Coaching Friday: Always Be Tweaking

Seth Godin (and others) love to say "Always Be Testing", and it's a good life motto.

In the spirit of kaizen, we could also be saying "Always Be Tweaking": try something out, learn from the experience, change something, adjust, refine, try again, change a little bit more, and so on.

[Every change, big or small, matters.

You never know what is going to have a significant impact]

Starting next week, Coaching Friday will become Coaching Monday. See you there! 

And you? "What are you going to tweak next?"    

                                                         

Tags: Coaching question, Self-coaching, Self-awareness, Self-reflection, Always Be Tweaking

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Coaching, reloaded - Coaching question of the day #226. - Your weekly Friday audit

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Three quotes that can help you shape the upcoming new year 15 minutes a day, and a big "light blue" thank you for another amazing blogging year together!

The new year is around the corner, and you are going to hear this question so many times in the coming days, but I can't help by asking. As you know, it's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission, so...
How do you picture the future?

Not only "the" future with a capital F, the one related to the whole world, the planet, global politics, environmental issues, big and sometimes surprising cultural changes happening in real time and more of all this to come, but also your near future and your future in the long run?

Is it something you think about with excitement, fear, curiosity, anticipation or are you totally carefree about the topic and way more worried about what are you going to stream on Netflix next week in order not to get bored already during the first week of the upcoming new year?

[The future is made of light.

Or, like in The Maltese Falcon (1941) by John Huston, 

of the "stuff that dreams are made of".

Pics: Me, November 2017 

at Berlin's street art museum

Urban Nation © Radoslaw Kosiada]

For me, how I see "the" future and my future is strongly related to two poetic quotes by William Somerset Maugham [1874-1965] that would probably surprise you.

Sneak peek of my interview about being a localization manager, or why diversity is a new buzzword for something as old as humankind

How does the life of a localization manager look like?
While asking this question, most people expect me to talk about source languages and target languages and pivot languages and translation KPIs and ISO 9000 quality management systems standards and TMs and glossaries and workflow optimization and... the endless stream of industry-specific lingo could go on and on.

All those things are for sure very important, and yet, at least to me, being a (good) localization manager is above all about self-awareness, stellar and consistent communication, self-control, diversity management and valuable relationships.

A relationship, every kind of relationship (romantic partnership, professional partnership, family relationship, friendship, being colleagues, neighborhood relationship, you name it), can be pleasant, happy, rewarding, quiet, funny, encouraging.
Or challenging, difficult, painful, disappointing, frustrating.

In the practice of tolerance, one's enemy is the best teacher.

Tenzin Gyatso, born Lhamo Thondup

better known as the 14th Dalai Lama

A relationship can actually be also merely boring, ordinary, not interesting at all. Or it can be all these things and more, depending on the days, your mood, the circumstances, your attitude.

Still, what matters is how you deal with the relationships, both in your private life and at work.

[Pics: Me, October 2017 -  With my naturally curly hair...
after five years, they are back.

© Radoslaw Kosiada]

Last week I got interviewed for Plinga's blog series "Heroes at Plinga".
It has been a fun one, and I had a chance to talk about diversity, work-life balance, servant leadership and more.

When willpower is not enough, no matter how you are going to call it... Feat. French fries, the unconscious mind and other stuff

Define and manifest one's goals and life-changing plans is not as immediate as one would love this to be, at least not for everyone and not all the time.

We like to think that it is as easy as pie to know and to say what matters in life, what we want, what we are up to with all our hearts, what we are dreaming about, what we hope for every second of every day.

Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to high sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.

Peter Ferdinand Drucker [1909-2005]

And yet, it is not always the case and it is actually very common to realize that we think something, we say something slightly different and then... we either do exactly the opposite or we don't do anything at all.

[Perseverance, constancy, determination, 

persistence, dedication, willpower... 

Call it as you prefer... it's still going to be hard work, darling]

We get worried. We procrastinate. We find excuses. 

We are afraid. We lose our focus. We look for distractions.

The paramount importance of showing up, and what two powerful quotes by Aristotle can do for you in the process

It has been a while since my last blog post, and I could go on and on while telling you how I spent the last four months, how incredibly and deeply my life has changed, how much I have changed myself and how far I still want to go with this.

And I will probably do it. In the weeks or months or years to come, since we are talking big changes here.

At the same time, I strongly appreciate the motto "Show, don't tell" and I believe that the best way to come back after such a long silence is just... to come back. To be back, to be here again, while writing this post for you.

To show up again and to stick to the decision to be back and to keep posting new content in the future, day by day.
To show you how I have changed, post after post and week after week, instead of just sitting here and explaining to you how I did it.

For my comeback, I chose two inspiring quotes by the Greek philosopher Aristotle [384 BC – 322 BC]. It is somehow funny to me opting for Aristotle for my very first blog post written in 2016, since I was not used to liking him when I was learning philosophy at school, and yet Aristotle's lean and very pragmatic point of view is still powerful and modern after over two thousand years.

The following quotes are perfect for getting motivated and staying on track every day and they contribute to maintaining and building up an effective and strong mindset. 

We are what we repeatedly do. 

Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.

Aristotle [384 BC –322 BC]

Blog Action Day 2013: How a movie like "The Butler" can teach us something about human rights

Blog Action Day 2013 is all about Human Rights. 

What does "Human Rights" actually mean?

Every human being on Earth has 30 basic kinds of rights, listed in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, created in 1948 by the United Nations in order to promote "universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms". 

At least on paper. 

The reality is very often far away from what proclaimed in the Universal Declaration and a big percentage of the human population can't enjoy these rights at all. 

The right to life, the right to freedom, the right to fair treatment while in a court, the right to privacy, the right to a nationality, the right to freedom of thought, the right to freedom of speech, the right to social security, the right to education are among the basic rights that should be self-evident for everybody.

That's understood, right?

Except that this is not.

And we tend to forget it.

Last week I have seen a very interesting movie about that.

"A Lot Like Purple" reached over 31,000 pageviews: Thanks to all of you!

February 2013 has been a great month for A Lot Like Purple: the blog reached over 31,000 pageviews.
Thanks a lot to all visitors, to all subscribers and to all people who left comments or wrote a private e-mail to me. So many thanks for your support, your kind words, and your interest!

[Numbers matter: A very young Matt Damon as Will Hunting

in Good Will Hunting (1997) by Gus Van Sant]

See you with the next blog post, and thanks again!

Tags: A Lot Like Purple, Blogging, Pageviews

What to read next:
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Today is Blog Action Day: The Power of We

Today is Blog Action Day and this year we are celebrating "The Power of We".

The Power of We is one of the most important ones, because thanks to it almost everything is possible.

We? Yes, we.

In a "me-and-only-me" era, we is yet still more powerful and enchanting.

We as human beings.
We as individuals.
We as friends.
We as wonderful people.
We as interesting one-of-a-kind always looking for someone special just like we are.
We as Vegan, if you are Vegan too.
We as bloggers, if you are going to publish a post too.
We as agents of the change.
We as the present.
We as the future.
We as women. And we as men.
We as someone absolutely sure that it´s possible to do something more, something better, something really important, something significant. Something, no matter what.

Every time, when I feel alone or I think that there is no hope, I remember that I am not alone and that there is always hope. Because of you. Because of we. Because today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow I can still fight for my dreams and for making the world a better place, just by starting around me. Just by believing that I can. Just by helping other people. Just by being authentic. Just by saying yes and no only if I really feel like.

Just by writing another post.

Just by writing this post.

Are you with me?

Are you with us?

We are every day more and more. And we can change everything. I know it, because it´s already happening.

Tags: Blog Action Day, Blogging, The Power of We, Change, #PowerOfWe, #BAD12,  #Blogactionday

Who is your personal guru? Seth Godin? Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa? Or both?

How often do you catch yourself saying that everything is going to be okay?

Or saying that things will be fine, in the end?

In his blog post Nine ideas in search of a blog post, Seth Godin says:

"Everything will be alright" is not the same as "everything will stay the same"

In my humble opinion, he's absolutely right.

This makes life interesting and new, every single day, and, well... this makes me feel alive.

I want to be sure that everything will NOT stay the same. Otherwise, I would feel lost and imprisoned.

Everything will be alright, for sure.
And everything will be alright because almost anything will stay the same. What eigentlich matters is... what will stay the same.
The rest is just a plus. Or something not so important, after all.

[Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon in
Il Gattopardo by Luchino Visconti]

Purple hair & fashion girls: The gorgeous world of freelance illustrator and photographer Kris Atomic

Kristina Mordokhovitch aka Kris Atomic is a very talented artist and freelance illustrator/wedding photographer based in Brighton.

Her work is lovable, original and quite impressive:

[The girl with the Purple kimono

Image credit: Kris Atomic]

The doll-like girls of her illustration & sketchbook works are absolutely funny, sweet and innocent but cool and somehow naughty at the same time.
If they also have purple hair or purple shoes, or cotton candy hair with a white blouse that Marlene Dietrich would definitely pull off, like the young lady you can see below, what else I am supposed to say?

Mood: A New Beginning, Feat. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Martin Luther King, Jr.]

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.

Martin Luther King, Jr. [1929-1968]

This is a brand-new beginning, not only for this blog, but also for me.

Wish me good luck, please.

Tags: Martin Luther King Jr., Challenge, Quotes