Hey babes, how are all of you doing now that we are officially 1.5 months into 2019? By end of 2018, I promised myself 2019 is a year of focus on work and I want to check in with you on my thoughts and progress. It’s a Monday, so maybe it would somehow be motivational to you to stay on your goals and keep kicking ass, too.
In first couple weeks of January, I was at a loss of what to do (and also I was recovering from all the travel from 2018, the festive seasons and birthdays). I wanted to do more, but I didn’t know what I should start or where I should start. But then remember what I said in a video about being overwhelmed? I said we needed to break down big size goals into bite-able sizes to chew so that we don’t choke ourselves in the process. I sat down, reflected on each aspect of my job and wrote down what I wanted to change/ do more. It worked! Vague pictures started appearing in front of me and I spent more time writing down ideas, tasks and schedule them into my to do list.
In 2019, I want to do more videos on YouTube, not just any videos, I want to do more quality/ informative/ value-added videos and by more, I also mean that I am upping my appearance on YouTube as well. More hauls, more reviews, more chit-chat, more product comparison like the Top 5…etc. Hence, with the turn of 2019, you probably could notice the frequency of the videos is increased, also the topics are a bit different than last few year’s. Honestly, these video topics take me a lot more time to do behind-the-scene, but I am happy with how they turn out. As much as it’s painful to take triple amount of time to do product trials and find the Top 5, or have to take bits of videos every few days to give a more all-rounded presentation, I think the final product is worth all that jazz. Aside from what’s available in the market, I also want to talk about products from Hakme Beauty more regularly. They are good enough for my stores and of course they are good enough for my recommendation – why the hell not right? I didn’t start Hakme Beauty so that I could hide all the good stuff. But I don’t want to do the Hakme Beauty product videos at the expense of my regular Tuesday and Thursday videos, so this means that I have to do extra on top. That’s where the IGTV series come in. You probably come across them on those boring Mondays and the very tiring Wednesdays. They are short, sweet and to the point. Honestly I don’t think you have the time in the day to watch that many long-winded videos from me anyway, and that’s why these babes are just a few minutes long. And then I probably throw in an odd video here and there on Sundays, these could be more reviews, chit-chat or even vlogs, just to switch things up a bit. Well, I am going to say now, as much as I want to strive for excellence, there might be a chance that I would miss one or two video schedule here and there if I get really tired. All I can promise you is that your Tuesday and Thursday videos will always be on high priority.
With enough said about YouTube, I also wanted to do more on Instagram. I LOVE Instagram because it’s just so much fun and I could get really connected with all of you through Live chat, Poll function, Question Stickers …etc. Right now, I am really diligent in taking photos and writing up all the content for Hakme Beauty (go show some love @hakmebeauty), so you probably will get update on product information and restocking a few times a day. I think right now, I have already built in a very regular and consistent content schedule for Hakme Beauty. However, for my own Instagram (@iamhakme), I still feel like it’s hit and miss sometimes. Sometimes I would be so inspired to dress up, go outside, do photo shoots and happily choose the ones suitable for my feed, but more times, I would be like, “I really can’t be bothered to choose 1-3 photos from the hundreds, I have so much shit going on right now!” You see, this is those real life struggles *laughs*. Then one day during Lunar New Year, I was sitting at the Sofa and suddenly I was like, “maybe I was too random on IG, maybe the messiness got to my head!” Well, you know right after this thought, I used 6 hours to delete all the crap on my IG Story Highlights, changed all the Highlight Icons, worked on some new Story Templates that have a cleaner look and project the vibe that I was going for….etc. After the clear-out, I have a clearer vision of what I want to post on IG. Well who says Digital Decluttering is not important? Well, by now you probably can tell that I would post more regularly on IG about handbags, outfits, motivational quotes, makeup look, all that kind of good stuff.
As much as I focus a lot on the work aspect, one thing that’s quite high on my 2019 goal is personal development e.g. reading, learning something new, going to the gym more often etc., my work is mostly about giving and sharing information, but I have to make sure I balance that out with taking in new information as well. I don’t want to end up feeling empty by the end of 2019. I didn’t get to read that much last year and I felt like a part of my brain is missing some nutrients. So with the turn of 2019, I make sure I read (even for just 5/10 mins) and learn something new everyday. Going to the gym more often is still a challenge, but I try to move around more/ do some stretching at home during the week to balance that out.
I share the above thoughts with a few people, and they all said to me, “are you sure you can handle all of that?” My answer is always, “I am sure I can.” Not I will try, not I think so, but I am sure I can. In my mind, there is no point doing anything half-hearted just to get by, if I want to see what I can do, then I need to make that commitment to myself of going all OUT! Yes going all OUT! What’s there to lose? You don’t get the results that you want? You are wasting your time? You don’t get to have as much leisure time as you used to? All of these are not my concern, I don’t have a particular end result that I want to achieve, all I want to see is, “I want to see what I can achieve by going all out.” I always find keeping an open mind saves you heartache and frustration along the way, and it’s more fun to just go for it and explore right?
So, I have been rambling for a long time and if you are reading up to here, let me know if you are going all OUT yet on achieving your goals!
Keep kicking ass as always. Xoxo.