Hear the unheard voices

I always trust my inner monologues, no matter how often it argues with me. For me, gut feeling and inner monologue are my best friends. They always help me with every decision that I have to make by myself. I dedicate this post to myself, to keep it as a self-reminder whenever I feel lost.

It may not be easy to trust the inner monologues, I also have doubts about them sometimes. But for me, having more confidence about yourself will help to sharpen the mind, that will leads to good inner monologues. I tried to apply this to my daily activities during work and everything else, and apparently, it works... So here are some important things I would like to keep, as follows:

First, I will work on my own brief. I don't always get a good brief. So I created one for myself to work on. I found it hard to work without a good brief; I feel lost, I don't know what to create, and I can't understand the purpose of my creation. Whenever I got a bad brief, I always try to translate it into my own words and the kind of brief that seems easier for me to work on. The brief that I created myself does not always have to be written, as long as I keep it clear on my mind. At the end of the day, I always find it easier to work that way. Besides I can understand my work even better, I don't have to rant about the bad brief that I got previously because hey, I can get through it!

In this case, my inner monologue always helps me out to set the so-called much easier brief for me to work on. First I always ask myself, what is the purpose of this creation? What kind of message that it wants to deliver? What are the things that I need to add or remove, in order to make it works? What does the client want, but can't be described briefly? How do I combine my idea with their needs? Could they work together? As the questions are popping out, the answer will follow and it will help to guide me through the brief and the work itself.

Then, I will always try to look and feel deeper. I solemnly realized how I need to be more critical and sensitive about everything I see. Sometimes I forgot to be more critical about the things that my eyes are consuming. Departing from the thought, from now on especially when I am feeding my brain and eyes, I always let my inner monologue asks a lot of things. How does it work? How could it happen to be that way? What makes it look good? Why does it use such amount of space?

And last but not least... I will try to stop making sense and not forget to have fun. Let me say this out loud. To my dear self, not everything has to make sense! When was the last time I didn't think too much over something? As much as I hate to admit this, I am an over-thinker. I think through things way too much sometimes I forgot about the fun part. Thanks to my inner monologue, sometimes it whispers to me to not forget to have fun. Things don't always have to work the way it should work, unexpected things won't always be the bad guy, there is always something worth to find out in new things, and don't ever limit yourself in order to make everything looks perfect.

Again... trusting my inner monologue helps me to keep me sane, as corny as it sounds. It really helps me to let go of a lot of unnecessary thoughts that could lead to stress. I will always try to listen deeper, hearing the unheard voices.

Priorities x Procrastinate

They say, there's no one ever be too busy. It's just about priorities.

And yes it's true.

On the last few months, I never spent a day without getting my works done. It's all about setting up schedule and to-do list, doing this and that and if I can't complete a task on that day, I continue it on the next day. It goes around just like that. Getting shit done. But like, literally. I felt bored of course, sometimes in the middle of the task I was wondering to procrastinate by watching movies but it's just doesn't feel right and wasting too much time. Yes it was so sad.

And so on. Every night when I just got home, not so long after that I'm back in front of my laptop and getting things done, again. It's really exhausting, I know. Okay let's say I still got much time to meet my friends, hanging out and stuff. But behind this, there's a bunch of things that I have to complete before I go.

Well maybe you are bored enough reading the 'getting shit done' words all over again. Okay, hang on there because I'm going to spill out the good things. And the good thing is, I feel so much free now. I feel like a real freelancer. Much happier, much free time, much time spent with my family and friends.

YAY!

Actually I didn't know/realize exactly how things thing start and how this happened. After I think about it all over again, this is how; these days I wasn't getting less of work, I still got a bunch of it, what I do now is only I being productive, not busy. One day I went out for work, one day I stayed home just eating stuff and watching movies. One day I went out to spent my day with family or friends, one day I stayed home just getting my works done. It feels so much efficient and productive. And happy, of course. I'm not pretty sure what I did until this happened, maybe it's just my schedule not as tight as the past months, probably, but here's the thing I did that makes me feel much efficient these days and because sharing is fun, here we go:

Pint up your daily schedule

Whether you want to pint it on your desk calendar, laptop calendar or using post it and stick it to your working table, just pint it up. Just make sure the place you pint it is the place you always looking at so you wont forget and it helps your mindset to keep things on priorities. And don't forget to write down the little things. Day one, lunch at cafe with a friend / day two, buy this book at the book store / day three, shooting day / and so on.

Write down the little things

Okay there's two different things that I want to take on this point. The first one, write down the things that you are going to do that day in a to-do list even the simplest thing like 'Ask X about the cooking recipe'. For a forgetful person like me, this idea does help. Try it yourself!

The second thing is to write the little things about your day or about your passing thoughts. It helps you to relieve the things that runs on your mind. You can share it through your social media and I'm pretty sure people would love to read it. You know that beautiful mind inspire the others. Just, never forget to appreciate the little things!

And if your schedule is really tight at the moment, just never forget this point ;

Ask some friends to hanging out!

Come on, don't be too hard on yourself. Spend your time just working on the task won't do any good to you, it makes you get bored with your job more quickly and moreover, stressing you out. No, no, no! To make it more simple, just ask a friend you feel comfortable the most to go out for a lunch / vinyl hunting / window shopping / and the other unnecessary things that could help you forget about task for a little while.

Hope it helps! Stay close with your family and friends because they are the ones that matters the most.

Love,

N

A Minute Thoughts: Get to Know Yourself

left; rookie teenage bedroom / right; tavi for nylon

all pics from pinterest.com

Lately I've been reading a lot of life tips, quotes, life thoughts, et cetera. This morning I watched some videos about girls talking their minds out (which is very cool) and put them into one playlist. There's Alexa Chung, Tavi Gevinson, and Sofia Coppola in it. Then I found this very interesting video on YouTube and I found myself stuck in there, didn't want to do anything except just keep on watching the video. So the video is about Tavi Gevinson of rookiemag.com talking about her life, books, art, Rookie itself, Taylor Swift, and stuff. The way she talk--even her awkwardness--makes me realised that she, since a very young age, has found and known herself very well and she knows that there's no need to try to be like anyone else because she already has her own self.

Okay so I've been thinking about this thing for times--well sometimes I'm just the same as the any other kids--thinking about like, 'I want to be cool like her' or 'How to love myself' or 'I want to have my very own style so people gonna like it' and others. But then I think about it, and I told myself, do not ever trying to be cool by thrown away yourself just to look like the others. Just, don't. It WON'T makes you cool. I remember this sentence I found on tumblr yesterday -- If you are trying to be something you're not, you will end up being nothing. It's true. I realised when remembering back then I was trying to be someone else just to look cool, and ended up being nothing.

You know, people nowadays were just like, following trends and keep following it even though it doesn't fit with themselves. Well to be honest, I am one of those people. But sometimes by trying to be cool like that even makes me uncomfortable. For explanation, one day I went to a one of the hippest mall in town wearing maxi skirt and shirt and stuff that can "helps me to look cool", yeah you name it. Then I met these girls who wearing the same "cool stuff" like mine but they can wore it better than me, and I feel so ugly--like I'm the most ugly person in this world. So then, I don't want to see my reflection in the mirror, I always shrug off when someone took a photo of me, I don't want to look at my own self. And the worst part, I can't accept myself the way it is.

It's different when the next day I went to the same mall wearing only t-shirt and jeans and sneakers. I feel more comfortable and even more cooler, sorry not sorry. But seriously, I realised that we don't have to try just to look cool. If we like it, we feel comfortable with it, we feel that we are good looking enough with it. Same thing if you choose to keep following the trends. If you feel comfortable with it, then just go on. But however, I am not. I prefer to make my own trends. Hehe!

I really did, let's talk about school. My school is kinda--no, very--different with the any other schools in my country. We are allowed to wear anything we want as long as it's a proper thing. Me, unlike the others, likes to wear different (and sometimes, kinda weird--they say so) kind of clothes. The others were simply wearing tunics, flannels, shirts etc and I was like wearing tees and denim shirt and nike sneakers. Or even sometimes I'm wearing maxi dress with crop top and they say I didn't fit in it. I always getting comments from the teachers about stuff that I wore. But I think, it's just the way I dress and it's proper enough. Really, why?

I tried to not care even though sometimes it annoys me like wha--?? if you want to dress like me, then do it. Sometimes things that we said could meant a real lot to the others. But days by days, there was a day when I look at my friends I was kinda surprised because they are wearing the same denim shirt like mine. I'm about to getting annoyed but then I know, I inspire them. Becoming a trend-setter. Whoa. Since then I know, it's completely okay to be your own self and express it out. Even though it means that you have to be different than the others. Absolutely okay. I'm on your side if you do so.

The same thing happened between me, Tavi, and her Rookie. As you can see, Tavi expressing her style through Rookie and it does inspire the others. Like, me. The first time I saw this website my brain were just like turned upside down and since that, I never see and sue things to be so perfect anymore. Tavi could make Rookie looks like the any other girls magazine, but she's not. She enjoys how Rookie dare enough to look different, out of the box, and make their own trends. And I like it.

Over all, the point is that you have to know yourself well. Love yourself. Accept it the way it is. You are cool enough with your own. Be dare enough to express your own style, even if it means you have to be different than the others.


Cheers!
Nafhan