One Simple Trick To A Productive Team
Most will agree: employees don’t leave bad jobs.They leave bad managers.The employee of the month program isn’t working.There are only so many “atta boy’s” that can land effectively.Without recognizing the hard work and sacrifices of your team, you alienate them and build resentment.Resentment is not a great emotion for productivity.The weird thing is that it really only takes a minute to make someone on your team feel like what they do matters.And when people feel good about the work they’re doing, they tend to do more of it and they tend to do it better.Go figure.
2 Minute Action:
Look someone in the eye and tell them why what they did was great.Be specific. Tell them exactly what was so great and the difference it makes to your project.
The False Truth That’s Destroying Our Workforce
I've recently heard folks say that it's important to learn for the sake of learning.I'm all for improving ones self through educating, but this always sits funny with me.Learning for learning’s sake of like having lots of food and then throwing it away.It's not what you learn that's important, its what you do with it that makes a difference.If all we had to do was learn more and more, then-as Derek Sivers likes to say- we’d all be billionaires with 6 pack abs.It’s not the learning that matters, it’s the application. Sure, the learning helps, but it’s not the spark that creates the flame.It’s what we DO and BUILD that creates value for others and makes the world a better place—not what we KNOW.
This is NOT what they taught you in school.
School taught you to sit still, follow instructions, and cram for a test.School taught you to learn for the sake of the test—the thing that some adult said was important.
This is why I end every post with a call to action.
Start every day with action. Build the habit of action. Build the physical momentum of taking action on your ideas and fewer and fewer people will remain in your way.Convert your knowledge into action and start to turn the flywheel that brings your dreams closer and closerAct small. Don’t stop.Drip. Drip. Drip.
2 Minute Action:
What is the thing you dread doing today?Commit to doing it first thing, today.It'll just take a second to flip the switch in your brain. I promise.
The Most Common Email Mistake
The alarm goes off.You're out of bed.You go through the motions of a normal morning.You finally make it to your workstation.You log into your computer and then what happens . . .
Most people check their email.
You've probably heard this somewhere before but why would you start your day with someone else's to-do list?In fact, do you know why you get my email at 8 AM EST?So it'll be the first thing at the top of your inbox in the morning.But we trick ourselves into thinking that our email inbox is our to-do list for the day. It's easy, right? It's a list. It's check-off-able. And usually, we can blast through it pretty fast.The only caveat is that it prevents us from starting our day with the really important stuff.
2 Minute Action:
Turn email notifications off from your mobile.You're more likely to finish the stuff that's actually important if you aren't distracted every 11 minutes by someone else's urgency.I'd be honored if you stopped reading my emails in the morning. Go do the important stuff first, then come read this.