You reflect?

Unplugging yourself and reflecting on your week, to envision a great coming week. Do you do it?

Reflection is like a friend that helps us to travel back the past to give us perspectives on what we did and why we didn’t do some things. It then bring us to the future we want to create. Without reflection, we keep doing the same thing without having better results. Reflection is the door to raising our awareness.

Research by Giada Di Stefano, Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano, and Bradley Staats in call centers demonstrated that employees who spent 15 minutes at the end of the day reflecting on lessons learned performed 23% better after 10 days than those who tended to forget the lessons.

A study of UK commuters found a similar result when those who were prompted to use their journey to think about and plan for their day were happier, more productive, and less burned-out than people who didn’t. (According to HBR, 2017).

To reflect effectively?

- Re-affirm what is important to you: what is your main goal or dream?

- What did you do last week that helped you move closer to your goal/dream? What habits to double down in the coming week?

- What did you do last week that didn’t hinder your getting closer to the goal/dream?

How to do things differently next week?

- What did you discover about yourself, your loved ones last week?

- What decision to make now to make a positive change next week?

- What do you feel thankful for?

KINDNESS

“HERE IS YOUR HELMET…HAPPY HOLIDAY…”

A stranger cares!

Walking out of my house, I saw families and group people excitedly preparing to visit their hometown for holiday. The thought of being reunited, and all that warm hugs delights the loving feeling within me. I took my motorbike and went to my favorite shop, feeling loved. After riding for some minutes, my helmet fell off…I stopped the bike on the edge of the road to go back and pick it.

As I was walking to where my helmet fell, a lady is already holding it and handed it to me …She smiled and said “happy holiday…”

A stranger cares!

Kindness happens everyday, either done by people around us or ourselves. A simple act of kindness can make a person’s day.

Hope you have a great holiday! And yes, don’t forget to do random acts of kindness with a stranger or take a step back to observe it around you.

Love

Jen,

Some great sayings and facts about kindness:

“Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.” — Mark Twain

“Three things in human life are important: the first is to be kind; the second is to be kind; and the third is to be kind.” ― Henry James

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.” ― Dalai Lama XIV

A 2018 study focused on employees at a Spanish company. Workers were asked to either a) perform acts of kindness for colleagues, or b) count the number of kind acts they received from coworkers. The results showed that those who received acts of kindness became happier, demonstrating the value of benevolence for the receiver.

1.   Kindness releases happy hormones

2.   Kindness can reduce anxiety

3.   Kindness may help alleviate certain illness

4.   Kindness can reduce your stress levels

CURIOSITY & CONFIDENCE and more...

You want to be more competent at certain skills such as speaking?

You want to be more confident about you, your dream.

But there will be time you may feel doubtful about yourself, feeling scared of giving a try? or maybe you feel lack of confident when seeing others people who are so good at what you want to learn and you think maybe “it is for them, not for me?”? or maybe you feel scared of judgment?

Because of these doubts and fear, you may not take positive action to develop you to be more competent then confident!

How can you turn these doubts and fear to become EXCITEMENT to make you then take action then be better - more competent then you feel more confident about you?

One of the practice is to use CURIOSITY to trigger that EXCITEMENT!

• When you feel doubtful about yourself: be curious to ask yourself “why do I feel that?” and listen to the story behind the feeling - you acknowledge the feeling and its story. Right after that, tell yourself that you don’t need to be in that state of mind, change your focus to another question “what is the one thing I can do to make me feel better, right now?’ The one thing can be going for a walk, thinking about one achievement you did in the past or right away practice a technique to be better at what you want to be better.

• You are not confident about you when seeing other successful people: you may start your learning journey, you look for expert and you see their performance, you start comparing yourself and feel “you are no where now” and you overwhelm yourself with that comparison and jealousy. Acknowledge these feelings and be curious about “what is the one thing I can learn from these people” or “what is the story behind their achievement”. When you ask the curious questions, you have the answers of the process that creates their success, you choose one action to take, one step at a time.

• You are scared of judgement: maybe you want to speak up but you are scared of people judging you - you imagine about it and get overwhelmed with it, you decide to protect you by not trying. At that time, be curious about the feeling, acknowledge it and be curious “what is the one thing you can learn from their feedback to be better?” Always being curious to listen and critically evaluate to see if you want to take their feedback ultimately to be better.

Have a curious week my friends,

My favourite way of practicing curiosity (coming from the book

“Spend a half hour in a coffee shop being curious about everyone in the place. Without actually talking to anyone at first, release your curiosity and pose the following questions to yourself: I wonder where they are out of balance in their lives. I wonder what they value. I wonder what they are missing in their lives, what makes them laugh, where they have constructed self-imposed limits. What do they like about the day? What are their life dreams? What empowers them? What do they like about the people they’re sitting with? At the end of the half hour, find someone you can spend a little more time with and actually ask that person the curious questions. As you ask the questions, be aware of what is happening with the other person. How does this person respond to you when you are curious? Then look at your own role in the conversation…

Afterward, be curious about your own curiosity. What did you learn about being curious? What was easy? What was hard? What made it easy or hard? How could you be more curious? What would that give you?”

ASKING QUESTIONS

GREAT QUESTIONS!

WITHOUT A GOOD QUESTION, A GOOD ANSWER HAS NO PLACE TO GO. _ Clayton Christensen

Asking questions is challenging, asking good questions is even more challenging to practice daily because we tend to talk more and give advice - yes, we want to help and we love to share. But we also know that, the more effective way to connect and help people is to listen and understand more about them. To facilitate for that process, asking questions is a great starting point, asking great questions is even an extraordinary place to start.

I hear stories about great questions triggered a turning point process of people. In an interview with Ms Van - the founder of Elsa, she told me the question made her know what she wanted to do in life is "What matter to you?". She was a Vietnamese student, going to study in the US and she was never asked before when studying in Vietnam. She didn't know how to answer at first, but by being asked many times, she went to a deeper reflection of herself and became more aware of what she wanted to do in her life.

What questions have triggered your process of change? What questions have you asked to help others to trigger their changing process?

In this morning, I am reading the book :The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More..." of Michael Bungay Stainer; it was interesting to trigger myself in practicing better the coaching habit when talking to myself, my team, my partners.

Here are 3 powerful questions to trigger our awareness about who want to become (in the book - Habits of high performance people, Brendon Burchard):

• Three words that describe my best self are...

• Three words that could define how I want to treat other people are...

• Three skills I am trying to develop most in my life right now are...

Three questions to ask to trigger an intentional productive day are:

• Three main outcomes of today are...

• One think I could do today to demonstrateg exellence or real value is...

• One thing I could do today to challenge my limit is...

Three questions to ask people to trigger their changing process:

• What habits do you need to break?

• What old stories or dated ambitions do you need to update?

• What beliefs about yourself do you need to let go of?

...

Many more about questions to share...

What is the question or what are questions that trigger your turning point in life?

Get excited each day with your "Golden Goal"

Habits that matter

#happyhighperformancehabits #jencoaching

When it comes to goal setting, people often talk about SMART goal. It is a great framework to really helps us identify what to work on to achieve the goal. It is even greater if it does come from a bigger picture – a place of serving of sound “impossible dream”.

A great goal that helps us grow and feel fillfuld has to come from our sound “impossible dream” which makes us feel excited but at the same time scary because we dont know exactly yet how to achieve it because we have never done it before.

For example, when i was a kid from the countryside of Vietnam, the “impossible dream” was to get full scholarships to learn abroad to open my mind then i could be more helpful. It was impossible for people around me because no-one did it before. The sound possible goal at that time would be to just get to a normal university and get married. I achieved the sound “impossible dream” because it fueld my energy and my effort each day and i made it happen.

Your goal has to be “golden” – making you feel scary and fired and worthy putting effort, great effort. It means you will tap into your great potential – what you didnt know before and add tremendous values. After having that golden goal, you are now using the SMART goal to break it down into short term action plan.

Goal is just a measure of our growth, effort we put out there – in exchanging you achieve the goal. The person you become matters!

What is your “golden goal”?

HUGS/TOUCH and TRANSFORMATION

HUGS/TOUCH

and TRANSFORMATION

[If you cannot do a hug physically then virtually]

[Thói quen sống vui làm việc hiệu quả cao: Ôm, ôm thôi (không ôm bằng cơ thể thì gửi một cái ôm trực tuyến nhé)]

"What are you doing? Something happens to you?", Anna removed Brian's hands off her hands.

Brian told me the first reaction of his mother when he touched her hands after many years of not meeting each other.

His mum, Anna had lived by herself for long and she lived in a violent family in which people would not express the feelings for each other by hugging or touching.

Seeing Anna's reaction but knowing deep down, she would feel some connection from his touch, Brian told himself to slowly introduce touching and hugging to his mum.

Each day, later on, he would gently touch her, on shoulders or sometimes on the back. Some first weeks, mum kept telling him "what matters to you?" Brian just smiled.

Week by week, Anna started getting used to the touching of Brian, instead of quickly resisting, she kept silent.

After almost a year, Anna proactively touched and hugged Brian. She would demand Brian hug her whenever he left the house or seeing her. She also started being more open to hug others. She became happier and it had a lot to do with the patience of Brian when introducing Anna to a way of expressing care, love, and connection - hugging, touching!

It is beautiful, isn't it?

(Science also says about hugs' benefits:

1. Hugs reduce stress by showing your support

2. Hugs may boost your heart health

3. Hugs help you communicate with others)

Who will you hug today to show your care? [Not physically then virtually and by heart]

Meet our mentor of bravery, and strength

MEET MY MENTOR - a survivor of a fire explosion that happened 5 years ago - a conversation with the bravery within you

I met Eileyn in a meeting in Penang, Malaysia where she was the MC of the day. She gave everyone a card with the phrase "pay it forward". I didn't understand the full meaning of it.

Weeks later, a friend saw the card in my house and asked me "you watched the movie "pay it forward"?". I never heard about that movie before and found it was a great coincidence. I asked him to watch the movie with me and it was when i deeply felt the great meaning of "pay it forward": when we are kind toward others, unconditionally, and one of the others is nice to others ...the kindness keeps expanding, hundred then thousand then million will be treated kindly; positivity and fulfillment double double double... Thanks to Eileyn Chua yn for the great lesson and more...

Eileyn then experienced a fire explosion but it was magical - she survived from it. She will be sharing her inspiring journey of survival, hope, courage, bravery, and strength via Facebook live on 4th May 2021.

You can join us if you are reading this before the day or watch it online later on our youtube and podcast.

Love from Jen

GRATITUDE PIKACHU

“Look at your niece, isn’t she cute?” my sister asked, sending me an image. I could not move my fingers to type a single word, as I thought it was me. People would usually tell me that my niece was a copy of me when I was a kid. She was wearing a jumper, with a bright smile on her face, in the picture. It was my jumper. My sister still kept it, a Pikachu machine-knit jumper that she had bought for me when I was 13 years old.

That year, when I was 13 year old, on 3rd April, I tried to guess what my gift was when I heard my sister’s excited voice. I finally gave up the idea and asked her to just show me. She asked me to open my eyes to see the gift. I couldn’t express how happy and surprised I was to see the Pikachu jumper. The Pikachu image in yellow was highlighted on a grey background. I have been nicknamed “Lovely Pikachu” since then.

My sister worked and studied at the same time and she prepared for that gift for years. I wore it most of the time, and it became part of my life. I grew up, and it became too short for me, but I considered it a new style. I didn’t really know if I had loved Pikachu before or I loved it because of her since that day. With only this jumper, I could survive in any cold weather conditions, not because it was thick enough, but because of the warmth from my sister’s love.

As I grew up, I could do things for my sister as she had done for me. If before that I could only make everything by myself, I could now buy something and put my love into it for my sister.

She loved and appreciated every single thing that I gave her. I could not stop laughing at seeing my sister wearing the same clothes every time I went back home, even though the clothes became old and soiled. '“Are you serious? Your house can’t contain all clothes you own. U always wear the same thing anytime I come home^^ ... Please wear the nicer ones and then I would love to see you more.” I naughtly joked.

She just smiled back, as usual - the smile saying, “I feel happy wearing the clothes you gave me, especially when you are with me.”

I went to silent. I felt touched and loved.

Love is a choice. Love can make normal things special.

Have a loving week my friends

13 "year old me" and 33 lessons

Hi, It is Jen.

Technically, I am 33 year old^^ but feeling as a 13 year old kid. Thanks for your birthday wish today, love you!

Lots of things i don't know yet but i know for sure: I love you and your dreams. I see what you all beautiful and can do great things. Thanks to everyone of you to make me a better person to serve everyday...everyday is a gratitude. I Love you!

I have learned 33 things thanks to u all:

0. Being grateful equals letting go of the "lack" feeling and replacing it with “abundant” feeling – we have it all within.

1. Be + Give = Have. The person we are, what we give, will create what we have in the outside world.

2. Think big, start one step at a time – never let the current situation define our future state.

3. Believe in yourself, your dreams; there will come the day when people believe in your dreams.... and in their own dreams.

4. Being consistent matters, 1% better everyday, with compound effect – nothing is impossible if you have a strong reason and consistent effort.

5. Believe in other peoples' dreams and walk with them to realize their dreams, your happiness doubled.

6. Everything is a choice: life is a choice, love is a choice, anger is a choice, how to respond to an event is a choice.

7. Judge less, appreciate more, life feels better, greater.

8. Everything is a reflection of ourselves. If we don’t feel comfortable with someone’s behaviour (or if we don’t feel comfortable with parts of ours) this gives us power to check-out ourselves to change for better from within.

9. Finish things strongly at the time they should be finished – that could save hours, even months of time.

10. Tackle one challenge that makes you feel uncomfortable every day. Challenge the limit.

11. Respect others’ pace and speed – people are greatest at their own pace and speed, as you are also.

12. When you know who you are what you want clearly, say "no" more often, say "no" earlier because of the 13:

13. When you say "yes", be all in all, 100%.

14. Often look ON your life to reflect upon it from outside rather than being only IN your life.

15. Welcome the unknowns, honor challenges

16. Block time – focus intensively on one thing at a time. Refresh, then re-focus.

17. Communicate more often, rather than assuming that the conversation will be difficult.

18. Doing the difficult things leads to an easier life, doing easy things leads to a difficult life.

19. Say hi to a stranger.

20. Be kind to others.

21. Respect others’ time as you respect your own time.

22. Bring joy to people in difficult times.

23. Help one person per day.

24. The best present to someone is your being present.

25. Be curious to learn about others, about their difficulties.

26. Acknowledge problem but solutions- focus.

27. Giving is living.

28. Everyone can take anything from you but not your capability – the best investment is in yourself.

29. Little things matter.

30. There is always a beautiful moment in any moment.

31. Slow down – take a break, to make a breakthrough.

32.Love is the solution for anger, disappointement, insecurity …

33. Smile as we are alive. Always remember we r all here for a bigger thing than any current situation.

CURIOSITY & APPRECIATION

“What is the most challenging thing you face as a consultant?” I asked Paul – a principles’ consultant in our coaching session.

“I don't want to be judgmental, but when I walk into a room, if I see the old timetables on the wall, I would think – wow, this is a very old-fashioned style of teamwork. If I walk into a room and see lots of brainstorming ideas – wow, this is a creative team. Assumption based on experiences. But I want to be curious and I ask “Why did they put things up like that?”, Paul said.

Have you felt like Paul before? Letting go judgment. Letting go assumption. Choosing to be curious again, over judgment to have emotional freedom.

To feel better is to find emotional freedom and beginning with less judgment.

Have a great weekend and free ourselves from judgment to feel more love my friends!

Next level entrepreneurship event

Habits create us so we create habits before it:

- Clarity: what is your intention before each day and each event: how do you want people to feel and what values to give them

- Energy: is created by living upto what matters and by giving

- Influence: is created by influencing our own self first and by challenging people to think, believe in their dreams and support their dreams

- Joy: can be created by our attitude to honor challenges and welcome the unknowns each day

This technique can help u to start a great day the night before.

Looking forward to sharing more in our next level of entrepreneurship event thanks to Robert for organising it!

BLOCK TIME - happy high performance habits

#happyhighperformancehabits #30ngaythaydoithoiquen

[Sustainable High-Performance Habits - BLOCK TIME]

[Thói quen làm việc hiệu quả vui vẻ lâu bền - Block time Pomodoro]

Why? To sustain the level of energy and focus throughout the day by intentionally focusing on one project at a time and taking a break between important projects.

How to use Promodoro or Blocktime technique?

• List projects or activities you need to do in each day

• Each important project/activity will be allocated within a certain period of time (research suggests it will be about 50 - 90 minutes before our brain loses its most lucid state).

• Between different projects / activities, we will take a break, relax for about 5 to 10 minutes (walk or meditate or wash our face or talk to someone).

The break between activities will help us de-attach from the energy of the previous project and recharge energy to move on to the next project.

A friend of mine suggests an interesting way to relax is to walk 100 steps.

You will be the one to try it and see which relaxation method suits you best! (I like to walk around or jump rope or go to the toilet ^^).

• We can set an alarm clock every 50 - 90 minutes to remind us to stand up to relax, recharge before we run out of “battery” without knowing!

If this is your first try, you may not be familiar with it yet. But like going to the gym, you'll get used to it and your "muscles" will become firmer - you'll get used to it and it will become a habit when you allow yourself to continue doing it even you don’t feel doing in the coming days.

And if you're familiar with this method - share with 3 friends who think they can benefit from using it.

WISH YOU A GREAT WEEK!

Love, live, Give

#Jenvuhuong

Sử dụng kỹ thuật Promodoro để chủ động tập trung vào một việc tại một thời điểm và chủ động nghỉ giữa hai việc quan trọng để có thể lấy lại sự tập trung và năng lượng cao nhất có thể và không để cảm xúc giữa hai hoạt động ảnh hưởng nhau.

Cách sử dụng kỹ thuật Promodoro hay Blocktime:

• Liệt kê những dự án hay hoạt động bạn cần phải làm trong mỗi ngày

• Mỗi dự án quan trọng sẽ được phân bổ trong một khoảng thời gian nhất định (nghiên cứu gợi ý là sẽ khoảng 50 – 90 phút trước khi bộ não của chúng ta trở mất đi trạng thái minh mẫn nhất có thể)

• Giữa các dự án/hoạt động khác nhau, chúng ta sẽ nghỉ ngơi, thư giãn khoảng 5 đến 10 phút (đi dạo hoặc thiền hoặc rửa mặt hoặc nói chuyện với ai đó). Việc nghỉ giữa các hoạt động sẽ giúp chúng ta tách ra khỏi trạng thái năng lượng trong hoạt động trước đó, và nạp năng lượng để chuyển sang dự án tiếp theo.

Một người bạn của tôi gợi ý một cách thư giãn thú vị là đi 100 bước.

Bạn sẽ là người thử nó và xem cách thư giãn nào phù hợp nhất với bạn! (Tôi thích đi dạo xung quanh hoặc nhảy dây hoặc đi vào nhà vệ sinh^^).

• Chúng ta có thể thiết lập đồng hồ báo thức cứ 50 – 90 phút thì sẽ đứng dậy thư giãn, nạp năng lượng!

Nếu đây là lần đầu tiên bạn thử, có thể bạn chưa thấy quen với nó. Nhưng giống như đi tập ở phòng gym, bạn sẽ quen dần và “cơ bắp” của bạn sẽ trở nên rắn chắc hơn – bạn sẽ quen dần và biến nó thành thói quen khi bạn cho phép mình tiếp tục thực hiện phương pháp này trong những ngày tới.

Và nếu bạn đã quen với phương pháp này – hãy chia sẻ với 3 người bạn nghĩ họ có thể được lợi từ việc dùng nó.

CHÚC BẠN MỘT TUẦN TUYỆT VỜI!

Love, live, Give

#jenvuhuong

DREAM AGAIN

DREAM AGAIN with Vienvi

"I have lost weight, from 45 kg to 35 kg since I joined the team. I feel under pressure, but I still love to work there, the team is great," Vienvi was in tears, talking about her experience of working in her new job.

"I sometimes take a sheet of paper to draw my dream out, but as the day goes by, I don't do anything with it, I don't feel fully alive," Vienvi continued.

[What did Vienvi need? What would you tell Vienvi?

If someone we know has felt like this before, the best we could do in supporting them is to LISTEN.]

I listened, I was waiting to hear more. Vienvi continued sharing her experiences, in tears and smiles...Her need was someone to listen to her, no judgment, no advice, just listening.

30 minutes went by. Vienvi seemed to be relieved, her emotions lifted. She started smiling, “I want to do something differently.”

"What did you draw on the paper? and what would be the first thing you want to do?", I asked with excitement, changing the direction of conversation when seeing Vienvi's mood lifting.

"I want to be a teacher again," she smiled...”I am happy when seeing my students grow.”

"I want to dream again for myself," she smiled.

[If someone you meet felt stuck for so long in something, listen, without judgment, join their excitement for them to dream again.]

After our conversation, I could see a smile on Vienvi’s face again. I met her months later, shining as a teacher in a new school as an aside job while she continued her full time job.

Sometimes our soul needs “water” again by being able to dream again with us. If we dare to dream it, daily, it will trigger us to take action to realize it.

Sometimes, we don’t feel alive when we are under pressure, and we lose track of our dreams.

Dream again, grow everyday! Our soul comes alive!

The only comparison we should make daily...is to our version of yesterday and today

“I was scrolling up and down to see the ranking of his book and mine…when I was first, I said “oh, yes”. When he was first, “grmmmmmmmmmm…” I got grummppy. I was in the weird competition with myself.

One day, he and I got interviewed in an event together. The MC asked us to introduce each other. I went and said “you are someone who made me feel insecure. I saw my weaknesses in your strengths”…He then turned to me “I feel the same about you…”

We laughed.

We now love each other”.

It was a story told by Simon Sinek – maybe many of you know him with his book “Start with Why”. He talked about a common reason making lots of us feeling less about ourselves – comparing ourselves with others. And the beautiful way of dealing with it is to actually using it as a sign to inform us what we feel not good about ourselves then developing that if needed or to acknowledging that we don’t need to be good at all.

When we compare ourselves with anyone and see their success then feel bad ourselves:

-          Thanks to the feeling

-          Asking ourselves if we need to develop the skills that the person we compare to really good at then getting ourselves surround him or her to learn from him or her

-          Acknowledging that we don’t need to be good at everything but we need to acknowledge and value ourselves at what we are great at

-          Never stop learning

-          Collaboration rather than competition

The daily comparison we make everyone should be to compare to ourselves yesterday!

And remember, you are great at your own pace!

Your “5-star” experiences

Your “5-star” experiences

We often associate “5-star” with the high-quality standard of a restaurant or a hotel – the places to which we go and which give us the “5-star” experience of service. Let us create that by ourselves in our daily life!

I am inspired by this idea from the book “what I know for sure” of Oprah and I find it is so powerful. I have experienced different “5-star” moments even growing up as a countryside girl in which our family struggled with having enough food to eat. Each time I went to the field, fishing to get food for my family – the moment of catching the fish, “5-star”; each time I rode a buffalo – our animal helping us with the field, “5-star”; each time I went to harvest, “5-star”…it seems these things are “5-star” experiences for those who don’t need to do them for living. For me, looking back, I thought they were truly “5-star” experiences…Even now, when I go back home, I can enjoy these 5-star experiences - when going to the field with my sister or maybe just going on a long run or giving myself the time to write a story to inspire someone …

What is the case with you? Do you have your 5-star experiences ? Or a better question is, “Are you creating your 5-star experiences?”

It can be going for a walk for 5 minutes when you feel your head is foggy…

It can be talking to your friends and laughing…

It can be writing your thoughts and feeling thankful for it…

It can be playing with your kids or your nieces or nephews…

It can be sitting in silence and mediating…

It can be reading a good book…

It can be sharing something that is useful to someone…

It can be giving someone a gift…

Make your life full with 5-star experiences, my friends, to win 5-star challenges!

Have more of these moments despite uncertainty and struggles, my friends.

This morning, I listened to the audio book “What I know for sure”- You should check it out, it is a beautiful book which I have listened to over and over again - a great book for connecting with your true self. 

A new approach to a new world

Have you done this too? Read this and let me know. Last week, Adam shared a way to turn pandemic-related challenges into opportunities. So, how did he do it?

And more importantly, what changed?

“So when the pandemic happened, all trading stopped…I had to dismiss my staff…I was preparing to shut down my business…I experienced days of being in a deep dark hole – not knowing what to do next…it felt like there was no way out…

There was a thought came to my mind that changed how did I see things at that time. I thought…if the government prints money, there will be exchanging products or services somewhere, the money has to flow to someone. I can be a person it flows to…”

With that thought – this abundant thought – I allowed myself to find a way to receive abundance. I started researching on how to overcome challenges. I started getting into personal development, eating healthier, exercising my body. I started using my phone to make content instead of scrolling passively through other people’s content. I put my content out there.

As I started expressing my thoughts and what I found useful for me to hopefully make it useful for someone else, I got connected with great people. Some people wanted to ask to connect with Vietnam, as am in Vietnam…some people started working with me in a project that we believe in.

So what changed? Just my mind.

CREATIVE EXPRESSION

“Are you a creator?”

I ask this of people, especially youth, when I’m speaking to them at a conference. Always a few hands go up. Then I ask, “who do you see a being creative?” Usually, we hear a big, iconic name, like Apple Computer. They think these brands are what represent “creativity”.

But where does that big creativity originate? It has to start somewhere, no? Everything have to originate from somewhere. So think of creativity that way. Changing how you see creativity is the first step to understanding it’s source. And knowing its source means you can tap into it when you want.

A story that triggers in me the most thoughts about creativity is when I was working on the self-help book I read. In I Can Do It, said if you create a bank account, you are a creator. It sounds simple. But that simplicity made me know that 'we can, if we do'.

Just what you need.

Embracing the simple truth in that simple notion, is just what you need to break any limiting belief inside yourself, or in someone you know who does not believe in themselves. When people break this mental barrier, and just take action, just that one first step, then they can make anything happen.

So, no matter what you believe, you must allow yourself to try. You probably don’t even know how incredibly creative you are. But you’ll never know how much you can do, until you try, try, and try even more.

In the context of our life, we are the creators of our life! Each decision you make right now creates it. Joining me and others who embrace this simple belief and truth. Create a life that to be proud of. Do something right now, that when you look back on it, you will know 'I have done something to move myself forward today one step, and that the best I can do'.

Do what?? 

The creative and generative part of the human brain is best stimulated by a few key activities. Although they may be judged as unimportant, these are absolutely not time-wasting activities. Historically top research and development labs in famous companies like Apple have on teams a mix of artists, designers, scientists, and engineers. Science proves art and design and other cultural humanities activities will stimulate the brain to make new connections, which result in the most profound science, engineering, and even the simplest of social impact innovations.

SOME SCIENTIFIC-PRACTICAL-BASED WAYS TO EMBRACE CREATIVITY:

1. Make something: draw, paint, doodle, watercolor, carve, or sculpt anything

2. Do something physical like exercise, to increase oxygen circulation to your brain

3. Do reflection, meditate, and take some time away from other ‘inputs’ especially media

4. Watch an online video or recorded lecture about a topic you’ve never heard of before

5. Read a fictional novel, poetry, or other creative writing

6. Travel to nature, or travel to a museum, explore a new part of your own city, or go to a new

town or city nearby, to be exposed to diverse lifestyles and cultures.

MY FAVOURITE WAY

My favourite way is to use a simple 3-step technique for generating an idea (adapted from A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young in 1965 (Waking Lion Press, 2009))

- Stage 1: collect or go out to expose your mind to as much NEW info as possible

- Stage 2: let it sleep. literally, rest up, relax, don’t directly think of solving problems...in fact during rest your brain is making millions of connections automatically to file and sort the new things you just experienced.

- Stage 3: keep a pen and paper or note app handy; write down any ideas that pop in your mind; also have a specific brainstorming session to write down all ideas that come to your mind; take

another rest and circle, sort, and connect ideas that matter most

When you think you need more time, ask this...

When you start a dream, you have a goal, or you want to learn a skill, you may hear the voice “I need more time to start…”

It is the time for us to ask ourselves differently to take the first but important action:

- You need more time for...? (to check the importance of what you want to do)

- You make time if what you want to do important enough?

- What to remove out of your calendar to make time for the thing that matters

What matters to you so you will make time for it to learn today?

"I see you..."

"We see you...To keep you warm..."

In a training program at Thai Nguyen province, Vietnam, we gave a challenge to our students: sell one thing from Thai Nguyen province to our male American trainer. After a lively discussion, all groups looked ready to go.

One group, two groups, three groups...Their presentations used one approach - starting and ending by talking about the features of their products..., but one last group surprised us.

“We observed that you wear a rather thin shirt, but today we’re having cold weather. You need to expend a lot of energy giving a lecture, so for you, to stay warm in your situation today, we have hot tea cups. It’s a Thai Nguyen tea specialty. Now, you can keep your body and throat warm, and you can also feel the taste of warm and welcoming Thai Nguyen culture".

This is touching, isn't it?

Coming from a place of caring is touching, isn't it? It is what we all have.

Hope you have a warm weekend!

Re-invent You

[Tieng Viet o duoi]

Have you ever asked?
- Who am I and what do I want in life?
- What is my passion and purpose?
- Why don’t I make a breakthrough, a positive change yet?
- How to change my old habits to adopt habits that provide me JOY, CONFIDENCE, ENERGY and SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE?
- How to feel motivated every day to take action and connect well with people?

The event "New Habits, New You" will help you to FIND THE ANSWERS by yourself! Yes, you define the answers by yourself and take action upon it!

THE KEY TO MAKE A CHANGE IS TO CHANGE YOUR HABITS!
Habits are what you keep doing over and over again that lead to what you have now!
If you want to make a change – having what you DON’T HAVE YET, you want to adopt new habits – DOING things you HAVE NOT DONE yet.

----DO WHAT YOU HAVE NOT DONE TO HAVE WHAT YOU DON’T HAVE YET----

Through different stories and challenges during the event, you will have a chance to self-discover and find your own answers, and you can:
(1) Seek clarity:
Know who you want to become!
What do you want to do in life!
Your passion, your passion!
(2) Break the barriers, old habits:
Identify what stops you and break the barriers – break the old habits
(3) Build and sustain habits to succeed
Replace outdated habits by new habits to have JOY, CONFIDENCE, ENERGY everyday to take action

Cannot wait to see you soon!
Jen,

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Đã bao giờ bạn đặt câu hỏi:
- Tôi thực sự là ai và muốn gì?
- Đam mê sứ mệnh của tôi là gì?
- Tại sao tôi vẫn chưa tạo ra được bứt phá trong cuộc sống?
- Làm thế nào để thay đổi thói quen cũ và tạo thói quen mới để tôi có thể có được hiệu suất làm việc cao lâu bền, năng lượng, hứng khởi, sự tập trung?
- Làm thế nào để tôi tìm lại được cảm hứng mỗi ngày và sự kết nối với mọi người?

LÀM THẾ NÀO ĐỂ THAY ĐỔI TỐT HƠN? TỰ TIN HƠN? VUI VẺ HƠN? LÀM VIỆC HIỆU QUẢ HƠN? KẾT NỐI VỚI MỌI NGƯỜI TỐT HƠN?
Sự kiện "New Habits, New You" sẽ giúp bạn TỰ TÌM RA câu trả lời! Đúng vậy, bạn tự tìm ra câu trả lời để sau đó hành động!

ĐIỀU CỐT LÕI ĐỂ THAY ĐỔI LÀ THAY ĐỔI THÓI QUEN!

Thói quen là những thứ chúng ta thường xuyên làm mỗi ngày dẫn đến những gì chúng ta đang có!

Nếu chúng ta muốn thay đổi - muốn có những thứ chúng ta CHƯA CÓ - chúng ta cần thay đổi thói quen cũ, làm những thứ chúng ta - CHƯA LÀM!

--- HÃY LÀM NHỮNG ĐIỀU BẠN CHƯA LÀM ĐỂ BẠN CÓ ĐƯỢC NHỮNG ĐIỀU BẠN CHƯA CÓ ---

Qua các câu chuyện và thử thách nhỏ để bạn có thể nhìn lại hành trình của mình, sự kiện này sẽ giúp bạn:
(1) Tìm kiếm sự rõ ràng:
Bạn là ai? Bạn muốn gì? Đam mê, sứ mệnh của bạn là gì?
(2) Vượt qua rào cản:
Điều gì cản trở bạn? Cách vượt qua rào cản!
(3) Xây dựng thói quen mới để đạt mục tiêu:
Thay thói quen cũ bằng thói quen mới để thành công

Ngoài ra bạn sẽ được gặp những người bạn có cùng chí hướng và năng lượng, bạn sẽ được tận hưởng - NĂNG LƯỢNG TÍCH CỰC CỘNG HƯỞNG - tạo đà cảm hứng cho bạn hành động sau sự kiện!

Hẹn gặp bạn sớm!
Jen,

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