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How Taking Action Changes What We Believe Is Possible
Last week, I wrote about the gap between knowing and doing. But I have been thinking about what happens after we take action. Could doing something new change not only what we know, but also what we believe is possible? In Kyoto, I walked uphill through the red torii gates of Fushimi Inari. It was a hot, humid summer day, and the path was full of visitors. One gate followed another. I could see what was immediately ahead, but had little idea what the rest of the climb would b
13 hours ago3 min read
3 Questions to Close the Gap Between Knowing and Doing
Tokyo is one of the most structured environments I have ever experienced. From high above the city, I watched people moving like tiny dots between buildings. On the metro, thousands move together quietly. Streets are remarkably clean. Smoking is restricted to designated areas. There are rules, systems and social norms shaping how people move and behave. And then, right in the middle of all this order, you can walk into the forest surrounding Meiji Shrine and feel your pace ch
Oct 64 min read
What Are We Performing For?
For the past two and a half years, I have been paying more attention to my physical health than at almost any other point in my life. Food. Movement. Sleep. Recovery. Not obsessively, but curiously. What works? What doesn't? What can I sustain? And lately, a different question started bothering me: What am I trying to be healthy for? What am I trying to be fit for? And more broadly: What are we performing for? Problem: Performance without Purpose For years, I thought physica
Sep 293 min read
How Can We Prepare for 3 Emerging Career Worlds?
Since returning to Vienna, many conversations have started with questions about my summer. What was it like working remotely from Vietnam for six weeks? What did Japan teach me? Could I imagine living and working differently after all this? But sooner or later, someone turns the tables on me: “You spend your days partnering with people on their careers. So, tell me, Dilek, where do you think all this is going?” With AI changing everything, what should we prepare ourselves for
Sep 224 min read
The Person Who Arrives Is Never the One Who Started
I've always wondered whether the destination waiting for us might be very different from the one we imagined when we first began. Last week, I wrote that rhythm carries us from where we are to where we hope to be, one small step at a time. But what if reality turns out to be richer than we imagined? Ba Na Hills gave me my answer. Before we went, I had done my research. I knew we would visit the famous Golden Bridge, and I knew there was a French-inspired village on top of the
Aug 103 min read
Rhythm: The Space Between Goals and Habits
Last weekend, we spent four days exploring Da Nang, Hoi An, Ba Na Hills and Hue as a family. I left each place with a different observation about human performance! This article is the first of four reflections inspired by that journey. Like most family trips ours too began with some chaos, flight schedules, hotel check-ins, keeping two teenagers happy, deciding what to see first, adapting to a new city, and trying to make the most of four short days. By the end of our first
Aug 64 min read
Perspective Architecture: Designing a Bigger Reference Frame
Mountains have never really been my happy place. Give me an endless coastline, the sound of waves, or the horizon, and I instantly feel at home. Until Sapa. Walking across a glass bridge above the clouds and standing on Vietnam's highest peak, I experienced something I had never quite felt before. My heart felt more open. My mind felt quieter. And suddenly, the problems I had been carrying no longer seemed as heavy. The problems hadn't changed. My reference frame had. Problem
Jul 293 min read
The Part of Performance We Rarely Design
Last weekend, my family and I spent two days exploring Ninh Binh, one of Vietnam's most breathtaking regions. We cycled through rice fields before the roads became busy. Climbed nearly 500 steps in the summer heat to Hang Múa. Floated through the peaceful waterways of Trang An. Explored ancient temples. Learned about Vietnam's history from our wonderful guide, Lana. Our internet package in Vietnam is limited. So, we checked our phones less. Instead, we talked more. Laughed mo
Jul 213 min read
What Healthy Outsourcing Made Possible
There is a question that has been following me during my first week in Hanoi. As a coach trying to understand what shapes the way we think, work, recover and perform, spending time in a different environment has given me a fresh perspective. I've been paying closer attention to time allocation, energy ROI, financial choices, and creating space to live, learn and reflect. Between coaching sessions, business meetings, a Vietnamese cooking class, discovering local supermarkets
Jul 143 min read
What You Build First in a New Place Matters Most
The biggest challenge of spending time in a new country is rebuilding the systems that make you feel like yourself again. We've now arrived in Hanoi! One of the first things we did was rearrange the furniture in our apartment so we could recreate the routines that matter to us. I've always been a person of routines. Meal times. Deep work. Sessions. Exercise. They all have a rhythm because these systems support the way I think, work and organise my family and profes
Jul 73 min read
The Part Nobody Sees Before a Big Change
In a few weeks, I will be leaving Vienna and spending several weeks in Asia. When people hear that, they usually imagine the trip itself. The flights, the cities, the experiences. But what occupies my mind these days is something entirely different. Preparing future workshops and coaching sessions. Planning blog content. Working on business development. Creating space for new collaborations and projects. Then there is preparation at home. Creating routines that will support o
Jun 233 min read
You Are Not One Person in One Brain
I’m a huge fan of "The Diary of a CEO" podcast by Steven Bartlett. And this episode with Stanford neuroscientist David Eagleman was one of the most mind-expanding conversations I’ve listened to in a long time. One sentence especially stayed with me: “You are not one person in one brain.” I thought about periods in my own life where I deeply wanted transformation while simultaneously resisting it. Leaving architecture behind. Building a new professional identity. Moving co
May 123 min read
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