Mindsets, Management and Meetings

Three recent articles have gotten my attention this month and I want to share them with you. Try to carve out a few minutes to check out each one... WARNING: the titles don't capture the full value and I encourage you to give each one a chance. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and maybe even learn something.

Are You Living in a Scarcity Mindset? I first learned of this concept from Stephen Covey's classic (which was P.S. a game-changer for me), 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. His description says it all: People with the scarcity mentality "see life as only having so much, as though there was only one pie out there. And if someone were only to get one piece of the pie, it would mean less for everybody else. The Scarcity Mentality is the zero-sum paradigm of life." The blog post I'm recommending here does a great job punching up the concept with some pertinent, real-life examples that really make sense in 2018. It also includes some thought-provoking questions for reflection. Don't skip it. (And for fun, watch the clip it includes from The Office. Can't lose!)

Teaching Students to Manage Their Time (applies to grown-ups too!) WOW this one surprised me. Check this opening paragraph: "Many adults don’t know how to manage their time adequately. The endless self-help books about time management, procrastination and work-life balance all point to challenges with organizing a daily routine that includes the assorted obligations of work and relationships." Yup! Guilty as charged. Take a few minutes to read this and see how the author breaks down time management in the most basic way possible and helps anyone think through how to get everything done. Bookmark this one.

Five Ways to Improve Your 1:1 Meetings. One of the reasons I enjoy my work is that no two days are the same, and I get to meet and work with a wide variety of people. However, one constant, regardless of whether I'm talking to people in Chicago, DC, Boise or Bangkok, is that the bulk of my appointments are 1:1. While I think I do best 1:1 rather than in group meetings, I am regularly reminded that I cannot hide behind boring agendas or a blabbermouth co-worker when it's just me and another person looking at each other. How do I keep these meetings fresh? Put your brain on the rinse cycle and see if this article gives some good reminders and tactics.

As we marked the autumnal equinox recently, I will pass along these deep thoughts:

I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and 

have it all to myself, than be

crowded on a velvet cushion.

Henry David Thoreau