I spend a lot of time trying not to suck. I realize that’s rather blunt.  But it’s true.  Often my biggest motivator is fear of being terrible.  I don’t want to turn in a crummy project to a client because I’m afraid they’ll think I’m an idiot.  I edit, and re-edit (and sometimes re-re-edit) blog posts because I don’t want people to think I’m a lousy* writer.  I’m driven to succeed because I’m afraid of failure.  Afraid of being laughed at. And I bet you are too. Yet the  ...

Does having an empathetic boss improve the quality of your work?  According to research, the answer would be “yes.” We often think of empathy as “feeling your pain.”  (Thanks Bill Clinton!)  But it’s actually more than that.  True empathy is the ability to recognize and relate to other people’s emotional states.  Both the good and bad emotional states. So how does this relate to our work? Well, all of us experience aches and pains in our daily lives.  Maybe we have a chronic illness.  Maybe we’re just sick.  Or maybe ...

Ah, November.  The time when we celebrate what’s arguably the best monthly tradition on the calendar?  It’s hard to believe that as it closes, we once again wrap up another National Novel Writing Month.  (What?  You thought I was going to talk about Thanksgiving?) For the second year in a row I managed to complete a 50,000 word book.  And yes, I did that in a month.  This is both impossibly harder, and wonderfully easier than it sounds.  Make no doubt about it, 50,000 words is a ...

Recently I wrote a column called, “Does Working 9 to 5 Make You Less Productive?”  In it, I said that our 9 to 5 schedule is really a legacy of factory work.  But why is this so bad?  What’s wrong with factory work?  Well, nothing of course.  As long as you work in a factory! The problem is, most of us have long since left the factories (at least in America) to work in “create on demand jobs” (i.e., jobs where you must come up with a ...

Impossible goals are a bad idea.  Why?  Because no one likes the idea of tackling a project which will certainly fail.  That's why very difficult goals have a way of reducing  performance. Not only that, but believing goals are impossible can lead people to take unethical actions.  Students are more likely to cheat on tests where they think they don’t have a chance, and believe no amount of studying would help.  Business people are more likely to use fraud or investment schemes if they think there’s no ...

Life can be overwhelming.  Just ask, well, anyone.  With so many competing commitments how can you ever feel like you’re getting anywhere?  If you’re like me, you can’t.  On any given day I have 3-4 major writing projects that require dedicated time and focus.  I also have research that needs to be read.  Notes that need to be organized and archived.  A house that needs (seemingly constant) repairs.  Volunteering.  Family obligations to my wife and children.  Plus all the side projects I would like to start “some ...

As I type this there is a debate raging in Washington DC on how to fix the budget.  So much effort has been spent by government officials, lawyers, members of the media and bloggers over this one problem.  (And as far as Washington problems go, it’s probably a good one to spend energy on.  Let’s hope that by the time you’re reading this, they have found an answer.) Yet I can’t help but wonder: why does it take so much effort? It’s not just government where this happens.  ...

I was watching MacGyver on Netflix with my wife and I learned two things I never knew before.  The first is that MacGyver heavily influenced my generation.  As a kid of the 1980’s, MacGyver represents a cultural force.  But unlike leg warmers or Big Hair, it was a lasting force.  MacGyver inspired me to want to own my very own chemistry set.  (I later discovered chemistry wasn’t nearly as much fun as it ...

This month we’ve looked at ways to improve productivity.  Today we end that series by taking a look at ways not simply to stop your own procrastination, but what happens when the procrastination comes from our employees, co-workers, or peers.  There are few things more frustrating than laying out a business plan and having it derailed by someone who lacks a sense of urgency. How do you solve a problem like that? One approach might be to rant and rave.  To jump up and down and yell ...

In today’s always connected world, rest often seems like the furthest thing from our minds.  But we just aren’t built to run indefinitely.  We need to take time to rest and recover.  Not only does rest and recovery give us the ability to produce higher quality work, it helps us not be such an emotional drain on our coworkers. People have a limited amount of psychological resources to withstand stress, uncertainty and to produce creative and unique works.  In other words, if you keep going back to the ...