Going to nature for a walk or hike recharges my soul. Going to the gym and taking yoga classes challenge my body and relax my mind. They all fill me with new energy. The time I spend amongst the trees, in the gym or the yoga studio feels like a retreat, transporting me into another reality which makes my everyday self work better. But I missed the yoga class today… again… without any specific, real reason. This made me think: Why do I continue to self-sabotage? Why do so many

“Happy Mother’s Day!” – we hear and see everywhere today. Some of us are lucky to celebrate with our child(ren), some with their own mother. Some with the whole family, parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, siblings and other relatives and friends celebrating all mothers, grandmothers, step-mothers together. I am super grateful for my children who make every day special… Being their mom is absolutely the most wonderful experience… However, at the same time, no

The holiday season is upon us, and we often find ourselves sending out countless “Happy Holidays” messages to friends, family, and colleagues. But let’s pause for a moment and observe our own holiday experience: while we wish for peaceful, joyous, and relaxing days for others, do we also enjoy such peaceful, joyous, and relaxing days ourselves? For many of us, holidays are about obligations: we HAVE TO visit our relatives, we HAVE TO buy and wrap presents, we HAVE TO cook spe

At a recent session at the ESPC conference, I took the stage to discuss something incredibly fundamental: wellbeing. Taking inspiration from my professional journey as a consultant and coach at Search Explained, coupled with my personal experiences, I navigated through the importance of nurturing our well-being. In my consulting work, my approach has always incorporated the human perspective. Beyond the professional layer always lies an essential human connection – the enrich

In our busy lives, we often overlook the small things that bring us joy – a good book, a leisurely coffee, a peaceful stroll. But when was the last time you realized that you need time for yourself? Recently, I found moments of solitude and adventure, realizing that life shouldn’t be divided. It’s about balance. It’s about integrity. Take time to relax, recharge, and savor life’s simple pleasures. So, ask yourself: When was the last time you realized that YOU need YOU? #metim

KMWorld (Knowledge Management World) and ESDDC (Enterprise Search and Discovery) are two conferences co-hosted the same week, same location in Washington DC every year. Without any doubt, this is the most important professional event of every year: all the thought leaders are there, and it is always a great opportunity to see fellow colleagues, partners, clients, have outstanding and deep discussions, make new connections… This year is not an exception… KMWorld and ESDDC are

Everyone has his/her own story of life, and I’d like to share mine here. I was born as the first child of a very poor family, living in Eastern Hungary. My mother is a seamstress, my father is a metal worker. I inherited my father’s skills at problem solving; he had been always good in schools but he didn’t have the chance to get any higher education. Being the “smart kid” of my family was definitely funny, but at the same time it was hard, too. Especially in school where bei

Anxiety. Hope. Exhaustion. Optimism. Pessimism. Numbness. These are emotions I feel. And many more. All at the same time. I try to understand people around me. I try to understand people who I think are my friends. I try to understand people who once I thought were my friends. But all the questions go back to one: what was a friendship in the past, is really a friendship today? Will it be a friendship in the future, too? The Past. In this context, “Past” means B.C. Before CO

It was March 4, 2020, when my almost empty flight from Copenhagen, Denmark landed in Budapest, Hungary. The pandemic already had been around us, and already had impacted my travel plans for the rest of March and April — but I had no idea the magnitude of its impact on our lives in the following months. I think, nobody had. March 4, 2020 was 300 days ago. Before that, I had had a life with frequent travel opportunities: mostly for work, but also to relax. In 2019, I traveled

I miss so many things these days. First and foremost, friends and family abroad. With these travel restrictions, I feel I am in a cage. A pleasant one, for sure, safe and sound, with family, and we have lots of joy together. It could be much worse, I know. I cannot complain… But still… I miss traveling. I miss eating out. I miss zillion other things. But today, I had a moment… A moment when I pretended everything was ok. When I could believe everything would be all right agai

I made a mistake recently. Yes, I did: over-committed. I did more workshops in the first three months than I did the previous six months in total. Traveled for 31 days in the first 80 days of the year. I had projects from last year being postponed and delayed until everything had to be done at the same time. And like a domino, my schedule collapsed. I did not have time to write. Not here, not in my professional blog either. The only thing I kept more or less alive was my In

When I was a child, I wanted to be like everyone else. But I could not, even though I tried hard. I tried to prove I am like everyone else. Then slowly, things changed. After a while, what I wanted to prove was that I can do things that nobody else. I wanted to prove I can win math competitions. — I did. I wanted to prove I can code. — I did. Then I wanted to prove I can get applied to the university. — I could. There I had to prove that as a minority (girl) I can be “good en

When I was a child, I was considered to be a super smart daughter of a very poor family — and as a result, I was always lonely. My classmates couldn’t figure out what to do with my always working crazy mind, and I couldn’t figure out what to do with their “childish” behavior. (Who wants to play with Barbie dolls when the world is full of interesting things to learn???) Nobody told me it was normal. Nobody told me I was normal. And slowly I learned to think it must be somethin

Autumn travel season is here. I am in Haarlem, Netherlands these days, speaking at one of my favorite conferences. On the way here, an old lady was sitting next to me on the plane. A typical elderly grandmother-like lady (or great-grandmother), with smiling eyes – however, feeling discomfort during the whole flight. She was nervous, maybe it was even her first time to fly. I tried to talk to and comfort her as much as I could, but the only language she spoke was Romanian whic

I have to admit it’s not easy to focus here while I’m writing these words. Although I’m sitting in my home office, there are too many distractions. My youngest boy is sleeping in the room next to me, and there’s a good chance he wakes up in only a few minutes. My eldest son is watching the Olympic games next to me, and one of his judo friends is fighting now. Therefore my son is more than excited. I guess he’s got an almost as big adrenaline rush as if he were the one on the

In the last few days, I was reading Sheryl Sandberg’s book: Lean In — Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. (Thank you my friend, Vanessa for the recommendation!) I am planning to write a separate post about the book itself, but one sentence of Sheryl resonated me a lot. She writes: “Guilt management can be just as important as time management for mothers.” Guilt. I am sure you know this feeling. Everyone does. I am not an exception either. When I travel and leave my kids home —

People are often surprised when they discover my rather old-fashioned pastime of sewing. I think they find it a bit at odds with my tech-head professional activities. Yet, what could be a better balance, than that of absorbing yourself in both the old and the new? How fortunate to be living in an era where both can be embraced and enjoyed! In one day, I can be working with cutting edge technology and then immersing myself in the age old act of making each tiny stitch. One act

Friendship… there are many kinds… I have friends of many years who I met at the university, through my work, through my family, social circles, activities and of course, those who I have made in the digital space. Can someone you have never actually met become a friend? I have found that yes, it is possible to build a great friendship that way. Before the Internet, there were pen friends. If you are old enough — maybe you can remember being encouraged to engage with a pen fri

Recently, I’ve been asked this question: “My productivity has been shot the past two days. I am feeling pretty overwhelmed, alone, and depressed. What do you do when you are feeling this way?” I answered this personally of course, and I thought, this is actually something which we all deal with from time to time, so I thought I would share my expanded thoughts here on my blog. When I analyse what I do, I’ve found that it is actually a little strategy comprising of three thing

Today, I had a discussion with my 8 years old son about my first steps with computers and programming. I had VERY good math teachers both...