It's said that most people spend more time planning a vacation than they do planning their lives. But a good life plan, which you return to and amend regularly, can be a very useful tool for career success. In the words of executive coach and author Daniel Harkavy, it makes you "more proactive and intentional" and less "reactive […]
Even the most committed people occasionally let their standards drop, if only a little. Maybe it's just for a very short time, or maybe it didn't matter too much, just this once. But this type of thing needs to be kept to a minimum. It should always be the exception and never become the rule. […]
The word "scrum" brings to mind some vivid images – Black Friday shoppers, rush-hour commuters, mud-covered rugby football players jostling above a ball. And how about this one: business people standing together to review progress on a project? The last two images are more related than you might think. Scrum is a project management approach […]
All Posts, Expert Interview, Project Management, Uncategorized
Guest blogger Bob Little explores the truth of two contrasting mindsets. You might think that your current level of success is based on your innate abilities. Or that it reflects your determination to work hard and keep learning. According to Carol S. Dweck, the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, you […]
All Posts, Career Skills, Creativity, Learning Skills, Stress
Some people just seem unable to switch off. They see downtime as a waste of time, and any interruption or delay to their increasingly urgent and growing list of assignments causes them anxiety and stress. To them, "multi-tasking" is not a dirty word but a badge of honor. Their behavior goes way beyond the normal […]
"We all need people who will give us feedback. That's how we improve." – Bill Gates, American business magnate. Feedback... There is something inherently awkward about the process of giving and receiving feedback. If done – and taken – in a negative vein, it can feel a lot like judging or being judged, and that never leaves us feeling […]
All Posts, Career Skills, Communication, Leadership, Problem Solving, Project Management, Team Management, Uncategorized
Life is unpredictable. During the past 10 years we've witnessed major banking institutions close down. We've seen terror attacks we never imagined would happen. Hackers have broken into the databases of big companies. While we can't prevent such things from happening, we don't want to be left thinking, "If only we'd been more prepared" when […]
The saying "hope for the best, prepare for the worst" has always struck me as supremely sensible advice. Having said that, it's not advice that I've often applied to my own life and career. I tend toward being mostly optimistic about things, and I usually deal with the immediacy of life rather than scan the […]
Imagine being forever immune to heart attacks and strokes because you take a daily dose of medication. Great! But there's a little hitch. The medication can be very sour and it takes 10 minutes to prepare. Would you take the medication or just hope that your heart is strong enough without it? This question is […]
One of the ways my colleagues and I used to pass the time during interminable and dreary meetings was to amuse ourselves with a game of "Buzzword Bingo." The rules were simple. We'd appear to be listening intently and taking notes as the speaker droned on, but we were just marking off the inevitable buzzwords […]
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