I woke up at 3 a.m. for a flight, rushed through chaotic packing, and only when I finally sat down with my airport coffee did it hit: I don’t remember what I’ve done in the past 48 hours.

Not because I was too busy.
Not because I was exhausted.
But because I was so deep in a flood of ideas that the entire world — including my own daily ritual — simply disappeared.

The morning was pure chaos. I’m a terrible packer — the kind who throws things into a suitcase 20 minutes before leaving. I managed to check in online at the last possible second, registered my Thailand e-arrival card while rushing out the door, and somehow made it to the airport in one piece, heart racing the whole way.

Only when I finally sat down with my first morning coffee did reality hit me like a slap.

I completely forgot to write my journal, alongside many other things, yesterday.

Since Sunday, I’ve been caught in this strange, exhilarating creative flood. Ideas keep pouring in nonstop — new business strategies, content plans, operational systems for the coliving space, marketing angles I hadn’t considered before. I’ve been completely locked in, formalising everything into documents and notes. Except for workouts and meals, I’ve barely come up for air. The outside world basically vanished.

And that’s exactly what happened yesterday. I worked until midnight, riding the wave of thoughts. The ideas felt too important to pause. By the time I realised how late it was, journaling felt like an afterthought. I told myself “I’ll do it first thing in the morning”… and then the 3 a.m. alarm went off and the airport rush began.

Apparently, this phenomenon has a name: flow state (or hyperfocus when it gets really intense).

When you’re deeply absorbed in something meaningful and challenging, your brain can enter a state of complete immersion. Time distorts — hours feel like minutes. You forget to eat, forget to check your phone, and sometimes even forget basic things like writing your daily journal.

Psychologists describe it as “decoupling” — your attention becomes so tightly coupled to the task that external awareness fades into the background. The default mode network (the part of your brain responsible for self-reflection and mind-wandering) quiets down. You lose track of your surroundings, your hunger, your schedule… and yes, sometimes your own journal.

It’s the same reason athletes lose track of the crowd during a big game, writers disappear for days while drafting, or programmers pull all-nighters without noticing the sun coming up. In flow, you’re not just focused — you’re gone.

For me, this creative flood started on Sunday and hasn’t let up. Ideas arrive faster than I can capture them. I’ve been documenting everything: new marketing angles, operational tweaks, long-term vision pieces. It feels productive and exciting… until I realise I missed an entire day of journaling, skipped a few basic self-care rituals, and barely registered the chaos of packing at 4:30 a.m.

The irony isn’t lost on me. I write about discipline, routines, and balance all the time. Yet here I am, so locked into idea generation that I forgot to record the very day I lived through.

This is the double-edged sword of deep focus. On one hand, it’s magical — the kind of state where real breakthroughs happen. On the other, it can make you neglect the small but important things: rest, reflection, even remembering to eat or write your journal.

I used to think this only happened to other people (or those with ADHD). Now I see it’s just what happens when your brain finds something it loves and refuses to let go.

The flight is boarding soon. I’m sitting here with my coffee, typing this journal on my phone, trying to catch up on yesterday while the present moment rushes by.

Lesson learned (again): flow is powerful, but it needs guardrails. Maybe next time I’ll set a gentle reminder to surface from the idea ocean every once in a while.

Or maybe I’ll just ride the wave and accept that I don’t have control over some days.

Quick Daily Debrief

• How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

  4 – Tired, just tired. With the coffee I did more work on the plane, didn’t nap until we started descending.

• Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

  It’s Songkran festival time in Thailand, people are water fighting everywhere on the street. I would’ve joined but just didn’t have the energy to.

• Plans for the day vs. reality?

  I try to be nice to myself on flight day, no strict schedules or deliverables. However, managed to join a remote community hangout with the programme I’m attending, helped to offset the day’s tense vibe a bit. The groceries I ordered pre-flight arrived in the afternoon so that I didn’t need to worry about food when most shops are closed due to Thai New Year, it made my day.

• What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

  Might go check out the street water fighting party if I feel better.

• One must-do thing for tomorrow?

  Go to the gym (without getting drentched).

I left my laptop at home on purpose.

No calendar. No gantt chart. No urgent tasks pretending to be important. Just me, a book, a notebook, and the quiet hope that maybe — just maybe — my brain would stop running laps and actually give me something useful.

And for once… it did.

Okay, full confession: fiction has never been my thing. Even with true crime — my guilty pleasure — I prefer real cases over novels. The book I’m reading right now is still work-related (a branding and marketing techniques book from a program I’m actively attending) instead of 1984 that I’ve tried to finish (but haven’t) for 4 years. The iPad was my safety blanket in case I wanted to play with templates while reading.

After a 30-second Google Maps search, I found a cute boutique cafe/bar/sheesha spot with a terrace in SOHO. When I walked in, it was early and quiet — only one table occupied. Lucky me, a whole L-shaped rattan sofa was free. I claimed it like it was prime real estate.

For the next two hours, I had the best alone time: no phone, no iPad, just reading and scribbling notes in my notebook.

Then something magical happened. Suddenly I felt possessed by a genius writer. Ideas flooded my brain at lightning speed, and for once, I could actually catch them and write them down coherently. It was unreal.

I’m not a natural writer (yes, I use AI to polish my articles — what gave it away?). Normally my mind jumps around like a caffeinated squirrel with no warning. Structuring thoughts into something readable for others is rare.

“Is it the coffee? Did they spike it with a magic potion?” I took another sip. Nope, just a plain old Americano.

I paused, looked up. The mild sun was warming me without being aggressive, a gentle breeze was balancing the rising summer heat, and the humidity was a perfect, comfortable 75%. Everything felt… silky smooth.

In that moment, I realized: it wasn’t the coffee. It was the mood. I was in a perfect state — no one expecting anything from me, no firefighting, no self-imposed deadlines. I could finally think clearly.

On most days, I’m either in team/customer firefighting mode or chasing my own aggressive schedule. There’s rarely space to just think, plan, or recalibrate.

This is why every serious exercise expert says recovery is as important as the workout. Every neurologist will tell you sleep is the foundation of cognitive performance. And Simon Sinek puts it perfectly: “Creativity doesn’t happen in the frenzy. It happens in the gaps.”

Now approaching 40, I’m finally seeing the real value in slowing down so I can run fast again later. Today reminded me how powerful intentional rest can be.

I’m taking a vow to make this kind of Sunday reset a regular habit.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   9 – Calm, inspired, and recharged.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   The slow morning, deep reading, and sudden flow of ideas felt like the perfect reset I needed.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Wanted to go to the gym but feeling slightly sick, so opted for a long walk instead.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Nail it at PT session.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Pack for my trip.

Some rituals are worth protecting — especially when they involve good food, zero judgment, and friends who’ve known you through every chaotic chapter of life.

It’s the weekend, and the only day(s) I can reliably catch up with my two best friends in Hong Kong for lunch. I’m genuinely lucky that we manage to make it happen every time I’m back in town, no matter how short the visit. Even luckier? We all love healthy home-cooked meals, so they always say yes when I suggest “let’s do it at home.”

Today we gathered at Shine’s place. I took the subway, Vi drove, and Shine prepped the ingredients. I cooked, lunch was served right on time, and just like that — another perfect ritual unlocked.

This has become one of my favorite things: we cook, eat, chat, rant about the assholes in our lives, then say goodbye with big hugs. It’s the kind of simple, grounding afternoon that pulls me out of my usual busy, loud, cramped headspace.

Vi works with her husband. They own a small business that’s doing really well — thriving to the point where they urgently need to revisit their business plan, team expansion, and next milestones. Her husband is the rainmaker, while Vi is the invisible backbone handling finances, admin, and all the nitty-gritty details that keep everything running smoothly.

She had just returned from a family trip to Korea, and I could tell she was exhausted. For someone like her, “vacation” isn’t really a vacation — it’s extra pressure. You’re managing in-laws, kids’ preferences, activity planning, while still answering work WhatsApps, worrying about payroll, and reshuffling meetings.

When I asked if she’d considered hiring more help, she sighed and said, “Yes… but I don’t even know where to start. Everything goes through me, and everything is connected. I honestly don’t know how to carve anything out.”

She knows she’s becoming the bottleneck when she’s away, but the fear of others making costly mistakes feels worse than doing things slowly herself. Sound familiar?

I’ve seen this exact pattern in so many SME clients’ growth journeys. It’s rarely just one problem — it’s a tangled web of questions:

Do we even have the budget?
How much budget, really?
Should we outsource or hire in-house?
Which part of the process can we actually delegate?
Who’s going to train them?
How much time do they need to ramp up?
Who prepares the training materials?
What if they make an expensive mistake?
What if we realize later this wasn’t even the most urgent role?

This is exactly where proper business process analysis becomes gold. In the short time we had — between bites of lunch and the ride to the subway station — I could only offer two practical suggestions for her most pressing pain points: WhatsApp Business automation and a budget-friendly virtual assistant.

Small steps, but sometimes that’s how you start untangling the knot.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   9 – Walked 13k steps, had a great lunch with people I love, went to read at a cafe quietly myself afterwards, feeling charged.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Deep conversation with Vi an Shine about our lives.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Very happy with the day achived, handled both social and work perfectly — answered to all important emails, approved payments for vendors, got in bed before 10pm.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Recalibrate, review project backlogs and the timeline. After this week’s study, I’ve got a few new things to do.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Go to the gym.

I used to think clients were just being picky when they rejected consultants.

Now that I’m the client… I finally get it.

The difference between consultancy and in-house work is fascinating to watch — especially when you’ve sat on both sides of the table.

Back when I was a tech and digital recruiter, 9 times out of 10 my consulting candidates got rejected before they even reached the interview stage. Clients would skim the CV, spot the long list of consultancy projects, and immediately pass. No constructive feedback, just a polite “not quite the fit.”

It used to baffle me. Some of these candidates had the perfect tech stack, relevant experience, and fit the budget perfectly. Yet they were dismissed like they carried some invisible consulting germs.

On the flip side, I saw far more consultants desperate to move in-house than the other way around. Many who “fell into consulting” fought hard to get back to permanent roles — even if it meant lower pay or a more junior title. Anything to escape the constant project merry-go-round.

One client rejected a strong candidate with the classic line: “Skills are good, but he doesn’t have the full cycle experience.” No matter how hard I tried to sell the candidate’s strengths, the client wouldn’t budge. At the time, I thought it was just picky corporate nonsense.

Fast forward to today. After years in consulting with in-house experience prior and now running my own business, I’m suddenly the client interviewing marketing agencies because we don’t have an in-house specialist. Suddenly, that “full cycle experience” comment makes perfect sense. I’m hesitating like crazy — not sure who to hire, or even whether to hire at all.

The length of engagement really does matter more than most people realize.

A divorce lawyer’s job is to win the court battle, regardless of how the marriage started, evolved, or could have been saved.
An accounting firm’s goal is to file the tax report on time, not to deeply understand your long-term business strategy or spending habits.
A crisis PR firm’s objective is to protect reputation during the scandal, not to worry about your five-year brand vision.

I’ve sat in meetings where my old consulting manager got politely shut down because he was suggesting solutions that sounded smart on paper but completely missed the nuances of the client’s reality. Consultants are wired for width, not depth. They jump from project to project, industry to industry, and have to ramp up insanely fast. They’re expected to deliver quick, creative answers without the luxury of spending months understanding the organization’s history, culture, and unspoken dynamics.

They’re usually not the ones studying market trends or industry shifts to make tough strategic calls — like deliberately taking short-term losses to secure early market entry and capture the largest share (unless they’re hired specifically for that study). Their focus is usually on hitting pre-defined deliverables and deadlines, not building something that lasts for years.

Well… they say they do.

But in practice, it’s hard when you’re only contracted for 3–6 months and your success is measured by whether you delivered the report on time.

As a former consultant, I’m guilty of this too. If I got $50 every time a client said “We’ve tried that before, it didn’t work,” I’d be a millionaire by now. Now that I’m on the client side, I catch myself thinking the exact same thing during proposal meetings.

I’m not saying consultants are useless — far from it. They can be incredibly valuable when you need a quick fix, temporary support during understaffing, or a fresh external perspective. But in general, they’re not always equipped (or incentivized) to deliver what clients secretly hope for: deep, sustainable impact that truly understands the business from the inside.

Live and learn.

The beauty (and the frustration) is that both worlds have their place. Consultants bring speed, fresh perspectives, and specialized expertise you don’t have in-house. In-house teams bring context, continuity, and the ability to execute over the long haul. The smartest companies know how to use both effectively.

For small businesses like mine, the challenge is learning when to bring in outside help and when to build internally. Right now, we’re in that awkward in-between phase — growing but not yet at the scale where we can afford a full in-house marketing team. So we’re interviewing agencies while trying to be smarter about what we can handle ourselves.

The lesson I’m taking away is this: next time I’m evaluating a consultant or agency, I’ll be much more explicit about what “full cycle” really means to us. And I’ll be kinder to my past self for all those times I thought clients were just being difficult.

Sometimes the gap between consultancy and in-house isn’t about skill — it’s about time, context, and incentives. Understanding that difference makes both sides work better together.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   8 – feeling fresh, slept well. Really enjoying the new workstation setup: my standing desk, I have been standing for 2 days while at work.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Had a very hard PT session mid-day, great reset for afternoon meetings.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Mostly good, not much surprise except for a new Keanu movie, had a relatively chill evening watching it myself.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Do more steps.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Be the chef for the lunch hosted at one of my best friend’s, excited!

“If it ain’t broken, don’t touch it.”

That’s what people love to say in tech. I learned this the hard way myself — one single command change turned into a full-blown disaster. I had to reset the entire workflow, rebuild all my APIs, and our customers couldn’t access the website for a whole week. Classic “I’ll just tweak this real quick” energy.

So yes, to a certain extent, I agree with the saying. Especially when you’re dealing with massive systems — like an ERP for a 500-employee company or a website that has 100+ active visitors at all times. In those cases, touching anything feels like playing Jenga with live grenades.

But as an entrepreneur running smaller projects, my mentality is the complete opposite.

At least once a day, I’m screaming in my head “PIVOT! PIVOT!” like Ross trying to maneuver that giant couch up the stairs.

Since I came back to Hong Kong a week ago, my average daily step count has dramatically plummeted to a pathetic 8k — compared to my glorious near-14k average in Chiang Mai. The public transportation here is just too convenient, and most places I need to go are too far to walk. I’ve officially become what fitness people call an Active Couch Potato: someone who still hits the gym and does weekend activities, but sits on their butt for the majority of the day.

And this feeling has been nagging at me — not because I missed the number, but because I’m annoyed with myself for lacking the drive to simply take care of my health.

Yesterday, I had to move half my furniture just to change a light bulb. While standing there sweating and contemplating life, a brilliant (or slightly unhinged) idea hit me: why don’t I turn this into a standing desk situation?

I flipped my Ikea Kallax shelves sideways, and boom — perfect height. No fancy standing desk required.

The result was great.

My step count is just a number, but the real win is how much more energetic and less stiff I feel when I’m not cramming myself into a chair all day. Small tweak, big difference in how I move and think.

The same “pivot” mindset applied to our team operations this week. After a meeting with our current accounting firm about fiscal year reporting (which I attended standing, naturally), we decided in under 5 minutes to switch firms once the reporting is done.

The reason was straightforward: they’re charging 40% above market rate and don’t speak English, which means most of our team handling money matters can’t communicate with them effectively. The original engagement was rushed by a local staff member during an urgent situation, but now we can clearly see the long-term issues.

Quick decisions are a double-edged sword. Luckily, at our current small scale, the cost of mistakes is still manageable. It’s a good reminder to be more cautious moving forward. Solid decisions require well-defined scope and specs — something we didn’t have properly at the beginning. Now we know better.

Sometimes “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” is wise advice.
Other times, you need to flip the shelves sideways, stand up, and make the change anyway.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   6 – Could’ve slept more, have a pretty bad headache.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Turning my Kallax shelf into a standing desk and immediately feeling more active and focused. Also, the quick but smart decision to switch accounting firms.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Work was not so great due to the headache, cancelled a few morning plans.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Sleep more, drink some tea.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Personal training and realigning seasonal plan with the team.

I don’t think this is talked about enough.

I’m supposed to be the disciplined one.

I wake up at 5:30, hit the gym, plan my day in color-coded blocks, and pride myself on sticking to the schedule like it’s a religion.

But here’s the dirty little secret: the moment I miss even one task — whether it’s skipping a deep work block, delaying a workout, or not finishing the content I planned to write — I feel this heavy, annoying wave of guilt wash over me.

Not just “oh well, tomorrow’s another day” guilt.
More like “I’m a failure, I’m falling behind, I’m disappointing myself” guilt.

And the worst part? I know this guilt is completely irrational… yet it still ruins my mood for hours.

If you’re an ambitious entrepreneur, founder, or high-achiever who beats yourself up every time you slip from your perfect schedule, you’ll probably relate to this one.

It’s the last day of the Easter holiday in Hong Kong, and you can feel the lazy, relaxed vibe floating in the air. The streets were unusually quiet — even in Central, the usually chaotic CBD where taxis and pedestrians fight for survival, the roads were empty enough that you could actually test drive a Ferrari without causing a pile-up.

I had a solid day on paper: morning study session, midday gym, nice lunch with my partner, and three productive calls in the afternoon. I checked off every single task I had planned.

Except one tiny, annoying thing.

My daily step count barely scraped past 7k. And looking at the weekly stats… I’ve only hit my 10k target twice in the past seven days.

I felt genuinely terrible seeing those numbers. Like I’d personally let down my Apple Watch.

I don’t get anxious or angry easily anymore (years of work experience in high pressure environments paid off), but when I miss a personal target — especially something as basic as walking — I spiral straight into self-blame mode. Someone once called it “entrepreneur guilt.” It’s that special feeling where you’re responsible for everything and everyone, and since you don’t have a real boss breathing down your neck, you become your own harshest critic.

As an entrepreneur or solopreneur, you don’t have hard deadlines, monthly KPI reports, or performance bonuses anymore. Especially in the early/prep/growth phase, or when you’re not tied to client deliverables, there’s very little external structure. That freedom is beautiful… until it turns on you.

Physically, pushing hard and burning out are basically neighbors.
Mentally, it’s ridiculously easy to slide from “feeling responsible” into “stressing over every little slip.”

And right now, that’s one of my biggest ongoing challenges.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   7 – Pretty good overall, maybe the rainy wether is dragging my mood down a little.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Completed chapter 9 of my personal trainer certificate study.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Had a productive day, not much surprise and the team delivered their work without need for my improvement.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Be more compassionate when I miss a personal target. Try to move more, maybe go to the library for work instead of staying at home.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Set up a automative messaging system for the coliving & coworking space.

Some opportunities hide in plain sight, and I discovered one over a dinner catchup today.

This evening, my friend Jo invited me to dinner at a vegan restaurant. First of all, I’m a proud animal protein lover. I’m not out here hunting premium steaks or dreaming of meat buffets, but the idea of going fully vegan has never once crossed my mind — and it never will. Still, I’m always down to try new things.

Today, I unlocked a new flavor: tempeh. That creamy, silky texture was so unexpectedly good that I was genuinely upset there was only one tiny piece in my salad. As soon as I got home, I googled recipes like a woman possessed. Vegan convert? No. Tempeh stan? Possibly.

Over dinner, we talked about everything — work, boyfriends, mutual friends — until Jo mentioned this little WhatsApp group she started for divorcés. It began as a joke between friends but has quickly grown to almost double digits. Given Hong Kong’s impressively high divorce rate, it’s actually surprising we don’t know (or haven’t added) even more people.

When my own divorce was happening, I was an absolute mess — barely functioning on basic daily tasks. My friend Sunshine practically dragged me out for a hike with a group of three (thank you and I love you, Sunshine). Halfway up the peak, she tried to comfort me: “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. It’s very common nowadays — the divorce rate is over 50%!”

I stopped, looked around our little hiking group, and realized she was right… our group’s divorce rate was a whopping 66.66%. I told Jo this story, and she one-upped me instantly: at a dinner she hosted recently, 5 out of 6 attendees were divorced.

The stats are truly staggering.

Jo wants to build a proper community for divorcés because they have very distinct needs and struggles — financial pressure, social judgment, custody issues, childcare, and the fear of never finding love again. Just like in fitness, where corrective exercise is completely different from bodybuilding, there are clear niches within every field.

In the dating market, divorcés are a specialized niche — almost like an exclusive club you can’t join until life forces you in.

As she kept talking about how the community could grow, what topics matter most, and what products or services would actually help, my brain lit up with ideas. Being an unofficial (and reluctant) member of the club myself, I can clearly see the ecosystem that could support them: offline networking events, nanny or babysitting support groups, legal counseling, therapy circles… and what about a dedicated dating app?

I’m sure some companies already target this demographic, but the market still feels far from crowded.

My point is this: opportunities often hide in plain sight. Sometimes you just need to sit down for a vegan dinner, hear a friend’s random idea, and realize you might be onto something others haven’t noticed yet.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   8.5 – Really good and inspired. Enjoyed a nice dinner with Jo, discovered tempeh (who would’ve thought?).

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   The realization that divorcés could be a meaningful niche community with real unmet needs — and had my brain buzzing with fresh ideas.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   It’s still a public holiday in Hong Kong, so the relaxed, chill vibe has put me in a really good mood. However, it’s a normal workday in Thailand, so I managed to get quite a few tasks done and checked in with the team — everything is going smoothly. As usual, my trainer did an excellent job, and I walked out of the gym with shaky legs.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Keep up with the chill working-holiday mode.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Jot down the initial ideas from tonight’s conversation and see which ones feel worth exploring further.

It’s a public holiday in Hong Kong, so I’m giving work a break. Not much going on today, but I wanted to drop a quick note anyway.

There’s a music festival tonight with a solid reputation for killer electronic music DJs. Now, I’m more of a Hip Hop / R&B / late 90s–early 00s slow jam kind of girl. But my partner had tickets, a bunch of friends were going, so off I went.

It had been pouring rain all day. Right before we left the house, it felt like a typhoon was trying to cancel the event for us, and the observatory even issued a rain and thunder warning. I was skeptical. But I also knew my partner had been looking forward to this for months, so I put on my big-girl pants and decided to give it a shot.

I was low-key annoyed because I had just showered and done my makeup (which, let’s be real, took forever with my long, voluminous hair that reaches my lower back). I was convinced we were about to become human sponges.

But then… magic happened.

On the way there, the rain eased up. The moment we stepped out of the taxi — it stopped completely. And the entire time we were at the festival there was not a single drop. The sky basically said “not today.”

To my surprise, people actually showed up in force. Some in full rain jackets, many girls rocking Hunter boots like it was a fashion statement. Everyone came prepared. What struck me most was how unfazed they were. It didn’t feel like they were “braving the weather” — it felt like the weather wouldn’t have made any difference. They knew they were going to have a good time regardless.

I overheard strangers excitedly talking about the DJs they came to see, practically buzzing with anticipation. That’s when it hit me: when your brand and product are strong enough, people will literally move mountains (or ignore typhoon warnings) to be there.

The DJs were genuinely excellent and lived up to the hype. It’s not my usual genre, but I still had a great time watching the crowd dance, smile, and lose themselves in the music. That’s the power of a really good product paired with strong branding — it can turn even a rainy night into something special.

As an “outsider” to the electronic scene, I’d give the event a solid 7/10. It would’ve been an easy 8 if the floor wasn’t basically a slip-and-slide.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   8 – Relaxed and happy. Enjoyed the festival despite the rain drama, the dancing helped to jack up the step count, good enough for a day without gym.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Seeing people so dedicated to something they like. I would’ve given up seeing the rain before ordering Uber.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Planned a chill public holiday with my partner and thankfully I went through with it.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Back to work.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Get back on study for the personal trainer and nutrition coach certificates.

This afternoon, a guest decided to check out early from our coliving space and asked for a full refund outside the cancellation window.

It was a clear reminder that I still need to train my team properly on handling these tricky situations.

So today I used a simple 3-layer framework I’ve been refining for my business. I call it the Sandwich Approach:

1. Take care of the customer’s emotion first,

2. Lay down the facts calmly,

3. Propose realistic solutions.

I used to be a nervous nellie when faced with uncomfortable customer situations. Growing up, kids were meant to be seen, not heard. In school, giving the wrong answer could earn you a few hits on the palms. When I entered the working world, bosses wanted obedient workers — if you stood out too much, you got labeled as difficult. So whenever I encountered an unexpected or tricky interpersonal moment, my brain would freeze, stutter, and completely shut down. Polished, calm responses? Not even close.

Then, during an internship training session, my manager dropped what I still consider the golden escape phrase:
“If you don’t know how to handle a customer’s request, just say: ‘I understand, thank you for letting me know. Let me get a specialist to assist you.’”

That one sentence was life-changing. Suddenly I could respond with a calm smile even when I had zero authority to decide anything. No more internal panic attacks. No more stuttering in front of the customer. And best of all, no dissatisfied guests right at the beginning of the conversation.

That simple line does a surprising amount of heavy lifting. It reassures the customer that their issue has a chance of being resolved. It signals that a “higher authority” will step in. It gives both sides room to breathe and regroup. And it quietly highlights the organization’s professionalism by showing there’s a clear chain of command ready to serve.

I used that phrase for years as a junior employee. Later, as a manager, I trained my teams with it. As a consultant, I recommended it to clients.

Then, three years ago, I started my own consumer-facing business — a coliving and coworking space. Suddenly there was no manager to hide behind. I still teach the golden escape to my team, but for myself I needed something stronger — especially when dealing with unreasonable or emotional requests.

I experimented with everything: from almost pandering to every customer, to strictly emphasizing our policies. Nothing felt right. Someone always ended up upset.

After months of testing and tweaking in real time, I finally landed on a formula that softens the sting of rejection while dramatically increasing the chances the customer will understand and accept it. I call it the Sandwich Approach.

Here’s the simple psychology behind it:

Customers don’t just want a solution — they want to feel seen, heard, and valued. That’s a basic human emotional need, especially in hospitality. Whether they’re loyal guests, first-timers, polite, or rude, they still crave a sense of respect and appreciation.

The business, on the other hand, needs to protect its policies, profitability, and long-term sustainability. You can’t say “yes” to everything or you’ll quickly go out of business.

And as I like to joke (but it’s also painfully true): the best solution to most disputes is rarely making either side happy. It’s making both sides equally unhappy — through smart compromise.

So the Sandwich Approach guides the customer through three layers:

Step 1 – Emotion: Acknowledge their feeling or genuinely praise their support.
Step 2 – Fact: Clearly and calmly state the policy or reality causing the situation.
Step 3 – Proposal: Offer realistic options, usually involving compromise from both sides.

Take one of our most common requests: cancelling a booking and expecting a full refund outside the standard window (we already have one of the most flexible policies in the industry — full refund up to 1 day before check-in).

A typical response using the Sandwich Approach might go like this:

Thank you very much for staying with us, it was so nice chatting with you and seeing you enjoy our community and making friends with other residents, I appreciate your effort in being such a good housemate! It’s a shame you have to cut short your trip. → Emotion

As you have seen on the booking site (and remember the consent form emailed to you with your signature upon check-in?) that we provide full refund 1 day before check-in, now we’ve passed the window, unfortunately. → Fact

We have 2 options here, let me know which suits you best. Either we can give you the remaining days as credit, used within 1 year, or refund 50% of the remaining days. → Proposal

The success rate of customers accept without retaliating with a scathing 1-star Google review is around 75% — significantly higher than a blunt “No, that’s against policy.”

It’s not perfect, but it’s the best balance I’ve found so far between kindness and protecting the business. I’d genuinely love to hear how other smart business owners handle these situations without compromising their policies or long-term profitability. This is one of those lifelong lessons that never really ends — and I suspect every service business owner is still searching for the perfect answer.

Other than this small customer drama, today was relatively easy and pleasant. I managed to hit the gym, walked some more, hand-made a pizza from scratch for dinner, and watched a Keanu Reeves movie in bed. It’s Easter after all! Looking forward to a music party I’m attending tomorrow.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   8 – Pretty good overall. Energetic from exercise and small amount of work.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   The homemade pizza turned out delicious and loved by the picky eaters.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Planned a relatively chill day with some admin and self-care, dealt with the customer issue effectively, stayed active, and still had time for cooking and unwinding.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Nothing much, enjoy the Easter holidy some more and light work still.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Attend the music party.

I almost had a heart attack yesterday.

After weeks of interviews, offers, no-shows, and general recruitment chaos, we finally onboarded two promising candidates. One of them is a fresh graduate with minimal work experience and zero background in tourism or hospitality. We hired her anyway — purely because her high performance in the case study round and earned enthusiastic green lights from the management.

I had one full week with her before leaving town. We took it slow: covered basic marketing theories, mapped out the customer journey, and explored business opportunities across the reservation lifecycle. I deliberately went easy on the content, focusing more on building an agile mindset and encouraging her to speak up freely during brainstorming sessions — no fear of “wrong” answers. She started off quite unsure of herself, so much so that we had to gently convince her she had actually done well in the case study.

When I flew out, I was roughly 50% confident she’d be fine and 50% quietly praying she wouldn’t quit while I was gone.

Of course, she wasn’t completely alone. We had regular catch-ups scheduled, and she had colleagues on site (though they were focused on their own areas). Still, based on patterns I’ve seen (and other business owners in town have confirmed), there’s always that subtle worry with young talent: they might resign early due to lack of connection or supervision.

So when she messaged asking for an unscheduled call, my immediate internal reaction was “uh-oh… here we go again.”

Sure enough, she wanted to quit.

Long story short, she didn’t feel like she was doing enough “right things.” Even though she wasn’t struggling with the tasks themselves, she felt inadequate because she didn’t nail every single thing and couldn’t answer every question perfectly.

In that moment, it clicked for me. This pattern isn’t really about being young, entitled, or ignorant. It comes from a lack of exposure to encouragement and the bitter-sweet reality of growth. It hit close to home. Growing up in an Asian/Taiwanese environment, the idea that “if it’s not good, it’s bad” was deeply ingrained. Failing felt like an unforgivable sin — to teachers, parents, and relatives alike. Back then, we even got beaten in school for scoring below 60 (one missing point = one hit on the palm). Almost no one ever said, “It’s okay, just try again.”

That mindset explains why so many Asians I know hesitate to try new things, avoid risks, and shy away from standing out — even when they have good ideas.

I asked her: “On a scale of 1 to 10, if my expectation is 10, how would you score yourself?”

She hesitated… “Maaaaaybe… 6?”

I laughed and replied, “Why don’t you ask me how I’d score you?”

She did. I said, “I’d give you about a 12.”

Her eyes widened like I’d lost my mind. She burst out laughing (half giggling, half yelling), “WHYYYY???”

My answer was simple: I didn’t hire her because she already had all the experience and answers. I hired her because even without them, she kept an open mind, gracefully accepted feedback when her ideas were challenged, and always came back stronger the next round. That adaptability and growth mindset exceeded my expectations.

Before ending the call, I told her, “You don’t need to decide right now. We have our regular catch-up tomorrow — sleep on it and we’ll talk then. But remember: if you genuinely hate the work, that’s a valid reason to leave and find something better. If you’re just worried about performance… that problem doesn’t exist right now.”

She hung up with a smile.

Today’s catch-up was much better. She admitted it was mostly self-doubt and guilt talking. After our conversation, she realized it was too early to judge herself so harshly. We then moved on to the customer journey action list, and I made sure to sincerely praise her for the real progress she’d made. She not only bounced back with the right attitude, but delivered noticeably better results this time.

Phew.

Honestly, people are both your greatest resource and your hardest challenge. I’ve never really had “work” problems — I’ve always had people problems. Fellow entrepreneurs… if you know, you know.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   8 – Much lighter and relieved after today’s catch-up with the new team member. Sleep was decent, for the first time in 3 months I scored 80+.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   It’s public holiday in Hong Kong and I had a great lunch out with my partner, we even ran into a friend I haven’t seen for a long time and had a nice catch up.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Relatively chill and feel accomplished except I didn’t manage to walk more than 10k steps.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Relax more, it’s public holiday and I should worry less about work. Go to gym and spend some time with my loved ones.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Be more physically active.

For the past 2 days, post-flight, my schedules were all over the place, trying to catch up with too many people and do too much at the same time. I’ve had 8 meetings online and offline so far, plus a PT session, a coffee catchup, and hosted a dinner (4-hour grocery shopping + cooking time).

By the time I realised I missed my journal yesterday, I was laying flat in bed and half conscious. So no, Day 17 was a no journal day, and today is a very similar story, I have so much to think about and write about. But it’s 01:35 in the morning and I should absolutely go to bed.

The guilt of not accomplishing was rushing through my head but I told myself “you’ve done great today, don’t take it so hard”, so I shook off that guilty feeling and decided I’ll just quickly drop a note here as I promised on Day 1—even if it’s just 3 sentences, I’ll conclude my day with a daily review and wind down.

So, good night, zzz.

My biggest challenge on flight days is how broken and fragmented the day always feels. No matter how much I pre-plan, front-load tasks, push things back, or try to create buffers, the schedule inevitably turns chaotic. Flights, airport transfers, packing, and the general disruption of travel make it hard to maintain any real rhythm or deep focus.

As a small business with limited resources, we rely heavily on volunteers to keep our coliving & coworking space running smoothly. Thanks to our digital nomad customer base, it’s relatively easy to find capable and willing people who want to contribute. In exchange for their support, we offer discounted stays — sometimes up to 100% off — depending on their skills and the value they deliver.

Volunteers usually discover us through exchange platforms, social media, or our website. We interview them just like regular staff, then sign a formal agreement if the terms align. So far, we’ve welcomed software engineers to build and improve our websites and internal systems, finance and accounting experts for financial analysis and reporting, M&A specialists to help craft our investor pitch deck, carpenters for basic maintenance and repairs, and digital marketers to develop smarter marketing strategies.

This volunteer model has been one of our smartest moves. It’s truly a multiple-birds-with-one-stone situation. The volunteers get to enjoy a comfortable, well-located stay at a very low budget. We receive professional-level services that we would normally struggle to afford. And best of all, many of them become genuine brand ambassadors — promoting us online through social media collaborations and helping keep the community vibrant while they’re on premise.

Today, we welcomed a new volunteer, Cansu, who arrived in the morning. She’s an influencer with a solid following and an authentic traveler’s aesthetic that fits our brand perfectly. We decided to collaborate so she can enjoy Chiang Mai for a full month while acting as an ambassador for our space — creating content, sharing her experience, and helping spread the word organically.

Normally, I’d be there to personally walk her through our operations, discuss her deliverables in detail, and co-create a clear project plan together. But today our overlap was extremely short. She landed around 7:30 a.m., and I had to leave for the airport before 9. I woke up earlier than usual, rushed through my notoriously bad packing routine (30 minutes before departure is still my sad standard), somehow got everything ready, and even managed to enjoy a calm cup of coffee before she arrived. It was genuinely a pleasure meeting her in that brief window. In just that short encounter, I felt confident we had chosen the right person. I left knowing she would carry out her commitments well, even without me physically present for the next two weeks.

Surprisingly, the flight itself went smoothly — which is rare with budget airlines. You almost always expect delays, long queues, or inconvenient boarding, but today everything flowed nicely. Quick check-in, no turbulence, and we parked so close to immigration that I was out of the terminal within 20 minutes of landing. A small victory on a travel day.

I’ve come to a peaceful resolution about flight days: I no longer expect to accomplish any meaningful work. These days have become my reset days — almost like mini holidays. Instead of forcing productivity, I focus on the essentials: doing laundry, simple meal prep, a proper shower, confirming schedules with people I plan to meet, and gently organizing my calendar for the stay ahead. In my 20s, I used to squeeze in work on the plane and jump straight into meetings the moment I landed. Now I treat myself with more kindness. No more half-assed tasks at half energy level. The quality suffers, the stress rises, and it’s simply not worth it.

Speaking of which — is it just me, or does flying make you unusually tired? No matter how well I sleep the night before, or even if I wake up feeling fresh, as soon as the plane takes off I become unconscious. I might manage a bit of reading or a podcast here and there, but most of the flight I’m completely dead to the world in my seat, unable to finish even a simple movie. Is it the cabin pressure? The dry air? The white noise? If you experience the same thing, please tell me I’m not alone. And if you’re the lucky type who can power through work or binge-watch an entire series mid-flight, I genuinely want to know your secret — how do you do it?

So today was my classic flight day (holiday mode, basically). Even with the travel chaos, I still managed to pre-cook some ingredients for tomorrow’s dinner, got my homemade yogurt fermenting in the rice cooker, placed bananas next to avocados so they’d ripen faster, and hopped on three casual calls before bed. Not exactly a high-output day, but far from a wasted one.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   7.5 – A bit drained from the broken schedule and travel, but overall calm and satisfied. I handled the essentials without forcing productivity and even enjoyed some calm moments. Sleep and movement could have been better, didn’t hit the step count.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Meeting Cansu briefly before the flight and feeling genuinely confident she’ll do great. Also, the surprisingly smooth flight — a rare gift from budget airline gods.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Planned a light travel day with minimal expectations.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Didn’t hit my step count, feeling stiff from the flight, will go to the gym for proper stretching and weight train early morning.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Get back on study, make up for the time lost due to training new staff.

I’m the biggest skeptic I know when it comes to fortune telling, religion, astrology, and all that stuff. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in faith or karma. I do believe the universe has a way of balancing itself.

Humanity experienced a massive population boom over the last few hundred years, and now, for whatever reason, the numbers are correcting downward. In the early 2000s, you were only cool if you used email — now people cherish handwritten letters. Some of these “corrections” happen naturally. Call it fate, karma, or the free market — whatever works for you.

On the other hand, some waits are very intentional. James Cameron waited 13 years to release the second Avatar movie because he refused to compromise on picture quality until the technology caught up. That patience paid off handsomely — the film earned him another 2.3 billion USD. Quite a worthwhile wait, wouldn’t you say?

Some things really are worth the wait. I learned this lesson again very recently through our hiring journey at the coworking space.

Last year, when the founding team decided to invest more aggressively in the business, we brought on a management trainee, J. We realized that building a capable and autonomous team was essential for the expansion we were so eager to pursue. Even though we weren’t familiar with the “substitute management” model, we decided to give it a shot anyway. We allocated a hiring budget 30% higher than usual for this role, betting that the right person would eventually pay dividends far beyond the extra cost.

We were lucky to find J. She had solid industry experience in tourism and hospitality, spoke excellent English, carried a calm and mature demeanor, and had a strong can-do attitude. She felt like the perfect fit for a future manager position. For months, she performed exceptionally well and became someone we could truly rely on.

Fast forward to the beginning of this year: we had to make some structural changes and deliberately slow down our expansion pace to stay sustainable. These adjustments created ripples throughout the team, and J eventually resigned. To her immense credit, she offered to stay for another 2.5 months to help us find and train the right successor before moving to her new role at a tour agency. During that transition period, she diligently documented everything she knew in a clear, teaching-manual style, making the handover much smoother than it could have been.

A couple of weeks ago, the owner of a Thai culture tour company came to work from our coworking space — and it felt like the stars aligned in the most unexpected way. We’ve been actively looking for the right partners for our camp business. They were looking for better distribution channels for their tours. And there was J, sitting right next to him, about to start working at a tour agency in just a month. The three of us being in the same space at the same time allowed us to brainstorm several workable collaboration scenarios on the spot. What could have been an awkward or missed connection turned into an immediate opportunity.

Of course, part of me would’ve preferred that J stayed with us long-term — we worked really well together and she had grown into a valuable team member. But forcing her to stay out of guilt or pressure would have been the wrong move. Had we done that, the dynamic would likely have soured anyway, and the ending could have been messy and ugly for everyone involved. Instead, her generous notice period gave us the breathing room to bring on Ka. Although less experienced, Ka is highly coachable, eager to learn, and puts significantly less pressure on the hiring budget. J and Ka had a smooth overlapping period for proper handover and relationship building — which is especially valuable because we’ll definitely be using J’s tour company for future needs.

Right now, we’re in the middle of preparing for fundraising. It will likely take another year or two before we reach the scale where we can offer more attractive compensation packages to high-quality candidates. By keeping J in the loop and maintaining a positive relationship, we’re creating value for both sides in the meantime. Who knows? One day the conditions might be perfect for us to work together again — possibly even better than before, when the timing and resources finally align.

This whole experience has been a powerful reminder about patience in business. As entrepreneurs, we often want everything to happen right now. We push hard, set aggressive timelines, and get frustrated when things don’t move as fast as we’d like. But sometimes the universe (or the market) is simply telling us to wait a little longer.

Moral of the story: Sometimes the timing isn’t wrong — it’s just later than you hoped.

I’ve seen people burn bridges during resignations or layoffs, only to deeply regret the lost opportunities for future collaboration. Had we tried to pressure J into staying against her will, resentment would have built up and the relationship would have ended badly. Instead, by handling the situation with respect and gratitude, we kept the door open for something potentially even better down the line.

Right now, even though we don’t know exactly what the future holds, I feel we’re doing the right thing: waiting patiently for the right opportunities, with the right people, at the right time. Building a sustainable business isn’t always about speed — sometimes it’s about trusting the process and staying open to how things naturally unfold.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   7 – Went to bed too late and my sleep score was only 80, so I felt tired and sluggish all day. Walking in the scorching sun to the bank and then waiting forever didn’t help either.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Bought a watermelon on the way back from the bank. It was ridiculously juicy and sweet — I basically ended up eating nothing but watermelon the entire day. Total watermelon addiction mode.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Didn’t have much planned — mainly just trying to fight through the fatigue. I took a short nap but still woke up feeling tired.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Flying tomorrow, so the day is going to be chaotic with scheduling, fitness, and food. I’ll try to stay relaxed instead of getting anxious about the disorganisation.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Get some movement in during the afternoon or evening — even if it’s just a long walk. No excuses.

There’s a leadership coach, Kathi, who’s been sitting next to me for the last 3 weeks at the coworking space. Due to the similarity of our backgrounds—corporate life to solopreneurship—we started chatting about work, life, and the challenges we face on a day-to-day basis. There is a common theme in both our lives recently: perfectionism.

She’s just launched her own coaching business. All day, every day, she’s preparing her pitches to clients and building her digital assets like worksheets, templates, and website. I’m doing the same with my fitness and nutrition coaching. Although I cannot officially charge for services until I get the certificates, I’m building assets on social media, blogs, and LinkedIn.

We both are seasoned corporate employees with years of working in teams under a boss, taking instructions, following a system, and meeting assigned standards and deadlines. Now we’re the ones who call the shots. Ironically, we have become the most indecisive people we know.

For example, when I make a logo, I can’t decide whether the text should align to the left or center without overanalyzing it with three different AIs and asking five random people for feedback. Or when I write the mission statement, I cannot decide whether I should use the word “busy” or “occupied.” And how about the profile picture—should I have a ponytail or let my hair down? The result is that we spend three hours “optimising” a design just so we can destroy the entire thing tomorrow.

One day at lunch, I told Kathi how I was not happy with something I was working on, but I decided to let go of my “standards” and just sent it out there for the team to critique and adjust later because my brain refused to process it any further. Of course, my team gave honest feedback, followed by some improvements which took me just another half an hour. Had I just sat there and tried to perfect it over and over, it would’ve been laying in the folder without being looked at by a second pair of eyes for days. And thank god I threw my arms up and sent it out without it being perfect—I was able to refresh my perspective and gave it a quick fix.

Kathi was nodding her head as I spoke, clearly resonating with every single word. She admitted she struggles with the same thing and has to constantly remind herself to stop.

This is so funny if you really think about it. You’d think when no one is watching, you’d be lazier, more relaxed, lower your standards a bit, and care less… but no! That’s not how it is when your own money (investment into the business) is on the line! You become your biggest challenger, you become that nagging boss everyone tries to avoid.

The irony runs deeper than we first admitted over lunch. In corporate life, perfectionism often served us well. It earned promotions, praise from bosses, and a reputation for reliability. But in solopreneurship, especially in coaching, that same trait becomes a silent saboteur. It disguises itself as high standards while quietly stealing momentum, delaying launches, and draining energy that could go toward actually helping clients.

I’ve seen it in my own journey. Weeks slip by while I tweak a single Instagram carousel or agonize over the exact shade of green for my brand palette. Kathi confessed the same: her pitch deck has been “almost ready” for days because one slide’s wording doesn’t feel quite right. The harsh truth? Most potential clients won’t notice those micro-details. They care about results, connection, and whether we can actually deliver transformation—not whether our worksheet has perfectly aligned bullet points.

Perfectionism thrives on fear. Fear of judgment. Fear of looking unprofessional. Fear that if it’s not flawless, it’s worthless. Yet the data from countless entrepreneurs shows the opposite: progress compounds faster than perfection ever could. The coaches who gain traction are often the ones who ship “good enough” versions early, gather real feedback, and iterate quickly. A beta website that books your first paying client beats a flawless one that never sees the light of day.

So how do we break the cycle? It starts with small, deliberate mindset shifts and practical habits.

First, adopt the 70% Rule: If something feels about 70% ready, ship it anyway. The remaining 30% is often diminishing returns—time you could spend testing with real people instead. Call it a beta version if it helps ease the anxiety. Real market feedback is the best editor you’ll ever have. Also, time-box every task. Like a trading position, set a “stop loss” of your time, there’s no point dragging it on if it’s not giving you better results.

Kathi and I still catch ourselves slipping back into old patterns. But we remind each other: the goal isn’t a perfect business. It’s a business that exists, serves clients, adjust and grows. Perfectionism may feel safe, but action—imperfect, messy, brave action—is what actually builds something meaningful.

By 11:15 a.m., I finally said “fuck it”, exported the social media banner, and uploaded it to LinkedIn. Good enough — time to go live my life.

I headed to the weekly Sunday brunch and enjoyed a delicious smoked salmon bagel, great conversations with fellow digital nomads who still haven’t escaped the air pollution, and some seriously high-quality locally roasted dark coffee. From there, it was straight into a fantastic oil massage, followed by a relaxed evening stroll at the night market.

Going out and meeting people is genuinely one of my favorite ways to discover new partnerships and ideas. You never know who you’ll end up sharing a table with — one Sunday it could be a real estate developer from Italy, a management consultant from Austin, and a teacher from Israel.

I think I’ve officially found my favorite Chiang Mai Sunday routine:
social networking brunch → oil massage → new cafe hunting → quiet time with a book → night market dinner → and hitting a solid 15k step record.

Life feels pretty damn good when the balance is right.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   8.5 – Great balance of work, meaningful conversations, self-care with massage and book, with a satisfying ending of night market dinner.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Meeting new people and hearing their unique experience from their fields.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   No specific plan, just chilling and feeling good.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Nothing much,

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow? Start creating the first piece of content for the fitness & nutrition page using the new banner. No perfection allowed — just ship.

Today was another self-care day. I mainly focused on the personal matter that pulled me away from work yesterday, and thankfully, with some effort, we found a good resolution.

That said, I still managed to get a few work-related things done.

In the morning, I finally finished the first banner design for my new fitness and nutrition Facebook page. I’m currently studying for my Fitness Trainer and Nutrition Coach certificates, so I’m not yet qualified to coach clients for money. However, I’m allowed to share what I’ve learned and provide general, evidence-based information on health, fitness, and nutrition (backed by credible sources like the FDA and Fitness & Health Association). That’s exactly what I plan to do.

My interest in nutrition started from a very personal place. A while back, I fell into a temporary depression and stopped eating almost completely for nearly a month. Some days I had to force down a single banana or egg — that was my entire daily intake. My mom even flew over to stay with me just to make sure I ate at least one proper meal a day. In less than two months, I lost almost 8kg. It wasn’t healthy weight loss — it was driven by messed-up hormones and neurological reactions to trauma. Still, it helped me shed the weight I had gained over the previous 7 years.

During that time, I was already meditating, doing yoga every morning, going to the gym regularly, and walking after dinner. That discipline helped me keep the weight off for over a year while slowly building strength. To maintain it long-term and avoid falling back into emotional overeating, I started obsessively researching weight loss, recipes, fasting, and healthy cooking. I experimented with so many new dishes I’d never tried before.

Fast forward to the end of last year: after wrapping up a big transformation project, I told myself, “Why not take some proper time off and dive deep into nutrition since you’re already so passionate about it?” I researched programs in both Chinese and English, online and offline, in Hong Kong and Thailand. That’s when I discovered the ACE (American Council on Exercise) bundle — Personal Trainer + Precision Nutrition PN Level 1.

It felt like a lightbulb switched on: Why not do both?

Health is about staying active and eating well. If I was going to take time off to study, I might as well go all in. Before I could overthink it, I was filling out the signup form with my credit card ready. On December 22nd, 2025, I officially became a candidate for the ACE Personal Trainer and Precision Nutrition PN Level 1 certifications.

That banner was my only tangible output of the morning. I had to fight my perfectionist tendencies and just ship it — knowing I can tweak it later (something that’s still painfully hard for entrepreneurs).

The rest of the day was lighter: an afternoon coffee meeting, gym time, and a fun night market dinner with customers from the coworking space. Not a conventional “productive” day by any means, but I’m quite happy with how it turned out. I stayed motivated, completed a few small tasks, sorted out personal matters, and still managed to enjoy great food and good laughs.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   7 – Emotionally much lighter after resolving the personal issue. Physically good with gym time and night market fun. Balanced day overall.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Completed the first banner for my fitness & nutrition page.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   No concrete plans for myself, a couple tasks delegated to the team, just checked in with them once in a while, and they nailed it!

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Be more relaxed about spending time outside the office, don’t get eager to go back for work or worry about “not being productive”, when it’s time to relax, relax. It’s Sunday after all.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Go to the Sunday night market, have a good walk distance and steps.

Some days, your personal life gets in the way of work — and that’s not just okay, it’s important that you prioritize it.

You pour your heart and soul into the thing you’re building. You’re deeply passionate about it and spend nearly every waking hour making it better. But inevitably, life happens. Shit comes up. And when it does, you’d better deal with it before it hits the fan.

Today was one of those days.

I did my best to delegate tasks and gave the team clear instructions so they could keep moving without me. Thank god it’s low season — it gave me the breathing room to handle things without panic.

Apart from that, my brain and mind simply had to be somewhere else today. So I’m taking a break from my usual work reflections in this journal.

Just a short note to my future self:
It’s okay not to be okay sometimes.
You don’t have to push through every single day at full speed.
Rest, handle what needs handling, and stand back up tomorrow. You’ll do better then.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   4 – Emotionally heavy and mentally drained. Physically okay, but today was about dealing with personal matters instead of forcing productivity.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Had dinner with customers at a nice pizza place, which lifted my mood big time.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Not meeting the plans, but it’s ok.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Continue today’s way of task delegating, check in with the team more often so they can calrify and move faster.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Check in with the team on the delegated tasks and gently ease back into work.

Whoever invented Tylenol deserves a Nobel Peace Prize. It’s quietly saving millions of women (myself included) from turning the world into a warzone every month.

One of my biggest challenges as an ambitious female entrepreneur is that I hate doing less — less than others, or less than what I planned. It makes me agitated and anxious. Thankfully, the first half of the day went smoothly. I took my Tylenol, did yoga, crushed a weight training session, and hit 6k steps before most people even woke up. Solid start.

By 9:03 a.m., I was showered, coffee in hand, calendar organized, and ready for what I’d been looking forward to: brainstorming Customer Journey Mapping with the team.

Why I love this framework:

1. It’s an excellent training tool that quickly aligns everyone — juniors and seasoned pros alike — to see the customer experience from a higher level instead of getting lost in daily tasks.

2. It uncovers hidden customer pain points we don’t notice when they’re not right in front of us, while revealing opportunities to stand out before booking, deliver better during the stay, and encourage repeat visits afterward.

3. With deeper insight into customer motivations and behaviors, we can create truly personalized experiences — tailored messaging, smarter offers, smoother onboarding, and more thoughtful interactions.

It’s one of the most practical tools for shifting from an internal, task-focused mindset to a genuine customer-centric approach. Being in the hospitality business gives us a huge advantage — we can draw from our own personal experiences at every step and build from there.

I chose to run the session in the open coworking space with the big process map on the main wall. Not only is none of this information a trade secret, but it also supports our brand mission: colive, cowork, coenjoy. What better way to foster that collaborative spirit than having the team brainstorm in public?

As if on cue, while we were mapping, several customers jumped in and shared their thoughts. A software engineer named Muk, who’s traveling outside India for the first time, said he plans almost his entire trip before booking — unlike seasoned nomads who book first and figure it out later. Then Ann, a social media marketing specialist, suggested we should seriously consider TikTok because so much digital nomad and travel research happens there, especially among younger travelers from the UK.

I was more than happy with today’s session — not just because of the great output, but because I witnessed the true spirit of digital nomads in action. People openly sharing experiences and helping each other, even when they’re technically on “opposite sides” (business vs. customer). In the end, we’re all just coworkers trying to make things better together. It was beautiful to watch.

Later, I attended a local business networking lunch in Chiang Mai at a beautiful restaurant far from the city center. I met owners from all kinds of businesses — a singing school, IT outsourcing, solar panel installation, leadership coaching, and more. With a new team member in training and a manager leaving soon, I was hesitant to go. But I’ve been skipping this monthly lunch for almost two years, so I decided today was the day. I’m really glad I went. Great conversations, new contacts, and plenty of potential partnership ideas.

On paper, today might not look super productive — I didn’t “produce” a lot of tangible output. But it delivered three important reminders I constantly need:

1. Building a business isn’t just about grinding tasks. It’s also about getting out there, making connections, and finding creative ways to leverage resources.

2. Trust the team. Give them autonomy to create instead of just receiving information. Let them grow in their own way rather than forcing knowledge into their heads.

3. Taking it easy or stepping away from the desk doesn’t mean you’re being lazy. You might not finish a presentation today, but you could learn something that makes tomorrow’s work even better.

So tonight I’m saying good night to my nomad coworkers with a satisfied smile, closing my laptop early, and looking forward to another healthy day that starts with the gym.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   8 – Started strong with yoga, weight training, and early steps. Mentally satisfied after good team and networking moments. Period cramps managed well thanks to Tylenol.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   The customer journey mapping session turning into a lively, collaborative discussion with actual nomads jumping in. Felt like living proof of our “colive, cowork, coenjoy” mission.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Planned focused internal brainstorming. Reality delivered more — organic customer input, valuable networking lunch, and important mindset reminders. Better than planned.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Continue today’s strategy—let the team fly by themselves more, jump in when they need guidance. I’ll be focusing on other important tasks suchs as fundraising preparation.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Follow up on the new connections from today’s lunch, propose next steps with the singing school for a potential workshop.

One of the volunteers we had just e-signed an agreement with suddenly cancelled on us — with zero explanation.

We didn’t just confirm via the volunteer platform. We had a proper video call, multiple WhatsApp planning chats, and a detailed official agreement via email clearly outlining scope and deliverables. He was supposed to arrive in just 10 days. Now he’s gone completely silent on every single channel. No warning, no heads-up, no “sorry, something came up.” Just a random notification popping up on the volunteer platform out of the blue. Baffling doesn’t even begin to cover it.

On a completely different note, I had a good call with Markus, a seasoned leadership coach we’ve collaborated with for years. He’s hosted workshops at our coliving & coworking space every time he’s been in town, and we had planned another one for 2026. Unfortunately, we had to cancel two workshops this year at the last minute due to painfully low sign-ups. So our meeting focused on one big question: how do we stop this from happening again?

The real issue isn’t that people don’t attend workshops. It’s that they either register and then ghost, or they don’t register at all and just casually walk in expecting a seat. We constantly deal with unexpected turn-ups, and it’s not just us — other hosts face the exact same headache. According to Markus, it’s the same story back in his home country. People simply don’t want to commit, or they don’t place any real value on the “commitment” when the event is free.

Here’s the hard truth: people don’t care about freebies. Period.

When something is offered for free, it’s incredibly easy not to care enough to follow through. Take my gym as an example. I’ll happily use the treadmill inside instead of running in the park because I’ve already paid for the membership (rain or air pollution aside). But if I’m handed a free sample tea on the street and don’t like the first sip, I’ll toss the cup without a second thought. If I actually paid for that tea? I’ll probably force myself to finish it, even if it’s mediocre.

The same pattern shows up in our volunteering scheme. We offer meaningful discounts on stays at the coliving — the more value someone brings, the bigger the discount. In some cases, when the skills are truly valuable, we go all the way and provide 100% sponsorship — basically a free stay. Similarly, Markus has been generously offering his workshops in collaboration with us without charging the community that could benefit from his knowledge. Yet both initiatives keep getting hit with last-minute cancellations and no-shows, like it’s the new normal.

It’s frustrating because we pour real effort into these things. On our end, we treat every volunteer and every workshop with care — clear agreements, proper planning, genuine appreciation. But when commitment feels optional, it creates this quiet chaos that slowly drains energy and resources.

Fortunately, a few things cheered me up today like vanilla ice cream on a scorching summer day.

Fulfilling our agile management philosophy from day one, we’re committed to a lean operating model: stay prudent with spending, prioritize what customers actually want and need, and improve our hardware iteratively. Today, we finally got both the long-awaited cooker and the outdoor lights installed. I still remember when we first opened — the lot right in front of our door was just a dull parking spot with no seating and no trees. Now it’s transformed into a cozy little garden where residents actually want to hang out and relax in the evenings. It’s a small business, but moments like this make me proud of what we’ve built and even prouder of what we’re becoming — a space built by nomads, for nomads. That’s not just our slogan; it’s becoming our reality, one small upgrade at a time.

In addition, our training with Ka today also went really well. We had our first proper brainstorming session with her as our new Guest Experience Associate, focusing on how to respond to special requests from customers — things like cancellations, refunds, date changes, and extension discounts. As I had hoped from her case study performance, she used a great mix of common sense and quick research, then came up with solid, practical recommendations. Tomorrow we’ll do a team exercise on customer journey process mapping. I can’t wait to dump all my knowledge on her and see what kind of magic she creates with it. So far, she’s easily one of our best hires. I look forward to getting real, thoughtful feedback from her every day instead of dreading training sessions where the trainee just stares at me with wide eyes like I’m speaking an alien language.

This whole experience reminds me of an old Taiwanese saying: “Wine at the bottom of the barrel is the best.” Maybe it was destined for me to go through that painful, dry candidate pipeline for over a month — all the ghosting, no-shows, and last-minute cancellations — before someone like Ka finally came through. The struggle made the good fit feel even sweeter.

Some days you get hit with silent volunteers and flaky sign-ups. Other days you install new lights, watch a promising new team member light up, and feel the space you’re building slowly come alive. Today had both. And somehow, the good still outweighed the annoying.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   6—a little affected by the cancelling and first day of the month, feeling less energy and out of focus, couldn’t go to the gym.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Inspite of the cramps, I took opportunities in grocery run and stationary shopping to get 11k steps.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Worked less, rested more.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   I will not fight the pain killers, definitely hitting the gym tomorrow.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Team brainstorming exercise.

Day 10, survived, will feel better tomorrow.

I’ve always wanted to talk about this topic every time I have an unpleasant encounter with a service provider, but I usually brush it off and forget about it a couple of days later. Today, it happened right before I had the chance to document it.

I had a great morning. Thanks to going to bed early like a responsible adult, I woke up before 6 a.m., rolled into the gym when it was basically a ghost town, enjoyed a peaceful solo yoga session in the huge studio with zero human disturbance, proceeded to own the entire weight training floor like it was my home gym. I walked downstairs smiling like I’d just won the morning Olympics, and was ready to leave feeling amazing.

By the exit, there’s a water fountain with ice-cold drinking water—one of those little life-savers during Thai summer. I was looking forward to a refreshing drink, but nothing came out because the tank was empty. I noticed a brand-new tank sitting right next to it, and the fountain looked exactly like the one we have at the coworking space. I could’ve easily replaced it myself, but out of respect, I politely told the front desk staff: “Hi, the water tank is empty…”

Before I could even finish the sentence, she glanced at the fountain, looked around to confirm no one else was nearby, let out a loud sigh, frowned, and reluctantly dragged herself out of her cubicle to change it. The entire time she didn’t acknowledge my comment, barely looked at me, and never said a single word. The way she roughly tore off the leakage prevention tape and slammed the new tank into place made it painfully obvious she was annoyed that this task had fallen on her. Only when she finished and walked away did I notice she was limping from an injury.

I love this gym. It’s one of the best in the area—well-maintained equipment, friendly staff (usually), spacious floors, and clean showers. It’s a bit pricier, but I choose it specifically because I want a good workout experience, especially on days when I need a solid pump before a hectic schedule. Had she just responded with basic politeness—a small smile and a quick “Give me a moment, I’ll replace it”—I would’ve happily offered to change the tank myself so she wouldn’t have to haul the heavy one. Or I would’ve simply waited a few minutes for her to find another staff. Either way, I would’ve left with my good mood intact.

Instead, that one interaction felt like a dark cloud passing over an otherwise perfect blue sky. It lingered for only a short moment, but it was enough to dull the shine of an otherwise excellent morning. What I’m trying to say is this: these tiny moments might seem insignificant, but over time they can quietly kill a business.

I refused to let that dramatic water-tanker sigh ruin my entire day. I had way better things to look forward to — like welcoming our new joiner, Ka.

Ka crushed the case study I wrote about in the previous post, so we decided to offer her the Guest Experience Associate role. She’ll be diving deep into the full customer journey, spotting sales and marketing opportunities throughout the reservation process, improving systems, and getting hands-on with actually delivering the service.

As usual, she started by shadowing our receptionist for the first half of the day — learning reception basics and housekeeping tasks. Then we threw her straight into her first real challenge: mastering all the different special-request scenarios we deal with — partial cancellations, splitting or delaying dates, asking for extra discounts on extensions, and so on. Her mission? Understand how we currently handle them, then come back with proposals for standard responses and better ways to do it.

What I like most about her so far is simple: every time I check in and ask how she’s doing, she answers with nothing but a genuine smile and quiet excitement. That’s exactly the kind of energy I want on the team.

Most young professionals (including me back in the day) don’t realize this yet: what actually makes you valuable isn’t how much knowledge or skill you have right now — it’s your coachability and adaptability. Of course, that only works if you’re not stuck in a toxic environment where managers can’t lead and the team isn’t welcoming (trust me, I’ve seen plenty of those horror stories from my consulting days).

I’m genuinely looking forward to reviewing her proposals tomorrow. With that positive demeanor, I have a feeling it’s going to be a really good conversation.

Later in the evening, after a couple more meetings, I decided to stock up on yogurt for my last week here. That turned into a nice evening walk — which somehow snowballed into a whopping 16,600 steps and 11.2 km. Add in the morning workout and yoga… and yeah, I’m currently riding a serious endorphin overdose.

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   8.5 – Yes, just the right amount of physical activity, moderate intake of coffee, lots of water, headache is all gone.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Postivite comment from the team on the new joiner so far.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   No surprises, no under-delivering, all planned tasks completed.

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Nothing much, continue with today’s energy.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Complete homework for our last consultant session for fundraising.

Day 9 wrapped up with a high satisfaction rate. ¡Vamos!

Woke up with a headache and feeling bloated (probably from relentless indulgence in night-market food yesterday). Not really in the mood for work or study today.

Thankfully, it was a peaceful day on the work front. I hadn’t planned much beyond sending one offer and two volunteer agreements—and luckily, everyone was super responsive. All documents were e-signed within 4 hours of sending. I’m genuinely excited. The last five months felt like we were under some kind of curse: candidates ghosting left and right, interns no-showing without a word, hang-ups when we followed up. But today? A fresh start. Just when I needed a win, I got three.

On top of that, we had surprising last-minute reservations: a lovely digital nomad couple who seem to work together. As soon as they settled into the coworking space, they were bouncing back and forth—working on their own laptops one minute, then deep in discussion pointing at screens the next. It struck me as rare. Most nomads travel solo, or if they’re with a partner, they usually have separate jobs and work independently. I haven’t seen many couples who travel together, sleep together, and work together—24/7 side by side. That takes serious patience and mutual respect. Impressive.

To shake off the bloating, I walked to the gym for a midday session, then to the supermarket, then back home. This week I’ve averaged over 13,500 steps per day—I’m really proud and happy I’ve stuck to my goal of moving more and sitting less.

It’s only 20:00 now and I’m already wiped out. This year I’m prioritizing balance—not just work-life balance, but active-rest balance too. When you have balance, you get harmony; with harmony comes stamina; with stamina comes sustainability. Being an entrepreneur is all about staying sustainable. Like I said yesterday, I’m no hustler—and today, I’m still not one. So I’m listening to my body. As much as I wish I could grind more, I’m happy to call it a day and go lie down.

Tomorrow is a new day!

Quick Daily Debrief

1. How do you feel today? Did you take care of yourself? (1-10, 10 = thriving)

   6 – Physically off (headache + bloating), but mentally okay. Took care by walking a ton, listening to my body, and ending early instead of forcing work. Rest wins today.

2. Anything remarkable? (At least one memorable thing)

   Three quick wins on the recruitment/volunteer front—offers signed fast, no ghosting. Plus spotting that power-couple nomads in the space. Felt like a little universe nod: things are shifting.

3. Plans for the day vs. reality?

   Planned low-key (just docs to send). Reality: even lighter due to feeling rough, but the planned stuff got done efficiently and with bonus surprises (reservations + responsive signers).

4. What to improve / do differently tomorrow?

   Drink less coffee.

5. One must-do thing for tomorrow?

   Follow up on the new signers (welcome/onboarding check-in) and protect recovery time—don’t over-schedule if the headache lingers.