Category: For the English speaker

☆ CREATIVITY MEANS TO SEE OPPORTUNITIES

Creativity to me means to see opportunities instead of problems. And I believe we can all be creators. Professionally and privately. 

When working on business deals and transactions, you will always face new issues showing up during the process. 

It’s a natural thing as with time you understand more and more of the matter: take a M&A project for example – the longer you work on it and the closer you get to the signing date, the more info will be disclosed about the target (eg the company you want to buy). 

But at the same time complexity might arise (as eg trapped cash).

A creative mind sees possibilities and solution for business issues where others feel stuck. 

A creative mind is a flexible mind, a mind with which you can connect to your creator traits.

For being a creator, you do not need to be an artist. But for being a creator, you have to train to your mind. It’s like gym training for and with your mind.

The beauty is: the more you practice, the more natural it gets.

One thing I love to practise is to go into the unknown and make an adventure out of it. Don’t plan, just go with the flow and look what happens.

Talk to strangers for examples, send them a smile and see how the connection goes. Most probably – with the right intention of connecting – you will find yourself in an interesting conversation with them. You might feel like listening to what they have to say and here we go: through their stories about their life, you have the chance to learn new perspectives, new ideas and new dynamics of life. That is one beauty of life.

One way I invite new stories into my life is through @thehumanproject_podcast– follow in case it calls you.

☆ ABOUT LOVE AND EGO

Did you recognize?

Love and ego can never go together.
They cannot be alive at the same time. It is like darkness and light. It’s either or.
Darkness can only be when light is not there. 
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And if love is there, there is no room for ego. 
True vice versa.
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If you drop the ego, love is there. From everywhere.
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What’s the ego? The source of the ego is your desire to be someone else. 
If you are not so pretty, you want to be beautiful. The ego takes your energy. You are in a fight and you don’t wanna lose. The ego absorbs your energy. 
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Therefore, drop your ego as often as possible. It’s a journey, so take it easy. In some moments you will fail, in some moments you will win. 
Smile – also about yourself. 
It’s less about wining, then trying.

☆ WE ARE NO DURACELL BATTERIES

I am convinced that a good work-life balance is a key component not only for private but also for professional success. 

Privately, because we definitely run less in stress mode and strengthen our immune system when we feel balanced. And professionally, because we are no Duracell batteries that can run at high power for almost endless hours. 

I have learned to pay attention to that in the course of my life. We all have limited resources of energy, focus and time at our disposal, and the question arises as to how we can best use them. One of my personal recipes for success is to use my focus with mindfulness and deliberation. Where our focus is, there is also our energy. Mindful beyond business.

☆ SINK DEEP INTO LIFE!

One of my major guidances in life is to get involved in life as deep as I can. It does not matter where and how, important is just that I do it.

I recently went back from Rome via Flixbus to Munich, slept in my car in the dark forest (I was so scared) and danced Tango for a whole night. None of those activities felt comfortable at first, neither did I really know what comes next.

But this is the great big world. The great big world out there is full of the unknown, surprises, vitality, energy, drive, action and excitement. Once you get involved into the great big world, you are part of life.

Life is not what happens in your corporation job, on your sofa, in front of your laptop or TV and also not behind books and magazines. The before named are comfort zones because they are neatly, safe and comfortable. The zone out of the comfort can be cold, hard, unfair and frightening.

Why should you then decide to leave your comfort zone? Simply because life is out there and simply because only there you know you are alive.

What do I mean by sinking deep into life? I mean to contribute, to cooperate, to become part of an initiative. Don’t watch from the side line as you would do when watching soccer. Go in and be the player. Get your hands dirty. Be out there, try new things, join the neighbor urban gardening initiative, talk to strangers, walk to work instead of driving with your car, volunteer, organize diners with a mix of friends and acquaintances.

Life is colorful and divers. Try to learn as much as possible from the different layers life has to offer.

Best is to also nourish outside interests from which you do not earn money or get famous. I talk about things you just enjoy doing or are just helpful to others. Those activities are much more useful than to watch TV or play computer games. How about becoming a mentor or a charity worker? Maybe you want to join a theater class or an art association for a funny subject? Important is to join life and go with the flow.

Sink deep into life.

Laugh, cry, dance as only then you feel alive.

☆ FRIDAYS

And when the business week is too exhausting, too much thinking, to much computering, too much head time … Friday nights like this, with my own hands, exploring new things, creating “real things” are the best

☆ THE CLEABING POWER OF SUNSETS

There is one thing I always try to do, no matter how much work I have on on the table: to go and see the sunset.

No matter where I am, Munich, Paris or somewhere else, I go and search for a high spot to see the sun saying goodbye.

Each sunset has a beauty of its own. No matter whether it’s cloudy or clear sky: for me they are all worth being seen.

I usually thank the day for all that happened. The good and the bad as it’s all just experiences that come and pass. Only our mind gives them a label, wants sometimes to stick on something instead of releasing.

The clearing power of sunsets.

Where have you seen the last time the beauty of a sunset?
Do you take time for it?
What sunset spots are your favourites?
Happy to read from you!

☆ JUST DO IT – IT MIGHT BE YOUR ONLY CHANCE!

Auch Dein Büro kann jederzeit zu Deinem Hörbuch Aufnahmestudio werden!

Wir Menschen habe die wunderbare Fähigkeit, uns an unsere äußere Umstände anzupassen und das Beste daraus zu machen. Oft sind wir aber zu bequem dafür und verlangen erst ein neues Paar Joggingschuhe bevor wir mit dem Laufen anfangen. Oder auch erst den neuen Job oder die neue Liebe, bis wir dann glücklich sein wollen. Besser als jetzt wird es allerdings selten. 

Ich glaube einer meiner wichtigsten Erfolgsgrundsätze ist für mich, “einfach” loszulegen und “zu machen” anstelle zu warten und darüber zu grübeln wie es denn am besten sein könnte. Klar, das Ergebnis kann weniger perfekt sein – aber: es ist gemacht und umgesetzt. Wenn ich so auf mein bisheriges Leben zurückblicke, war es glaube ich genau das, was mich dahin gebracht hat, wo ich aktuell bin: Ich habe gemacht. Und wenn es eben nicht perfekt war, dann war das eben so. Und oft kann das Nichtperfekte dann nach Umsetzung noch etwas korrigiert werden. So gerne zeigt sich auch erst nach der Umsetzung, wie es noch besser geht. 

Wichtiger als das ist aber, dass Du es einfach machst. 

Hole Deinen Laptop jetzt heraus, schreibe Dein neues Buch oder den Blog, der tief in Deinem Herzen schlummert. Beginne jetzt Tango zu tanzen und warte nicht darauf, bis Du den richtigen Tanzpartner gefunden hast. Mache Dein Tun nicht von den äußeren Faktoren abhängig. Sondern mache Dein Ding, egal welche Story Dir Dein Köpfchen erzählt, warum es doch nicht gehen soll. Fange einfach an. Perfekter wird der Moment dafür einfach nicht.

Mir haben meine Hörbuch Aufnahmen zu #crazyforlife, meinem Buch, super viel Freude bereitet. Sie sind nun im Kasten und in Kürze kannst Du das Hörbuch zu meinem Buch auf allen bekannten Kanälen auch runterladen! 

Stay mindful & crazy, Deine Corinna-Rosa

☆ ABOUT NOT RESPONDING

Maybe you have made the same experience in life: there is a topic, something that is on the table and you feel like it would be great to speak about it. 

But the other one is not talking about it. 
She/he might even ignoring that you are trying to reach out to clarify things. 

My experience has taught me that there are only two possibilities why this is happening:
1. Either the subject means nothing to the other person, she/he just doesn’t care.
2. Or the subject means everything to the other one. So much that she/he cannot speak up and about it.

☆ EXPAND YOUR IDEA OF WHAT IS POSSIBLE IN LIFE!

Sweet reminder to expand your idea of what is possible in life.
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Just had a talk yesterday with a friend. He loves comfort zones but wants to develop his personality further at the same time. A fast track for him would be to get from time to time into the unknown. This can be simple as smiling to strangers in the streets or listening to music you would “normally” not listen to. Or it can be a bigger step as traveling on your own to an unknown space without having made any plans or research upfront. 
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With all those adventures, you will train you brain to become more flexible and more open to THE new. You train yourself to respond differently to what life has to offer. You might be able to see more options, more solutions, more ideas – this will not only help you on a personal level to expand but also business wise. Why: you strength your creativity muscle and this is one of the key traits humanity needs in order to be able to find smart and convincing solutions for today’s key challenges in the world. On a small as well as on a big level. Sooooo – be the boat that leaves the harbour. You have all already within you to do so. 
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HAPPY SATURDAY AND KEEP ON SHINING!

☆ How to effectively manage meetings

During my professional career, I learned that one of the biggest distractions for concentrated work are meetings. Attending meetings can either be beneficial or it can only be a distraction which can drain one’s productivity. For example, if I work on a new project and try to solve a suddenly plopped up challenge within a tight timeline but have a couple of business meetings ahead, I have to interrupt my personal work flow. Instead of being able to keep my level of focus high, I have to leave that place of special attention and move myself into the meeting room. Even if it is a digital meeting room, my focus on the former subject has been gone away. And to get that focus back, time is required: studies show that it takes 25 minutes for our brains to refocus on the original task. 25 minutes (!) to re-focus – when I learned that, I took a long, deep breath. That’s quite a time – lost time after all!

Therefore, I try to avoid workplace distractions and in particular „unnecessary“ meetings as much as possible. As we all have only a certain amount of energy to spend in our life, it might instead be a great idea to better chose where to spend our time, focus and life energy. To be able to surpass the challenge of turning meetings to a productive one, here are my 2 cents listed – maybe this list also works for you:

  1. No meeting without agenda: Do not waste time on a meeting without an agenda as it‘s a meeting without a purpose. Time is critical when working so spending it on something that has no purpose will decrease your productivity.
  2. Always work with a clear time frame for the meeting and clear „take-aways“ summarized at the end: Set a precise time slot for the meeting, so that everyone not only knows when it starts but also when it ends and make sure you have some final „take-aways“ from the meeting on which everybody has agreed upon before the meeting ends.
  3. Be aware with recurring meetings: Assess if routinary meetings are worth your time and attention. Always evaluate the value of the recurring meetings.
  4. Identify your key persons required for the meeting: If you’re the meeting organizer, make sure that the participants whose presence is critical should attend, otherwise attendance is optional for the rest of the team.
  5. Keep a special focus and contribute to move on: „Hyperfocus“ on meetings so you can get the best out of it. Contribute what you can help things move along so that the meeting will end at the time frame set for it.
  6. Keep days without any meetings at all: And if you’re the lucky boss, think about that having a day with no meetings at all each week allows everyone to work on their most important tasks without being interrupted.

In this sense I wish you a cheerful continuation of the week !

Yours, Corinna