February 2021

Much has been written about overcoming fear of failure. This is good stuff, but it misses the really important point: there is often nothing about failure worth fearing. Sure, there are some failures that contain negative elements, such as falling off a cliff you are trying to climb or hitting your thumb instead of the […]

In a previous post, I explained that not only the Dunning-Kruger Effect, but a variety of cognitive biases keep you from thinking as well as you think you do. As I explained there, many of these biases are downright interesting. However, all of them hack away at your ability to engage with various situations and limit the chances

This series is not really about leadership, but there’s no doubt that leadership can find you, even when you’re not looking for it. Why? Simply because, as you become more productive and successful in your work and your life, the chances increase that you will be thrust into a leadership possession. When that happens, you’re

If only the world were more black and white, with fewer shades of gray. If it were, then producing success and living well would be much simpler. Since the world happens to be extremely complex and heavily nuanced, however, it’s increasingly important to become as comfortable as you can with the resulting uncertainty, ambiguity, nuance,

Much like a shark, if your career doesn’t keep moving forward, it will suffer and eventually die. But unlike a shark, your career may not move forward on its own. Unless you’re at the elite level in both talent and luck, you’ll most likely have to drive your career forward through intentional strategies, actions, and

With all this extra productivity and success you are – or soon will be – enjoying (as a result of reading this blog and applying these ideas), it makes sense for you to start thinking about how you will make the best use of them. You can, of course, continue to do what you’re doing

I know this series is about productivity and success, and both of those underlie the perfectly understandable and broadly popular effort to increase income. But the truth is that money isn’t everything. There’s health and happiness. Morals and values are extremely important. Relationships are critical to life satisfaction. And many of us are driven –

As we’ve covered many times, working well with people is paramount in boosting your productivity and success. And that brings communication skills and effectiveness to the fore. At the risk of beating a dead horse, I’m offering here a set of guidelines to help you get your work and your life messages across to others