From the Author

I’ve written several times before about failure, including its inevitability: “Have you ever known anyone who never experienced failure?” I wrote. “Of course not. We all live. We all breathe. And we all fail – at least sometimes. That seems to be a law of nature.” At the time, I also wrote: “Since you can’t […]

We’ve all heard of mentoring and the value it can bring to a person’s level of productivity and success, as well as to their short-, medium-, and long-term career trajectory. But in my experience, there are too many people who don’t get full value from the traditional form of one-on-one counseling, sharing, and support that

If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time and energy conversing with other people. Often, you initiate the conversation because there’s something you want to tell them or ask them or simply want them to see. The problem is, many of the people with whom you converse aren’t sure how emotionally “hot” is

It takes both, you know, to succeed. Too much action without thinking or planning and you’ll be “shooting from the hip,” acting impulsively, keeping busy doing something when maybe waiting for a better time or even doing nothing would lead to a better outcome. Too much thinking and planning without appropriate execution and action will

Back in the day, when I first began paying attention to maximizing my productivity, I was meticulous about tracking my time, right down to the minute. At the end of each week (each day, each moment, if I wanted to), I knew precisely how much time I had spent on each of the tasks, projects,

Are you perfect yet? If not, you’ll be interested to learn the value of making – and tolerating – mistakes. You see, one of the biggest mistakes we make is thinking that we shouldn’t be making mistakes. Of course we should, because we all do. You can’t avoid making them. We’re human, and mistakes are

Few people would argue against the idea of striving to get better in your work and your life. But most of us conceive of making these improvements in large, perhaps even giant, steps. Don’t get me wrong: There are plenty of large improvements to be made: getting a better job, earning an advanced degree, mastering

In the midst of generating maximum productivity and success, as you probably are, you generally face an onslaught of vexing problems and marvelous opportunities, as well as exacting requirements and appealing options. Your days, and possibly nights, are chock full of tasks, projects, and goals that come streaming at you as though from a fire

I have a friend who loves and studies improv – the art of performing live, without a script! It can be very entertaining. One of the most important rules for this kind of performance is to accept everything another performer says or does, and then build on it. This boils down to saying “Yes, and…”

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, in fact, even if you’re just the kind of person who reads this blog for a while, you probably have most things in your work and your life fairly well under control. Good for you! I do, too. But as you know, every once in a