I’m not much of a writer, so I was kinda dreading writing these blog posts. I also didn’t get why this is was so necessary… However, when Terry put a blog post into Slack written by Marc on why we write SCABs, I just knew I had to contribute. Marc called it an opportunity to explore and develop the power of my words as well as a chance to cement the knowledge gleaned from the weeks masterclasses, locking it into my long-term memory. I take the opportunity to improve myself very seriously, and if reflecting and writing 500 or so words does that, then I shall do so ad nauseam.

After reading about 30 SCABs I was like wow, I’ma keep eating up these golden nuggets and fuel my mind. I’m learning from my peers and it’s helping me find my voice (looking at you Chip and Ben, lovely stuff so far). I sense sexy things are happening in my head, new neural pathways are glowing and I feel like Dorothy and the Tin Man are skipping down the yellow brick road. Instead of going to visit the Wizard I’m on the way to creating my own magic.

ET VOI-LA!

Yeah the school has had an incredible impact already. It’s been 2 weeks and I’m more motivated, more organised (although that’s not saying much lol) and more mindful than ever. It’s also got me back into reading daily which is sick. Currently reading this book called Skin In The Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and this is no hyperbole when I say I feel like I’m getting smarter after every page. 

The real trick is keeping this motivation going, but I feel having the incredible mentors there to always to talk to and inspire will help me do this. Also, just making sure I stay accountable for my actions, I have huge aspirations and I’m only gonna get there if I continue knuckling down and doing shit rather than talking about it. Keeping accountability, making sure I have skin in the game, is something that’s driving me at the moment, and long may it last. 

Oh another thing I am doing which has helped my mental strength and focus is intermittent fasting and basically eating one main meal a day. I know it sounds crazy, but stay with me. I’ve been vegetarian for the last 4 years (I do eat meat on special occasions like Eid and birthdays etc. but like 3/4 times max a year) which is terrific, feel a whole lot happier and less anxious. But I still was kinda lazy, found it hard to focus longer than 40mins or so and found it hard to wake up in the mornings and go to sleep at night. I then listened to a lot of different people on what they were doing diet-wise to increase focus, sleep and life expectancy (athletes, doctors and geneticists) and I found out about the one meal a day thing. I’ve been fasting every year during Ramadan for a while now, so fasting came fairly easy for me, but doing it as a routine everyday was different. Not eating breakfast was a huge one, I had more time in the mornings and felt I had more energy and focus almost immediately. I especially noticed this after starting SCA, I didn’t have that mid day slump, I felt more awake and on task all the way up until 5pm. I still drank a lot of liquids, mainly water, and had my vitamins and chia seeds in the morning which kept me going.

Anyway, that’s enough of that, all I’m saying is there are many ways to stay focused and motivated. You just have to find out what works for you. 

@akbartrapstar