Just got back from my 2 week San Fran + Seattle roadtrip! It was great and really a perfect break from work (thx to Eugene for helping to handle the stuff that suddenly came up). We spent around half of the trip being in nature + driving a lot, and the other half sightseeing in Seattle, and I think the two parts balanced out really well :D will post more about my trip but for now it’s back to work! Below is what I writing started before the trip but didn’t finish and post.
Work is pretty different from school in that after I leave the office, I (usually) don’t need to do any work-related stuff anymore! But because work takes up so much time, the few free hours at night and on weekends are super precious. So I’ve been reading a bit on productivity advice and trying to cultivate some habits to make good use of my time and money, and also to stay healthy. Here’s my 10 habits and how they’ve been going so far:
1. Read on my commute
I realised that it’s super easy to get stuck on my phone- by browsing insta, looking at stuff to buy online, or playing games. Instead of wasting my 1h commute every day doing these things that ultimately don’t really add value, I use this time to read. Ever since my discovery of NLB ebooks on overdrive + getting my new kindle, I’ve been reading a lot! On average maybe 1 book every 1-2 weeks, with a mixture of fiction and nonfiction. But I always end up finishing fiction books much faster because I’ll be v engrossed in the story and keep on reading at night after I get home hahaha.
2. Do knee exercises at least 2 times a week and a long run once a month
Part of my knee recovery plan is to do strengthening exercises every 2-3 days, and to go for a longer run once a month. Currently the max I’ve run after my injury is 4km, but I want to slowly increase it by adding 1km every month. Idea is that by scheduling a longer run every start of the month, I will be motivated to run on other weeks also to prepare for it. It also helps that my department has a “jogging group” and we go for runs every Thurs after work.
Was keeping up with this plan pretty well from start of the year to Apr but this month has been a fail 😖 I will catch up and slowly increase until 10km by the end of this year!
3. Record my daily expenses
I’m proud to say that I’ve been consistently recording all my expenses since I started working in Oct! It helps me be aware of how much I’m spending (biggest portion always goes to food, esp when I eat out more often) and makes me think more carefully about whether something is worth the price. If I just calculate based on my “normal” daily expenses (food and transport), my expenses should be v little actually. But one thing I’ve realised is that every month is an “abnormal” month- with just one or two “one-off” significant expenses that end up bumping up my spending by $100+ eg. my kindle, earphones, archery lessons, new shoes. I’ve been pretty successful in staying within $600/month excluding travelling and giving my parents money, an amount which I think is sufficient but not overly restrictive.
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