(MON)DAY #8: A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.

“A half-read book is a half-finished love affair."

- David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

This year, I set a simple goal for myself – stop accumulating, start completing.

This is my stack of half-finished books and oh, to add on to that, I bought a Kindle last year (or was it the year before?) Did I fully utilise my Kindle? No, in fact, it is lying sadly on my desk - pitiful little electronic thing that has now run out of battery life. (I love it; it is a nifty little thing. It can't replace good ol' books though.) 

Outside work, I have plenty of interests -- outside the sphere of control, that's when I go haywire. Sometimes I get distracted by new ideas that spring up in my head and will somehow not be able to see to the end of some side projects that I have conceptualised. 

I set a few guidelines for myself.... 

1. I try not to buy new stuff, or sign onto the new 'activities'. Every time I am tempted to do so, I will question myself, will this add to the clutter in my room (which could potentially mean inner clutter as well)? If yes, then I won't subscribe to it. 

2. Do I really need to make this trip? It is so easy to decide to spend some money and make an escapade, but do I really, really need it? Will it add to my anxiety when I realise I have overspent? I love travelling, but as I have written before, travelling is a mindset. 

3. Start a bullet journal. The task list gets daunting and it stays. So it will leave you with no choice, but to tackle them. 

4. De-clutter everything and everywhere. I admit, this is still a work-in-progress. No, you don't get a view of my room. 

5. Finish all my books and stop buying new ones (The latter is really hard to keep to. I mean... how can I resist? What I do to manage and reconcile this desire to buy books, is to read the new books first and complete them!)

6. Think you are a perfectionist?  Ignore that, stop putting yourself on a pedestal.  Learn to let go. 

7. Ruminate less... According to a Fast Company article, a lot of times, we are ruminating over failures, and we let negativity overwhelm us and that stalls our progress. For me, in particular, I ruminate over the ideal of the task completion way too much than the actual execution. It is akin to a scenario of a kid thumbing through the pages of the textbook to see how much more he/she has left to go before the chapter is completed.  So, simply start doing. 

8. Work with people / surround yourself with people and friends who are the complete opposite of that; they are sticklers for deadlines and timelines and are just unbelievably disciplined. 

Yes! I'm done with the blogpost. One task off the checklist! I can sleep more soundly tonight. ;) 

P/S: That said, some things and affairs are not meant to be completed. If they suck, they suck.