life philosophy

Four Key Elements of Life

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I came across a cool definition of life accidentally while doing some research on the MarketingSherpa for my business. It defines the four key element of life.  Before I read what it was, I thought perhaps it’s family, work, friends, and community. Many of us think of our life in these buckets. I was pleasantly surprised to find a much better, and thought provoking definition. ...  read more

Annual Salary Needed to be Happy

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What annual salary do you need to be happy?  $1 million?  $200K? $100K+?.  Well the answer according to a wide range of research is even lower – around $40K to $75K a year.   Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University, says once you have enough money to meet basic needs – food, shelter, but not necessarily cable —incremental increases have little effect on your happiness. ...  read more

The key is not thinking

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We are paid to think – literally.  Companies pay us thousand of dollars for our ability to think and solve problems.  So naturally our brain is wired to think, evaluate, compare, devise solutions.  It’s a blessing and a curse. I realize at times, I forget to turn off my brain and also think, analyze, and compare too much when it comes to life.  Life is to be experienced and enjoyed but not over-analyzed. ...  read more

Believe in Yourself – You are “Beautiful”

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This post is not about external appearances.  This post is inspired by a recent show I saw onVH1 called Storytellers: Christina Aguilera.  It’s in a format where a music artist sings to a small group, and talks to the group about herself, her music, and her inspirations.  Christina’s story about her song “Beautiful” really caught my attention. ...  read more

Decide to Have a Good Day

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The last few weeks have been stressful.  I have been juggling five projects/initiatives at the same time on a 32 hours a week schedule. Unexpected project issues are coming up left and right; requirements are misunderstood; customer experience risks are newly uncovered, etc…

The end result is I have been taking my stress home after work.  Thinking about issues in the shower and waking up with solutions to yet another unexpected problem.  My daughter runs to greet me in the morning and sometimes I feel half there because I am already planning in my head how to tackle the day.  Some days I don’t even feel like going to work.  Does any of this sound familiar? ...  read more

Choose Life Over Work Now

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What is your reaction when you see this post title?  Is your response “of course, I have a very good work life balance”?  Or is your response “I wish I could, but I have to work a lot to make money, get ahead, take care of family.  I have to wait to enjoy life later.  What choice do I have”?  If you are more like the latter, this is a story for you. ...  read more

Definition of Success

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I was taught the definition of success in business school.  We just finished 4 weeks of pre-term (refresher courses on math, accounting etc..) before my official 1st year at Wharton began.  My accounting professor used most of the time in our last class to give us a lecture on success and what it means. ...  read more