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This page contains many articles I've written over the years in pursuit of learning, reflection, and personal development.

Themes include productivity, wellbeing, teaching, defusing bullying, culture, heritage, facilitation & more.

You will find that some of these posts are originally published on LinkedIn.

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A small productivity tip to keep aligned with your monthly focus

Sumbella

Apr 17, 20213 min read

A small productivity tip to keep aligned with your monthly focus

I was reflecting on the irony of how December always brings a sense of peace and reflection... ...And then January and February come...

An unusual way to save lots of time and energy: learn to type using all ten fingers

Sumbella

Apr 10, 20212 min read

An unusual way to save lots of time and energy: learn to type using all ten fingers

If you’ve ever spoken to or seen a dedicated gamer playing computer games, you’ll see they are likely very quick to type and use the...

5 lasting ways to start taking care of and strengthening your teeth

Sumbella

Apr 2, 20213 min read

5 lasting ways to start taking care of and strengthening your teeth

"My son’s teeth are in a lot of pain! What can I do? They want to extract teeth… I’m not sure... and the cost of X dental treatment is so...

3 simple ways to start taking care of your eyes and prevent your vision from getting worse

Sumbella

Mar 27, 20213 min read

3 simple ways to start taking care of your eyes and prevent your vision from getting worse

Growing up, I’m sure you were trained to brush your teeth every morning and evening, if not more! And to floss, and many other things....

Natural ways to prevent illness and heal when sick

Sumbella

Mar 11, 20215 min read

Natural ways to prevent illness and heal when sick

Last month, many of us fell sick with different kinds of flu symptoms. Last month, many of us fell sick with different kinds of flu...

Note: your 'cherry bakewell' doesn't have to be food

Sumbella

Jan 16, 20211 min read

Note: your 'cherry bakewell' doesn't have to be food

For the record, by "cherry bakewell", I mean it as a metaphor for something you love to do that energises you, makes you feel good,...

"Cherry bakewell time": why you need it to find your glow

Sumbella

Jan 16, 20212 min read

"Cherry bakewell time": why you need it to find your glow

With the arrival of the new retreat members on Round 3 of the Planning Retreat, today I pondered on the idea of rest. There are different...

How I use my daily planner with its timing sheet (6am-10pm)

Sumbella

Jan 16, 20213 min read

How I use my daily planner with its timing sheet (6am-10pm)

I was asked recently how I use my daily planner, specifically the daily timing planner. On the planning retreat, I mentioned that I...

Glow philosophy: 'When you are glowing you can see where you're going'

Sumbella

Jan 16, 20214 min read

Glow philosophy: 'When you are glowing you can see where you're going'

No, this article isn’t about a face cream you can buy in the supermarket. There's a story here. It's a story of how December was an...

Part #4 of 4 - Three steps to your new year, called the past, the present and the future

Sumbella

Dec 14, 20204 min read

Part #4 of 4 - Three steps to your new year, called the past, the present and the future

If you're just joining this series, you can catch up on the ones before here: #1 Plan for chaos: expect problems, and eat them for...

Part #3 of 4: What type of planner are you?

Sumbella

Nov 22, 20205 min read

Part #3 of 4: What type of planner are you?

In December a couple of years ago, I had not had a good year. It had been difficult, and I had hardly achieved any of the goals I set out...

Part #2 of 4: How to plan from the heart

Sumbella

Nov 16, 20202 min read

Part #2 of 4: How to plan from the heart

In the first post of this series, we covered chaos, and how it is important to consciously assign time for chaos every single day. Some...

Part #1 of 4: How to plan for problems and chaos

Sumbella

Nov 15, 20202 min read

Part #1 of 4: How to plan for problems and chaos

Make space for a friend called Chaos. Also known as Margin, Downtime, or simply: Space. In my teacher training on lesson planning, we...

When you forget which character it is...

Sumbella

Oct 24, 20201 min read

When you forget which character it is...

Chinese text reads: Ahh... I've forgotten which character it is! The phone shows multiple characters that are pronounced similarly to...

Just when you thought you learned all the ways to say 'I can' in Chinese...

Sumbella

Oct 17, 20201 min read

Just when you thought you learned all the ways to say 'I can' in Chinese...

I have had a few requests for comic style sketches from students, along with some discussions on what's fun and helpful when getting...

A new belief, and 3 important tools for learning Chinese

Sumbella

Oct 10, 20203 min read

A new belief, and 3 important tools for learning Chinese

Unless you managed to escape the global pandemic this year, you can't have missed how strained tensions between China and the rest of the...

Sumbella

Oct 3, 20202 min read

Teacher = Motivator

“There are no unique messages in this world: only unique messengers” When you’re learning something, you somehow need someone to be...

Sumbella

Sep 26, 20202 min read

Yes, you can. 你可以！

Caption reads: '我的天啊！' - meaning 'Oh my goodness!' I've written before about how motivating, inspiring, and encouraging is such a...

Sumbella

Sep 19, 20203 min read

加油 | Add oil, keep building your skills

Doodle reads: "加油！加油！Jiayou, jiayou - Keep going, come on! Go go!" In Chinese there is a word for encouraging others, called 加油 jiayou....

3 simple tech tips that bring joy by saving you time

Sumbella

Sep 12, 20203 min read

3 simple tech tips that bring joy by saving you time

It is near the end of a virtual, online Chinese lesson and one of my students is no longer curious about Chinese... but more about my...

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