June 2023

If you’re never going to have another crisis or severe problem in your work or your life, you can skip this one. The rest of us, however, can learn to fare better the next time we face a crisis or severe problem. The twin keys to success in difficult, fast-moving, problematic situations are first to […]

As I wrote a while ago,  here,  here, and here, resilience is the capacity to recover quickly and well from difficulties and demanding experiences. Resilience is an important and powerful capability because it leads you to come back quickly to full strength after the inevitable setbacks and problems we all experience from time to time.

It’s not guaranteed, but if your current level of productivity and success seem less that what you hope for, you could be suffering from character flaws and behaviors that hold you back from operating at your best. The simple truth is this: failing to step forward when you can and should is a surefire way

I write often about accomplishing your tasks, projects, and goals, and I’ve discussed some specifics about setting goals several times, including here. This time around, I’d like to suggest some additional ideas about setting meaningful, helpful, and fruitful goals. Let’s start with this one: Consider Timeframes A lot of people will tell you that the

There are many different decision-making methods and algorithms. I’m not going to write about any of those in this piece. Instead, I’m going to talk about various ways you can “test” a decision or course of action before you fully commit to it. That’s right: the idea here is cover some useful techniques you can

In two previous posts, here and here, I’ve written about trust and the importance of building it with people who are – or may become – important in your work and your life. Since then, as I’ve continued to think about building trust, I’ve come up with some additional ideas I’d like to share with

In Star Trek: The Original Series, we learn that Starship Captains are authorized to trust their instincts. You are, too. Instincts are feelings or inclinations that guide us toward specific ideas, conclusions, or actions. Instincts can be wrong, of course, as when we judge a person mistakenly by their appearance or fall in love with

One of the most neglected boosters of productivity and success is preparation. Years ago, I worked with some very successful people whose idea of preparation before important meetings with a client was limited to talking things over at lunch for an hour immediately beforehand. Although that hour of preparation was undoubtedly helpful to them, they

As I’ve counseled many times, productivity and success depend heavily on your ability to work well with other people. This can become much more difficult when you think or feel differently from those others. You may have faith in an unusual take on a problem or solution – or lack faith in what others readily