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A post-holiday Gentle Reminder to Keep Your Peace You just had a holiday and returned to work. The photo albums in your phone remind you of the funny moments, but your mood changes when you open the inbox. How did you feel when you came back from a holiday as a junior? How do you feel now when you are in a senior role? For me, I felt it changed from fully refreshed to partially recharged. What about you? The demands on a leader are very different from those on a junior. Al

A choice between feeling the same and slightly different. We often say ‘back to reality’ after a holiday because it feels like we are going back to the same work situation. Photo by CarrieArtsy After recharging, we can continue doing what we have been doing, as the same person. With the same thinking, same actions, and same feelings. If you feel fulfilled, that works well. If not, that’s an opportunity not just to refresh but re-establish an updated version of you when you s

Something more than a book that I finished reading after 15 years How many books have you bought but have not read? Photo by CarrieArtsy Every time you see the pile of new books waiting to be read, you feel guilty. That feeling of buying books and not reading them is common for many busy leaders. I experienced that many times. This time I found a way to finish reading a book I meant to read 15 years ago. The book i trashed and picked up again I love many Apple products. I ad

An Effortless Idea to Recharge Your Youthful Energy At work, you could be a Team Leader, Department Head, or a CEO. You play your role with so much energy that you feel exhausted after work. You know you want to play your parent well, but you have little energy left. When you are at home, you are disciplined to stop working and accompany your children to play. You check the box of ‘spend time with kids’ for the long-term goal of ‘be a good parent’. But physical presence doe

THE WISDOM YOU GET WHEN DOING SOMETHING DIFFERENT What kind of holiday do you normally choose? If you are a leader who has a demanding job, I bet you like a good hotel vacation. You feel relaxed, recharged, and refreshed. Then you're back to reality keeping the same routine. What if you chose something different? It's normal to choose a no-need-to-think holiday because it's easy, reliable, and stress-free. I get it. I have done it too. Yet the more we do that, the more we thi

7 Signs You Are Having A Holiday But Not Really What are the sneaky detours you take while you're on holiday? Photo by CarrieArtsy Whether you're traveling with family, friends, or on your own, you want to make the most of your vacation. As a leader, you always plan ahead. Yet there's always something you didn't plan and still find yourself doing. The 7 Sneaky Detours If they bring you joy, that's great. What if they don't? If they are about the trip, that's understandable. W

It's not solved by thinking in your head Perhaps... A friend is teaching part-time at a university. A colleague is a freelance photographer. Your sibling runs a YouTube channel. Some do this alongside their leadership jobs. Some worked in corporate and switched. It seems there are so many more possibilities right now; if you can think of it, you can do it. Sensing, not thinking You've listened to podcasts, watched videos, and read books about alternative work options. There a

The four resources to look at I remember when I was a C-suite leader. During a weekend, I would finally get a moment to check my personal emails and read a blog like this. It was a precious breathing space to get inspiration for what's possible outside a job. Exploration is not Expectation If you are into exploring options, do you have anything in mind? I guess being an entrepreneur is one of them. There is no shortage of those zero-to-million-dollar stories. The blanket medi

This 15-minute exercise will help you figure it out You want another option in case you lose your job. But you're not sure what to explore, or what will actually work. And you worry if it doesn't work, you'll have wasted the little time and energy you have outside work. So you sit in a limbo. Wanting to explore. Unable to move. Ideas are everywhere. Clarity isn't With layoffs happening everywhere, more and more people are suggesting you quit your 9-to-5 job to explore your wh

The REASONS WHY a Stable JOB DOES NOT mean having a STABLE career There is a neighborhood restaurant that you go to often. You know the boss and the staff. You enjoy chatting with them. You love eating their fluffy, creamy scrambled eggs, and the toast smells really nice. You feel at home when you go there for years. It's so popular that it used to have a long queue. Due to the economic downturn, you noticed fewer people queuing at the restaurant, but you believed they would

A Step-by-Step Transition Is YOur Best Bet Is there an activity you love doing after work? One activity you’ve kept investing more and more effort into over the years? If you do, you are already building a career option. Building options without knowing I know a leader who built a successful career to become a sales director for leading fashion brands. He loved doing yoga to release stress. But then he got more into it and took a 200-hour yoga teacher course to advance his sk

The approach beyond a binary problem “I don’t want to leave the job yet.” You are not happy. You know you should consider leaving. You have been thinking about it, but you haven’t taken action. The UNCERTAINTY of what's next wins over the certainty of your current familiar job, even if that familiarity comes with more and more discomfort. Are you in this position? You have been in this company for years. You have achieved massive success that made you proud and got you to

3 Questions to Take You to a Better CaREER Position You know the company is not doing very well as before. You have heard from your colleagues that a counterpart in another country was hit by layoffs. The first time you heard about it, you felt worried. After hearing similar news again and again, nothing happened to your function. You then told yourself it might not happen to you so soon and stopped worrying about it. Over time, you worked as usual and forgot that. You think

Here is A Method to help you make better decisions Decision-making is easy when it comes to buying a drink. You know what you want. The risk of failure is low. When it comes to high-stakes decisions: changing careers, or moving countries, we can feel paralysed by the possibilities, considerations, and consequences. Particularly when parts of the outcome feel like dreams come true, and parts of it are hard to take. High-stakes decisions are hard because they involve more com

The 3 Hidden Costs That are OVERLOOKED "I just need to get through this year." I often hear this from leaders when they talk about their job. As you know, every business decision has TANGIBLE and INTANGIBLE costs; it's the same for us. When leaders decide to get through this year for their job, the intangible cost is often overlooked. And if they are not well managed, that unpreparedness can be costly. The FIVE comfort beliefs In my conversations with senior leaders, I hea

How often do you hear someone’s job has been impacted in recent years? Years ago, I have been a top performer in many organisations - the one who delivered results and transformed companies. I never thought restructuring would impact me. Until it did. And the most shocking realisation? Great performance does not guarantee a safe career path. What if it happens to you? Would you prefer to regain control of your career path, or leave it to the last minute to react? Why Great P

One Practical Tool FOR LEADERS TO DISCOVER MORE Often, when it comes to introducing ourselves, we talk about our job title and the company we work for. The repeated saying made us believe that is our core identity. And it's not true. The moment when we leave our job, due to burnout or layoff, we have no work to do, no one to report to, no team to lead, we lose the sense of direction and identity. We ponder 'Who are you?" The feeling of loss is driven by the fact that we spen

ONE SMALL SHIFT YOU CAN DO TO OVERCOME THAT Are you spending time on something you truly want to do ? If not, you are wasting your precious effort. If yes, there is no wastage because EVERY EFFORT IS A GAIN. Every time you put some effort into pursuing your goal, you are making a commitment to yourself and signalling to yourself to honour your needs. And during the process, you'll LEARN and GROW through hands-on experience. That will build your capability for future success

One question you need to think through to find your possibilities. Are you a high achiever who always delivers top-quality work, crack complex problems, and smash business goals? Congratulations! That must not be easy. You managed to make it happen and enjoy deep satisfaction and rewards. Until one day, you suddenly feel they don't bring you as much satisfaction as before: you feel most emails and meetings are more and more pointless you notice something out of alignment with

THE 4 GUIDING PRINCIPLES TO GROW WITH AI (or ANY NEW TECHNOLOGY) Breathe. Keep calm and read on. Everyone shares the same worry of AI, so you are not alone. Every time a new technology emerges, many senior executives get excited (and nervous) about… What is it? How can it be used to improve company performance? Will our competitors use it faster than we? If we don’t use it, will we be losing out? Will it affect the business and even my leadership role? The moment we fear we