How Much Balance Do We Need to Excel and Succeed? I’m a sucker for the Olympics. You name the sport—yes, even ones I don’t know or understand—and I can spend hours transfixed. Not because of the sport itself, although I often wonder how people chose that specific sport. But because these athletes use physical, mental, …
How Much Balance Do We Need to Excel and Succeed? Read More »
During the pandemic, I chose to say, “Yes” to many speaking opportunities. Now, because I’m finishing books, it’s time for me to reconsider these requests so I can focus on the work I want to do more. (The more I speak, the less I write.) However, I’m lazy by nature. How can I choose to …
Which Forcing Functions Do You Choose as a Catalyst to Help You Change? Read More »
How Do You Manage Your Energy? Do you ever slog through the days, feeling as if you can’t get going? That happened to me last month. I wasn’t sick or depressed—I didn’t have my normal get-up-and-go. That’s when I realized I was “out of spoons.” The spoons represent our energy—and, at least for me—our resilience. …
I stopped with resolutions years and years ago. Instead, up until now, I examined my systems and see where I might want to practice one small change. (See What’s the Smallest Change You Can Make? for one example.) That has worked well for me. This year, I’m experimenting with a suggestion via Daniel Steinberg’s Driving …
Stop Resolving: How Can You Challenge Yourself to Seize Each Day Next Year? Read More »
I love to make it easy for me to do my best work. To do so, I need to think about what I want to reinforce and what I want to dampen. When I create reinforcing—or virtuous—feedback loops, I use my data to do more of what I want. However, that’s not always easy to …
Where Can You Create Reinforcing (Virtuous) Feedback Loops? Read More »
I wish I could tell you I was perfect at doing all the work on my list. Nope. Every so often, I procrastinate and delay on some specific task. In the past, I worried because I didn’t finish that work. (The more I worried, the less I did.) I created a reinforcing feedback loop that …
What Games Do You Create to Succeed in Life and Work? Read More »
I love to get stuff done. I count various measures on my way to my productivity, but when I cross things off my lists? Yeah, I love that. I know what being productive feels like and looks like for me. It often feels like some amount of “stuff” per unit time. But creativity? I used …
How Do You Know When You’re Being Creative vs. Productive? Read More »
Aside from death and taxes, we can depend on change. Change occurs whether we want it to or not. We have big choices: when to embrace or reject these changes. I don’t see just one extreme: embrace or reject. Instead, how can we create options that help us through the changes so we can embrace …
When Do You Choose to Embrace or Reject Personal Change? Read More »
You made a decision yesterday, last week, even a month ago, and you’re happy about it. Now, you uncover more data. That data threatens your decision. What should you do? Stick with the original decision? Change that decision? Can you even rethink that decision? Sometimes, we use the sunk cost fallacy to stick with old …
Over the years, I’ve been reading about stoicism in small doses. (I can’t stand some of the acceptance nonsense.) I suspect I’m not a very good stoic. I’m too loud and excitable. However, I do find much of stoicism’s ideas useful. That’s because I suggest: We see our reality, first and foremost. We start small …