Tag: ease
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Easy Does It
That’s it. In your corner, Mike PS: Hard doesn’t do it. Nor does nose-to-the-grindstone. Struggle certainly doesn’t do it. Be easy. Trust. Drop worries about the future or regrets about the past; we have no power then. All our power is here, now. At ease, we are open to better solutions, new ideas, […]
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Swim With
A man I met at a swim meet recently told me something enlightening. Whenever growing swimmers plateau in their performance–unable to go faster in race after race despite the effort–they are fighting the water. Their way of swimming pushes hard against the water and the water always wins. Same for us. As leaders who want…
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Give Yourself These Important Gifts
Running around, overwhelmed, and (truth be told) only just keeping it together probably isn’t what we signed up for. But it is not necessary to be like this to be successful. We can be effective leaders (with or without title) and be mostly at ease. Impossible, you say? But it is so! We can become leaders…
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What to Do When We See People Struggling, Pushing, Fighting, Complaining, Burning Out, or Leaving.
Every business must have a rhythm for people getting the right things done well together. The rhythm includes regular, sane, productive meetings, a way to select, do, track, and course-correct strategic projects, communication and accountability norms, role designs that say what results (not tasks) we expect from each person, hiring people who understand and support…
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Powerful Leaders vs. Forceful Leaders
We tend to confuse power with force. Force makes things happen or makes people do what we want. Force generates and must constantly counter resistance. Force drains. Power is clarity about and alignment of our purposes. With power, the right things get done with ease. There is no force in power. Power sustains. We want…
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Life Becomes Easier, That’s Why
Let’s be present. Presence means neither regretting the past nor worrying about the future. It means not trying to control things. It means accepting what’s true now, declaring what (if anything) we want to be true, being open insights and inspirations, then acting with appropriate speed on those insights and inspirations. But why bother? Learning…
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Commit To It
Everything is hard if we keep focusing on the obstacles or the “yeah, buts.” Everything becomes easy as soon as we commit to it. It’s simple, really. In your corner, Mike Today’s photo credit: Scott Ableman cc
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Make It Easy for Them to Help You
How do you get more people to make a donation to a charity? Be pleasant. Believe in the cause yourself, tell people what specifically you want them to donate, give them an easy-to-notice link to press, and make the transaction as friction-free as possible. How do you get a decision out of a busy executive? Be pleasant.…
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The Dance of Change
“What got you here won’t get you there.” – Marshall Goldsmith. “There is no need to change. Survival is not mandatory.” – W. Edwards Deming. “Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.” – Laurence J. Peter “Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not…
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Clearing the Three Roadblocks to Work-Life Balance
Here are three work-life balance roadblocks and ways to clear them: We see “work” as something we struggle through. We see the grind, the guilt about tasks not yet done, the politics, the commute, the conditions, and everything we “have to do.” Instead, let’s choose to work from within our SweetSpots. Things happen with more ease…