About Agni Skafidas

How to plan for the week ahead

Planning’s when, what, how

How often do you plan your day or your week ahead? Are you pretty relaxed and decide as you go but then noticed you haven’t achieved as much as needed? Have your friends jokingly referred to as scattered brain and given you notepads and calendars to be on time?

We all have heard about the importance of planning. Abraham Lincoln once said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” The better prepared we are for our activities, the smoother the execution and the outcome. But why don’t we plan for the week ahead?

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How to say good-bye to a friend who’s moving away

5 ways to send your friend off to their new adventure

Chances are you have a friend who moved to a different city since you’ve met them. If you’re in the Middle East, this chance seems to go up substantially and many families are using the summer to relocate. Earlier in the year, two good friends told me they’d be moving back to their home country. I was shocked! If you’ve met me, you know I can be built very close to the water and these days, can cry for every possible occasion (tears of joy included).

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Thank you for 200 blog posts

Thank you

Time to celebrate

The 200th article was posted on this blog today. This calls for a small celebration and a BIG thank you to all my readers!

Over the last few months, I’ve been working with a number of corporate clients who wanted to set up an employee recognition scheme and say thank you to their employees. Like many, they wanted to get the biggest bang for their buck. You’d be surprised how easy it can be to say thank you. Money doesn’t need to be involved and there are great ways of saying thank you.

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Live your dream

But what is my dream?

We all have dreams or so we used to. We dreamt of pancakes for breakfast every day and driving fast cars like Miami Vice. As you’re looking at your life now, are you living your dream?

You’ve seen the slogan “Stop dreaming, start living.” For a lot of people, it’s easier said than done! I remember wanting to become an architect. That university course had one of the lowest acceptance rates and I didn’t make the cut. I didn’t realise for many years what I wanted. These 4 steps have helped me to find and live my dream:

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Summer time is moving time

3 top tips before you start looking for a new home

One of my clients approached me to support them in finding a new home. They are short of time and asked me to pre-view suitable houses for them. Now, I’m not a real estate agent and generally don’t offer this service. This time, I said yes and will share their and my experiences in a mini-series with you (with their approval, of course).

Before you evening start calling landlords and agents for a viewing, gain clarity of what you are looking for. These 3 tips will be of substantial help during this potentially very stressful period:

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Planning for your retirement

What planning?

Do you plan for your retirement? Or should I ask you which word scares you more: Planning or retirement? As part of my main business, I was supporting a client with their end of service (EOS) benefits which are the equivalent to a pension (or 401(k) or super) in the Middle East. A lot of employees, however, are complaining that these EOS benefits are not enough to prepare them financially for retirement. Yet, and maybe not surprisingly, many people don’t prepare more for their retirement. Why is it?

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Top 10 tips to beat stress

Don’t be afraid of the stress monster

Last night, I was really stressed. Making the final edits for a work project, my laptop decided to crash. And then again! Twice while racing against the clock. What a horror story! How could this be? I freaked out. The plans to buy that new laptop may be pulled forward to this weekend!

During this fiasco, I remembered a few of my own stress-relieving methods. Everyone handles stress differently and here are my top 10 tips for beating stress:

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