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3 simple questions to help you decide quickly whether a meeting is worth it and how to make it useful.

I may have mentioned it before, but I have a tendency to procrastinate when I am unsure where to begin. I find that starting is the most difficult task. I find myself doing anything except the task at hand. And with Google, social media, and YouTube being readily available, time can fly by without you noticing.  A piece of work that should have been done in days has taken weeks, and my manager is getting frustrated with the lack of progress. Now the deadline is here, and I pu

Do you ever feel like you have too much work to do? The constant demands from your boss and coworkers, plus the flood of emails you get every day. We can end up feeling like a hamster on a treadmill. We run fast all day, only to collapse on the journey home, when our single thought is, “Where on earth did that day go?”. You see, you started with good intentions. You followed all the helpful advice from the productivity gurus. You planned your day the night before. You identif

Recently we lost a dear uncle. One of my dad’s two remaining brothers. He left behind my cousin, who is having to deal with everything on her own, as she has no partner to share the burden. Suffering from anxiety and grieving the loss of her dad, it is a stressful time. Everyone has an opinion and everyone is telling her what she should do or consider. Things were quickly approaching an overload situation. The feeling of being overwhelmed. The tsunami that you can see rapidly

On a recent long-haul flight, I watched the film "Ford vs Ferrari". To be honest, I'm not a big petrolhead, but I thought I'd give it a go anyway. I am so glad I did. What a film. What I expected to be a slightly boring racing film turned out to be something far more engaging. It’s fast, absorbing, and for me, unexpectedly emotional. At its heart, it’s a story about pride, craft, and what happens when people who know their work collide with people who manage by hierarchy. Set

Let me tell you the story of a farmer in Africa who had a smallholding and spent his life searching for riches while ignoring what was right in front of him. This is one of my favourite, supposedly true-life stories. It had a profound impact on me, and I refer back to it whenever I need to be reminded of the lesson it taught. Now you're probably wondering how this will help you deal with overwhelming emails, bosses, colleagues, and other time-consuming tasks that make you fee

I came into work this morning, opened my email, and there it was. I had been dreading this email. I had heard rumours that it was on its way, and now it had arrived. My heart pounded. I've been asked to lead the quarterly presentation to one of our company's largest clients. It was a fantastic opportunity to shine in front of my company's leadership team, but right now, that was the last thing on my mind. The meeting was in five days, so the pressure was on. I had a tight dea

All the self-help books in the world are summed up in this simple but genius poem. Act on its advice and you will thrive. This is one of my favourite pieces of poetry. I say that as if I am some kind of expert and widely read. To be honest, I have never really got poetry. Yes, we did it at school, but during these lessons I mostly tuned out. It never captured my imagination. “If” is such a simple two-letter word, but somehow the genius of Rudyard Kipling turns this word into

It’s a busy, noisy world we live in today. Our messages are competing with many others. To survive and thrive, you need strong communication skills to land your important messages. So, how do you get someone’s attention, grab it and keep it long enough to land your point? Be that a demand for action or a reaction? Use this easy to remember model to create a memorable presentation or guide a conversation to the conclusion you want. To land your message succinctly and with clar

I can be a great procrastinator. Shocking, I know but you have to be honest with yourself. Upon reflection, I am sure this held me back during the early part of my career. My productivity was low and it seemed to take me an age to do what other people seemed to do quickly. I came to realise that I needed more time to think things through. When I did, it was quality work. That was me. But I came to realise it was more than that. I needed to know where to start. I needed a trus