Personal Development for Smart People^TM

As I see it, your best long-term outlet for making a meaningful contribution to the world is your career.  Yes, you can contribute by donating money and volunteering on the side, but that’s not as efficient as being able to give through the work you do each day.  Most of the time when I see people overly concerned […]

Here’s a follow-up to yesterday’s Quality and Contribution post. 
Just to quickly review:  The “outrage script” is the mindset that balks at seeing someone spend $10,000 for a hotel room stay.  It’s the mindset that would label this an extravagant or wasteful purchase.  I believe this mindset is a huge mistake.
If the $10K hotel room seems like an […]

I remember reading in one of Donald Trump’s books that he’d buy cheap clothes and shoes because he didn’t think the more expensive ones were worth the money, even though the cost difference was negligible relative to his income.  Then he finally splurged (I think it was on a $2000 pair of shoes), and he was impressed by the difference in […]

A scaffold is a temporary structure that supports tools, materials, and people while erecting or repairing a building.  A similar construct can be used to improve your personal productivity.  Much like wearing braces to reposition crooked teeth, a personal productivity scaffold is something you temporarily insert into your daily routine to help create and establish new habits.  Once those habits are conditioned, […]

Sometimes we procrastinate on projects because we don’t know where to begin.  A goal like “write a book” might seem straightforward enough when first set, but when it’s time to act, the goal becomes this huge, amorphous blob.  Procrastination soon follows.
A popular suggestion is to define the immediate next action that must be taken, and then focus on that.  […]

Erin and I have been discussing putting on workshops or seminars here in Las Vegas, based on material from our web sites.  I’d like to share with you some possibilities and invite your feedback, either via the forums (public), my contact form (private to Steve), or Erin’s contact form (private to Erin).
Why workshops?
While we can share many ideas […]

The article “Iraq Comes Home” includes several first-hand accounts from US soldiers that returned from Iraq.  It offers a perspective that our mainstream media usually filters out.  I encourage you to read it, but be sure to have some tissue nearby.
The article begins with some 2004 statistics (no idea if they’re still current):
According to a […]

Journaling is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to accelerate your personal development.  By getting your thoughts out of your head and putting them down in writing, you gain insights you’d otherwise never see.
Beyond sequential thinking
While your brain is technically capable of processing a great deal of input simultaneously, your conscious thoughts play out […]

Sometimes we face tough decisions that involve one or more unknowns.  We can’t know in advance what the consequences of each alternative will be.  This is especially true of big decisions like quitting a job, entering or exiting a relationship, or moving to a new city.
When faced with such a decision, what do you do?  If you can’t […]

Too often our important-but-not-urgent tasks get put on the back burner… and never make it to the front burner.  When you get busy with urgent tasks, you may feel pressured to finish those first before you can justify doing anything less urgent.  But then when you finally catch a break, you may decide you need […]