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…
Forget New Year’s Resolutions
Better a small promise kept than a larger one broken. Most New Year’s Resolutions fail because they are lofty goals with insufficient foundation. If it…
Dysfunctional Habits: Trapped By Your Triggers
Knowing your triggers, your short fuses, is crucial to learning and substituting new behavior. If you are not aware of (and alert for) what triggers…
How Could I Not?
The Parable of the Brothers: Two brothers were raised in a home headed by a violent alcoholic father. One brother grew up to be an…
The Fighter Within
What determines our fate? Perhaps it is Determination itself? One Hundred and Twenty-Nine Children were identified* as being “high risk for future problems, because they…
Beware “Task Completion Bias”
Next is often not the same as most important. Yet when we are stressed or tired or when the work starts to pile up, instead…
5 Predictors of Success
The Harvard Business Review Nov/Dec 2017 feature article was on “Launching Successful Leaders: How to Make Sure Your Most Promising People Reach Their Highest Potential”…
Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made?
Sam Zell (founder of two largest American REITs; Equity Office and Equity Residential) was recently interviewed and asked if his children had followed him into…
Two Phrases Successful People Avoid
Words are powerful! The words you choose send strong messages to the world about who you are and what you are about. Just as important,…
Waste Your Spare Time = Derail Your Success
“I don’t have time” or “I couldn’t find the time” are some of the most common excuses for not moving forward. The truth is, we…
Critical Thinking Skills and The Cycle of Inquiry
“There is very little difference between people but that little difference makes a big difference.” – W. Clement Stone One little difference that makes a…
The Magic Question That Will Change Your Life
So what is this magical question that can improve the quality of every relationship you are in, every product you produce, every service you deliver,…
Stop Sorting Gravel
Stephen R. Covey, author of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, used a dramatic illustration to teach the value of time and energy management. Covey…
The 30/10 Promise
Give me 30 minutes a weekend and 10 minutes a day and I will promise you a transformed life. Heady claim, right? Well, I mean…
Staying in Control Even When You are Out of Control
Most of us tend to lose it every now and then; it’s part of being human. The key is to not lose it all when…
Wanting is Not Enough, Everyone Wants
The real question is what are you willing to DO to get what you want? What actions will you take? What will you sacrifice? Invest?…
A Quick and Easy (and All too Common) Way to Sabotage Success
How do folks sabotage themselves? They habitually engage in “Delay Discounting”. Huh? Delay discounting? What’s that? Delay discounting is what behavioral economists call the human…
The Illusion of Half-Working
“Half-Working” is the time we spend being non-productive when we are supposed to be working. For most, it is close to 25% of their alleged…
The Lazy Guide to Success; Three Principles
Take Easy Baby Steps (Repeat ad Infinitum) Being basically a lazy person (I’m always looking for a faster, easier way) I figured out a long,…
You WILL Pay the Price…
Yes, we all get lucky now and then and something wonderful falls into our laps and that’s terrific. However, as a general rule, “wishing and…
How Often do you Engage in “Prosocial Deception”?
A “Prosocial Deception” is a falsehood spoken without the intent to harm i.e. a white lie: “minor or unimportant lie, especially one uttered in the interests…
The Time of Your Life
Someday you will run out of somedays… as in someday I will do this or someday I will do that or someday down the road…
Who Runs Your Life?
Are you really free if you are bound by habits/desires you fail to muster the willpower to shake? Habits are a fixed way of thinking,…
The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
Our lives, like our closets, tend to get cluttered. We have deep seated aversion to loss; many of us are mild pack rats both of…