Reading is like Breathing

One of my goals before I turn 40 is to get in the habit of reading again.

After graduating from Law School and reading tons of legal-related books, I hated reading for a while. But reading is like breathing. Once you learn how to read a word, you can never stop. It enhances your vocabulary, grammar, and especially, your world views.

I thought I stopped. I didn't. 

 

 

If you're like me, it's wonderful that you're setting a goal to get back into the habit of reading! Reading truly is a powerful tool that can enrich our lives in so many ways. It's like a journey that never really ends, always offering new perspectives and insights.

What kind of books are you thinking of starting with? Maybe I can help you find some recommendations that align with your interests and goals.

I will talk about the books I am reading along the way.

Ikigai

When the new year entered, I wanted to have a change of perspective. Ikigai was always mentioned in the podcasts that I always listen to and from motivational speakers. Ikigai is one of the books I wanted to read within my lifetime.

I will not attempt to discuss this book. There are a lot of websites that discuss it to make profitable sales. But what I wanted to share with you is this chapter

FIND FLOW IN EVERYTHING YOU DO

We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.

—Aristotle

The Seven Conditions for Achieving Flow

According to researcher Owen Schaffer of DePaul University, the

requirements for achieving flow are:

1. Knowing what to do

2. Knowing how to do it

3. Knowing how well you are doing

4. Knowing where to go (where navigation is involved)

5. Perceiving significant challenges

6. Perceiving significant skills

7. Being free from distractions

Have you read this book?

What I Wish I Knew About Social Media Marketing 10 Years Ago

"My biggest regret from the previous recession – or perhaps simply lesson learned –  was not focusing enough on social media marketing."

I saw this on a blog post today and it resonated immediately. 

Some years ago, almost 11 years ago, I graduated with a degree in Business Administration, majoring in Marketing. At that time, my plan was to take an MBA while working as a marketing intern at Sparks Asia (they have just started) and then enter Law School and become a lawyer. BUT THEN my father offered to pay for my Law School. So young and naive as I was, I immediately agreed.

I attended Law School and wasted 12 years of my life trying to become a lawyer and another 4 years more figuring out what I really wanted to do and trying to see if my legal knowledge would help me have a decent life.

Although the legal knowledge was helping me have a decent life, I wanted more from it. In 2018, I had my first real heartbreak. It was so bad for me that I lost weight, was sleep-deprived, had body dysmorphia, doubted myself, lost self-confidence and basically hated seeing myself. I remember avoiding mirrors and people's eyes so I couldn't see myself. I was self-loathing. But I also know I cannot go there because that would send me really deep that it would take me years to see myself again. Watching Amy TV and Taking Back Your Power really helped me bounce back quickly and not fall down that rabbit hole. In short, I was able to put my life back on track but I was not sure yet of what I wanted to do.

I know I am good at writing. At coming up with creative ideas. But didn't know how to start again after setting that part of me to sleep for a while, while I try to become a lawyer. I did not know if I still had it in me. Even now, as I write this, I still don't know. With the pandemic, it is very hard to have inspiration for writing.

Fast forward to now, I figured out that I really liked being alone and working from home or anywhere, just not in an actual office with bosses and co-workers. That is when and where my creativity flows.

Ten years ago, it was relatively easy to build an audience. When you followed someone they were very likely to follow you back – regardless of platform – and the whole social media scene operated without the restrictions and limitations that are prevalent today. This meant that amassing thousands of followers was a relatively easy task and didn’t take a great amount of work or any special skills. Facebook still showed your posts to all of your friends, and business pages didn’t bug you constantly to pay for ads and reach… 

essentially, life was simple.  

My 3 Most Important Time Management Tips

 Time Management can always be tricky especially when you cannot anticipate the things that might affect your day. Often, there are factors that change the way we want our lives to roll out.

Especially with the pandemic affecting the entire world, it is very vital that we get structure incorporated in our daily lives since the new normal right now is to work from home, not just for safety but convenience as well.

I have been working from home even before the pandemic so not much of my schedule has been affected. I am a Social Media Specialist.

Here are some of my 3 most important Time Management Tips that are guiding me through every week. Of course, these are flexible and are always changeable whenever there are emergencies or other stuff unexpectedly happening in my life.

MAKING SOCIAL MEDIA CALENDAR AND STICKING TO IT

After closing with a client, I transcribe everything that we have discussed in the discovery call. What the client wants as contents in their business, posting schedules, and consistency of postings. This is very vital to manage the client's expectations, as well as to not get sidetracked with posts from others. The hardest part of coming up with a Social Media Calendar is coming up with contents for the entire month.

Ideally,  a Social Media Calendar should contain all your supposed content for the whole month. It should serve as a guide for when you are in a creator's block.

CALENDAR BLOCKING

Calendar blocking is very simple. It's taking your calendar and using the blocks/events to space out time for all of your routines, work and social events.  Essentially taking your calendar and blocking out every hour block to totally co-ordinate the day ahead.

TIME BATCHING

Time batching is a time management technique that includes grouping similar tasks together and setting aside time to complete them all or work on them until a predetermined point of progress. The purpose of time batching is to minimize distractions for a workflow that enables concentration, attention to detail, and productivity.

I time batch according to what I will be doing for the week. I entirely work from home (I MISS TRAVELLING!), so that will mean do I need to go out or not. If yes, I need to look presentable, I will schedule selfies, photos and/or filming or whatever that would need me to be presentable on those days. If not, I can just throw on my pajama, with my bare face and focus on content creation and blog posting on those days.

But since everything can be delivered now and I don't have to out anymore for any government transaction (The PH government announced a "bubble"), I won't schedule anything for the filming day.

Digital Marketing Trends For 2021

Digital business pivots may become permanent.

Diversify your social media activity to connect with more engaged users. To that point, enrich the user experience on your social profiles by leveraging shop and other features that break down barriers towards purchasing from you.

Social media will become a top channel for purchase, instead of just discovery.

Social media platforms are now making it easier for consumers to go from discovery to purchase without leaving the platform, creating a simple and seamless path to purchase.

 

Informed buyers want to buy from informed brands.

This is not just a matter of brands meeting consumers where they are; it’s about brands telling them what they want when they want it. 

Virtual events started out of necessity, but are here to stay because of ROI and accessibility.

In the face of the COVID pandemic, events became virtual out of necessity. As we move into 2021 and beyond, many events will stay virtual not only because of continued safety concerns but also because it means a lower cost for more people and a higher ROI.

Reduction of social media channels.

With so many channels available, so many businesses have tried to stay relevant on all of them, the need to declutter is a necessity. FOCUS IS A MUST!

Live interactions with virtual events.

People are craving for human interactions so virtual events are on trend with the market more than ever.

Add to Heart!

Online shopping is the most in-demand mode of shopping today in the middle of a pandemic. This was already part of my lifestyle even before the pandemic started. Some 3-5 years ago, I believe. 

Add to that, I have been doing cashless payments by using my debit card and other modes of cashless payment. I even did a statute for the local government about the use of it to promote such in the city but I think when I left, the changes I thought I did were abandoned altogether.

Anyway, I saw from a post, "Add to cart" which was usually used for online shopping was wittily transformed to "Add to heart". I thought that makes more sense and applicable to situations where you don't mindlessly "add to cart" certain items that you do not need.

"Add to heart" is very applicable too when we describe import people in our lives!

 ADD TO HEART!

 ADD TO HEART!

 ADD TO HEART!

 ADD TO HEART!

 ADD TO HEART!

 ADD TO HEART!

 ADD TO HEART!

I miss my partner so much! Hopefully, we can all travel soon!

"You must be proud of yourself"

 

I discover this especially true these days. So many adults are living their lives and seeking to cope up with the trauma of trying to please their mother and father.

I have read from a study that a lot of adults now have high functioning anxiety and depression due to adolescence traumas.

Emotional traumas added approximately by our adolescence are more difficult to remedy than physical traumas. They move on for all of our lives and are included in our mannerisms, behaviours and can turn out to be our manner of living.

Emotional traumas creep in our lives like a thief in the night. We do not know when it's going to come. There are triggers that would imply that a person is having a panic attack or depressive situation.

I am not a psychologist so I can not expound on Emotional trauma. But I do recognise that if left untreated, like every other wound, it's going to leave a horrific scar or it could in no way heal at all. Go to a psychologist.

If there's one aspect that all of us need to begin learning, it is asking for help when needed. Know when you need to ask for help or assistance. In turn, when help is asked, discover ways to assist a person too in the best way for you without triggering your emotional trauma too.

Hopefully, the mothers and fathers of today are aware enough to no longer pass the trauma onto their children and so on. One day, this world may likely be a world wherein there is no emotional trauma, only physical, brought by accidents.