Category Archives: personal development

1a. Fundamentals (Foundations 1/3) – Introduction

If you have not read 0. An Introduction, I suggest starting there first. Please note that I am not a medical or mental health professional. Some mental health problems may need more than lifestyle changes alone. Always seek professional help. This series will be top-heavy and over the first three months, we will cover theContinue reading “1a. Fundamentals (Foundations 1/3) – Introduction”

0. An Introduction

This is the introduction to the start of a monthly, year-long series discussing elements of living a fulfilled life, covering fundamentals of mental health, mindset, behaviour, education, core values, passion, purpose, mission, vision, goals, legacy and learning to enjoy the journey. If you have not read ‘The Vision’, yet, I suggest you start there first.

Supporting the Mission and Vision

If you have not read The Vision, please read that first and then come back here. To implement the mission and vision, I need to spend more and more time writing. Over time, I plan to gradually reduce the hours spent at my main job to focus more and more on the mission and vision.Continue reading “Supporting the Mission and Vision”

Recalibration

You may have noticed I went dark for a while. I am currently in a transition period, the process of recalibration, learning how to go from teacher to manager. This has challenged the systems I had in place to protect my mental health. More on that later – a bit of background first and someContinue reading “Recalibration”

Recalibration (bionic reading)

You may have noticed I went dark for a while. I am currently in a transition period, the process of recalibration, learning how to go from teacher to  manager. This has challenged the systems I had in place to protect my mental health. More on that later – a bit of background first and some lessons I have learned at the end. Background – From Teacher to Manager (Imposter Syndrome)Until just before my post on R&R, I had a highly productive schedule, using the early hours of the morning from 4 or 5 am to around 10 am to read, study or write. After that, I would have breakfast with my family and then cycle to work. This was working really well. I was tired but productive, achieving, increasing my self-esteem and staving off depression. Since then, I have transitioned from being a teacher to a regional manager. This means a big schedule change. My previous teaching hours were between 1 pm-9 pm. I now essentially have a 9-5 office job. My day off was Tuesday. Now it is Saturday & Sunday, but my part-time job was on those days until the academic year ended last week, so I worked three weeks with no day off. I also have to drive to work, which means less exercise and more stress (peak hour traffic, abrupt lane changes and stopping = a mini-heart attack every day!). The naive part of me thought the transition would be business as usual, just with some schedule adjustments. To stay productive, I thought it would just be a case of getting up earlier but I had not taken into account the stress of the new responsibilities and the lack of days off as I changed jobs.My first few weeks have been quite intense as I learn about my new role. AnxietyI have had very little time to feel depressed. What I have struggled with is anxiety.Here is what anxiety looks like for me: racing thoughts, increased heart rate, headaches from stress, impaired concentration and forgetfulness, incredibly focused concentration, and a general feeling of impending doom. In my main job, I have gone from being responsible for teaching around 8 classes to representing the whole company and being responsible (and first point of contact) for around 18 schools. This, and my lack of experience leaves me constantly questioning the decisions I make on a daily basis. I have the title, but I sometimes have the feeling of ‘Imposter Syndrome’.Continue reading “Recalibration (bionic reading)”

Bionic Reading

This is an experiment for my readers. Be sure to open this page for full effect. I recently became aware of a concept called Bionic Reading. The idea is that by focusing on the bold parts of each word, your brain will finish the word.  The aim is to “encourage a more in-depth reading and understanding of written content.” I will be trying it out on future posts too and would love your feedback. Should I keep doing it? Why/why not? Comment below if you find this helpful or not! Post emboldened with the help of: https://api.bionic-reading.com/convert/ For further information, see: https://bionic-reading.com/ (I am not affiliated with nor sponsored by them).

R&R

An uncharacteristically short post… I am currently having a week off as I transition between jobs. I had been feeling off and particularly unproductive in the 3 weeks before this holiday. I have been fighting the urge to be productive, so I set no alarms. I wake up when I wake up. Often that happensContinue reading “R&R“

The Vision

After considerable reflection, I realise my understanding of vision was incomplete so I am updating and expanding this post. Although I write a lot about mental health, I am not a medical or mental health professional – always seek professional help first. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, seek emergency medical help immediately.Continue reading “The Vision”

Muddled (unplanned)

I am just going to write and see where this goes. Writing is my way of unscrambling my thoughts and reprioritising what is important. TLDR: You cannot do everything you want at the same time, listen to your body, rest. For regular readers It has been an intense couple of weeks. I have been pushingContinue reading “Muddled (unplanned)“

Stress and Anxiety

Fragments The importance of rest and purpose Summary/TLDR at the end. Let me pre-empt this by pointing out that, as the subtitle suggests, I have not been getting enough rest. It follows that I am not writing at my best, but I hope this will serve as a reminder to you to get enough rest!Continue reading “Stress and Anxiety“

Prioritising

Like me recently, you may have found yourself with a seemingly ever-growing list of tasks and no idea how to prioritise. This is what I learned (inspiration from Earl Knightingale and Tom Bilyeu): The good news: learning to prioritise is not as complicated as it seems. The answer lies in knowing your “why”. i.e. WhatContinue reading “Prioritising“

Spontaneous Self-Reflection

Go to the end for lessons learnt. Let’s see where this goes… This is an unplanned exercise in regaining some clarity. Writing is, for me, a healing and growing exercise. It allows me to externalise what is important to me at any given time. It helps me to clear my mind and regain focus. TimeContinue reading “Spontaneous Self-Reflection”

Level up in 2022

How to increase your wealth by setting meaningful goals and investing in yourself It is a New Year and a fresh start. This is the first New Year for as long as I can remember that I have been excited for the coming year. What’s the difference this time? I spent most of December workingContinue reading “Level up in 2022“

Goal-setting

It has taken me most of my life to take up my dad’s advice. Goal-setting seemed so boring and restrictive before. Now it is essential. What changed? After a family member’s suicide and getting scarily close myself, I spent a lot of time trying to understand and learn about why people end their lives. ThisContinue reading “Goal-setting”