Becoming a Master
On January 25, 2011, I wrote a post about becoming an accidental expert. I wrote it more from a theoretical perspective. I didn’t really think I was becoming an accidental expert in complacency and ignorance like the people I was hoping to reach. I did exercised on occasion. Hell, I even did yoga every once in a while. The truth is, I get sucked back into the “normal society” just as easy as everyone else. I don’t want to be an outcast even if it is the key to success. An academic success without social success and vice versa is a failure. I was not actively accomplishing either. I was watching television and being social without purpose. I’m sure it served some purpose, but whatever that was, it did not drive me forward in anyway. It was a cycle of mediocrity that had I not decided to change, would have definitely continued more and more unnoticed into my disappointing death.
On May 4, 2013, after being at job after job of fulfilling work and day after day of feeling like I am capable of so much more, I decided to take my own advice. I decided to dedicate my life to mastering yoga/meditation, writing, marketing. After picking the three things I am most interested in, I realized the sheer luck and accidental brilliance of my choices.
I am a natural introvert and extremist so I worried that I would focus on the academic side and ignore the social side. I didn’t want this ideal to ruin my current relationships. So I learned how to be social while secretly mastering my three choose disciplines. When I watched TV with friends and family I was taking mental notes about plot and character development. When I watched commercials I was thing about marking behind them an the estimate cost of this media buy.When I was in social situations, I would use aspects of writing and marketing to better understand the motivations of the people around me. Instead of my usual being self absorbed or easily distracted, this practice turned me in to an active listener – a skill everyone would benefit from.
Becoming a master while at work was going to be more difficult. I didn’t have a job that was directly in my field but luckily for me it wasn’t completely off either. I was a New Media Coordinator for DC Public Schools. Basically, I copy and pasted content into a Content Management System all day. In late February, I volunteered to assist with the school level marketing and student recruitment efforts. Please allow me to take you a brief tangent to provide background. At this time DC Public schools were hemorrhaging students for a variety of easily debatable reasons – one being increased competition from charter schools. Our grossly underfunded department was tasked with accomplishing this a brand “facelift” for DC Public Schools.
Before May 4, 2013, this task was a huge burden. After, I saw it as the petri dish to my self experiment. I would practice my writing and marketing by actively looking for ways to improve their content strategy for their website. I started researching effective low budget marketing strategies and tactics. At times when focusing on one task became overwhelming, I would do something less exhaustive but still purposeful even if indirectly. I got creative and found ways to unwind with purpose. I went to great lengths to find value in the things I was already doing e.g. watching TV and listening to music. I discarded the things that could not find valuable e.g. drinking to the point of being drunk and eating food that did not further my yoga.
This is a journal of how I became a master of yoga, writing and marketing without almost anyone noticing.
