“Couldn’t you be doing something more productive with your time?” This is one of my favorite sayings. It is such a mantra around my house, that my daughter actually wrote one of her college application essays on possessing a “productivity gene” that wouldn’t allow idle hands or an idle mind. If I’m not asking it of […]
NOT APPROACHABLE! It may as well be written on the person’s forehead. First, there’s the lack of acknowledgement when you approach. Then, when finally acknowledged, you’re “greeted” with a sour-looking face, slumped body language, and a mumbled, half-hearted greeting that is given only after you’re forced to prompt it because of the awkward silence while […]
Pretty soon after we’re born, our parents start encouraging us to talk. “Say mama,” or “Say dada,” they cajole, beg and bribe us to speak. We learn from early on that talking gives us a lot of control over situations and others. Therefore, many of us develop some really bad talking-related habits, such as: Stagehogging, […]
There are a lot of things we know we SHOULD do- exercise more, be kinder to people, eat healthier, get a jump start on that project. However, the word SHOULD itself stops us from moving forward. It allows us to put off whatever we say after it. When you say: “I should get started on […]
Do you ever wonder why the person you meet in a job interview somehow disappears right after the interview and their unskilled, sloth-like, Doppelganger-with-an-attitude shows up for the first day of work? One of the answers lies in Behavioral Interview Questions. Sharon Maaz, president of the Association of Business and Professional Women, wondered the same […]
It’s Sunday afternoon and my husband has just fallen off a ladder, out of a tree, and onto the ground. It all started when he went out to trim the trees along our driveway. They’ve gotten pretty tall and the task is more difficult as a result. I offered to help, but he said he […]
This week’s blog post is a guest post about conflict resolution by Rob Pennington, Ph.D. Dr. Rob is an educational psychologist who specializes in helping executives improve team performance through a balance of authority and collaboration. He is also an organizational consulting, executive coach, speaker, and award-winning author. The insights and wisdom he shares represent a […]
Many of us walk through life thinking other people push our buttons. That guy who cuts us off on the freeway makes us mad. The woman who lets her dog poop in our front yard annoys us. The child who says he did his homework, but we find out later that he didn’t, disappoints us. We spend […]
Whether it’s listening talking to someone and assuming that because they say, “uh huh,” that they understand or sending an email and deluding yourself into believing because you received a read notice, that the person actually read your message, none of us can afford to ASSUME that communication has taken place in any situation. We […]
Greetings from Ireland! It’s about 5:25 am here and I’m getting to start my last two full days of my UK/Ireland adventure. Many people asked me to write about the communication differences I’ve seen while here. I wrote a little about that in last week’s Monday Motivation and will likely write more, in-depth pieces in […]
