From the Author

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

For many years, one of my most important goals has been to steer my efforts and energies toward increasing productivity and success. Naturally, that requires a steady course of personal and professional improvement. Much has been said, done, and written by a great many coaches, mentors, consultants, and leaders about formulas for steady improvement. Now

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been productivity-minded. Among my earliest efforts to increase my level of productivity and success were efforts to make the best possible use of my time. Since time and energy are among the most important resources anyone can control, I’m still very fond of techniques that help in

The most common approach to making progress is to push forward. That’s fine, because it works well most of the time. But occasionally, you can make more progress by working backwards –not from where you are, but from the goal you’re trying to reach, and perhaps not from trying to achieve success, but from trying

As social beings, people are born, bred, and raised for the most part to avoid conflict. But that’s impossible, of course, because – as I have mentioned previously – so many of us have different agendas, priorities, points of view, roles to play, values, opinions, personalities, working styles, and so forth. Last time, I wrote