A hint: The Desert!
Wow, what a day today was! This was a "rest stop" along the 24-mile bike ride!
What a great training day, now...back to the computer to prep for tomorrow's Mastering Workplace Performance seminar here in Phoenix.
All is well...
Over the past 6 years in my life, Dave has been a client, a friend, a mentor and a coach. Recently, he posted an article that made me proud as a consultant...and inspired as a friend.
The title is Dangerous Things you want your Employees to do… and often
Here are just a couple of his ideas...I highly recommend you read the rest!
· Talk to strangers (and accept rides and lunch) - Get out there.
· Be wasteful - Buy a new tech toy and experiment.
Looking forward into 2009, we're going to be posting more and more videos, audio interviews and new products on our website. Stay tuned, it's gonna be great!
This topic - the psychology and sociology of workplace performance - has me working overtime to research, test, and write about the topics that are most interesting to people all over the place...how to manage it all, while continuing to create, engage and experience even more success moving forward into tomorrow.
Maybe it's the time of the year, but I'm especially interested in taking those dreams and finding ways to make them realities. Kinda reminds me of Jill Taylor's presentation at TED...
Joe and I sat down to talk about "managing interruptions" as a way to refocus on the most important things. Here's the video!
If you subscribe to our newsletter, look for this week's issue to outline a strategy for being at "your best."
If you're not subscribed, quick, go to our website and enter your address! Sign up for our free E-mail newsletter, "Solutions for the Speed of Life."
Here is a picture to go along with our upcoming newsletter:
Well, you know I can't begin to say enough about how "great" a class this will be.
So, get your MacBook in your bag, and join Jodi for 3 great hours!
Spread the word...
Did a little research this morning after my most recent trip consulting for a few Investment Banks in Europe last week. It seems that now (more then ever, they are saying) people have more than "just" work on their minds when they are AT work. So...what's the big deal?
Read on...
The study compared 10 healthy people in their 60s and 70s to a dozen younger volunteers, ages 22 to 36. Their brains were scanned while they looked at photographs of people they did not know. As each photograph was displayed for one second, the volunteers were asked if they'd seen it before in the study.
Have you ever felt "a little bit distracted?" If so, check out this article by Mr. Malcolm Ritter.
For years, I have talked about the importance of learning in "less distracting" environments. As a high school teacher, I didn't ask my students to study in quiet environments because they could NOT learn while watching TV or listening to music. Instead, I attempted to show them that they could learn FASTER and EASIER by focusing in on what they need to do!
I know, I know...nothing new. But, I do have a question to ask of my own self: What will I do today, in total focused concentration?
To get myself geared up for an experiment, I re-viewed this TED Talk by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
I am presenting a workshop next week in Phoenix, Arizona.
An organization called High Achievers is sponsoring a 3-hour Mastering Workplace Performance seminar December 4th, from 8am to 11am.
Click to find out more about this event, and to sign up for the presentation.
It is actually an open seminar, and the “price is right!”
If there's anybody there at work who you know would like to come, please pass this along to them.
Also, if you have any other contacts in the Phoenix area, please feel free to pass this along...we’re hoping to “fill the room!”
Technorati Tags:
Personal Development, Mastering Workplace Performance, High Achievers
The balancing act...work and life.
Walking the fine lines of "anticipation" and "expectation," I find it more important than ever to slow down from time to time (or, as Elliott Masie reminded me recently: press pause) and reflect on what I've got:
Have you ever found it easy to get caught up in what "isn't?" For a moment, right now, I'm completely fascinated by what is. Quick, off to watch some TED Talks!
*thanks for the picture, piston9 - at flickr
Technorati Tags:
Mentors, Personal Development
I was reading a book this week on "collaboration" in the not-for-profit workplace, and I started taking several notes in my own journal. Recently, I co-facilitated the coordination of a mentoring program for one of our US-based clients. The idea is to pilot the program with several partners and "career-starters," and then implement similar "learning-mastery" programs in other offices around the world.
It just so happens that client is a large NGO. But, I'm still finding similarities to the kinds of leadership and learning development issues they are facing to the very same areas of focus our corporate clients are dealing with day-to-day in their offices.
In fact, this week I am here in London working one-on-one with a senior executive as we study and dissect their own workflow, productivity and leadership practices. Having facilitated these "workflow-coaching" sessions for the past 9 years, I can anticipate of few of the things that we'll address in our few hours together. Among them will be:
1) Watch your promises - to others, and yourself. It seems that we're making more and more promises, faster and faster these days. A lot of our work comes down to watching very carefully what you say YES to, and then managing those "yeses" to completion.
2) Set up your setup for success - look at your organizational and workflow systems. How are you managing your E-mail, your tasks, your calendar(s) and your ideas? Reading a book on organization, watching a video on focus and workflow attentiveness and attending a course outlining productivity best practices are all great ways to study HOW you work, so you can be more effective in WHAT you have to do.
3) Get someone on your "team." Ok, so I'm writing a full article on this topic for LifeHacker.com this Sunday (check out our past LifeHacker articles here). I hope that you'll take the time, energy and focus necessary to align yourself with a mentor or coach who can help push, pull and encourage you on your way from where you are, to where you think you're heading. The great thing about working with a mentor - especially one who gets to spend an hour or so each month with you over the course of a year - is that they will see where you are going, and make suggestions you might not necessarily come up with on your own.
Write down 3 possible candidates for a new mentor.Write down 30 possible goals you would ask a mentor to help you with.
Pick one mentor...pick ONE goal. Go for it, between now and next December. Let's see what happens!
