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Want to Be More Creative? Be More Obvious

January 8, 2010

What’s the first thing people say when it’s time to be creative? “Let’s think outside the box.”  But for those of you who have sat through countless brainstorming sessions, you know that doesn’t always work.  In fact, in many cases, it leads you further away from solving the problem. What should you do instead? Follow [...]

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Why New Year’s Resolutions Suck (But Why You Should Make Them Anyway)

December 28, 2009

Every year, over 100 million Americans make a New Year’s Resolution; only 18% of those people will actually keep it.  If less than 1/5th of the people that make a resolution actually keep them, why even bother coming up with a new goal to start working on the first of year?  We’ll get to that, [...]

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Give Yourself the Gift of Taking a Break

December 21, 2009

The Christmas holiday is just a few days away, and regardless of your religious affiliation, if you live in the United States, you’ll likely have the day off. If that is the case, I ask you to give yourself a gift this holiday season–the gift of taking a break. For 364 days a year, many [...]

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Gifts Coworkers Will Actually Like

December 8, 2009

The Holiday season is upon us here in the United States and that means holiday work events are on the calendar. Whether you’re involved in some sort of gift exchange like a “Secret Santa” or just want to show a coworker some appreciation, picking the right gift can be a pain. To ease the process [...]

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Productivity Questions to Improve Personal Effectiveness

December 1, 2009

Want to be more productive?  Answer these productivity questions and learn what makes you productive. To get started, here are some questions Peter F. Drucker hints at in The Effective Executive (page 96), plus a few that have helped me: Do you work better in the morning or at night? Do you need to make [...]

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The Value of Writing Well

November 18, 2009

Despite being in 3-4 meetings per day at work, my company is driven by the written word–it drives accountability, clarity and decisions.  One VP at my company lists writing as one of the most important skills new employees must master in order to be successful. But why is writing well so important? It makes you [...]

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Stop and Smell the $%*&! Roses

November 12, 2009

Roses are red, Violets are blue, But you wouldn’t know, ‘Cuz you have too much to do. When you die, it’s not going to matter how much you were able to get done in a day–the 16-hours you spend working each day doesn’t get you any extra credit. What will matter? The relationships you developed, [...]

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12 Inspirational Lyrics from Hip-Hop

November 4, 2009

When it comes to music, hip-hop gets a bad rap (pun intended).  The stereotype is that all rap songs are about money, drugs, and/or women.  And while that’s true for a lot of the songs that make it to the radio and the clubs, there are a number songs that can be inspiring and motivating. [...]

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90% of What You Write is Crap

October 28, 2009

In the world of comedy, the general consensus is that 90% of what you write will not be good enough. Whether you are a new comedian writing stand-up, a writer creating a Letterman Top 10 list or a Best-Selling author penning short stories, you’ll typically only use 10% of what you write. The same applies [...]

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You Don’t Have to Be Hilarious, Just Be Good Enough

October 21, 2009

Growing up, I used to be a perfectionist–I would make sure that every ‘t’ was crossed, every ‘i’ was dotted, and that my handwriting all slanted the same way. As I started doing comedy, I realized it wasn’t necessary or, in most cases, even possible.  You’ll never know for sure that you have the “perfect” [...]

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