Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. –Albert Einstein Our companies thrive when we have the simplest possible systems, processes, and policies. Anything too simple would be incomplete and cause confusion and waste. Anything too cumbersome will slow us down. How, then, would we put Einstein’s advice into practice? It’s simple, […]
There’s a fundamental flaw that makes all time (or task) management awful. When we think about time management, we make the unwitting assumption that we “hafta” do, dump, delegate, or do later all the tasks that come our way. “I hafta answer that email. I gotta give Margie that feedback. I need to lose 5 […]
Fighting what we don’t want (at home, work, or in the world-at-large) only pushes people to fight back. Our energy gets drained and our effectiveness is muted. It’s so easy to fall into this trap. But let’s not. Let’s instead redirect the energy we would have spent fighting to building what we do want. People […]
Assuming we know the outcomes we want to see, there are two ways we can approach any given situation. We can worry about how it will happen. Or we can watch with excited expectation as it unfolds. Whichever we choose will determine how effective our planning and actions will be. We take the heavy, former […]
How we (deep down) feel about ourselves determines much (almost all) of our effectiveness at work and in life. We can see this easily. If we doubt ourselves or have something to prove, we will be strongly driven to perform but also easily discouraged. If we see ourselves as connected and worthy, we will be […]
It’s not about getting it all done. We can’t even get most of it done. There’s just too much we could do and more is always coming. The trick is to get good at selecting only the best things to get done. And to actively NOT do the rest. To do this, we first give ourselves […]
Listen to conversations on the street, through the media, at work, and even at home. Much of what we hear is complaint. And too much complaint is bad for our health. Just being around it, our buzz drops and we become less vibrant, healthy, and effective. We need a little complaint (from ourselves and others) […]
It’s hard to say no to all the emails, meetings, interruptions, and other demands on our time. It is hard, that is, until we commit to something bigger, better, and more important to say yes to. Yes. It’s that simple. In your corner, Mike PS: Easy? Nope. Simple? Yes. Doable? By you!? Of course. […]
What is something you really want to do or even might want but haven’t done yet? What’s the smallest, thinnest sliver of a possible next step you can take towards that goal? Right. Off you go, then. In your corner, Mike Today’s photo credit: A C cc
What’s the best way to get something unpleasant done? We can use various techniques to push ourselves to do it. Or we can find ways to avoid it until it goes away or becomes unbearable. But both of these approaches drain us. A better way is to ask ourselves, “What end result do I desire […]