Category: Performance
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A Heuristic for Personal AI Use
When deciding if and how to leverage AI tools in my work, I find it helpful to think about a breakdown of the work’s value between the process and the output. The more biased the value distribution is towards the end result, the more we should utilize AI tools. When the value distribution is primarily…
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The No Project
When we say “yes” to something, we say “no” to something else. Oftentimes we are saying no to ourselves or taking time away from our priorities. With that in mind, I set myself a goal of saying “no” three times a week. I figured that was a manageable number and would help keep my focus…
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It’s ok to be the smartest person in the room.
The slogans we tell ourselves shape our actions and mindset. The common adage to surround yourself with smart people, aka “be the dumbest person in the room”, has some merit. You are prompting yourself to listen, to learn, to ask clarifying questions. These are all valuable actions. But this mindset can also hold you back…
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Eyes up. Breathe. Let’s Go!
This is a little mantra I put together before a recent presentation. 👀Eyes Up When I saw pictures of myself from a previous presentation, I noticed that my body language was very different at the beginning of the talk from the rest of it. Getting started is the hardest part of presenting for me. This…
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A Continuous Learning Organization
Growth Mindset has brought the transformation from know-it-alls to learn-it-alls. This was an incredibly powerful shift for individuals. We should ask ourselves, “what is the corresponding evolution for an organization?” When software was a “shipped” product, it made sense to train people on how the shipped version worked. You could reasonably expect that knowledge to…
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Announce A Schedule
I was delighted to see one of my favorite productivity motivation techniques called out in Cal Newport’s latest book, Slow Productivity. Committing publicly to deliver results on a schedule creates accountability that forces you to focus. You now face consequences if you do not make good on your promise. Most of the time all you…
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Hungry Dogs Run Faster
Jason Kelce quoted his offensive line coach towards the end of an emotional retirement speech. He talked about missing his time as the underdog. Life is often more straightforward when you have something to prove. When you achieve success, you have to keep motivated by finding new doubters to prove wrong. Fortunately, there is almost…
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Failure is Painful
We often grow and learn the most through our failures. We like to believe that when we do that right thing, it will feel good. When it comes to learning through failure, even the best kind of failure, this belief is a myth. Learning from failure is not always fun. In fact, it usually isn’t.…
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16 Weeks of Time-Block Planning
Time-block planning is a productivity system designed to help prioritize focused work. I have come to the end of my first time-block planning workbook. 16 weeks are in the books. Here are the practices that I have found most helpful so far. 🗒️Keeping my daily calendar in a physical notebook. I constantly need to look…
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Operating from a place of fear
…and how to avoid it High-performance is free-flowing, loose, creative, and soaring. Fear tightens us up. Fear tells us not to take any risks. Fear tells us to stay on the ground where the terrain is familiar. Playing while afraid usually hurts our performance. Ironically, when we are afraid is often when we need our…