Episode #5: Manifest Your Life to Achieve Work-Life Balance
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Take some time and think about what components you would like to include in your life and begin filling in the box. Pick one at a time and visualize what you would like that part of your life to look like. What would you be doing and how would it feel?

Do something to make your real life match your visualization. Your actions are critical. Don't just write down and don't just think. You need to make action each day. Create for yourself specific goals that reflect all the boxes in your grid. And finally, keep asking yourself, how whole is my life? Hi, everyone. Welcome to Bei Qiang Nan Diao. I'm Melody. I'm Victoria. And today we will be talking about how to make your dreams a reality.

today we want to introduce a word it's called vision board and how we want to do this is because i recently read a book it called feel the fear and do it anyway so i actually have it this book right now here so if you're in you're interested in this book and want to read more about it you can just go and buy this later but now we want to talk about like what is vision board so

I think the idea is a visual representation of your goal. And the purpose of this is setting your intention and taking active steps towards making that abstract idea come to fruition. So...

It got me thinking about what's the most important nine perspective in my life. And we want to share this during this topic. And at the beginning, I want to ask Mally about what matters to you and what are your dreams and aspirations?

So I think on the vision board, there's nine grids in which each person is able to look at. And as Vic said, a vision board is a visual representation of what you aspire, what you dream for. And by constantly having a look at that, it reminds you to take active steps towards your future every single day. And so these nine parts of the grid include leisure, hobby, money, work, a

alone time, personal growth, friends, travel, and relationship. This year is actually when I moved back home from Beijing to Taiwan. And I've been away from my family for over three years now. And so, you know, moving back home this year, I think one of my top priorities is relationships. So I

reestablishing my relationship with my family, but also finding new relationships with friends and people in this community as well. So that's my number one. I think number two would be leisure. Having been by myself for so long in Beijing, in such a vibrant and active city, I was constantly on the go, being very actively involved in the community.

as well as working a lot in that Jojo Liu mentality. And so coming back home, living in Taiwan, which is a much more slower paced place than China, I think leisure is something that I really aspire for this year as well. Just kind of focusing on myself, figuring out what I like to do during my free time and kind of

Kind of just being more selfish with my time rather than constantly feeling like I need to move forward in my career or contribute to other things. And I think my third thing that I'm really focused on this year would be work. Trying to just figure out where I want to go in my career path, learning new things in order for me to develop new skills for the future. How about you, Vic?

So like before I share, I want to add something to what are the nine perspective on your vision board. It won't limit to what Mellie just said, right? Like so you can be, you can, you can create your own thing. So whatever you want to put on your vision board,

Before, I read this book, it's very interesting. So people like some people, especially for women, they take relationship as the biggest part. So before they only have like one grade. It's not like nine grades. It's one box. And feeling about one box is all their relationship. So I think we want to bring this idea is like your life is a component of all different things. So start to think about it.

was in your life and what's important to you and then write it down to like put down into nine grades i'll just show show you guys what it looks like so something like this right so you put a nine grade and put what important to you into the boxes so come back to the topic what's the three most important things for me i think the first one is family and friends

I take some time to really think about it and think family and friends is the most important thing to me right now. And the second one is personal growth.

I really appreciate like Melanie introduced to me Jay Shetty's podcast, which really got me thinking to, I'm trying to find myself, what kind of person I am and what I'm chasing for. I think that's the very important thing to really know yourself. Then you can go into either pursue you in the work or in a relationship. So people just really blind and go to relationship or go to a work, but you don't know what you actually want.

and the third thing is important to me is i think it's money but i didn't really spend a lot of time to part like to trying to do like three jobs or four jobs to get more money but i'm more like thinking of long term how to make money how to prove my value that's also in the top three i don't think it's by end of this year probably gonna be for a long time that's great

So I haven't actually read the book, but what are some advice that Susan provides for you and what active steps have you taken in order to make your dreams a reality?

Yeah, I think this really good part of this is like she really talked to you how to do this nine grades. So the first step is to create your own whole life grade. Begin by making a nine boxed square like I just shared with everyone here. And the second step is take some time and think about what components you would like to include in your life and begin filling in the box. So that's what I did. So like I already have like I will empty nine grades here. So I like

spend some time and really think about it and put my what's the nine components in my life here and the third step is to pick one of the boxes to work on because nine is a lot right just pick one at a time and visualize what you would like that part of your life to look like what would you be doing and how would it feel so the keys is 100 committed and acting as if you can't

So the step four is take a blank piece of paper and begin writing down what your mind created for you. Pay attention to all the details. After that is the step five. Do something to make your real life match your visualization. Your actions are critical. Don't just write down and don't just think you need to make action.

And the step three is easy. So go back and do repeat step three, four, five for the every area of your grid. So you put nine things on your grid, right? So to do each box. So do nine times.

And the last step is each day, create for yourself specific goals that reflect all the boxes in your grid. And finally, keep asking yourself, how whole is my life? Continue to create richness for yourself that nothing can ever take away your basic sense of completeness. So I want to ask Melody about this, like, right, you are thinking about work is one of the most important things for you. So when you do that, do you really also think there are other things in

in your life too. How important really the work means to you? Yeah, I mean, I think work is currently ranked number three. Number one is definitely my family. And so each week I dedicate specific time to hang out with my dad, to hang out with my mom, as well as hang out with my grandma. I just feel like having been away from them for so long, I really, really value and appreciate the time that I'm able to spend with them now.

And so if there is work that I need to do versus having family dinner with them, I would definitely prioritize having family dinner. I think I'm also lucky in the sense that right now I work for a company that is work from home. And so then the timing is a little bit more flexible as well. If there is work that needs to be done, I can do that after spending time with family. And then second would be leisure time as well, because

I was very anxious all the time, honestly, when I was in Beijing because I felt like there were so many things I had to juggle. And so right now, whenever I feel a sense of anxiety or a sense of stress, I just stop work, you know, and I go out for a walk. I go work out or I do whatever I need to do in order to feel good.

more sane and safe and mentally healthy. And so finally, when it comes to work, I do want to continue progressing in my career. The way I do it is not just by simply doing work and getting paid, but I'm taking a lot of time outside of work to strengthen my skills. So maybe taking some courses on LinkedIn learning to upskill. And so I think that's how I'm contributing to my work at the moment.

yeah i've seen a lot of like workaholic so we see people around us and working so hard like they can work 20 hours out of 24 hours a day and seeing people like that make you realize life is not just work right i think it did really good it's just to give yourself some leisure time and just to stop and step away from work

and clear your mind, go back to work after you feel sane. Work is never going to be done, done. And sometimes it drives you crazy. The relationship in work, your boss, your superior, like people you work with can drive you crazy. But it doesn't have to be. You can step away and go back and to really think about if this is what really you want and you can survive from this. Absolutely. I think...

I've just come to realize that work is not everything. I used to just equate myself as whatever my work is. And I think that's very toxic. And I appreciate the fact that now my job doesn't

Like there's separate apps used in order to talk to colleagues versus talking to friends. Whereas, you know, in China, it's kind of hard because everybody uses WeChat, which is honestly the best app ever. I love it. But it's also very, very stressful because there's no way to separate the texts that you're getting. And so every time your phone is buzzing, you don't know if you're getting a text from a client or if you're getting a text from your boss or if you're getting a text from your friend. And so you're just constantly glued to your phone and you're

That essentially enables that Jojo Liu mentality. I also want to share a story about leisure, right? So...

I really appreciate when I work with a company, my previous boss, there are a couple from the US and they're in their early 40s. They really know how to enjoy their life. And they not only do that, they also teach us how to enjoy our life. So they bring us to a fancy French restaurant and they bring us to five-star luxury hotels. So I know people know work hard, play hard.

But also there is time for you to enjoy your time, like spend time for yourself, just like eat a good meal or like stay in a nice hotel for one night. Just try to give yourself some like slow down and really enjoy the life and drink a bottle of wine. Yeah, that's something like I think is very important to understand.

I don't think it's advice. I would say it's a suggestion to give to the younger generation. So I know work is important. Money is important. Family is important. Relationship is important. But like take some time and really to do a spa, do a facial and to enjoy your life. I agree.

So I read an article on Forbes by Andy Stanley called The Principle of the Path. So I want to read a quote. Direction, not intentions, hopes, dreams, prayers, beliefs, intellect, or education determines destination. And so he talks about five principles that allows you to really manifest your reality and manifest your future.

And these are honestly such simple principles, but I think these are principles that we can constantly remind ourselves of each day in order for us to actually achieve reality. Because when you're thinking about a vision board, the simple act of writing it down is not going to do anything. The simple act of dreaming is not going to do anything. Yes, you can manifest and say to the world, I want to achieve X, Y, and Z, but

But at the end of the day, it is up to you to take the action to move forward in order to achieve that. The first principle is showing up. If you want to have a good relationship with your family, you need to show up. You need to prioritize that. Second is principle of consistency. It is not only showing up for one or two times or feeling like, okay, a month is fine. If this is your goal this year, you need to make an effort to consistently show up

each week in order to develop and further grow your relationship with your family. A burning desire. There needs to be some type of desire from within to achieve this goal. So if we're talking about like money, for example, a lot of people say they want to make a lot of money. Therefore, they're going to take up this job or they're going to do something. But

Is money the ultimate thing that you're looking for? Is it the passion to work for something or the passion to feel the sense of security? So figuring out why you're doing something will allow you to have that burning desire in order to continue moving forward consistently, to show up consistently as well. The fourth principle is paying the price. If you are trying to achieve a goal,

you are going to have to forfeit some time for other things as well. For example, for me, I am prioritizing my relationship with my family this year. Then there's going to be times when I'm not going to be able to hang out with my friends. But that's something that I chose to do this year. And so earlier this weekend, we had a lot of friends come together. They went out to dinner and they went out afterwards. I chose to stay in because this was...

a day that I had designated to hang out with my dad every week. And I was totally okay with it. My dad was like, are you sure you don't want to go out? I was like, no, absolutely not. Like I came back, I want to hang out with you guys. And so this is something you might have to pay the price for and realize that you cannot do multiple things at once.

And finally, principle of delayed gratification. In the moment, you might be putting in a lot of work, a lot of effort, and you might not see the return of investment, ROI. But if this is something that you truly care about,

Keep doing it consistently, you know, show up thinking about that burning desire that you had in the beginning. There will be some sense of return of investment later on because think about like the origin of why you started this in the first place. Later on, something will be given back to you.

I really love this like five principles, especially the story you share, Melody. Like you refuse to go out with your friends and stay with family. It just reminds me of like something people say is like,

We are so hard to turn down on people, right? Turn down people is not like, I don't want to go with you. But at the current moment, I have more important thing. Spending time with family or even alone time, spending time with yourself, just be yourself is more important to sometimes hang out with friends, right? And be honest with yourself and tell your friends. I think

If they're really true, your friends, they love you and they will understand that. Sometimes it's like being alone is so important. And yeah, I also love like the delay gratification. People are so like in this society, people are chasing for the results, right? I was the one like chasing for results and like rushing to everything I need to see. Even though in a relationship, I want to see like what's the result of a relationship, right? Getting married is not the results. So just enjoy that.

along the way, enjoy the process. And when the gratification comes, it will come and just enjoy it, right? Yeah, I really love this, like five principles. Let's end our session with three questions. Okay, so how do you feel right now?

I feel so calm and I feel really great that we were able to really reflect on our past and have another reflection on our goals for this year. Talking about it is always important. It reminds us that this is why we're doing what we're doing at the moment. So I'm feeling really grateful for having this conversation with you today. How about you? How do you feel? I feel calm too.

Yeah, surprisingly, right? I think after last time we talked about the beauty, like, I feel calm as well. Like, but this time is like, you really feel you can take some time. I think this episode doesn't end with after we're talking about principles and that grace, right? It should...

continue to influence you and to think about this five principle, how it's going to influence your life and what's the negative. You're going to think about each component of your life all the way, maybe every day. The life is really fast paced. You don't have to think about every day, but when you think about it, I hope it brings you calm. I think we're on the same pace right now and we feel calm. That's incredible. Mm-hmm.

So what is something you're grateful for today, Vic? I'm grateful for the sunshine actually, because yesterday was raining and cloudy day and it's pretty cold. Today is cold. It's also very cold. But I'm grateful for the blue sky. The clouds there and also the weather, the nice weather. Yeah. What about you?

So I haven't gone outside yet today. I haven't even looked out the window, so I'm not sure whether or not we have blue sky today. But I'm grateful that it's Sunday so that I have the rest of the afternoon to just chill and relax. And I'm looking forward to just going to a coffee shop nearby to do some work. What are you energized about? I am energized about cooking.

So there's this Instagram account called 4foodie. And they have four girls behind this Instagram account who visit a bunch of wonderful restaurants around Taiwan. And sometimes they also post their own recipes on there. And so they're like my favorite Instagram account. And I found a recipe on their grid yesterday because they just posted it. So I'm going to buy the ingredients tomorrow and make it. So I'm really excited about making that tomorrow.

How about you? I'm looking forward to it. Like share with me. Okay. I'm more energized about like I hang out with a friend the other day and she feel like I'm too skinny. So she wants to protect me because I'm too skinny. So I'm going to gym this afternoon and I just want a healthy body. So yeah, I'm energized about like changing my whole body. Yeah.

That's good. Good. Yeah. I think moving is always so important. I haven't worked out and moved in like a while. So this is something that I need to do as well. Great. Well, thank you all so much for listening to our episode today. Stay tuned on Wednesdays to chat with us and also let us know what you're interested in hearing from us by commenting below. Chat soon. Bye. Bye. Bye.