When you stumble upon challenges that seem too overwhelming to deal with, they paralyze us. We cannot decide on what to do. Looking for help, we may turn to our best friends or pray to God. What if we can tap into powerful insights that we have never thought we have? It is like having a secret mentor. Here is a fascinating story from the Hidden Brain at NPR. Megan Lincoln had dyslexia and struggled at school when she was little. Ever since Megan learned that Cher, a wel

In today's world, where artificial intelligence is rapidly replacing human intelligence, we ask ourselves to which areas we need to direct our energy. While we may not win IBM's Watson or Google's Sycamore for amassing specialized knowledge, it won't be easy for machine learning or quantum computing to figure out how to empathize with people. More often than not, we just want our friends to quietly listen to us even when they have no solutions to our problems. What if empa

No. I'm not talking about "big" data here. It is personal data that we have not been claiming enough ownership of. While it is important to protect it from its misuse, we don't want to miss opportunities to use it in our favor. Unknowingly, I hired my own data five years ago for the first time to improve my finance. It has become my life coach ever since. Often, we underestimate how much we can accomplish with what we already have, especially when we don't see a clear pa

When life throws things at us, it is easy for us to focus on things that are not going well. Because we are so busy getting things done, we tend to take it for granted what others are willing to do for us. When we ask someone to do us a favor, we may not be aware of their prior commitments to other things. Without meaning to do so, we pile up more things on their plate that is already full. When I was working 24/7 in academia as a researcher, I was one of those "difficult"

When I left academia two years ago, I did not know what my next job was going to be and how soon I would go back to work. Everything was up in the air. I went back to the drawing board and brainstormed possible jobs that would require problem-solving and/or critical thinking skills of a biochemist: research scientist, grant writer, editor, consultant? I got my first job offer from Springer Nature in a month, but ended up taking three months off in preparation of relocating

Do you ever wonder why you need a vacation from work? Perhaps your spirit is drained by your endless job responsibilities, some of which may be outside your interest. During my break, I spend more time doing what I enjoy: reading books/articles, watching TED talks, writing blog posts, dancing, and hiking. And I often wonder how great it would be if I get to do more of these things at work. Steven Tomlinson thinks it is within our reach. He tells us that dream jobs do not ex

Have you ever wondered why most of your new year resolutions don't work out? You are not alone. I certainly belong to this unfortunate tribe. Stephen Duneier has been amazingly successful in tackling this issue and I'd like to share with you some inspiration that I got from his TED talk. He describes himself as someone who cannot focus on anything for longer than 5 minutes. But he is the biggest achiever I have ever seen: hedge fund manager, installation artist, entrepren