What the book is about:

The book is about learning that no work is 100% original and you can take others’ ideas, repackage them and put your own spin and share it with the world. This book encourages one to start building their brand.

What it has taught me:

Do the work you want to see done.

The whole manifesto and summary of the book is this: you should do the work you want to see in society. If you feel that there is a lack of representation in the self development community, start something in that area. If you want to see more book reviews, start a book review channel. There is a huge difference between stealing and theft. 

Creative people need time to just sit around and do nothing. 

This might seem counterproductive but it is true. The book suggests allowing yourself to have time off with no distractions because that is when you can get ideas for your projects. Allow yourself to get bored at times.

Keep all your passions in your life and let them talk to each other. 

This is different advice to what I normally hear as normally, people say you should only pick two-three of your hobbies to do and discard the rest. However, the author suggests that you keep all of your passions. Let them talk to each other and something will begin to happen.

Do good work and share it with people.

In the beginning you won’t be known but that is a good thing because you are experimenting. But as you grow, your work will become better and the more you share it with people, the more you will be known. 

Ask ‘what can I fill this with?’ 

Austin says in the book: ‘Whenever I have become lost over the years, I just look at my website and ask myself, what can I fill this with?’ You have control on how much to share and how much to reveal.

The best way to get approval is to not need it. 

Follow the best people online and pay attention to their work. Send them fan letters and if you truly love somebody’s work, you shouldn’t need a response from them. Make something and dedicate it to them by either answering a question they have, solving a problem for them or improving on their work and sharing it online.

Make a praise file.

Don’t be scared of hate. Get comfortable with being misunderstood or ignored because the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care. Store all the nice messages from people in a file. When you need motivation or when you need a boost, look at that file.

Take care of yourself because you need to conserve your energy.

Conserve energy to do the important things. Austin mentions taking care of yourself by managing your time in a yearly box calendar, having a day job and learning about money. 

The way to get over a creative block is to simply place some constraints on yourself. 

Challenge yourself to write in your lunch break. Build a machine out of spare parts. This will help to think outside of the box and this can lead to some great successes.

You must embrace your limitations and keep moving.

Often, what artists leave out is what makes the art interesting. You don’t have all the experiences, and therefore, you should embrace what you do have and choose wisely. 

What I like about this book:

I love how in the foreword, the author states that this book is a collage of other people’s ideas. This makes it incredibly special because it has so much richness and variety with different artists and creators’ quotes, perspectives and discoveries. According to an editor, a successful book cannot venture to be more than 10% new. And that is because the old ideas work and are more accepted. This is what this book encapsulates and I love the message. 

What I dislike about this book:

This is not even a dislike but I wish the author had put all the rest of the information he initially wanted to put into the book. The book was short and quick to read, but due to the ‘curse of knowledge’ I knew some of these ideas already. I would have loved to see some more chapters.

I guess there were also many quotes where there could have been more detail but it is very concise and straight to the point for those who don’t like reading.

But these are some minor improvements.

My Rating: 5/5

This book is for anyone who wants to build a brand, become more creative or wants the confidence to share their work with the world! If you are a creative individual, this book is for you!

Where to buy the book from (not sponsored):

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article. This link is not sponsored. Comment down below if you have read the book too. If you enjoyed this article, please check out my other articles too!

Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!

• My 2023 Reflections As A Medical Student 
• My First Term of Medical School | Exams, Essays and Events 
• My First Month of Medical School | Moving Out, Freshers And Workload
• The Ultimate Guide To Ace Year 12 | Revision, Friendships And Supercurriculars
• How I Got All A*s At GCSEs | 10 Tips Every Year 11 Student Should Know

Amongst our busy lives, it can be so easy to get caught up in worldly matters. When is the next train? When is the next exam? What is the next task to tick off? What is the next something?

Stop. Breathe in. Breathe out. You may need some time to really talk to yourself and question what you are doing. After this break, you may feel even more motivated and productive to start working. 

When should you stop? It is your choice. 

Maybe when you stop, you might get more motivation. 

Appreciate the fact that today we got to start a fresh new day. Appreciate the fact that we can breathe fresh air. Appreciate every cell flowing through our blood, through our working organs. Appreciate the fact that we have skin to protect ourselves internally. Appreciate that we are all different in our own ways.

But not only this.

Appreciate the fact that we also have low days. Appreciate those times when we feel upset, distraught, angry or worried. We have to appreciate every bit about ourselves. 

When we feel grateful, we realise that we have fully accepted ourselves, and when you accept yourself, the world will accept you.

Appreciate.

When you appreciate, you may feel revived. 

Have you ever been told that you have ‘anger issues’? Do you ever feel like you get angry too quickly? Is anger destroying precious relationships with others? Is anger breaking you down?

Anger. An emotion that is completely normal. Yet, it can destroy many seconds of your life that will never return. Anger is an emotion that controls some people. 

So, how can you fix this problem? How can you get out of anger’s clutches?

You can use the QUAC acronym, made by me.

QUAC stands for:

QU – Question Urself

Question yourself and why you feel angry, perhaps more regularly than before. Perhaps, it is because you might simply be tired, or it could be because you are going through some rough patches in your life.

A – Accept

Accept that you feel angry. Admit to it. This is because acceptance is half of all healing. 

C – Confront

You may have to remove things that trigger your anger and also find activities that help with your anger before it gets too worse.

For example, maybe you really do get angry when someone comments about your appearance. In that case, find out why you feel offended and don’t be afraid to tell the person politely that you dislike those types of comments as everyone here deserves respect. 

Before you feel angry, you could take some deep breaths in and out or maybe walk out of that situation. 

Remember, the strongest person is the person who can control their anger.

You may increase your happiness levels by reducing your anger. 

Everyone has their own fears, problems and obstacles. Everyone has their own tests and trials. Everyone is scared of doing something. It might be because you think it is unrealistic, you might feel stressed, uncertain or doubtful. Whenever you have the thought to confront your fear, someone inside you tells you ‘you can’t’. 

Who is this person telling you that you can’t? Why do you feel nervous or worried about your external factors? 

It is your devil. Everyone has a devil within them. It makes you doubt yourself and makes you uncertain about yourself. Why does this devil exist? Well, because this life is a test and it is not paradise. 

So how do you overcome this devil? How do you feel revived? The answer is, you have to find your inner source of happiness. You have to find the right way of confronting the fear.

For example, if you are afraid of public speaking, speak to the devil within you. Question yourself and accept this fear. Then take gradual steps to go ahead and solve this problem the right way.

What would your right, brave self do?

You Are Not Alone. You Got This.

It feels quite sad to me that in the day and age of the 21st century, when more people are supposed to be happier and healthier due to all the medical advancements, networks and facilities, there seems to be, in fact, more sadness. More people, even young teenagers feel lonely and helpless and don’t know who to seek help from. This is extremely saddening and loneliness is what can cause the downfall of many minds.

Especially with this COVID-19 pandemic, many people feel even more lonely than ever before.

But please do not think you are alone. You got this. You have neighbours right next to you, help at your fingertips and people to help you within a few seconds or minutes. Do not ever think that this is the end of the world. I am telling you, there have been many who have gone through the worst of the worst and have come out of it, so you can do it. You got this.

This problem is temporary. You just need to stop panicking, and work step by step. Gain help from others. And it is possible to get rid of problems.

You can be the first one to smile. You can be the first one to compliment people. You can be the first one to spread positive energy. You can be the first one to build a community of happiness.

You Got This.

If you need to, feel free to contact any of these helplines (help is not too far away):

https://www.childline.org.uk/

https://www.mind.org.uk/

https://www.kooth.com/

Please share this short, motivational reminder to anyone and everyone. 

What does productivity mean to you? Comment down below.

Please check out my other articles relating to Islamic content, My Experiences, Teenage Advice, Book Reviews and Poetry.

Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!

Everyone has a different definition of success. Some may perceive success to be gaining wealth and fame, for others it may just be having shelter, food and water with their family. 

Success is something that you need to decide your definition on. But one thing is for sure, we are all successful in our own ways already. This is because everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and it is time for you to find out what your talents and successes are. Some may be what you worked hard for, while others may be an ‘unfair advantage’ (see the book ‘The Unfair Advantage).

So what you really need to do is figure out what your definition of success is.

Follow that and pave your own way. Yes, there will be obstacles but the beauty is we are all successful, but we are just in our path to achieve a different success.

Please share this short, motivational reminder to anyone and everyone. 

What does success mean to you? Comment down below.

Please check out my other articles relating to Islamic content, My Experiences, Teenage Advice, Book Reviews and Poetry.

Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!

One thing that many people take for granted is their good health. They may complain day and night about not having enough but the fact that they are actually able to say that in itself is a blessing…not everyone can speak. If you are looking at this, chances are you have eyes which is a blessing in itself. Since you are alive, your heart is pumping out blood.

There have been many cases that I have seen personally or heard of, of people who were well, fit and healthy but suddenly were inflicted with a disease or a health problem which may have impacted their life in some way. 

This is not to scare you but for you to be grateful for the little things in life which to someone else may be great. Alhamdulillah, I have good health and you should thank God too. 

Pray to God to keep us healthy and be grateful for it. And if you do have a certain problem, seek help and pray to God to heal it and also be thankful it wasn’t anything worse.

Be Happy. Be Healthy.

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What does happiness mean to you? Comment down below.

Please check out my other articles relating to Islamic content, My Experiences, Teenage Advice, Book Reviews and Poetry.

Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!

Many people in this world look for peace and happiness, thinking that they have to wait to attain happiness. But this could not be further from the truth. Yes, you can aim high and try to achieve your goals which may give you happiness, but no one said that you can’t be happy from now on.

How can you be happy right now, you may ask? It is not as hard as you think. You need to find yourself and find what makes you happy.

Spending time with loved ones, being productive and remembering that emotions and feelings are temporary can all play a role in your happiness.

Happiness is something that needs to be achieved and you may not feel happy all the time but that is okay.

Be Happy.

Please share this short, motivational reminder to anyone and everyone. 

What does happiness mean to you? Comment down below.

Please check out my other articles relating to Islamic content, My Experiences, Teenage Advice, Book Reviews and Poetry.

Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!

A lot of you might hear the word ‘productivity’ or ‘productive’. This word is used all the time especially in social media nowadays and maybe in the StudyTube Community. But I wanted to explain this word and go into depth with it because I feel that people have misinterpreted this word.

Many people nowadays have this perception that productivity is when you ‘get a lot of schoolwork done’. You must have possibly studied or revised for hours and hours and that is the only way you can find yourself ‘productive’. However, this could not be further from the truth. 

Productive is achieving a significant amount or result. – Google

This simply means that if you are achieving something that will add value to your life or will give you a good result or will positively impact you in some way, you might be ‘productive’. This could surely be doing schoolwork or academic work, but it could also be extra-curriculars, self-care and sometimes even taking a break.

Obviously, there is a disclaimer to this. Procrastination cannot be productive as it is a guilty pleasure and is not really the break you deserve. So the key to being productive is priority – what is more important to you at that moment. You cannot be taking a break all the time and you have to do what is best at that moment. If you have an exam tomorrow, the thing that will make you ‘productive’ is obviously studying. But if you have just finished an exam, maybe what would be productive is spending an hour rewarding yourself by talking to your loved ones so it will replenish and motivate you for the future.

Productivity comes with discipline and choice. You have to want to be productive even when you are in a low day sometimes. 

Prioritise. Be Productive. Move On.

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What does productivity mean to you? Comment down below.

Please check out my other articles relating to Islamic content, My Experiences, Teenage Advice, Book Reviews and Poetry.

Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!