New Section: Book Recommendation

I am adding a book recommendation series on my blog. Every month I will recommend a book or some books to you my dear readers. I used to like reading a lot, back when I am crazy about the Harry Potter saga.  Ever since I graduated from college and start working, I stop reading. Up until my son is 3 years old, I am still reluctant to read books. I am not sure why, but I think I just got lazy. LOL. Within those few years, I actually do purchase some books, but it always ends up in my bookshelf, smooth and untouched. Whenever I start to read a book, I will procrastinate with other things that are more entertaining like watching YouTube and K-drama. My eyes will automatically get sleepy when I read one page.

Last year I am wondering why am I so lazy at this, then I found this void inside of me and thinking I should fill it with books. This time, I did not read novels or storybooks (maybe I will later on), now I am more interested in books that can give me more value like self-improvement books. After reading some good books, I decided to share some of the good quality books that worth reading.

The first book I would recommend to you

Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind. By Jocelyn K. Glei.  

Where to find: https://www.amazon.com/Manage-Your-Day-Day-Creative/dp/1477800670

What is it about:

I am the type of person who just goes with the flow. Nothing particular in my to-do list, just go by whatever happened at the office. Lately, I feel like I have a few extra hours per day that I can use for something useful than just watching YouTube. One of the reasons I create this blog is also to challenge myself to be more creative in writing. Then I find this book related to creative thinking.

This book is mainly a bunch of creative writers telling a story on how they manage their creative work efficiently. How they manage their day to day schedule in order to keeps their creativity flowing. So far in writing my blog I experience the lack of ideas to write. Some days I have so many things I want to write about, and after a while, I feel like my ideas just vanish.

 

My Favourite Highlights of the book are:

• Creative Work First, Reactive Work Second

Mostly we start our day by picking up our phone, checking out social media, or emails. We just wake up and suddenly flood with information that made us overwhelmed. Emails especially the one that related to work is not pleasant to look for the first time in the morning. I used to do that too.

This book has mentioned that we should do creative work first then reactive work second. After waking up, it is better for us to take a moment for yourself before starting a busy day. You could do exercise or meditation first, which can soothe your mind. It is the right time to look for inspiration as your brain is still calm. After maybe an hour after waking up, then you can start dealing with reactive work.

• Harnessing The Power Of Frequency

Procrastination is my biggest enemy when I should do really important work; I finish off doing other things first. Harnessing the power of frequency is to do the important thing first by trying to be disciplined about it. some writer in this book suggests that he start a habit of writing in the morning, does not matter what he writes. He just continues to do it on a daily basis.  The main point of doing it is that as time goes by, he manages to find ideas to write every morning.

• Don’t Wait For Mood, Just Simply Do It

Related to what I mentioned above, rely on the power of frequency, not on your mood. Waiting for the right mood is just another excuse to avoid the job. It is just another form of procrastination. Just like writing this blog, if I wait for the mood I will probably upload every 6 months >_< .

• Be Present

Nowadays, we all are attached to or smartphones. Texting, emails, music, browsing, watching, most of the things we rely heavily on our phone. We tend to not aware of the people around us. We consume so much information in a day and we have like thousand of distraction that makes us does not really pay attention to our surrounding. At the office and at home we still are focusing on our phone.

We need to step back and give limitations between yourself and smartphones. Be present at the moment. Enjoy a day without a phone. One of the writers in this book says that he has spare a special time to be away from his phone for days. He detached himself from his phone and take that moment to enjoy his time with his family. Be present in a real-life, having a quality conversation with his children. Taking some time away from his phone, give him a sense of balance in his life.

I consider to do the same too, maybe start with a couple of hours on weekends, where I can focus on my son and just take the time off from social media. Who knows it can refresh my brain and create new ideas for blog posts.

“Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus & Sharpen Your Creative Mind” is a pretty nice book, it is not too thick and easy to read. If you are working in a creative world, this book might add interesting insight into how a writer finds ideas and inspiration to continue creating wonderful work.