If you’re like me, you have plenty of improvement goals. I have personal, professional, and office-cleanup goals. (Since my office appears to be a perennial mess, I count that as a separate and very subsidiary goal.) I often use the compounding effect to make those improvements. The compounding effect works very well for money. Put
How Can You Use the Compounding Effect to Achieve What You Want? Read More »
Many of my consulting colleagues are encountering the same problem: everything they did to attract clients no longer works. They speak, write, do all the social media, and nothing is working. They don’t have enough clients. This condition is different from what occurred during the pandemic. At that time, they could continue what they offered
When Do We Choose to Pivot to Something New or Reinvent Ourselves? Read More »
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 recently replied to a tweet, based on my assumption of what I read. Here’s the tweet: How do you describe product management to your mom? I jumped to the assumption that this question was one of those “mom” memes, where (mostly) young men ask a question that assumes that moms are not technical, incapable
Which Assumptions Do You Bring to What You Read? (& My Recent Experience) Read More »
By now, you’ve probably heard about various AI apps and how they’re coming for your jobs. Some of my colleagues love these apps and work with them. Other colleagues won’t touch them. I’m experimenting with ChatGPT for marketing copy. So far, it’s pretty good. But for my regular nonfiction or fiction writing or images? I’m
How Can We Remain Relevant When New Technology Threatens Our Jobs and Lives? Read More »
I spent the last four days in a fiction writing workshop. If I take a narrow perspective, I “failed” with my writing. (It was a fantasy caper workshop with two genres: second-world fantasy and caper.) My failure? I did not include nearly enough setting in my writing. That’s where the writer explains where we are—and
How Do You React When a Learning Experience Clarifies How Far You Still Have To Go Read More »
Many of my colleagues are busy creating resolutions, in preparation for the new year. They think those resolutions will help them create better lives. Maybe, although I’ve never succeeded with resolutions. Instead of resolutions, I’ve suggested before that we create watchwords for ourselves. Those watchwords create some guidance for our actions. But this year, I
Can You Resolve to Rethink About How You Think About Change? Read More »
On my other blog, I’ve been explaining that my WIP (Work in Progress) is way too high and what I’m doing about that. (Writers, this means all my work, not just my current writing project.) But I didn’t explain how my WIP got so high. I’m trying to fail to success. I learned about this
What Would It Take for You to Fail to Success? Read More »
A colleague is supposedly writing a book. He’s amassed research, taken and written notes, and told (too many) people he’s writing. But he’s not writing. No book excerpts, no blog posts, nor articles. His “writing” is invisible to other people. Another colleague thinks he wants to run a marathon. He researched the “right” way to run
How Much Confidence Do You Need to Start? 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 »