Friday is usually a good day to reflect on the week.

Today’s thought is about lightening your load a bit.

Sometimes we take on more than we should… to the point that our load is a bit too heavy to carry day-to-day.  When this happens, it is necessary to offload some of our obligations and tasks.

What about you?  Are you carrying too much?

What do you need to give up? (more…)

One of the first leaders I learned from was the Captain of my first ship when I was a young Naval Officer.

One of his catch phrases was,

“Do it right the first time, and do it with class.”

These are powerful words.

Have you ever done a task, but you didn’t give it your full effort?  Or you finished a project and it was not up to standards?

…and then you had to redo it?

Ironically, when this happens it is often a result of cutting corners because we felt we didn’t have enough time.  But, if you didn’t have time to do it right the first time… do you have time to do it again?

(more…)

You are sitting in at your desk.  Perhaps, you are meeting with someone or working on an important project.

Your desk phone rings and you do not answer because you are busy.

What happens next?

10 seconds later, you cell phone rings.  You silence that, too.

Finally, you get a text message, “Are you available?”

Well, no.  That was why I didn’t answer my phone… twice! (more…)

Once upon a time, email was suppose to make the workplace more efficient.

However, at many companies today, email takes up more time than it saves.  It actually reduces company efficiency.

Email misuse (and abuse) can quickly bring a workplace’s productivity to a stand still.

The irony is that most email chaos is self-inflicted… by your own employees.

So, I ask, “Should email skills be a minimum job requirement?” (more…)

Today is an anniversary.  Sort of.

One year ago today was the first blog post I wrote online about TMN.

It wasn’t much.  Just a few quick thoughts.  (You can see it here.)

But, it was the start.  It was action.  And it got me going.

Often we talk about what we can get done today.

But, what could you accomplish in a year? (more…)