More Blogs, Write Better, Mental Shifts

Ok, so maybe I lied in my last post...the Shaghai part of my China blog never came. I had every intention to post, but you know how it goes once you get back home and into the grind of things.

With that said...my goal for 2016 is to write more, and write better. I have a running list of blog topics I keep on my iPhone that I have yet to dip in to. Everything from, "My Top 3 most useful Apps" to "What I've learned as a mother".

For me, the biggest challenge is brevity. How do I condense everything I want to say into something someone will actually want to read? Where do I cut the fat and what's interesting and what's not?

I read something today from a content strategist at Facebook, "Start with empathy. Continue with utility. Improve with analysis. Optimize with love."

I mean, this principle can be applied even to my instagram captions.

Since I've moved into my new role as Director of Marketing, a few mental shifts have begun to happen.

Personal growth doesn't stop when you're an adult. When I was a kid I thought that adults have it figured out. Obviously, we actually never quite "figure it out". Actually, we realize how much we don't have it figured out. There are opportunities to learn all around us, especially with the kind of technology we have today. Specifically for me, when networking with women, I am now interested, more than ever, about their personal journey in their professional life. I've started making enrichment through reading and podcasts a part of my daily routine. And most importantly, I'm (slowly) learning what it means to make personal growth be in line with growth in a marriage.

Building at 2x the Mentality. Meaning, whatever I'm building, to factor in growth so that I prevent the feeling of becoming "overwhelmed". (Home example: learning how to cook more dishes in volume so I don't have to "prepare" for more guests. Work example: build a brand strategy as if I'm Apple.)

Schedule, Schedule, Schedule! OMG, if any knows me, I've always hated a schedule and I dislike routine. Well, that was when I was single and my company functioned like a start-up where structure was only a dream and I purposely didn't choose an office because I wasn't going to be in there anyway. NOW, if I don't schedule out my days, I might miss time with my daughter before she goes to bed, or let several days go by before reconnecting with my husband.

The Power of a Plan. I'm sure you've heard that annoying overly-used quote, "Failing to plan is a plan to fail." I'm finally starting to get it and how much truth there is to it. I've also experienced that with a plan comes the freedom of feeling overly-stressed and overwhelmed. A plan is simply to break up some huge intimidating project into smaller, totally do-able tasks, with a timeline.

So there's my impromptu brain flush of my thoughts going into this new year. If I've got to get better at writing content, I guess I'll just have to write more :)

Here's to more blogs in 2016!

Oh, and here's the latest pic of my sweet, hilarious and totally awesome girl: