In my 29 years of working with leaders and managers, I have rarely heard any of them say, “I’m so excited about doing the performance reviews for my team.” They see it as another “elephant” in their schedule. 🐘

Performance reviews ARE important. Some of the benefits include:

Picture this: You’ve had a long day at work and looking forward to a relaxing evening. You start streaming an episode of your favorite series. Two hours later you’re still there, and now you’re frustrated that you didn’t use that time more effectively. It’s not that you wanted to do work tasks or take care of personal stuff... you just wanted more out of that precious time that would renew your body, mind, and soul.

One of the things I hear from so many people is they want to improve their ability to focus. If they just had a distraction free environment, they could get the right things done. Well, I’m writing this from one of those distraction free environments, from one of the booths they have at the airport where you can use it to make video calls and have privacy.

If you’ve followed my work for awhile, you know I am a BIG Seth Godin fan. His ability to pack so much thought into just a few words is incredible.

While reflecting on some of Godin’s older posts, I came across one that really rattled me as I read it. Three Ways To Add Value focuses on three words that can quickly expose how little time we daily dedicate to moving ourselves, our team, or our organization forward by acting on change.

I hold a picture of an event I attended some time ago which holds great meaning to me. The occasion was Frank and Dorcus' diamond wedding anniversary 💎 celebrating an incredible 60 years of marriage! To add to the celebration, Frank was also marking his 80th birthday 🎂 and the event was hosted by their children. Although there is so much to write about Frank and Dorcus's long-lasting marriage, I'd like to focus my comments on Frank, who has become one of my unknowing life coaches.

I’m currently reading the book, Die With Zero, by Bill Perkins. This book is a revolutionary game changer that upend our traditional ideas of retirement, later years in life, and even the choices we make right now. He argues that it isn’t necessary to accumulate wealth or save for retirement; instead, we should focus on creating a life of meaning and purpose. The big idea in the book is that we need to die with as close to zero monies as possible at the end of our life.

I love my old truck. I’ve had it since 1990. The paint is faded, a cheap seat cover hides the years of wear, and the a/c hasn’t worked in years. It has a five speed manual transmission so I get to be a (very) active participant in the whole driving process.

Like my old truck, I believe we have often parked our face-to-face communication skills in favor of…

If you're a plant parent, you know the heartbreak of seeing your once-thriving plant just… kind of sitting there. You remember the early days, when it was shiny and the growth was steady, but now it seems like it's just taking up space. This describes my Fiddle Leaf Fig. After a couple of months, it just stopped thriving. And then the real decline started - it started losing its leaves, and I couldn't help but think it was disengaged or unmotivated to grow.

Ever wonder why you seem to have a tougher time focusing when you have several things going on at once? The scientific/psychological reason is connected with what is known as the Zeigarnik Effect. Merriam Webster’s definition of the term is: The psychological tendency to remember an uncompleted task rather than a completed one.

As I write this blog, I am looking at a row of American Arborvitae Lisa and I planted three years ago. The evergreens have a beautiful pyramid shape and as of today, only three of the 49 we planted have died. I should be happy with my “harvest results”… but I’m not. They aren’t tall enough! And it’s my fault. I violated Harvest Law #2: You harvest the same thing that you plant.

What type of ‘fertilizer’ do you think I need to use to get them moving?”

It was the somewhat sarcastic question from a participant after I finished a recent keynote presentation. They were alluding to my comments about successful leaders having the attitude of a gardener. 🌿

Instagram is the social media platform I use for fun. It's a chance to connect with people on a more personal level. I do post some thoughts related to my work, but it's not the primary reason I spend time there. I enjoy seeing what's going on in the lives of others and celebrating those moments by liking or commenting on their posts or stories.

I love being asked questions that make me think deeply about myself. So I was thrilled when in a recent podcast interview the host said, “What are three choices you make each day that have contributed to your success?” The hard part was limiting it to three. I thought about exercise, my morning quiet time, my daily walk with my wife, and even my choice to do intermittent fasting.

Are you comparing your successes to other peoples and then feeling pressure because you haven't achieved what someone else has achieved?

Well, you're not alone.

In a CNBC article a couple of years ago, it stated that over 61% of Americans had “getting out of debt” as their number one goal. Number 2 was to “max out their retirement accounts,” followed by “negotiating a raise,” and “starting to invest.”

I smiled as I reflected on those goals because the same thing could be said about how people use their time. They want to reduce their sense of overload (debt), plan for the long term (retirement), use their time in more valuable ways (raise), and get a better return on how they use their time (invest).

Quitting. I’ve always been fascinated by the emotion that rises up within me when I hear or say that word. I know part of it comes from my childhood when I quit my first thing… middle school football. I’ll never forget the discomfort I felt when my coach saw me at school after I had not shown up at practice for a couple of days and he asked, “Did you quit football?” I felt like the most worthless person as he nodded his head slowly and frowned at me.

^{If I were to ask you about your best technique to wisely manage your time, you would probably share a routine you follow at work or home. You might start listing tactics like “Do the hardest task early in the day,” or “Only check emails three times a day.” I’d be willing to wager you wouldn’t say, “I manage my emotions well.”}

I’ve been intrigued by the term “quiet quitting” since I first saw it earlier this year, but had never really done a “deep dive” into its origins, causes, or potential solutions. I must admit that I had actually discounted the validity of the idea because it got its initial boost into the mainstream from a Tik Tok post. A Tik Tok post…Really?

To be clear, being busy isn’t a bad thing. Busy, according to Merriam Webster, is defined as engaged in action. We certainly want leaders who have the desire to take action to cast vision, grow their team, and help their organization achieve its goals.

Which scenario sounds more like you?

The Always On. You come home from work (or leave your remote work area), looking forward to some time away, but you continue to check messages throughout the evening. You start the next day feeling like you never really left work at all.