Life Lessons from Hubpages: A 100th Hub Special
In everything that I do, I make sure I take home little nuggets of learning. Hubpages is no different. In a little over a year, I've met fascinating people, read a variety of topics, wrote my own and most importantly learned a lot.
The past 99 hubs provided experiences that broadened my perspective – not just on writing but on life itself. Allow me to share some life lessons from this community.
Focus on what matters to you
I am a full-time father and husband, the rest is simply clutter. Don’t get me wrong, I do have a job that requires my attention. It is important to me. But everything seems to pale compared to being a dad and a husband. For those who know me in Hubpages, I often write about customer service, business, organizational development, sales and a host of other topics that reflect what I do and my expertise. I often read works of writers with the same interest. But recently, especially when my baby was born last May 24, 2011, I've noticed a change in my hub habits. I spend more time reading and asking questions about parenting. I even found myself writing more about my experiences as a new dad.
Hubpages allows us to discover what matters most to us. Whether we read about it, answer questions or write about it, we will find ourselves going back to topics that are close to our hearts.
Through Hubpages, you can enrich your life by focusing on the things that mater most to you. In life we pay attention to what is important to us. That is how we grow and improve.
Share your ideas on some of my favorite hubs
Expand your knowledge
It’s difficult to find someone who is not good at anything. It does not matter if it’s an obscure talent or a skill that everyone knows. Everyone knows something.
Like everything else in life, things are constantly changing – some we neglect to see, others change right in front of us. As such, we need to expand our knowledge. The depth and breadth of what we know allows us to grow. We develop to become better at what we do – as professionals, skilled workers, father, husband, wife, mother or what ever role you take on. The hats we wear will benefit from our constant pursuit or knowledge.
Knowledge is truly empowering. As I've written before, I believe that we are given many blessings to become blessings to others. This goes the same for knowledge. The more we know, the more we can help others.
Learn from others
As a corollary of the previous, we need to learn from others. The community boasts of exemplary writers. Also, it provides a wide range of topics that interest every niche. The truth is I search first in Hubpages before I use search engines. Here, I am confident that what I will get are not spun articles that are half-heartedly done.
Hubpages is a community where we learn from each other. In life or in Hubpages, learning from others provides us with a fresh new look into old topics, discover new subjects not previously discussed, and even expound on current knowledge. The dynamism of knowledge offers everyone growth. It is up to us to take advantage of every learning opportunity and make it work for our own needs.
Share
This is more than just clicking the “share with followers” button (although that can be really helpful). It’s about giving your opinions and knowledge through hubs and answers. It is really surprising how much I've learned because many hubbers share. True, it can increase readership of articles but what is important is the continuous flow of information.
Perhaps you’re like me who keeps on going back to particular authors for their latest writing exploits. I enjoy their wit and depth of knowledge and I appreciate learning from them. During many of my seminars and training, I often tell my participants to surround themselves with people who they think are more intelligent, knowledgeable and skillful than they are. This is a great way to learn. Here, I get to surround myself with experts and constantly learn from them. So let me thank you all for the information you have given me.
I encourage everyone to share. You’ll never know whose life you will touch and change.
Acknowledge others
Whether it’s about Google’s new algorithm or intellectual property rights, acknowledging others is paramount in Hubpages. Proper citing of sources, image sources and the like is something all hubbers are constantly reminded to do. But crediting others goes beyond this community’s rules.
Acknowledging others allow us to give tribute to the efforts of others. In the corporate setup, it’s an effective and cost-efficient way of motivating people. In parenting, it helps empower children and family members. Creating meaningful relationships also entail the need to acknowledge others.
So as you can see, as writers in this community we are taught to value and empower others.
Be polite and respectful
I've read somewhere that Hubpages is just a mutual admiration club where everyone simply gives positive comments and reactions. At first that was an impression I had after reading a few works and comments. But as I become more active in the community, I get to see people openly share their views even if it’s different from the author’s. But what is fascinating is the politeness and respect that many hubbers have when giving a different point of view or disagreeing with the author. Of course there are still a few who can be tactless, but the polite and respectful still outnumber those that aren't.
Furthermore, I’m, sure you've seen forums and comments with vulgarity masked by special characters of the keyboard. Although that’s a mainstay in many other communities, I’m proud to say that many if not most here are truly polite and respectful.
We will always encounter people with a different point of view or we may hit a nerve every now and then. However, there is a proper way and a wrong way of engaging in these situations. When in doubt, always side with politeness and respect – you can’t get wrong with that.
As my 100th hub, I offer this to my daughter, Yna who just turned 1 last May 24. My hub habits have changed since she was born. What I write, what I read and what I ask have changed. It is clear that my family is my priority. I’m a full time dad and husband and I love it.