A rare privilege Having the chance to be expatriated by a large organisation is a privilege. The opportunities to grow professionally and personally are almost unlimited… you are exposed to other cultures and realities… you get to travel the world… and the financial rewards are usually pretty enticing. It’s a privilege to be a corporate expatriate I was a corporate …
Always busy? Perhaps you can stretch time…
We all have 24 hours A famous quip states that “we all have 24 hours a day”, implying that what differentiates people in pursuing goals is how they choose to spend their time. While true enough in a literal sense, you can ‘stretch time’ by making better use of it. And this of course is even more necessary when we …
New Year Resolutions? Take a Leap of Faith…
Forget elusive new year resolutions I have always counted myself among the large number of people who make resolutions to better themselves around this time of year. I’ve always known, of course, that the rate at which these so-called “new year resolutions” fail is high. Yet somehow I believed I would beat the odds and achieve all those elusive goals. …
Power of Exploratory Talking
Pushing beyond your comfort zone I am an introvert. While I love engaging conversations with people I know on topics I enjoy, I always find social interaction with strangers difficult. Polite social conversation, or ‘small talk’, is something I dread. Quite often, my inclination is to seek solitude and pursue my own interests undisturbed by ‘the need’ to talk to …
Charms and Dangers of Procrastination
The big ‘P’ It happens to all of us to some extent… we succumb to the charms and dangers of procrastination. We defer doing those things that we know we must do yet for some reason don’t want to do. The reason may be easier or harder to understand. It may be that we dislike the activity, or are afraid …
Powerful Change through Conscious Living
Living on autopilot When was the last time you stopped and thought to yourself “why did I just do that?” It might have been in response to something someone said or did, or to something you just watched on your smartphone, or maybe even to a sound or smell that brought back a memory. Whatever happened, if the thought of …
Finding the Perfect Balance
The paradox When I think of a blissful existence, I imagine enjoying every moment of every day while at the same time building what I aim for in the future. Yet how can this be? On the one hand, why seek change if I am happy with myself, my relationships, my achievements, my contributions to others? On the other hand, …
Fear of Vulnerability?
The superhero-model For a long time, I associated very negative connotations to the word vulnerability. I defined being vulnerable as exposing myself to possible emotional harm. The potential consequences of being vulnerable included rejection, ridicule, and various symptoms of undesirable public attention. I had a true fear of vulnerability. I imagine many people have felt this way at some stage. …
Power of Lifelong Learning
I have always had a passion for knowledge. I learn simply for the sake of knowing. But as I became more established in life most of my learning became focused on my immediate professional needs. I told myself this was natural and necessary. Looking back now, I am not so sure this was healthy. In effect, I stopped leveraging the …