Entertain Like The Gilmore Girls: Week 3 update

Literature: 

This week, I finished Moby Dick and started Madame Bovary and The Second Sex. Moby Dick was very slow at first and I was unintertested while reading it. Gradually, the book starts to get compelling. It is a book on the quest of finding a white whale named Moby Dick and how this creature changes the life of the narrator, Ismael. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading an adventure book, but I would not recommend this book to anyone who likes short and crisp novels (this book is around 800 pages long and half of the book is dedicated to the description of what the narrator sees around him like the landscape, characters, etc.)

I started reading Madame Bovary and The Second Sex. I am about 25 percent done with Madame Bovary, but I have only finished a few chapters of The Second Sex so far. They both are on feminism and women empowerment. I am absolutely in love with these two books and their combination. Madame Bovary is a realist novel on how this character Emma escapes her marriage and find her inner happiness. The Second Sex is an essay on the treatment given to women through the course of history. I am enjoying these books very much.

My quest of finding Mistress of Mellyn started again, yet with no success so far. I looked everywhere. I even joined the waiting list on Openlibrary, but still have not received it. I hope I will receive it soon.

 

Movies or TV shows:

Since I have finished all the movies referred to the pilot of Gilmore Girls. I decided to watch an hour of Nick at Nite.

Since it is a channel, the programming differs with time. But I decided to stick to the current programming and at the same time take care of the actual Gilmore Girls time period. Let me explain how. The pilot was released in October 5, 2000. That means that anything released after the year 2000 will not be watched by me.

The current programming at Nick at Nite: Full House, Friends, George Lopez, The Goldberg, and Two and a Half Man. Before 2000, only Full House and Friends existed and therefore, I decided to stick to these two shows this week.

But if you want to stick to the old programming, then you can watch shows like I Love Lucy, Facts of Life, etc. http://classictvhits.com/schedules/nickatnite/2000/oct2-oct6.htm

I have always loved I Love Lucy, Andy Griffith, The Facts of Life, and so on but I decided to stick to the current on to prevent decision fatigue. I also love Friends and Full House at the same time. 

Music: 

• There She Goes by The LA’s was a happy song for me at first. But when I read about it on wikipedia, the negative connotation of the songs stopped me from listening to this song again.
• Where the Color Don’t Go by Sam Phillips: To be honest, I have mixed opinions about this song. I only liked the chorus of the song, but other than that the song sounded a bit crepy.
• Wendy by Wesley Yang and Gavin Mcnett – I could not find this song anywhere.
• Heartland By George Strait: A pure country song! To be honest, I would not listen to this song on my regular day, but I got happy when I hear something “normal”. After listening to these above songs, you would really enjoy this song because of its “normal” rhythum and a positive connotation.

This is what I read, watched, and listened this week. I hope you enjoyed this post.

Productivity experiment: The best time management tip that I have ever tried

This week I was following a time management method. This is nothing new or unusual, but rather a technique that has been out there for a while. But we are always running after more complex techniques and forgetting just as efficient simpler methods.

I am going to discuss briefly with you this simple method to “create” at least extra 2 hours in your day. Let’s get started:

Requirement of this technique:

• To do list
• Time slot schedule
• Timer

Before you start this implementing this method, have a time slot plan. I am going to post a sample time slot plan of mine below.

• 0.5 hours of Duolingo and Newspaper
• 4 hours of reading
• 5 hours of studying (including 10 mins break after every 90 mins) 
• 0.5 hours of writing
• 1 hour of movie/tv
• 6 hours of misc/work
• 7 hours of sleep

You can assign the number of hours you are going to spend on each task everyday first. Then you will time yourself while working. You will only do only this particular task while the timer is on. You have an interval system as well where you are going to switch your tasks from time to time to avoid burnouts.

Try to stay away from all sources of distraction while the timer is on.

Please remember to give yourself some flexibility as well. The number of hours does not matter but the efforts put in that time matter the most .

Productivity methods: routine, motivation, and distraction tips

My favourite productivity blog is A Life of Productivity. My favourite post from this blog is How Long To Work For? Bailey here explains how long we should work for throughout the day. I personally am quite impressed with how these methods has been proven benefits at different times of the day. You do not have to follow this method word to word. You can customise this method of using different productivity method in one day differently as well. Let me outline this routine of 3 different productivity method out for you.

I am personally an early birds and by looking at the routine, I can judge Bailey is too; I am going to outline Bailey’s routine out for you for better understanding and insightful comments from my experience.

In the morning:

Use 90-30 method

I love this method. I get a lot done plus I also get longer breaks. In this method, you work for 90 mins straight and then take a 30 mins break. On average, I do around 2-3 intervals of this method in the morning. While on 30 mins break, I like to finish my chores or something that keep me away from my screens.

In the afternoon:

Use Pomodoro technique

Work for 25 mins and take a five minute break. After 4 intervals, take a 25 ins break. In a day, I do around one cycle of pomodoro (4 25-mins intervals).

In the evening:

Use 52-17 method

Work for 52 mins and take a 17 min break. This method is great because you can get a lot done in one interval and you get small breaks. I like to use it at the end of the day in order to finish my to-do list completely.

 

Motivated vs Unmotivated mins:

I personally like to check my motivation level and then pick my tasks. If I think I am motivated enough, then I will do my high-leverage tasks.  If my motivation level is low, then I will do light reading and other tasks that requires less focus and efforts. Or I just try to finish short tasks. This why my low motivation level is not leading me procrastinate.

Procrastination pad and research of the day:

I recommend having a procrastination pad with you when you work. Whenever you want to search something and do something else, then write that thing down to do it later. If you addicted to the internet, then I would recommend you to have a topic of the day. In this method, you are going to have one particular research topic (irrelevant to your work/something you interested in) that you are going to research on. You are only permitted to have google searches on this topic (nothing else, other than your school work). This way your minimising your time spend on the internet by minimising your search options.