Elena Dobrobabenko

“Stay positive!” is my motto! And I’d recommend everyone to stick with it.

One’s personal life consists of work, family, and friends. But if you look at me, I’d say, the third component is somewhat missing. I have friends who I only see once a year on my birthday! It shouldn’t be like that.

I offer an alternative to tranquilizers and alcohol. We work together — my Client and me. I always warn them straight away, that I’m not a magician and I can’t pull bunnies out of a hat, just like I’m not a psychic, and I won’t promise that I’ll do everything for them. I’m only there to guide them.

I don’t insist on soul-stripping. You don’t need to know a person inside-out to help them, you can do it without ravaging every little corner of their soul, quite like what a surgeon does to inner organs.

I haven’t watched TV for 4 years now. I mean no TV at all. Videos are a different thing. It’s got nothing to do with principles and beliefs, it just happened this way. This implies that I also don’t watch interviews and talk shows with myself.

I look a lot younger than my age. It’s a good thing for a woman, but a great disadvantage for a coach and teacher. Imagine a training course called “Executive image. VIP”. And then there’s me walking into the room. And you can see it in the eyes of every single one of those men, all of who are top managers, this attitude: “Oh, what can SHE really teach US?!” So the first 15 minutes we work on getting them to trust me. Another thing that often happens to me is that they refuse to serve me vodka in a restaurant until I show my ID.

I’m a “thermophilic” person. I don’t like winter, I don’t like cold. Even though I was born in Moscow in the end of autumn! I like warm places, I like sea!

I much prefer going out together than meeting at somebody’s place. I enjoy going to various restaurants with my family or friends, having a nice dinner, a cup of tea or coffee, chatting about things. Even with my mom, we always go out!

I don’t enjoy doing sports. I don’t have a fitness-addiction, and I never will. But you can’t go without some kind of physical exercise, so I took up dancing, which, above all, gives one an opportunity to perform on public. That’s one thing I’m good at.

I’m a calm person. I don’t ever get aggressive. If I’m upset about something, I don’t make a scene, but just turn around and walk off. Instead of me standing there screaming at someone, rather let them run after me!

I don’t like shopping. I prefer the male way of doing it: if a man needs to buy pants, he pulls himself together and goes and buys pants, nothing else, as if other stuff, like ties and shirts, wasn’t even there. It’s the same with me.

I’m not a very tidy person. My husbands must have suffered a lot with me.

Sometimes at the end of the course clients give me presents. Technically, they’re not supposed to do that, because they’ve paid money for it. But, I have to admit, it’s very nice, and it always makes me very happy, because to me, they’re like a symbol of my usefulness or something.

If I say that I don’t like two-faced people, it would just be pompous words with no real meaning to them. I hate it when things are this way. I like straightforwardness!

I’m very lucky with my family. I’ve got an amazing mom (who all my friends and husbands love to bits), a great son, and a wonderful husband.

Men are extremely possessive. And they take marriage far more seriously than women. That’s exactly why they’re so terrified of it. It’s a huge responsibility from their side.

Research shows that, contrary to popular opinion, men have brilliant intuition and women are very good at solving logic puzzles! That’s the result of a research! You can’t argue with that.

The key to happiness is being able to think positive and enjoy small things. It might sound banal, but there are very few people who can actually live like this. That’s one thing. Another things is that happiness isn’t about some major goals, but little pleasures. It’s important to find something you really enjoy. Not like: “I’m going out with a friend, because it’s cool and everybody does it,” but more towards: “I’m standing here, where these two particular streets cross, and eating a pie, and gives me such an awesome feeling — even though it’s only right here and right now, it still feels awesome.”