This is Day 7 of the 15-Day Affirmation Challenge held in July 2014, where we practice positive affirmations for 15 days. The challenge is now over but you can do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all the challenge tasks.
Dear everyone, welcome to Day 7 of our 15-Day Affirmation Challenge! :D
Here is the overview of all the posts for the challenge so far:
- Affirmation Challenge announcement and signup details: 15-Day Affirmation Challenge | 440 Participants!
- Affirmation Challenge Day 1 [New Beginning] | 70 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 2 [Self-Love] | 70 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 3 [Ability] | 74 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 4 [Setbacks] | 42 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 5 [Gratitude] | 41 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 6 [Self-Worth] | 14 Comments
Now, let’s move to today’s task, which is on…
Day 7: [Opportunities]
![Affirmation Wallpaper, [Opportunities]: "Opportunities are everywhere. It's up to me to find (or create) them and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN."](https://personalexcellence.co/files/affirmation-opportunities.jpg)
Today’s affirmation: “Opportunities are everywhere. It’s up to me to find them (or create them) and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.”
About one year before I started PE, I remember looking for ways to pursue my passion to help others grow. This was between years 2007 and 2008. (The next four paragraphs are snippets from my article, Passion or Money?)
As personal development was at an infancy stage in Singapore (it still is actually), I couldn’t find any jobs in this area. (And I’m talking about proper jobs where you get remunerated, not be a “volunteer” coach and work long hours without compensation.) If I had told anyone I wanted to be a life coach, they would have gone, “Huh?” If anything, most people here see self-help as something kooky for people who have no life, who are neurotic, or have gone off the deep end. (I believe this perception is changing now.)
Since there were no opportunities in this domain, I then thought about seeking out a societal cause, since it’s within the scope of helping people too. I brainstormed on local non-profit organizations with socially responsible causes which I could join. I checked out the United Nations website to look for job opportunities. I expanded my search to international non-profit career portals and scouted for opportunities in NGOs, social enterprises and the like. It even got to the stage where I was willing to relocate myself overseas, using my own money, and work for any worthy enterprise that matched my purpose.
Bear in mind that in deciding to switch to a different field, particularly non-profit, I was prepared to get a pay cut of 50% (or even more), since such fields simply don’t offer the same competitive benefits as a career in brand management or consulting would (of which the former was what I was doing).
For each opportunity I came across, I always found myself having to battle against considerations such as 1) the pay and benefits not being anywhere close to what I was getting in my current job, 2) the causes of the organizations not being something I was 101% passionate about, 3) severe red tape issues in non-profit organizations, 4) lack of best-in-class practices in the non-profit world compared to profit-driven industries. My friends whose friends had trod the non-profit path would give me the same watchouts. I felt myself reaching a dead end.
It took me a while before I felt that something was amiss. Why am I trying to compromise on my own desires? I thought. Why am I limiting myself based on what’s out there?
I realized that I was simply boxing myself based on what I was seeing before me, and then I should no sooner break free of this mindset. I then got to work and identified my ideal vision for the pursuit of my passion, which includes being able to touch millions of lives around the world, using an arsenal of mediums to spread my message of growth, being location-free to do whatever I want, wherever I want, and earning more money than whatever I was earning before. I then sent in my resignation letter, created my game plan based on this vision, and got to work. The rest is history.
My reason for sharing this story is that the switching point that helped me to be where I am today is when I realized that there are literally opportunities everywhere in this world, and it’s up to me to create them and make things happen. While I was already a proactive person before (or I wouldn’t be thinking about how to pursue my passion and seeking related opportunities while having a lucrative job), I was still boxing myself in based on opportunities out there and trying to limit myself to these opportunities before me. It was only when I realized that opportunities are everywhere and the onus is on me to figure out what exactly I want and make them happen.
Because the universe ain’t gonna hand the good stuff to people on a platter. The universe makes the good stuff — from the ideal relationship, to the ideal job, to the ideal friendships, to financial abundance, to the perfect health, etc. — difficult to obtain so that the people who really want it, the people who really deserve it, will find a way to make them happen.
Today, your task is to identify an area where you’ve been feeling blocked in and create the opportunity to succeed in it!
Your Task Today
- Identify an area of your life where you feel blocked by a lack of choices/opportunities. This can be something that you’ve already listed in the previous tasks or a completely new area you haven’t explored. For example:
- Friendships, where you feel you don’t have the opportunity to meet like-minded people
- Romantic relationships, where you feel you don’t have the opportunity to meet the right person
- Career, where you feel you don’t have the opportunity to be in your dream job
- Health, where you feel you frequently lack the opportunities to eat healthily, be it due to the lack of healthy eating options in your neighborhood or due to people around you offering you unhealthy food
- Finance, where you feel you don’t have the opportunity to be rich even though you are smart and talented
- Ask yourself, “How can I create the opportunity to succeed in this area?” For example:
- Friendships: Look for meet-up groups with like-minded people on Meetup.com and join at least two meetups a week
- Romantic relationships: Open myself to singles events. Join more social activities and meetups which are opportunities to meet new people. Explore online dating.
- Career: Contact people working in the field you desire, and consult them for advice and tips. (Among other steps I’ve listed in Day 4’s career example.)
- Health: Take control of my diet and start preparing my own healthy meals, as opposed to eating based on the options in my environment
- Finance: Figure out what I’m really passionate about. Then, create ways — perhaps even start my own business — where I can add value to others based on this passion. Scale up from here. (Read: Million Dollar Tip Series and Successful Businesses Interview Series.)
- Take action on what you’ve written in Step #2! Create specific action steps and commit them to your calendar. Remember, there’s no point planning without taking action, and there’s only so much I can do via the daily affirmation tasks. The onus is now on you to take action on them!
- Say today’s affirmation. Close your eyes. For the next 10 to 15 seconds, imagine your ideal vision for this area where you
feelfelt blocked. Now, visualize yourself breaking through the obstacle(s) and paving the way to realize your ideal vision. Visualize yourself CREATING A PATH, WHERE THE PATH DIDN’T EXIST BEFORE, TO MAKE YOUR VISION COME TO LIFE. CONTINUE THIS VISUALIZATION FOR AS LONG AS YOU DESIRE, until the vision is fully etched in your mind.Now, with the vision clear in your mind, say today’s affirmation:
“Opportunities are everywhere.
It’s up to me to find them (or create them) and
MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.”(If you think it’s silly to say them out loud, you can say them silently in your heart.)
I encourage you to write down your new belief(s) and today’s affirmation so that you can always see them and commit them to your heart. Repeat them every day to yourself, for as many times and as long as needed, until they become part of your default thinking.
Affirmation Wallpaper: [Opportunities]
Today’s affirmation wallpaper, for download:
Download (right click and save): [1366×768] [1600×900] [1920×1080]
Further Reading
- For more on how I paved the way to make my passion happen when there wasn’t any (immediate) way to do so, read: Passion or Money?
- Taking ownership of your life:
- If you feel like you’re starting from nothing and nowhere, this is the piece for you: How To Start When You Have Nothing
Share Your Results!
Share your results, check out other participants’ responses, and interact with each other in the comments section! Remember, this challenge is a community effort: by openly engaging in the discussion, not only will you help others, you’ll also help yourself.
If you think today’s affirmation has benefited you, do share it with your friends and family.
Once you’re done, proceed to Affirmation Challenge Week 1 Review and Catchup!
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1) Career… I have been meeting individually with people who can send me referrals and offering to lecture on my topic of expertise to organizations with audiences who could either become clients or could refer clients. I am finalizing my website by the end of the month, as well. So I think I am doing a good job there. I distinguish myself from others in the field and I think that helps – plus the personal connection. I have been meditating on the fact that there is always competition in any field, but some stay, some go and why shouldn’t I be the survivor?
2) friendships – I’ve had a problem developing and sustaining friendships for my whole life. I think I am becoming more relaxed and open – fun! That has helped. I started inviting people over and my husband and I have had a vibrant social life in the past month. We aren’t hiding behind our children anymore – they are growing up and we have to develop our own life now. It falls on my shoulders to do that, but that’s fine. Everyone has their job and my husband is up at 5:30 in the morning in order to provide for our family, so I have my job to do as well. Also, I am grateful to the internet for providing me with the opportunity to develop friendships with some truly amazing people (you know who you are). When I was little, I always had pen pals (back in the day when we wrote letters) overseas. I am so lucky to have such special friends all over the world.
One area I feel blocked by a lack of opportunities of
choices/opportunities is my inability to reach out for relevant
information, my lack of risk-taking, keeping my day job and playing it
safe.
My site: new games
Affirmative Challenge Day7
One area I feel blocked by a lack of opportunities of choices/opportunities is my inability to reach out for relevant information, my lack of risk-taking, keeping my day job and playing it safe.
I need to design a clear project with 1. a clear definition of objectives, 2. Identification of needs 3. Planning 4. Implementation 5. And evaluation stages. Last but not least, I need a partnership and funding to help put it afloat. The onus, as it is said in this task, is now on me to take action!
Today’s task was a difficult one for me. I tend to do a lot of planning, and take little action — I very much let life get in the way. Usually, it’s for good spontaneous opportunities, but not always.
I think it’s because I don’t really see the big picture as I set my tasks each day. I can easily write things off because “I can always do it later.” Sometimes (like this week), there’s unusual circumstances that I prioritize over sitting down and working on certain things. But when I continue not to act, even when I have nothing going on (usually in the name of resting/recuperating), I know I’m really just putting off my goals another day longer.
But it’s easy for motivation to stay hidden behind physical/mental exhaustion. Way too easy. Most days I start off and I can’t wait to get home and get started on the things that are really meaningful to me, but then by the time I get home all I want to do is unwind. Even the things that get you closer to your goals feel like chores when you just want some time for mindless entertainment.
That’s why I think I need to focus on a) setting my goals with a top-down approach, using my long-term goals to determine my short-term ones, and b) knowing my deep motivations for my daily tasks, so that I feel like taking action towards them rather than putting them off.
Today is another day that, unfortunately for my goals, will probably be a victim to unusual circumstances — it’s my boyfriend’s birthday plus my weekly get-together with my roommates for Quizzo, so unless my boyfriend’s celebrations get put off, I have my night full! Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have the all-clear to go ahead and get started with my goal-planning/motivation-finding/goal-ACCOMPLISHING.
Here’s my blog post for today’s task: https://personalexcellence.co/blog/affirmation-day-7-opportunities/
Hi Calae, such a well-thought-out answer! I’ve always thought that you seem really good at self-reflection and planning, so it’s interesting that you feel that you lack in the action department. I feel that your foundations are already solid and in place (i.e. your ability to consciously self-reflect and plan), so if action-taking is really indeed an opportunity area, then it’s nothing that a few simple fixes can’t fix.
I’m not sure how far along you are in 10 Rules of Super Productive People at the moment — I’m thinking that Rule #2 on timelines will be absolutely helpful in terms of initiating action, and Rule #5 on creating your productivity ritual will really bust the exhaustion issue wide open. Another PE reader, Lizette, started applying the principles in Rule #5 and Rule #8 (on time pockets), and she’s been telling me about how amazed she is at the huge shifts she’s been experiencing in her productivity.
And happy birthday to your boyfriend!!! :D Have you given him the gift yet, and how was his response???
Hey Celes! Thanks for the reply! I’m currently on rule #2 of the book (I followed your suggestion to another reader to implement one rule a week), and I’ve implemented that rule on a very simple level at work — setting times/deadlines works wonders! I’ll set myself to have certain things done by a certain time, and even if I’m not the most exact with it, it’s really allowing me to get a lot more done. So I know it works, just need to do it with my really important goals! I may look ahead as well at rule #5, since a ritual sounds like something that could really benefit me!
As for my boyfriend’s birthday present, he loved it! =D He came over late Monday night, and as I got ready to give him gifts he started by saying, “It better not be an Xbox One or something, ’cause that’s way too much and I’ll tell you to take it back.” So I was kind of nervous and thinking, “Uh oh…”, but I continued with my plan anyway.
I started by giving him smaller gifts I had gotten him (some medical instruments he’ll need as he starts med school, suggested by his older also-in-med-school brother; some small notebooks to encourage him on his hobby of writing; and a style guide also to help him with his writing), which he was super grateful for and happy about. When I gave him the pile of smaller gifts, he seemed happy that it wasn’t a big box (which would possibly contain the hypothetical Xbox One he was talking about xD), and he was genuinely touched by just these smaller things. I was so happy that even just these things meant so much to him. =)
As he was thanking me and giving me a hug, I executed part two of my plan. “Oh,” I said to him as I looked over his gifts, “I think I might have left one under the bed.” So I scurried down and pulled out “the big one,” which I’ve attached a picture of.
Most of his gifts were wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper (my one roommate had it so I used it to avoid buying another roll of wrapping paper; it’s funny because it’s neither Christmas, nor does my boyfriend celebrate Christmas, but I went with it thinking I can always say it’s a “Christmas in July” theme, and he’s currently fasting for Ramadan which is an important holiday as well; in the end it didn’t matter because my boyfriend barely noticed/was bothered by the wrapping. xD).
For his big present though, I decided to make a theme going with his love of Batman, and decorated the blank side of the paper with green question marks to represent the villain The Riddler, and created a riddle as to what the present contained. In the riddle, I make reference to the big three gaming systems: “One” referring to the Xbox One, “3” referring to the PS3, of which the PS4 is “more than 3”, and “U” referring to the Wii U. After some thought, my boyfriend figured it out, “A PS4? Is this a PS4?!” I shrugged and told him to open it.
HE WAS SO EXCITED. He kept saying, “Holy s***, is this for real?!”, and just was so surprised and in awe. He immediately felt bad because it’s an expensive gift and he won’t be making money any time soon, and was concerned because of the possibility that we may break up. I told him that none of this mattered to me, that I bought it because I *could* afford it, and that I wasn’t with him for the gifts and it didn’t matter if we broke up one day. He still felt bad, but he was super thankful and excited.
He was surprised that his brothers and I could keep this from him — and figured out that by his brother giving him the gift of “anything you want, but it has to be more than $50” he was really referring to a game for his new PS4 without spoiling the present. xD
So yeah, it went really well! =D Can’t wait until he’s settled into his new place for med school and can try it out. Tonight I’m hoping I may be able to have him come over to make him dinner (may or may not end up well, as I’ve barely cooked before!), but I’ve given him the biggest portion of his gift and I don’t think he could be happier. =)
Thank you Madalina! :)
Alia, I just have the feeling I am reading the journal of myself when I just graduated. If you allow me to offer some thought, or ask myself to write a letter to the Vivian who just graduated. I will say this to her: Try your best to find a job you love, if you can’t, keep doing things you love. As you mentioned you want to be a writer, then just keep writing. I used almost a decade to pursue on the career on wanted in the company, but writing still there, I just didn’t do what I am capable to do. If this is what you want, keep finding your way to do it.
Thanks so much for your words of encouragement, Vivian! it feels good to know I’m not the only one who has felt this way before. Hopefully we all find our way, and in the meantime I’ll keep doing what I love :)
I strongly strongly associate with “I want to be self sufficient. I never really liked the idea of a man being the only provider” I find solace in those words as so far it has been the opposite for me, but the OPPORTUNITIES are there…it’s up to me to look for them and I shall! It’s not about being dependent on men, it’s about being proud of my achievements and self!
Best wishes to you in all you desire and seek
Thank you. I really appreciate :) All the best for you too ;)
I can associate with the feeling of the confusion you are in…though for me not in the way of a job, but family, music, travel and writing….but there’s always the perfect mix….and once you get started on it, you’d lean in towards what makes you happiest and perhaps there is equilibrium in that state of disequilibrium….all the best
Hi ASLO, good to know I’m not the only one! I suppose it’ll take some experimenting to find that balance that we all seek. So often lately I find myself thinking I’m losing time not being able to figure everything out. Hopefully one day we’ll find our place and it will involve doing the things we’re passionate about :)
Just the realization of that will slowly help you forth on the right path :) it has all started, and it’ll fit in just right like clockwork!
Hi Aatiya,
It’s exactly the same when it come to relationships (friendships) to me. I don’t find too much like-minded people in my cycles and the rest just drain me. This make me feel bad, because I would love to have more friends, having meaningful and also encouraging conversations, hanging out and doing something useful and fun…
I do not watch television. My life is not in my phone or pc. I don’t do selfies. My highest pleasure in life is neither chocolate nor shopping. And I almost don’t go to clubs or bars But those things seem to be the meaning of life for sooo many people. It’s all they care about. Sometimes when I am out with my or my husband’s friends I am bored to death. We sit at same table in cafe, bar or club, but people eyes and mind are in their phones. And only moments they actually communicate is discussing other people and other trivial things.
I don’t have much people I can discuss about all the interesting things I have discovered. Sadly enough, but even my husband isn’t interested in the same subjects as I am. He likes more “practical” things such as football or action movies or computer programming. It’s perfectly ok for me, as long as we share the close the same values and overall worldview. But I really wish I could have more awaken friends, more like all of you.
So where do we meet people more like ourselves? Where do people like us hang out? Apart from internet forums and maybe PE meetings (which is a wonderful idea but) where not everybody can come together… How to spot somebody “awaken” in the crowd? Any suggestions???
Sincerely, SI
That is a very moving piece! I feel the same! All of a sudden, what was the norm before where you’d sit back and enjoy and talk and have a few pictures clicked for once from the right side of the phone ;) has now become a rarity!
Maybe if we together could spread the word even more, as in for example with the blogging of this challenge, sharing it on social networks…slowly people would emerge from this cocoon and take in simple pleasures more than material confusions….
But and there is always a but! sharing on social media is still being dependent on the social network! So it’s all back to square one though this is a slow process…maybe it’s what will show us all the better picture..
I don’t know about that. The more I live the more I see that everyone has their own path and we can’t give to somebody what they aren’t ready to receive. What is our understanding or life lesson is not necessary what someone else is here to learn. It’s good that we are different and we always have something to learn and exchange with others, but it never happens before somebody is opened to it.
Hi Santas, you’re absolutely right! At the same time, I also agree with ASLO on spreading the word too, wherein we’re spreading the word because we want to, without taking responsibility for whether people want to act on it or not. Even if 99 people are not open and refuse to receive your message, you never know if there’s just that 1 person who receives that message right where he/she needs it the most.
(For example, I totally embrace the philosophy that we can’t help/change people when they don’t want to, but I still write/share on my blog all the same because I reckon the people who resonate with my message will want to read and receive, while those who don’t — well, it really doesn’t matter. On the other hand, if I didn’t see the point in giving because most aren’t ready to receive, then I wouldn’t have started this blog, and none of the impact created by PE in the past five years would have happened.)
Hmm.. I didn’t think about it in this way, but it makes total sense. One person at the time. It’s something like balancing the “old thinking” and bringing in more fresh air… ;)
With today’s affirmation, I do realize a lot of my issues boil down to my personal time management. I have realized my time had been spent on quite a lot of repetitive stuff and even going
through these challenges, I found it hard to find time to complete the
challenges provided every single day.
Identify an area of your life where you feel blocked by a lack of choices/opportunities.
– Friendships, Hobbies – I enjoy writing Applications and creating electronics but lack the
opportunities to meet people with the same interests.
I too lack the opportunity to continue when I am hit by obstacle that I am unable to solve during the process.
Ask yourself, “How can I create the opportunity to succeed in this area?
– Everyone as well as I myself has 24 hours a day! If other participants are able to post daily
for this AffirmationChallenge, I will be able to do so too!
– Projects that are successful goes through lots of issues along the way but each issue would bring
me closer to completion of the project.
Take action on what you’ve written in Step #2!
– Allocate a set of hours for tasks each week and plan it into my schedule daily. Start it off
every morning.
– Look for groups on forums and could start off by helping others or posting problems I face in
my hobbies.
Search for the reason why I started and stopped on my uncompleted projects. It may be based on a sudden urge of passion.
And to end off with the affirmation,
Opportunities are everywhere.
It’s up to me to find them (or create them) and
MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.
Hi Jun Xiang! One time management technique you may want to consider is time boxing. It’s sort of similar to your first action step (Allocate a set of hours for tasks each week) except that this is a hard rule where you allocate a fixed amount of time for a task and stick with it.
So say you allot an hour for a task, you *have to* find a way to do and complete the task within the hour. No matter how much, how little, how well or how badly you’ve done of the task, you simply wrap it up by the time the hour ends.
While it may create quality deficiencies in the beginning, and it’s well possible that you choose to exceed the one-hour mark at the beginning, it helps you to be aware of inefficiencies (if any) and trains you to work within the time limit (and in a way that matches your expectations) for subsequent tasks!
For this task, I’d have to come back to career opportunities. Right now, as a recent university graduate, I’m still unsure of what I want to do with my life, so much so that it is a constant source of anxiety. I think the main reason I feel this way is that I don’t see any opportunities that really excite me. I would love to somehow combine my passion for writing and wanting to help people into a career. But I can’t really see anything that would lead me there. To top it off, there are other areas in my life such as music and travel that I would also love to add in to the mix but it just feels very mixed up and confusing for me to imagine a role that could potentially combine everything. A
lot of my confusion about the issue is that I have passion for areas that are not “traditional” and there is a lot of pressure from parental forces for me to get a “real job.”
I think I need to discern what is “career opportunity” material from something I can potentially do on the side, even though saying this is both sad and confusing, because I feel like no matter what road I take, I’d have to be sacrificing something I love and want to do. A good first step would be to do some research on the various areas I am interested in. The best way would be to actually speak to people in said fields. Therefore, I have to find people and reach out to them to get
an idea of what it is like in their respective fields.
Possibly a good way to know what career I should go into would be to ask myself truly and honestly what I want from my life. To sum up in a sentence, I’d say that I want to help people. I can look into these fields and see what the scope for this (helping) is, and if it doesn’t fall into that category, perhaps it will have to be relegated to the side.
http://hopeafterheartbreak.blogspot.com/2014/07/15-day-affirmation-challenge-day-7.html
The two main places I feel/felt blocked are my health and my career. I’m still an undergrad, but I only have one semester left and it’s really starting to get to me. I’m itching to be out of school, but as an anthropology major I worry about finding a job that I really like. I also feel limited because many jobs in an anthropology career require a masters degree. I do plan on getting one, just not right away – so I’m worried that my options will be limited once I graduate.
I’m also trying to figure out what I really want to do. I know I don’t want to teach or become a professor or anything. Ideally, I would have a flexible career that would allow me to work from home or wherever, and wouldn’t tie me down in a specific location. I want to help people, and I’m very interested in women’s issues. I think that this career can come eventually, but I’m not sure if it’s too high of an expectation right out of a bachelor’s degree.
As far as my health, I’m working out fairly consistently and trying to keep a balanced diet; that’s where it gets hard. In my family there isn’t the problem of having too *much*, it’s having too little. We’re not a wealthy family and my uncle, who buys the groceries, buys EXACTLY what’s on the shopping list, no more, no less. If he deems something too expensive, he also won’t get it. I struggle with trying to incorporate enough fruits and veggies into my diet as much as I would like to. I don’t have a steady income, so it’s difficult for me to buy my own groceries yet.
As far as what I can do: In terms of my career – I will search for the best job I can get out of graduation. This doesn’t mean the one with the most benefits or the most money, but a job that gives me experience in things related to my field and hopefully lets me explore many *different* topics so I can choose what I want to go to grad school for. I will NOT settle for less or something mediocre.
In my health, I will make the best of what I have. I may not always want to eat frozen veggies or chicken as often as we do, but it if means I have a balanced diet then I will do my best. I will eat as well-roundedly as I can and try to get creative when it comes to mealtime!
Hi Karen! I feel I can relate to most of what you said concerning career opportunities. I recently graduated with a BA in psychology and feel like my options for careers right now are limited, especially considering what my long term goals are (wanting to help people, incorporate my love for writing into my career, travel, etc). I am also planning on doing a Master’s though not just yet, and I would also like a flexible career that allows for travel. I figured that talking to people who have similar qualifications and already have jobs would be a good start to seeing what’s out there. Also sometimes there may be opportunities though not directly related to the degree we have but that would provide experience. All the best on your journey! I hope you find something great before you hit grad school :)
An area in my life where I feel my progress has been slow is in the programming work I do. Although I’ve been programming for around a decade now, in the later half the progress has been slow. I’ve reached a place of decent proficiency which is enough to get my work done. And so I’ve stopped learning more than required right now.
I’m not keeping myself abreast of the latest in my field. There’s enough work to occupy my office hours and I’m using that as a reason to just coast. I also have a heavily loaded social and personal life so that makes free time appear a rare commodity. I bought a few books to read, but haven’t finished any of them. Some of them I barely even started. When my current knowledge suffices for today, my rate of learning is enough for the next few (foreseeable) years, I would like to incorporate a routine of learning for the future, for the unanticipated. And this routine of learning would also, I’m sure, boost my efficiency today.
I already know what’s to be done – at least where to start right now.
1) I’ve a few books that I’m yet to read.
2) I’ve bookmarked many websites and downloaded articles that I think would be useful.
3) I also need to include some practice time – to just ‘play’ around with the things I learn to better understand them.
4) I would need to meet like minded people within or outside of work, and the interactions with them should pose new opportunities.
5) My workplace provides an opportunity to present to the team anything new that I’ve learnt. I could use it. I could commit to making a presentation about something I don’t know and then I’ve a little choice but to learn about it.
6) To get into that habit of giving presentations first, I could start of by scheduling presentations about things that I do know right now.
7) The most difficult thing to do however – I would need to choose one of the things in my jampacked schedule that I would reduce/stop to create more time. Or the better thing to do – reduce the time I indulge in distractions.
To start off, I’ll take things as they come. I’ll carve out half an hour each day for any of these activities. I’ll go on for longer if I feel like it(which I’m sure I should, unless I’ve to get around to something else). Constant learning and updating oneself is obviously rarely urgent, but probably the most important investment that one could make. I’ll start investing in it from today :)
Hey, Vinay! I understand where you’re coming from. I did the same with my English studies. After reaching a point of comfort where my language skills were enough for me to deal with most situations and exams, I stopped learning new things. When I realized this, I started reading various websites and using vocabulary.com to further enrich my vocabulary.
Your action steps look promising. Good luck! :)
1. Identify an area of your life where you feel blocked by a lack of choices/opportunities.
-Career: I quit my first cashier job to be a garage helper in auto dealerships or small garages in different neighborhoods but nobody hired me after I finished my two-year completion in automotive studies. It was the saddest time of my life, I almost killed myself, then decided to run away. Did’t do that either. My favorite college wanted me and they even have job in automotive waiting for me near the college. All I had to do was show up but my parents said no. I was dead inside for so long.They just wanted to protect me. I found that out eventually because I was the only woman in my classes. And the guys were mean. Now it’s better. My dream was to be car mechanic specializing in auto-electrics. That’s why I am studying electrical engineering.
I want to open 2 garages, one in my country and one here in the U.S while I am studying. It’s not a traditional garage, the one in the US. I want it to be a mobile one on a hybrid Toyota Truck. I love Toyota. Hybrid because I felt guilty for so long. One of my values is to help if I use a regular truck it will contribute to global warming.
I quit my first job but I could’t get hired so I was unemployed for about a year, draining my savings and I had to choose between feeling calm tuition (martial arts) and college tuition. I picked college in the end because I can do Kung Fu at home, I have the workout book and there are tons of tutorials from China on YouTube. I froze my membership, I am going back soon, it was so hard. Now i am back to square one, another cashier job but this time I have a plan.
2. Ask yourself, “How can I create the opportunity to succeed in this area?”
I hated it whenever my big sister would say “Everything happens for a reason.” I called it “positivity crap”. But it was true. I feel like I was not hired because I was the best and there are many bests +++ out there I have to be amazing to guaranty my goals. I am now working on everything a master mechanic should have:
-A driver’s licence (I didn’t listen to my mom when she urged me to get it as a teenager)
-A commercial driver’s licence ( I would like to work on trucks too)
-Automotive Service Excellence certifications A1-A8, you need at least one to be in the field.
-Be a certified Motor Vehicle Inspector
-DTM, Distinguished Toastmaster
-Programmer
-Be certified in welding
-Be certified in Carpentry
-Be understood in writing
-Master mathematics
-Hacking, “white hat” only no matter what
* Save $ for the hybrid truck:
a. I am now hunting bottles/cans and refund them to save for the hybrid truck
b. Solve other people’s problems with hacking (someone hacked my Facebook page, the idea come from that anger)
-Have to make my own lightweight tools with Arduino and 3-D steel printing
-Researching now for the insurance for both my business and my truck.
3. Take action on what you’ve written in Step #2!
I like this challenge because it has a beginning and an end, I was not organized so I don’t finish what I start to study and I ended up doing a lot and because it was too much I stopped and restart after I get motivated.
-Motivated or not now I have to set a time for each and stick to one until I master or finish it and move on the the next by revising what I finished. From experience I know I forget what I did when I don’t review even if I was #1 in the past ;( because when I went back to re-study automotive technology for a year, I forgot a lot of it! I just graduated past June.
– I am studying with everything I have on the internet (MOOCs, Massive Open Online Courses + Ebooks + youtube…) there is also what I call the bird, so I don’t give up. “Little by little the bird makes its nest” by hunting bottle/cans (not beer & alcohol related, halal $$ only, I can control this but not my pay check) and getting ready for my driver’s licences. I have the free booklets from the DMV, Department of Motor Vehicles.
4. Say today’s affirmation.
Again, motivated or not now I have to set a time for each task and stick to one until I master or finish it and move on the the next by revising what I finished.
“Opportunities are everywhere.
It’s up to me to find them (or create them) and
MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.”
Hi there! I’m so sorry that you had such a hard time, but I’m really happy that you decided to stick it out and take steps to achieve your dreams! I can only imagine how difficult it must be to be a woman in a traditionally male field, however, I can see that you have the right mindset and you are set on achieving your goals. Good luck to you! With your new affirmations and beliefs, you are sure to succeed :)
Ohh wow, that sounds like a very tough time :( It really sucks when you have the dedication and you do your best but for some silly reason like gender roles, you face all sorts of obstacles. Luckily, this situation is getting much better and women are more often found in “untraditional” jobs. All you can do is keep looking until you find a place that can look past those things. And I like how despite the setbacks, you have plans to become better and succeed next time around :)
I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s posts and the progress everyone is making on the challenge. I would just say, by way of example to anyone concerned about making big changes, that I changed my career in my mid-40s, my old one was fulfilling me any more and I knew I didn’t want to spend the rest of my working life until retirement doing that job. So I found new opportunities and was able to change. It wasn’t easy financially at first and of course I worried and felt stressed. But it is possible! Age is just a number, and our days too precious to spend doing things that don’t uplift us.
Now the opportunities I am trying to focus on through the challenge today revolve around obtaining a PhD placement. This is my blog post for today:
http://livingwithaltitude.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/opportunity/
Well done everyone on the progress you are making!
I ‘d like to start with your quote CREATING A PATH, WHERE THE PATH DIDN’T EXIST BEFORE, TO MAKE YOUR VISION COME TO LIFE. CONTINUE THIS VISUALIZATION FOR AS LONG AS YOU DESIRE, until the vision is fully etched in your mind.. The biggest block is to be able to recognize opportunities.. o be able to accept, to just enjoy and take it as it comes are often blocks to taking opportunties as we are pre occupied in looking at the problems and over look the opportunities which are coming our way.Working in the development sector, we are used to creating those paths, whch allow us to explore.. I think being able to connect with opportunties is what we learn and keep active.
Hi Aatiya! Actually all the comments appear instantly unless there’s a link in the comment (like I mentioned to Santas).
Speaking of which, all your comments keep getting filtered into the spam folder by default (and this is automatically done by the Disqus system), which I only realize when I click into the spam folder! I then have to manually approve them, after which they get funneled back to where they belong.
I don’t know if this has to do via posting from your google account?? I notice you have a registered disqus account — would you want to try posting under this account (instead of Google account) next time, and then we can monitor and see if it fixes the issue?
Hey! Thanks for your prompt reply. Will use disqus account (not via google) and see how it works.
Hi Sam, word! I just moved to my new home in a new neighborhood, and to my horror all the food options here are horrendous. I originally thought my old home (with my parents) was bad, but at least there was a shopping mall a few bus stops away where I could at least make do with some healthier options like Veggie Delite in Subway and QQ Rice. But my new neighborhood, gosh: I feel like I’ve been transported back into the 1990s Singapore where fried and oily food is everywhere and the concept of healthy food is non-existent. It’s hawker food EVERYWHERE, and Subways do not exist here; neither do salad bars, sandwich places, or soup restaurants. Even NTUC (where I can procure healthy food) is quite a walk away and it doesn’t open 24 hours. (It’s not a very developed territory with mostly senior citizens living here, so I doubt they care about salads and what not.)
The good thing is that I’ve previously worked through my EE issues for years, so this issue is nothing new to me and I’ve easily worked past it by stocking my house with healthy food and preparing my own meals every day. In the past, I learned that one of the reasons I kept succumbing to junk food / binge eating was because I never took ownership over my diet and meals. Once I did that, and learned to take control of my diet, including saying “NO” when the food wasn’t in line with my ideal diet, taking the effort to identify places with healthy food and buying them, and learning to prepare my meals, it helped me to take a big step forward with the situation. The change wasn’t overnight — it took me months if not years to slowly make this a strong, unshakable habit the way it is today, plus there was also unrooting of many other EE issues which I share in my article series + EE program — but taking ownership of my diet is definitely one of the important steps.
I see that you’re doing exactly that now, and it seems that you have been weeding many EE roots in the first week of the challenge! You’re doing amazingly well Sam, and remember that healthy eating is a choice, and healthy food is a luxury and reward we give to our souls and bodies!
Thanks! I followed the steps in your article (https://personalexcellence.co/blog/how-to-stop-emotional-eating/ and just realized that some of my triggers are no longer there – for example, last night I went with my family to the pasar malam and I literally felt no temptation to eat even though hot food was in front of my face all the time. It is like unpicking a ball of yarn – I just have to keep slowly unpicking everything.
Sometimes when I post the challenge results via my google accout it’s visible only till I am logged in. The moment I log out it disappears! ( I had to post my todays results twice due to this). Has happened earlier also. Thought you should know. Are the comments moderated by you? I use my disqus account via google.
I always feel there is limited scope for me in the following arena
Health: I am on medication for certain hormonal disorder and I feel even if I try to improve diet it doesn’t work long term. I try to eat healthy and drink loads of water, but in spite of that even if I happen to eat a little unhealthy or junk food here and there, I have to start all over which is really disappointing.
Money matters: Even though I am well qualified, people who were below than average are getting jobs earlier then me and I tell you I feel so jealous.
Relationships: I am a person who takes her own time before making friendship with somebody. I usually try to assess a person’s mindset before I allow him/ her into ‘my world’. However there are so few people who are actually into self help or are working on Improving themselves. Most of them who I know are only after either their bf/ gf’s, or discussing the latest television gossips and are interested in really superficial issues. Their life seems to revolve within a very limited sphere and it depresses me and I really don’t feel like joining such herds of people.
Career: I was made to believe that there is scope to the field at least where I am staying currently. However I do know that top professionals are high in demand. The fact that all my peers are doing jobs and here I am still struggling to clear entrance exams is a bit annoying.
I feel I can create opportunities I the above areas by
Health: I seriously intend to cut out junk food out of life. That’s the only way I seems to me
Money matters: currently what I can do is- save on whatever I can and prepare well for examinations
Relationships: I think I need to have an open body language In contrast to the closed one which I already have.
Career: need to be laser focused I my exam preparations so that I clear it really fast.
“Opportunities are everywhere. It’s up to me to find them (or create them) and make things happen.”
I do need to finish the task from my abundance mindset. What I did differently is to do self-reflection after reading the current posts. Fundamentally, if I don’t believe there are enough everyone, it’s hard for me to see the opportunity, and make it happen. I love share my learning, and through the sharing I realized my passion is in helping others and building the talent/Org. If I live in the mind-set, that we compete with each other, if they grow, then there is no opportunity for me to get promoted. I will stop sharing. If I stop sharing, there will low chance for me to become the best coach/trainer/writer. Even worse, since my passion is making difference, if I stop share, I won’t get fulfilled.
There is enough for everyone.
Your Task Today
Identify an area of your life where you feel blocked by a lack of choices/opportunities. This can be something that you’ve already listed in the previous tasks or a completely new area you haven’t explored. For example:
1) Career, I do feel I don’t have the opportunity to be in my dream job in my current company.
2) Health, I experienced some healthy problem start this March, like back pain,
3) Finance, I just feel I still have a long way to go on my ideal finance situation
Ask yourself, “How can I create the opportunity to succeed in this area?” For example:
1) Career: Contact people working in the field you desire, and consult them for advice and tips. Build my knowledge matrix in daily work.
2) Health: Do exercise as more as I CAN.
3) Finance: follow my heart on my passion, focus on value creating instead of the number on the paycheck.
Take action on what you’ve written in Step #2!
1) Career: block time with people for relationship building; schedule time on my calendar for skill matrix.
2) Health: Do exercise as more as I CAN. Make appointment with Massage weekly base; Do yoga weekly; Do Taichi 2 times a week; walk in the sunshine during the lunch break 3 times a week.
3) Finance: Just do it, do daily reflection and write down my learning on my blog, adding value from blog sharing as the first step.
Say today’s affirmation. People used to say fake it, then you become it. I will say, visualize what I want in life, believe I have what I need now, I am a writer, I am the best trainer, I am adding value to my organization, to people around me.
“Opportunities are everywhere.
It’s up to me to find them (or create them) and
MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.”
Link for my day 7: http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_a2fd0f5f0102ux6g.html
” If I stop sharing, there will low chance for me to become the best coach/trainer/writer. Even worse, since my passion is making difference, if I stop share, I won’t get fulfilled” Simply put yet hitting the bull’s eye! We have this wonderful opportunity to grow…it’s simple as if we close our eyes we cannot see….if we stop on this path, we wont grow! wonderful!
I have posted for every challenge so far, but last two ( day 6 and 7) doesn’t appear in comments. While posting, it said waiting for personal excellence to approve. Just wondering, what happened to them because I don’t have a copies or drafts. Everything I post, I write spontaneously.
Successful day everybody!
Hey Santas! :D The “approval” notification appears when there’s a link (or more) in the comment, and this is only put in place to prevent spam. (And there are tons of comment spam here, say people commenting just to advertise / have a link back to their own businesses/sites and so on.)
Your comments are definitely not spam, so I’ve already approved them and you can see them in the respective day’s thread. I review comments multiple times a day, so whenever you see the notification “waiting to be approved,” the comment should be up in a matter of hours!
Thanks Celes for reply! I see my comments now.
I wrote about this extensively in my private journal and then, as I scrolled down to post it here, I decided to post about something different!
What I wrote about was seeking resources and support for myself and for my husband. Earlier this year he was seriously ill and even more disabled than usual and when I looked for assistance, what I needed wasn’t available.
He’s better now but a long-standing problem may be starting to get worse. NOW would be a good time to start arranging things to make his care easier for me and to make life easier/better for him even if that does happen. And also if it doesn’t.
Because Quality of Life is THE issue. I want US to have a good life and to enjoy it. I want us to be able to do things that we enjoy, to have great pleasure, to feel good about how we spend our time.
What areas related to Quality of Life are blocked?
Social connections. Our social life is really limited. People don’t invite us places because of his mobility problems and not knowing what he can eat. I can take the initiative and invite people to join us at a cafe for coffee.
Travel. We love to travel, and the past year we haven’t been anywhere. The weather kept us home, and then he had to have two heart procedures. That is over now, and I think it’s time to arrange a few trips. Starting with going to visit my mother, who only lives an hour away. Her house is not handicapped accessible so I have to arrange for strong men to be on hand to help my husband into and out of the house.
Spiritual life. Mornings are often hard for us, and that means I don’t go to church on a regular basis. I always love it when I do go! And we don’t have evening services. During the summer, we also don’t have Wednesday evening services. There are two services on Sunday mornings, and I can going to the 8:00 instead of the 10:30. Rather surprisingly to me, the earlier one might be easier for me.
I combined steps one and two… step three is to take action. I’ll report back when I’ve done at least one action step.
I want and deserve to have a good quality of life. Opportunities for that are everywhere. It is up to me to find or create them and make things happen. I know what to do and I can do it!
Vicki, your affirmation is powerful. You are able to identify the area and take actions to create quality life you and your husband deserved. Look forward to hearing from you soon!
You identify the quality life do open a new window for me, thanks.
Vivian, thank you for what you wrote. I hope that the new window for you shows you beautiful things.
Hello Vicki,
I haven’t read your other posts yet, but this one really touched my heart. Sounds like you are going through a lot and I just wanted to show you some support. Every time health issues come into our lives it’s difficult to feel that we have any power over it. However I tend to think that every difficulty is there to teach us something.
I am having incurable skin disease for almost 15 years now. It sure has defeated my self confidence and limited me in many things, defining what I should eat, wear and feel. However, I never gave up. I refused to believe that there is no cure. During extensive reading, I discovered that any illness is nothing but physical manifestation of something of balance in our spiritual world and that by changing our believes we can be healed, or at least soften our conditions. It’s something similar that we are doing here on this 15 day challenge. Changing our limiting believes / poor habits to more positive ones. You can google about subconscious believes / metaphysical causes for sickness, and see what in your husband’s believes needs revision.
You sound like a really spiritual and strong woman. Maybe you have heard about Nick Vujicic? Very inspiring Christian man who was born with no arms and no legs, yet he is living his life to the fullest! He even got married and are now raising his firstborn son. Even more, he is traveling the world, sharing his story and inspiring people that everyone of us can be a miracle of God. If you haven’t heard about him yet, you should check him out. This could be a turning point in your and your husband’s life to realize that you can create quality of live no matter what is your situation! Besides, you can watch his videos, when you miss opportunity to go to the church. Worth hearing him out ;)
Big hugs to you!
Thank you for your encouragement. I have heard about Nick Vujicic and, yes, he is inspiring.
Action steps taken:
I called the Area Agency on Aging and they referred me to the Senior Services Center. They have some information about their services online and are going to send me their newsletter which has the calendar of activities for this month and next. The Center has classes and exercise groups and groups who play cards and bingo and other games.
They also arrange extended bus trips. They have one going to Mt Rushmore and the Badlands and one going to Nashville. MrB is interested in both of them. Since the buses are not equipped with a wheelchair lift, he would have to climb up half a dozen steps to get into the bus. And MrB said he’d join an exercise group to make sure his legs are strong enough to do that!
The step of calling the AAA and then SSC is helping with two of the areas affecting quality of life: social connections and travel.
Next steps:
1. Call re another travel possibility. Then arrange air travel for that. MrB is also interested in train travel and might make those arrangements.
2. Call my boss at the college because one of those bus trips is scheduled during the second week of my class!
3. Call Mom’s about when someone will be there to help MrB get in and out of the house.
Oh, lovely Vicki!!! Wow Vicki, I’m so happy for you, for consciously acknowledging that this is an area you want to work on and then proactively taking action on it right away to create the changes you seek. How is MrB’s reaction about you calling the agency and the new social groups that he can now join??
Thank you, Celes!
MrB sat with me when I called, and when we talked afterward about the groups, he seemed interested.
I forgot to mention that I also called the Assistive Technology Project. On Wednesday, we are supposed to go there to see what kinds of things might be available to help him. He likes “gadgets” so that should be interesting and fun. They seem to have a lot of simple devices like button hooks, as well as more complex high-tech things.
I also talked with a hospice chaplain who attends our church and, although MrB is not in hospice, he does need spiritual support and the chaplain will be able to “bring the church to him.”
Hello everybody,
Wow, I have finally caught day 7 and will be able to finally share my experience in real time :) I join all of you who feel blocked in their professional lives. On day 3, I was writing about the difficulties I have faced to return to university. And degree has always seemed the only way to be considered for a position.
Last couple of years I have been home-maker in a foreign country. I haven’t been able to land a job because of language barriers, social prejudice as well as high unemployment in the country I currently live. To be completely honest, I never really wanted to be employed. I want to feel satisfaction and meaning behind my efforts, and I want to see the fruits. I want to create, I want to inspire, I want to influence, I want to decide, I want to bring something in life that improves our lives, that brings more beauty and joy. I don’t really want to reproduce someone else’s ideas, when I have plenty of my own. I want make a living by doing what I love, so it doesn’t feel like a job. Here is very interesting perspective on reasons why getting a job is not always the best idea: http://www.spiritscienceandmetaphysics.com/10-reasons-you-should-never-get-a-job/
So what I want instead is to create my own brand, my own design solutions. I want to find a way to generate income weather I have a chance to complete my studies or not, whether I get a job everyone else in my field would dream about or not. I want to be independent, in terms of my free time and in terms of my income. I want to be self sufficient. I never really liked the idea of a man being the only provider. I want to contribute, but without compromising on my passion and life mission. I want a successful career as designer and I want to have a happy married life and this is a very difficult tasks for women nowadays. I have always dreamed to become an architect, well if not professionally, at least I can be master architect of my own life. And who knows, maybe one day somehow through all my efforts and action steps I will earn my degree in architecture.
“Opportunities are everywhere.
It’s up to me to find them (or create them) and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.”
Sincerely,
Santas Inspirations
Day 7! A week old already! Even though I say old, this challenge has actually rejuvenated me and made me emerge from my “cocoon” In a way it’s given way to a new me! I read the tasks, it sends me on a journey of self-discovery, discovery of the person in me that I have been neglecting, shunning and depriving of self-love! and I immediately AFFIRM to not let that be the case anymore….more is the joy in visualizing, all 440 or so of us, holding hands (digitally ;) ) and walking forth on this path of the challenge…sharing, discussing, motivating, learning….it’s a wonderful feeling and more so ever it’s very inspiring for I know that this path of change I am progressing on, someone else is doing the very same at this very time!
To the day’s tasks!
1. Identify an area of your life where you feel blocked by a lack of choices/opportunities:
Health: I feel that the lack of choices here is of my own making! I have the chance to be determined on this path of a healthier-fitter life but I keep neglecting my diet regime!
Finance: As with many indian families, I had been brought up with the ideals of a woman remaining back at home to hold the family together, even though with my abilities I had the chance of a dream job…
2. Ask yourself, “How can I create the opportunity to succeed in this area?”
Health: I can get more determined and cook the right meals for myself AND say no to my unhealthy cravings!
Finance:It’s never too late! I will work on my goals and use my talents and have faith for the opportunity to come!
3. Take steps for #2:
Obstacles are an opportunity in disguise. So I will take up this obstacles, accept and welcome them for they give me a chance to grow…to realize my abilities!
I shall immediately follow a proper nutritious diet routine and
I shall send out job applications for the opportunity is always there!
“Opportunities are everywhere.
It’s up to me to find them (or create them) and
MAKE THINGS HAPPEN”
ALSO, I love what you said It’s never too late! I wonder which lucky company can have you in their org:)
Thank you for the kind words :)
I am humbled :)
Thank you for everything you said in paragraph 1 ;) You sum it all up. Bon courage!
Merci beaucoup!
It feels wonderful once visualised like that
Hi ASLO, it is wonderful reading your posts! I love your enthusiasm to the tasks and that you are letting them change and transform you for the better! And as you rightly said, it is never too late. If you believe that you have the ability to get your dream job despite your traditional upbringing, then you should definitely go after it and see what is out there for you! I wish you all the best on your journey :)
Thank you so much! it’s wonderful how a little bit of motivation from others goes a long way and I am grateful! Wishing you all the best in your endeavours too
I also feel blocked when it comes to work. I’d like to combine counselling, teaching yoga and perhaps a part time office job and earn more than I am now. I imagine that once I’d settled in to this the joy from doing what I love would be reward enough in itself!
There are certain aspects of my current job that I enjoy – proofreading, organising, talking to people – that is customers and my colleagues, so I could keep doing something similar…
I like the idea of creating a regular women’s sharing circle, after attending one at a yoga festival this summer. This would be a good way to provide a safe space for women to share and feel heard without having to be fully qualified as a counsellor.
How can I create the opportunity to succeed in this area?
I could brainstorm with my friend Fern, who is a psychotherapist.
Set up a weekly women’s sharing circle?
Take Action…
Make a date/phone date with Fern to discuss it with her.
Research women’s sharing circles for inspiration.
Set up my own website.
Exciting!! :)
Hanna, great to hear that. I have passion in woman as well, I believe woman make big difference to org, because we have chance to become mom, and impact the next generation.
lean in circle is something I aware, you could check and see if you want to join some circle and start to build connection and do your own sharing. This is a fantastic idea, i am also thinking to share my learning regularlly to my girl friends. Let me know if you find something interesting.
Hi Vivian,
Thanks for your message! I think it would be a very good idea to find a similar circle and attend for inspiration.
I am in London, where are you based?
H
I am in Beijing.
Hi Hanna, that’s so great that you have a friend whom you can bounce off such ideas with, and possibly collaborate with (?)! Since you mentioned you want to combine your interests to earn more than what you’re doing now, I’m thinking that perhaps revenue would be an end-objective to plan towards. Perhaps you can also brainstorm about how this weekly women sharing circle can eventually lead to revenue for you? (Membership fee? Donation-based?) Maybe the circle can combine with your yoga sessions? (I read from your Day 3’s entry that you teach yoga, which is so awesome!)
Just some food for thought which may not necessarily be applicable but it’s good to brainstorm and just let the ideas flow! The point is to envision what is your ideal scenario and then take the steps now to reach it!
Thanks Celes for your encouraging words and support,
Yes I am grateful for my friend Fern, who is just embarking on setting up her own private practice after she moves to Bristol, from London – where I am.
I am thinking it could be a once a month meeting at first, I’d probably charge £10 per person and if there is time towards the end of the session I could do a kundalini yoga meditation.
:)
I feel that I am blocked with making friends. I do have friends, but no one that I feel that I can tell my secrets to. I think that it is important that we have someone in our lives that we can talk to (for me besides my partner). Sometimes I feel that it would be good to be able to download without worrying about the potential consequences.
I have decided to look more carefully at the Meetup social networking site that I joined where there are literally thounands of groups to join. I am going to try not to be too selective about what I look at…just sign up and give a couple a go. I have found a couple of cheap courses in reflexology that I would like to give a try with other people of a like mind.
Tonight I am looking at the Meetup website (I am already a member of one group) to look for more groups to join. I am also going to have a look at local community centres to see what courses/workshops that are available.
I think for me it is about just putting myself out there…after all what is the worst that can happen??
1. Identify an area of life where you feel blocked by a lack of choices/opportunities.
I think Celes hit the nail right on the head here when she wrote about health: “…you feel you frequently lack the opportunities to eat healthily, be it due to the lack of healthy eating options in your neighborhood or due to people around you offering you unhealthy food…”
I definitely feel that I lack healthy eating options for my meals, whether it be buying food from my neighbourhood or the meals that my parents cook at home. When it comes to buying food, most hawker food in Singapore is full of oil, fats and lard. Even the healthier mixed vegetable stalls tend to stir fry their dishes with lots of oil. And even though my parents mostly cook healthy stuff, they sometimes cook processed foods.
2. Ask yourself: How can I create the opportunity to succeed in this area?
Actually, the solution is very simple. Learn to cook. I have actually done bits and pieces of chopping vegetables, stir frying miscealleanous dishes, making french toast and watching others cook, but never bothered (was too lazy) to do the whole thing myself.
3. Take action on what you wrote in step 2.
Action steps:
1. Write down the following steps in my weekly to do list.
2. Find 3 healthy stir fry recipes that I already have the ingredients for.
3. Pillage the ingredients from the kitchen
4. The next time my mother wants to cook dinner, offer to cook the recipe.
5. Cook it under her watchful eyes.
4. Say the affirmation
I HAVE THE POWER!!! It’s up to me to find or create opportunities and make things happen.
http://samuelimyongen.wordpress.com/2014/07/14/affirmation-challenge-day-7/
I feel blocked in the career area. If I were to use my degree in Letters, I would have two options: either teacher or translator, but neither of those really makes my heart sing. I’m still searching for my life purpose, and while I do know that one’s life purpose and one’s job don’t necessarily need to match, I would like to have a job which ties in nicely with my purpose. But first I have to find that purpose.
However, I *will* need a job until I find my purpose, and out of the two options which are available to me based on my studies, I prefer being a translator. I have a friend who works in this field and who can offer me some answers and some useful information/tips. I already have some questions in mind; going to contact her about it. :)
“Opportunities are everywhere. It’s up to me to find them (or create them) and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.”
Side note: Referring to using my degree, I am open to learning new things and trying a different job, unrelated to the field of foreign languages and literature, but I like books and languages, and I’d like to have a job which would somehow involve these two aspects. Thing is I also like being active and creative — reason why I like crafting so much — and working as a translator doesn’t really involve that (you just sit with your papers and your dictionaries and that’s it). Anyway, these were just some extra thoughts on the topic of careers. I’m sure that finding my purpose will truly clarify things for me. :)
Hi Lina! I think the fact that you know neither of those makes your heart sing means you’re closer to your life purpose than you may think. At least you already know what doesn’t make your heart sing, if you know what I mean? :D Knowing the areas that don’t *appeal* to you is a big first step; next is to identify the message that does appeal to you (of which I talk about in the purpose series, of which you are already re-reading at the moment).
You mentioned your graduation thesis as your year-one goals in your PE forum thread — are you in your final year now? So when you mean “career,” are you referring to your career post-graduation or an attachment job you are considering at this moment?
True, I think this is one way to go about it — taking it by elimination and narrowing down the field of “Things-I-would-like-to-do.”
Yes, this autumn I start my final year (will get my BA after graduating next year, 2015). Well, when I say career I mean something that I would do long-term, for my whole life eventually. However, I do need a job as soon as possible in order to achieve some of my other goals (such as traveling or moving out), and one of the fastest solutions is to get a job related to my field of studies, hence the translator option.
Lina, I had exactly the same struggling when I graduated. For some people, it’s easy for them to find the passion; for some, they may only realize in their late 40/50/60s; for some, they may no chance to realize that or take action in their whole life. I experienced all status in last 9 years, one lessen I learned is to follow the heart. In some company pholosphy, identify what you can do , (link to your major), then what you want to do. Since the challange is unlimit the box, you have thousand of possibility, definitely you need to do some home work. One friend of mine doesn’t want to follow her passion when we just graduated, she said she feel a miss if she won’t have chance to use what she learned in university for 4 years, but then, she use more than 4 years to change job from job to find her passion. You’re in the best position, and hold lots of your possibility in your hand, dream big!
Thank you, Vivian! That puts things in a whole new perspective.
Just a random thought referring to people finding their passion in their 40s or 50s, I guess it’s better later than never. After all, to live and to die without having lived with passion is a tad sad and leaves you unsatisfied in the end.
Yes, better later than never. Follow the nature, it will show up. We all in PE already, should come soon:)
Hi Madalina. I understand where you are coming from with your degree. I gained a few qualifications because I thought that was the area I wanted to work in…like you I felt that it really wasn’t me. Now I am getting another qualification in a totally different field. I think that sometime you have to just go with the flow, try a few things to discover where your passion is. I hope that you find your life purpose.
It’s great that you’re taking the necessary steps in order to achieve your goals/dreams. :) And I fully agree that a person can discover his or her passion only by trying various things. Just like Celes said in one of her articles, trying to figure out what your passion or purpose is without enough life experience is like trying to choose between yoga and hiking even though you don’t practice any sports. Good luck and thank you!
Kae, I’m so happy for you that you’re following your heart and pursuing another qualification in a different field. Whether it works out to be the area you want to work in, remember all the qualifications you’re gaining now are NEVER gone to waste — they all contribute to increasing your knowledge, raising your awareness, and making you a more intelligent being.
This knowledge will also well be applicable in whatever you do in the future, as long as you learn to leverage it. For example, I was in marketing and business management which most may think isn’t related to personal development, and prior to that I learned web designing when I was a teen and ran my web design business for a while. But I’ve learned to leverage many of my past knowledge to help me excel in my new field. So, it’s always a matter of how we use our existing skills and knowledge to help us to succeed in our future goals!
Hi Celes. Totally agree! Without the qualifications that I have I wouldn’t have been able to do some of the jobs that I have had…it just turned out that isn’t were my desires are. I truly believe that we travel down differerent paths for a reason. :-)
Lina, I’m glad you added that side note. I was going to ask what you liked about your field of Letters, and I guess that is part of it! You might also think about working as an interpreter in addition to or instead of translating. I do some work as translator/interpreter and that takes me to some interesting places, including behind the scenes at City Hall and the hospitals, and even to a movie location.
Your studies will have taught you other skills that can be used in different fields. If you look at what those skills are — writing? organizing information? analyzing what others have written? — and then look at what jobs use those skills, you may find something other than teaching or translating where they can be used. Many jobs require a college degree but not a specific one (e.g. my brother-in-law got a degree in law enforcement and then became a department store manager). Also if you have the skills needed, you can ask about getting alternative credentialing if required.
Thank you so much, Vicki! For some reason I had never thought about subskills and how useful they can be. Although I already use writing (I work as a freelance writer), it’s true that there are other subskills I’ve acquired by studying Letters, which I can use in a job. Once more, thank you! :)
Day 7 of the 15 Day Affirmation Challenge
“Opportunities are everywhere. It’s up to me to find or create them and Make Things Happen.”
Because the universe ain’t gonna hand the good stuff to people on a platter. The universe makes the good stuff – from the ideal relationship, to the ideal job, to the ideal friendships, to financial abundance, to the perfect health, etc. – difficult to obtain so that the people who really want it, the people who really deserve it, will find a way to make them happen.
“I can create friendships with like-minded people through my blogs and meetup groups.”
” I will take control of my mind and body by continuing to eat fresh fruits and vegetables and taking my yoga and barre ballet classes.”
“I will continue to grow my business and projects by dedicating my time to them and with the people that show the actions willing to put in the effort.”
Hi Lisanne! :D I love your affirmations — all full of abundance! You mentioned creating friendships with people through your blogs and meetup groups — you are welcome to share your links if you like, so other participants can know about them!
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