I started a new pathway at Toastmaster. The first project is ice breaker, to introduce yourself to the club. Instead of giving an overview of my bio, I decided to present differently… If I tell you that I’ve lived, studied, and worked in 5 countries and across 6 industries in the past 17 years, what …
Category Archives: Inspiration
Make a Better World ‘Now’
I had a doctor appointment in Waltham. Afterwards, I decided to visit an Indian grocery store nearby. I picked up a few things including Indian tea and masala spice for aunt’s friend J as she mentioned she loves the tea last time we chatted. I dropped by aunt’s house where her friends stay. Nobody was …
Confidence and Calmness
My manager is one of the calmest people I know. Early on, I thought it’s due to his personality. Lately, I think it’s beyond that…it’s also because he is confident…not only on his capabilities but also his self-worth (which is different from ego-centric) so he is not afraid to speak up his mind or operates …
Make it Better
I asked J who I worked with several years ago if she’d be interested in editing UncoverSpecial book. Now she has a full-time job yet she loves the idea of the book and said yes right away. A few days later, she emailed me a few questions, e.g. Do I plan to have chapters of …
Transformation
A friend invited me to join her toastmaster club meeting. I received a private message from the chat during the meeting ‘is that you?’ from an old friend who quitted his job as an software engineer from a tech company to become a coach and speaker and travel around the world. Last time I heard …
Cheers
6 is a good number in Chinese culture, 六六大順 = 66 everything goes well. I sent my manager a card and a Starbucks gift card to celebrate his birthday and 2 year anniversary at current company. Also, I thank him for creating a positive environment for the team as well as wishing him and family …
It’ll be All Right
It’s my first time to be the toastmaster (host) of my home club’s meeting and on zoom. I checked in with the club president and our ‘tech guru’ 2 weeks prior. I reached out to the members the weekend (5 days) prior to the meeting to start the preparation (ask for speaker intro, coordinate with …
Mentality Creates Reality
I’m visiting Naledi-Polokwane Toastmaster club (virtual) meeting in South Africa. I volunteered at table topic (impromptu speaking) and was given the topic: ‘Yes, we’re back to reality’… For a split seconds, I wondered what it meant. Don’t we ‘always’ live in the reality? Or the topic meant that life is back to ‘normal’ (pre-Covid)? This …
Delegate and Grow
With tech team focusing on a large project with long development cycle, we need to do things differently. I asked non-tech teams to choose/ form task forces to work on the discovery, planning works of a few key areas. I then asked the product manager to lead the task force while I support it. He …
Survive => Thrive
I visited Boston Toastmaster club meeting. At table topic (impromptu speaking), I was asked to talk about ‘not only survive but thrive’… Two recent Toastmaster experiences were great examples and thanks to Covid-19: (1) Many clubs have brought their meetings online so I ‘could’ join tonight’s meeting. I couldn’t make the meeting in person with …