I am Rida Tahir, an Instructional Designer by profession and a freelance writer and artist by passion. I hold a Bachelors of Science in Psychology and write about personal growth, psychology, mental health and well-being, thinking and learning, marriage and relationships, motherhood and parenting and social justice issues like women rights, women empowerment and domestic violence.

I am a hopelessly curious lifelong learner with a wide variety of interests ranging from philosophy, social/cognitive/behavioral and positive psychology, sociology, anthropology, education and animal behavior to reading, writing, painting, sketching, crafts, and digital illustration.

I live in Germany with my husband and son.

About Second Quadrant Living (SQL)

Stephen Covey talked about a matrix of time management in his best-selling book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. Basically, every action or activity can be classified by how urgent or how important it is. The matrix has four quadrants (Read more about The 4 Quadrants of Time Management):

1. Quadrant 1: Important and Urgent – Crises and Emergencies
   
2. Quadrant 2: Important but Not Urgent – Prevention, Planning, and Improvement
   
3. Quadrant 3: Not Important but Urgent – Interruptions and Busy Work
   
4. Quadrant 4: Not Important and Not Urgent – Time Wasters
   

So based on the level of urgency and importance, Quadrant 2 is where most of our time and energy should be focused i.e. in prevention, planning and improving. That’s where I got the name for this website because this website is about our endless pursuit of personal growth i.e. as a person, a life partner, a parent, a son/daughter, a sibling, a friend, a lifelong learner, a thinker and as a human being, where I explore questions about life and problems we all face in our daily lives. 

The overarching theme and the central question I explore through my writing is “How can we think better, learn better, love better, live better and be better?”

My articles focus on:

1. Thinking and learning
   
2. Psychology
   
3. Mental health and wellbeing
   
4. Personal growth and development
   
5. Marriage and relationships
   
6. Motherhood and parenting
   
7. Social justice
   

…all of which are Quadrant 2 areas.

I want to share everything I've learned from life, reading and psychology, in a way that’s not only simple and easy to understand, but also relatable and useful for all of you.

My writing style is simple, straightforward and easy to understand. I try to avoid jargon and when I do use it, I explain it for the readers.

Sometimes my writing can be offensive or ranty, sometimes even preachy, but it will never have vague platitudes and empty rhetoric; it will always offer practical advice and strategies that you can put to use in your own life.

P.S: I hate ads, so Second Quadrant Living is and will always be ad-free to avoid annoying the hell out of my readers.

I would love to hear from you, so feel free to contact me and share your thoughts or feedback. You can reach me via email at [email protected].

If you enjoy reading my articles, please support my work by following me on Facebook and Instagram.