“Always thinking about better ways to do things … can be frankly annoying to people.”

Unrequested advice feels like criticism.

Soften obsession by competing with yourself. “I’m trying to optimize for me.” Glen Van Peski

'I couldn’t put this down and then when I got to the end, was blown away. What a twist and continued to think about this well after I closed the book.'

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Glen wasn’t thrilled when I used the word obsessed.

Our conversation began, “You seem like a normal guy, but I think you’re obsessed.” Glen Van Peski’s book, “take less. do more,” reflects his drive to do things better.

When I asked, “Are you still counting the coffee beans you…

Before feedback people struggle. After constructive feedback people feel confident.

Constructive feedback is a gift.

Done carelessly it quenches enthusiasm.

Successful feedback sharpens someone’s axe.

16 WAYS TO GIVE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK LIKE A HUMAN…

“Should have” ties you to the past.

“Next time” presses into the future

Marcus Aurelius taught that the way you think about external things is what turns them into problems.

Some see opportunities. Others choose to see problems.

'External things are not the problem. It is your assessment of them.' Mediations 8.47

Critics don’t participate but judge what was done.

If the best you can do is point out failures in others, you’re probably failing yourself.

Participants, on the other hand, offer insightful evaluations that create improvements. They establish platforms that enhance and build…

On September 5, 1970, Dr. Constantin Paul Lent wrote a letter to Vice President Spiro Agnew regarding how to prevent hijackings. He proposed changing cockpit doors.

It would have been harder to fly airliners into buildings if his proposal had been adopted.

No one knows your…

Ingratitude shapes identity.

Ingrates tend toward isolation, anger, and resentment.

Relationships with ingrates are strained because a relationship with someone who doesn’t appreciate you is difficult to sustain.

No one aspires to be an ingrate.

No one admires an ingrate.…

Some leaders ignore systematic preparation because they have fallen in love with being needed.

Solving problems early makes solutions less dramatic.

When problems get big, solutions inflate ego.

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It’s a colossal failure to anticipate when you solve the same problems repeatedly.

You maximize the present when you expect the future.

Lack of anticipation causes frustration to settle in.

How to develop the skill of anticipation.
leadershipfreak.blog/2024/04/25/a-c…

'... Remember that governments create nothing and have nothing to give but what they have first taken away.'

Winston Churchill in the biography, Winston Churchill: Walking with Destiny

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The more you hide the more you lose yourself.

Choose vulnerability over wall-building.

Barriers keep you in, more than they keep others out.

Move conversations from aspiration to action.

Success distills into simple behaviors that produce desired results. Talking about results is easy. Describing behaviors leads to action.

Command and control leaders are blinded by their agenda.

The lea
der as coach notices:

Shifts in energy. What causes energy to go up? What drains?

Positive and negative emotions.

Recurring issues. Patterns signal character. Solving the same problem over and over means people…

Someone said an excuse is the skin of a reason wrapped in a lie.

No excuses. No blaming.

An excuse validates failure and drags incompetence into the present. Everyone who tries fails. Our trouble is we don’t fail enough.

Lack of failure empties life of vitality.

An excuse…

It’s self-centered to take failure personally. “See how I’m struggling.”

You lower yourself when you beat yourself down. Lift yourself and inspire others.

Say three things when you fail.

I’m learning to…. (Remember you are always learning. You have never learned anything.)…

The myth of arrogance is you can succeed on your own.

Take charge of your responsibilities before someone else does. Own it or lose it.

Face the disappointment you cause others. Don’t explain why you’re mediocre. You insult yourself when you trample the people who trust you.