"The day you stop learning, you're definitely not an expert."

We can go on quite a journey with our blogs. Think about how long you've been running your online presence for and how much has changed. Think about how much you're always striving to do to be better. Think about how much you're always doing to try and improve.

IT'S EXHAUSTING.

I've had this post by Sophie saved somewhere safe ever since she wrote it. For a while, I read it almost every day. It really struck a chord with me, and today, I wanted to share my own thoughts on this.

It seems that so many people are trying to better themselves, their blog or their business. Everyone is always taking the latest course or trying the newest trick on social media. It's great to set goals and want to achieve more. But the problem is that people can get caught in a bubble.

Let's take email lists as an example. Off the top of my head, I can name five different bloggers who have courses about building your email list. I bet you can also name a lot of bloggers who have written a post or two on the topic.

But here's the issue - that is one person's opinion. That has worked for them and only them.

WHO'S TO SAY IT'S GOING TO WORK FOR YOU. WHO'S TO SAY IT'S GOING TO EVEN BE RELEVANT FOR YOU?

You're busy - I get it. 

So am I. 

I know you've got loads of things going on. Different projects, roles and responsibilities that all need attention. 

Your job, your family, your home, your pet, your garden, your wardrobe, your body. Each piece of your life needs to be kept on top of and fed with all the right things. How do we do this? By having the goal of a healthy lifestyle. We all know the endless benefits of being healthy. Not only can you feel great, you can look good and fight off sickness. But I get it – you’re busy.

So when you’ve got a crazy busy life, how do you manage to keep up living healthily? 

Let me paint a picture for you. I know to keep my body in the shape it’s in requires me to eat healthy food and exercise as often as I can. In my new job, I have a big number of weekend and evening events to attend at various schools around my area. Days when I’ll leave home at 7:45 in the morning and won’t return home until after 9 at night. 

How do I continue to eat well? How do I fit exercise into this routine?

1. The colours of the trees
2. The sounds of the leaves crunching beneath your feet
3. Plaid scarves
4. Your winter coat
5. Hot chocolate
6. Soups and casseroles
7. Halloween
8. Pumpkin carving
9. Pumpkin everything
10. Bonfire Night

After being in education for so long, it's pretty hard to believe that I've been in full-time work for just over a year now. So much of these past twelve months has been spent finding my way, finding out what I want, and more importantly - finding out what I don't want. But now, I can see that all the celebrating, the tears, the frustration, and the pure accomplishments have all been worth it. Today, I'm sharing the biggest lessons I've learnt during my first year of full-time work.

Your first job will never really be your dream job

Neither will your second or third for that matter. You're very lucky if you find your first job to be the one you want to stay in forever. It takes patience, persistence and a real sense of self to find the career you want to spend the rest of your life doing.

It's not enough to just have passion  

Passion is amazing. You can be good at what you do and enjoy what you do without passion. But is passion what gets you through 365 days a year doing the same work at the same place? Not so much. It takes dedication, determination, and strategic thinking. Passion will always help you, but you can't expect to grow in your career without taking action and pushing yourself forward...

Have you got a degree? An MA? A PHD?

Or have you built a thriving business? Have you worked for national brands? Have you got a wealth of experience?

A few years ago, it seemed like the only way you could get a job was by having really good qualifications. Now you need experience, too. Both. So not only do you need to work hard at school and university, you've got to build your skills and get experience on the side too.

How can we do it all?

There's always an argument when it comes to our careers whether we need qualifications or experience more. Some say the former, and some say the latter. I say both. But when it comes to my first job, it was qualifications that got me there. Today I'm exploring these thoughts and sharing my personal experience of how my qualifications not only got me my first job, but also got me my latest job as a Marketing Coordinator. I'm also sharing a handful of essential skills for your career that studying for qualifications can teach you.

“Everyone's an expert." “Anyone can say anything” – how much do you believe in these two statements?

It seems that lately, many people who run a blog think of themselves as experts. First, we saw a few people turn their blogs into businesses. Now, it seems that everyone who starts a blog has this as their end goal.

This can be quite dangerous – for me, there’s a huge difference in someone who’s been blogging for six months, to someone who’s been blogging for three years. But which one of them is an expert?

Both of them? Or neither of them?

The trend in blogging nowadays is for people to be encouraged to position themselves as an expert. We’re all growing a social media community so why not teach others how to do it? We’re all trying to create great content, so why not teach others to do the same?

The problem is, that when everyone starts having this mindset and chooses to blog in this way, this is all we read.

This direction might benefit you – but who’s to say it’s benefitting your readers?

1. I can't remember the first line to my presentation... 

2. Why is it that all I can think about is a photo I saw on Instagram this morning?

3. Oh, she's just come out of hers. She looks nervous. That's good.

4. What if that's a good thing for her?

5. What if they think she's amazing?

6. I'm pacing now.

7. Why are my palms so sweaty?

8. Actually, why is everywhere so sweaty? I wish I'd brought deodorant.

9. What if I get in there and I just can't speak? What if instead of talking about what I'm meant to talk about, I start singing the alphabet instead?

There are a few core things I believe in when you’re choosing to do something with intention and actively building a life that you want to live:

•        Our true purpose is created through consistency, support and honesty

•        Spending time doing what you want to do and doing things that fulfil you will reflect your mood and outlook in a positive way

•        You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing just because you think that will work

•        You will always be one of the most important people in your life even if you don’t realise it yet

Being intentional means being purposeful. And being purposeful means doing the work that is going to fill your life and take you one step closer to where you need to be. It’s about using your instincts, your gut feelings, developing your own way of working, and ultimately understanding yourself enough to know what you want. You know what you want to work on to improve yourself, your job, your blog - anything. That dream you've got or the goals you have. But what stops you? What makes you procrastinate? What holds you back?

Believing that this is the work you’re supposed to be doing, when you’re not committed to it.

Do you want a job that involves scrolling through Twitter and Pinterest all day? Don’t become a social media marketer.

The above is just one of the myths of what it’s like to have a career in social media.

Don’t get me wrong – working in social media is great, if you love it. But you’ve got to be prepared to work hard at A, getting the job, and B, when you’re actually in the job.

Every job has its pros and cons, and working in a social media marketing role is no exception. But is it for you?

I’ve been working in social media marketing for over a year now. Today I’m sharing the pros and cons of doing this for a living.

Cons

It’s time consuming

We all know how time consuming social media can be when you’re a blogger, but when you’re doing it for a day job? You could spend your whole day on it and wonder where the time went. When it comes to social media, it’s important to spend time doing tasks that are going to benefit you and your business. But you’ve also got to be willing to spend as much time as possible researching new trends, learning them and putting them into practice.

You deal with complaints

Social media is becoming the new way of dealing with customer service. Instead of phoning up or sending an email, people now take to Twitter and Facebook to share their opinions. But this can be a bad thing. Some days you might not have any complaints to deal with. Whereas on other days, it could take all day. Even the top companies like Apple and Topshop are going to deal with customer complaints on a daily basis. Just make sure this is something you can handle.

If you’re searching for a way to change your life, blogging can be a great way for you to do so.

Now, before I continue, I want to admit that, yes, changing your life is a very broad and bold statement.

It can mean so many things. Our lives are full of a dozen aspects. How can one thing so simple change something so undefined?

Blogging can change your life in many ways. Let’s face it, having a business or brand online can be lonely, confusing and extremely overwhelming.

When you start blogging, you naturally start building a community.

Whether this is on social media, in an email list or just through your blog comments, you will be surprised at the response you receive.

With all of the bloggers out there, you probably don’t see a reason why anyone would find a reason to read your content, but I promise you, if you start writing about your passions right now, you will start building a community within a few posts.

After a month of blogging, I had people asking to be my client, based just on what they read on my blog.

This week, I've been waiting to hear whether I'm going to be shortlisted for my dream job - I should (hopefully crossing all my fingers). I'm currently in the temporary role, but because it's temporary I had to apply for the permanent post. So it's safe to say that while I've been working my butt off, my brain has also been ticking away, wondering when I'll find out if I'm shortlisted for an interview. Are you in this position this week? If you are, here are ten things to do while you're waiting to hear about it.

1. Distract yourself. Once your application is submitted, it's gone. Don't worry yourself thinking what you may or may not have included. Throw yourself back into your life and your hobbies.

2. Carry on powering through in your current job - or if you're applying for your first job, keep submitting applications.

3. Make a brew, because a cup of tea solves everything.

...

When was the last time you made a mistake? It can be big or small. Yesterday? Last week? Last month? It wouldn’t surprise me, because mistakes are part of life.

They happen. It’s only natural. And you can learn a great deal from them. But when you’re at work, especially when you’re a newbie, you thinking making a mistake could mean the end of your job.

Picture the situation: it’s a normal day at work. You’ve got a to-do list a mile long that you’re juggling with phone calls, meetings and emails when it hits you. You stop. Your eyes widen. Your stomach starts turning. 

You’ve made a mistake.

Whether you’re told you’ve made a mistake or you figure it out for yourself, neither situation is pretty. Instead of worrying about how big of a mistake you’ve made, it’s actually more important to focus on how you’re going to react. You might act too quickly by covering yourself up or making an excuse. Or you might deny it completely. But that isn’t really the way to go about it.

So how should you play it? Well probably like you, I’ve made mistakes during my career and I’ve learnt the best way to deal with them. Read on to find out the best way for you to deal with making a mistake at work.

At the start of this year, many of us chose a word that would define the next 12 months. These ranged from organise, creative, kindness – anything that you wanted to represent how you were going to live your life. The aim of this is simple. Instead of listing a set of goals you want to complete, pick one word instead that you can focus on every day.

I didn’t initially take part in this challenge, but one of my aims for 2015 was to live more intentionally. To live on purpose, in the moment and be present. For the first couple of months of the year, this was exactly what happened. But then things changed. I became a person I used to be - always thinking about what I had to do and focusing on the future, instead of living for now.

Can you relate? It’s actually quite difficult to live intentionally. You have to be purposeful and work hard to live your life that way. You have to take intentional steps that are going to get you to where you ultimately want to be. When you’re in a moment, you let yourself be in that moment and nowhere else, not even a few hours ahead.

Without being intentional, we would simply float through life with no purpose, going down different paths. When you’re living intentionally, you’re playing an active part in your own journey.

Now, I’m not just saying all these nice words to try and convince you that you can do this. You may have tried, but when obstacles crop up in life like they always do, things change.

There’s still almost four months left of 2015. Are you going to live intentionally with me?

“Follow your heart wherever it may go, just don’t forget to bring your mind with you.”

Does your heart know more than your head? Or do you think it’s the other way around? Surely your head is more rational, more professional and more straightforward? Whereas your heart is the one with the passion, the want and the need. But which one should you follow?

We’re always told to use our head and our heart. But usually, one of them is telling us one thing, and the other is telling us something else.

Say you’re trying to make it as a freelance writer. Your heart is saying, this is what you’re meant to do. This is the start of your path. Grab it with both hands and go for it!

Your head, on the other hand, is saying something different: Be wary – there are so many people doing freelancing right now. Keep your feet on the ground, you won’t get a gig like that. It’ll take time.

And we won’t even go into what the self-doubt monster might be saying.

What do you want to be when you grow up? 

This is a question we've all been asked numerous times during our lives. School, college, university - everyone saying, what do you want to do for a job? When I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher. Little did I know, being a teacher wouldn't even be on my radar when I started my career.

Blogging does many things, but did you know it can also get you a job? You might not realise it, but every time you go through the process of creating a blog post from start to finish, you're using skills that look really impressive to potential employers. But what job could I do with these skills? Never fear. I've rounded up the ten best jobs you could go for as a blogger.

Sit back and take notes.

Last weekend, the fam and I took a well deserved trip to Penrith. We walked a lot, (20,000 steps one day!), ate, chatted, laughed and spent every night relaxing in the hot tub. The highlight for all of us was a trip to the beautiful Aira Force - the number one attraction in Penrith. Words will never describe the beauty of this place, so I really hope you enjoy the photos.

Don't you just love a four day week? The August Bank Holiday always signals the end of the holidays for me. Straight after it's September and everybody comes out from their summer dream world and starts their lives again. People go back to school, university, work and a busy time starts once again. This week has been just a taster of that! It's been a tired old week so this weekend, I'm looking forward to running a few errands and relaxing. As for your weekend reading, here are six great posts on branding.

Because whether you realise it or not, you definitely have a brand.