Characteristics to Cultivate
Not only is the world a crowded place, but most of the people in it are card-carrying members of the crowd. Only a relative few actually – and deserve to – stand out. If you want to be one of those stand…
Get Better Every Day
There are many great words of wisdom about the foolishness of comparing yourself to others – a comparison that rarely goes well, of course – but the one I like most is: “The only person you should try to be better than…
Build Your Reputation
In every working group, there is a hierarchy of people based on widely held perceptions of their individual effectiveness and productivity. You can move up in this hierarchy – and reap the rewards naturally offered those at or near the top –…
Cultivating A More Positive Outlook
At times, the world seems full of negative people and negativity. But if you look around with an open mind, you’ll quickly notice it’s just as full of positive people and positivity. Which of these inclinations you choose to follow – negative…
Increase Your Motivation to Succeed
Motivation to succeed comes in two flavors: external motivation, and self-motivation. There’s not much you can do to upgrade your external motivation, which depends mainly on the ways other people and situations arrange rewards and punishments to influence how hard you do…
Get What You Want from The Other Person
You won’t need these techniques with friends, because you’ll have enough shared background and “friendship equity in the relationship bank” to simply ask for what you want. You won’t need them in a formal presentation, either, because you’ll (hopefully) have enough hard-hitting…
Benefits You Can Expect from Boosting Your Effectiveness
You need motivation to make changes. And nothing is more motivating than a specific look at the details of what you can hope to gain. Here's a chance to give yourself that look right now.To do so, just start a personal journal.…
Career Development Boosters
Whether you’re working for yourself or others, there are certain factors that you should deliberately and steadily work to improve as a way to boost your career prospects. Here’s a brief rundown of each one: Basic Skills The road to success is…
Know When to Work on Each of Your Agenda Items
One young woman I know has a career, a family, and an itch to go back to school. Between all three, she has dozens of “important” projects and activities all clamoring for her attention and interest. Before she can even finish one…
Start Setting Goals You Actually Want to Achieve
To be honest, I am not personally concerned with your particular goals. However, you most certainly must be. In fact, the specifics of the goals you set for yourself determine in great measure your accomplishments, your achievements, and ultimately, your happiness. You…
Supercharge Your Effectiveness
Although the basic principle of productivity is simple – do more of what’s important – there are a great many nuances and subtleties to the fine art of boosting your productivity and success. But at bottom, a lot of it boils down…
Some Helpful Truths
A lot of the time, I write about specific techniques you can apply to increase your productivity and success. But this time, I want to focus on some important recognitions that I'd like you to incorporate into your everyday work and life,…