I remember working with a group of people on a project which was not going well. One of my directs looked at me and said “Happiness is a low base”. I started laughing because I understood what she meant. Continue reading
Category Archives: Making Life Easier
Advice to Tom Holland is So Good
I recently read this …Tom Holland’s piece of advice he got from Elizabeth Olsen….and I can wholeheartedly attest to the power of this…. it was…. Continue reading
The Most Important Math Calculations for Life
I saw an article where someone was talking about the key math calculations you need to be able to do in order to plan for retirement….but they were about things like being able to calculate interest on loans, credit card balances, etc. It got me to thinking about what calculations I do as a “sanity check”.
Full disclaimer…I cannot do math to save my life. I almost had to take accounting again in B-school but passed by 2 points. I need a calculator always. But having said that, I absolutely rely on numbers to tell me how I’m doing. The key is…what numbers? Continue reading
35. Don’t jump to conclusions….or at least, not to wrong conclusions.
I haven’t added a new lessons learned in forever…but I wanted to add this one. This is based off the saying “If you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.” I never really got that, but now I think it’s absolutely brilliant. Continue reading
Do……less
This post is written for a friend who has had a medical event….and I think it’s because he puts a lot of pressure on himself, holds himself to impossibly high standards, and is working ALL THE TIME. Here’s some lessons learned on the socially acceptable behavior that hurts you….working too much. Continue reading
Challenge: Assuming the Worst Case
This is something I have wrestled with my entire life….and still continue to struggle with. When I don’t get a response, or a response that seems “off”, I assume the worst case… that I screwed up, that I offended the person somehow…..I immediately go to the multitudes of reasons why I didn’t get the response I thought I should have gotten. And here’s the one thing that always resolves it….
34. Don’t Take Things Personally
This was a new one I had added after the original list was created. This is one of my biggest weaknesses….for some reason, I would always attribute another’s person reaction/non reaction to something I had done. Which would be ok if it was balanced…but I found I did it when I thought the reaction was negative. I would often jump to conclusions….someone didn’t answer me back on email right away because they thought my email was stupid. They didn’t return my call because I wasn’t important enough. They didn’t stop to chat with me when they walked by my office because they don’t like me. What I realized was that this was almost never the case. I was creating a negative narrative in my head. Continue reading
Replacing Presenting
This was an interesting article in the WSJ: “Nine Easy Steps to A Better Day at Work”….the one I really liked was the last one: “Replace presenting with reading.” Apparently, at Amazon, there are no dog and pony shows via Powerpoint. You get a discussion document which is read by the group in silence. Then it’s open for discussion.
Three Things that Get In The Way
So as I work on the Personal Profitability Program and speak to more people, a couple of things have emerged which I think are important, but probably difficult to hear. Out of the desire to continue to share lessons learned, I see the following behaviors get in the way….
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Making Life Easier….Now
Everyone wants to make life easier….often, experts will tell you that developing good habits are key to making life easier. The definition of a habit according to Webster is “an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.” Here are random things I’ve heard which I’ve adopted….I find it’s easier to embrace a good habit than try to stop a bad one.
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