Sometimes the Best Practice is to Ignore the Best Practices
Because they might not be the best for you.
I’m someone who usually sticks to the book.
Whenever I want to learn or do something new, I search for courses or instructions to ensure I'm doing it the 'best way'. It seems like a smart approach, right?
When I started singing and cooking, I was a complete novice—my singing was so bad, my friends begged me to stop. I didn’t care and I kept at it because it made me happy. I have never looked up ‘best practices’ for either.
Over time, I got surprisingly good at both. The approach from then to today remains joyful and playful, allowing me to experiment and laugh at my mistakes.
Once I start focusing on best practices, everything changes.
There's a flood of guidelines to follow, making it hard to keep up. It also creates a constant feeling of inadequacy as I compare myself to an ideal standard.
This rigidity takes the fun out of the process, leaving little room for personal discovery.
I've found this true in many areas—Instagram content creation, blogging, my newsletter, dancing, and fitness. Strictly following best practices often leads to overwhelm or boredom.
While some best practices are necessary in certain systems, I believe we should allow ourselves more freedom to enjoy the process if we want to engage in activities sustainably and joyfully.
This realization has shifted how I approach building my body of work.
I stopped stressing about finding a niche and started sharing stories that truly matter to me. I chose post frequencies and formats that felt right, and while I might plan and strategize later, right now, I’m focusing on creating from the heart. The rest will follow.
Blog
Consistency with my blog has always been a struggle because it felt like too much work. This week, I asked myself, “What do I genuinely want to share and why?”
The answer didn’t align with best practices, but it excited me: I want to use my blog to document my journey as a creator, sharing daily thoughts and experiences—essentially, an old-school blog.
Who would read it? That’s a fair question. But when I tried to adhere to best practices, I ended up not publishing anything at all. So, no one was reading anyway.
Curiosity Corner
"Curiosity is the key to creativity and joy. Explore the world with wonder and happiness will follow."
Since I’m not naturally curious, I’ll pursue and share one new curiosity each week as a practice—no matter how utterly useless it might be!
This week it was calligraphy! This was long overdue and it was so fun and calming!!!
Little Joys
“Joy is always around if only we pause to acknowledge it.”
With life's burdens and big ambitions, it's easy to overlook our everyday joys. Let's practice noticing them together?
I had my mom over for 2 days. Prepared her 3 meals and 2 teas each day without her having to ask. She had a great time and so did I.
My friend went from being laid off from a mundane corporate job to becoming a passionate yoga teacher in 2 months! I attended one of his classes and felt super happy and proud.
Instead of beating myself up on the days (it was 3 days this week!) I didn’t feel like doing work, I let myself relax and disassociate completely.
I worked out 6/7 days this week.
I shared a reel on passion and success whose script I have been sitting on for a month and it did well! I did not expect so many people to relate and the comments have my heart!
Beautiful writing Nivetha :) As you have expressed rightly, creating content from the heart is truly satisfying than anything else :)
You're a gift to this world Nivetha! Your curiosity, creativity and your experiments with joy all of it is so awe inspiring. Glad to have you along in this journey of creation together.