Version 5

The new version of Grandmaster’s List therefore becomes:

Career

Find ways to make my job more interesting.
Do things which add new value to my resume.

Finance

Get my wife’s investments in order.
Continue with my current investment strategy.
Create an alternative source of income (ASI).

Family

Focus on getting the kids to behave better.
Teach them good values.

Health

Fitness goals temporarily on hold. For now, I’ll just get in the habit of taking Vitamin C regularly.

Poetry

Aim for a serious breakthrough in standards. Forget about just producing poems; aim to break new barriers in quality instead.

Spiritual

Aim for daily meditation.

DB

Focus on working more closely with NGOs. Become their publicity hub.
Break 30,000 monthly; before the end of 2006.

More on the Breakthrough

I had mentioned a breakthrough. Details? As said earlier, I need to be bolder about my goals. A little arrogance, a little intuitive, non-rational self-assurance, would be good. At least I should not be modest with myself. And if the future proves me wrong, well, then I am wrong and I can learn from my mistakes. But I see that it is important for me to dare to be wrong.

How does all that translate? This is the current version of the Grandmaster’s List.

1. Get promoted (Feb 2007).

2. Provide high-quality learning experiences for the kids (throughout 2006).

3. Investment portfolio to hit $200,000 (end 2006).

4. Write 6 great new poems by 31 Dec 2006.

5. Cultivate a regular and deep meditation practice.

6. Constantly improve DB.

7. Manage time very, very well. 

8. Happy Home Project

I’ll assume that I will be promoted in Feb 2007. Thus I don’t need to focus on this anymore. That frees me to think what else I can do, to build a more successful and fulfilling career.

I’ll assume that my investments will hit $200,000 by end 2006 – it really IS on track and I shouldn’t be surprised if it happens. I don’t have to waste time & energy fretting about this goal. I free myself to think about other ways to make money or to utilise it more efficiently.

I’ll assume that I will win GPA once again, in 2007. That I already can do it, with poems I already have. That frees me to think about what I would want to do with my poetry, after winning GPA next year. And why I shouldn’t do it now.

I’ll take it as a given that I am outstanding in TM. In fact, it’s true. Once I geared myself to look at it that way, I realised that my biggest current issue at work is not TM, but the fact that the work doesn’t interest & motivate me sufficiently. That’s another kind of problem and I have to find a way to tackle it.

I’ll assume that my kids ARE very smart already, and actually, yes, that is a very justifiable assumption to make. That frees me to look at my parenting behaviour in a new way, and I see that maybe it’s time for me to think not just about substantive teaching of things like language, music and numbers; but also other things like values, morals, self-care and good behaviour.

What then would the Grandmaster’s List become?  

Breakthrough

Although I was away from this blog for two weeks, I have still been constantly planning and thinking about my goals. In fact I think I had a mini-breakthrough, a small epiphany.

I have been too cautious, too calculating and too careful in thinking about my goals. I haven’t been bold, I haven’t taken any big risks. I need to take some big steps, and be prepared to overshoot myself and fall a little flat.

Back Here Again

I’ve been away from this blog for two weeks. Now I’m back. Seems like I’ve been away for the longest time.

Took the whole family – wife, kids and parents – to the island resort for the weekend. We had fun. That’s one for the Happy Home Project.

One of my colleague, L, resigned. Turns out that she had been offered, and has accepted, the job I didn’t want. I’m a bit sorry to see her go, because she’s a friend, but that’s what the working world is like these days. People keep moving around – they don’t stay long.

Her departure means that my chances of promotion early next year just improved tremendously. It’s not merely that she was a competitor and that now she is leaving. It’s also that the management becomes more conscious that the market demand is high for professionals in our field, and they need to do something to keep me. Like, promote me.