I've had some time to think.
Welcome to Issue 79 of Yath's Blogletter, a newsletter where we explore mindful self-growth. I hope you’re having an awesome day!
Hi friends,
So, I've written very little in the last few months but now feels like a good time to get back into it. Here are 10 mindful lessons from my time away.
One: you can't have it all. At university, it was colloquially understood that you had two of three things: either a social life, grades, or health. Never all three. The same is true for life in general. But make it a combination of either: a social life, career progress, or health. There will be periods where you neglect one area to focus on the other two. That's absolutely fine as long as we rotate and never neglect one thing for too long.
Two: make time for family. I'll be honest I'm pretty terrible when it comes to family. Just a bit of an awkward melon. But this year more than ever I have spent more time with family and for that, I'm super grateful. A healthier family relationship improved my mental well-being and gave me a better support system.
Three: productivity advice is bullsh*t. Sorry if I've given you productivity advice in the past. But I must admit I have always made it clear that what works for me may not work for you. That is the essence of productivity advice to be honest. It's that productivity is about: trial and error. Work out what makes you productive and just do more of that.
Four: find a passion project. YouTube was the first passion project that I shared with the world. Before that, I had many more like flipping exclusive sneakers or graphic design in high school. More than the project itself, having something to work on in your free time keeps your mind occupied and provides a good means to explore.
Five: read more books. I feel like when you stop reading books, or more generally, stop learning new things, you stop growing as an individual. Whilst it feels like learning stops when you graduate from school or university, this definitely isn't true. Life experience and wisdom forms when we acknowledge that life is a lifelong learning process.
Six: unsubscribe from people and content. If something you used to resonate with doesn't fit with your values at present. Let it go. The same can be said for this newsletter, if you don't find it helpful anymore, unsubscribe now. Similarly, friends and people we involved in our lives some many years ago may not be the individuals we want to surround ourselves with now. Let them go.
Seven: treat your career like chapters of a book. Just because you invested so much time into something doesn't mean you have to do that thing forever. Especially if you aren't happy with it. Most times, it's better to pivot. If we treated each decade of our career as a chapter, most of us could have 4-5 solid chapters (at minimum).
Eight: save some dollar. Taking a break from all the life stuff to bring you some ground-breaking financial advice. For years, I've saved some money every month. Those savings recently helped me with a few big life purchases. It was the consistency more than the amount I saved that helped things compound the most. Ps - this isn't financial advice, strictly for entertainment purposes only (lol).
Nine: learn to quit. My friend Arun recommended me a book. It was The Dip by Seth Godin. In this book, you'll learn that It's better to escape a sinking ship before it has fully sunken. You'll learn about dips, when to spot on, how to deal with one, and when to quit when you're in a bad one.
Ten: don't stick to a strict schedule. You don't have to eat a healthy balanced diet every day and you definitely don't have to exercise 365 days a year. Life is fluid and it's more fun lived that way.
Stay safe, stay happy!
Yath