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  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” -Matthew 7:7 I am guided to where I am meant to be. I will go where I’ll be celebrated, not where I’m simply tolerated. Good things are happening to me. From my heart and lips to God’s ears. I have faith.

Since we moved to Europe in 2021, I have witnessed the punctual flow of one season into the other. For someone who’s spent all her life in strictly wet-dry climates, this has been a very fascinating experience for me. Four seasons. A blanketing proof of forces outside ourselves, inevitable changing and aging, nature’s natural cycle of death and rebirth. Slowly, and then all at once. This is how it always goes. For several days, it’s hot. Every person you see is basking in the heat from the scorching sun, some would even resort to ditching their clothes altogether. Summer dresses, shades, shorts. And then one day, you feel that cold breath on your skin. A gust, a wisp, an invisible, gentle cold touch. Unmistakable but negligible, because after some time, the golden ball comes back. Again, people bask in the sometimes too friendly sun. And then, rain. People adjust, “it’s just one of those days”. This, too, does not last. Nature is best in taking its time. Slowly, slowly, it eases you to...

Product Management involves a lot of phases and activities that having a reliable toolkit is a definite must-have at any point in your career. Here are some productivity boosters in my PM journey: CONFLUENCE https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence MIRO https://miro.com NOTION https://www.notion.so [This article will be updated with more tools and reviews]

  “If I need things to be a certain way, I’m held hostage by them.” —  Jonny Wilkinson I am learning how to let go. Of people. Of expectations. Of choices, events, things I can’t control. I am choosing to have faith in what will be. Inhale. Deep breath. Exhale. Holding onto this hope so faint, Taking that elusive leap of faith.

  “The difficulty for me is that I’m interested in so many different things. I could never really imagine myself doing one thing.” — Emma Watson I’ve always had an eclectic mix of interests. Hats I wanted to wear, things I wanted to be. Some complemented others, some straight up contradicted themselves. On Writing Once upon a time, I wanted to be a journalist. I was actually the editor in chief of our high school paper for two years. I was also a constant delegate to the annual schools’ press conference — even won a couple of awards in the news writing and editorial categories. I guess I just have a natural tendency to organize and be a grammar nazi, so this was kind of a no-brainer. As much as these traits stayed with me, I did not really bother to pursue this career. On Reading I love books. I love reading. My hair is always in a bun. So at one point, I thought, why not be a librarian? But no, I did not become it. Simply because I didn’t look therefore didn’t find a library to wo...

  I have always planned ‘New Year Resolutions’ but failed to write ‘In Retrospect’ articles detailing what I have done and achieved for the year, mainly because of the fact that I wasn’t really keen on keeping notes about progress and all that. So in comes ‘Personal OKRs’, a project where I will write and regularly update my yearly objectives — detailed and tracked by teeny, digestible key results. OKR  is a goal-setting framework that consists of two parts: the clearly-defined Objective and its (usually 3–5) measurable success criteria called Key Results. And of course, tracking will be done with a  personal kanban board  because, why not? Guide: Assess my situation Where do I want to be (next quarter, next six months, next year, etc.) Make plans on how to get there Bonus: at the end of the month, what new can I confidently speak on, without prep? Everything will be done in Notion and screenshots for quarterly updates will be pasted here as I progress. Here’s to say...

  I am learning how to take things one at a time. Pause. Breathe. I’ll do it sad, I’ll do it angry, I’ll do it afraid. One task, one goal, one day at a time.

It was, in a way, a step towards getting my life in order. Here I will write about my journey on breaking into Product Management. I will update it as time goes on, listing resources, reviews and learnings on everything and anything PM. Product Management Product Management is at the intersection of (user-centric) design, business (company goals) and technology (product development). PM roles vary but one thing is constant: a Product Manager ensures that good decisions are made in order to bring good products to market.

  I read this on   Seth’s blog , and it has since stuck with me. To overcome an irrational fear…replace it with a habit.  If you’re afraid to write, write a little, every day. Start with an anonymous blog, start with a sentence. Every day, drip, drip, drip, a habit. I published tiny notes on  Lettrs  for years until I moved to the Notes app on my phone. My randomness and short patience would only allow for a few lines of legible musings. Nevertheless, writing — like  reading  — fascinates me. I admire the works of people like  Ava ,  Nikita Gil  and  Erin Hanson , who always seem to know the right words and metaphors to use in their written art. Because for the love of me, I cannot sit still and pen down my thoughts, as colorful and detailed as I’d like them to be. My thoughts are like splatters of paint on an already busy canvas, random and evanescent like lightnings in the sky. So, after reading Seth’s piece, I made a mental note ...