Picking Favorites
Some years ago, I attended a seminar on "The Art of Introspection." The speaker (Psychologist Edwin Locke) encouraged the audience to consciously pick favorites. Wherever you are--in a hotel lobby, at work, watching a movie, reading an article--pick your favorite...
Thinking on Your Feet
I often get asked how to think on your feet. For example, suppose you are in a meeting, and your boss suddenly turns to you and asks for your opinion. How do you come up with a quick answer? You can't stop to "think on paper" in that situation. First, I want to point...
Use a Physical Process to Release Tension
I admit to being a fanatic who looks to thinking as a solution to all problems. I look for a psychological cause for everything that happens to me. And I look for a thinking process to help me deal with everything that happens to me. If I cut my finger, yes, I put on...
Having a Point
There are some skills that people self-identify they need. And there are others that they don't. Many people who have a problem getting to the point don't realize it. But when you talk with them, you see their problem reflected in your own frustration. They say...
The Evening Review
To keep on track with a workload, you need to review your progress daily. I generally recommend taking 15 minutes in the morning to see what you got done, and what you need to do. However, there is a good case to be made to spend a little more time to review in the...
Freewriting
Every tactic is useful only in a context. That includes my favorite general-purpose workhorse, "thinking on paper." Sometimes it is more efficient to think in your head. Sometimes it is more efficient to discuss an issue with someone else. And sometimes it is more...
Reminder Cards
I advocate a lot of simple tools. Here's one for remembering good advice: Make a pack of reminder cards. By reminder cards, I literally mean 3"x5" index cards with handwriting on them. So, for example, over the years, I developed a pack of about 30 blue index cards...
The One Thing Missing from the Advice You’ve Gotten from Me
If you've been reading my blog, or my website, you've read about a lot of processes and procedures you can use to help get your mental wheels turning when you're feeling overloaded, or conflicted, or doubtful, or otherwise not sure what to do. They're great ideas....
Using Analogies for Creative Problem Solving
When you are stuck on a problem and need some new ideas, you can get creative ideas by making analogies to some other field. An analogy is an abstract parallel between two quite different things. For example, you might analogize driving to project management. In both...
Getting Out of the “I Don’t Know” Trap
There are two kinds of "I don't know." One kind is accompanied by a sense of bafflement and annoyance. If you put the feeling into words, it would say, "why would you expect me to know that?" That's how you feel when someone asks, "who's the president of Kyrgzstan?"...
