Why You Should Write Goals Before Going to Sleep

In my previous post, I mentioned that we should plan our day prior to the day I and write down the goals for next day before going to sleep. There is a reason why the author of the book “How to Master Your Time”, Brian Tracy suggested writing down the goals specifically before going to sleep.

The thing which we do last before going to sleep has a profound impact on our lives. Too bad that most of us watch movies (I do that too although try not to) before going to bed and that precious time goes in vain. The reason is that our subconscious mind gets active when we are asleep, the subconscious mind is the one responsible for everything  which happens after we go to sleep(more on that later).

Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.
Tony Robbins

When planning the day before going to sleep the subconscious finds the shortest path possible to reach those goals. If you have no idea what conscious and subconscious mind is capable of doing and you want to know more about it, there are plenty of books already written on the subject and they are amazing. I also have written learning from some books in my previous posts (click here to read).

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Planning The Day

In early chapters of “How To Master Your Time” by Brian Tracy, he explained the pros and cons of writing down the plans of the day prior to the day. He suggested writing long term, medium term and daily goals on a piece of paper. He also said that the goal writings should be the last thing one should do before going to bed. (It sounds tedious and complicated I can give you that since that’s what I thought of it in the beginning).

In spite of that, I tried doing it just to test if I could do it at least for a week or not. I am surprised by the consciousness it has given to me on the daily basis on how I spend my day. He also suggested reviewing the daily goals before going to bed and doing so clear the cloud of what I actually did During 24 hours of the day.

It takes less than 15 minutes to review and write all the things down but it has a remarkable effect on me. I could see my day before it even begins which is awesome. I am able to see my weaknesses, the ones which I ignored for months. And more importantly, I could see how am I doing overall. I would suggest you try it for at least one week and if you are anything like me you would not stop.

Book Review: “How to Master Your Time” by Brian Tracy

I finally completed the book, “How to Master Your Time” by Brian Tracy. I started reading the book in the first week of November, it was an easy read overall. The book title says it all so it’s no brainer to figure out what this book is all about. What the author didn’t share in the title that, this book is specifically for the top managers in MNCs, sales guys, employees, businessmen and students.

The title was very obvious which was the reason why I didn’t pick this book up from the shelf for a very long time, I guess I was prejudging the book by its title and I thought that I was managing my time very effectively. I was so wrong. Often we think that we are right and later find ourselves to be so wrong. If you think you manage your time well and you are kind of proud of it (like I was before reading this book) you should definitely read this book. This book actually tells what other successful people do to use their time effectively.

In the beginning, the suggestions we were very obvious but gradually I started relating them and started saving the important suggestion in my notebook. If I would list them here they would seem quite obvious but the reason why author suggested them to the readers is not at all obvious. The last 5 pages of the book were like the best summary ever of the book and I was thanking God that I picked this book up. In order to share with you more effectively, I would share the learnings later in subsequent posts.

Origins : Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson

I started reading “Origins : Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution” by Neil deGrasse Tyson a week ago, and just completed the fourth chapter. Since the beginning, I knew I wouldn’t understand the jargons used by the author and at times I feel like I should stop reading and start searching for the things that he has mentioned in the book. And each jargon is a separate wiki page of its own and if I would do that I would never be able to complete the book.

“The Dark Matter” was the chapter I was able to comprehend the most and it felt awesome (though I am in no shape to write about it). The thing is that the brightest minds of all have very little idea of what actually happened in the very beginning when there was nothing(with certainty), so all of them have made several assumptions. This book shed some light on those assumptions, but to understand it to the fullest I need a person who could explain the book further since there is a story behind each and every jargon and they are is quite fascinating.

Nonetheless, I like the book and I will continue it further.

“The Flash” Season 1: Completed

Two days ago I posted about how I started watching a whole new series of “The Flash” and today I finished the first season. One of my weaknesses is that I can’t wait which led me to watch the series continuously. Of course, it has a great story and kept me on my edge of the seat the whole time but it also led me to discontinue my routine which is not good. This is also the reason why I don’t watch TV series.

The story just kept becoming better and better just like I was told by my friend who recommended me the series. In the beginning, it had one super villain per episodes and the main story was getting cooked up in the background. After crossing 10 episodes the main story kicks in and I never stopped (talk about being unproductive).

In last two days I did nothing but watching the series and from tomorrow onwards I will try to be more productive.

The Flash

#AnIdeaADay #TheFlash #HowMindWorks #StevenPinker

I had stopped watching any TV series a long time ago(and by long time I mean only 1 year and yes, that’s pretty long for me), and today I picked up one, “The Flash” TV series.  It’s too soon to tell anything about it since I just have watched the first episode but I have been getting positive reviews of the series for a very long time.

I have watched a couple of movies lately but unfortunately, none of them were as good as they used to be, either that or I have changed enough not to like these movies anymore. Unlike them, The Flash have all the ingredients which a good plot possess. A mid-20s guy, mother got killed in an accident when he was 11, father falsely accused of his mother’s murder, have crush on his best friend who has no idea, got struck by lightning, fighting crimes, what is not to like??

I watched 3 episodes in one go and one sitting and would have watched more if my eyes would have allowed it.

PS:

I updated this post after getting a critical response from a Flash fan saying the post wasn’t coherent with the title. He was right so I updated my post and made it purely on The Flash. Thank you for the comment, my friend.

Demonetization: The Top Priority Decision.!

#AnIdeaADay #GoodDecision #wponthego #modi

It’s 12:40 AM in the night as I am writing this. I almost skipped today’s post as I walked into my flat after standing in line for about 2 hours to get Rs 2000 from the ATM. Talk about one of the biggest decisions of the country and its worst implementation ever.

Every decision has a focal point and everything is rovolved around that focal point. India is home for billions of people, the largest democracy in the world and if the biggest decision of the country is not implemented keeping its people in mind, there’s our first red flag right there.

Until now many of my friends have asked me if it was a good decision or not. To them, yes it was in spite of what many people are saying that it wasn’t, I beg to differ. With that said, every good decision must have a backbone of good implementation. If the prime minister said that all the denominations of Rs 500 and 1000 will not be valid anymore, he can not say something like this out of his butt, he must have had the plan to implement all that what he said keeping his people in mind. Unfortunately, the reality is that he didn’t plan it well and it has devastated the country and we are in deep misery.

Origin: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution by Neil deGrasse Tyson

#AnIdeaADay #Origin #NeildeGrasseTyson #BookLearning 

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter you must have seen the daily NASA pics which I share in the morning. They are pretty awesome and if you haven’t seen any, click here to go to the Facebook album. Like everyone else, I also have the curiosity for knowing what’s out there beyond our world. The cosmos and the galaxies fascinated me since childhood.

I first heard about Neil deGrasse Tyson when I was looking for the meaning and scientific explanation of the movie “Interstellar” which came out a couple of years ago. I have watched a couple of his videos on YouTube explaining Singularity, Blackholes, and Wormholes.

A couple of days ago I got know about the books that he has written and I thought it would be really cool to know our origin stories. Yes, as a Muslim we already have an origin story but it’s nice to know what science has to say about our origin story. So I picked up the book, “Origin: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution” by Neil deGrasse Tyson and finished its first chapter. Until now it’s all about the particles, a whole bunch of particles whose names I have already started forgetting. Nevertheless, it’s just the beginning and I am pretty excited to read the rest of the book.  Stay tuned for more updates.

Blink : The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking

#AnIdeaADay #BookLearning #Blink #MalcolmGladwell 

There can be as much value in the blink of an eye as in months of rational analysis.

–Malcolm Gladwell 

Yesterday, I was having tea at around 12 o’clock in the night. Pretty unconventional time to have a tea, thanks to my friend who invited me at the odd time of 11 o’clock for having a cup of tea. It reminded me of my college days, the time when we were accustomed to going outside to refresh our minds from prolonged studies especially during odd times. Since I was too tired to do anything I slept without publishing my blog(and doing anything for that matter) and I am ashamed of it. (I forgive myself for not writing the post though)

I started reading the book “Blink : The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell, one of my favorite authors. I have read and reviewed several of his books, below are the links to the book reviews of Malcolm Gladwell’s by me.(click on the link below for more details)

• Outliers: The story of Success
• David and Goliath : Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants 
• The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make Big Difference 

(Click here for other learnings from the author Malcolm Gladwell)

Blink is going to be the next in above collection, I have just read one tenth of the book and I am already in love with it. The book title is pretty descriptive and it is exactly what this book is all about. It’s about the intuition we have at times, it’s about the feeling which we have when we encounter a situation, it’s about the first 2 seconds of whatever comes to our mind when we are exposed to a situation. The book enlarges those 2 seconds and explains why we feel what we feel in those first 2 seconds. It’s about why you chose to open this blog post when you first laid eyes on its title.

If the above paragraph excited you to some extent, this book has a lot of content for you and you will love it for sure. I just have read a couple of chapters and I was blown away by the first chapter only. Stay tuned for more updates.

Why I Hate Movies..!!!

#AnIdeaADay #wponthego #IHateMovies #SuicideSquad

I hate them because they are additive in nature, they are so good(not all of them of course) that it’s very difficult to resist. In my college days, I used to watch so many movies that it used to sore my eyes. We had one of those unlimited download facilities and a torrent client. I was not alone and there were many like me. Movies have used up most of my productive time in the past(they still do sometimes).

Movies have opened new worlds for us, very different from what we have in our real lives. We sometimes are so caught up those imaginary worlds that we give little priority to our real world. That’s not a good way to live a life. Like every other college student, I was a rebel meaning I was the only one who could tell myself what’s right and wrong, I spent most of my time in the imaginary world of Harry Potter and X-Men during my college life.

Now that I have gain little more sense and the importance of my time I abstain myself from watching movies incessantly. With that said, I watched “Suicide Squad” today. The movie was good but since it was dark themed I didn’t like it that much.