How Can You Use Optimism to Achieve Your Goals? I recently learned about “dynamic optimism” and “passive optimism.” Dynamic optimists act. They see their reality, they set a goal. They use a variety of steps to achieve their goal, using the growth mindset all along the way. They persevere. Passive optimists don’t do those things. They hope for […]
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A colleague worries that his team wants to change too much about how they work, all at once. He said, “They have 47 ideas that they want to use, to change how they work.” I said, “47 seems like a lot.” He nodded. “I suspect there are 46 too many for now.” After we both
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Do you ever reflect and realize you didn’t accomplish something you wanted to? I don’t regret much in my life. I have one big exception to that—when my mouth says something before my brain realizes I’ve even said anything. (Some of us extroverts have the mouth-engage-before-brain problem. Infrequently, introverts also have this problem.) If I realize what
What Do You Want to Accomplish so You Don’t Create Regrets? Read More »
Every so often, I enter into a situation where I’m unsure of myself. I encountered this just last week. The organizers and panelists on a large Zoom call had created working agreements. We spoke according to those agreements. And we knew that a couple of people were going to join late, an hour into the two-hour
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When Do You Choose to Continue or Stop? As I write this, we’re in the midst of uncertainty about the 2020 election. Have no fear. This newsletter is personal, not about the election. (Yes, I thought I should say that up front!) I continue to experiment with all kinds of things. This month, I’m experimenting with a
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When Do You Choose to Rebel or Comply? Since I live in the US, I’ve been thinking a lot about the state of our society and when we choose to continue the status quo or change. Some societal problems, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, have prompted many people to rebel against the status
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I often find I want to create more choices in my life. I want to avoid just a binary choice: “this” or “that.” I use personal reflections, a personal retrospective, to create new options. I often use a form called “What, So what, Now what?” Here’s what that looks like: What: Gather relevant data. My personal
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I’m still in chaos about where we are as a society and where we’re going. Some of my friends are learning to live on a lower salary. Some of my consulting colleagues have trouble finding clients. Add all the civil unrest and all the COVID-19 unknowns, and nope, I can’t see into the future much.
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Three Secrets to Exercise Your Resilience Do you feel as if you can’t predict anything from one day to the next—except that we’ll still be in the pandemic for a while? Predictions aren’t my strong suit, so that’s as much as I’ll predict. We’re in this situation for a while. However, I can be pretty
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I’m writing this newsletter in the time of COVID-19 and the protests about George Floyd’s murder. I feel as if we are in much more chaos, even as we understand more about the virus. (I actually had to write What Do You Do When You’re Off-Center? before I wrote this.) I’ve been practicing these ideas and hope
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