Do Things That Make You Feel Most Alive

As one ages, time seems to fly by faster. However, the reality is that time is an infinite phenomenon. It is we, the humans, who are passing by as each year arrives.

If we realize in our daily actions that we are on a conveyer belt, all headed for the same destination, the world would be a much better place. Filled with gratitude for the little time we have here on this planet.

Beginning of the new year is a milestone that stands for restart and reset. We hope we will do things that we were not able to do in the past year. Do things more consistently than last year. Be more regular at the gym. Write more. Learn more. The list of potential goals is long.

Since many years, I have tried to define the upcoming year by a theme, and not by goals. The theme that is playing on my mind right now is, “Do things that make you feel the most alive.”

To live and to feel alive are two different things. When anything I do touches the other person meaningfully to spark a positive change, that brings me alive. This could be through things I write, ideas I illustrate, workshops I conduct, trainings I run and facilitative learning interventions that I design. More importantly, the way I live that sets an example for my kids and people close to me.

(10 Rules of Ikigai – Sketchnote)

Seth Godin says, “If your work changes others for better, you are an artist.” In that respect, being an artist is my highest aspiration – not in terms of creating art, but making a difference.

“There is a passion inside you, a unique talent that gives meaning to your days and drives you to share the best of yourself until the very end. If you don’t know what your ikigai is yet, as Viktor Frankl says, your mission is to discover it.”

End of the year is also the time to look back at the journey so far. Past year was a roller coaster for me. It was a year of deepening my practice, befriending AI, launching new channels to share ideas, running immersive workshops, and translating leadership thinking into visual stories.

Here are a few milestones that shaped my year:

• After years of learning from Amy Edmondson’s work on Psychological Safety, I embarked on a journey with Karolin Helbig to become a Certified Facilitator of Psychological Safety Workbook. I look forward to make practices that build psychological safety in teams accessible to leaders and managers at all levels in 2026. Psychological safety in today’s world is not a “good to have” anymore. If leaders wish to build strong teams, they have to invest in building a safe environment for people to fearlessly experiment, fail, ask and learn collectively.

• Working with large organizations to facilitate change has led to realization that while AI can take care of the content of change, humans look for other humans to clarify the intent of change. Themes like Trust, Integrity, Transparency, Humility, Listening etc are not soft skills anymore – they are key determinants of success in any large scale change program.

• I conducted numerous Visual Thinking workshops across large consulting organizations. It is clear to me that in a noisy world (getting noisier by AI slop), ability to think visually is a must-have skill for leaders and learners to make sense of complexity, and distill signals from noise. It is vital for seeing problems clearly, framing solutions, making sense of ambiguity, and learn immersively.

• Facilitating strategy sessions with senior leaders has been a constant theme through the year. We are in the age of collective intelligence, and a good facilitator holding a conducive space for dialogue can unlock strategies, ideas and alignment. I experienced this over and over again in the past year(s).

I am so grateful to people who trust me with their leadership development interventions, change consulting and visual storytelling needs. To thought leaders and authors who leverage my visual notes to bring their ideas to life. And most importantly, to all of you who engage with my work, add to conversations, and encourage me along the journey.

Thank you, and wishing you a glorious 2026!

A Recap of My Posts in 2025:

• Charles Handy’s Big Ideas
• Journaling for Leaders and Learners
• Thriving in the Age of AI: Head, Hands, and Heart
• Mindfulness Techniques to Stay Calm in a Chaotic World
• How to Learn and Improve Through Tiny Experiments
• Seeing Better: The Case for Visual Thinking and Sketchnotes at Work
• What is Survivorship Bias and How to Overcome it?
• What Effective Facilitation Does
• Five Plays of Psychological Safety
• Benefits of Sketchnotes and Visual Thinking for Business Leaders and Teams
• 6 Types of Everyday Courage
• Giving Yourself Permission to Live Differently – Insights from Jillian Reilly
• Sketchnotes, Skill Stacking, and Playing to Potential: A Conversation
• When in Doom, Be Curious – The Mindset Shift We Need Now
• The Power of Discipline: How Tiny Efforts Create Massive Results

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