My Mom started crying on our video call.
Both my parents were lamenting to me about their relationships with my sister. I’d spent the last year in the Philippines, away from my family completely, and I missed them dearly.
“It’s like we’re always annoying your sister,” my Mom said. “She snaps at us all the time out of nowhere and we walk on eggshells around her.”
It made me sad. I grew up in a household where we were all very close. Me, my brother, my sister, my mother, and my father — we were all we had.
I remember when my siblings and I would have sleepovers together. We’d pull our beds into my sister’s room and quote movie lines dangerously close to midnight. We laughed so hard that my parents had to tell us to go to sleep already. …
These lessons have made me over $50,000 in the past 3 years
I’m coming up on my third anniversary as a Medium writer (it’s in March), and it’s been a wild ride. 16,000 followers, 3,000 email subscribers, and $50,000 later (yikes! Where the hell did all that money go!?), and I’m finally starting to ask some big questions about what is making it all possible.
Most of what made it possible was out of my control, of course. I didn’t find Medium, invent the internet, or manufacture the Apple Macbook. But there was a lot within my control — and there is a lot within your control, too.
To the upcoming writers of Medium, Amazon Kindle, their own blogs, or somewhere else, here are the 3 biggest lessons I’ve learned in my writing career. …
You can’t just wish and will yourself into a success mindset
Does positive thinking work?
You’ve probably had that thought if you’re trying to change your inner self-talk. After all, thinking positively sounds promising on the surface. Who wouldn’t want to think good thoughts and have everything magically work out for them?
The truth is that positive thinking doesn’t always help — or even work.
There is nothing inherently wrong with being optimistic and upbeat. But healthy positivity becomes toxic when it denies, minimizes, or invalidates a person’s emotions. You begin to start feeling bad about feeling bad.
Toxic positivity can trigger a self-defeating spiral, particularly for those who are Sensitive Strivers. As high-achievers who are also highly sensitive, they think and feel everything more deeply. …
It’s not always a good time for a drastic life change, but it is always the right time to start prioritizing your passions
Several months ago, my therapist encouraged me to “be more indulgent.”
As in, less responsible. This was so far from the advice I’d received from mentors, bosses, coaches, and my parents. Responsibility, discipline, achievement, hard work, keeping busy — that’s what it means to be a functioning adult in society. Right?
My therapist followed this challenge up with a two-part question: is there anything I do for no purpose other than enjoyment? Is there any area of my life in which I can sit back and let someone else take on the responsibility?
I felt stunned as I stared at my therapist’s face, neatly contained in a small square on Zoom. My answer was no. I spent most of my time either working or doing household tasks. I filled any free time with self-improvement activities, such as exercise or reading educational books. Beneficial, yes — but not always pleasurable and certainly not nurturing my creative passions. …
It’s about seeing the life skills I acquired from years of study
I didn’t enjoy school. I wrote an entire article about how I hated it even though I was good at it and concluded that doing well at something doesn’t mean you enjoy it.
From depression, anxiety, self-harm and an eating disorder, I was a mess. Being unpopular, having few friends, acne, braces, and glasses were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to those teen years. Not to mention the worst part — the anxiety-inducing exams.
However, like many Asian kids, I trudged along, finishing high school with scholarships to University and furthering my studies at Grad School. …
Fighting one Boomer at a time
Now that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have taken office, speculations are swirling about new bills that might be passed.
One idea that caught my attention — and the attention of many others — is forgiving the national student loan debt. Interest on our loans has been put on hold for almost a year now, and it looks set to continue that way in the interim future.
Forgiving student loan debt completely would remove many struggling Americans from low-income situations. …
How to fill your profile, get your first job, create a network, gain long-term clients, get paid, and more.
I joined Upwork in 2017 when I was a university student. At that time, I had no work experience, and I had no idea about Upwork either. I just heard its name mentioned in one of my Whatsapp groups. There was a funny job posting. A client asked freelancers to find out who the person in a newspaper clipping was. I couldn’t find that person, but I did mean I already had an account on Upwork when I decided to start freelancing.
I updated my profile after two years, and my freelance journey started. I have been working on this platform for one and a half years as a Python Developer. I was on my own during this journey, and that’s why I had to learn most things through trial and error — and I learned a lot of things. …
Tools listed and real screenshots for you
It’s currently the second lockdown in the UK, and there’s no end date announced yet.
Personally, I’ve been working from home for almost a year now — how strange. I couldn’t attend therapy in person, do my Improv course, take up skill-based classes, or go to the gym.
In return, I’ve had a lot more free time — no more getting ready in the morning and commuting inside central London. Last summer, I used most of that free time on writing and growing on Medium, which worked out well.
When I realised that being at home would be the new normal and I hadn’t exactly planned for this, I was worried about my self-development. I didn’t just want to be writing one blog post after another — first, it wouldn’t be effective and, secondly, I’d get so bored. …
To land your ideal job, you need to be more than an ideal candidate.
As a 22-year old who graduated from University in 2020, navigating the job market has been anything but smooth. I’ve applied to hundreds of jobs, experienced my fair share of interviews and rejections, all to no avail.
I’m not one to blow my own trumpet. But I consider my skill set, portfolio, and experience to be well above the average in my desired field. For a while, I struggled to understand why I couldn’t land my dream job. I had the credentials and proof, I was well-rehearsed, and was answering interview questions by the book.
Was there something I was missing? …
Leverage is the most underrated force for building your business
Making money online has never been more within reach.
It’s about a mindset shift. It is not that hard work doesn’t count. It’s the wrong place to start. It’s perhaps item 8 on your to-do list — right after patience and perseverance.
The true power comes from using leverage — something that’s already in your possession to achieve better results. Combine leverage and taking accountability with a carefully chosen direction, and hard work is going to take you much farther and way faster. Don’t limit yourself to only think of physical tools. Think big. Your leverage can be anything.
The Writing Guy — David Perell — said it…
