#working woman
Advice for today: treat yourself as if you’re your friend.
We treat our friends better than we treat ourselves.
We listen to them, comfort them, provide them solace; we engage with them, and be their support.
Yet when it comes to ourselves, we can’t seem to provide the same.
What are some steps to treating yourself better and being comfortable in who you are?
- Create a personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).
- What are your good qualities (integrity, good listener, loyal friend, etc.)?
- What are your weaknesses (lazy, bad temper, reckless, etc.)?
- Whatopportunities do you have coming up where you can shine (exams, job interview, meeting with someone important)?
- And what are your threats (i.e., what’s stopping you from being better?)
Without acknowledging the good AND the bad about yourself, you won’t be able to accept yourself. 

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- If you’re new to being committed to yourself, don’t be harsh on yourself. Being honest with yourself is a process, and the process includes messing up.
- Setone personal commitment a day. ONE. It could something as easy as putting on a mask. It could be cooking a meal. It could be going for a walk. It has to be only for you.
- Whatdoes not include as personal commitment? Homework, work, priorities that are directly related to your career and home, etc.
- Here’s how you should plan it : the commitment you pick shouldn’t be dependent on any other factor apart from you. Putting on a clay mask doesn’t affect your grades. Doing deep breathing for 5 minutes doesn’t clean your room - both activities involve 100% YOU.
Tough pill to swallow:
You are responsible for your happiness, regardless of the situation you’re in.
You are responsible for your health and well being, regardless of the money you have.
A permanent victim mindset does not fix problems.
It only makes you vulnerable, irresponsible and a dependent human being.
Motivation Moodboard
The 7 Day #IChooseMe Challenge
The next seven days, choose YOU.
Choose yourself.
Prioritise yourself.
Take care of yourself.
If you’ve been feeling lost lately, or life has been off track - this challenge is great to bring you back on track.
It helps you have some structure in your life, while allowing you to have fun and plenty of spare time.
I am not a therapist or a doctor. Take this advice as you would from a friend.
With this challenge, you’ll feel a little more fulfilled, happier, and you’ll have a set routine.
You only have to accomplish 6 small goals a day for 7 days to finish this challenge.
Download the tracker PDF to tick mark the goals you accomplish everyday! Download it from my google drive. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Nswwr87sQrFwWvcbexPrsJF5w0F-WyLk?usp=sharing
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The Night Before Day 1
- Get in bed by 11:30 pm, even if you’re not tired.
- Try to finish all your work.
- Set your phone away from you.
- Download the PDF tracker.
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Day 1
- wake up at 7 am or 2.5 hours before work/ school.
- Make a to-do list for the day. Groceries, laundry, assignments due, appointments - make it a habit to note it down around 20 minutes after you wake up.
- Start your day with 10 minute stretch. Do this before you eat.
- Read 2 newsarticles.
- Write down 3 things you’re grateful for today.
- Eat at least 1 fruit of your choice.
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Day 2
- wake up at 7 am or 2.5 hours before work/ school.
- Make a to-do list for the day. Groceries, laundry, assignments due, appointments - make it a habit to note it down around 20 minutes after you wake up.
- Start your day with a 6 minute, deep breathing meditation. Sit cross legged as you face south east, close your eyes and focus on breathing deeply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Yf5SYwqjw&feature=emb_title
- choose a healthy option for lunch. Salads, soups, healthy wraps, a light rice bowl - eat something with lots of nutrients.
-Compliment someone at work/ school today!
-Clean your room.
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Day 3
- wake up at 7 am or 2.5 hours before work/ school.
- Make a to-do list for the day. Groceries, laundry, assignments due, appointments - make it a habit to note it down around 20 minutes after you wake up.
- Start your day by telling yourself any 3 affirmations. Look at yourself in the mirror and speak out loud. This could be something like …”Today is going to be a good day. I’m capable of accomplishing and handling everything sent my way. I am a positive, healthy person and I genuinely love the person I am, or I am becoming.”
- Drink 2 litres of water today. Add a piece of lemon or mint if that helps!
- Read 5 pages of any book of your choice. If you don’t like reading, then listen to this podcast (start at 1 minute to skip the intro) :
- write down a listofqualities you think you need to work on. It could be things like being on time, working on your anger, etc.
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Day 4
- wake up at 7 am or 2.5 hours before work/ school.
- Make a to-do list for the day. Groceries, laundry, assignments due, appointments - make it a habit to note it down around 20 minutes after you wake up.
- Start your day with a lymphatic drainage massage! This is a 10 minute video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MCezvvbm_A&feature=emb_title
- Write down 3 things you’re grateful fortoday.
- Do a 20 minute workout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCG4zlvuUok
- Change your bedsheetsandcovers. If you have some lavender mist lying around, spray it under your pillow for a good night’s rest.
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Day 5
- wake up at 7 am or 2.5 hours before work/ school.
- Make a to-do list for the day. Groceries, laundry, assignments due, appointments - make it a habit to note it down around 20 minutes after you wake up.
- Start your day with a 6 minute, deep breathing meditation. Sit cross legged as you face south east, close your eyes and focus on breathing deeply.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Yf5SYwqjw&feature=emb_title
- Eat a fruit of your choice.
- Read 2 news articles.
- Drink 2 litres of water today. Add a piece of lemon or mint if that helps!
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Day 6
- wake up at 7 am or 2.5 hours before work/ school.
- Make a to-do list for the day. Groceries, laundry, assignments due, appointments - make it a habit to note it down around 20 minutes after you wake up.
- Start your day with a 10 minute stretch. Do this before you eat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T41mYCmtWls
- Write down 3 things you’re grateful for.
- Tell yourself any 3 affirmations. Look at yourself in the mirror and speak out loud. This could be something like …”today is going to be a good day. I’m capable of accomplishing and handling everything sent my way. I am a positive, healthy person and I genuinely love the person I am, or I am becoming.”
-Call up your mum, family member, friends and have a chat with them. Find out how they’re doing.
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Day 7
-Sleep in till 9 am today if you like! But if you have work or school, get up at 7 am / 2.5 hours before you have to go.
- Make a to-do list for the day. Groceries, laundry, assignments due, appointments - make it a habit to note it down around 20 minutes after you wake up.
- Put on a face mask of your choice.
- Eat a healthy, filling breakfast. If you can’t eat in the mornings, then have a glass or two of water.
- If you can step outside, go for a 30 minute walk. If you’re unable to, then do some stretching at home.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssaMwhZlIeE&t=3s
- Write down how you felt this whole week. Did you feel better? Was there some structure in your life?
On being disciplined
Discipline can be really, really hard.
At some point of time, we all know that it’s not motivation that helps us achieve goals, but discipline.
Being disciplined can be exhausting. It can feel like everyday is the same day, and it can be scary for some people.
Self help books can often be annoying because they all repeat the same content more or less, just packaged differently.
So here are some easy steps to actually being disciplined.
1.Understand that discipline comes from accomplishing small tasks.
Here’s a simple formula:
Doing a task consistently = executing that task properly = experience in that task grows = results in confidence in doing that particular task
- What’s something that you can do in practically your sleep? It could be something as small as making your bed (because you have practice!), baking a certain dessert that all your friends love (practice!), being able to understand how mitosis works (biology homework- practice!).
- Everything comes from practice.
You can read as many books as you like, attend as many self-help conferences, but if you don’t put in the work, it’s money wasted.
2.So what kind of small tasks am I talking about to increase your discipline?
Here are some examples:
- You really want to nap for 20 minutes. So you set your alarm, and you sleep. 20 minutes later, the alarm goes off.
- Do you wake up? Or do you snooze for another 20?
Waking up after the first alarm goes off requires discipline. Sheer willpower.
Nail this step first.
- By nailing just the art of waking of waking up at the time you were supposed to, you may be grumpy for a minute but you’ve done it! You battled the feelings of being lazy and sleeping in - and now you’re going to probably have a better day.
3.Outline 3-5 tasks that you think you need to do every single day in order to achieve what you want.
Here’s an example of mine:
My Goals:
- To have the mornings to do my tasks, as opposed to sleeping in
- To be able to learn something new everyday
- To keep my brain and body active
- To be aware of what’s going on in the world
This translates to my 5 tasks:
- Waking up at 7 am
- Working out
- Reading the news
- Playing brain games on my phone that help increase your thinking, creativity and intelligence (I use Elevate)
- Reading 3 pages of a book
For me, I’m someone who loves seeing progress being measured. So I maintain a habit tracker.
This method may not work for everyone, but I get happy when I can tick those 5 boxes of my list every night.
4.Here’s how you set the correct goals:
How exactly do you come with those 3-5 tasks?
- Make sure they’re relatively easy.
Reading 3 pages of a book, for example, is quite easy. It takes me around 5 minutes to do that.
Surely I can spend 5 minutes of my day to read just 3 pages?
- Make sure that they’re attainable and you have a choice in that task.
If you don’t exercise, but you want to start, don’t start heavy. Especially if you’re working out by yourself.
“I’ll do a 90 minute workout today!” Turns to “God, I hate this, I hate working out, I’m never doing it again.”
So keep it attainable, even if you feel like you can do more.
Aim for working out 30 minutes a day for 2 weeks.
30 minutes a day, your choice of work out. Human beings love choice. We love choosing what to do. So give yourself the freedom to choose what you want to do.
Then increase that to 45 minutes for 3 weeks.
Then increase that again, if you want to, and if you feel comfortable.
- Make sure it’s something you can do everyday for some time.
For example, reading the news is a daily ritual. I need to know what’s happening in the world. My work requires me to.
I can’t read the news weekly or monthly - it’s something that has to be done everyday.
So regardless of the type of day I’m having, this is something I need to do and is doable.
I can read the news on the train. On the bus. On the toilet. While I eat something.
It’s doable everywhere.
Obviously, it doesn’t apply to all your goals - you can’t workout on a train or in the classroom - but try to keep majority of your goals somewhat portable.
