Unfulfilled Expectations: Landmines or Clues?
We spend most of our lives in Plan B; life is full of surprises, good and bad. As the saying goes, life turns out best…
The False Dichotomy: Micromanagement v. Delegation
Could it be that micromanagement is an overused term? A misnomer for a multitude of other management/communication issues? True micromanagement is explicitly giving a certain…
Seven Ways to Sabotage Yourself
Sometimes looking at opposites brings things into greater clarity… Be Reactive: Give away your personal power; hold others responsible for your emotions and reactions. See…
Half Truths, Myths, and Magical Thinking
I ran across a statement the other day that gave me pause for I truly thought that, stand alone, it was a dangerous concept: “Hire…
Seeking Failure Points
Every process, system, or human effort has multiple potential failure points, some more probable than others and some more crucial. I once worked as an…
The Phrase That De-Powers: “I’ll Try”
Trying isn’t doing. As Yoda said, “No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.” Saying “I’ll try” is a weak response that does not create confidence; “I’ll try” is almost a pre-excuse for…
Most Ideas About Leadership are Wrong
Leadership is NOT a position; rather leadership is a frame of mind, an attitude. Most think that leadership flows from positional power yet in an…
Are You F.P.F.P.?
F.P.F.P. stands for “Fully Prepared for the Past”. There is a saying that “Armies are always ready to fight the last war” meaning that there is…
Who holds your strings?
As in puppet strings; as in who is in control? The only good answer is “I do!” Yet even in the 7th decade of my…
Objectivius Shinium Syndromus
Objectivius Shinium Syndromus or “Shiny Object Syndrome” (SOS) is the tendency to let a new idea or concept or venture capture your imagination to a…
Are you Running on Default Mode?
Default mode is taking the easy way out, the path of least resistance, accepting the status quo without question or meaningful demur. People tend to…
This is What I Do
How do you motivate yourself? How do you keep yourself going when you are tired, fatigued, falling behind? How do you tap into your best…
Making Your Own Luck
Luck is the intersection of preparation and opportunity. Relentlessly increasing your skill sets (Preparation!) certainly increases the scope of the opportunities you can jump on;…
Best Reason Ever to Embrace Failure
Embrace Failure? Hug it? Love on it? What? Well, given that failure has occurred (and I assure you, it will occur again… and again… and…
Tell Me I’m Not Good Enough. Tell Me I Can’t. Tell Me You Don’t Think I’ve Got What It Takes. Please.
What motivates you? What puts fire in your belly? Fuels you? Stirs your blood? Failure defeats the mediocre but inspires winners to greater effort. The…
Law School and General Time Management
Q: Mr. Collier, I have questions regarding general time management advice during law school. My goal is to continue on to law school at the…
Is Owning and Managing Residential Real Estate Still a Good Investment for Individuals?
Q: Sir, you started off by renting residential. Given the state of the modern residential real estate economy, do you think buying and renting residential is…
Success Theater
When a culture cares more about optics than reality, when you put too much emphasis on presentation versus performance, when you care more about how…
Cover Ups: The Mother of More Mistakes
Learning from mistakes is a cliché; a phrase uttered repeatedly and with which we all nod our heads and intellectually agree… and then go out…
Do the hard things…FIRST
Eat that frog! First thing in the morn! Get it over with! It’s often easier than you think. Do what you fear (dread/dislike) and the…
How We Respond to Adversity Can Create Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
How do you view setbacks? As learning opportunity or as failure? Do you view your capabilities as fixed, somewhat set at birth, essentially carved in…
You Have Contributed to the Problem
Whatever challenges you are facing, odds are you had a hand in creating them. None of us are perfect; we all make mistakes, take wrong…
Dyfal Donc a Dyr y Garreg
“Dyfal Donc a Dyr y Garreg” is a Welsh proverb that translates “Tapping persistently breaks the stone.” Persistence is firm, even obstinate, continuance in a…
Make Your Mistakes Pay
The most costly mistake in the world is the one from which you learn nothing. From an organization’s perspective, it’s the mistake that only one…
“Sorry Don’t Get It Done”*: True Apologies v. Faux Apologies
Too many things are passed off as apologies that are anything but apologies; they are faux apologies, nothing but stinky self-serving justifications, transparent rationalizations and…
2018 Checklist: Characteristics of Success v. Failure
Failure Checklist Sense of Entitlement Watch TV Every Day Live in Denial/Deliberate Ignorance Think education ends with graduation Drift, Dream, Doze Off Cultivate Resentments, Hold…