Check out the new article in BBC Capital about Why We Should All Give Up on Goals Already. The title is a bit sensationalistic, but the article seriously asks when do goals hinder, rather than help, achievement.
Focus
Here are articles on Focus
Targeted Ads are the Worst of all Possible Worlds
The justification used for the incredible invasions of privacy on the part of the internet marketers of the world is that they want to serve us "targeted" ads. Targeted ads are ads that relate to what we're doing at the moment. Theoretically, if I'm having a...
Efficiency Might Be Bad
I'm a huge fan of system dynamics and the understanding of complex systems that has come from the field that Jay Forrester invented. This is a superb article by the late Donella Meadows about the leverage points in complex systems, in ascending order of effectiveness....
Is texting in meetings rude?
Do you think it's rude to text/email during a meeting? Some say it's multitasking. An article I read celebrated "the skill of following along in person while simultaneously [doing other stuff]" Alas, that skill simply doesn't exist. Our brains are not wired to...
Want to Change a Habit? Enlist People!
As much as you can adopt systems to help point your life and job in the direction you want, systems fail if you don't use them. And if you're like me, that promise to work out 3 days a week has a way of taking back seat to dinner invitations, long hours at work, and...
Are You Forgetting The Big Picture?
The Big Picture A client asked me to facilitate her senior team’s big picture, strategic planning retreat. It was a $200 million company. They listed important issues on the whiteboard. Item #1? Replace the refrigerated water fountain with a ‘green’ ground-cooled...
Our Intuitive Knowledge Isn’t Always Right!
I was recently listening to a lecturer discuss how risk-taking is an integral part of "the entrepreneurial mindset." He was very inspirational. Unfortunately, he was also flat-out wrong. There has been a lot of research into the psychological qualities of...
Learning to learn: How to get better at what you do
I've been reading the book Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin. In it, he describes the kind of deliberate practice you have to do to get good at something. This is extremely important! If you're doing anything new with a learning curve, you can vastly accelerate that...
Why I Like Paper
A reader wrote in: I read your suggestion about the 3×5 pad and it sucks! That's because I hate paper and pen note-taking. I want something that I can carry with me anywhere on my handheld and which will also prompt me, just like a personal assistant, not something...
Give Yourself Some Slack Time
One of the most important things that I've learned is that you can only be up to 100% efficient - you can't get 25 hours of work done in a day. How do you know when you're at the point of diminishing returns? We all want to believe we can add one more thing to our...