The Focus Training Challenge #

Focus Training is a challenge that spans over 12 days and involves several activities.

These activities are there to help bounce back from laziness, get organized and get a healthy mindset. Aimed for artists and people who just need a quick bounce back to productivity.

The challenge includes: #

• Creating a daily To-Do list, and using it daily

• This is the task of basically observing and recording what you do for the day, afterwards you put down what you need to do into a to-do list!
• It helps get the mind off of thinking what to do and what to do next, and likely making sure you don't miss what's missing.
• (Physical list preferred, gives you the satisfaction of actually doing something)

• Batching your daily activities

• This is the task of batching, meanining bundling tasks together, easy first then hard next. Makes starting daunting tasks a lot more easier and routine.
• You start off with an easier task like say, washing your face, making a cup of coffee, then you start drawing/programming.

• Setting the number of hours you work / schedule and following it

• This is the task of setting an amount of time aside for work and break.
• If you tend to work without care or spread out the entire day, this will help so you have dedicated time to work on important things and time for your own!
• Give yourself a good amount of hours to work with, that's 6 for me!

• Setting dedicated break days

• This is the task of having a dedicated day or two for just a break.
• Having a dedicated day for a break and for your own things is good for mental health! Use this dedicated day to relax, and just have fun!

• Using the Pomodoro Method

• This is the task of spacing out the amount of time you have to work and having short breaks in-between.
• By doing so, you prevent yourself from tiring out faster and gives you space to think and relax.

• Meditating to calm the mind

• This is the task of meditation, or the task of calming down to clear your head.
• When we do work, sometimes we have trouble of thinking of solutions or generally stress. Meditation is there to help clear your mind so you can start fresh again.
• It also helps on removing stress and rampant thoughts. While it seems boring, it's worth trying.

• Splitting work over a few days

• This is the task of splitting different parts of your work over multiple days.
• Spreading over days helps out on not stressing yourself out overworking on one single piece of work. For example: you work only on lineart for today, coloring tomorrow.
• It helps you out by switching roles on your work too, so you can focus on one objective at a time.

• Block websites

• This is the task of blocking social media and websites that commonly distract you. (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Youtube)
• By recognizing that you've been spending a lot of time on certain sites, you block them so you can focus on work more.
• With the recent news also, it keeps your mental state healthy while you work.

• Putting your phone away while doing the work

• This is the task of giving yourself distance from your phone.
• Often times, if you have your phone next to you, you have the impulse to pick it up and check social media. It's essentially the same reason above.
• You can do more by uninstalling social media apps too and just restrict to checking it only on your PC!

The challenge itself will be hard at first as you get used to it, and you may take several attempts but the idea is that you get yourself into a rhythm into a healthy lifestyle by balancing work, play and rest. This may seem daunting, but you don't have to do them all at once. Slowly introduce each one and form a habit.

On this first episode, I open up talking about my reasons on why I would do it, then talk about my goals to achieve, and finally the measures I would be doing including the challenge.

P.S. Sorry about the glitchy audio, didn't think my noise supressor would be intense!

Welcome to the second episode! #

Today I'll be talking about how my day went with an interesting revelation.
This revelation is about my bad habit of checking my social media.

I started doing:

• Batching
• Blocking sites (using BlockSite)
• Setting the number of hours
• Split the work over a few days
• Put my phone away

I accomplished a lot in this episode, and it's a fascinating discovery once I started doing those.

P.S. I fixed something about the audio, and hope it's clearer to hear! Although, I really can't do anything about the crackling on my mic as it's a USB thing which I hope I will resolve sometime in the future.

On this day's topic, we talk about mindfulness and how it's important to keep a healthy working mindset.
Meditation and mindfulness go together and it is wonderful when you are aware of it.

I started doing:

• Exercise
• Meditation

Meditation is really important, and listen in to how I used that today to stay stable and stay happy!
It's really a wonder~ But I still am thinking of a way to do it as part of a routine.

Hope this prove useful of an introspective about it.

Distractions, distractions, distractions...

Distractions are such a powerful force and it does test you as most sites are designed to keep on

On this day's topic, we talk about mindfulness and how it's important to keep a healthy working mindset.
Meditation and mindfulness go together and it is wonderful when you are aware of it.

I started thinking of:

• Dedicated user on my PC for work and relax
• Starting a checklist on important things

There's a lot of things we can do about it, I slightly go on about with open source decentralized social media too and how much healthier they are for the mind as well.

I think I did a better job talking today, less "umms" and "uhhs". This audio log is getting my confidence up, and that's a good thing!
P.S. I slightly changed how my audio works again, so it might feel more podcasty this time! Make it an easier listen.

It's not exactly related to the challenge but I feel I should talk about it and it's an interesting revelation.

Decentralization

I found out that decentralized platforms are much more healthier.
Specifically how the Fediverse works in decentralization.

The big lesson here is...
To start not catering to popularity, but to people who are interested.
It just makes the experience much more less of a one way street but you're talking to real people.

I talk about decentralized platforms this episode, and how it changed my perceptions.

Things I did this day:

• Put my RSS feed on my website
• Completed commissions
• Finalize my dedicated break days
• Adjusted my todo-list for commissions

If you are interested in these platforms:
Mastodon
PeerTube
Mastodon - wishdream@sleeping.town
ShareTube - PeerTube Instance

You know, I find these platforms admirable with the goal of taking the internet back, and it's pretty nice.
And you know, it's nice to be kept grounded from the perception of being starstruck.

P.S. Good news! I got a new USB extension~! From here on out, audio should be clearer. Shoutout to my dear friend Fireson for it. Thanks so much ;w;

So this episode is Day 5 which is a break day, which turned out not to be.

And turns out, the lesson today is about patience.
Why so? It's simple. I had three packages in the waiting.
I am eager as these three packages are quite important to me; one of them is a gift, another is something I'm interested in, and the last one was to put that something I am interested in inside a carrying case.

If you want to hear all about it, give it a listen!
Two packages arriving early, then the last one was quite a doozy.

I spent my day taking a break, though anxious for 3 packages.

• I got to play Shin Megami Tensei 4: Apocalypse
• Watched the Limmy's Show
• First sketch of revamped Fluency
• Mostly off my PC and stuck with my phone

I talked about a few more on my audio log, it's short but sweet I'd say.
I might think of giving some music in the background next time, though only a consideration.

Well, I hope you enjoy this entry.

Time is weird, and is quite fickle. It's a concept sure, but a lot of us revolve around it.

Today, I attempted to work in the afternoon as my friends are awake in the morning.
Timezones are quite a bother though. Example: you want to work in the morning, but your friends are also awake in the morning.
This is mostly the reason why I wanted to switch to an afternoon schedule.
I admit, there are upsides and downsides to this in-which it has a lot to do with emotional and mental state.

I talk about it all here on my audio log.

I started doing:

• Pomodoro Timer
• To-Do List Revision (Digital)

I was quite productive as I did some programming for Mobius Grid and I ended up polishing 4 characters I planned for Rivals of Aether modding.
I ended up drawing a few birds too for my friend which was nice and I also tried learning Oracle Reading!

In the end, it was a very much productive day but let's see if I could keep it up.

So this episode, let's talk about how these habits are becoming natural.

I am starting to notice that my habits are becoming now more natural as it is routine.
It's amazing and I'm surprised how easy it was to now start things that I was having such a hard time to start.
Although that I ended up sleeping twice, it was an extremely productive day with just a lot of programming for Mobius Grid here and there.

I noticed how also antihistamine can make you a little sleepy and I'm glad I implemented siesta to my routine.

As there isn't anything much happened here on this day for a list, there won't be one today.
Although, I did find this new neat Twitter client called Twidere. Alternate client for Twitter & Mastodon.

Super useful as it has multi-post with multiple accounts!
Twidere

There's a lot more I talk about with the episode than the text here, so have a listen!

P.S. Sorry if I was late for this entry! I accidentally fell asleep to make my audio log! I got the notes and everything. So this will be posted today along with Day 8.

Today is about how productive I can be with streaming!

Streaming is like a way to show the world what you got and today I did a 4-5 hour stream on Twitch and I see how having friends over in a Discord call is quite engaging. The entire time I was working on Astra's DSpecial animation, me and my friends were talking of what Ionia would be like!

We also tested my new songlist player over there and it went wonderfully!

Aside from that, I did refresh my OS system, did desktop cleaning and more on the audio log.

I also talked about what feels natural for me now. Let's check what is that?
The habits I'm natural with right now:

• Break Days
• Splitting Work Over Days
• Meditation
• Batching
• Block List
• Phone is away
• Nap at noon

I think it's really nice that I'm starting to become more aware of these and that's a good thing. I may extend the number of days I'm doing this, mostly because I feel it's better to do it for two weeks.

To progress!

Ahh yes, company!

Welcome friend! Let's talk about company.
You know, sometimes we just need the good ol' boost with friends! And in this case, thanks to my friends I'm able to finish Astra completely.

Though, with their influence however, that's what I've been mostly focused on.
I went through and started my next character, Ionia.

Company can affect us in different ways. Sometimes it's like when you wake up can affect how you are in most of the day. Sometimes it's very motivating and very driving! Sometimes we just want to be alone, be it subconsciously or not.

Things I did this day:

• Finish Astra completely
• Started on Ionia
• Created a 3D to 2D pixel animation pipeline
• Hung out with friends

Once in a while as you are doing your work, you should hang with friends once in awhile. It can do you good!
Like watch an episode or two as you're drawing! It's wonderful :D

Aimless.

That's the only word I can describe this day.

A lot of it is due to how I broke my time which made it harder to focus.
Sure there's some kind of productive output I have but it is in the wrong places.
I hope to rectify that tomorrow or soon. I even left myself a note for it!

Since there isn't a lot to this day, no list for now.

I did learn a few things here and there, mentioned what productive things I did today too.
I'd say give it as listen, it's a short but sweet one.

Today is a day of Improvements!

It was a relatively nice day today. Quite relaxed and productive really.
Although I feel that time flew way too fast again. It's like 4pm was suddenly 9pm after 30 minutes.
It's weird because it feels like I did really well today but was short on time.

From this day onwards, I won't add a list anymore since it's getting really stagnant. Instead, I will highlight the ones that are the focus or things that are important.

I'm happy I got to exercise today, then do some productive stuff that I marked onto the audio.
It's really interesting.

I go on about adding Brain Training as well. It helps to keep the mind fresh.
I've been really aware of how I remember things so it's been keeping my mind more trained.

I also started using my phone as a physical-ish Pomodoro timer! It works wonders.

Rest day!

I was just basically tired the entire day.
Just played PSO2 with friends for the most part of the day really.
I passed out on the afternoon and continued playing at night.

I don't really know much what to say. I guess have a good listen and enjoy the lovely talk about Kiki's Paradise and how I relate to Gigi.

DAY 13! It's just one of the most of funnest days I had since COVID-19.
So this day is just all about fun!

Carrying over from yesterday, I played SRB2Kart with people that is within my semi-public server.
So much so that we spent a lot of hours with 10+ consistent people and it was just awesome!
After all of that, I can safely say it'll be a staple on my server to play every week.

More than that, I do plan to branch out to other games and in this episode I talk all about it.
I also delve into the reason why I love playing multiplayer games and kind of it's lost form of fun that I had with it when I was small!

Give it a listen as I gush all about it~

Today was just mostly about evenings as that was just the productive part of the day.

I worked with ArtFight today and also working on private things that I can't talk about really.
I wish I can show you guys but it is just something I really can't.

I go and look back on how much I've learned and how it's now second nature.
All of them are now habits that are things I follow today.

Although, I muse about how I still haven't gone with my Japanese learning yet and I realize that I have been keeping busy.
I also talk about the limits I have while learning on this challenge so far as well as later in the future and muse about my plans.

Today we start off with ArtFight from yesterday and I 3d modeled Felicia from Rivals of Aether workshop!
After that, I did mostly nothing aside from private stuff.

I realized today that having interrupted your own sleep schedule is disruptive.

I talk about it a lot here, playing catch up with my own sleep, making sure that I get it right and how I'm expanding the number of days to Day 18.

Today is a Resolve from yesterday.
I woke up 4pm as expected and immediately prepared to fix my sleep schedule.

Went ahead with a livestream for a productive time for the night and did my daily routine to ensure that I do everything right. I also did a few things related to something that is private that I sadly can't show. However, I am moving in the right direction for it.

Now, in this episode, I talk about all the three ways you can recover your sleep schedule, from sleeping continuously, staying up or doing 30 minute short naps. I had a little help with doing so by thanks to my allergy medication which does make me tired slightly. I know I can reset everything I do by just doing my daily routine thanks to batching and well, we shall see if it worked tomorrow!

Determination. It can do a lot for you.
Even though I might've seen like I haven't done a lot today, I did enough for me.

While I ended up being tired, I said screw it and slept but in a way where I woke up at a proper time with enough to be tired at the end of the day. I mostly ending up to realign with most of routine and all it took is to just start and afterwards I just placed myself into this flow state where I just kept on going.

It's really hard to get started, and sometimes that is the only leap to just get started on everything.
Determination and discipline to get started is a must to leap for it, so no matter if you wanted to do it or not for the day, as you start you just fall into it.

There's a lot more I say in the audio, but I think that's the gist of it.

Today is just an amazing recovery!

While I still feel weak, I somehow recovered really well. I did my daily routine, worked on commissions, helped someone with their Fallout 4, played PSO2 on break with friends, created a very thorough review of a secret game that I can't divulge, and worked on a prototype on my secret project.

There is a secret project that I am working on currently and I talk about it in detail inside this audio log.
As well as things to come in soon and how did I do with the recovering.

The Focus Training Challenge END #

Focus Training is a challenge that spans over 12 days and involves several activities.
But has been extended to 18 days to accommodate the lazy days.

These activities are has helped bounce back from laziness, get organized and get a healthy mindset.

I learned: #

• To-Do lists

• I created 3 to-do lists, one for my major to-do, one for the things I have to do for the day, and one for the minor things and outlines of things I had to do today.
• I got used to organizing what I needed to do and prioritizing. It helped me worry less all about it.

• Batching

• This significantly improved on how I start to do things. There's just a simple satisfaction on starting small.
• You can do this more than just your morning routine, for me I also used taking a bath and meditating as a starting point.

• Scheduling / Number of hours worked

• Setting a number of hours worked helped me split work from something I really want to do for fun. While sure I have my dream job of making art and stuff, there are still minor things and ideas screaming in my mind to just do it.
• It also helped me set a dedicated relax time whenever I'm done.

• Dedicated break days

• This just allows to help hanging out with friends, have something to look forward to at the end of the week and just pure relaxation without any guilt.
• I used these days to just let go and be free of what I'm doing. So I absolutely use this day to dive my nose into games.

• Pomodoro Method

• The Pomodoro Method helped a lot to not burnout super quick. I ended up working around 6 hours all the time straight without ever burning out. It's really nice for the head and to not stress.

• Meditating and Mindfulness

• I use this to help keep a clear mind a lot. It just boost your workflow and allows you to think very clearly.
• It's a superpower that can be learned and worth to keep your emotions in control, and in a way, create healthier relationships with people.

• Splitting work over a few days

• Since you focus one objective at a time, you spent less time worrying about the entire piece and just how you do the objective. This just allows me to do multiple commissions without any problems. It's not the most efficient, but it is the most healthy.

• Blocking websites and social media

• Social media is quite a bother to not only your focus but your emotions and mental state, by keeping the sites in-check, you can absolutely control how much you take in and it's a good idea to do so.
• After a detox from social media, I worry less and just let life do it's thing. I'm not saying I'm ignorant but it helps to be careful as if you have a healthy mind, you can help others too.

• Decentralization

• With the previous, I ended up moving to decentralized sites and just works a lot more better since there is no algorithms and no numbers to chase.
• It made me realize that I care about more about the people that really care about me than numbers and keeps me grounded as I focus on making my work great. With my work, I know that numbers will follow but those numbers don't matter to me anymore.

• Putting your phone away

• By waking up and sleeping without your phone, you get to help yourself into a better easier waking up and sleeping mindset.
• As work also goes on, you aren't stuck up endlessly scrolling on your phone. It creates a nice habit of controlled intake. The less you use your phone for distractions, the easier it is to focus.

• Brain training

• I realize that the mind also degrades and I had trouble recalling things, so I was worried and started training my brain. I didn't regret this decision as it helped me more than I thought.
• Training your brain just lets you recall things faster and not suddenly forget a topic or anything you just said. And with that, it helps not just on communication but also remembering things and create intuitive ways to do stuff faster.

The challenge itself will be hard at first as you get used to it, and you may take several attempts but the idea is that you get yourself into a rhythm into a healthy lifestyle by balancing work, play and rest. This may seem daunting, but you don't have to do them all at once. Slowly introduce each one and form a habit.

I didn't think that I would reach this day learning so much lessons but in the future I would like to try:

• Using co-working space as a good workplace away from home
• Weekly swimming
• Biking or hitting the gym
• Finding good ways to get healthier food or just cooking my own in general

I've learned so much and I wouldn't have made it without the motivation of getting healthier and you silent watchers too.
As much as I would love to continue, it must end, and days must go on!
I hope that I would have inspired you to do the same, while it's a lot, I hope you open your mind to it too.
Now with a clear direction and on the path, I must say that-

Remember to shine your way, and reach your dreams!

• Wishdream

ONWARDS TO THE FUTURE