Hi, I’m Melissa Chu and I’m the founder and writer behind Jumpstart Your Dream Life.
To describe myself in three words, I’m a:
Writer. I write on building good habits and improving the quality of our personal and work lives to over 1,800 email subscribers. I’m also a contributor to Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and The Huffington Post.
Traveler. I’ve been to four of the seven continents so far (the Americas, Europe, and Asia). My favorite country that I’ve visited so far is Japan.
Life-long learner. I always have a book or two on hand that I’m reading. Specifically, I enjoy learning about our behavior as individuals, groups of people, and societies.
Jumpstart Your Dream Life focuses on helping people achieve their goals by managing their time and being more productive. Getting things done is not just about “working harder” (although hard work is a component to success), but also approaching tasks methodically and with a focused strategy.
I believe that smart, ambitious people should aim to achieve big goals by taking small, manageable steps in order to be happier, more productive and successful.
A little background
Back when I was in first year of university, I stepped into a large Psychology class. As soon as I began reading the material, I became immersed in learning about behavior and what motivates people to take action.
Fast forward to a couple years later, and I was in business school. My interest had grown from purely behavioral psychology to its applications in the real world. What makes successful people different from others? What drives someone to pursue a large goal, versus someone who says they want to do something, but never gets around to it?
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not just about trying harder and staying motivated. These things work for only a temporary period of time. In order to sustain the same level of dedication, successful people have a process that they use. The concept of overnight success is also a myth that undermines the effort put into producing something. The skills and knowledge needed to attain mastery in anything takes years to develop, with many setbacks.
Today, I’ll show you about managing setbacks, and the process for achieving what you want by taking actionable steps.