“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” - Henry Ford

One of the biggest challenges in trying to accomplish any personal goal is that we tend to put them off until tomorrow, or next week, in favor of more pressing matters at work and home.

Unfortunately, tomorrow never gets here.

If you want to accomplish a goal, you have to start on it today. Finding the time to take the steps necessary is the problem, of course, as we all lead busy and complicated lives, and when we do have time, we’re too tired to do anything that requires energy or thought. We want to veg out in front of the TV, or take a nap.

So how do you find the time for your personal goals? That’s what reader Trin recently asked:

“How to do you honestly make the time? I’m not even sure where to begin with my own goals, as I already feel I have to sacrifice something important to take care of me. I would really love your opinion, as a father of 6 children, what activities were cut out of your daily life in order to insert your personal goals?”

I’m not going to be able to give an easy answer. There isn’t a single little trick I can give you to find huge blocks of time where you can pursue all the goals you’ve ever dreamed of. It takes work, it takes commitment, it takes motivation … but it can be done, without a doubt. I’ve done it — despite being married with six kids, and until recently working two jobs, I found time to train for a marathon, to work on eliminating my debt, to eat healthier, to declutter and become organized, to wake earlier, and more.

How? Again, there was no one step that did it for me, but a series of them that add up over time:

1. One goal at a time. Often the problem is that we try to take on too many goals at once. We have a list of things we want to accomplish, spanning the spectrum from gardening to learning Italian to getting in shape. It can be overwhelming, and because of that we never start. Or instead, perhaps we start with a head full of steam, but then run out of steam quickly, because it’s extremely difficult to maintain focus and energy (the two key ingredients in accomplishing a goal) for too many goals at once. Even two goals at once is difficult, if you aren’t already running on autopilot for one of those goals. For now, focus on one goal at a time. Once that’s on autopilot, you can go to the next one. Figure on at least a month per goal.
2. Make sure you really want it. It’s not enough to say, “It would be nice to learn French” or “It would be cool to do yoga every morning”. It has to be something you really want. Ask yourself why you want to achieve this goal, and how much you want it. Figure out your motivations. That’s important to do early on, or you won’t make time for it.
3. Make it your top priority. We all have multiple things to focus on in our lives, from school or work to family to errands to various goals and commitments and hobbies and civic activities. If we put all these focuses before our One Goal, we won’t ever find the time for our goal. There’s only so much time in the day. At some point, we’ve got to prioritize, and if we make our goal our top priority,we’ll make the time.
4. Reduce your commitments. I’m a big fan of simplifying your life — and one of the first things you should do when simplifying is to make a short list of the 4-5 things that are most important to you, that you want to make time for, that you love and that bring you joy. I’ve said this before, but just to give you an example, my top things are spending time with my family, writing, reading, and running. Everything else is non-essential. Once you’ve made your short list, you should reduce some of the non-essential commitments. Is being a member of the Harley-Davidson club no longer bringing you joy and fulfillment? Gracefully bow out. If you reduce at least a few commitments, you’ll now have room in your life for the things you want to do — including your personal goal.
5. Keep it simple. It’s important not to make your personal goal too complicated. You don’t want to have a huge list of things to do in order to accomplish your goal. You’ll be overwhelmed. Instead, focus on a smaller sub-goal that will lead you to your bigger goal. If you have a goal to invest for retirement, for example, make your first goal simply to learn what you need to know about investing. Make your second goal to open the necessary account and transfer money. Then make it your goal to have regular, automatic contributions and not to touch those contributions. Another approach is to focus first on creating a habit that will get you to your goal. If your goal is getting in shape, for example, focus on forming the habit of walking each day (or running, or cycling, or whatever). Once you’ve formed that habit, focus on drinking only water. Then on eating fruits and veggies instead of junk snacks. And so on, until you’ve reached your goal.
6. Stay focused. One of the most difficult things when it comes to achieving goals is maintaining your focus on that goal. It’s easy to become obsessed with something else, and when we lose focus, we suddenly stop making time for the goal. Instead, find ways to maintain that focus. Put a poster on your wall, or a printout on your fridge, or make your goal your computer desktop picture. Send yourself daily reminders. Tell others about it, in real life and on your blog, and have them ask you about it daily.
7. Block off time. OK, this is a crucial step. Maybe it should be No. 1 on this list, but I felt it important to lay the foundation with the steps above first. But once you’ve laid that foundation, you absolutely must block off time to work on your goal. Whatever time works for you — first thing in the morning, lunchtime, mid-afternoon, right after work, late at night. Try to schedule a time when you won’t be interrupted by other “urgent” requests (meetings, calls, kids, etc.) and when you have good energy. For me, that’s in the morning, as mid-afternoons are times when other things come up to interrupt your schedule (especially when I worked in an office) and early evening (right after work for most people) I tend to get a bit tired. You have to find the right block of time. Designate no less than 30 minutes, although really an hour is much, much better. Two hours isn’t feasible for most people, but your schedule might be different.
8. Make it your most important appointment. That block of time you just scheduled has to be given the utmost priority. There are appointments we take seriously — a doctor’s appointment, or an important meeting — and we will do everything we can to ensure that we make those appointments and are not late for them. “Sorry, I have a doctor’s appointment at that time — can’t take the conference call until a couple hours later.” But when it comes to our time for working on our personal goal, we will often push it back because of other pressing things. Don’t let that happen. Make that block of time on your schedule become sacrosanct, and never let it be violated.
9. Show that you’re serious. Be fully committed. Tell as many people as possible about your goal, and the scheduled block of time that is sacrosanct. Write down your goal, and be specific. If you can’t even write it down, you’re not serious. Then write out a plan, with dates and actions. Think about obstacles, and write down your strategy for overcoming them. The plan shows you’re serious.
10. Find your time wasters. In every person’s life, there are things that can easily be cut out without making much of a difference. Things that waste our time without giving us much benefit. Things such as TV, video games, fun stuff online, going to bars, etc. If you can identify those time wasters, you can free up time for working on your goals. Remember, if it’s not on your short list (No. 4 above), you can eliminate it.
11. Make it a part of your daily or weekly routine. This is important to keep the goal going for a long period of time. If it’s a goal you can complete in a week, you don’t need to do this step. But the most worthwhile goals are ones that take time to accomplish, and for those, you’ll need to make it part of your routine. Some goals will need to be daily — say, drinking water, or exercise, or perhaps decluttering. Find a time in your daily routine where you will always do this activity, and don’t let yourself drop it. Put it immediately after something that’s already firmly ingrained in your routine — say, showering or brushing your teeth, or arriving at work — so that you won’t forget to do it. For other goal activities, a weekly schedule would be better — say, making a weekly savings deposit or debt payment, or a weekly yoga class — put this on your calendar and have a reminder sent to you so you don’t forget it.

“Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.” - Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back

Source: http://zenhabits.net/2008/03/how-to-make-the-time-for-your-personal-goals/

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Yeaaah… finally…Incubus is having their concert in Tennis Indoor Senayan, Jakarta at March 5th, 2008.

Brandon Boyd, Mike Einziger, Jose Passilas Jr., DJ Kilmore and Ben Kenney… is really kick ass with their instruments, and shaken up the whole stage with their kick ass songs. Damn it men!!! really fuckin awesome!!! And… I saw them live… with my own eyes!!! WOW!!!

But c’mon Mr. Boyd… how come the whole performance only took like 1 and the half hour??!! Yeah, the show start at 8 and the half pm, and end at 10 pm - Indo time. They didn’t even play their most kick ass song like Pardon Me, and Make Your Self. And didn’t even play Dig and Love Hurts from your newest album.

But I think that’s ok. The most important thing is… they finally perform in Jakarta, after all these time. And I hope this is not the first time… and the last time they perform in Jakarta.

Incubus… we will wait for your concert again in my beloved country, Jakarta. And, if I had an extra money, I will follow you guys concert in any country in the world.

So… Here are the footage…

This is me men… right in front of the stage

Two words: INCUBUS…. ROCKZZZ!!!

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“Doooh!!! where have u been dude? baru sekarang lo pasang internet di rumah lo”

Gimana si gw, masa baru sekarang pasang internet… di rumah sendiri, norak ya, hehehe. Ya abis mo gimana lagi, situasi dan kondisinya sekarang lagi pas koq untuk pasang internet di rumah gw. Soalnya kan biasalah… ada masalah keuangan sedikit waktu itu, makanya baru pasang sekarang.

Gw pun juga baru tau si klo internet dirumah gw baru akan di pasang sekarang2 ini, meskipun gw pun uda rencana sebelumnya untuk pasang internet, cuma belum tau kapan. Waktu itu, bokap gw dan adek gw lagi ngomong ma tamu yang waktu itu pake baju hijau, gw kira salesmen gitu, tau2 pas gw tanya… “ada apa nih?”… ternyata itu orang dari First Media. Mereka lagi membicarakan soal seputar koneksi internet dan kabel TV gitu.

Yup, just like i said, First Media, gw pake ISP itu untuk providernya. Gw pake paket yang namanya FastNet 768, dan itu sudah dengan penyewaan modem nya. Dan gk hanya internet juga donk, tv kabel nya juga donk. Jadi gw sekarang gk nonton sinetron2 bodoh itu lagi.

Tapi, hiks!! gw pun juga gk begitu merasakan nikmatnya browsing dan ntn channel luar di rumah gw, cuma hari2 libur aja which is sabtu dan minggu, hari2 kerja gw ada di kosan, yg dimana blm ada internet, dan blm ada tv, hiks!!

Tp ntr de, klo ada rejeki lebih, gw mo pindah kosan yg lebih bagus, jadi bisa bawa tv dan langganan tv kabel. Dan juga yang lebih penting, gw harus langganan internet, apalagi untuk orang sepeti gw yang bekerja di bidang IT, sigh!!! masa harus ke warnet ato gk nginep di kantor si, hehehe…..

Ya ud de… that’s all for now, gw mo browsing2 dulu ya…

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“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. - Leonardo da Vinci “

The problem with many books and guides on simplifying your clutter, your work life, your desk, your life, is that they are usually too darn complicated.

We need a simple method of simplifying.

It’s been nearly a decade since I first started trying to simplify my life, and in those years I’ve struggled with clutter, I’ve had surges and ebbs of complications and simplicity, I’ve tried dozens of methods of simplifying from as many sources. It’s been an interesting journey, although not one that I can recommend to everyone. If you’re looking to simplify a certain aspect of your life, you don’t want to go through that kind of confusion.

So I’ve boiled it down to a simple method of Four Laws of Simplicity (apologies to John Maeda) that you can use on any area of your life, and in fact on your life as a whole:

1. Collect everything in one place.

2. Choose the essential.

3. Eliminate the rest.

4. Organize the remaining stuff neatly and nicely.

” Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. - Confucius “

To illustrate, let’s take a quick look at how to declutter a drawer. Let’s say this is the worst junk drawer in your home — it has take-out menus from restaurants that closed down a dozen years ago, manuals for computers that used DOS as their primary OS, tools that you have no idea how to use, more rubber bands, paper clips and chopsticks than you can ever use, mementos from your unfortunate foray into rubber stamp hobbying, souvenirs from that Mexico City trip you’d rather forget about, not to mention a funky smell that reminds you of gym class.

You could spend all day sorting through such a mess and still have a mess. (Or more likely, you’ll close the drawer and forget about it.) But let’s see how the 4-step method would be applied to our drawer:

1. Collect. Take out everything and put it in a pile. Empty the entire drawer, and pile it all on a counter or a table. Take everything out, down to the last paper clip.

2. Choose. Pick out only the few things you love and use and that are important to you. Just sort through the pile, picking out the really essential stuff. Be very selective. Put the important stuff you pick out into a separate, smaller pile.

3. Eliminate. Toss the rest out. You know you’ll never need those manuals again. Don’t be sentimental with this step. Either throw everything into a big trash bag, or find a new home for some of the items if you think someone might have a use for them — donate them to charity or give them to a friend who would love them. And yes, you have to toss out all the chopsticks.

4. Organize. Put back the essential things, neatly, with space around things. Clean the drawer out first, of course, and put the very small pile of things you chose back in the drawer, grouping like things together and leaving space around the groups. Having space around things makes everything look neater and simpler.

That’s it. You now have a very nice, simplified junk drawer, with (let’s hope) a much less funky smell.

This simple method can be applied to every area of your life. My suggestion is to focus on one area at a time, apply the method, and then move to the next area. So, if you just wanted to simplify a couple areas of your life, you could focus on one per week, but if you wanted to simplify your entire life, I’d do one area every couple of days until you’re done.

Here are some examples of how you could apply the above method to other areas of your life:

Closets. Focus on one area of the closet at a time — a shelf at a time for instance. Take everything off the shelf and put it in a pile on the floor. Pick out only the really important stuff that you love and use. Put the rest in a box to donate. Put the important stuff back on the shelf, grouping like things together and leaving space around the groups. You could use containers for groups of things, using clear containers and labeling them. Or just leave the shelves fairly empty, and get rid of most of your stuff. Move on to the next area. My suggestion is to leave the floor of your closet clear — it makes it look much nicer and simpler.

Your desk. Clear everything off the surface of your desk (excepting, perhaps, you computer and phone). For the surface of the desk, I would suggest only putting your inbox and a nice photo or two, and nothing else. Put supplies in a drawer, and file the papers. Toss out the rest. Then do the drawers of your desk the same way, one at a time, leaving space in each drawer. It’s so much more relaxing to work in a simplified environment. After you’re done with the desk, do your walls.

Your work tasks. Have a long to-do list (or a bunch of long context lists)? Spend a little time adding every task or project you can think of to your lists, until it’s as complete as you can (GTD’s brain dump works for this). Then choose only the tasks that you really want to do, or that will give you the absolute most long-term benefit, and put those on a separate, shorter list. The rest of the stuff? See if you can eliminate them, or delegate them, or at least put them on a someday/maybe list to be considered later. Then only focus on your short list, trying to choose the three most important things on the list to do each day.

Your commitments. Make a list of all your commitments in your life, from work to personal. Include hobbies, clubs, online groups, civic groups, your kids’ activities, sports, home stuff, etc. Anything that regularly takes up your time. Now pick out the few of those that really give you value, enjoyment, long-term benefits. Toss the rest, if possible. It might be difficult to do that, but you can get out of commitments if you just tell people that you don’t have the time anymore. This will leave you with a life that only has the commitments you really enjoy and want to do. Leave space around them, instead of filling up your life.

Your wardrobe. Do you really need 40 T-shirts? Or 40 pairs of shoes? How many jeans do you actually wear? One drawer or section of your closet at a time, put everything on your bed in a pile, choose the clothes you really love and actually wear on a regular basis, donate the rest, and put the ones you love back in your drawers or closet. Leave space around the clothes — don’t stuff your drawers full.

A room. If you’d like to simplify your cluttered rooms, start with the furniture. Which ones do you love and use? Get rid of the rest. Now clear every flat surface in the room, from counters to tables to shelves to desktops. Choose the stuff you love, and get rid of the rest. Leave the flat surfaces as clear as possible, only putting back a few choice objects. Now do the drawers and cabinets the same way. Also do everything on your floor that’s not a piece of furniture, leaving the floor as clear as humanly possible.

Your email inbox. Have an email inbox full of clutter? Dump all your emails in your inbox into a folder. Scan through the folder, choosing only a few to reply to and putting those in a separate folder. Delete or archive the rest.

” As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. - Henry David Thoreau “

Source: http://zenhabits.net/2008/01/the-four-laws-of-simplicity-and-how-to-apply-them-to-life/#comment-22645

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Saat itu kira-kira jam 10 malam dan hujan sangat deras sekali, gw mau balik dengan menggunakan sepeda motor ke rumah gw yang berada di Tangerang dari kantor gw yang berada di Cipete - Jakarta Selatan, dan gw ngelewatin jalan Arteri Pondok Indah.

Pas gw ngelewatin lampu merah Pondok Indah dari arah Radio Dalam menuju ke arah kanan yang menuju ke Kebon Jeruk, saat itu hujan lagi deras sekali, bahkan gw pun agak sulit melihat dengan jelas jalan yang gw lalui melalui kaca helm gw, apalagi di tambah dengan kondisi jalan yang sangat licin dan gelap sekali, sama sekali tanpa penerangan.

Saat itu pula tiba-tiba gw melihat samar-samar dari kaca helm motor gw, motor dengan penumpang berjumlah 2 orang yang semuanya adalah laki-laki melaju sangat cepat sekali dari arah kanan gw.

Dan entah kenapa tiba-tiba gw melihat motor ini kehilangan keseimbangan dan nampaknya si pengendara ingin coba men-stabilkannya motor nya lagi, namun pada akhirnya motor ini jatuh juga dengan sempat terseret beberapa meter dari tempat mereka jatuh pertama kali. Gila!!! serem abis!! Gw benar-benar melihat kejadian tersebut dengan mata kepala gw sendiri saat motor ini terjatuh tepat di sebelah kanan gw. Coba kalau gw berjarak agak dekat dengan motor itu, pasti gw pun juga akan ikut jatuh.

Saat kejadian itu terjadi, gw sempet berpikir kenapa motor ini tiba-tiba terjatuh dengan sendirinya. Ternyata setelah gw sadari, ada separator busway di atas motor itu terjatuh, dan mungkin mereka terjatuh karena separator busway itu.

Gw sempet memberhentikan motor gw dan menolong mereka berdua sampai pada akhirnya orang-orang di sekitarnya juga ikut menolong. Gw pun juga melihat salah satu dari penumpang tersebut mengalami patah tulang di tangan sebelah kiri, karena gw melihat tangannnya bentuknya agak aneh dan dia merasa kesakitan sekali.

(Sigh!!!)

Busway, ato lebih tepatnya Transjakarta. Kita sudah tahu lah, bahwa awal pembangunan busway di Jakarta ini - yang di adaptasi dari negara Kolombia itu - mengundang banyak kontroversi. Seperti kita ketahui bahwa, busway ini pada awalnya adalah solusi untuk mengatasi kemacetan di Jakarta. Dan di harapkan pula bahwa warga kota akan menggunakan transportasi ini sebagai alternatif dari kendaraan-kendaraan pribadi dan kendaraan umum lainnya.

Tapi satu hal dari masalah busway ini adalah - yang cukup kasat mata di depan kita - penggunaannya memakan hampir setengah badan jalan. Dan pembangunan-nya pun juga nampaknya tidak di sosialisasikan terlebih dahulu, seperti contoh kasus adalah jalan busway yang sedang di bangun di Jalan Arteri Pondok Indah (Jalan Panjang). Tau-tau… sudah muncul saja jalan busway di sana, seperti sim salabim.

Sebel banget, gw biasa berangkat naik motor kalau mau pergi ke kantor pagi-pagi jam 7, tiba-tiba…macetnya luar biasa di daerah situ!!! Karena ya itu tadi… ada pembangunan jalan busway. Akhirnya gw cari jalan alternatif lain untuk pergi ke kantor.

Dan perasaan gw bertambah sebal pada saat malam hari. Separator busway itu kalau kita tidak mempunya mata setajam burung elang pasti kita tidak dapat melihatnya. Apalagi mata gw minus 0.5, kalau naek motor kadang-kadang kalau memang tidak begitu jelas melihat jalan yang ada di depan, gw langsung jalan pelan-pelan.

Perusahaan developer yang membangun jalan busway itu, mustinya pada saat malam hari di kasi semacam tanda atau billboard kek, yang menandakan bahwa ada separator busway di situ. Apa susahnya si itu??!!! Apalagi jika kita lihat dengan seksama, separator busway yang kira-kira belum jadi tersebut masih di susun oleh semacam batu-bata yang di atasnya ada semacam besi kecil yang mencuat ke atas. Hiii… serem abis!!!
Gw jadi agak-agak khawatir dengan 2 orang penumpang sepeda motor yang mengalami kecelakaan seperti yang sudah gw ceritakan sebelumnya. Mungkin saja ternyata mereka mempunyai luka tambahan yang cukup parah, mengingat gw sempat melihat ada besi mencuat keluar di atas separator busway itu. Jangan sampai ya Allah, Astagfirullah Aladzim.

Gw pun bahkan - saat kejadian tentang kecelakaan yang sudah gw ceritakan sebelumnya - hampir kena pula separator busway itu. Alhamdullilah…. untung nya sang Maha Pencipta masih memberi gw keberuntungan. Amin ya Robal Alamin.

Gw sebetulnya mendukung apa yang menjadi keputusan pemerintah supaya rakyatnya damai dan sejahtera, salah satunya mungkin adalah dengan pembangunan fasilitas busway itu. Yaaaah, meskipun secara pribadi gw tidak setuju.

Namun kalau memang tujuannya untuk mengatasi kemacetan, seharusnya si ya (ini mah cuma uneg-uneg gw aja ya) ;P

Pemerintah seharusnya menaikkan pajak kendaraan untuk semua mobil pribadi, khususnya untuk kendaraan tahun 2000 keatas. Karena, dengan adanya hal tersebut, orang akan berpikir dua kali untuk membeli mobil. Lihat saja sekarang ini kalau lo lo pade nongkrong bentar di atas jembatan Semanggi atau Senayan malam-malam jm 7, gila!!! di jalan isinya mobiiiiiiiiiiiiiil semua!!!! Gimane Jakarte gk mo macet!!!!

Selanjutnya adalah, semua mobil pribadi, untuk bahan bakarnya… di wajibkan menggunakan bahan bakar Pertamax. Karena, orang akan berpikir dua kali untuk naik kendaraan pribadi, karena harga Pertamax ya… Naudzubillah mahalnya. Terkait dengan hal tersebut - seperti gosip-gosip sekarang ini katanya…. pemerintah akan menaikkan harga Premium. Ya aneh kan!! Premium kan semua rakyat pakai semua, motor-motor juga. Nah gw gimana donk kalau pake motor, mojrot gw bayarnya!!!

Dan selanjutnya adalah, pemerintah seharusnya membeli perusahaan-perusahaan transportasi umum di Jakarta yang biasanya adalah bis-bis, seperti Kopaja, Metromini, ataupun Kopatri dan lain-lain lah. Sekarang apa gunanya Transjakarta kalau bis-bis semacam itu masih beredar di jalan-jalan. Sudah jalannya kecil, mobil nya banyak, plus bis-bis tersebut jalan dan berhenti seenaknya lagi, uda deh…. makin macet aja jalannya. Gw rasa pemerintah punya duit dan mampu untuk membelinya, tapi yah… kynya duitnya mending buat betulin atap rumah anggota DPR aja ya, sigh!!! Dan untuk sopir-sopir dan kenek-kenek dari bis-bis tersebut, di beri pekerjaan pengganti sebagai sopir Transjakarta atau staf yang biasanya berjaga di dalam terminal Transjakarta.

Dan untuk masalah pembangunan jalur busway. Seperti yang sudah gw singgung sebelumnya, seharusnya pemerintah men-sosialisasikan terlebih dahulu kepada rakyat, bahwa akan ada pembangunan jalur busway di dekat daerahnya, jangan tiba-tiba sudah muncul aja separator busway tersebut!! Dan juga, seharusnya pemerintah memberi semacam rambu peringatan akan adanya separator busway tersebut saat masih dalam pembangunan. Separator busway tersebut benar-benar tidak kelihatan di malam hari, dan menyebabkan musibah bagi rakyat kecil.

Sudah lah, tidak usah melantur kemana-mana. Yang penting bagi anda-anda semua, berhati-hatilah terhadap pembangunan jalur busway di sekitar jalan yang anda lalui. Gw rasa sudah banyak korban-korban berjatuhan akibat kelalaian perusahaan developer yang membangun jalur busway tersebut untuk memberi semacam tanda atau sebagainya akan adanya separator busway.

Waspadalah…. waspadalah…. (quote by: Bang Napi ;P)

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