Elegant forward motion.

It's not the forward motion that's hard, it's navigating the resistance to it. We only get burned out when we are fighting the forward motion. Instead, we can learn to dance with the fear and move forward elegantly.

Letting go.

From The Pathways to Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander: It’s a paradox: developing the skill to let go of worries, to let go of whatever you claim you are right about or feel you deserve recognition for—letting go of fears and prejudices, tension and efforts at avoidance—ironically

It's all invented...

From The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander & Ben Zander: A simple way to practice it’s all invented is to ask yourself this question: What assumption am I making, That I’m not aware I’m making, That gives me what I see? And when you have

Seeing emotional labour.

Physical labour mostly starts showing progress immediately. As you keep putting in more bricks, you can see the wall coming up . Mental labour is subtle. You are writing code or creating a copywriting page. It's not as visible as physical labour, still you can see things moving forward.

Pass the gift forward.

You are who you are because you were given a gift. well, not just one, but many. And not only when you were born (talent), but the ones you have earned (skills) along the way. Your teachers, mentors, friends, clients, books you have read, courses you have done, all of

"Don't worry about it."

When you show up to lead, sooner or later, you might end up doing something that'd be a mistake. It might be an assertion that didn't pan out or an initiative that didn't get traction or sometimes even something that just slipped by your

Inventing joy.

What brings you joy? Is there a story that stops you from doing those things? A narrative, some reasons (maybe excuses), the delays, the people, the rationalisation? Do you want to invent another story, one that allows you to experience joy? Who'd be the hero of the story?

Bad decision mode.

When we are on low energy, or feeling low self-esteem, or when things feel like spinning out of control, that's a sign to stop everything and simply rest and recharge. Ironically, that's when our mind feels is the best time to make significant decisions. It takes

Good enough to ship?

Done is better than good. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic. Done is, of course, better than perfect. Perfect is a trap. It's a figment of our imagination. It doesn't exist. It can't exist. It only exists to keep us from shipping. But, done is also

You are the gift.

When you show up as a teacher, you are the gift that the student was looking for. The one who would help her learn a skill, create an environment of curiosity, help her do things she didn’t think she could do. When you show up as an artist, you

Beyond fear.

When 2 people (or organisations or even countries) are afraid, they put up their defences and it feels like both are walking on eggshells. Every gesture becomes a potential threat and is likely to be shot down. The fear becomes the story on its own. The calculating selves take over

Which version?

Which version is you? The one who is your best self, the one who wants to make things better, the one who is ambitious, generous and seeks to be a contribution. Or the one who wants to fit in, to shrink, to hide, to not offend anyone, to be just

Walk with spirit and love.

Rosamund Stone Zander teaches 5 infinite games in her book, Pathways to Possibility. These games have the capability of helping us loosen the grip of the critical voice and help us find agency and connect with possibility. One of the games is to "walk with spirit and love"

Feeling at home.

There are people who make you feel at home. They may be friends or you might be meeting them for the first time. It's the way they interact with you, the warmth they bring with their presence. Each of us has that opportunity everyday. To make someone feel

"There is all the time in the world."

An excerpt from Pathways to Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander: “The game with no goal and no limits, called “there is all the time in the world,” has the power to get you back in step, to bring you back to your center, to connect you once more with a

Working with resistance.

When we are doing ambitious work, work that may make things better for those who we seek to serve, without a doubt resistance would show up too. It will distract us with tasks and chores and do whatever it can to keep us from doing the work. What we can

Transactional relationships.

There are certain people and organizations who want only a transactional relationship. Everything is linear. You pay, this is what you get. We are not friends. We are not we, we are you and I. Then there are some who build connection, who invest in a we story. It’s

Energy management.

Most of our work is managing our energy. Finding things and people and places that energise us and distinguishing them from the ones that require energy. If all we are doing is engaging with the latter, it's no wonder that we feel drained all the time. The reality

Grit / Quit.

Here's Annie Duke from her book Quit: "That’s the funny thing about grit. While grit can get you to stick to hard things that are worthwhile, grit can also get you to stick to hard things that are no longer worthwhile. The trick is in figuring

That happened. Now what?

You were late to a meeting you were not supposed to be late at. You made a mistake in the slides to the client. You didn't reply back to the email you should have replied to. And now it's too late. Now what? You can beat

Working with insecurity.

Insecurity will show up, in all of us, from Frank Sinatra to Tom Hanks, to you and me, to some degree. We have little control over the feeling. It will show up when the limbic part of our brain senses threat, whether or not the threat is real or not.

Quitting is not easy.

Especially when you are invested in something with all your heart. But sticking to it even when you know that there is almost no likelihood that it would work is taking away from yourself the chance to work on something better, something worth pursuing. Again, it's not easy.

The desire to fit in.

Affiliation, the desire to fit in, is a strong force. As Seth Godin puts it in This is Marketing, it can be explained in seven words: "People like us do things like these". Many times, though, we default into the "people like us" and the "

States of consciousness.

At times, we experience a version of the self which is content and secure. It is not afraid. It wants to be generous, to take risks and to be on the hook. It seeks to ask, “How can I be a contribution here?” Then, we also experience a version which

Let go.

Letting go is an adult game. Toddlers can't play it. For the toddler, it's a matter of life or death. Even or especially if it's a story it's telling itself. And the toddler part of ourselves is no different. It attaches itself