Reading Time: 4 minutesWhen Saying Yes Means Saying No A little over a year ago, I had to say no to something I really wanted to do because I’d already said yes to other things. A creator friend offered me the opportunity to work with him by helping with backstage administrative support. I had to say no because …
Reading Time: 4 minutesYour Brain Is Set to Wander — and That’s Not a Problem A landmark Harvard study found that people’s minds wander 46.9% of the time — nearly half — regardless of what they are doing. Most people secretly think something is wrong with them when their mind wanders. You’re not broken, you’re human. As Steve …
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhen we think of values, we typically think of them as nouns. For example, we talk about integrity, honesty, or family as values. But values as nouns often don’t lead to actions or tell you what you need to do. For that to happen, we need to turn values into verbs. I recently read a …
Reading Time: 3 minutesMost of us go through the day forming intentions and making choices by default rather than through deliberate decision-making. Instead, our choices are made through habits, social contagion, and unexamined assumptions. In his recent book, Intentional, productivity expert Chris Bailey reveals that researchers have found that most of our actions run on neural autopilot. This …
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe Question That Changes Everything About Productivity Productivity advice is everywhere. Tips, tricks, hacks, systems. The goal is always the same: get more done, faster. But here’s the question almost nobody stops to ask: Why? Why be productive in the first place? Science Has Already Figured Out What Drives You In his recent book, Intentional: …
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe Story We Tell Ourselves When I know I have a project coming up (like writing a blog post), I typically start preparing early. At a minimum, I’ll jot down some thoughts about the topic and start a mind map. I’ll do some research and plug that into my mind map. Then I back off …
Reading Time: 5 minutesStart with Why, Not How The majority of material in the productivity realm focuses on the “what” and the “how” of productivity. Apps, hacks, and software systems are the meat and potatoes. These typically overlook the key question of “Why?” Why be productive? What’s the point? About five years ago, I found an approach that …
Reading Time: 5 minutesThe Problem: Our Compulsive Checking If you have a moment when you’re not doing anything, what do you do? Is your first instinct to reach for your phone? Many of us are addicted to social media on our phones. Everywhere I go, I see adults staring at their phones and scrolling. One study found that …
Reading Time: 3 minutesThe Balance Myth We’ve been sold a lie. From childhood, we were told to “find balance” in life—to give equal attention to every role of life: work, relationships, health, and personal growth. Then, self-help and business writers raised the bar. Not only should we balance it all, they said—we should excel in every area, all …