It Makes You Think
A tidbit from IdeaBank:
"Of the S&P 500 companies in 1957, only 74 were still on the list in l998. Fast forward to 2020 and do you know what will happen? More than 325 of the S&P 500 companies will be firms we don't know about today. And many of the firms on the list today will have fallen by the wayside. As will many of their employees."
From: Creative Destruction by Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan
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Posted by Nan Russell at 01:34 PM
December 26, 2004TIP #16 Clean Sweep Those Inner Files
If you happen to be working between Christmas and New Years, it's the perfect time to clean out files, delete emails and organize your office. Use this period of relatively quiet downtime to catch up on left-over tasks that never made it to the top of your priority list.
But more importantly, it's a good time to do a clean sweep of what's cluttered on the inside, too ... old patterns, habits, and critical self-talk.
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Posted by Nan Russell at 06:58 PM
December 20, 2004Opinion is Not Fact
I find it both comforting and important to remember:
Decca Recording Company turned down the Beatles because, "We don't like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out."
A Grand Ole Opry manager offered Elvis these words after one performance, "You ain't going no where son. You ought to go back to drivin' a truck."
At ten, Albert Einstein was told by his teacher, "You will never amount to much."
D.H. Lawrence found these words in a rejection letter, "For your own good do not publish this book." The book was Lady Chatterley's Lover.
Rodin failed three times to get into art school.
Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen received 33 rejections before finding a publisher for Chicken Soup For the Soul.
I've learned to keep trying, keep believing, and keep working. I've found one key to winning at working in this Japanese proverb: Fall seven times, stand up eight.
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Posted by Nan Russell at 10:13 PM
December 13, 2004TIP #15: Assess Your Progress
With a new year on the horizon, it's a good time to assess what you've accomplished in the past twelve months from a variety of vantage points: personal, professional, financial, and developmental.
I find it helpful to brainstorm what I've accomplished in the past twelve months so I can look at the list and view my progress. Things evolve slowly at times and unless I take time to see what's changed, I often miss the progress I've made.
Some questions to think about:
1. What am I doing today that I wasn't doing a year ago?
2. What more do I know? In what areas have I grown?
3. Where did I go outside my comfort zone?
4. What skills have I acquired this past year?
5. What do I feel good about?
Take a minute to pat yourself on the back. Then take a few more minutes to write specific goals for 2005.
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Posted by Nan Russell at 02:11 PM
December 07, 2004TIP #14 Learn to Write
There's an interesting article today in the New York Times, What Corporate America Can't Build: A Sentence.
When I first began my career twenty-something years ago, writing skills didn't matter as much. Now with email as the primary communication method, they're critical. Poorly written emails cause more than confusion. They cause unnecessary irritation and misdirected efforts.
Want to be winning at working? Learn to write well. Make your written communications simple, concise and clear.
In today's business world with reliance on email, writing is a critical performance skill. Honing your writing skills will help you differentiate your performance and your results.
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Posted by Nan Russell at 09:31 AM
December 06, 2004Keeping Work in Perspective
What would happen if your work didn't get done today? Really, what would happen?
For most of us, there are no life or death consequences. It's good to keep in mind. And if we were hit by the proverbial beer-truck tomorrow, somehow work would go on.
Perspective. Maybe, it's time to get some. We can make ourselves crazy with the have-to-dos, need-to-dos, and should-dos, especially this time of year.
Philosopher and mathematician, Bertrand Russell, offers this thought:
One of the symptoms of approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's work is terribly important. If I were a medical man, I should prescribe a holiday to any patient who considered his work important.
I think his words are a good reminder to us all!
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Posted by Nan Russell at 04:22 PM
