Now that Singapore’s Circuit Breaker has entered Phase 2, with limited openings of certain establishments, I suppose we could say that we are starting to get back to some sense of ‘normal’.

Perhaps this is a time to take stock of what I’ve done over the past 2 months or so.

The main achievement?

I produced 4 sets of curriculum/content.

Namely,

1) Forensic Investigative Skills

The original purpose for this one is for the school market, of course. This will be put to use in July, as long as schools remain open.

That said, I think that it will be both useful and fun for adults as well. The skills, after all, are used in our everyday lives - information gathering, observation, problem solving, and so on.

I’ll have to see who I can talk to to get this started.

2) Health Science

Again, this was made for the school market, but can be useful for those who have aged parents and/or children to take care of.

3) Harnessing Your Quiet Strengths

Now, this one has a little story behind it. It was originally developed for Introverts Network Asia (INA), but things have tapered off for this, so I never finished it, leaving it half done.

I decided to just finish it up. At least I now have a set of curriculum ready to go should I need it, either live or, perhaps, as an online course.

It is, as expected, aimed at introverts and helping them to make use of the strengths that they perhaps regard as insignificant, but are actually highly valuable.

I see this as an accompaniment to The Introvert Teacher, and intend to have them linked together.

4) 4D Your Message

This is my take on communication skills, slightly angled towards newer educators/trainers, but can definitely be used by anyone who wants to get their message out.

This, too, has a story behind it. It was originally conceived for online delivery as part of an initiative by an organisation. But, as with the previous set of content, this, too, fizzled out.

I decided to just have it finished up.

My main thought at the moment is figuring out how to bring these things to more people once Circuit Breaker properly ends.

I've considered online training, but the activities, especially for the first two, are best done live. I could potentially redesign them, but it’s A LOT of work.

Alternatively, I could have them converted to videos and sell an online course. I’m not sure yet.

I’m also finishing up a project I started 2 years or so ago - my book on gem buying, titled A Gem of a Deal.

The good news is:

A Gem of a Deal is NEARLY finished! Yay!

Here’s a cover I designed for it. It may not be the final version, but I’ll use it for now.

I’ll put more information up on Loupin Jewels.

Yes, I designed it myself. Photoshop and Illustrator. ;)

Photographing gems!

It’s quite a long story behind this, but I’ve started to photograph gems again. This time, the results look pretty good, even if I do say so myself.

And, of course, I’ve been collating some of my old photos.

It’s been a fairly productive couple of months, I’d say.

Here’s to an even more productive 2 months ahead!

2019 isn’t quite over yet. And yet, there have been some significant differences between this year and the previous.

When this year started, I set myself a task to complete - to build new and maintain current relationships.

I started this because of a book that I read that profoundly affected my thinking.

Essentially, it reminded me that I could not live a life completely devoid of other people, at least not if I wanted to live a meaningful life.

Now, this all sounds really cliché and ‘obvious’.

I do have to give a bit of an explanation.

My tendency is to avoid human contact - mainly because I find people draining to be around. As such, I can go for tremendously long periods without interacting with another human being, even an online one - something most people find very odd.

As a result of this tendency, I have neglected a lot of relationships and avoided cultivating new ones.

It culminated in a year that felt extraordinarily low and depressing. That was 2018.

I didn’t want a repeat of that. Thus, I made a commitment to myself to do something about my relationships in 2019.

Was I fully successful? Likely not.

And yet, I know that I have put in a significant amount of effort and time into building up some of my relationships this year. And I’m glad to say that I have the improved relationships to show for it.

In terms of career / work, I’d say that this year was not great, but it was much better than last year. I’d also say that, through the building of relationships this year, I have set up a number of projects for next year. So I fully expect that 2020 will be an even better year!

I’ve been very inactive on social media this year, having gotten rather jaded with the whole content mill thing.

I have nothing against people who can consistently and comfortably put up useful and engaging content, but those who cannot need to stop trying so hard. I’ve lost count of the number of people I’ve blocked or removed from social media this year because their posts were annoying / inane. Clearly, they’ve been advised by someone to do it. And, truth be told, it’s not doing them favours.

Well, at this point, these are my main thoughts about 2019. Signing off until the next post!