 Aerial view of Xiamen, China from the plane
(6 min read) Ever since I began delivering personal development and leadership training workshops in China, work has been bringing me to different Chinese cities, many of which I (embarrassingly) never knew existed before. It has been nothing short of another wild, if not scary ride. Having to conduct training and coaching sessions professionally in Mandarin (English is obviously my mother tongue), doing real time English-Mandarin (and vice versa) interpretation as my mentor only speaks English, finding the right Mandarin words to land specific distinctions during sessions, making sense of all the diverse accents, understanding how the people on this side of the world function are just a few challenges I encounter. But I’ve always loved exhilarating work – it keeps me on my toes. I keep learning, expanding my capabilities and growing. It makes me alive. What’s a few stumbling blocks, if they are not there for me to overcome?
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 Picture of my view as I pen this entry - a wintery but surprisingly sunny English afternoon in the UK
(5 min read) Happy 2017 my lovelies! This morning, I started my day with some incredible news in my email inbox – 10 sessions of my leadership seminars have been confirmed with a university in Singapore, due to be delivered from end January 2017 onwards. Hip hip hurray! A year ago on this same day, this possibility would seem impossible. To be physically all over the place on the globe, but still do the things I love and have people (not to mention, reputable institutions!) paying for them. In addition, I get to work with the audience I love and deliver topics close to my heart. It’s an amazing feeling, to carve and create all of these out of nothing.  Picture of the gorgeous waves in Canggu, Bali, sprinkled with surfers waiting for the next ride to come
(5 min read) Hi folks, from Canggu, Bali in Indonesia! I’ve always been a self-proclaimed sunshine and beach lover, so it’s no surprise that I chose Bali as my next hangout spot. Hello sunny skies, sweltering heat, gorgeous sunsets over the horizon, majestic waves, Bintang beer and my long-time lover, Nasi Goreng! It’s interesting how life always gives you more than what you expect in the most unanticipated moments – while I was certainly looking forward to a laid-back time with plenty of space for crafting and creating, I never expected that being in one of the surfing capitals of the world would teach me a surprising ton about tenacity and mastery.  Picture of the "Shoes on the Danube Bank" Memorial in Budapest, Hungary
(6 min read) This morning, I unexpectedly started my day in tears. You see, I have this (unhealthy) habit of checking my mobile phone first thing in the morning when I wake, and the (illogical) habit of scrolling through my Facebook feeds brought me much pain today. A ton about the bombings in Aleppo, Syria has been appearing in my Facebook feeds recently. And this morning, I causally clicked on a couple of videos as I usually do, unaware of the impact these videos was going to create on me. Although no more than a minute long each, every single one of them caught me totally off-guard, affected me in more ways than I could imagine and left poignant snapshots appearing consistently on repeat mode in my head. A toddler filled with grime and blood, looking confused and disoriented as he sat quietly in the ambulance amidst a sea of chaos. A devastated young boy wailing uncontrollably as he embraced his deceased father, repeatedly asking him not to leave. A helpless, anguished mother desperately searching for his son, unaware that he had been killed by the bombings. The intensity of grief, loss and pain exhibited by such raw emotions is heart-breaking to witness. If these are just snapshots of the situations happening right now, I can’t even bring myself to fathom all that is going on deep inside each of these victims’ hearts.  Picture of the Victory Monument at sunset from Belgrade, Serbia (4 min read) In my almost decade long journey of coaching and training, I have noticed an interesting trend amongst almost all my clients – they always at some point in time, confess to me, “Jane, I’m really scared. I can’t find the courage to take the first step.”
It can be anything related to what they want at that point in time. From making a career switch, mending broken relationships, changing their wardrobe styles to asking for a pay rise, the difficulty garnering courage is almost universally human. |
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