First Meeting

This exercise that I did together with Ms Menhardt was supposed to help me find out about my values and what's important to me in life. She told me to just say whatever came to my mind, without filter or being scared that it would be wrong.

1^st: Ms Menhardt asked me to think about a very happy memory, possibly something from my childhood when I felt completely relaxed and content. The first memory that came to mind was a very recent one, namely my holiday in Goa during Duessara break. I said that I didnt feel restless like I usually do, I felt released as I escaped from Bangalore and Stonehill as well as being stuck at my house, and also there was nothing I had to do, and no deadlines. This could be summed up as the absence of all negative things, and that is what I feel is happiness.

2^nd: She asked me to think of a scene: Im stuck in traffic, there's a lot of people around me, and on the side of the road there is a billboard – my billboard. What would be my message to all these people around me? I said that it'd have something to do with art, colors and enjoying things, or probably a vintage picture. It should be very pretty and tell people not to worry.

3^rd: These are two experiences where I felt particularly uncomfortable or awkward. The first one is going to the FRRO, because it means that you're stuck there for the whole day. The second one that came to my mind is when I had a whole bunch of people over to my house, and I felt that it was quite awkward as there were just too many people. I felt like they were expecting something from me and I felt very uncomfortable the whole night.

4^th: She asked me to think of my highschool class reunion, 10 years after graduation. And for some reason, I couldn't come and I missed it. What do I think people would remember about me and what would I want them to remember? I thought that they'd definitely remember my good grades and my art works, and what i'd want them to remember is that I was good with everyone, very inclusive and open towards everyone, not rejecting.

What we got out of all of these memories and scenarios were my values, and the most important ones were:

*Freedom

*Ambition

*Bliss, zero gravity, zero pull (as a state of mind)

*A few close friends

*Art

Now I definitely know what my values in life are, and it feels good because I feel like I found out what's really important to me, although I knew about most of them before it is good to keep them in mind and actively think about them. I had to work collaboratively with Ms Menhardt to find out, and I hope that I can keep the collaboration up for the duration of the time management program and that I won't slack off and stop meeting up with her. Of course, because it is my free choice not to do it, it is very tempting to stop doing it, because it just means extra work for me. But I think if I just commit to doing it until the end, and set that goal for myself I will be happy that I have shown the perseverance to finish it and I hopefully will be rewarded for it as well with better time management skills. Now, I just have to work on organizing my time, according to these values, because those values motivate me, and I am obviously going to work most effectively and best when I am motivated. I know that I am not very good at time management, that is one of my big weaknesses and I know that I have to work on it, that is why I am doing this time management program. The solution we came up with how I could manage to get better at planning my time is using my blackberry calendar to take little notes during the day of what I have to do in the afternoon, because I always carry my phone with me and I am more likely to work if someone (or something) reminds me of what I have to do. Also, this will take some of the stress off me, because otherwise I constantly remind myself of what I have to do still in my head, so that I don't forget it, and I get very stressed out over doing that. in order to achieve my goal, and become successful with organizing my time I have to commit to this time management program and using my blackberry calendar and stick with it for at least 3 weeks (how long it takes to break a habit), which will take a lot of perseverance. I am glad that I have started, and its better to start late than never. I will have to meet up with Ms Menhardt on a regular basis and plan my meetings with her. Also, I will have to plan my homework for every day from today on and then also actually do it. I am not sure if I can break my habit of not doing homework for the past 10 years or my school career all that easily, but I will try to develop that new skill of time management so that I will not get too stressed out about not having enough time.