Are you trapped in your own body? Sometimes I feel I am.
Is your body listening to you, is it working for you or against you?
Be in peace with your body, get out, get exercise, get yoga whatever works to bring synergy within and without.
Get it working for you rather than feeling trapped.
If you’re a high achiever who feels bogged down by anxiety—worrying about worst-case scenarios, stewing over mistakes, comparing yourself with others—you can take action to overcome this common emotion.
We’re all looking for ways to boost our productivity. The good news is that it’s an achievable goal. Here are a few proven strategies to help you get more done in less time:
Try at least one of these strategies and notice any differences in your productivity.
As a manager, you need to have confidence in your team’s engagement, effort, and performance. How to get the best out of your team? Start by asking yourself these six questions.
Have I been clear about expectations? Without this cue, your team won’t feel a sense of purpose—or be able to strategically organize their time, energy, and resources.
Are those expectations reasonable? If the current goals are unrealistic, you may need to seek out more resources or recalibrate your expectations. You may also need to provide more guidance to help your team achieve its goals.
Could something else be going on? If you notice a dip in someone’s performance, have a direct and kind conversation to find out the cause. Be patient: There may be personal events at play, such as an ailing family member, a breakup, or additional caregiving responsibilities.
Am I in the way? Grant your team the autonomy to realize your vision. Don’t micromanage.
Am I holding everyone to the same standard? Beware unconscious bias. If you’re unsure whether you’re being fair to everyone, talk with a trusted colleague to get their perspective on the situation.
Am I providing good and timely feedback? Reach out and set up a candid conversation as soon as a potential misalignment appears. It’s much better to catch it early, and not let issues fester.
Being a great manager isn’t just about helping individuals reach their full potential—it’s also about leading your team as a unit. Here are the three main coaching approaches that can help your team develop together and achieve collective goals.
No-blame coaching. Treating both success and failure as opportunities to learn will allow your team to become more willing to challenge assumptions, admit when something isn’t working, and pivot from mistakes—which, in turn, enables faster and cheaper failures, and bigger breakthroughs.
Discussion-based coaching. Take a Socratic approach to team discussions, asking great questions and giving your team the space to problem-solve and brainstorm in their own way. With this approach, you’ll gain insight into how well team members understand the work and where additional support may be required.
Problem-based coaching. Treat problems and challenges as opportunities for team development. Rather than stepping in and taking over when a problem arises, encourage your team to work together to solve it—with your availability and support. This approach will lead to accelerated learning, boosted confidence, and collective investment in the work.
Waiting too long to make decisions can slow us down both personally and professionally. Also leads to frustration and lead to missed opportunities. But it can be hard to know whether you should just go ahead and choose or gather more data first.
In these situations, consider two factors:
First, how important is the decision? When it’s of little consequence, pick something and move on. When it’s truly important, reflecting more or gathering additional information is probably a good idea.
Second, how often will that particular decision be made? If it will happen often – maybe it’s about personal choices, the right career option(s), or people related – it may be worth developing a systematic approach. Doing so will take time now, but you’ll save time when the decision comes up again. And if you’re still struggling, give yourself a deadline, which can be a helpful way to constrain your process. (You may not have time to gather more data, for example.)
Once you’ve made the decision, analyze the process you used so that you can improve it next time.
Before a critical presentation, the best thing you can do is rehearse – a lot. That doesn’t mean you need to memorize every line (which will make you sound too rehearsed). Your goal should be to feel confident in what you’re saying while leaving room for spontaneity.
The trick is to spend extra time practicing the beginning and the end of your talk, including your first and last slides. The introduction sets the stage for your message and gives your audience a reason to care. Your conclusion determines which ideas people will walk away with. If you nail these two sections of the talk, you’ll probably do well no matter what happens.
You should also repeatedly practice any sections that have complex or technical content. While you rehearse, consider recording yourself on your phone; play it back to watch for distracting habits (fidgeting, avoiding eye contact) and areas where you seem unsure of yourself. Rehearse those sections a few more times.