It’s easy to get caught in the myriad of tasks. The thousands of little things that can be done each day. The routine of your regular way of doing things or a pattern of comfortable procrastination. What if you did one big thing each day? One thing that challenged you or scared you. One thing that put a cornerstone piece Read More …
It’s easy when considering ideas to consider personalities, likes and dislikes, ego, and hierarchy. The healthiest teams and the most successful people put these things aside and value their ideas based on their merit. Becoming merit focused takes a great practice of integrity. I say ‘practice’ because integrity takes practice. Don’t think of it as a binary quality. Each time Read More …
Giving an order without buy-in creates resentment and sabotage. If I command you to do something that you do not agree with, the only thing keeping you in-line is your fear. If instead I collaborate with you to create buy-in, then you do the thing not because you want to please me or avoid punishment, but because you agree with Read More …
I recently listened to a talk delivered by Neil Gaiman, one of the cut comments he made was “I realized that my job had become responding to email and that I wrote as a hobby.” This is a feeling that I think many people get as their inboxes become overburdened with seemingly urgent messages on a daily, if not hourly Read More …
Effort orientation allows you to focus on the process instead of the result. Learning and growth happen when you challenge yourself to step outside of your comfort zone and not be critical of the outcome. By focusing on effort instead of results you free yourself from perfectionism and bias yourself toward movement. Results orientation is where successful lazy people thrive. Read More …
“You are so smart!” “You have a natural talent!” “You do that so effortlessly!” It can feel wonderful to receive praise but with these types of compliments you may be programming you to avoid risk and seek approval. Carol Dweck in her book Mindset outlines a series of studies of both adults and children that demonstrate how praising someone’s intelligence, Read More …
What are you avoiding doing right now? So often we shy away from our biggest blocks and challenges even when we know that energy in those places could make a significant and positive impact in our lives. I suggest you make an avoidance list: 1. Document all the things you are currently wrestling with. What things most cause you to Read More …
The world these days is made for distraction. Even with the best of intentions its easy to find yourself opening up your email program to write a reply to someone and next thing you know you’ve read a Facebook notification, browsed 10 LOL cats, and found yourself researching the Swedish Lynx on Wikipedia before you realize how long you’ve been Read More …
Sometimes you know how to do something, you know that something should be done, and for whatever reason you don’t do it. The challenge is not becoming invested in the not-doing. It’s easy to become stuck behind the regret or embarrassment of not having done the thing in the first place. “If you were able to do this? Why didn’t Read More …
My grand master todo list probably has 1000 items on it. My projects list probably has 30 items on the go right now. When I setup my daily list I often put 15 items on it. I rarely get to the bottom of this list and I don’t imagine ever getting to the bottom of the 1000 item one. Nor Read More …