30DLBL Day 0 – Workbook and 30-Day Action Planby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 0 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (30DLBL). Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Today is the day before the 30DLBL challenge   To ensure we kick our month off on a high gear, we’ll be laying down the groundwork and doing some pre-work.Before I share the pre-work, I want to let you know that all of you have blown me away with your enthusiasm, energy and zest towards improving your life. The 30 days ahead are going to be really exciting and definitely fun, to say the least! As with every goal we set out to do, there will always be things that crop up mid-way to veer us off course. If so, just remember your commitment to the challenge when you first signed up. Simply tell that obstacle: “Thank you, but no thank you. Living a better life at the end of the 30 days is more important to me. Everything else can wait“. This is your commitment to the others here who are participating in the challenge, and most importantly to yourself.Set aside about 1-2 hours each day on your calendar for the task, preferably in the morning so you can think further about the task in the day. Some tasks are shorter; some might take longer. If so just allocate the necessary time. Embrace each activity every day with an open mind, and you might very well find a brand new you at the end of the 30 days. 

Your 30DLBL Workbook for 30 Days Ahead

For the 30 days ahead, you will need a workbook for the exercises. It can be a random old notebook lying around in your house that’s unused; it can be a new book you buy specially for this challenge; it can even be a soft copy word document or excel workbook. Make sure it has at least 200 pages – Each day should have at least 6-7 pages for your writings (might be more or less depending on what you write).Go grab a book now before you continue reading. After you finalize on your book:

1. Use it for every day’s activity. Basically everything you do should be written here, whether it’s an introspective exercise, a physical plan, a log of things you did, etc (again, depending on the day’s task).

2. Use the workbook to capture all your insights and learnings too.3. On the 1st page of the book, write a personal note to yourself for the next 30 days. It

doesn’t have to be long – it can be 2-3 paragraphs, or even 4-5 lines long. Write down a personal encouragement, what you expect of yourself for the 30 days ahead, and what you hope to become at the end of the month. Finally, sign off with your name, time now and today’s date. So now whenever you open your workbook, you’ll see this special note from you, to you   .

4. Bring along this workbook all the time for these 30 days. Read it whenever you’re free to refresh on what you’ve learned.

Create Your Best 30 Days Ahead

Planning is critical for the success of any goal. Before we start the month, what do you want to do in the 30 days such that you know you’ve lived the month in the best possible wayever?Part 1: Create your vision for the month

What are your key goals for this month where you’ll feel you’ve lived the 30 days to the absolute fullest? List all of them down.

Your goals can come from any areas of your life, from Business/Career/Studies, Health, Finance, Love, Family, Personal Growth, etc.

They can be big or small. You can have career specific goals, to achieve X target and X results. You can have social goals, say meeting X friends. You can have health goals, say lose 2kg by month end. You can also have family goals, say bringing your family out for dinner. Romance goals can be going on X dates in the month. You can have habit goals like meditating once/day.

There are no limit to the number of goals you can set. The more you set, the more you stretch your yourself, the richer your experience will be for the next 30 days. Simply put, the more goals you set the more you’ll gain. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose from setting more targets for yourself.

The success of 30DLBL should be one of your goals for the month Part 2: Map out the tasks to achieve your goals

Map out a table of the 30 days, also known as your 30 Day Action Plan. If you have a printer, print the action plan template (pdf, see image below). Otherwise, you can draw it manually.

Identify the tasks you’ve to do in the month to achieve the goals. For example, if you have a health goal is to lose 2kg, maybe your task is to exercise 45 minutes on Mon/Wed/Fri for all 4 weeks. If you have a goal to meet friends, your task would be to (a) arrange for a date (b) meet them.

Fill out the tasks in their respective dates. This creates absolute clarity of what you need to do and by when. Make sure your planning gives you room to do your regular work and accomplish your tasks.

Be sure to set aside at least an hour every day for the 30DLBL daily tasks.

Part 3: Prepare for Action! Commit yourself to action on your September 30 Day Action Plan Your job for each day is to do and finish what you have planned every day. Put your

action plan in a prominent place where you have to see it all the time, every day (in your folder, on your notice board, in your organizer, etc). Make sure you commit to the task and finish it no matter what. When you finish it, cross it off the list with great satisfaction.

What tasks can you already start doing today to kickoff your 30 days on a high gear?To clarify, the 30DLBL Day 2-30 tasks are separate from your 30 Day Action Plan. You will carry out the tasks in your 30 Day Action Plan as I share new daily days for the other 29 days of this challenge. There will synergistic effects whether it’s doing your action plan or a 30DLBL official daily task since everything is about increasing self-awareness and maximizing your life.

30DLBL Day 1 – Your Life Wheelby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 1 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (30DLBL). Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

This is it   . Today marks the start of a 30-day program to live a better life (30DLBL). We have over 800 1,100 whooping participants who signed up, and hundreds more participating passively. For those who are new and want to join, find out more and sign up here.Now, let’s RUMMBLLEE!!! 

Day 1 – Your Life Wheel

Today’s task will take about 1 hour. It’s divided into 3 parts which can be done at different times of the day if needed.By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.Confucius

Day 1 is the first day of the 30 days ahead. With the start of every journey, it’s important to know where we are starting. It’s like traveling from destination A to destination B – you have to first know where you are (A) to get to where you want to be (B). Hence, Day 1 is about getting clarity of your life right now. To do that, we’ll be using the life wheel.

Image ©

I first wrote about the life wheel last month. It is a wheel that gives you a snapshot of how you’re doing (a) overall in life and (b) individual areas of your life. It is essentially a circle divided into segments that represent your different life areas: career, finance, family, love, friends, recreation, contribution, personal growth, etc.Below is a customized 10-segment life wheel I use with my coaching clients:

Image © TPEBFor further reading: The Life Wheel

Your TaskStep 1. Assess Where You Are (15 min)

Open up your 30DLBL workbook and start on a fresh page. On top, write “My Life Assessment, [Today's Date]”

1. Assess your life on each of the 10 segments below on a scale of 1-10 (1 = lowest, 10 = highest). Below are some questions to think over:

1. Business / Career / Studies – How are you performing in this area? Are you achieving your best?

2. Finance/Wealth – How much is your income/monthly cash flow? How much do you save from there? How much are your current assets? Do you have any passive income streams?

3. Health/Fitness – Are you healthy? Is your life style healthy? Do you have enough sleep/rest? Are you eating healthily? Are you exercising regularly?

4. Social/Friends – Do you have a good social circle? Friends to hang out with, talk to, confide in, have fun with? Do you have deep connections with these friends? Are you meeting new people?

5. Family – How are your relationships with your family members? Your relatives? Do you talk with them freely? Do you communicate with them openly?

6. Romance/Love - Are you single? Attached? Have you found your life partner/soul mate? Is this the most fulfilling relationship?

7. Recreation – Are you having fun? Are you engaged in leisure activities outside of work?

8. Contribution – Are you giving back to the society and the world?9. Personal Growth – Are you growing? Are you achieving your highest potential?

Are you being the best you can be?10. Spiritual – Are you aware of your connection with the universe? Are you in tune

with the universe/your higher self?2. Draw your life wheel like the one below. (If you have a printer, print the life wheel (pdf)

and paste it into your workbook.)

1. Then, mark out the individual scores for each segment on the paper.2. Finally, connect the marks with one another. You should have a continuous line, like a

web, that links across each segment and finally loops back to the original point.

Part II: Reflections…… (45 min)

Now that you have your life wheel drawn…

1. Reflecting on your life wheel.1. Shape of your web: How does it look? The bigger the web, the better you’re

doing. There are 4 general shapes that each represents how you’re doing.2. Your scores. How your life is at the moment is where your actions in the past few

months have brought you. How do you feel about it? Are you proud of them? Satisfied? Or dissatisfied? Why so? Pen down all your feelings and thoughts in your workbook. There is no limit on how much to write. The more you write, the better.

2. Understanding why you are here. It is not a coincidence that you have these scores right now. If you had done a life wheel assessment a month ago, 2 months ago, or one month later, 2 months later, you’d end up with similar scores too. (I know I would) The bigger question is – why?What are the 3 biggest reasons your life wheel looks like this?

3. Knowing the lowest points. Fact is, all 10 segments represent our life. Some people may think they can just ignore 3-4 segments and score a 0-1 there – but it doesn’t work that way. Whenever there’s a part of your life that is blocked (or put on hold), a part of you is blocked too. Which segments have the lowest scores? Have you been putting off? Why?

4. Coming to terms with your scores. Are you happy with your life wheel? What if you have to stick with these scores forever? How would you feel? Is this what what you want?

5. Envisioning your ideal life. What does your ideal life wheel look like? What will be the scores for each segment? We’ll be discussing more about your ideal life in Day 2.

Spend as much time as you need to reflect on your current status. Don’t rush this process. The more you reflect and understand how you came to be where you are, the better you’ll be able to address it moving forward.

30DLBL Day 2 – What’s Your Ideal Life?by Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 2 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View past 30DLBL tasks). Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

We started Day 1 with life wheel assessment. It was absolutely amazing reading your responses and Twitter updates. Many of you got powerful insights doing the exercise which is fantastic! The exercise is meant to drive clarity on how you’re doing in life – and now you have

a clear picture, work on maximizing your life, starting with this month (hence the 30 days action plan). Stick true to your 30 days action plan and make this your best month ever. As I read the incoming new tweets on #30DLBL from participants and responses, I feel very honored to experience this journey with you. I am very impressed with the dedication you have put in towards living a better life. Several participants mentioned spending 2 hours (or even more) on the exercise; many participants have been blogging about their 30DLBL Day 1 tasks and journeys.While this is framed a 30 day challenge, know that it’s really more than that. Ultimately it’s about you. It’s about your life. The attention you’re putting into this means you’ll reap even more rewards for yourself and your life too, for the 30 days and even long after that.On another positive note, we have reached over 1,000 comments for our 30DLBL announcement post and over 900 sign ups! We even have a couple of husband/wife teams and participant Catherine who is engaging it as a family level project   . A number of readers shared that they weren’t planning to join/just wanted to do this passively, then eventually jumped fully onboard after they got into Day 1′s task   . In just a few hours, we’ll be hitting over 1,000 participants We’ve hit over 1,000 participants!   Sign-ups will remain open for a couple more days for new visitors, as well as those who decide to join mid-way.Without further ado, let’s now move to Day 2′s task. 

Day 2 – Your Ideal Life

Today’s task will take about 1.5 hours.“Your imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.” ~ Albert Einstein“Everything you want should be yours: the type of work you want; the relationships you need; the social, mental, and aesthetic stimulation that will make you happy and fulfilled; the money you require for the lifestyle that is appropriate to you; and any requirement that you may (or may not) have for achievement or service to others. If you don’t aim for it all, you’ll never get it all. To aim for it requires that you know what you want” ~ Richard Koch (101 Inspiring Quotes of All Time)

Do you remember when you were a little boy/girl? What would you think about? What were your biggest wishes and dreams? What were your aspirations?  What did you want to be when you grow up? What did you want to achieve?

For many of us, childhood was a time when we would think about whatever we want. We were free to dream, to imagine, to visualize. We could be whoever we want. We could be Superman, Batman or Spiderman, and no one would tell us that we were crazy. We could set to be the richest person in the world, with all the supplies of ice cream and candy that we would ever want, and it was okay. We could want to be the president, and we would be praised for having such goals.But somehow along the way, as we were growing up, things changed. We began to think in limitations, rather than possibilities. We stopped thinking about what we want, things that make us come alive 200%. We start to live our lives in autopilot mode, so that we could get by every day. As a result, our ideals, our real self, became stashed to a corner. We forgot who we truly are. We forgot what are the things that make us come alive. It’s time to change that.Day 1′s task was about getting clarity and being aware. Day 2 is about possibilities, dreams, your wishes, your ideals, your deepest hopes and desires, your truest passions in life.For today’s task, you’ll be designing your ideal life.

Your TaskEnvision Your Ideal Life

Do this exercise when you’re alone and not going to be interrupted by anymore. You need the quiet, alone time.

Start on a fresh page in your 30DLBL workbook for Day 2. On top of it, write “My Ideal Life”

1. Envision your ideal life. For the next hour (or more), I want you to seriously answer this question:

What would you do if you can never, ever fail? What would you do if you haveunlimited resources, time or networks? What are your biggest goals and dreams? What would you want to achieve in your life? What is your ideal life? What is a life you can look back and be proud of living, and tell yourself “I’ve truly lived to my fullest?”

2. Be bold; Write everything you want.o You know how you get a menu whenever you go to a restaurant, and then

whatever you’ll basically get the food that you order on the menu? See this paper as the menu of the God/highest power that you’re aware of, where whatever you write on it will come true. Write as much as you need to; 4 pages, 6 pages, or even more than 10 pages!! This should be a life where you’ll score 10/10 for your life and 10/10 on each category of your life wheel.

o As a small example, in my ideal life which I’ve set since 2008 (since before I

started TPEB), TPEB reaches millions of readers every day; I’ve my very own international talkshow; I have books that are in top international best sellers’ lists; I run a full school campus for TSOPE which is my training business; (think Xavier school from X-Men); I’m on the cover of top magazines like Forbes/Times/Business Week/etc; I speak to hundreds and thousands of people in conferences/seminars; I have a private jet and much more. And this is but a fraction of my ideal life.

o How about you? What’s yours? Be bold, be audacious, be free, be truly you. Be as

specific as possible; the more specific it is, the more the universe will be able to bring this to you. Write everything that comes to mind. Even little details, nuances are relevant.

3. Your answers should cover all categories in your life wheel.

1. Business / Career / Studies – What are you doing? What achievements and results do you want to create? How big is your business/career? (If you’ve a business, will it be international?)

2. Finance/Wealth – How much money will you be earning? What property do you live in? What material possessions will you have?

3. Health/Fitness – How is your fitness level? How do you look? What is your diet like? How is your health?

4. Social/Friends – How is your social circle like? What are the kind of friends you are with?

5. Family – What are you doing with your family? How often do you meet them?6. Romance/Love – (if you’re single) What is your ideal partner? How is he/she

like? What do you love about him/her? Do you have kids? How many? How are they like?

7. Recreation – What do you do for recreation? What hobbies do you want to pursue?

8. Contribution – What will you be doing socially? How will you be giving back to the world / helping others?

9. Personal Growth – How will you be pursuing your personal growth? What will you be learning, growing?

10. Spiritual – How connected will you be with the world? How will you be pursuing your spiritual interests?

After you are done, look back and review what you have written. For the rest of the day, continue to think about what you want in your ideal life, and probe deeper. Fill in if there are new things that come to mind. Add more whenever you want to – this is to be dynamically updated and isn’t supposed to end here. While I’ve set an hour for this exercise, really it’s an exercise to think over and write about for the whole day.Congratulations, you’ve just created your ideal life   , and this is the start towards moving there. We’ll be referring back to this in our later 30DLBL exercises.

Day 2 of Your 30 Day Action Plan

What have you planned for Day 2? Do them with excellence today. Record your results and reflections in your 30DLBL workbook.

Share Your Day 2 Results

Share your results on your ideal life in the comments   . By sharing it openly, you’re also reinforcing it to yourself. For those of you blogging about 30DLBL, feel free to share your results and links in the comments area!While I’m reading every comment and replying where I can, this challenge really involves all of us. We’re all here together in this and to support each other. So feel free to read each others’ responses and reply to one another! Encourage, egg other participants along. If you have some thoughts to share about a participant’ answer/response/question, simply reply! Let’s all share openly. Helping others is also helping yourself too. The more we share, the more we learn, the more we grow. 

Preparation For Day 3

In preparation for Day 3′s task, you’ll need

1. A corkboard (with surface area as big as four A4 papers put together)2. A box of thumbtacks (because the ones that come with the corkboard aren’t enough)3. Colored printer ink if your printer is running low on colors

If you don’t have any of the above, you can get them at any regular bookstore. If you don’t have a printer, then there’s no need to get the 3 items (you’ll still be able to take part in Day 3′s task, don’t worry).If you’re wondering what exactly we’re doing tomorrow, here’s a clue   – “AS ROBIN VOID” (it’s an anagram).

30DLBL Day 3 – Create Your Vision Boardby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 3 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). If you have not signed up, do so here. Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday you designed your ideal life. It was an amazing experience as I read your visionsin the comments and your 30DLBL Day 2 entries (more here, and here, and here). I could feel each and everyone of you were genuinely connected with your higher self as you share your goals and dreams.Several participants shared that they cried when doing Day 1 / 2 tasks, and when I saw that I was really, sincerely and deeply moved myself. You know why? Because crying is one of the key signs that tells you that you’re connected with your highest self. To cry is to be connected with your inner soul, that part of you that you have stashed away in the past. In my 1-1 coaching with clients, it is the times when their tears flow, when they connect deep inside, when they let their true souls sing, that they break through and move to the next level in their discovery and growth.If you cried or you were almost moved to tears doing the past exercises, ask yourself “Why am I crying/tearing? Why am I experiencing these tears? What is this that I’m feeling? Why am I feeling this way? What am I trying to tell myself?” Speak to your inner self. The thing is you’ve been so busy with your external life that you forgot about your inner self. Reconnect with him/her and don’t ever lose touch. It is connection with your inner self and your emotions that make you come alive as a person, not anything else.

Quick Pointers

So today is Day 3, and we now officially have over 1,000 participants for 30DLBL   . A big welcome to those who just joined! Newcomers can still sign up here and start working on Day 1′s task right away. Here’s the latest list of tasks to date.If you’re lagging behind with the tasks, don’t worry. Simply catch up the next day. Split the task into different phases, and work out time pockets to do them. Get some quiet time in the night to yourself so you can work on it. Reschedule unimportant Q3/Q4 tasks so you can work on this important Q2 activity.If any of you are facing any problems, post in the respective day’s comments and let us know. For participants who are moving ahead, do check out the comments and reply/help readers where you can. Remember we’re here in this together and we’re here for one another.Yesterday I provided a clue to today’s task – “AS ROBIN VOID” (an anagram). Some of you have correctly guessed what it is – “AS ROBIN VOID” is an anagram for “Vision board“, and that’s the topic for Day 3.

Day 3 – Creating Your Vision Board

Today’s task will take about 1.5 – 2 hours.

What exactly is a vision board? Vision board is a board of your ideal life vision   . It’s typically a corkboard with images of your goals, dreams and visions for the future   . Some people also put their mission statement, their values, daily affirmations and inspirational quotes on their board.Our task today is to create your vision board, based on your ideal life in Day 2.3 Key Reasons To Have Your Vision Board

1. Gain visual clarity of your goals. Most people see goals as something to be created in physical reality, but for every goal to come true, it has to be created in your mind first. After all, if you don’t even have a mental picture, how can you achieve this in real life? Your vision board is your projection of that mental picture.

2. Pictures speak a thousand words. While you can have lengthy lists of goals and plans, pictures are able to trigger the right emotion in a way that words can’t. For example, if you aspire to have a trim and athletic figure, images of athletic models and athletes probably trigger more powerful emotions than a paragraph of text on the benefits of being fit.

3. Reminds you of what you want to achieve. Your vision board is an instant reminder of your dreams for your future. Coupled with reason #2, just looking at your vision board for a few minutes every day can create powerful nudges toward your ideal life.

A peek at my vision board…

I’ve selected several sections of my vision board to share with you:

Being covered by international media for my personal work, including Forbes, New York Times, Business Week, Time, Wall Street Journal, TV media coverage, etc, and reaching out to even

more people. I set this goal last year and earlier this year I was covered by CNN International, so that’s one step forward in this goal. If you are clear on your vision and you pursue it

relentlessly, the universe will step in to give you a nudge forward.Update Sep 4 - Just found out 30DLBL has been featured in Grand Sparks Herald newspaper

(Minnesota)! Sweet 

Write and publish a book that hit best seller lists   This is a sample New York Times Best Sellers’ List.

Have my nation-wide talkshow, which will enable me to reach out to even more people, touch their lives and help them achieve their highest potential and live their best lives, hence living to my purpose even fully. That’s Oprah, Ellen and Tyra above in their own talkshows and I find

them to be incredible, inspiring women in their own right

Achieve financial abundance

Having my own private jet and traveling around the world to coach international clients and speak at conferences/ workshops/seminars

My dream campus for TSOPE (The School of Personal Excellence, my training school). This is the image of Xavier School from X-Men (movies). The first time I saw the school I was

mesmerized -  I thought to myself that this is how I want my training school to look like in the future, complete with boarding house, nice porch, fountain, garden and all 

The reason why I live, and the ultimate end goal of my purpose. To unite the world as one single consciousness. To achieve my highest potential, help others achieve their highest potential, so

that we reach our highest level of consciousness and finally be united as one whole.… And our own 30DLBL participants’ vision boards!

Very sweet!!   Check out the comments to see even more participants’ boards.

Theresa’s board. I love the vibrant and colorful imagery she has chosen for her board.

Kate’s board (Read Kate’s Day 3 journal)

Andy’s board (Read Andy’s Day 3 journal)

Olivette’s board (Read Olivette’s Day 3 journal)

Wouter’s board

Benjamin’s boardNow that you’ve seen others’ boards, it’s time to create your very own board!   If you already have a vision board of some sort, take this chance to update your board! Your vision board should house your highest vision of what it takes to live your best life. Our goals change over time (as we achieve them or as our priorities change), so if you created it a few months/years ago, perhaps it’s time to give your board a refresh.

Your Task: Create Your Vision Board

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL Workbook, and write “My Vision Board” on top. Get your corkboard and thumbtacks ready! If you’re creating a soft copy, try Picasa, a free image editor, or GIMP (open-source Photoshop-esque image editor).Step 1: Search for the images (45 min)

Get online and find pictures that conveys your goals and dreams on your life map! I recommend Google Images and Flickr. Of course, if there are appropriate pictures from your own photos, go ahead and use them!Since you have written many things in your ideal life yesterday, it might be tough to feature all of them. Ensure your most important goals are covered, along with intermediate ones if there’s space.Tips when searching for images for your vision board:

Don’t just pick any images; Choose images that best convey your goals and dreams. Focus on end outcomes rather than the tasks. For example if you have a goal to be thin

and athletic, pictures of people you aspire to look like tend to be more empowering than pictures of people running. If you have a goal to be a best selling author, pictures of book signing events, best sellers’ lists and current best selling authors might be more empowering than pictures of a pen and a book.

The pictures should trigger strong emotions to take action. Think about people/leaders/famous people who inspire you. Get their images and include

them on your board.

Step 2: Create your board (45 min)

After you are done, collate the pictures. If you’re creating the physical board, print out the images, cut them and arrange them on your board. If you’re creating your board in soft copy, open your editor and import the pictures.Your most important goals take precedence, so give them top/center placements and allocate the most space to them. Use the remaining space for other goals.Step 3: Display your board! (5 min)

Now that you are done, put this board up in a place where you’ll see every day! (like what we did yesterday for your life map) It can be in your bedroom, in front of your work desk, in your folder and even on your computer desktop.Step 4: Review your board daily

Every day before you start your day, spend 1-2 minutes to look at your vision board. Reconnect with your mental state when you set these goals. Why do you want these goals? Recall the reasons.Now, visualize yourself achieving these goals. How do you feel? Ecstatic? Calm? At peace? Capture this state and stay in it as you proceed to your daily tasks. It is by “being” this person who has achieved the goals that will enable you to achieve them.

Day 3 of Your 30 Day Action Plan

Refer to the 30DLBL actions you set for Day 3 and perform them with excellence today. Look at Day 4 and prepare to accomplish them the night of Day 3.

30DLBL Day 4 – Create Your Mission Statementby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 4 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View past 30DLBL tasks). Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday we created our vision boards – capturing our vision of what it takes to live our ideal life into clear imagery   . Many participants have shared their amazing boards! Check them out in Day 3′s post and the comments.  As I mentioned in Day 3′s post, our vision board is not a one-off creation – it’s an ongoing process. As we change/grow over time, our goals will change too

(when we achieve them; when our priorities change), so make sure your board houses your most updated vision.If you’ve been reading #30DLBL tweets, the community energy is fantastic. Whether you’re actively commenting, blogging or quietly taking part as a passive participant, I’m feeling your energy. All of your passion, love, zest, enthusiasm are bursting through my screen   Some of you are replying to each others’ comments, which is great! It’s great to share (think “Contribution” category in the Life Wheel) and all of us can learn too. Check out ongoing discussions: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3For those who’re reading your daily 30DLBL tasks via email, check the blog for the latest version, because each post has been updated. Day 3′s post has been updated with new images of my board and participants’ boards. I’ve also updated Day 2′s write-up to make it easier for you to get into the state of finding your ideal life.Today is Day 4 – Are you ready?   In Day 1, you assessed your life with the life wheel. Day 2, you envisioned your ideal life. Yesterday, you brought your vision to life with your vision board. Today, we’ll be working on creating your mission statement.

Day 4 – Create Your Mission Statement

Today’s task will take about 1 hour.

What do you define as living life to your fullest?Some of us define it as to grow and learn, to achieve our highest potential (if you’re reading TPEB it’s probably the case for you), to unleash our creativity, to live freely and true to ourselves, to love others unconditionally, to live consciously in courage and power, and so on. Some of us have particular causes that we believe strongly in, such as to fight against cancer, to help others grow, to inspire others to greatness, to raise women’s self-esteem, to fight for animal rights, to save the environment, to help the unfortunate, to remove poverty, etc.On a subconscious level, all of us already have an answer on how to live our best life. These are the things we gravitate to in our daily interactions and life choices. For example, my mission statement is“To unite the world as one single consciousness; To touch others’ lives, help them achieve their highest potential and embrace their best lives.”

“To achieve my highest potential and live my best life; To live consciously and freely in truth, love and power.”

While I set this mission statement in 2006, I had been subconsciously living true to that. In whatever context I was in, whether in school or my endeavors, I had always strove to be the best I can be (in achieving my highest potential). I was always setting the best targets for myself to achieve them. When I was with others who need help, I would try to help wherever I can, to move them to a better place. Setting my  mission statement was then a matter of clarifying with myself what I saw as important and defining it up front, so I would be conscious of what matters to me, focus on it and push away things that don’t matter.Some may have an inking on what you want to achieve in your life, what you want to make out of your life, but never pinned it down into a statement. I’ve written extensively on how to discover one’s purpose/mission in the How To Discover Your Real Purpose series (You can also download the ebook version for free in the ebooks section. Today’s task is to identify that statement, and crystallize into words. For those who have already identified your mission statement previously, this is a great chance to review the statement and update it.

The TaskPart 1: Finding Your Purpose“Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life… Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone’s task is as unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.” – Viktor Frankl“Your work is to discover your work and then, with all your heart, to give yourself to it.” – Buddha

Start on a new page in your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write “My Life Purpose”

1. Read 6 Things to Consider Before Identifying Your Purpose so you know what to look for as you set your purpose/mission.

2. Read How To Discover Your Real Purpose in 30 Minutes. Follow Step # 1 in the article to find your purpose.

3. Pay special attention to “10 Important Things To Note“. These are based on most common questions I receive regarding the purpose exercise which you will likely encounter when doing the exercise too.

4. After you get your deepest answer, then follow Step # 2 in the article to refine your mission statement.

While you are given a day for this task (as well as others), things like defining your ideal life, creating your vision board and setting your mission statement are all ongoing processes, to be refined over time, and to be renewed as you grow and evolve. 30DLBL is merely a start; a trigger point to get you thinking about these things, things which you normally don’t do on a regular day. It is a platform for you to apply concepts, theories that you may have read at TPEB earlier or self-help books, but never really applied them.Don’t feel frustrated if you can’t seem to find an answer. Simply see this as the cue to start thinking about what you want to set as your mission statement in life. Create an initial idea/draft, then work it out in ongoing days. This is meant to be a question you think over on an ongoing basis. It’s a starting point for many more great things to come.Some participants took a longer time to craft their mission statement and ended up pausing all other days’ task for this, which subsequently derailed their 30DLBL plan. Don’t do that. It’s okay to have a draft for this, most participants did that. It’s okay to work on other Days’ tasks in parallel; they’re not directly dependent. In fact, some of the participants got new answers to previous days’ tasks as they work on the later tasks. Growth isn’t a linear; it’s multi-dimensional and comes in all shapes and sizes.Part 2: Bringing Your Mission To Life

With the current mission statement you created,

1. Add to your vision board. Put it at the top of your board so you see it immediately.2. Recite your statement throughout the day. Every day as you start your day, review

your mission statement. Remember why you’re here and what you’re here to do. Feel  that same energy you had when you first created the statement. Ask yourself what you can do today to live truest to your statement today and moving forward.

3. Live in alignment with your mission. Use your mission statement as your reference point with everything you face. Ask yourself if what you’re doing now helps you to live true to your statement, or if there are other, better things you can do. With every situation you’re in, ask what is the manner to act to live fullest to your mission. Do a personal check regularly if you’re being 110% true to it. Read Living in Alignment with Your Purpose

4. Review your mission. Have a regular 3/6/12 month review on your mission statement. Does it resonate with you 110% now? If not, see if it’s time to tweak/refresh the statement.

Day 4 of Your 30 Day Action Plan

Refer to the 30DLBL actions you set for Day 4 and perform them with excellence today.Participant Karissa brought up a great comment on the 30 Day tasks -  what if things go off track? Should we reschedule and get it back on track, or should we let go? My answer is: It depends on how important the goal is, and how important the task is in achieving the goal. If it’s important, prioritize and stick to it; else see if there’s another way to work around it. Be sure to check out Put First Things First on prioritizing your tasks.

Share Your Mission Statement!

What’s the mission statement you have created? What is the statement that will enable you to live your life to the fullest? Share with others! If you need any help in creating your statement, or you have a draft version, do share too. I’ll reply and help the best I can. We’re all here to enable each other along.

30DLBL Day 5 – Discover Your Valuesby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 5 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View past 30DLBL tasks). If you have not signed up, do so here. Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday, we worked on discovering and setting our mission statement. Many of you set your very own statements for your life for the first time. Some of you clarified and refined on statements you set from the past. Some of you feedback that it’s the hardest task to date. Some of you faced blockages and resistance while doing it.Resistances, doubts and fears that you may have experienced in Days 1-4 tasks represent things that were not explored previously. Don’t feel daunted by them; rather, understand them and why they’re there. These doubts/fears have been there all along. Running or hiding from them isn’t going to make them disappear. If you can understand them and why they’re there, you can then work through them and finally gain power over them.

Believe it or not, there are still new participants joining even today, starting with Day 1 and working from there.   While we’re at Day 5 now, feel free to go back to your tasks from Day 1-4, review them and refine them further. I’ve created a 30DLBL overview page that lists all tasks to date and participants’ blogs for DLB. Continue to post your comments on previous days’ tasks too. There are new comments in Days 1/2/3 posts even today and I’m still reading/replying to them.Comments for all 30DLBL posts/tasks will be closed when the challenge is over, so make use of this opportunity and tap into the community resources and help now while the challenge is going on. As you leave your comments/results, share your thoughts freely and engage with other participants every day in the comments, you are also leaving your own mark permanently in this big movement to live a better life at the end of the 30 days.On other 30DLBL related news, I just found out 30DLBL is featured on Grand Forks Herald  newspaper (Minnesota), thanks to reader Qin Tang who is a community blogger there. It’s fantastic and more power to us and everyone taking part! Today is Day 5 – are you ready?   Yesterday, you set your mission statement, and that helps you to be clear of what you want to make out of your life. It’s the direction and focus to move in. The next step now is to identify what you stand for, as a person. Today, we’ll be working on setting your values.

Day 5 – Identifying Your Values

Today’s task will take about an hour.

Do you know what your values are?Values are the qualities we deem most important to us. For example, integrity, responsibility and honesty are values to most people. Diligence is a dominant value of Asian culture. Compassion is clearly a value for Mother Theresa. Success and excellence are values of achievers like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.By setting your mission statement, it sets in place the direction to live your life to the fullest. Your values are the qualities you want to uphold so you become the best person you can ever be. For example, if your values are honesty, integrity and love, it means your best self is someone is fully honest to self and others, full of integrity (never lying, putting others down, etc) and love (showing compassion in everything you do; spreading abundance and joy). If your values are responsibility, generosity and selflessness, your best self is someone who is fully responsible, is generous with his/her emotions/actions and puts others before self.

Everyone has a set of values that subconsciously guides one in one’s everyday life – it’s a matter of whether you know them or not. The easiest way to think about your values is to think about your ideal self. What does it mean to be the best person you can be? Someone with integrity? Trustworthy? Friendly? Confident? Compassionate? Outspoken? Courageous? Kind? Inspirational? Knowledgeable? Patient? Smart? Selfless? Excellent? What qualities do you want to embody? What do you want to represent in this world?In Discover Your Values article in The Personal Excellence Book, I wrote extensively about values and what they are. Below is an excerpt of the article.Because your values represent what’s important to you, they are also the things that you’ll fight dearly for, at the expense of everything else. Imagine a soldier willing to die for his country in war. That’s the value of patriotism. An employee who often puts in extra hours just to get the best work done. Those are values of diligence and commitment. A parent who works hard every day so his/her family can live in abundance and happiness. Those are values of love and kinship in play.My life values are (1) Excellence (2) Passion (3) Courage (4) Truth (5) Authenticity.

1. Excellence. Excellence is really the core of who I am and what I do. This is why the blog is called The Personal Excellence Blog. All of us have such immense, unlimited potential, and it’s our destiny to live truest to who we can be. To do anything less is to sell ourselves short; to deny ourselves of our true potential.

2. Passion. Passion represents 2 things to me. First is the things I love. Living, growing, helping others grow, being with people, connecting, being alive. I believe life is about doing things you love, not things you don’t believe in. Forcing yourself to do things you don’t like is just meaningless and empty. The second is love itself. Not just romantic love, but compassion and unconditional love. Caring for others, being cared for, seeing people care for each other, parental love, family love, lovers’ love, kinship, people love, warmth, genuinity, harmony. I feel all warm and fuzzy inside whenever I witness or experience expressions of love. 

3. Courage. To face anything and everything that comes my way, regardless of what it is. The unconscious self’s natural reaction to fear is to avoid or shrink away. However, fear represents a part of us that is incapable of handling the situation. Hence, by facing the fear, we literally grow. Courage is choosing to face what’s before you without shrinking away, even if we may be daunted. When I choose the path of courage, I know I’m growing immediately.

4. Truth. I believe part of the journey of life is to discover the truth that’s out there. I don’t align myself with any particular school of thought; rather I focus on doing things myself and discovering truth for myself as I see it. To be in line with truth empowers you; to hide and deny yourself of what’s before you is to limit and disempower yourself. Only by embracing truth will we be truly free.

5. Authenticity. Genuinity. Being upfront and honest in your interactions with others. Being sincere and earnest in your relationships with other people. Being who you are and not hiding anything from others.

These 5 are the core values I see as the instrumental to living my best life and I strive to live true to all of them every day. There is reason behind the ordering too. #1 Excellence is the most important out of the 5 values, followed by passion, etc.

Your TaskPart 1: Identify Your Values (40 min)

1. Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. On top, label “My Values”2. Values brainstorming.  When I work with my 1-1 clients, we come up with an initial list

of at least 20-30. Some participants below wrote over 50! Below are 3 helping points:1. Picture your ideal self. Who is the real you? What does it mean to be your

highest self, the best you in the world? What are the traits you want to embody? Write as many as possible. The more you can write, the better.

2. Moments of annoyance. What were the incidences when you were annoyed in the past period? Why were you annoyed?

Incidences when you were annoyed/irritated/pissed off/angry are when your values were violated. They have to matter for you to feel emotionally triggered. For me, if anyone were to violate my 5 core values, I would slice and dice them.

For example, I hate hypocritical people because they violate my #5 core value of authenticity. I also hate it when people try to skive and laze off, as it violates my value of excellence.

For your incidences, what were the values that were violated that caused you to feel that way?

3. Moments of happiness. Were there any moments in the past period where you were extremely happy/excited/proud of yourself? Why? What was it about the situation that made you feel this way?

3. Pick the top 10. Once you are done, pick out the 10 most important values out of the list. You’ll find some values are similar to others. If so, just group them together and pick an adjective that best represents this set.

4. Choose the top 5. Now, pick the 5 most important. While all of us can have a lot of qualities we value as important, the most important is to know the top 5 values. That’s because the other values are usually represented in some way by the top 5 values. You can group sub-values under these 5. Once we live true to these 5 values, we’re in fact living true to all other qualities we hold dear. They are like the big rocks that hold everything.

5. Rank the 5 values in order of 1-5. This makes it clear to you what is the #1 value you want to embody, followed by #2, and so on. Congratulations; you have found your 5 core values   . These are your 5 core values that will help you be the highest you in this world.

6. Define your core values. Each core value will have its own representation and meaning. Write down what each core values represent to you. Each core value will also be an umbrella to other sub-values, so feel free to write the sub-values under them. (Refer to the values map below on what I mean)

Why 5 Values?

While all of us can have a lot of qualities we value as important, the most important is to know the top 5 values. That’s because the other values are usually represented in some way by the top 5 values. Once we live true to these 5 values, we’re in fact living true to all other qualities we hold dear. They are like the big rocks that hold everything.Trying to remember 10, 15 values makes it a jumbled process. Just focus on your 5 most important values. Even living just a little closer to them already results in dramatic changes in your quality of life.I see these 5 values as 5 points of a star too – each essential to what you stand for. As for the star itself, that would be you of course   .Part 2: Integrating Values into Your Life (20 min)

1. Assess yourself on your values. On a scale of 1-10, how are you doing in each value currently? Why? How can you embody every one of your value 100% starting now?

2. Find an easy way to remember the values. Your values are you, so you should be able to readily remember them no matter where you are. One thing I did was pick the first letter of each value to create a 5-letter acronym. EPTCA for Excellence, Passion, Truth, Courage, Authenticity. The acronymn itself doesn’t make any sense but it’s easy to remember. After that, I would use it as the proxy to recall my values.

3. Recite your values daily. As you start your day, recite your values. Do it throughout the day as well, till you can remember your values by heart. When I first started I would recite my values once every hour. Then I’ll recall what each value stands for to me, whether I’m living to it 101% and how I embody it even more. Today, my values are a natural part of who I am and I know them off my head, so there’s no need for me to recite them anymore.

4. Live true to your values. Picture yourself embodying these 5 values 100% all the time. As someone who embodies these 5 values, what will you do? How will you behave? What will you say? What can you do to align myself even more to my values? Be true to them.

5. Use your values as a compass. Whenever you are in a fix, use your values as your guide on what to do. What is the decision that is most aligned to your values? What action should you take that best matches your values?

6. Add to your vision board. Now that you’ve created your values, add it to your vision board, below your mission statement. You can also find new pictures that represent these 5 values to add to the board   . Check out participant Kate’s values map below:

7. Review your values regularly. Once every 3 months will be great. Check to ensure these values represent the best person you want to be.

Day 5 of Your 30 Day Action Plan

Refer to the 30DLBL actions you set for Day 5 and perform them with excellence today. How has your progress from Days 1-4 been? Is there anything that’s lagging behind? Can you get any of them in place today? How can you rearrange your upcoming week such that you can get them done? Since it’s the weekend now, take the chance to regroup and get on any backlog that may have piled up from the previous wee

30DLBL Day 6 – What Are Your Life Goals?by Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 6 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View past 30DLBL tasks). Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

In the past few days, I’ve been receiving a lot of wonderful feedback on 30DLBL from participants. I’ve also been reading the 30DLBL journals by participants (check them out if you haven’t). Many have told me how just doing the tasks from the first few days have already made them feel lighter, clearer, awakened, more focused and more proactive about life. They already feel motivated about what’s ahead of them, vs. previously. It’s amazing just witnessing and hearing about their changes.I love how we have so many diverse participants, as young as teens, to students, working professionals, parents, families, the retired, to even in their 60s. No matter who or where we are, we can always live a better, richer, and fuller life, and that’s truly what it means to grow – to always be moving forward and outgrowing what we have.30DLBL is for the 30 days of September – but these 30 tasks are really  lifetime tasks that will bring you value every time you do it. I designed 30DLBL in a way that will make it applicable to all of us, no matter who we are or where we are. The principles and concepts are universal and timeless in helping us live better lives. Depending on how the challenge goes, I’m planning to release a 30DLBL official guidebook after this challenge, with all the days’ tasks, added worksheets, new reflection templates, improvements from the current run, for you to do again in your own time and place. Stay tuned for it.In Day 2, we set our ideal lives. What we asked ourselves “What would I do if I can never, ever fail? What would I do if I have unlimited resources, time or networks?” Many of us uncovered dreams that we never knew we had, or dreams we had put away at some point in time. Many of us felt inspired, reawakened when we uncovered our dreams. Some of us were moved into tears writing our biggest dreams and reconnecting with our real selves. Guess what? Your dreams have been yours for the taking all along. You have the power to do whatever you want, to achieve whatever you want. It starts with first integrating them into our life plan. Today, we’ll be setting our life goals.

Day 6 – Your Life Goals

“In life, as in football, you won’t go far unless you know where the goalposts are.” – Arnold H. Glasgow“The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.” – Bill Copeland (101 Most Inspiring Quotes of All Time)

The difference between dreams and goals are that goals are dreams with deadlines. I’ve written before on the importance of goals and why we should set them. (Read 6 Important Reasons Why You Should Set Goals. Below is a short excerpt.)Goal setting is the first step towards living your ideal life. It marks your first point towards success. It is what put your life into real action mode. Without this step, the other steps of goal achievement cannot take place.When you set goals, you..

1. Get clarity on your end vision. It makes you crystallize and articulate the desires floating in your mind. It ensures that you are channeling your time, energy and efforts into things that really matter to you. It makes you live more consciously.

2. Are driven to move forward. Your goals are a representation of your inner desires; desires which motivate you in life. The point when you set goals marks one the points when you are most connected with your source of motivation. It is when your motivation is at its peak. Having goals at your side serve as constant reminders of your motivational sources. They are the fuel which drive you forward and keep you going when the going gets tough.

3. Have laser focus. Goals give you a single focal point to place your attention in. Whereas your purpose gives you a broad, directional focus to move your life in, goals gives you laser focus on what exactly to spend your time and energy on. Think of your time, energy and efforts as input, and results as the output. A goal acts as your funnel which guides and channels those inputs effectively into your desired output.

4. Become accountable. Having goals makes you accountable. Rather than just talking about what you want all the time and not do anything concrete about them, you are now obligated to take action. Setting a specific goal gives you clarity on whether you are living up against what you committed yourself to do when you first set your goal.

5. Are the best you can be. Goals help you achieve your highest potential. Without goals, you subject yourself to the natural, default set of actions that keep you feel safe and comfortable every day. But this familiarity is the nemesis of growth. It prevents you from growing. It does not enable you to become the best person you can be. It denies you from tapping into all that potential inside of you.

6. Get to live your best life. Goals with specific measures and deadlines ensure we are maximizing our output and experiences during our time here. Having defined yourmission statement, your goals will ensure you get the best out of your purpose.

Look at the date today. What is it? Today, we are going to be the architect of our future. Today, we’re going to define what we want for ourselves for our future ahead.

Your TaskPart 1: Assessing Your Present (20 min)

Before we set goals, first let’s have a snapshot of how your life is now. Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook.  On top, write “My Present Self on ___________” (where the blank is today’s date)

1. On Day 1, we did the life wheel to assess your present via scoring it on a scale of 1-10/10. Now, I’d like you to describe how your life is in the 10 categories of your life. (refer to life wheel)

2. Be as detailed as possible and cover every category.3. How do you feel about each category? What if you are to remain with this forever? Will

you want that?

Now with your present identified, it’s time to envision your future.Part 2: What Are Your Biggest Life Goals? (40 min)

Start on a new page of your workbook. On top, write “My Life Goals”

1. Set your life goals. What do you want to do in your life?o Look at your ideal life. What are your biggest goals and dreams? If you can never

fail, what would you do? Crystallize your dreams into goals.o Look at your mission statement. What does it mean to live the truest to your

mission? What are the goals you should be setting?o What if you were to live forever? What would you want to try?  What would you

want to do? What would you want to achieve?2. Magnify your goals! This is the mind boggling part that throws some of my 1-1 clientsin

a mind warp. Magnify your original goals by 2x, 3x or even more depending on how far you can stretch yourself. How will you feel if you achieve these goals instead? Will you feel even happier? Ecstatic? Like it’s unimaginable? Surreal? Mind boggling? Indescribable? Which one do you prefer – 2x, 3x or 10x of your original goal, or the original goal? If it’s the former, how about setting these as your goals instead? Why do you want to sell yourself short for? Go for as much as you can – there are no limits on what you can achieve!

3. Be as specific as you can! Remember, the more specific you are, the better. Think of it as shooting a dartboard – You can’t hit the bullseye if you can’t see the markings. Similarly, you can’t get to your goal if you’re not clear on it to begin with. Ask yourself what exactly you want, then go from there. Keep writng until it’s very clear and vivid. Example:

o “I want to be very rich” can be – “I want to earn $20k passive income a month,

with $200k savings in my bank account”o “I want to be a successful writer” can be – “I want to be the #1 renowned writer in

the world with 5 best sellers on Literary and Romance Novels in New York Times and Business Week”

o “I want to have a happy family” can be – “I want to married to a great wife, 2

kids, one boy and one girl, living in Amsterdam”4. Ensure your goals cover all 10 key categories of your life wheel

Read the 10 principles of goal setting to ensure your goals are in line with the principles.Part 3: Break down into 5, 3, 1 Year Goals

After you are done, download this life goals worksheet and print it out. This is a template to fill in your 5, 3, 1 year goals.

1. 5 year goals. Fill in the 1st column with your 5 year goals from above. With your ideal future in mind above, what do you want to achieve in 5 years? If the column is not enough (probably not!), print out as many copies as you need.

2. Break down into 3 year goals. From your 5 year goals, do a break down and identify what you need to achieve in 3 years to make them happen.

3. Break down into 1 year goals. Now, break them down further. Set your 1 year goals.

As you fill in all 3 columns, you should see a progression from your 1 year, 3 year and 5 year goals. You can also draw the rows across the columns if you want to categorize the goals into the 10 categories so you can clearly see how each goal progresses in the 1-3-5 year time frame.Tomorrow, we’ll discuss more on our 1 year goals and achieving them. 

Day 6 of Your 30 Day Action Plan

Refer to the 30DLBL actions you set for Day 6 and get into action with them today   . See if you can start plan ahead for Day 7, 8, 9, and 10 and make sure they’re on track too.

Example of Action Plan

To save $1300 in my General Savings account and to have saved $1560# in my Goal Specific savings account by the end of September 2011.  I will also have established good savings habits and be ready to set new financial goals in September 2011.

# This will be distributed as follows:$285 Frank Gehry Silver “Torque” Ring (May 2011)$200 Camping Trip with Girls (Jan 2011)$300 Art Class Tuition (Feb/Mar or July 2011 – depends on class)$775 will remain in account at 30 September 2011.

Status to Date – at 7th September 2010.I have ZERO savings.  (Disclaimer: I do have $700 in my savings account, but this is considered emergency Health Insurance Excess funding in case of medical emergency until my full savings are up and running – this will not be included in final tally at September 2011).

Ideal Status – at 30th September 2011

I have $1300 in my General Savings Account. I have $775 in my Specific Savings Account. I have purchased my Frank Gehry Ring. I have been camping with my daughters. I have taken some Art Classes. I am setting new Financial Goals for the following 12 months, including further travel

with my daughters, continued art education, increased savings in order to replace my car.

I want to achieve this Goal because:I currently have no savings and have not taken very good care of my financial well-being to date. In order to achieve several of my larger life goals, I need to have some savings, and also need to have well developed savings habits.  As a single mother who is financially reliant upon welfare and child support payments, I need to ensure I am able to meet basic financial obligations, should my “income” be affected in anyway.  I don’t envisage being able to go to work outside my home, or be earning an income from my art production in the next 12 months, so need to have a back up.  The purchase of the Ring, Art Tuition & Camping trip are all part of my greater life goals and are the first steps towards achieving these goals.

When this Goal has been achieved I:

Have a great sense of satisfaction and achievement. Have savings to fall back on in my accounts. I am wearing my new ring daily. My daughters still talk about our great first-ever camping holiday with much excitement

and enjoyment.  The travel bug has hit them too and we are planning another adventure. My skills are improving constantly and my goal of being a working artist is closer.  I

have created some pieces already that are on display in my home and the home of friends and family.

I feel confident that future Financial Goals will be achieved and am excited about setting myself goals that will stretch me even more for the following year.

I am extremely proud of myself and am looking forward to a very bright future knowing that I can do anything I set my mind to.

Project Title: “Operation Financial Freedom”

Steps require to successfully complete  “Operation Financial Freedom”:

1. Do not touch the $25/week payment that Dad is currently making into my General Savings Account.  This alone will ensure my goal of $1300 is accumulated in this account by the September 2011 end date.

2. Contribute a specified amount regularly to Goal Specific Savings Account from my general everyday account.

3. I will only withdraw funds from this account to cover the following specified occurrences:

a. $200 for Camping Trip (this is to cover fuel, site fees, any local attraction fees, etc.)

b. $300 for Art Class Tuitionc. $285 for the purchase of the Frank Gehry Silver “Torque” Ring.

2. Strategise

Key’s to Success:I believe the key to success in reaching this goal is to set the automatic transfers to my savings accounts, forgetting about them, sticking to my planned expenditure for each fortnight, and NOT TOUCHING THE SAVINGS ACCOUNTS.

Additional Mean’s to reach Goal sooner or reach a greater Goal:

Selling unwanted goods from around my house and depositing proceeds into savings accounts.

Selling first art works if skills are satisfactory. Depositing and birthday/special occasion gift money into savings accounts.

 Possible Obstacles SoluSolutions

W Wanting to purchase something outs outside the specified “approved purchases” list.

Bo Both savings accounts can only be accessed   via internet transfer to my general account, making  the funds more difficult to access.

Overspending in my general Account and wanting to be “ rescued” by topping up from  these savings accounts.

Keeping focused on goal – have images of Ring, Art Class info & camping info in constant view.  Post it note with goals in my wallet near cards.

Make no immediate purchases other than strictly planned for – all others must be “approved”.

Avoid the “usual haunts” that generally lead to me over-spending. (Browsing shops, going to town “to kill time”, committing to social engagements I can’t afford)

Read blogs/books/articles on living minimalistically,

reaching goals & avoiding unnecessary spending.

Une I Unexpected large expenses that I cann cannot afford to pay immediately from my  general account.

If it    If it is truly an expense that requires immediate payment, I will make the payment, and then instantly, set up regular transfers from my general account to the savings account to    ensure the funds are re placed in full.

Intrinsic Motivators:

Feeling the way I anticipate feeling as outlined in #1.

External Motivators:

Knowing that my daughters will get to experience a camping adventure.

3. PlanSpecific Tasks:

1. Open “Goals Specific Savings Account”2. Set direct transfer from general account to GSSA of $60/fortnight commencing 21st

September 2010.3. Continue to leave Dad’s weekly repayments in General Savings Account.4. At end of each month, reconcile accounts to ensure transfers have been occurring and

balance is as it should be.

4. Execute

Today, 7th September 2010, I made the request to open the new savings account.  It should be open and active within the week.

5. Review

At end of each month, reconcile accounts. At end of 12 months, Goal will have been reached – confirm.

30DLBL Day 8 – Create Your 20/80 To-Do Listby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 8 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View past 30DLBL tasks). Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday was about creating our action plans to achieve our goals. Some of you have finished creating your action plans and have generously shared them in the comments. Some very exciting projects are born, such as Project Hot Bod (Theresa, Fitness – the title gave it away didn’t it?   ), Project: Debut as Author (Andy, to finish his first book by Oct ’10), Project 69 (Luis, to get to his ideal weight of 69kg), Project FOK (Kat, Fitness)and more. Some of them are starting with effect today!Some of you might have found the planning process a block. A number of you told me you didn’t know how to proceed with the task. Simply put, Day 7′s task is just about creating a plan so you can achieve your goal, that’s all. Do you need an action plan for every goal? Not at all. If your goal is a small goal that can be achieved just by simply taking 2-3 actions, then there’s no need to plan. For example when I have small goals like exercise X times a week or to write X number of blog posts a week, I just take action. Too much planning cause action paralysis, which defeats the purpose of planning. Some goals automatically get achieved by continuing your daily actions, for example graduating from college.However if it’s a big goal like say, when I first became a full-time vegetarian or when I first quit my job and was thinking on how to set up a whole new personal development business, then yes, it is very important to have an action plan. Your plan is like a guide which you can follow as you achieve your goal, so you know you’re not alone.The point of planning is to empower you and trigger you to action, that’s all. It shouldn’t demotivate you, make you resist it, or anything like that. As long as you’ve planned enough to take action and have clarity of what’s ahead, then that’s sufficient. Take action, let the results roll in, and then adjust your plan from here-on. Also, planning is supposed to be an ongoing process too vs. a one-off thing. I’ve realized that from setting up/running my personal development business since 2 years ago. Every week, I’m constantly adjusting/tweaking/adding new

information to my plan – it’s to match my business as it evolves. Remember, your plan is supposed to be your best friend.Finding Time

I see 30DLBL as personal growth as steroids. The task covered each day is a Quadrant 2 task in its own right. Some participants have told me that they are playing catch-up on the tasks. I’ve set the tasks such that they should take about 1.5 hrs, maximum 2 hrs to complete (it’s the time I take for the exercises for myself, with buffer time). Howveer, it seems many are taking longer, some even days (such as the topic on mission statement and life goals).Does this mean you should put off the tasks, or even stop the challenge? No, not at all. If the task is taking longer than expected for you, what it means is that you have been neglecting this Quadrant 2 task from before already. That means above all, now is really the time that you get down and think about them, about your mission statement, your values, what you want in life, your action plans to bring your dreams to life. Putting them off only means that you’ll end up back in the same scores as your life wheel back in day 1, where many participants were surprised, even dismayed, when they saw your scores. For those who are pushing through, doing the tasks every day – continue to do so and you’ll see your efforts now bearing huge fruits very soon.Today’s topic will be about how to manage your time better and to spend time in the right places. We’ll be assessing our to-do lists.

Day 8 – Your To-Do List

All of us have our own daily to-do lists, from work, running errands, administrative tasks. Every day, we have a set amount of energy, which are channeled into the tasks, which then translates into output.Since our to-do lists determine what we work on, it’s important we have effective to-do lists. Unfortunately, the laundry to-do list (where you list everything you need to do) isn’t very helpful, because:

We subconsciously assign the same level of importance to every task even though it may not be the case.

We tend to spend time on easier or smaller tasks, so we could quickly take them off. For example for me, they include checking/replying email, clearing out my facebook requests, site administrative tasks and fiddling around with coding.

Big-chunk, high-impact projects often get pushed to the next day, and the next, and the next, only get completed when they absolutely have to be done. For the projects without a specific deadline, they are delayed infinitely.

Basically, laundry to-do lists misses out on a very important measure – the impact of the tasks. Because all tasks get piled on without order, they are cleared off randomly too. Bias is given to the smaller and easier tasks since they can be completed faster. But these don’t give us impactful long-term results.What are the tasks that give us long-term results then? By the 80/20 rule, 20% of our inputs lead to 80% of our outputs. This applies to everything around us, including the tasks on our to-do lists. If you list all your tasks, you’ll find only about 20% of your tasks contribute to 80% of your value output. I call these the 20% high-value tasks, also our Quadrant 2 . I refer to the other 80% tasks that bring about only 20% value as 80% low value tasks.Hence, it makes the most sense to invest our energy into 20% high value tasks so that (1) we invest our energy in areas which are most important (2) we get most value with less effort, rather than spend so much energy on 80% low-value tasks with little value (3) we maximize our life. 20% high value tasks are important things like clarifying on your mission statement, knowing yourself (and values), setting your 5/3/1-year life goals, creating long-term plans, building relationships with loved ones, of which are the very things that 30DLBL gets you working on. 80% low value tasks are the tasks are things like excessive facebooking/social media usage, random web surfing, idle chatting, administrative activities,  and the like.In the longer-run, spending time on our 20% high value tasks, even if just a few hours a day, will lead to huge changes. The time that you invest in 30DLBL tasks now (or any Q2 tasks), will go a long way to changing your life for the better. On the other hand, spending that time randomly surfing, playing Mafia Wars/Farmville/doing questionaires/etc on Facebook (a largely 80% low value task) isn’t going to bring benefits in the longer-term.How do you know whether something is a 20% high value task or not? A good way is to ask this question: What impact does doing this have in my life in 6 months, 1 year,  3 years, or even 5 years? If something causes huge impact which lasts even in years to come, then clearly it’s extremely important. If something causes a small level impact which bleeps off after a short-time frame, it’s not going to be too important.While this is a very simple concept, I find it highly beneficial in getting clarity on how my day is going and how I’m managing things on a micro-level. When I kick off the day doing 20% tasks, I find it usually goes off on a high tangent and stays there through the day. If I’m spend too much time in 80% tasks, I’ll put a quick stop to it rather than let it drag my day down further.Some people might say “Hey, more than 20% of my tasks are high value tasks”. The thing is, the 20/80% task principle is a relative, and not absolute, concept. That means even if your current tasks already seem high value, there will be 20% of those tasks that bring the mostvalue, above and beyond other tasks on your list. The key is to keep prioritizing the 20%, most impactful tasks. If your whole list already seems full of high impact activities, then streamline further. Eventually you’ll be left with the bare essentials that’ll change your world when you do them.Today, we’ll assess our to-do list and put this 80/20 rule into action.

Your TaskPart 1: Create Your 20/80 To-Do List

Do this before your day starts, or even the night before. You can also do this throughout the day to get your focus.

1. On a new page of your 30DLBL workbook, write down all your tasks you’ve to do today, from checking emails, using Facebook, doing 30DLBL tasks, different work activities, etc.

2. Draw a table with 2 columns.1. Left column is labeled “20% Tasks”2. Right column is labeled “80% Tasks”.

3. Classify your tasks into either segment.

o Put the 20% tasks that’ll bring the most impact under 20% tasks.

o Put 80% of the tasks that bring in 20% value under the 80% tasks.

Part 2: Improvisation

Improvise on your to-do list

1. How can you create/add more 20% tasks? For example:o Working on your life goal action plano Any of the 30DLBL tasks you may be lagging behind / or you want to reviewo Your Quadrant 2 tasks

2. How can you reduce / manage your 80% list better?o Delegate – Ask someone else to do themo Put off – Consciously procrastinate on themo Time-box – Allocate a small amount of time for these 80% tasks and finish them

all at one goo Dump them – Throw them out of the window. If the activities are already low

value, you can’t lose much by not doing them.Part 3: Action

Now, go on your day-to-day activities with strong focus on your 20% tasks. Don’t get distracted by the 80% low value tasks. For any new, unimportant tasks that pop in during the day, create a “Will do” column and dump them there. Sort them out at the end of the day.Part 4: Review

At the end of the day, assess how your day has been vs. your other days. Has it been more or less productive? How much time did you spend in your 20% high value tasks and 80% low value tasks? What have you learned? How can you make it more productive tomorrow?Write down your reflections in Day 8 of your 30DLBL workbook.

30DLBL Days 9-11 – Get Your 30DLBL in Order by Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 9 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View past 30DLBL tasks). If you have not signed up, do so here. Check #30DLBL on Twitter for latest news on the challenge.

For Day 9-Day 11, I’m setting them as catch-up days for everyone who is still not in pace yet.While there are a group of you who are well ahead of the 30DLBL tasks, a number of you have told me that you’re behind time. Some are still stuck in Day 4′s Mission Statement (though quite a number have received breakthroughs in the past few days, while some have put it aside and started on other days’ tasks to get new insights). Some are still thinking about Day 6′s life goals and what they want to do. Some are working on Day 7′s Action Plan. Some of you fell sick midway (sore eye, fever, food poisoning, etc) or had family emergencies and had to take 1-2 days off.If I were to draw an analogy, the past 8 days felt like we were off on a roaring train. Some ran really fast and are able to get onboard the train. Some are running like crazy after the train and screaming out loud for help. Some are almost grabbing the handles of the train but need some extra boosts. Some want to jump on the train but feel like they are too far behind to catch-on.

While I can proceed on with posting a new task today for every day, I want this to be a group challenge, a community effort, and one where we share our results with one another, offer insights, and move along together (as much as we can), vs. commenting in each day’s post as an after-sight and try to catch up over the weekend instead. So from today to Day 11, I’m setting them as a “Get 30DLBL in Order” Days, where you take the chance to catch-up on the 30DLBL tasks. For those who started late in the challenge (there are still new participants even today), you can take this chance to catch up quickly.Use each day’s comment forum to get help. If you’re stuck in a particular day in any way, post there with what you’re facing. Leverage on the resources here – we are all here together, to help. Don’t try to struggle by yourself – You’re not alone. In fact, some participants have found a lot of insights and help from reading and participating the comments. Some participants have leveraged on the templates from others’ action plans and used them to create their own plans (for Day 7). If you’re done with the day, share your updates and results with others too, so others can celebrate it with you. Please ensure your comments are posted in the right day’s post for others’ convenience.One important thing is that the tasks are supposed to be trigger points to get you thinking about them. Do the best you can on the task, but don’t let you stop your progress on to the later tasks. They are meant to be questions you think over on an ongoing basis. 30DLBL is a start, not the end point. Also, you can work the tasks in parallel as well. Some of the participants got answers to previous days’ tasks as they are working on the later days. Growth isn’t a linear; it’s multi-dimensional and comes in all shapes and sizes.For the few participants who are ahead of the tasks, check out the comments, offer assistance where you can, share your opinions. Some of you are offering really wonderful advice and assistance to others, and I thank you for your engagement. Get to know the other participants. Many participants have been sharing their life goals and their action plans and everyone can benefit from having someone else look at their goals/plans and offering comments/pointers. Also, you can look back in what you’ve done for the previous 8 days, and refine on them. Add on to your vision board with your mission statement / values / new life goals. You can also continue to make action plans for your other priority goals.

Your Feedback Needed

Launching and running the challenge for the past 8 days and reading your comments has given me a lot of insights on how to make 30DLBL an even better experience. There are already readers asking if I’ll be running it again in the future, and the answer is probably yes. To make 30DLBL a better experience moving forward, I need your feedback:

1. On average, how much time has each task taken you?2. If you’re still at an earlier task, what is it?3. Why are you on this task? (i.e. Is there anything blocking you about it?)4. What is the longest task and why?5. What is the most challenging task and why?

Days 9-11 of Your 30 Day Action Plan

Refer to the 30DLBL actions you set for Days 9-11 and get into action with them today   .

Part 2 of 30DLBL

Part 1 of 30DLBL with are key tasks to get the foundations of our life in: Life Wheel, Ideal Life, Vision Board, Mission Statement, Values, Life Goals, Action Plan. Part 2 of 30DLBL will be a series of fun, simple tasks which are more stand alone and at the same time have its own benefits. You don’t need to finish the previous tasks to do these. Continue on to Day 12.If you have questions regarding any day’s task, please don’t post here – post it in the relevant day’s post. Feel free to share any feedback / inputs / questions on overall 30DLBL here. Thanks! 

30DLBL Day 12 – Declutter Your Spaceby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 12 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View past 30DLBL tasks). If you have not signed up, do so here. Check #30DLBL on Twitter for latest news on the challenge.

Welcome to Day 12 of 30 Days To Live a Better Life!   If you’re here with me, screamYEAH!!!   With the start of Day 12 and for the next 18 days, we’ll get working on small, independent tasks which contribute to living a better life. Each day’s task will usher in its positive change, and this change will build on itself for the days ahead. All these tasks embody their own principles, important in bringing awareness and triggering action. By the end of the month, we’ll find a renewed us, one that’s more aware, more conscious, and living a better life than before.In fact, many of you already felt that way a few days into the challenge, which is great! The days ahead will further build on that to create a better, newer, clearer you. If you have not completed the earlier tasks; it’s okay – The tasks are not dependent on each other. Just do these upcoming tasks as you work on the previous ones bit by bit. Doing and experiencing this together brings this to a new level of fun. Even if you’re not able to do one day’s task, you can still do the next day’s. There’s no need to wait till you finish one before you can do the next.In the past few days, I’ve been planning a 30DLBL version 2 that will even better meet your needs. I’ll be working on an official, full-fledged 30DLBL workbook that will contain improved exercises, expanded steps to walk you, full 30 Days, added tasks for the days, templates, examples, worksheets for every day’s task. I’ll share more at the end of the month.

This is all a very exciting experience   Without further ado, let’s move to Day 12 of 30DLBL which many of you have been waiting for, which is…

Day 12 – Decluttering

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” -William Morris

How many of us keep things that we hardly ever use? How many of us have things lying around that are takes up space but has no real purpose?Believe it or not, your environment has a considerable impact on you – your state, your level of productivity, your frame of thought, and more. As I wrote before:Your environment and you have an interlinked inside-out, outside-in relationship. Inside-out, meaning who you are as a person manifests itself in how your room/home looks like. Outside-in, because how your room/home looks like affects the way you think and feel. Both reinforce each other. Change one thing, and the other will change as a result. (excerpt from Declutter Your Home in 8 Steps article)

With a clean, tidy and organized environment, you feel clean, tidy and organized too, which leads to increased output. However, when you have an untidy space that has clutter, it makes you feel tired, heavy and cluttered. This is why some people seem to feel tired so often, because their space is not conducive for their work. Your space/environment doesn’t just refer to your physical workspace. It includes your browser, email inbox, computer, mobile phone, desk, room, wardrobe and other rooms in your house.Everything is made up of energy. When we keep old stuff, we are keeping old energy. It has a stagnating effect in your space. Imagine a drainage system. If there are things clogging up the filter, things are going to get stuck. Even though new things want to flow into your life, they can’t because there’s a bottle neck. Hence, clearing clutter has more than just physical, aesthetic benefits – it’s also clarifying for your emotional, mental and spiritual wellness. I know whenever I clear clutter in my room/computer, it brings in new clarity and ideas.Hence, today is going to be declutter day. We’re going to sweep out and clear the trash that’s been cluttering / clogging up our space, so that new, better things can enter our life.

Your Task: Declutter Your Space

Your task is to declutter as much as you can today in your space. With everything you come across, ask yourself “Is this essential? Do I need this?” If not, throw it away. If yes, file it away properly. Below are some places to start:

1. Browser. Are there links you keep but don’t visit? Feeds that you don’t read? (Remember the 80/20 rule – Most likely you only use 20% of your bookmarks 80% of the time) Delete bookmarks you don’t visit. Organize the bookmarks so it’s easy to access them.

2. Email. Is your inbox clean or cluttered with emails? Clear out the emails. Reply to emails you’ve been holding off on. Unsubscribe from newsletters that you don’t ever read. Clear out junk contacts. For your emails, organize them with folders and labels so it’s easy to find them. If you already use folders (or labels in Gmail), assess if this organization system has been helping you. Improvise on it. See if you can organize your current mails better.  you regularly contact, file them into your address book so it’s easy to reach them. If you use more than 1 email account, ask yourself if each account serves a unique function. If not, how about synchronizing everything to 1 account and delete the rest?

3. Computer. Clear out documents you haven’t been using. Organize your files and folder. Declutter the items on your desktop. Defrag your computer. Empty your recycle bin. Uninstall applications you barely ever use.

4. Social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, Stumble Upon, etc). For Facebook, reply to pending messages. Clear your wall of spam adverts/application messages. Remove yourself from irrelevant event invites. block users/applications where you get spam messages. For Delicious, tidy up your bookmarks. For other social media accounts, synchronize them to one userid/password (Openid lets you do that; Deli/Yahoo Buzz/Mixx can be accessed via 1 yahoo account).

5. Mobile phone. Clear out unimportant messages in your inbox/sent folders. Uninstall applications you don’t use. Tidy up your bookmarks. Delete audio/image files you have no use for anymore.

6. Desk. Clear away any trash. Remove files you don’t use anymore. Clean your table top. Organize your items better. If there are things that you might use but don’t have an immediate need now, store them in the drawer or cupboard.

7. Room. See below.8. Wardrobe. Get rid of clothes you don’t wear anymore. Get rid of clothes that you bought

long ago and no longer resonate with your self.  Donate them to the salvation army.9. Other rooms in your house. Declutter your living room, kitchen, bathroom, one step at a

time. Throw out the things you rarely use. Keep the essential. Organize them properly.

Decluttering Tips for Physical Space

1. Start with a small area. Start off with a manageable spot, such as your table. Then go from there.

2. Remove outdated stuff. Are you still keeping old textbooks/books/documents It’s good to keep one or two as memorabilia, but most of us overdo and end up keeping a huge chunk of stuff. Not only do they not serve a purpose, they also take up good space. Throw

away old calendars, newspapers, books, toys, etc (better yet, give them away to someone who might need them)

3. Remove if you’re not going to need it. Many of us tend to keep things thinking that we’ll need them in the future – but most of the time we don’t ever need the items. Ask yourself ‘Am I going to need this in the foreseeable future?’ If the answer is no, you can probably throw it away. A lot of clutter comes from keeping things that you think you’ll use, but never do in the end.

4. Don’t keep for the sake of keeping.o If you’re keeping a lot of things from the past, a question to ask yourself is

whether you’re refusing to let go of certain things from your past. Memories from the past will always remain with us in our heart – you don’t need a pile of physical items to remind you of them.

o In one of my earlier decluttering sessions, I threw away my high school materials

which I had kept for a while. I realized while I kept saying I would refer to them for memory’s sake, I never did so in the near 10 years of keeping them. It was then I realized that these were in my heart, and I didn’t need the physical items to remind me of them. I was keeping for the sake of keeping, which might have been preventing new things from entering my life. And when I finally threw them away, I felt a subconscious part of me who was holding on to the past self finally coming free. Rather than hang on to the past, I was free to become who I wanted to be. It was emotionally liberating.

5. Relish in the clearing process. As you clear your clutter, you’ll find that you feel lighter and fresher, clearer and calmer. If you face resistance with clearing something, ask yourself why, and address that feeling. Ask yourself what you’re holding on to by keeping this. Ask yourself what you’re preventing to let in your life when you keep this. Then check if you’re willing to start letting this go. Be present in the moment and experience the feelings that come in.

6. Clean out the space. After you are done decluttering, take the time to clean the space before you. Relish in the new energy and new space you just created. Congratulations, this is the start to new things entering your life   .

As you clear your clutter, you’ll find that you feel lighter and fresher, clearer and calmer. Relish in the new energy and new space you just created.

30DLBL Day 13 – Get Feedback From Others

by Celes | ShareThis

Today is Day 13 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View past 30DLBL tasks). If you

have not signed up, do so here. Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s

task.

Fellow participant Andy had a holiday at Bali in the past few days. Check out what he wrote at

the beach while he was there.   More power to everyone doing 30DLBL!

“Feedback is the breakfast of champions.” – Ken Blanchard

Have you ever heard of the term “blind spots“? In scientific terms, a blind spot is the

obscuration of your vision, due to missing photoreceptors on your retina. In personal

development terms, blind spots are aspects of ourselves we aren’t fully conscious of. This can

refer to a broad spectrum of different things – our traits, values, actions, idiosyncrasies, habits,

feelings, thoughts, idiosyncrasies, etc. (excerpt from Blind Spots in Personal Growth)

As much as we try to improve ourselves, there will always be areas we are blind to. These things

may be glaringly obvious to others, but we don’t know them because we can only see things

from our perspective. Unless we ask for feedback from others, we will always be stuck to a

certain direction of growth and a certain way of doing things.

Hence, in our growth journey, it’s important to get feedback from others. Not just one-off

feedback, but continuous feedback. I consider feedback a vital component of growth, which is

why I often ask for your feedback. With every 1-1 coaching client, I would ask for feedback to

understand how the session went from their point of view, what were the key things they liked

and how it could be better. No matter how many times I ask for feedback (whether it’s from you

readers or my coaching clients), I always get something new from the exchange. Not

surprisingly, it is from the feedback where I learn the most and subsequently grow the most. I

always find each feedback liberating, because it provides me with a new perspective. The more

feedback we get, the more knowledgeable we become, and the better we can be.

Today, your task will be to get feedback from others 

Your Task: Get Feedback From Others

Open to a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. You’ll be using your workbook as your

feedback and reflections log. 

Step 1: Get the Feedback

1. Identify at least 3 people to get feedback from.

o For the role of colleague, that’d be your co-worker. For friend, pick any of your

(good) friends. And so on.

o This person should be someone who shares honest, objective feedback and

doesn’t sugar coat. Pick someone who is perceptive if you can, to get better

insights.

o The exercise is about getting feedback from someone (an external perspective), so

we gain new levels of knowledge/awareness about ourselves. Hence, you don’t

have to know the person well enough or have to have a certain level of trust to do

this. Literally everyone who comes into contact with you will have an

image/impression of you, and from there they can offer feedback on that

impression. The key is to understand what they think so we uncover as many

blind spots as possible.

o In total, you should have at least 3 people to get feedback from. If you’re able to

rope in more people, even better – remember, the more, the better!

2. Lay the groundwork.

o Approach each person and just let them know you’re doing a personal survey that

takes about 15 minutes. Tell them you need them to provide their honest feedback

and it’s okay to give negative feedback. Whatever they say is important and will

help you to grow.

o It doesn’t have to be done face-to-face – it can be on the phone, in chat, or even in

email.

o If you feel any fear or resistance asking feedback from others, stop to understand

it. What is this fear? Why are you having resistance? Work through it.

3. Ask for feedback. With the groundwork laid, ask each person the following set of

questions:

1. How am I as your [role]?

2. What are some things I can improve on? (It can be anything, from hard skills, to

personality, to certain habits) If the person says you’re great and there’s nothing

you can improve on, ask him/her what you can do to become better. There is

always something we can be better in.

3. Is there anything you’d like me to stop doing? What is it? Why?

4. Is there anything I do that’s good and you want me to continue on? What is it?

Why?

5. Have I ever done anything that made you unhappy? If so, what is it? How do you

think I could have handled it better?

Probe. For each question, probe as much as you can so you get the most answers.

o Most people will give surface-level answers when you first ask them, since it’s

not like they’d be analyzing and thinking how you should improve from before.

It’s your role to help them to help you. Use proper guiding questions to get the

best answers out of them. Ask the same question in different ways. Give them

time to think and respond.

o This exercise is not about fault-pointing, but about being a better you. Many times

when they will say there’s nothing you need to work on, but when if you let them

know it’s about be an even better person, they can usually give some good ideas

after a min of thinking or two.

o For each point they make, ask them to elaborate/explain. The point of this

exercise is to uncover blind spots. The more answers you get, the better.

Write down the answers. Feel free to ask further clarifying questions if you want. The 5

questions above should be the minimum set.

You can repeat the exercise with (1) other roles (2) other people in the same roles. The amazing

thing is with each person you ask, you’ll get different replies, and it helps you to learn.

Step 2: Learn from the Feedback

Reflect on the answers. Collate the answers and reflect on them at the end.

1. Is there anything you learned from their answers? If yes, what have you learned?

2. What are key areas to improve on?

3. What can you do differently after this?

While the exercise may seem confronting in the beginning, after a short while it becomes really

fun – it’s like you just want a piece of everyone’s thoughts and know what they’re thinking,

because everyone has his/her own unique perspective.   Nowadays I make it a point to get

feedback from every new person I meet and with every new activity I do. The more feedback I

get, the better, because I gain more awareness of different perspectives!

At the end of the day, see the feedback as a constructive source to improve yourself, but don’t

lose yourself in it. Focus on being your ideal self (Day 5). Assess feedback you get, pick the ones

that are valid and work on them. For the ones that are not relevant, put them aside. It’s not about

trying to meet everyone’s expectations; but about being a better you. Feedback is the agent to

help you do that.

30DLBL Day 14 – Reflecting on Your Lifeby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 14 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View past 30DLBL tasks). If you have not signed up, do so here. Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday, you got feedback from other people. How was your experience getting feedback from others? Many of you received new insights about yourself, uncovered blind spots and became more conscious about how to be a better you. Some of you might have experienced resistance with the exercise, but boldly took the step forward anyway, and upon doing so, realized that the resistance was unfounded. Some of you sent emails to people and are waiting for their responses. Asking for feedback isn’t just limited to yesterday – continue to receive and process feedback as you proceed on to other tasks.I remember the first few times I proactively asked for feedback, I felt resistance. Even as I asked for question (for feedback), I felt hesitant. After the words leave my mouth, the seconds waiting for the person to think and speak felt like eternity. I remember biting my lip and trying to decipher what was going through the person’s mind after hearing the question. When I thought about it deeper, it was ridiculous. That impression the person had of me, whether or not I had asked for it, was there all along. The only difference was whether I knew it or not, in which case it was simply a personal barrier, my personal barrier. Reflection of my issues, how I was afraid to know if others thought negatively of me. And when I looked deep into it, it was an illogical block that prevented me from growing.The information I get each time I ask for feedback, whether it’s something I intuitively know or a new insight, is always liberating. Before we hear feedback from others, we can only guess this is what they think. Hearing it from them directly is a different thing altogether. After I took the first active step to get feedback, the lfeeling was empowering. After that, I was like a curious squirrel. I made it a habit to ask for feedback as much as I can (whether it’s people I meet for the first time, friends, clients, etc), even today. Each time I do that, I always learn something new. Remember, every feedback you receive, whether positive or negative, is valuable in being a better us. In that sense, all feedback is good.What should you do with the feedback though? Do you process all feedback? Do you ignore those you don’t like? When and how do you draw the line? My reply is to focus on the ideal self you want to be. (It should be in line with your values for Day 5). Assess feedback you get, pick the ones that are valid and work on them. Use others’ feedback as constructive avenues to be a better person. It’s not about trying to meet everyone’s expectations; but about being a better you. You are the one who decides what makes a better you or not, so you make the call as to what

feedback you want to take in. At the end of the day, feedback is an agent to help you improve, as I mentioned yesterday.Without further ado, let’s now move today’s task. Having gotten feedback from others, today you will get feedback from yourself. Today is a day of reflections and memories.

Day 14 – Reflecting on Your Life

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: first, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third, by experience, which is the most bitter.” – Confucious

Today is Day 14 of 30DLBL, and if you’ve gotten this far and done every task so far (or on your way there), you really should give yourself a huge pat on the back We’re almost at a mid-point of 30DLBL now, and it’s been an interesting 14 days, to say the least. With every mid-points, I always like to do some reflection. In fact, I like to reflect and think about life. If TPEB isn’t evidence of that, I don’t know what is!   The whole blog is literally a collective of my personal reflections on life, how we can be a better person, so that we can live our best life.Beyond just taking action on goals and in life, we should first reflect, gain awareness of our present. so we know exactly where to move onward. That’s precisely what we’re doing today – reflecting, and seeing how far we’ve come in life.Today’s task may seem like it’s a reminiscent of Day 1′s Life Wheel. In a way it is, but it really isn’t. On Day 1, we reflected about where we stand right now, in the 10 areas of our life. Today, we’re doing more than that. Today, we’re reflecting on our whole life since we’re born.

Today’s Task: Reflect on Your Life

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook for Day 14. On the top, write down “My Life Reflections”. Write down your age below that. What you’re going to write now is your reflections as the ___ year old you.Reflection: Who and Where You Are Today

Spend a few minutes thinking about how your life has been for the past ___ years of your life, and where you are today.

1. On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with where you are today in life?2. What are the biggest milestones you are most proud of in the past 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or

even 70 years of your life?o Write as many as you want; If something made you feel really proud about it, then

it should be up here.o When I was doing this exercise today, some of the key things that came up were

setting up TSOPE (my personal excellence coaching and training business), pursuing my passion to help others grow for the past 2 years, setting up TPEB and making it to what it is today, being covered by various media outlets as I see it as an affirmation of my work and what I’m doing. I’m so proud of TPEB and of all of you that I can just well up in tears just talking about it. I’m so happy that TPEB has allowed me to know all of you, to connect with all of you at such an emotional level, and I’m just really, really excited at what’s in store next.

o How about you? What are the things you are proud to have done/be involved

in/experienced/created in this world?3. What are the significant events that have shaped you to become who you are today?

o Think from when you’re a little kid, to when you entered pre-school, high school,

work life, your relationships, when you started your own family (if applicable), the times when you made major life decisions, when you got major life realizations … to where you are today.

o Significance refers to its significance to you. If it’s something that created a

lasting impact of you (and your life), then it’s a significant event. For example, I believe one of the significant things that shaped me to be who I am today was my primary school education. As elitist as it was, the 6 years of being inculcated in a system that extolled on excellence, taught by teachers who expect nothing but perfection, precision and the best, taught by teachers who really cared for you, set the foundation for who I am today, someone who takes pride in being her personal best. As I look back, I’m grateful to it for inducting me with positive values.

4. What are the realizations you got in each event that helped you become who you are?o Knowing these realizations help you to gain awareness of what trigger your past

changes. By being aware, you can then use this knowledge to create a better life ahead.

5. What are the biggest things you’ve learned about yourself, looking back in the past X years?

From Reflection to Your Future

1. Moving forward, what are the new milestones you want to create to make this your best life ever? What is the new future you are going to create for yourself?

2. What are the 3 biggest things you are going to do (differently vs. the past) to get there?

As you do these questions, you may very well get new insights which will lead to updates to previous days’ task (specifically for Day 6 on Life Goals and Day 7 for Action Plan). If so, feel free to go back and update them.

Day 14 of Your 30 Day Action Plan

Refer to the 30DLBL actions you set for Day 14 and get into action with them today   .

Share Your Reflections

What reflections did you come to today? What are the biggest achievements / milestones that you’re most proud of? What are the events that have shaped you to who you are? What are the biggest things you have learned? And what is the new future you are going to create for yourself? Share with everyone here! 

30DLBL Day 15 – A Day of Gratitudeby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 15 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View overview of 30DLBL tasks). Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday we reflected on our life. We reflected on what we’ve done in the past 20, 30, 40, 50 or even 60 years we’ve been living. We reflected about the achievements we’re most proud of, where we’ve come so far, and what we’ve learned. And from there, we used our knowledge of the past to project a better future for ourselves; one that we’ll be proud of, where we’ll be living life at our fullest. Many of you earnestly shared your reflections in the comments yesterday, and I thank you for doing so.For some of you, the significant events that shaped you as a person might have been negative. Many defining moments of one’s life occur when something emotionally jarring happens. After all, if something is in line with what we expect, it’ll just be a neutral or a ‘nice to experience’ moment. But when it’s totally out of line with what we expect, it shocks us, shakes up our belief systems, and hence shapes us. It’s then up to us on what we want to make out of it. Do we want to victimize and wail over what happened? Or do we want to take something positive out of this experience and use the learnings to create a better future? The greatest people become who they are because they drew light from life’s mishaps. They have had some of the worst things happen to them (an example would be Oprah), and it’s from these that they grew and become better

humans. It’s from these experiences that they  forged strength and used them for a better meaning and purpose.By gaining awareness over what shaped us previously, we then become conscious of what made us who we are today. It’s then where we make the conscious choice on whether we want to continue to stay in this manner, or we want to take personal power and change this about us. You’ve lived out the script of your past; now is the time to create the script for your future. This is what it means to take personal power over your life. At the end of the day, events are events, whether they are positive or negative are what we make out of it. What do you want to make out of your past? Do you want to live under its shadow, or do you want to channel it as a source of power? From here, what future do you want to create for yourself?When I was doing my reflections yesterday, it reminded me of the many things to be grateful for in my life. Looking back at the past made me realize how fluid life is; how it’s up to our creation. We all started with nothing, as little babies, and then through our interactions, actions and decisions, we grew and became who we are today. From little, crying babies wailing at the world, to the strong, courageous, earnest and independent souls we see before us. At this cross roads, at this point, is where we decide the future we want. It’s literally like we’re being handed down the menu of the universe (as I wrote in Day 2′s Ideal Life). What future do you want to paint for yourself? How do you feel about one that’s so grand and audacious, one that excites you, fires you up, and makes you SO exuberant and fulfilled that you just feel like screaming and flying at the top of the world every day? What if this future is yours for your undertaking? What if it’s all in your hands, and it’s a matter of you setting the intention now and taking the action to get it? How can you start moving yourself towards this future today?Yesterday’s exercise made me realize that I’m always most inspired by the biggest, grandest visions, the ones that are unprecedented, where people say are impossible to reach, the ones that are so much bigger than who I am now – because I love stretching to my highest potential. Human potential is unlimited. Whatever we can conceive in our mind, our real potential is 100 times, 1,000 times, 100,000 times more powerful than that, to the power of infinity. It’s not just about achieving those goals either – it’s about being on the path of exponential, vertical growth, because that’s when I’m living the truest to my purpose to grow and to be my highest self. So yesterday, I went back to my life goals and added a whole new series of goals on top of my current life goals.  I pushed forward my 5 year goals to 3 years, and 3 year goals to 1 year. By the time I was done, I felt so incredibly charged up that I was ready to spring into action!!    I really can’t wait to see what’s up next; at the same time I’m just so ecstatic to be living in this moment, to be pursuing this growth every second, every minute, every day – with all of you. It’s this moment, where I’m 110% on path with my purpose, that truly makes living exciting.When you did the reflection exercise, some of you might have gone back to tweak/add on to your life goals (Day 6) and it’s normal. As I mentioned before, things like life goals are ongoing things to review – you don’t just set them once then stick with them for the rest of your life.

We’ve Reached 10,000 subscribers!!

Yesterday, I received a huge positive news – We’ve broke the 10,000 subscriber mark! In the blogging world, 10,000 subscriber mark is a critical blogging milestone, because that means your blog is now truly on the map. Very few blogs ever reach this size in their lifespan, let alone personal development blogs (there are only a small handful of them who have over 10k subscribers). Not only that, we’re also now one of the top 40,000 websites in the world, by

traffic (Alexa) (just less than 2 weeks ago, we were at 42,000). Without doubt, TPEB is growing by leaps and bounds. I’m really ecstatic about this. This marks the first of many more new and even more exciting things to come. It feels almost surreal now, seeing the subscriber count jump from 4-digits to 5-digits, when it was barely one-fifth of the current size 1 year ago.And you know what? And as proud as I am about this because I had consciously worked towards it, this isn’t just my achievement. It’s yours; it’s ours. When I first started TPEB, it was as a blog to share my best personal development learnings. In a way it still is, but now it’s changed on a whole new level. Today, I’m starting to see TPEB less as my own blog, but as our blog. Creating 30DLBL and running it now has made it even more evident. We’re all as one, here to grow together in excellence, to strive to be our best selves and live our best lives. Without all of you, TPEB will not exist. Without you reading this blog day in and out (even if as a silent reader/user), it’ll have no purpose to fulfill. Without you, telling TPEB to your friends, family, it’ll not be where it is today. Because of all of you, TPEB exists. All of you played a vital role in moving TPEB to an over 10,000 subscriber blog, and for that I thank you deeply. Moving forward, I see TPEB to grow as a community, vs. as a personal blog in the past. I might write more on this in a separate post after 30DLBL is over, as a special celebratory mark for the blog, and as an guide on what to expect next.On other positive news, we broke the 1,200 registration mark for 30DLBL in the past few days – making it a grand total of 1,202 participants for 30DLBL!   Since it’s already the mid-point of 30DLBL, I’ve officially closed off sign-ups. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t join. Go ahead and join in if you’re new! Simply start with Day 0 – Prework; at the same time you can do these latest tasks in parallel and join us in the comments area.

Day 15 – Gratitude

“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” ~Cynthia Ozick

Today’s task, as a natural progression from yesterday’s reflection exercise, is aboutappreciation. Gratitude. Giving thanks to what we have. As I mentioned above, when I was writing my reflections yesterday, I felt so grateful. Grateful for all the things that I’ve come across. Grateful for the people I’ve come to meet. Grateful for the events/incidences that I experienced. Grateful for the insights I’ve gained. Grateful for my life and who I’ve become.

Grateful for how TPEB has evolved in the past 2 years. Grateful to my friends. Grateful to my parents for having me. Grateful to my teachers for what they’ve taught me. Grateful to my mentors (formal and informal), for touching my life in their own special way. Grateful to myself for bringing myself here today. Grateful for my 5 senses. Grateful for having arms and legs, for being able to walk and talk. Grateful for my health. Grateful for love. Grateful for compassion and kindness. Grateful for the world and the universe. Grateful for all of you, for entering my life, and making me live true to my purpose, and letting me live true to who I can be. Because without you, there wouldn’t be me. So many feelings of gratitude that go beyond this little space.Gratitude is important because it reminds us the things in life that are important to us, but which we might have overlooked. Amidst setting goals, pursuing goals, it’s important for us to be aware of the things we do have, the things that helped create our current life experience, the things which make us who we are. One of my favorite quotes is by Mark Twain, which says, “The world doesn’t owe you anything. It was here first.”. Indeed – the very fact that we’re alive, and we get the experience to live, eat and breathe, is in itself a gift to be relished in. All of us have been awarded the best gift on earth which is the gift of life, and since we’ve been given this marvelous gift it’s up to us to make the best out of it.Today, we shall dedicate the day to giving thanks to everything we’re grateful for in our life. Big or small, people or things, places or events. Through appreciation and gratitude, we’ll share our love with the world.

Today’s TaskPart 1: Write What You’re Grateful For

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write “Things I’m Grateful For In My Life”. The first part is to write what you’re grateful for in life. Below are helping points:

1. Look back to what you wrote for yesterday’s reflection exercise. Look at who you are and how far you’ve come.

1. Who would you like to give thanks to?2. What would you like to give thanks to?

2. What are you grateful for today?

o People: Think about your family, your friends, colleagues, acquaintances. Each of

them play a special role in your life. What are you grateful to each of them for?o Things: What do you have in your life? What are you grateful about?

o Place: Where do you stay? What are you grateful about it?

o Experiences: What have you experienced in your life? What are you grateful

about each of them?Imagine if you are to swap bodies with a random person on the street now. What would you miss? What would you want back? These are the things that matter to you.As you move through today, look at everything with a sense of awe and wonder. Imagine if this is not in your life. How would you feel? Is this something you’re grateful to have?

Write down as many things as you can, even if it may seem small. Nothing is too small to give gratitude to.

Some of you may have created your own gratitude journals in the past, where you write down what you’re grateful for. You can still do this exercise all the same! Gratitude has no boundaries. Through gratitude, we grow as souls.Part 2: Let Others Know Your Gratitude

The 2nd part of the exercise is to let others know about your gratitude. Many times we don’t express thanks overtly, especially to people that are close to us, because we feel that they should know it intuitively. Yet we should, because unless we let them know how we really feel, they won’t know.

1. List down at least 3 people you want to give thanks to.2. Think about what you’re grateful to them about. From the little things they do for you

daily, to specific incidences.3. Write a thank you note / email / card to each of them. On it, write:

1. Thank him/her and why you’re saying thanks2. How much you appreciate him/her3. What he/she means to you

4. Send the note off to him/her. Check to ensure he/she gets it.

You can do this in person, though most people may find it awkward to do so. Having it down on paper / email is also a nice way for the other party to have remembrance.Giving gratitude isn’t just a 30DLBL 1 day event. It’s an everyday activity. The point of doing it today for 30DLBL is to get you into practice of doing it so you can continue to do it moving forward.

Day 15 of Your 30 Day Action Plan

Refer to the 30DLBL actions you set for Day 15 and get into action with them today   .

30DLBL Day 15 – A Day of Gratitudeby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 15 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View overview of 30DLBL tasks). Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday we reflected on our life. We reflected on what we’ve done in the past 20, 30, 40, 50 or even 60 years we’ve been living. We reflected about the achievements we’re most proud of, where we’ve come so far, and what we’ve learned. And from there, we used our knowledge of the past to project a better future for ourselves; one that we’ll be proud of, where we’ll be living life at our fullest. Many of you earnestly shared your reflections in the comments yesterday, and I thank you for doing so.For some of you, the significant events that shaped you as a person might have been negative. Many defining moments of one’s life occur when something emotionally jarring happens. After all, if something is in line with what we expect, it’ll just be a neutral or a ‘nice to experience’ moment. But when it’s totally out of line with what we expect, it shocks us, shakes up our belief systems, and hence shapes us. It’s then up to us on what we want to make out of it. Do we want to victimize and wail over what happened? Or do we want to take something positive out of this experience and use the learnings to create a better future? The greatest people become who they are because they drew light from life’s mishaps. They have had some of the worst things happen to them (an example would be Oprah), and it’s from these that they grew and become better humans. It’s from these experiences that they  forged strength and used them for a better meaning and purpose.By gaining awareness over what shaped us previously, we then become conscious of what made us who we are today. It’s then where we make the conscious choice on whether we want to continue to stay in this manner, or we want to take personal power and change this about us. You’ve lived out the script of your past; now is the time to create the script for your future. This is what it means to take personal power over your life. At the end of the day, events are events, whether they are positive or negative are what we make out of it. What do you want to make out of your past? Do you want to live under its shadow, or do you want to channel it as a source of power? From here, what future do you want to create for yourself?When I was doing my reflections yesterday, it reminded me of the many things to be grateful for in my life. Looking back at the past made me realize how fluid life is; how it’s up to our creation. We all started with nothing, as little babies, and then through our interactions, actions and decisions, we grew and became who we are today. From little, crying babies wailing at the world, to the strong, courageous, earnest and independent souls we see before us. At this cross

roads, at this point, is where we decide the future we want. It’s literally like we’re being handed down the menu of the universe (as I wrote in Day 2′s Ideal Life). What future do you want to paint for yourself? How do you feel about one that’s so grand and audacious, one that excites you, fires you up, and makes you SO exuberant and fulfilled that you just feel like screaming and flying at the top of the world every day? What if this future is yours for your undertaking? What if it’s all in your hands, and it’s a matter of you setting the intention now and taking the action to get it? How can you start moving yourself towards this future today?Yesterday’s exercise made me realize that I’m always most inspired by the biggest, grandest visions, the ones that are unprecedented, where people say are impossible to reach, the ones that are so much bigger than who I am now – because I love stretching to my highest potential. Human potential is unlimited. Whatever we can conceive in our mind, our real potential is 100 times, 1,000 times, 100,000 times more powerful than that, to the power of infinity. It’s not just about achieving those goals either – it’s about being on the path of exponential, vertical growth, because that’s when I’m living the truest to my purpose to grow and to be my highest self. So yesterday, I went back to my life goals and added a whole new series of goals on top of my current life goals.  I pushed forward my 5 year goals to 3 years, and 3 year goals to 1 year. By the time I was done, I felt so incredibly charged up that I was ready to spring into action!!    I really can’t wait to see what’s up next; at the same time I’m just so ecstatic to be living in this moment, to be pursuing this growth every second, every minute, every day – with all of you. It’s this moment, where I’m 110% on path with my purpose, that truly makes living exciting.When you did the reflection exercise, some of you might have gone back to tweak/add on to your life goals (Day 6) and it’s normal. As I mentioned before, things like life goals are ongoing things to review – you don’t just set them once then stick with them for the rest of your life.

We’ve Reached 10,000 subscribers!!

Yesterday, I received a huge positive news – We’ve broke the 10,000 subscriber mark! In the blogging world, 10,000 subscriber mark is a critical blogging milestone, because that means your blog is now truly on the map. Very few blogs ever reach this size in their lifespan, let alone personal development blogs (there are only a small handful of them who have over 10k subscribers). Not only that, we’re also now one of the top 40,000 websites in the world, by traffic (Alexa) (just less than 2 weeks ago, we were at 42,000). Without doubt, TPEB is growing by leaps and bounds. I’m really ecstatic about this. This marks the first of many more new and even more exciting things to come. It feels almost surreal now, seeing the subscriber count jump from 4-digits to 5-digits, when it was barely one-fifth of the current size 1 year ago.And you know what? And as proud as I am about this because I had consciously worked towards it, this isn’t just my achievement. It’s yours; it’s ours. When I first started TPEB, it was as a blog to share my best personal development learnings. In a way it still is, but now it’s changed on a whole new level. Today, I’m starting to see TPEB less as my own blog, but as our blog. Creating 30DLBL and running it now has made it even more evident. We’re all as one, here to grow together in excellence, to strive to be our best selves and live our best lives. Without all of you, TPEB will not exist. Without you reading this blog day in and out (even if as a silent reader/user), it’ll have no purpose to fulfill. Without you, telling TPEB to your friends, family, it’ll not be where it is today. Because of all of you, TPEB exists. All of you played a vital role in moving TPEB to an over 10,000 subscriber blog, and for that I thank you deeply. Moving forward, I see TPEB to grow as a community, vs. as a personal blog in the past. I might write

more on this in a separate post after 30DLBL is over, as a special celebratory mark for the blog, and as an guide on what to expect next.On other positive news, we broke the 1,200 registration mark for 30DLBL in the past few days – making it a grand total of 1,202 participants for 30DLBL!   Since it’s already the mid-point of 30DLBL, I’ve officially closed off sign-ups. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t join. Go ahead and join in if you’re new! Simply start with Day 0 – Prework; at the same time you can do these latest tasks in parallel and join us in the comments area.

Day 15 – Gratitude

“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” ~Cynthia OzickToday’s task, as a natural progression from yesterday’s reflection exercise, is aboutappreciation. Gratitude. Giving thanks to what we have. As I mentioned above, when I was writing my reflections yesterday, I felt so grateful. Grateful for all the things that I’ve come across. Grateful for the people I’ve come to meet. Grateful for the events/incidences that I experienced. Grateful for the insights I’ve gained. Grateful for my life and who I’ve become. Grateful for how TPEB has evolved in the past 2 years. Grateful to my friends. Grateful to my parents for having me. Grateful to my teachers for what they’ve taught me. Grateful to my mentors (formal and informal), for touching my life in their own special way. Grateful to myself for bringing myself here today. Grateful for my 5 senses. Grateful for having arms and legs, for being able to walk and talk. Grateful for my health. Grateful for love. Grateful for compassion and kindness. Grateful for the world and the universe. Grateful for all of you, for entering my life, and making me live true to my purpose, and letting me live true to who I can be. Because without you, there wouldn’t be me. So many feelings of gratitude that go beyond this little space.Gratitude is important because it reminds us the things in life that are important to us, but which we might have overlooked. Amidst setting goals, pursuing goals, it’s important for us to be aware of the things we do have, the things that helped create our current life experience, the things which make us who we are. One of my favorite quotes is by Mark Twain, which says, “The world doesn’t owe you anything. It was here first.”. Indeed – the very fact that we’re alive, and we get the experience to live, eat and breathe, is in itself a gift to be relished in. All of us have been awarded the best gift on earth which is the gift of life, and since we’ve been given this marvelous gift it’s up to us to make the best out of it.

Today, we shall dedicate the day to giving thanks to everything we’re grateful for in our life. Big or small, people or things, places or events. Through appreciation and gratitude, we’ll share our love with the world.

Today’s TaskPart 1: Write What You’re Grateful For

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write “Things I’m Grateful For In My Life”. The first part is to write what you’re grateful for in life. Below are helping points:

1. Look back to what you wrote for yesterday’s reflection exercise. Look at who you are and how far you’ve come.

1. Who would you like to give thanks to?2. What would you like to give thanks to?

2. What are you grateful for today?

o People: Think about your family, your friends, colleagues, acquaintances. Each of

them play a special role in your life. What are you grateful to each of them for?o Things: What do you have in your life? What are you grateful about?

o Place: Where do you stay? What are you grateful about it?

o Experiences: What have you experienced in your life? What are you grateful

about each of them?Imagine if you are to swap bodies with a random person on the street now. What would you miss? What would you want back? These are the things that matter to you.As you move through today, look at everything with a sense of awe and wonder. Imagine if this is not in your life. How would you feel? Is this something you’re grateful to have?

Write down as many things as you can, even if it may seem small. Nothing is too small to give gratitude to.Some of you may have created your own gratitude journals in the past, where you write down what you’re grateful for. You can still do this exercise all the same! Gratitude has no boundaries. Through gratitude, we grow as souls.Part 2: Let Others Know Your Gratitude

The 2nd part of the exercise is to let others know about your gratitude. Many times we don’t express thanks overtly, especially to people that are close to us, because we feel that they should know it intuitively. Yet we should, because unless we let them know how we really feel, they won’t know.

1. List down at least 3 people you want to give thanks to.2. Think about what you’re grateful to them about. From the little things they do for you

daily, to specific incidences.3. Write a thank you note / email / card to each of them. On it, write:

1. Thank him/her and why you’re saying thanks2. How much you appreciate him/her3. What he/she means to you

4. Send the note off to him/her. Check to ensure he/she gets it.

You can do this in person, though most people may find it awkward to do so. Having it down on paper / email is also a nice way for the other party to have remembrance.Giving gratitude isn’t just a 30DLBL 1 day event. It’s an everyday activity. The point of doing it today for 30DLBL is to get you into practice of doing it so you can continue to do it moving forward.

Day 15 of Your 30 Day Action Plan

Refer to the 30DLBL actions you set for Day 15 and get into action with them today   .

Share What You Wrote

What are you giving thanks to today? What are you grateful for in your life? Who did you choose to give thanks to, and wh

30DLBL Day 16 – Create Your Life Handbookby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 16 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Congratulations!   Today is Day 16, and we’re past the mid-way mark of 30DLBL   . From here on, we have a mixture of tasks that involve hands-on activities (example, getting into action), and introspective activities (thinking, reflection, brainstorming activities which you’ve been doing in the 1st half). Whether you’re just starting this challenge or you’ve been with us all along, come and say hello in the comments area   . The participants have been having very meaningful exchanges in the comments.In the 1st half of 30DLBL, we’ve discovered a great deal about who we are and what we want to be. Our mission statement, values, life goals, action planning, strategies/adages to live a better life, etc. This knowledge is very powerful – just look at the realizations you had, the emotions you felt, the inspiration you got when you first connected with it. This knowledge is critical for your growth. But without getting them down to a place where you’ll always access every day, it’s eventually just lost. 30DLBL will be an awareness-raising experience where you finish the 30 tasks for 30 days, each day knowing more about yourself, then when it’s over, it’ll just be a

fun memory – nothing more, nothing less. Soon, it’ll fade away into a distant memory – 3 months, 6 months, 1 year from now.What do we do then? Do we let these precious, important learnings slip away? Of course not! We want them to stick so we can then apply them in our life to get the best out of it. So today, I’m going to share an idea I started 3 years ago, which turned out to be one of the most important enablers for my growth. It’s the idea of having a life handbook.

Day 16 – Life Handbook

What exactly is a life handbook?Life handbook is a term I created – referring to a personal handbook that’s your guide for life.A life handbook, to put it simply, is your manual that contains anything and everything important in living your life, from your life purpose, adages, life learnings, long-term goals, short-term goals, strategies, plans, right down to your daily tasks. Just like you need a driving manual to learn driving, your life handbook is your manual to progress in life. Just as the Bible is the guidebook that reflects the doctrine and creed of Christianity, your life handbook is your map towards living your best possible life.Before you proceed, read the article I wrote in 2009 on life handbook, its key benefits, key sections you should have and how to create yours: Create Your Life Handbook.When you’re done, you can move on to the next section. You’re going to create your life handbook today   .

Your Task

(Instructions below are from the original life handbook article.)Creating Your Life Handbook

1. Decide if you want a hard or soft copy book.o As I mentioned in life handbook article, I recommend soft copy because it’s easy

to edit. Mine is soft copy Excel worksheet. It has many different sheets, whereby each sheet is a section itself.

o If you want hard copy, it’s good too! Go shopping for a nice book that resonates

with you to get started 2. Fill in your handbook

o Start with your mission statement, and go from there. Refer to sections on what to

put.o Since it’s your life handbook we’re talking about, it can get overwhelming with

the amount of information to put. Don’t worry about it – just do it bit by bit. It’s not meant to be finished in one day; in fact it’s meant to be filled in and updated your whole life. Do whatever you can today, then continue on tomorrow. 2 weeks should be a good enough time to fill up the core base of the book.

3. Decorate it!o Your handbook is all about you, so personalize it and make it appealing to youo My handbook is an excel workbook with many different colored sections. They

guide me in reading. I have a vision board sheet where I plaster all the pictures of goals I want. This is like the soft copy of my real life vision board, with more pictures   .

After Creating Your Life Handbook

1. Look at your handbook every morning before you start your day. With your handbook in place, develop the habit to start off your day by reading it. Start off with your purpose, your values, life adages, your long-term goals then your short-term goals. You will find that just spending a few minutes looking at it every day will give you immense focus and clarity which will lead to dramatic changes in the long-run.

2. Refer to it through the day to remind yourself of what you want. I have my life handbook open in my computer all the time, so it’s second nature to refer to it and update multiple times in a day. If yours is a hard copy, carry with it wherever you go. My clients carry their handbooks everywhere they do.

3. Update it constantly. Use this as the central repository for every single piece of information valuable to you. Whenever you come across something that is meaningful and noteworthy, put that into your book. Whenever you have a new goal, include it inside. Whenever you get an ‘AHA!’, revelation or epiphany, write it in the book so it will not get lost. While you might have to remind yourself to do that in the beginning, in no time it’ll be second-nature. Remember, your handbook is a work-in-progress document. It’ll never be completed in the truest sense of the word, because your life is a journey to be discovered every day. Your handbook is an evolving tool to guide you to live your best life.

4. Back it up regularly. If you have a soft copy handbook, schedule to back it up at the start of every month. We don’t want to lose it because of computer crashes and what not!

Congratulations – from today onwards, your handbook will be your guiding point, your manual to live your best life   .

30DLBL Day 17 – Become an Early Riserby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 17 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday all of us got started on creating our official life handbooks   . Many of you shared fantastic ideas on things to add on to our life handbook to make it richer. Some of you suggested useful applications to create the handbook, such as OhLife and Microsoft OneNote. One idea I love is to put our achievements in. Consider having an annual review of your life at the end of every year (complete with the key highlights and reflections) and file them away in your handbook. With each year, you’ll have a new review to the file, like a log. Beyond putting it for nostalgia’s sake, the logs let us capture past history so we can refer back, learn from it and use it to create a better future. Everything we do in life, including creating our life handbook, is to enable us to live our best life.The  creation of our life handbooks is akin to starting a whole new stage of our lives. One where we are now more aware of who we are, what our place is in this world, what we’re meant to do, what we want to do, and what we should do. This self-awareness brings us great clarity, focus and action. Now that we’re ready to begin this new stage, the next task is about beginning with a head start. Today, we’re going to prepare to be early risers   .

Day 17 – Waking Up Early

I didn’t use to be an early riser. In fact, I used to be a late riser – very late riser.

In the past, I was consistently a late riser. [...] The only times I ever woke up early were when I absolutely have to: for school, appointments, work. Even then, I’d wake at the very last minute, scamper around the whole house to get ready, rush out in disarray, have to resort to taking a cab to cut down commuting time and barely make it in time. [...] During the weekend, the waking hours would hover between 12pm to 2pm.I never once thought of cultivating waking up early as a habit. Why should I wake up early for? I never understood why people would even want to do that. If there was anyone who voluntarily woke up early, I would look at them with a look of bewilderment. I saw waking up early as some act of deprivation. If we could sleep in late, shouldn’t we just let our body rest rather than obligate ourselves to wake up at a certain fixed timing? At worst, it seemed like a borderline masochistic act. (excerpt from Why I Wake Up Early)But then after a while, things changed. I became interested in being an early riser because I was reading so much great stuff about it. While I could have just brushed this off, I couldn’t conclude anything for sure until I experimented it myself. I started an early riser trial last year, together with TPEB readers, which you can read about in 28 Day Trial To Wake Up Early.After sufficient experimentation, I was ready to make the conclusion that waking up early was better (than not). I’ve shared my story on changing from a late riser to an early riser and the key benefits I’ve experienced: Why I Wake Up Early (And 9 Reasons You Should Do So Too)(Read the article first before moving to the next section)Are you an early riser? Whether you’ve been trying to wake up early without success, or you’re a semi-early riser, or you’re a dominant late riser, I invite you to join me in waking up early, starting tomorrow. From tomorrow onwards, we’re going to wake up early together, for the next 2 weeks to the end of 30DLBL. Take this as a personal experiment. If you try it and you like it, you’d have gained something new from this trial   . If you try it for 2 full weeks and feel it doesn’t work for you, you can walk away from this experience knowing that it’s not your cup of tea. Nothing to lose but everything to gain   . Are you up for it?

Day 17 – Become an Early RiserPart 1: Wake up early tomorrow

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write down “Becoming an Early Riser”.

1. Set your target time to wake up tomorrow, ideally before 6:30am.1. 5am is a very nice time to start the day and do your personal activities. When I

wake up at 5am, I get to do the usual email/social media checking, do work, go exercise, and have breakfast, when most people are still in bed. By the time people are up, I’m already on to other things for the day. It’s a great feel-good factor to get you moving forward.

2. From there, set your target time to sleep tonight, based on the usual hours of sleep you need.

o How many hours do you need to be well rested? Set your alarm as you do that.

o From my experience, many people sleep a lot longer than they think they need. I

found with a proper, healthy diet, exercise, meditation and activities to clear your mental clutter, it’s possible to be well-rested, energized and good to go with just 5-6 hours of sleep. When I don’t do any of that and I just get on my daily activities, many days I can be sleeping for 8, 9, to sometimes even 12 hours (to

naturally wake up). But when I start doing them (appropriate diet/exercise/meditation/and other activities to clear mental clutter), I actually need a lot lesser hours to feel equally energized/awake, if not more. It’s not about sleep deprivation, but about how you do it. As I’ve gotten a few reader requests on how to do this, I’ll write a full blog post on this topic after 30DLBL, stay tuned.

Plan out your activities today to ensure you will get to bed by your target time tonight.o Have enough buffer time between each activities

o Don’t plan for late night activities since you know you have to sleep by X time

Very important step: Plan for your schedule tomorrow as well.o Your schedule should give you a good idea of how you want tomorrow to pan out,

from when you wake up, to the end of the day.o Why is it important? Most people fail at waking early because they don’t have a

reason to do so. They wake up on time, but then they go back to sleep right after because they thought “there’s nothing for me to do”! When you have a schedule laid out, there’s a clear reason to wake up on time. The more important the task(s) you have to do (right after you wake up), the more successful you’ll be.

Read 21 Tips To Wake Up Early and apply the relevant tips to make this a success.Follow through on your plan and sleep at your stipulated timing.

o If activities overrun, reschedule them. Do them tomorrow.

o This is crucial. Many people sleep late then bash themselves when they can’t

wake up on time, when it’s just about sleeping early and getting enough sleep. That’s all. It’s not some rocket science, voodoo magic or genetic mystery. You sleep early, you wake up early.

Wake up early the next day and get your day on a whole, new fresh start o If you want, post a comment once you’re up, as an accountability factor to

yourself. o Share your experience waking up at this time vs. your normal waking time.

Part 2: Continue to wake up early for the rest of 30DLBL

1. For the next 2 weeks, continue to wake up early. Follow the same steps above every day to get the habit in place.

2. Experience how it feels to be an early riser. Note down your observations in your 30DLBL workbook.

3. Then at the end of 30DLBL, you can decide for yourself whether it was better to wake up early or not, and choose whether to stick with being an early riser. 

30DLBL Day 18 – Create Your Inspirational Roomby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 18 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday, we prepared to be early risers for today. How many of you successfully woke up early? How many of you woke up later than you wanted? If you woke up early, congratulations! Use the early hours of the day to relish in the beauty of the morning; the quietness and calm, cooling feeling of the morning breeze. Some of you mentioned you exercise/run/jog as part of your early morning routine, which is fantastic. I do so, too, as I mentioned in my early riser post. It’s an amazing feeling running before the sun is up, and witnessing the sun rise as you do so.If you planned to wake up early but didn’t get to do so, don’t worry. Simply understand why that happened. Were you too tired to wake up? Is it because you slept late? Were you doing work, or out till the wee hours? Understand the reason, then work on it. Often times I end up extending my bedtime because I’m caught up with what I’m doing. When that happens, I think about the next day, the many things that I have planned, and how they can only come to fruition if I get to bed. I also make it a habit to listen to podcasts as a bedtime activity, so it’s another reason to tuck in. Many see waking early as a hard task,  because of past experiences of not being able to do so, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s simply a matter of waking early and . It’s that simple.Today is Day 18 of 30DLBL, and the third weekend of September. This weekend, we’re going to do some major work. We’re going to transform our rooms into inspirational havens.

Day 18 – Is Your Room Inspiring?

Image ©How do you feel when you’re in a room? Happy? Light? Refreshed? Lethargic? Moody? Nonchalant? Bland? Or do you just feel nothing?Your room plays a big role in how you feel. If you’re in a creative, inspiring set-up, you’re going to get more creative ideas than usual. If you’re in a bland, dark room with nothing but just a creaky bed, walls which badly need a paint job and dirty floorboards, chances are you’ll feel bland, dull, empty. If you think about your general emotional state at home (whether lethargic / tired / unhappy / or inspired / excited / enthusiastic), chances are your room is reflecting this back to you.This is why Google invested so much in creating a fun, office layout – the nature of its business requires employees to innovate all the time, hence an environment that promotes creativity is essential. They have literally have a slide, a playhouse, rooms designed as domes, cable cars and more, a fire pole (?!), hammocks, and many many more! Check out:Google Office Pictures. Needless to say, having such a creative environment inspires its people with ideas.Hence, I take a lot of pride in how my room looks. It’s like my inspirational haven; a place close to my heart. It’s where I spend a huge chunk of my time – not just sleeping, but also working too, since I work from my room (except when I’m speaking/conducting workshops, or having business meetings, etc). For example, I write my blog posts in my room. My coaching with my international clients are also conducted in my room. I do a lot of my thinking, brainstorming and reflection here. Even as I’m writing today’s 30DLBL task, I’m doing it at my work desk, in my room. A lot of the ideas and products you see on TPEB were created when I was in my room. Hence, it’s even more paramount that I put myself in the best state to generate the best ideas.Our room is our personal space, and we should take pride in making it our own. While I’m of the belief that we can be inspired regardless of the environments we’re in, and it’s a matter of how we turn out environmental input into positive output, truth is we can be more effective when our environment is decked with positive input from our lives, close to our heart. When we’re surrounded by the happiest things from our life, when we constantly see things that we love every time we’re at home, it puts us in the state of flow and easily connects us with our inner muse.

There are a lot of things I have in my room which I love. I have photos of me with my best friends, me in the key events of my life (graduation, in my past workplace, memorable parties, etc), my birthdays, etc decorated all over the doors of my wardrobe, so I see them whenever I get my clothes. I add on to the collage every few months with new pictures of latest events. I decorate the photos dried flowers and fake flowers. I have my real life vision board beside my bed. On my wall, I have a white board, which I use for my brainstorming/thinking process. I have trophies and awards from childhood displayed in my top shelf. The notice board at my desk has my life purpose and my life map of my 1, 3, 5 year life goals, so I see them every time I’m at my desk. I’ve my favorite birthday gifts from friends put all around my house. On my desk is a mini world globe in front of me, which reminds me of the world out there, and of the places I want to visit. I put with small stickers on the countries that I’ve visited as a mark. Beside my computer is this little solar powered toythat keeps bobbing its head whenever I’m working (it’s powered by the light from the lamp. I have glow in the dark stars all over the ceiling so it’s like I’m sleeping under a starry night whenever I turn in.   I can just go on and on, but you get the idea.(To see some pictures of my room, scroll to the middle of the article:  Does Your Room Inspire You?. The pictures are from 2008 but my room still looks the same)By having an inspiring room, it inspires me just being in it. Just sitting inside makes me really, really happy         . Needless to say, all this positive energy builds on itself and makes me uplifted (even more than I am), productive, and more.Of course, creating an inspiring room is something that takes detailed planning. My room wasn’t created overnight; it was some 2-3 months in the making. I started from first a vision. I checked out the Ikea catalogue for inspiration, and kept thinking / building on my vision as I moved along. I did some serious reshuffling of the furniture in my room (with my dad and brother’s help), so it would be more spacious. I went out and bought a lot of things for the revamp, from big ticket items like the furniture (table, lamp, corkboard, etc) to small little items for decorating / accessorizing, right down to the nice storage boxes and things in the drawers. Many times the shops I checked didn’t have what I wanted in the particular design/color/look, so I’d just keep checking different places. It was real, hard work and planning. But the end effect was totally worth it. It has paid off in spades. What I’m here I don’t think about the work it took, but the beauty and the love that went into it.To get to your ideal room / look, we’ve to take a first step. And today, we’re going to take the first step to create your inspiring room   .

30DLBL Day 19 – Connect With Your Friendsby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 19 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday, we started creating our inspirational havens.   Some of you shared pictures of your room/home, which are downright amazing. Check out participant Kate’s amazing home, Sabrina’s beautiful room and Theresa’s lovely place! As we continue to work on our inspirational rooms, let’s proceed with Day 19′s task. Today’s task is about a group of people close to our hearts. It’s our friends.

Day 19 – Friends

“Sometimes you put walls up not to keep people out, but to see who cares enough to break them down.”“When it hurts to look back, and you’re scared to look ahead, you can look beside you and your best friend will be there.”Have you ever thought how life will be like without friends? For sure, it’ll definitely be different from how we know it. Imagine a life of solitude, without someone to share the joy of living with. Imagine having no one to celebrate life’s victories and achievements. Imagine not having someone to confide in during the times when we’re down and out. Imagine living life, day in, day out, without any interactions with the external world.I consider myself a private, independent and introverted person. My personal space is very important to me. Having quiet, alone time is something I value a lot. I love times when I’m just

by myself, reflecting and thinking. That said, friends are important to me. They’re my companions in life’s journey, enabling me to understand more about myself, to grow, and to become a better person. They make life even more fun than it is. And even though we may not contact each other on a daily basis, we know that we’ll always be there to support each other, no matter what happens.As we continue in our life’s journey, we get caught up in our pursuits. We become busy with our daily life, establishing our mark, pursuing our goals and dreams. At times we stay in touch with our friends, with a periodic hello, a chat and perhaps a meet-up every once in a while. But sometimes, we put that off, in the name of other “urgent” matters.In my opinion, relationship building is a Quadrant 2 activity, one that cultivates our emotions and our soul. No matter how busy I am, I always make it a point to organize group outings with my friends periodically, and to set aside time for private meet-ups with my closest friends. These are the most important people to me (including all of you), and they play an important role in lighting my journey in life. No matter how busy I am, I always set aside time to lend a listening ear whenever they need me.This is why today’s task is all about our friends. Has there been any friend that you haven’t talked to, or met up with recently? Is it time for a catch-up or meet-up? Our friends are precious, and we crossed paths for a reason. I like to see our friends as soul mates here to help each other in our life’s journey. They help us to bring the best out of ourselves and it’s up to us to nurture and foster the relationship. Today, we’re going to connect with our friends. 

Your TaskPart 1: Call a Friend / Meet-Up

The first part of the task involves connecting with a friend on a meaningful level.Pick a friend you’d like to connect / reconnect today. It can be a best friend you’ve not caught up with in a while, or good friend whom you’ve drifted from, or a regular friend you’d like to know better.Drop this friend a call. While he/she might be caught off guard, I’m sure he/she will be glad to get your call! Take the chance to catch-up! Check on how life has been like for him/her, what he/she has been busy with, and what’s been going on.As he/she talks, be present. Enjoy the conversation as is. At the same time, reciprocate – Share about yourself too. Focus on a heart-to-heart, authentic communication.See if you can learn something new about your friend during the conversation. Ask questions that you normally don’t ask. Get to know him/her on a whole new level. No matter how close you are with someone, there is always room to progress the friendship.At the end of the conversation, see if you want to schedule a meet-up with both of you, or a get-together with other friends (if you have common friends).Part 2: Reach Out To Other Friends

After connecting with your friend, continue on to connect/reconnect with other friends too. Email, text them, call them. Check on how they’re doing and schedule meet-ups with them. If you have several common friends, start a group meet-up even! That’s a great way to get many people together and catch-up as a group.This is a great opportunity to re-establish connection with “lost” friends from the past. Seek them out on Facebook! Nowadays almost everyone uses FB. Through FB, I’ve reconnected with quite

a number of past friends in the past few years (even from Primary School, when we’ve lost touch afterwards!), and it’s great to see everyone each pursuing their life.

30DLBL Day 20 – Make a New Friendby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 20 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday was about (re)connecting with friends. How was the experience calling your friend(s) and reconnecting with others whom you have drifted away from? Interestingly, synchronicity seems to be at work, seeing how some of you started doing it a few days before / right before the task was posted.   Continue reconnecting with friends for the remainder of the 30DLBL month, as well as the time ahead. Schedule meet-ups with them and spend quality time together.So this morning, I called a number of friends. It’s great hearing their voices after a while, and great to know that things are going great for them. Later tonight, I’ll be calling one of my best friends. I couldn’t call her yesterday as she was out of the country, but today she’s back. She doesn’t know I’m planning to call her so it’ll be a surprise   . I’m already looking forward to catch-up with her, and also to schedule our next meet-up ahead. I’ve a few separate meet-ups scheduled this week and next week and I’m looking forward to them too.Now as we’re reconnecting with old friends, let’s get started on today’s task. Today’s task is also about friends – making new friends 

Day 20 – Make a New Friend

I’ve many close friends whom I’m very thankful to have met in my life. These people have been there for me in person and in spirit, supporting me in my endeavors. I appreciate their companionship and the connection we share. I take inspiration from each of their strengths – it’s a reminder to me on how I can improve, and be a better person. Their kindness, patience, and generosity warms my heart and brings smiles to my face. Their presence, along with all your presence, has made the world a better place.For each of our friends, there was once a point when we just got to know each other. Whether it was back in school, when we first saw each other in the hallways/classroom/lecture hall. Or at work, when we were first introduced to each other. Or in a gathering, when we were in the company of common friends. Or even in an online chat room/forum, when we were faceless individuals, cloaked in anonymity. For every friend, there would be the first time when we saw each other, and the first encounter when we finally got to talk and introduce ourselves. And if I flash back to each and every one of these first encounters with any friend, I’d never have known we’d be such good friends today, that our friendship would have evolved the way it did, nor that we’d have shared such wonderful experiences and encounters together, with many, many more to come.The thing is, on foresight, we could never have known the great friendship we could have with someone. It’s always on hindsight that we see how our friendships evolve. Hence, it’s important that we open ourselves up to new people, to know more new souls, in our journey of life. Because you never know whether you might just be meeting someone who’s as amazing, if not more, than the people you know. You never know if that stranger before you is actually a kindred soulmate. Looking at my good friends, they came from different parts of my life. Some from school, some from my previous workplace, some from online chat, some from around. Each time, there was no preset filter or neon light shining to alert if he/she was a potential great friend or not (in fact I didn’t exactly like some when we first met!). Each time, it was through knowing them, and invisible hands of universe, that we became the good friends we are today. You just have to first know them to find out.Today, our task is to make a new friend 

Your TaskMake a New Friend

Some of you might be thinking “Make a new friend?!? Where am I suppose to go meet a new friend???”Don’t fret! You can meet your new friend anywhere. Look around you. People are everywhere! Your workplace… your school… when you’re out exercising/jogging… your friends’ friends… places you frequent… shops you visit… online communities… etc. You just have to stop and look.Some of the most random places where I’ve made friends include 1) the owner at the grocery shop, where I struck up a conversation with her when I was paying for my food. At that time I was interested in martial arts, so I just started talking to her about it. I learned she was a trained martial artist (with swords) since she was young. Incredible. 2) on the street where I was walking and a tourist asked me for directions. We ended up chatting for almost 4 hours after that, where I learned more about him than I know about a regular friend, including his family, background, his life aspirations and passion. 3) IRC channel, where I just went on to a support channel to get help on hosting, and not for chatting purposes. I ended up knowing and meeting my best friend of 10 years there.I’ve also made new friends from my workshops, with participants who befriended me on Facebook afterward and then start frequenting TPEB/connecting on FB. This week I’m attending a conference, am running 2 workshops on Sat/Sunday, and for next week I have another 2-day conference, and I’m looking forward to meeting lots of great people there.The thing is, you can already be making new friends through avenues you frequent, whether it’s when you pick your kids up at school, when you’re buying food/grocery, when you’re at school, at your workplace, when you’re out dining, online here at TPEB/30DLBL, etc. And if you’re up for it, you can even join new communities too. Below are great places to meet new people (from my article on making new friends)

Join meet-up groups. Meetup.com is a great social networking site. There are many interest groups, such as groups for entrepreneurs, aspiring authors, vegetarian, boardgame lovers, cycling enthusiasts, etc. Pick out your interests and join those groups. Meet-ups are usually monthly, depending on the group itself. Great way to meet a lot of new people quickly.

Attend workshops/courses. These serve as central avenues that gather like-minded people. I went to a personal development workshop last year, and there I met with many great individuals, some of whom I became good friends with.

Volunteer. Great way to kill 2 birds with one stone – not only do you get to spread kindness and warmth, you meet compassionate people with a cause.

Go to parties. Parties such as birthday parties, christmas/new year/celebration parties, housewarmings, function/events, etc. Probably a place where you’ll meet a high quantity of new friends but not necessarily quality. Good way to meet more people nonetheless.

Visit bars and clubs. Many people visit them to meet more friends, but I don’t recommend them as the friends you make here are probably more hi-bye type, rather than the type #2 and type #3 friends. It’s good to just visit them a couple of times and see how they’re like before you make your judgment.

Online communities. Internet is a great way to meet new people. Some of my best friendships started online. I met one of my best friends, K, from an IRC channel 10 years

ago. There are at least 2 other good friends whom I first met online too during that same time period. We’ve since met up numerous times and became great friends. Even today, I have numerous great friendships with people I’ve never met (other personal development bloggers, my readers). Just because we have not met (yet) does not mean we can’t be great friends.Nowadays, online forums are the central locations where communities gather. Check out online forums of your interest topics. Participate constructively and add value to the discussions. Soon, you’ll get to know them better as friends.

Get out there and make a new friend today   . See if you can learn something new from the interaction. If you are generally shy and need some tips, read my list of useful tips to make new friends. It’s a detailed write-up to a reader question on how to overcome shyness and make new friends.Come back and share with us on how it went after you are done   . With this task, it’s to help us get started in meeting (even) more new people than we normally do, in the process create more meaningful relationships. An important note I’d like to add is that it’s not about having a massive quantity of friendships for the sake of it, but about having high quality relationships with even more people – because hey, there’s never a limit to abundant love, compassion and meaningful relationships we can have   .

30DLBL Day 21 – An Act of Kindnessby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 21 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Today is Day 21, and you’re past 2/3s of 30DLBL and the month of September   . It’s only 10 days before September comes to a close. What are you going to do in the last 10 days to make this month your most meaningful, fruitful and productive month yet? What can you do to make this your best month ever? 10 days is a good stretch of time and there are lots you can do in this period of time. It’s up to you on how to make them worthwhile.If you haven’t been reading the comments, some readers have mentioned that they’d love to have a way to still keep in touch with each other post the 30DLBL. One of my ideas is to start up a forum. I’ve planned to do it but have been waiting for the moment to do so. Now seems like it’s

a great opportunity to get it started. How about you guys – what do you think? Will you be interested in having a forum over here? Will it be useful for you, and will you be interested in taking part? Let me know in the comments area. Depending on the feedback, I might launch a forum right after 30DLBL.2 days ago, we worked on connecting with our friends, and for some of us, reconnecting with friends whom we have drifted from. Yesterday, we got started in making new friends, opening ourselves to new people in our life. Today is about kindness, compassion and love.

Day 21 – An Act of Kindness

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.” – Seneca“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” – Leo Buscaglia“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.” – PlatoA few days ago, I was walking along the streets of Hong Kong (I was there to speak at a business conference and took time off for some sight-seeing). It was nice just walking leisurely by myself, with no agenda on what to do or where to visit. As I strolled, I looked around, observing the city and the busy people rushing by to their next step. It was nice to be observing as one within the crowds.Mid-way along the streets, I caught sight of an old man, sitting silently by the curb of the pavement. He had a small container in front of him, with a few coins scattered inside. His hands were wrinkled with age, his head was bowed down, and his eyes were on the ground. He just sat still and quietly by himself, not moving, not speaking a word. It would seem that he was a beggar.I felt a wave of sadness wash over me. I stopped in my tracks and observed him for a good 5 minutes. Everyone was busy walking past him, and no one stopped to offer any money or pay any attention to the old man. It would seem this was a norm for a good part of the day. I reached into my wallet and took out a few coins, no more than $2 USD, walked over and dropped them into the small container in front of the old man.In the split second of doing so, looks of surprise, shock, happiness and gratitude flashed across the old man’s face. He looked up at me, and kept saying “Thank you young lady!” in Cantonese over and over again, while bowing in unison. His voice and the look in his eyes held deep

gratitude. I quickly smiled and said “You’re welcome”, then walked away, while still hearing his repeated words of thanks behind me. Then after I walked a distance away, I looked back to make sure he was good and well, before setting off.When it comes to daily living, most of us are usually busy with our to-do lists, getting on to the next task, the next project, getting our lives in order. Yet inside all of us is a soul waiting to connect, to reach out to others around us, and also a soul waiting for others to reach out to us within. In my case, even though I was just donating no more than $2 USD to the old man, he was grateful beyond words. That gesture of donation meant the world to him and his happiness and gratitude meant the world to me. There is never an act of kindness that is too small, never an act of kindness that is insignificant. You never know that what you do has the power to touch others’ hearts. Who knows, there is a heart outside right now waiting to be reached out by you.When’s the last time you went out to do something nice for others? Today’s task is all about kindness – specifically doing acts of kindness to other people.

Your Task: An Act of Kindness to 3 People

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write “My Acts of Kindness”.Today, you are to extend an act of kindness to 3 people. You can do anything you want, big or small – most important thing is it has to come from the heart. You shouldn’t be doing the action with expectation of payback or return. This person can be anyone: your family, your best friend(s), your colleague(s), relative(s), business associate(s), client(s), or even a stranger.Some examples of simple acts of kindness:

Giving a compliment (where you mean it) Lending a helping hand where you can be of help Dropping a message/call/email to check how he/she is doing Cooking a meal or baking something for him/her Writing a thank you note/card/email (or even a small gift) to show your appreciation and

gratitude Lending a listening ear Giving a treat if he/she is running low on money Giving a hug to share your love

Feel free to do an act of kindness to more than 3 people if you can! There should be no limit on the kindness we can share with others. Kindness, compassion and love are abundant – the more we give, the more we’ll have in the world. 

30DLBL Day 22 – Advice From Your Future Selfby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 22 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday’s 30DLBL was on extending an act of kindness to 5 different people. Who are the 5 people you chose? What was the act of kindness you did to each person? It was a beautiful experience reading how each of you extended kindness and warmth to someone else. Remember, no act of kindness is ever too small. Every gesture we can make counts towards helping someone live a better life.A small handful of you have told me that you did not receive 1-2 of 30DLBL tasks. I’m subscribed on the newsletter and I’ve been getting all of the 30DLBL tasks, so it might be one of the following: (1) The newsletter has been filtered as spam. Check through your junk mail and add newsletter [ at ] celestinechua.com to ensure that all newsletters get sent through. (By the way, that is a dummy email used for sending newsletter – it’s not functional, so don’t bother emailing it.) (2) Your mailbox was full or down when the newsletter was sent out, which caused the newsletter to bounce. Simply visit the 30DLBL Overview page for the tasks to date. It’s also where you get the most up-to-date tasks, since all tasks continue to be updated even after emailers are sent out.<Start of non-30DLBL related update>On a non-30DLBL note, today has somewhat of a depressing turn for me. I was banned on Paypal after receiving a donation from a kind reader (in the Support section, there’s a donate option for those who wish to do so). It seemed that donations are not allowed on a Paypal Business Account. In all honesty, I didn’t know it’s not allowed, but I’m not about to claim ignorance as an excuse. What I’m bugged about is that they could have given at least some warning, rather than going the hard handed route and banning right away, especially since I’ve always compiled with all the terms to my best ability.Now that I’m banned, my Paypal account has been rendered useless, and to quote the customer service officer who repeated this several times in the call, “Paypal does not wish to do business with you anymore”. Literally forever, unfortunately. The officer told me I’m not allowed to create an account with Paypal, ever. Not only can I not do anymore transactions (which cripples my income at the moment since all the transactions at TPEB, whether ebook, coaching, guest writing payments, etc are dependent on Paypal; also I use PP to make payments to affiliates/services I use), I can’t take out anything I’ve earned in the account (which is a sizable sum, including all my earnings from The Personal Excellence Book, 1-1 coaching, etc. I haven’t

cashed out since I created the account as the exchange rate wasn’t favorable). It seems that Paypal needs to “review” my earnings for the next 6 months, and they will only return my money if it passes the review (whatever the review consists of is cloaked in mystery). 6 months later is pretty far off in March 2011.I’ve been living off my savings for the past year, and while I’m not running into any survival issues at the moment, I was actually looking forward to finally spend hard earn money from my work since I started, and perhaps go on some vacation. Unfortunately that’s not going to happen, and frankly I’m not too sure if I’m going to get my money back either. I’ve been reading stories from ex-Paypal users with similar sudden account freeze/closure issues, and I’m somewhat prepared to accept that I may never get the money back.I’ve to add that the way they’re enforcing this ban is making me feel like I’m some criminal to be honest   . I’m sharing my experience above so you can perhaps learn from proxy. You should definitely not open yourself up for any donations if you’re using a business account. Leave donations to either personal account or charity/non-profit business accounts. Secondly, cash out your PP balance regularly.Personally, I consider it a lesson learned if I don’t get the money back. Right now I’m just going to focus on moving ahead and getting things up and running again. My ebooks, 1-1 coaching and other payment transactions are all down at the moment, so cashflow is at a standstill. If any of you has any personal endorsements and strong recommendations for (1) shopping cart solutions (2) credit card processing, please let me know. I’m consideringmoneybookers as a payment transfer solution – downside is it’s not accepted by services like E-Junkie, so I still need to get a separate solution.Update 24 Sep ’10: Very happy news – Paypal just fully restored my account!       . Full story here. Thanks so much all for your kind comments, support and offers to help! You are the best!</End of non-30DLBL related update>Today is Day 22 of 30DLBL, and today we’re going to do an interesting exercise – one of my favorites, in fact. Today, all of us are going to meet our future selves, and we’re going to get advice from him/her.

Day 22 – Your Future Self

During my life coaching sessions with clients, I like to come up different exercises to help my clients open up to different perspectives and achieve new realizations. Our minds are limitless, so bountiful and full of raw power. All the answers we seek in life lies inside of us, somewhere. With the right questions and pointers, all of us can get that breakthrough to the next level.One of my favorite activities is the future self exercise.  In this exercise, you imagine your future self has traveled back in time to speak to present-day you. You come equipped with future knowledge, with higher awareness and know-how, to advise you. What are you doing that’s right? What are you doing that needs to be changed? See it as a timely intervention to ensure you’re on the path to live your best life.After I started this exercise, I often use it on myself. Every now and then, I’d imagine Future Celes traveling from 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year ago, to the present moment, to make a strategic intervention in my life. I’d get advice from her on how I can be a better me, how I can do what I’m doing better, and live my best life ever. It then creates a positive shift in my actions.Get ready – in the next 45 minutes to an hour, you’re going to get the best advice on how to live your best life ever. You’re going to get advice from you from the future.

Your Task: Advise Yourself as Your Future Self

Flip to a new page in your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write “My Advice from My Future Self”. Write down today’s date.Step 1: Visualize Your Future Self (10 min)

Get into a safe and quiet spot, where you wouldn’t be disturbed. Imagine your Future Self standing before your present self, in full corporeal form. He/she

just traveled from the future to give you important advice. Visualize your Future Self as vividly as possible, from clothes, hairstyle, right down to

facial expressions. How is she/he like? How does he/she look? What vibes do you get from him/her?

Step 2: Talk to Your Future Self (35 min)

Your future self has the knowledge of how things are going to pan out in the future for you. He/she has all insights that you want to know.Start talking to him/her to get advice on your future. Using the questions below as a guide:

1. Any situations you need your Future Self’s advice on?2. How is the future like for your Future Self? Have you been able to achieve your 5 year

goals? Why or Why not?3. What are the things that are important and you should continue doing now?4. Is there anything you need to do differently? Any behaviors, actions, attitudes?5. Is there anything your Future Self wants you to watch out on?

As you answer the questions, feel the Present You shift in your mental state, almost like it’s becoming more like the Future You. With each advice you give, an incremental shift occurs. By the time you’re done, you should feel as though both of you are exact same individuals, with the same awareness and consciousness. There’s nothing that separates both of you now, except for the space between you.Step 4: Become One

When you’re done, thank your Future Self. Imagine both selves merging into each other. There’s a sea of light that engulfs the whole room. When that’s done, that’s just one You left. You are neither separate by the future or the present – you are one.This exercise can be very consciousness raising. As you’re doing this, you might receive sudden new insights. You might feel yourself bathed in a sea of warm light. If it happens, let it continue on as you do your exercise.

30DLBL Day 23 – What is Your Inner Dialogue?by Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 23 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday we got a visit from our future self and got advice from him/her. How was your future self like in person? What advice did you get from Future You? Did your Present Self get more clarity on what to do next? Did you receive meaningful, applicable advice? Do you know what you need to do now as you move forward?

A couple of days ago, I was asking all of you whether you’ll be interested in having a forum post 30DLBL, where you can know other like-minded people and have a common place to discuss your journey in personal excellence. Some of you have shared your feedback, and so far the response is positive. I still love to hear from more of you, so if you haven’t replied regarding the forum idea, do share in today’s comments on your take of it. Will you be interested in it? Why/Why not? If yes, is there any suggestions or features you want to see in the new forum? Your responses will go a long way in helping me on the decision.Today is an extremely important exercise in our journey toward higher consciousness. Today we’re going to gain awareness of our inner dialogue.

Day 23: Your Inner Dialogue

“Watch your thoughts; they become words.Watch your words; they become actions.Watch your actions; they become habits.Watch your habits; they become character.Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.”—Lao-TzeWhat is our inner dialogue? Our inner dialogue, or self-talk, refers to the conversation you have with yourself. Your thoughts. Your thinking process. What’s running inside your head the whole time.For example, say you’re faced with a problem. In just a snap of 30 seconds, all these may be going through your mind: “Oh great, not again. Why am I always facing this?” “Let’s focus here. What can I do to fix this thing?” “I wonder if Friend X can help me with this. Maybe he will. Maybe he won’t because he’s too busy.” “I could have avoided this if I did X and Y. Sigh.” “I feel like going to sleep. Let’s do this tomorrow.”Your self-talk is all the “talking” and “conversing” you do with yourself, inside your mind, whether it’s on an ongoing basis, before you take action or make a decision. Your self-talk makes up your inner reality. I’ve mentioned a few times that your external reality is an extension of your inner reality. Without even exploring your self-talk yet, you can guess what’s going on the inside just by looking out in your life. If you’re one who keeps wanting to lose weight and be fit, but somehow keeps getting off track, you probably have self-talk that goes against your

fitness goal. If you want to find your soulmate but you keep ending up with the wrong people, your self-talk is probably not helping you meet Mr/Ms Right. If you wish for financial abundance but you are scrimping from day to day, maybe your self-talk is not conducive to financial abundance to begin with.Some of us may think that our self-talk is all positive. Which is probably true on the whole. But when we drill down into specific thoughts in our mind, we’ll probably find both positive AND negative self-talk. Self-doubting thoughts. Skepticism. Hope. Wonder. Worry. Fear. Optimism. Desire. Judgment. Self-criticism. Love. Compassion. All intermixed with one another. It’s been said that we have 60,000 to 80,00 thoughts a day, and while I don’t know how true is that or how the number is derived, but intuitively we do have a huge number of thoughts running through our heads every day. It’s somewhat impossible to physically capture all these thoughts (via typing or writing), simply because our brain is so much faster. These thoughts add together and average out to form our collective consciousness. (On the same note, you can identify your consciousness level through observing your self-talk.) You can have a high level of negative self-talk and an even higher level of positive self-talk, which will lead to an overall positive self-talk. You can have negative self-talk with slightly positive self-talk, which leads to an overall limiting view on life and its possibilities.I like to think that I’m positive on the whole. Yet, when I examine my thoughts in each circumstance, I can always find both positive AND negative thoughts.Most of us are usually conscious of our positive thoughts, but not our negative ones. By being conscious of both the positive and negative thoughts, and addressing the negative ones, it helps move me forward and be even better. Exploring my (subconscious) negative thoughts allows me to learn a lot about myself, and understand why I behave certain way in situations. Awareness is the first step to growth, followed by acknowledgment (accepting the thoughts as yours), then action, where you can then take the proper actions to address it.Reading more self-help materials, being with positive people, listening to self-help podcasts, etc definitely help us become more positive. What happens though is that the positivity gets piled on top of our current self-talk – where there are both positive and negative thoughts. Does that mean the negative thoughts don’t affect us? They do actually – in a subconscious way. Because they’re embedded, we don’t even know the effect they have on our decisions and actions. Simply reading and listening materials  will not address deeply embedded negative self-talks. They remain there until they are uncovered and addressed.Of course, to get the maximum momentum in your goals, and to achieve the maximum out of your life, you want to uncover these negative self-talks and unroot them. Today, we’ll be listening in on our inner conversation. We’re going to find out what’s actually going on in our mind all the time.

Your TaskStep 1: Listening in on your inner conversation

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write “My Self-Talk”. The objective of this 1st exercise is get awareness of your inner conversation. Whenever you’re going on in your daily life, what exactly is going on in your mind? I sure am curious to know it.Imagine your head is like a pandora’s box, and right now you want to learn more about the mystery going on inside the box. This is a self-exploratory exercise done with intense curiosity.

1. Take a mirror (hand held, preferably) and look into it. Look at yourself staring back at you. Listen in to the conversation that’s going on in your mind.

2. What are you thinking now? Write down your thoughts. Your thoughts can be about anything, from an incident that happened earlier today, thoughts about people, thoughts about a certain person, thoughts about yourself, thoughts about something in the future, etc. Write down your associated emotion if applicable.

3. As you write down the present thought, a new one will come up. Write that too. Keep doing that again and again.

4. Label your thoughts, from #1, #2, …. and so on. The more thoughts you write, the deeper you enter your subconsciousness, the better. More thoughts means you’re going deeper into Pandora’s Box, means you’re uncovering more mysteries and insights.

5. Get at least 25 thoughts. It may seem like a lot, but it’s not. It’s quite easy to get 25 thoughts once you get going.

6. If you want to continue on with more than 25, that’s even better. Remember the more you write, the deeper you enter into your subconsciousness, the more understanding you gain.

Once you’re done, assess your self-talk.Step 2: Assess your inner thoughts

On the right side of your answers, draw a column. Read and assess each thought. For a positive thought that enables you to achieve your goals, draw an up arrow. For a negative thought that pulls you away/down, draw a down arrow. For neutral thoughts, put a dash (i.e. no effect).When you’re done assessing all your thoughts, count the number of up arrows, down arrows and dashes you have. Write the numbers there.Step 3: Evaluation

1. Which do you have the most: Up arrows, down arrows or dashes?2. How would you describe your self-talk based on what you’re reading/seeing?3. Look at your negative and neutral self-talks (if you have any). For each one, ask yourself

how continuing to think like this will help you live a better life and achieve your goals. And if you can’t find a good reaosn to continue on this negative/neutral thought, see if it’s time to change your self-talk then.

4. Come up with a positive self-talks for each negative self-talk and neutral self-talk. For the positive ones, see if you can make them even more positive.

30DLBL Day 25 – Meditationby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 25 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Today is Day 25 of 30DLBL. If you’ve gotten this far, and have done every day’s task with due diligence (it’s okay if there were delays as long as you ultimately did them), let me congratulate you. It’s not easy to get this far – it obviously shows that you’re serious about your growth to take action and follow-through.Growth is not supposed to be easy. It takes courage to step up against resistances. It takes strength to push through even in face of doubt. It takes passion and love for being the highest of yourself. You see, it’s easy to coax yourself into skipping tasks or dropping the 30-day program because that’s just the simpler way out. Sometimes it’s the result of our very defense mechanisms at work – they are threatened by the exploration, which threatens their very existence. They erect barriers to prevent what’s underneath from being uncovered and examined. It takes a different kind of person altogether to hold yourself to your original commitment of going through the program when you first signed up before 1 Sep.With 5 days left till the end of #30DLBL, we can start counting now to the wrapping of the month and the journey. We started out on the 30DLBL as individuals eager to make a positive change in our lives. I’d like to believe we’re on the start of the path now, with many new things to come.So far in 30DLBL, we’ve covered important habits like gratitude, creating your life handbook, waking early, creating an inspirational environment, kindness, and more. Today we’ll be working on meditation.

Meditation

“Meditation is the dissolution of thoughts in Eternal awareness or Pure consciousness without objectification, knowing without thinking, merging finitude in infinity.” – Swami Sivananda“The affairs of the world will go on forever. Do not delay the practice of meditation.” – MilarepaI’ve written a lot already on my experience with meditation, how I got started and the benefits of meditation, which I invite you to read here first: 10 Reasons You Should MeditateWhether you practice meditation in your daily routine or you only do it sporadically, meditation brings you increased clarity and centeredness within yourself. People who meditate regularly experience a huge slew of benefits, compared to those who don’t.Today we’re going to take a breather through meditation.

Your Task: Meditate

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write “My Meditation”.

1. Clear your mind before you start. Take a few deep, slow breaths.2. Follow the 5 steps outlined in How To Meditate In 5 Easy Steps.3. Meditate for as long as you want, till you feel cleansed, purified, refreshed and good to

go. I recommend 30 minutes to start off. If you want to meditate longer, that’s even better. (Back when I went for the Vipassana retreat, I underwent almost 100 hours of intense meditation, and processed a lot of latent memories and thoughts I didn’t know were there)

Observe all the thoughts (your inner dialogue) going through you meditate. Don’t engage in the thoughts; just sit and observe, as an external observer of reality would.

30DLBL Day 26 – Create Your Bucket Listby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 26 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Today is Day 26 of 30DLBL. We have only 4 days left before the challenge is over and the month draws to a close. How’s everyone doing with the tasks? Tomorrow I’ll be at a 2-day Youth Marketing Asia 2010 conference, where regional marketing delegates from some of the top companies will gather. I’ll be speaking on Tuesday on “How To Build a Top Blog”, as well as moderating at the panel for the evening.Earlier this year, I was interviewed by CNN on the same topic as well, sharing on how bucket lists, what they are and how they relate to living our best life. A few weeks ago, I was invited to record a 1-minute video for She’s Next, which will go live on 1 October. The topic I spoke about was bucket lists as well – how to make your own to live your best life.Today’s task is about bucket lists.

Day 26 – Bucket Lists

Today’s task will take about 45 minutes.

“Every man dies – Not every man really lives.” ~ William Ross“The only people who fear death are those with regrets.” ~ Author UnknownWhat would you do if today is your last day alive?

That’s the answer that the bucket list answers. It’s a list of all the things you want to do before you die. From places you want to visit, things you want to see, things you want to experience, events you want to witness, people you want to meet, and more   .Last year I first wrote my bucket list of over 100 items, and since then I’ve been crossing the items off the list and adding new ones as I go along. Ever since I wrote the list, I’ve accomplished some of the items, including turning my passion into my career, setting up my school/training business, being featured on local media, being featured on international media, speaking at regional conference (will be doing next week), see snow, etc. My other items on the list which I look to do in the future include riding on a hot-air balloon, meeting my soul mate, visiting the Louvre in Paris, meeting my spirit guides in person, see fireflies, and more.As I mentioned in my earlier article on bucket lists, the objective of creating a bucket list isn’t to instill some kind of a race against time or to create aversion towards death. I don’t see our existence to be limited to just our physical years on earth – I see our physical lifespan is but a short speck of our entire existence which spans across an infinite amount of time. The whole point of a bucket list is to maximize every moment of our existence and live our life to the fullest. It’s a reminder of all the things we want to achieve in our time here, so that instead of pandering our time in pointless activities, we are directing it fully toward what matters to us.If you don’t have a bucket list, I highly recommend you to create one. How much does it cost? Probably 30 minutes to an hour, or more if you get really caught up in the writing   . What do you gain? Significant clarity and focus on what you want from your life. It’s an invaluable exchange. If you have already written your bucket list before, take this opportunity to review it. See if there are new items you want to add-on. If so, add them in. Check if all the items listed are still relevant. If not, remove them.If you are curious, check out my bucket list before you start off 

Your TaskPart 1: Create Your Bucket List

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write “My Bucket List”.Now ask yourself: “What are all the things I want to do before I die?” Start writing away.Additional questions you can use (extracted from 101 Things To Do Before You Die):

What if you were to die tomorrow? What would you wish you could do before you die? What have you always wanted to do but have not done yet? What will you do if you have unlimited time, money and resources? Any countries, places or locations you want to visit? What are your biggest goals and dreams? What do you want to see in person? What achievements do you want to have? What experiences do you want to have / feel? Are there any special moments you want to witness? What activities or skills do you want to learn or try out? What are the most important things you can ever do?

What would you like to say/do together with other people? People you love? Family? Friends?

Are there any specific people you want to meet in person? What do you want to achieve in the different areas: Social, Love, Family, Career,

Finance, Health (Your weight, Fitness level), Spiritual? What do you need to do to lead a life of the greatest meaning?

Come up with as many items as you can. The items should be things you have not done yet. Don’t stop until you finish listing at least 101 things! If you find yourself stuck, chances are you are mentally limiting/constraining yourself. Release those shackles – This is a list of everything you want to achieve, do, see, feel and experience in your life.Step 2: Put your list in your life handbook

Make a copy of your bucket list and put it in your life handbook, so you can refer to it every day.Step 3: Take Action on 3 Items

Select at least 3 items on the list which you most want to achieve now.How can you take action to achieve them starting today? Spend some time writing and planning out the action steps. Schedule them in your calendar so you can make time for them.

30DLBL Day 27 – Letting Goby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 27 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Today is Day 27, and we have 3 days left before the end of 30DLBL. A few days ago, I asked for your feedback on having forums here at TPEB. Many of you were excited about the idea of having a common space to discuss about your life and growth with other like-minded people. So am I   . After reading through your feedback, I thought it’d be most beneficial if I set up a forum. If you’re passionate about growth and you are looking to connect with like-minded people in your personal growth journey, stay tuned for the forums, which will be up in a few days’ time! I’ll be titling it as The Personal Excellence Forums   . As with all communities, there’s always a beginning period when it’s new and taking shape, and I expect it to be the same

here. Your participation will be crucial to the growth of the community. In time to come, my vision for the forums is to be a large personal growth community, synonymous for excellence and known as the go-to place to meet excellent people and live excellent lives.In the past 26 days, we have done a lot of work in our personal growth. We worked on both our internal reality (discovering our true selves) and our external reality (updating our environment to reflect our true selves). Both prepare us to live our best lives. As we move towards our ideal life, we want to be sure we are ready, emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually, to receive it into our lives. Today, we’ll be examining things that are not serving us and letting them go so we can start living our best lives.

Day 27 – Letting Go

Do you know that everything in your life now is preventing you from evolving to your next stage of growth?It’s true. Everything you see in your life, be it your daily routine, your habits, your past, your beliefs, your world view, your relationships, your attitude, your attachments, your detachments, your environment, your thought patterns, and more have all served you and brought you to where you are today. While they have brought you into your current self today, they are actually preventing you from moving on to your next stage of growth.The truth is, in our journey of growth, change is the only constant. We weave in and out of different life situations all the time. We meet new people and shed away friendships that no longer support us. We let go of certain beliefs and take on empowering ones. We change old thought patterns and embrace new ones that support us in the new stage of life. And then once all that’s done, the whole cycle continues again, as we move to the next level in growth. It never stops. That’s why they say growth is a journey, because it’s a process, and not an end point. To be able to grow endlessly, we’ve to be ready to let go of what’s around us. Whenever we grow fixated or attached to a certain aspect of our reality, it suggests something that’s holding us back, something to let go.Just like a little seedling that can’t grow if it’s enclosed in a little box, we need to let go of things that are limiting us if we want to live better lives. Just like a caterpillar can’t blossom into a

butterfly if it remains in its cocoon, we need to release ourselves of binding shells we’re in. Just like a little baby can’t grow if it’s put inside an incubator its whole life, we need to let go of imaginary pillars of support, so we can evolve into our highest selves.When I first started my journey to set up my personal development business, there were many things I consciously let go. The first thing was my corporate job. It was obvious if I wanted to embrace my purpose 100%, there was no way I should staying on in a job that didn’t resonate with my soul. The second thing was my friends. While it was not like I cut off any relationships, the frequency of contact was lesser. It was pointless to hold on to the friendships for the sake of it, because we were clearly walking down diverging life paths. This gave me room to meet other like-minded people who resonated in my new journey. The third thing was societal norms and expectations on the kind of job and career path one should take on. Setting up a business is usually frowned upon in local context because of risks involved. On the other hand, being with a large corporation, with a good pay to boot, is seen as the golden standard.These were just 3 of the many things that I let go. There were other things too, such as perceptions, stereotypes, thought patterns, beliefs, relationships, expectations, and go on. Looking back, if I had stuck on to any one of those things, it would never have let me to where I am today, and where I’m about to go to. All those things were limiting me. They were holding me back from living my dream life ahead. It was precisely that I let them go, that I was able to move on to create a better life.Likewise, if you are to look at your life goals from Day 6 – whether it’s relationship goals, career goals, health goals, spiritual goals and so on, what do you think the person achieving these goals will be like? What kind of attitude will he/she have? What will his/her thoughts patterns be like? What kind of beliefs will he/she have? Who will he/she hang out with? How will he/she be spending his/her time? What habits will he/she adopt? What will his/her lifestyle be like? What kind of place will he/she be living in? What kind of job will he/she be working in?As you reflect back to your life, how different is that ideal self from your current self today? Is there anything in your life that you should let go, so that you can start living true to your ideal life?Today is a day of letting go, of releasing the old, so we can welcome the new path ahead.

Your Task: Letting Go

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write “Things I’m Letting Go From Today”

1. Look at the life goals that you set on Day 6, as well as your vision board.2. Think about the Future You who will be achieving these goals in X years (whereby X is

set by you)o How will he/she be like? Envision him/her as clearly as possible.o Think about his/her personality, lifestyle, beliefs, thinking patterns, routines, the

people he/she will be with, the friends he/she will have, the relationship he/she will be in, and more.

3. Now, look back at your current self. Is there anything about the present you and your life that’s preventing you from becoming your ideal self right away? Write all of them down.

4. Look at what you wrote for #3. Are you ready to start letting go of these things as you become your ideal self?

30DLBL Day 28 – Write a Letter to Your Future Selfby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 28 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Yesterday was about letting go. Letting go of anything that may be holding us back from achieving our life goals, be it our daily routines, our habits, our past, our beliefs, our world view, our relationships, our attitude, our attachments, our detachments, our environment, our thought patterns, and more.Today is Day 28, and there are only 2 days left before 30DLBL draws to a close. If you’ve been lagging behind by a few tasks, take the chance now to catch up with the gang, so all of us can end of 30DLBL together, on the same note. The forums is underway now and will be up in time for tomorrow’s post, so stay tuned   . Today I’m working on my presentation for Youth Marketing Asia conference tomorrow. After tomorrow’s conference, I’ll be customizing the forums in line with the theme  at TPEB, so it feels and looks right at home   .A few days ago, we had a visit from our future self, who offered us advice on how to live our life to the fullest. Today, we’ll be conversing with our future self again. This time, we’ll be writing to our future self.

Day 28 – A Letter To Your Future Self

(Excerpt from article: Writing a Letter To Your Future Self)Writing a letter to your future self is an exercise which I thought of back in 2006. It was inspired from when I chanced upon the Yahoo! Time Capsule project. Essentially, this is similar to the concept of a time capsule, where you write a personal note to your future self, seal it and only open it at a future moment in time. There are no restrictions on the time duration either – it can be 1 year later, 3 years later, 5 years later, 10 years later, or even 20 years later!Doing this exercise can be a really insightful experience. Just imagine writing a letter to your future self 5 years from now, then opening it at that exact moment 5 years down the road to see how much of it resonated with you. It is a useful supplementary tool to be used in goal achievement, because when you write the letter to your future self, it helps crystallize exactly how you anticipate yourself to become at that specific moment down the road. As you read the letter in the future, you can assess how many things match up (or not) vs. your expectations in the past and think about why that’s the case. Often times, the goals we set and our goal achievement process are subjected to a lot of changes along the way, due to varying obstacles, unanticipated circumstances and changing priorities. The letter gives you a macro-view of your initial vision and lets you recognize how your current vision differs from the past.In addition to that, at the very moment you are writing the letter, your consciousness is captured and stored right there in those words. When you open the letter in the future, you as your future self gets to compare how you used to be in the past and compare with how you are currently. This lets you see in totality how much things have changed since then – and this can be a really intriguing experience. It’s interesting to just see how much you have grown/changed since you wrote the letter For today’s article, you’ll be writing a letter to your future self.

Your Task: Write a Letter To Your Future Self

Start on a new page of your 30DLBL workbook. On top, write “My Letter To My Future Self”. For this task, you can either write your letter in your 30DLBL workbook and tear the papers out. You can buy special craft papers for it you want You can also try Time Netsule or FutureMe.org, an online time capsule service that stores and sends information to a specified email address any time in the future you specify. Personally I prefer to have a copy by my side.

1. Look at today’s date. Now imagine you writing to yourself, exactly 1 year from now. What do you want to say to your future self?

o You can thank him/her for dropping you a visit and sharing the valuable advicea

few days agoo How do you want your future self to be like 1 year in the future?o What are the different dreams and goals you would want to be realized by then?o What is your desired status of the areas of your life wheel at that time?

Career/Business/Studies? Finances? Family? Friends? Love? Health? Spirituality? Recreation? Personal growth? Contribution?

2. Once you’re done, sign off your name with today’s date.3. Safekeep your letter.

o Put the papers in an envelope. Seal it.o On the cover, write “To [Your Name]. To be opened on [Date]“. Replace [Your

Name] with your name, with [Date] the date that’s 1 year from now.o Set in your calendar to open your letter 1 year from now.o Put this envelope in a safe place where no one can access to it.

4. Live your life like you’ve never lived it before in the next 1 year. Open the letter 1 year later and relish in nostalgia, love and joy as you read the letter from yourself 1 year ago.

30DLBL Day 29 – Take The Day Offby Celes | ShareThisToday is Day 29 of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Today is the 29th Day of 30DLBL. Tomorrow, 30DLBL will draw to a close. It feels as if it was just yesterday when I first posted the challenge announcement up. It feels as if it was just yesterday when we broke 100, 200, 500, 800, 1,000, and finally 1,200 participants mark. It feels as if it was just yesterday when we assessed our lives with the life wheel, when we got down to create our vision board, when we looked back on our lives,when we expressedgratitude to others, when we created our inspirational room, and when we had a visit from our future self.

Many of you told me that you’ve gained tremendously from 30DLBL. You’ve come to a new level of self-awareness. You’ve liberated yourself from limiting beliefs. You’ve done things which you never thought you could do. You’re now ready to take conscious action in your life. It doesn’t end here though. It doesn’t mean that once you participate in 30DLBL, you’ll no longer need to do anything to live a better life. No, not at all. These exercises aren’t meant to be one-off exercises; they are timeless exercises, that are to be done regularly as part of living our best life. And this is why I’m working on a complete guidebook for 30DLBL now, to be released sometime in October. This 30DLBL workbook will be complete with full 30 tasks to help you live a better life, detailed exercise templates to guide you through each exercise, reflection logs for you to write your reflections and many heavy improvements based all the feedback I’ve collected on the 30DLBL run. It’ll be your valuable asset for growth, to move yourself to the next stage in your life whenever you want to. You can do the 30 tasks for one task a day, one task every 2 days, or even once a week for those who want an intensive coverage per task. The workbook will be your vital tool to live a better life. I’ll share more on it as I finish the workbook, in October.From 30DLBL, many of you got the opportunity to meet other like-minded people. Having a common space where everyone who is interested in personal growth can gather and support each other in this journey of growth is one of the most important enablers we can ever have in our growth. As such, I proudly introduce to you The Personal Excellence Forums (TPEF)   . It’s just a quiet launch, so I expect it to be small in the beginning. I’ll be announcing officially post 30DLBL. Whether you’re an active, silent or non-participant of 30DLBL, I invite you to drop in, say hi at the introductions forum, and post away! I’ve also created a 30DLBL forums, where all of you are free to discuss about 30DLBL or even rally folks for your own round of 30DLBL! After this 30DLBL is over, I’ll be closing the comments of the 30DLBL tasks at the blog.With the announcements out of the way, let’s now get to Day 29.   Day 29, being 2nd last task of the challenge, is as important as all the rest. It’s on taking a day off for yourself.

Day 29 – Take a Day Off For Yourself

It’s been 28 days, and quite a journey all of us who’ve been diligently following through the challenge. It’s not easy getting here, and I applaud you. I applaud you for the dedication you have towards your growth, for your commitment towards growth, and for being who you are.

Even though some of the days’ tasks were quite the challenge (no pun intended), you’ve put in the work and done them. And for that, you’ve gained for your efforts, and these will go a long way in your growth journey ahead.In our journey of growth, in the midst of our busyness, it’s easy to lose sight of the now, to be fixated on what we want to achieve and forget about ourselves. Yet, for you to be able to achieve your goals and live your life to the fullest, you have to first be at your personal best, in your health and well-being. If you’re not in tip top condition, you’re not going to be able to get much done. Just like a car that has no fuel cannot lead you anywhere, a body and soul that is not well rested cannot help you accomplish anything.After 4 weeks of reflection and conscious action, today is the time to take a break, as a way to celebrate and reward yourself for everything you’ve done and accomplished for this month. Your task today is to just relax and do whatever you want. To be free and have fun. To take the day off and smell the roses in your garden.The funny thing is, it’s precisely when I’m taking time away from work, that I get my best ideas and get the highest focus. When I keep working beyond the point of exhaustion, I rarely get much done even when I spend a lot of time. Ideas are bland. There’s no inspiration or love for the work, and it shows from the output. On the other hand, when I get a good rest, I’m all set and ready to go. I’m focused and on point. New ideas just keep surfacing when I’mmeditating or exercising. In fact, just 2 weeks ago, I got a major a-ha when I was swimming, which led me to push forward my 5 year goals to 3 years and add a whole new array of goals, goals which I thought of achieving when I was younger.Today, your job is to take the day off and relax. 

Your Task: Take the day off!

Take the day off! Go relax and have fun. Here are some ideas: Switch off the computer and take a break from it today Go have a stroll in the park. Observe the trees, the greenery, the flowers, the blue sky, the

surroundings. Soak in the beauty of everything. Watch your favorite shows Go rent a nice movie Listen to your favorite songs Have fun saying hi to others in the forums! Chat with your friends Go hang out Go out and have fun Shopping Sleep Meditate in peace and quiet Do your favorite hobbies Cook your favorite food Do nothing! Anything that makes you happy and relax!

30DLBL Final Day – Create Your Plan Aheadby Celes | ShareThisToday is the last day of Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge (View 30DLBL tasks). Check the 30DLBL Forums to discuss or get help on today’s task.

Today is Day 30, and we’re finally here, in the last day of 30DLBL.I would like to congratulate you and sincerely thank you for being a part of this journey, with me and with everyone of us. Whether you have been participating it actively or passively, your love has been felt deeply and truly. Remember it doesn’t end here. The connections we’ve made will live on forever. The realizations we’ve reached will be carried on. And now there’s also The Personal Excellence Forums, which will now us the common space where like-minded individuals can meet and support each other in the journey of growth. It’s been barely 1 day and so far we already have 164 posts in 36 threads, and 43 new members registered! Join in if you haven’t and say hello to everyone in the introductions forum! Display your vision board with pride in the Wall of Dreams.While today is the last task, it’s not the end yet. Tomorrow, I’ll be having a round up of the challenge and asking for all your feedback – which was your favorite task, which task you had the most challenge with, what you enjoyed most about the challenge, what you felt can be even better, etc. Stay tuned tomorrow. Also, there’s the 30DLBL official guidebook as I mentioned yesterday. I’ll be creating an upgraded version of 30DLBL for the giudebook, based on the feedback on 30DLBL 1st run. Stay tuned for that in October.Let’s now get to Day 30 of 30DLBL, and the last task of the challenge.

Day 30 – Your Journey Ahead

Today’s task will take about an hour.

It’s been quite the month   . We started off with our own 30DLBL workbook. From Days 1-10, we assessed our lives on the life wheel. We imagined what our ideal life would be. We created our vision board. After that, we set our mission statement. We discovered our values, and for some of us, we renewed them. We set our life goals and created action plans. Then, we assessed our to-do list and created our 20/80 lists.Days 11-20, we decluttered our space. We got feedback from others. We reflected on our lives after that. We expressed gratitude for things we love. We created our life handbook on Day 16. We gave early rising a shot. We created our inspirational room. Day 19, we connected with our friends. We made a new friend after that.Then in the last 10 days, we did acts of kindness. We received advice from our future self. We listened into our inner dialogue. We uncovered our limiting beliefs. We meditated. We created our bucket lists. We let go of what’s holding us back. 2 days ago, we wrote a letter to our future self. We took a day off for ourselves. And today, we’re at the last day of the challenge.In these 30 days, we’ve rediscovered ourselves on a new level. Deep emotions were experienced. We accessed a part of us that we didn’t know was there before. A new level of awareness of reached. Tears might have been shed. The past was let go. Goals were rediscovered. New visions have been created. We’re now different from 30 days ago. Things will never be the same again.In these 30 days, there have been many important things learned and realizations reached. These are critical learnings that we need to capture as we move on ahead. Today, we’ll be reviewing and reflecting on the past 30 days. We’ll be reassessing our life with the life wheel, the very first task that kicked off the 30DLBL journey. And last but not least, we’ll set our goals and create our plan for the next stage ahead, so we can continue to create many, many more positive change and results. The trajectory of our path has been changed and nothing’s going to stop us now in living the life we want to live   .

Your Task: Create Your Plan Ahead

Flip open to a new page of your 30DLBL. Write down today’s date. On top, write “My Plan Ahead”.Think over the following questions, and write down the answers that ensue.Part 1: Reflection of past 30 Days

1. What have you gained in the past 30 days?1. Have you come to any realizations about yourself? If so, what are they?2. What have you learned for yourself? Anything you learned about yourself?

2. Reassess your life on the life wheel from Day 1. Give yourself a score for each of the 10 categories.

1. What scores did you give? Why do you give these scores?2. Compare this against the scores you gave yourself on Day 1. Are the scores

higher? Or lower? Why?3. Is there anything you’ve learned from this life wheel assessment?

Part 2: Planning for the Future

1. What do you want to accomplish for the next 3 months for you to look back and conclude these as the best 3 months of your life ever?

o Refer to your Life Goals (Day 6)

2. What is your key plan moving forward to achieve these goals? (Action Plan, Day 7)

1. What key steps are you going to take?2. What are you going to do differently to make this a success?3. How can you apply the learnings from Question 1?