Have you ever stopped to consider…

Provocative writers you’ll want to read

I can’t believe we are already at the end of January. 8% of the year is finished. I hope yours has gotten off to a roaring start. This week, I have been thinking about the way that changing perspective can have a dramatic impact on our lives.

For example, I was talking to a client yesterday who wants to shift from being a full-time employee to an entrepreneur. My advice was to consider their employer as one of their customers. Having just one customer is pretty risky, so I suggested looking for more. This kind of thinking made my client an instant entrepreneur. I invite you to step back and discover a fresh way to look at your goals and challenges. That will bring you closer to success.

Speaking of fresh perspectives, this week’s featured writers: Mandy McElroy, David Todd McCarty, and Talya Adams tackle some similar challenges. Each writer shares valuable wisdom amassed from their experiences which may help you be a more creative problem solver.

Mandy McElroy writes about grief and vulnerability. She has experienced a lot of that recently. These include coming to terms with divorce after 38 years of marriage, being excommunicated from her older daughter’s life, and her work in suicide prevention for military veterans. She has seen her fair share of despair.

In When You Walk Back Into The Light, she shares her story of discovery that life must go on. Once we make that decision, the best of ourselves can reveal itself again.

Her story Why You Must Never Give Up describes the sacrifices she was willing to make to be part of her extended family. Ultimately, maintaining that bond proved impossible. However, she found new hope by turning in a different direction. And she encourages us to do the same.

Speaking of moving in another direction, Did You Know Medium Isn’t Facebook? It’s not. And that is why we love it. So much encouragement, such a wide range of ideas, and the communities here are amazing, as well. In this story, she talks about social media etiquette and what makes Medium better.

Regardless of if you are on social media or a celebrity watcher, it is easy to be critical of others. Especially those folks who are realizing a level of success. One of my mentors, Martial Arts Master Mike Lee Kanarek, refers to the people that continually criticize as drainers. We don’t need those people in our lives. In his post, The Myth of Celebrity Ascendency, David Todd McCarty asks us to consider how we would hold up under the scrutiny celebrities face. Just like in Mandy’s Facebook story, we would do well to exercise some empathy and realize that life in the spotlight is not as wonderful as it seems.

If you desire to turn what you love into a profession, you might want to consider David’s advice (in his story When Your Hobby Becomes A Job) before you commoditize your passion and share it with the world.

One of my newfound joys is sharing pictures and writing reviews of restaurants on Google. It is often difficult to find a good place to eat when I travel to a new city. As a result, I often rely on Google to point me in the right direction. On a recent trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, I went to the same restaurant every day for breakfast and shared pictures of my meals. Those images were viewed more than 10,000 times! I enjoy being an ambassador for these places, and I hope that my random act of kindness will attract a few customers to their businesses.

The other day I was out and about. I decided to stop in my local Mexican restaurant (about 30 minutes from home by train). Good Mexican restaurants are rare in Tokyo. So, they open at 5 pm on weekdays, and I finished my business around 4. I decided to have a coffee and wait for them to open. When I finally got to the restaurant at 5:15, they were closed. Disheartened, I texted them, and they informed me they were not going to open that day. They had made a mistake on their schedule. They quickly posted a new one and apologized for the error. I hope this communication helped to prevent other customers from visiting on a day they were closed. Then in disappointment, loudly complaining to their friends and/or social media followers about the restaurant.

David explains how we can politely complain and help the businesses we like with constructive feedback in his story. Pardon Me, But There Is A Fly In My Soup.

The final featured writer for this week is Los Angeles-based Talya Adams. Talya is a photographer, YouTuber, and writer here on Medium. Her story Keep Your ‘if’ demonstrates how to apologize effectively. This is something my friends at the restaurant did to me.

As an accomplished content producer, she shares her advice on how to begin your content production journey in the story No One Is Watching. No matter if you are creating for the first time or moving to a new medium, you will find this piece beneficial in considering your why’s.

And finally, Shout It Out shares a valuable tip for proofreading, and checking any content, for that matter. Before you present it to the world, take the time to review your work thoroughly.

I appreciate you reading my recommended writers post. I hope you find Mandy, David, and Talya worthy of a follow or email subscription.

Have a blessed day.

John