“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinion drown out your own inner voice” — Steve Jobs

Social media influencers often talk about how they quit their job to pursue their dream. And then they try to sell that dream to you.

It is great if you hate your job, and you are passionate about something. But ask yourself — do you really hate your job? Or have you been gaslighted into believing that?

I am not saying that content creation or freelancing as a career option isn’t lucrative. But it isn’t for everyone. …

Each person is different. And so are their goals, fitness, and income levels.

Yet, most productivity advice doesn’t even acknowledge these differences. They provide the same run-of-the-mill advice to everyone — create a morning routine, focus on the most important tasks in the day, use the 80/20 rule, and so on.

I want to gouge my eyes out the next time I read something like this. Don’t get me wrong — I have nothing against it. I have written about productivity myself. But I have realized that what we preach and what we practice is very different. So I did…

We are on the cusp of a major change moving away from the “attention economy” to the “creator economy.” The attention economy has ad-based revenue generation as a central part of its business model, whereas the creator economy democratizes the process providing a platform, marketplace, and tools to digital entrepreneurs to provide valuable content to other users.

Mark Adams, a Vice Media employee, says “audience is a liability whereas a community is an asset.”

The digital space has undergone a phenomenal change in the last decade in tune with the changing needs of the consumer, the competition, and the long-term…

Productivity

This year when my husband and I travelled to New Zealand, on our way from Christchurch to Grey mouth in the south Island, we took this scenic Alpine train journey that took us through some stunning landscapes with live commentary on the struggles of the miners who worked there. How they had to fight for their right to 8-hour work life. And all that they desired was a simple triple 8 rule — 8-hours sleep, 8-hours work, and 8-hours leisure.

Medium Fam,

If you have been on Medium for a few months or more you’d know I am talking about Shannon Ashley — she is an inspirational writer whose authenticity, honesty, and vulnerability has made Medium the platform that it is today.

She is in pain. And she needs our help. She is suffering from Lipedema — a disease of inflamed fat cells that affects primarily women. She has written extensively about it in the last few weeks.

While battling Lipedema, she has to confront a lot of fatphobia and fat-shaming. She has openly written that she is depressed and…

If you’ve ever set an ambitious goal for yourself, then you know it can be an uphill journey. Thankfully, when you’re starting on an exciting journey, you have lots of motivation, and that steep hill you have to climb doesn’t seem so daunting.

But midway through your journey, you realize you are not able to keep up with your plans. So you look around for answers, although deep down, you already them.

You know what’s keeping you from achieving those goals. Work pressure, relationship struggles, financial troubles, health concerns — you know your problems.

They say when you identify your…

I always thought starting something is the most difficult thing to do, but I was wrong.

Being a writer for the past two years has taught me showing up each day is even more challenging. I have my bouts of procrastination every month. Some days are easy, and some others not so much.

Last weekend, I scheduled four hours toward writing. I had the perfect setting, had no distractions around me, there were no unresolved problems at the office or any pending household chores.

Ideal, right?

But was it productive?

Unfortunately, the answer is no.

I spent over five hours…

A few months back, my office rolled out return-to-office plans. They asked us to choose two days of the week, to work from the office.

I was thrilled to go back. I was dying to eat lunch outside (I didn’t realize it was a luxury until now.) No, I am kidding.

I was excited to meet people. I longed for human connection after working from home for more than a year. I had never met my manager until then, as he joined during the pandemic. I had forgotten what it was like waking up, getting ready, and catching a train…