Better is better than Best
Business (and Life) is a multi-player, multi-move game that is never ending, where new players can enter the game at any time and the rules…
Deep Work: Superpower of Success
“Deep Work” is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task; in contrast to “Shallow Work”: the routine work, everyday tasks that…
Embracing MFD
MFD stands for “Mostly Fine Decision” and means what is the minimum outcome that is satisfactory, that you would be fine with? MFD is designed…
Choosing The Road Less Comfortable
A life of severe abstinence can be as destructive to the soul as a life of excessive indulgence. As always, it is the Middle Way…
Failure: Stepping Stone to Success?
Can failure be a GOOD thing? Yes, certainly, but with caveats! Demanding perfection is a prescription for paralysis and the only way to never fail…
Good Failure; Bad Failure
How can failure be good? The answer lies in the distinction between Good Failure and Bad Failure: – Good Failure comes from a “Good Heart/Awake…
Embrace Your Role As a Beacon
Every action teaches the belief system that motivated it. Like it or not, we are all role models, we are on show 24/7. Every day,…
Please Don’t Take This Literally
“You can do anything you put your mind to” is an often repeated, well-meaning, bit of encouragement. While generally spoken with the best of intentions,…
A Popular Bit of Advice…That is Occasionally Out and Out Wrong
Never Give Up Folks, I’m about as driven as they come, stubborn and head strong. And yet… I’ve learned that there are many paths to…
Words that Guide My Soul
Even the best of us have our off days; days when we choose to see slights in what is often merely the absent mindedness of…
Six Decision Traps that have Killed
The following are six decision mistakes (traps) that smart people have made that lead to avalanche deaths: Social Facilitation: Once a behavior is established as…
Kind Learning v. Wicked Learning Environments
Kind learning environments are those where the rules are relatively simple, known, and there is close relationship between effort and outcome, action and results. Most…
Time is Not Created Equal
All minutes are not the same! The value of a minute varies according to the time of day and YOUR corresponding energy levels. If you…
Use “DEADS” to add Life to Your Life
How do your modify your behavior? Especially deep-seated habits and patterns that seem to operate of their own volition? Well, first, awareness both around the…
THE TYRANNY OF LOW EXPECTATIONS
Low expectations are one of the most subtle yet devastatingly effective forms of sabotage we can do to others and ourselves. Low expectations often masquerade…
Accepting Help
This blog is in many respects a mea culpa, an acknowledgement of a personal growth opportunity. In the past, I’ve frequently been challenged to accept…
Tabula Rasa
Tabula rasa is Latin for “blank slate” or more literally “erased slate” and refers back to Roman times when a tablet, slate or wax, could be…
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…
Breaking out of Ego Jail
Do you see ego as a reflection of yourself, something you need to defend and protect? Or do you see ego as a tool? A…
The Easiest Way is often the Hardest Way
Why? Because the easiest way out of most difficult situations is the quickest way back in! Quick fix “solutions” (painting over rust) don’t last. When…
Silly Mental Mistake Smart, Sophisticated Folk Fall For
The smarter you are, the more likely you are to turn your nose up at success techniques that seem too simple or too straightforward. The…
Hard Goals/Soft Goals
Are your hard goals aligned with your soft goals? A hard goal is a desire for a promotion, a new car or house, a new…
There is no Finish Line
There is no finish line, only another day and another race. Yes, death awaits us all but I am speaking of the finish line in…
Questions for the Chair – Part 5
Periodically NSC holds lunches with Collier Company Team Members who send in questions. The following are drawn from those events. 1. Sir, I see all…
31,557,600 Seconds
There are 31,557,600 seconds in a year or 525,960 minutes or 8,766 hours. We are all granted the exact same amount of seconds, minutes, and…
Backstage Behaviors
“Back stage” and “front stage” are terms coined by the late (1922-1982) sociologist Erving Goffman in his 1959 book, “The Presentation of Self in Everyday…