[This post is part of a series on Communication Skills Exercises for Business and Life. If you don’t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you’ll get more value than reading just this post.] I just got off the phone with a client who was preparing for a call with someone important to help her. She was nervous because of his status[…] Keep reading →

In yesterday’s session on starting habits, when I described how easy it was finally to floss my teeth daily after I started my burpees. An attendee asked me to clarify. After the session ended, others asked me to clarify more and the following diagrams emerged. Starting burpees This chart schematically shows my burpee habit performance. Flossing before burpees This chart schematically shows my flossing habit before I started doing burpees.[…] Keep reading →

Few people like unsolicited advice. People of every culture love stories. Mostly I write posts about observations based on my perspectives on leadership, but I think a lot of it reads like unsolicited advice. Meanwhile, I don’t tell many stories. In other words, my behavior is inconsistent with my beliefs. I’ve meant to write more stories, especially the stories that led me to the observations and perspectives I’m trying to[…] Keep reading →

New York City has a sunny, breezy, dry day in the sixties. Yet another perfect day for running. How could I resist. I’ve made a Memorial Day weekend tradition of my first long runs of the year to start the summer. Some details that make running fun The saltiness of the sweat mixed in the water when you shower after The exhaustion on finishing Continuing to run when your body[…] Keep reading →

I wrote the following to someone who was looking for arguments on eating habits, wanting arguments not to eat meat but liking the taste and convenience. On one side you’re looking for logical arguments but on the other side you have taste, pleasure, and convenience. No logical argument can counter your feelings of pleasure or convenience. Your issue is your own internal conflict: you have a gut feeling you’re doing[…] Keep reading →

This morning was beautiful in New York City. I was thinking of a running, but when I saw how nice it was I couldn’t stop from taking the train to Central Park and running in my favorite place in the world. A mile in it started drizzling. It turned into a downpour, for roughly the second mile. You rarely want to run in the rain but once it happens, you[…] Keep reading →

Do you have trouble making habits stick? Come to my seminar one month from today! Hosted by the Columbia Business School Alumni Club and NYU-Stern, I gave this seminar at NYU last month and people loved it. They learned things about themselves and about each other that made habits click for the first time. Date: Sunday, June 14, noon to 4pm Location: NYU-Stern, 40 West Fourth Street Whom better to[…] Keep reading →

Two-and-a-half weeks ago I decided to avoid buying any food with packaging for a week. I’m on eighteen days and counting. I didn’t try to come up with a perfect rule because trying for perfection kept making me delay trying. I settled on the rule that I wouldn’t buy food that had any packaging or get food at a restaurant. I’d figure out on the fly what to do in[…] Keep reading →

This morning I read New York magazine’s weekly listing of bars and restaurants, describing fun places in the city to go to. They have a section listing some activities called “The Cut,” which I think means these are the activities that “make the cut” of their curating. I used to read the listings to find things to do. The section is for that, and I presume many people use it[…] Keep reading →