Two minute reads
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About time. An easy way to feel in control of your day.
How long should each task take? If you don't know, work will always feel harder than it needs to. I avoided a dull but important admin task recently — there are far more fun things to do in August than fill out a form for your accountant. Until my...
Lessons from Dolly Parton in Working 9 to 5.
Dolly Parton's 1980 movie Working 9 to 5 is a glorious lesson in toxic workplaces and gender inequality (way before these were even a thing). Three women are stuck with a boss who is lazy, controlling and spectacularly good at taking credit for other...
Don’t Waste August
The best careers are built in the quiet moments. How will you show up in September? August gives us something that's in desperately short supply for the rest of the year: space to think. By September, we will be back-to-back again. New projects will be...
Work like you are going on holiday tomorrow
Last week's heatwave, the World Cup, the latest round of distracting political shenanigans, and a packed calendar have all reinforced one simple truth: if you don't decide your priorities, the world will happily decide them for you. I help organisations shift from...
Your productivity problem isn’t time. It’s being too helpful.
What if the reason you are overwhelmed isn’t your workload? What if it is your reputation - for being capable, reliable, helpful, an eager beaver? People come to you all the time, for advice, decisions, reassurance, help, or just news. Many of you are in...
Flogging a dead horse? Are you distracted by other people’s pet projects?
Pet projects are vanity pieces of work that are still pursued long after they have stopped making commercial or strategic sense. These time-wasters drain scarce resources and damage team morale. My job is to help people prioritise, but it's not easy to kill off...
Beware the Mama Bear Manager, when protection goes too far
The stereotypical bad boss is an insensitive bully. Word soon gets round about them. Are they a dying breed? You tell me. Harder to spot is another bad boss, the rescuer, or what I call a Mama Bear Manager. These are good people but weak managers. I coached a...
How leaders set the weather and why being consistent is more important than ever.
Leadership is not a popularity contest, but it is a spectator sport. What you do matters because people are watching you. I was told to never start an article by describing living in VUCA times, for risk of boring readers right from the off. If you didn’t know,...
Not in the mood? How to defeat procrastaffafing
Procrastination isn’t about not doing something. It’s about not starting it. An average colleague who gets things done contributes more than a high potential who sprinkles their attention round like an excited puppy. Most productivity problems stem from the...
A Cheat’s Alternative to Tedious New Year’s Resolutions
Happy New Year. I’m braced for LinkedIn posts drawing cringeworthy parallels between a new habit and career success. ‘The gym is a metaphor for life. It teaches me about overcoming adversity and never giving up.’ These painful posts won’t be around for long...
Avoiding People Problems: the golden rules
Badly Behaved People is a collection of case studies from my coaching practice (composites, obviously), describing people problems, the dark underbelly of business. The dysfunctional relationships I describe in the book were mostly fixed with...
Find pre-holiday focus every day. Stop circling, start deciding.
It’s November and is crazy busy again. Are you on track to achieve your goals? Do you spend most of your time doing what's most important to you? Doing something unimportant well does not make it important. Requiring a lot of time does not make it important...
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