Month: January 2020

Self-Improvement

You Don’t Find Your Dream Career, You Build It

A career that energizes you instead of depleting you does not land on your lap. You build it. He had a lucrative career as a doctor or a researcher. And yet, he ditched everything for the unpredictable life of an author. He had graduated from Harvard Medical School. He had done a post-doctoral fellowship study …

Self-Improvement

How To Know When To Quit

Here are ways you can stop banging your head against a wall and instead walk through an open door. Yes, yes. Persevere. Endure. Push forward, steadfast. Don’t ever quit. Except, sometimes quitting is good for you. What is this effort and pride — without any reward — costing you? Are there amazing things you could be doing with the same amount …

Self-Improvement

Don’t Run From Vulnerability, Embrace It

You should stop trying to seal your heart. Remaining in emotional solitary confinement costs us. There is a cost to making your heart neatly sealed, safe from the joys and sorrows of life. I never heard my dad talk about his feelings. He never told me he loved me in words. He sucked it all …

Communication

What Winning An Argument Really Means

It’s not about trying to win come hell or high water. Some people are experts in delivering the perfect knock-out verbal punches. Maybe you’ve noticed. They have the just-right poison of cocktail of words. They drop these bombs to you and you stand there, powerless and hurt. I was in a company meeting the other …

Self-Improvement

Delightfully Discovering This Interesting Person You Are Through Exploring

Nobody will be able to find the you, you are looking for, for you. In high school, competition among students helped us to know our friends better. A teacher would pick a student and ask about his close friend. What is his close friend’s favorite food? Favorite sport? Favorite color? What does he like? Is …

Self-Improvement

Sometimes You Have To Talk To a Grieving Man To Get Back To What Is Essential In Life

Inspirational story on the power of love. “Sometimes our light goes out but it is blown again by an encounter with another human being. Each of us owes the deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this inner light.” Albert Schweitzer Last week, I received a new trainee who was going to join my class. …

Self-Improvement

Almost No One Gets To Do A Job To Eat A Slice Of Chocolate Cake

You are there to do the difficult work. My trainees surprised me the other day. A giant, delicious-looking, mouthwatering, chocolate cake was waiting for me on my desk. I was stumped. Sometimes, you get good surprises like this. Your students are happy with your teaching they are surprising you with a chocolate cake. That you …

Self-Improvement

What My Artist Friend Teaches Me About Life

Life is something you can create, rather than something that happens to you. Her workspace is a beautiful mess. I have no idea how she creates art from what I am looking at. There are brushes all over the place. Some paintings are half-started. There are gigantic canvases and small ones. Only a small number …