One habit I had, but fell out of, and, wished I had today was journalling. For over five years I’ve been trying to get back to it, with limited success. It was not easy. Last year, I made a conscious decision to write again, that’ll I document the conversation I was having with myself, the thoughts running in my brain. I took stock of my then present situation, analysed how I worked, what my preferences were, and looked for areas causing friction and designed a way to make it work. This is what I did:
Archives for December 2015
Developing a thick skin
When I was in school, we had a very strict teacher. He used to come for the subject I hated the most – maths. One day, while handing down the answer sheets of a slip test, he stopped at my friends’ desk and started chastising him for the low marks he got. My friend never reacted, not sure if it was out of respect and fear or just disregard, but, my teacher got irritated and called him a ‘thick-skinned buffalo’. I felt sorry for my friend, but, we all laughed. And, that word stuck with me for ever. I wished I could have a thick skin, not just to take the criticism of my teacher but also of the world.
Enough to Say
One of the advices you get from ‘pro’ bloggers when you are about to start a new blog is to be on every social network conceivable and engage the crowds on those platforms. But, being on every platform is not just limited to bloggers. I personally know many folks who are on every social network I know, tweeting 4 to 6 times a day, posting pictures on Facebook & Instagram, pinning posts in Pinterest and god only knows what Google+ is now, but have presence there too. I have my personal account/blog page on Facebook, blog accounts on Twitter & Google+ and ’use Buffer to cross post. But, whenever I cross post, I feel guilty. Questions swarm my mind, Am I adding value? Am I spreading myself too thin? Am I repeating myself? Do I need to say this? Or am I doing this only to play to the gallery? Do I have enough, valuable, unique things to say/do in every social network? And, recently a funny thing happened. I joined Instagram. Why?