Hello everyone.

It's been a while since my last post - almost a year now.

Which makes it even more bad on my part after typing it down.

My other profiles haven't been better: X profile, Facebook, Instagram. What started off as a break from focusing on other areas of my life soon became a struggle to build something new online.

However, if I'm being honest, I haven't been doing a great job with my online presence.

I needed to reflect on why I stopped working online completely, then could I begin what I set out to do since last year.

If you don't mind sparing a few minutes, I'll explain more in-depth what I mean &

Lack Of…

It's been more than a year since I started on X & my blog.

More than 3 years since I dreamed of building online.

And more than 5 years since I felt lost on what came next after graduation.

As much as this could be another rant of feeling lost & unsure of where to go next, I'm not going to do it.

I'm still in the age and situation of learning independence & taking on more risks to grow. Even if I'm not where I want to be, I still have the time and energy to make it there.

I know I could've been there sooner earlier but choose not to - intentionally or not - based on my actions. Now I want to do the actions that are worthwhile in the long run.

So what factors have been holding me back then & today?

The same ones many of us are facing.

1 - Action

By action I mean doing tasks or projects that move my life to the direction I want to go.

I've always done the bare minimum in college.

I've always done what my parents told me to do.

I've always done what others wanted me to do or be.

I never took the time to think of where I wanted to be, instead following others without much thought or effort. I only giving the bare minimum that was asked, nothing more.

The most recent example was during my break from writing online. It first started with taking a hiatus from my blog to help out in my church's ministry. I still was doing alright with X, writing daily & engaging with other creators. But then I traded that time as well for non-urgent requests.

I put helping others first and dropped what I was doing for their sake. A noble intention but poorly executed when what I was doing were necessities.

And this leads to my second factor for my lack of progress.

2 - Discipline

Discipline is defined as controlled behaviors or a system of rules to follow.

Well, I clearly lacked it throughout these past months, if not years.

This is definitely a topic to further elaborate & research for future entries, but it's one I fall short in.

The key issue being how I never took the time to form the ideal behaviors and systems to take me where I wanted to go. The closest I've done is by following other people's examples - Ali Abdaal, Dan Koe, etc.

Most of the tips they provided have been beneficial but I soon dropped them due when I couldn’t adapt them to my situation. It would start off by me taking on the discipline they provided, then dropping them when something else came up.

And as Alex Hornozi stated, learning to do something when you're busy is vastly greater than waiting for the ideal time that will never come.

Instead of following the disciplines I've been learning rigidly, I needed to adapt them with my own problems and my own long-term goals.

Which finally leads to the final factor for my lack of progress.

3 - Vision

I've struggled with having a long-term vision & sticking with it.

I only focused on getting through the day - working to earn enough to pay the bills, make time to eat and/or cook, sleep whenever possible, & do whatever else I promised someone else I'll do.

My vision wasn't concrete.

I can describe it in essence, but I never defined the key points, connected it to a goal, or wrote down clear actionable steps.

And any time I ever put it into words, I hopped on to the next North-Star journal entry or the new Bucket List format I learned online.

If I want to change my life with meaningful action & a strong discipline, I need to clearly state my vision.

What's Next?

“The first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one.”

After putting into words where I've gone wrong, I can now work on them.

1. Defining My Vision - having a clear, long-term goal that fits with my interests & values; with notable milestones to achieve in the short-term

2. Understanding Discipline - instead of trying to master discipline (as many do first but fail) I'll be researching on this topic & sharing my progress in applying it to my life & circumstances - learning as I go

3. Action Over Questions - instead of asking others for tasks to do or wondering if I'm needed elsewhere, I'll start doing what I need to do for myself first

All of this will be easier said than done, especially coming from a people pleaser that I am. But I hope to come back to this entry to improve who I am and become more equipped and well-rounded to help others.

What I'm doing is to better manage my time, energy, and focus so that I can spend them on what's truly important; this is what I believe needs to be shared more.

I hope this will also help you if you're facing something similar to me or you want to start a new chapter.

See you next week as I get more specific on discipline with a few updates.

Blessings!

Weekly Resources

One of my go-to’s in productivity and content creation is Dan Koe. He approaches these principles with mental aesthetics and an entrepreneurial mindset, making him a pioneer in today’s digital era. One of the videos that I went back to watch was his discussion on becoming multidimensional; where his approach to becoming a high-value individual involves big goals for his life foundation with small milestones to have momentum each day. I highly recommend this video if you want to begin maximizing your life.

Another video I came across is from Tiago Forte,  a leading advocate of using the second brain method for productivity and organization. His video on how to create more with a curator’s mindset offers a framework with approaching the digital landscape - from scrolling to listening to podcasts - and using them to get ahead in life as a creator. For any aspiring creator out there, watch it and make a shift starting now.

To cap off my Weekly Resources is a YouTube creator, Ali Abdaal. He was what introduced me and other aspiring creators on becoming productive using tools and research on related topics. One of those topics being dopamine detox, where someone resets their dopamine levels to offset the massive amounts of dopamine engagements (junk food, social media, binge watching) that surrounds us. This is a topic I will look into later but the advice Abdaal includes is practical and easy to do for anyone. If you want to use the power of dopamine to make your work and goals more rewarding, then check his video out.