Hi !

As we enter the month of September, we only have less than 4 months to go until the end of the year. And while I personally can't wait for the new year to come (because, honestly speaking, 2021 feels a lot like 2020 v 2.0, with the lockdowns and everything), I don't want to spend the next four months planning for 2022 without making sure that I'm ending the year on a good note.

New blog post - Writing my first book.

In the last newsletter, I announced the launch of my first ever book - Your Best Self: A Journey of Self-Discovery and Self-Love. I am immensely grateful for all the support and love that have been pouring in for the past two weeks. The responses have been tremendous, and I'm just overwhelmed with how many people have submitted a pre-order during our pre-order sale period.

I shared some of the thoughts and processes behind working on the book - just because I've been getting a lot of questions from people about it. Go check it out!

Read now

Dialogue session on Passion vs Career.

I'll be in a sharing session with my Mum's friend, Faizah Bazid, as part of her Women's Inspiring & Nurturing Dialogue sessions this Wednesday, 8th September at 8:30pm. It's open to all men and women, so feel free to join if you're interested! You can sign up for free here.

Checking in with my 21 for 2021 list.

At the end of last year, I made a list of 21 things I want to try and accomplish this year. I recently went for a 'check in' with myself on the things I said I wanted to do and realized that - whoops, I definitely didn't plan on COVID-19 being as bad as it became this year and that lockdowns are still in place.

That said, some of the things on my list are already checked off, like the book, moving to a new place, and having 1-on-1 networking/informational interviews/chat with (at least) two professionals. And some of them, like the Udemy courses that I bought but never completed, is still left unchecked. But, then again, I did other training or certifications that were never planned, so I guess that kind of balances it out? No?

Looking at the next four months, I am torn. I am somewhat an ambitious person. I have big goals I want to accomplish and things I want to do. But I am also super duper lazy in the sense that all I want to do is curl up in my blanket and sleep all day long.

I've prepped myself for a super hectic September because there are so many things happening that I don't know how I'm going to be able to fit everything in (and still be sane at the end of the month). But, *fingers crossed*, let's hope we'll make it through somehow.

Talking about being an over-achiever and forgetting to take care of myself, here's a fun article for you to read. The author perfectly described what I feel sometimes when I say "Yes" to a lot of things and ended up regretting those "Yes-es". So now, I'm learning how to say no, even when I know perfectly well that I can say yes.

Fun fact: One of the managers at work texted me yesterday (on a Sunday afternoon!) asking for my help for a meeting on Monday evening. I knew perfectly well that I was indeed free to be at the meeting (aside from managing all the students' emails and stuff), and I could help out. But I told him no, just because (1) it wasn't my direct responsibility to do what he asked me to do, and (2) he could've done it himself but he didn't want to.

He was legit video-calling me while I was out in Bangsar, and made that face saying "Aww Syaza come on, help me out please.", but I was like, "Nope, XXXX can do it so you can ask her." #proudmoment definitely because I rarely say no to help others out at work, but sometimes it's just a lot to take in.

That's all for this week - until I see you again! :)

Sorry about sending this in the middle of the night - I was supposed to send this out like in the evening but got caught up with work then dinner, then I completely forgot to finish writing this email lol.

I hope you are doing great and staying safe wherever you are. If you're going out to dine-in or meet up with friends, make sure to mask up, sanitize always, and take care of the SOPs.

I'll see you again in two weeks' time. Until then, stay safe, take care, stay awesome, and buy my book if you haven't bought one already! :p

Love,

Nazu xxx