When I started working in the strategy branch, being interested in self-development and leadership, I was surprised to learn how similar the steps are between strategic planning in government and steps one may take to improve his/her life. Many books on self-improvement captured strategies that sounded very similar to the ones I applied at work….
Tag: happy
8 Creative Ways for Beating Anxiety or Building Your Resilience
Fear causes anxiety. Fear of unknown, fear of change, fear of negative outcome, fear of upcoming test of your relationships (e.g. serious conversation) or fear of a test that evaluates your skills or performance. There are so many sources of stress in life. There were many times in life when I thought I wouldn’t make…
5 things I learned in Paris
I was dreaming about going to Paris since I was 9. At 15, my good friend went to Paris and sent me a card with an Eiffel Tower that I kept for a while, dreaming that one day I will go there too. At 24, we were planning to go to Paris for our honeymoon…
Self-Development 101: Stop lying to yourself
You’ve seen and you’ve met people like that. You see that that there is something wrong with their lives. No, cross that. You see exactly what’s wrong with their lives, and how they can fix it, and you are surprised that they didn’t do it already. However, when you start talking more to these people,…
30 Ways to Feel Good in 5 Minutes
Listen your favourite song Listen positive classical music like Strauss’ Blue Danube or Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Listen to the sounds of nature, music for meditation or birds singing (bonus points if you listen to real birds by going outside) Drink water – you may feel bad because you are dehydrated and water brings more energy…
Getting Fired as the Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me
Getting fired is stressful. It is unpredictable and it kills confidence. It sucks. However, I learned that getting fired may also prove to be one of the best things that could happen to you. My career was always important for me. Even my first part-time job in a coffee shop (Tim Hortons) felt like a…
The Secret to Being Present
Recently I started noticing that many people talk about presence – how important it is for a person to enjoy the present moment, to be present, to focus on “now” instead of tomorrow. Every magazine, book or article that I would open would point out that being present is as essential an ingredient to being…
5 Stages of Happiness
Happiness takes various shapes and forms. Let’s be theoretical for a moment and look at the five stages of happiness or the Big 5: · Big happiness (a person is fundamentally happy and while the mood may shift, he/she is usually energized, enjoys the “present moment”, has a purpose in life and knows what it…
Be Assertive
Recently I took a course on Emotional Intelligence, and I was surprised to learn that one of the attributes of emotional intelligence is being assertive. This surprised me because, growing up, I was always told that being shy is what girls were supposed to be like, that I should be afraid to hurt someone’s feelings…
Confidence Boosters
This is the first post of the confidence boost series that will be regularly updated. The challenge is that I will personally try them out before posting them here. Tip #1 When you google Build Confidence you get millions of different tips and suggestions. But here is one that actually works – pairing any of…
Rise and Lead: Personal and Professional Development 