Last night the subject of presentation came up among my friends, one common difficulty is losing anchor point during the presentation.
For example, someone in the audience throws you a tough question or you perceive a lack of interest among the audience. It probably depends on individual presenters as we have different sensitivities towards “disturbance”. One suggestion made which I found useful is to “contain the damage” and move on. Use the technique of “containment”, i.e., isolate the incident mentally from your mind and emotion, to make your bounce back to the flow of the presentation much more easily and seamlessly.

Last night an unpleasant telephone conversation broke out between a bank customer service representative (Bank) and me (RY).
This is an extract of the conversation.
RY: “Please don’t raise your voice at me. After all, I am a customer!”
Bank: “That is my normal voice. I am not raising my voice at you.”
RY: “Well, at the receiving end of your voice, I feel that you are raising your voice at me.”
Bank: “That is my normal voice.”
RY: “Perhaps you should have some feedback on what you sound like.”

Well – to be fair, there are lessons for both ends of the conversation.
For “Bank”, she should collect feedback on how she sounds on the phone in particular when explaining a complicated case of inquiry.
For “RY”, he should learn other ways to deal with people that come across as rude or arrogant besides telling them off.

“I used to …”

I found myself among other more mature people using such a phrase “I used to …”. There are at least a few interpretations to the usage of such phrase.

1) The person is missing the past, in particular, something he/she was able to do, but not anymore.
2) The person has a fond memory of a particular element or event in the past.
3) The person is trying to point out and/or suggest things should be done in a certain way (like the good old days).
4) The person has changed and “transformed” into a different person (in a positive way).

Regardless of what the intention is, let us focus on the presence and the future. Leave our fond memory behind us and use it to propel us to become better and stronger.

I was in Paris for approximately 24 hours (23 hours and 56 minutes to be exact). I managed to avoid the long queue (well, I can’t tell you all my secrets, can I?) and stayed at the Lourve for 2 hours. Then I went for a 3-course lunch and recharged myself for a “power shopping” (meaning very efficient shopping). The evening ended with a big dinner and half a bottle of rose wine. To end my voyage, I had breakfast at my favorite local café followed by a glass of rose wine over lunch on the Eurostar back to London.

In short, I am still in love with Paris after the quick “fix”. Yes, we can round up the hours and call it 24 hours (what is 4 minutes between friends!).

Across the “pond”, this is the Labor Day long weekend that signifies the end of the summer in the U.S. The children are going back to school and a different routine will set in for them and their families. Well, I think an extra day off to come to terms with it and/or adjust to it is definitively justified.
For all the school children out there (yes, that includes my lovely nieces – Cameron and Jocelyn :>), good luck and have a great new school term!

I spoke to a few people in the past few days and one common theme came up: “Do we see our world as binary?” Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions, but let us ponder on the following questions as food for thought.
1) In your circle of people, are there only 2 types: Friends and non-friends? Nothing in between?
2) Do you behave like a completely different person at work vs. at home?
3) When you make a judgement, would it be right or left rather than right or wrong?

Last night I went for a drink with a friend to catch up after work in South Kensington, a posh neighborhood. After discussing for 15 minutes where to go, I finally put my foot down and declared “Excuse me. Do you think I am common? I don’t want to go to a local pub at the street corner.” I strongly suggested (and started leading the way) a trendy wine bar a few blocks away instead.

When we walked into this upscale wine bar, the manager was not particularly welcoming because my friend came from the gym and was not dressed properly. The moment that he heard that we actually wanted to sit outside, he was relieved. He handed over the cocktail menus to us and the cocktails were unsurprisingly over-priced. I turned around and saw 2 other customers read the full drink menu.

To make the long story short, we ended up talking to a more friendly waitress. She told us that the wine bar is going to open a club next weekend and taught us how to get free admission.

The moral of the story is “Don’t let one mistreatment ruin your mood and always try to make the best out of situation.”

The arrival of August Bank holiday marked the end of the summer in the U.K. We had an average summer this year with fewer than 3 weeks of hot weather. In a way, it is not bad as most of the U.K. residence has no air-conditioning. I was not complaining when the 2 weeks of high 20 degrees were finally over last month. Well, shall we say, sometimes blessings come in disguise.

Sometimes I hear other people (and myself as well) say something like “I survived!” or “I am a survivor!”.
It sounds alright on the outset. However, on second thoughts, there is an element of passivity in those statements.
Perhaps a more positive way of describing the mind-set is “rising above the tide” or “making the best out of it”.
Though easier said than done, in particular in the midst of a different situation, try to distance yourself and think out of the box to find alternatives of “better than a survivor”.

Another personal example arrived last Sunday at church. The speaker was in his late twenties and from a much younger generation than me. He used his own experience, mostly his university years, to illustrate his points in his sermon. Well, university years are actually quite a distant past in my long “memory lane”. However, instead of switching off from the sermon, I tried to relate to his “young” examples and connect to similar experience of my own. I appreciated the fact that he made an effort to prepare for the sermon and lack of life experience due to his age was not his fault (I have been there, not so long ago).