From the Author

There’s an old joke about two people hiking in a forest who encounter a hungry bear. One person immediately says: “Let’s run.” The other person replies: “That’s useless. You can’t outrun a bear.” The first person makes clear his plan: “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I only have to outrun you.” Aside from […]

It’s not my job to point you toward scientific studies about productivity and success. You can fairly easily find them yourself on the internet. But I do like to point out precursors to and supportive elements of productivity and success, particularly ones you may not already know. And in this case, I’m pointing out positivity.

It’s natural to shy away from tasks, projects, and goals you fear. They may legitimately be too demanding, too far outside your zone of competence, or just plain too risky for the rewards they offer. But if you’re shying away from potentially worthwhile tasks, projects, and goals primarily because they trigger a fear reaction, you

I remember listening to someone explain the importance of systems vs plans, and she said something that stuck with me: “In your car, would you rather have a braking system, or a braking plan?” What’s true for automobiles is true for the world beyond: the differences and advantages of systems over plans are profound. Don’t

We’ve all heard the common criticisms of perfectionism, including: It’s no wonder that perfectionism is often considered a bad way to organize your work and your life. But all those notions are focused – justifiably – on the destructive form of perfectionism. However, there’s another, positive form of perfectionism that’s far more constructive, productive, and

As a goal-oriented person, I had to work through a lot of experience and mistakes to learn the importance of the beginning and middle parts of the journey, not just the end. In my (foolish) youth, I set myself various goals and aimed for them as directly as I knew how. I was always in

Unless you already know everything, you probably have a great deal still to learn. So it will undoubtedly help a lot to find a few effective ways to accelerate up the next learning curve you tackle. Learning has certainly become somewhat easier because we are the beneficiaries of many amazing advances in technology, and will

I’ve written before in this space (here, here, and here) about some effective ways to deal with helpful and unhelpful feedback you receive from other people. Now let’s turn this around and cover some of the ways you can be sure the feedback you offer to others is as helpful as you can make it.

A lot of the information I put forward in this space is all about doing more, accomplishing more, producing more, and so forth. It’s as if I’m driving at 30 miles per hour, and suddenly I discover and share with you how to kick it up to 60. But that’s not the only way to

I’m a big believer in the power of concentration. That’s one reason I’ve worked hard to increase my ability to go deeply into a task and stick with it for many hours without a break. Over the years, I discovered I get much more done in four hours of unbroken effort than in four single