Been a productive day in my capsule. Go a lot of boring stuff done — studying a report on literary criticism (a long story that I should save for another day), a presentation deck for an assignment, and a “49 and back” goal setting exercise that’s been pending for more than a month.
Earlier this morning at the gym, I made the stupid mistake of lifting a weight that’s too heavy. Fried my CNS and had to lower the weight yet again. Threw my week’s hard work out of the window. I now will have to start the whole cycle again! For the third time! The first thing I did after coming back from the gym was to key in the numbers (in KG) into a spreadsheet and convert them into pounds, rounding off to the nearest integer multiple of specified significance. (You should know by now, that’s not my language ;-))
The end result was a much streamlined and simpler chart for me to follow for the next four weeks. Phew! Feels like the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders. It was idiotic of me to drag this stupid kg-to-pound conversion thingy this far in the first place! Lesson learned — simplify or you’ll be forced to.
Post lunch I decided to work out of the neighborhood Starbucks. It wasn’t raining then. A couple of hours later when I walked out, it was pouring. I’d forgot to pick up the umbrella that I’d bought just three days back. Huge mistake! Now, I had two options. Get drenched, catch a cold and go down with fever for the next four days I’m here in Seoul. Or walk a few steps buy another umbrella, whine and cuss before moving on to the next task on my list. I did the latter.
An expensive mistake.
Next stop was the Nike Store. I needed to buy a couple of tees. Couldn’t bring any of my athletic tees (they were all in the laundry basket), thanks to my busy schedule. Or rather my inability to prioritize the important things in life. I walked out the store with 5 tees. Blowing off a 197,000 won (roughly $185)! Yikes!
Lesson learned: I’m stupid and should have thought about the unnecessary expense I would incur for not taking an important action. I just had to follow a checklist!
I was irritated by the time I reached the hotel. I really wanted this trip to be an economical one. Little did I know (didn’t prioritize research), Seoul is an expensive city. I would’ve been at least mentally prepared and could’ve easily avoided unnecessary expenses (a handful of them!).
Next up, I updated my LinkedIn profile with my latest credentials and headline (Just a trim-tab! That’s it! That’s the headline!). Checked my mail and found quite an appealing offer that can help me figure out a system to engage more clients for my coaching services. A $1,497 price point is way too steep for me to handle right now. Not that I can’t afford it, I’m just not in the right frame of mind to take a wise financial decision. A little forethought is much needed. Phew! I didn’t make the purchase.
I’ll be honest. I’m not a spendthrift but I invest a lot of money in “stuff” and education. I don’t mind the latter but the former is something that I need to keep in check. It’s something I’m seriously working on with my coach right now. A work in progress. But yes, two insights that I gained from my experience today:
- All you need to do is make a stupid mistake to put life in perspective. A whack in the side of the head is much more effective than a pep talk.
- I’ve spent a heck of a lot of time planning for the kind of business I want to operate and absolutely no time in actually implementing the plan! And I need to. In fact, I already have as of right now.
Are your putting some of your plans on hold? What are you waiting for? The most ideal time? There isn’t any. The right time was 20 days back and the second best time is right now!