Jean Moroney
Yes, You Can Put to Bed Old Issues

Yes, You Can Put to Bed Old Issues

In my previous article, I recommended that you have a value orientation toward your past actions even if you made a mistake. If you're feeling bad about something that happened in the past, there is something to learn about it and something to heal. Emotions only...

The Importance of a Value Orientation Toward Past Actions

The Importance of a Value Orientation Toward Past Actions

In my previous article, I argued that you need to motivate all action by reference to values rather than threats. I explained how you justify the goal in terms of values before you act and then stay focused on gaining values while acting. In this article you will see...

How to Maintain a Value Orientation in Action

How to Maintain a Value Orientation in Action

In previous articles on "What is a Value Hierarchy?” and "How Values Form,” I teased readers with the idea that you can strategically reprogram your value hierarchy and I promised to write more on that topic. But first, there is a foundational skill that you need to...

Tame Email with the 2-Minute Rule

Tame Email with the 2-Minute Rule

There is a productivity tool that I've been using faithfully for 20 years that I've never written up: the 2-Minute Rule, which I got from David Allen's book, Getting Things Done.  He explains it in the context of processing a paper inbox: If the next action [on an...

Be More Productive with a 3-Point Plan

Be More Productive with a 3-Point Plan

When you have limited time to get work done, you need to focus your effort and keep it on track. A 3-point plan helps you do that. I mean something specific by a 3-point plan. It is not just a list of three tasks. It is a prioritized, integrated list that captures...

The Pierced-Ears Principle

The Pierced-Ears Principle

Years ago I discovered what I have jokingly decided to call the “Pierced-Ears Principle.” The name comes from the story of what happened after I pierced my ears. First, the background. As I was beginning to do more public speaking, I started working to improve my...

The Undead — Thoughts on Unfinished Projects

The Undead — Thoughts on Unfinished Projects

Years ago, I read a book by a colleague who walked the Camino, a 500-mile trek over the Pyrenees in Spain, ending at the cathedral in Santiago. He reported that the next-to-last day was the hardest. He was tormented by the thought of all the unfinished projects of his...

Making an Action Plan That Shifts Subconscious Programming

Making an Action Plan That Shifts Subconscious Programming

When people think about changing their subconscious premises, they often envision therapy. Therapy is an important tool for understanding and addressing deeply-held conflicts. A therapist can help you identify such conflicts and give you emotional and practical...

Three Levels of Intervention to Get Unstuck

Three Levels of Intervention to Get Unstuck

There are only three basic cognitive obstacles that can stop your thinking in its tracks: blankness, overload, and conflict—or some combination of the three. Level 1 Intervention: The 3-Minute Solution When you first notice you're stuck, try "thinking on paper" for...

The Value of Daily Thought Work

The Value of Daily Thought Work

In the Launch Program and in my Thinking Lab courses on "Developing a Central Purpose" and "Evolving a Scheduling Infrastructure," I advocate doing "daily thought work." This means that you schedule 15-30 minutes every day to "think on paper" about a specific topic,...

How Values Form

How Values Form

In a previous article, I explained that your motivation to act results from the interaction between your present awareness and your value hierarchy. A value hierarchy is a psychological structure consisting of all of your values, interrelated with one another.  Some...

Top Ten Thinking Tactics

Top Ten Thinking Tactics

My list of "Top Ten Thinking Tactics" has evolved over time. Many years ago, I sent out a postcard that listed the top ten thinking tactics as: Think on paper in full sentences. Overloaded? Make a list. Confused? Ask yourself “What DO I know?" Stuck? Complain to...

FAQ: What Is a Value Hierarchy?

FAQ: What Is a Value Hierarchy?

If you want to manage your motivation, you need to understand your own value hierarchy. A value hierarchy is not a list of your top ten values or a bucket list. It is a psychological structure consisting of all of the values you have formed in relation to one another....

Stop Those Circular Conversations in Your Head and Get Some Sleep

Stop Those Circular Conversations in Your Head and Get Some Sleep

Here's a common problem: you wake up at night, working through a difficult conversation you are going to have. You find yourself wide awake, in a loop where you keep trying out the conversation in different ways. Or maybe it's not a conversation, it's a tricky...

How to Be Decisive to Avoid Churn

How to Be Decisive to Avoid Churn

One of the problems of having many projects at once is that there's a tendency to churn — to work a little on one, then a little on another, without making good progress on any. The general solution is to prioritize: to choose one project (or one chunk of a project)...

Five Lessons from Weathering a Storm

Five Lessons from Weathering a Storm

Now that I live in Florida, I pay a lot more attention to hurricane season than I used to. The season started early this year, which put me in mind of the lessons I learned when Superstorm Sandy hit New York City in 2012. At the time, my husband and I were living in...

Why You Might Want to Talk to Your Dog

Why You Might Want to Talk to Your Dog

A while back, I realized I needed something to help reinforce my intentions when I didn't seem to be following through on them. For example, I intended to work on a big project, but I found myself doing some little tasks, or taking a longer break than I really wanted...

How Naming the Emotion Can Tell You Why You’re Going Nowhere

How Naming the Emotion Can Tell You Why You’re Going Nowhere

It happens to all of us. You decide your priority, you sit down to work on the project, and for one reason or another you go nowhere. Maybe you're not doing the work — you're resisting it. Or maybe you're doing it, but slogging along without much to show for your...

The Value of Revisiting “Settled” Issues

The Value of Revisiting “Settled” Issues

Whether you grow or stagnate as you get older depends on how and when you rethink settled issues. An issue is settled when you evaluate it in the full context of your knowledge and conclude it is true or false. Some conclusions get settled for life. Philosophical...

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