From the Author

We all recognize that goals can be motivating. And if you look a little deeper, you will also realize that the wrong goals can be demotivating. So the key to boosting your productivity and success is not just to set goals, but to set goals that motivate and draw out a new “personal best” performance. […]

When I was younger, I tried to control the whole world. When – on my 26th birthday – I realized I couldn’t do that (it’s too big), I settled for learning how to control myself and my reaction to whatever the seemingly out-of-control world sent to my “In” box. Doing this is a complex, multi-layered

Lately I’ve been exposed to some situations that involve asking myself deep questions and wrestling with the answers, the better to discover my innermost motivations and opportunities for personal improvement. I won’t burden you with that long list of questions, but I will offer the following short list of questions you can answer as a

Guilt, rebellion, and stress. These are widely considered “negative” attitudes or emotions that hamper – rather than enhance – your performance. But seen in a different light, these “negative” feelings can actually boost your motivation and increase your level of productivity and success. Bear with me as we dive into this counter-intuitive analysis. Guilt Most

Much of the material I cover in this space is individualistic: stuff you do on your own to improve your personal level of productivity and success. But since there’s a good chance you don’t live and work alone on a desert island, you may sometimes need to align with and gain cooperation from other people.

As I wrote last time: “Productivity and success are built on hard work, properly directed at your most important and valuable objectives.” But of course, there’s much more to increasing your productivity and achieving success than simply working hard. One of the additional factors is taking advantage of opportunities: both the opportunities you make for

A curious trait of most people is that we perform better when we enjoy what we do, and we get more enjoyment from activities (including work, but actually all activities) that entail variety, diversity, and meaning. So it should be no surprise that you – and everyone around you – will feel better about what

It’s common knowledge that a positive attitude is better than a negative one. However, that idea is too simple to be entirely correct. The truth is more subtle: too much positivity can be just as unhelpful as too much negativity. What you really want and need is a judicious balance between the two. Here’s why:

As I’ve written previously, not everyone is cut out to be a leader, and people can certainly be highly productive and successful without a full portfolio of leadership qualities. But if you’d like to be more of a leader than you presently feel yourself to be, rest assured you can definitely improve. While it’s well-recognized

A while back, I wrote about feelings of vulnerability, and how they – along with the more widely celebrated feelings of invulnerability – can help you get more of what you want. But on thinking further about this, and being asked some savvy questions on the topic, I came to realize there are some specific