Don’t underestimate your priorities
Don’t underestimate your priorities
February 2022 issue
Learn and grow with me ✨
I'm Yihui, and I'm grateful for you joining! You're receiving this because you either signed up to learn and grow with me (making, creating, and taking care of your well-being), or it was forwarded it to you. If you enjoyed this, feel free to forward it to a friend. Happy to receive feedback too :)
Hi friends,
This issue is a shorter one, but I'm committed to publishing every month anyway.
✨ If you haven't already, I'm sharing one of my Notion templates to review and plan your year for free. Read on below ✨
Focus, focus, focus
February was a short month for me. I spent half of the month resting and celebrating Lunar New Year, then spent another few days in an island resort with my family too. By the time I got back into work mode, I only had 12 days left in February! That's also when I started a new job.
And it has started to pick up. It's only my second week! Figures because I'm the company's (an early-stage edtech startup) first product hire so it came with a set of expectations and responsibilities (I'm excited, but also terrified. Please send tips). I thought I had already narrowed down and figured out my priorities in January along with a rough timeline. I even tweaked them a bit more after. But now I had to redo them. Probably at least three times I sat down and rework things again. It wasn't a fun time because it felt a bit demotivating.
In my previous issue, I had a worry that there was an uncertainty that my goals might not work out, but I didn't think it might be this soon. I made the decision to let go a few things at least for this quarter until I've settled down a bit with my new job, such as mastering Notion. But I still hope to continue writing as always.
It goes to show that when (not "if") your plans derail, it's part of the process of not stressing the fuck out. It happens. When life gives you lemon, you don't cry. You cry, then you throw the lemons back or be flexible about it.
Some reminders and things I learned about prioritising that I thought I had already known before:
Be ruthless in prioritising. Find out what matters to you now, and it's okay to say no to everything else (for now).
Don't forget to track the smaller things, such as reading and clearing up emails. I missed out those smaller things, because they do take a good chunk out of my time as well. Don't underestimate them.•• If you do time-blocking on your calendar (like me), be a little more flexible. Give more room in your schedule to breathe. Even if you don't, prepare to be flexible anyway.
If everything is a priority, nothing is. I thought I had narrowed down my focuses, but out of all things, I didn't take into account my job out of all things... 😶
I'm giving away my Notion template to help you review and plan your year for free (use this promo code during checkout: cny2022).
It comes with two versions. If you bought it (2021 edition) before, I added a new template (screenshot above is the 2022 edition, utilising more databases) that I'm currently using for this year to plan and review my day, week, and month.
If you enjoy it, consider writing a review or sharing it with others! Feel free to share feedback (did you like the template? how can it be better?) :)
Quotes I'm thinking about ✨
1) We shouldn't be the ones feeling uncomfortable:
my sister just told me “when we’re in a situation where someone makes us uncomfortable and we choose to be polite instead of honest, all we’re doing is holding onto all that discomfort for ourselves when the other person SHOULD be uncomfortable” and my entire brain went 🤯🤯🤯
— Claire Willett (@clairewillett) February 22, 2022
2) On creating relationships:
You should not develop relationships to further your career/get invited to parties/achieve fame/make money.
You should do career/money/party/travel to create relationships.
At the end of our day & life, relationships define us. Don’t mix up what is ur ends and what is means.— EatReadNRepeat (@EatReadnRepeat) February 14, 2022
3) Creating connections vs nurturing friendships: (I'm guilty of this)
A lot of young people I meet are great at creating connections but awful at nurturing friendships.
— Rachel Braun (@_rachelbraun) January 30, 2022
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Articles and links I'm thinking about ✨
Memberships Work
Craig Mod is one of my favourite "creators". In this (long) post, he talks about his third year running his Special Projects membership program (which I'm part of!). Not only do I learn a lot from him (in photography, writing, running this program), but I also do thoroughly enjoy his works.
Non-coercion
Every time you tell yourself "I should do this" or "I should do that", it's coercion. Wouldn't it be wonderful if you didn't need to force yourself to do things? Might be necessary sometimes, but not all the time.
Why you should create in public
We're never really ready for anything, so we just got to push through the discomfort and do it. Build, create, and share your work.
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Til next time. Have a great March. March on!
PS: If you haven't already, you can read my 2021 annual review in the link below. Go on, click it!
PPS: As always, feel free to share feedback with me anytime (what I can do better, what you want to see more of etc) by replying to this email or on Twitter.
Warmest regards,
Yihui Chan
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