Simplicity, structure, and useful habits keep unimportant things from distracting you and allow you to focus on what you want, which makes life fun and rewarding. They give you mental freedom. When I met David Allen he described how the structure of his processes in his book Getting Things Done create freedom, not just make you more productive. I follow them with my adjustments that I wrote up here, and[…] Keep reading →

People considering personal change often express concern about losing friends. If they change their behavior and habits they won’t be able to hang out with the same people in the same way any more. I’ve gone through a lot of personal change. I’ve met many people who have. I’ve coached many people through it. Through it all, I’ve never met someone who regretted changing their social circle. Most wished they’d[…] Keep reading →

[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 →