Introducing the #HashtagYourLife system

Go on, put your finger on it …

What specific areas of your life would you improve, if you could?

I don’t mean big-picture stuff, like ‘health’ and ‘motivation’ and ‘wealth’. I mean very specifically, what would you improve, if you could?

  • “I get stuck on decisions through analysis-paralysis”
  • “I over-think events, and complicate my life”
  • “I’m too easily offended by people with opposing views”
  • “People mis-interpret what I’m saying”
  • “My good habits never seem to stick”
  • “The more stressed I get, the worse my decisions get”
  • “I become overwhelmed with life, and just don’t know what to do next”

If some of this is familiar, then #HashtagYourLife is perfect for you. Using the power of stories (and some discussion), it will help you immediately identify specific sticking points in your life, it will discuss the how-and-why of those situations, and it will present the best responses for you, for when it happens again.

Read as much of this page as you need to understand, then go to the stories

So … how much detail do you need to understand #HashtagYourLife well enough to begin significantly improving your life now?

We start off with simple explanations, and then add more detail the further down you read. Maybe you’re OK just reading the super-short description before you dive into the full collection. Or maybe you’d like to take in this whole page first. You decide!

Super-short Descriptions

Here it is, in 1 sentence …

Go to the story collection and choose one or more pages to read – enjoy each story, and think about the points in the discussion that follows. Simple 🙂

Are 2 keywords enough to understand the system?

Or we can summarize as follows: #HashtagYourLife will improve your world by giving you perspective, and making you more effective.

 

Download the free mini-book called “#HYL in Action”, and subscribe to our free newsletter so you won’t miss any new chapters, and will get all the additional information that isn’t uploaded to the site. Subscribe now!

 

Medium-length Description

Consider the following steps which you can follow, to get a feel of how you can immediately be benefitting from #HashtagYourLife:

  • Pick a chapter from the full collection and read the story. Enjoy it
  • (It might be the title that draws you in, or the picture, or you might just choose the most recently published chapter)
  • Remember the name of the story, which will allow you to bring the anecdote and its essence to mind in future, as easily as you use #hashtags to label things in social media
  • Then delve into the discussion about the core theme of the story, and what this means and why it happens. Read the examples of how this #hashtag plays out in the real world, and where you are likely to be experiencing this yourself
  • Think through the “making it personal” instructions on how this #hashtag is relevant to your life, remembering examples of where you’ve done the same thing, or had the same thing done to you
  • Finally, understand what the best approach is when it happens again, and start responding better to life.

The #hashtag-stories are designed to reflect situations that are common in your life. They could be sticking points or moments of uncertainty or stress. The more stories you read and the more #hashtags you remember, the more you will be able to get clarity on your own life, as those situations arise. And of course by then, you will also know how best to deal with each of those situations.

You can decide if you just want to fix one tiny aspect of your life (and then read the rest of the stories for fun). Or you can decide to implement a much wider range of improvements through understanding a larger number of #hashtag-stories.

“You take the [purple] pill, you stay in [the #HashtagYourLife system], and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”  (With apologies to Morpheus.)

 

Download the free mini-book called “#HYL in Action”, and subscribe to our free newsletter so you won’t miss any new chapters, and will get all the additional information that isn’t uploaded to the site. Subscribe now!

 

A Detailed Description

Imagine now, after reading this page, that you realise there is a better way. Not just knowing there is a better way – you already know that – but feeling deeply that there is a better way that feels right to you.

A better way to understand the world around you, and to understand the dynamics between you and the people you interact with. A better way to make decisions, and to stop your over-thinking. A better way to communicate, both in terms of clarity of message as well as in terms of having that message remembered. And a better way because it’s fun & interesting to learn and apply.

#HashtagYourLife is exactly that system.

It gives you all the benefits you felt above. In fact, because you can choose to implement just one tiny ‘piece’ of the system, or you can climb right in and make large-scale broad-ranging application of the #hashtag-story system, you get to decide what benefits you want to take out of it, and how far to go. Well done!

The Concept: tags

It’s such a simple idea that it might take a moment to appreciate how powerful and flexible it really is.

But when you understand the basics, and see how the concept has already been used in so many places – although in a non-systematic way (unlike how we do things here) – you will easily appreciate how much better your life could be if you start to use this #HashtagYourLife system.

  • Have you ever sat in a meeting feeling a little “out of your league”, and the phrase “imposter syndrome” pops into your head? And then you immediately appreciate why you’re feeling the way you are, and so can deal with it right there
  • Or perhaps your friend started in a new job, and was experiencing imposter syndrome without realising it, and you provided clarity by simply telling this friend two words: “imposter syndrome” and they immediately got it
  • Isn’t it amazing that through his book “Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus”, John Gray has given us a language where certain behaviours can be condensed down to just two words: Mars or Venus? And you could even communicate certain observations about a person’s behaviour by simply referencing ‘Mars’ or ‘Venus’ (regardless of the gender of the person)
  • Perhaps you’ve already experienced personal insights through the Myers-Briggs system (you can communicate a lot by telling someone that you’re ‘INTJ’). Or you might know your partner is a ‘Driver’ under the Merrill-Wilson system. Or you can immediately improve your relationship by having a label for his preferred love language (“The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman)
  • Have you used (or heard being used) a simple reference to the biblical parable of “Building houses on rock or sand” and been able to make your point without actually having to tell the whole parable?

The more you think about it, the more you realise that tagging is a very powerful way of communicating concepts and techniques to people (and to yourself!) in quick, simple, and effective terms.

The Concept: stories

Stories have always played an essential role for people and within societies, so it’s no surprise that they are core to the #HashtagYourLife system.

  • We love hearing stories, especially when they’re well written
  • We use stories to socialise with others (“You won’t believe what happened to me at lunch today!”)
  • Parents use stories to teach children lessons (“Little Red Riding didn’t listen to her mommy, she spoke to a stranger … and look what happened!”)
  • Stories are fundamental to selling, and there are a huge number of books out there that teach you how to use stories to sell better
  • And good stories are “sticky’, which means their core message will be shared and remembered.

Every chapter of the #HashtagYourLife system starts with a story. At the very least you’re welcome to read the story, enjoy it, and secretly laugh at me and the silly situations I’ve got myself into over the years. If you choose to understand the essence of the story, and perhaps the most effective ways of responding to such situations, then feel free to continue reading the rest of each chapter.

The Concept: lessons

Following each #hashtag-story, I write about the main theme that it presents. I give examples of where that ‘core’ has occurred elsewhere in my life, and other examples of where I’ve used the #hashtag-story to either help myself or others to respond better to that situation.

We face moments every day where we often don’t actually appreciate the nature of the situation we’re in. And so we are often confused about what the best way is to respond, or we spend time over-thinking our responses, knowing we could do so much better. We cover this all in every chapter.

Then after the discussion about the concepts and the essence, there’s a separate section about “making it personal”, where you are guided to think about where situations like this have been happening in your life, without your realising it. It makes suggestions on how you could be dealing with these scenarios, and indeed how you could communicate with others to help them as they struggle through these situations.

And by the end of the chapter, you will remember the story, and you will know the #hashtag to be used to flag this situation in future – either to yourself or to others. You will understand what the best way is of dealing with these moments when you face them. And you will have considered this #hashtag in the context of your own life, to be able to tell how common it is for you, and how much better things could be.

Keep on improving

Download the free mini-book called “#HYL in Action”, and subscribe to our free newsletter so you won’t miss any new chapters, and will get all the additional information that isn’t uploaded to the site. Subscribe now!

 

Summary (TL;DR)

Read as many chapters as you want – the stories are actually really good. It won’t be difficult to remember the #hashtag of the story, so let that happen naturally. Read the discussion and understand what the essence of the story is, and notice all the ways this appears in the real world, without you realising the connection. Learn the best way of responding to each such situation, and consider how you can improve your life by flagging this scenario each time it happens in your life.

 

Relevant stories

Here are some short chapters you could start with – to get a feel for how you can start using them, and when to apply them. (Of course there are many more chapters, so feel free to read around to find ones that speak to your specific challenges and goals.)

Let today be the day you take active steps to get your life under control. Make things better, starting now.

 

Download the free mini-book called “#HYL in Action”, and subscribe to our free newsletter so you won’t miss any new chapters, and will get all the additional information that isn’t uploaded to the site. Subscribe now!

 

Keywords

#HashtagYourLife  #perspective  #effective  #SelfImprovement  #PersonalDevelopment  #stories  #StoryTelling