We all have something to share. We just do it in different ways based on our personality, what we are comfortable with, where God calls us and ultimately how He uses us!
First, expressing my feelings and thoughts in writing has always been my thing! In fact, growing up, I would journal about pretty much everything you can think of: how my day went, my frustrations, prayer requests, answered prayers, etc. And I still journal very often. It is a great way to start and end the day for me.
Moreover, I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to have a personal blog or a platform where I could share something with others. However, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out that “something” – Probably because of the perfectionist that I am. But I am getting really better at it though – Perfectionism leads to procrastination, which in turn leads to never getting anything done! Therefore, I realized that if I keep pushing things off, I will never do anything. So in late 2017, I decided to pull the trigger and start something.
As such, I did some soul searching in an effort to figure out what I wanted to share with the world, and ultimately how I wanted to impact people I cross paths with. In addition, I sent a questionnaire to some friends, past colleagues and people I have interacted with in some capacity. The questions I included in the questionnaire were:
- What do you think I am good at?
- What are my strengths and my weaknesses/areas of improvement?
- Can you give me an example of a time when you saw me really shine and excel at a task or project?
- If money wasn’t an object, what do you think I should be doing?
- What other things can I be giving back to the world that I am not giving back to them right now?
The answers I got back really blessed me and humbled me at the same time. Most importantly, they were very eye-opening – some I expected and others came as a surprise to me. But I was glad I went through the process and very grateful to have friends/colleagues who were willing to share their thoughts on me as a person in a constructive way! Thanks to you all (you know who you are) for taking the time to do this! It has greatly impacted me!
Now, here is a summary of some of the responses I received:
Things I am good at:
- Motivate and inspire individuals to strive for success
- Support and Empower others
- Anything I put my mind to
Strengths and Areas of Improvement:
Strengths:
- Great listener / Very open and easy to talk to
- Effective Communicator
- Great Leader
- “Cheerleader”/ Always there to help others
- Reliable friend
- Make things happen/ Never let go of good ideas
- Trustworthy
Areas of improvement:
- Showcase talents more aggressively
- Spontaneity (can be too much of a planner)
- Afraid of own capabilities (not wanting to do or go for something even though I can do it)
- Tend to stay in comfort/safety zone
- Indecisiveness (wanting to do many things at the same time)
What I should be doing if money was not an object/Potential career fields/Other things I can be giving back to the world that I’m not giving back to them right now:
- Writer/Editor
- Guidance Counselor
- Life Coach
- Philanthropist
- Psychologist
- Human Resources/Recruiting
- Public speaker – To share personal/life experiences to empower other women; talk about how I “overcame” shyness; share knowledge with less fortunate and talk about my experience as a mother, business professional and Christian
So I took all of these responses as “Huguette, you need to stop thinking of/planning what you can do to impact the world in a way only you can, and start acting. It does not matter how small you start, you just need to start.” In one of my first posts on the blog, I talk about how I decided to focus my blog on reading/books. However, my focus for now is on encouraging people to read more and also sharing some of my personal experiences from time to time. So we’ll see what the future holds in store for me and this blog!
Thanks for reading!
Huguette