A Little of Everything

Wow! It has been 2 months since I last wrote here! Sorry for the long absence.

Life was pretty busy, if not hectic, in the past 2 months with family affairs and writing assignments to take care of. To further spice up an already-buys life, I have embarked on a self-learning journey on internet business, in hopes to build a successful online business of my own in the near future.

So my daily life now practically revolves around my freelance writing tasks, internet business study, and family affairs. I suppose I could start a self improvement plan as well…

All of these, what do you call it? Living life to the fullest? Haha!

Anyway, today I would like to share something about self improvement and success here.

In life we always look for ways to improve ourselves, because it is undeniably THE essential factor if we want to become successful. Agree? Below are some tips for self improvement I came across recently which I think it would be helpful to share them here.

1. Stop thinking and feeling as if you’re a failure, because you’re not. How can others accept you if YOU can’t accept YOU?

2. When you see hunks and models on TV, think more on self improvement, or setting a goal to become healthy and build self confidence, and NOT self pitying. Self acceptance is not just about having nice slender legs, or great abs. Concentrate on inner beauty.

3. When people feel so down and low about themselves, help them move up. Don’t go down with them. They’ll pull you down further and both of you will end up feeling inferior.

4. The world is a large room for lessons, not mistakes. Don’t feel stupid and doomed forever just because you flopped your science test. There’s always a next time. Make rooms for self improvement.

5. Take things one at a time. You don’t expect black sheep’s to turn goody in just a snap of a finger. Self improvement is a one day at a time process.

6. Self improvement leads to inner stability, personality development and eventually …. SUCCESS. It comes from self confidence, self appreciation and self esteem.

7. Set meaningful and achievable goals. Self improvement doesn’t mean turning yourself to be the exact replica of Angelina Jolie or Ralph Fiennes. It hopes and aims to result to an improved and better YOU.

8. Little things mean BIG to other people. Sometimes, we don’t realize that the little things that we do like a pat on the back, saying “hi” or “hello”, greeting someone “good day” or telling Mr. Johnson something like “hey, I love your tie!” are simple things that mean so much to other people. When we appreciate beautiful things around us and other people, we also become beautiful to them.

9. When you’re willing to accept change and go through the process of self improvement, it doesn’t mean that everyone else is. The world is a place where people of different values and attitude hang out. Sometimes, even if you think you and your best friend always like to do the same thing together at the same time, she would most likely decline an invitation for self improvement.

10. We should always remember that there’s no such thing as ‘over night success’. A very nice quote says that “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” We are all here to learn our lessons. Our parents, school teachers, friends, colleagues, office mates, neighbors… they are our teachers. When we open our doors for self improvement, we increase our chances to head to the road of success.

Hope the above tips for self improvement will help you in one way or another…

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I have been absent from the blogosphere for a while, being busy with work as well as… packing up for a move!

Moving house is truly a daunting task. However, I think it can be - psychologically - made less dreadful and easier to perform if we split the single GIANT task into smaller and easy-to-accomplish parts, and spread them out to be completed in several days. Writing down a to-do list is very helpful here.

Anyway, as I was sorting through the books and magazines, trying to decide which to keep and which to discard, I flipped through one of my husband’s magazine and found something interesting about keeping a notebook. (I’m referring to the notebook that has papers in it, where you jot down important appointments or ideas; not the computer-type notebook.)

In essence, it’s about how to choose a notebook and use it effectively.

1. Have ONE and only ONE notebook. While some people tend to have different notebooks allocate for different purposes, it’s best to just have one single notebook to jot down all the information you need. Be it a reminder of your appointment, a plan of your daily tasks, or some bright ideas that struck you while waiting for the bus, have them all in one notebook. This makes information available at the tips of your fingers when you need it (instead of shuffling through different notebooks to search for the information.)

2. Choose one that is convenient to carry around. Notebooks that are larger than an A4-sized paper is rather heavy, and you will tend to leave it behind (who wants to carry a big notebook around?). As a result, the notebook never gets to serve its purpose; the content of your notebook is not updated frequently, and you may miss the opportunity to scribble down the greatest idea that came across your mind! A better choice will be a notebook around the size of an A5 paper. Also, go for a thinner notebook.

3. Choose one that comes with your favorite color or motifs printed on the cover or inside the pages. Even though it is just making some simple notes in the book, you will feel good doing it, and makes you want to use it more often.

4. Any important or interesting idea that you wrote down on pieces of paper of stick-it notes, remember to transfer the information into your notebook as soon as possible, preferably within the day itself. If you delay this for more than 3 days, it is most likely that the idea will be gone forever.

5. Make a check box at the beginning of all the items in your to-do list in your notebook. Mark the check box of the items that you have completed. This makes it neater and easier for you to read and monitor your progress.

6. Create a special idea column on every page of the notebook. This is where you can repeatedly come back (even after 1 year!) to look for creative ideas that came from yourself but have forgotten about it.

I mentioned about switching career earlier. If you are still not sure if it is possible, or how one could go about it, try to get your hands on last month’s issue of Personal Money.

I came across an article in that issue, which I believe will inspire many of those who have had this idea roving in their mind for a long time. Read how:

• A finance associate turned into fashion buyer
• A sales manager became writer
• A sales and promotion personnel switched path to become photographer
• A chemical engineer - this is the best one - converted his profession to tap dancing and destiny consulting!

So, it is not totally unachievable, as you can see from the examples. As long as you define clearly what your dream career is, find out more about it, gain the necessary experience, and, finally, take action to grab that dream job when the opportunity presents itself!