Jeff Davidson's Blog, page 35
July 12, 2014
Rainy Day File
A rainy day file is something to keep in one of your desk drawers or in your filing cabinet to review on a down day. It would include handwritten notes from other people, pictures, memos, jokes, cartoons, or anything else that brightens your day.
The file could also include performance appraisals, evaluations from speeches or presentations you’ve made, or simply your boss’s handwritten words of praise accompanying something that you have submitted.
The file could include love letters, ticket stubs, or program mementos. It might include a lucky medallion, coin, or dollar bill. It could be a flight itinerary, vacation brochure, postcard, or picture from a magazine. Anything and everything that will lift your spirits is fair game.
The file could also include performance appraisals, evaluations from speeches or presentations you’ve made, or simply your boss’s handwritten words of praise accompanying something that you have submitted.
The file could include love letters, ticket stubs, or program mementos. It might include a lucky medallion, coin, or dollar bill. It could be a flight itinerary, vacation brochure, postcard, or picture from a magazine. Anything and everything that will lift your spirits is fair game.
July 8, 2014
Crack the Leadership Code
For many employees, the workplace is a place of silent suffering. We’ve all heard the stories. Bad bosses. Good bosses. Productive bosses. Bosses who run the business into the ground.
So what can you do to become a great leader?,The truth is, leadership can be lonely. Leaders can suffer silently as well. We need a space to reflect and learn impactful strategies to improve our leadership – our employees will thank us and so will the bottom-line. That’s why I’m excited to be a guest speaker along with 20 other leadership experts from around the world in the upcoming summit:
Crack the Leadership Code: Lead with Confidence, Inspire Performance and Make a Difference Hosted by Dr. Michelle Pizer
The 21-day event begins on July 21st, and it is FREE. Click here to reserve your seat. www.cracktheleadershipcode.com
When Dr. Michelle Pizer talks about leadership, she’s talking about a mindset. It’s not just about getting the job done; it’s about how you get it done – with authority, clarity and intention. Every interaction matters. It’s about humanizing the workplace.
As an executive coach and organizational psychologist, Dr. Michelle Pizer knows all about dignity and hope in the workplace. She’s studied it from the employee perspective, and she uses that expansive inside knowledge to give guidance to leaders at all levels in the hierarchy. She knows firsthand that great leaders aren’t born – they’re bred.
Learn PRACTICAL and INSPIRING ways to become a better leader and thrive in your career. Register now for the July 21st launch: www.cracktheleadershipcode.com
July 3, 2014
Marvels of Technology
What a world, a scalpel is now being developed at Vanderbilt University that will actually help doctors to determine if a cell is cancerous or not before cutting into it. This seems impossible, but as it turns out, the way cells reflect light from a laser attached to the scalpel indicates whether they are cancerous or not. This spectacular breakthrough enables doctors to avoid cutting into health tissue, while not leaving malignant tissue behind.
Doctors in Germany are now growing human bone and cartilage by extracting tiny bits of cartilage from a patient’s rib, soaking the parts in a special liquid and then spreading them out over a biodegradable form. The cells begin to grow and assume the shape of the form they have been spread over. The procedure is still in its early stages but has been used successfully in repairing a torn ear lobe and shattered finger joint.
Doctors in Germany are now growing human bone and cartilage by extracting tiny bits of cartilage from a patient’s rib, soaking the parts in a special liquid and then spreading them out over a biodegradable form. The cells begin to grow and assume the shape of the form they have been spread over. The procedure is still in its early stages but has been used successfully in repairing a torn ear lobe and shattered finger joint.
July 2, 2014
Leery of Going on Vacation?
Five years ago this month: "The great American vacation is slipping away. The number of Americans taking off from work for less than a full week at a time has more than doubled since 1990. Fewer and fewer workers are willing to risk a full two weeks away from the job, fearing perhaps that they'll return to find their sales trophy in a box and a stranger in their cubicle. "
"Instead, vacations are reduced to a couple of days tacked on to a long weekend, like a housekeeping addendum to an inter-office memo. Worse, the more senior the employee, the more likely she/he spends some part of that mini-vacation in the death grip of a digital-communications device."
--Francis Wilkinson, The Week Magazine
"Instead, vacations are reduced to a couple of days tacked on to a long weekend, like a housekeeping addendum to an inter-office memo. Worse, the more senior the employee, the more likely she/he spends some part of that mini-vacation in the death grip of a digital-communications device."
--Francis Wilkinson, The Week Magazine
30 Minutes Count
Question: No matter how conscious I am of saving time throughout the day, I still find myself racing the clock. What, if anything, am I doing wrong?
Consider the following: any one-hour activity that you undertake in the course of the day will consume one solid year out of the next 24 years of your life. One hour is to 24 hours as one year is to 24 years. With this realization, consider the cumulative effects of reading junk mail for only 30 minutes a day or spending 15 minutes a day in line at the bank--both of which could be avoided if you used mail, phone, or email services. Obviously there are some things that you couldn't or wouldn't want to give up and it is silly to apply this kind of arithmetic to activities such as personal hygiene. In general, however, each 30 minute segment of the day is valuable!
Consider the following: any one-hour activity that you undertake in the course of the day will consume one solid year out of the next 24 years of your life. One hour is to 24 hours as one year is to 24 years. With this realization, consider the cumulative effects of reading junk mail for only 30 minutes a day or spending 15 minutes a day in line at the bank--both of which could be avoided if you used mail, phone, or email services. Obviously there are some things that you couldn't or wouldn't want to give up and it is silly to apply this kind of arithmetic to activities such as personal hygiene. In general, however, each 30 minute segment of the day is valuable!
June 18, 2014
Ah, Nature
Every time you step into nature, you learn something Jeff Davidson
June 17, 2014
Do you have Breathing Space?
When you don't have, or feel you don't have, an extra moment to read philosophy, history, or science, when great literature, plays, and novels are as foreign to you as hieroglyphics, do you have any chance of seeing your work, career, or life in a new light?
June 12, 2014
Unclutter Your Castle
Take a look around your home. What do you see? More piles, more knickknacks, and more clutter than you can comfortably deal with. Through my experience as a professional speaker and author, I see all around me more people leading increasingly hectic lives while hoping to survive through the day with their sanity intact. One’s home is one’s castle – one’s sanctuary, a place to relax and recuperate after the events of a stressful day.
All too often, though, stress levels only escalate as someone walks through the door and sees the disheveled, disorganized state of his or her abode.
Time to join the growing numbers of people who are taking the time to reassess how they run their lives and are searching for ways to achieve a less-cluttered, more effective lifestyle without sacrificing practicality. This lifestyle is most easily begun in the home, a place most enjoyed and best used when kept relatively simple.
All too often, though, stress levels only escalate as someone walks through the door and sees the disheveled, disorganized state of his or her abode.
Time to join the growing numbers of people who are taking the time to reassess how they run their lives and are searching for ways to achieve a less-cluttered, more effective lifestyle without sacrificing practicality. This lifestyle is most easily begun in the home, a place most enjoyed and best used when kept relatively simple.
June 9, 2014
The Psychic Cost of Procastination
An article years back, titled “Man returns book overdue since 1960,” highlights the high cost of procrastrination. Robert Nuranen of Hancock, Michigan turned in a book that he had borrowed for a ninth-grade assignment. Mr. Nuranen claimed that his mother misplaced the copy of "Prince of Egypt" while cleaning.
Every now and then, the family came across the book, only to set it aside again. (Hardly his mother’s fault.) He found the book again near New Year’s day while going through a box in the attic, looking for something else
"I figured I'd better get it in before we waited another 10 years," he reported. With with a $171.32 check, equal to 47 years' worth of late fees, he proceeded to the library. The librarian said that the library had long ago lost any record of the book, but she said, "I'm going to use it as an example," she said. "It's never too late to return your books."
If only he had read my book, The 60 Second Procrastinator. He might have turned it in a bit earlier!
Every now and then, the family came across the book, only to set it aside again. (Hardly his mother’s fault.) He found the book again near New Year’s day while going through a box in the attic, looking for something else
"I figured I'd better get it in before we waited another 10 years," he reported. With with a $171.32 check, equal to 47 years' worth of late fees, he proceeded to the library. The librarian said that the library had long ago lost any record of the book, but she said, "I'm going to use it as an example," she said. "It's never too late to return your books."
If only he had read my book, The 60 Second Procrastinator. He might have turned it in a bit earlier!
June 3, 2014
To Flourish: Pare Down Breathing Space
My book,
Breathing Space
which has been translated into Japanese, French, Italian, Chinese, Malay, and Spanish, introduces "paring down." It's a means of discarding what does not serve you, what does not support your work, what does not make your home life more pleasant, what gets in the way, or what you've been hanging onto for too long.
Where in your personal or professional life can you pare down? Check the items below that you suspect require attention. Use this list as a starting point, since many areas may not be of concern to you or you may need to add some of your own areas.
Where else can I pare down?:
[ ] Front hall closet
[ ] Kitchen cupboards
[ ] Bedroom closet
[ ] Under kitchen sink
[ ] Den closet
[ ] Under bathroom sink
[ ] Other closet
[ ] Medicine cabinet
[ ] Linen closet
[ ] Attic
[ ] Laundry room
[ ] Basement
[ ] Garage
[ ] Bookshelves
[ ] Back porch
[ ] Other shelves
[ ] File drawers
[ ] DVD collection
[ ] File folders
[ ] Cassette collection
[ ] Hard drive
[ ] CD collection
[ ] Other collection
[ ] Clothing drawers
[ ] Coats
[ ] Shirts, blouses
[ ] Ties, scarves
[ ] Pants, Skirts
[ ] Handbags, pocketbooks
[ ] Footwear
[ ] Briefcases, valises
[ ] Magazines
[ ] Duplicates, triplicates
[ ] Newspapers
[ ] Other piles
[ ] Newsletters
[ ] Other assemblages
[ ] Items I haven't used in years
[ ] Items I've never used
[ ] Items I can donate
[ ] Anything else I can think of!!
Where in your personal or professional life can you pare down? Check the items below that you suspect require attention. Use this list as a starting point, since many areas may not be of concern to you or you may need to add some of your own areas.
Where else can I pare down?:
[ ] Front hall closet
[ ] Kitchen cupboards
[ ] Bedroom closet
[ ] Under kitchen sink
[ ] Den closet
[ ] Under bathroom sink
[ ] Other closet
[ ] Medicine cabinet
[ ] Linen closet
[ ] Attic
[ ] Laundry room
[ ] Basement
[ ] Garage
[ ] Bookshelves
[ ] Back porch
[ ] Other shelves
[ ] File drawers
[ ] DVD collection
[ ] File folders
[ ] Cassette collection
[ ] Hard drive
[ ] CD collection
[ ] Other collection
[ ] Clothing drawers
[ ] Coats
[ ] Shirts, blouses
[ ] Ties, scarves
[ ] Pants, Skirts
[ ] Handbags, pocketbooks
[ ] Footwear
[ ] Briefcases, valises
[ ] Magazines
[ ] Duplicates, triplicates
[ ] Newspapers
[ ] Other piles
[ ] Newsletters
[ ] Other assemblages
[ ] Items I haven't used in years
[ ] Items I've never used
[ ] Items I can donate
[ ] Anything else I can think of!!
