In the life of DancerGal: How to make Generations X, Y and Zoomers Happy and Productive at Work?

Greetings from the land of DancerGal! It's been quite a while since I updated this little fella so here goes!

About a week back, I attended quite an awesome talk on "How to make Generations X, Y and Zoomers Happy and Productive at Work?". The speaker was this awesome lady called Cheryl Cran (yes, we have the same name! How cool is that???) and she's a leadership consultant. I know most of you might be thinking, "What's that?" so I'm gonna try and put in my own words about what she does. Cheryl's job is to basically make both employers and employees change or adapt their leadership or communication styles so that the company as a whole can be taken to much greater heights. She does this by breaking down the different types of people working in the company, which is mainly the different generations of people within the company.

TMI Consultancy Sdn Bhd which stands for Transformation Managed with Inspiration. 

This talk was organized by TMI Consultancy Sdn Bhd and hosted by Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur. It was pretty awesome as we were given special treatment by the staff of Hotel Istana and TMI was an amazing organizer!

It was fun from the second Cheryl stood on stage! We had so much fun, and not to mention, I embarrassed myself by going up on stage and did the "Gangnam Style" in stilettos. Probably not exactly the smartest idea, but I'm so happy I did it. :) That was our so-called "warm up" session, getting to know each other and Cheryl enticing us with AWESOME music selections. We danced to songs like YMCA, Twist and of course, the one and only GANGNAM STYLE!

Me going ballistic when I heard the Gangnam song... :P (*embarrassing!*)
Photo credits: TMI Consulting Sdn Bhd (Facebook)

Cheryl and I doing the Gangnam Style dance... Kudos to PSY!
Photo credits: TMI Consulting Sdn Bhd (Facebook)

We then sat down after all that huffing and puffing (well, for me at least!) to start on what we actually came here to do - Learn about inter-generational people, their attributes and how we can make our workplace a more effective, efficient, productive, peaceful and relaxing one. It's pretty stressful to have to deal with people from a different generation, but what is awesome is that when you learn about the positive attributes of one another, you actually realize that everyone is pretty cool and sometimes, that generation gap is what makes each and every one of us, more human :) Together with Cheryl after the lunch break, we created a Twitter hash tag for the talk as well. #TMIGenerations2013

The set up on our tables. A folder for our notes, a TMI clapper, and name tag! 

DancerGal and her TMI clapper

Cheryl speaking on inter-generational workplace
Photo credits: TMI Consulting Sdn Bhd (Facebook)

I was tempted to write "DancerGal", but I wasn't there as a blogger :P 

The awesome Sheryl and Cheryl combo! 

I can honestly say, I learned a lot about my own generation (Gen Y!) as well as the positive attributes about other generations and I am proud to be surrounded by people from all the generations, including the millennials. What really caught my interest was not only Cheryl's stage presence, but unlike many speakers, she wasn't boring at all. She admitted that she was a Zoomer with the attributes of a Gen Y and I totally agree! I also managed to do a quick email interview with her to learn more about her as well as what motivates her and some words of encouragement for us Gen Ys! 

DancerGal (DG): From an economic and financial background, what encouraged and motivated you into getting into consultation and leadership training? 

Cheryl: While I was in my career in banking and insurance I conducted training sessions and was speaking early on in my career. I was a leader at the age of 23 and found that I liked the constant learning and growth that came with leadership. When I left banking in 1994 I interned with a consulting firm and then was hired by an international seminar company to provide seminars on leadership. In 2001 I wrote my first book and my business has grown from there.

DG: Generally, those that read my blog would be from Gen Y. Would you have any advice for those of us who are struggling to find our passion?

Cheryl:  What I admire about Gen Y is that they are really keen to do what they love, to stay positive with their work and to make a difference. I don't really have advice rather I would recommend that a Gen Y find a mentor in the field they are interested as well as do an internship to learn about the field. ( I don't have space to mentor as I have clients I do this with right now) Read the book "What Color Is Your Parachute" and get a skills analysis done by an employment agency. This will help determine the best way to use your skills and to find fields that are aligned with your skills.

DG:  What would be the best and worst attributes of a Gen Y, since I am one myself?

Cheryl: Gen Y's are eager to get ahead and to contribute in a big way. The greatest thing about Gen Y's is their desire to help, to share ideas and to work as a group. The Gen Y's that I have worked with would benefit from learning to integrate their energy and passion with business results. Today's CEO's are still the Zoomers and Gen X and they are looking for Gen Y's who can provide technological ideas and creativity to help improve business. I find many Gen Y's could learn more about the business side of the company they are working for. In addition Gen Y's would be very smart to work positively with their Gen X or Zoomer bosses- a Gen Y who helps their boss looks good will always get ahead more quickly.

DG: Any words that you would like to extend to my readers or myself? :)

Cheryl: Staying positive is more than a mindset, it is a way of looking at life. Gen Y's are very important to our future, we need your energy, passion and technological savvy. Focus on building your interpersonal skills with the Gen X and Zoomer, focus on continual learning, read both business books and personal development books. Attend conferences and events where you can learn the 'how to's from successful leaders and business owners.

Thank you so much, Cheryl, for taking the time to answering questions for my blog. I truly appreciate the fact that she took the time to answering my questions. Learning more about one another's personal attributes and how we can contribute to our workplace and helping it grow as a whole was definitely a great experience and I will definitely take these lessons with me. 

Thanks again to TMI Consultancy Sdn Bhd for having me at the event, and thanks again to Cheryl for opening my eyes to my own abilities and strengths! 

I do hope that I get to dwell deeper into such topics and share more of it right here, on my blog! 

Love always, 

DancerGal Sheryl! 

In the Life of DancerGal: Mind over Matter!

So I went back to Bootcamp on Monday. Yes. Finally.

To be honest, this was a true test of mind over matter for me. As some of you are aware, I haven't been back at Bootcamp for the past 2 months, and I actually was sorta on-off back in December. So I have sort of been procrastinating my return, time and time again. I kept saying I wanted to go back time and time again, up until yesterday that is!

At about 3pm plus, I SMS-ed SammoBammo to complain that there was raining and thunder. Prior to that, the whole day, I had nerves flying all over the place. I knew that my fitness level has dropped tremendously, cos not only have I not been working out, I also haven't been eating well. I mean, what with my birthday, CNY and all just one after another. I really haven't been controlling my diet and I honestly haven't been working out on my own as well. I knew I had also put on weight (which I'm honestly really upset about!!!).

Okay, back to the case and point (sorry, I got distracted!). At around 5.30pm, I started to get cold feet. I knew I wanted to go back to the whole "eating clean, training dirty" routine, despite my busy busy schedule, yet I was nervous and afraid about what I would think of myself, how I would fail, etc. Thinking back, this was really stupid! Obviously I wouldn't have performed as well. I haven't been back at Bootcamp for the longest time, and did I ever really expect to perform at my peak again? Without the consistency? Yeah right!

So, to cut a long story short, I eventually attended the session. Suffered the session as I was one of the "newbies" in the group. As expected, didn't do too well, but lasted the entire session. It was a great session, great cardio and great workout.

Today, I am suffering DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) but I am very proud of the pain. Why? Because at the end of it all, NO PAIN NO GAIN!

Moral of the story: Don't lose sight of your passion due to laziness. If you have set your mind to it, you can conquer any mountain. Even the one that makes you cry because your body is aching THAT badly. 

I will be going back to Bootcamp again today (in the event of no rain, thunder or lightning) and I hope to maintain the consistency! Looking forward to more sweat, grime, mud and tears!

EAT CLEAN, TRAIN DIRTY! 

Love always,
DancerGal Sheryl!

In the Life of DancerGal: Malaysia Social Media Week '13 WelcomeCocktail!

So yesterday evening, I attended the welcome cocktail for the Malaysia Social Media Week 2013. It was super fun and I had the pleasure of meeting quite a number of people whom I've gotten to know via Twitter but never really had the opportunity of meeting in person :)

The event was held at Berjaya Hotel, located next to Berjaya Times Square. My attire for the evening was relatively simple yet elegant. I wore a black dress from Kitschen (RM 59.90) paired with my beautiful Melissa Wings heels in nude (RM 475.00) and a black clutch from H&M (RM 99.90). I thought the ensemble would be under the category of smart casual. It was simple, easy, no fuss. Although note to self, I need to start looking into designing my own name cards and carry a smaller (and thinner) wallet with me for such occasions :)

I arrived insanely early, and so I decided that I would go for a quick cuppa at the Starbucks located in the mall itself. After the cuppa, it was still pretty early so I decided to be a nerd and look around RadioShack for some nerdy loves. Got myself a chic case for my phone by Uniq. The colors are so pretty (lilac and light pink!). Anyway, this cost me RM 99, but pretty worth it considering the fact I don't buy cases very often (or at least, I'd like to think so!) :P

After the shopping, I decided to take a break from all that shopping and hang out in the lobby at the hotel. I then got in touch with Aswin (tweet handle: @aswin_tweet), from My Events as well as Social Media Chambers. We finally met for the first time and I stole this shot off him while he was busy working :P

Then, I found out that Syafique was already on the 14th floor. Syafique, as most of you may know, is the founder of MotivationMY.com and is also the official online media partner for MSMW '13. I am so proud of how far MMY has come along and I'm honored to be one of those who have been there to watch it grow :)

Also met with Cherish, Syafique's colleague from Astro Awani. Have seen her on Instagram and Twitter, but haven't actually met her in person. So happy to have finally done that.

Also met with a couple others whose names are big in the industry like Christopher Tock of EYE Project and Social Grooves, Veron of Social Grooves, etc. It was pretty awesome :) I will let my photos speak for themselves from here on out :)

I must say that on the first night, I knew that the rest of the event was going to be awesome!!! <3 blog="" care="" experiences="" my="" nbsp="" on="" other="" p="" soon="" take="" will="">

Love always, 

DancerGal Sheryl! 

In the Life of DancerGal: 18th to 24th Feb! INSANITY!

WHOAAAA! Just realized that next week is gonna be packed to the BRIMMMM! INSANITY!

18th Feb, Monday: 

• Workday as usual 
• Spending the rest of the evening with the beloved cousins and friends :) Dinner!!! WHEEE! 

19th Feb, Tuesday: 

• Workday as usual
• Company CNY Dinner at Bukit Kiara! :) 

20th Feb, Wednesday: 

• Workday as usual
• Class on The Book of Kings with Rev Paul Barker till 10.30pm :) 

21st and 22nd Feb, Thursday - Friday: 

• Spending 2 days in Kuching for work and will be back on Friday evening

23rd Feb, Saturday: 

• Classes as usual from 8.30am to 1.30pm - gonna be EXHAUSTING! :( 
• Dinner at Aunty Pat's House! YAY! Get to dress up! :D 

24th Feb, Sunday: 

• Church in the morning! 
• Classes as usual from 12pm to 4pm - EXHAUSTING! :( 
• Dinner for Chap Goh Meh! :) 
• AngPow opening session! :D 

So that's how my next week looks like! Insanely packed, but gonna be so awesome! Gonna be crazy exhausted by the time I get back though! :( 

Stay positive in light of all that is happening and your life will be a brighter one :)

Love always,
DancerGal Sheryl!

In the Life of DancerGal: FIRST Award EVER!

Ok, fine. My title might be a teeny bit misleading :P

Anyway, here goes. I've received something called a "Versatile Blogger Award", awarded to me by the awesome Syafique Shuib, founder of the awesome motivationMY.com and a friend :)

*sheepish* I promised that I would blog once a month, but have yet to keep to my KPIs :P Will promise to come up with posts soon! *note to self: PUT INTO ACTION!!!!*

With this title, comes some responsibilities! Part of the rules as a recipient of this award, I have to post the award on my blog, share seven random things about me, and nominate seven people for the award. So, let's start with the 7 random things (or I'd like to coin them, weird about me!) :P 

1. I am a HUGE HUGE HUGE eSports fan. Note, I said fan and not player. Have stopped playing StarCraft 2 for quite a bit now, due to time and hardware constraints, but I am determined to get back into the game. For now, it's pure watching, and coming up with my own analysis about the games. (Please do not hesitate to add me on B.net if you have an account. My ID is DancerGal - will update you on my ID tag later!)
2.  I am a performance artist in my own right. I enjoy singing and (honestly!) think that I am quite vocally strong. I also am a dance instructor and I do ballet, tap and hip-hop. I have something coming up that's pretty interesting, but I can't disclose too much details yet. Will do it when all details are final :) 
3. I love to challenge my brain and feed it constantly! When I was in school, I honestly hated studying. Maybe now I'm sort of making up for the lack of studying as a child, but at this point in my life, I literally dislike brainless activities. To me, any activity that doesn't involve me hurting my brain a bit, doesn't really work for me! :P
4. I love to challenge myself physically as well! I am a insane person who goes for Bootcamp. Honestly, the experience isn't that bad, and I adore the idea that I lose insane amounts of weight once I start getting back to my eating right habits and drinking tons of water. :) If I don't calculate the months that I've been missing, I've been in Bootcamp for about 13 months now! #proud
5. I love to EAT! Hahaha! This is interesting! After my last one about losing weight, now I say I love to eat! LOL! Well, I honestly do. I indulge in my foods (not too much, of course!) and I do spend quite a large amount of $$ on my personal F&B each month. Not to mention, Alexis and Starbucks are kinda sorta my favourite F&B joints! :P But oh well! :)
6. I have very low tolerance for people who do NOT appreciate Friendship! I would be (as some people would call it, and so do I!) a very weird friend to have. As a friend, I would feel the need to tell you the truth no matter how bad it hurts. Sadly, not many people are able to accept that. Some even have taken the insane step to consciously avoiding me due to this "weirdness". Honestly, I don't think it's weird, as I want my friends to be the same with me, but I am glad that I have true friends who appreciate this side of me. Not many, but even one is enough :) 
7. I enjoy spending time with some of my cousins (*ahem* CHARMAINE HO!) and although we are family, I somehow feel that we are more like friends. Like we can hangout, especially our routine Karaoke sessions when she gets back from her studies ALL THE TIME, we can do some random stuff and we always enjoy ourselves :) Looking forward to more time spent with her soon! :) 

Okay! So that's seven random things about me, and now it's time for me to nominate seven other people to receive this award. However, please bear in mind that I do NOT follow many, so here goes nothing: 

1. Ceddy Lopez 
2. Debbie Elara or her handy craft blog @ http://www.crafty-heart.com/
3. Carmen Wong
4. Magdeline Wang
5. Jacqueline Teo
6. Dennis Lee
7. Last but not least.... whoever who runs this blog:You Know You're In Cempaka When... 

So I've done my nominations! Back to you guys! :) 

P/S: I know I've been a bit slow on my posts lately, but I'll be back soon. I promise okay? :) 

Love always, 

DancerGal Sheryl! 

Self-Reflection: #2013Resolutions

In my last post, I blogged about my personal #2012Reflections. Today, on the last day of 2012, I will be noting some of my #2013Resolutions.

Here's the thing about resolutions. To me, resolutions are not about setting insane goals that seem almost impossible to achieve, and then being demotivated or discouraged so much that you can't even be bothered to even work to achieve them. That was my mistake for the past 25 years. In 2011, I only set ONE resolution. Not only did I achieve that one goal, I also achieved goals I didn't even know I had. It took one simple step. To step out of my comfort zone.

For 2013, I'm going to put everything that I've learnt back in 2012 into practice as well as grow personally and professionally.

First of all, I'm going to work at maintaining my body, and *hopefully* lose a bit more. I had no idea that I was going to lose that much, nor do I have any intentions of looking anything like the girls in America's Next Top Model. I believe that part of my success was being realistic about my goals. So I signed up for OBC back in January, and once tomorrow comes, I will be going back to my 'reducing junkies' plan, and choosing the healthier stuff :)

Then, there's my personal KPIs for motivationMY.com and inspire.fm. I aspire to have approximately one post/interview within a span of 2 months. This means that I should be producing at least 6 interviews and 6 blog posts in the year of 2013. I don't think it's unachievable, nor do I think it's over-achieving. I think it's achievable and I'm nothing less than excited to make it happen :)

Well, for 2013, those would have to be my main goals. Everything that I achieve aside from these would be the icing on the cake.

I had a great 2012, and I look forward to an awesome 2013 :)

Love always,
DancerGal Sheryl!

Self-Reflection: #2012Reflections - Personal

MotivationMY.com founder, Syafique Shuib, has been posting on twitter with a hash tag #2012Reflections. Some of you may have seen it, some may not. Anyway, the goal of the tag is for us to figure out what are some of the biggest things we have accomplished or learned in 2012.

For me personally, 2012 was a big learning year for me. I learned a lot about myself. There were some struggles of course, but the best part about struggles is that you learn how badly you never want to go back :)

I accomplished a few big things in 2012. The biggest one being me losing 2 dress sizes. Yes, I used to wear an L, and now, I wear an S or M, depending on the cutting. :) I won't lie by saying that it was a piece of cake. I worked my ass off for it. Attending Bootcamp regularly for at least 8-9 months, committing myself to at least one run a month, watching what I eat, no junkies, drinking lots of water (which I used to hate!). It wasn't easy. But back in October, I wore a bikini to a beach in Penang. That had to be the highlight of my weight loss. While I have some work to do in terms of toning, I am very pleased that my discipline and determination got my body to this. I feel fitter, healthier and definitely more beautiful :)

Aside from the weight loss, I also discovered what really makes me tick. As many of you may know, I am a relatively huge nerd. I am totally into the game 'Star Craft 2: Wings of Liberty'. I have been playing the game myself for about 1.5 years now? I realized that my enjoyment into the game has gone beyond playing. I am able to appreciate the efforts that pro-gamers out into the game as well as personally make the effort to catch reruns of tournaments (as most of them happen while I'm either at work or teaching!) and personally analyze game plays. I, myself, have stopped playing for a while now, but I am still very much into reading news and learning more about the mechanics of the game. This really makes me get a sort of high that I can't feel with any other thing in my life. :)

Also, in 2012, I started being more involved in MotivationMY.com as well started hosting shows for Inspire.fm :) These are semi-career based stuff, but I realized that I should put this here as well, because I feel like this is my passion. Something, like SC2, gives me a high and a sense of joy that I cannot feel with any other thing that I do. The satisfaction that I get from reading a post that I wrote or listening to a podcast that I host, is just plain amazing!!! The joy of reading "by @sherylhosulynn" or "hosted by Sheryl" is plain high. Such joys are simple and plain and cannot be retrieved any other way. :)

I also learned in 2012 the type of person I consciously do not want to be. I don't want to be the typical air-head bimbo whereby I can't hold a conversation with. I wanna be able to speak of historical events, political, financial, social, etc. I want to be able to have healthy debates without holding grudges against the person who disagrees with me. I want to be able to form my own opinions by doing constant reading and constant research. I want to be more involved in the world and be more in tuned with myself. I am glad that I've found great people that I can talk to and have healthy debates with. I'm also learning a lot from the same bunch of people. You know who you are :) Thank you for being in my life :)

I had such a great 2012, but it became amazing with SammoBammo in the picture :) I believe that I've had some struggles in terms of my insecurities and I believe that I have grown in terms of the relationship and looking forward to 2013, I just want to enjoy the company and the life together. Thank you, SammoBammo, for a great 2012, and here's to an amazing 2013 ahead :)

Reflecting on 2012, I realized that I have learned so much and grown even more. Looking forward to 2013, I don't want to say that I should stop learning because I believe that the learning never stops. It doesn't stop and it doesn't end. But in 2013, it's about putting everything I've learned in 2012 to enhance my growth and to give back.

It's been a great year, but I am definitely looking forward to an amazing 2013 ahead :)

So what's your #2012Reflections?

Love always,
DancerGal Sheryl!