When I read Stephen Covey’s classic book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, his “Putting First Things First” habit made a permanent impression. In that chapter, he points out the folly of trying to manage time and says we should be managing ourselves instead. He advises that we look at the roles we have […]
organization, organization tips, schedule, to-do list
There’s a concept in psychology called “The Corrective Emotional Experience.” It refers to an experience you have later in life that “corrects” a bad experience from earlier in life that left you feeling emotionally upset. Typically, those bad experiences involved relationships with people close to us. If we’re still upset about that prior experience, a […]
corrective, erase, eraser, psychology, second chance
When sound engineers are designing and installing a sound system for a movie theatre, they balance all the different pieces of equipment so that a certain spot or area in the movie theatre will be the “sweet spot” – that’s the spot where the sound will be the best. That tends to be about two-thirds […]
balance, sound, sweet spot, theatre
One of my favorite expressions is original in Yiddish – it translates roughly into English as, “With one ass, you can’t dance at two weddings.” Someone told me that a long time ago after I was describing all the things I was trying to accomplish in life. They recognized from what I said that it […]
Stress, stress mangement, stress relief, tips
When I worked in the publishing business, I shared office space with my friend Rich. Every morning, Rich would come in to the office, grab a sheet of paper from the printer, ball it up and shoot it towards a round wastebasket that we had in the office. If the ball went in, he’d say, […]
bad day, good day, power, situation
The excellent book The Chosen by Chaim Potok was turned into a pretty good movie by the same name. It is about an Orthodox father and son who are at odds and involved in an intractable conflict. I don’t want to spoil the movie or the book for you, but there’s a story that’s told […]
broken, fix, relationship, Relationships
Although the Pandemic has separated many employees from one another and from their supervisors/leaders, the need for effective and timely feedback is more important now than ever. With feedback, as with comedy, timing is everything. When you’re giving constructive feedback (including positive feedback, although I’m focusing on constructive criticism below), try to give that feedback […]
Critical feedback, Criticism, Feedback
One of my favorite jokes is about a rabbi who has never been to a boxing match before and his friend, a Catholic priest, offers to take him to one. As they walk into the auditorium, the priest explains the boxing ring, the “corners” for each fighter, and the rules. A fighter steps into the […]
goals, jokes, priest, rabbi, universe
Yogi Berra is famously quoted as having said,” When you come to a fork in the road… take it.” Some people think that’s funny because it may be referring to an actual fork, like a utensil is laying in the road. One explanation of why Berra said that, though, is less about a play on […]
actions, decision-making, Decisions
One of the most common issues that comes up in our coaching programs is time management. More specifically, people feel they don’t have enough of it. They tend to schedule things to get done but feel like the important relationships in their lives aren’t being attended to. Stephen Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly […]
organization, organized, planner, Planning, time management