Dec 14, 2016
It may sound incredible, but making time for others can make you feel less stressed about time. Sounds counterintuitive, right? When you feel like you have too much to do and too little time to do it, you probably limit your activities. I know feeling pressed for time can make me cut back on seeing friends,...
Dec 5, 2016
Two-thirds of us listen to music while working. But if it’s music that stimulates you or turns you on, you may be listening to the wrong music, says Will Henshall, founder of Focus @Will. I recently listened to a Ted Talk he gave on music for productivity a few years ago. Music that stimulates could...
Nov 18, 2016
If you’ve ever put off doing something new, because it made you uneasy, you’re not alone. Most people have trouble taking goal-oriented actions that take them out of their comfort zone, says Jaime Masters, a business coach and host of the Eventual Millionaire Podcast. At a recent webinar, she said that the more we...
Nov 15, 2016
Most people don’t achieve their goals. The problem is that they don’t know how to define progress, according to Ajit Nawalkha, cofounder of Evercoach. We tend to think all we need to do is: 1) define the goal, and then 2) achieve the goal. “But our progress is really three different steps,” says Nawalkha. First,...
Oct 3, 2016
Here’s a paradox. Did you know that sometimes the best way to get work done is not to work? It sounds counterintuitive, right? How can you get work done by not working? By now, you’re probably thinking I’m delusional. But when you work more hours than usual you may neglect your health. You think you’ll...
Oct 3, 2016
I like to-do lists. But they can be flawed. We apparently think they’re better than they are. Nearly two-thirds of professionals use to-do lists, according to a LinkedIn survey. But only 11 percent of people who use them say they get everything on their lists done in a day. What explains the gap between how...
Dec 23, 2015
I’m always on the lookout for stories about people who manage to write books, despite having day jobs. So this story piqued my interest. A movie called “Revenant” recently premiered. It’s about a frontier fur trapper and based on a novel that a DC lawyer wrote in “his spare time.” The author, Michael Punke, wrote...
Nov 28, 2015
Several blog posts ago, I mentioned how music can help energize you and totally change your mood. I would add that it can also inspire you to create something that did not exist before. I was recently lucky enough to see Hamilton, the new hiphop musical that’s all the rage on Broadway. One person, Lin-Manuel...
Nov 28, 2015
Some chickens produce more eggs than others. Super chickens produce the most eggs. In one study, super chickens distinguished themselves by pecking the others to death. It seems the individually successful chickens achieved their success by suppressing the productivity of the rest. According to Margaret Heffernan, who describes this for Ted Radio Hour, people who...
Aug 29, 2015
On Quora.com, a reader wanted to know what goes into the making of a great entrepreneur like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or Richard Branson. Justine Musk shed light on what it takes. As a former wife of one of the “extreme entrepreneurs” mentioned, she should know. “Be obsessed,” she wrote three times. “If...
Aug 29, 2015
Decades ago, I first realized that getting a job felt like becoming a contortionist. It was all about fitting into a pre-cut slot. Mushing yourself in. Compressing yourself to fit a company’s needs. The only way I fit into the world was by changing myself to fit holes in the work world. It wasn’t at...
Aug 29, 2015
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books have been international best sellers, with millions sold. And thousands flock every year to historical sites where her family lived. For many, Laura’s books, more than those of any other author, offer the best insider’s look at life on the frontier. So it was surprising to learn about the ups and downs...
