Investing in Yourself: A #Bufferchat Recap

This week on #bufferchat, the wonderful Angelia Trinidad (founder and CEO of Passion Planner) stopped by to share her inspiring thoughts on the importance of investing in yourself. The community discussed how to set personal development goals, how to make time for creativity, ways to celebrate our successes, and much more!

Read on to discover all of the awesome insights that were shared during the chat!

Catch our weekly Twitter chat, #bufferchat, at TWO times every Wednesday for valuable industry insights and to meet hundreds of other smart marketers and social media enthusiasts. Same topic, same place, just at different times – feel free to join in to whichever chat time works best for you!

4 pm AEST (Sydney time)

9 am PT (San Francisco time)

This week’s stats:
Bufferchat #1 (4 pm AEST): 32 participants, reach of 1,145,908
Bufferchat #2 (9 am PT): 143 participants, reach of 1,487,403

Q1: Why is it important for you to invest in personal development?

From Angelia:

• If you don’t invest in your personal development, no one else will.
• We must recognize that to make the biggest impact, we must invest in ourselves.
• I always say “you can’t pour from an empty vessel”. Making time for yourself is filling that vessel.
• Investing in yourself is the planning phase in your life. I see luck as action, preparedness and opportunity meeting.
• Investing in myself in little ways, like reading and dabbling in topics that have interested me has prepared me to be a CEO.
• So far, I’ve read over 350 books on personal development just for fun lol.
• I’ve dabbled in things including personal development, public speaking, storytelling, web design, start up strategy, etc.
• Now, I’m successfully running a company that encourages people to dream big and create the life they’ve always wanted. ?

From the community:

• “Without personal development, we can’t grow. Ideas stagnate, we get stuck in routines, creativity goes missing. Dull.” @ArrowDigitalAU
• “As an introvert, investing in personal development helps me be an overall more confident person ?Feeling good = good work.” @ShaktiSotomayor
• “You often have to be your own biggest fan and advocate. You have to be willing to invest in yourself to get others to.” @Tyrophant

See all the great answers to question 1 here!

Q2: Do you set personal development goals for yourself? If so, how do you focus on sticking with them?

From Angelia:

• Yes! I use @passion_planner every day to make sure that I use everyday to get closer to my goal.
• If I can accomplish the one task in the Today’s Focus section, the day is a “win” to me!
• I also tell someone I respect my goal and ask them to follow up with me because then I have someone to check in with ?.
• I think focusing on one thing at a time, especially when you start getting into reading is important. My rule is only one book at a time!
• In my Passion Planner, there’s a Passion Roadmap exercise where I write out my 3 month, 1 year, 3 year, and lifetime goals.
• I then integrate them into my day-to-day. Seeing those goals everyday is a constant reminder as to what I’m working towards.
• Tip: Set exciting goals for myself! It’s easier to stick with something if it’s something that you’re excited about.

From the community:

• “Little drops of water makes the mighty ocean! I prefer to create smaller tasks that are manageable to reach bigger milestone.” @bharatpc
• “I picture my life if I reach the goals and life if I abandon them. Reaching them always looks better in the long run. ? @devindcoleman
• “Yes! I focus on them by first writing them down & then revisiting them weekly if not daily. Just gotta see them constantly.” @xoxAMH

See all the great answers to question 2 here!

Q3: How do you celebrate your successes and accomplishments?

From Angelia:

• I love alone time. I try to find time every single day to celebrate my small victories with a little bit of alone time AKA.
• I’m an introvert, so I don’t really like large groups or parties. Staying in and finding time for myself is how I recharge.
• I also like spending time with my close friends to celebrate.
• I also enjoy planning small one-on-one dinners or setting aside time to catch up with people I don’t usually get to see.

From the community:

• “The best way to celebrate our success is to thank those who helped us to accomplish our goals. Give credit to others!” @eksays
• “You got to be able to celebrate small wins as well as the big ones. Positive energy spreads.” @adQuadrant
• “I keep a word document of personal wins to reflect on later.” @beccaduvallpr

See all the great answers to question 3 here!

Q4: How do you make time to explore your creative side?

From Angelia:

• I legit have to schedule in time to be creative like I’m scheduling time for a doctor’s appointment and remember.
• I take my time seriously. I plan my day out by the hour, including my downtime & I hold myself accountable for my time.
• I keep in mind that I wouldn’t waste your friends time or a professional’s time, so why should you waste my own? ?

From the community:

• “Alone time. I switch off after work. Weekends are mine! Also, setting goals outside my skillset/comfort zone.” @ComfortWriter
• “There’s always time. Less Netflix, less video games, less social media scrolling. @garyvee preaches this often!” @tylerrobb
• “Also extremely helpful to hang out w/your creative friends – helps bring a lot to fruition for me personally.” @bellametaphor

See all the great answers to question 4 here!

Q5: What’s something that you’re keen to learn more about in the coming year?

From Angelia:

• I want to learn more about being a better leader so I can empower my team to continue to spread @passion_planner’s mission.
• I also want to learn how to live with less, because I’ve learned that the less material objects I have the more I can focus on my goals.
• Being able to empower people encompasses being a good leader, teacher, peer, and role model ✊?.
• Aside from that, I also want to learn how to speak fluent Spanish and how to make REALLY good vegan cheese. ? Tips anyone?

From the community:

• “I am eager to learn more about blogging. Attaining more knowledge on how to reach people from diff diversity & background.” @Lherisson_Widny
• “ALL THE THINGS!! I’m a voracious learner, but particularly about life, and now, parenthood & raising a good, creative kid.” @easttum
• “Engaging community, government and business in a process to make the understanding of social/economic dynamics impactful.” @RalfLippold

See all the great answers to question 5 here!

Q6: What are some ways you are kind to yourself throughout your day?

From Angelia:

• Even though I look a little crazy, before I walk into the office I give myself a little pep-talk in my car.
• I also eat lots of vegan food! Food is the way I tell myself I love myself. ?????
• I also meditate and send loving kindness to all the parts of my body through my breath from my heart.
• I forgive myself for my mistakes. I just tell myself to fail fast, fail smart. You gotta be on your own team. ???

From the community:

• “Repeating 3 little words to myself does a lot – ‘I got this.'” @elizadwrites
• “I think more than anything is I’ve gone a long way in stopping negative self-talk. Just not being hard on myself has been ?.” @luckylou
• “Making time to read for pleasure. Even if it’s just a short online article. Also taking a quick walk outside to recharge.” @daniellewriter
• “I always take a mental health break, get enough rest (nap time anyone), and eat healthy – healthy mind healthy body.” @Musolek
• “On Wednesdays I let myself participate in #bufferchat!” @jwilkers

See all the great answers to question 6 here!

Q7: If you’re up for sharing, what do you feel is your purpose? What really fulfills you?

From Angelia:

• I want to be the best teacher, ever! To be the best teacher, you must first be the best student, so I’m doing that first.

From the community:

• “Share stories and influence people to do good – and read! (that’s important!)” @brumiranda
• “Improving people’s lives. Connecting someone to a resource, a person, and/or the solution.” @RaulARovira
• “Sharing and connecting with others via writing & my podcast fulfills me! As for my purpose, that’s still to be determined?.” @thewonderofivy

See all the great suggestions for question 7 here!

Thank you so much to Angelia and our awesome community for sharing such great insights in this chat!

Do you have any comments or answers to these questions? Leave your thoughts in the comments! We’d love to hear from you!

Image sources: UnSplash