How to Organize Your Work & Your LifeIt’s OK to Trust Your Instincts
In Star Trek: The Original Series, we learn that Starship Captains are authorized to trust their instincts. You are, too. Instincts are feelings or inclinations that guide us toward specific ideas, conclusions, or actions. Instincts can be wrong, of course, as when…
Preparation Boosts Results
One of the most neglected boosters of productivity and success is preparation. Years ago, I worked with some very successful people whose idea of preparation before important meetings with a client was limited to talking things over at lunch for an hour…
Effective Dissent
As I’ve counseled many times, productivity and success depend heavily on your ability to work well with other people. This can become much more difficult when you think or feel differently from those others. You may have faith in an unusual take…
A Formula for Steady Improvement
For many years, one of my most important goals has been to steer my efforts and energies toward increasing productivity and success. Naturally, that requires a steady course of personal and professional improvement. Much has been said, done, and written by a…
Some Ways to Better Control Your Time
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been productivity-minded. Among my earliest efforts to increase my level of productivity and success were efforts to make the best possible use of my time. Since time and energy are among the most important…
Step Backward to Move Forward
The most common approach to making progress is to push forward. That’s fine, because it works well most of the time. But occasionally, you can make more progress by working backwards –not from where you are, but from the goal you’re trying…
Here’s What’s Good About Conflict
As social beings, people are born, bred, and raised for the most part to avoid conflict. But that’s impossible, of course, because – as I have mentioned previously – so many of us have different agendas, priorities, points of view, roles to…
Reaching Difficult Agreements
As I’ve written many times, increasing your level of productivity and success entails working well with others. That’s not always easy, though, and it’s particularly difficult when working with a group of people who have different opinions, agendas, working styles, and so…
Using Your Strengths for Productivity and Success
All of us develop and regularly exhibit a portfolio of strengths and weaknesses. What’s more, most of us seek to improve on them as much as we can. But we don’t all do this the same way. One common approach is to…
The Power of Conscientiousness
It’s less showy, less newsworthy, much less praised than creativity, innovation, and risk-taking. But conscientiousness is a critical element in building productivity and success in your work and your life. As Hillary Clinton has said: “Showing up is not all of life…
Rules for Risking Failure
I’ve written on failure before, including here and here, asserting there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with it. But I was wrong. Failure is a mixed bag. There are times when failure is an acceptable option, and there are times when it is not.…
Elements of Empathy
A key aspect of increasing your level of productivity and success is your ability to work well with other people. Central to that is your skill at recognizing and honoring their emotions. We call this ability “empathy.” As I wrote recently, the…
