Do you ever question your shoe purchases? Maybe they broke, became disheveled from adventures, or wore down after wearing them like you’re supposed to. Well stop questioning your shoe purchases and look into Glyph shoes.

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon Glyph shoes. At first, I was not sure what their message or mission was, all I knew is that their shoes were beautiful. Next thing you know I not only became a believer in their mission but pursuing a role on their team.

Glyph is inspiring people to live quality over quantity. Their shoes are knit to dip, last, and breathe. Why did they create shoes like this? Because they believe that in the future we will own fewer things. This drove them to develop shoes that are versatile, trendy, and consistently high quality.

One of the struggles that I have experienced with shoes I have purchased in the past is that they are a challenge to maintain. I have a troubled past with shoes that love to fall apart during a night out, not only failing me but also my outfit. Why struggle with this when there is an opportunity out there that provides high quality shoes that are also extremely stylish?

Something unique about Glyph is that they also offer a process called looping. This gives Glyph customers a chance to send in and recycle their previous pair of Glyph shoes. Doing this also gives them 20% off their next Glyph shoe purchase. This provides an innovative way for customers to get more out of their shoes than just a cute pair to wear.

When you buy a pair of Glyph shoes, you are not just buying shoes, you are joining a movement.

Look at Glyph's website here

Jobs. . .
​Sometimes you can't live with them, and you definitely can't live without them.  But how do we navigate a vast job market to find something that truly fits us and what we enjoy?

Let's talk about it

Step One is all about organization.  Create a master document to track all of your job search notes/findings.  This will keep you organized and proficient at searching.  I have gone down the path of applying to countless jobs on Indeed.  Trust me, after about the 71st job you apply to, it starts getting confusing.  Lines get blurred, and you just keep hitting "apply" to anything that sounds relatively interesting.

Step Two is learning your job search engines.  Getting your profile set up, uploading your resume, and being active on multiple sites will increase your footprint.  It is important to learn how the search system works for each site you use, you want to make sure you are being as efficient as possible. 

Here are my top 3 job search engines: 

1. Indeed
2. Monster
3. CareerBuilder

Step Three is about understanding job "requirements."  Truth is, there are many job listings that use almost all the same requirements.  This is to help the recruiter narrow down the amount of applicants. Unless it is regarding a license, you are usually safe to apply.  Look under the "responsibilities" section, if you feel comfortable with the workload, go for it! 

What I learned from job searching this week

Sometimes the results you want come from weird searches, or at least searches you did not expect.  A trend I definitely have noticed is that there are many companies looking for people to do their social media marketing.  I find this pretty cool, I love social media and see it as a continuously expanding field.  Most of the Digital Media Marketing positions are also entry level, and open to people with less experience.

Here are the top 5 searches I used to produce my favorite positions this week: 

1. Marketing Assistant
   
2. Digital Marketing
   
3. Advertising Assistant
   
4. Project Assistant
   
5. Media Assistant
   

I noticed that adding 'Assistant' produces loads of welcoming entry level positions.  If you have not tried doing it before, I highly suggest it.  You might get some results you have not seen before. 

Let's find out what is out there! 

We all remember being a kid, not sure if you wanted to be an astronaut or fireman, just like all the other kids.  That is the thing, maybe you wanted to be that just because everyone else wanted to as well.

Have you actually opened yourself up to the possibilities of your future? 

Lately I have had this on my mind a lot.  Are you pursuing your passions, or just following the other fish?  I believe it takes a skilled mind to understand if you are actually following something you truly desire.

As I get older, I question my thoughts more and more, wondering if I am making the best choices for my future.  But how do you know if you are or not? 

The answer is simple, you can't.

You can not understand what is necessarily best for your future because you do not know your future.  However, what you can do is make sure you are actually interested in the field you are currently pursuing.  Something that I have learned lately is that the job have now, most likely, will not be the job you have 20 years from now.  Even if you feel passionate and love your job, it is likely that you will change companies, locations, or even job fields. 

Understand what you are actually passionate about.

Stop letting friends, family, and society dictate how you live your life.  It is your life and yours alone. Find what makes you happy, keeps you interested, and drives you to improve.

Here are some questions to ask yourself while considering your next career move

1. Will I learn marketable skills in this role?
2. Will I have the opportunity here to expand my professional network?
3. Will I have the ability to demonstrate distinct excellence, unique to me?
4. Are the people I would work with really awesome?
5. Is the company itself really impressive, interesting, or innovative in some way?

Sometimes we all get too caught up in making money that we forget what is important to us.  Let's all take steps to find out what we enjoy doing and learn how to make that valuable!

Three things I discovered about myself from my previous jobs/projects

• I love working with a team, especially on projects that involve a lot of creation. Even though I am able to work independently, and have a lot in the past, I would rather work with a team.
• Creating content is what makes me happy.  Being able to see my work unfold and creating detailed interwoven strategies keep my brain active and engaged. I have seen this with my photography, videography, writing, and designing.
• Learning new skills/facts keeps me entertained while working. I discovered this while developing my Travel By Month project.  The opportunity for new knowledge kept me excited throughout the project.

Last year, I thought I wanted to pursue a career in sales, then I wanted to go into advertising, then marketing. Long story short, I was not sure what I actually wanted to do.  I was lost between what I wanted vs what everyone else wanted.

In the end, I figured between marketing, sales, and operations, marketing was the best choice for me.  But I needed to dive further into the marketing field to see if I would actually be interested in it.  The easiest way to do this, is build your professional network. 

This week, I tried that on LinkedIn.
It was challenging, but I finally got feedback from people. I also gained more clarity on what people actually do day-to-day in marketing roles.

Here are the questions I chose to ask: 

"What are your day-to-day duties?"
"Have you gotten ample opportunities to network yourself?"
"What is the biggest challenge you have had to overcome while working in marketing?"  

I feel like these are great base questions to ask anyone, especially if you are interested in pursuing a role in their job field.

What I have learned is marketing is less about creation, and more about numbers.  Managing how some ads run and seeing how people interact with them.

Marketing definitely is not what I originally expected, I thought it was more about content creation and less about numbers. It could be just the person I interviewed, which is why I will continue to ask different people as I continue to network myself.

This is one of my favorite speeches! It has inspired me to follow my passions and live how I want to live.  Watch it if you are interested in questioning your perspective. 

This week I read a great philosophical article.  I was challenged with creating a video breaking down my thoughts and ideas from it.  

Loom Video

Original Article

I feel like sledding is underrated.  Most of the time, if you ask someone when the last time they went sledding was, they would say when they were a kid/teen.  Why is that? Why do we end up taking enjoyable things and neglecting them while we get busier with life.

The reason of why you would want to go sledding is simple, it is fun.  Sledding can be a great way to spend time with old friends, reliving old memories on a neighborhood hill or it could be a way to exercise during the snowy weather.  Sometimes we all need ways to escape our adult lives, even for a little while.  Just find yourself a nice sized hill, not too steep or short.  Avoiding an area without trees will make it slightly easier to avoid injury.

My biggest advice is do not get a cheap sled.  When it comes to sleds, you usually get what you pay for.  Trust me, you do not want a sled to break apart halfway through your adventure.  As long as you pack a good coat, some mittens, a pair of thick boots, and a hat, you should be all set.

We all end up neglecting things that we think are enjoyable as a kids. 
Things like old hobbies, or just casual fun activities.
We end up losing interest in. 
Let's live like we used to.

Yeah, you read that right, it is -50 here in western Wisconsin.  The windchill is insane.  If you go outside you can get frostbite in less than 5 minutes.  Businesses are shutdown everywhere, making every town seem like a ghost town.  Even when you are inside, it seems like it is cold.  People are calling this the "Sub-pocalypse" and they are not wrong. 

Here Are 5 Tips To Stay Warm And Distracted

1.  Wear A Hat
From a young age, my mother taught me that you can lose a lot of your body heat through your head.  This is why even when you are inside, you can wear a hat to help keep yourself warm.  Even when you sleep, this can be a beneficial strategy.  Rather than grabbing more blankets, try putting a hat on.

2. Have Some Hot Chocolate (or vegan alternative) 
I have always enjoyed sitting down with a nice, full mug of hot chocolate.  Now that I am vegan, I have had to switch around my ingredients a little, but it is mostly the same.  Here is a great recipe for vegan hot chocolate, I found it earlier this month.  A regular cup of tea can also be a great warm drink to keep you going.

3. Distract Yourself
Everyone notices that time seems to go by faster when you are distracted.  This can especially be helpful when you have 4 days of temperatures well below zero.  My go-to is reading that book I have been wanting to for awhile.  Sometimes putting on a movie also helps too, but I would not suggest spending too much time in front of screens.  Too much time in front of screens is not only bad for your eyes, but can also give you headaches.  Nothing is worse than being cooped up inside with a headache and no way to get fresh air without freezing to death within minutes.

4. Think Warm, Stay Warm
Being able to stay warm is largely in your mind.  If you are constantly reminding yourself how cold it is outside, you will no doubt feel colder.  Sometimes this can be extremely difficult, but find ways to keep your mind off of it.  Planning a trip to Arizona, or the Bahamas, could help you think about the warm weather, and forget about the fringed temperatures here.

5. Think Ahead
As long as you do not need to go into work, you should not have to go anywhere during the dangerously low temperatures.  Buy plenty of groceries ahead of time, make sure you will have enough for a few days. 

For the month of January, I was challenged with writing daily blog posts.  This can be challenging itself, but I also had a 9 day trip to Seattle, WA in the middle of the month.  During the month of December, I also was busy developing Travel By Month.  Which required daily photos and weekly videos, restaurant reviews, and blog posts. 

This means, I have been writing, editing, and posting for two months.  Good news is, my ability to create daily creative content has tremendously improved.

While I was gathering daily photos in December, I learned the challenges and stresses that come with having deadlines for creative content.  Whether it was dealing with bad weather, or having an extremely packed day.  I learned how to roll with the punches and still get the work done.

3 Things I Learned

1.  Think Beyond What Is Ahead
I have always been fantastic at keeping on top of my day-to-day schedule, but this is a completely different world.  My go to was writing down any ideas I had for blogs or photoshoots right away.  There is literally no time for delay.  Thinking ahead is an understatement, that is why you need to think beyond what is ahead.  If you are running ahead for the day, do not just stop, write another post or pitch some post ideas to yourself.  If you are on public transportation, do not just sit there, start writing your post for the day.  I really had to use this strategy when I was in Seattle.

2.  Time Can Be Your Friend, But Also Kill You
Procrastination is a toxic force that can kill any productive bone in your body.  Something that I noticed is having too much "free time" can make you extremely unproductive.  When I started, if I had lots of time to write something, I would end up putzing around with it way too long.  I had to teach myself how to sit down and get something done, even if I only had a few other things to get done that day.

3.  Not Everyone Will Agree With You
Sometimes, I want to live in a world where everything I do is perfect and everyone agrees with my opinion.  This never has, and will never happen though.  Everything can be improved.  Understanding this will make you a better creator.  When I posted about my beliefs on Veganism, (post) I was really concerned with how people would take it.  Thankfully, everyone was very open and helped me construct a great post.  Just because something is not perfect, does not mean you should not post it.  Hearing feedback can help you construct something better from the ashes.

Something that really challenged me during my daily content creation was learning to be confident.  I have been through a plethora of stressful situations, but at first, it felt like my daily content was targeting all my insecurities.  You have to be confident in what you are posting, otherwise, why are you posting it?  Learning how to be confident with something you are unsure about is challenging, but worth it.  Try finding something in your post that you feel 100% with and keep that in mind as you publish it.

Daily blogging has improved many things about my writing, but none more than my ability to get to the point.  I have noticed that many people tend to write with quantity rather than quality.  Most of my posts are now written straight and to the point.  When I started this month, I thought valuable writing was about quantity.  Now I understand that some of the most valuable posts are the shortest ones you will read.

This challenge has shown that I have the ability to learn fast and on the go.  It also shows my dedication to improving my work and broadcasts that I am open to constructive criticism.  The content within my posts also shows that I am able to create valuable content, regardless of the conditions. 

Have you thought about challenging yourself with daily content creation? Try it and see what happens.

This song sparks motivation, creation, and exploration in me.  With everything going on with the new year, that is definitely what I needed. It is interesting how certain songs can make you feel more motivated.  

El Perro Del Mar - Fight For Life

I stumbled upon this song awhile ago, I did not think much of it at first.  I thought it was cool, then added it to my current Spotify playlist.  It was not until a few weeks ago, that I had stumbled upon the song again.

Right away, it pulls you in with intense drama.  The lyrics start off with "Life underwater, hiding from the rain" This instantly leaves you questioning.  I love songs that make people question anything. 

I think people tend to cross songs off too quickly, not even giving it a chance.  Sometimes I hate the beginning of one song, then I hear the chorus, and immediately changes my mind.  Maybe we do not give other things enough of a chance? 

As the chorus of "Fight For Life" starts, you can hear the lyrics "Aim to live the will to fight for life." This leaves me with more questions than the first set of lyrics.  The beat, in general, has a great bounce.  Personally, I feel like songs that have a good beat make you more productive.  When you are listening to music while accomplishing tasks, do you accomplish more when listening to songs like this? 

What songs inspire you? Let's talk about it.

We should be more conscious about our music choices, especially while we work.  It might affect our work more than we realize.

As some of you may know, I am currently in an apprenticeship program called Praxis. At the beginning of the program, they challenged me with setting goals for myself to accomplish through the program.  Now I am going to take a deeper look at those goals and see where I am now.  Maybe during the program I have changed and no longer agree with my initial goals.

Here were my goals:

• Stay straightforward and learn to grow vertically 
• Build Confidence
• Develop/learn new creative skills

This month, I challenged myself with daily blogging.  It was a lot of work and I learned a lot about my creating process.  I will be making a post later about everything that I learned while daily blogging. 

Confidence
Building confidence was huge for me this month.  At first, having to publicly share something every day was very stressful.  I was worried about people disagreeing with my views, or telling me that my writing style was awful.  Thankfully nothing too traumatic happened.  Even when someone did disagree with one of my statements, I was able to grow from it.  As I continue to build confidence, I see myself being more willing to share my true thoughts.

Growing Vertically
During the month of December, I challenged myself to create a travel page called Travel By Month.  I was posting daily photos, and had videos, restaurant reviews, and blog posts every week.  This kept me focused on taking photos, developing an active page/blog, and connecting with a community.  Before,  I would have worried about needing to stay focused on one project for that long.  Now I know that I can create great content, even when I am under a time crunch.  I am excited to see what else happens as I continue to grow vertically.

Develop/Learn new creative skills
As I pushed through daily content creation, I was able to refine my skills, especially photography, writing, and web page development.  Writing has been a challenge for me in the past, but now I am confident in writing any topic necessary.  I have experienced what it is like needing to gather content in difficult situations.  While I was developing Travel By Month, I had many unexpected issues.  Either the weather was too cold, or a road closure would cause me to change my plans for the shoot of the day.  I learned to roll with the punches.  I developed an ability to roll with the punches and still get great photos, videos, or reviews. 

I still stand with my original program goals. Next month I will put my big ideas to use, while continuing to stay centered with my work. This will make sure that, by the end of the program, I will have accomplished the goals I have set.  I will continue to gain confidence in my content creation and continue to develop my creative skills.

Today I challenged myself with critiquing Typeform's landing page. 
Typeform is a data collection tool for professionals.

Here is the link to my video.
Here is the link the Typeform landing page.