After munching through a bag of tasty trail mix, I got to the bottom of the bag.
Everything “big”, including walnuts, almonds, 🥜 and even dried fruit chunks, were gone.
Left were all the pumpkin seeds that had settled to the bottom. ⬇
Which got me thinking. 🤔
Read MoreI’m embarrassed that it took me so long.
And what a difference it made when I finally did it.
Ever since I upgraded to Windows 10, my aging PC 🖥 really slowed down. It also often froze, and even my podcast recordings were becoming compromised.
I knew that I needed a new machine, but I didn’t take action (unless asking around for a good replacement and some web research counts for action).
Just kept stumbling along with what I had.
Until recently, that is. When I finally pulled the trigger on a new PC (on sale, of course 😉).
Read MoreFor many of us, a large portion of our days is spent at work. In fact, the average person will spend a total 90,000 hours – or approximately a third of their lifetime – at work.
The sad reality is that according to a recent Pew study, 30% of American workers view their days as something to get through (“just a job to get them by”) rather than a source of real satisfaction, let alone an opportunity to grow and contribute.
90,000 hours is a heck of a lot of time to burn through.
Read MoreYesterday, my son Chaim donned his tefillin (phylacteries) for the first time. In Jewish tradition, tefillin are worn for weekday morning prayers beginning one month prior to the bar mitzvah. This allows a young man to become comfortable with the process in advance of the big day.
As you can imagine, there is a special excitement and enthusiasm that accompanies this long-anticipated moment. After a lengthy sequence that included ordering the (custom-made) tefillin, securing their arrival from Israel, etc. Chaim was finally able to put them on “for real”. And he beamed with pride as he navigated the process for the first time.
But we also know that initial enthusiasm is quick to fade and the newness of an experience, when repeated often, quickly fades.
Read MoreThe Jewish holiday of Passover commemorates the redemption of a band of Hebrew slaves from extended, torturous Egyptian bondage. Participants sit around a bedecked table as kings and queens, as they recall their ancestors' transition from servants to freedmen.
The Hebrews at that time experienced a sudden transformation from a state of perceived rejection (Is God ever going to take us out of here? Did He leave us here to rot as slaves forever?) to one of miraculous redemption, complete with supernatural miracles and newfound glory. If we are to take a stab at replicating that ancient experience we may wish to spend some time considering our own transitions from rejection to redemption.
We have all tasted the bitter pill of rejection. There was the time that we were not selected for the school performance or failed to make the basketball team. We know what it's like to be kept out of select social cliques or told "no" by the person with whom we sought a relationship. Not every school that we applied to accepted us; nor did every would-be employer. Perhaps we even had the misfortune of being rejected by an employer, or worse, a spouse or family member.
Read MoreTomorrow, I will deliver two leadership trainings based on the True Colors Personality Assessment. In this system, people are identified as being one of four colors: blue, green, gold or orange. The personalities differ from each other in many ways, including their approach to relationships and situations. For a more detailed description can be found here.
Of the different colors, I personally identify most with green. “Greens” are, among other things, less interested in connecting with others emotionally and engaging in small talk. Instead, they like to jump right in to solve problems and fix things. (Not surprisingly, this attitude can get Greens in trouble, particularly when dealing with more emotional, relationships-driven Blues. But that’s for another time.)
Greens are also independent thinkers, natural nonconformists that live life by their own set of standards. They are deeply analytical and tend to think about and do things differently than most of their peers. They love independence and eschew outside control. When applied to work, Greens are likelier than most to see their work as play, as in less drudgery and more fun, since they invest a level of themselves into their projects.
Read MoreIn a previous post, we laid out a number of action steps that can help someone who feels stuck to break through and get things done. Here are some additional steps that can make the difference between languishing behind paralyzing inaction and crushing it with empowering achievement.
It happens to all of us, and often at the most inopportune times.
We know that we have work to do – a job to complete, a new project to launch, some loose ends to tie up – but we just feel stuck in place. As if everything that we try doesn’t work.
We take two steps forward and one or more steps back. Or we start something and simply stop.
Or, worse yet, we don’t even know where to start.
Why does this happen?
There are many answers. One is that we get distracted. Another is that we have a loose sense of what needs to happen, but can’t figure out the specific steps to get there. Sometimes, we lose confidence in our ability to get the job done. Or, we simply don’t want it bad enough. (Of course, there are many other reasons, but these will suffice for now.)
Whatever the reason, getting stuck is a hopeless feeling. If not properly addressed, it can start to compound over time, leading to us falling farther behind and lose the trust of those around us or, worse yet, the ones that we’re charged to lead.
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