“Your time is limited, don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living the result of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinion drown your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs (101 Most Inspiring Quotes of All Time)

How do you feel about your life today? Are you living every day in exuberance? Do you love what you’re doing? Are you excited every single moment? Are you looking forward to what’s coming up next? Are you living your best life?

If your answer to any of the above is a no, maybe or not sure, that means you’re not living your life to the fullest. Which really shouldn’t be the case, because your life experience is up to you to create. Why settle for anything less than what you can get? You deserve nothing but the best. In the past years of my life, especially since after I pursued my passion in ’08, I’ve been living every day to the fullest, filled with joy, passion and rigor. It’s an amazing experience that I want you to experience that too.

This is a list of 101 timeless principles I use to live my best life, and I hope they’ll help you to do so too. As you live in alignment with them, you’ll find yourself becoming more conscious, more alive, and more importantly, experiencing life on a whole new level. Be sure to bookmark or even print out this page and refer to it daily to guide you to your best life.

Here are 101 ways to live your life to the fullest:

1. Live every day on a fresh new start. Don’t be held back by what happened yesterday, the day before, the week before, the year before, and so on.

   
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2. Be true to who you are. Stop trying to please other people or be someone else. It’s better to be an original version of yourself than an exact duplicate of someone else.
3. Quit complaining. Don’t be like the howling dog, always howling and never doing anything. Stop complaining about your problems and work on them instead.
4. Be proactive. Stop waiting for others around you to do something and take action yourself instead.
5. Rather than think “what if”, think “next time”. Don’t think about things you can’t change (namely what has happened and thoughts of other people) or unhappy things because these are disempowering. Instead focus on the things you can action upon. That’s the most constructive thing you can do in any situation.
6. Focus on WHAT vs. How. Focus on WHAT you want first, before you think about HOW to do it. Anything is possible, as long as you set your mind, heart and soul to it.
7. Create your own opportunities. You can wait for opportunities to drop in life. Or, you can go out there and create your own opportunities. The latter is definite and much more empowering.
8. Live more consciously each day. Stop sleepwalking through life. Your life is something to be experienced, not coasted through.
9. Be committed to your growth. In the Map of Consciousness, there are 17 levels of consciousness – from Shame to Enlightenment. The higher level of consciousness you are in, the richer your life experience. Achieving higher consciousness comes from your commitment to growth.
10. Know your inner self. This means knowing who you are and what you represent. Be clear of your personal identity.

    
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11. Discover your real life purpose. Set the mission statement for your life; one that will drive you to life your life to the fullest.
12. Live in alignment with your purpose. What can you start doing immediately that will let you live 100% in alignment with your purpose? How can you live true to your purpose within every context/situation/environment you are in, every second of the day?
13. Set your life commandments. Define your personal commandments to live your best life. What adages and principles do you want to follow in your life?
14. Discover your values. Values are the essence of what makes you, you. Read article #11: Discover Your Values in The Personal Excellence Book on the importance of values, my values and how you can create your own.
15. Hold yourself to the highest conduct. Every one of us have our own set of ethics, principles and moral codes. Live true to them every day. Also, live in full alignment with your purpose (#11), commandments (#13) and values (#14).
16. Design your ideal life. What is your ideal life? Design it. First, assess your life at the moment via the life wheel. Then, ask yourself what it takes to live a 10/10 life (in all 10 areas – career, health, love, social, etc…). What is the life that will make you the best person you can ever be? Set your BHAGs – big, hairy and audacious goals! There are no limits in life – only those you set for yourself!
17. Stop putting life on hold. Are you putting any parts of your life on hold? What is one area of your life you have been putting off/avoiding/denying? Uncover it and start working on it.
18. Create your life handbook. Your life handbook is your life-long personal manual to live your best life – from your mission statement, your values, your long-term goals, short-term goals, personal strengths, blind spots to address, plans, among others. Create your book first then build on from there.
19. Set your goals. After you design your ideal life, set your 5-year, 3-year and 1-year goals. The more specific your goals, the better! Read the 10 principles on how to get winning goals.

    
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20. Take action on your goals and dreams. Create an action plan with your strategy, plan and immediate next steps. ESPER: 7-part Goal Achievement series is a great tool to get you started.
21. Create your bucket list, i.e. things to do before you die. Then, get out to achieve them.
22. Don’t do things for the sake of doing them. Always evaluate what you’re doing and only do it if there is meaning behind them. Don’t be afraid to quit the things that don’t serve your path.
23. Do the things you love, because life is too precious to spend it doing anything else. If you don’t enjoy something, then don’t do it. Spend your time and energy on things that bring you fulfillment and happiness.
24. Discover your passion in life. What sets you on fire? Go out there (and explore inward) to know what you love to do.
25. Make your passion a full-fledged career. Then, start pursuing it. Stop working in a job you are passionless towards. Quit your job when you are ready to do it full-time.
26. Turn your passion into a huge success. Turn your passion into a multi-million dollar business. Better yet, make it a multi-billion dollar one.
27. Learn from criticism. Be open to criticism but don’t be affected by it. Criticism is meant to help you be a better person. Learn from it.
28. Be positive. Is the glass half empty or half full? How about neither? It’s actually all-full – the bottom half is water, the top half is air. It’s all a matter of perception. Take on empowering perceptions, not those that bind you. If you can see the positive sides of every thing, you’ll be able to live a much richer life than others.


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29. Do unto others what you would like others to do unto you. The law of reciprocity – Golden Rule
30. Don’t complain or badmouth about other people.
31. Be empathetic. If everyone only see life from his/her own perspective, we’ll forever be close-minded and insular. See things from others’ shoes.
32. Be a compassionate person. Show compassion and kindness to everyone around you
33. Develop 100% self-belief. Believe in yourself and your abilities. If you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect others to believe in you?
34. Let go of unhappy past. This means past grievances, heartbreaks, sadness, disappointments, etc.
35. Forgive those who may have done you wrong in the past. “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and realize it was you.” – Lewis B. Smedes
36. Let go of attachments. Don’t fixate yourself with a certain status, fame, wealth or material possessions. These are impermanent and will ultimately disappear one day when you die. Focus on growing and living life to the fullest instead.
37. Let go of relationships that do not serve you. That means negative people, dishonest people, people who don’t respect you, people who make you feel bad about yourself and relationships that prevent you from growing.
38. Spend more time with people who enable you. Hang out with people who you compatible with, like-minded people, people who are positive, successful, strong achievers and positive for your growth. You are after all the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.

    
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39. Build genuine, authentic connections with people around you – strangers, friends, family, colleagues, business partners, customers/clients, etc. Spend more time to know them better and foster stronger connections.
40. Connect with an old friend. There is no end to the number of friends you can have. Reach out to people from the past.
41. Do a kind deed a day. What is something you can do today that will make the world a better place? Go and do it.
42. Help other people who are in need. Voluntarism is one outlet. You can also start with your friends and family.
43. Help people when they least expect it, without reason. You don’t need any reason to help others. Do it because you want to. Share the love with everyone.
44. Go dating (if you’re single).

    

45. Fall in love ♥
46. Review your life. Set a weekly review session to assess how you are doing for your goals and your life. Review your purpose once every 3-6 months too so you know you’re on the right path.
47. Overcome procrastination. Procrastination is a huge waste of your time (and your life). Get rid of it once and for all.
48. 30 minutes a day. Set aside at least 30 minutes every day to work on a quadrant 2 goal that, when you achieve it, will bring about the biggest source of fulfillment and happiness in your life
49. Get out there and make new friends – whether in your workplace, online, friends’ friends, social groups, etc.
50. Be your advisor (from the future). Imagine you’re the future you, 5 years later. How would you advise yourself? Write it down. Now, apply them. Check out a related article #17: Future Prediction Exercise in The Personal Excellence Book, which is about predicting your future then learning from it.
51. Write a letter to your future self. Actually, write 3 letters – for yourself in 1, 3 and 5 years. The longer the letters, the better. Envision how you’ll be like in the future. Make each letter a minimum 2 pages long. Now, seal them and put them in a safe place. Set it in your calendar so you’ll know to open them when it’s time. This will inspire you to work your hardest and achieve your maximum results in the time period.


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52. Declutter. Start from your computer, then your table, your room, your bag/wallet, and your home. The more you throw the unwanted and old stuff away, the more room you’re creating for new things to enter.
53. Keep learning. There is something to learn from everything you see, hear and experience. This includes your mistakes and past misshaps (if any). Learn to interpret each event objectively. Focus on what you can learn from it so you can apply them moving forward.
54. Keep developing yourself. Equip yourself with a huge breadth of knowledge. Learn different skills, pick up different hobbies, study different fields.
55. Keep upgrading yourself. Equip yourself with a huge depth of knowledge. While you can usually only level up to 99 in video games, in real life you can level up to infinity. Go for further studies if need be. Develop your skills. Level up. Build your >10,000 hours in each skill.
56. Try new things. What’s something you’d normally not do? Get out of your comfort zone try something different. It can be something simple like taking a new bus route, trying a new food item, picking up a new hobby, or something bigger like studying a different field, picking a new skill, traveling to a country you’ll never visit, etc. You set your own limits.
57. Get yourself out there. This applies for everything. (a) Get out there geographically. Go out, travel and explore the world. Set sail into the sea. Go backpacking by yourself and visit as many countries as possible. Get on a road trip and visit the different places that come out. (B) Get out there situationally. Stop sticking to routines and comfort zones. Try something different. (c) Get out there in life. Stop watching TV and living vicariously through the TV characters. Go and live the life of your dreams.
58. Be the absolute best in what you do. Go for the #1 position in what you do. If you want to spend your time doing something, you might as well be the best in it. Strive for the best – you don’t deserve anything lesser than that.
59. Don’t settle. In the same lines as #58, don’t settle for less. Don’t settle for someone you don’t like as your partner. Don’t settle for a job you don’t like #25). Don’t settle for friends who make you feel like a lesser person (#37). Don’t settle for a weight you are unhappy with. Go for what you really want.
60. Stretch yourself. What are you doing now? How can you achieve more? Set bigger goals. Explore your limits and break them.
61. Embrace new ideas. Don’t mentally limit yourself; Let your mind be a breeding ground for new ideas. Read: 25 Brainstorming Techniques.

    
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62. Create your inspirational haven. Turn your room into a place you love. Do the same for your work desk. Get rid of things that make you unproductive. Surround it with things that inspire you and trigger you to action. Read more: How To Create An Inspiring Room
63. Behave as your ideal self will. All of us have an ideal vision of who we want to be. How is your ideal self like? How can you start to be that ideal self now?
64. Set your role models in life. With role models, you become much better than you can be by yourself. I personally am inspired by Tyra Banks (for her passion for helping women build their self-esteem and changing notions of beauty), Ivanka Trump (for her success, intellect and beauty), Donald Trump (for his success and drive in life), Oprah (for being who she is), Lady Gaga (for her talent and not being afraid to be different), and many more. Seeing them and what they do reminds me of what I can be and what I can do, so they drive me on to greater heights.
65. Get mentors and/or coaches. There’s no faster way to improve than to have someone work with you on your goals. Not only will they drive you to achieve more for yourself, they’ll also share with you important advice which you can use to create even more success for yourself. Many of my clients approach me to coach them and the net result: they achieve significantly more progress and results in their life than if they had worked alone.
66. Uncover your blind spots. The more you uncover, the more you grow, the better you become.
67. Increase your consciousness. The more conscious you are, the more evolved you become.
68. Ask for feedback. As much as we try to uncover our blind spots (#66), there will be areas we cannot identify. Asking for feedback gives us an additional perspective. Some people to approach will be friends, family, colleagues, boss, or even acquaintances, since they will have no preset bias and can give their feedback objectively.
69. Generate passive income. Create passive income streams so your income is not tied to the time you spend on your work. Of course you’ll still continue to work, but only because you want to and not because you have to.
70. Help others live their best lives. There is no better way to grow than to help others grow. Ultimately, the world is one. We are all in this together.
71. Get married / Start your family / Have kids!
72. Improve the world. There are many things in the world that needs your attention and help. Poverty. Disaster recovery. Illiteracy. Children in need. Depleting rainforests. Animal rescue. Endangered species. How can you do your part?


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73. Spearhead a humanitarian cause/organization you are passionate about.
74. Give more value than you receive. There is so much unspeakable joy that comes from giving. And when you keep giving, you’ll find that you actually receive a lot more in return, in spades.
75. Be big picture focus. You can either set your eyes on the big things or get hung up by the nitty gritty details. The former will help you get a lot more out of life than the latter. Focus on the big rocks in life and put first things first (Quadrant 2 tasks). Practice the 80/20 rule – focus on the 20% things that give you the 80% fulfillment in life.
76. Be clear of your end objective. What is the end goal you seek? Is what you’re doing bringing you there? If not, put it aside. As long as you keep taking on things that meets your end goal, you’ll eventually reach there.
77. Go the 80/20 route. For every goal you have, there are different paths to achieve it. Pick out the 80/20 path, i.e. the most effective path that brings you there the fastest with least amount of effort.
78. Prioritize (80/20 actions). As you embark on the 80/20 path for your goals, focus on the important tasks and cut out the less important ones. That means do the 20% actions that give you the 80% results.
79. Live in the moment. Are your thoughts wandering around all the time? Calm your mind down. Be present. The only time you’re ever living is in this moment. Meditation helps to remove mental clutter.
80. Relish in the little moments. Snuggling under warm covers on a rainy day. Ice cream on a hot day. A kiss with your loved one. Being with your best friend. A walk by the park. The breeze on your face. Quiet, alone time. Watching the sun rise/set. Soak in all these little moments of life. They are what make up your life.
81. Take a break. Being the best also requires you to take breaks when needed. Make sure you rest when needed. Doing so lets you walk the longer mile ahead.
82. Stop wanting things a certain way. I wrote a 3-part series before on the downsides of perfectionism and how to overcome them. Be firm on your end goals and your ideals, but let go of the fixation that things have to be a certain way. You’ll realize it’s by doing that that you achieve what you want.

    
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83. Focus on creation.
84. Don’t criticize or judge others. Respect others for who they are.
85. The only person you can change is yourself. Stop expecting others to behave in a certain way. Rather than demand that others around you change, focus on changing yourself. You’ll be happier and live a more fulfilling life this way.
86. Embrace gratitude. Be grateful for everything you have today, and everything you will get in the future.
87. Express gratitude. Let the people who’ve touched you know of your gratitude towards them. You’ll be surprised what a little act like this can do. If you don’t tell them, they’ll never know.
88. Let loose and have fun. Sing at the top of your lungs. Dance in the rain . Run barefoot and feel the ground underneath your feet. Release of your self-imposed shackles and be free .
89. Get into nature. Many of us live in concrete jungles. Soak in the beauty of nature.
90. You have a choice. Recognize you always have a choice in how to live your life.
91. Laugh more . Are you reading this with a straight face? Smile and have fun .
92. Embrace change. The only thing that’s constant is change. Change means growth. Rather than resist change, learn to versatile such that you can make the best out of the changes that come. In fact, become an agent of change.
93. Be more risk-inclined. Don’t be afraid to take risks. The bigger your risks, the bigger your return.
94. Embrace mistakes. The more mistakes you make, the faster you learn. Make sure to draw lessons so you can build on them. (#53)
95. Embrace disappointments. Many people try to avoid feeling disappointed. They develop a resistant relationship with disappointment. However, disappointment is part and parcel of being human – it reflects your real passions. Don’t resist it – instead, embrace it. Understand it, then channel into it to create more in life. Read: How To Overcome Disappointment (4-part series)


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96. Challenge your fears. All of us have fears. Fear of uncertainty, fear of public speaking, fear of risk… All our fears keep us in the same position and prevent us from growing. Rather than avoid your fears, recognize they are the compass for growth. Address and overcome them. Read: How To Overcome Fear (3-Part Series).
97. Maximize your mind, body, heart and soul. Living your best life requires you to maximize yourself mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. If you’re highly successful, very materially abundant, have a big circle of friends, very spiritually aware but you neglect your physical health, that’s not living your life to the fullest. The same for other scenarios where a part of you is blocked off. Maximize all 4 aspects of you.
98. Be your best self. Essentially all the articles here at The Personal Excellence Blog are about being your best self and achieving your highest potential. It’s only through being the best we can be that we live our life to the fullest. This is why the motto of the site is “Be your best self, Live your best life“.
99. Love yourself. You are the person you have to live with for the rest with your life. Treasure and love yourself.
100. Love others. Be grateful for all the people around you because they help you to grow. They enrich your life experience. Without them, your life would not have been the same.
101. Last but not least: Love life. I always find living to be a fascinating experience. How we’re all on earth, with millions of species, 30,000 different life forms, over 7 billion people, and all thriving in its own way, existing, co-existing and in co-creation mode. There’s so much we don’t know out there, so much to be experienced in life, that it’s just wonderful.

The 101 Series

If you like this post, you’ll love the other posts in the 101 series: 101 Things To Do Before You Die and 101 Most Inspiring Quotes of All Time. The posts have also been compiled into ebooks, which are totally free for newsletter subscribers. Subscription is free, so download them immediately by subscribing now.

Upcoming 30 Day Challenge To Live A Better Life

For the month of September, I’ll be organizing a 30 days challenge to live a better life, in accordance with the principles shared in this post. Each day, you’ll have a different activity to do as you live your life to your fullest and you’ll be invited to post your results in the comments area for that day’s post. It’ll be an incredibly fun and exciting challenge! Visit Live A Better Life in 30 Days Challenge to find out more and sign up (it’s 100% free).

Related Posts:

• 30DLBL Day 1 – Your Life Wheel
• 30DLBL Day 6 – What Are Your Life Goals?
• 30DLBL Day 2 – What’s Your Ideal Life?
• Sneak Preview: The Personal Excellence Book (Pre-Order Starts 18 July, Sunday)
• How Are You Faring In Your Life Now?
• The Personal Excellence Book is Officially Up For Purchase!
• When Goals Stop Working
• The Howling Dog Story

Just thought I’ll write a quick post to let you guys know what I’ve been up to.

2 More Free Ebooks For You

Following the huge popularity of the free ebooks (over 10,000 downloads to date!), I just released 2 more free ebooks: How To Be A Dean’s Lister and 1o1 Things To Do Before You Die.

You can download the first book directly off the free ebooks section. The 2nd book requires you to be a TPEB newsletter subscriber first. If you are already a subscriber, simply scroll to the bottom of the latest email newsletter and you’ll find the download link.

Enjoy, and feel free to share the love with others. If you haven’t already, be sure to grab the other 6 free ebooks in the ebooks section. Please retweet and share the link on facebook if you found them useful

Successful Workshop: How To Write Winning Resumes (19 June)

Last Saturday (19 June), I conducted the 2nd run of How To Write Winning Resumes with JobsCentral. The workshop was a complete blast – participants said they had many takeaways and we received near perfect ratings on all metrics- beneficial level, application, speaker, value for money, workshop style, among others!

Participants all felt this was very high value for money and those who attended similar resume/employment workshops before said our workshop is a lot better than the others. 100% of them voted they will recommend this to their friends. Thanks to everyone for coming.

Here are some photos:

Early in the morning – The JobsCentral team getting ready for registrations. Love the bunny mascot!

A quiet classroom – 30 minutes before the workshop commencement

Here we go! Me kicking off and introducing myself to everyone

Participants hard at work There were plenty of hands-on activities and exercises for participants to take away the maximum learnings from what was taught.

Discussions galore within the groups That’s Sushant (closest to the picture with the green number 3), Danny (striped polo tee), Leow (orange), Justin (black) and Devin (white).

One of our participants, Devin, boldly presenting and sharing to the class

Many more pictures at: How To Write Winning Resumes and Achieve Employment Success (TSOPE Facebook Gallery). If you haven’t, be sure to join the Facebook fanpages: The School of Personal Excellence | The Personal Excellence Blog.

Simply Her Feature (July Feature)

My July feature with Simply Her is now out in the news stands . Here’s the behind-the-scenes photoshoot. We had single shots and group shots, and they went ahead with the group shot in the end.

Surf over to the media section for past media features. Thanks to all your kind comments and support at Facebook and at the blog

My 26th Birthday

This Friday, 25 June, marks my 26th birthday . Time really flies – it feels like just a few months ago when I was writing about my 25th birthday.

I won’t be doing anything special for this year’s birthday – just the same old, celebrating with my best friends – watching movies, playing board games, catching up, dining together . And I wouldn’t want it any other way too

Coming Next at TPEB

For the past 1.5 years, I’ve been giving away some of my best content for free at the blog. I wanted to single-mindedly focus on gaining traction and building awareness, and hence did not concern myself with the monetization aspect of business. It is also to level-up myself quickly. This has worked out great – TPEB is now an established name in the personal development blogosphere (thanks to you guys) and readers come here because they recognize the high value of the content.

Now that things are moving along, I’ll be focusing more on the business aspect of my work. Nothing’s going to change on the blog-front – I’ll still continue to write as per normal, with free articles on how to live in excellence and answering questions via Ask Celes. If anything, there will be new, exciting additions – be prepared to see new products packed with extremely high value (books, online courses) and a series of targeted services (1-1 coaching and seminars) designed to meet your needs. It’ll be an exciting period up ahead .

The Personal Excellence Book – Your Handbook To Live Your Best Life

The first product coming up will be The Personal Excellence Book – a compilation of the best articles at The Personal Excellence Blog in the past 2 years. This will be bigger and better than the previous TPEB compilation I offered to newsletter subscribers. I’m considering compiling all the best articles to date in this new series, but that might be an overkill so I’ll evaluate accordingly.

Many readers have suggested that I release a compilation book of the blog, and this is the answer to your requests. On one hand, you have the best of TPEB put together in 1 book conveniently  for your perusal. You’ll be able to read TPEB on the go (on your phone, Kindle, iPador laptop), even without being connected to the internet. You’ll be able to print it out easily and use it as a book. On the other hand, it’s a form of value return for me – the money I earn through this book will support myself, allow me to continue the work I’m doing and enable me to embark more projects to help more people.

Expect to read more on this in a week’s time.

Secrets of Excellence: How To Be The Best In Everything You Do – Unreleased Content

This will be the upcoming book which I’ve been talking about. I’m still writing this as I speak (about 25% done at the moment) and it’s not going to be due for another few months at least. In a way, this is a very early announcement, but I’m just really excited about it and I can’t wait to share it with you

Secrets of Excellence will contain my best content ever yet. I’ll be sharing my best, timeless principles on achieving excellence in life, alongside with my concepts, strategies, personal stories and examples which bring the principles to life. You absolutely cannot miss this .

I’ve not decided whether I’ll be launching this as an ebook, self-publish or go with a publishing house. Each has its own set of pros and cons. I’m still in the evaluation stage – if you have any experience with book publishing and/or you know of any publishing contacts, please feel free to share with me in the comments area or via contact form.

Related Posts:

• Upcoming Workshop: How To Write Winning Resumes (19 June, Sat)
• How To Excel In Your Career Workshop Results (22 May ’10)
• My 25th Birthday! :)
• Sneak Preview: The Personal Excellence Book (Pre-Order Starts 18 July, Sunday)
• The Book of Inspiring Quotes (Free Ebook With Over 300 Quotes!)
• Important: Pre-Order Starts in Less Than 22 Hours
• “Never Work Again” Seminar – Days 3 & 4 Review and Conclusion
• 2009 Reflections: 2 Biggest Things I Learned, 15 Key Highlights and A Big Thank You To You

As a case study, I was asked to offer my career coaching to a brand manager in a local company. The task entailed (1) shadowing her at work for 2 days – from being in meetings, interacting with colleagues, liaising with customers, talking on the phone, giving presentations, etc -, (2) observing how she carried herself in these situations, and (3) coaching on those areas – what were the positive areas, what could be improved, and in the process helping readers learn how to project their best workplace persona.

After the coaching wrapped up, we had a photoshoot as part of the article feature. My past media photoshoots were done in my home, and this was my first media photoshoot in a studio. It was a very fun experience, and the stylists and designers were very fun loving people too .

Here’s some pictures of the photoshoot to share with you guys:

Entrance to Simply Her and Her World Office. These are some of the past covers!

Collage of past features in the magazine

Trying on my clothes and having the designer decide on the outfits for the shoot

Having my hair done. Jacqueline is the hairstylist, while Rachel (the lady with the stripped shirt) is the make-up artist. Check out her make-up kit!

Getting my make-up done

Preparing for the shoot! The lady in green is the designer Sherry, while the photographer is behind setting up the camera.

Lights, camera and smile!!

Closer shot

Changing outfits for the 2nd shoot, which is the group shot

That’s me with Lorraine, who is the brand manager I worked with in the case study . The metal bar-like things are more as placeholders. They will be removed in the final photos.

Me and Lorraine again

Me with Jacqueline, the hairstylist

A sneak peak of one of the shots

Want to see the actual feature article and the outcome of the photoshoot? The feature will be out in the upcoming July issue of Simply Her (which will be out by third week of June, which is next week!). Singapore-based readers – You can grab a copy at local newstands, supermarkets and convenience stores

Thanks Madeline and Lorraine – It has been wonderful working with both of you on this!

Related Posts:

• My Latest Media Coverage in Simply Her Magazine
• Media Coverage in My Paper
• Update: More Free Ebooks, Simply Her July Feature, 26th Birthday and Other News
• EmbraceLiving.Net in Media!
• Media Coverage in ZB Comma
• My Letter To All Of You
• Media Coverage in Lianhe Wanbao (2nd Feature)

Note from Celes: Hello to all new visitors from Problogger, Lifehack.org and CNN.com If you are new here, please check out the start page which will guide you through.

Some of you might have read in some of my earlier posts that I was interviewed by CNN. It’s finally up. The article is on the topic of bucket lists and what it means to different people. I was interviewed to share my take on bucket lists, what it means to me and how it relates to living in excellence.

If you are new here, hello and welcome! Most of you are probably new here. This blog is where I share my personal journey on living life to the fullest. To date there’s over 140 articles, so it can get a little overwhelming. The Welcome page will guide you through the top reader favorites. Feel free to add me on Facebook and Twitter – I’d love to connect with you. Be sure to subscribe to the RSS feed for the latest personal excellence articles.

Here’s the section I was quoted:

Celestine Chua, who has never seen the TV series, came across the bucket list concept while surfing the Internet in 2009.

The 25-year-old from Singapore eventually decided to write her own bucket list, which she shares with the public on her Web site as a reminder to “live every moment to the fullest when you’re in good health.”

Despite already opening her own school for personal development in Singapore and starting an online talk show, Chua said she thinks No. 14, “experience true love,” will be the most challenging goal to accomplish.

“You might think [a bucket list is] just a list of goals, but if you’re really thinking about things you want to see, experience and feel before you die, then the whole concept of setting goals is totally different,” Chua said. “When we start thinking about what we want to do before we die, our goals become totally different. Fall in love, see the Empire State building. That’s the magic of the bucket list — it removes limits.”

They linked to my bucket list in the article, so we are getting a whole stream of visitors from CNN.com now. As I’m writing now, my web server is starting to jam up from the huge influx of traffic.

I know, I mentioned experiencing true love will be the most challenging goal to accomplish. I’m sure many people out there feel the same way too. But hey, I believe as long as we persist in this journey, we will get there

There were other interesting things I discussed with Stephanie (the journalist) during the interview but didn’t make it in the story. For example:

• Everyone’s bucket list will be different, because our bucket list is supposed to reflect the things that mean most to us in living our best life. For example, my list has quirky stuff like riding a camel (#57), dressing up in a costume party (#67 – gosh, I love masquerading! )), swimming with dolphines (#77) etc due to the spontaneous, fun-loving side of me, and then there’s the items that reflect the romantic idealist in me such as flying in a hot air balloon (#58), stargazing (#63), and experiencing true love (#14). Thus, the goal isn’t to get a bucket list that’s the same as mine or his or hers, but to create a bucket list that’s true for you yourself.
• Bucket lists act as a medium to help us live our best life. Hence, it’s important that we don’t get hung up over trying to accomplish our bucket list items that we miss living itself. It’s about the journey of living life to the fullest, every second, every moment.
• After creating our bucket list, our goal shouldn’t be to just complete it. Rather, we should be completing and adding new things to our list continuously. There is absolutely no reason why our bucket list should ever be empty. There is such an incredible wealth of things, events, activities, experiences to witness/go through in life that it’s impossible that we will ever be done with living. This is why my bucket list is never going to be empty. I’m continuously completing and adding on new items that will help me live my life to the fullest.

By the way , #46 of my list is to be featured in international media, which will include CNN. So this interview helped me achieve one of my list items. I feel very blessed. Thanks so much guys for all your ongoing support

Be sure to check out:

• What’s On Your Bucket List? 101 Things To Do Before You Die (a comprehensive article I wrote on bucket lists)
• My Bucket List
• Living as if they had only one day left (CNN Story)

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you!

Related Posts:

• What’s On Your Bucket List? 101 Things To Do Before You Die
• Update: More Free Ebooks, Simply Her July Feature, 26th Birthday and Other News
• 101 Ways To Live Your Life To The Fullest
• How To Know What You Want To Do In Life
• 58 Noteworthy Resolutions For The New Year
• Movies With Important Life Lessons For Us To Learn
• 30DLBL Day 3 – Creating Your Vision Board
• My Latest Media Coverage in Simply Her Magazine

I was approached by the editors a few months ago to provide advice to their readers on how to develop positive thinking (Feb issue) and quick tips to manage your health (Mar issue). Thanks Justina and Madeline for this opportunity!

For a list of my other media coverages, check out the Media section

Related Posts:

• My Photoshoot With Simply Her Magazine (July Issue)
• EmbraceLiving.Net in Media!
• 101 Ways To Live Your Life To The Fullest
• 30DLBL Day 1 – Your Life Wheel
• 30DLBL Day 2 – What’s Your Ideal Life?
• Apply 80/20 to Your Life Now in 3 Simple Steps
• 55 Tips to Manage Work Stress

Me @ Black Sand Beach, Langkawi in Aug this year. I’m wearing the red sandals

Ever since I started pursuing my passion to help others grow in Dec ’08 (it’s been a year!), I’ve been openly sharing myself and my life with everyone – whether its to you on The Personal Excellence Blog, to the media during interviews, to workshop participants, coaching clients, or the world at large. If you read enough through the blog archives and through the media features, you will find all kinds of information about me ranging from general info to what most would deem as private information such as my family background, my previous pay, my previous employer, my personal life, etc.

Why do I share so much of myself with everyone?

Is it about the attention?

No it’s not. Since I was young, I have never cared much about attention. I never understood the point behind popularity contests, whether in schools or in the world. People who know me today would easily refer to me as an extroverted person, but I really see myself as an introvert. Introspection is my necessary daily staple. I often spend copious amount of time to myself and self-reflecting. Give me a choice of whether to talk to ten people at a party or connect with a close friend in a quiet corner, and I’ll readily choose the latter any day.

Is it about the recognition?

Not at all. If so, I would be busy showcasing the polished, socially revered aspects of my life, such as accolades, academic and professional achievements, acclamations from others, and so on. Not putting myself out there with my weaknesses and vulnerabilities – such as the time when I was disappointed, my sentiments and past woes as a single, my early years as a sleepwalker, my not so perfect experience as a perfectionist, or how I used to be an emotionally stingy person.

So what is it for then?

Why do I share so much of myself with you? Why do I bare myself out to the world?

Because I’m driven by a cause that’s greater than me – my passion to help YOU and everyone else out there live your best life.

So, that means if I need to open myself up so I can connect with you, I will do that.

That means if I need to put myself on the media so I can reach out to you and more people with my message, I will do that.

That means if I need to share my worst experiences in life where I was down and out so you can benefit and learn from them, I will do that as well.

It’s all about what it takes to enable YOU to live your best life.

My Confession To You

I realize in the latter half of this year, the blog has steered into a different direction. One where the content has become more fact-driven, where the tone has become more directive and technical, where the sharing is more announcement-based, where the postings have become fewer and further in between. It almost seems as if … I am slowly disconnecting from all of you.

A part of me has been aware of this change in style. Even then, the demands of the offline world have kept me from addressing that. 1-1 coaching, speaking/training, engaging new deals, setting up TSOPE, seeking middle ground with my shareholders, marketing TSOPE… and the like. I’m not putting the blame on any of that though. I take full responsibility for my own neglect of the blog.

A few of you readers have taken the time and effort to reach out to me. You have been reading the blog since the early days when I started, all the way till today. You have sensed something has changed about the writings, but couldn’t exactly pinpoint what. And when you finally dug into it and realized the missing link, you took the time to share your 2 cents with me on what gives. A heartfelt thank you to those of you who have done that. And for those of you who didn’t, it doesn’t matter because your thoughts have found their way to me in some form or another.

Having had proper time to myself the past few days to regroup myself for the year 2010, I came to several important realizations. One of them is realizing what has taken me away from the blog. In trying to realign myself with different philosophies of others around me, I have lost touch with my inner self, which was ironic because I was trying not to let it happen. The other realization is *really* realizing that I have no intentions to deviate away from the blog or from you guys. I first started my journey with my blog with the intention to reach out to all of you out there and I’m not about to stop anytime soon, if at all. Once a blogger, always a blogger.

To all of you who may have been alienated by the (lack of) postings in the past few months, I’m sorry about it. And here’s the good news – I’M BACK!!!! I’m back – the full, real, uncensored Celes, and I’m going to be here to stay.

This past one year, I have but shared only a fraction of my personal self in my quest to help everyone of us live our best life. I have found that the most powerful posts that have ignited change and transformations in others are the ones where I have shared my deepest and darkest aspects of myself and my life. Those weren’t particularly easy to type out and share with the world, but because I know someone was bound to benefit from the sharing, I had gone ahead, typed them and clicked the “publish” button any way in WordPress. And the feedback I’d received have always affirmed that it was the right decision.

Moving forward, I want to share even more of myself to all of you guys. There are so many stories which I have yet to share, many thoughts I have yet to bare and many reflections I have not had the chance to tell you. And I’m looking forward to doing so in the very near future, whether through the blog, online talkshow (2010), or whatever mediums there are out there I can use to reach out to you. From here on now, what you are going to see is even more of the real, true, authentic Celes. No holds barred, no limitations, no restrictions. Be prepared for a lot more personal sharing from me to you from now on. It’s just me, yours truly.

In the meantime, I’m writing up a 2009 reflections article as the last article for 2009. Stay tuned for that real soon

Related Posts:

• My Letter To All Of You
• 101 Ways To Live Your Life To The Fullest
• Sneak Preview: The Personal Excellence Book (Pre-Order Starts 18 July, Sunday)
• My Experience with Disappointment and How I Overcame It
• 30DLBL Day 6 – What Are Your Life Goals?
• Update: More Free Ebooks, Simply Her July Feature, 26th Birthday and Other News
• 25 Most Inspirational Songs of All Time
• Two Important Things that Led to My Discovery of My Real Purpose

2010: Starting My Talkshow

A few weeks ago, I was just thinking about the developments thus far since I started pursuing my passion last year. I started off with the blog in Dec ’08, expanded to 1-1 coaching officially in March ’09, followed by speaking after that. Just last month, I began to actively give workshops, reaching out to people on an even broader scale. Regional expansion is in the plans for the next year, followed by intentional expansion.

I pondered aloud on what are other things I could do in order to reach out to an even larger audience. This is when the idea of a talkshow hit me. Something that’s Oprah Winfrey / Tyra Banks-esque. With a talkshow, it’s going to allow me to reach out to even more people than whatever mediums I’m using right now (with the exception of the blog). Not to mention that people who can’t afford my 1-1 coaching or workshops can still have access to what I have to offer. I can only imagine this will be a more impactful medium than any other mediums I have been utilizing so far, and the thought of it just excites me thoroughly!

Honestly, I have to say I’ve never had another idea that’s as vividly and deeply etched into my mind as this before! It’s been hovering my mind ever since it sprung in my head a few weeks ago.

At the moment, I’m letting this idea brew in my head as I focus on writing my book. For sure, this is going to be one of my top priority goals for 2010. LD One of my current ideas is perhaps to start it off as a blog TV, while working towards the end vision of a broadcasted talkshow like Tyra Banks Show (by the way, Tyra Banks is one of the few inspirational figures in my life). Of course, if any of you have any ideas, thoughts or even opportunities, please feel free to contact me as well!

My Latest Seminars & Workshops

If any of you are curious about my latest seminars, workshops or speeches, you can drop by The School of Personal Excellence website at TSOPE.net. All my latest engagements are updated in real time on the right menu. Additionally, pictures of my latest events and workshops will also be posted as updates on the site (the latest being my workshop at Pioneer Junior College on 22 / 28 Oct). My intention is to use The Personal Excellence Blog as the medium to share my thoughts and perspectives on how to live our best life through writings and articles. TSOPE.net will be the channel where I share my latest updates, workshops, and developments at the school.

Latest Media Coverages

As the final update for this post, here’s a quick sharing of the latest media coverage I have received, in conjunction with the launch of TSOPE last month:

• Radio 938 LIVE - Radio 938 Live is Singapore’s only news-talk radio station. I was interviewed in The Living Room with Stanley Leong, who is the programme producer and host in the 1 hour segment (about 20 minutes, removing the commercial and news segments). The topic was Passion and Money – my story of why & how I pursued my passion, my learnings along the way and tips for readers to do the same as well.
• Today – This article is on the wired generation and how they’re taking business to the online platform. I was featured as one of the online entrepreneurs in the wired generation
• Lianhe Wanbao – The Lianhe Wanbao feature covers my story and also my life coaching work. It referenced me as a female strategist “Zhu Ge Liang” – Zhu Ge Liang was a very prominent and intelligent military strategist from Chinese history. Definitely a compliment to be analogized with him

Podcast Interview

Audio Interview with Vincent from HealthMoneySuccess.com (24 minutes long). Vincent is a Singaporean personal development blogger, and he has some great content at his blog which you should check out!

Thanks so much to all of you for your continuous support and I honestly love every single one of you. One of the items on my bucket list is to arrange for a mass party/gathering where all the visitors of the blog can get together and know each other in a positive, consciousness-raising environment. That’s something I’ll work towards for 2010 (I gather a good portion of you are not from Singapore, so I’ll bear that in mind and see how I can arrange around that)

Related Posts:

• My Upcoming Talkshow – The Celes Show
• Launch of The School of Personal Excellence
• How To Excel In Your Career Workshop Results (22 May ’10)
• Update: What I’ve Been Up To (Sep ’09)
• Update: More Free Ebooks, Simply Her July Feature, 26th Birthday and Other News
• Pictures of The School of Personal Excellence
• Upcoming Workshop: How To Write Winning Resumes (19 June, Sat)