Ingredients of a Kickass Life Résumé: Part I

How many of you love food? I mean, food is one of the most important parts of our lives. For a lot of people, food is life. And if you were to stop and ask one of these food-lovers about their favourite, favourite recipe, I am sure a lot of it would go like this: “Well, to make this favourite dish of mine, you would need a cup of this, a pinch of that, a handful of those and of course, salt to taste!” Or as the famous chef Jamie Oliver once said, “Real food does not have ingredients. Real food is ingredients.”

With the last post we looked at what exactly we are trying to do with this idea called Life Résumé. If you are new here and would like to know more about what Life Résumé is, you can find the post here.

Let me now dive into what could be the ingredients to make this recipe called your mind blowing Life Résumé. Of course this list is not exhaustive and I really want to give you all a flavour of what we are doing here. I have identified a few of the very important ingredients:

1. Education
2. Hobbies
3. Unique Experiences
4. Professional Skills
5. Travel
6. Volunteering

Today, I am going to talk about three of these six key ingredients of a superb Life Résumé.

Ingredient 1: Education

We all know how important a role education plays in all our lives. I am sure we all remember our parents and teachers and elders always trying to drive the importance of a good education. But does going to schools and colleges complete your education? I think not.

When I look at this quote by Albert Einstein, I realise that this dude makes complete sense! I really enjoyed learning about calculating the area of a rhombus in school but how on Earth does it help me in life? I mean, will it come handy this tax filing season? Will it support me while I am having a tough conversation at work? Or when I am house hunting? Of course not! We have come to this point in our civilisation where academic education is important, but not as important as experiential education.

Here, in no way do I mean to undermine the ‘formal’ channels of education, but schools, colleges and classrooms offer a limited piece of the pie. What really teaches you important lessons in life is going out there and doing something! Did you volunteer to work for that project that seems really tough? Did you decide to grow your own garden of flowers and beautiful plants? Did you recently learn the different ways of saving tax? All of these experiences teach you those crucial life lessons that no school or college can!

And of course, let me not forget how big a part books, online courses and podcasts play in continuing education and lifelong learning. They are these short, power packed sources of knowledge that deliver the punches where they are needed the most! We will talk about these sources individually in the next few posts. But nevertheless, upgrading yourself and keeping up to date on things is not only going to add to your pool of knowledge but it’s also going to make you seem super cool when you’re at that party trying to impress that girl! Whatever happens, never stop learning because life will never stop teaching!

If you want to read up more about how lifelong learning can truly transform you as a person, please click here

Ingredient 2: Hobbies

The next ingredient I want to talk about is Hobbies. The one question that everyone, including children, teenagers and adults are asked frequently is ,”What is your hobby?” With the crazy lifestyles that we have today, it is very difficult for most people to find the time for your hobbies. But let me tell you something, with lives getting crazier and more stressful, there has never been a time in history when we needed hobbies more!

There is no dearth of research to show us that hobbies can be life-altering. Be it reading, knitting, sewing, hiking, cooking, painting, photography, fishing, drawing, dancing, all of these hobbies add a certain element of creativity, excitement and newness in our lives. Besides being a pretty good use of your spare time, hobbies also support in reducing stress, making new friends, boosting your confidence, building your cognitive abilities and brain power and could also go as far as helping people in addiction recovery!

So, the next time you find yourself with a few free hours, go ahead and explore a hobby! Don’t know what you would like to do? There must have been something you loved doing when you were a child! Find that shit and do it! Do it for only an hour a week and you will feel the difference!

How can hobbies make you a better person? And why are they so important? I have answered these questions and more in a post that you can find here!

Ingredient 3: Unique Experiences

Now this one is one of the most crucial parts of your Life Résumé. We are all unique individuals with our own set of unique experiences. You choose some of these experiences, and some experiences choose you.

Let me now tell you what I mean by unique experiences. Unique experiences are those that are not a part of your daily, mundane life. Be it a trek in the Himalayas, a scuba dive in the Caribbeans, having your first child or nurturing a plant right from when it was a seed to a fully blossoming tree, unique experiences are experiences you choose in life. These are the things that make your mind go wow!

These unique experiences teach you to be more curious about life, they teach you how to take risks  and how to push yourselves to your limits. They teach you about your own strength, tenacity and test your willpower. These experiences make your minds more open and enhance your ability to absorb the mundane. They are the ingredients that add the most flavour to your Life Résumé by improving your ability to appreciate your life as it is.

To summarise, these three ingredients are a crucial part of making your Life Résumé kick ass and they will definitely add a lot of perspective to your life! Until then, keep learning, keep growing!

Subscribe!

Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash;
Photo by Jill Heyer on Unsplash
Photo by Kelli Tungay on Unsplash
Photo by Philipp Baumann on Unsplash
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
Photo by Bence Balla-Schottner on Unsplash