As the ones responsible for developing business, we are faced with a dizzying array of choices for networking. Its not infrequent that I’m asked: “Should I go to this event?” “Where should I be going to meet people?” Here’s good old kitchen table wisdom from my mother who is a pioneering entrepreneur in the travel industry (I am very proud of her!) Whenever I try to make a decision, still to this day she says: “Did you...

70% of North Americans report that they procrastinate. And 20%, or 1 in 5 of you are a chronic procrastinator. Are you one of them? What is something you are procrastinating on today?Usually when we think about someone who procrastinates, we get an image in our head of someone who is “lazy”sitting in front of the TV with a beer, or surfing the Internet all day long. For sure if you have such a negative image of yourself, yo...

Salary.com does a survey every year of time wasting in the workplace. The 2008 report revealed that 75% of employees engage in time wasting behaviors, and half of those surveyed stated that they waste time dealing with office politics.The faces of politics are many. It might take the form of someone holding onto turf by “throwing you under the boss”, a boss who doesn’t “get you” or promote you, or colleagues or bosses who d...

What is stress? You would probably answer that with a long list of things that businesspeople face these days:Rushing to pick your child up at school as you race out of a sales meeting, dealing with a spouse who is ‘on edge’ or ‘down in the dumps’, too many items on your list and not enough time (and then feeling guilty), etc .“Technically”, that is not what stress is. Stress is what you experience when the demands of th...

What happens when you know you have to do something but you just ‘don’t feel like it’ right now?Its 85° and Sunny. Business might be looking up but you are still up against a lot of resistance. When it comes time to send that email, write that proposal, make those follow up calls, etc. do you ‘feel like’ doing it? If you don’t, you probably won’t. Procrastination.I am putting together a program for the American Management A...

You may find that you have to give ‘bad’ news in these times. It may be to an employee, a client, a contractor, a family member, etc.If you have a tendency to put it off it is because it makes you feel uncomfortable (another deeper reason you might put it off is because having that difficult conversation activates for you a deeper concern about it having been your fault). If you have been putting it off because you don’t kn...

Considering having your own company and being your own boss? It’s the biggest trend in business today!I have been working with a number of corporate employees who left the structure of the corporate world and struck out on their own. You leave behind the perks of the position: the administrative support, the title, the regular paycheck, etc. in favor of the freedom to be your own boss, to do things the way YOU think they...

Trap #1: “But how will I pay my mortgage?”This is the trap of your comfort zone.The longer you stay in your current career situation, the more you burrow into your comfort zone. Each day that you don’t make a commitment to making your next step, you will make more contacts to succeed at your current job, you will have more reinforcement that you are “good at what you do” and should stay, and you will become more used to the...