A Tale of Discipline

Hello everyone! It's been a long time since I updated about myself, hasn't it?

With all my recent book analysis posts, I hoped that you all didn’t think that my blog has become a book review and analysis blog. It hasn’t. It’s still just a platform for me to share my life-views and activities with you all. I am an avid reader. So I have recently been busy reading and analysing different books, which I found to be quite interesting and educating. But, I get that if you get the same type of posts every few weeks, it would tend to get boring. So I will try to insert other types of writing in between.

To be honest, I only posted my study analyses because I had difficulties in thinking up topics to write in my personal entries. I didn’t participate in too many events recently. I didn't want to add more activities to my schedule, as there's this voice behind my head saying that I still have lots of things to do. During the holidays, I also couldn't hang out with friends because I had to catch up with my studies. I have an allotted study time of seven hours a day. However, I don’t seem to be getting any studying done. What a mystery! I even used to think that one of the reasons I'm unable to get things done was because of my extracurricular activities; and was about to cut them all down. After examining every possible clue, I finally discovered the culprit! D-I-S-T-R-A-C-T-I-O-N-S. Objects of crime: mobile phone, books, pets, daydreams, computer, and Internet access. Perhaps no further explanation is needed. :)

Thinking back, this culprit has been my constant companion for as long as I can remember; ever since my parents decided to trust me to study on my own. This culprit always succeeded in persuading me to trick my parents, and this obviously bore rotten fruits. The academic deadlines I set for myself always seemed to run away from me and I had to constantly chase them. Unfortunately, I acted like a snail and when I finally reached the finished line, I have another or actually many other races to complete. I seemed to be stuck in never-ending races.

In order to persuade myself to change, I had to find motivations. Unexpectedly, I found my motivations in my friends. I have a friend who goes to a prestigious school known for its rigorous and challenging activities. I wanted to experience similar challenges, but as you know, I have many incomplete lessons. Therefore, I felt the urgency to finish my studies so that I can pursue more challenging and exciting activities.

A competitor can also be a great motivator. A few months ago, I joined an academic course, where periodically, there’s an academic assessment. The results would be shown to the whole class. For the first assessment, I ranked 1st in my class. Recently, a new classmate joined the course. He is a diligent and dedicated student. He studied tirelessly, even during break time! I’m very much motivated to maintain my 1st position and he has become a serious challenger. Therefore, I need to work more seriously and harder on my studies.

I discovered that when I have more motivations, I have more drive to make changes, such as studying more and working hard. But motivations can only push me forward; it cannot help me to manage my time. So, I use a study method called Pomodoro Tomato. A pomodoro is to work with full concentration for 25 minutes then break for 5 minutes. Every 3rd pomodoro, I break for a longer time; usually for 15 minutes.

With these to help me catch up my studies, I'm starting to get back on track. I managed to find time to explore my coordinating skills. I became the coordinator of a homeschool event. Coordinating the event is quite time consuming as I need to spend a lot of time managing people. Therefore, I’m still hesitant in trying a new hobby, as it also takes up time to practise the skills. I still have subjects to catch up with, even though they're not as many as my previous years. I hope that these methods will help me for a long time. I’m very sure that at some point in my life in the future, I will be distracted again. Hopefully, I will find new motivations to help me get back on track!

Son: A Little Analysis on Love

The power of love is a curious thing. It plays a significant part in people’s successes, as it could motivate them to conquer their fears and challenges to reach their goals. The love here is not limited to just romantic or parents’ love, but it’s all encompassing, including friends and teachers’ love.

It is generally known that the greatest love is a parent's love. Claire sacrificed a lot to find her son Gabe. She left her home into the unknown, train hard physically to climb cliffs and traded her youth with Trademaster. Although Gabe never knew Claire, learning about her sacrifices for him made him felt wanted and loved. Before this, even though Gabe led a fairly peaceful life in the village, thanked to Jonas, who rescued him and became like a father-figure to him; he felt a void of not knowing his mother and origin. He agreed to fight Trademaster to save Claire.

The journey to find Trademaster was a hard one, and he couldn't have done it without those who cared for him. The main weapon that Gabe brought with him, is a paddle. The paddle was carved with the signatures of his friends and Jonas. Feeling those signatures, which symbolises all those who mattered in his life, helped motivate him to continue his perilous journey, and later to defeat Trademaster.

There's a saying that behind every man's success, there is a strong woman. I think it would be more precise to say several strong women and men. Many successful people in our world always had someone behind them, cheering them on. Some examples are Jack Ma and Barack Obama. When they made a big change in their career, their wives and families believed in them and supported them to just do it! Love and support from the people that care for us are the main recipes to success. No matter how big their roles are in our life, they help shape us into who we are today.

The fourth, and last book of The Giver quartet