Focus on Usefulness, Not Validity
About 10 years ago, I developed the Personality Poker® system. Since then, I gathered a mountain of anecdotal evidence supporting its value. But one question remained in my mind: Is Personality Poker truly valid? That is, do the words actually measure what they are supposed to measure? Or is it just a fun game? To help assess […]
What is Your Deep Structure?
The other day I was speaking with a CEO who wanted me to help facilitate a conversation around the crafting of the company’s purpose statement. I asked her, “Why do you want to do this?” She explained that she wanted everyone on her team to fully understand and be aligned behind the purpose of the […]
Beyond the 4-Hour Workweek
The 4-Hour Workweek (by Tim Ferris) is the ultimate book title. Who doesn’t want to work only 4 hours a week?* I was hooked by the title, but disappointed by the premise. In a nutshell, the book suggests that if you work 50 hours a week, you should outsource 46 hours, leaving only 4 hours of […]
SUCCESS Magazine – Innovate or Die
The October issue of SUCCESS Magazine recently hit the news stands. The cover story – Innovate or Die – is 3 pages dedicated my perspectives on how to innovate more effectively. If you get the physical copy (with CD), you will also find a 23 minute audio interview with me and the publisher, Darren Hardy. In […]
3 Steps for Creating Leverage in Your Business
“Work smarter not harder.” This dreadfully overused phrase is meant to address the apparent lack of time, money and resources we experience in our work and personal lives. But how do we translate these words into something actionable? Here are three methods I have used in my business to accomplish this: 1. Focus on what […]
How Goals Kill Luck
Richard Wiseman is the author of many great books, including The Luck Factor. I’ve spoken with Richard on several occasions, and we share a similar perspective: a myopic focus on goals can reduce how lucky someone is. Dan Pink (an endorser of my Goal-Free Living book, and author of A Whole New Mind and Drive), interviewed Richard for Fast Company […]
How to Increase the Probability of Your Success
My next article in the series on success… You can mathematically increase the likelihood of your success when you are not obsessed with specific goals or approaches to achieving those goals. Let me illustrate this with the famous “birthday game.” Here’s the extremely short version… If you have a room of people… for there to […]
Never Trust An Expert
Given my recent articles on success, I felt it was appropriate to dig up an old one (from 2007) which talks about how we never really know what made us successful…. A couple of nights ago, I gave a presentation to a group of eager individuals who are either launching or advancing their speaking careers. During […]
Sliding Doors Failure
In an earlier article, I discussed the Sliding Doors Success model. It is worth noting that there is a corollary to this: The Sliding Doors Failure model. Just as an opportunity can appear that can change your life for the positive (read the Sliding Doors Success article), one event can derail a lifetime of achievement. […]
Turning the Screw
This is the 5th article in a series on alternative paths to success… I was once told a story while working at UPS. At its Louisville, Kentucky, air hub, hundreds of thousands of packages go through the sorter every day. This is a critical operation that is supported by a complex conveyor system. If the […]