"Eat a live frog the first thing in the morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day." —American humorist Mark Twain How do you eat Twain's live frog? Most people assume he meant to choke it down all at once, but on the other hand, we've also learned the only way to eat an elephant is a bite at a time. You get some jarring cognitive dissonance when you take both ideas into account at once, but they do share a point: both the elephant and the frog represent big or unpleasant projects we must make progress on before we can move on to other tasks. Now, just because you think you know how and when to eat your frog doesn't mean you're right. Most of us assume we have a handle on how to structure our to-do lists, but even the best practice doesn't remain a best practice … [Read more...]

"We hold these truths to be self-evident..." —Opening line of the U.S. Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson It should be obvious to anyone that when you're happy, you're more likely to do a better job at work. Clearly, some managers don't care; we've all worked for such people. It's equally obvious you don't have to be happy to be productive. Aside from those of us who work best under pressure, many of us have learned to put our heads down, ignore our discontent, and just push until we finish the work on time. If we couldn't bull through on sheer willpower, few companies would have survived either the Great Depression or the Great Recession. Just because we can do something, however, doesn't mean it's the best way. That's one theme I hope I've driven home repeatedly … [Read more...]

“I've had to be very upfront about the fact that good telecommuting jobs require hard work, like any job.” —Hannah Wright, founder of HowToFindARemoteJob.com. I’ve heard some traditional office workers describe telecommuters as lazy, unprofessional, and unproductive: consider former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer's controversial decision to ban telecommuting in February 2013. Millennials, who are better aware of the reality of pervasive Internet, high-tech options, and work-life balance, seem less bothered by telecommuting. Many actively encourage it. Numerous surveys have shown that, in general, workers who telecommute at least a few days a week are more productive. A famous study conducted in 2013 by Nicholas Bloom and one of the owners of Ctrip, a Chinese travel company, demonstrated that … [Read more...]

“There is one quality that one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose, the knowledge of what one wants, and a burning desire to possess it.” – Napoleon Hill, American motivational writer. Time flies when you're having fun—and it also flies when you're so totally focused on something that nothing else interests you, and making steady progress seems almost as easy as breathing. Athletes call it being "in the zone," a term that's percolated down into the working world as well. No matter what you do, you've probably experienced times when, whether working alone or in a group, you got so engrossed in your work that the next time you looked up, hours had passed. You'd lost track of time. While this can have negative repercussions—such as forgetting to eat lunch—it's typically … [Read more...]

“Never wish life were easier. Wish you were better.” – Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur and speaker. We usually know high performers when we see them, because their stars shine bright in the workplace. How can you tell the difference between a high performer and a high potential performer? The latter have the talent, education, and training to become high performers, but haven't yet proven themselves (often because they're still new). In fact, not all workers with high potential graduate to the high-performer level; conversely, not all high performers are considered high-potential candidates that move into positions of leadership. Of course, not everyone shines right off the bat. (Both Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein were deemed unteachable by elementary school teachers, and today … [Read more...]

“Eat a live frog every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” – Mark Twain, American writer and humorist. You've probably had days when you came down with a bad case of the "don't wannas"—a complete lack of interest in doing any of your work tasks, much less the tough ones. But you're an adult now, so you know that expecting the world to automatically provide all the niceties you yearn for is the worst kind of childish dream. It's probably not going to happen, and even if it did, how much would you value your non-accomplishments anyway? Procrastination is a novel concept to no one. We've all put things off many times, for many reasons: because we didn't want to hurt someone, because the task wasn't pleasant, because it was boring or took too long, or … [Read more...]

“Excuses are a time thief. Have a goal, accept responsibility, and take action!” – Dr. Steve Maraboli, speaker and author. Sometimes our biggest time-thieves are right under our noses, but we never think of them as such. Worse, while we know that some tasks keep us busier than we like, we don't view them in terms of debt—at least, not in terms of financial debt. But time debt is a painful reality, as any harried Superparent or mid-level manager can tell you. Still, very few of us take this further to realize that since time is money, time debt may ultimately translate into productivity debt. I've understood this truism subconsciously for many years, but only recently have I seen it formulated as such. Think of it this way: Every minute you do something other than productive work during … [Read more...]

“If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.” – Goldsmith's Rule, per Sir James Goldsmith, British industrialist. Who's responsible for maintaining the quality of your workplace team? The answer might seem obvious, but don't assume it's just the team leader. Your manager or supervisor may have a lot of input, and certainly they or a predecessor probably built the team in the first place; but they're not in complete control of team quality. Everyone on the team has a place in maintaining a highly-productive team. By now, you surely realize that even if you're not the team lead, you can do many things to contribute to your team's productivity. But let's look at a special case. Suppose you want fellow top-notch co-workers to stay on your team long-term. That way, you won't have to constantly … [Read more...]

“Your workforce is your most valuable asset. The knowledge and skills they have represent the fuel that drives the engine of business, and you can leverage that knowledge.” – Harvey Mackay, American businessman and author. Many savvy business people will tell you that the true secret of success is cultivating profitable relationships with anyone related to your work: coworkers, colleagues, clients, prospects, even vendors. Sometimes, the least expected person is the one who saves your bacon—like that quiet but hardworking teammate, or the networking associate you met at a conference last year. While relationships are in fact deeply important, it's how you use them that really matters. You're surely familiar with the principle of the lever, one of the world's simple machines: using a … [Read more...]