What is sure to become a weekly thing, here’s the first edition of a Post Round-up where I share three articles I’ve come across in my travels on the internet. For each post I’ll let you know why I’m sharing it and what I took away from it, as well as of course linking to it so you can read it on your own. If you have any thoughts on the posts/blogs/articles I share, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section! The images seen here are those used in the respective post.

For those with work/career related dilemmas: An Open Letter to People Who Don’t Know What They Want to Do

Honestly, I hate the question “What do you want to do with your life?” but as I’m finishing up my undergraduate degree it’s something I’ve been asking myself a lot. While my answer changes fairly often, I usually end up back in square one having little to no idea of what direction I’m heading in (or want to head in, for that matter). Vincent Nguyen of personal development blog Self Stairway knows precisely what I mean. This post won’t answer the question for you but it helps you think of ways to get started in finding what you want to do with your life from a work perspective. You can’t figure out what hobbies you enjoy by talking to people on LinkedIn but networking and putting yourself out there might help you figure out what sort of work calls out to you. Talking to people in “the industry” (whichever industry you choose) about what their daily lives are like and how their work influences their lives will help you get a better understanding of whether or not that’s something you want to get into. Had I talked to people in the automotive industry, I undoubtedly would have saved myself three and a half years worth of headaches and grief.

For those who don’t live for their careers: Before Breakfast – Some Alternative Thoughts on Productivity

In this post on Medium (my new favorite site to find thought-provoking and interesting opinion articles), Tara Sophia Mohr comments on an article originally published in Inc. Magazine titled “12 Things Successful People Do Before Breakfast.” Many of you have probably seen similar posts across the Internet listing things that successful people do that would benefit anyone who tried them out. Many of these articles, however, explain why people do them only in terms of quantitative success. Sex burns calories, meditating clears your mind so you can tackle the day, exercising is daunting but necessary. This list goes on and on. What Mohr examines in her post, however is why sane/happy/successful people, in her opinion, do these things — for personal benefit. Not everyone plans their day around advancing their careers. Many of us do what needs to get done not only with work but with our sanity. I don’t meditate to clear my mind for work, I meditate to be more in tune with myself and recenter my frame of mind when things become overwhelming. With all the business-focused self-improvement posts out there, it’s refreshing to read posts such as Mohr’s to remember that doing things for yourself and not your job is alright.

For those who can’t get into meditation: 5 Meditation Tips for People Who Don’t (Yet) Like to Meditate

I really like the website Tiny Buddha and you’ll probably see a lot of posts from there in these post round-ups of mine. Most of the posts I enjoy from there are about finding inner peace and slowing down the mind, as well as finding time to do so, as Sarah Rudell Beach in this article explains. When thinking about what you can do to help improve your life, you’ve probably considered meditation at one point or another but haven’t gotten into it yet. Why spend time sitting around doing nothing when you could be doing something productive? I felt the same way, since being productive is one of my favorite things to be, until I realized that I’m pretty much worthless when my brain isn’t where I want it. The problem with meditation is that it more often than not is difficult. I’m still nowhere near good at it but I continue on because it’s helping me become more mindful and self aware, something that helps me when I’m dealing with my anxiety. Beach’s post comments on the most common reasons why people can’t seem to get into meditation and stay with it and is definitely worth the read if you’re someone who hasn’t been able to get into the habit of meditating yet could benefit from it (hint: most of you could benefit from it).