“Until you commit your goals to paper, you have intentions that are like seeds without soil” –  Anonymous I hear plenty of people say that goal-setting and planning are unnecessary or limiting. That if they narrow their focus or thoughts to a particular outcome that they might miss out on something better. Or, people say that…

On page 74 on Kevin Cashman’s excellent book, Leadership From The Inside Out, he tells the story of being asked by a Tibetan monk how many days he has to live. After gathering himself, he thought for minute and answered “Six thousand.” The monk replied: “So, if you have 6,000 days, do you want to…

“Huh? What the heck is he talking about?” Excellent question. Allow me to explain: Human beings do some interesting things, some great, some good, some not-so-much. One of the things that we do that falls in the not-so-much category is dissonance resolution. First (an attempt at), a definition; Dissonance Resolution: in relation to people, ideas…

I receive Hugh MacLeod’s blog updates and highly recommend you subscribe as well. One recently got my attention and reminded me of a favorite quote from one of my mentors (Thomas Leonard): “People do what they do because they don’t have anything better to do.” Check out Hugh’s blog post here before reading on. I…

[Going through some folders on my computer today I found some blog posts that I had written (for a blog that didn’t exist . . . ) in 2006, and they’re actually not too bad; this one is from June:] Goals are a bit of a paradox, albeit an easily managed one. Clearly knowing what…

I believe this speaks for itself and have nothing to add; enjoy: The Miracle of Personal Development by Jim Rohn One day my mentor Mr. Shoaff said, “Jim, if you want to be wealthy and happy, learn this lesson well: Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job.” Since that time…

This post focuses on the first competence of Emotional Intelligence*, Emotional Self-awareness (contained within the Self-Awareness Domain): Leaders high in emotional self-awareness are attuned to their inner signals, recognizing how their feelings affect them and their job performance. They are attuned to their guiding values and can often intuit the best course of action, seeing…