Inspired by a friend’s idea for setting time-limited goals, I came up with my own method that drives the gamer buried deep in my subconscious to reach the highest score possible by reinforcing positive and punishing negative behaviour.

The idea is simple: if I exercise, I get a point, but if I eat a donut afterwards I lose the point, and if I just sit on my ass and eat donuts then I go into the negative (-10 if I ate an entire box), but if I reached a major milestone like completing a 50km mountain bike race I get 20 points. Of course, you have to be brutally honest with yourself when assigning points for it to work, but the main goal is to gently remind yourself of where you’re going wrong each day so you can improve the next day. Then you can set yourself rewards like “If I reach 200 points from now until July 30th I will go spend the day at the Spa because I earned it.”

The method is even simpler: just a grid on a spreadsheet with columns for the days in a week and rows marked green and red for positive and negative behaviour. Put down each of your goals with a positive goal and the negative behaviour that is dragging you down. Check the image above or use some of the ideas in the list below for goal opposites:

• Made an effort with friends and family/Made excuses to get out of doing anything
• Hunted for a better job/Made excuses on why I should stick in a dead-end job
• Got rid of poisonous people in my life/Grinned and beared them
• Add your own in the comments!

Put in your point scores at the end of the day and sum up each column. If you’re aiming for a reward, then put in a calculation to show how close you are to it. Simple, quick, and effective.

Instead of trying to force yourself into a strict schedule with TODO lists and calendars, try this easy way to motivate yourself to use your time more effectively by not only getting more done but also constantly evaluating where you are wasting time, and let me know how it goes!

Humans on the other hand are never satisfied. As soon as we’ve satisfied the three variables, we go searching for more. So we’re safe, well-fed, getting laid, and we’re happy about it for a while. Then it wears off. Now we start thinking we’re not making enough money, or that we’re not famous enough, or we’re not creative enough. So we start trying to fulfil these new variables we’ve found, but in so doing, we often sacrifice our original accomplishments in the first three.

Making more money means more work, less of a social life, which in turns leads to less sex and/or a broken marriage.

Becoming famous also creates problems, because it means sacrificing security. You may be famous, but now you’re a target. Usually because you’re rich and extravagant, in a prominent political position, or you’re simply hated for being famous.

Trying to be more creative also leads to problems if it’s taken to be more important than it is. How many starving artists do you know of? They’ve maxed out the creative variable by sacrificing the security, food/health, and sex variables. So they might bring out some brilliant work, but they’re on the path to self-destruction.

Even when a person can’t find new variables to fulfil, they often start overloading the first three instead. Overweight or anorexic people have overloaded the food/health variable. Paranoid people are quaking in their self-created ruts from overloading the security variable. And while promiscuous people might often be envied, they’re usually overcome with self-loathing from not being able to build a lasting relationship. They’ve maxed out the sex variable.

This is the curse and blessing of being human. We have the capability for great things, but only when we can find that perfect balance between security, food/health, sex, and the newly found variables we believe to be our purpose. By all means, find those new variables and work hard (and smart) towards fulfilling them. But watch your balance. If something doesn’t feel right or you’re feeling depressed and lacking energy for no obvious reason, it’s probably because you’re out of balance. And when you’re not balanced, from focusing on one area at the cost of others, then you’re building up a debt in those neglected areas. And the greater that debt becomes, the harder it is to pay back, because it usually comes with interest.

So keep your balance, before the universe decides to repossess the neglected parts of your life, leaving you wondering where it all went wrong.

Open your eyes/How to read for yourself

Reading and art should never be revered to the point of idolisation, as we then falsely perceive the things written about to be the only things of beauty in our surroundings. We should learn to see our surroundings with the master’s eyes, rather than trying to see the master’s surroundings with our own eyes. Use a master’s work to learn a new way of seeing to expand your abilities, instead of restricting yourself to the tiny fragment of human experience which the master artist has lived through.

On friendship

Friendship tends to be over-rated. A cynical and perhaps truthful view to take is that friendship is just a warm feeling of affection which may be reciprocated, and nothing more should be expected to avoid disappointment. The pursuit of affection and the pursuit of truth should be seperated. Friendship allows for affection, but you need to split your personality for it to work. You cannot be brutally honest with a friend, but in placing your thoughts on paper or a painting you can be perfectly truthful. Thus both pursuits can be achieved without intefering with one another.

On appreciating life

If your death was guaranteed in a day, week, or year; how would your priorities change? Shouldn’t they be changed now rather than procrastinating till you’re dead? How would those people who were killed by the tsunami have lived differently if they knew? Okay, they probably would’ve given the beach a miss, but you get the point.

On taking your time

If you rush through life you’ll miss out on the richness which seemingly mundane objects and events have to offer. This applies even more in our current culture of get-things-done-faster-or-you’re-just-a-lazy-sod.

How not to point fingers

When suffering, don’t blame something or someone else and give up; just accept that shit happens and move on.

Expressing yourself

Avoid clichés in expression. Though they may be tried and true, they are also old and worn. Rather be original at the risk of ridicule or rejection.

[tags]proust, books, philosophy, psychology, life[/tags]