When we think about our careers, we often don’t look beyond the next role or promotion we hope to achieve. Exploration of opportunities involves looking at the roles of others in your company or occasionally pursuing LinkedIn to see what interesting roles may be...
This week, we dove into the concept of clutter. In the mix of my research, I came across a stat from Regina Lark that I can’t stop thinking about. She suggests that the average U.S. household has 300,000 items inside. You count everything down to...
Yesterday, I covered clutter in relationship to “tidy”. Clutter was a collection of things laying around. The assessment is subjective – what looks cluttered or messy to one person might look perfectly fine to another. There are two other dimensions that can add to...
Recently, I went to visit my college student at his apartment. We had fun catching up, running errands, and cleaning his apartment. Well, I had fun cleaning and organizing his apartment….I’m not so sure he enjoyed the process! That leads me to this post. How do...
A few weeks ago, I listened to episode 284 of The Best of Both Worlds where Laura Vanderkam interviewed Dana K. White. Dana is a professional organizer and during the interview she recalled a moment when she realized that the purpose of containers was to contain...
In the notes app on my phone, I came across a quote that had captured my attention and wanted to remember in the future. A little research guided me to Marcus Buckingham and his most recent book “Work + Love”. In an interview about the book, he had made...
We take deep pride in our work. We put our all into the projects we take on and stive to make the work the best it can be. Yet, it’s inevitable that through our career negative reactions and feedback will occur. Work we think is good will get a harsh critique or be...
This or that questions are a great way to learn more about yourself and those around you. I enjoy thinking about these and observing them in my own life. One that has occurred to me is asking others how they would spend an hour of free time. This can be an...
In the blog post on Friday, we discussed how Maya Angelou works to keep her little mind busy so her big mind can be present. Another time the small mind, or portion of the brain that deals with executive function, is preoccupied is when we sleep. Instead of...
This week, we’ve talked a lot about creativity. We covered barriers to creativity, the cluttered mind, identifying your creative type, and the balance of discipline and distraction. The last post of the series will build on the theme of distraction we discussed...
This week we continue to explore creativity and the ways in which we can foster our creative thinking. There seems to be a delicate balance between discipline and discovery. The discipline is to create even during times that ideas aren’t naturally flowing....
As we reviewed in Monday’s post, many people do not think of themselves as creative. The incorrect assumption is that if you aren’t an “artist” or in a “creative job/department”, you aren’t creative. Studies have shown that our creativity peaks when we are under...
A few weeks ago, there was an Everyday Style Guide podcast episode titled “How to Trust your Gut When it Comes to Style” that really connected with me. I appreciated the literal message that Jennifer provided and saw how this concept could be applied to other areas of...
We all have goals. Become a writer. Lose weight. Get a promotion. Be more organized. Improve a relationship with a co-worker. The list is endless. Most goals we set are within reach. Yet, we struggle to make them happen. Why do we self-sabotage...
I’ve spent a lot of time struggling with the fact that personal development tends to fall into the category of “self-help”. Today, I did some research, dug under the surface, and came to some conclusions about the genre. Rooted in HELP The source of my challenge with...
Last week, The Next Big Idea Daily podcast (S4; E1-5) focused on Greg McKeown and his book Effortless. Each day, there was a lesson from the book and then a conversation between Greg and host Michael Kovnat. The week was full of interesting ideas and...
Ten to fifteen years ago, multi-tasking was a part of many conversations on how to be more productive. Making calls while driving. Answering emails while in a meeting. Dealing with text messages while working on a presentation. Watching TV while playing with...
We all have flaws – no escaping it. There is a word in the urban dictionary that we might want to embrace and use more often – flawsomeness. The concept is to embrace your flaws and know that you are awesome with them. Perhaps you are more awesome because of...
With lives that are often overworked and overwhelmed, finding space to “Charge” throughout the day can become a challenge. So, we’ll wrap this week of personal energy posts with five easy ways to charge back up when you are finding yourself in a slump without...
This week, we’ve been focusing on our energy. The self-awareness of our natural tendencies can make us better able to understand situations that will drain us and strategies to recharge. Once we have this personal understanding, we can also begin to have conversations...
Continuing the momentum this week on the topic of personal energy, today I wanted to connect to a Gallup podcast where there was a discussion about getting in “flow” at work. The primary conversation was how to recognize which of your CliftonStrengths are...