Planning to plan your future is a waste of time. Has talking about planning ever been useful? Has it moved your life forward? I think we can agree that’s a big “no”. For me, I’ve found I’m happiest when I’m doing something…accomplishing something. By “something”, I mean anything that I feel is bettering my life in…

A lot of people might be dreading upcoming get-togethers with relatives during the holiday season because one of the things that will most definitely be brought up is how we all did this year. If you are going to be facing nosy relatives knowing that you failed in a relationship or business (or lost a…

We tend to focus on our problems in life and to take for granted our blessings and achievements. It is natural that we think about the difficulties we face and the challenges we have to overcome but there is a real danger that when we do this we can become become…

This is not a post about teaching, but teaching is what I do and what I know best, and this post is about thinking about what we do. People often wonder if I find it frustrating to be a university instructor. I teach topics that students resist a lot – in Women’s Studies, I teach with…

Productivity expert Jason Womack is working on a project aimed at teenagers on the careers of tomorrow.  He asked me to contribute a few ideas, and he graciously agreed to let me turn it into an article for Lifehack.org.  From where I sit, there are a couple of very broad categories in which people can…

Have you ever seen bamboo shoots in a storm? I have. I remember huddling in a hut in Thailand watching a raging typhoon sweep through the mountains. The clump of bamboo outside the window was completely flattened by the raging winds. The wind was so strong that it lifted the roof right off the hut…

Business plans, diet plans, plans to get a degree and your plan to get rich. Life is full of planning. You’d think that all your practice planning would make you at least somewhat good at it. Then why do so few things go “according to plan?” Your business can’t make money the way…

It can be pretty discouraging when after a long week of hard work you realize you are not one inch closer to the future you want. Sure, you’ve worked all out, chopping through tasks left, right and center, fulfilling all your (conflicting) roles for various people in your life, and here it Friday, your brain feels…