Book Review - My Side of Life

My Side of Life

by Shane Filan

Having been a massive Westlife fan since I was little, when Shane Filan announced his first solo UK tour I had to get tickets. It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. When he announced his book I had to read it. It was a Christmas present from my Mum, and I've finally finished it. So here's my book review.

I was only 7 or 8 when Westlife started to get noticed, at that point I was never particularly interested in how they got to be famous, and I've never really thought about it since. This book gave a great insight into how the band got to where they are and the difficulties they faced. I never knew about the original band members who were kicked, and how close Shane was to being kicked out. I was really interesting to read and finally understand the history behind a band who'd played a big part in my life.

Compared to other autobiographies I've read, I didn't think this was written as well, but he's a singer not a writer so I'm not going to dwell on that too much. He's given everyone access into his life and thoughts, and I respect him for that. After what he's been through, it was a very brave thing to release.

The book opened my eyes to not only how life was in Westlife, the struggles they faced at different points in their careers, and their relationships with each other, but how the business world was working just before and during the financial crash.

I've studied the economic crisis of 2008/2009 as part of my degree, and I've understood how it happened, the effect etc. But it wasn't until I read this I realised how bad it got for some people. To work hard to get the life you want for your family, and see it all pulled away from you must have been heartbreaking for Shane.

I felt very sorry for the whole family towards the end of the book. They hadn't been stupid and wasted their money away on flash holidays, drugs etc. They'd tried to be sensible and invest but everything came down around them. They lost the castle they'd built in seconds. No one should have to go through that.

At the end of the book Shane talks about his solo career, and how loosing everything actually was good in some ways. It was great to see that despite everything, he's seeing the positives and using his own experiences to build a new career.

A brilliant read if you're a Westlife/Shane fan, but I think it would be interesting to hear from the other boys and compare stories to see what everyone thought of their time together.

Sarah x

Song Sunday - Uptown Funk

It's been a while since a Song Sunday, and rather than doing them every week I'm going to aim for one a month. So here goes. The first one of 2015.

Uptown Funk

Mark Ronson Feat. Bruno Mars

I LOVE this song. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars make a brilliant team. It is so upbeat and energetic I can't help but sing and dance a long. I can't get sick of it either. I've spent weeks of listening to it over and over again at dance as we've rehearsed to it, spent 40 mins one morning constantly listening to it as I got ready for work, had it on repeat in the car for ages and I still love it. Give it a listen, I'm sure you'll be up dancing within seconds.

Sarah x

College Motivation

Last Saturday I started back at college for my final module on my CIMA Managerial level. Combining work and studying is hard, as is forcing myself to get ready for college on cold Saturday mornings when I'd much rather be curled up in the warmth of my bed. But over the years I've learnt ways of keeping myself motivated.

To anyone out there struggling to keep their interest in college/studying, here's my top 5 tips to help:

Tip 1 - Remember why you're doing it

The best way to keep yourself going through everything is to remember why you're doing it. It's a bit harder when you're at school and you don't have much choice but to be at school and do exams, but during your A-Levels, Degree, Professional Qualifications keeping an idea of your end goal will keep you focused. It could be the thought of getting your dream job at the end, or getting onto the degree of your choice, or just to make your parents proud.

Tip 2 - Work at the best time for you

I study best on an afternoon, when I've had a good lie-in and know that after studying I still have time to do stuff for myself. I focus much more and work much harder than I do when I come in from work and start studying after dinner. I'm tired, I get distracted and loose interest very quickly. But everyone is different. Figure out when you work best and work during this time.

Tip 3 - Reward Yourself

Give yourself little rewards every so often. They don't have to be expensive rewards, if you're on a budget either. Treat yourself to watching a film or reading a few chapters of a non-study related book for every 2 chapters of a text book you read. Or treat yourself to a night out if you get so many practice questions right or complete a mock exam paper.

Tip 4 - Draw Up a Study Plan and Stick To it

Study plans are vital if you're balancing more than just one class or job. Start by making a list of all your deadlines and work backwards from there. Ask yourself what do you need to learn/do, how long it will take and by when. Having all this information means you can draw up a study plan which fits with all your other commitments. Once you have one, make sure you stick to it. If you don't, and you miss a session, you might struggle to catch back up.

Tip 5 - Make it Enjoyable

It's easy for me to say 'make it enjoyable' when I know how boring studying can be. But there are little ways to make it that bit more fun for you.

I like to read but I can't just sit and read a college text book. Unless it's something absolutely fascinating I get too distracted too easily. To keep me focused and give myself a little enjoyment I like to make notes from the book and with a set of coloured fine liners I'm quite happy to spent a good few hours doing work. Whereas, you might find studying with your friends fun and a good way to learn.

These are just my tips, learnt from my experiences. Everyone is different, but maybe something here will help you. Good luck with your studies.

Sarah x

Learning from my mistake...

At work today I discovered a mistake that I can't believe I made. There's something I do every month that I forgot to do in November. As a result I've made our financial position look £126k worse than what it actually is. Majorly stupid mistake!

My excuse is that I came back to work from study leave in November with 5 days in which to catch up on 2 weeks worth of work, do all my month end prep work, and write off over 500 lines from one of our registers. Whilst all this was going on I finally completed on my flat and picked up my house keys. There was so much going on around that time that I just completely missed doing this one thing.

I did the sensible thing and admitted my mistake to my senior manager when I discovered it. Thankfully he didn't mind as much as I thought he might, but his words "Big mistake, you need to be more careful" are now playing over and over in my mind.

He's completely right though. It was a big mistake, and I do need to be more careful. So it's time to stop making excuses. Excuses don't fix things. I made a mistake, same as everyone else does, and it's time to learn from it and move on. So tomorrow I'm making the effort to get into work early, fix mistakes and prove to both my managers that this was a one-off and won't happen again.

If you find yourself in a similar position where you've discovered a mistake, here's my 4 step plan to dealing with mistakes:

1. Admit you did something wrong - you can't learn from a mistake if you don't acknowledge it happened.

2. Understand why it was a mistake - did you forget something, make a bad decision, neglect something, have too much to drink on a night out.

3. Figure out how to fix it - Say you're sorry, mend whatever is broken, explain why you did something, do anything you need to do to fix what you did.

4. Learn from it - What do you need to change to stop the same happening in the future.

A mistake is only a mistake if you don't learn from it.

Sarah x

My 2015 Reading List

A resolution for 2015 is to read more, and this year I want to read at least 12 books. This may not seem much but in between work, college and seeing my friends/family there's not much time left for fun reading.

My Goodreads want to read list (you can see it here) gets longer and longer every few week as my friend's recommend more amazing books, but here's what I'd to read and review in 2015.

1. My Side of Life: The Autobiography - Shane Filan

2. City of Bones (Mortal Instruments) - Cassandra Clare

3. Cruel Beauty - Rosamund Hodge

4. Stranger - Megan Hart

5. Since You've Been Gone - Morgan Matson

6. Angel of Storms (Millennium's Rule Trilogy) - Trudi Canvan

7. Sweet Addiction - Jessica Daniels

8. Dinner with a Vampire (The Dark Heroine) - Abigail Gibbs

9. Dorothy Must Die - Danielle Paige

10. City of Stairs - Robert Jackson Bennett

11. Famous in Love - Rebecca Serle

12. The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician Trilogy) - Charlie N. Holmberg

My list isn't in order, and isn't set in stone. I know that if I fall in love with a series I'll probably read all of those before moving onto something new, but I'm optimistic that the reading bug will get me this year and I'll read a lot more than previous years.

If you have any suggestions you think I may like comment below, I'd love to hear what you're reading!

Sarah x