If you are dreading your next performance evaluation (for either real or imaginary reasons), then it’s time to start keeping your own scorecard so you can determine exactly where you stand. Your next review doesn’t have to be a nail-biter, and the results should not be a surprise. When you aren’t hyperaware of what you are doing every day, time is lost and your career path can be thrown off course witho...

I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. William Ernest Henley Out of the night that covers me, Black as the pit from pole to pole. I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, A...

No one enjoys a daily commute to a job. If you’re in your car, you’re probably sitting in traffic, wasting time that could be otherwise spent on something productive. If you take public transportation, you are at the mercy of their timetables, the delays, and schedule changes, as well as having to share your space with hundreds of other people. So it’s not surprising that when people decide to make a caree...

More than 700 million days of paid time off go untapped every year by American workers. Stress in your workplace? If you can’t cut it with a knife, you can probably at least see a little of it lurking in the dark corners. It’s a fact: If your employees are doing great work–setting and meeting deadlines, inventing new ways of doing things, and generally killing it in your area of expertise–they are, o...

Do you feel restless? Are you wondering what to do with your life? My research on occupational change, described in Questers Dare to Change Your Job and Life, suggests growing adults experience cycles of discontent every five to ten years with the average cycle occurring every 7.5 years. https://www.amazon.com/Questers-Dare-Change-Your-Life/dp/1508408963 Although we all have our own rhythms of change, we generally pr...

Business is an active, demanding endeavor. Only those who consistently apply themselves succeed. Organizations that thrive require leaders who actively dream, plan, engage, solve, pursue and network. It’s a lot of work, and there’s no finish line. But no one can keep up the pace indefinitely. Every leader experiences profound peaks and valleys, seasons of being on track or feeling lost. Organizations flourish...

Busy periods are inevitable at any job. While stress can be manageable in the short term, if you don’t take steps to keep the pressure under control, it can lead to fatigue and burnout. Burnout refers to a collection of different physical, emotional, and mental reactions that occur in response to prolonged stress and overworking. Signs of burnout include: Physical symptoms such as exhaustion most of the time,...

Regardless of your ideological views or political persuasion, these are turbulent times around the world. I’ve noticed a sense of angst, heightened anxiety, and a palpable change in how people treat each other both personally and professionally. It’s time to get back to what distinguishes us as human beings – treating one another with compassion, dignity, and respect. Even those with whom we disagree t...

Thousands of professionals are stuck in unhappy careers because they have a misguided belief that if they start exploring a new career, they’ll lose everything that matters to them. They worry that they’ll risk losing hard-earned money, status, title, flexibility, their place in their field because of years of experience, and more. It’s fear of loss and of giving up the “security” of their curr...

We live in a world that is changing faster than we as humans can currently internalize. We’re on the cusp of an exponential growth curve leading to a future that we may not even recognize. To succeed, we must develop visionary mindsets. A visionary is someone who thinks about the future or advancements in creative and imaginative ways. Visionaries have strong, original ideas about how things might be different in t...