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 …
Managing your expectations is important, primarily because the extent to which your work and your life match your expectations greatly influences your mood, your attitude, and your feelings of satisfaction and success. Experience shows that managing your expectations also impacts the objective reality of your work and your life. It’ll all become clear to you …
I’ve written many times about the commonality – even the necessity, in some cases – of working with others (and I’ve given some suggestions here about how to do it well). This time I’d like to lay out some specific benefits (and dangers) of working with others when compared with working on your own. Better …
You hear quite often that “hindsight is always 20/20.” By this, people mean that things are often obvious when looking backward, but not so clear when looking ahead. That’s mostly true, but it doesn’t automatically follow that looking backward has no value. People also commonly say: “It’s hard to drive forward by looking in your …
Almost everyone agrees with the simple idea that passion is important. So I don’t have to justify diving into the process of supplementing your efforts to be productive and successful by adding extra passion. Here are some ideas on passion for you to ponder: Good and Bad Passion Everyone agrees passion is important, but you …
Communication is central to our efforts toward productivity and success. But few of us communicate as productively as we could. One reason is that too much communication is haphazard, misdirected, poorly constructed, or intentionally outright manipulative. Productive communication, on the other hand, aims to understand other people, help them understand us, and get people’s priorities …
