No super you

You have a Ph.D degree. You have a MBA degree.

Obviously, you have mastered more knowledge in many ways. You may be assigned to an important position: profession, director. You are the boss to many people.

You give directions, you help other’s to do better at work. You may boss around others.

However,

You are only as good as your team.

You are not a super person to do everything, to be everything. You success are depending on your team’s success.

Build up a better team, this is where you need to put your energy and effort on.

Sensible is glue

You are not happy about colleague A who bad mouthed you behind your back.

When you talked to colleague B, you almost mentioned how terrible A was… suddenly you realize if you do this, you are no difference from A. You know that gossips at work are killers for trust, killers for productivity.

You are a sensible person.

We need more sensible people at work to build better relationships.

Sensible in action is reflection of professionalism.

Sensible is glue at work, at home and among friends.

Immersion program becomes popular

I know a number of Chinese friends who spoke Chinglish when they first arrived the North American countries in 1990s.

Because they learned English from their Chinese English teachers. They did not have experience to practice the English and did not know how to use it properly.

English immersion programs become very popular in China now. Students going to the programs have to use what they learn, because they have native speakers to talk to.

Learning if good, but enough. You have to use it.

Having insights are good. You have to test them and apply them to your action and life.

Learning by doing is a better way to master, develop what you.

Realize your vulnerability

You have all the passion and energy and dedication to make this project work. You work 12-16 hours a day for nine months…

One day, you suddenly broke down by just one loudly No from your colleague, your teammate. He said No to you when you demanded his action, and he commented that you are not capable of doing what you do in front of your team – 20 colleagues.

“How could he do this to me? He is supposed to be my loyal workmate.” You felt lost face, like an imposter, and felt humiliated by wrongful comments…

You wanted to know why.

After many conversations, dialogues, and a few sleepless weeks, you learned that it’s the fear of change brought your colleague’s rebel. It got little to do with you.

However, by being wrongly accused it somewhat made you feel that you no longer need to pretend to know everything any more. The ego you had is disappearing. You feel much more breathable, more freedom coming to your way.

You break free.

You don’t need to pretend to be something you are not.

You don’t need to live other’s life, begin to live truly.

You don’t need to worry making mistakes.

You have stretched and grown more.

Vulnerability makes you stronger, braver, more present.

Sh*t happens

You walk on the road with good mood. And you step on a pile of sh*t by accident.

What would be your reaction?

Will you curse the sh*t? Will you blame your bad luck? Will you be going mad about it?

You probably say No to all the questions. It’s just a pile of lifeless sh*i after all.

What about something unpleasant and dirty staff happened to you at work?

Well, sh*i happens!

Laugh at it, forget it, and move on.

You have so much fun in life than a pile of sh*t.

Speak the truth

To speak the truth saves money, resources, and it’s more effective and efficient.

But, it’s very hard for us to speak truth. It demands courage.

It took courage to tell that The emporia had no cloth on.

It needs an honest and frank and innocent mind to speak the truth.

We have many “The emporia’s new cloth” moments. These test our courage, character, and capability to tell the truth.

To change a culture, it needs you tell the truth from a small thing. Every change starts from one step at a time.

However, speaking truth cant be measured by small steps or big steps. Speaking the truth is reflection of your character and courage. It is a step to make a difference in the world.

The price of serendipity

Serendipities happen.

We wish they happen to us as well.

Actually serendipities can happen to you.

However, every serendipity happens for a reason.

The reason is that you have prepared for it. You’ve done essential homework. Even tough you may not be aware of this.

To have serendipities happen to you, you can start to write down any random bits come to your mind and write them down. This is an essential process for serendipity.

The price of serendipity is the preparation.

Chance favors the prepared mind.

Your choice: which to keep, which to stop

To be better, to do better and to be success all need you to make a tough choice: which one is to keep, which one is to stop.

Oprah Winfrey said, “One of the hardest things in life to learn is which bridges to cross and which bridges to burn.”

To be better, you need to learn new things and new skills, grow new muscles, find new trails.

Therefore, you need abandon old habits, say NO to certain things, give up for things do not work for you: give up a project, give up a relationship, give up a friend…

To do better, it requires you to keep growing your courage to fight imposter syndrome, to be brave, to implement your action plan and be diligent.

Therefore, stop blaming yourself, stop complaining, focus on your process and enjoy it.

To be success, it requires you to be clear on what you will keep and what you will stop doing.

Therefore, do a regular reflection and check those “keeps” and “stops”.

Rome is not built on one day. It’s your choice to get it built the way you want.

Sense of well-being

How often do you feel fulfilled and happy?

Is it possible to have a long lasting well-being?

Spiritual practitioners have found that it is possible to be at ease with society, in the world for no reason. However, it needs deliberated effort to cross the self limited boundary to get there.

This is a very good news for us, the ordinary people.

It means we have capability to be aware of the moment that we can allow us, direct us, persuade ourselves to explore a better mentality. We just need constant practice.

We control our own worthiness.

We control our sense of well-being, even though it may come a few moments at a time.

The other one

She could not move her eyes off the nearby colleagues in the office, especially the one sitting right across a walkway from her, lady D.

She determined that lady D was her biggest competition. Because of lady D, she did not get promoted, and did not get the big bonus she thought she could get.

She got upset when their boss gave a new project to lady D, not to her. She felt her whole day got ruined because of lady D could argue with their boss and dared say No to certain assignments.

“How dare she? I even can’t beg for an assignment.” She thought.

She could not stand the way lady D talked to their boss. She recorded the time lady D came to the office secretly and got mad when lady D left early and came late.

She thought this is unfair.

One day, lady D left the office for good. She moved to another city with her husband.

Suddenly, she felt empty and hungry, something was missing.

After a while, she realized there were holes in her life.

“Who am I? What do I want? What makes me happy?”

She began her soul searching and self-discovery journey.

After two years of coaching, learning, self reflection, She has realized that her competition in life is not the other one, not lady D.

Her competition is herself.

Her biggest competition is herself.

Her future competition is herself as well.