1: Jennifer’s father was ill.
“The two things that he could do to improve his physical condition most significantly are to eat better and exercise,” she tells Jeremie Kubicek and Steve Cockram, who write in their book The 5 Gears: How to Be Present and Productive When There is Never Enough Time.
And, “the two things he refuses to do are eat better and exercise,” she says.
Jennifer … continue reading

1: The year was 1975.

Psychologists Edwin Locke and Gary Latham measured how fast forty-five of the fastest typists at a large company were able to generate text.

“The typists knew they were among the best in the company, but they had never measured how quickly they typed,” Charles Duhigg writes in Smarter Faster Better.

On average, each typist generated ninety-five lines of output per hour, setting a clear … continue reading

1: Why pay attention to the stories you are telling yourself?

And why devote the time, effort, and energy to change these stories?

It’s not going to be easy, Crucial Conversations authors Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler, and Emily Gregory warn us.

There are two reasons you may want to change the stories you are telling yourself:

Reason #1: Bad results.

Maybe you … continue reading

1: It was November of 1988, and Terry Looper was on his way to Las Vegas.

Terry owned 10 percent of the company that was about to be sold.

“Once the papers were signed, I should’ve been on top of the world,” he writes in his book Sacred Pace: Four Steps to Hearing God and Aligning Yourself With His Will.

“I was not just a millionaire as I’d always … continue reading

1: You are stuck.

“If only your prospects knew as much about your company and its solutions as you do, they would buy from you, right?” Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer write in their powerful book Conversations That Win the Complex Sale.

Not so fast, the authors suggest.

Erik and Tim emphasize the importance of finding your unique story and point of view as a salesperson. This is essential … continue reading

1: How do you personally respond when adversity strikes?

Do you see adversity as a challenge you can meet, or as a threat that could overwhelm you?

Your perspective on adversity significantly impacts your life.

Good news: There’s a proven way to shift from threat to challenge. Read on to learn how.

“In a threat mindset, you focus on the potential for risk, danger, harm, or loss,” Jane McGonigal writes … continue reading

1: Ready for an interesting fact about games?

When we play them, we almost never feel hopeless.

“It’s true,” Jane McGonigal writes in her book SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully.

“Psychologists have studied the top emotions during game play, and genuine anxiety and pessimism are extremely rare,” Jane notes. “Even when we’re losing or struggling, we’re vastly more likely to feel determined and optimistic than panicked or powerless.”… continue reading

1: “There’s wind and then there’s a typhoon, there are waves and then there’s a tsunami,” Andy Grove writes in Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company.

The same is true in business.

“There are competitive forces and then there are supercompetitive forces,” he notes.

Andy calls it a “10X” change.

2: Harvard Professor Michael Porter identified the various forces that determine … continue reading

1: “We managers like to talk about change, so much that embracing change has become a cliché of management,” Andy Grove writes in Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company.

But not all changes are the same.

What Andy calls “a strategic inflection point is not just any change,” he notes. “It compares to change the way Class VI rapids on a … continue reading

1: Then Intel CEO Andy Grove was sitting in a conference room with other members of the Intel team.

The topic? “Evaluations of a certain highly touted new software from a company whose other products we already use,” Andy writes in his legendary business book, Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company.

Intel’s head of Information Technology shared the challenges her team … continue reading