What keeps us healthy and happy as we go through life? A recent TED talk given by Robert Waldinger discussing a 75 years long study by Harvard University, aiming to find the key factor of having a good life. The research group tracked life of more than hundreds of young people. Some of them were graduates from Harvard and the rest were teenagers from Boston, especially from families with problems. They were interviewed and asked questions about their work, home life and health status year on year. Some dropped out the study and some still are alive and actively participate the survey. People in study group have experienced quite different lives with diverse occupations while commonality still be found towards forming a good life. The lesson generated from this study is simple and clear. Good relationship keeps us healthier and happier. 1.Social connections are good for us. People are more socially connected with family, friends and communities are more happier. Loneliness are toxic that killing us. 2.Instead of quantity, quality of close relationship matters. Good close relationship can even buffer the physical pain we will suffer at 80-90s as time goes by. 3.Good relationship protect both our body and brain. The possibility of memory decline decreased. In summary, a good life is built with good relationships.

Destructive Feedback in Chinese Workplace In general, Chinese prefer harmonious and pleasurable working environment. They do not share their true feeling, especially negative feedback towards anyone directly. People work with high hierarchy-driven organizations, normally accept their managers' feedback, even it is destructive. At least they do not express their uncomfortable feeling directly in the face to face communication. They would nod and keep saying "Yes. Yes. I understand. I will not do it again." , and prefer to complain behind managers' back about how silly or rude her/his managers are. How are employees in your home country expected to react to destructive feedback? :)

Goal Setting It is a great time to think about new year resolution as year of 2016 is approaching. Like the majority, I like to have my goal setting process at the beginning of each year. The good news is I can always come up with a bunch of exciting objectives that I am passionate about. But the result turned out to be fail most of the time.  Today when coming across life score assessment created by Michael Hyatt, an influencial coach and leader that I followed on Twitter years ago, I make a quick self-evaluation by going through that Excel file and revisit one of his podcasts discussing about goal setting. Here below I will list out the key principles Michael suggests when creating objectives.  1. Keep your goal filling in number. 7-10 objectives are good enough. You do not show commitment or stretch yourself if the number of your goal is too less and at the same time, having more than 10 goals will distract your focus and normally you just could not accomplish any of them. 2. Make them SMARTER. Everyone understands "SMART" principle and here Michael is trying to add two more rules. Let me just jump into the "ER" part. "E" stands for exciting and "R" refers to relevant. Goals you are creating should be something compelling, something you are excited if you work towards that and most important they are relevant to your season of life. If you are parents, evening time with your kids and reading them to bed may be your choice. Jogging at 9. P.M. may not be suitable for you to consider.  3. Write them down. The power of writing your goal done is approved by experiment and people who have their goals in written dramatically increase their possibility of goal accomplishment. 4. Review them frequently. Going through your goal and reviewing on-going status in daily, weekly and monthly basis helps you keep up the work. This is the trap I always get stuck as I never or seldom reviewed them until the very deadline I set was approaching, then realized that it was impossible to complete them on time. The consquence is, I lose the confident and interests to start over, and somehow just forget it or feel demotivated.  5. Share them selectively. Another effective way to hold yourself accountable is sharing with someone you trust with. It would be your spouse, friends, business partners, sometimes even your boss. The key is finding someone that you feel safe to share, who do not nag or make judgement on you.  The key learning I have so far is to take action and keep tracking.

Language Extinction under Globalization When the world is becoming a global village, several languages are dying. People have different opinions towards language extinction. Some believe it is much easier if everyone on the earth speak the same language while others hold the opposite opinion. Language plays vital role in communication process. English becomes one of the popular languages in business world with global economic development. It is common to see a Sales manager from Israel promoting his products to a potential client in America while the product development manager providing additional support from his Chinese office, and they all speak in English. It truly improves the efficiency of cross cultural communication and no further translation needed to save time and money. In addition to the effectiveness improvement, speaking common language has resulted in less conflicts that may caused by misunderstanding when people talk in different languages. However, some people may argue the negative impact it occurs. One of the important symbols in a specific culture is its language. It is the symbol of an unique cultural identity. It would be no fun at all if you travel to a new country and suddenly notice that everyone speaking in the language exactly like you do. Therefore, in my opinion, I would strongly recommend every citizen cherish their own language as part of its cultural heritage. And for sure, studying a new language is a great way to explore the world.