It's okay to be boring
April 2022 issue
learn and grow with me ✨
I'm Yihui, and I'm grateful for your 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 to you. If you enjoyed this, feel free to forward it to a friend. Happy to receive feedback too :)
Hi everyone,
Rather than forgoing April’s issue entirely, this issue is shorter and different as I spent most of my time writing my Q1 review and a blog post on being okay with being boring. Done is better than perfect, after all. But no article recommendations in this issue, sorry!
I struggled with my priorities in the first quarter of the year. I struggled so much to the point I became so frustrated I couldn’t focus on any of my goals. After much reprioritising, reflecting, and becoming more honest with myself, my problem was I wanted to do everything but why did I want to do everything? It had to do with wanting to be interesting because I was afraid of being boring. Sounds familiar to you, or just curious to find out what I mean? I wrote about it in my Q1 review in the link below.
Other updates:
I built and published a parody site to gain more Twitter followers course using Carrd. I’d been thinking about it since I hit 1,000 followers last year, so what better way to celebrate it on April Fool’s Day.
I completed my 50-hour Yin Yoga teacher training, which means I’m certified to teach yin yoga! Yin yoga is different from most yoga as we know it because it focuses on holding poses for a longer period to allow you to reflect inwards. I haven’t decided when to start teaching online, but let me know if this is something you might be interested in via my Twitter DMs. But the main reason I did this course was to integrate yin with my existing introspection practice.
I updated my About Me section on my site to include more about why I’m doing certain things.
It’s okay to be boring (to become more interesting)
Writing about it in my Q1 review wasn’t enough so I expanded it into a separate blog post. This is a small excerpt with a link below for more.
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I want to be interesting, like almost everyone else. But I got tired of chasing it because it became clear to me that I wanted to be interesting for others, not for myself. I still want to be interesting, but this time I’m doing it at my own pace. So, rather than finding ways to become more interesting, I’m learning to be okay with being boring first.
Boring? How can you be okay with being boring? How does that relate to being interesting? This is one of the discomforts I managed to confront recently because I struggled with priorities in the last quarter. I lost focus because I was interested and wanted to do many things at once but it wasn’t feasible.
I see myself as a curiosity-driven person but another part of me is drawn to many things because they may make me more interesting. Interesting is subjective. For me, being interesting means being knowledgeable enough to clearly convey ideas and articulate my interests. What that means is being able to contribute and engage in different discussions of my interests with others, such as product management, mindfulness, movies, climate change, and more.
Quotes I'm thinking about ✨
1) That’s probably what a lot of retiree people feel. Once they left work, they may feel aimless because it might seem like there’s nothing else they could contribute to anymore.
2) Being distracted from sadness could be watching Netflix all day or eating your favourite ice cream. That could be happiness too, but can you tell the difference?
3) If you charge what you’re worth, then how much is your worth? How do you measure it in monetary value? A better question is how much should you charge clients. This tweet offers a bit more insight into that.
How was your May so far? I know we’re halfway through it, but have a great month ahead! Til next time. See you in June.
PS: 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
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