Before I go to sleep each night, my One Thing for Me a Day project nudges me to think about what I will do the next day. So far, I have focused on meditation, exercise, and healthy eating because I want to optimize my brain and body for whatever it is that I want to do. Although I made this project public on January 1, 2019, I actually started it last December. After about a month, the three activities have become a regular part of my day. Now, I am ready to add new things. Today, I thought about what I want the most at this moment. I want to publish something for international audiences outside of my home country of Korea. What will help me achieve that goal?

My One Thing for Me a Day project gets me writing every day. Over the last ten days, I have been able to cut my per-post writing time down to under two hours. I want to bring it down to an hour because I am now getting busier with paid client projects. I usually stop my own writing, as I get busier writing for my clients. It is critical to think about what keeps us from sticking to our New Year’s Resolutions and find a way to fix it. How can I continue to write, while busy with my job? I found a clue in Kevin Kruse’s book, 15 Secrets Successful People Know about Time Management.

As Kruse emphasizes, we all have 1,440 minutes a day and need to use them productively to meet our goals. When we don’t use our time for our goals, we end up using it only for other people’s goals. The ideal situation is of course that we work for clients whose goals suit ours. I actually love what I do professionally: promoting tourism to the United States through social marketing and conducting market research for global companies. I want to do more of it! At the same time, I want to write what I personally want to write and use my writing to connect people across cultures.

An idea in Kruse’s book that appealed to me the most is to set a theme for each day of the week. I set Saturday as a writing day for a specific topic: intercultural relationships. I have been blogging about intercultural relationships for Korean audiences for over 11 years, since January of 2008. I also built the first and largest online community for Korean women who are in romantic intercultural relationships all over the world.

As the most prominent opinion leader on this topic, I have been interviewed numerous times by reporters, writers, university students, and government entities. I meet women on the street who come up to me and say things like “You saved my relationship and many other Korean women’s relationships!” I have been told many times from these women that they wish they could show what I have written to their foreign husbands or boyfriends. So, I will finally do it!

I will continue to write about One Thing for Me a Day on other days. This personal project has helped me tremendously to set priorities and make the most of my time. I have become much more attentive to how I spend my 1,440 minutes of each day. For maximum productivity, do the 3Es every day: Exercise, Eat Right, and Educate Yourself. Plus, Do One Thing for You a Day!

Please like my page and find your own inspiration: https://www.facebook.com/onethingformeaday/