Random Alarm for Challenge

Random Alarm for productivityA great tip by Lolly Daskal. Challenge yourself to raise the bar in whatever you are doing, whenever a random alarm goes off.  For example, if you are talking to someone and the alarm goes off, focus on going deeper.  Or, if you are working on a project, think of ways to streamline the process. Etc.

I want to try this ritual, but having trouble finding the right alarm app. Which one do you recommend?

 

The Gambling Habit

Gambling Habit CartoonI am listening to “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duihgg on audible. The chapter I am currently reading describes how a typical homemaker, who never had any addiction problem became heavily indebted with gambling. It’s very scary to see how she gradually became a destructive gambler. Throughout the book the author describes how a habit develops from the following cycle: the cue, the routine, and the reward.  In her case, the cue was boredom/fight with her husband/kids. Going to the casino became a routine when she got that cue, and the reward was the occasional win.

There’s lots of good examples in the book on how people can develop habits – those that can help or destroy you.  My cartoon above is the habit that can destroy you, but there are plenty of good examples in the book. My personal favourite is the story about an American major in Baghdad and his understanding of how habits.  The knowledge helped him oversee hundred of troops and control the behaviour of angry crowds in Baghdad.

“There’s nothing you can’t do if you get the habits right…It’s changed everything about how I see the world. You want to fall asleep fast and wake up feeling good? Pay attention to your nighttime patterns and what you automatically do when you get up. You want to make running easy? Create triggers to make it a routine.” – quote by the major from the book.

 

Drinking Alone

Drinking Alone Cartoon

I’m hooked on tapas type dishes these days, and Ajillo is one of them. It’s so easy, plus it’s low carb.  Ajillo is a Spanish word meaining “Garlic flavored”.  In an Ajillo dish, you gently fry any ingredient you like in a garlic & chili infused olive oil.

Recipe for Oyster Ajillo

Garlic (as much as you like. sliced or whole)
Olive Oil (fill up 1/3 – 1/2 of the pan you are using)
red chilli flakes or whole, to taste
Oyster (I bought a tub of shucked oyster from Superstore)

In very low heat, warm up olive oil, garlic and chili.  There are pots made for ajillo, but any small pot would do. Clay pot or cast iron pans are nice to cook with. I put lots of garlic. Once the garlic bubbles through, gently fry the oyster until it becomes puffy.  I like eating off the cooked oyster in the kitchen while it’s hot.  Dip bread in the oyster-garlic-infused oil. You’ll be in heaven! Leftover oil can be eaten at other days, with sliced breads. It becomes a perfect appetizer. I also fried some rice with the leftover oil and it was really good!

A pot designed for ajillo looks like this:

Ajillo is very popular in Japan, and the Japanese amazon sells pans designed for ajillo.

 

Dieting Cartoon pg 1

Dieting

Dieting Cartoon pg 1

Dieting_002(web)

I used to lots of fad diets when I was in high school…it was almost like dieting was my hobby.  The weirdest one I did was the apple-diet. I read it on this comic book by Noriko Sasaki:

The technique is to just eat apples for three days. I only lasted for breakfast and lunch.
Noriko Sasaki is my favourite comic book author. She wrote really cool books like Doubutsu no Oishasan.

With super awesome Japanese kindle store, I’m back to reading comics again. I’m happy to find out that she has new series like Stay Tuned!

Back to my dieting. I’ve been low carb for 5 years and for me it works well. I have less craving and feel full longer. These books explain well:
     

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