How I will solve my eating disorder

Today I have had an amazing breakthrough, I realized how I could lose weight sustainably while I have been trying to do so for over 15 years… Half my life!

It happened through this very simple process:
1- To have a problem, preferably “impossible” to solve (according to you at least)

2- 2- To take a break out of a usually stressful moment, go off track, and reframe your problem. (more on this in another post, don’t forget to check it out!)

I have read everything and more about weight loss, and I know that the most difficult thing for me about it is, that the way I eat is a reflection of my whole life.

It’s like facial expression: smiling when you are happy, crying when you are sad. I binge eat when my emotions are too strong, when I feel pressured, when I am scared, when I am lazy, etc. Especially, I eat when I feel bad about myself, which is a...

The best shortcut to having a breakthrough

I had one of the biggest breakthrough in my life today. I realized how I could lose weight sustainably while I have been trying to do so for over 15 years… Half my life!

I’ll describe how this breakthrough happened, and what it is, so that you can apply the breakthrough process yourself (or the weight loss advice, or both).

Here I go…

These days I ran out of ideas about what to write in my blog, mostly because I kept myself busy with the tons of projects I am working on. I was very happy about it, don’t get me wrong, but the girl needed a break…through!

Here are the two steps that represent a hugely helpful shortcut to make an important discovery about anything:

1- I had an (impossible) issue that needed to be resolved

Through one of the courses I am following I committed to something I really think will be impossible: within 9 months...

Let’s sing a little song shall we?

One of my, if not my major, hobby is singing. I take a 45 min one to one lesson with a teacher every week, I used to have a band (that did not go further than the studio’s door because of all members’ other commitments, but still) and sang at various events including my company’s Year End party in front of a thousand people eating catering food and chatting casually (if you ever tried to capture that kind of attention, you know what I am talking about).

This is how much I love singing.

One very important aspect of singing is how everything, around and within you, can affect it. It is often said that breathing is the activity that links between the mind and the body, as it is the only automatic body function that can be easily controlled by all of us (I am not talking about yogis and athletes, who can control their heartbeat, as it requires extensive...

Do the impossible: why is it easier to skydive from 4,000m than to start a business?

Yesterday I was reading again about the coaching business I want to start, getting a lot of information on the market itself.

Well, it did not look that bright. Competition is hard, recognition difficult to get, money does not get in… over 60% of master’s graduates from in this field consider that it is not possible to make a living out of coaching only. Damn. And they only have one course about coaching in Paris… not that many people on the market!

For me, who wants to throw myself all in, it does not sound good.

And then I had one of these moments, having a deep vertigo about my whole project, telling myself:

“What am I Doing Here?”

This “feeling” was best described by Bernard Werber, one of my favorite science-fiction/philosophy writers, in his novel Les Thanatonautes (The Thanatonauts). His...

Coaching, the value of diversity

Through the interests in my coaching career I try to develop in France, I started reading “Le Livre D’Or du Coaching” (Coaching’s Guestbook) directed by Frank Bournois and Thierry Chavel.

This book has been created as a presentation of a new Master course (one year) in Paris II University. I hadn’t realize it when I ordered it and, at first, I was pissed. Why do the French always have to put a Diploma on the top of everything? There is basically nothing one can do without certification in my home country, and, to my view, it kills creativity that is deeply needed at least in some professions.

But, well, I knew that coaching is not (yet?) regulated and, as long as I wanted to practice it in France and that I’d bought the book, why not dig in?

Then I was pushed-back by the complexity of the language. I like simple and efficient communication, all the...

Be honest… with yourself! Why we are idled by criticism and/or simply reject it blindly.

Today I was trying to get a message through to a friend, who just cannot take any kind of criticism. At best, he does not listen, at worst, he makes an endless statement about how much of a horrible person you are.

I get it, I used to be like him.

One day he told me something that really had a strong effect on me. I always love a good metaphor, maybe you start to see that in my posts. And, anyway, that’s exactly what he gave me that day:

“Stop attacking me while I am in a retreat licking my wounds”

But wounds from what? His life wasn’t all that bad, he was working a lot but mostly successful. Love life was not going extremely well but at least he was in control of most aspects. So what was the catch?

Well, truth is, the wounds were self-inflicted, as they often are.

You see, despite what we...

Running with your head cut off and the wonders of focus

You know that feeling, when you start realizing you’re running around with your head cut off. You panic, you hurry and, most of all, you pile-up stupid mistakes.

This is what happened to me at work today. I had a first request, then a second, then a 3rd and so on. Before realizing it I was doing everything backwards, correcting mistakes I had done after correcting other mistakes. There was no ending to this!
I was getting grumpier at myself and at the people asking me to do things, was reacting more and more on impulse. There needed to be a break.

I started to visualize myself like this running chicken with no head, an English expression I like a lot. It was so true and representative! I started to draw it in my little notebook where I note every inspiration I have for this blog and more and added “Need some change”.

When all of...

This is an evolving post. Please come back and check it out once in a while.

Going through the quest of inspiring others, you’ll get caught in traps that will pull you down. It’s fine, and completely part of the process. Learn from your failures, mistakes, and move on stronger, wiser, and so on.
Sometimes, you’ll eventually have to fall in the same trap several times to get the lessons out of it and finally improve (tell me how many times I fell in love for the same type of person before really changing my perspective, truth was, I had to work on myself first, but that’s another story).

One way to avoid falling (too many times) into a trap is to hear from someone else’s experience. This is the goal of this post, help you to avoid making the same mistakes. Read, be aware of it, recognize the pattern, and grow. I won’t say it’s easy, those are all pretty common human being biases that...

Inspire.

The kid’s test: try and go talk with a kid (doesn’t have to be yours), or a college student, or a young new hire about your job and why you’re doing it.

Chances are, if you’re not you’re not doing something that matters to you, you’ll not be able to even explain it. Or, even if you can, chances are they’ll not even get it, or you’ll feel like a fraud trying to make your job appealing.

It struck me in recruiting events, when my company was trying to get me to speak to young applicants about my job, the company, everything. They’d put us in a nice room with food and drinks, and, after an inspirational speech of the HR and big bosses, we were all walking around the room available for discussions. You could see who loved their jobs (or were really good at making others believe that they did). They would even seek-out students to talk to. They would move their arms, have lively...