The fourth of my “Six Simple Rules” is “Be Organized,” and a To-Do list is one of my keys to staying organized. I’ve written about to-do lists in my book and more than once in the blog, such as here. I’ve also written that one of the secrets to my…
One of the many things I learned from my father during our time working together, was to not be shy about getting outside help. To me and one of my buddies at work, it seemed as if my dad never met a consultant he didn’t like. In many cases, my…
My career has mostly focused on business development (aka sales) and I have been an active “networker”. I was recently introduced to a cleverly constructed networking organization that groups people who are looking for similar customers. I sat in on a sample session (virtual these days) and greatly enjoyed it.…
About 30 years ago, my wife and I moved with our first-born into an apartment located five minutes from my office. At first, I loved the idea. A five-minute commute was essentially no commute at all. After years of much longer commutes, I was thrilled. A year later, we moved,…
In the pre-COVID world, my daily work routine involved many meetings outside my office. I love being with people I know, and meeting new people. In the shelter-in-place world of COVID, I work all the time in my office (now located on one end of my dining room table), and…
I recently participated in a personal development session. At the end of the session, we went around the room and talked about what we do when we feel stressed and/or overwhelmed by work. Many of the people in the group said things like “take a walk”, “listen to music”, and…
As any regular reader here knows, I’ve written a lot about how to make changes stick – break down your goals into small pieces and work on one at a time for the 21 days it takes to create a habit. As I have explained, we have a limited amount…
I’ve written often about making time for the important things in your life and shifting from an “I don’t have the time” mindset to an “I didn’t make the time” one – not only because it’s a good way to look at the situation, but also because it’s true. We…
A business organization I am involved with allows members to post questions to the group. It’s a way to crowd-source great ideas. This was a question someone posted: I am perennially looking for ways to organize and prioritize emails. How do you organize your Outlook inbox? Here was my reply:…
I read a really good article in Fast Company magazine about to-do list mistakes. I am a big advocate of to-do lists, and of writing things down in general. Here are my favorite takeaways from the article, with my thoughts added: Create/update your next day’s to-do list before you end…
Two articles I recently read reinforced my feeling that most people have too much “stuff”. Beth Teitell writes in the Boston Globe, “Clutter…can assume many forms. It can present as a once-used bread machine or Lego hair that’s come unsnapped from its person. It can look like Tupperware without its assigned…
Just over four years ago, I sold a company I had been involved in starting 25 years earlier. Over the many years I ran that company, we considered mergers & acquisitions as a way to grow. I ended up not pursuing that avenue for growth because I had heard too…