Attended a careers fair today at The Europa Hotel Belfast. It's a gig they host every year.

As it's next door to our office I normally go in and have a zip around on my lunch hour grabbing some info here and there, but I booked today off as I wanted to have serious chats with other companies without being in a rush, and hand out my CV.

There's 2 or 3 winners, and I came home this evening to find one of the top 2 had already emailed me to ask for an electronic copy of the CV and a time to have a 20 minute phone interview.

The reason for this is I'm bored with my current job. And also, all my colleagues and friends have been and are continuing to drop like flies, so I feel the time could be right for me to jump ship too.

The jobs I'm interested in have a significant salary increase and significantly larger commission potential than I'm currently on.

One is Yell.. Another is a tech company selling digital marketing innovation products.. And another I'm mildly interested in is a specialist in building gym equipment, with the ecommerce and sales my specific area of interest.

I realize I've been allowing my focus to sway. By switching jobs I'd be creating a huge obstacle in having to learn a new role and all that shit.

I need to refocus, and stick to the original plan of building a side business enough that I can resign by the end of the year.

Recieved my first ever passport today.

Now I can finally start taking my ass off to places outside Ireland and the UK.

As for this. I re-evaluated almost everything about what I was originally planning on doing (selling gadgets) and adopted the new strategy of focusing on one product (in the Eco Friendly niche). The new website/store has been running live for almost 3 months now, and has had no sales.

For nearly 2 months I've been running Facebook ads, to no avail. Just been trying out different variations and pictures and video and ad copy etc. I have learned a lot along the way, so it hasn't all been a waste, but ultimately my business is probably £800 in the negative, with zero return.

Currently feeling very doubtful that drop-shipping is for me. I pretty much know and accept that it's not something I'm exactly passionate about, more that it just seemed (on the surface at least) a relatively quick way to get my ass out working for myself.

Now? I'm going through a period of reflection on what my next move is. I'm sure there's a better business that I'd be more suited at doing, rather than doing something I don't really give a fuck about.

At the forefront, I'm quite confident some sort of advice/coaching business model would be much more befitting. This isn't just based on confidence in myself though. The confidence in this context comes from feedback and reactions I get from people in and outside work. I often get called things like Mr Positive or associated variations and relative comments and compliments, due to the manner in which I handle things and quickly assist other people in defusing or overcoming problems. Commonly, I can easily and swiftly transition someone from becoming overwhelmed, to relaxed and assured on what to do next, and realising the 'problem' can be overthrown, or at the very least, not worthy of the stress and anxiety they're giving it.

Such a position would certainly excite me way more than selling cheap trash from China.


Side Note - I think I've had this trait ever since I quit using illicit drugs 9 years ago. Perhaps it began when people would DM me saying their head was minced from weed or cocaine, or whatever, and look to me for advice on what they should do, and asking how I managed to do it. I don't mean to sound narcissistic but it inspired motherfuckers, and this was told to me many times. That's one of the reasons I worked voluntarily as a Childline counsellor for 2 years. All of this, and other factors, are the reasoning behind why I think an advice or coaching business might be best suited to me.

Officially closed my store/website.

So that's that. I'm considering it my first business experience, that I learned from.

I'll go again with something else soon.

I'm keeping my domain name because I think it's quite cool. It's catchy and pretty ubiquitous, meaning it can be used for numerous niches and/or types of business.

I just wanted to make a post in appreciation of the brilliance that is Dr Jordan Peterson.

I've known of his existence for a few years now, ever since I started listening to motivational audios in order to start my days off on a high. It's only in the last few weeks though that I've began to focus on his material in particular.

I'm absolutely blown away by the level of intelligence of this man. He is so articulate with his thoughts and ideas and responses, and the cool, laid back manner in which he responds to attacks from interviewers is something we should all take note of. I know I have.

In my opinion he's the smartest, most influential and important person of this era. One evening last week as I was listening to him, this strong wave of emotion overcame me. I don't know exactly what it was but I decided in the moment that I was experiencing some form of enlightenment, empowerment, or it could have simply been overwhelming joy that I'd discovered something truly incredible. Whatever it was, it really moved me.

I'm halfway through his book 12 Rules for Life, which is great. I've also now got at least 10 books recommended by him on my reading list. The one I'm most looking forward to is The Gulag Archipelago. He recommends quite a few war related books actually. He's also a big fan of Dostoevsky.

I wish I'd known of Dr Peterson during my psychology studies, I think it would have really motivated me more. In fact, I'm more interested in psychology now than I ever was. So much so that if I could, I'd seriously consider doing a masters, but I highly doubt that's possible, having graduated with a third. Regardless of whether it's possible or not, I'm always going to continue studying psychology.

I have such a belief that his material is life-changing that I sent a video to my friend who has taken off work with depression, and advised him to start consuming his content, assuring him that it will help him.

I'm quite confident that this is going to take me to a whole other level of confidence and positivity. It already has. I listen to his stuff at every spare opportunity. Whilst showering. Whilst shaving. Whilst cooking. Whilst at the gym. I'm watching an interview of his whilst writing this. You get the idea.

Time spent listening to Jordan Peterson is never wasted time. I can't speak highly enough of this special man.

Further to this... I just want to record that I've noticed definite changes in me since engrossing myself in his content a month ago.

One profound change is that, I now take a moment before I speak, especially when it's something that requires a deserved response.

This has happened naturally. And it's relative to the chapter "Be precise in your speech" in his book.

Of all the self-help stuff I've ever read or used, Dr Petersons material is the most prevalent to me.

I fucking love and appreciate this man so much.

I really hope he gets through his current struggles.

With another new year coming up, undoubtedly there's going to be individuals the world over setting a bunch of new years resolutions that statistically, most will fail.

Out of the 10 or so reasonably achievable actions and habits I set for myself last time around, about 4 of them I pretty much nailed. Others to a lesser degree.

This time around though, I'm doing something different. I'm getting Dr. Jordan Peterson's Self-Authoring program.

"The Self-Authoring Suite is a series of online writing programs that collectively help you explore your past, present and future."

There have been "overwhelmingly positive" statistics from some studies they've done based on participants who took the self-authoring program. Ultimately it helps you in setting and achieving goals, 1, 3 and 5 years down the line and beyond. I expect this to be the most important component to me but with the fact that none of Jordan's work has disappointed me so far, I won't be surprised if all the components prove enlightening.

At $29 for access for TWO people with the current 2 for 1 offer, it's practically for nothing.

https://www.selfauthoring.com/

Having become a huge fan of his work, I'm really looking forward to this. I think it's also the perfect time to have discovered this too, with not only a new year coming up but a new decade. Which I'm not going into blindly.

Just applied for a new job as a Junior Psychologist.

It's perhaps not what one might first imagine it to be though. I'll post the first line of the job description..

"To carry out comprehensive psychological research literature reviews, pertaining to the competencies and psychological variables included in the psychometric assessments. Production of robustly designed project plans to trial and develop tests."

There's a bunch of other variations of similar sounding stuff. The criteria itself for the candidate are simple..

-BSc Hons in Psychology
-Great communication
-Ability to work in a team and independently
-Analytical thinking

It sounds fun and way more stimulating than my current job, which I'm bored stupid with. So I thought fuck this and sent a tailored CV.

An online assessment is necessary. Whether or not I get this before the closing date on the 22nd I don't know.

Received an invitation to do the online assessment during lunch. So I'll spend this evening completing it carefully.