In January 25, 2020, I decided to quit cold turkey (almost) every social media I was part of, namely Instagram and Facebook. I have thought about it for a long time and even wrote an article, a year prior related to the subject.
I’ve imagined I would collect everybody’s email, write down their birthday dates, and that’s how I was going to communicate with people. None of that happened.
In January 2020, I had just come back to Portugal from a month trip around France where I had some interesting but not so fun experiences with volunteering.
When I uploaded something to my IG Stories, the response I would receive was not matching to the reality of life. And I didn’t want to expose myself too much, so I also didn’t give people a chance to understand.
What I realized, however, was that it is easy to make it seem life your life looks a certain way on social media. That was when it hit me: if what I’m showing cannot be trusted, then nothing can.
Other reasons also played their part. I’ve seen so many documentaries on data storing and its dangers, on how manipulated we get, and how we’re losing the skill to concentrate and focus.
So I left.
And then came a pandemic
I had no idea this global crisis would hit this hard. Back in March 2020, when the lockdown was declared in Portugal, I had in mind things would be back to normal in no time. Who didn’t?
I went through lockdown and the whole year of 2020 oblivious of the state of things in the world and most especially in my home country, Brazil.
I was checking in with friends and family via WhatsApp, which at the time (and now still) was not possible to quit. But it is not the same as if I was following their day-to-day.
Here are some things I noticed after being back for about two months:
My distraction level went up to the roof. I’m finding it hard to make myself finish a short video on YouTube and it takes me way longer to focus to write something up, as opposed to last year when I wrote every day for 3 months;
I’m having a harder time remembering things I’ve seen online. There is so much visual information it seems they all mixed up in my headspace;
I find myself reaching for my phone for no reason;
The comparison game is strong, even though I fully understand what I see it is not most likely the reality.
Why did I come back?
I want to stay connected and don’t want to miss out on what friends and family are doing and going through;
I find it easier to stay in touch with new people I met via Instagram or Facebook;
I do want to document and share things. Mostly learnings and processes along the way;
It is a good way to share any artistic work I do.
There’s a book called Show Your Work (affiliate link) or in Portuguese, Mostre Seu Trabalho (affiliate link), by Austin Kleon, where he talks about documenting the process of anything you’re trying to make or achieve. He discusses the difficulties of self-promoting, but also its value.
My relationship with this means of communication has changed over the years and probably will continue to do so. I guess overall, an online social network is beneficial when used with real awareness and comprehension of what it really is. Also, having some sort of limitation in time usage has been helpful.
And you? Do find social media important? What for?
Following my dreams always sounded like a hard thing to do. With social media, I’ve seen the rise of so many great talents and there was a part of me that felt insecure to show whatever I’ve got. Either mine is not “as good as others”, “not as professional”, or because “it takes a long time to make”.
These 5 books helped me get out of my mind, let go of these and other excuses and begin tackling what I wanted.
1. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, by Brené Brown
In this book Brown challenges us to be more vulnerable and to open up with empathetic and trustworthy people about what causes us to feel shame. By doing so, she affirms shame will lose its power, allowing us to be even more daring, in our job, in our personal lives, and with ourselves. Building, consequently, a favorable and propitious environment for creativity to pour.
“Shame derives its power from being unspeakable.” – Brené Brown
2. The Flinch, by Julien Smith
This is a short book with a big message: some fears are good for you, most are NOT. Smith argues that fear was a great tool when we were cavemen. Back then, humans had to care, almost exclusively, for basic needs such as eating, sheltering, and escaping predators.
In our time, however, we have overcome these primitive necessities, yet the fear-instinct is still installed in our brains, stopping us from talking to strangers, having cold showers, or, perhaps, initiating a project we’ve always wanted to. We flinch with the idea of doing something that is a little out of our comfort zone and we should not.
“Behind every flinch is a fear or an anxiety – sometimes rational, sometimes not. Without the fear, there is no flinch. But wiping out the fear isn’t what’s important – facing it is.” – Julien Smith
3. The Artist Way, by Julia Cameron
This is one of my very favorite books ever. Cameron does a really good job of taking the reader into a journey of accepting the existing creativity in themselves. She makes sure to be inclusive while “deciding” what goes under this creative belt. Being creative does not mean you have to be a painter or a musician. If you’re an engineer, an entrepreneur, or even a leader of some sort you probably need creative ways to do so. There’s a 12- week spiritual and creative program in which Cameron guides us into a journey of digging things from the past and opening up for the future. One of the most beautiful arguments she makes is that: if it is your heart to make it if you can’t stop thinking about it, and when you do it you feel the greatest joy… that’s what you’re supposed to be doing. It has a powerful and healing message.
“Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source. As we move toward our dreams, we move toward our divinity.” – Julia Cameron
4. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, by Elizabeth Gilbert
This book, much like the previous one, helps us find peace with being creative. One of the greatest insights about this book is her take on ideas. I love how she says that ideas are just floating around waiting to be picked up by someone and how that is why, sometimes, one person might have an idea and not do anything about it, just to see someone else executing the exact same idea the day after. This is also another book that deals with fear, which in my opinion is the biggest threat to our dreams.
“A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life. Living in this manner—continually and stubbornly bringing forth the jewels that are hidden within you—is a fine art, in and of itself.” – Elizabeth Gilbert
5.Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck
The final book is another psych one. I find it very important to really understand the mind and how it works. It does give me “solid” reasons to explain to myself why I am doing things the way I am. Here, Dweck defines two types of mindset: the fixed and the growth one. The first is a fatalist and believes nothing can or will change, everything is fated. So, if you’re not a good painter or writer now, you will never be. The second one recognizes you might not be exceptional now, and in doing so finds space to grow and believes its possibility. Oftentimes, our dreams have to pass the test of time and persistence, no matter how talented we are. A growth mindset will probably get you there faster.
“This is something I know for a fact: You have to work hardest for the things you love most.” – Carol S. Dweck
Do feel inspired already? I hope so. If you have other suggestions for books like these, let me know in the comments!
It’s official. We’re closer to the end of 2020 than to its beginning. Half of the year has gone by and this is why I want to write a little accountability article on the challenges and goals I set to myself this year.
It’s becoming a cliché to talk about this year with frustration and despair. The whole pandemic thing has been a wild card for most of us, with the exception of the forecasting companies and moguls of various industries.
But in here we’re not about feeling sorry for ourselves. Well, at least I’m trying to carry on with all my plans I had for this year.
One of my biggest goals was to read a book per week (as you can check in this post I did last year) and I feel immensely happy to tell you that, fortunately, I have accomplished it, so far.
It wasn’t easy and the last few weeks right before the middle of the year I was struggling and very behind on my readings. As my deadline was approaching, I had to cancel on friends and read a book per day.
Nonetheless, on week 26 I had read my 26 books and felt pretty accomplished about it.
Making this challenge had taught me this: to make goals/dreams true I have to focus on them, one at a time. I know many famous coaches love to talk about it, and IT’S SO REAL.
Concentrating on one thing and seeing it through also took a lot of the mental effort out of the way. It was similar to having a mission and not being able to stop until is done. Nothing else was on my mind and that, somehow, released me from a lot of stress.
On the other hand, I haven’t been consistent with my blogging. Which I’m trying to fix on the second half of the year.
COVID 19, a chaotic world, crises of all kinds… It took a toll on me. I self-isolated for almost three months and as much as it seemed like the perfect time to be productive and creative, to be honest, it wasn’t my reality.
In the first month of quarantine, Netflix was my BFF. I binge-watched so many shows and films to the point where, now, I can’t make myself watch anything anymore.
It’s been a little over a month since the government here in Portugal loosened up, a little, the rules relating to socializing, and I feel my groove is slowly coming back.
To end on a positive tone, I would like to register a little note to self (and to others who might be needing this): things may seem very intense, cramped, confusing and upsetting right now, but, as the saying goes, this too shall pass. We are going to be ok!
WARNING: The “hard words,” I write in this piece are for me, more than to anyone else.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been meaning to write about the future of work.
I read a book called 21 Lessons For The 21 Century, by Yuval Noah Harari. In that book, he explains that the automation of work that we’ve been seeing with the development of technology will only worsen in the future.
He’s not talking only about self-driven cars, but about robot surgeons and bankers. And probably other “terrible scenarios”.
According to Harari, the jobs in the public system are not that stable either. In fact, very few jobs will be considered stable in the future, if any.
The tech-employees seem to be in a slight advantage. But, with the everchanging improvement of technology, they will be forced to update themselves much more frequently.
Another thing he mentions is probable to happen is the complete change in careers, from time to time. A path for life? More like a path for 5-10 years. Then a complete shift.
Imagine, from lawyer to programmer. From programmer to driver. From driver to a profession that doesn’t even exist yet. Every seven years or so, until the rest of your life. Sounds harsh.
Although I did not like that book, and it appears that some of the things written are unlikely to happen in this era, we cannot deny: the world is changing. Very fast.
So, to my fellow writers and musicians, to the artists, to the entrepreneurs, to those with a clear vision for themselves…To all hustlers out there, such as myself, who are trying to grab their piece of the pie and who still have some stamina and courage to keep going even if it looks hard…
Here are some tips on how to approach this upcoming world:
* Go for what you love
If robots are going to replace us, we might as well risk it, don’t you think? This is harder for some than to others, but today more than ever it is the time to take to the next level and. Why invest time (our biggest asset) in something that will be gone tomorrow?
Going for what you love means that you have to LOVE it. Chances are that if you haven’t done it already it’s because it’s a hard road to walk. The “love” road is usually harder and if the sentiment isn’t real you might not last very long.
* Develop new soft skills
The other day I was in the supermarket and the attendant was a bit rude to
me. I thought to myself: “soon, machines might be doing his job and he is
losing a great opportunity to improve his attending soft skills.” This also
applies to me, of course. I often lose these opportunities to get better.
The one I’ve been working on, at the moment, is consistency as I said last year. Also, I’ve noticed it is a good idea to improve my endurance to go through the hardships. But there are many other things I could improve, such as my patience, my debating/persuasion skills, my self-marketing… The list is big.
This is highly useful if you’re a creative being. As creative beings, we tend to “rely” on our creativity and we often forget pragmatically. Yes, not every piece of painting is for selling, but if you want to make painting your living you got to find a way to make money with it. That usually comes by selling or exposing your work. If there’s no work to sell or expose, what now?
Last, but not least,
* Have a plan and stick to it, patiently
I got to say, this is the hardest for me. That’s why I’m working on my consistency and endurance. A good plan may look like shit when others seem to be way ahead of you. Social media contributes to that feeling. The world itself contributes to that feeling.
Sometimes an opportunity that has nothing to do with what you want arises and takes you out of your route and you spend some time on this new route for a while only to realize it is taking you nowhere. Have a plan and stick to it. Hard work rarely fails on people.
Without doubts, there is more to this. It is a topic very recurrent in my conversations in my mind and I will, most likely, be talking about in the future, so stay tuned.
For now,
what do you think about the professional world of today? Do you have some other
tips to share? Let me know, I’m truly interested.
I began my 2020 two months ago, so when the new year do come, I am already in full motion. Or so I hope.
This
decision comes from a feeling of disappointment and frustration for not feeling
completely accomplished at the end of most years.
In 2013, I wrote this piece in Portuguese about how I was not going to do any resolutions for that year, other than being a good person in general.
Today, I understand
it is better to have a plan than to let the year, my life, pass by and being
only the spectator of it.
In 2019, I
read some books and heard many people which have really influenced this shift of
mentality about new year’s resolutions. One of the main books I felt too lucky
to have found was The Artist Way, by Julia Cameron.
Out of the many,
many things you can learn from Cameron in that book, I found that the most
important is the compromise you must have with yourself and with the things you
want in life.
No other
person can be as enthusiastic about your dreams and hopes than yourself. And
you’re the one who should commit with the vision and the values of the life you
want.
Two other
books had also impacted me, greatly: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by
Carol Dweck and, of course, Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl.
My Plans
for 2020
Having said
all that, I started planning how my 2020 is supposed to unfold. My keyword of
the year will be consistency.
At first, I
wanted to get involved in numerous projects, however I realized it is better to
commit consistently to just a few.
The main project: to read a book per week. That means reading 53 books in 2020. Because it is a leap year. [EDIT (20/06/20): Actually I’lll be reading only 52 books. I didn’t realize as I was writing a leap year would grant me just another day and not another week.]
I picked
this challenge specifically to practice my consistency.
I love
reading and I cannot pass on a good challenge. There’s also the added pressure
of making that a consistent habit. The aftermath is an imperative growth.
I will
document this reading journey on my Instagram account (www.instagram.com/catchthecatch), where I’m planning to make short
video resumes and reviews and hopefully discuss with everyone who wants to,
about the book of the week.
Another goal
will be to write a piece for this blog every week. Also, because I’m passionate
about writing and I want to improve it. I would like to post something new
every Monday, which is my second favorite day of the week.
The 3
reasons why I am talking about it
I want to be held accountable by whoever read these articles I write. I want people to be a pain in my a**. But, hopefully, it is not too painful haha…
It is also to say that if you do have things you want to get done, start planning and doing it now. So, it does not feel as such a burden to begin next year.
Lastly, I would like to invite everyone to do the reading challenge with me. We can share tips, book suggestions, feelings and all. All to be done I guess it’s via Instagram.
About
the reading challenge
Right now,
I have a list of 27 books.
Who would
have thought it would be so hard to choose 53 books to read.
I’m trying
to mix genres, authors from different nationalities and continents, from
different gender, from different colors… Just trying to get a better view of
the world.
Also, I’m trying to avoid the self-help/personal development style. I feel too tempted try out everything it says. That takes time and I must be efficient in order to read this much.
So far, my list includes authors
such as George Orwell, Vinícius de Moraes,
Aldous Huxley, Lev Tolstoy, Yuval Noah Harari, Michelle Obama, Darcy Ribeiro,
Hermann Hesse, Martin Luther King Jr., Mario Vargas Llosa and many others,
naturally.
I will not define
this far ahead the order of reading. I probably will mix the long books with
the short ones, in order for it to be less tiring and actually doable. Again,
consistency is key.
So, bring it on
2020. I believe you are going to be wonderful.
Once again, if you would like to follow this journey or join me, make sure to follow me on Instagram at @catchthecatch.
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