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Category Archive: Margin

10 Effective Ways To Help Manage Stress

Posted by on June 11, 2018

We all live with the reality of stress, it has become a part of the culture we live and work in everyday. What we don’t have to do is experience chronic toxic stress that drains all of the margin out of every area of our lives. To learn to live with the normal stress while eliminating the unnecessary is a key issue for every leader and this Forbes Coaches Council post is helpful:

“Little things you do while away from work can reduce stress and have a significant impact on how you do your job. Even better, many of them can be easily incorporated into your day, some of them even before you have breakfast.

So what works? Below, 10 members of Forbes Coaches Council share their best tips to help you keep your stress levels in check, in order to help you and your business grow and thrive. Here is what they recommend:”

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How Long Hours And Less Sleep Impact Our Character

Posted by on May 25, 2018

The quality of my daily decisions comes down many times to how much margin do I have physically, emotionally and spiritually. Its impossible to sustain good character based decisions when you are already looking for a shortcut because you have nothing left to give. This Forbes post will drive home the risk of margin-less living:

“Perpetual deadlines, challenging goals and objectives, urgent deal closures, multitasking, etc. — all have created a frenzied need to perform at super-human levels. The need to outperform by working long hours or pulling all-nighters has become a meme of professions such as finance, medicine, technology, military and shift workers.”

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Defining The Elusive Work-Life Balance

Posted by on May 18, 2018

There is this constant tension between the priorities of learning and living. The first stage of improvement is to learn something new that will help you set new goals. I have reached that point several years ago on this subject but I still find myself having a very hard time consistently living out the practices. This post by Karl Sun was very specific on how to live it out:

“For me personally, I can try to silo work and life all I want, but in order to really build something meaningful, compartmentalizing is borderline impossible. But I recognize everyone doesn’t think or even work like I do. So, what’s important is individually figuring out the best way for work life and personal life to work together.”

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Five Steps To Break Your Social Media Addiction

Posted by on May 9, 2018

This one is very hard for me to get to a good place and stay there. By the nature of my work in leadership development I am constantly searching and reading new content. I use social media to stay connected to some of the people in my network. However, there are times that I realize I am picking up the phone simply because its there, instead of doing something better. This Forbes Coaches Council post was great:

“It’s undeniable that people stare at their phone screens too much. In fact, a Nielsen study found that the average adult spends five and a half hours every week on social media. That’s nearly 12 full days every year. If that doesn’t scare you enough, a lot of us are now addicted to social media.”

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Work Life Integration

Posted by on May 2, 2018

This post by Kathy Lockwood perfectly sums up the critical issue on this subject. The normal work life balance rationale assumes a zero sum dynamic. If we are winning at work then we must be loosing at home. Yes, there is the reality of limited margin but that does not mean we can not use situational leadership to shift roles daily and maintain success:

“I often hear people talk about work-life balance. If we take the word balance literally, it would mean equal, and it would suggest equal time spent at work and in our personal activities. As work becomes less traditional and many offices even become virtual, I believe we are looking at work-life integration rather than balance.”

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Controlling The Negative Noise In Your Life

Posted by on April 25, 2018

I have often said that if technology only helps you do the wrong things faster then it can become a very bad thing. Today we live with powerful micro-computers that can connect us to the world called smart phones. However, I am more concerned that with no boundaries established around content and time spent, I am in reality become more foolish than smart. Seth Godin is a thoughtful writer:

‘You open the door and the vacuum cleaner salesperson comes in, and dumps a bag of trash in your living room. Or a neighbor sneaks in the back door and uses a knife to put gouges on the kitchen table.

Or, through the window, someone starts spraying acid all over your bookshelf… Why are you letting these folks into your house?

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6 Ways To Regain Control Of Your Schedule

Posted by on April 18, 2018

There is not a day that goes by that at least 20% of my time is spent dealing with new inputs or changing priorities. It has forced me to be almost brutal about blocking time and at the same time leaving open spots for the unknown. If I wire it up too tight it only blows up even more. Always looking for help and Avery Blank provided:

“Time is money. It is valuable to your career and well-being. If you want to advance, you have to identify your career priorities and move efficiently towards them. Stop valuing other people’s time more than yours. Here are six ways you can take control of your schedule”

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5 Ways To Counteract Your Smartphone Addiction

Posted by on March 28, 2018

This problem has been a hard one for me to admit. I rationalize like everyone else that its related to work and keeping up with friends. However, when you start trolling all the latest news and watching those cute dog videos for two hours per day, something is desperately wrong. This HBR post helped me reframe the issue:

“We are living in an era of technology obsession and smartphone addiction. I hear it all the time: “I can’t go anywhere without my phone” or “I feel anxious when I’m not able to check email” or “If I’m not on my social feeds, I feel like I’m missing out.” Not surprisingly, research shows that too much technology use diminishes our mental and physical health, our relationships and more.”

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Five Signs You're Running Yourself Into The Ground

Posted by on March 26, 2018

I have this nagging conviction that many days I am simply doing the wrong things faster. My personal productivity far exceeds the development of my personal character. Weekends away from the daily grind feels like catching up instead of slowing down. This Forbes post confirmed a lot for me:

“Time in your workday to protect your time, energy and stress levels. If your calendar is constantly crammed with appointments from the time you wake until the time you turn out the lights, you are on your way to burnout. Working around the clock is not only ineffective, it’s unnecessary. Because we live at such a manic pace, there are five signs you just may be ignoring to protect the most precious asset there is: yourself.”

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The Power Of No

Posted by on March 14, 2018

This idea changed my approach to personal leadership, which eventually changed everything I do and don’t do in life. The concept was first introduced by Stephen Covey in 7 Habits when he demonstrated just because something is urgent does not mean its important. I eventually became very efficient in doing all the wrong things faster. The only way to stop the madness was to identify those major Yes’s in my life. This Forbes post will help:

“Here, though, I will focus on one of the key things I have seen these influential leaders do very well, and it’s something that others struggle with. It may indeed be one of the biggest difference makers in the number of lives an influencer impacts and the results they achieve.”

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