An invitation to come back to “home” to nail 2022

The pandemic of COVID-19 raised the necessity of social distancing. Millions of people had to adapt to the lockdown. Yet, even though most of us spend more time locked up at our houses, with our loved ones, not all of us have the opportunity to come back to our spiritual home. To reflect, getting in touch with our inner-self, where lies the deepest aspirations of our soul.  

In this interview with  Rha Goddess from Marie Forleo, I felt inspired to take a sacred pause to get aligned to my inner truth. As the year is ending, I invite you to take time to go home as well. Whatever you call your “home”, it is time to be at the place where you can be with yourself to think about your life and work, in alignment with your purpose and truth.

Here are some prompts I mixt from Marie Forleo’s Year in review and the interview I mentioned before. They guide me on my “come home moment”. I hope it will help you to digest what you have done, leverage what you learned, and let go of what is holding you back. I will also help you to find alignment with your truth.

• What did I do, create or experience this year that I am really proud of?
• What mistakes did I make that taught me something? What lessons did I learn that I can leverage?
• What am I willing to let go of?
• Where am I being true to myself in my life and work? Where am I out of alignment?
• What’s one action I can take to realign with myself?
• What specific ways can I earn and spend that provide more good than harm in the world?

I suggest you go to a silent, cozy room, take a notebook and a pen, to put down on paper my thoughts. I hope it may be useful or at least inspire you to take your own approach to this reflection too. I will definitely set you up for a powerful 2022.

To wrap up, I let you with a quote it worth it to wonder about:

“Cultivate a new definition for success, one that includes more money, more joy, and less struggle.”

Rha Goddess, The Calling

What to do while staying at home

The end of a cycle is a favorable moment to learn. The conclusion of a succession of events is perfect to give us a broader viewpoint of our lives. It anticipates a change and creates expectations. 

As we orbit around a cycle, whether social or natural, we have the opportunity to see things from different perspectives. For instance, from spring to fall, we witness the transformation of the landscape from the colors of blossomed flowers into leaves falling. These changes call us to think.

In this final moment of 2021, in which we are allowed to slow down professionally,  I will be intentional and merciful with myself. Not only will I set up the conditions to thrive in the days to come, but I also am going to take care of my wellness. I hope these actions inspire you to do the same. 

Rest

First of all, I will allow myself to just relax free from the pressure of my routines. I will listen to my body and rest as much as I want. Better than that, I won’t feel guilty for doing nothing. So that my energy will be recharged for the next steps on my journey. 

Move

As counterintuitive as it can seem, I will use the movements of my body to support the relaxing process. As we move, we release hormones that help us to feel better. We also send more oxygen to our brain, which helps us to get fresh ideas. Walking to get in contact with nature is a great option, as well as dancing if you are into it like me. 

Organize

I am also using my time to catch up with some physical organization I was willing to do for a while. Things like reviewing my wardrobe to see what is no longer used and can be donated, fixing broken stuff, cleaning my garden from the weeds. It is said that we need to literally make room for the new if we want to attract them to our lives. I am open to receiving the blessings and novelties from the universe.

Reflect

I am excited to look back and see how I did in 2021. Evaluating the various areas of my life, my goals, achievements, and failures will give me a sense of reality. Thus, journaling about what went well or wrong will help me to improve in my goal-setting process. It will give me evidence to redirect my actions towards my objectives. Having clarity on my wins and losses will, consequently, give me more self-awareness, crucial to evolve in my life planning. 

Does it resonate with you? Are you already doing some of these on this stay-at-home holiday period? Please, share with me your thoughts in the comments.

Failure: stepstones on the maturity journey

If learning, unlearning, and relearning is the skill of the century, failure is the most underestimated free asset to succeed in the current world. Culturally, we are set up to “keep our eyes on the prize” and neglect the journey and time required to reach somewhere. Then we forget the principles behind nature and science. There is no way to harvest the fruit without sowing the seed and cultivating them till they mature. Behind the scenes of scientific discoveries, there are endless unsuccessful experiments. This hurting part does not attract “likes” from the social media followers, though.

It reminds me of an interview with the author of Principles: Life and Work. He said something that stands out to me. 

“Write your learning”

Ray Dalio

For Dalio, mistakes are the most valuable experience for learning. By doing them over and over again, and reflecting on them, you change your whole perspective. But, look! It all comes down to using the error to extract some knowledge that will improve our odds on the next try. Because there is no room for wisdom if we just repeat the mistakes without being mindful about what can be done to correct the problems.

By denying the importance of failing, we get angry when something goes wrong. We feel frustrated when our plans do not turn out as we want. However, plans essentially are hypotheses based on our knowledge about how things work. But the reality is much more complex and resourceful than our limited mind can imagine. It does not fit into the small box and categories we create in advance. The universe has its idiosyncrasies. It is way more abundant than we can expect. That is why reality always surprises us with unanticipated results. 

I would like to call you to embrace mistakes as opportunities to improve. Instead of being sad when our approach to solving a challenge does not end up well, we should be proud because we tried. If we carefully think about our mistakes, we are indeed one step closer to our goal each time we fail. All we need is to make sure our senses are open to changing directions if needed.

Acknowledging that our failures are part of the process of learning is liberating. Society tells us that we are going in the wrong direction. Yet,  it pays off joining on the projects we believe in. On initiatives, we feel we are meant to be part of. In this way, it is possible to align our life with our purpose.

Craft the superpower of the century

Did you know that the usual lifespan of technical skills is around 18 months? The pace of life is faster than ever. As a result, adaptability became a survival faculty to navigate this cutting-edge technological era. In fact, lifelong learning has become the lifestyle of those who are thriving despite the challenges of the contemporary world.

When I came across the following quote, it just blew my mind. It was a wake-up call to me:

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

Alvin Toffle

It made me feel uneasy. I started wondering whether I am part of the illiterate group of the century or not. Or better, to what degree am I illiterate when it comes to those three core abilities? I invite you to sleep on these questions too. And if you identify many rooms for improvement like me, don’t worry! 

The great news is that we live in the best moment in history to teach ourselves whatever we want.

Jess Labs

Let’s dive into these three pillars for building up knowledge and skill.

Learn

As stated in Cambridge Dictionary, learning is “to get knowledge or understanding of facts or ideas or of how to do things”. We are more acquainted with this ability since we have practiced it since the earliest stages of our lives. Research backs up that babies can learn in the womb from 30 weeks of gestational age. When we learn, our brain forms new connections and neurons. Besides, existing neural pathways get stronger or weaker. 

Unlearn

The definition is “to make an effort to forget your usual way of doing something so that you can learn a new and sometimes better way”, as reported by the same dictionary. This second faculty is a little more challenging for us. Neuroscience studies usually cover this in terms of limiting beliefs and negative behaviors of individuals. It takes some extra effort to unlearn because it is difficult for us to let go of what we consider facts. It has to do with unconscientious assumptions, beliefs, patterns we wear. It is evident, for instance, when we start to learn a new language. To be successful, we need to unlearn sounds, structures, and rhythm we’re used to welcoming the new ones. Indeed, unlearning can completely shift a person’s perspective. 

Relearn

Interestingly, this word isn’t included in the Cambridge Dictionary yet. This lack of definition speaks volumes about our still-developing ability to relearn as a society. We are constantly facing issues related to fixed ideas we hold in groups or as individuals and we are not willing to reframe. But the world is hungry for curious minds, people open-minded, able to wear opinions lightly, and humble enough to detach from old behaviors and ideas no longer helpful. When we relearn, our brain redesigns the paths of the neuronal connections, discovering new vias not explored before. It can be even more effective and stronger than the previous connections. 

Of course, the advantages of adopting this learn, unlearn and relearn cycle are countless for us. We gain the superpower of adaptability, which is an asset recognized by the ever-changing market. Gaining adjacent knowledge can generate new opportunities for partnership and work, helping us to experiment with other positions and ways of work. Not to mention that we can get a lot of fun while going through this evolving journey.

Do you like this topic? Please, tell me practical ways you learn, unlearn and relearn in the comments. I would love to learn from you.

Watch your personal movie and rewrite your script (part 2)

We started to think about how reflection can leverage our work and life. Sometimes we have a great vision, a sense of purpose, and the principles to guide us. And we are totally able to nail it all. However, there is a missing piece to make our dreams a reality. The puzzle may be solved if we stick to one single habit: stepping back constantly to assess whether our day-to-day actions are heading in the intended direction.

Yesterday we saw two different points for this habit of chewing on our living and correcting our GPS direction to the right route. While Stephen Covey compares it with the act of “Sharpen the Saw”, Brendon Burchard prescribes “Seek Clarity”. Both agree that this habit will enhance your performance, effectiveness, and leverage your impact. 

Today, we will discuss based on David Allen’s viewpoint. Like the previous authors, he emphasizes the value of distancing ourselves from the day-to-day chores to gain some perspective and coherence.  

“Reflect”

This is the fourth practical step of his well-known method of Getting Things Done (GDT):  

1. Capture
2. Clarify
3. Organize
4. Reflect
5. Engage

According to David Allen, reflecting is key to optimizing your productivity system. It is when you can scan the whole horizon of our commitments. Because it is easy to get caught in the hamster wheel and forget about the long haul meaning of what we do. So David Allen dissects the many layers of our life we should constantly ruminate: 

• 5) Purpose and principles: meaning
• 4) Vision: work and lifestyle
• 3) Goals and objectives: short and long-term
• 2 ) Areas of focus: our roles and responsibilities
• 1) Projects: things to get done
• Ground level: actions

David explains that the clearer you are about those different levels, the more comfortable you are to make decisions about priorities. Being aware of each one of these zones is critical to making trusting choices on what to do. More than that, it helps us to feel comfortable with what we decide not to do. It puts us in control because we can actively decide about your next moves aligned with the higher levels of our commitment. Additionally, this prepares us to focus our attention later and not be distracted when it is time to act. 

Of course, the way we implement the reflecting step constantly in these many levels varies. For instance, the GDT method instructs weekly reviews to look at all the projects we committed. Knowing all the content of our lists of actions in advance, in light of the other levels, make your decision-making lighter and free us to be more spontaneous on how to execute our priorities. 

I have already told you I am implementing GTD as a tool to organize and simplify my life. So far, I am a fan of this method since I feel much more relieved and in control of my stuff. This Reflect move, especially, has helped me to locate myself in space and in time. Even though I still have tons to learn, it has given me more confidence to do less with boundaries and accomplish more. Fulfillment, peace of mind, and coherence have been side effects of this mindful journey. I highly recommend taking time to watch yourself and amend your script. I believe this self-awareness increase will overflow on the quality of your content creation.

Watch your personal movie and rewrite your script (part 1)

Reflecting regularly on the big picture of our lives is a game-changer activity. And it definitely influences our outcomes on writing and content creation. 

Many of us just go through the motions, without a moment of careful thought about what we are doing with our time on this earth. At the first sight, it seems waste of time, but the truth is that it is a great investment in your success and wellness. And the reason is that it helps you understand whether all the effort you are doing pays off or not. 

Distancing ourselves to observe our behavior from a different angle is so powerful. It allows us to work from a creator perspective to adjust the script of the “movie” of our life along the way. 

This simple but empowering lesson was reinforced by many different bestseller authors I came across in my journey. It is helping me to smoothly navigate the ups and downs of life as a longsighted person.

“Sharpen the saw” 

In his book, Stephen Covey introduces it as a crucial habit cultivated for highly effective people. The metaphor came from the acknowledgment that sharpening the saw is essential to cut wood efficiently. Although improving your tool takes time, it saves you a lot more later since speeds up our work. It also decreases the effort you need to put in to achieve the same result. In this sense, the author advises everyone to keep regular, consistent, balanced, and wise renewals. The way to go is to exercise the four dimensions of human beings: physical, mental, spiritual, and social/emotional. It requires taking alone time to carefully “watch your own move”, criticize it and take some lessons to improve your path.

“Seek Clarity”

The author Brendon Burchard frames this as a habit that makes high-performance people stand out from their peers. According to him, the habit of seeking clarity has to do with how people align their current actions with their envisioned future. This contributes to the long haul engagement, growth, and fulfillment of high performers. The great part is that research backs up an increase of overall high performance when one has more clarity on these points:

• Who am I?
• What do I want?
• How to get there? 
• What do I find meaningful and fulfilling?

And again, to reach a vision, you need to stop to watch your personal movie today and envision your tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will see more evidence that it is worth creating the habit of reflecting. We will see David Allen’s take on this topic. 

How to develop in your career (part 2): apply for entry-level positions

In the first post of this series, I shared my strategy to get technical knowledge in a new field. This series may be useful for those who are transitioning their career like me. Today, I will share the next step, which is to have some hands-on experience.

The best way to improve a skill is through practice. Thus, nothing better than working on the area you aspire. But how can we get a job without the experience required yet? Being proactive! How? 

Looking for one of the kinds of occupations below:

1) Volunteer

Volunteering is an excellent gateway to the market. There, you don’t have all the pressure on because you are working for free. So you can experiment and learn as you go. 

2) Intern or Trainee

Likewise, being a Trainee or Intern is another way to start your new career. But, this option is available just for those attending higher education. 

3) Junior positions

Being a junior worker is also a useful lab. If organizations open new entry-level positions, they are willing to train people. So newbies can hone in their potential. They can be inspired by more experienced professionals.

Platforms to find the job for free

I am doing it by searching for positions on LinkedIn and applying for them. All you need to do is update your profile and create your CV. You can use the filters to choose the level of experience, title, skill, city, among other criteria. There are also other platforms such as Indeed and Glassdoor to easily apply for a new job.

I know sometimes we can fall prey to the popular saying: “I am not ready yet!”. But I keep the following frames in mind to overcome the impostor syndrome symptoms: 

1) Apply for positions you don’t want for the sake of training.

Consider each CV you personalize according to the position, each interaction with the company, and each interview as an opportunity to learn. If there is not so much at stake, you go through the selection process without too much weight on your shoulders. So, you will prepare yourself for the employment you really want. 

2) Don’t bother with NOs. Instead, have fun collecting them.

Think that each NO is one step further to the YES you are longing for. Then, the more NOs you receive, the closer you are to your goal. If you like, even play with your NOs. For example, how about separating a glass jar and placing a grain of corn every time you receive a NO? I guarantee that before the glass jar is completely filled with corn, your SIM will come.

3) Crave for learning, not money at first.

Initially, the greatest investment is learning. When searching for positions, don’t look just for the perfect ones. Try and error will be your major path to knowledge. Value it. Write about it. Reflect on how to improve it. After a while, you will not only have experiences to fill in your CV, but also the confidence of those who know deeply what they are talking about.

It is our job to create the conditions to make the most out of our lives. We cannot control everything outside our zone of influence. But we do have control over what we can do to increase the odds of our professional success. So, let’s be humble. Let’s show up boldly. Trying and error will lead us to foster the skills to navigate the work world.

How to develop in your career (part 1): design your personal university

Jess Labs is all about testing ways to live and work better. When it comes to career development, there is a lot out there about setting goals and planning. But, for me, the most difficult part is how to make it happen. If you are struggling to transition your career like me, the experiment I am doing to acquire new professional skills will hopefully give you some insights.

To give you some context, I am an experienced PR Practitioner longing to change my career into the Digital Marketing field. Next year, I am moving to an English-speaking country to start my MBA studies. Then, my short-term goal is to get hired in the Digital Marketing position in my new town within one year. It would be a big plus (and a dream coming true) if I could work with one of the influencers I admire and consider mentors for me. In the long run, though, my goal is to be an online entrepreneur.

As someone who witnessed the power of education to promote real transformation, I know learning is crucial to becoming the skilled professional I want. So, seeking inspiration, I found the idea of a personal university taught by Thais Godinho. It is a way self-learners can organize their studies each semester as if they were at university. The advantages are many. You design each course using the learning processes and resources you want. The method to organize your studies is creating a cycle where you allocate the subjects and time to spend on them. So you can create a studies cycle that best suits your learning needs, priorities, and style. Plus, it is flexible and allows you to learn different topics simultaneously, at your pace. Once your cycle of studies is ready, it is way easier to follow it when you sit to study. Each time you go to study, you start where you left off last time.

I will share with you how I built my cycle of studies.

1. I searched for positions I would like to apply for in the intended area on platforms such as LinkedIn and Indeed.

2. Then I mapped the abilities and skills in the job descriptions. What are the core responsibilities, the musts, the bonus points to thrive in these roles?

3 To conclude, I used the information to build a list of skills I need to learn, train or improve. After the search, I had enough information to outline the courses I need to take to become the highly skilled professionals that the market is south after.

Following, you can see how my cycle of studies for the next semester looks like:

I organized the curriculum of the courses on Notion. Here you have an example of the specific topics I will dive in about Content Creation:

I highly recommend those who want to advance professionally to also experiment with this approach of personal university . It’s a practical way of creating the future you want through education.

Did you like this kind of content? Please let me know. Thus I will share the next steps of my personal university journey.

Excited to learn tons with Masterclass

For the next three months, I am sure my mind will blow away. This is because my husband received a gift card with a three-month subscription to Masterclass for free. It was a reward for his contribution as part of a team. As for now he, unfortunately, cannot dive into Masterclass lessons, he kindly gave me this beautiful gift. And he asked me to take as much advantage of it as possible.

I would like to praise this incredible initiative of the company. Can you wonder how this world would be if every organization was involved with the education of their staff? And how would the families be if the partners were this engaged with each other’s evolution as human beings? Please, let’s work with and have relationships with those who really care about our growth!

Look at how thought-provoking the gift card is:

I definitely accept this challenge. I am highly committed to honoring this chain of generosity that reached me. I will do it by learning topics that will move the needle forward to my goals. Not only will I watch the lessons passively, but I will actively use them for my personal and professional development. Of course, I will share my learnings and insights here in Jess Labs. Hopefully, it will bring great ideas for you too.

For those who have never heard about Masterclass, it is an online learning platform. It streams lessons delivered by recognized masters on their craft. There are more than 110 classes in a plethora of areas, with new lessons being added. Such a tool to spread knowledge and wisdom. I have no words to express how grateful and excited I am!

Don’t underestimate the power of small steps

People say that images speak for themselves. As a long-term kind of person, I was just amazed when I saw the following post on social media:

Source where I could capture it: here.

Oh gosh! It completely validates what I believe from the bottom of my heart. How on earth can a blend of a single draw and quote make such an impact? All my shout out to the talented author of this piece of art (unfortunately I could find who it is)!

As humans seeking growth, we face many different challenges, as represented by the cliff in the background. For me, the comparison between the two different ladders shows the alternative paths one can adopt to change their life. The end goal is the same – arrive at the top of the cliff. However, the tools and strategies we can use to do so vary. And your choice will certainly impact the results (or lack of them).

On the left, we see a ladder with small steps that can easily be climbed. On the right, we see a huge step that can just be reached with huge energy and effort. The person who picked the left ladder is almost on top of the game. Conversely, the other choice led the person to be still struggling in the first step. For me, this metaphor is all about habit formation.

I am always considering the sustainability factor when I make decisions in my life. In this sense, gradual transitions, instead of radical changes, are way more likely to be more sustainable. If you don’t have too much friction, the odds of success just rocket. For example, if you would start to exercise daily, would it be more feasible to start doing 5 minutes a day or one hour and a half? Or, if you would become a writer, would it be sustainable for a beginner to write till the whole book is done or make small bits of the day by day?

It is really important to be realistic with our human condition and also be merciful with ourselves. So we can move forward at our own pace and not burn out along the path. It is wise to understand that in the life contest, the winner is not the first to reach the top, but the one who sustains the wellbeing, joy, and meaning along the journey. The outcome is to live, not to achieve things. And our great contestant to overcome is our yesterday-self.