I wrapped up a five-month coaching engagement this week, and my client surprised me. He told me that before we started working together, he’d: Read my website. Knew I’d written a book. Knew I’d coached and trained thousands of professionals. Understood the productivity results I could help him get. But there was something…
We expect people to be mind readers at work. We don’t mean to. But we give someone one piece of information and assume they’ll connect it to the next three. “We needed your feedback yesterday.” “You’ve been late three times this week.” “This project is falling behind.” And in our heads, the implications are obvious….
Have you ever had so much hanging over your head that you didn’t even want to look at it? That was exactly where one of my clients was last week. She called me feeling incredibly behind. She had several projects she hadn’t gotten to, deadlines looming, and a whole lot of other responsibilities competing for…
Think about something you do at work every week. A report you create. A meeting you attend. An email you send. A process you follow. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you do it? Chances are, there’s a good reason. But there’s also a chance the reason is simply: Because that’s how we’ve…
You know when you catch yourself saying something like: “I’m just not a morning person.” “I’m a procrastinator.” “I’m not a strategic thinker.” We say these things so casually. Sometimes we even say them with a little pride. But here’s the thing. Those words are powerful. Because the more often we say something about ourselves,…
You open your calendar and see back-to-back meetings. And instead of thinking about everything you’re going to accomplish, you’re thinking about everything you won’t have time to get done because of them. The proposal you need to finish. The project that’s waiting for your attention. The emails piling up. The work that actually requires you to think….
My recent conversation with a client reminded me of something I’m way too guilty of. When I have a lot to get done, especially when I’m stressed or trying to solve a problem, my instinct is to double down. Put my head down. Try harder. Stay at my desk until I figure it out. Sound familiar?…
Over the past month, I’ve made a crazy number of decisions. Rugs. Lamps. Bedding. Internet providers. Contractors. Delivery schedules. If you’ve ever moved, you know exactly what I mean. At first, it was fun. I loved imagining how everything would come together. But after weeks of researching, comparing, measuring, returning, and deciding, my brain hurts….
If you’ve been feeling like there’s never enough time to get everything done, I want to offer a different perspective. After coaching thousands of professionals, I’ve found that time usually isn’t what’s holding us back. More often, it’s how we manage three things: Our attention. Our intention. And our retention. I call it the AIR Framework. When these three work together,…
You’d think by now I’d know better. Every once in a while, I catch myself thinking, “Maybe I just need a better system.” I mean, I have a system that would work…if I used it. But it feels easier to look for something better than to do the work that’s sitting right in front of…