For a long time, I wanted to write about sleep, but I kept postponing it. Not because it is a minor topic, but because it may be one of the most important and most misunderstood levers of performance. And honestly, because I was still figuring it out myself.

Like many ambitious people, I grew up with the idea that sleep was something to optimize downward. Sleep less, do more, get ahead. That logic is deeply embedded in modern performance culture. For years, I partly believed it too. But experience, training, travel, leadership pressure, and the data I collected on myself taught me something different: sleep is not stolen time from success. It is the foundation of it.

In this article, I share what I have learned through trial, mistakes, and observation: why sleep matters more than most high performers admit, why consistency may matter even more than duration, and why my mood, recovery, clarity, and overall performance depend on sleep more than on any other habit. I am still working on it. But one thing is now clear to me: if I want peak performance and a long health span, I cannot treat sleep as a luxury. It is part of the work.

Introduction

I delayed writing this article because sleep is uncomfortable to face. It forces you to question one of the most deeply rooted beliefs in high performance culture: that success comes from doing more, and doing more requires more hours. The easiest way to create those hours is to cut sleep.

I recently read the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and made this contradiction even clearer to me. It is since 1700 we have the same approach: no pain, no gain. Sleep is a waste of time. On one side he had very effective discipline, structure, self-improvement. On the other, the idea that sleep is something we can partially sacrifice because there will be enough of it in the grave. That mindset has shaped generations of leaders and operators in the last 300 years!

Then there is the modern version of the same idea, embodied by The Mamba mentality of Kobe Bryant (btw I love him and the Hardcover Book is simply awesome!) and the obsession with waking up earlier than everyone else. Do more workouts than anybody else. Being obsessed by self improvement. The narrative is simple: if you start your day before the world, you gain an advantage. And in some cases, that is true. But what is often overlooked is the recovery capacity behind that lifestyle. Kobe first talent was the speed of recovery! Not common thing.

For years, I tried to operate like that. I pushed myself to do more, sleep less, and compress everything into the same 24 hours. It worked, up to a point. Then it stopped working. I had the feeling I needed something different to switch to the next level and remain healthy in the long run.

Discussion

1. The Illusion of More

At some stage, you realize that the equation is flawed. More time does not automatically translate into more output. In fact, beyond a certain threshold, it reduces it. Sleep is not passive time. It is the phase in which everything you do during the day gets consolidated. The body rebuilds, the brain reorganizes, and the system resets. Without that phase, you are not extending performance—you are eroding it.

2. Context Beats Discipline

What makes this even more complex is that most of the models we follow are not built for our context. The obsession with waking up at five in the morning, popularized by books like The 5 AM Club, comes largely from environments like the US West Coast, where waking up early aligns you with global markets. When you operate from Asia, as I do, the equation flips completely. Europe is still asleep in the morning, and the US is offline. Forcing an early schedule in that context does not create leverage; it creates misalignment.

3. Sleep Is a System, Not a Number

Over time, I started to understand that sleep is not just about how many hours you get. Of course, duration matters, and the idea that you can function long-term on four or five hours is simply wrong. But what matters even more is how you sleep and how consistently you do it. Sleep is structured in cycles. The early part of the night is dominated by deep sleep, which drives physical recovery. The later part is dominated by REM sleep, which drives cognitive performance. If you disrupt one of the two, you compromise the outcome of the entire system.

4. Evolution Already Solved the Debate

There is one argument that, for me, closes the discussion completely.

If sleeping less was a winning strategy, evolution would have selected for it.

Over millions of years, the most efficient organisms survive. Efficiency means using less energy while maximizing output and survival. If humans could perform better with four or five hours of sleep instead of seven or eight, natural selection would have pushed us in that direction.

But it didn’t.

Sleep remained. And not just marginally—it occupies a significant portion of our lives. That means it is not a flaw in the system. It is part of the system’s optimization.

What we often try to “hack” has already been optimized for us over millions of years.

So when we cut sleep to gain time, we are not becoming more efficient. We are going against a system that has already proven what works.

5. The Turning Point: Prioritizing Sleep

The biggest shift for me came when I stopped treating sleep as something to fit around my life and started treating it as something that defines it. I made a decision that would have sounded counterintuitive before: if I have to choose between sleeping more and doing an early training session, I sleep.

That was not an easy shift, especially as someone who trains consistently and values discipline. But I realized that training without proper recovery is simply a weaker version of both.

6. Building a Personal Sleep System

What I discovered, through years of trial and data, is that sleep is highly personal but not random. There are clear patterns. Training earlier in the day improves my sleep, while intense sessions late in the evening make it worse. Heavy dinners and alcohol reduce sleep quality significantly. On the other hand, consistency in timing, mental decompression before bed, and managing light exposure make a visible difference. Even supplements like magnesium glycinate have helped me increase deep and REM sleep.

There are also elements that surprised me. Light screen usage to relax does not negatively impact my sleep, while watching intense movies does. This reinforced something important: sleep is deeply individual, and you need to build your own system rather than blindly follow generic rules.

7. Sleep Drives Mood, Mood Drives Performance

The most important realization was not about optimization, but about impact. Sleep is the single most powerful driver of my mood. When I sleep well, I am more positive, more focused, faster in thinking, and more effective in decision-making. When I don’t, everything deteriorates.

And because mood influences behavior, and behavior influences results, sleep becomes the hidden variable behind performance. This is something I did not fully understand for years. I used to attribute fluctuations in energy or effectiveness to external factors. In reality, most of it was driven by sleep quality. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it.

8. The Long-Term Game

There is also a longer-term dimension that is often ignored. It is true that you can achieve great results while sleeping little. History is full of examples that prove it. But there is a cost, and it usually comes later. The impact on cardiovascular health, cognitive decline, and overall longevity is well documented. If the goal is not just to perform, but to perform for decades, then sleep is not optional. It is foundational.

Conclusion

If I had to choose one single lever to improve performance, I would choose sleep. Not training, not nutrition, not mindset. Sleep.

Because what I have experienced, consistently, is that one or two extra hours of quality sleep, combined with regular timing, can change everything. Recovery improves dramatically, mental clarity increases, and energy levels shift in a way that no other intervention can replicate.

The real shift is understanding that performance is not about doing more hours. It is about operating at a higher level during the hours you are awake. And that level is determined, to a large extent, by how you sleep.

If there is one idea I would leave you with, it is this:

You don’t win by extending your day.

You win by upgrading your night.

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References

Mamba Mentality (awesome tea book!)

Benjamin Franklin autobiography

Whoop sleep tracking

My journey with Alcohol

5:00am Club

My Coffee article

CEO with Crazy travel schedules - WSJ interviews

The secret of better sex - full night sleep - WSJ

Netflix’s biggest competitor: sleep

Only this morning did I finally press play and I’m glad I did.

The first thing I felt was not inspiration, but heaviness.

The lyrics felt uncomfortably close to the world we are living in today—a world filled with grief we did not choose. Conflicts we did not start. Losses that belong to people we will never meet, yet somehow feel present in our own lives. War, displacement, fear, anger, ideology, power. All of it moving faster than our ability to fully feel it.

The song revives an ancient idea from Virgil: lacrimae rerum—the tears of things. It suggests that sorrow does not live only inside individuals. It lives inside the world itself. Inside history. Inside systems. Inside decisions. And, inevitably, inside leadership.

As I listened, I couldn’t stop thinking about the images coming from the Middle East. Cities reduced to rubble. Families erased in moments. Children growing up learning the sound of drones before the sound of laughter. Human lives becoming numbers, headlines, or “collateral,” depending on who is speaking.

And I wondered quietly, uncomfortably—how easily suffering becomes distant when it is not ours.

There is something in the song about stone that stayed with me. Stone as emotional numbness. Stone as certainty without compassion. Stone as strength that has forgotten how to feel.

I thought about leadership. About how often we are trained to harden ourselves. To endure. To perform. To carry weight without breaking. To move forward even when our inner world is asking us to pause.

We call leaders “corporate athletes,” and the metaphor is accurate. Like athletes, we operate under sustained pressure. But unlike athletes, we are rarely taught how to recover emotionally. There is no space for grief, confusion, or moral fatigue. There is only the next target. The next decision. The next crisis.

Slowly, almost without noticing, endurance replaces empathy. Discipline replaces listening. And strength begins to resemble stone.

When the song pleads, “Don’t send us back to stone,” I don’t hear art. I hear fear. Fear of what happens when leaders stop feeling—because when leaders stop feeling, systems follow.

I see it when decisions are made without human context. When efficiency becomes more important than dignity. When suffering is explained away by strategy, geopolitics, or economic necessity. When the cost paid by people is invisible to those in power.

At first, it looks like control. Later, it reveals itself as distance.

And distance, I’ve learned, is where humanity quietly disappears.

This reflection became even more personal when I thought about kindness—not as softness, but as courage.

Kindness is often misunderstood in leadership. It is seen as weakness, as indecision, as emotional indulgence. But in reality, kindness is one of the most demanding forms of leadership. It requires presence. It requires listening. It requires the strength to hold discomfort without escaping into authority.

Kindness does not mean pleasing everyone. It does not mean avoiding hard decisions. Some of the hardest moments in my leadership journey, letting people go, giving painful feedback, drawing firm boundaries, looked harsh from the outside. Yet with time, I’ve learned that some of those moments carried growth, clarity, and even gratitude.

Sometimes people only wake up when life becomes uncomfortable.

One line from the song stays with me: “There is no us if there is no them.”

I think about that often. About how easily leaders talk about “we” while forgetting “them.” The exhausted. The frightened. The invisible. The ones who pay the price of decisions they never made.

When I look at my own life, I know how untrue the idea of “self-made” really is. I am here because of people, my family, my team, my colleagues, those who carry parts of the load with me. Leadership may look individual, but it is deeply collective. There is no “us” without “them.”

Recently, this understanding became very real to me through a simple conversation. I interviewed a young woman with quiet strength and discipline. When I asked how she saw herself, she said she is ambitious person but not only for her own success. She wanted to contribute to her family and to the people around her. She spoke about caring for her body and her mind because she had lost a family member to cancer. That loss reshaped her understanding of ambition, discipline, and purpose.

Listening to her, I felt something soften inside me.

It reminded me that ambition does not have to be destructive. That power does not have to dehumanize. That strength can be guided by care. That even in a world torn apart by war and suffering, human values still exist quietly, stubbornly, in everyday choices.

The song does not give answers. It gives responsibility.

It asks me, again and again: will I become stone, or will I remain human? Will I chase performance, or will I build endurance? Will I stand above suffering, or will I refuse to add to it?

In a world full of tears from war, from loss, from fear, leadership is not about standing taller than others. It is about staying human when everything around us rewards hardness.

Kindness is not the opposite of performance. It is what allows performance to last.

And perhaps the most important choice I can make, both as someone who leads a team and as a human being, is this: to allow myself to feel the tears of the world and still choose dignity, compassion, and responsibility in the way I lead.

This reflection is written from a personal perspective, inspired by music, and lived leadership experience.

Reference:

• U2 (2026). The Tears of Things. From the EP Days of Ash. Island Records.

  There’s no start to this story

And I can see no end

To young men hearing voices

Whisper in the wind

I woke up made of marble

A shepherd boy in shock

Michelangelo

release me

From a single block

I’m David the giant killer

With heart-shaped eyes

I was naked as a soldier

Far from my mother’s cries and

The tears of things

The tears of things

Rising like a flood

The tears of things

The tears of things

I’d cry them if I could

Was it you, Lord, I was listening to?

You didn’t say much

You said “Let my fingers form you,

Be fashioned by my touch,

Be open to be broken

As every heart that sings,

No voice and drum can overcome

A symphony of strings”

You said “You’d make of me an instrument

For melody and word”

I wonder as things fall asunder

Was it really you I heard or

The tears of things?

The tears of things

Songs made out of rain

The tears of things

The tears of things

Here we go again

Mussolini came to see me

A shadow by his side

Church bells ring, a vanishing

Then the vanishing denied

Six million voices silenced in just four years

The silent song of Christendom

So loud everybody hears

Before the roar, before the blast

The stench and shame

There’s a howling, wailing sound

That screams your name

I’m David not Goliath, I was born in Bethlehem

And there is no us if there is no them

My eyes were burned from all I learned

There were things I can’t unsee

In this your holy war

There’s nothing holy here for me just

The tears of things

The tears of things

Rising like a flood

The tears of things

The tears of things

I’d cry them if I could

If you put a man into a cage and rattle it enough

A man becomes the kind of rage that cannot be locked up

No, it cannot be locked up

No, it cannot be locked up

Dear God you made us so you wouldn’t be alone

Every heart is exiled until a heart gets home

Don’t send us back to stone

Don’t send us back to stone

I was made for worship before I spoke I sang

Songs of grief, of disbelief

How a woman can love a man

The naked song, the sacred song

That every soldier fears

‘Cause when people go around talking to God

It always ends in tears

Yeah, the tears of things

The tears of things

Let the desert be unfrozen

The tears of things

The river sings

Who would choose to be chosen?

River, sea and mountain

Desert, dust and snow

Everybody is my people

Let my people go

Most of us move through our days without pausing to notice what — or who — is around us. The pace of modern life draws our attention inward, towards our responsibilities, our ambitions and our worries.

Over time, often without realising it, we begin to believe that we arrived here entirely on our own. But that is rarely the full story.

If we take a moment to look back, many of us will see how much our journey has been enabled by others. The boss who took a chance on us. The client who showed patience. The friend who opened a door. The colleague who supported us through a difficult season. Family who stood behind us. The stranger who returned something we had lost. None of us got here alone. Our world is more interconnected than it seems.

Looking Beyond Ourselves

Now, do you believe that goodness, once set in motion, could ripple outward to our communities and society?

In many ways, this idea feels out of place in a world that keeps score. Help is often transactional, even when it comes from a good place. There is an unspoken expectation that giving should be measured, reciprocated, or recognised.

But years ago, I watched a movie that stayed with me.

Pay It Forward follows Trevor McKinney, an idealistic eleven-year-old living in Las Vegas with his struggling, recovering-alcoholic mother. His life shifts when his new social studies teacher assigns the class to think of an idea to change the world and put it into action. Trevor responds with a simple but radical plan: do a life-changing good deed for three people, then ask each of them to “pay it forward” by helping three others.

Trevor puts his idea into practice by helping a homeless addict, trying to bring his lonely teacher and mother together, and standing up for a bullied classmate, while navigating family trauma, including the return of his abusive father. Unbeknownst to him, his actions begin to set off a chain of generosity far beyond his immediate world.

Kindness is Contagious

What stayed with me was not the scale of the acts, but their intention. The idea that goodness does not need an endpoint to matter. That goodness can move from one person to another, long after the original act has passed.

Social science studies show that acts of kindness and generosity can cascade through social networks up to three degrees of separation — reaching friends of friends of friends. Researchers James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis found that behaviours such as happiness, cooperation, and generosity are socially contagious.

When modelled conservatively, this suggests that a single act of kindness can positively influence around 15 to 20 people, including recipients and even those who simply witness the act. Some research also indicates that the effects of positive behaviour can last for months, and in some cases up to a year.

The film Pay It Forward captures this beautifully, reminding us that small, selfless gestures can extend outward in ways we can never imagine.

Sharing Is Where Giving Begins

We tend to underestimate the value of what comes easily to us, forgetting that what feels ordinary in our own hands may be exactly what someone else needs. Sometimes what feels small to you can be life-changing to someone else.

Paying it forward rarely starts with big causes or distant communities. Most of the time, it begins close to home, with the people already around us. It can show up in simple ways, such as holding a door open, letting a person in front of a queue, saying a few words of encouragement or reaching out to someone in need.

Research supports this. People who volunteer regularly tend to have better health outcomes, including lower blood pressure and longer lifespans — a reminder that giving isn’t just moral; it’s physiological.

When we focus on improving the quality of life of those around us through compassion, care, and presence, the impact can be far-reaching.

In many ways, The C-Athlete is how Simone, Novi, and I try to pay it forward. It grew out of our own experiences — the moments of growth, pressure, missteps, and learning that leadership and life inevitably bring. We share not because we have it all figured out, but because we know how valuable it can be to hear from someone who’s been there before. If something we’ve learned along the way helps someone else navigate their journey with a little more clarity or steadiness, then it continues the very ripple this piece speaks to.

A Different Measure of Success

Studies find that social support and generosity — far more than income — are powerful predictors of long-term well-being and fulfilment.

As C-Athletes, many of us are used to measuring progress by what we gain materially or accomplish. Perhaps 2026 offers an opportunity to do so differently.

Not just what we achieve, but what we enable for others. Not just how far we go, but who we help along the way. Some of our contributions might never get recognised, and that is perfectly okay.

This year, here’s my invitation to you: consider doing a life-changing good deed for three people, then ask each of them to “pay it forward” by helping three others in their own way.

What we choose to pass on may travel further than we ever know.

References

• The 3-Degree Ripple Rule, Dr. David R Hamilton

• Social Networks & Happiness, Nicholas A. Christakis, James Fowler

• Pay It Forward Official Trailer

• The World Happiness Report 2025 - Chapter 2: Caring & Sharing

High performance doesn’t eliminate doubt. Even with discipline, routines, and clear goals, there are moments when the question “why?” becomes heavy—and energy fades.

This article is a personal reflection on learning to live with that question without being consumed by it. Not by searching for a perfect answer, but by turning the why from a vicious loop into a virtuous one. Through discipline, spirituality, movement, sleep, connection, and a conscious reduction of craving, I explore what truly sustains long-term performance, clarity, and inner balance.

Because peak performance isn’t about constant motivation. It’s about learning how to stay aligned when motivation disappears.

Introduction

Those who know me well, or who have worked with me, know this about me: I try to stay positive. I work every day to protect my energy as much as I can.

In fact, I even wrote an article about it here on The C-Athlete—about how important energy is, and the strategies I use to keep it as high as possible.

That said, I don’t always have positive energy. There are days when I simply don’t have it. And there are periods—sometimes longer ones—when everything feels heavy.

One of the main reasons is that I start asking why.

Why do I have to put in all this effort?

Why do I have to work?

Why do I have to grow?

Why?

The rational answer is simple: because you have three children, because you want them to be well, because you want to live well yourself, because you want to enjoy the journey. These are things we all know very well.

And yet, there are periods—call them mild depression if you like—when you still ask yourself: “Yes, but… why?”

And then again: “Why?”

This article is about that why.

Not about giving a definitive answer—but about stepping out of the vicious circle and, at least, trying to turn it into a virtuous one.

Discussion

Some people don’t look for a “why”

Let’s start here: I know many people who don’t question why very much. Maybe I was like that too when I was younger—actually, for sure when I was a kid. Back then, the why was easy to find.

You go to school because you have to.

You work because that’s what adults do.

You build a career because that’s the path.

Then you start your career and you ask yourself why you have to put in so much effort, why you need to grow, why you should get married, build stability, find your place in the world.

But once you’ve achieved your first results, your first successes—and a few years have gone by—the why comes back stronger. You ask yourself why all this effort is needed, and where you’re actually heading.

Yes, everyone tells you to “enjoy the journey.” You read it, you understand it. But sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it’s exhausting. And that why keeps following you around.

So you start looking for your why.

You realize it’s not the same for everyone. You need to understand your own ikigai.

I’ve written about this before, and I’ve figured mine out: I like making people happier, better, more confident in themselves.

The problem is that, from time to time, you lose your way—because not everything you do is aligned with that purpose, or because the things you’re doing feel very small while the goal feels very far away.

Goals help—until you reach them

So what do you do?

Do you stare at the elephant and feel overwhelmed, or do you slice it into manageable pieces?

You focus on a smaller goal that points in the direction of the bigger one.

You set a goal for your work, for the year ahead. Or, as with training, you sign up for a race—just to give yourself a reason to silence that why that often shows up in the morning, right when it’s time to train.

Yes, you know training is good for you.

You know it keeps you healthy, sharp, long-lived.

You know it improves your brain.

You know all of that.

And yet, day by day, you don’t always feel like doing it. Some mornings you think: “What difference does one day more or less really make?”

That’s when goals matter.

You set a goal—maybe a race. As we often say for non-professionals, “the race is a celebration.” It’s not the real objective. Finishing it, placing well, hitting a great time—those aren’t the point. The point is that it gave you a reason to show up every day. That’s its why.

Goals help a lot.

But then something strange happens.

You reach that goal. That small-but-big goal. You were ambitious. It felt almost impossible—and you did it.

And suddenly it feels… ordinary.

You struggle to celebrate it. And you should celebrate it—because you’ve brought home another grain of sand—but instead, you slide back into the why.

Yes, you did something meaningful. But why, really? What did it actually give you?

And you fall back into that low cycle—until you set another goal. Then you realign. And so it goes.

Discipline and spirituality are the key

Over time, I’ve understood two things:

1. To live well, you need discipline—and therefore rationality.

2. You also need spirituality.

You must take care of your inner self. Otherwise, discipline alone isn’t enough.

Let’s start with discipline. Structuring your day and your week, building solid routines, helps enormously. It pulls your attention away from the endless why and realigns you with your goals.

If you follow the plan, you’ll get there. You feel calmer. You unplug. Not exactly on autopilot—but you stop negotiating with yourself about whether it’s worth it. You just do it.

But discipline alone isn’t enough to truly enjoy the journey.

You need to live your routines consciously—enjoying them. Enjoying each workout. Smiling through your days. Realizing how small some work problems actually are. Finding joy in what you do.

That’s where spirituality comes in.

Spirituality is built through practice: meditation, reflection, silence, time in nature. Sport helps—but to find real inner peace, you need space. Large spaces.

Humans reconnect with their inner self when they are surrounded by something bigger than themselves.

It may sound primitive—I don’t know—but it works. It really works.

I use it.

Enjoying what you love is real growth

Of course, you also have to choose a path you enjoy. You need goals that lead you toward a life you actually like.

Honestly, it makes me sad to see people stuck in roles they hate—living for the weekend, chasing money as their only goal.

I know that sometimes life puts people in difficult situations, and for many that’s the only option. But for many others, it’s a choice—a choice driven by inertia and fear of leaving the vicious circle.

Doing what you love is fundamental.

If you’re doing something you truly hate, get out—at any cost. Even at the cost of losing money. Leave your comfort zone and move toward what you enjoy. It makes an enormous difference.

But stop the craving

If there’s one thing that sometimes pushes me into darker periods—mild depression, moments when the why loses its meaning—it’s fear around money.

The fear of not having enough.

The fear of not being able to provide.

The fear that resources won’t be sufficient for the goals I’ve set.

When that happens, I start projecting forward, doing calculations—and I realize it will never be enough for the big ambitions I have. That’s when I freeze.

To break out of this, you need to step out of craving—and here, Buddhism helps a lot.

Craving is the constant need for more, driven by the fear that what you have isn’t enough. And it’s not only about money. Sometimes it’s about moments. You’re happy—but you can’t enjoy it because you’re afraid it will end.

Craving consumes you. It empties you. In the end, it leaves you depressed and powerless.

The antidote is simplicity. Learning to enjoy what you already have. Taking pleasure in saving, in doing more with less, instead of always chasing the next step.

This doesn’t mean giving up ambition. It means learning to appreciate what you have more deeply—objects, moments, relationships.

Sleep is essential. Movement and connection do the rest.

Over more than twenty years of dealing with craving, I’ve learned a few things.

The first is sleep.

If you sleep well, your positive energy increases. I’ve written about this already—go read that article.

From there, everything becomes easier.

Then comes movement. A healthy mind in a healthy body. Movement changes your chemistry. It lifts you out of mental loops. It reduces the need for unhealthy escapes—food, alcohol, habits that drain your energy.

And finally, there’s one last element that’s decisive: connection.

You need to cultivate relationships with people who inspire you, who give you energy and perspective. Sometimes a single YouTube video is enough—but nothing beats real time with the right people.

That’s why, in this first article of the year, my advice is simple:

Go through your contacts. Identify who gives you positive energy—and spend time with them. Avoid those who drain it.

Maybe this is the best way to truly enjoy your why.

Conclusions

The question “why” never really goes away. And maybe it shouldn’t.

What changes, over time, is not the question itself but our relationship with it. When we try to answer it once and for all, it becomes heavy. When we let it dominate our thoughts, it drains our energy. But when we learn to live alongside it—without obsessing over it—it can quietly guide us.

I’ve learned that long-term balance doesn’t come from motivation alone. It comes from discipline that removes daily friction, from spirituality that reconnects us to something larger than ourselves, and from simple, repeatable practices: sleep well, move every day, spend time with the right people, and reduce craving instead of feeding it.

Goals still matter—but only as temporary anchors, not as permanent sources of meaning. When one goal is reached, it’s natural to feel empty again. That emptiness isn’t failure; it’s a signal to realign, to reset, to choose the next direction consciously.

For the C-Athlete, growth isn’t about pushing harder forever. It’s about learning when to push, when to simplify, and when to enjoy what already exists. Performance and peace are not opposites. They coexist—when we stop chasing the why and start living with it.

That, for me, is where sustainable performance truly begins.

As the first day of 2026 unfolds, I pause to reflect on the journey that 2025 has left behind. It was a year marked by challenges, decisions, and lessons—some choices proving wise, others less so. Life is never perfect, yet the experiences of the past year remind me of the importance of introspection: asking who I am, what I have accomplished, what impact my actions have had, and what I must improve so that growth is shared collectively.

Knowledge alone cannot sustain progress. What anchors both personal growth and organizational success is spirituality—the inner compass that guides outer action.

Restructured Reflection

This reflection is not only personal—it echoes the very questions that anyone leading a team should ask when guiding organizations through complexity. Just as individuals seek meaning beyond information, leaders too must recognize that knowledge, data, and strategy alone cannot sustain vision. What ultimately anchors both personal growth and organizational success is spirituality: the inner alignment that shapes outward action.

Why We Need Spirituality

Leadership today is often framed in terms of measurable outcomes: KPIs, quarterly earnings, market share, and shareholder value. Yet beneath the dashboards and reports lies a subtler dimension.

Many leaders insist they are driven only by logic, strategy, and data. Yet their daily habits often embody spiritual principles—purpose, empathy, intuition, presence, and surrender to uncertainty. The gap is not the absence of spirituality, but the fact that it remains unnamed.

Prominent leaders illustrate this truth:

- Satya Nadella (Microsoft): Empathy as a strategic superpower, built through listening tours and accessibility-first reviews.

- Marc Benioff (Salesforce): Values and mindfulness embedded into governance and daily practices.

- Indra Nooyi (PepsiCo): Aligning profitability with sustainability and inclusion.

- Arianna Huffington (Thrive Global): Reframing success to include rest, recovery, and mindfulness.

- Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX, xAI): Asking humanity’s big questions and fostering reflection in innovation.

These examples remind us that leaders practice spirituality daily, but without naming it, they miss the chance to cultivate it intentionally.

My Balancing Act

In an era ruled by dashboards and algorithms, intuition can seem old-fashioned.

Yet I’ve learned that while data drives decisions, intuition defines vision.

I strive to:

- Begin with data, but conclude with reflection.

- Sharpen pattern recognition through lived experience.

- Quiet the mind with meditation to cut cognitive noise.

- Imagine scenarios that stretch beyond the numbers.

- Fuse intuition with evidence to shape vision.

Intuition is not anti-data—it is the meta-layer of insight that emerges when experience, empathy, and foresight converge.

Lessons from Film: The Pause Before the Button

Stories on screen often mirror lessons in leadership:

- Apollo 13 (1995): Ingenuity and teamwork triumph over panic.

- Interstellar (2014): Science meets human bonds, showing that love and trust matter as much as equations.

- The Martian (2015): Calculations guide survival, but grit and humor transform numbers into life-saving action.

These films remind me that leading a team is not about rushing to act, but about cultivating presence—the pause before the button is pressed, the breath before the decision is made.

Imperfection and Adaptation

Even the leaders I admired most made mistakes. That realization freed me from chasing perfection. Spirituality never erased the possibility of error, but it sharpened the lens through which I saw my choices.

I began weaving reflective practices into my routine—moments of silence before major decisions, intentional pauses in tense meetings, and after‑action reviews when outcomes fell short. Over time, these habits became anchors. They helped me adapt when information was incomplete or contradictory, and they reminded me that leadership is not about flawless answers, but about cultivating clarity, resilience, and growth.

When Reality and Desire Diverge

Life rarely unfolds exactly as I hope. I often face the tension between what I want and what reality delivers. This gap can feel discouraging, but it is also the crucible where growth is forged.

I invite reflection with others—colleagues, mentors, or friends—on moments when expectations didn’t match outcomes, how they found strength in imperfection, and what practices kept them grounded.

Life may never be perfect, yet spirituality transforms every misalignment into a pathway toward wisdom.

Inner Alignment for Complex Times

As I look back on 2025, I realize that growth requires far more than knowledge. Facts and information alone cannot sustain progress; what is needed is inner guidance. Spirituality—expressed through empathy, presence, intuition, and responsibility—is not something one must adopt as doctrine to benefit from. It is already a human compass, quietly embedded in effective leadership.

When spirituality is named and practiced, it becomes a source of clarity, resilience, and trust. In complex times, I cannot rely solely on systems and metrics. They must draw upon what spirituality strengthens: a calm center, moral courage, and a sense of purpose that anchors decisions.

Just as individuals pause to reflect, organizations thrive when leaders cultivate spirituality as their compass for wise action. It is in this alignment—between inner values and outward choices—that both personal growth and collective success find their foundation.

Goodbye 2025, welcome 2026—this is our chance to rise higher, lead with courage, and become better in every role we hold!!!

Happy New Year to all C‑Athletes! May 2026 be the year you rise stronger, stay healthy, achieve success, and create prosperity—not just for yourself, but for everyone you inspire.

References & Further Reading

• Spirituality & leadership scholarship: Leadership at the Spiritual Edge (2024) — Taylor & Francis

• Gut Feelings The Intelligence of The Unconscious (2007)- Gerd Gigerenzer

• The Art of Reading Minds (2019) - Henrik Fexeus

• How to Calm Your Mind- Finding Productivity in Anxioux Times (2022) - Chris Bailey

I’ve missed writing. Not from lack of discipline, but from a longing to be honest. To let my fingers speak not just words, but the quiet truths of my heart. Here, in the embrace of swaying stalks and fading light, I reflect on my recent steps. So much I do not know—and I choose to admit it. Because only through surrender can authentic answers rise.

Unknowing: The Foundation of Flexible Wisdom

In modern life, the awareness of “not knowing” is not a weakness—it’s the foundation of flexible wisdom. We live in a world flooded with opinions, data, and conflicting claims of truth. People race to be the most knowledgeable, yet perhaps the clearest minds are those brave enough to say, “I don’t know yet.”

- In writing, this attitude gives birth to living, breathing prose. A writer who embraces unknowing writes not to preach, but to discover. They write with sincere curiosity, with a heart open to ambiguity and paradox. From this space emerge authentic narratives—not ones that pretend to offer answers, but ones that invite readers to ask alongside them.

- In thinking, this awareness trains us to delay judgment. We learn not to jump to conclusions or cling to narrow certainties. It’s not indecision—it’s spaciousness. The world is rarely black and white; between them lies an infinite gradient visible only to those humble enough to observe.

- In relationships, the awareness of “not knowing” opens the door to empathy. We stop assuming we fully understand others. We begin listening not to reply, but to truly comprehend. Relationships shift from mutual evaluation to mutual discovery.

Not Knowing Is Not Embarrassing—It’s Empowering

In a culture that equates confidence with certainty, admitting “I don’t know ” or ‘‘I don’t know yet’’ can feel vulnerable. But in truth, it’s a courageous act of self-awareness. Not knowing everything doesn’t diminish our worth—it affirms our humanity. It shows we are open, curious, and willing to grow.

Embarrassment stems from the illusion that we must always have the answer. But wisdom begins when we release that pressure. When we say “I don’t know,” or ‘‘I don’t know yet'‘ we’re not failing—we’re inviting connection. We’re signalling that we’re teachable, approachable, and real.

This mindset is especially powerful in leadership and parenting. Children don’t need perfect parents—they need honest ones. Teams don’t thrive under flawless leaders—they flourish with leaders who model humility and learning. When we admit we don’t know, we give others permission to do the same. We create cultures of psychological safety, where exploration replaces fear.

Let us reframe the moment of not knowing—not as a gap to hide, but as a doorway to deeper understanding. It’s not a crack in our armor; it’s the light that gets in.

Leadership: The Courage to Not Know

In leadership, the awareness of not knowing is a liberating strength. A humble leader doesn’t impose control—they build trust. They create safe spaces for their teams to ask questions, experiment, and even fail. They understand that innovation is born from the courage to explore the unknown.

This kind of leadership aligns with the principle of self-leadership—the ability to motivate, direct, and regulate oneself toward meaningful goals. A self-led leader doesn’t rely on external authority, but on deep self-awareness and reflection. They become lifelong learners, not just decision-makers.

The Corporate Athlete: Performing Through Awareness

The concept of the corporate athlete—viewing professionals as athletes in the workplace—emphasizes the balance of physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual energy for optimal performance. A corporate athlete doesn’t just rely on technical knowledge, but on resilience, self-awareness, and mental flexibility.

Here, unknowing becomes a strategic asset. A strong corporate athlete isn’t the one who knows everything, but the one who manages uncertainty with calm and openness. They know when to ask, when to listen, and when to pause. They don’t operate from ego, but from a space of reflection and continuous growth.

Integration: Becoming Whole

By integrating the awareness of unknowing with self-leadership and the corporate athlete mindset, we cultivate individuals who are flexible, resilient, and authentic—whether as writers, thinkers, leaders, or simply as human beings.

I am a human being. I am a wife. I am a mother. I am also responsible for leading a team. These roles remind me daily that we truly don’t know everything. With this mindset, I try to learn—every single day—how to be a better mother, a better wife, a better leader, and a better version of myself.

The Questions We Forget to Ask

How often do we truly know our spouse—especially during challenging times?

When words are few and emotions run deep, do we pause to ask what they’re really feeling?

Do we notice the silent burdens they carry, the quiet hopes they hold, the fears they don’t speak aloud?

How often do we truly know our children?

When they shift in subtle ways, do we see it?

Do we recognize when they’re asking for space, or connection, without saying a word?

How often do we truly know our team?

When they struggle, do we ask why—not to judge, but to understand?

Do we see their effort, even when results fall short?

Even within our own family, we sometimes miss the quiet milestones—

When a son matures in silence,

When a daughter steps into a new phase without announcing it,

When a partner wrestles with doubt behind a brave face,

When a team member tries their best and still falls short—not from lack of effort, but from unseen challenges.

Whether through parenting, partnership, or professional life, every moment offers a lesson. And every lesson begins with the humility to say: “I don’t know yet.”

This writing is dedicated to myself—who is still learning, growing, and seeking meaning and also to readers who continue to open their hearts and minds, who wish to understand how powerful not knowing can be as a gateway to life’s wisdom.

Because it is precisely in not knowing that we find space to ask.

In doubt, we learn to truly listen.

And in the courage to admit we don’t know everything, we open the path to becoming the best version of ourselves—with honesty, humility, and sincere hope.

Not knowing is not embarrassing.

Not knowing is the beginning of understanding.

It’s the doorway to asking, listening, and learning.

It’s how we grow, how we lead, how we love better.

With Love - Novi

Close to 20 years ago, I embarked on what would become an experience of a lifetime, a year-long exchange under the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme. My husband joined me, and as newlyweds we began our first year of married life in rural Japan, where I taught English in 14 public schools, from small towns to mountain villages, and even conversational classes with seniors in their seventies.

Thanks to my modest knowledge of Japanese and my trusty (but now rusty) electronic dictionary in the days before Google Translate, I was able to communicate and make new friends – many of them decades older than me. Through these connections, I learned lessons that continue to have a profound impact on the values and choices I hold today.

What I didn’t know back then was that I would go on to keep in touch with these lifelong friends for nearly two decades, seeing them every two years with my family. Perhaps inspired by our many trips, my teenage son now takes Japanese as a third language.

Over time, some friends have passed on, and others moved gently from semi-retirement into retirement, but never from living fully. Each, in their own way, showed me that purpose doesn’t retire; it simply changes form.

I’d like to pay tribute to a few of them and to what they have shown me about living with purpose - through work, transition and legacy.

Urashima-san

Urashima-san owns Shimaya, a tiny hole-in-the-wall yakitori shop serving what my family swears are the best charcoal-grilled chicken skewers and yaki onigiri (grilled rice cakes) in the world. Now in his seventies, he continues to run the seven-seater restaurant, packed nightly. His wife, Yoka-chan, quietly prepares the ingredients in their home kitchen during the day while he runs the shop at night. Her homemade umeboshi, large preserved plums from the famed Wakayama region, are the best we’ve ever tasted.

The Urashimas have three sons, and two of them are also chefs who now run their own versions of Shimaya in downtown Tokyo, serving modern yakitori, their signature chicken sashimi and grilled dishes made with chicken specially brought in from farms in their hometown in the Kumano Kodo region, along with its unique sake and water.

When I watch Urashima-san at work, his movements are pure precision. Each skewer is grilled to perfection, crisp outside, tender within, over the perfect charcoal heat. His shop is simple, with only a few menu items.

His craftsmanship, not scale, defines his legacy. He has never chased expansion, only mastery. In doing so, he has inspired his sons to bring Shimaya from the countryside to the metropolis, and my own children to insist on making the long trip back each time we visit.

Ito-san and Iku-san

This kind couple, now in their eighties, embody purpose and joy. Ito-san used to work for a pharmaceutical company as a senior executive, retiring fully only in recent years. Even when he was past retirement age, he continued to stay active, working a few days a week with his company and keeping fit with frequent golf games with friends.

Iku-san is a highly-accomplished artist. Before her retirement, she was an art teacher in the public schools. In her seventies, she continued to advise the education board, held an exhibition of her work and published a book. She still paints today, teaches painting and loves attending art exhibitions.

With an interest in English to help them in their travels, they founded the Ban Ban English Conversation Class at the community centre (now defunct), which JET participants like myself had the pleasure of teaching weekly.

They’ve always treated us like extended family and hosted us warmly every time we returned to visit. Each time we see them, their warmth, curiosity and zest for life continue to inspire me.

Nakai-sensei

Witty, wise and kind, Nakai sensei was my Japanese tutor – and beyond that, he taught me the unspoken nuances of Japanese etiquette and culture. A former English teacher at the local high school, he continues to teach night classes well into his seventies. Almost everyone I know in the town, across generations, studied under him – many of them now working in jobs that use English. Just imagine the impact he’s made on numerous young people through generations.

He is also a mountain guide, taking visitors from Japan and abroad, on the sacred Kumano Kodo, a UNESCO world heritage network of hiking trails in central Japan. Teaching and guiding, mind and body, remain his twin passions.

Nishi-sensei

Nishi-sensei was a former teacher, school principal and board of education executive who is always thoughtful and chirpy. She once saved me when I was stranded in the middle of a typhoon at an unmanned train station.

After retirement, she continued to contribute to the education sector and now runs an Airbnb in a separate traditional Japanese house on her property, hosting travellers from around the world with the same warmth she always has.

Obaachan

I had a special connection with the late obaachan (grandma) of the Wada family, who lived well into her nineties. She once served as a nurse on a Japanese warship stationed in Singapore during World War II — the same country where I was born.

She spoke in dialect, and though I couldn’t always understand her, we shared a bond that didn’t need words. She helped out at a friend’s dried seafood shop and cycled every day, even in her later years. She had an infectious laugh and a playful spirit, often making me laugh until I cried.

When I think of her now, I remember her warmth, energy and ease - qualities that still make me smile today. Her laughter and lightness linger, reminding me that joy, too, can be a legacy.

The Japanese Way of Living Fully

These are just a few of them, though there are many more I hold dear. Over the years, spending time with them revealed a common thread, a way of approaching work, ageing and purpose that feels both natural and deeply intentional.

In Japan, retirement isn’t an end but a shift in rhythm, a rebalancing between purpose, community and joy. It isn’t about stopping, but about moving differently.

Japan has one of the world’s highest senior employment rates, with nearly half of people aged 65 to 69 still working, according to OECD data. Many continue not out of necessity, but because they find meaning, or ikigai, in staying active and connected.

My Japanese friends don’t speak of slowing down; they speak of flowing differently. Retirement to them isn’t a finish line but another stage in the relay. The course may change, but the run continues.

As corporate athletes, we often train for performance peaks and achievements. For many, legacy is measured in material terms such as titles, assets and estates. Yet the most meaningful legacy lies in how we keep showing up with joy, purpose and grace, long after the spotlight fades.

The real question isn’t when we retire, but how we choose to keep living. Legacy, I’ve come to realise, isn’t about what we leave behind. It’s about what continues to live through us.

For Further Reading

• Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life

• Japanese doctor who lived to 105—his spartan diet, views on retirement, and other rare longevity tips, CNBC Asia

Our daily energy—not time, talent, or even luck—is the real driver of performance, mood, and purpose. Some days we wake up ready to take on the world; others, we feel drained and stuck on autopilot. What makes the difference is how we manage and protect our energy. Drawing on personal experience and practical habits, this article explores proven ways to boost energy (sleep, movement, breathing, music, discipline, gratitude, and mindful living) and avoid the hidden drains (alcohol, procrastination, digital overload, unresolved health concerns). Energy is the magic that fuels resilience, charisma, and consistency—and with the right practices, it can be cultivated daily.

Introduction

Some days you wake up and everything feels right. You want to train, to work, to connect with people. Your mood is magically positive.

And then there are the other days—when everything feels heavy, complicated, and you find yourself wondering why. You question whether what you’re doing even makes sense. You’re tired, fed up, maybe even a little depressed.

What causes these sudden shifts in mood from one day to the next? And what impact do they have on our performance?

In this article, I’ll share what I’ve learned so far—and the real secret behind it all: energy.

Discussion

Ask anyone what it takes to succeed in life and they’ll usually list hard work, talent, and a bit of luck. But there’s a hidden ingredient that makes hard work feel lighter, talent less critical, and luck easier to attract: your energy.

“Don’t forget about energy. The undefined, intangible asterisk. Some call it charisma. Some call it magic. The secret is the magic. And within energy, there is magic.”

— Matthew McConaughey, Greenlights

Keeping your energy high allows you to think positively, feel good, and feel alive. You’ve experienced it before—those days when you’re radiant and joyful, when your energy spreads to everyone around you. You become magnetic, driven, full of stamina and adrenaline—ready to change the world for the better.

But here’s the real question: is it possible to sustain high energy not just occasionally—on days when you woke up well-rested or something exciting happened—but every single day?

I used to be obsessed with time. Now I’m obsessed with energy. Because even if you organize your time perfectly, if you don’t have energy, you won’t achieve much.

There’s no universal recipe—it’s about experimentation. But I’ve identified a few practices that consistently add energy, and others that inevitably drain it. Here’s what I’ve learned.

Sleep more—and sleep better

Sleep makes all the difference. If I don’t sleep enough, the next day I struggle. I crave extra food or coffee to compensate (a trap I explain elsewhere), which only drains me further. Most people I know are stuck in this vicious cycle, sacrificing sleep and paying the price.

After tens of thousands of years of evolution, sleep still hasn’t been eliminated. That alone should tell us how essential it is for our body and mind. I’ve written about sleep in other articles, but it deserves a full deep dive on The C-Athlete—which I’ll do soon.

Personally, I aim for at least 7.5 hours, often more. Magnesium supplements in the evening have helped me, but supplements deserve a separate article. For now, just remember: good sleep is a non-negotiable source of energy.

Cut alcohol

Linked to sleep is the role of alcohol. If you care about energy, stop drinking at night—or, better yet, stop altogether.

Your body won’t waste resources detoxifying a substance that is toxic at any dose, and the next day you’ll be more positive, less anxious, and sharper.

When I used to drink regularly—even moderately—I didn’t realize how much it fueled irritability, stress, and low moods the next day. Only after quitting did I notice how much calmer, stronger, and more energized I felt. The real benefits kick in after a few weeks—and they’re substantial.

Music

We’re human. Some days, no matter what, energy is low. Maybe something bad happened or the day just feels off. In those moments, music is your ally.

Music is motion. Emotions come from motion. Put on something that uplifts you, and your state changes instantly. It’s so powerful that in professional sports, music is often banned during competitions—it works like a performance enhancer.

Movement: the power of e-motion

As I said earlier, emotion comes from motion. If you’re feeling negative, unmotivated, or stuck in a day without purpose—move. Go to the gym, run, cycle, swim—whatever it is, just do something. Movement changes you from the inside out, and you’ll feel better.

I’ll be honest: there are plenty of days when I don’t feel like training. But I still do it, every single day. Pushing myself not only strengthens my discipline—it makes me feel alive. It switches off the autopilot and reconnects me to the present.

Breathing and morning stretching

Breath is another tool we all have but ignore. It’s always on autopilot—but when used consciously, it changes everything.

When you feel drained or negative, stop. Close your eyes. Inhale through your nose for 5 seconds, filling your belly. Exhale for 5 seconds, emptying it. Focus on the air moving through your body. It relaxes you, shifts your energy, and reframes your perspective.

The key is consistency. I integrate it into my mornings, paired with light stretching or a quick yoga sun salutation. It sets a positive tone and fills me with gratitude.

Memento mori

For years, I didn’t understand the phrase “Live each day as if it were your last.” If it really were my last, I thought, I wouldn’t be working or setting goals.

Now I get it. The point is to step out of autopilot. To remember you’re mortal. To live each day fully, with gratitude, character, and awareness. This mindset works better than anything else I’ve tried.

Ask yourself: Am I on autopilot, or am I truly savoring this moment?

Health worries

Health—or fear about it—is a massive energy drain. If something feels wrong, don’t let anxiety eat away at you. Don’t wait months. Get it checked, run the tests, collect opinions. Living in fear of a problem is worse than the problem itself.

Here, even AI can be useful—if used wisely. But diagnostics and proper exams remain essential.

Don’t procrastinate

Unfinished business is another energy vampire. If there’s something annoying you’ve been putting off—do it.

As the saying goes: If you need to eat a frog, eat it early.

The longer you delay, the more it lingers at the back of your mind, draining you silently.

Get a haircut

Sounds trivial, but it works. On a bad day, go cut your hair—you’ll feel lighter, sharper, renewed.

YouTube and Instagram

I enjoy them—YouTube especially, where I find amazing content. But endless scrolling through shorts or stories is pure energy drain. It overloads your brain with fragmented images and information. It’s the opposite of meditation. After a few minutes, you can’t even recall what you’ve seen.

Podcasts, books, and biographies

Unlike scrolling, podcasts and books recharge me. I read at night before bed—usually biographies, which let me step into other people’s lives and freeze time for a while. It’s both energizing and deeply relaxing.

I listen to podcasts on flights (where I spend many hours each month) or during long, easy workouts. They always lift me up. Highly recommended.

Journaling

I’m not consistent with it, but journaling has proven to be a great way to cultivate positive energy and push away negative influences. I often write after reading something interesting, to capture a reflection. It brings clarity, lightness, and focus.

If you’ve never tried, give it a go. And if you can make it a habit, it works wonders.

Conclusions

At the end of the day, energy is the true currency of performance and life. Time, talent, and luck matter, but without energy they lose their power. With it, even ordinary days become extraordinary.

The good news is that energy is not random—it can be cultivated. Through quality sleep, movement, mindful breathing, discipline, gratitude, and cutting out what drains us, we can consistently show up at our best.

Energy is what keeps us alive, focused, joyful, and ready to face challenges. Protect it, nurture it, and you’ll discover that most of what we call “success” is simply the byproduct of having the energy to live fully, every single day.

My Mandarin isn’t strong, and the sceptic in me imagined three days of awkward confusion, nodding along while quietly lost in a sea of unfamiliar traditional Chinese phrases.

But I said yes, and I’m glad I did. The course became a mirror, a compass, and a much-needed journey inward, during a season of life where I had more questions than answers.

At the heart of it was one powerful theme: change. Not just how to navigate it, but how to initiate it, own it and grow through it.

Here are eight truths from that experience that continue to shape how I live and work.

1. Change is the only constant

Greek philosopher Heraclitus said this 2,500 years ago. Obvious as it sounds, it remains surprisingly hard to live out.

We resist change because it threatens our comfort zones. That resistance shows up as stress, frustration, or the longing for things to stay the same. But everything is always shifting, from our thoughts, emotions, relationships, environments, to the world around us.

If we don’t move with change, we risk clinging to outdated versions of ourselves and being left behind.

I’ve seen this in my own industry. Two decades ago, PR used to revolve around press releases, media luncheons, and journalist coffees. I used to print media kits and fax event invites, back when fax machines still ruled the earth.

Then came digital. Suddenly, it was about content strategy, community building, cross-platform storytelling and influencer engagement. Firms that didn’t catch up disappeared, others reinvented themselves.

Now with Gen-AI, we’re shifting again. Those who adapt stay relevant. Those who don’t fade out.

2. The only person you can change is… You.

I used to get frustrated when people behaved in ways I disagreed with. “Why can’t they just change?” I’d think.

But people don’t change just because we want them to. What helped was shifting my my mindset, boundaries, behaviours and response. Even if the other person didn’t change, the space between us did. Sometimes the tension softened. Sometimes I simply felt lighter, having let go of my own expectations.

I still get triggered, of course. But I’m better at recognising those moments and redirecting my energy towards growth rather than frustration.

Each of us has our own journey. The only part we can control is the role we play.

3. Those who don’t adapt get left behind

Thriving isn’t about being the smartest or the strongest. It’s about staying steady at the core while being flexible at the edges.

The problem is, we often hold on to what once worked, long after they’ve stopped serving us. Comfort tricks us into believing yesterday’s tools will carry us through tomorrow.

As an entrepreneur, I’m reminded of this daily. Running a small firm means constantly navigating uncertainty. Survival isn’t about size or resources - its about how quickly we adapt to new situations and challenges.

As the proverb goes,

"If the mountain won't come to Muhammad,

Muhammad must go to the mountain".

When the world doesn’t shift for us, we must shift for it.

4. No one hat fits every occasion

We all carry different sides of ourselves -- the one who leads, the one who supports, the one who holds space, the one who speaks up.

But sometimes we get too attached to a single role. We lock ourselves into being ‘the expert’ or ‘the nurturer,’ forgetting we’re more than that.

The key is in asking, “What does this moment need from me?”

I’ve found this especially true in parenting. Some days, my kids need the firm mum who sets boundaries. Other days, they need the gentle, supportive one who listens without judgement. Consistency, I’ve learned, is about being steady in love, even if it looks different each time.

It’s the same at work. Sometimes we’re called to lead. Other times, the greater act of leadership is stepping back so others can rise. No one hat fits every occasion, and learning to switch with grace is what makes us whole.

5. Knowing is not the same as Doing

Quoting Confucius:

“I hear and I forget.

I see and I remember.

I do and I understand.”

听而易忘 见而易记 做而易懂

We often assume that once we know something, we’ve already changed. But knowing is just the starting line. Doing is where the transformation begins.

There’s a stark difference between knowledge and lived experience. We may know that walking 10,000 steps a day is good for us, but if we spend most of our time sitting at a desk, that knowledge changes nothing. It’s only when we act on it that it becomes real.

Growth happens in the messy, imperfect space between knowing better and doing better. It’s not knowledge, but follow-through, that makes the difference.

For instance, I could attend the retreat I’ve been sharing about, but if I don’t apply the lessons to my life, the experience is wasted.

6. We become what we practise

Aristotle once said,

“We are what we repeatedly do.

Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

Transformation doesn’t come from a single breakthrough, but from consistent effort until it becomes part of who we are. It’s like training a muscle. The more we use it, the stronger it becomes.

When things get difficult, it’s important to find reasons to keep going. That’s often where the deepest shifts take root.

That said, not everything deserves repetition. Some negative behaviours, like lashing out in anger, should stop the moment we notice them.

Each day, we get to choose what to carry forward and what to leave behind.

7. Being “right” isn’t always worth it

Win the argument,

Lose the person.

赢了道理，输了人。

How often do tensions flare over things as trivial as the “right” way to squeeze a tube of toothpaste?

We all want to be heard. But pushing to win often erodes the very relationship we’re trying to protect.

Even when we are right, it rarely matters for long. People grow. Contexts shift. What felt true yesterday might not hold tomorrow.

Letting go of being right doesn’t mean staying silent or pretending to agree. It means pausing to ask:

“How do I want to show up right now?”
“What matters more - being right, or our relationship?”

Being right is fleeting. What lasts is how we made the other person feel.

Changing my perspective, and releasing the need to be right has strengthened some of my closest relationships in ways winning never could.

8. Awareness makes change possible

Before we can change anything, we have to see it clearly.

Awareness means noticing what’s going on inside us without judgement. It allows us to stop reacting blindly and start choosing consciously.

We often judge others by their actions without considering the fears, wounds and beliefs beneath. Too often, we get wrapped up in our own stories that we miss theirs.

Sometimes, the way others respond to us is a mirror, reflecting how we’re showing up too.

When we can see ourselves, others, and the space in between more clearly, that’s when change begins.

To be continued…

Soon, I’ll return to the hills outside Taipei for Level 2 of this course, a four-day, three-night immersion.

I don’t know what this next chapter will bring, but I know I’ll walk into it with greater awareness, and be back to share what I learn next.

Until then, here’s something for you to sit with:

Where in your life are you resisting change?

What might shift if, instead of resisting, you chose to lean in?

For further reading

• Why embracing change is the key to a good life, BBC.com

• How to Stop the Pain of Wishing People Were Different, Greater Good Magazine

This article challenges the toxic mindset of “no pain, no gain” by proposing a different approach to fulfillment and performance. True growth requires effort and sacrifice, but not at the cost of health, happiness, or time. Drawing from personal experiences in business, sport, and leadership, the article explores the meaning of feeling alive, the importance of purpose, and the balance between wealth, health, and time. It introduces a practical method to step off auto-pilot and live intentionally: doing things well, investing time wisely, and allowing space for dreams—both big and small. Fulfillment is not a distant destination but a daily practice of aligning energy, choices, and joy with one’s purpose.

Introduction

One of the reasons I write this newsletter is because I believe the culture of “no pain, no gain” is sick.

Let’s be clear: without effort, nothing is achieved—or at best, very little—because if you want to improve at something, sacrifice is required. No doubt about it. And there are no shortcuts.

Stepping out of your comfort zone is always a sacrifice—otherwise, it wouldn’t be called comfort.

The point is that sacrificing a big part of our lives in the hope of living well later is, let me say it, very risky and far from optimal. Not only that, but it tends to push happiness into the future, almost as if it were a destination to reach—when in fact, happiness is a choice, a state of mind.

Work gives dignity and meaning, but only if it brings fulfillment and is lived alongside joy in every moment—without postponing life for weekends, holidays, or what comes after.

Yes, but what does this fulfillment really mean? And how do we reach it?

In this article, I’ll share what I’ve learned after years of mistakes, successes, study, and ongoing reflections on how to improve myself and feel alive.

Discussion

Feeling alive—that’s what fulfillment means to me. The word itself is even misleading; no one really wants to be “full-filled,” because that would mean having no further desires. For me, feeling alive does not mean the peace of the senses or the cancellation of dreams. On the contrary, it means continuing to dream. Every single day. Without feeling like you’ve “arrived,” and without being frustrated about where you are—or aren’t—yet.

In Memento Mori

“Live every day as if it were your last.” But how would you live it if you really knew it was the last?

Don’t tell me you’d go to work, train, and feel alive. I’d feel already dead and would just arrange things to say goodbye to everyone. I wouldn’t produce, improve, or create value anymore.

The Memento Mori of Marcus Aurelius and Stoicism, as well as its modern versions, remind you of something else: don’t get swept away by daily routine—be alive. Time is finite and must be used to its fullest. Live every second and feel alive, because you don’t know how long you’ll live, but today—today you are alive. So go out there, dream, and give your all to get what you truly want.

Getting off Auto-Pilot with a Purpose

I’ve asked myself this many times: But what do I really want? At twenty, the answer was easy—I wanted money, recognition, success, to build something. In the early years of my career, starting with my first startup while I was still at Politecnico di Milano, that was my focus.

Then I began to think it would be way cooler to achieve success and make money by changing something in the world—for the better. I remember a video of Steve Jobs that was eye-opening.

From there, I began a long inner search for life’s purpose, what I wanted to be, and what I wanted to change. It took me a long time to realize that what I loved most, what made me feel alive, was making others feel alive. Helping them break out of auto-pilot, improve a little, every single day.

Despite five startups, years in Cerved Group, and now in CRIF Asia, this remains my purpose: to make people happier, more alive, better. That makes me feel alive.

At first, I tried to do this with my employees, then with my teams, and with all the people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and influencing.

You might wonder why I work in data and credit risk. Wouldn’t it make more sense to teach (I did that briefly) or work in an industry closer to people’s daily lives? I asked myself that too. And here’s my answer: few things improve people’s lives as much as credit. Gaining credibility with a bank or a client makes a huge difference for a person, a family, or an entrepreneur. After all, no economic transaction exists without trust, and modern GDP growth would not have happened if someone in Italy, back in the 1400s, hadn’t invented double-entry bookkeeping and modern credit.

But is knowing what makes you feel alive enough to feel alive every day? In my experience, it helps a lot, because it gives meaning to choices (provided you remind yourself of it often) and lets you set clearer goals. But no, it’s not enough. Sometimes it can even be frustrating—especially when you’re far from your goal or feel your impact is negligible. That’s why you need a method. I’ll share mine—not perfect, but at least it’s what I’ve learned so far.

Wealth, Health, and Time

If you work like crazy every day, head down on your goals, you may have the best purpose in the world, but sooner or later you’ll burn out—paying with your health or losing all sense of direction. And if, like me, your goal is to improve people’s lives, how can you expect to do that if yours is based on 14 nonstop hours of work each day?

Adrenaline and dopamine from daily wins can sustain you for a while, but eventually they fade and you’re left exhausted. Because the first thing I learned is that in life there are plenty of green lights (as Matthew McConaughey calls them in his book—which I recommend). Moments when everything flows and you’re moving forward strongly. You can even seek them out, work for them. But eventually an orange or red light will come too, and those are the best opportunities to learn and improve. The catch is: if you arrive at them already burnt out, they’ll crush you like a train.

My method is based on balance between wealth, health, and time.

I always keep in mind the famous words of the Dalai Lama:

“He sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

In other words, we need to stop thinking life is made of phases—first you work like crazy, then you start to enjoy, and only at the end do you really live.

We must find a way to enjoy every day, while increasing over time the impact we’ve chosen as our purpose—that which makes us feel alive.

What I do every day is push hard toward my goals, but I never (or almost never) sacrifice training, because it’s part of the goal. That’s what I recommend to everyone who wants to feel stronger, happier, sharper.

Usually, I train in the morning. I’m not one of those 5:00 a.m. people, partly because I live in Asia—at 5 a.m., the world is mostly asleep (Europe for sure, the U.S. is ending its day). The 5 a.m. routine makes sense in California, where waking at 8 a.m. means you’ve already missed Asia and Europe.

I wake up around 7:00 a.m., sometimes 8:00 if I stayed up late. Sleep (I’ll write an article just on this) is now a priority. I always neglected it, but in recent years I’ve noticed it makes a huge difference in performance the next day. If I sleep well consistently, I’m faster—not just in sport, but especially at work.

I eat a good breakfast and start reading the main news (I subscribe to most of the world’s major economic newspapers—I still believe there’s great value in them). My mornings are usually dedicated to market analysis, contracts, and tasks requiring deep focus. Around 11:30 a.m., I train—about an hour, sometimes 90 minutes or more. Then shower, lunch, and meetings.

If I’m in Singapore, I always try to avoid morning meetings. When traveling (which is almost every week), it’s harder, but I’m working on protecting my agenda.

The point isn’t to work less, but to work better—and avoid drifting from meeting to meeting unprepared, as if attending meetings were a job itself.

Time, in this balance, is the most important component. Our lives are finite—we need a sense of urgency. If you fill your week with useless things, you’ve lost a week of your life for your goals. Sounds obvious, but it’s not. We burn weeks as if we had infinite supply. Measuring everything in time helps. Seeing your time as an investment. I try to ask myself for every meeting and activity: how much of my time will this cost, and is it really worth it? Because time is finite and must be allocated wisely.

Doing Things Well

In my experience, doing things well greatly helps balance goals, health, and time investment. Not settling for good enough forces strong focus on what matters most and endless no’s to everything else. It’s therapeutic. You feel satisfied, stronger, and in control of your time instead of on auto-pilot.

Don’t Wait for the Good Things

Likewise, I’m convinced that owning beautiful things—in moderation—brings happiness. I try to buy little, but well. I’m not one of those who dismisses material aspects of life as irrelevant or misleading. On the contrary, I think they help you feel alive. There’s nothing wrong with admitting it.

For example: if I’m in a period where I don’t feel like running, a new pair of shoes (ASICS are my favorite) gives me the boost to start again. Same with a nice shirt or suit—it makes me feel better. What I avoid is buying in excess just to own. I’d rather have fewer things that bring me great joy.

So my advice: if you dream of something beautiful, don’t wait too long. In the right measure, get it now—it will make you feel more alive.

I’ll tell you a personal story that marked me. Like many Italians, my father loved cars from a young age. His dream was a Ferrari. When I was a boy in the ’80s, he ran a successful business and earned well. Buying one would’ve been a bit crazy, but possible.

I remember we went to an auto show in Turin (yes, they still existed then) and visited the Ferrari stand. I was thrilled, and you can imagine how my father felt. We even got a quote—probably for a Ferrari 328 GTB. But when we returned home, he reasoned it out: two kids still to marry, a dream for a family house, other priorities. So he let it go.

He built a great career, a beautiful villa, and enjoyed many achievements, but he died with one dream unrealized: a Ferrari.

I don’t know if your dream is a Ferrari or something else. But know this: there’s nothing wrong with having it. And if you can, take the risk—don’t wait. It will help you reach your goals earlier and better. It will help you feel alive. Every single day.

Conclusions

Fulfillment is not about reaching a final stage in life where one can finally relax and be happy. It is about creating the conditions to feel alive every single day—through purpose, balance, and conscious choices. Wealth, health, and time must be managed together: without health there is no wealth, without time there is no impact, and without purpose both lose their meaning.

The key lessons are clear:

• Dream daily and never settle into auto-pilot.

• Protect your health and energy, because they sustain long-term impact.

• Invest your time wisely, treating it as the most finite resource.

• Do things well, not just “good enough,” to strengthen focus and satisfaction.

• Don’t postpone joy—a dream pursued today makes you stronger and more alive tomorrow.

Ultimately, a meaningful life is not about waiting for the right moment but about living fully in the present while building the future. The choice is not between sacrifice now and happiness later, but between drifting passively or choosing to feel alive—today.

References

• Matthew McConaughey – Greenlights
  A memoir blending life lessons, resilience, and the metaphor of “green lights” that guide us forward.
  👉 Greenlights on Amazon

• Marcus Aurelius – Meditations
  Stoic reflections on how to live with purpose, urgency, and wisdom.
  👉 Meditations (Modern Library)

• Ryan Holiday – The Daily Stoic
  366 meditations on wisdom, perseverance, and living a meaningful life.
  👉 The Daily Stoic

• Dalai Lama – The Art of Happiness
  Insights on fulfillment, balance, and the connection between mind, body, and joy.
  👉 The Art of Happiness

• Steve Jobs – Stanford Commencement Address (2005)
  A powerful speech about connecting the dots, finding purpose, and living with urgency.
  👉 Watch on YouTube

• Steve Jobs – The Secret of Life Interview (1994)
  Jobs explains that life is created by people no smarter than you — a call to dream bigger and reshape the world.
  👉 Watch on YouTube

• Bill Perkins – Die With Zero
  A bold framework for maximizing life experiences, spending with intention, and ensuring you live fully instead of leaving unused wealth behind.
  👉 Die With Zero on Amazon

In today’s fast-paced world, many of us live in a constant state of motion. We juggle meetings, deadlines, flights, and responsibilities—often across time zones and cultures. For those managing multiple responsibility the pressure to stay sharp and composed is relentless.

We wake up early, respond to messages late into the night, and push through fatigue because we believe it’s what leadership demands. We tell ourselves, “Just one more task,” or “I’ll rest after this project,” until tiredness becomes a background hum we no longer notice.

But here’s the truth: even the most capable, driven people need rest.

And acknowledging that need isn’t weakness—it’s wisdom

In every interaction—whether with people we meet frequently or only occasionally—we often receive a familiar question: “How are you?”

Most of the time, we respond with a simple “I’m okay” or “I’m fine,” even when we might be feeling tired, overwhelmed, or struggling internally.

This common exchange reflects how we often mask our true emotions, choosing politeness or simplicity over vulnerability. We can say that this happens for a few reasons:

Why We Say, “I’m Okay” Even When We’re Not

• Social Habit

It’s a reflex. We’re taught to be polite and keep things light, especially in casual or public settings.

• Fear of Burdening Others

We might worry that being honest will make others uncomfortable or feel like we’re “too much.”

• Not Fully Aware Ourselves

Sometimes we don’t realize how tired or drained we are until we stop and reflect.

• Pressure to Stay Strong

In many cultures, there’s an unspoken rule that showing vulnerability is a sign of weakness. But it’s not.

What Can We Do Instead?

You don’t have to share everything with everyone—but you can be gentle and honest in small ways:

- “I’m a bit tired today, but I’m managing.”

- “It’s been a long week, but I’m hanging in there.”

- “Thanks for asking—I’m feeling a little low energy.”

These responses are truthful, human, and still respectful of the moment.

They can serve not only as a way to express how you feel, but also as a gentle reminder to yourself—and even as a form of affirmation.

By acknowledging your state with kindness, you’re giving yourself permission to feel, to pause, and to care.

Why It Matters

Being honest about your tiredness will

• Help you connect more deeply with others.

• Gives others permission to be real too.

• Reminds you that you don’t have to carry everything alone.

Is It Normal to Feel Tired?

Yes—tiredness is a normal and essential part of being human. It’s your body and mind’s way of saying, “I need rest, recovery, or change.” Just like hunger signals the need for food, tiredness signals the need for balance.

Where Does Tiredness Come from and Why Do We Feel Tired?

Tiredness can come from many sources—and sometimes, we don’t even realize it until we pause and ask ourselves.

Let’s take a moment to reflect. Ask yourself: Where is my tiredness coming from today?

For me, I’ve found a few answers—some I’m fully aware of, and others I’ve only recently noticed. In sharing with friends, I’ve noticed that fatigue tends to surface in these areas, whether we realize it or not:

Physical Fatigue

• From long commutes, extended work hours, frequent flights, relentless schedules, prolonged standing, or sitting for too long.

Mental Fatigue

• From constant decision-making, overthinking, problem-solving, or learning new things under pressure.

Emotional Fatigue

• From carrying stress, navigating uncertainty, managing relationships, or holding in unspoken feelings.

Lifestyle Fatigue

• From poor sleep, irregular meals, lack of movement, coffee addict or too much screen time

Sometimes, we’re not even aware of what’s causing our fatigue. It creeps in quietly, especially when we ignore our own needs or push ourselves too hard.

In today’s digital and AI-driven era, there are many tools—like smartwatches and wristbands—that help us monitor our physical condition and understand our level of tiredness. These devices track indicators such as heart rate variability, sleep quality, and activity levels, offering valuable insights into how our body is coping.

But the most important tool of all is your own awareness. No matter how advanced the technology, nothing replaces the ability to truly listen to your body.

How Should We Face Tiredness?

Facing tiredness isn’t just about sleeping more—it’s about listening to yourself and responding with care:

1. Pause and Reflect

Ask yourself:

• Am I physically exhausted?

• Am I emotionally drained?

• Am I mentally overloaded?

Understanding the source helps you respond wisely.

2. Rest Intentionally

• Take short breaks.

I took a quick moment to walk into another room, have short chats with colleagues, or simply stand up and shake out my arms.

• Get quality sleep.

Though it’s often a challenge, I make an effort to fit in brisk walks—knowing they help me sleep better at night

• Disconnect from screens and noise.

It’s getting harder to avoid the pull, but the truth is, we’re the ones holding the reins. I’ve come to realize—it’s all in our hands. If we choose to stop, we can. If we choose to keep scrolling, that’s easy too. The decision is ours. And that awareness? It’s quietly powerful.

The phone doesn’t force itself into our hands; the scroll doesn’t start without a tap. It’s weird how something so small can build momentum so quickly, until it feels like we’re being carried by it instead of choosing it.

But the flip side is liberating. If we’re the ones giving permission, we can also take it back. The moment we decide not to check, not to react, not to keep going—that’s when the current slows.

It’s not always easy, but the power doesn’t lie in willpower alone. Sometimes it’s about creating little friction: putting the phone in another room, choosing presence over reaction, even inviting silence in like an old friend. Not as punishment, but as a kind reset.

3. Nourish Your Body and Mind

• Move your body gently.

• Do something joyful or calming.

4. Seek Support if Needed

If tiredness persists, don’t carry it alone. Talk to someone—a trusted friend, a good listener, or someone who brings positive energy into your life.

Sometimes, just being heard can lighten the emotional load. But it’s also important to choose the right person.

Not everyone is equipped to hold space for your vulnerability. Look for someone who:

- Listens without judgment

- Respects your privacy

- Offers empathy, not just advice

- Leaves you feeling lighter, not drained

Opening up is a powerful step toward healing—but doing so with the right person makes all the difference.

Tiredness Is Not Failure—It’s Feedback

This is a key truth:

Tiredness is not a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of being alive.

It’s your body saying:

“You’ve done enough.”

“You need care.”

“Something needs attention.”

In a world that often glorifies constant productivity, honoring your tiredness is an act of self-respect. It’s a reminder to slow down, to listen, and to heal.

Final Thought

Gentle Reminder for a New Week:

“Feeling tired doesn’t mean you’re failing—it simply means you’re human”

And being human means learning to pause, rest, recharge, and rise again—stronger and more aware than before.

I hope this past weekend gave you the space to slow down, even just a little.

That you found a moment to reconnect with yourself, listen to your body, and do something that brought you peace.

This is also a gentle self-reminder for me.

Have a great week ahead everyone—and don’t forget to rest, recharge, and take care of you!

Interesting book to be read:

• Boundless Energy: The Complete Mind-Body Programme for Beating Persistent Tiredness by Deepak Chopra

The path of growth takes on a different colour for everyone. What growth means to me today might look completely different from what it means to you. That’s also the beauty of it. There’s no single roadmap. We each get to define growth for ourselves, and that definition shifts with every season of our lives.

I see life as a journey of learning, adapting, and becoming. Growth isn’t just about what we achieve, but about how we become more conscious, intentional and self-aware. As we evolve, we learn to let go of patterns that no longer serve us and make space for new ones that do.

What Personal Growth Looks Like

1. You become more aware of who you are

Growth often begins with self-awareness. It comes from asking basic questions like, “What do I value? What drains me? What brings me joy?” When you start noticing your patterns, your triggers, your strengths and shadows, that’s one of the clearest signs you’ve grown.

2. You set goals that feel right for yourself

Not just the ones that look good on a performance review, but the kind that align with the person you are becoming. Less “what should I do?” and more “what do I care about building or contributing?”

3. You open yourself to learning, and unlearning

Sometimes it’s a book or podcast that shifts your thinking. Other times, it’s honest feedback that stings but stays. Growth often comes through discomfort. It also comes from the humility to put aside our pride or worldview to see something differently.

4. Your habits begin to shift

Real growth shows up in the everyday. When your behaviours begin to change, not just your intentions, that’s when growth is taking root.

You might notice yourself:

• Listening without interrupting

• Responding instead of reacting

• Reflecting on how you can change, instead of blaming others

• Choosing forgiveness over resentment

• Taking a walk instead of reaching for your phone to doomscroll

These may seem small, but they signal something more.

5. You become more resilient, and more at peace

Not because life gets easier, but because you get better at meeting it. You seek support when your equilibrium feels off and bounce back from setbacks faster. You accept that in life, the jigsaw puzzle will always be incomplete and stop needing answers to everything. You start trusting your ability to adapt to life’s curveballs.

My Personal Journey

Over the decades, I’ve come to see personal growth as the invisible engine behind performance, fulfilment, and meaning. Here’s how the journey has evolved through the different seasons of my life.

In My 20s: Perfection Was the Goal

Back then, I thought growth meant being flawless at work. Meeting deadlines, writing the perfect content, and giving my 101% every day. I strived to be high-performing, polished and promotable. I believed if I worked hard enough, I would eventually arrive at the peak of the mountain.

Perfection felt like the goal. But I didn’t realise how much it would cost: missed dinners, work-life conflict and some intense burnout experiences.

In My 30s: Progress Over Perfection

My illusion on perfection started to crack.

I was building teams, growing revenue, mentoring others, winning awards, trying to be everything to everyone, while also trying to a good daughter, wife and mother. I had a lot on my plate. But somewhere in the chaos, I realised that the pursuit of perfection was exhausting, and often unnecessary.

That’s when I discovered the power of progress over perfection. Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck’s research confirms that a growth mindset fuels long-term success more than raw talent could. Letting go of the pressure to be perfect, ironically, made me more human, and a better leader.

I made space for people and ideas to evolve. Even when things didn’t go as planned, those experiences brought important lessons that helped me grow.

In My 40s: Alignment Over Achievement

Now, growth feels quieter, but deeper.

I no longer feel the need to prove myself. I don’t chase every opportunity or explain every decision. I’m deliberate with my time and energy. I choose work that brings meaning. I’ve come to value alignment over achievement.

Alignment means being authentic and living in a way that reflects my values. It means showing up fully -- as a mum, a wife, a daughter, a friend, a colleague or a business partner.

In business, I focus on building fulfilling relationships, not just delivering measurable outcomes. I surround myself with likeminded people, and avoid interactions that drain my energy.

Growth Demands That We Move On

Thanks to a chance encounter with Dr Henry Cloud’s book Necessary Endings, I’ve learned that some endings in life, though painful, are essential for growth.

As Dr Cloud writes:

“Getting to the next level always requires ending something, leaving it behind, and moving on. Growth itself demands that we move on. Without the ability to end things, people stay stuck, never becoming who they are meant to be, never accomplishing all that their talents and abilities should afford them.”

No pain, no growth :-)

And so, my dear C-Athlete, I leave you with this:

May you honour the season you’re in.

May you release what no longer serves you, and

May you keep growing into the highest version of yourself.

Till next time,

Serina

For Further Reading

• Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol S. Dweck

• Necessary Endings: The Employees, Businesses, and Relationships That All of Us Have to Give Up in Order to Move Forward, Henry Cloud

Nevertheless a demanding work schedule, I’ve made fitness a cornerstone of my professional life. This article details my personal journey of integrating daily training into a hectic routine, emphasizing that the brain and body are inseparable for peak performance.

By setting ambitious goals like completing an Ironman, I’ve transformed sporadic workouts into a consistent habit that boosts both my results and work productivity. Replacing traditional coaching with a flexible, AI-driven protocol—powered by real-time data from Garmin and Whoop—I’ve mastered adaptability amidst real life. Explore how I combine discipline, technology, and expertise to thrive in sport and work.

Introduction

One of the reasons I co-founded The C-Athlete is that I consider workouts and sports in general an integral part of my work. As I mentioned in the first issue of The C-Athlete, we modern knowledge workers tend to think that the brain is the primary resource to focus on and that training our bodies is just for leisure, a hobby. The problem is that the brain is part of the body. Just as an athlete would never dream of training their body without working on their mind, I don’t see why we should think the two are separate and that training isn’t part of our work duties.

For me, in recent years, it has become just that, even though I’m far from being a pro athlete and have an intense work life managing 10 countries in Asia. I’ve developed a training protocol that suits triathlon, the sport I practice, but it could potentially work for any sport you love, whether it’s yoga, Pilates, running, tennis, golf, or whatever you enjoy most. In this article, I’ll explain how it evolved and why I’ve replaced coaches with AI.

Discussion

Let’s start with training frequency. I train every day unless I’m truly exhausted or unable to do so. The main reason is that I’ve found it much harder to stay disciplined if I only plan to train two or three times a week. Why? Let’s say you plan to train three times a week. You schedule it for Monday, but the day gets off to a rough start, evening comes, and you postpone it to the next day. Tuesday wasn’t planned, you have to travel, and so on… you skip it and move to Wednesday, which was already scheduled, so you train, but you’ve already missed one session… and so it goes. In short, you end up chasing workouts and often skipping them. If you plan to train every day, it becomes a routine, natural, and non-negotiable. Then, as we’ll see later, if my recovery isn’t good, I decide to skip a workout or turn it into something lighter, like a stretching or yoga session.

Training three days a week is too hard. It’s easier to do it every day. Without a goal, it’s much harder

For years, I went to the gym, ran without a specific plan, and did sports when I could. Then I realized I wasn’t improving. It was fun, sure, but it wasn’t significantly impacting my performance—not just in sports but in work career.

Let’s be clear: you can have phenomenal success and a great career without ever reaching your peak performance, even while drinking every night and smoking like a chimney. But there are two downsides: you’ll never know what could have happened if you’d worked to achieve your peak performance, and you usually pay a health price that catches up with you after a few years.

I tried to figure out how to truly improve and identified a key factor: I wasn’t setting sports goals. There was no challenge. Just like in a market without competition, it’s harder to improve; the same applies to personal performance. You need to measure yourself against a challenge and others. You need a race. For me, races started with sprint triathlons in Singapore, an Olympic-distance triathlon, and a dream in the drawer: completing a Half Ironman (1.9km swim, 90km bike, half marathon), which I did in Taupō, New Zealand, in April 2023!

And from there, I haven’t stopped… maybe one day I’ll even manage a Full Ironman (3.8km swim, 180km bike, full marathon), we’ll see ;-)

But beware, this applies to any sport. Whether you play golf, tennis, or simply run, a tournament or race sets a goal to aim for and forces you to work toward it.

How I trained and why a coach makes a difference

When I started triathlon, I began watching all kinds of YouTube videos—there’s a ton of material out there. I realized I needed a training plan, not just for the gym but also for running, cycling, and swimming. While I was decent at running and cycling, I was terrible at swimming. I’m still not a pro, but I’ve improved a lot since then.

Online, as always, you can find everything, and I found training plans and tools to schedule and track sessions. I’ve been using TrainingPeaks, a classic for triathletes, but if you run, swim, or cycle, there’s an endless choice of apps that suit your needs. Even Strava, originally a social media app for sharing workouts, now has advanced features for tracking training. That said, a simple Excel sheet or Google Calendar is more than enough if you want to start basic.

I started like that, but then I realized I needed someone to create a tailored plan based on my reality—my age, fitness level, and abilities. A former colleague (thanks Leo!) recommended a coach, and it was a great decision because he helped me understand what to do and, crucially, what not to do. He also allowed me to plan sensibly over the long term based on the goals (and races) I set for myself (usually one or two per year, no more).

My coach always managed me remotely from Italy, directly through TrainingPeaks (which has a coaching monitoring feature), WhatsApp, or Zoom. In all these years, I must admit I’ve never met them in person! Haha.

For swimming, after a couple of years, I realized I needed more. I tried some lessons in Singapore, but it was tough—I travel every week! Then I discovered Swimprove, an Italian startup that teaches remotely through video analysis of your swimming and coaching. It’s awesome. There are similar startups everywhere; I’ll include a couple of links in the References. It worked. Swimprove planned my swim training, and my triathlon coach handled the rest, all remotely.

Workouts automatically sync from my Apple Watch or Garmin to TrainingPeaks, so both Swimprove and my coach could monitor performance and plan the next week accordingly. It works. It gives you a schedule to follow and someone to consult if something goes wrong.

Do training plans work in real life? Aren’t they frustrating?

Yes, they work because they give you rhythm and a program. But they have plenty of flaws.

A C-Athlete’s life isn’t that of a professional athlete whose sole purpose is to train body and mind. We have tons of work commitments, budgets to prepare, meetings, deliverables, milestones, and (in my case) a ton of flights to catch (by the way, I’ve hit 160 flight hours this year, easily beating last year’s record).

A coach gives you plans and schedules, but it’s hard for them to know or understand the myriad other things you need to juggle. There are so many unexpected events that make sticking to a plan really tough and often frustrating. Plus, there are days when you haven’t slept enough, don’t feel well, or have no time at all… and so on.

Unless you’re in daily contact with your coach to adjust based on how the day looks, it’s quite demanding to stick to static plans, and it’s often frustrating. In the early years, I always felt like I was running late, behind schedule. But I learned not to stress about it and to adjust the plan as needed. Then I discovered a better way.

My Data-driven protocol. How I train now.

Coaches remain essential for improving your technique—in swimming, running, and especially in sports like tennis or golf. But for planning workouts, whether in the gym, on the field, or in cycling, running, or swimming, I recently decided to stop using a coach.

Why? Because, as I said, training plans remain just that—plans—and it’s hard to adapt them to real life. Plus, despite having a wealth of data from Garmin, Apple Watch, Whoop, and other devices to assess my performance and daily recovery, a coach’s planning remains fairly standard. Even the best coaches might review how you trained, but none will adapt the workout to how you feel in the morning, how you slept, or whether you ate poorly the night before. AI does this, and I’ll explain how I use it.

It works for any sport, and I’ll break it down step by step.

Get comfortable.

You don’t need any special app—ChatGPT, Claude AI, Grok, Google Gemini, any generic AI app works great. A Plus/Premium account is better, but not necessary to start.

The briefing

Start by opening a chat. I use Claude AI, but it works the same way in ChatGPT.

Note that you’ll return to this same chat every day; you don’t need to start new ones.

Begin by explaining who you are and your goals. Details like gender, age, and the sport you want AI to coach you in are essential, as well as how many days a week you’d like to train, for how long, and how much on weekends.

Then move on to your goals—a race, an improvement. For example, if you run, I suggest noting your best 5km or 10km time.

If you’re already at a good level and know what I’m talking about, you can provide your HR zones (see References) or, if you cycle, your power zones (see References for explanations). But if you don’t know what these are or don’t have them, don’t worry—it still works.

Write as if you’re explaining everything to a real coach.

Tell it what usually stops you from training consistently and specify the tone you want it to use (technical, basic, informal).

Here’s an excerpt of my briefing on Claude AI (but it would be the same on ChatGPT):

I even uploaded screenshots from my Garmin to Claude AI, and it read them perfectly (be cautious with other AI apps, as not all are as good at reading text from screenshots—double-check!).

You can provide endless details. If you want nutrition advice, include relevant information in the briefing and ask for daily tips.

The goal and the plan

Once you’ve done the briefing, the AI will know a lot about you and can build a plan. Ask it to create one based on your goals. Here’s the prompt I used:

The result will amaze you. It gives a comprehensive monthly plan with a clear rationale for weekly goals.

As you saw, I immediately requested a detailed daily plan for the next three days. It delivers instantly, and trust me, after years of training with coaches, it’s brilliantly designed. If something doesn’t seem right, tell it, and it adjusts immediately.

Every day is a new day

Every morning before breakfast, I update my fitness status. I open the same chat I started months ago with the briefing and, in my case, upload screenshots of my recovery status from Whoop (I’ve discussed this in previous articles, but I’ll include a link in References) and my Garmin’s training readiness.

If you don’t use these devices, you can simply tell it whether you slept well and feel rested or not.

If you’re rested, it’ll keep the day’s plan as is; if not, it’ll likely lighten it.

If the day doesn’t go as planned, just tell it, and it adjusts, reworks, and replans accordingly.

Weekly training

I prefer to request a weekly training plan, usually on Sundays for the following week. Beyond the overarching plan we discussed, I like having clarity on the week’s plan, especially because I tell the AI roughly what I have going on. Here’s an exchange from last Sunday:

And this is an example of outcome. It’s full detail and deeply connected with the place and the conditions you have!

Why do I share my personal details? Because this way, it knows I’m traveling and accounts for it in the training plan—a thing traditional coaches have never managed to keep up with.

Feedback and handling unexpected events like a pro

A real-life example:

And another one:

One thing to watch out for: it’s quite assertive, supportive, and always agrees with you, so be careful not to take advantage of it, or you might end up never training.

It’s not perfect, so be careful

It often messes up days and time zones—ChatGPT might do better here. From using various AI tools, I’ve learned they all have their quirks. So, pay attention to what it writes, and if something doesn’t add up, let it know.

Conclusions

Recognizing that the brain is inseparable from the body, I’ve embraced daily training as a non-negotiable routine, which has proven far easier to maintain than sporadic workouts. This consistency, coupled with setting clear, challenging goals like completing a Half Ironman, has not only elevated my athletic performance but also enhanced my work productivity and overall well-being.

While my current AI-based protocol offers remarkable flexibility, seamlessly adapting to my hectic schedule across 10 countries in Asia by leveraging real-time data from devices like Garmin and Whoop, it excels in planning but doesn’t replace the human element. A skilled coach remains essential for refining sport-specific techniques, such as my swimming form, and my own judgment is critical for balancing data-driven insights with intuitive self-awareness. Together, this holistic approach—blending disciplined training, goal-setting, AI-driven adaptability, expert coaching, and personal mindfulness—creates a powerful framework for optimizing both my athletic and professional performance.

References

• How to use Heart Rate zones for training and exercise

• Cycling power zones explained

• Whoop: what is it?

• Swimprove

• Effortless Swimming

• Garmin Training readiness

• Claude AI

• ChatGPT Plus

It’s the middle of the year already. How are you doing?

Nope, not the “busy but good!” response we toss around on autopilot. I mean—how are you really doing?

If you’ve been feeling like your inner compass is a little off, your energy uneven, or your spark somewhat dimmed, this one’s for you.

High performers are great at pushing through. But sometimes, what we actually need is a pause, a gentle check-in with ourselves. So before we charge into Q3 with our usual gusto, here’s a mid-year reset—one that doesn’t require a full overhaul of your life or moving to Bali (though tempting :-).

Here are seven ways to pause and reconnect with yourself, using your senses, your body, and your breath.

1. Awareness: It Starts with You

Let’s begin by checking in. Not with inbox or your to-do list, but with yourself.

What’s the quality of your thoughts lately? Are they anxious, self-critical, hopeful, distracted? Are you jumping from one task to the next without even realising it?

Now scan your body. Where are you holding tension? Where are you feeling the aches? Your jaw, neck, shoulders, lower back?

Often, what feels like mental fatigue is your body quietly waving a flag.

Awareness isn’t passive—it’s powerful. In that quiet noticing, we can create space for ourselves.

Try a 2-minute body scan meditation.

2. Engage Your Five Senses

Our senses are gateways—not just to the world, but to ourselves. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, disconnected or numb, here’s how you can return to the present moment through the five doors of perception.

Grounding Practice (5-4-3-2-1)

• 5 things you can see

• 4 things you can touch

• 3 things you can hear

• 2 things you can smell

• 1 thing you can taste

Sight

Our eyes are often overstimulated and undernourished. We’re flooded with screens, headlines, notifications—and very little visual rest.

Instead of scrolling through your mobile phone, watch the sky change colours or look up a tree.

Visual stillness resets our systems. Even a few minutes of green or spaciousness can slow the nervous system down.

Touch

Touch calms the nervous system, eases stress and anxiety, and even helps with physical pain—all while fostering a deep sense of safety and connection. That’s because physical touch triggers the release of oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine—our body’s natural mood lifters and stress relievers.

• EFT Tapping: Gentle tapping on acupressure points can help disrupt stress loops and re-centre you. It’s quick, simple, and surprisingly effective—especially when emotions start to feel overwhelming.

• Massage or reflexology: Whether it’s booking a full-body massage, using a handheld tool for a quick shoulder rub, or slipping your feet into a reflexology machine at home, these small body-based resets can help release tension your mind may not even be aware of.

• Hug it out: Hug someone you love—or yourself. Wrap your arms around your body and say, “I am enough.” It may sound small, but the emotional impact can be surprisingly larger than you think.

Sound

When our minds are noisy and logic fails us, we can try letting the frequencies lead.

Listen to music that inspires or grounds us. Nature sounds, singing bowls, or birdsong can bring us back to presence. Or, simply sit in silence and let our breath be the rhythm.

Smell

Scent can shift our state almost instantly.

The smell of nature, from the sea to fresh flowers and chlorophyll, can have a deep grounding effect. Essential oils and aromoatheraphy, such as lavender and peppermint. are proven to promote a sense of relaxation and clarity. Even our morning coffee can become a mini ritual if we bring our full attention to it.

Taste

Eating and drinking can be grounding or distracting. So much depends on our intention.

Notice what you’re reaching for when you’re tired, stressed, or numb. Choose one moment a day to eat slowly, with presence, and without distractions. Let your meal remind you that you deserve nourishment, not just fuel.

3. Movement: Shift Your Energy

Reset doesn’t always mean rest. Sometimes it means movement.

No need for a marathon or 90-minute hot yoga. Try a stretch, a slow walk, a dance in your living room when no one’s watching, or shake it all out.

Move not to burn calories, but to release what’s stuck. Your body has been carrying a lot—give it a moment to move through it.

Let movement be less about “working out” and more about “working through.”

4. Reconnect with Nature

Humans weren’t made for concrete and fluorescent lights alone.

Make space for green, on your balcony or in the forest. Walk barefoot on grass or sand. Watch the clouds. Chase a sunrise or sunset. Let the sunlight warm your skin. Many of us are wildly deficient in vitamin D, and it affects our mood more than we realise.

Studies show that spending just 20 minutes in nature can significantly lower cortisol levels and improve well-being. Urban dwellers: this is your reminder to schedule in some wildness on a regular basis.

5. Self-Compassion: Talk to Yourself Like Someone You Love

Do you recharge your batteries as often as you recharge your phone? How often do you extend kindness… to yourself?

Ask yourself:

• Am I being realistic about what I can carry right now?

• Are my expectations lifting me—or crushing me?

Place a hand on your heart and say:

“I’ve done my best. I’ve come far. I deserve rest and grace.”

Because you do.

6. Write It Down: Get It Out of Your Head

Thoughts swirl when they have nowhere to land. So give them a home.

Write a few lines in a journal. Scribble on a napkin. Brain dump onto your Notes app.
It’s not about writing well, it’s about clearing mental clutter.

7. Be Conscious of What You’re Consuming

Mid-year is a great time to reset your inputs—not just your outputs.

Check in with what you’re consuming:

• Coffee, alcohol, processed foods

• Doomscrolling, negative news

• Noise

• Conversations that drain you

Swap one scroll for silence. Alcohol for chamomile tea. Just one more Netflix episode for sleep. Small shifts can make a big difference.

The Gentle Recalibration

This isn’t about becoming a new person. It’s about remembering who you are underneath the noise.

You don’t need to do more. You don’t need to fix everything. You just need to return—to your breath, your body, your presence. And know that you are doing beautifully. You are enough.

What’s one thing you’re letting go of, or inviting in, for the second half of the year?

If this resonates with you, drop a comment—I’d love to hear what this season is teaching you.

With love,

Serina

For Further Reading

• Psychosomatic pain – what your body is telling you, Psychology Compass

• How Your 5 Senses Can Help You Stop Worrying, Time Magazine

• How simply moving benefits your mental health, Harvard Health

• How Journaling Can Help You in Hard Times, Greater Good Magazine

• Is Digital Overload Increasing Your Anxiety?, Psychology Today

When I realized it was my turn to write, I was initially struggling to find the right topic, especially since the publication deadline had already passed. However, eventually, I realized that I wanted to share something simple, something that we encounter every day, often without even realizing it. I believe this simple yet meaningful aspect can positively influence our day, whether we are aware of it or not.

I believe that focusing on simple, meaningful moments can make each day beautiful—even when it’s filled with challenges.

Maximizing your time is essential for maintaining mental and physical health while living a fulfilling life. Establishing a consistent daily rhythm is crucial to avoid disruptions. Frequently changing your sleep and waking patterns can negatively impact your health and increase mental fatigue.

Human often leans towards laziness, which can become a persistent cycle if not addressed—a cycle that can worsen over time. It's vital to create personal rules that help you maintain a steady daily routine.

A significant part of this is valuing your morning routine. By embracing the morning—waking up early and at the same time each day—you create a space filled with potential for reflection and renewal. Let simplicity guide you: start with small, meaningful actions that bring clarity and focus. Incorporating spiritual practices, like meditation or silence can enhance this experience, offering calm and purpose. This sacred time helps set your day's intentions, aligning your actions with deeper values and goals.

‘‘Waking up in the morning is a gift, although challenging situations are normal, they shouldn’t spoil your entire day. Be sure to spend the rest of the day on things that bring you happiness’’ - Novi Rolastuti

The quality and quantity of your sleep greatly influence the benefits of your mornings. Adults generally need 7-9 hours of restful sleep. A simple routine can improve sleep quality: keep your environment quiet, dark, and cool, reduce screen time before bed, and engage in calming activities such as reading or listening to soft music.

Many people rush through their mornings, waking up late, rushing through showers, grabbing coffee, and hurrying to catch transportation. Such haste often results in a chaotic day, leaving little breathing room and increasing the likelihood of errors. Reflect on how your mornings start—are they rushed or mindful? Small changes can transform this experience.

To truly maximize your time, simplify your morning by avoiding a rushed start. Wake up to the fresh air, take in the changing seasons, and listen to the sounds of nature. These simple actions can invigorate you. Engaging in morning exercises, combined with gratitude rituals or mindfulness, enhances your appreciation of the world, fostering a connection between physical well-being and a spiritual mindset.

Doesn’t that sound like a luxurious way to start your day?

On the other hand, those who cut back on sleep by going to bed late and waking early often experience sleep disruptions and fatigue. Insufficient sleep prevents the body from fully completing essential sleep stages that restore energy and support mental clarity.

Simple - Cherish Your Morning

Remember, the key to a productive day lies in how you begin your morning. Healthy sleep strategies that optimize rest and recovery are essential, along with incorporating spiritual practices and a simple approach, infusing your day with meaning and fulfillment, and determining the quality of both your mornings and your entire day.

"Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have." —Lemony Snicket

Ensure you cherish your mornings. It may not be easy, but keep in mind that this could be your last.

With Love - Novi

What if there’s a fire?
A data leak?
A natural disaster?
Fraud?

I’ve built playbooks, drafted crisis communications manuals, mapped escalation protocols, and run simulations. I’ve sat in war rooms with C-suites, called in only after overlooked issues spiralled into full-blown reputational crises—costing not just money, but hard-won trust.

But lately, with everything happening in the world—wars, natural disasters, sudden deaths, mass layoffs, scams—I’ve been grappling with an uncomfortable question:

Why do we dedicate so much time to crisis planning for business, yet rarely apply the same thinking to ourselves?

Often, the most hardest crises are the personal ones.

A sudden family loss.
An unexpected health diagnosis.
Job and financial losses.

Or more existentially: how ready are we for a world increasingly shaped by geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty, and climate disruption?

In business, we call this crisis preparedness—not prevention. We can’t control what happens, but we can control how ready we are to respond.

Yet, while we spend countless hours building resilience into organisations, we rarely pause to ask the most important question of all:

How prepared am I for life’s inevitable storms?

The times I was caught off guard

In 2009, I found myself caught in the middle of a literal storm—a massive typhoon in rural Japan. Alone at an unmanned train station, the skies darkened as train services ground to a halt. My phone battery had died, and I had no way to reach anyone or figure out my next move.

I remember sitting under that tiny shelter, feeling helpless and wondering: What’s going to happen now? I could only hope someone would come. Thankfully, a colleague did.

Fast forward to 2021, and my family faced a very different kind of storm. On Chinese New Year’s Eve, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, we lost my niece, suddenly and unexpectedly. There are no words to describe that shock and grief. Beyond the emotional devastation, we had to navigate the crushing reality of managing funeral arrangements under lockdowns, during a holiday season when few people were available, compounded by travel restrictions, gathering limitations, and health protocols.

In recent years, many seemingly healthy people have collapsed without warning, leaving their families devastated.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from standing alone in that typhoon, living through unimaginable family loss, and watching people around me swept away by life’s unpredictability, it is:

The worst time to figure things out… is in the middle of the storm.

What happens when crisis hits?

We like to believe we’ll have time to prepare when the unexpected comes. But life doesn’t always give us that luxury.

Consider these all-too-real scenarios:

• Natural disasters: Just months ago, my brother and many others in Bangkok were caught off guard when tremors from a major earthquake in Myanmar shook the city. With ongoing warnings about the long-overdue Nankai Trough earthquake off Japan’s coast—and similar risks elsewhere—it’s not a question of if, but when.

• Accidents: Life-altering accidents can happen anytime, anywhere—without warning and with lasting consequences, both for those involved and the people around them.

• Health emergencies: Earlier this year, Taiwanese star Barbie Hsu passed away suddenly while travelling in Japan after complications from a severe influenza infection. In the prime of her life—gone in a matter of days. It was a sobering reminder of how fragile life can be.

• Financial losses: In the past year alone, scammers siphoned off over US$1 trillion globally. One wrong click, or a sudden market crash, can undo years of hard work and careful planning.

This isn’t about fear—it’s about awareness.

Recently, I sat down with my children and asked them a simple but critical question: “What would you do if someone suddenly collapsed at home and no adult was around?”

It’s easy to assume they would know. But unless we talk them through it, how would they?

How C-Athletes can prepare for unexpected storms

It’s not enough to just have a plan. We also need to train our mindset and our ability to stay calm in stressful situations.

Here’s a simple tool I use whenever life throws me a curveball.

The STOP Framework:

• Stop and pause

• Take three deep breaths and mindfully rest the mind back into the body

• Observe what’s going on right now, notice any thoughts or feelings and bodily sensations

• Proceed mindfully with awareness and kindness to yourself and others

The more we practice, the stronger our muscle memory, and the easier it is to activate when it really matters.

Building your crisis readiness playbook

Just like how every well-run organisation has a crisis manual tucked in a drawer, every C-Athlete should have a personal crisis readiness playbook.

Here’s how you can start:

1. Financial safety nets

• Know your essential monthly expenses—housing, food, healthcare.

• Check your savings: Do you have at least 6 months of those expenses set aside?

• Create a simple “financial essentials” document listing your accounts, insurance policies, and investments.

2. Family & emergency protocols

• Confirm who would take care of your children or dependents if something happens to you.

• Ensure you and your loved ones have a valid will and medical directive. If not, commit to setting them up soon.

• Store your important documents—both physical and digital—in an accessible location. Tell at least one family member where to find them, and make sure your loved ones do the same.

3. Digital & data security

• Set up a password manager to securely store your critical passwords.

• Assign a trusted contact or leave clear instructions for emergency access.

• Enable two-factor authentication and set up backup recovery options.

• Encourage loved ones to do the same.

4. Emotional resilience & trusted advisors

• Keep a simple list of self-care activities, e.g., walking, meditation, nature, journaling.

• Identify 2–3 people you trust for emotional support and life decisions. Keep the connections strong.

5. Travel emergency preparedness

• Keep a small, ready-to-pack travel emergency kit with basic medication, a portable charger, a printed list of emergency contacts, and local currency.

• Before every trip, note the nearest embassy or consulate details and save them on your phone and a physical copy.

• Share your travel itinerary with a trusted family member or friend.

• Carry both digital and printed copies of essential documents.

Will you be ready when the storm comes?

We can’t predict when the next storm will hit. But we can choose whether we’ll meet it scrambling for answers, or standing on steadier ground.

Our playbook doesn’t have to be perfect. We just need to start writing it.

And here’s the upside: when we’ve done what we can, we can free ourselves to live more fully—present, grounded, and less burdened by the what-ifs.

Take that first step today. Start your playbook. Your future self will thank you for it.

If you found this useful, consider sharing it with someone you care about.

With love,

Serina

In this article, I delve into the power of long-term cause-and-effect dynamics, reflecting on how consistent actions compound over time in both personal and collaborative efforts. Using examples from my fitness journey, professional endeavors, and health insights, I advocate for perseverance and curiosity as catalysts for extraordinary achievements, emphasizing that success often arises from years of seemingly minor efforts. I highlight the non-linear, multiplicative nature of life’s results, encouraging trust in the eventual connection of life’s “dots” through sustained commitment.

Introduction

Most things in nature that seem to happen by chance, at the last moment, due to bad luck or fortune, are actually the result of months, if not years, of creation.
Just as a volcanic eruption or earthquake is the final effect of centuries-long efforts, all four of the major deadly diseases of our time are the result of years of harmful behaviors.
Note that this principle also works in a positive way: the fantastic success of a single day is often the result of a long series of events, often considered marginal, that lead to an extraordinary outcome.
People tend to overestimate what they can achieve in a year (especially with January resolutions) and heavily underestimate what they can accomplish in ten years.
This article is different from others I’ve written for The C-Athlete because not only is it late compared to when I should have published it, but it wasn’t even supposed to be written. Let me explain why.

Discussion

The C-Athlete is a project born from the minds of three people: myself, Serina, and Novi. From the start, it was conceived as a side gig, non-profit, separate from our professions, though all three of us use it to share our lessons learned with collaborators, clients, and friends as much as possible. Serina keeps the editorial plan in order, and every Monday a new article is published.
As often happens with a project, there’s an initial phase of great enthusiasm, a thousand ideas, and eagerness to work on it. That’s how it was with this project too, and for a while, each of us took turns writing our articles on time every Monday.
Then we entered what I call the “fatigue phase.” A couple of Mondays were missed (not Serina’s, who can safely skip reading this article :-)).
The community reading the newsletter has grown to about 150 people—not a million, but enough to make us feel satisfied, especially since most of them read every article we write.
Goal achieved?
Not even close. We want the lessons we’ve learned in a lifetime to spread much further and in a more pervasive way.
So why the fatigue phase?
Because, by nature, we all want immediate results, and even when we know it’s not feasible, enthusiasm wanes after a while. We’re dopamine addicts. All of us, in one way or another.
And for those trying to break free from this cycle of instant gratification, messages and social media reinforce the brain’s desire > discovery > reward > desire loop with their badges, likes, and comments.
We’re in the era of short, very short-term results. There’s no patience to wait, let alone persevere.
But while the fatigue phase is understandable and natural, we must remember that very few things come to fruition with just a few months of effort—it takes years.
That’s why, when we started this project, we gave ourselves at least three to five years to seriously evaluate the results.
This is now a goal I set for every new project. It also helps filter out overly reckless ideas, because once I start, I have to assume it will be part of my life for years. I use this approach for my investments, training, and pretty much everything.

It works.

The reason ties into two key themes: the relationship between today’s results and yesterday’s causes is often a long and complex journey. Effects compound.

Cause > Effect Process

The cause-and-effect process in life is a fundamental principle describing how every action or event (cause) produces a consequence (effect).
In science, causality underpins natural laws. For example, an object’s movement (effect) is determined by an applied force (cause), as described by Newton’s laws.
Individual choices lead to specific outcomes. Actions toward others generate reactions. Empathetic behavior (cause) can strengthen a friendship (effect), while poorly managed conflict can damage a relationship and trigger further events, and so on.

Life isn’t always linear. Sometimes, a single cause can produce multiple or unexpected effects, and external factors (like chance or context) can complicate the cause-and-effect relationship. It’s obvious, you might say—an investment’s outcome depends on market conditions. But the point is how you got to that investment. What led you there? The school you attended, the knowledge you developed about that company, and so on. Why that investment at that moment?

In some traditions, like karma in Buddhism or Hinduism, actions are believed to determine future consequences, even across lifetimes.

The takeaway isn’t just to be mindful of your actions, but that you often need to venture out, explore new things, have the patience to keep asking questions, and stay persistently curious. This curiosity—and its immediate effect of uncovering new, overlooked aspects—is the foundation of genius. It was for Leonardo da Vinci, and it was for Steve Jobs.

The dots will connect later. You’ll look back, and it will seem magical. Someone might say you were lucky, but in reality, you were persistent and curious.

Compounding Gentle Nudge

We always overestimate what we can achieve in a year while heavily underestimating what we can accomplish in ten.
Think back to ten years ago—what you did, how you’ve changed, where you are now. Looking back, you’ll see the chain of causes and effects, but above all, you’ll realize that in the areas where you applied yourself consistently, you’ve improved immensely.
Over the last ten years, I’ve radically changed how I train, eat, and rest. In the last five, consistency in training has given me fantastic results, both in terms of positive energy at work, with family, and in sports. My personal bests in running, for example, all came in the last two years, despite running my whole life and being over 50.
Consistency rewards or punishes, even if the improvement is tiny each time you apply yourself. What matters is that the percentage of improvement builds on something better (or worse) than before. And percentages can be magical.
Here’s an example:
If you improve your running by 1% every month:

• After one year, you’ll be 12.7% better. Not bad.

• After three years, 43%. Impressive, but three years of training, you might say!

• After ten years, you’ll be over 3.3 times stronger! Wow!

Of course, I haven’t accounted for age. If you’re over 40, you’ll need to counter muscle and aerobic decline, which works against your improvements. But if you’re consistent and persistent, you can fight it fiercely. In other words, if you want to climb stairs at a jog when you’re 80, you need to be able to run at 10 min/km uphill when you’re 50.

Compounding also applies to bad habits.

Smoking a couple of cigarettes a day, just in the evening—what’s the big deal, you might say? And you’re right. Two cigarettes are nothing.
But let’s do the math.

A cigarette produces about 10-12 liters of total smoke, of which a fraction (about 0.5-1 liter) is actually inhaled into the lungs, depending on how you smoke.
In a year, that’s 730 cigarettes. Not exactly nothing.
Smoking two a day for a year, you inhale about 365-730 liters of smoke. That’s like breathing the smoke from 180-360 two-liter water bottles or a small inflatable pool filled with smoke.
One cigarette does little, but daily persistence triggers the compounding effect. In one year, it’s minor; in ten, perhaps still moderate; but in thirty?

Most cancers, cardiovascular issues, and neurodegenerative diseases stem from behaviors, deficiencies, or exposure to harmful agents over years. It’s not bad luck. Sure, there’s unpredictability, but more often, these are the final effects of a process lasting ten years or more.

Conclusions

The most significant outcomes in my life—whether in personal growth, health, or collaborative projects—stem not from quick wins but from years of steady, often unnoticed effort. By committing to perseverance and curiosity, I’ve seen how small choices, like sticking with a project, refining my fitness routine, or steering clear of harmful habits, can yield profound results over time. The compounding effect, for better or worse, reminds me to stay intentional with my daily actions and patient with my progress. In a world that often pulls me toward instant gratification, I’ve learned to trust the long-term process, staying dedicated to my goals even when the path feels slow. Looking back, I see how my persistent efforts have connected in ways that feel almost magical, turning small steps into remarkable leaps. Ultimately, I believe the true power of persistence lies in its ability to transform my incremental actions into a future that reflects the depth of my sustained commitment.

I’ve seen brilliant ideas fall flat — not because they weren’t good, but because they didn’t connect.

As a communications strategist and trainer, I’ve seen this across industries, cultures, and boardrooms alike.

Facts inform. But stories move people.

“The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.”
— Steve Jobs

From politicians and CEOs to managers and executives, those who can craft a clear, meaningful story — even under pressure — build trust faster, earn support sooner, and lead with more impact.

This is an essential skill every C-Athlete can master.

Why storytelling matters

It’s tempting to think facts and credentials are enough.

Sometimes they are — but often, they’re not.

In a world of information overload and shrinking attention spans, storytelling is how you stay heard, remembered, and believed.

Neuroscience research from Princeton shows that during storytelling, the speaker’s and listener’s brain activity can synchronise — a phenomenon called neural coupling.

Consider this:

• When Steve Jobs launched the iPhone, he didn’t open with tech specs. He told a story about reinventing the phone — framing it as an act of human empowerment.

• When Jack Welch led GE through major change, he didn’t just show numbers. He shared a vision of what a faster, stronger GE could be — and why it mattered to every employee.

• When ASICS promotes its products today, it’s not just about materials. It’s about real people overcoming their limits.

These leaders understood that people act when they feel something — not just when they know something.

Research backs this instinct too. A study found that people were far more likely to act — such as donating to a cause — when moved by a single compelling story, even when presented with powerful statistics. Emotion drives action where facts alone often don’t.

How iconic brands use storytelling

Over the course of my career, I’ve had the privilege of working with numerous organisations to shape and tell their brand stories — each with its own powerful way of connecting ideas to emotions.

Here are just a few examples:

• At LEGO, it wasn’t about selling bricks. It was about sparking imagination through its Danish slogan “Leg Godt”, which means "Play Well" in English. Our stories reminded children and adults that creativity is a lifelong skill worth building, together.

• With Singapore’s Economic Development Board (EDB) and its "Passion Made Possible" brand, it wasn’t just about attracting investment. It was about showing the world that passion — for innovation, for excellence, for impact — could power a nation’s future.

• At TikTok, it wasn’t about algorithms or features. It was about giving everyone a stage — democratising creativity, and showing that stories can come from anywhere, even in 15 seconds.

• For Listerine, it wasn’t just about killing germs. It was about giving people the confidence to connect — to show up, speak up, and belong.

Across these examples, there’s one common thread. Storytelling that moves people isn’t about what you make. It’s about what you make possible.

5 simple steps for strategic storytelling

"If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood. Teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea."
— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The best communicators — the ones who inspire action — often focus on five key things:

1. Who they’re speaking to: What matters most to them?

2. What they really want to say: One clear message, three points at most.

3. How to connect, not just inform: By appealing to emotion, not just reason.

4. How to show a challenge and a way forward: Tension first, then resolution.

5. How to deliver it naturally: So it feels human.

Why does this work?
We have over 200 cognitive biases hardwired into the way we process information.
Great communicators don’t overload with data — they tap into simple neuroscience like story bias (our brain’s preference for narrative), emotional resonance (our drive to feel before we think), and social proof (our instinct to align with relatable examples).

Simple principles. Not always easy under pressure. But when done well, they turn information into influence.

Storytelling as a leadership advantage

Messages delivered as stories are up to 22 times more memorable than facts alone.

When you use storytelling intentionally, you do more than share facts.

You shift energy. You build belief. You make the complex feel clear — and the risky feel possible.

In a world where competition is fierce and change is constant, the ability to tell a powerful story isn’t just useful.

It’s your leadership advantage.

How you can apply storytelling at work

Storytelling isn’t just for the stage or big presentations. You can weave it into your daily leadership toolkit:

1. When presenting data:
   Don't just share numbers. Frame the challenge, show the story behind the data, and paint the opportunity ahead.

2. When aligning teams:
   Use a short story about where you've been, where you are, and where you're going. People rally behind journeys, not just instructions.

3. When influencing stakeholders:
   Start with a challenge they recognise. Share a relatable example of someone facing a similar crossroads — and show how the right choice made all the difference.

4. When leading change:
   Don't just announce change. Tell the story of why change is needed, what future it unlocks, and how everyone plays a part.

Here’s how you can start:

• Frame your next update, proposal, or conversation as a story — even a simple one.

• Lead with what your audience cares about.

• Show the tension first — then the way forward.

• Speak to hearts first, heads second.

Before your next meeting or email, pause and ask yourself: What’s the story I’m really telling here?

Leadership isn't measured by how much you know — it’s measured by how deeply you connect, and how strongly you move others to believe.

References

• What happens in the brain when we hear stories? Uri Hasson at TED2016

• 200 cognitive biases rule our everyday thinking

• Jennifer Aaker, Harnessing the Power of Stories, Stanford

Hi Corporate athletes,

Corporate athletes, particularly those in leadership roles, may frequently encounter situations in which their team's performance falls short of expectations. A multitude of causes can contribute to this state, including difficulties among team members as well as a lack of proper supervision and guidance from leadership.

Even after you've invested time and effort honing your leadership style and effectively communicating your vision, your team may struggle to go forward. In such cases, the source of the problem may be internal to a member of your team, manifesting as a fear of facing obstacles. Addressing these internal roadblocks is crucial for realising your team's potential. The following are some significant roadblocks I encountered, many of which are deeply embedded in mindset.

• Fears of failure

Fear of failure is frequently the result of a fixed mindset, in which people see failure as a reflection of their talents rather than an opportunity for improvement.

"I always want to try to do new things, but often I am stopped by my mind which is always afraid to try, afraid of failure, afraid of being incompetent, and other negative thoughts."

Have you contemplated something like that? In fact, you haven't even tried it yet, yet you're already thinking too far forward, as well as negatively.

This dread can become paralysing, prohibiting people from taking risks or trying out new techniques. Rather than perceiving failure as a setback, it is critical to reframe it as a crucial step on the path to success. As Conor McGregor pointed out, ‘‘I'm not going to get somewhere and say, 'OK, I'm done.' Success is never final; I'll just keep on going. The same way as failure never being fatal. Just keep going. I'm going to the stars and then past them’’.

• Playing Too Small

A limited viewpoint can allow someone to think and behave in a narrow scope, akin to being in a box, where we only think about how we play and survive in that box; nevertheless, outside our box, there are other boxes, and we must be able to explore the world outside. We sometimes think too narrowly, focusing solely on ourselves in the present rather than our futures. People may underestimate their skills due to self-doubt or negative previous experiences. Encouraging a growth mindset allows team members to broaden their perspectives and aspirations.

• Emotional Reactivity

Emotional reactions are commonly associated with a fixed mindset, leading people to believe they cannot regulate their emotions. Emotional responses to difficult situations can have a negative impact on productivity. A single negative interaction with a coworker or client should not define your day. Emotional resilience must be developed and exercised. Looking at things from a more optimistic perspective generally stimulates our brain and emotions, thus our mood remains unaffected.

• Fear of change

Fear of change is our brain's natural reaction to new and unknown situations. It stems from a lack of knowledge about what to expect and concerns about our ability to deal with the consequences. It's a basic survival instinct that encourages us to keep to what we know.

However, when our fear becomes too powerful, it might prevent us from evolving and adapting to new situations. This severe fear of change is known as metathesiophobia, and it can significantly impede our personal progress and achievement.

Resistance to change might arise from a fixed mindset that perceives changes as threats rather than possibilities for growth.

• Unhealthy habits

Many unhealthy habits come from a lack of confidence in one's ability to make long-term adjustments. Individuals with a fixed attitude may believe they are ''simply not the kind'' to be fit or productive.

Habits have an important part in personal growth. Idly scrolling through social media, eating unhealthy food, and rarely exercise, when you should be molding your body, mind, and spirit into an unstoppable force of nature. According to the article in Harvard Healthy Publishing, exercise benefits health in so many ways. It preserves muscle strength; keeps your heart strong; maintains a healthy body weight; and staves off chronic diseases such as diabetes. But exercise has brain benefits too. One finding is that engaging in a program of regular exercise of moderate intensity over six months or a year is associated with an increase in the volume of selected brain regions.

Exercise can also boost memory and thinking indirectly by improving mood and sleep, and by reducing stress and anxiety. Problems in these areas frequently cause or contribute to cognitive impairment

Leaders that cultivate a growth mindset can inspire their people to adopt healthier routines as a means of improvement.

• Ingratitude

A scarcity attitude can prevent people from seeing the plethora of positive qualities in their lives. Practicing thankfulness necessitates a growth mindset in which one recognises and appreciates progress and assistance.

You have so many blessings, yet you don't take the time to show gratitude and appreciation.

The Mindset is the primary barrier among the key hurdles listed above. The more positive your thinking, the easier it is to face whatever is in front of you.

Additional Mindset - Related Factors

• Fixed vs. Growth Mindset

People with a fixed mindset believe their abilities are fixed. Those with a growth mindset, on the other hand, believe they can progress via hard effort and learning. This fundamental difference can influence how they approach difficulties and setbacks.

• Self-Perception

Individuals' self-perceptions can be powerful or restricting. A fixed mindset can lead to negative self-talk and self-doubt, whereas a development mindset fosters positive self-image and motivates people to make progress.

• Response to feedback

Team members who have a growth mindset see comments as constructive and vital for improvement. Those with a fixed mindset, on the other hand, may view criticism as a personal attack, resulting in defensive action rather than a desire for improvement.

• Motivation and resilience

A growth mindset fosters internal motivation and resilience, enabling people to endure in the face of adversity and achieve achievement. Those with a fixed perspective may be more likely to give up when faced with a challenge.

Connor McGregor's statements, "We're not just here to take part—we're here to take over," were tremendously inspiring. This powerful message urges us to confront and overcome all of our fears, including failure, change, and success. Taking these obstacles front on is critical, as they frequently prevent us from realising our greatest potential. It is critical to recognise that everything is ultimately influenced by our mindset. With a positive and resilient attitude, we may turn our concerns into opportunities for growth and success. By believing in ourselves and our skills, we can actually take control of our lives and shape the future we want.

In today's unpredictable global economic situations, we must remain positive that combining these mentality factors, as well as self-development boundaries, can result in a comprehensive approach that significantly increases individual and team performance.

‘‘We ‘re not just here to take part - we’re here to take over’’!

Are you, like me, having mixed feelings about the rapid rise of AI?

Full disclosure: I use AI in my work and find it a great productivity partner. But while I take delight in the time-saving efficiencies and learning it unlocks, I can’t help but wonder:

• What will the future of work—and our future at work—look like?

• Are the skills I’ve built over the past 20-plus years—deep in the trenches, building campaigns and teams from scratch—becoming redundant as AI evolves daily?

With tools like ChatGPT, expertise is easy to imitate. These days, anyone can call themselves a thought leader—or even publish a book on a craft they’ve never practised.

But sounding like an expert isn’t the same as being one—especially when it’s disconnected from the messy, hard-earned reality of actual work. When output becomes effortless, it may look polished—but often lacks depth and soul.

• How would a world dominated by AI appear?

One that’s increasingly robotic? Lacking in empathy? A culture of speed, but with little space for reflection? What about ethics—especially with the recent ChatGPT Studio Ghibli rollout that’s sparked passionate responses (including mine)?

• Would people still crave connection? Will we still matter?

As C-Athletes, how do we navigate this race, this rapid transformation?

Breathe. I tell myself.

The human element still matters. In fact, it may be our greatest advantage.

1. The Human Touch (Presence)

Touch—both literal and symbolic—is the first language we ever learn. It shapes how we connect, how we trust, how we thrive.

I’m reminded of the day I gave birth to my firstborn: the skin-to-skin contact, the “hello stranger, I’m your mama” moment. That primal connection, without words, said everything.

Yet, this kind of touch extends far beyond babies.

In the workplace, the human touch isn’t about physical closeness. It’s about showing up fully. It’s the way we listen with our eyes, offer our time without distraction, and show care in the details. It’s when someone remembers your name, asks how you’re really doing, or puts in that extra 5% that says: this matters.

Presence is the kind of energy people can feel, even in silence. It’s something no algorithm can replicate.

What this means: The human touch today is about emotional availability, attentiveness, and care. It creates the conditions for trust and high-functioning teams through meaningful presence.

2. The Human Connection (Relationships)

In our hyper-connected world, we are, ironically, more emotionally disconnected than ever.

Even as AI replaces hard skills, the power of genuine connection remains irreplaceable.

You know the power of connection:

• Bringing your client a thoughtful coffee

• A calming voice to reassure an anxious colleague

• A steady glance that says, “I’ve got your back”

• A real, present conversation, not just another WhatsApp ping

• Sharing inside jokes only your tribe understands

These small, seemingly simple moments are what build trust, belonging, and rapport.

According to Albert Mehrabian's 55/38/7 rule:

• 55% of communication is body language.

• 38% is tone of voice.

• Just 7% is the actual words.

We tend to underestimate just how much communication happens beyond words. That’s why texts and emails are so easily misinterpreted.

In fact, face-to-face requests are 34 times more effective than email (Harvard Business Review, 2017). When you’re present, you can read the room, time your ask, and respond with empathy.

What this means: Amid digital noise, real connection cuts through. The smallest human moments can leave the biggest impact.

3. The Human Heart (EQ)

Top performers across industries don’t just rely on IQ. They lead with emotional intelligence.

AI has made knowledge accessible. But EQ? That’s still uniquely human.

EQ helps us read what’s unspoken. It’s knowing when to speak, when to pause, when to soften your tone, or simply hold space for someone.

Our brains are wired for this. Empathy activates regions like the mirror neuron system and insula—helping us attune to others not through logic, but through feeling.

It’s not just cognitive. It’s embodied. Emotional intelligence lives in our nervous systems, shaped by experience and guided by the heart.

What this means: Empathy sharpens our instincts and deepens our impact—because people may forget what you said, but they will remember how you made them feel.

4. The Human Mind (Ethics & Discernment)

Where—and how—do we draw the line?

When ChatGPT launched its Studio Ghibli feature last week, it sparked an outcry. Beyond IP and data privacy concerns, many, including myself, felt it violated creative integrity. Miyazaki’s 2016 words echoed loudly: “It’s an insult to life itself.”

This wasn’t just about AI doing what it could. At some point, there was a human decision to sidestep the spirit of the craft—the years of mastery, cultural depth and soul behind the unique Ghibli style.

That’s the deeper issue. Not what AI can do, but what we allow, accept, and amplify.

As ideas, identity and artistry become increasingly commoditised, ethics matter more than ever.

What this means: The true mark of leadership is not just about understanding AI’s capabilities. It’s about having the courage and discernment to define its boundaries. The more blurred the lines become, the more our values must stay sharp.

5. The Human Choice (Action)

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2025 report, AI will transform nearly 9 in 10 businesses. By 2030, 170 million jobs will be created—and 92 million lost.

Nearly 4 in 10 current skills will be outdated. Over half of all workers will need reskilling, yet 1 in 5 may not get the chance.

The world doesn’t just need more tech experts. It needs adaptive leaders with clear minds, steady hearts, and a strong moral compass to navigate this era with strategy, empathy and integrity.

The real question isn’t just what we do in the age of AI.
It’s how we choose to show up.

Change is constant. How we pivot defines who we become.

As a species, we’ve always been resilient. We’ve always adapted.

The challenge now is to harness the best of technology—without losing the best of what makes us human.

Because AI doesn’t have a human heart.

We do.

Stay human,

Serina

P.S. If this resonated with you, share it with a fellow C Athlete or leave a comment. I'd love to hear how you're navigating your own AI/human balance.

References:

• The Vital Importance of Human Touch, Psychology Today

• 57 Years Ago, a Legendary Psychologist Discovered the 7-38-55 Rule. It’s Still the Secret to Exceptional Emotional Intelligence

• A Face-to-Face Request Is 34 Times More Successful Than an Email, Harvard Business Review

• Mirror Neurons and the Neuroscience of Emphathy, PositivePsychology.com

• Studio Ghibli Official Website

• The Future of Jobs Report 2025, World Economic Forum