Category: Daily Writing Prompts

Today, tell a story through a series of anecdotes (also called vignettes): short, episodic scenes or moments that together read as variations on the same theme. They can each be as short or long as you see fit — they don’t have to be the same length — but they need a common feature to tie them together, whether it’s a repeated phrase, a similar setting, a literary device, or the appearance of the same person.

I remember the first time I used the phrase, I was teaching some friends how to do a backflip. It was back in high school around 2007. I had learned how to land one after three months of training, once a week for 2-3 hours per session. Now, a handful of my friends were asking me to help train them.

“I can’t do it, it’s just so difficult,” my friend said.

“Not with THAT attitude… 😏” I retorted.
In college, I was trying to convince my close dancer friend to audition for a competitive collegiate dance team with me. The audition process, we heard, was extremely difficult. 

Better dancers than us didn’t make it past the audition process. Not only that, we were competing against more experienced and talented dancers for a handful of coveted spots. It took her a full week of convincing and spamming across several mediums (text, Facebook, and a few others).

She kept giving me the same excuse, “I don’t think I’m good enough!”

“Not with THAT attitude! 😏” I said mockingly.

Interestingly enough, that was our team name for the audition, and we both made the team!😁
Whenever someone tells me they can’t do something, my automatic response is to give them the catchphrase I’m wildly known for:

“Not with THAT attitude!”

Today, let a map be your muse. Select an area anywhere in the world on Google Maps (or your preferred online map tool), or a section on a paper map, and use this as inspiration for your post.

For this post I wanted to use my hometown of Fremont, CA. Particularly, this is the area where I grew up for most of my life until I graduated from high school.

I’ve numbered the map using Snapchat as an image editor, haha 😂 #resourcefulness 

1. This is where I went to Elementary school at Warm Springs Elementary. I also lived with my stepdad, grandparents, and some aunts and uncles in the house. We lived here until about mid-elementary school.
2. We moved to this small apartment in an older part of Fremont on Thornton Ave. I remember taking a couple of hours after school to take the public bus home. I would take one bus to the BART station then transfer to the line that took me home. At this point, my CD player filled with my anime OST was my best friend haha. I listened to music a lot.
3. From middle school to high school, we moved in with this guy my mom married to an apartment closer to school. During high school after my little brother Jacob was born, we moved to this house across the street from my high school, Irvington HS. It was super convenient being able to walk to school in 5 minutes 👍🏼
4. When I left to Irvine for college, my mom moved out of David’s house after they were separated and moved to Mission Blvd into a small apartment with my sister. When I came home for breaks, I would stay there with them. My brother would also be with my mom for a couple hours until his dad picked him up.
5. From mid college until I moved back home, my sister moved into an apartment on Automall (which I consider the center of Fremont as I know it). I would stay with my dad when I came back and also moved in with them for the year after I graduated college. I would go to work in SJ, workout with my dad at the gym down the street, and sleep on the living room couch. I did this for almost a year until I paid off all my student loans.

Since then, I’ve been in SoCal for two years, my mom moved back in with Jacob’s dad, my sister took over my dads apartment and lives with roommates, and my dad and step mom and brother Daniel live in Santa Clara. 

All in all, the Bay Area has always been my home and I can’t see that changing, no matter how far I live or where I travel 🌎❤️🏡

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, comments, personal insights, or even feedback, I’d love to hear them in the comments! I read and respond to every comment 🙂

Today’s prompt:

“We read to know we’re not alone.”
— William Nicholson, Shadowlands

Tell us about a book that opened your eyes when you were young.

Describe a life-changing experience with a book.

Over 2 years ago I stumbled upon this bookstore while living in DC. This little red book 📕 caught my eye, so I picked it up and started reading it. Little did I know, this exact moment is when I discovered #personaldevelopment which would open up many opportunities for me in the future. Since then I’ve read over 40 books 📚 to help me grow into the person I want to become. #alwaysastudent #neverstoplearning #selfimprovement #selfeducation #investinknowledge

A photo posted by J.R. “Pulse” Yonocruz (@yolocruz) on Oct 22, 2015 at 9:20am PDT

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My Instagram post pretty much sums up my first encounter with personal development and self-directed learning.

I was working at a government agency in DC right out of college for a summer. While wandering around, I came across a Barnes and Noble and decided to kill time by browsing books.

In a moment of serendipity, I stumbled upon a featured book on a bookshelf about eye-level. It had a bright red cover and a catchy title.

The book was “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.

I picked up the book and started to skim a chapter or two. I remember thinking as I opened the book that I might be able to learn a some useful tactics I could apply to my career.

Two hours later, I was so immersed into the book and gained so much value out of the principles. It gave me so many “ah-ha!” moments about human psychology and people-skills.

Long story short I left the bookstore with two things:

1. The idea that people skills, once sufficiently developed, practiced, and mastered, is one of the most useful and highest paying skills across many inustries.
2. My own personal copy of the book 😁📕

Since then, I’ve recommended the book to many of my closest friends and family, I’ve become addicted to daily self-education, and the practice has led me to have the most intellectual conversations with other people.

To this day, I’m still a huge advocate of reading and personal development. I believe that as this blog develops, it’ll start to incorporate personal development into its core. I am very passionate about helping people grow and learn to achieve what they believe is important to them. 

Thank you for reading! As always, I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. I read and respond to every comment 😁

Today’s prompt:

Write a post that takes place during a single day. Start at any point! The story can begin when you woke up, the middle of the day, or the end of the day.

• Structure your post as a play-by-play (or hour-by-hour) account, complete with time markers.
• Limit yourself even more: tell a story about one hour of your chosen day.
• Talk about how one particular day changed your life.

A couple weekends ago, my girlfriend and I went rock climbing / bouldering at Sender One gym. We had purchased a Groupon for two for an hour-long beginner class that included all-day access to the gym.

Needless to say, we were excited. Neither of us had ever been but it was always on a list of activities we wanted to do together.

The check-in process wasn’t as smooth as I would’ve expected. We gave one associate our Groupon to scan, only to have another worker ask for it again. Diana had to go back to the car to retrieve it a second time.

As it got closer to our class time, probably 2 minutes before, we noticed everyone else had their harnesses and shoes on while nobody gave us ours. We hurriedly asked and finally got an attendant to assist us.

The lady asked for our shoe sizes, disappeared into the back room, and then reappeared with our gear. She said the climbing shoes ran small so we got one size higher. Even then, my shoes were painfully small.

We go to one of the training areas and began to learn how to tie a double figure-8 knot (I forgot the name), and then a fisherman’s knot. Both relatively easy to learn.

After that, we learned the correct form to belay with our partner. Not too much of a challenge.

At this point, the knuckle on my toes were in so much pain I had to go back to the front desk and get a size higher. Better, but still a bit too tight for my liking.

Next, we alternated climbing and belaying. Diana went first, I went second.

When I was up, I jokingly asked Diana if she could keep up with me 😉 As soon as we got the signal to start, I began racing up as fast as I could.

Halfway to the top, I noticed there was a lot of slack on my rope. I glanced down and saw our instructor helping her out with her form. I guess she was having some trouble since she was still getting used to the form.

At that moment, I remembered that I’m actually pretty afraid of heights. I committed to not looking down and kept at a slow pace. 

When I finally reached the top, I had anxiety about letting go and rappelling back down. Eventually, I made it down safely. However, I decided I would stick to bouldering the rest of the time 😅.

Overall, it was a fun experience and I wouldn’t be surprised if we went to a climbing gym again! 😁

Thanks for reading! As always, feel free to leave comments as I read and respond to all of them 🙂