Last week on Mastodon, my friend and colleague GeePaw Hill wrote: “Music — art — is not a promise of perfection. It is a promise of effort, of risk, of commitment, to an unreachable ideal. Pablo Casals, in his 80s, asked why he practices every day. “Because I think I’m getting better.” If you create […]
How Often Do You Embrace the Joy of Practice, Not the Outcome? Read More »
So many of us see just one problem, and therefore one solution. Sometimes, our mental models or filters prevent us from seeing alternative solutions. But sometimes, I think it’s literally how we see the problem that limits our mental models. If we can’t see the problem in all its glory, how can we possibly offer
How Many Lenses Can You Access to See Problems and Solutions? Read More »
I learned a lot about my mental models last week. That’s when several people asked me “obvious” questions about specific software tools. I hope I was reasonable when I answered. But I assumed they exhibited learned helplessness. Wasn’t the answer obvious to everyone? Clearly not. Then, this week, I did exactly the same thing. Twice.
When Is the Problem Not Learned Helplessness or Confusion But Our Mental Models? Read More »
We have many so-called permanent records in our lives: school report cards, vaccination and health records, and, of course, those terrible performance evaluations at work. I do like having digital health records—they make it easy for my doctor to help me maintain my health. But the report cards? I distinctly remember one school year when
How Satisfied Are You With What’s on Your Permanent Record? Read More »
This morning, my husband Mark, strode into the bedroom while I was getting dressed. “Our dishwasher is broken! It’s not emptying the water!! I had to empty it by hand!!!” “I’m sorry the dishwasher wants to make your life miserable,” I said. “I pushed and nudged you to put everything into the dishwasher and stop
When Do You Reframe Challenges with Humor? Read More »
Too often, we frame resilience as a way to bounce back from a circumstance, such as an event, hardship, or adversity. But we don’t need bad things to happen to us to need resilience. In fact, most of the time, bad things don’t happen. But something changes, and we notice. That’s when we need to
How Can You Reframe Resilience As Bouncing Forward to the Next Decision? Read More »
I continue to see more senior leaders who want everyone to return to the office because they think people were more productive then. However, these same companies have a ton of data that they are actually more productive when people work from their desired location. The data doesn’t deter these leaders from wanting what they
How Many Other Ways Can You Get What You Want? Read More »
I bet you’ve heard this career and retirement advice, “Follow your passion!” (Complete with the exclamation mark!) It’s great advice—but only under certain conditions: You’ve experimented or experienced enough to have and therefore choose a passion. You know what living with this passion as your work would feel like. You are sure you will never
I was at a writing workshop this past week, writing a ton of fiction. We don’t “critique” each other’s stories in this writing workshop. Only the instructor can offer us feedback. Yet, we all struggled with how to judge whether our stories or writing were “good.” Writing is not about “goodness.” We can all use
How Can You Use What’s Remarkable About You to Create an Even Better Life? Read More »
I keep hearing this phrase in the news: “Out of an abundance of caution…” Then the newscaster explains certain actions. Why not just talk about risk management? What’s wrong with discussing risk? Here’s my theory: the words “abundance of caution,” means all of these things: We think there’s a potential problem, but you don’t have
Why Do We Say “An Abundance of Caution” Instead of Risk Management? Read More »