Blog

“Inside-out Sustainability”: Awakening Leaders’ Inner Worlds for Environmental Change

Building Psychological Safety through Character Strength Stories

Last time I wrote about the case of how storytelling played an integral role in humanizing Toronto's Pearson International Airport and transforming it from the bottom of the rank to one of the world's best. In this article, I will focus on how a particular type of story, character strength story, can be used to make our workplace more connected, inclusive, and therefore, more psychologically safe.

Using Storytelling to Build Human-Centred Organizations — A Case on Toronto Pearson

If you had travelled through Toronto's Pearson International Airport, Canada's busiest airport, in the last couple of years, you may not know that its passenger satisfaction scores were hopelessly low just years before. Pearson was among the bottom 10% of any large airports in North America.

Three Ways to Cultivate Self-Compassion | Part 3: Practice Mindful Acceptance

Some people think that they are “not good at” mindfulness because they tend to get distracted when practicing mindfulness meditation. In fact, mindfulness is about our relationship with our body sensations, thoughts, and feelings, rather than thoughtlessness…

Three Ways to Cultivate Self-Compassion | Part 2: Befriend Yourself

Imagine the last time you screwed up something and you felt ashamed of yourself. Did you move on to fixing the situation, or accepting it shortly, or did the incident trigger a bout of self-loathing and deep regrets? Cultivating self-compassion by developing a healthy and loving relationship with yourself can give you the psychological strengths to buffer against self-doubt and self-criticism.

Three Ways to Cultivate Self-Compassion | Part 1: Shift Your Paradigm

How to cultivate self-compassion? It is more than going to the spa or having retail therapy when we are down. In this article, I would like to focus on a systematic and sustainable approach to self-compassion that can alter your relationship with yourself for the better.

What We’ve Got Wrong About Self-Compassion

Life could be full of difficult events that either challenge us and reveal our flaws. It is when times are hard that we most want to feel understood, seen, appreciated, or nurtured. I’ve learned that much of what we try to get from others, but may leave feeling empty, are in fact gifts we should learn to give to ourselves.

When the Pursuit of Purpose is Overrated

I have long been a proponent of searching for one’s purpose. A person’s purpose describes a commitment that is enduring and personally meaningful. One general consensus among psychologists is that purpose transcends the self. I thought purpose was the ultimate ticket to a more meaningful life, until I thought of my friend Celine.

Making Confident Life Decisions by Aligning With Your Purpose

The need to make important life decisions effectively exposes the need for us to get in touch with our values, because decisions are only truly effective when they are authentically aligned with what we deeply care about.

Ways to Focus When You Have Too Many Career Aspirations

This latest article published on Medium was inspired by my client experience and own experience strategizing my future after grad school. If you have too many career options that you are entertaining and find it hard to focus, give this article a read!

3 Ways to Use Mind Mapping to Design Your Career & Get Unstuck

Mind mapping is an effective way to facilitate ideation, note taking and project planning. It generally starts with a simple idea or topic in the centre and the user would put ideas related, or inspired by the central idea around it, and connect all the ideas with lines.

How to Solve the “Wicked Problems” in Your Life and Career via Design Thinking

In the world of new product and technology design, innovators use a methodology called design thinking to break down “wicked problems” and come up with solutions. Aren’t some of the problems in our lives and careers just like “wicked problems”?

Goodbye, 2016! A Year-End Reflection

We live in a society and a time filled with so much “doing” yet so little “being”. We are always asking “What should I do to get there?” rather than “Who do I need to be”, the intention, mindset or perspective much needed to carry us on our journey.

The #1 Secret You Should Know to Having a Fulfilling Life & Career

In our everyday lives, we have to make lots of big or small decisions that can change the paths of our lives. Why do I not like this job? What industry do I want to move into next? What is my personal brand? What are the common mistakes people make when making those choices?

Life Purpose Week | Day 4: Realization

When you are living “on purpose”, you feel alive and fulfilled. You live a life with a clear direction and intention. You make decisions that increases the sense of fulfillment you and others feel. And you are “unstoppable”.

Life Purpose Week | Day 3: Exploration via Visualisations

An ancient technique, guided imagery has been increasingly proven by scientific research to be an effective method to enhance “health, creativity and performance”.

Life Purpose Week | Day 2: Reflection

On Day 2, I’d like to share with you a series of questions to help you gain further clarity on your life purpose.

Life Purpose Week | Day 1: Listen for Your Intuition

Exploring your life purpose to get clear on your career passion or direction requires a lot of introspection, which cannot be done without accessing your intuition.

Find Career Passion & Direction by Exploring Your Life Purpose

Having a clearly defined life purpose gives us a powerful sense of direction in life. Having that direction helps us focus our efforts, stay resilient and attracts resources from others to achieve the purpose in more powerful ways.

The Power of Journaling in Learning, Mindset and Behavioural Change, Part II

Now that you have a good idea of the benefits of journaling, what to write is really up to you! Below are some examples I generally recommend to my coaching clients.