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Substance vs. Style: Why Reality Trumps Appearance Every Time

Posted on 02/11/2014 by ·
Substance vs. Style: Why Reality Trumps Appearance Every Time by Laura Stack #productivity

"Don't settle for style. Succeed in substance." Wynton Marsalis, American jazz trumpeter. Some people believe that how something looks, or the way you do something, matters more than the substance of that object or action. In rare cases, such as fashion, this may be true; but no matter how wonderful it looks, a charming dress still won't last long if it's made of playing cards or chocolate (and yes, there have been both). Nonetheless, perception creates reality in most people's minds. For example, you might think a person with his shoes up on his desk and his eyes closed is wasting company time, as one efficiency expert did when hired by Henry Ford. After just a few hours on the job, he recommended Ford fire the man. Ford told him the "lazy" fellow was in fact his top idea man, who … [Read more...]

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Lighting a Fire: How to Deal With a Slacker on Your Team

Posted on 02/04/2014 by ·
Lighting a Fire: How to Deal With a Slacker on Your Team by Laura Stack #productivity

"A lazy person, whatever the talents with which he set out, will have condemned himself to second-hand thoughts and to second-rate friends." -- Cyril Connolly, English writer and literary critic Business is a collaborative enterprise. Very few jobs consist of one person working in glorious isolation. Even solopreneurs rely on others to get things done, because it’s too much work for a single individual, and we don’t have talents in every area. We humans have accomplished almost every big thing we've managed, from digging the Panama Canal to going to the Moon, by working together and building on the achievements of those who've gone before us. Since teamwork rules in the business environment, having someone on a team who doesn’t shoulder their share of the load can clog the … [Read more...]

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Trusting Your Skills: The Value of Unquestioning Faith in Your Abilities

Posted on 01/28/2014 by ·
Trusting Your Skills: The Value of Unquestioning Faith in Your Abilities by Laura Stack #productivity

"A winner is someone who recognizes his God-given talents, works his tail off to develop them into skills, and uses these skills to accomplish his goals." -- Larry Bird American basketball player. I’ve observed that many of the most successful people in the business world are so absolutely confident in themselves and everything they do that they can come across as brash and cocky. Think of people like Richard Branson, Donald Trump, and Bill Gates. They take to heart the axiom formulated by John Eliot, author of the book Overachievement, who pointed out: "The best in every business do what they have learned to do without questioning their abilities—they flat out trust their skills." Eliot, a highly-regarded psychologist, focuses on cultivating self-confidence as one means of what I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: , ,

Ensure Engaged, Empowered Employees

Posted on 01/16/2014 by ·
Ensure Engaged, Empowered Employees by Laura Stack #strategy

When you have a lot at stake or a very high interest in an outcome, you’re more likely to do a better job (or at least try to). Your team members feel the same way. If they don’t enjoy their work, they won’t be motivated to spend discretionary effort on the strategic goals you set for them. Wouldn’t you rather be surrounded by people in whom you have full trust and confidence they will get things done? Your team will have more ownership in their work if you encourage them to take initiative, improve processes, and make last-minute changes vital to timely execution. Here are some simple, common-sense ways to achieve that confident competence: 1. Increase your ratio of engaged to disengaged employees. This requires not only personal strength but flexibility and empathy as well. If you … [Read more...]

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Teaching Self-Discipline: Controlling Non-Productive Urges at the Team Level

Posted on 01/14/2014 by ·
Teaching Self-Discipline: Controlling Non-Productive Urges at the Team Level by Laura Stack

"We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort." -- Jesse Owens, American Olympic athlete. I love Robert Orben's famous quip, "Don't smoke too much, drink too much, eat too much, or work too much. We're all on the road to the grave—but there's no need to be in the passing lane." Most folks see this statement as a warning to take care of yourself and do everything in moderation. But like all good humor, it contains multiple levels—and when you get right down to it, Orben's statement is also about championing self-discipline over self-indulgence. Many Americans know Orben best for his newsletter Orben's Current Comedy, where he introduced tens of thousands of gags over the years. Back in … [Read more...]

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Promises to Keep: Productive and Reliable Goal-Setting Strategies

Posted on 01/07/2014 by ·
Promises to Keep: Productive and Reliable Goal-Setting Strategies by Laura Stack #productivity

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals." -- Henry David Thoreau, American writer and philosopher. Workplace goals are the knots that tie together all the other factors crucial to modern business success: flexibility, agility, engagement, empowerment, hard work, self-discipline, teamwork, cross-functionality, you name it. They shape attention and give us direction in an increasingly chaotic world. German-American theorist Hannah Arendt once wrote, "Promises are the uniquely human way of ordering the future, making it predictable and reliable to the extent that this is humanly possible." Goals represent a species of promise, and they apply to corporate teams as much as they do to any other human endeavor. Arendt knew quite … [Read more...]

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Free New Year’s Resolution Card

Posted on 01/06/2014 by ·

The good folks at AlphaCard have made a fantastic offer for our subscribers! Get your FREE New Year's Resolution card today.  Limited quantity available. AlphaCard believes in the importance of setting & achieving goals, so we are excited to offer Free 2014 New Year’s Resolution Cards. For a limited time, you can get a FREE custom card or key tag with up to three of your New Year’s resolutions printed on the front. You can also upload a picture of your choice onto the backside of the card to help you stay motivated, and to remind you of the reasons behind your goals –your family, your health, your dream house, or those jeans you hope to wear again. There won't be any shipping fees or attempts to sell you anything. As part of our AlphaCard Cares initiative, this is truly a free … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance · Tagged: ,

Shape the Culture

Posted on 01/02/2014 by ·
Shape the Culture by Laura Stack #productivity

Employees make hundreds of independent decisions every week without consulting their superiors. What guides them? Organizational culture. It tells them how to respond to workplace situations, from handling unprecedented service requests to whether or not to risk telling the boss a new idea. Many senior managers struggle with this concept, because they find it difficult to define. Culture is like a cloud: You know it’s there, but it’s nearly impossible to grasp. How do you come to a consensus on culture, and then get dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people to think and act the way you’ve agreed on? You don’t, really: culture evolves over time. But you can direct its evolution. Keep these things in mind while doing so: 1. Develop an attitude of excellence for your team to follow. … [Read more...]

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New Year’s Resolutions

Posted on 01/01/2014 by ·
New Years Resolutions

According to University of Scranton, only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s Resolutions. Why is this number so low? Researchers say our resolutions are often intangible, too extreme, and too long-term. We use terms like “lose weight” or “get out of debt.” Instead, be more specific and make a concrete checklist or to-do list of obtainable goals, outlining specifically how you plan to achieve your New Year’s Resolution. For example, if you want to get out of debt, your checklist might look like this: Transfer credit card to low-rate card Only charge what can be covered Eat out once every two weeks Close unused credit cards Put a freeze on credit Sign up for a personal finance class Buy Suzy Orman latest debt book Consolidate student loans Researchers say that if you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Personal Productivity · Tagged: , ,

The Only Thing That Matters: Trading Theory for Action—and Results

Posted on 12/31/2013 by ·
The Only Thing That Matters: Trading Theory for Action—and Results by Laura Stack #productivity

"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. But in practice, there is." -- Yogi Berra, American baseball manager. "Human beings must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it." -- Albert Einstein, German-American physicist. Procrastination. Perfectionism. Waiting for more information. Fear in all its forms. There are dozens of reasons—probably hundreds—for staying safely within your comfort zone rather than stepping out into the dangerous, prickly world of change. Some may even seem logical. After all, you're going to face change whether you like it or not; so why deliberately add even more to the agenda? Well, there's the old "stagnation is death" argument: If you don't change, you can't grow. But maybe you don't care about growing, just … [Read more...]

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