The Importance of Sounding Boards in Life
Sounding Boards in our lives are people who we can bounce ideas off without fear of rejection or undue criticism. I say “undue” criticism because one of the key roles that these people play in our lives. They help us refine ideas, solve problems, unpack emotions, brainstorm, and so much more. Part of the reason…
Process Maps and Checklists – Essential Items to Complete Complex Tasks
Some processes are too complex to be intuitively completed, but using process maps and checklists you can complete most complex tasks. We live in a world that is intuitive. This isn’t by accident. Computers give us the ability to access and manipulate incredibly complex information, however they can be navigated by an illiterate 4-year old….
Putting in the Hard Mental Work
We love the story of the hard worker, who just strives and strives and finally overcomes their adversity. We would also love this striving to be set to an inspirational music montage and be wrapped up in 60-90 seconds. That should about do it. Unfortunately social media and media in general perpetuates the myth of…
Writing a Personal User Manual
User manuals have become somewhat out-of-date. Teams are nothing like what they’ve been historically. So why have a personal user manual for your team? I’m so glad you asked! User manuals have been replaced by hyper-specific guidance given in real time digitally (I’m looking at you YouTube!). There are a small army of short video…
Solving Problems Repeatedly or Once and for All?
Solving the same problem over and over again can be either be immensely frustrating or incredibly lucrative depending on what side of the problem solving equation your standing on. Recently I was asked for updated information on a routine report. The report takes two hours to gather information, set parameters, run the report, review the…
Distraction Depression and Regaining Focus
Our focus is one of the “necessary but not sufficient” attributes of a productive life. Focus by itself won’t make you successful, but not being able to focus guarantees that you will never be successful. Unfortunately for you, me and nearly everyone we know, that our attention is under constant assault. The results are predictably…
Your Purpose in Two Minutes
I’m in a social entrepreneurship training. It’s a pretty incredible experience, only three other people and the teacher. The Elevator Pitch Today we had to do an Elevator Pitch. They seem really simple. Imagine you’re standing on an elevator and someone you don’t know asks what you do. You just say who you are, what…
Take Back Your Time From Complicated Tasks
Time has a way of drifting to our weaknesses, not our strengths. We lose time for a number of reasons, and complicated tasks can be a main reason for losing time….
New Starts and New Habits
Habits. We all have them .It shouldn’t really matter if we want to start habits on January 1st or any other random day. But to our mind, new beginnings have significance. Before we start new habits, we need to answer some key questions…
Productivity Mindset vs Project Mindset
There tends to be a lot of emphasis on increasing your productivity in the online work space. Podcasts are dedicated to it. Best-selling authors like James Clear (Atomic Habits) make the argument that if you were just 1% better the result over the course of that year would be pretty astounding. Online courses are willing…
Leadership Paradox or Leadership Conflict?
In Tim Elmore’s The Eight Paradoxes of Great Leadership there are a list of eight seemingly conflicting attributes that great leaders are able to demonstrate. While seemingly incompatible, Elmore asserts that they are in fact paradoxical, not conflicting…
Leadership and Expectations of Integrity
Leadership has become a risky job. At its best I think that leadership has always been a difficult job, characterized by sacrifice and putting the needs of others before your own. At its worst, it is horribly abused and there is a long list of historical figures to support that position going back to the…
Leadership in Full Retreat
As culture changes, people change. Leaders are needed, but it seems that leadership is currently in short supply. Priorities, desires, methods and knowledge all shift, and the result is that what might have worked yesterday not only doesn’t work today, what might have been praised yesterday might be unacceptable today….
You Set the Tone
In Daniel Coyle’s book the Culture Code he has a chapter called “The Good Apples.”It’s about how an academic experiment was disrupted by some “good apples” – people who were committed to keeping the emotional tone of a meeting in a functional, productive, enjoyable place. You see the goal of this experiment was to see…
Pressure Crystalizes
One of the benefits of being put on the spot is that pressure crystalizes ideas. This is true in nature – diamonds and other crystals are able to form due to the immense pressure and heat that is built up. The analogy carries over (within limits of course!) to us…