#10 Urgency vs. Desperation Urgency and desperation; they can appear so similar we confuse them when the stakes are high and timelines are short, yet they are very different. Perhaps they are cousins from the same family, one on the abundance side and one on the scarce side. Urgency breeds innovation, disruption and intentional immediacy. Desperation breeds pressure, neediness and…
#9 Choosing Your Ride “I’m afraid of what might happen…” Really, do you like roller coasters? I’ve asked people this question for years when they talk about being afraid to do something. Some people love roller coasters and some people are scared of roller coasters and would rather do anything than ride on one; rarely are people ambivalent about riding…
#8 Patience Patience is a virtue most people I know sincerely struggle with. It’s something results oriented, fast-paced, get it done, “I’m filling my calendar to the max” people find hard to conceive of. And yet it’s the place where a majority of the “good stuff” in life finds you. When you’re not pushing, hustling, efforting and “making it happen.”…
#7 Playing to WIN In blog #3, Playing Not to Lose, I showed a diagram about how people “play” in the game of life. I explained that what’s most impactful about the model for me is that very few people ever play to “WIN.” Most of us “play not to lose.” It’s safer there. And I offered there’s only one…
#6 – Reactions Don’t Lie Whenever I find myself triggered by an event, I know there’s learning available to me. If I bypass the opportunity to evaluate my reaction, I become a victim of whatever happened and can guarantee the next time a similar event occurs, I’ll react again – only it will be stronger and more automatic. If I’m…
#5 Small Things As I sit on the plane during a busy week with one more day to work, looking forward to a full Friday and an equally full weekend, it occurs to me the little things really are the big things in life. It’s about having appreciation for the things my family, team and friends do that consistently make…
#4 – F.E.A.R. It is a four letter word, and feels like one most of the time. It can dismantle the best of intentions, and ruin a perfectly good idea or day. When we lose track of the present, we can move into a state of worry, anxiety or fear about the future. We can also move into a state…
#3 Playing Not to Lose I have a diagram I’ve used in teaching leadership for 30 years, it looks like this: It’s useful in many ways. In business, you can assess your team based on how they are playing and offer feedback accordingly. This model provides…
#2 – The Essence of Conflict At its essence, most conflict is an argument between two things: intent and impact. One person claims their feelings are a direct result of the other persons words and actions, and the other person claims they had no intent to cause any of that impact. It’s simple really, but usually tough to de-tangle. There’s…
#1 – Building Habits Today is the first day of my new practice. I’ve committed to write a blog daily (minimum 5x/week) to build the muscle as Seth Godin challenged in his The First 1,000 are the most difficult blog. Why? Because I read his blog daily; it’s the ONLY thing I read every day. Many of the blogs make…