We are wired for two conflicting things: comfort, and conquest. To achieve goals, we need to disrupt the comfort instinct long enough to experience our first successes on the path to the goal. On this episode, I share three core principles for doing the hard work necessary to get moving on your goals.
This is part two in a series of episodes in which I share the "big idea" from each of my books. This episode covers the big idea from my 2013 book Die Empty, which is about the common places people and teams get stuck and fail to do the work they are capable of doing.
Leadership and legacy are not just what you do, but also how you do it. It will be determined by a series of choices you make over your life about how to spend this moment – here, and now. The challenging thing is that each moment feels like a throwaway, because another one follows closely on its heels. How you choose to engage here and now speaks more to your character than whatever residual stuff you leave in your trail.
If you were going to purchase a house or a car, you would probably step back and consider how you're going to re-organize your finances to ensure that you're preparing yourself properly and will use your money effectively. However, many people are much less intentional abou thow they spend their day than how they spend their money. Yet, which is more valuable? How you spend your day is how you spend your life. On this episode, you'll learn a very simple 10 minute method for planning your day effectively so that you bring your best creative value to your clients and organization.
Is passion important? Surely. Is it the most important factor in doing great work? I have my doubts. Some of the most effective contributors throughout time have been marked by two characteristics: they were (a) reluctant, but (b) resolved. They saw the great task before them, but they were determined to surmount obstacles because they recognized an opportunity and felt the urgency of the moment. Do not be dulled, friends. Do not allow the lull of comfort to cause you to abdicate your contribution. Stay sharp. Keep your edges. Nothing – NOTHING – is worth giving up the most precious thing you have to offer.
As we wrap 2017 and head into a new year, it's natural to look back to consider whether your ambitions for the year lined up with your accomplishments. It's easy to unknowingly settle into ruts without even realize it's happening, and to fail to do the work you know you're capable of doing. On this episode, I'll share seven common areas where people and teams unknowingly settle, and a few questions to help you identify and move past them.
Tactics are important and necessary if you want to do brilliant work, but so is mindset. You can be the most talented and disciplined person on the planet, but if you have a blind spot in your mindset you will eventually fail. On today's episode, I talk about one very important mindset tweak that will help you to bring your best effort every day.
One three letter word might be killing your creative output. Worse, it's the reason your team doesn't want to collaborate with you, and it's the thing that's preventing you from doing the best work of your life. On today's episode, I share what this three letter word is and some ways you can spot it before it derails you.
On today's episode, I show you how to run your life from the back of an index card. (Yes, really.) You'll learn how to hone in on your mission for the day, how to bring your best to the people around you, and how to create unique and powerful value for your clients and organization by spending five minutes in preparation each morning.
When you are younger, it’s possible to be successful because you are smarter, more talented, or more of a hustler than your peers. However, as you grow older, you begin to see patterns that you might have overlooked before simply because you didn’t have as much data. Knowledge can be bought, but wisdom is always earned.
Controlling behavior never leads to results beyond your own grasp. However, when you are able to achieve influence, you multiply your efforts and reproduce your values and principles in the lives of others.
We need strong, thriving relationships in order to produce great work over time. Specifically, we need three types: mirrors, circles, and guides. In this episode, we address each and how they can play a role in our growth.
What you do first thing in the morning often sets the tone for the rest of your day. On today's episode, I'll share the basics of how to establish a morning ritual, and some specific methods for starting each day strong.
As 2015 approaches, here are seven key questions you can ask to help you have your best and most productive year yet.
When the ideas aren't flowing the way you'd like, there can be a strong temptation to "knuckle down" and simply try harder on a project. While diligence and urgency are critical to doing excellent work, there are times when additional effort alone will be ineffective.
To do brilliant work you need to identify your through-line, or productive passion. Today, we discuss how to bring more of who you are to what you do.
For creative pros - those charged with turning our thoughts into value every day - the promise of a quick path to successful work is alluring. If there were proven ways to avoid the uncertainty and pain of the process, they would be worth their weight in gold. Unfortunately, they don't exist. Not really, anyway.
To do brilliant work you need to identify your through-line, or the connective theme that ties all of your best work together. What's yours?
In my brand new book Die Empty, I examine the common places where bright, sharp, talented people eventually get stuck in their life and career. The goal, of course, is to get your best work out of you every day and to not leave it inside or take it to your grave with you like so many people do.
To be effective, you must focus on the three kinds of work: Mapping, Making, and Meshing. In this episode, we delve into these three and how they affect your ability to unleash your best work each day.