Building a Successful Life Résumé: July 2019

As I sat here on my table writing the title of this article, I had to pause and stare at it. I had just typed ‘July 2019’. It just suddenly dawned on me that we are in the second week of July 2019. More than half of this year has passed. And it has been half a year since I launched this beautiful blog, Life Résumé. When I first started thinking of Life Résumé as something that should be a part of everyone’s journey, I was unsure of the shape and form that it was going to take. As most things in life, it has been a constant work in progress. But here we are, six months later, and there are so many things that writing this blog has revealed to me. The American Novelist E. L. Doctorow sums up this journey beautifully in this thought:

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go”

E. L. Doctorow

I started this blog with the intention of just exploring the ‘physical’ form of your Life Résumé. Meaning, something tangible like the Bullet Journal System. So, I wanted to focus mainly on creating templates, habit trackers, different types of journals, long-term and short-term goal trackers and what not. Basically, just like a collection of physical copies of all these wonderful things that you have planned for yourself and that you have achieved.

But this website had a completely different idea. Yes, I know it sounds crazy. It is my website and I can do with it as I please. But whenever I sat down to plan my content, I inherently ended up drifting towards all the wonderful things that would help you build your Life Résumé. Not just a physical copy, but a road-map, if I may, of all the things that could constitute a Life Résumé. A collection of thoughts, habits and ideas that, when you look back on twenty years from now, will make you super proud. Proud of the strides that you have taken towards your own personal development.

Successful people are successful, not by chance, but because of the efforts they put in to work on themselves every single day. Every single achievement, every single success, every single positive outcome is only the result of the hard work that the person has put into it.

Knowing others is intelligence. Knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength. Mastering yourself is true power.

Lao Tzu

And I promise, I am working on creating those templates, trackers and all the wonderful printables just for you and for your own Life Résumé. You will hear on them soon from me! But for now, I have decided to do a half-yearly review of all the things that we have talked about so far. This article is like a pit-stop in this journey, where we pause and take stock of all the things that we have discussed as a part of Life Résumé and more importantly how they are shaping your own personal Life Résumé.

Before we begin and dive into this topic, for those of you who are new here and are wondering, “What the hell is this Life Résumé?”, here is a link for you.

Amongst all the things that are crucial for building your own Life Résumé, the most important thing is the understanding that no matter what you are doing, whether you are making any deliberate efforts to work on your Life Résumé or not, you are still building a Life Résumé. You are still working on building a collection of achievements, successes, failures, lessons and habits. Not taking concrete steps in a certain direction is also taking concrete steps in the opposite direction.

Not making a decision is actually a decision. It’s the decision to stay the same.

Lisa Terkeurst

And the fact that you are here, reading what I have to say to you, tells me that you want to take steps to improve yourself, to become the best version of yourself that you could possibly become! So, here is a recap of all the things we have talked about so far:

Disclaimer: This page includes affiliate links to products I truly and honestly recommend, meaning at no extra cost to you, I may earn a small percentage which I will use to bring better and more useful content to you all!

Ingredients of a Kickass Life Résumé

I talked to you about the various ingredients that make up your Life Résumé in the two-part post that can find here: Part I and Part II.

Through these, some of the ingredients that we have discussed are:

Education or Lifelong Learning: When I say education, what I am actually trying to stress on is Lifelong Learning. Lifelong Learning plays a very important and crucial role in shaping the kind of person you would become in your future. The best part about it? There is no limit in terms of when, how, and what you can learn, there are no restrictions of age, you don’t necessarily have to go to school and above all, you can choose what you want to learn about. There is no right or wrong way.

You could be a 53-year old accountant and still take up a course in bar-tending or you could be a 35-year old home-maker who wants to finally go back to college and get that degree in English Literature or you could just choose to take an online course on Reiki. There is no dearth of resources through which you can continue your Lifelong Learning.

If you want to check out more details about how Lifelong Learning can change your life, please read here.

Hobbies: Hobbies are things that you enjoy doing in your free time. They are not an obligation but are just a means to completely de-stress and reconnect with yourself. They are one of the few ways that you can actually reclaim your ‘me time’ and unwind from the busy schedules that we all have. Yes, you are not alone. We all have busy lives! And hobbies can offer you a perfect respite from this busy life. Hobbies can come in any shape and form. Reading, writing, singing, dancing, running, playing football, watching a game on Television, crocheting, hiking, skiing are just a few of the things that you could follow. This list is in no way exhaustive.

If you want to read about all the benefits that having hobbies can have for you and what specifically are my hobbies, you can read it here.

Unique Experiences: Unique experiences are anything that you don’t do on a regular basis. These are an excellent way to push you out of your comfort zone and try your hands at something unique. It is essential, to keep bringing novelty in life, because great things never came from comfort zones. And each new kind of experience that you undergo will leave you a more enriched person.

Professional Skills: By Professional skills, I mean all of the soft skills that are an inherent part of dealing with people. Be it learning to say no or conflict resolution or even time management, these are things that cannot be taught to anyone. Unless you make deliberate efforts on these fronts, there will be no change on your part.

Travel: Though travel could be considered as a Unique Experience, I have still kept this as a separate ingredient because travelling to new places adds so much more character to your personality. It makes you open-minded, teaches you about the various cultures on this beautiful planet and more than anything else, makes you aware of how, in spite of all our differences, we all have the same struggles and motivations and failures and breakthroughs.

Volunteering: Volunteering is another one of those activities that makes you look at the world through different eyes. It is not just about donating your time or money or efforts. Volunteering helps you make a difference in someone’s life and in turn enriches your own.

All of these activities add a lot of character to a person and there are so many things that you can learn through each one of these.

The Take-Away Series

In addition to just gaining an understanding of what all are the ingredients of your Life Résumé, it is also significant to understand how you can add each of these ingredients to your life. I have attempted to do this through the Take-Away Series. This is a place where I talk about all my learnings through the various sources like books, podcasts, movies and more. One of the important aspects of trying to build your own Life Résumé intentionally is to keep a record of your own learnings and understandings in any way you can. The Take-Away Series is my attempt to document my own learnings and understandings that can be easily available for you, my reader.

You can find all the articles written for the Take-Away Series here.

Habits

Successful people aren’t born that way. They become successful by establishing the habit of doing things unsuccessful people don’t like to do. The successful people don’t always like doing these things themselves; they just get on and do them.

Don Marquis

Habits are an inseparable part of building a successful life and I think most of us have a very good understanding of it. So, the next time you are sitting around wondering, ‘how do so many people have their shit figured out?’, you know what to blame. Start working on removing all those habits that are not serving you well and adding all of those habits that will take you where your goals are. Here are the five habits for personal success I have talked to you about in the past:

1. Early Rising
2. Reading
3. Meditating
4. Exercising
5. Journaling

If you want to read about the five kickass habits that will help you lead a kickass life, you can find the article here.

For more details on how journaling as a habit can transform you, please read here.

And if you want to know some super-awesome benefits of meditation, you can find the article here.

This brings us to the end of today’s article. We have discussed quite a few aspects of building a successful Life Résumé. But we still have a long way to go. In the comments let me know what parts of your Life Résumé are you currently focussed on and how that has impacted you as a person. Until then, keep working, keep growing!

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