Even though I’d practiced karate in the UK as a university student, when I first joined my dojo in Japan (over 30 years ago!!!), sensei laughed at my moves. I had to give up my blue belt and go back to being a white belt beginner. For years, I felt uncomfortable...
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3 Reasons To Get Professional Photos
Do you like having your photo taken? We always check with event participants whether they’re okay with us taking photos to share on social media. One of our participants - a lovely Japanese lady - always said, “No.” She didn’t like having her photo taken. So we did...
3 Tips To Deal With Negative People
How do you react when people around you are negative or angry? The other day, during an event for The #LessEffortMoreImpact Movement for Women in Business, the fire alarm at our venue went off. We immediately evacuated the building. While waiting for the alarm to stop...
9 Things To Do When You’re Not Feeling Your Best (And 2 To Avoid)
What do you do when you’re feeling down? How do you handle your own negative thinking or low energy? I take time to acknowledge how I’m feeling and consider the cause (so that I can do something about it if it’s within my control). Then, here are 9 things I find...
Why Negative and Narrow Thinking Is Normal (And What You Can Do About It)
The locker was empty! Whaaaaaaat??? Where was my bag with my laptop, credit card, and other valuables!!! My mind was racing just minutes after I’d emerged from the lovely, relaxing hot baths at my local spa in central Tokyo. Here’s what had happened… I’d realized the...
A Funny Story About Learning From Mistakes
Well, this story certainly got a laugh from the audience at our recent event for The #LessEffortMoreImpact Movement for Women in Business. Around 30 years ago (!!!), I was working as a Coordinator for International Relations at Yokohama City Hall. I’d been asked to...
Good News, Bad News…
Think of the last time you received bad news. How did you react? Has bad news ever turned out to be good news for you? Let me share 4 brief personal examples from a recent trip: Bad news 1: After flying from Haneda and landing at Heathrow, the first email I saw was...
3 Steps To Turn Comparisonitis Into Inspiration
Do you ever compare yourself to others? You see colleagues at work who just seem so confident, articulate, and on top of everything? You see people on Instagram with the most amazing bodies, beautiful relationships, and fantastic lives? According to a 2022 study,...
4 Steps To Stop Fire Fighting At Work
How often are you rushing to the next meeting, task, or project without really completing or making the most of what you were just doing? When I think back to my corporate days here in Japan, I know I spent much of my time fighting fires - dealing with what was most...
How To Stop Wasting Time On Difficult Colleagues
I’m guessing you value your time and don’t want to waste it, right? When you consider time wasters at work, you may think of things like Unproductive meetings Lack of clarity Tech issues Interruptions But have you ever thought how much time you waste on certain...
Make Your Difficult Conversations Easier
What is it about difficult conversations at work that many of us dread? For example, you have to tell a colleague that their work was unsatisfactory or that their job is at risk. Or you have to deliver the news that a deadline can’t be met or results aren’t what was...
When I Feel Bad…
What do you do when you’re feeling bad? When I say “feeling bad” I mean that you’re feeling physically unwell or you’re experiencing negative emotions - such as annoyed, frustrated, or sad. Do you stay in the unpleasantness? Do you make it worse? Or do you get...