The mountaineer who climbed the world’s 14 highest mountain peaks (above 8,000 meters) knows a thing or two about success, focus and mindset — Do you sometimes feel like you lost sight of the goal or the bigger picture? What are the next steps? In those moments I like to turn to Reinhold Messner. You might not know him. A famous mountaineer and expedition climber, Reinhold Messner is renowned for being the first climber…

This is how you do it. — My friend Kerstin loves England and the British culture, so she decided to move from Germany to London. She knew which culture she feels attracted to, which language she would love to speak daily and what lifestyle she preferred. She made up her mind. She put her head down to…

Meeting culture can be vastly improved with one ingredient. — “When we have a meeting at our company,” a friend recently told me, “everyone sits there with their laptops open, checking their emails (or god knows what).” Listening? Being interested? Treating each other with respect? Less so. You can name the problem with one words: Attention. In meetings we often…

How to be and how to not be cool — My nieces and nephews think I am cool. That’s a start. That’s already four people. The question is, what does it take to be cool? (Beyond the distorted perception of your closest loved ones, whose job it is to consider you nothing else but cool?). After all, don’t we all…

No friends or online communities are not an option — Loneliness makes you sick. Humans are wired to connect. That’s why social media is so enticing. An easy, quick, yet non-committal, way to connect with others. Digital media channels and platforms are built on this human need for connectivity. Like with all the advertising, we fall for it. Yet we…

How efficiency-apps and micro-scheduling affect your attention to what’s important? — “Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli.” The famous line from The Godfather movie… There are various ways to focus our attention on the important things during the day and to outsource the unpleasant things in life. Do over-optimizing and micro-scheduling affect our attention to what’s important? New time management, efficiency…

Bypassing some unhappiness traps isn’t a magic — I am a happy camper. You can be one too. Sure, happiness is personal and individual, and even cultural. What means happiness for one person is something else for another and when entering a different culture, happiness can take on a whole different dimension. Happiness is also not a permanent…

Your Response And Thoughts Are Your Choice — I like to create my own reality. If the sky is cloudy but there are a few blue patches I say: the weather is not too bad. We can go for a bike ride! Whereas my friend says nope, no bike weather, and stays home. …

Saying No makes you feel better and proud — We want to say yes and be open to letting wonderful things into our lives. To do that, you might need to learn to say NO first. “No” to distractions that steal valuable time from you. The time that you could actually spend differently, more productively, more efficiently, more relaxed…