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1-Why are American parking lots filled with loose shopping carts?
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The Importance of Prioritizing for your Success
Prioritization is one of the most important skills that can help us to improve our personal and professional lives. Also, it is our third step that will help us achieve our goals.
Until now, we explained how to set goals, and how to create a vision board. At this point, we should have some ideas and goals in our mind that we wanted to accomplish. If we are not sure where to start, we may need to put our goals in order. This is where we need to apply prioritization skills in our process. We can’t do all the things we want at once, so we need to focus on the goals that matter the most to us, the goals which have the highest impact and importance for our life, the goals which can create a ripple effect in our lives, and help us to get closer to our other goals as well.
For example, one of my most important and long-term goals are creating a well-organized and uncluttered lifestyle. Because I am well aware of that if I have a well-organized and uncluttered life, I can see many more improvements in my personal and professional life. I will add some of them below.
Having an uncluttered and organized life:
- Makes me feel happier and more energetic – having in my life only what I need – no more clutter
- Lowers stress level – no more wasting time to search for my keys, wallet, and bag
- Improves my relationship at home – no more frustration since I started to declutter all the unnecessary things that I have around me
- Frees up my schedule and mind – having more clarity in my life – no more wasting time among the options that do not matter
- Creates awareness of the things that I really want and need – no more shopping just because there is a sale
- Improves our overall lifestyle –- It has a huge positive ripple effect in our life
- Improves sleep quality – ‘Less is More’- We feel better, live better and sleep better
Also, there are other known proven health benefits that you can read from the article called ‘Why Decluttering Is Good for Your Health.’
I believe that once decluttering and organizing becomes part of our life we will see many other benefits as well. And I will move forward with my other goals that are on my list such as creating a healthy morning and evening routine. I guess I do not need to mention how worthwhile it will be already having an organized life to accomplish these two goals.
I hope you can come up with your top 3 goals that can create a ripple effect and help you in more than one area of your life.
The Second Step is Creating your Vision Board
One of my favorite goal-setting steps is creating a vision board. The vision board can be a board where you add the pictures of the events, situations, and material things that you want to have in your life. In other words, it includes all the pictures of your goals.
Your vision board shows you the images of the things you want to achieve. This will create clarity in your mind, and it will be a great visual reminder of your goals. As we all know ‘A picture is worth a thousand words.
My husband and I started to make a new vision boards a few weeks ago. As you see from the pictures, we gathered all the magazines we had, lit the candles and got a cup of hot tea. After preparing everything we need, such as scissors, tape, and glue, we went through all the magazines to find the pictures for our vision boards. Also, you can google the images of the goals you have in mind and print them, or draw them. It may take several days to complete, but it is a nice and enjoyable activity. It is a living project; you can add new ideas, or adjust some of your goals. There is no right or wrong.
We could not complete our vision boards yet. Hopefully, we will complete them this weekend. Here is my husband’s first vision board, and I am very proud of him 😊. Once I complete mine, I will share it too.
The First Step is Setting Goals
Do you have written goals? I am asking if you have written goals rather than goals because if they are not written, they will not go beyond wishes. Forbes magazine had an article called ‘Neuroscience Explains Why You Need to Write Down Your Goals If You Actually Want to Achieve Them’. It explains in detail the importance of writing your goals.
There are hundreds of books and articles about setting goals, but still, it is not part of our lives. There are many reasons for it. First, we have not been taught what goal setting means by our teachers or parents. Second, most of us still do not believe that setting goals makes a difference in our lives, and do not even try. So, this leaves very few people who set goals and achieve them. The research results vary from study to study, which indicates the number of people who are setting and reaching their goals are less than 10%. For example, the University of Scranton’s research suggests that just 8 percent of people achieve their New Year’s goals.
I consider myself one of the lucky people who started to set goals and achieve them at an early age. I always loved writing my goals and plans, since I was a little girl. Sometimes, my elder sister would read them and made fun of me all day. Most of the time, I would feel embarrassed, because even when I was a little girl, I had big dreams and many future plans. So, these would provide enough material to my sister to tease me. I have not changed, and I keep setting weekly, monthly, and yearly goals. I achieved most of my goals eventually. I believe that writing them again and again, without getting tired helped me a lot.
If you haven’t tried yet, you can easily start applying it to your life right now. It is worth trying. The simplest way to set a goal is by writing your dreams in a notebook, on a paper or anywhere you can periodically review. The only recommendation I could give is to write truly what your heart desires.
Another way to create your list of goals is by using a method called SMART. It is an acronym of Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound, which gives you brief guidance for wording your goals.
Another key point is that setting open ended goals do not take you where you want to be. For example, ‘I want to lose weight’ can be one of my goals, but if we word it by using the SMART method, we can have a clear vision and direction. So, the SMART version could be ‘I want to lose 10 pounds by July 1st, 2019’.
Also, I’ve just started to use a gap analysis method. Since I am an engineer, I wanted to use a method that related to my work 😊. I am hoping that will help me to achieve my goals faster. It is quite simple as well. Define your current status, dream about where you want to be, and then, take all the necessary actions that can help you to get there.
Here is the simple version of one of my recent goals, and moving forward, I can’t wait to share the results.
‘Saving Mr. Banks’ is a beautiful movie!
It was a great movie to watch on a Friday night. It was about P.L. Travers’ early life and her struggles, how she agreed with Mr. Disney to make a movie of her special book ‘Mary Poppins’. I was not aware of how Mary Poppins, which had such a long and desperate history, was created.
After I watched the movie, I read IMDb reviews and learned that the movie did not reflect the reality of Mr. Disney and Mrs.Travers relationship over Mary Poppins. Even If I knew this, I would still watch it because it was a unique and beautiful story.
Just to be aware, it was a sad movie. I would consider it a drama more than a comedy. To be honest, it was not our intention to pick a sad movie. The only reason we chose it was because Tom Hanks was the actor.
I definitely will watch Marry Poppins again after realizing how it was filmed and the story behind it.
My husband rated the movie as 7 because of the conflicts between the movie and reality. Since it was not a documentary, I would rate the movie as 9 out of 10.
Quotes
P.L. Travers: [Being driven in a cart to Disney’s office] I am perfectly capable of walking!
P.L. Travers: My point is that, unlike yourself, Mary Poppins is the very enemy of whimsy and sentiment. She’s truthful. She doesn’t sugarcoat the darkness in the world that these children will eventually, inevitably come to know. She prepares them for it. She deals in honesty. One must clean one’s room, it will magically do it by itself! This entire script is flim-flam! Where is its heart? Where is its reality? Where… is the gravitas?
[She throws the script out the window]
Live a Well-Lived Joyful Life by Using Design Thinking
Agile is the new motto for the Automotive World. At first, I did not like how it sounds, and I did not even know what it means. I wanted to avoid it, but it became unavoidable when we started to hear it in our executive management meetings, and from our customers.
You will see this word more than once on any job descriptions if you are looking for a new job, so I decided to learn it.
What does ‘Agile’ mean? It means to able to move quickly and easily. That’s what everyone wants in their work and personal life, right? This is especially true in an automotive environment where we work globally with customers, suppliers, and different manufacturing facilities. On my search for how to learn and apply the Agile mindset and method, I discovered that there is also a Design Thinking methodology. This is where my story begins.
In March, I took my first Design Thinking training, and I found it very helpful. It was not only the training that made it interesting, but also as a part of the training, we had to facilitate our own workshops.
I must admit it was challenging, but it opened my eyes and made me more aware about my work environment. We applied the design thinking methodology to our real work problems. I was so lucky to have a wonderful workshop team which I admired more during the workshop for their contribution, engagement, and ideas. They inspired me more, and I promised myself to learn more and include them in many more workshops.
During the workshop, we applied the 6 steps of the Design Thinking method. The first 3 steps were the problem space, and the last 3 steps were the solution space.
When you google, you will find so many sources, studies and examples. I am adding the Wikipedia link ‘https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design Thinking’, if you want to read more about it. Also, Stanford University has a beautiful introduction about the Design Thinking, and a 45 min YouTube video which can provide you more information.
Here are the Design Thinking steps;
- Empathize (Understand and Observe) – The step where we focus on understanding of our users’ need
- Define (Synthesize) – The step where we find out customers’ pains and gains
- Ideate – The step where we generate ideas to solve the problem
- Prototype – The step where we are designing prototype / solution to the problem
- Test – The step where we review our prototypes with our customers. We will iterate these steps as needed until we find the best solution
To apply the steps, you do not have to have any design thinking knowledge; there are tools that can be applied to each step. I was so lucky to have 3 great mentors and they prepared all the tools and materials for the training I took, and I used the similar tools for my own workshop.
At first, it may take time to connect the dots and understand the process, but once you follow the steps, you get the point. For example, at the beginning I was not quite sure why the design thinking has a long problem space, since we knew what the problem was, and to solve the problem we were using the design thinking method. Let’s face it most of us always assume we know what the problem is, and we always have an initial solution in our mind. Design thinking teaches us that we may not be aware of the real problem. It helps us to focus on our users, to understand and empathize with their needs. At the end, they are the ones who need to be happy with our products and services.
When you follow the steps and reframe your problem, most of the time, you may find out the problem is not really what you were assuming. That’s what happened to me when I used design thinking methodology.
I also found out that we can apply the Design Thinking method to our personal life to create the life we dream. I did not think about applying it to my personal life until I noticed a book called ‘Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life’ at Barnes and Nobles a few weeks ago. I decided to purchase it. I’ve only read the first chapter so far. It already made me so excited to see what I learned at the workshop can be applied to our personal lives. Book is written by the Stanford’s professors which makes it more accountable for me. Once I complete reading it, I will write a review. Also, the next step is to learn the Agile Methodology. Along the way on my search, I feel like I will continue to learn so many other useful tools, and methods.
I believe that it is worth trying and see the impact of this method. It may show us better ways to find how to live a well-lived joyful life as it says in the book.
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Traveling and Food
I have traveled quite a lot, and I’ve discovered what I enjoy from the places that I’ve traveled to. Now, I know what I am looking for when I travel. For example, I love places where you can see cultural touches and traditions. This makes me realize there is so much more out there and I have so many things to learn and explore. It is a great feeling to see and learn about new countries and cities just by walking through the streets.
For me food is very important. It is the way to get to know the people and life style. In the USA, you can see long lines in the restaurants for take-out. There are so many fast food restaurants. Even though not all, many people who live in the USA just want to have a quick meal and do not want to cook and clean. You can also see that cooking has a different meaning in the USA. For many people, cooking means microwaving a frozen ready dish.
In contrast, Asian countries the food culture is totally different. I will talk about China since I lived there for almost 2 years. China is a country with traditions, unique language, lifestyle, and a long history. It is a country where food plays a huge role in life. Authentic Chinese food has a unique taste and variety of ingredients. Also eating is a hobby there, at least for so many of them. It is not just having a meal, but it is a family get together, having a conversation with family and friends, and of course drinking happily. Sometimes these dinners may take up to 4-5 hours.
I remember the first lunch I was invited to in China. We went to a Hot Pot lunch. At that time, I did not know what hot pot means. It was a middle-class, small restaurant. They brought a big pan and inside it had spicy soup with a big fish. They placed the pan in the center of the table, where there was a hot surface so that we could experience the cooking. There was an area that you could pick the vegetables that you prefer to cook with the fish. I liked it and it took me 1 hour to enjoy the meal. I tried some vegetables that I knew and tried some new ones. I looked at my watch and I realized that we were there for almost 2 hours. My friends were still eating and bringing more vegetables to the table. I was shocked to see that they could still eat because they look so fit and could eat twice as much. I could not leave the lunch until everyone was done, because we were sharing the bill and I did not mean to be rude. Also, I was so worried about the bill but later on I found out that this would be one of the cheapest meals I had in China.
It was one of the unique experiences I had. Who knew that this lunch would introduce me to one of my favorite meals! At that time, I was not aware, but it did not take me long to try another hot pot meal. This meal is one of the reasons why I always try to experience local cuisine when visiting new places.
How to Make Chinese Hot Pot
The Hot Pot is the most Authentic food I have ever tried and became addicted. I love most of the Asian dishes, but the Hot Pot is a magical food for me. It is a big meal, which you can eat several hours, and chat with close friends and families. Living in China widen my food culture and changed me forever now i cannot imagine life without Hotpot and Sichuan spicy dishes.
I would like to share with you a homemade hotpot recipe.
What we need
An electric oven, and if possible divided pan (especially if you prefer spicy and not spicy soup base)
Hot Pot Spice Soup Base
*2 tablespoon oil
*6 slices ginger
*10 cloves garlic
* 5-star anise
*1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
*Dried red chilies as many as you wish
*1 package spicy hot pot soup base
*Bone or Chicken Broth or just water
*Coconut milk if you like Thai style (we added on one section)
Dipping sauce:
Sesame paste (we sometimes just drink the soup)
Chopped cilantro
Chopped garlic
To eat with your hot pot:
Thinly shaved beef, lamb, shrimp meat and meatballs
Tofu sheets and slices of firm tofu
Soy puffs (fried tofu puffs)
Straw mushrooms
Shiitake mushrooms
Wood ear mushrooms
Noodles
Chinese rice cakes
Bok choy
Any kind of potatoes
Napa cabbage
And my favorite vegetable lotus root
To prepare the soup base; first, we will fry 2 to 5 min the ginger, cloves garlic, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, dried red chilies as many as you wish. The second step is to add these items on our broth with the hot pot spicy sauce and coconut cream. Then place your soup on the oven at the table, and add desired veritable or meat. In China mostly meat is served first but for us, we start with the tofu and mushroom and continue cooking other ingredients we wish.
Why are American parking lots filled with loose shopping carts?
I do not know if is it the same for other countries too, but in America shoppers always leave the shopping cart at the parking lot, instead of returning them to the dedicated location in the parking lot or take them back to the shopping center.
I am sure most Americans know what I am talking about. If you are not from here or can’t picture it; here are some examples I took yesterday.
It is the same almost everywhere, at Walmart, Kroger, T.J. Maxx, Target, Hobby Lobby.
It is hard to understand the reason behind it. Some reasons my husband and I came up with;
– People are lazy
– People think there is a paid person, whose job it is to collect carts from the parking lot
– They may think they do a favor for other shoppers by leaving the carts to close to their cars
– They want to harm other people’s cars or give extra work to the people who work at the shopping center
Aldi has a good solution to this problem. If you need a shopping cart, you can borrow with 25 cents, and you can take your money back when you return it. I must admit it does not solve the problem because you still see carts next to cars in the parking lot.
The only thing that can fix this is to educate people and make them aware that a disabled person may not park his / her car because someone left a cart there. These carts can damage parked cars. And show respect for people who have to collect carts from all around the parking lot, in the cold.
I invite everyone to pay extra attention and never leave their cart at the parking lot,and if any of your friends, relatives do it then please warn them and set an example by taking the time to return carts if they can’t be bothered. It may seem like a small action, but let’s all try to leave the environment better than we find.
Having respect for others and the environment around us is truly how we make ‘America Great Again’
I’m a Project Manager with a deep passion for both professional and personal growth. Designing and building the next generation of vehicles is incredibly rewarding, but it comes with its challenges—especially for someone as emotionally invested as I am!