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Inertia – Good and Bad

Newtons Cradle

We all know what intertia is. Whether or not your mind immediately brings up an image of Sir Isaac Newton, you have certainly heard of Newton’s first law of motion: “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless […]

Rule: We Only Work with People We Like

Business Team Success Achievement Arm Raised Concept

In my book, The Absolutely Unbreakable Rules of Service Delivery, I mention that I have worked hard to apply certain rules across both my personal and professional lives. One of these rules has served me well across the board: We Only Work with People We Like At home, this is largely about work/life balance and […]

Know What You Know

Book Brain

There’s a “classic” model for looking at knowledge that’s known as the “Conscious Competence” model. It describes the evolution of knowledge about any subject. There are four stages: Unconscious Incompetence. Here, you don’t know what you don’t know. You might not even know that the subject of knowledge is a “thing” that other people know. […]

Are You Addicted to False Productivity?

Fiber Enter

I love to read. Sometimes, that means online (on a computer), or on a device such as my Kindle. But mostly, I love to read actual paper-based books and magazines. This is due in part to my age. I grew up reading books. More specifically, I grew up reading books with a pencil in my […]

You Can Rebuild Your Life – with World Enough and Time

Write Speak Travel

This month represents a big anniversary for me. Ten years ago – January 2011 – my life was at an emotional and monetary low. My divorce had become “final” in 2010. My daughter, the absolute center of my life, moved off to college. The country was in recession, and my finances were in complete disarray. […]

Slow Down, Get More Done

Slowdowngetmoredone1200

This is so central to my life and my business that I had a poster made for my wall that says, “Slow down, get more done.” There are any levels to this advice. The simplest one is that sometimes you are so intent and frustrated in your work that you cannot make progress. For example, […]

Work ON Yourself, Not Just In Yourself

Yoga Business

One of the truly great books I’ve read in my life is The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. If I could make every small business owner in the world read one book, it would be this one. For many years, I re-read this book every year. Now, after thirty years, I re-read it every other […]

How to Minimize Interruptions

Questions

The last few posts have been about minimizing interruptions. Interruptions are literally the single greatest productivity killer in your business or personal life! If interruptions are coming from an outsider, including clients, it is easy to set up rules to deal with this. But insiders (your employees and family) are a different story. You can’t […]

You Need Rules for Success

Rules

One of the most important things that you can do in your business is figure out why you’re in business. If you haven’t done so already, go read Start with Why by Simon Sinek. It’s a truly spectacular book. So that’s your first homework. It’s also a good audiobook. Sinek points out that nobody buys […]

Practice . . . Everything

Practice Everything

There’s an interesting truth that we all conveniently ignore or deny when we take on a new task: Before you can be good at something, you have to be bad at it. Or, said another way, You can never be “good” at something you don’t do. And, one of my favorite related truths: Frustration is […]