We all need margin to live productive and fulfilling lives. It helps us perform at our best and be fully present. But what happens when you lack margin at home? Just like at work, we have long to-do lists at home. From laundry to cooking, to cleaning and shuffling kids to activities. Not only can […]
Archive for Margin
How to Create More Margin in Your Personal Life
Every leader needs a full and balanced life to be fully effective. But when you leave work, it can feel like you’re going to your second job—home. Managing a household takes a ton of energy. It can leave you with no gas in the tank for personal interests or actually spending time with your family.
Encore Episode: The High Cost of Overwork
Most people try to get more done by working more hours. Despite working longer days, we get less done. As our level of investment rises, productivity plummets. Until finally, we experience burnout. In this episode, we’re going to talk about productivity, and we’ll expose the fallacy that you can accomplish more by simply working harder. […]
Automation for the People
Why It's Difficult and How to Get It Right
If you want to understand how hard it can be to automate, consider the many attempts to replace cashiers with self-checkout systems. To wit, CVS pharmacies were once lousy with self-checkout systems, which I personally tried to use, many times, to get out the door faster. Almost every time, some loud error sent me to […]
Productivity Investments that Pay for Themselves
How to Achieve More by Doing Less
Most of us try to increase productivity by doing more things faster. As a result, we wind up overloaded and exhausted. Like a hamster on a wheel, we’re playing a game we can’t possibly win. In this episode, we talk about the value of investing in your own margin. I’ll show you how to accomplish […]
End Your Fear of Power Sharing
4 Reasons to Relax That Grip
It started with my first day on the job. I’d just been named senior leader at a growing organization with a generously-sized staff. Yet there were problems, as there are in any institution, and I was determined to solve them. All of them. Right away. Communications was a weak point, so I decided to personally […]
Go Viral, and Stay That Way
3 Ways to Create a Self-Perpetuating System of Growth
The question prodding us to increased productivity is almost never, “How do I fit more work into my day?” That question leads to productivity “hacks,” an exhausting pace of work, and endless to-do lists that never completely get done because there are only so many hours in the day. A better question to ask, instead, […]
The Science of Meditation
Taking Mind and Body to the Next Level
Three years ago I boarded a crowded, somewhat dirty bus and set off for Wat Suan Mokkh, a Thai forest monastery. The grounds featured giant monitor lizards and bats that would fly low at dusk, almost touching you with their wings. Though the bat-filled evenings were a highlight of my trip, they were not my […]
I Love Energy!
Why Productivity-in-a-Bottle Schemes Fail
“Are you tired, run down, listless? Do you poop out at parties? Are you unpopular? The answer to all of your problems are in this little bottle!” This quote, from Lucille Ball on I Love Lucy, is both hilarious and timeless. Her Vitameatavegamin bottle made some pretty large promises that only required an alcohol content of […]
A Recipe for Self-Renewal
6 Ingredients for Increased Energy, Balance and Focus
Time management is about scarcity, because time is fixed. You only have 24 hours in a day, 168 hours in a week, 8,760 hours in a year (tack on an extra 24 for leap years). Until someone invents a time-stretching machine, that’s all we’ve got. The thing that you can actually manage is your energy. […]
The Time-Energy Paradox
Most leaders consider time their most important resource. As a result, they completely ignore the true source of their productivity—their energy! In this episode we discover the Time-Energy Paradox: Time is fixed, but energy flexes. Unless you learn to manage energy, you will unknowingly undercut your productivity. I’ll show you how to match peak energy […]
How the F2F Assessment Changed My Life
(and Boosted My Productivity)
In life and in business, there are a lot of distractions. It can be fun to run down those rabbit trails, but it’s easy to lose track, and hard to get back to doing the most important things for the time that we have. I am a husband and father of 12 children. I am […]