"What would you do if money were no object?"

I have been wanting to start journaling for a looong time. Today, my favourite YouTuber released the following video:

I believe this is a signal for me not to postpone journaling anymore. Ali has shared an amazing 10 questions to answer when journaling, but 10 is too much for me. I need to ease the process so that I can gain this habit. So, I have selected 4 of them:

• What would you do if money were no object?

• What would you like people to say at your funeral?

• If I repeat this week’s actions for 10 years, where does this lead, and is that where I want to be?

• What activities in the last two weeks have energised and drained me?

To motivate you to journal (as well as motivating myself), I wanted to share my current answers to these questions:

What would you do if money were no object?

Surf more, ski more, read more, record more YouTube videos, not work on the research project that I don’t enjoy, teach courses in Turkey instead of Singapore, live in London instead of Singapore, spend more time on my startup ideas, spend more time with family and friends.

What would you like people to say at your funeral?

Joyful partner, great mom, good friend, helpful mentor.

If I repeat this week’s actions for 10 years, where does this lead, and is that where I want to be?

• A researcher who does impactful research but not with many publications.

• A YouTuber who can really have some positive impact on people’s lives.

• An entrepreneur who only builds products that she enjoys (to support my entrepreneurial journey, you can follow our product’s Instagram account: Zinde, thank you!)

• Someone with a great family.

Yes, these are what I want to be. But, if I repeat this week’s actions for 10 years, this will lead to the following scenarios, which I don’t want to be in:

• Someone who feels lonely because she lost most of her friends while trying to build the life she wanted.

• Someone who exhausted her patience by investing too much energy in people, situations, and events that, in the grand scheme of things, held little significance.

What activities in the last two weeks have energised and drained me?

I have to check my calendar to remember (if you are still not living your life by calendar, what are you doing?).

Energizing activities: meeting with the COO of the company that I am collaborating with for a research project; research meetings with my PhD student; writing scripts for my YouTube videos, recording them, editing them; responding to thoughtful comments from viewers; Zoom meeting with one of my best friends; meeting new people and listening to their interesting stories; interviewing students from Turkey (ah, I love all of them); doing yoga; trying different foods with Guven; reading an amazing book by one of my favorite authors (The Material by Dolly Alderton).

Draining activities: Having lunch with people I don’t really like, teaching (end of semester tiredness), chasing my tax advisor and talking with her (nightmare).

Okay, not bad.

Although there are a few things that I need to change in my life, after answering these questions, I feel like I am on the right track to build the life that I want.

How about you?

Let me know in the comments if you try answering these questions.

See you next week!

Sidika

*Türkçe ceviri icin metni ChatGPT’ye kopyalayıp, “Türkce’ye cevir diyebilirsin”.