In previous posts, I discussed why the so-called “negative” emotions of anger, shame, sadness, and fear are actually good friends and guides. In this post, I am going to close the loop on this project by outlining why joy, a “positive” emotion, can be your enemy. How…

Most people, most years. have given up on their resolutions by about mid-January. In order to give you a better chance, I’m offering the following techniques below in worksheet format. These techniques will help with any goal — from losing weight to pursuing a promotion to starting…

There are many tools you can use to increase your level of productivity. Whether paper-based solutions are your cup of tea or you’ve dove into the digital well of task management offerings, you’d be wasting a ton of time trying to discover all of the tools out there. I’d wager it is one of the…

Flossing your teeth is one of the best examples of the principles of time management. Why? Well, we all know it’s something you should do, yet probably don’t do. After you see your dentist, you vow to do better this time, you stay on it for a few days, maybe, and then let it go again, until…

There are less than one hundred days left in 2011. If you have a backlog of projects that you meant to work on this year, but which you haven’t gotten around to, it’s very likely that procrastination is the culprit. Timothy Pychyl, Ph.D., creator of the popular web site procrastination.ca, is one of the world’s foremost…

We all do it to some degree or another; put off for tomorrow what we know should be done today. Postpone the inevitable pain for the current moment of pleasure. But we know that even if we can manage to put it out of our minds for the present, it will eventually come around…

Can you hear it? I have a new productivity motto. The clock is ticking. Every time I think about checking Reddit, I mentally hear its tick-tack. When I’m about to watch TV, I think about the clock. Whenever I feel like I’m fed up with the task at hand, I remind me I’m the…

There are a lot of elegant tools for your OS and online that help you keep track of all your commitments, projects, tasks, goals, checklists, etc. Each of them have their own set of awesome features as well as their weaknesses. I remember around a year ago when I was lost in the sea of productivity…

Last night marked a milestone in American sitcom history: the beginning of the end for Steve Carell on the NBC comedy “The Office”. Even if you happen to like the British version of this comedy more than its longer-running American counterpart, you have to admit that Carell has carved out his acting niche in…

In the journey of growth, there are times when we grow and excel. We are endlessly driven and hyped up, motivated to get our goals. Then there are times when we stagnate. We feel uninspired and unmotivated. We keep procrastinating on our plans. More often than not, we get out of a rut

You have a deadline looming. However, instead of doing your work, you are fiddling with miscellaneous things like checking email, social media, watching videos, surfing blogs and forums. You know you should be working, but you just don’t feel like doing anything. We are all familiar with the procrastination phenomenon. When we procrastinate, we squander away…

All of us have goals. Goals like losing weight, earning more money, finding a life partner, setting up our business, achieving performance targets, being fitter, building better relationships, and so on. Some people seem to have no problem achieving their goals. Some, on the other hand, don’t seem to be able to make any…

Are you a perfectionist? Do you spend a lot of time “perfecting” your work,so everything comes out the way you want it to? I believe all of us are perfectionists in our own right. I’m a perfectionist, too. We set high bars for ourselves and put our best foot forward to achieve them. We dedicate copious…

Are you easily distracted? I bet you are. If I told you this link led to a list of funny pics of deranged kittens, you’d likely click through and quickly forget our conversation. That won’t happen this time! Interruptions do the most damage when we allow their appearance to affect us long after we’ve returned…

“I’m feeling guilty because I procrastinate too much” A quick search on Twitter confirmed my hunch.  There are a lot of  people talking about procrastination, and the tweets I surveyed  are filled with feelings of guilt, regret and remorse. The word “procrastinate” is a heavy one, and I believe that people are  trying to solve the problem…