Ashley and I decided to write in our blog once a week consistently this new year since you know world will end very soon in 2012, we do not have much time but to write our history J. I am not a big fan of New Year resolutions, since i believe in creating new goals every month and week rather than a whole year.
But this year I created new 2011 year goal anyway. My new year goals are specific yet something you can work on each day for the
rest of the year rather than you accomplish it and done with it. There are many areas I want to work on and explore. What distinguishes me from other people is that I have like a computer "BIOS" in my brain that is easy to upgrade and update and change, a mechanism that is alive and constantly adapting to my surrounding(well Bios does not really do that) environment. I know it sounds confusing already. Let me try to explain it a little bit more clear. I like to experience the world from new perspective each time. Still confusing? I get bored when I do same things each day and stay in comfort zone all the time, when this happens I feel like I am not growing and not challenging myself and everything becomes “background” There are multiple ways to avoid this from happening I think.
1. One way is to move your physical location. When our physical environment changes we see the world around us with fresh new perspective which then leads us to discover new possibilities and discoveries you would not see otherwise. Example would be when I moved to US in 2001, my perspective and views of the world changed dramatically. Of course this method only works if you are open minded person. (meaning ready to try out new things always) Even changing your house or apartment to a new one also causes this effect at certain degree. Or even redecorating or rearranging your room can cause this. For example we got new world map, large white board and centered our study desk in our home office created better new environment to study. Humans are wired to be efficient so therefore when we see same thing over and over again we get used to it and adapt to it really fast. It could be a good thing for certain things, but also a bad thing most of the time. Good analogy would be our body. When we exercise often our body get use to that routine and when we do not our body becomes weak and used to that condition to be “efficient”. So ALWAYS be aware that what in your life is becoming “background” and what can you do about it to change that.
2. Another way to create growth and no damn (trapped water) from occurring is trying out new things often. Exploring new hobby or activity will not only make us learn new skills but also will expand our way of thinking. One example of this could be Ashley and I decided to pick one country a month to learn about it from speaking to that country people, eating at restaurant that serves that country food, and watch travel videos and look on the map and history of that country etc since we cannot travel right now. There can be numerous different things you can try and do or always wanted to do but never took time to try. Now is that time do not say “oh someday I will read all those books” or someday I will travel to those places, or someday I will go to Gym or someday I will try this diet. Stop that someday and start doing it right now. One approach to do this is experiment. Experiment with that new thing you are trying to do for a month and see what happens. If you like it stick to it if not just change it or do not do it. But I guarantee that after a month of trying you are most likely going to stick to it than quitting, because by now your body is already adapted to that change.
3. Let us call the above methods of growth and changing period as “Exploration” or “Discover” period. Exploration period will help us discover new perspective and growth opportunities. But we cannot always be in exploration mode. Since too much distraction can deviate us from our destination and goal. So the best model would be 35% Exploration and 65% “Sticking to your objective” this way you have perfect balance of not only discovering new things and making changes(or correcting our course), but also you accomplish or attain your goal by investing 65% of your time to it.
So let us make time on our schedule and daily activities by perfectly balancing the Exploration time and Working time. I will update weekly on how my journey of working on this my “new theory” I made up is going from time to time. Some of the good places to start my discovery can be TED videos, blogs of others, reading books(scriptures), meeting new people and traveling etc. Maybe help me to think of a name for my new theory. Maybe I will call it Liahona theory for now, since you have to look for inspiration and make adjustment to your journey constantly and follow the path and make readjustment and the cycle goes on. I guess what I wrote is really nothing new other than that we people sometimes forget to make changes and get comfortable in one place and do not grow. It is my invite to all people that please make course correction each day if not we can be on wrong path for too long that going back to that right path will be a long distance and we will never be able to make that transition. So act now quick and make necessary adjustment and corrections each day by being in discovery mode.
