Life is short and the average person has about 50 productive years. So how well are you managing that time? Are you highly focused and productive every single day? Or are some days uber productive and other days wasteful and inefficient? Or worse still, do weeks come and go without focus or purpose, filled with countless wasteful tasks?
Given how precious time is, it’s a shame to waste any of it. Here are some quick tips on how to amp up your time management! The five minutes you spend reading this now will save you tons of time long-term. Continue reading →

Some of the biggest business catastrophes were caused – in part — by Confirmation Bias. The Great Depression. The Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme. The Real Estate Crash of 2008.
Our desire to be ‘right’ is so strong that we are ALL swayed by info that validates what we already think and believe and ignore anything that contradicts that. The problem is that any decision based on such information is likely to be flawed. For business, that spells Trouble.
So how has this common thinking error affected business in the past and how can leaders avoid it? Continue reading →

Are you a rational decision-maker? Do you behave in ways that maximize your company’s advantage? Do you strive to minimize costs and risks? If you think so, you are likely mistaken. Every person’s thought process is fraught with over 180 different thinking errors that drive behavior.

One common thinking error is Confirmation Bias, and it’s a doozy!
Just what is Confirmation Bias and how does it affect business?
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One thinking error that deeply affects every person’s perceptions and behavior is Negativity Bias. Last week, we looked at what Negativity Bias is and how it affects business. While Negativity Bias profoundly affects business in the areas of strategic planning, employee satisfaction, retention and productivity and customer behavior, the good news is that it can be overcome.
Here are 5 ways to mitigate the effect of Negativity Bias on yourself, your staff and your customers. Continue reading →

The human mind is hard-wired for survival. That is good… but it can also be bad for us. This neurological wiring includes hidden biases that deeply affect every person’s perceptions and behavior. One such thinking error is Negativity Bias. Negativity Bias can be particularly harmful to business. So, what is Negativity Bias and in what ways does it hurt business? Read More. Continue reading →

The average person makes 35,000 decisions every day. It’s exhausting! More importantly, the quality of those decisions deteriorates the more decisions are made in a day. That’s right… making good decisions affects the ability to make more good decisions. Toward the end of an eight or 10-hour workday, a person is likely to make a larger number of irrational decisions. It’s called Decision Fatigue. Those irrational decisions can have a profound effect on business. But there are ways to decrease Decision Fatigue. Continue reading →

If productivity is fire, then self-confidence is the matchstick that ignites that fire. In business, self-confidence is the lifeblood of sales professionals, a key characteristic of leaders and managers, and a crucial trait for entrepreneurs raising capital, negotiating deals and prompting productivity. But lack of self-confidence is BAD. And over-confidence is WORSE. The goal is to achieve a level of self-confidence that’s just right. Here’s how to achieve self-confidence that spurs success! Continue reading →

Need to climb a metaphorical mountain in your professional or personal life? Scaling to the places where few dare to go can be unspeakably hard. Rocky terrain. Unpredictable conditions. Unclear paths. Exhausting demands. Stress. Mental fatigue. Who better than the world’s premier mountain climbers to advise on how to do it best?
Here’s how to face your biggest challenges from the world’s top mountaineers! Continue reading →

At one point or another, just about everyone is faced with a mountain he or she must climb. In most cases, it is a metaphorical mountain rather than an actual one. Entrepreneurs and professionals often have a huge obstacle they must surmount. Sometimes the challenge is to achieve something that hasn’t been done before. Sometimes the impediment is a family problem. And sometimes the hurdle is a personal health challenge. While some of those mountains are unavoidable, other peaks we scale by choice. The fact that it is a metaphorical challenge, brought by chance or choice, makes it no less arduous, depleting or risky. In that regard, it is a lot like actual mountain climbing. Real mountain climbing is not a sport for the faint of heart. It is exhausting, dangerous, and expensive. Yet so many people choose to climb mountains — despite the risks — much the way people choose to start businesses, deal with major obstacles or find solutions to serious problems. Why?
Why choose to climb a mountain, metaphorical or actual? What is, for example, the use of climbing Mount Everest? In 1923, a reporter asked British climber George Mallory this very question, and he replied, “It is no use. There is not the slightest prospect of any gain whatsoever.” Later, Mallory added (before he died in an attempt to summit Everest in 1924) that “If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go.” There are many parallels and life lessons we can glean about how to tackle the biggest problems in business and life from real mountain climbers. Here are 10 tips from the pros. Continue reading →

Today’s pace of change is relentless. Processes, procedures and technologies are evolving daily. The need to stay ‘in-the-know’ and update skills is an absolute necessity, not a nicety or option. Yet, most professionals have trouble just keeping up with the daily demands of work much less carving out time to learn something new. The average business exec struggles to find the time to learn new skills.
Indeed, acquiring new skills can be a daunting proposition because learning takes time. After all, it is widely touted that it takes 10,000 hours to become proficient in any skill. That is the number that author Malcolm Gladwell cited in his NY Times best-selling book, Outliers: The Story of Success. The problem is that 10,000 hours is equal to a full-time job for five years. Few people who already hold down a full-time job can take on the equivalent of ‘another job’ to master a new skill. That is the problem. There is a deep need to learn but learning takes more time than the average working professional can devote to the task. Does that mean everyone is doomed to obsolescence a few years after college? Thankfully, the answer is no. The solution is abbreviated mastery. Continue reading →