I’ve been an advocate of goal-setting for decades. Most successful people I know are. They set big goals and recommend others do as well. But some people are more doubtful. They point to significant goal-related disasters and suggest goals can backfire. In 2002, for instance, General Motors determined to boost its share of the U.S. […]
Archive for Productivity
Why You Should Never Start With Your Most Difficult Task
(And What You Should Do Instead)
Years ago, I heard a motivational speaker encourage his audience to “eat that frog.” The line has a long history. And it makes sense: Stop procrastinating and just do the thing you fear. Once you do that, everything else is easy. While that may be helpful in overcoming procrastination, it’s exactly backwards for big goals […]
10 Research-Backed Ways to Create the Breakthrough You Need
Including One Trick that Works Especially Well for Introverts
Leadership and entrepreneurial breakthroughs depend on creativity. But we don’t always feel very creative, do we? Thankfully, research suggests we all have access to the kind of creativity we need to get the results we want—even if you don’t feel especially creative. Last week I went fly fishing on Hesse Creek in East Tennessee. Nothing […]
3 Ways Email Can Sabotage Your Leadership
When to Use It—and When to Avoid It Like the Plague
When I was the CEO at Thomas Nelson, one of our authors was frustrated. In response to a disappointing sales report, he fired off a blistering email to one of our divisional leaders. He complained about poor results. He criticized the sales strategy and our failure to execute. Worse, he challenged the leader’s intelligence, competence, […]
Why It Pays to Invest in Greater Productivity
How to Flip Your Tasks to Accomplish More of What Creates Wealth and Drives Revenue
We all have things we do really well. In our businesses, these are usually the tasks that drive revenue. But if you’re like most entrepreneurs and executives, you probably only spend 20 percent of your time on these tasks. The rest goes to solving other people’s problems, wading through oceans of email, attending inefficient meetings, […]
True Confessions of a Productivity Geek
Why I Deconstructed My Process and What it Means for You
I’ve been a serious student of productivity for a couple decades now. As the primary income earner in a family of seven, I had to be. When I first started in business, I lived in a constant state of feeling overwhelmed. Work took my best, and I struggled to find time for my family and […]