self discovery Archives - Soft Skills

Achieving Work Life Balance – A Letter to Myself

by Lei Han

Achieving work life balance takes self-awareness, making tough choices, and being disciplined. As a recovering over-achiever and perfectionist, this is hard for me. My natural tendency with any job is to err on the side of working over-time and prioritizing my job above anything else. The only reason I was able to maintain a healthy work life balance for the last six years was by contracting instead of working as a full time employee. Being paid by the hour reminded me constantly to stay un-attached and avoid over-working. ... read more

Lei’s 2013 Experiences

by Lei Han

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? ... read more

Soft Skills – Note to Self: Shut Up and Take Action

by Lei Han

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. ... read more