creative

Hocus Pocus, Focus Focus

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I popped on to my LinkedIn account this morning and came across a great article called:

The Power of One Focused Hour a Day by, Rao Srinivas.

When you are a creative, you can become overwhelmed at times with multiple projects going on (At least I do.) And also being thirsty for knowledge in the digital age can be as addicting as hardcore drugs. Metaphorically speaking. Let me explain what I mean.

If you love reading and learning, you may easily get distracted with the chitter chatter of content available online, with so many social media platforms. For example, I myself am a lover of sayings, quotes, poems, articles, blogs, free e-books, free homeschool worksheets that many resourceful and savvy mamas create, and so much more. So that can easily snatch up most of my day. Perhaps for you it’s YouTube, CandyCrush, or Pinterest.

I told my dear friend, (fellow blogger) Ralph Nyadzi, from Cegast Academy about my conundrum. It’s all the wonderful content that others are C R E A T I N G that inspires me. It’s like I don’t want to miss something great. He reminded me that it’s my quest for knowledge that makes me devour the words on people’s creations.

The problem with that, is that I’m hindering my own creations. So I was very happy to stumble across this article on LinkedIn. And as always, I have to quote a piece of his work. Because that’s what I do! That’s the type of writer I am. I love other writers words WAAAAAYYY more than my own. 😂

One FOCUSED hour a day is the equivalent of having two full weeks to work on whatever it is you want. In one FOCUSED hour a day you could write a book, build a company, learn an instrument, and so much more. What would add more value to your life? One FOCUSED hour a day of M E A N I N G F U L work, or countless hours pissed away on Facebook and Twitter comparing your insides to everyone’s outsides?

The good news for me is that I spend at least an hour a day on one of my projects already. The bad news is, I still piss away countless hours on social media obsessed with other people’s work. Liking pages, quotes and memes. I go cook dinner, come back and log back in to do the same crap. Welp! Yes, getting inspired, but yet neglicting my own work.

Whether it’s fear, procrastanation, or pure addiction, or the sum of those collectively, I’m not really sure. But the article had some great tips, that I will be utilizing to help me square things away. So, if you want to read the article I will include the link at the bottom. Now, I have to logg off my blog and go do some of my other work. (I mean after I check Facebook just real quick!)😋 Hey give me a break, it’s day one and you know what they say, “Old habbits die hard!”

To read his article, click the link below. And also, because my friend Ralph is amazing with words, I’ve shared a link to his blog as well where you can read 12 Success Quotes For Achievers.

https://www.thriveglobal.com/stories/14866-the-power-of-one-focused-hour-a-day

http://wp.me/p7YF6X-22u

#InkChallenge2017

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I got wind of this challenge a little late. But it still sounds like something right up my alley. If you like art, drawing, creating, then you might enjoy this.

To all my creators, check it out and hop on the bandwagon for this one. I’ll be uploading my pics daily onto this blog and on my Instagram.

Since I started on day 10. I drew a pair of dice with the ten dots as the focal point of my first illustration for the #inkchallenge2017

Happy Creating mi gente!

Send me your drawings and I’ll post them on my Candid Chicana blog platform.

My e-mails:

candidchicana@gmail.com

dstatam63@bethelu.edu

I learned and retrieved the information about this challenge from reading another bloggers material.

Check out her ink drawings at the following blog: Aiden&Katie Adventures Something Brewing Press

Candid Chicanas Illustrations 2017

  1. 10/10/17 “Dice” By Deanna G. Montalvo
  2. 10/11/17 “Candid Chicana Typewriter” By Deanna G. Montalvo
  3. 10/12/17 “Papi” named after (Jose Guadalupe Montalvo)
  4. 10/13/17 “U.S.S. Iwo Jima LHD-7“ By Deanna G. Montalvo
  5. 10/14/17 “Sugar Skull 1” By Deanna G. Montalvo
  6. 10/15/17 “Sugar Skull 2” By Deanna G. Montalvo

CANDID CHICANA’S Cognitive Word Reflection # 1.

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Many people have a fascination with words. I am one of these people. I love to read anything. From books 📚 and magazines to articles and newspapers📰. I especially love to read quotes and famous speeches given by prominent people. I love to read short stories, poetry, and lyrics and social media content too. And one of my new favorite literature genres to read are blogs. Literature is my language.
Words are so powerful. They have endless capabilities. When I was just a girl I loved vocabulary words and rejoiced at discovering unknown words. Gleefully, I would pull out my dictionary and read the different definitions for the word because it was fun.

I seem to always read something so great that I want to share it. Although nobody has time for anything anymore. So if you are reading this blog, I LOVE YOU! And I hope you too will enjoy some of the cognitive word reflections I will be sharing with you this year.

These cognitive word reflections will mainly be based on any one of these literature types: maxims, lists of information, quotes, sayings, poems, excerpts or any inspiring written words. I’ll also definitely be including some dichos and frases!(Mexican sayings and phrases)

So here goes the first one.

Some people are willing to work, only if they can start at the top and work up.

Candid Chicana‘s Cognitive Word Reflection:

I have been reading a lot about successful people and how they became famous. One thing that they all have in common is that they had critics and doubters. But they started at the bottom and they worked their butts off to get to the top.

You have to be willing to start wherever you are at. Then you need to have endurance if you want to make in in the long haul. You can’t be easily offended. Let the critics critize because that’s their job. You just keep showing up and doing your part. You have to keep going when you fail. You have to keep trying and never give up. That is the only way your dream will survive.

Maybe your dream is to own and operate a dance studio…you have to believe in yourself…you can do it! Or perhaps you have always wanted to go to school or even vocational studies. Have you been dreaming of that school where they teach you how to do airbrush painting on automobiles?

Go for it! Don’t wait anymore. Don’t put it off any longer. Don’t say maybe someday. As cliche as this sounds; “You Only Live Once”, and “Life Is Short”. Trust me I know. I put my dreams of writing on the backburner because life circumstances were kicking my @$$!

This weekend I drove to my hometown to deliver some belated Christmas gifts to my family. It’s about a 6 or 7 hour drive. On my way there I fell asleep at the wheel and hit a semi. This could have been fatal. Thank God it wasn’t. By HIS grace, me and my family survived without any injuries. But this was another life lesson learned for me. The lesson that another day isn’t promised. So don’t waste it!

Whatever you enjoy doing will probably direct you to your passion or calling. Listen to those dreams. I hope that all of your dreams, goals, and aspirations are realized.

Now goodnight fellow readers and friends. I need to deplete the deprivation and go to zzzzzzzz. I read an article tonight on Forbes, about the harmful effects of not getting enough sleep. I’ll post the link on this blog below. It was a really good read. And since I almost died because I fell asleep at the wheel …I get the message! I’m hitting the hay!

Credits and Works Cited:

Click link below to read the forbes article I refer.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/welcome/?toURL=http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2017/01/23/7-things-you-need-to-know-about-sleep-and-how-it-can-affect-your-career/&refURL=http://lnkd.in/&referrer=http://lnkd.in/

Bitmiji Photos: Bitmoji App

Quote Inspiration: Anthony, Robert Dr., Think Big (A Think Collection), Berkley, Aug 1999