnecessary at the dinner, but that is what these tickets are for. Use them wisely.

Drink/Dessert tickets remaining: 1