Introduction:
The first project “Writing the brain” has showed me many things, that i have not thought about regularly. It has brought me great insight on what I should do to reach my goals, and I realized things that needs to be changed. It was a self evaluation period for me and I never imagined it would become a big impact on my current life.
Thinking In Writing:
It was February fifth when I took down notes of what I was currently doing at that time, and my thoughts that I was thinking during or around that time in increments of 30 – 1 hour periods. I found interesting patterns in my thoughts that I don’t really notice, due to how frequently busy I am during a week period. Putting it in a log has helped me analyze it and find that I tend to think a lot about things that are particularly not about the current activity, or situation. I usually think about things that are related in the future, and I analyze it in a way that helps me prevent problems, if said situation comes along. I also found out things that I pay very little attention to the current situation and think of the outcome more. For example, at around 1:02PM, I was meeting a friend of mine for lunch and right before that I just got out of the train station and I thought, “The amount of people holding the train doors could saved me so much time” I ended up being late for that day in our little meeting, and instead of thinking the severity of my lateness which I usually do, I thought about the time I could saved if commuters did not hold the doors every station that we stopped on. 6:32PM my friend and I from earlier split off and I met another group of my friends that were planning to go bowling. I decided to tag along. At this point we were already done bowling and were off to a place in south street seaport to eat. We found a seafood place and decided to eat there. While we were all enjoying our orders, I thought to myself “Usually I don’t go to seafood places cause most of my friends do not like it, I wondered why is it people can enjoy certain food and not others, how people developed their taste buds.” I brought this conversation up to my friends I was with and they did not really know an answer for it, maybe I’ll never know. Instead of thinking of how great the food is and the restaurant name so I can go back to the place in the future, I thought about other people’s taste buds and how it was developed. I’m not exactly sure if my thought process is out of curiosity or just pure randomness, which thinking random is not always the best thing to do. My thoughts now I see it is more random than it needs to be and there are more important things I should be thinking about during that time than thinking of how people developed their taste bud or how if commuters did not hold doors, it can actually save me time. Some of the things I really should be thinking about was finishing my website, which has been unfinished for quite some time now or scheduling my time much better to fit the needs of my friends and family while balancing work, and school.
Thinking Visually:
1. Cold Day
Photo Captured , Tuesday 2/7/15
This reminded me of one of the days in the week which was really cold. I felt that instead of wearing a sweater I should have worn a bigger jacket with and extra layer. I felt underdressed that day, and complained about being cold to my friends which was completely my fault
2. Seafood
Photo Capture 2/17/15
I personally don’t like tuna, but this picture reminded me of the time I ate with my friends and we chose a seafood restaurant. I was thinking why a lot of people hate seafood. If well made it can be really good, but then I thought it could be that they haven’t tried, well made seafood dishes.
3. Alcohol
Photo Capture 2/17/15
The day I had dinner with my friends I was tempted on drinking that day, because I haven’t drank in a long time and it was almost one of my friend’s birthday, so why not celebrate. Although the next day I have work , I don’t think it’ll be a good idea
4. Gym
Photo Taken 2/17/15 During the day I went out with my friends, one of the things that went thru my mind is the fact that I haven’t been in the gym for quite sometime. I check my membership and I’m actually still paying for it. I plan to go back in the future but juggling work, school, and a bit of social life, finding time for it is a bit hard.
5. Website
Photo Taken 2/16/15
I was able to finish the website I was doing for a friend of mine. Although during the train ride to the city, I remembered that I had to finish it before the deadline which I had 2 days left to do. I was astonished how I was careless with the deadline and I don’t usually do that.
6. Trains
Photo Taken 2/17/15
I hated the fact that whenever I go to the city and the train gets packed, I have to take in account how much time extra I have to leave due to the people holding train doors. If the train is packed, wait for the next train because you’re wasting time for the other 100 or so people in that train. The subway system has its flaws but its still the best mode of transportation around the city.
Thinking Reflectively:
Reminiscing the time I became a better person, I cannot believe it has been five years, the day I first stepped into City Tech is the day I told myself that I would finish something for once in my 22 years of living. Living with my partner completes my 5 year plan and recently landing a new job at a new tech driven company which I can utilize the skills, I learned from attending City Tech and completing my BA in Computer Engineering, just tops it all off. I have plans of continuing my graduate studies but that will be put on hold until I settle into my new position. My dreams are very broad, but my expectations are kept low. If I was able to meet my old self I would tell him the things I would do, to make things more effortless towards the goal I set forth, starting at City Tech. If I stayed in the position I was four years ago before I attended City Tech I would have be a train wreck. The things I think about the most is finishing my degree in computer engineering, and my current work. I think about my degree and my work the most because of the fact that it is my daily routine during the weekdays. The thing I think about the least is my family, even though I am still living with them, I barely see them due to how busy I am during the weekday and some weekends. The thought of completing work for my classes and having to meet deadlines for my work, keeps the majority of my brain preoccupied and prevents me to think about other things.
Regret is something I try not to have whenever I make my decisions. Having regrets bring you back in life and I learned that the hard way. Persuading my past self will be a steep challenge, I would have to change my horrendous sleep schedule, to think more of my short term goals instead of long term goals, and finding the balance between my work, school, social, and family life. It will be a challenge changing my past self, but if I tell him the benefits of these changes, he would realize and would be more willing to adapt these changes. My adamant nature is very hard to persuade in some cases, but with perseverance and dedication, I believe I can change my past self to better my achievements in my future work.
For my past self to achieve a better path to the accomplishments that I had achieved today, I would have to first change my sleep schedule. Even though I get up well during mornings, I tend to look for more sleep at around one to three o’ clock in the evening. This can be because I spend too much time thinking about my work. From my day of thoughts, I complained to myself that I was falling asleep at two in the evening. I can still do physical activities but my brain feels it is in a comatose state and it is difficult to stay awake. Thinking about my work, I always worry that there might be a chance that I do not meet a deadline for my paperwork. It is not because my boss would penalize me from doing such an action, but due to the fact that I try to strive to push my limits. I believe pushing my limits is good, if not the best way to improve, not only in your workplace, but generally your lifestyle. I have always been a “night owl”, I can never commit to a time for sleep so my brain can rest.
Many people say you sleep because you are physically incapable of doing tasks. I believe that is not always the case. In my understanding my physical body can function very well throughout the day, but only the physical part. “Mind over matter” a quote that tells one that it is only in your head. I stand by that quote when I started to adapt it to my lifestyle, and I feel that now I think way too much. I believe due to my overly analytically mind I try to find more sleep in those hours, according to a book authored by John Medina called, “Brain Rules”, Medina mentioned the meaning of “Nap Zone”. “Nap Zone” is a term used for a range of time, specifically in between two through five in the evening, where people generally feel sluggish and wanting to sleep more. The best thing for my past self is to set a strict sleep schedule. Although that is unlikely to happen, I learned that having a great sleep at night can improve your cognitive skills, in comparison with less sleep. By a chance, I could have been further in my career if I had more sleep, and should be thinking about less stressful things, other than work all the time.
Short term goals versus long term goals, a big predicament that my past self-had to endure during his time working towards his future career. I can never tell the difference between a short term and a long term goal. I always believed that short term goals are goals that are very small and can be done instantly, such as “I will go to class early tomorrow” or “I will do my homework before the due date.” I believe that it is more than that. I learned that short term goals should consist of goals you are aiming towards to reach your long term goal. I always had trouble figuring this out during my time at City Tech and trying to balance school, work, social, and family life. “Imbalanced” is a better word to describe my problem as I work towards my long term goal. The main problem is I never set short term goals because I had the mindset of aiming high, and aiming high all the time doesn’t work very well long term. I have to tell myself take short steps, doing it efficiently, and with ease to prevent discouragement reaching the goal.
My day of thoughts has showed me that I always had mixed thoughts about my goals. It was not very centralized into one idea, and is more discombobulated. My past self needs to be more thoughtful on what he should do and, to not worry about the long term effects it can happen if I do not do one particular element of my long term goal properly. To fix my confused state, I would have to first set short term goals that leads up to the long term goals I am trying to achieve. I would have to stick to a plan and tell myself to not sway away from it, because I will repeat what I did. My past self needs to set priorities that will enable him to work at each short term goal efficiently, and can increase his moral to do more.
Balancing my work, school, social, and family life can be a big feat to accomplish by my past self. My past self was not able to find the balance between family and school, he was thinking more about work and keeping my social integrity among my partner and friends. My work makes me happy cause of two reasons. One of the most obvious reason is that I enjoyed it, having to land a job in a field I was studying in, was a huge opportunity, I could not back down from. I graduated high school with the mindset that I knew it all. This mindset kept me from entering college straight after high school, I instead worked and made a considerable amount of income that in a few years’ time, I was able to pay for my tuition to City Tech. The second reason is that my work has made me greedy from independence, I had always relied on my parents to give me everything and it was very painful for me that I had to ask every time if I was going out of my with my friends or just buying an item from the convenience store. It’s a horrible trait that I had to live with, a terrible lifestyle that made me lose my connection with my parents and family. At one point I hated it but I learned to live with it, it is a consequence I had to live with and I have no regrets. Working has set my past self-three years of college to have a stable position at the job I am in today.
My social life has always been lucrative in many ways, but the main reason I think about it very often is because I love social interaction between my long time and newly acquainted friends. For the longest I relied on my friends for happiness and at one point I realized that it never worked out, it seemed temporary happiness and that I never thought about it until now. I tried finding a replacement for my family, having friends is not enough for me, when I realized it, it was too late. My day of thoughts has showed me that I should be thinking more about my family, trying to spend more time with them and making an effort to do so. I should not rely on friends for my happiness and find my own happiness. My partner has helped me through this process and I cannot thank her enough for helping my past self through a time where I needed someone to guide me into a clear direction.
With the thoughts that I have gathered, my past self is a complete mess, and I want to change that. Changing the way he thinks will be hard but is doable. Changing my sleep schedule is the first and foremost way I can change the way he thinks. Sleep can make the brain more responsive to suggestions and can lead to better persuasion. With sleep he would be able to determine his good and bad actions. I can become more self-aware of my actions and will realize that what I was doing before is bad for my overall health.
Changing the mindset of setting and pursuing long term goals before making short term goals is also as important as sleep. My past self, always had trouble achieving his goals because of the stress it has put him, and made it hard for himself to continue due to the low motivation. Not getting anything done made my past self-wonder why he is doing it, that led to the surrender of the goal and another element of my future would be gone. Finding the balance of work, school, social, and family life always brought my past self to the brink of quitting an affluent future. My past self always had trouble on prioritizing and balancing the time I have throughout my life.
My day of thoughts are filed with never-ending thoughts of my friends and my partner. Looking back to my log, I never thought about my family at all and even wondered what they are doing at that time. I thought about getting to work faster, and meeting my friends on time. I worry about the activities my friends and I would do during the day we are out together. All these thoughts were worthless and my past self needs to be more productive with his thoughts, and reduce the time with his friends, work, and instead think about more of his family.
