I would be a better version of myself if I were more consistent with some habits. Because of that, I’m joining millions of other humans this month in considering making a resolution for the year. James Clear, who is widely recognized as the author of the best book on habits, says the key with resolutions
This fall, I owned up to it. I’d been neglecting two of my work responsibilities. They’re the kind that are easy to neglect, though that doesn’t mean they’re unimportant. Still, I can push them off for months and nobody calls me on it. Meanwhile, the neglect bothers me. A subtle voice regularly reminds me that,
Imagine a flight where the pilot, instead of following standard procedures, decides to do things based on their mood. One day, they might be meticulous with their pre-flight checks, and the next, they might rush through them. Naturally, this unpredictable behavior would make the co-pilot and crew highly anxious! They wouldn’t know what to expect,
I remember years ago leaving a meeting with several high-level leaders and saying to one of them privately: You really did a good job getting everyone to understand and buy in to that complex topic. I was in a technical role at the time, and his response shocked me: The key in these meetings, he
Any coach or educator knows that growth varies by person. Adult training programs, for example, receive a range of ratings on learner impact. Same trainer, same content, different outcomes. As for why this variability occurs, a number of reasons have been given, and some of them have been proven to be false. For instance, some
Over the holidays, I observed many people on work calls during their “time off.” Family members and friends often watched and waited, or just went off on their own. One daughter mindlessly scrolled her phone while she waited for her dad to finish his call, pausing every five minutes to signal her impatience. A friend
It was almost exactly seven years ago that my mentor challenged me to sit in silent contemplation for five minutes every day. Every day, I’d set the timer on my phone, close my eyes, and pay attention to insights or ideas that would come to the surface of my conscious mind, such as: Your anxiety
There I was, kicking off the big meeting, standing anxiously in front of 50 people in a large corporate conference room. I really wanted to engage the group and inspire them to action, but I was worried that my slides had too much detail and that my topic was too complex. Adding to the pressure,
In the classic story The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway vividly depicts struggle and suffering. The old fisherman tirelessly battles for days to catch an enormous marlin, only to then fight sharks that would go on to ravage the prized catch. Being old, alone, and at sea, he frequently feels too tired to
There’s a beautiful and instructive scene in the movie Inside Out when Bing Bong doesn’t want to keep going because he’s so upset about the changes happening around him. The character representing Joy becomes frustrated and tries to coax Bing Bong to move on. “It’s going to be OK, we can fix this,” she cheers.
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE