How Writing Your Case Can Be Your Secret Weapon for Getting Decisions Made
A narrative document is a powerful way to make your case and to get decisions made in your organization.
Personal Leadership
3 Money Tips Every Stressed Out Worker Needs to Know
What would you do if you didn’t have to worry about money? That’s a fun question to help discover something you are passionate about. It can help you to think about long-term career plans and what you want to do with your life. It’s also useful to think about how you could make that a reality. Because you may be closer to financial freedom than you think. Maybe it’s a long-shot to become insanely wealthy and fly around on private jets. But it’s totally within your grasp to achieve financial peace. Because you already have the most important tools to … Read more
The 5 Best Personal Development Books of 2018
You can get tremendous value from a book that has great ideas, offers a new perspective, or allows you to gain new knowledge. In that way, all books provide personal development opportunities. This list is from my reading of new books released in 2018 where I found particularly valuable insights for personal and professional development. Here we go. In no particular order (and with affiliate links). 1) Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear. I’m finishing this one up right now and maybe because it’s so fresh in my mind … Read more
How to Gain the Confidence to Speak Up More – 5 simple steps
I used to get very frustrated in meetings because I had lots of ideas–good ideas–but nobody was interested to hear them. Maybe it was because I didn’t have enough authority. Or expertise. Perhaps it was because of my limited experience. Or worse. Maybe they knew I was really a fraud. That I didn’t know what I was doing and that it was just dumb luck that got me here in the first place. They are all experienced professionals and I am just barely scraping by. Of course, that’s not really true. But that is how it feels. Because it can … Read more
How to Handle Too Many Projects and Priorities When You’re a Perfectionist
Everybody has too much to do and not enough time to do it. But your situation is different. Because you feel a certain kind of stress when you are overwhelmed like this. And all the productivity wizards in the world won’t be able to help you if you don’t face the underlying issue. You’ve taken on too many projects. You have too many priorities. You don’t have enough time. You don’t have enough energy. And you don’t know what to do besides work more. Work longer. Drive yourself insane chasing all the loose ends. It’s hard to delegate because you … Read more
Want to Have a Great Meeting? Prepare Like This
What if you could wave a magic wand and make all your meetings wonderfully effective? Well, there’s more under your influence than you might think. With a little strategic thinking and some thoughtful maneuvering, you can make a big difference. Even if you are not the team or meeting leader. And better meetings can make your day more productive, more enjoyable, and more satisfying. It will help everyone else too. Let me explain. The problem with meetings There can be many problems in any single meeting, and they can feed off of each other. The purpose of the meeting may … Read more
Are You Feeling Overqualified and Unsatisfied? Here’s What To Do Next
Stretch. Struggle. Boring. Such is the natural progression of your job. You stretch to land the job, struggle to keep up, and finally get so good at it that you become bored. As a result, you might be feeling overqualified and unsatisfied. It may not be a great consolation to see this as the natural progression of things, but this may be an important insight to consider as you plan what to do next. What to do next can be a tricky question. Because the obvious thing to do is to go out and get another job. But that can … Read more
Learn How to Get More Done with Baby Steps
Baby steps solve more problems than you might think. Even small ones. A baby-step approach to cliff diving probably seems obvious. You wouldn’t start out by diving off of a 100-foot ledge. But have you ever thought about baby-stepping more things at work? Sure, that big project must be broken down into smaller milestones. Annual goals must be worked on consistently over time. And earning a promotion doesn’t happen after one task. But what about simple things like writing an email, preparing a meeting agenda, or reviewing a contract? Could those mundane, common tasks be improved with baby steps? Definitely. … Read more
What You’re Missing in Your Battle with Procrastination
Sometimes I feel like the President of Procrasti Nation. I’m not on task. And sometimes I’m pretty far afield. I’ve wandered off course and it seems like there just ain’t no way back. But I’ve got to get back on track. I’ve got to overcome whatever the mental/emotional hurdle is and do some important work. Like, for example, right now I really want to watch Nathan Fielder’s “informational video” on how the Emmy’s could be hacked. Because I’m a big fan of his show Nathan For You. He’s clever, funny, always pushes things to an interesting edge giving viewers unexpected … Read more