I’m crossing an American border, entering the country with my new Green Card for the first time.I’ve lived in the US for three years, and finally, I could afford to visit my hometown in Kazakhstan and not worry about entering on the unreliable travel parole.This time I’m relaxed and happy.I confidently approach a border officer.I…
Five traps coaches fall into while establishing a business (and how to avoid them)
Sure, the count of all the stuff that can sabotage your business goes well beyond five points.
But most of those things are obvious, and you already know you need to do something about it.
I want to throw light on the less obvious traps: I want to discuss the things that are conventionally considered “a good thing” for coaches, which makes them especially destructive.
How I Dare To Teach Yoga and Meditation Without Teacher Certification (and why I’m committed to never get one)
Yoga first happened to me when I was 15 years old. At the moment of writing, I’m 34, so it makes a scary number of “19 years ago”. Yoga happened in my life the scary 19 years ago. I hurt my knees at the martial art class I was taking then. No, I didn’t turn to…
Stop Sacrificing Happiness for Success
Every so often I wonder: Are successful people happy? I would look at the people who have more than I have, and I would consider them successful. Earlier I believed that people who have more than I have must be happier than me. And since I am quite a happy person myself (in my own…
How Goals Make Your Life Miserable (and what to do with it)
There is a problem with settings goals. A goal is this beautiful place where you really want to be, but you’re not there yet. And that is a problem. We address this problem differently. Some of us just get upset about the fact, but never move towards the goal. They make peace with such circumstances…
Why Empathy Fails in UX Design
When I was 21 I started my first real job in the oil industry. I was a translator at a big international project — construction of a refinery plant. During the first few days at the plant, I was just following my more experienced colleague, watching him working and familiarizing myself with the job. This…
UX Design Was Precisely Defined Back in the XVII Century
Some consider UX / UI Design a new phenomenon in digital applications. Why? Applied to superficial forms – app interfaces, websites, clickthrough, etc., – this may seem right. I argue that UX design is nothing new, and while the form changes with technological progress, the essence of creating intentional experience has remained the same for…
A Four-Step Approach to Breaking Free From the Fear of Flying
… or any fear for that matter. The fear of flying is not fun. There are so many great places one get to pretty fast and at affordable price thanks to the modern planes. Avoiding air trips due to anxiety is such a shame. Suffering through air trips is not a great idea either. I…
Rules of Effective Brand Engagement from Professor J.R.R. Tolkien
“I can’t get enough of your cold calls (commercials, spam, etc)” – said no client ever. “I can’t get enough of this brand” – said or thought every one of us at least once. We even learn to enjoy the commercials, emails and calls from the the brands that we’re really engaged with. Doesn’t it…
How to create a logo, that would foster loyalty to your brand
As somebody who happens to advise personal brands and small businesses about their marketing stuff I often receive some form of this question: “Which logo do you think I should get?” A business owner who had just received twelve variations of the same piece of graphics trying to wrap her head around the difference between…