What’s the hardest thing you’ve done this year?
– Saying no to that scrummy donut 🍩
– Waking early to do my crossfit every day 🏋️♀️
– Not getting too hung up about teenage messiness 🙄
Yes, those are tough, but not really.
No, dig deeper.
What did you do that has been incredibly hard and difficult but you did it anyway?
Alexandra Klein, one of my favourite human beings on the planet, says it was trying to stay true to herself.
This is hard – when your principles are tested… Do you walk your talk?
Or are you just full of hot air? 🎈
I believe the measure of character is when you make a stand, knowing you have much to lose.
Your job.
Your relationship.
Your status symbol.
Feeling rock solid in your values, you make a stand to…
Saying no.
Protecting space.
Honouring your truth. 🌹
That is the definition of #DoingHardThings.
And staying true to ourselves and our values when the #ohana values of our ecosystem seem to be crumbling before our eyes…
That’s true character.💪🏻
Thank you for fighting for the community and lifting us up Alexandra, I for one, know what an uphill battle that can be.
You’ve been such an amazing friend, professionally and personally too! Having sprog 3 think the world of you makes me happy! 🥰
Dear readers, If you’ve been following me, you’ll know that my reflections this year has been on parenting, because having teen sprogs losing their baby tails and growing legs that’ll bounce them into adulthood has been such an eye opening experience for me. 🐸
(yes I know I’m mangling my metaphors! 😁)
What about you?
What’s the hardest thing you’ve done this year?
Have you surprised yourself this year? 🤔
Have you surprised yourself this year? 🤔
(I gotta get better at these questions!)
Rob Cowell is one for stepping outside his comfort zone regularly, changing roles and doing new stuff!
For me, it’s realising my sprogs are their own human beings … Of course I knew it intellectually but it was a different thing to understand it from am emotional aspect. 💕
And that things that worked for me growing up cannot work in today’s world, where the challenges for the young ones are so different than before.
I surprised myself by letting go some of the beliefs and programming I had, and creating new habits and operating models of the parenting discipline, specific to my unique sprogs.
I wouldn’t have thought I’d have such a massive shift but there you go. 🤷🏻♀️
How about you?
How did you surprise yourself this year?
“Nope – I don’t want to be in the flow!” 🤯
“Nope – I don’t want to be in the flow!” 🤯
AnneMarie Bos MBA drops a truth bomb 💣 which might get some looks from the Yoga peeps 😬 (ps I loved meeting her for the first time at French Touch Dreamin’ where she was walking around barefoot! 👣)
I asked about a small habit she picked up this year that made an impact to her life, and she initially said ‘Cycling’ but that wasn’t a new habit so here’s her discovery about “Not Being In The Flow” and what she actually does instead!
A small habit that made an impact for me this year… hmm 🤔
I guess it’s acknowledging that #menopause is kicking my butt and brain fog and memory lapses (as well as moooood swings!! 🥵😁😢🥵🥵😣😴😒😝😭😡🥵🥵🥵🤬🥰😒) is now part of my life and I have to make small adjustments to accomodate this differently-wired me.
Using James Clear’s atomic habit – I make my surroundings help remind me of what I need to do, as well as verbalising to ÜberHub my rambling brain train so he knows my logic of why I do the mad things I am doing and also being explicit to those around me about why I cannot remember their names (even for my old friends and my god son!! 😔)
I am taking supplements and I know exercise helps the brain functions, so am hopefully doing as much as I can to survive this second-puberty 😬
Anyway that’s my public acknowledgement of why I sometimes freeze mid-sentence as my brain is frantically scrambling for your name or the next word in the sentence! 😆 Thank you in advance for your patience and your grace!
What’s a small habit that you’ve picked up this year that has made an impact to your life?
How is this year like last year, but in a positive way?
How is this year like last year, but in a positive way?
Janeen Marquardt, MBA, PMP loved that she’s been able to speak at more than 10 amazing dreamin events (including French Touch Dreamin’ 🥰)
You’ll have to attend these events, and speak at them – to realise why we are #DreaminJunkies 😆
For me – I love that the new fangle-dangle fitness dooda called #crossfit Joey Chan introduced me to at Philipine Dreamin in 2024 has remained an obsession in a good way. 🏋🏻♂️
I wondered if I would stick at it, and realised in order to reap the benefits that future Pei would thank me for – I needed to turn it into a habit.
And so, it has become my almost-non-negotiable; it’s one thing I make time for in my diary every day (unless there’s a reason like a poorly sprog or if I am travelling). 😬
Also I know my WHY – I do not want to be competitive, but I do want to be strong and fit, so I workout at 80-90%
#ConsistencyOverIntensity to avoid injuries.
I am aiming to do my first #hyrox towards the end of 2026 so my dodgy elbow better get better so I can do them sled pulls!! 🤞🏻🤞🏻
How about for you?
How is 2025 like 2024, but in a good way?
We are on our #SnowManRace
We are on our #SnowManRace in the after-hours super secret unrecorded chat at our monthly
#BadAssBA TrailblazerCommunityGroup meetup with the amazing Paul Ginsberg Ashley Douglas, APTD and Kristyna Turner (dialing in from Down Under!! 🥰)
Congrats Samira Asfour Tracey Braun Christina D for winning the #NotDuckRace 😆
This time we talked about
🍌Exams exams exams!
🍌Will the AI exams still be free next year? 🤔
🍌Mentoring & community efforts
🍌Vanessa‘s experience attempting to be a
#Muley 🫏😝 and a harsh #ThanksButNoThanks rejection
If you want to take part in our #DuckRace or #SnowManRace or #SomeOtherMysteriousCompetitiveRace and hear amazing people talk #BusinessAnalysis and fun topics like #FrozenBananas or #PinkFireBreathingDragons… you’ll need to join us.
Make that part of your 2026 Resolutions!
#JoinTheBadAssBAArmy (ok that never sounds right in my head… baaaarmey??!) 😝
Anyway that’s a wrap for 2025 – thank you for joining us you wonderful #BadAssBAs!! 😍
I love our global peeps – with Vanessa from LA, myself from London (luckily it’s xmas hols now as daughter’s sleeping in the lounge due to room renovations and I was invading her room!) Azim Talib in Malaysia and our friends Tanya Anglin and Kristyna Turner in Oz ❤️❤️
I am sure I’m missing out more of our global friends – please pop your location in the comments below if you are part of our tribe!! 🌍
Thank you Vanessa Grant my most wonderful partner-in-crime!
Thank you for inviting me to join you on this super-fun adventure!
Can’t wait for the shenanigans we’ll get up to in 2026 😈
This #BusinesAnalyst #BadAssBA conversation
This #BusinesAnalyst #BadAssBA conversation has surfaced topics like #BurnOut
#ImposterSyndrom and all the things we struggle with at work.
This is not just for BAs, this community – this tribe, is for all of us who are curious, who want to figure out where we fit and what to do, how to take care of ourselves.
Here’s a question from our community: For someone who feels burned out, stuck, or quietly curious about what else is possible – what’s one low-risk step they can take without blowing up their career?
The consistent answer wasn’t “make a leap.”
It was:
🍌Side projects
🍌Community involvement
🍌Cross-functional work
🍌Volunteering
🍌Saying yes to adjacent opportunities before changing anything official
Communities came up again and again – not as networking theatres, but as preview windows.
When you listen to people already doing the work:
You hear what their days are actually like
🍩What energises them
🍩What drains them
🍩Where the gaps really are
It’s like shadowing a role without asking permission or changing your job title.
Paul Ginsberg shared his story about going to a first user group as a low-risk experiment.
👎🏻Worst case?
One awkward evening and nobody remembers you.
👍🏻Best case?
A handful of connections that quietly shape the next decade of your career.
Not every experiment works. Some will be duds.
But even that teaches you something – about what fits and what doesn’t.
You don’t need a grand plan.
You just need enough movement to create signal.
On our fun #BadAssBA meetup with Vanessa Grant with amazing converstaion with panelists Paul Ginsberg Ashley Douglas, APTD Kristyna Turner
About to finish content recording and enter our un-recorded super-honest conversation 🤫
If you want to know what we talk about – register NOW 👇🏻
#OnThePeiroll
#NoBullSh!tAnswers
