My life turned upside down!

I’ve finally started making progress on my new years resolution to make my life better. I alluded to this a few posts ago by describing how I was making a change to my sleep patterns. So that the whole world can hold me accountable, here is the crux of my plan. Of course, things that are categorised tend to be easier to understand, so I’ve chosen to stick them under the mantra of “Healthy, wealthy and wise”.

Healthy

Early to bed, early to rise…
This is pretty much the core of my plan. As most of you know, my job involves shift work, that is, start at around 11-12 in the morning, and finishing (supposedly) at 7-8pm. Previously, I would treat it like a regular 9-5 job and get up about an hour before work, and spend more time after work for recreation, not sleeping until 1-2am in the morning. Now, I’m getting up at 8am each morning, because I find that (a) I’m usually more fresh and productive after waking up, and I might as well give my best hours to myself, rather than slaving over a job; and (b) because everything (shops, etc.) are open in the morning, so its much better for shopping, instead of having to stalk the aisles of the late night Coles or Woolies. I’ve also committed to sleeping a little less, meaning that I get more time each day. I don’t think I’ll miss it!

Swim, swim, swim…
I’ve taken up swimming for exercise. I can’t stand going to the gym, and racquet sports (tennis, badminton) that I used to play have become a bit too strenuous for my unfit, unco-ordinated body. I’m starting myself off with once a week, and gradually building up to twice a week or more. At the moment, I’m able to do 1km (20 laps of the Olympic pool) without too much effort. I swim in the mornings before work (before 9am you get an earlybird discount at the Sydney Aquatic Centre) so I don’t want to push myself too hard.

sdrawkcab slaem ym gnitaE
That’s “Eating my meals backwards” (boy, “Eating” backwards looks dangerously like “genitals” Or maybe I just have a filthy mind. hahahaaha). Yep, I’m starting the day with a good, wholesome dinner, and have lunch in the late afternoon and finish the day with a nice breakfast. Why? Well because when you get up in the morning, you need the most energy. A typical Asian meal (like what I pretend I’m making) usually consists of a lot of rice, which is a slow-burning carbohydrate. So eating my big helping of this in the morning helps me to have energy for the day, with lunch and breakfast only being top up meals consisting of nothing more than maybe a sandwich, and fruits. The first day I tried this, I didn’t feel hungry for the entire day, whereas before I used to have to snack right through the day. It could also be my metabolism isn’t used to it yet, so I’ll wait and see what is the long term outcome. Oh, and eating a light meal before bed helps me to sleep too, ‘coz I don’t have as much latent energy.

Wealthy

Actually I don’t have any big plans here. I’m a timid investor and I don’t like risk, so I won’t be investing in shares any time soon. I’m getting quite high interest on my Internet savings accounts and I’m relatively content with that for now and don’t see any additional benefit in investing in a Managed Fund that might only give me a tiny little extra – or even go backwards if the portfolio performs badly or I choose a bad fund.

My goal is to save up a deposit for my own apartment. Most market analysts seem to be predicting a property slump in the next few years, so I hope to be ready to take the most advantage of that.

Wise

My work pretty much takes care of my major training. I did a Project Management course earlier this year, which I thought was quite useful. Later in the year or even next year, I hope to also do Communications and Leadership courses (depending on how the training budget goes!) While I definitely prefer, and have more fun with the technical side of things, I can see that career-wise it’s not going to get me anywhere. So taking on these “soft skills” will ensure that I’m making progress in my job.

As for personal interests and hobbies, I took up piano again briefly last year, since there was a piano in the house where I’m renting a room. Unfortunately, the guy who owns it came back from the US and sold it for a bit of extra cash. I’m not too keen on buying a keyboard, since my room is chock full of stuff as it is without yet another piece of “furniture” to gather the dust.

Earlier this year I finally bit the bullet and signed on for broadband internet at home. Before, I kept telling myself that I didn’t need it since I could access the internet at work already, but it really isn’t the same. I can do all sorts of things now, like redesigning my personal web page (the fruits of which you’re reading now!) As I continue to experiment with it and expand the content, I hope I will pick up some more skills about web design. Its already been a great learning experience just in setting it up!

Wow. And that concludes the longest post since I started writing this blog. If you’ve made it this far, then congratulations! I hope I’ve inspired you enough to make some changes to improve your life too. You can share your successes and discuss them in the comments section below.