Posts Tagged ‘development’

The Use and Abuse of Regret

Two weeks ago, I asked Lifehack.org readers what advice you’d offer to your younger self, knowing what you know today. The responses were a little overwhelming — powerful, powerful stuff. More and better responses than I had hoped for, to be honest.

I’m not sure what advice I’d offer my younger self. I’ve messed up a lot, taken a lot of wrong turns, but even the wrong… » Continue

January 28 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: development, learning, mistake, past, regret | 11 comments»

How to use natural selection to drive your career

Charles Darwin was one of the greatest scientific geniuses of all time. His Theory of Evolution is accepted just about universally in the scientific community. It explains that all life is driven by a process that he called Natural Selection.

Life is a constant competition for survival. When creatures reproduce, tiny changes and imperfections are introduced into the next generation. Most fail. But a few, a very few, successful… » Continue

April 16 2007 | By Adrian | Tagged: ability, development, workstyle | 2 comments»

The only sure-fire investment

There’s only one investment that’s absolutely guaranteed to give you a great payback, regardless of the state of the economy and the uncertainties of this fragile world. I’m talking about the investment you make in yourself.

Think of yourself as a business
Imagine you’re Jane Doe, Inc. Whether you’re self-employed or work for a giant corporation—or even if you’re not in employment at present—this business is your basis for financial survival. If… » Continue

February 12 2007 | By Adrian | Tagged: achievement, development, investment, learning | 6 comments»

An Interview with Your Favorite Person - Yourself

When was the last time you had a good conversation with yourself? I mean a full-on, I’m a crazy person, talking out loud, discussion with yourself?

You actually talk to yourself all the time. Most of it is subconscious, and a lot of it is negative and cautionary. But what about taking the time to really ask yourself some serious questions?

The Interview

It’s our very nature to think of ourselves first… » Continue

February 8 2007 | By Tony | Tagged: development, motivation, personal, question, self-talk | 4 comments»

Declutter your career

Just as you occasionally need to clean out a closet, you may also need to “clean out” your career to enable a focused and productive mindset, and to create expectations for advancement. The article goes into detail about how to handle distractions, conflicts, email overload, and distracting colleagues so you can accelerate your career.
Just as it can be helpful to clear out closets at home every so often… » Continue

February 8 2007 | By Kyle | Tagged: career, development, organization, Productivity, promotion | no comments»

How to Handle the Silent Treatment

I think most all of us have, at some point in our careers, had a difficult relationship with a supervisor. While some supervisors are motivating, reliable, and well-intentioned, some supervisors can be close-minded, reserved, and difficult to communicate with. Kayleen Schaefer from the College Journal addresses the question “What to do when a boss gives you the silent treatment?”
Question: My boss doesn’t communicate with me. I sit three… » Continue

January 19 2007 | By Kyle | Tagged: Communication, conflict+resolution, development, workplace | 2 comments»

Give yourself more time

Penelope Trunk at Yahoo Finance gives her take on getting things done at the workplace. She posts 11 tips that will help you get through your perpetual to-do list and free up time for career-development, collaboration, and what she considers seeing the “big picture.” Penelope Trunk lists some points that tend to go unmentioned and may be considered a bit ununusual:
Delegate stuff you like.
You can’t delegate your unappealing… » Continue

January 19 2007 | By Kyle | Tagged: development, gtd, Productivity | 3 comments»

Eight Resolutions to Enhance Your Career

If you’ve found a job that is enjoyable, it can be very easy to get into a routine. However, a routine can quickly morph into a rut which may negatively impact your career development. Following with the theme of the season, Jaclyne Badal from the College Journal (a branch of the Wall Street Journal) gives eight resolutions that will help jump start your career in 2007. The… » Continue

January 15 2007 | By Kyle | Tagged: career, development, personaldevelopment | no comments»

Book Review: Fire Your Boss

A Stephen M. Pollan and Mark Levine book published by Harper Collins Publishers Incorporated, 2004, 273 pages. Nonfiction: Career Changes, Career Development, Self-actualization (Psychology). The book promises a career plan to take control of your work life, boost your income, have a better job offer at hand and find happiness outside the office.Folks, this thing is Cynical with a capital C. Take a look at this lift from inside… » Continue

November 23 2006 | By Reginald | Tagged: book, career, development, review | no comments»

What it takes to be great

“Natural talent” vs “Practice makes perfect” always strikes me as a question when looking at career development and hiring. Geoffrey Colvin at Fortune Magazine writes a great article with set of real examples on targeted natural gifts doesn’t exist, but consistent practice is what makes people great:

What makes Tiger Woods great? What made Berkshire Hathaway (Charts) Chairman Warren Buffett the world’s premier investor? We think we know: Each was a… » Continue

October 24 2006 | By Leon | Tagged: development, practice, talent | 3 comments»

Stretch Goals Matter

My son, Harold, is 7 months old (You can glimpse him at the end of a movie here). He’s mastered sitting up, and now he’s trying to figure out moving around on the ground. I’ve realized something pertinent to careers this morning based on this experience, and thought I’d share it.

(You didn’t think this was suddenly Parent Hacks, did you?)

Stretch Goals Matter

Harold was trying to reach… » Continue

August 26 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: development, goals, improvement, motivation | 3 comments»

No More Mr Yes

Phil Gerbyshak is exhuberant. You can see this the moment you land on his site. But one downside to being such a positive person (you’re this way too, right?) is that we tend to say YES all the time, when we should really consider saying no a little more often. Phil did a personal assessment, and immediately realized the impact this decision was having on his life:

I realize… » Continue

August 11 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: development, Lifehack, Management, prioritizing | 2 comments»

5 Tips for Empathetic Listening

Empathetic Listening is a technique which can help you manage and avoid disruptive and assaultive behaviors. The foundation of the technique can be summarized in 5 simple steps.

Provide the speaker with your undivided attention.This is one time “multi-tasking” or “rapid refocus” will get you in trouble.
Be non-judgemental. Don’t minimize or trivialize the speakers issue.
Read the speaker. Observe the emotions behind the words. Is the speaker angry, afraid, frustrated or resentful

» Continue

August 9 2006 | By Reginald | Tagged: behavior, development, personal | 11 comments»

5 Steps to Pushing Boundaries and Growing

You know that I like getting my ideas from non-traditional sources. I was speaking with an incredibly talented video producer and actor yesterday about her show, Galacticast. It’s a sci-fi comedy series available as a podcast, and catching fire on the internet among folks who love catching the references. We talked about quality.

The thing about Casey and Rudy are that they are producing for a medium that currently… » Continue

July 21 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: development, galacticast, growth, Productivity, success | no comments»

Role 3d6 for Personal Development

Any oldschool Dungeons and Dragons readers get that reference? If not, here’s my basic premise: view your personal development like you would character development in role playing games.

Capabilities- Some things you are born with, and others can be trained. For instance, strength can be developed to certain end points, but intelligence is something that one possesses a certain degree of, regardless of training. Training becomes more of a skill or

» Continue

June 19 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: development, gametheory, hacks, Productivity, selfimprovement, skills | 4 comments»