carladoria.lasultimasfamilias.com

Tag: daydreamer

  • TED Talk: Why you will fail to have a career?

    Loved this talk! For all of you who still hadn’t found out your passion or know what is your passion but are too afraid to pursuit, then this is the talk for you!

    Actually, this is the talk for all the people who want to have a goal in life and achieve it!

    Professor Larry Smiths presents, in quite a peculiar way, a talk that changes lives and inspires. He is a professor of economics at University of Waterloo. A well-known storyteller and advocate for youth leadership, he has also mentored many of his students on start-up business management and career development. The most notable start-up he advised in its infancy is Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the BlackBerry.

    Invest 15 minutes in this talk and it will be an investment for life!

    [ted id=1384]

     

  • The TED talk all women should see

    I try to start my workday with a TED talk. I wish I could say I do this daily, but sometimes I can’t. I usually do it when my work energy level is low or when I feel I need motivation to go with the work routine. Today I came across with “Why do ambitious women have flat heads?” by Dame Stephanie Shirley.  The title was enough to call my attention since sometimes when the talk’s title is too predictable, I might just pass it. But this one wasn’t and I’m glad I clicked it.

    Dame Stephanie Shirley had it rough. She was one of the Jewish kids saved by being sent to families in northern England during the Second World War . She grew up in an era where women’s only objective was to get married and have kids. There were scarce work opportunities for them. I work in the software industry. Women in the 60’s didn’t just pursuit that area at all. But one woman did it. And this terrific woman showed nothing is impossible. Yes, there was a programming market in that era, believe it or not. If you want to know exactly how it worked, then you have to check the video.

    Stephanie Shirley went through all the fights my generation didn’t have too. My generation won’t suffer that gender discrimination again. We have it easy. And what are we doing with our lives? We don’t aim high enough. We don’t dream big enough. We don’t do the fights for the next generations.

    I invite you to watch the following TED talk (only 13 minutes of your time but worth your life change).

    [ted id=2223]

  • Book review: On Writing: A memoir of the craft by Stephen King

    I must confess I really like listening to Audiobooks, not only because I can listen to something interesting while driving or riding the bus, but because when it’s well narrated, the voice can give it a very nice plus to the story. Now “On Writing” by Stephen King is a must on audio as well as on paper. How many audiobooks can you get narrated by the same author? Well, the same Stephen King himself reads you this book.  In other words, you can hear all his examples, stories, advices in his own voice like he were telling them straight to you. The effect it produces is that you actually believe Stephen King is talking to you, personally, in a one-on-one meeting. You can even consider this gathering as a “close friends” encounter. His voice sticks to your head. And when you finish the book, you can still hear his voice in your head when you’re writing, it’s unbelievably effective!

    on writing

    I’ve read a couple of books about writing, from the grammar perspective to the style, from plot building, to character development, to brainstorming, etc.; all of them good, or at least with plenty of advice for beginner writers. But I must be sincere, I cannot remember much of the advice at the moment. I would have to go through them again or see my notes to remember the exact advice. But from Mr. King, I can remember everything, I can hear him still saying “just be honest and say the f*”, making me laugh and making it easier for me to understand the writing tip (I wonder if I am a better learner when some cursing is around, maybe it helps to grab my attention…)

    0611GADDgets

    Besides the excellent tips and clear examples, this book is also about the story of a great career, perseverance, believing, and never giving up. This book is not only for writers, I believe everybody can extract good life advice from it.

    Anyway, I would definitely recommend this audiobook to everybody out there who wants to have some sort of writing tutor, a coach, or even a writing friend (I have found myself making references such as “like my good friend Stephen says…”). Stephen King tells you everything you should know about writing and makes sure you do not forget it.

  • Why I decided not to do a resolutions list for 2015

    I used to do a resolutions list every single 31st of December of every year. It always felt as if the beginning of the new year would bring the new opportunities, the new hopes, for the life of my dreams.

    My resolutions list for 2014 was different. It was not focused in the common wishes like losing weight, exercising, eating healthier, etc. They were mainly focused on writing goals and other objectives that would lead me to achieve the personal growth I wanted to achieve. I reviewed that list in the early days of December. I found out I didn’t achieve most of them, not because I’ve been lazy, procrastinated, etc. but because most of them were not the the right goals.

    memesapp com

    Image source: memesapp.com

    In 2014, I started to find my way, to grow as a person, to understand what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, to work hard on it, and to persevere until I learned what working hard on your dreams really meant. I completed all of that.

    This December 31st, I sat down with an empty paper ready to write my 2015 goals. It took me less than 15 seconds to realize that I didn’t have to write anything else. I knew clearly where my mind was heading, I knew what I have to do, I knew I was already working on it, and finally, I recognized that I was just fine, I was doing what I always wanted to do and I was on the right track. So, there was nothing else to write, things were crystal clear in my head as to how to proceed and act.

    Of course, I still have some big goals for this year, but I know them by heart, I don’t need to write them down or make an elaborate plan on how to achieve them, I already know how. I already know that it’s just about hard work, and I’m already into it. Gosh, this feels so wonderful.

    nutritionfitnessandsstilettos com

    Image source: www.nutritionfitnessandsstilettos.com

    And you, do you write resolutions every year? do you achieve them? did you write resolutions for this year? I would like to hear about you in the comments. 

  • Guest Post: Juni Desireé – fellow blogger and writer

    When you enter the blogging world, not only you start communicating with the people that follow your blog, but also you start following other blogs you start connecting with. In my blogger journey I had the chance to meet many wonderful people whose blogs I love to read, one of those persons is Juni Desireé, a wonderful blogger and writer who has always struck me with her honest words and her openness to the world. She writes from her heart and she’s very passionate for everything she sets her mind into. I totally recommend following her blogs and checking out this interview for her future projects.
    Could you introduce yourself?
    My name is Juni Desireé (aka JD). My blog is called JD on a Page (http://jdonapage.wordpress.com). It’s a blog where I share my stories and the lessons I learn, in the hope that it offers something good to people. I also have a writing blog called Write to Wrestle (https://awrestlingwriter.wordpress.com).
    I’m currently studying a Master of Writing and Literature and I’m working on a book about what I’ve learnt this year when I moved from Victoria to Queensland.
    I love dogs! Everyone should have a dog; they make life better. And my favourite food is fish and chips with tartare sauce.
    100_5373
    How did you start writing?
    My first memory of writing is when I was in my first year of primary school. We had to write a diary each week. I loved it and have been writing ever since. I started journal writing when I was eleven when my mum bought me a journal.
  • Writing helps me to be sane…

    Writing helps me to be sane…

    This is a continuation from my last post (Once I forgot the typewriter, I forgot how to live) and final part (I promise):

    From those writing experiences and my relationship with my typewriter in my child years. I sadly left the writing world, and forgot about my dreams. Many years later, I started to pay attention to other things in life, and stopped writing until I was probably out of college, or even after I had finished some postgraduate studies.

    I studied a career that was never meant for me, so when I read about a short-story local contest in the newspaper, I heard a voice calling me again… I didn´t win anything, but being more mature this time, I acknowledged that writing was truly a passion for me.

    For many years, I had several jobs in a career that I never liked, and a life situation where I was always unhappy. Finally, I decided that I had to find what I really wanted to do in my life and shout it to the world, and I did.

    Now, I´m a writer, even if I don´t write that well yet, or even when I have so much to  learn, I consider myself a writer, because writing helps me to be sane, it helps me communicate with the world, and it helps me discover a life where I feel everything is possible.

    arcolatheatre com

    Image source: archolatheatre.com

    I have started writing this year, and I chose to do it in English (because all the books I read are in English and writers tend to write according to what they read) and I feel absolute and totally happy and satisfied with my life, because for the first time I´m acknowledging who I am, what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I´m totally confident that I´m working hard on it.

  • Once I forgot the typewriter I forgot how to live…

    (This is a continuation of the previous post: How to make your kid an avid reader/writer)

    I still remember when I was little, no computer yet in my house (I got my first computer when I started University) but we used to have a typewriter (well, we still do, it´s there forgotten somewhere in a dark place of my house). I had read in the newspaper about a writing contest, sponsored by the government in my city, and I thought it was a hell of opportunity for me. I was no more than eight years old, and decided to enter this contest for ‘novel writers’. I´m convinced that it was just for adults but I didn´t pay attention to it. I just wrote with my typewriter a wonderful story (that shamefully I never kept a copy) of a fantasy world. Since typewriters didn´t allow you to make mistakes, my presentation was extremely awful. Being a kid, I wasn´t conscious yet about having to redo a whole page whenever I had a mistake on the typewriter, I would just use an eraser and type over the mistake.

    Image source: site.xavier.edu
    Image source: site.xavier.edu

    When I was done, I begged my Aunt Nancy, who used to live near the post office, to put the papers in an envelope and submit it to the P.O. box of the contest. Of course, I never won or anything and the writing must had been really embarrassing, but I was just eight years old! Nevertheless, having such a wonderful imagination (that I still have fortunately), the story in itself must had been a lot of fun.

    At that age, I felt there was no limit for me and no barriers to achieve whatever I wanted. What a shame, I was never encouraged to follow these dreams. I wrote short stories for my mom and some members of my family before I was 10. I have a couple of them stored in a box, and of course the writing is terrible but the stories, the creativity, the characters were great. But what I remember the most is that I always felt fulfilled whenever I wrote those stories.That sense of fulfilment shouldn´t be forgotten, we should live our lives with the intention of feeling always like that.

    However, I did forget it… and it was shameful because it led me to years and years of an unsatisfied and unhappy life….

    P.S. will continue…

  • Why daydreaming with open eyes is actually good…

    Image

    I´ve always daydreamed with open ever eyes since I have a recollection of memory. If you don´t know what I´m talking about, maybe you should read this Wikipedia definition first: (just to be sure we´re on the same page)

    “Daydreaming is a short-term detachment from one’s immediate surroundings, during which a person’s contact with reality is blurred and partially substituted by a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambitions, imagined as coming to pass, and experienced while awake.”

    When I was younger I remember daydreaming while I was trying to “study” for school, maybe it was out of boredom or maybe I was trying to evade the “studying” aspect of that moment.

    I used to dream about what I was going to do when I grew older, how my life was going to be and how would things be that If I were different, if I were richer if I were prettier and others things (the “if I were prettier” dreams were a result of my poor self-esteem at that time but now I have another concept of beauty…). I used to spend a lot of time on this, of 3 hours of study I would spend half of it dreaming about everything and nothing…

    As time passed, I started to get stronger ideas of what I wanted to do with my life… do you think I stopped daydreaming? Not at all!, until now I still continue daydreaming all the time even when I´m at work….is it because I really have nothing better to do other than spending time imagining about the things that I would like to achieve or the type of life that I would like to have? Not really, actually I´m always struggling to find time for everything…

    It’s because of my nature, I´m a daydreamer by default but I´m proud of it because it actually keeps me in focus in the goals and dreams I want to achieve. If I weren’t frequently remembered by these dreams, I would probably let common life pass by me, forgetting my main ideals and where I´m heading for.

    From the perspective of loner, I don’t know if this really applies to “my type”, to my personality that tends to be more distant from people in general and perhaps more focused on my own objectives, but this is just a theory and maybe it would be nice to see your comments about this.. .

    BUT, there is an important BUT for the frequent daydreamers, your dreams have to have a little closure of their own, if you want these dreams to really happen, you have to snap out of them by thinking “now what do I have to do if I want to achieve that…” or “well let´s start doing X so one day I can be like in dream Y”… When you come back to reality, or stop dreaming, don´t let this wonderful time that you´ve just spend by go without rescuing encouraging motivations for you to continue life focusing on the direction of your dreams, always give them this little closures, they make you feel better, trust me and it´s a wonderful way to get you excited of the good things that are still to come in the future…

    Daydreaming lets you know that life should not be boring and that we shouldn’t accept regular routine, that there is so much out there that needs to be discovered.

    If you daydream, find the motivation for following these dreams and planning the actions that are needed to achieve them.

    Finally, a quote to remember:

    “All people dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake up in the morning to find that it was vanity. But the dreamers of the day are dangerous people, for they dream their dreams with open eyes and make them come true.”

    D. H. Lawrence