Annual events such as birthdays, holidays, or the New Year inspire us to re-orient ourselves as we ask some important questions: Where am I and how did I get here? What goals did I set what have I achieved or missed? Where am I headed and how will I get there? What have I learned…
I was asked a question today: “What motivates you?” I immediately thought about context: Motivations for work-related tasks? For my own personal goals? And then I thought about life in general. What motivates me to get up every day? This is such a powerful question. The answer says so much about who you are as…
I was shocked to find that some leaders don’t take goal-setting and performance reviews seriously. Instead, it’s considered a formality or something done because it is “required”. Once a year, managers and employees meet to discuss goals that were forgotten a week after they were set and never revisited throughout the year. Two signatures later,…
Get good grades they say. Get a college degree they say. Your life will be much easier they say. I’m not sure who this “they” is but if someone can find them, I have a few friends and millions of young Americans who I’m sure would like to have a conversation with them. The “they”…
Have you ever become so engrossed in a fun task that you lost track of time? Then you’ve experienced the concept of flow. Developed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, it describes the state of mind when you reach the perfect combination of task challenge and personal skill: Click the image below for a simple demonstration of flow…
In his closing remarks at yesterday’s company meeting, Ken Blanchard shared Covey’s four basic needs which underlie human fulfillment: to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy. “The need to live is our physical need for such things as food, clothing, shelter, economical well-being, health. The need to love is our social need to…
Being promoted into your first management role can be both an exciting and scary experience. It shows that your employer trusts you to make decisions and lead others. However, it can also be a major shift in responsibility. People are going to look to you for direction, and it’s up to you to have the…
Spring has sprung! Has the urge to go outside and bask in the sunlight or stroll through the park become so strong that you can no longer ignore it? You know the feeling…you’re sitting at your desk or around the conference room table, and through the window you see clear blue skies and can think…
Several years ago, someone posed the following challenge on a popular internet image board: The goal was “get the delicious cake” and you had to draw your solution. No other rules were given. One response showed the figure crawling through the spikes, while others used elements from pop culture to get the cake. For instance,…
About 5 years ago my father was diagnosed with liver cancer. He was a heavy drinker in his younger days and his cirrhosis compounded his medical issues. Over these 5 years he has gone through chemotherapy, radiation, and a litany of drugs to stabilize his liver. 9 months ago he was finally cancer-free and was…