COMMUNICATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
Now it’s Personal: Ego-Defensive Anger 9/17/2015
The root cause of Ego-Defensive anger and how best to respond
Handle with Care: De-escalating Frustrated Anger 9/3/2015
The lowest rung on the anger ladder is frustration. Here’s how to avoid pushing it to the next level.
Recognize and Respond to the 6 stages of Anger 7/24/2015
Not all anger states are the same. Here is a list and description of each
6 Games People Play when Confronting 7/17/2015
Confrontation Anxiety often causes us to choose one of these 6 disingenuous tactics to start a confrontation.
Confrontation Should Not be an Ambush 5/1/2015
6 Disingenuous confrontation tactics to avoid
Check Your Head Before You Open Your Mouth 04/23/2015
A flawed “Inner Narrative” will poison the outcome of your confrontation, even if you say the right words.
Never Debate with your Dog 2/19/2015
Logical argument reasoning and debate never calms an angry person. It escalates every time.
8 Things that Turn Confrontation into Combat 2/5/2015
Absolutes, Over-generalizations and Labels, etc. Here are 8 flawed ways to open a confrontation
that nearly guarantee a bad outcome.
How to be Brilliant in Conversation (and Barely Say a Word) 1/13/2015
Being regarded as a brilliant conversationalist begins with being a gifted listener. Here’s how.
10 Ways to Detect Deception (part 1) 11/11/2014
The first part of a 2-part series about what to watch for if you think someone may be
being less than honest with you.
10 Ways to Detect Deception (conclusion) 11/18/2014
The second of a 2-part series about what to watch for if you think someone may be
being less than honest with you.
Communication Killers: #1 Judgments 10/1/2014
Judgmental approaches that close the communication pipeline.
Communication Killers: #2 Forcing a Fix 10/07/2014
Sometimes listening to a problem is more important than fixing it.
Communication Killers: #3 Deflecting Concern 10/14/2014
Logic and Reassurance are not always helpful.
Using Paraphrase to Turn Diatribe into Dialogue 09/25/201
The only way to interrupt a rant and be appreciated!
8 Things Never to Say to an Angry Person 09/09/2014
8 common mistakes that make an angry exchange escalate
Fightin’ Words: 6 Things to Avoid During a Confrontation 07/10/2014
6 specific phrases that don’t help, and almost always make things worse.
Make Your Point Without Starting a Fight 07/01/2014
A 4-step strategy for asking someone to change their behavior
The High Price of Always Getting Your Way 06/24/2014
Aggressive behavior can get you what you want…but at a price.
The High Price of Nice 03/20/2014
Choosing to be assertive in your work relationships over either aggressive or submissive
When Praise Backfires 02/04/2014
Not all praise reinforces the behavior you want. Sometimes it makes things worse.
WORKPLACE IMPROVEMENT
The 7 Secrets to Workplace Misery 07/15/2014
This is the first of 8 tongue-in-cheek articles about how to make sure your employees hate you.
Unprofessionalism as a Strategy to Help your Employees Hate You 07/21/2014
2nd in the tongue-in-cheek series “Workplace Misery”
The Power of Stupidity to Generate Contempt 07/28/2014
3rd in the tongue-in-cheek series “Workplace Misery”
Tactical Inconsideration to Help Your People Hate You 08/06/2014
4th in the tongue-in-cheek series “Workplace Misery”
Communication and Social Skills are for Wimps! 08/14/2014
5th in the tongue-in-cheek series “Workplace Misery”
Workplace Head Games 08/21/2014
6th in the tongue-in-cheek series “Workplace Misery”
Unleash Your Inner Narcissist 08/26/2014
7th in the tongue-in-cheek series “Workplace Misery”
“PSYCHO…Therapy” 09/02/2014
8th in the tongue-in-cheek series “Workplace Misery”
SELF-DEVELOPMENT
Million Dollar Camaros 08/05/2015
Observing the advice “Good things are the worst enemies of the best things” will give you the life you want.
The Elephant in the Room: Denial Diminishes Your Life 07/03/2015
Denial is one of the most significant factors in our resistance to act when we should.
Success is the Child of Audacity 06/19/2015
An ambitious vision is often the only thing separating mediocrity from a wild success.
Cope like a Champion 04/16/2015
Develop an Active Coping Style to be happy, successful, influential and well-adjusted.
Learned Helplessness 04/08/2015
Be careful how you explain things to yourself. You could teach yourself to be helpless.
Embrace Your Troll 03/26/2015
Facing our fear is the first step in personal growth.
Why You’ll Never Succeed if You’re Not Willing to Fail 03/13/2015
Multiple failures always pave the path to success.
4 Ways to Check Yourself for a Victimist Mentality 03/06/2015
Victimist thinking paralyzes us. Here’s four questions to check yourself for it.
Your Comfort Zones Could be Killing You 02/27/2015
No personal growth is possible from inside your comfort zone.
The Best Crystal Ball…is a Marshmallow 01/28/2015
The master success trait of all time…the ability to defer gratification
3 Reasons a Victim’s Mentality will Diminish Your Life 01/08/2015
How expecting to be a victim will self-fulfill every time
6 Ways Fear Creates Self-Sabotage 12/16/2014
Most of the day-to-day fears we experience play a role only in holding us back.
Your Ship Doesn’t Dock Here 12/02/2014
Success happens when four things meet at the same time: A dream, hard work, persistence and opportunity.
The Most Important Kind of Courage 11/25/2014
Psychological courage is the common denominator in all personal growth.
Do You Have an Entitlement Mentality? 10/21/2014
Check yourself with these questions…
Driven or Drawn…You Decide 09/22/2014
Driven by fear, or drawn by vision (original inspirational graphic)
Withholding Your Passion for Fear of Disappointment Guarantees a Disappointing Life 09/15/2014
(original inspirational graphic)
Most Failure is Mislabeled Surrender 09/11/2014
(original inspirational graphic)
Only the Weak are Cruel 08/27/2014
In gentleness is true strength (original inspirational graphic)
Check Yourself 08/11/2014
It’s always good to check yourself before you try to fix others. (original inspirational graphic)
Never Wrestle with a Pig 07/07/2014
When a conversation is a competition, the only winning move is not to play.
5 Reasons why an Entitlement Mentality will Diminish Your Life 02/18/2014
You can simmer in cynicism and mediocrity, or you can throw off entitlement mentality and thrive.
Follow Your Dreams…Really?! 01/21/2014
Why “Follow Your Dreams” is really bad advice.
PERSONAL PRODUCTIVITY
Take Control of Interruptions 05/15/2015
Manage your interruptions, don’t let them manage you. Here are some strategies…
Managing the Monkeys! 03/19/2015
Make your people keep their monkeys on their own backs.
5 Things to get Clear on for Great Time Management 02/10/2015
“Time Management” is a myth. The only thing that matters is “Self-management.”
5 Steps to Ending Procrastination 01/22/2015
Some extremely effective self-coaching tips to gain control of persistent procrastination
The 4 Reasons You Procrastinate 12/9/2014
The 4 factors that increase the likelihood that you will procrastinate at a task
4 Ways to Say “NO” When You Need to 10/28/2014
Why we hate to say NO and how to get better at it
Be a High-Achiever, Not a Perfectionist 09/17/2014
Perfectionism and High-Achievement are not usually compatible
“To-Do Lists” that Work 03/13/2014
8 tips to maximize the effectiveness of your list strategy to getting things done.
“Done” Pays Better than “Perfect” 01/28/2014
The pursuit of perfection and the Law of Diminishing Returns