Don’t depend on answers in uncertain times We live in a world that seems endlessly hungry for answers: preferably quick, unambiguous, definitive, once-and-for-all, simple answers. We want to be told what to do, how to solve our problems, how to live our lives to best effect. At work, bosses grind out the old chestnut, “Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions.” Politicians running for office are expected to come up with the answers to the nation’s greatest difficulties, long before they ever get to the elected position that would allow them to... More »
33 Shares How to use a vacation to conquer work addiction Workaholism is as much an addiction as those to drugs, tobacco or alcohol. Those who suffer from it crave the constant ‘highs’ they get from throwing themselves into work’s deadlines, problems and constant hustle and bustle. Even those near-impossible targets and deadlines can provide an adrenaline rush. Staring into the abyss of an empty order-book or hurling yourself headlong into the race to chalk up still more quarterly profits has something about it akin to extreme sports like bungee-jumping or free-fall parachuting. To... More »
842 Shares Being bored will help you be better at what you do There are a great many books, web sites, and training courses today more or less dedicated to the idea that being bored is a major sin, for which the only cure is to find ways to be busy and productive every waking moment. People who follow this idea are constantly on-the-go — any feelings of boredom quickly smothered with yet more activity. At work, at home, at play, each moment must be filled with things to ward off the slighest possibility... More »
60 Shares Why you can trust poor leaders to be sound teachers Macho, insensitive bosses share certain characteristics. Their behavior is arrogant, quick-tempered and controlling. Their motives are typically selfish and manipulative. They show little concern for others and few signs of understanding why others don’t trust them. Most of all, they are quite unaware of their failings and the impact they have on their subordinates. No only do they see no need to change, they often make their high-handed behavior a source of pride. That’s why you can trust them to be some... More »
A world painted only in black and white is a hard place to live or work In our time-starved, action-obsessed approach to work and life, we easily drop into the habit of seeing every choice or decision in terms of simple opposites: good versus bad, right versus wrong, success versus failure, winners versus losers. Every choice must be one or the other, with no options in between. Macho management thinking is full of such false dichotomies. This makes for a tense and uncomfortable workplace, as well as a warped view of reality.... More »
27 Shares It’s high time business slimmed down and stopped fooling itself with crash ‘diets’ of job cuts and outsourcing The media are happy to keep reminding us that people in the developed world, especially the United States, are growing ever fatter; that obesity starts in childhood and continues thereafter to pump itself up on a diet of junk food, sodas, and ‘super-sized’ portions. Yet what we almost never hear about is the exact same process going on in our businesses. Here it’s not junk food that is the problem, it’s junk activities and... More »
106 Shares Recycling and energy-efficient lighting don’t even begin to do it for me. They only touch on a few of the physical areas of impact our organizations have on the planet and the creatures that live on it. I’m not saying they don’t count at all, just that they don’t count for much in the great scheme of things: massaging symptoms rather than tackling causes. What I believe it takes to be a true environmentalist in the fetid jungles of the business world is best summed up in the lyrics of the song... More »
85 Shares Why choices about what to do with the time and effort you save are more critical One reasonable definition of increased personal productivity is creating the ability to do more with less effort and in a shorter time. Nothing wrong with that — at least until you ask what you will do with the time and effort you have saved. Not so many years ago, many people — including governments and businesses — thought that a rapid increase in individual and corporate productivity would lead to an explosion of leisure time; that... More »
63 Shares Too much of today’s personal productivity is stuck in repeating the past A genuine increase in productivity means getting the same, or greater, output with less effort and a smaller use of resources. Yet most personal productivity software still relies on various ways to categorize old-fashioned to-do lists. That focuses on getting more done by improved organization; it’s working harder for longer (mostly by virtue of avoiding distractions and procrastination), not doing things better or with less effort and input. It’s not increasing genuine productivity. I suspect that, in reality, it’s sometimes... More »
410 Shares Fresh research suggests our bias for action is emotional, not rational. An article by Patricia Cohen in the New York Times “Business Day” section on March 1st, reporting on a study made by economist Ofer H. Azar at Ben-Gurion University of Negev in Israel, adds another dimension to the topic of the last article I wrote for Lifehack.org. In what I wrote then, I wondered whether our culture’s emphasis on getting things done — preferring action over time for thought or waiting to allow events to unfold further — was anything more... More »
245 Shares Maybe today’s fashion for increasing personal productivity isn’t all it’s cracked up to be Increasing your personal productivity is the subject matter of a slew of books, magazine articles, and more than a few successful blogs. It’s fashionable, popular, and, most of all, highly profitable for the authors and writers of software. But does that make it right? I believe that more cookery books are published each year that any other genre, followed closely by diet books — surely one of the great symbiotic relationships of all time. You stuff yourself, then... More »
200 Shares Using “concentric defenses” to keep off interruptions you can’t avoid in other ways Most of the articles you read about dealing with time- and attention-wasting distractions concentrate on avoiding them altogether (shutting yourself away, better organization, better time allocation) or not adding to their number yourself (minimizing responding to e-mails and IMs, filtering phone calls, avoiding gossiping). This is fine. But what about those that simply get through such defenses: the phone calls you can’t avoid, the personal visits to your desk, the calls from your boss? Are there any ways to... More »
25 Shares Try these powerful ways to boost your innovation further
112 Shares Try making a single change in your outlook Regular readers will know that I am not much attracted to the type of article that can be summarized as “x simple ways to do y.” I distrust overly simple responses to life’s endless complexity, just as I distrust simplistic ways of thinking. However, I can think of one — just one — simple action that will make 2008 perhaps one of your best years ever. This one action is so far-reaching in terms of creating well-being that I felt I had to overcome... More »
93 Shares Do you want only simple, specific tips, or something wider and deeper? It’s a very old journalistic cliché that stories should always contain answers to these six questions: What? Who? Where? When? How? Why? For example, a story about a murder could accomplish all of this in a single sentence: “Jones was murdered in his own home last evening by a neighbor using a shotgun in revenge for Jones’ insults to the neighbor’s wife.” It seems to me that more and more articles on the web are leaving aside this pattern to... More »
