Inspiring ourselves or others is all about creating the urge to do something. It’s that swelling of emotion inside that compels us to get up out of our seats and go do something. It’s that motivation to do our best work, set higher goals, and achieve them. To be a really great leader, you’ve got …
Apologies: how to give them properly
Mistakes happen. Poor service creeps into any experience. Expectations are not met. These are certainties we cannot avoid. But they are embarrassing, so we may try to minimize them. Worse, we may try to defend them or make excuses. (This is probably the fastest way to turn a simply annoyed customer into an angry one.) …
Courage: how to develop it
Poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “He is who is not everyday conquering some new fear has not learned the secret of life.” Emerson’s short quote probably feels like an understatement of the gravity of the situation we find ourselves in. This perfect storm of a health crisis, social turmoil, and economic adversity is …
Attraction: getting rid of neediness and letting things come to you
The more you chase something, the more it moves away from you. We’ve all had this experience with love, money, business, and influence. We try too hard. We push too much. We press and become desperate. And neediness in any form is usually repellent. It’s a vicious cycle we see with negative thinking and a …
Setbacks and how to deal with them
Even the most successful among us encounter professional setbacks. Jobs are lost. Clients are lost. Money is lost. But successful people are not people who never have setbacks. They are people that handle setbacks well. They know how to use setbacks as a springboard for better performance in the future. In order to handle setbacks …
How to ask for help
Most of us dread asking for help in the best of times. And now that we are working through a pandemic, it feels like an extra imposition to ask anyone for anything. But the reality is that many of us need support like never before — such as a referral to a hiring manager, or …
The benefits of being uncomfortable
Staying in “the comfort zone” can kill relationships, careers and businesses. Because a comfort zone is really just another way of describing stagnation, boredom and plateauing. Perhaps the most confounding part of this is that it’s often due to having enough. Enough customers. Enough money. Enough stuff. The pleasure in our lives slightly outweighs the …
How about now? The advantage of doing things sooner rather than later
The hardest step in a project is often the first step. And the first step is also the most important step. There are plenty of catchy sayings to encourage us towards these important first steps: Well begun is half done. Don’t get it perfect, get it going. The secret of getting ahead is getting started. …
Burnout: how to identify it and fix it
Burnout is a common malaise right now. Isolation, all-day Zoom meetings, and anxiety about the future of our country and world are weighing on all of us. If you’re feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, or underappreciated, you may be in the fog of burnout. The causes of burnout, and their potential remedies, though, are a bit harder …
The fundamental of being kind and useful never go out of style
I know the complex problems of today cannot be fixed with a few words. And simple refrains won’t open hardened hearts, soothe real pain and suffering, or fix injustices overnight. But we can remind ourselves of the fundamentals of human decency. Because the fundamentals – of anything – never lose value and never go out of …