Have you ever wondered what life will be if we don’t have any unit of measurement. By unit, I’m referring to those such as kilogram, meter, second etc. Just imagine going to the store and try to buy 5000 grains of rice, or describing the time taken to walk from your house to the store by calculating the number of heartbeats to reach there.

It can actually be done but it will be very tedious and the process will be very complex. Take one meter for example, one meter is actually defined as the distance travelled by light in free space in 1/299,792,458 of a second. You can choose to measure all the distance throughout your life by using light and a stopwatch. But don’t you think a ruler is far more convenient?

Now here is where we can apply it in our life. I truly believe that life is very complex in all its definitions. However, there will always be a simpler way to understand and live your life.

1st Example : The Immortal Story Of The Boy & The Girl

Let say you like a girl and you really want to introduce yourself to her. But in your mind, you start to think all the ways that she can reject you and how you will react to the rejection. Some deeper people might even try to figure out what the consequences of approaching her would be. In the end, you will just end up with a major headache and becoming more invisible than ever. This is a great example of how we are constantly making our life more complex unnecessarily.

The same situation can be approached in a much simpler way. You like the girl, just go introduce yourself to her. Anything happen then is to be handled then.

2nd Example : My 2 Years of Nonsense Worrying

A personal example to further illustrate how to simplify the complex element in life is my quest for a steam certificate. I am currently working as an engineer for a mill. To make things short, I will need to be acknowledged as an authorized steam engineer for me to be promoted. In order to achieve that I need to apply and pass a series of examination conducted by the national board of engineers. It’s been over 5 years now and I’ve been postponing the application for 2 years already.

I always remind myself of the possibility of failure in the examination and how I am still not feeling ready to sit for it.

A few weeks ago, I took my own advice and see the issue in a simpler form. The board of engineers doesn’t even know that I exist since I haven’t applied yet. And unless I send in my application, all the worrying just don’t make sense. That’s exactly what I did. I sent my application and started preparing myself for the examination. Whether I fail or succeed, I know I’m half way there.

Conclusion

There are always two ways to see your life. A complex way or a simpler way. Believe me the two will always be there for you. Just choose the simpler way.

– I Wonder –
Any other example of a complex life issues that can easily be viewed in a simpler way?

————- Personal Note —————
The examination is due this June. Wish me luck! If I passed, I will buy all of you a drink 🙂

Photo Credit – Zanastardust

Have you ever read a page turning novel? The kind that after you read a page, you are compelled to read another and another. The one thing that is stopping you from continue reading is your tired eyes.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we have a page turning life? Living everyday and getting even more excited about the next day – A Page Turning Life.

Luckily we can learn a thing or two from the novel author. We can learn how he successfully kept us wanting more in every page. A few tricks that immediately appear to mind are as such:

1) Put the answer on the next page

An author always bring up an interesting question in every page and immediately give hints that the answer to the question is just on another page.

This can be implemented in our everyday’s life. We just need to start asking ourselves the right kind of question. For example, when you are working, start up a social experiment. You can find the one person that hates you at work and be nice to him. Pay for his lunch or send him a card that says you are sorry. Now the whole experiment is the question of the day. Try to see the result to the experiment tomorrow.

Aren’t you excited to see what will happen?

2) Ensure every page is different

Would you read a 1000 pages book that repeat the same story in every page? I will most probably be setting fire to the book after about 3 pages.

The same goes to our everyday’s life. Yes, we have routine job everyday, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t do other things differently. Instead of driving via your normal route, try driving via a longer route. Instead of chatting with your friends, find new ones. You don’t even need to ask for their number. Just chat away.

Our job will always demand us to perform it without any change. But it doesn’t mean that we have to live the same way too.

3) The best book is a story book

Do you know the Snow White (*) story? I bet you can tell it to your children without even reading it from the book. It is memorable not because it is popular. It is memorable simply because there’s a story and the story is interconnected that you can memorize it in one go. There’s the princess, the witch, the mirror, the apple, the dwarf and the prince. See, I told you it is memorable and interconnected.

Our days are the most important story in our life. Write your story so that every day is interconnected. The best way to do this is of course to set a goal. For example, set a goal that you wish to be the best father for your children. Record your everyday’s attempt (both success and failure) in achieving this goal.

That itself will be such a beautiful story. Don’t you think so?

– I wonder –
Any other ideas to make our life page-turning?

———– Personal Note ————–
The first thick novel I read was Insomnia by Stephen King. And I personally verify that it is a page-turner, at least for me. It is a story of a person who was losing sleep every day until at one time he began to see auras from people among other strange things. He also started seeing the angel of death himself.

* My special thanks to Anya for pointing out that the story is Snow White and not Cinderella.

Photo Credit – Beige Alert

There are thousands of tips in the internet about how to sleep. This article will be another addition to the vast collection. But what makes this article different from the rest?

The techniques described here are taken fully from my experience. And I can guarantee you that it works, at least for me. I have no problem taking power nap for as short as 10 minutes and I will feel refreshed immediately after that as if I have slept for 3 hours. This is how I do it.

1) Put up “Do Not Disturb” sign

Whenever I want to take a nap, I always make sure that there will be nothing disturbing me. My cell phone will be set to silent, The Mrs will be informed so that she will take care of everything when I’m taking the nap. In short, you are not supposed to wake up before 10 minutes in a nap.

2) Say “I want to sleep” in three level

First, I will say it out loud. Of course, do not be too loud. You don’t want to ruin the moment. Level number 2 is in the mind. I will think about the phrase in my mind. Level 3 is actually still in the mind but I convince myself that it is another deeper level (The Subconcious Mind). With that said, I will close my eyes.

Our mind is one of the most amazing object in the universe. You want something, you ask for it, and the mind will give it to you. The problem with most people, is that they don’t really want to sleep. They are still thinking about matters at work, or worse – figuring out why they cannot sleep. If you want to think about a problem, make a special session for it – a thinking session at another place another time. Taking a nap or sleep must always be a sacred place where we can find peace with ourself.

Don’t get me wrong, solving problem while sleeping is actually recommended. But all you need to do is to explain to your mind the summary of your problem, and sleep on it. (11 Missing Steps of Problem Solving You Probably Don’t Know)

3) Enjoy the show

Have you ever sit on a couch, watching commercial on television but you are not paying attention? You can see the commercial, hear the music but if people ask you to explain it, you will have no idea what you have been watching.

This is exactly what you should do when you close your eyes. Let go of your mind remote control. What ever your mind flashes to you, just watch it come and go. Do not pay attention to it and never try to control the images.

Believe me, this works everytime for me. I will fall asleep without even knowing when.

Conclusion

The secret to sleeping is actually to let go of your concious mind and let subconcious mind take over.

• Step 1 will ensure that there will be no external interference in the process.
• Step 2 will trigger subconcious mind to take over.
• Step 3 will help letting go of your subconcious mind.

– I wonder –
What do you do to help you sleep?

———– Personal Note ————
One of my brother is even more amazing. He can fall asleep in mere seconds. I know because I can hear him snore seconds after we pause our conversation. It’s either he is that amazing or I am amazingly boring. I refuse to believe the latter.

Photo Credit – Mayr

Summary – The Yes No Question

Life is really a funny thing. It can be both complicated and simple at the same time. Let me try to elaborate. Supposedly you want to start a business. There will be a lot of things to consider such as market demand, promotion etc. I’m not even referring to other complex personal problems you will start to think like :

• Is it your passion?
• Will you be happy?
• Will you have time for other things in life?
• What if you fail?

There are so many things to consider in any decision we make throughout our life. And that doesn’t even include all the Plan B,C and D we have up our sleeve should Plan A fail (shh Plan E and F are up the other sleeve). I’m sure you will agree that this whole process we called life can be very complex.

When it is this complex, it will usually take more time to complete and more stress just to figure things out. We don’t want this now, do we?

From Complex to Simplified

The same man can stop all the noises in his head and just ask, Do I want to start a business? Yes or No? If he answers “Yes”, he will just go through his plan. Period. If the answer is “No”, then he will move on with his life.

It doesn’t get any simpler than this. This is the missing step in simplifying life – “The Yes No Question”.

Thinking about all the possibilities and analyzing the fact to ensure our success are very important in every planning. We can’t just start up a business without researching the demands, or the prospect of the business. That will be suicidal.

But all the planning will not work and will further complicate our life if we didn’t follow it up with the “Yes No Question”. Ask yourself a question that can only be answered with Yes or No.

Life is complicated enough, and when we further think about it, it will get even more complicated. I bet the man will still be thinking about his plan even after 5 years. He will still be listing down the pros and cons of starting up a business. This is all because he didn’t dare to ask himself the “Yes No Question”, which in his specific case is “Do I want to start a business? Yes or No?”

Here’s another example on the application of the “Yes No Question”. If you are deciding whether to study Chemistry or Engineering in college, just ask yourself – “Do you like Chemistry?” If the answer is Yes, then go ahead. Forget about the fear of unemployment in the future. However if the answer is No, why are you still there thinking about it. Move on to other things in your life.

Conclusion

This is how we live a simpler life. First complicate the thoughts with all factors and ideas considered, and then ask the “Yes No Question”. What ever the answer is, just pursue it.

There are no failure in life, just different result.

– I wonder –
Are you a complex person or a simple person or both?

———– Personal Note ————-
Sometime when I reread a few articles I wrote, I said to myself that all of the tips are easier said than done.

Everything then seems so much simpler.

Photo Credit – FromASecondStory