Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Hello, welcome back to Tuesday Magic. I have been on holiday for almost two months, which is why I didn't release any episode for January 2025. But I am back and I'm back with a guest for today.
I've invited a long-term friend of mine, Megan, to join us today to talk about our goals. So she is a long-term friend that I met in London. She's a singer and an actress and also one of the most confident girls I've ever met in real life. We even did two videos on how to be confident. Of course, I'll link the videos in the description. Without further ado, let's welcome Megan!
Hello, Eloise. How are you? I am so good now that I see you. It's been so long. Yeah, it's been such a long time. Where are you based in right now?
So, you left me in London, but I moved to Hungary. Speaking of that, it's been two years since we last saw each other in person, and even like five or six years since I went to Hungary. Time does fly, honestly. But, you know, it doesn't feel like we haven't seen each other for so long. It feels like we're just...
speaking from where we left and Times never passed. Yeah, I am so shocked to say out loud. It's been two years since I've seen you so Today we're going to talk about three things And number one is our goals for 2025. I know it's late in February But we can have a slow start is fine. We are allowed number two
are our lessons from 2024. And number three is one of Meg's secret tricks. Do you want to tell us a bit more about it? Of course. So the number three is the idea of 1% better every day. So I think it's the kind of idea that people usually find on TikTok or Instagram because it's...
I wouldn't say common but quite trendy in the self-improvement community and it's a powerful tool to build consistency especially when you want to change your life around. So we're going to delve into that a bit more later but I am so curious to ask you what your 2025 goals are.
I've got a massive list. But for the sake of this podcast, I got really inspired by one of these YouTubers that I follow. Her account is called Unjaded Jade.
She categorized her 95 goals into I think five or six sections. They are like skills, career, learning, fitness and health and I think she also got finance but I'm going to pick a few. How many are you going to share today?
Well, just like you, I have countless on my list which I really should categorize in different little pots of priorities.
I am a career girly. I'm always going to be a career girly and I'd love to share some goals I have for my career this year, as well as self-improvement and skills. Speaking of career girly, we met at work. So how about we start off with your career goals?
Yes, I'm so happy to share. So for those who don't know, well, it's my first time being here, so probably you guys don't know. I am an actress, a singer, and overall a performer. I have left my 95 job two years ago. And since I moved to Budapest two years ago, I started moving in my career of choice, in my passion for singing. So
This year I have decided it was this year is going to be my give it all Yeah, so I put them my goal is to work both in Hungary and in London as a performer and to work in theater and as a singer like a pop star to release my first three or five songs and
Three, bare minimum. Five, if I am really, really good at managing my time. Although I am very passionate about musical theatre, I have to say that it does feel like a limit sometimes. So this is the reason why I also want to be a pop star and have my own concerts, bring my own message to the audience.
which is also the reason why I decided to open a YouTube channel and to grow it to 100k. Very ambitious goal, I know. But we're talking about being ambitious and about believing in ourselves. So these are my main three goals: growing in my career of choice and expanding my self-expression, essentially.
Oh my god. Have you got the YouTube channel already?
I do. It has no videos because the other day I was editing and I realized that the video I did didn't feel right. And I'm not looking for perfection, to be honest, but I'm looking for something that feels authentic. And it was my first time filming a video for YouTube, so I wasn't expecting anything. And although I had to toss that video aside for the time being, it did give me more clarity.
And I already have a few scripts for my next videos that I need to shoot and edit. So I can put them out on my platform and...
share it with you as well if you want to share it, if you want to see it. Yeah, please. And when you're ready, you can just send over the link so I can put it in the description box. Yeah, absolutely. It's going to be a YouTube channel where I talk about manifestation, how to improve yourself and basically how to really understand your emotions and work with where you are to where you want to get because
I think I'm opening my YouTube channel more to help other people and guide them and share, like help the community, so to say. Yeah. Well, I can't tell you how much people need to see contents like that. Well, I certainly do, because especially when you mentioned understanding your emotion, such an important lesson in 2024. I never...
realized how necessary it was for me to understand myself, to understand my emotion, to understand my feelings. So yeah, it was quite a revelational journey.
process for me. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think it's very hard to pay attention to your inner world, especially when you're so into the hustling lifestyle. You're always on the go, always with a list of things to check out of your day. And you even have to schedule in your relax time or your sleep time. So there's really no time
to stop and stop and smell the roses I would say to use a metaphor yeah but it's really important to also nurture your inside in the world yeah
I can't wait when we talk about Lessons Learned from 2024 because I feel like that's where you're going to get into this realm in a bit more details. So we're on the career category. So for me, I'm going to finish a book. Yeah, I am working with my supervisor from one of my degrees to edit the book. I should have done it years ago.
But I've been procrastinating. Well, so lesson one, don't procrastinate. Maybe this was because the book was never about just that thing. Maybe it was about the new thing that is coming out. I also believe that, yes, of course, procrastination is not great and sometimes you have to deal with it. But there's also something called divine timing. So maybe...
sometimes things are being procrastinated because they need to not be done for a while before the right time comes. You could see it as both like a lesson in procrastination as well as divine timing. Yeah, I think that actually makes sense because back then when I was a student, I didn't need to edit a book to put on my CV. If I had done it then,
you know, it would look updated on the CV. I can't tell my future employer that, hey, I finished a book like 10 years ago. Now is actually, as you said, it's a good time. And second goal for my career is that I, oh God, this is so embarrassing to admit, but God, okay. I really hope to publish one academic article in one of those EHCI or SSCI journals soon.
It's quite an ambitious goal, but I've gone through a mind shift. So previously, I didn't really want to share these goals because I felt like it would be such an embarrassment if I didn't achieve what I said I want to achieve.
Do you know what I mean? It's like, ah! Absolutely, I get you 100%. It's the same for me as you, but go on, please. Yeah, but recently I was on holiday and I watched lots and lots of movies and I read a few books and I felt like I was deeply touched by how authentic the authors are and how...
Their being honest could really encourage me and when I was reading books on feminism I think I couldn't help but cried a few times because I feel like somewhere in the world there are 76 year old professors admitting their failures or embarrassing moments when they were in their 20s and I felt like wow and
You know, it's probably not that big of a deal if I just fail. It doesn't really matter. And it really would be a useful mechanism for me to hold myself accountable and so I can work harder towards my goals. So yeah, these are my two career goals. And thank you so much for sharing because it's so interesting to see that when you say that, you put like...
a disclaimer, a sort of disclaimer saying it's going to be so embarrassing. And I'm expecting something that might be like, okay, maybe, no. But what you said, I can see you
out of anyone else I can see you doing that a hundred percent like it might feel embarrassing to you if you fail but I believe I truly genuinely believe in you that this is something that you can definitely if not you who else because I know you and I know how you work and how you push yourself but even if you didn't push yourself
you still have all the right qualities to get that goal done. And it might feel embarrassing to you to admit that, but it doesn't to me. It sounds so normal. And on the account of what you said about failing, that we put these ambitious goals and are afraid to admit we have them because we're afraid to fail and then to look forward
dumb in front of everyone else yeah I totally relate to you because it's the same thing I also am very ambitious when it comes to my career but when I look at the facts what I have done what I have achieved yes there's a lot of things that are looking good but I still don't feel like
Sometimes my goal is valid. You know, it feels to me, it feels like it's still a long shot and I don't want to tell anyone because what if I disappoint myself? Exactly. What if I don't put enough work or what if.
things just don't go according to the plan. And I tell myself, oh my gosh, you look like a dumbass right now. You never look like a dumbass. And that's the thing. We're so hard on ourselves because we expect
that if we don't achieve something, the world is going to end. And I think what we're most afraid of is not how we will be perceived by others, but how we will perceive ourselves. It's such a big thing. We're not afraid of how other people will see us. We are afraid of how failure will impact our self-esteem and how we see ourselves. I'm going to write that down.
And I struggled for the whole of 2024 with what if I fail, which kept me playing it small, playing it safe. I was never really taking a risk and that kept me so out of reach of the things that I actually wanted to do.
that it had an impact on my self-belief, especially not just 2024 because I was already kind of growing out of it, but mostly in 2023 when my life utterly changed until I heard this quote, don't say you're afraid to fail. Say that you're afraid to fall because once you fall, the only way back is to get back up. Yeah.
And a fall sounds much less dramatic than failure. Exactly. That's quite smart. So once you fall and you lose your balance, you hit the floor. The only thing that you can do is get yourself back up, brush your shoulder, brush off your shoulder and go on. Because at the end of the day, it's better to fail than to never try.
Because if you never try, you never know. You stay in the same position. But if you fail, you just have to deal with the emotions that you feel in that moment for I don't know how long, but it has a quantification. Yeah. Like one day, one month.
Something like that. It can be a bit more can be less would who cares but you just have to deal with your emotions for that time and then Move on next thing. I've learned this lesson and I'm wiser So now when I do the same when I go for the same goal I'm already better than what I was before the failure, but if you keep yourself out of failing
you will always stay the same and your pain, your suffering will stay forever. You actually give me the courage to admit one more possibly embarrassing goal. Go for it. I want to apply for a PhD degree for the 2026 cohort. Of course, that means I have to do the application in 2025. And you know, this is going to be my last degree.
I wanted to be only better than any degree I've ever done in my life. So I'm aiming at really good unis. But a good thing is that both the book and the article that I want to publish are going to help the application. So fingers crossed that I could get one humble position.
in one of those PhD programs. But the problem is I'm still struggling to locate myself in terms of the program that I want to do. There are just so many things I want to learn and which brings me to my next goal in terms of learning. I want to freshen up my French because I really want to become conversational in French again.
because I always get the I get them wrong and then yeah and also a few weeks ago I was in Cambodia I was travelling because Cambodia was once colonised by France and
There were so many French tourists in Cambodia. I felt like I was in France, honestly. Because, you know, places like London and Paris, where you would assume everybody in London would speak BBC English and you would expect people in Paris speak like Parisian French. Yeah, but no, everybody... Sorry, French people. No.
And I remember I heard this French lady asking our tour guide, because we hired a private tour guide, you know, how she could find a certain gate. But our tour guide didn't speak French.
So I offered to help and she looked shocked. She was like, how come you speak French? So we had a little chat and I just miss the fact and the feeling that I can shock a French person with my French. And yeah, I love how shocked they are when they hear
I mean, I've shocked so many people like this out of the blue. And I have this guilty pleasure of doing that. It sounds weird, but it's just like...
because they wouldn't expect an Asian lady to suddenly pop up and speak French. And they usually commented saying, oh, how come you can speak French without an accent? I was thinking, oh, okay, that sounds a bit... But never mind. I'll take that as a compliment. I'll take that as, why are you educated? But you speak so many languages, so you must have surprised...
so many people like honestly because you surprised me with your spanish french hungarian english italian is like oh god you're walking google translate kind of because i am not um i'm not as proficient in french and spanish as i used to be in my golden days come on you are your golden days
You're right. Sorry, I should not tell that to myself. But it was, I understand the feeling. I do believe the more that we talk, the more I believe we have one mind. Exactly. Because I've actually always done that, not by shocking them with how many languages they speak, but by revealing my feelings.
my body composition sounds so wrong. I'm sorry. I'm going to say it again. My ethnicity.
You crack me up. Oh, my God. Your body composition. Because it's so mixed. I don't even know how to call it. It's ethnicity. Ethnicity is, I think, the best word to describe it. But technically speaking, not really. Just for the people that are listening to us.
I am from Italy. I was born and raised in Italy for 19 years. My native tongue is Italian. My traditions are Italian as well. But if you meet me in the streets, you would say, look at that Colombian lady. Because I don't look Italian. I am half Hungarian and half Filipino.
But I don't, and I feel like if you look close enough, you can gorge the Asian in me. But because of, you know, the temperament, the Italian temperament I have, I think I look closer to a Latino or to a Spanish person. Yeah.
It's just so crazy and I'll tell you even more. Recently I have shot a movie where I had to wear a hijab and when I went, so like a headscarf and like wear everything and so when I went to the makeup department they were talking to me as if I were Turkish.
They were so confident that I was Turkish or like Arabic, something from the Middle East. Oh, yeah, I get that. Wow. I'm picturing you in a hijab. So I have a picture that I can show you to actually. Hold on. I can see that. Yeah.
You look so pretty in that outfit though. Thank you. Sometimes when I get asked where I am from, I take a good five seconds to think, okay, should I actually be honest and get in the details or should I just say Italian? Oh yeah. Yeah. Cause, cause,
I don't know. When I tell people where I'm actually from, I feel like I'm letting them in on a more personal level and I don't mind. But for some people, it can feel like, okay, this is a bit too much information. Yeah. Or sometimes you just feel like, is this person worth it? Like... Yeah, exactly. Am I going to see this person again? Is it important for them to know? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. I get that. In terms of...
Learning and skill. Do you have any goals for 2025? Oh, of course. So my major priority or let's say goal right now is to learn how to produce music. Big goal. Mm hmm.
because I need to learn how music theory works, probably in a customized way because there's a lot of things in music theory that I don't necessarily need to know at the beginning. So I can just focus on what I want to create and as well as marketing, branding myself because
I want to be an artist, which means I need a good brand. And for now, I feel like it's much better if I learn how to do it myself than to pay someone to do it for me because, you know, still in the early... Yeah, you're still fledging. So it's nicer if everything is in your hands so that you know exactly what you're doing and you don't have to outsource it.
Yeah, exactly. Outsourcing will come later, but for now I'm just in-sourcing. Yeah. And I think one more thing that I would like to learn as a skill is financial skills. It's very important. It's very, very important, especially because in my family, we've never really been taught how to be financially smart. Right.
We've been taught how to save, but through some digging and learning, I realized that saving is only one part of being financially smart. And it's not everything. So it's also about what kind of mindset to have about finance, what kind of feelings to have towards finance and how to invest in
your money into something that can bring you something back, how much savings to have and, you know, so on and on and on. I don't want to start explaining that too because otherwise we will never finish this. But it's so important and so undervalued sometimes, especially for people in, you know, our 20s. Financial skills are,
always come sort of last in our day-to-day life I agree because we're still building the foundation of our financial future and we're not expected to be super financially I don't know um strong yeah yeah so sometimes we would
talk ourselves down by saying you know you're not like a millionaire you you can wait until you got a bit more of cash to start really learn the financial skills but you're so right
You should and I should. Yeah. And everyone that's listening to this should. It's more accessible to find ways to become more financially smart, which I would actually like to add that using AI is such a powerful tool of search. It's a powerful searching tool because I don't know if you're going to talk about it in your book, but
But the way that I love using AI is actually as a search engine for me to know everything that I want to know without having to spend the time to look to like different sources. I just go onto the app that I'm not going to mention just because I don't know if I can. But you know that very famous AI app? Oh, yeah. Very famous. And I tell it...
after saying hi how are you because you know oh yeah yeah I do that all the time and people think I'm weird like why are you so polite with with him or her I'm like oh it's like
You never know. It doesn't cost anything to say, to be pleasant. Exactly. After pleasantries, I ask it to tell me everything I need to know about music production. And it's amazing because the more I give it instructions to help me, the more it helps me. And it's made my studies or
everything really so much easier now it's not a perfect machine yet but it's so much more useful than just spending your time looking for it on google or youtube when you can just have a like have a starting point there and then do your own digging so yeah amazing
Yeah, I agree with that. It's like, I've been using AI tools very often as well. And yeah, I love being polite with my AI tools. And today, yeah, yeah, it's always nice to be like polite.
And recently I've been asking them about how to learn piano. Because, yeah, it's like they can give you so much information.
I'm a bit hesitant in terms of the goal that I want to share next. Because again, it might be embarrassing, but you know, up to you. Yeah. Yeah, I think, I think I can. Come on, I got this. I got this. I can do it. So one more thing about my goals for 2025 actually has a lot more in common with you because you mentioned producing music.
I want to learn piano. And actually, speaking of piano, I had a piano tuner coming to my house this afternoon. Now the very ancient piano is now in tune. And yeah, it's funny because when he came over and he said, wow, this piano might be the same age as me. I'm like, wow, okay. So...
My piano tutor is coming next Thursday.
And I will begin my first piano session. I'm quite excited about it. And by the end of this year, I want to be able to play Another Day of Sun from City of Stars. So, sorry, from La La Land. That's one of my goals for 2025. Oh, God. It's going to be so good. I know how to play the basics of piano. And it's...
I think if you have a knack for music, it will come more easily to you. Especially if you're very coordinated. If you're coordinated, it's going to be great. Are you hesitating now?
I'm not I'm like excited um because I'm watching someone who knows how to play a bit of piano and telling me you know some tricks and some tricks um yeah or some it's like a prep talk yeah yeah I think um just when you start playing the piano really focus on the basics and um
And keep practicing, practice, practice, practice. Keep in mind, it's something you've never done before. So you're going to be probably bad at it at first. Like everything, like it's normal. Yeah. But if you stick with it and you keep doing it, you'll be great in no time. It's gonna, but it's a beautiful thing because something happens when you play the piano. Not only are you able to
you know, have a skill that you've never had before so that already increases your self-esteem but you understand how music speaks in a sense especially as I said if you have an affinity with music and you know arts in general because the way that you touch the piano the way that you feel in the moment will greatly impact the quality of your music
So maybe it's not going to happen straight away when you're learning Furelis. But it will definitely come once you have the foundation set and you can kind of gorge how to move your hands on the piano and you'll feel like, okay, so this note makes me feel happy or like on edge. Yeah.
This note makes me feel a bit more melancholic, but still something can happen. And then when you play an accord,
No, sorry. A chord. When you play a chord, you feel magic. You're like, oh my gosh, I'm making music. And then there is the chord that is like the ambience. And then there is the melody that is what is happening. It's a beautiful skill to learn. And I love how music can tell stories and affect the way that we feel in the moment. Yeah.
So especially once you get a bit more confident at it, it's going to be a great stress outlet. Yeah. And maybe even inspiration. Oh, I look forward to that. Thank you. Thank you for telling me this from a musician's perspective. Honestly, I can't wait. So good. Yeah.
So we covered the career goals, learning goals, skills. Have you got any more goals you would like to share? I think these are it. Maybe there is a goal I'd like to share, but it's not exactly a goal. It's about romance, actually. Oh, yes, please. Yeah, let's put some spice. So in 2025, I would love...
to meet the perfect partner for me. And I've always believed that in my life I was going, I am meant to meet my soulmate. But like the same, the same, I feel the same way that you feel about sharing your goals. It kind of feels so out of reach because the, so I put so much importance on the soulmate, like the one I have so many expectations, but
I've grown out of them and I realized that I don't know what this person really, when this person is going to come. Maybe divine timing, who knows? I know that I've waited for this perfect person to come in my life for a long time and hasn't yet. So right now I'm just putting the goal of meeting people
The perfect partner for me, the perfect person that feels like a best friend but is more than a friend is also somebody that I feel attracted to and I can fall in love with because I've never fell in love with anyone so far. And the experience of it, it really intrigues me. I want to understand those love songs and...
what it feels like being so smitten with somebody that also loves you back. So it's not exactly a goal in 2025, but it's something I'm open to. And my actual goal within the romance is not waiting for this person to pass by, but falling in love also with myself in the process. Absolutely. Because I think...
It's so important to nurture the relationship you have with yourself before nurturing the one you have with other people. I want to feel like I love myself and I'm in love with who I am, what I look like and what I do and not really feel the need to have that other person to fix me because it doesn't work like that.
The outside cannot fix you. You can do that with your inside world. So yeah, I hope that what I said makes sense. So falling in love with myself, dating myself, not having to wait for somebody to come along to give me permission to experience romance.
and treat myself romantically to already experience it now so do more do more romantic things treat myself to maybe a solo trip or buy my buy myself some flowers you should sing this this bit because you're in there come on I'm going to do it like three two one go I can buy myself flowers
Write my name in the sand Talk to myself for hours Say things you don't understand
That was beautiful. Thank you so much. Thank you. I have to clarify, we didn't plan this.
I love that so much. And thank you so much for adding that. I know you probably didn't plan to share this, but I'm glad you did. Thank you. Yeah, I feel like I'm a very romantic girly, so I love talking about romance. But I believe there are some more important things than romance. And it might come from a perspective of somebody that has never been in love before.
But love's love. Yeah. But I do believe that the most important person is you at the end of the day because you're going to have yourself for your whole life. A lot of your family... Your family is important as well. So I'm not saying that you should be selfish and egocentric. But I'm saying you should take care of yourself first.
then everyone else so your family is important your friends are important your significant other is also very important but Everything is temporary so not to turn on a sad note But if you think about it You will be the one with yourself on the day that you know, everything passes exactly, yeah, so you have to be
You have to make sure that your life experience is tailored to your taste and to your happiness, not to anyone else's.
I feel like we sort of answered the second question, like lessons learned from 2024, right? Yeah, exactly. What was your biggest lesson from 2024? Exactly what you said. There is one thing I realized in 2024 that I am going to be the one and only person who's going to be with myself at the end of the day, honestly, because literally at the end of the day and...
I didn't realize that. I never thought about it. And the night when I realized that, I cried stupidly, like so hard because I felt like so alone, if that makes sense. As of, you know, friends, family, the significant other, all these people who I treasure so much would only be with me for days.
a short period of time and things might happen along the way and you might lose somebody, you might meet someone new. And yeah, and that's one thing I realized. And that made me really want to do things for the sake of me even more. Not in a way, as you mentioned, like not to encourage people to be selfish. It's more about...
I don't know, prioritizing oneself and prioritizing our needs. This doesn't mean we don't see or we turn a blind eye towards other people's needs. It's quite a revelation for me because I never thought of doing things like purely because I wanted to do it. I mean,
And I've got people around me asking me why haven't I done a PhD yet in the past two years. So I always felt like I was pressured by, you know, work or like peer pressure to do a PhD. But this year I suddenly realized I hang on a minute. I want to do one, which is why finally I put it in my goals for 2025. So, yes, that's one thing.
Big lesson I've learned in 2024. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's a really big one realizing that you're not your outer reality. Right. That the reason inside reality that you need to learn how to look, no, sorry, you need to learn how to pay attention to and that alone is different from lonely. Mm-hmm.
When you're alone, it doesn't mean you're lonely because you can be alone with yourself and spend quality time by yourself. You don't necessarily need people to be with you 24 hours a day. Yeah. Community is important. Having people around you is important. That's how we thrive. But also the extreme of the other end is dangerous. So
Spend to spend some time with yourself and do things you want to do without needing anyone to do it with you or without needing the Imprompt of someone else to make you do that. Yeah, very important and also just investing in your own self. That's a big self-love act and
Passing on to some lesson that I learned in 2024 actually is there is no such thing as time wasted. How come? Because as I said, I have always had a big ambition inside of me, but it wasn't until recently I have made decisions for my life to actually make my dreams come true.
and the first year was quite daunting. Just for context, I spent my first four or five years of adult life, and I'm talking about since I've been out of our high school, so from 18 to 23. I've spent them in a survival mode because I realized
from 18 years old, I wasn't obliged, forced to follow anyone's path. You know, school ended, so it was my decision whether or not I wanted to go to university. And things aligned in my life so that I took the first step to make my dreams come true, which was moving to London. But then when I did move to London, I realized once more that
God, I need a job to survive. And COVID was actually a blessing in disguise for me because I spent the first years in London just working nonstop, 48 hours, 32 to 48 hours a week. And it wasn't until...
I think COVID that I realized how much time I was quote unquote wasting into something I did not care because I realized why am I making so much money for? What am I doing with this money? Because most of it was going towards my survival. So, you know, bills, rent, eating, and the remnants from it was going towards a saving pot, right?
That was always being touched because I wanted to also have some fun. And I'm not talking about anything big like holidays or luxury brands. I'm talking about having takeaway sometimes or just having a coffee instead of making it at home. Yeah, exactly. And I realized that in the past three years, I moved to London to chase my dreams. I was chasing nothing at all.
I was just chasing time to make my dreams happen while I was working to survive. So after COVID, I made the decision to change my career again. And I went, I applied for another job that was giving me more time at home and more money for less stress. But even then I realized there's no such thing as
half like half crooks This is a very funny way to say it but it actually makes you realize what I'm trying to say that there's no such thing as a compromise Because in order to become an artist I need to be an artist Especially because I am into musical theater. I needed to be out there auditioning finding like honing my craft and how am I supposed to hone my craft and
If I don't have the time to audition and to really just be in that world. And it wasn't just about time. It was also about my mindset. I didn't feel entitled to being an artist because I spent, you have to understand, I spent the last year.
For years, being a retail employee, that was my, not identity, but that was what I thought was valid as a job. I couldn't really gorge the reason why somebody would pay me to just dance on stage, to sing on stage, like that.
So when I realized once more that I was just feeling I was wasting my life away, my youth away, I decided to grab the first opportunity of anything that had to do with singing. And when I did the voice TV program in Hungary,
That was to me my way out. It wasn't what I was expecting at all. I always thought something was going to happen in London, but well, it wasn't exactly. And when I did The Voice and you know, it went well at first, but then I unfortunately didn't get to the lives. That was when I really had a big crisis, long as well as powerful crisis.
Because I questioned myself plenty of times, why didn't I do this to begin with?
I think it would have been easy for me to tell myself off and say, well, you wasted your time. You should have done this when you were younger. You know, you see all these celebrities starting when they are like eight years old, 12 years old. And I was, and in my lowest points, I was even blaming my, my parents, like, Oh, why didn't you put me? Why didn't you see that I was passionate about this? Why didn't you do something for me when I was that age? And talking about,
Talking about me talking about this really helps because I realized well when I was child I I'm it wasn't in my control my life wasn't in my control and I cannot blame my parents for not seeing this because They saw me as a child. They wanted me to have a child life. I cannot even blame
my teenage self because she didn't feel emotionally neither nor emotionally neither mentally ready to take on the pressure of this industry and really show her authentic self to the world. And I cannot even blame my young adult self because she was just doing the best that she thought was possible.
necessary in that moment. And that time I spent in London not acting, not singing and just working as a retail employee wasn't wasted because it was the time I went to therapy. It was a time that I healed myself from the inside. It gave me so many life experiences that I wouldn't have had otherwise.
And so it was hard for me to come to terms with not having, not being at the peak of my career at 25. If anything, I am still at the beginning. But a big lesson from 2024 was this, that there is no such thing as wasted time. Because even when you're not doing the thing that you want to do, you're still learning something either by opposites or
or by being focused on something that you need in the way. I'm a big gamer, so I'm going to use this metaphor. You're doing the side quests to level up before getting to the main quest. Yeah.
That reminds me of my Duolingo daily quest. Sometimes to level up, I have to do some side quests to earn some points so that I can unlock the next round. Yeah, I see exactly what you mean. Yeah. But the last lesson is once you have it, take a risk. You must take a risk. Calculated risks are the best because you...
Fair enough that divine timing happens. So everything happens when it has to happen, but you need to try. You need to do it even when you don't feel ready because you will never feel ready. So take your time to nurture yourself. Don't see what you do as wasted time, but also do have the discipline to
own up to your own promises because at the end of the day we're not scared about disappointing others we're scared about disappointing ourselves that's so powerful i'm still digesting what you've said it's so powerful and i can't tell you how much i need to hear this at the moment because um sometimes i
I had the same feeling because, oh, by the way, speaking of 25 and at the peak of the career, it's quite a different picture in China here. Most people finish their education at 25 or 26. So it's like when you finish your bachelor degree, you're already like 21, 22, and then you have like two or three years master's degree. So, yeah, it's actually quite impossible for someone to have it.
The peak of their career at 25. Yeah, so don't feel bad. You have 1.4 billion people here backing you up. Thank you. Thank you, China. I'll come to you soon. Yeah, you're welcome. Yeah, that's so touching. Because when I met you, you were at the end of your...
pre-musical industry life and I could feel you were very open and you're very candid and showing your true self and I also get what you mean by saying if you don't go all in it's like not quite there you know I see exactly what you mean because yeah the job we had was
basically no stress and didn't require that much time or commitment still it will be hard to balance it with actually pursuing your dream and so yeah I can completely relate yeah absolutely yeah there is one more thing I want to share in terms of what I learned in 2024
is that I used to blame myself a lot for something I've done in the past, for some people I've accidentally hurt in the past. And I would feel that I am such a bad person because I've hurt people in the past. And lately I realized that the past mistakes is only part of me. And it's like...
two sides of a coin. I should see it as part of me, so I'm not that bad of a person. I should also notice that it is part of me in the way that it shaped who I am right now in some way. So much like what you've mentioned, there is no such thing as wasted time and there is no such thing as wasted experience. So I started to see my past mistakes as
as something that has brought me where I am right now, if that makes sense. So again, as you have mentioned, sometimes we are the harshest person against ourselves. We are worried that we're going to let ourselves down. So yeah, recently when I realized that, you know, I could be less harsh in terms of my past mistakes, I'm feeling much better and more confident
authentic yeah yeah and less afraid of of being me if that makes sense exactly yeah absolutely it does yeah and um on on that account i actually want to say something really quick yeah um because i find i find philosophy very fascinating and um the question of what makes a good person good and a bad one bad is
very We could talk about it the whole day. But when you do something that hurts other people I believe that it doesn't define you your actions without Intention don't define you especially if it's the first time but what defines What defines you is what you're gonna do with it so
Once you realize that the way that you talk or what you do Hurts others maybe loved ones because we're not talking about necessarily people that are also bad to you But when you hurt someone that you didn't mean to because you love them It's always about What will you do after? when you realize this
Is there something realistic that you can do to amend that? Can you, for example, if you... Sometimes relationships are very complex, so it's not always fixable with a sorry or an apology. But sometimes apologizing can be good if it's backed up by also you understanding how you made the other person feel. And I think what makes you good is forgiving yourself first.
First of all, and then forgiving the other person for hurting you and understanding where they might come from. Because especially when we have arguments that are quite intense, we forget to...
understand ourselves as well as the other person and we forget that having an argument is not about hurting each other but it's about understanding each other yeah so it's I think that just because you have hurt people in the past without realizing it doesn't make you bad but
realizing it and doing the same action regardless, knowing that it hurts other people is not the best moral thing to do. It still doesn't define you as a bad person, but it's not morally aligned with maybe your good values. So it's a very complex thing, but for you and for anyone else listening to this, just
Don't feel too bad about yourself because you made a mistake. It's completely normal and human. You just need to realize what you want to do with it. Some people are fine with not doing anything, and that's on them. But some other people are not. And I feel like if you do feel regret towards something that you didn't do right, that already gives you the answer, whether you're good or bad.
This is not the first time you helped me with my issues inadvertently because I remember when you shared your secret trick with me. Remember I adopted your approach right after? Yeah, I did. Yeah, by setting up the Zoom link. So do you think this is the right time to share your secret trick?
Yes, absolutely. So we talked about the goals and we talked about lessons learned. So now Meg is going to share her trick to help everybody achieve their goals in 2025. Absolutely. When we have ambitious goals and we want to see them come to fruition, one of the most important things to have is consistency. Aside from motivation and, you know, other stuff, discipline.
consistency will make or break your life glow up. And one idea is the 1% better every day. So this 1% better every day idea is actually rooted in the concept of continuous improvement, which has strong ties to the Japanese philosophy named Kaizen. However, it's been popularized lately in the self-improvement community in the West.
Today I'm going to talk about what it actually means. Being 1% better every day means that you are prioritizing progress rather than effort. By being 1% better, you do something that keeps you in progress towards the goal that you want to have. For example, if you want to lose weight,
by, I don't know, 20 kilos. Instead of changing your whole diet overnight or changing your whole fitness schedule overnight to these astronomical goals that you want to see to an end, you just make sure that every day you do a little better, 1% specifically, than yesterday.
So you would, instead of having a lot of junk food, at first you would take off maybe a couple junk food options that you used to consume. And every three days or maybe every week, you still take that off and you remain consistent. And in no time, you will realize that you have gained momentum towards your goal.
without putting a lot of effort in it, which really helps with being disciplined and consistent. So it works because it avoids you, it avoids being overwhelmed because you're doing a small change instead of a drastic one and it compounds over time, just like interest.
Small gains add up in ways that we underestimate. So if you do a small change every day, it will compound into a bigger one the more that you do it. And third but not least, it shifts your identity. So by improving daily, you reinforce the mindset of a growing capable person.
You don't, by not changing your life overnight, you're not setting yourself up for disappointment because realistically changing your life around takes time. So let's talk about how to apply it. First of all, you must focus on tiny gains. So don't aim for perfection, aim for progress. Yeah, very important. Like we said.
Second, you must be consistent because the magic is in daily repetition and not sporadic, occasional big efforts. Third, you must track your progress to keep you motivated even with small wins. You must show yourself that you are changing your life and that you are holding yourself accountable for it. Last but not least.
Optimise your environment. So remove any friction that slows progress. For example, if your goal in 2025 is to work on your mental health,
do consider who you have around you. Who is it that reflects a lot of negativity or is constantly criticizing you or maybe gives you those backhanded compliments that compliment you but they don't make you feel good. So really pay attention and build a positive environment or an environment that encourages the growth that you are trying to attain. So
That is the overall idea of 1% better every day. Thank you so much. I think I can give our audience a context of how I applied it when you first shared it with me. So when Meg was sharing this idea, we were talking about how to arrange this recording together. And then I
We were chatting on Instagram and I thought maybe we can use a Zoom call to really make sure the recording goes well. Usually, whenever I have any Zoom appointments with others, I would say this, I'll send you the link closer to the time. But that time when you were sharing this with me, I was thinking, hang on a minute, just one person better. Come on, just open up your Mac and
Double tap Zoom and then just log in and create a meeting already so that you don't have to, you know, set an alarm 30 minutes before the actual meeting, rushing towards the computer. Sometimes Zoom needs to update itself as like...
Long story short, I almost ended up being late for a lot of Zoom calls in the past. But today I was early and because I set up the Zoom link earlier and I shared it with you like immediately after we agreed on a time. So it really worked. And I remember I was messaging you saying, Meg, it's working! Eureka! Yes, my Eureka moment.
like bling yeah it really works it really works and I think I will adopt this method to a lot more scenarios because I want to read more in 2025 and I want to have a better sleeping schedule I haven't been sleeping in a really healthy pattern so I really want to do that I really want to work on it
So yeah, I'm going to keep this 1% better idea in mind. And how about by the end of 2025 or by the beginning of 2026, we do a checkup.
on our goals absolutely february 2026 yeah yeah let's do that let's do yeah we should definitely do that i think it's going to be quite fun and um whenever we want to slack off to think of hang on we have a podcast to do in a year and um you know i can't look like a fool yeah exactly i'm going to put it on my calendar right after we finish recording this and i will send you the link
straight away yeah maybe in a year time no actually you know what you we can actually do that because in a year time we can always like have a little calendar with a zoom yeah yeah let's do that yeah it's going to be cute oh how long have we been talking an hour and 22 more or less wow thank you so much meg for joining me i i've stolen megan from her nephew so um
Thank you. Yes, it's all right. He needs to learn how to share. Yes, to share good stuff. Thank you so much for having me, by the way. I really enjoyed our little talk. It's honestly such an honor to have you on the podcast because I've always wanted some like candid heart to heart conversations with
This is my first podcast with guests. I've done the podcast for the past year without any guests and you are my first ever guest. And thank you so much, Meg, for making this possible. Thank you, Eloise. I am so grateful to you and to everyone that has listened to us yapping for an hour. Yeah.
I hope you have learned something or you have been having a good time listening to our rumbling. Yeah, I hope you got those chores done. Your house is clean. You reached your driving appointment, whatever. Yeah. And please do let us know what you think of this.
the content and if your comment is in Chinese I will translate it for Meg so that she could get on the same page in terms of what you think and yeah please do let us know and Meg how do we find you on your socials? So I have a YouTube channel
I'm going to send it to you after this, but it's called Love Megan XO. So you should be able to find it quite easily. And I also have a private channel if you want to have a look at my work as like a singer. It's called Megan Salva. My full name. Yeah. Professional.
And I also have some socials on Instagram and on Facebook. I don't use Facebook. I have three profiles and just one of them works because I keep forgetting my email and password. Oh, that's me. That's the state of my life. I've got four gmails for God's sake. Yeah, honestly, I just can't. I just can't help myself. I'm sorry. But you can find me most actively, mostly active on Instagram if you guys have it.
on Hey, It's Mecci and Megan Salva official. But Eloise here is going to probably put all the contacts and the podcast. My name is Megan Salva. So if you want to look for me, you can.
And thank you so, so, so much again for having me. It's always an honor and as well as a pleasure to be here. The pleasure's all mine, honestly. You just made my weekend. Honestly, I really enjoyed our chat. Me too, honestly. I think it's time to wrap up our podcast. And we'll probably see you guys next year in our episode to talk about our
2025 goals. Yes, absolutely. See you next year. See you. Bye.