Workout Objective: Speak up when you are not required to, while feeling uncomfortable – improve your confidence and work reputation.
Lei’s 2013 Experiences
Every year seem to go by faster and faster. Do you feel that too? Well, it’s New Year’s Eve Day and it’s time to look back and take stock of what happened in 2013. It’s my way to slow down today and be grateful for 2013.
At the beginning of this year, I decided to make 2013 about experiences instead of goals. Now I can look back and appreciate all the new and challenging experiences I had this year. Some are big and some are small. All of them taught me something new. As you will see, it’s a work in progress for many experiences. Life is about the journey and not the destination, right? ...
Soft Skills – Note to Self: Shut Up and Take Action
It is New Year’s Eve day. I am supposed to be happy and excited. Instead I wake up very agitated. My mind is teeming with negative thoughts. I have been sick for two weeks. I feel behind. I feel unaccomplished. I feel tired even though I just got a full night’s sleep.
Then I catch myself. I realize that, because I have not done much for my soft skills blog lately, the voice in my head is scolding me. Negative thoughts fill my mind. I feel deflated. These feelings had been building up for a few days already. I knew I had to do something to break this pattern. Instead of letting my negative thoughts control me, I decided to go for a run and de-stress a little. ...
How to Find More Time and Live a “Why Not” Life
Do you ever find yourself wishing that you had more time to do the things you love? I work almost full time, have 2 kids, a household to manage, and I write this blog and newsletter in my “spare time.” Since I juggle all of this, I ask myself this question often, wishing I had 30 hours a day instead of 24 hours. If you can identify at all with this question, I highly recommend watching this 11 min video by Kevin Smith, who answers this exact question with humor and passion. ...
How to Stop Lack of Confidence
A reader recently asked, via email, “How can one make up for a lack of self-confidence? How do I beat this nasty character flaw?” Having self-confidence is integral to building Inner Excellence, so I thought this would be a good time to address this question.
First, let me start by telling you a story: ...
M.A.P. to Career Success
As I look back on my career, I have noticed a pattern to my success — every time I achieved something, three components were in play: Mindset, Action, and erseverance – more easily remembered as a M.A.P..
In this article, I’m going to explain what each part involves, along with some examples of each. I hope this framework and my stories below can support you in your career success journey. ...
How to Manage Millennials on Your Team
It’s my distinct pleasure to introduce our first Executive Author, Kate Lin (pen name). Kate has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and over 20 years of work experience. In the last 2 years, she has had extensive experience managing Millennials (aka recent college graduates) in her operations team. Here are her insights and tips on: ...