From the Author

When I come across an idea that strikes me as smart, I try to remember it and – at least to some extent – incorporate it into how I run my life. Here are two of them: Consistent Improvement I’d like to get better. Maybe you would, too. The problem is this: improvement necessarily involves […]

Part of my journey involves steadily improving my level of productivity and success, and helping you improve yours. Along the way to such a goal, it’s important to deliver your best work, not just for the satisfaction of doing it, but because your best work is: Less likely to generate problems or require re-work, More

There are a lot of ideas circulating about how to increase your personal productivity and success. I have quite a few, including these few: Curate Your Crew “You become the average of the people you hang out with.” “Stay away from people who bring you down; spend more time with people who lift you up.”

If you’re anything like me, you’ve complained, lamented, even cursed the situations in which you’ve faced difficult choices. They seem like torture: you can’t figure out which of several alternatives is the best one, and you’re stuck, as they say, “on the horns of a dilemma.” It’s not that I’m indecisive. In many situations, I

I feel like I have been harping for a good long time on the importance of working well with other people. But looking back, I find I haven’t gone into much detail about persuading others to come along with you on your journey toward completing your tasks, projects, and/or goals. Obviously, it’s beneficial to be

For most of us, learning from our mistakes is very difficult. The biggest reason is usually that we don’t enjoy making them. In fact, they’re upsetting. So it’s natural for us to want to forget all about our mistakes and put them behind us as quickly as possible. But forgetting about your mistakes is itself

We’re often admonished to “think outside the box.” Sometimes, that’s a useful approach. But when was the last time someone gave you any advice on exactly how to do it? Well, I’ve solved that problem. I’ve assembled a handful of ways of thinking that will make it easier for you to come up with original,

In writing these posts, I’ve frequently mentioned (as I did here) the importance of working well with others. But I haven’t said much about maintaining your own effectiveness, reputation, and mental health when others all around you are challenging your boundaries and adding to the unavoidable difficulties that already exist. Here, then, are some suggestions

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.