My roommate and I have been working from home since mid March due to Covid. We’re busy during the week, barely talk with each other, and usually work late. Today for the first time, we decided to have a tea in the late afternoon. I love Indian Chai masala tea, hot and comforting, just the …
Category Archives: Creativity
Alternative
I got up at 7AM on a Sunday morning to watch Toastmaster International’s panel discussion about the partnership of Toastmaster and Rotary Club. Somehow, the link didn’t work. I tried several times and waiting, nothing happened…I was a bit annoyed of wasting time and sleep. Then I reminded myself that I ‘gained’ some time to …
Customer Interview
My boss asked me to work with the product and UX/ research teams in designing and preparing customer interviews of a customer portal. Learning a new system (totally different from the one I’m leading and the opposite end of user journey) and about customers are very exciting to me. However, for several team members, interviewing …
Listen and Slow Down
2 weeks after writing ‘Stretch: Do Less’, the 2 things I started practicing are working and I’ll continue… Daily to-do list: start with 3 Meeting, speech: plan less Yet I realized that they’re mostly related to ‘do less/well’. Fort the other 2 goals: listen more and slow down… Count to 3 after others finish before …
Stretch: Do Less
Stretch: do less? For many people, stretch means doing more and trying new things yet if you’re a super curious, highly-energetic, type A person like me, stretch would be the opposite: to listen more, slow down, and do less/ well… I decided to start with below: Daily to-do list: start with 3 (vs. 5 often …
Learning
When Y suggested ‘Show, don’t tell’ for writing, I googled to learn more, see ‘Writing’ post for more details. I was fascinated to see the examples and impacts (to myself), meanwhile, worried how could I ‘match up’: others wrote so well, how much re-write I need, how long the editing would take (for sure beyond …
Rebel Talent
I read Rebel Talent book by Professor Francesca Gino at Harvard. She described different rebel talents that bring joy and meaning in life. For example, Massimo Bottura is the owner and chef of Osteria Francescana, a Michelin 3 star restaurant yet he hasn’t been to culinary school (dropped off law school). He has 2 sous-chefs …
Listen More, Talk Less
When I came to US to attend business school, I was shocked that students raised their hands ‘before’ professor even finished the question. How could people ‘think’ that fast? At first, I thought it’s my English (to understand) or classmates were ‘smarter’ than me. As time went on, I realized that it’s a strategy (as …
A Strong Closing and New Beginning
July marked one year anniversary for me on several fronts: at current company, UncoverSpecial blog, and 1 year book project… At work, I enjoyed performing a variety of roles and activities, from community management learning, platform analysis and proposal, to cross-functional collaboration in software development and deployment. We’re leveraging technology to increase team productivity, reduce …
There is Always Hope
Last summer I moved to Boston area and I was busy enjoying its variety of offerings, e.g. concerts, festivals, startup events while exploring restaurants and museums. This year, with Covid-19, a different summer, I’m finding alternatives online… I came across Honeyland, a documentary about Hatidže Muratova, a wild bee keeper’s life in the remote mountain …