THRIVE FROM WITHIN

Sometimes, life can feel tiring.  Like waking up in the morning but reluctant to face the day.  Like an invisible haze covering the sky, persisting to linger.   Tiredness can come from all sorts of spaces.  Sometimes it is the fatigue from being perpetually busy and stressed.  Sometimes it is the heaviness from shouldering momentous responsibilities and risks. Sometimes it is a suppressed feeling from not being understood. Or sometimes it is the anxiety from worrying about the uncertain future.  As if the older we are, the more social responsibilities we have, and the higher standards we hold, the more frequent, violent, and long-lasting "tiredness monsoons” hit us.   Many people don’t know that the most lethal are usually not those direct causes ---- back-to-back meetings, performance targets, change management ---- do not impose enough threats to capable and driven leaders.  What makes us “fall” is often the way we treat ourselves when encounter...

New year comes with new aspirations. You could be thinking of having a healthier lifestyle, starting a family, or making a career change. Almost at the same time as you declare the goals, doubts tagged along.  Am I being too ambitious? I didn’t manage to do it last year, will I succeed this time? I have so many ideas, which one to prioritize?...   The most enlightening habit change insight I've come across is from James Clear, the author of New York Time's best-selling book Atomic Habit, he said " You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems."    "Your system is the collection of daily habits that you follow", and your goals are the output of what you put into the system.  Instead of spending your time contemplating on which goals to set or polishing them, focus on cultivating constructive daily habits, building a system that creates a change in you.   And how to create good habits? There are millions of advices out there...

Do what you love, and you’ll never work another day in your life.   We’ve all heard that on many occasions and from many luminaries. Believers worship it as the antidote to all their sufferings in life. Cynics criticize it as employer’s sugar-coated propaganda to exploits their workers.     For me, ‘do what you love’ means finding that sweet spot in the intersection of one’s purpose, passion, and talents. Bill George calls it the ‘True North’, while Christians named it the ‘true calling’.    I believe there is transformational power when living one’s true calling, not only because its’ universal fame, but more driven by my own journey, tasting the bitterness and sweetness in searching for betterments. Throughout my adulthood, whenever one or more of the three elements is missing, I got stuck, and sometimes, I got lost. And each time when I strove to get closer to the ‘sweet spot’, I found joy, and I thrived from the inside.     The most recen...