Say Yes – When You Usually Say No

I know it’s well into the New Year, but I am still pondering what to do differently this year to take my life to the next level.  Here is one idea I am implementing – Say Yes, when I usually say no.

I am realizing, if I want to grow in life and at work.

  • I need to go outside of my comfort zone
  • I need to do things differently than I usually do.
  • I need to take new chances and learn from new experiences

Why?  Because the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”   Even with that understanding, many of us have a harder and harder time saying yes to new experiences.   We have so many bad concepts in our head like ...  read more

What Kind of “Sugar” Can You Contribute?

I can’t stop watching this video.  It just make me feel so good about life and people.  My husband showed it to us a few weeks ago.  Now my kids and I watch it almost every day and dance to it in pure joy.

So why am I share this on my career blog?  Well, it made think about the true meaning of success and a challenge for all of you. ...  read more

Who Would You Rather Be – Elsa or Anna?

Lei:  I am excited to introduce a new Executive Author to our Soft Skills Gym – Cindy Wong-Zarahn.  I only met Cindy last year but feel like we have been old friends for years.  She has close to 20 years of experience in the corporate world with plenty of battle scars as well as very sage advice.  I already personally benefited from her advice for my own career. Click here to read her bio and why she wants to join our community.  You can also follow Cindy on twitter @CZarahn    ...  read more

Lei’s New Year Aspiration – Enjoy Life

enjoy-life

Happy New Year everyone!  Hope you all had a great holiday or at least one that was better than mine.   I can’t believe it’s 2015.  Usually I love holidays as it gives me time to relax, regroup, and faced the new year with renewed energy.  I didn’t have such luck this holiday season.  Work was super stressful and I didn’t have as much time with the family as I would have liked. ...  read more

I Almost Forgot to Enjoy the Holidays

happy holidays 2014

Wow, it’s already Christmas week and I barely had any time to enjoy it.  I have been rushing around for the last few weeks – so much to do and so little time.  Do you know the feeling?  Well, I am realizing it’s self-imposed.  I want to do everything and fit it all in.  In the meantime, I am forgetting to enjoy any of it. ...  read more

How to Better Communicate Work Status to Your Boss – 4 Tips

boss communication

Effective communication with your boss is essential to your career success.  One of the things your boss will always want is proactive communication of your work status & progress.  It will show that you are on top of your work and you respect him enough to keep him informed.

This not always easy.   Below is a situation a Soft Skills Gym member faced.  What would you do if you were him?  Share your comments below.  He agreed to let me share it in case his situation and my advice can  help you learn how to better communicate work status with your boss. ...  read more

How to Be 10% Happier at Work?

how to be happy at work

This article on how to be 10% happier at work is inspired by reading a blog post Penelope Trunk wrote on How to Love the Job You Have – Focus on One Good Thing.    It was a touching personal story and it sparked an epiphany in my mind – we often spend too much time focusing our thoughts and speech on what we don’t like about our jobs vs. what we do like. ...  read more