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The challenge is to learn as much french as possible by the end of summer 2020. “Why?” you may ask. Well, a couple weeks ago, the results of my “studies abroad application” came and I got accepted in to EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland!! As you probably can guess, in Lausanne, the main language is french hence the whole learn french thingy. All my courses there however will be in English, so it is not a necessity to learn french but I thought it might be fun to try.

When I was younger, I was able to speak french fluently since I lived in Canada (the french part), but after moving to Sweden, the Swedish language pretty much replaced the french I had in my brain. I think re-learning french will be pretty challenging but I am pretty motivated and curious how much I can learn in 6 months.

The game-plan is the following:

1. Use the app “Duolingo” to learn the basics/increase vocabulary
2. Listen to basic-to-advanced french podcasts
3. Watch french series
4. Listen to french music
5. Watch french lessons on YouTube
6. Buy a baguette

I think learning a language is consistency, so I will try to put in at least 30-60 min everyday.
Wish me luck, see you back here in 6 months.

How it went:

Well this is a bit late I guess, current date is November 13th 2020 and I started this in December 28th, 2019. So how did it go? I can start by saying that the “at least 30-60 min everyday” was a bit over-ambitious hahah.. But I can say i have been spending on average 15-20 min everyday so it’s at least something. Iv’e been mostly using Duolingo and on a phew occasions listened to french podscasts/music.

As you can see, I am currently at 230 days streak (I lost it once somewhere around 60) and it has been working out well so far. According to Duolingo, I know 1959 french words, which is awesome, but I feel that I can understand way more compared to how much I can speak. I have a hard time forming sentences on my own without having to think for awhile. My approach to Duolingo was a “waterfall” approach, that you instead of doing one by one to level 5, I did 4 “bubbles” at the same time but with descending levels as seen in the picture above.

Everyday, there are 3 finished bubbles that crack, which indicates that it’s been awhile since you last trained those words. So everyday I would try to fix the 3 bubbles and do 4 other bubbles once. This took about 15-20 minutes.

Of course there were lazy days where I just did one bubble just to keep the streak up, but I would say most of the days were on par. Since it is still unclear if my studies in EPFL will happen due to the pandemic, it has been a bit hard to find motivation to keep studying french. It was kind of the carrot that kept me going. But I know future Phil will thank me for not quitting and that it’ll be worth it at the end.

According to a google search I made:

• People who know 250-500 words are beginners.
• Those who know 1,000-3,000 words can carry on everyday conversations.
• Knowing 4,000 to 10,000 words makes people advanced language users.
• While knowing more than 10,000 words puts them at the fluent or native-speaker levels

I will continue to learn french but I’ll cross this challenge as finished just for the sake of the post (and I should be lowlevel french speaker so its technically complete). However I want to reach around 4000-5000 words and speak more natural which I believe is achievable but will take about another 1-2 years.

Challenge accomplished

Published on: Dec 28, 2019

Ever since I started university, waking up early has never really been an issue for me. I had a period during the first year where I would wake up 2 hours before school started to go workout/get a head start on the day. I felt that I was super productive and kind of wanted to get back to that. Why though? It really is just the same as if I were to sleep late/wake up late since I would have to go to bed super early in order to wake up early.

Well, in my defense, it is (for me) easier to be productive in the morning than late at night. But hey, that’s just me. Either way, the challenge is to wake up 04:50 every morning(not counting weekends hehe) and see how it affects my daily life. The challenge is to keep this up til Christmas! It’s about 2 months but I think we can pull it off! It has been 9 days so far since I started and it has been alright. Fingers crossed it goes well and… well.. Goodnight!

How it went:

The whole journey has been pretty good. I would say the challenge was accomplished but with some minor slips. There were some weekdays I didn’t wake up on time due to a bad night of sleep but I would compensate it by waking up early during the weekends instead.

A typical weekday would be:

• 04:50 – Wake up
• 05:15 – Go to the gym OR Do school work
• 06:45 – Shower/breakfast/get ready for school
• 08:15 – School
• 12:15 – Lunch
• 17:00 – Go home
• 17:15 – Dinner
• 18:15 – Do school work OR Relax/Watch youtube
• 20:30/21:00 – Get ready for bed
• 21:30 – ZzZzZ

Then rinse and repeat. This is something I am very happy I did since I got so much done and was rarely stressed. The hard part was really the going to bed on time, so if you can manage that then it should be a piece of cake. Another thing that made waking up easier was that I invested in a proper alarm clock. I bought a “Wake-up light Philips HF3531” which was a bit pricey but was very worth it. This alarm clock starts by lighting up the room slowly 30 min before the alarm. The alarm-signal itself is bird-noises. I mean, waking up to a slow sunrise with bird-noises is the best way to wake up. After awhile it becomes a habit and you wake up before the alarm even rings.

So I would recommend this or just to change the alarm on your phone to something more soothing so that you wake up more softly. This makes a huge difference in how grumpy you are in the morning (according to me).

So you’re probably thinking “What about weekends? What if you are out partying, how can you go to bed early on a Sunday if you’re hungover?”. Well, there is really no good answer for that, I think it is different for each person BUT in my case I had no problem with it. I was out partying close to almost every weekend but it didn’t affect my sleeping pattern too much.

How to wake-up early tips:

1. Get a better alarm clock/change alarm signal on your phone. One that wakes you up softly.
2. Sleep with warmer clothes OR have warm clothes nearby. If you are freezing in the morning, it will be really hard to leave the blankets and get up.
3. Caffeine, but don’t overdue it.
4. Put on “hype” or “feel good” music as soon as you wake up.
5. Turn on all the lights as soon as you get up.
6. Go to bed on time. Try to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. More or less will just make you more tired.
   
   

Finally, will I continue doing this? Yes, yes I will. To the best of my abilities. 🙂

Challenge accomplished

Published on: Oct 9, 2019

This is the 21 Days of Abundance Challenge!

This program is designed to help you develop a mindset of prosperity and abundance in your daily life by working with a short daily meditation and daily task.

An abundance Mindset is the following:

• Point of view: You’re in the driver’s seat
• Physical Energy: Relaxed and alert, expansive posture, rooted and balanced, present, breathing deeply and evenly
• Emotional Energy: Feeling empowered, engaged, positive, like you’re working on something bigger than yourself. You energize and inspire others. You’re excited about the challenges and growth ahead.
• Mental Energy: Feeling of clarity, the ability to perceive multiple angles, listen actively, and notice what others are not seeing. Flexible and adaptable. Typical thought pattern: “I always have a choice. If I were to notice something new, what would it be?”. Creative agency. Nonjudgemental beginner’s mind.

I actually got introduced to this challenge by a friend. I will share my thoughts and feelings about all of this by the end of the challenge. The challenge is to follow a playlist, meditate and complete a small task each day. The full playlist can be found here.

Day 1: Follow along and meditate with the instructions of video 1 from the playlist.
Task 1: Make a list of 50 people that add or have added value in your life. When making your list, it is important to take a moment and think about all the positive things you have gained from this person and how they helped you grow (don’t just mindlessly write the names. Rather, take time to consider why you want to write their name down) The list has to have 50 names. The importance is to mind the motive of choice at the moment you’re writing. (these can be people you know personally, or not)

Day 2: Follow along and meditate with the instructions of video 1 from the playlist.
Task 2: Write a list, no matter the number, of the people you consider to be prosperous in your family or in your social environment. People who have achieved their life goals (all or some) and are happy. Keep in mind, it is not at all just about financial prosperity, but happiness!

Day 3: Follow along and meditate with the instructions of video 3 from the playlist
Task 3: Focusing on breathing and allow yourself to receive so that you will have more to give.

Day 4: Follow along and meditate with the instructions of video 4 from the playlist
Task 4: Make a general list of all your monthly expenses and debt: Write down all the debts you have, whether they are on your credit card, personal credit, loans, etc. It is not necessary to write down the values!! Only the source (eg: rent, student loans, car financing installments, etc….) Then write down all the fixed monthly expenses, again without values, but only the items (eg: electricity, water bill, internet, gym membership, etc…) → the specific amounts don’t need to be written, but the TOTAL amount you need to pay each month MUST be included.

Day 5: Follow along and meditate with the instructions of video 5 from the playlist
Task 5: Use your imagination and your creativity to “pay off” all of your debt. Visualize yourself paying off all of your debt (what does it look like? How does it feel? What are you wearing?) Create a cheque, a letter, a transfer slip or something of the like to pay off this debt. Put in an amount that will cover your debt, and make sure to sign your check with you name to make it “official”.

Imagine that your expenses are easy to afford. Notice how you feel.

Use your creativity, colors, and shapes freely while designing and coloring. Allow the feeling of freedom and satisfaction to wash over you as you FEEL into balancing your debt and expenses as if it was a real payment.

Day 6: Follow along and meditate with the instructions of video 6 from the playlist
Task 6: Read this affirmation out loud:
“Today, I (full name) begin to create a new relationship with money. Money is good, clean and useful for my growth, satisfaction, and well-being. Money brings positive things in my life. The success that I have will bring money and wealth for me and for those close to me. I deserve to be prosperous and have plenty of money.
Money is my friend, and the value of what I invest in increases every day.
Success and money accompany me, here and now.
I ask my ancestors who had difficulty due to lack of money, to bless me and to give me permission to live differently. And I ask my prosperous forefathers to inspire me.”

This statement must be written 10 times by hand in your notebook. If you feel called to add a sentence to it to make it your own, feel free to do so as well.

Day 7: Follow along and meditate with the instructions of video 7 from the playlist
Task 7: Make a list of people that you feel in some way take away your energy. The people who cause you discomfort when they are around. They can be people near or far from you now, people you know well, or even people you’ve never met, the important thing is what you feel.

Day 8: Follow along and meditate with the instructions of video 8 from the playlist
Task 8: Find at least 5 receipts or invoices for payments in which you have invested in yourself ; and write on each of them: ‘EVERYTHING I HAVE INVESTED IN MYSELF, WILL RETURN TO ME, MULTIPLIED.”

These can be receipts of any kind, in which you treated yourself to something: supermarket, restaurants, yoga or fitness classes, hairdresser, travel, etc.

Day 9: Follow along and meditate with the instructions of video 9 from the playlist
Task 9: Write down 5 of your flaws that you think are limiting you. Flaws that don’t allow you to get what you really want, whether it’s material or not.

Flaws you want to improve, and without which everything would flow better.
Try to concentrate and go as deep as possible. Feel in your heart what these limitations really are.

Day 10: Follow along and meditate with the instructions of video 10 from the playlist
Task 10: Of the 5 flaws you listed in yesterday’s task, pick TWO that you want to work on.
Define your action plan by writing at least two points (concrete actions achievable in daily life, or in the short-term to improve them) for each of them, and then begin putting them into practice today!

Day 11: Never came…

MEDITATION CANCELED… heres why

The meditation challenge was going well until my trip to Tomorrowland and Rome came along. Do you know how hard it is to try to meditate when there is a nonstop party going on haha.. Nonetheless I gave myself a break there and tried to regroup and start the challenge again when I was in Rome with my family. Unfortunately I got a nasty cold after Tomorrowland and was coughing most of the time. It really hard to relax and meditate while you’re constantly coughing. Sooo, I told myself “alright, when I get home from Rome, THEN I’ll at least try to finish the challenge” even though I’ve had like 1-2 weeks off which really defeats the purpose. You want to try to stay consistent. Anyway, when I came home and finally decided to start again this popped up:

The videos are no longer available.. That was when I decided to just give in. It was fun while it lasted I guess.

What I took away from doing this:

Pros

1. It made me calm and less stressed
2. It made me reflect on certain things I haven’t even thought of before
3. It made me more self-aware
   
   

Cons

1. It sometime felt like a chore, if you weren’t in the mood for it
2. It can sometimes make you stressed to pinch in the time to meditate which well defeats the purpose.

I think that meditation can be very helpful and good, but only if you’ve done it enough to make it a habit and not a chore. As for me right now, a student on summer vacation with no job = no responsibility then meditation right now might not be for me. I’ll probably pick it up again once schools start and the schedule and daily planning is back on track.

Challenge failed

Published on: Jul 7, 2019