3 Lessons I Learned in 2021

Looking back on this past year, here's a few things I've learned:

I. Be Firm About What You Want
This is something I've struggled with a bit throughout my life to be honest. I was always afraid to disappoint or upset someone else, and I would end up compromising too much. I would go against what I wanted and in the end, this would lead to a lot of problems in most situations.

But I've slowly been working on this and I feel this past year I've made great improvements in this area. And what I've realized is that when I'm firm and direct about what I want, people respect me more. I didn't have to make any huge changes to implement this either. It's basically just being honest about how I feel and expressing it in the right moments, and in the right ways - which can be a struggle sometimes.

But I've come to understand when I should value my time and myself more, and not back away from a potential, impending confrontation - which most of the time never even happened.

II. Create Deadlines
I've always known the power of having deadlines. I've had deadlines with my day job, YouTube Sponsorships, and paying bills and rent - and I usually meet all these deadlines on time, without problems luckily. But the area I've always struggled in was setting deadlines for my own business and my own projects - which are arguably the most important deadlines I should be setting and meeting for myself.

But in late 2020, I started working on my Intuitive Drawing Course which launched in early February 2021. I basically had 3 months to work on this course, market it, and launch it. Honestly, 3 months was a bit too tight of a deadline but I wasn't the only one involved in this project, as I was working with someone else who was guiding me while building this course.

I learned a lot and in the end, this course is one of the most successful things I've ever done and in such a short amount of time. This was when I realized the power of deadlines for my own business and projects. It made me think to myself "How many opportunities have I been missing due to lack of action & deadlines?".

III. Do What You Love To Do
Well, I didn't really learn this one last year but I can say I relearned it and I think that's just as important. In the past on my YouTube channel, there were many times where I polled my viewers and would ask what kind of videos they would like to see on my channel. The whole point of my channel is so that people will watch and enjoy the videos I create.

But the reality is that sometimes I began to make videos ONLY for the audience. Obviously, this is a recipe for disaster because it's unsustainable. If I didn't enjoy the process of making the videos and I wasn't passionate about the topic, there's no way this can continue on. What would be the point?

And so, I relearned a big, valuable lesson: I need to do what I love first. Stop worrying about what others think, or the views, or the numbers. What's important for me to is focus on what I love to do. And not do it for anyone else.