Michael Hyatt's Blog, page 27

Productivity by Enneagram Type (Part 1)

Leaders all want to achieve. But sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. Either we’re too perfectionistic, or too much of a people pleaser, or so much of a conflict avoider that we have trouble getting things done. It’s frustrating and discouraging to fall into the same old traps over and over. 

7 Steps to Take Before You Quit Your Job

How to Pivot with Dignity and Respect

Face it. You will eventually quit your job. It may be this year. It may be next. It may be ten years from now. But it’s inevitable. It’s only a matter of time. The only real question is: How do you pivot (professionally) without burning your bridges?

After all, you may want to come back. I left one company, Thomas Nelson, and eventually returned and became the CEO. You never know. At the very least, you may need a reference.

Unfortunately, many people don’t always end their tenure at a company as well as they began. The key is to begin with the end in mind. As leaders, we should be intentional about everything we do—even quitting.

Let’s start with the outcome we want. You want your employer and fellow employees to celebrate your contributions, grieve your departure, and eagerly welcome you back if ever given the chance.

It’s possible, but only if you handle your departure well.

Before you turn in your resignation—or even begin looking for another job—let me suggest that you consider the following seven actions.

1. Determine to Exit with Dignity and Honor

This is where it starts. How you leave a job says way more about our character than how we start. It’s all about a decision. You really can leave on a good note.

Take the moral high ground. Don’t speak ill of your supervisor, your coworkers, or the company. It will only make you look small and petty.

It’s amazing how negative comments have a way of spreading—and moving up the org chart. It’s a small world. And the industry you are working in is smaller still.

You never know when you may be working for someone you’re working with now. You never know when you may want to come back. Leave the door open. As a CEO, I’ve always paid attention to how people leave. It influences whether I’m willing to write a letter of recommendation or serve as a reference. It makes a difference.

2. Count the Cost of Leaving Your Present Job

Someone once said, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. But sometimes we forget: it still has to be mowed!” How true.

I was talking with a young pastor who was irate with his board. “They just don’t get it,” he said. He was already working on securing a new post.

“Look,” I said after about twenty minutes, “I’m not saying you shouldn’t go. But don’t kid yourself. The same knuckleheaded elders are at that church too. In fact, they’re at every church. Could this be an opportunity for you to grow in your leadership by staying? What would become possible for you in the future if you learn to lead these very kind of people?”

Every job has its pluses and minuses. I’m happier in my work today than I’ve ever been. But I have bad days too.

The key is to be realistic. To me, it’s more important to be going toward something, rather than moving away from something.

3. Give Your Employer a Chance to Address Your Issues

You need to carefully identify what the real issues are. Is the problem your current job, your boss, a coworker, the system, the whole company, what?

If you don’t tell your supervisor, he or she can’t fix it. Who knows what’s possible—a different job description, department, schedule? You might just be surprised at how different your experience can be once your key issues are addressed.

Of course, they might not be able to fix it even if they know what it is. But unless you give them a chance, you’ll never know. If you can’t work it out, then make sure you give your employer ample time to find a replacement and plan for a smooth transition.

4. Honor Your Commitments to Your Current Employer

Whether you have an employment contract or not, you have a “duty of loyalty.” This means that you are expected to provide an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay.

Don’t grow slack in your work or let things fall through the cracks. You want to turn your position over to your successor in tip-top shape. You don’t want your successor saying, “No wonder she left. It’s a miracle she wasn’t fired. She left us with a mess.”

Like it or not, your successor will be the primary steward of your reputation at the company. You want her to say, “Wow! She left some big shoes to fill. If I can do the job half as well as she did, I will be a success!” Or, “She left everything in great shape. The files were well-organized and I knew the status of every project. The transition was seamless.”

5. Don’t Look for Another Job on Company Time or with Company Email

In essence, this is stealing. Your employer is paying you to work for her. Your time—at least during work hours—belongs to her. She provides you with an email account to use for company business. It doesn’t belong to you.

Worse, everything you ever send or receive via company email is retained for years—even if you delete it locally. This includes complaints about your boss or coworkers, discussions with prospective employers (or competitors), fights with your spouse. Everything.

It can come back to bite you. Believe me.

In my previous leadership position, we had an executive who left badly. Someone suggested he had conspired with a competitor prior to leaving. So I had our HR department check the email servers. Sure enough, they found a mountain of evidence, and the discovery had negative consequences for him and, unfortunately, his family.

6. Don’t Share Proprietary Information with Prospective Employers

This should be obvious. It’s a simple matter of honesty. Company data, reports, contacts, and so on are assets of the company.

Using them for your own benefit is no different than stealing physical property. And providing them to a prospective employer is theft.

As an employer myself, I would instantly break off discussions with any prospective employee if they volunteered to give me information from their present employer. They may think they’re enticing me to hire them. What they are really doing is revealing that they have no moral compass whatsoever. These are not the kind of people I want infecting my corporate culture.

Even if you don’t have an employment agreement with the confidentiality provision in it, act as though you do. No one wants a cheat, a tell-all, or a gossip.

7. Don’t Conspire with Others to Leave the Company

In 1986, Robert Wolgemuth and I left the company we both worked for. We ended up starting a new publishing company called Wolgemuth & Hyatt Publishers. We left within weeks of one another, but we did not discuss going into business prior to our departure.

We wanted to be able to say with integrity that we had not left with plans to start something else together. But I have seen others take a different path and usually with disastrous consequences.

You want your current employer rooting for you. You want to be able to use him or her as a reference. If you are any good at your job, your employer will hate losing you. If you attempt to take other employees with you—especially good employees—it will only add insult to injury. More than likely, it will burn a bridge that you may well need later.

Finally, if you are determined to quit, then don’t discuss your decision with other employees until you have discussed it with your supervisor. This is a simple matter of respect. The last thing you want is for him or her to “hear it through the grapevine.”

With a little planning, anyone can make a graceful exit. Life is short. The world is small—and cold. You don’t need to create any unnecessary enemies. You’ve already made an investment in your job. Now make one in your career. Think of the future and keep the end in mind.

How to Delegate for Perfect Results Every Time

To scale yourself, you need to delegate your work to others. But delegating tasks isn’t as easy as it sounds. No matter how hard you try, the results often don’t meet your expectation. It’s frustrating, and it can feel like a waste of time.

What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do

3 Steps to Follow When You're Tired of Feeling Uncertain

Early in my career, I was the marketing director for a book publishing company. Because of my workload and the ongoing pressure to produce results, I felt overwhelmed.

I figured it was only a matter of time before my boss discovered that I was in over my head. This produced uncertainty. I was paralyzed and afraid to act.

Instead, I worried and spent an inordinate amount of time thinking through worst-case scenarios—something I am pretty good at.

I could see this would become a self-fulfilling prophecy. I struggled to move. But the more I focused on the struggle the less traction I seemed to get.

The Advice I Needed

Frustrated, I went to a wise, older colleague and poured out my soul. He listened patiently and then said something I will never forget:

“Mike, just do the next right thing.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“Yep. That’s it,” he replied. “You’re overthinking it. Just do the next right thing. It will be okay.”

That simple concept simultaneously gave me relief and clarity. It’s been decades now, but I have used it time and time again in moments when I have felt overwhelmed and uncertain. How?

3 Steps to Follow

Here are three steps I follow to put it into practice:

Forget about the ultimate outcome. The truth is that I probably have less control over the outcome than I think. I can undoubtedly influence it, but I can’t control it.

Besides, before I ever get to the final destination, many of the variables will change. Projects and deals have a way of unfolding over time. There will be problems—and resources—I can’t see now. That leads to Step 2.

Focus on the next right action. Since worrying about the outcome is unproductive, I try to think about the next actions that will move the project forward. This is far more accessible than something in the distant future.

For example, as an author, I can worry about whether or not my book will become a best-seller, or I can make sure that my marketing plan is complete and I am fully prepped for my upcoming interviews. Which brings us to Step 3.

Do something now! This is key. Something is better than nothing. Too often, we think that we have to have clarity about how it will all turn out. In my experience, I rarely have this.

Clarity involves knowing and doing. When you can’t read a sign you can: think more about what the sign might say; scrunch up your eyes to change your focus; buy high-powered glasses; or ask a friend to read it to you.

But the best and easiest way to get more clarity is just move closer to the sign. Clarity comes when I move toward my destination, making course corrections along the way.

What situation has you feeling overwhelmed and uncertain? Just follow these three steps and do the next right thing.

How to Hire a World-Class Assistant

“Sure, I’d love to have an executive assistant. But I can’t afford one!” You’ve probably said that before. Or maybe you don’t know where to find one. Or you’ve had a bad experience with an assistant and are reluctant to try again. In the meantime, you’re stuck in multitask-mode, essentially doing the work of two people.

There’s got to be a way to find and hire a top-notch executive assistant, doesn’t there?

How to Deliver Wow Experiences

A few years ago, Gail, my daughter Marissa, and I spent three weeks in Italy. It was our first visit. I had high expectations, but I still wasn’t prepared for the warmth of the people or the richness and variety of wine and food. I felt like every day was a new and even better experience than the day before.

The highlight of the trip was our stay in Castello Banfi in Tuscany. 

Everything about Banfi was amazing. Our rooms were luxurious—spacious with exquisite finishes, fine linens, plush towels, and windows opening to Banfi’s vast vineyards. We toured the world-renowned winery, one of Europe’s largest. We sampled several of their wines, including my favorite, the Banfi Brunello di Montalcino.

The highlight of our visit was a cooking class. (I can’t believe I am writing this—a cooking class!) When the girls said they wanted to do it, I rolled my eyes. While I consider myself a foodie, I’ve never really enjoyed cooking—at least not before my experience at Banfi.

We met Chef Domenico Francone at a rustic but beautiful farmhouse next to one of the vineyards. It looked like a picture out of a magazine. We were surprised—and delighted—to discover that he was the head pastry chef at the hotel’s main restaurant. (After our visit, he was promoted to Executive Chef of that same restaurant.)

He was warm, funny, and patient. His English was excellent. He assured us that we were going to have a great time together—and we did.

We cooked a sumptuous four-course meal, including pappa pomodoro with maremma bufalo burrata, tagliatelle with chianina ragout, veal filet with porcini mushrooms, Banfi plums and potatoes, and a chocolate lava cake.

When we finished cooking, we ate our meal together on the shaded porch, while the chef waited on us. He paired each course with a different wine. The entire experience took four-and-a-half hours, and I savored every moment of it. It was truly a wow experience—probably one of my top three of all time.

What Is Wow?

In my book, Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World, I spent the first section of the book talking about wow experiences. It’s something that has always fascinated me. I shared about the importance of creating them and how to engineer them for your prospects and customers. This has become so important to us at Michael Hyatt & Company that Relentless Wow is now one of our eight core values.

Here’s how we define it:

We create interactions, products, services, and experiences that exceed our fans’ and customers’ expectations.

That last word (expectations) is the key. Creating wow is all about exceeding the expectations of your target audience. Let me explain. 

When people encounter you, your company, or your products, they come with a set of expectations. These expectations are informed by their past experiences and, perhaps, their hopes for the future. They are largely unconscious. Nevertheless, they are real and shape their perception of what you have to offer.

If you don’t meet their expectations, they’ll be disappointed. If you fall really short, they might even be angry. This is the main reason we fail to close the sale or retain our customers. People will not do business with companies that disappoint them.


If you meet their expectations, they’ll be satisfied. At one time, customer satisfaction was enough. In fact, that was the goal. But today, that’s not sufficient. According to Microsoft, consumers worldwide had 54 percent higher customer service expectations in a recent year than they did just one year prior. The stakes are getting higher all the time. You must offer more.


Now, if you exceed their expectations, they’ll be wowed. This is the realm of surprise and delight. This is also the kind of experience that creates customer loyalty and referrals. When people experience wow, they can’t help talking about it. 

Relentless wow is why I’ve been a loyal Apple customer for fifteen years. It’s why I’m on my third BMW and intend to buy another one next year. It’s why Gail and I spend a couple of weeks a year vacationing at Blackberry Farm in East Tennessee and will definitely return to Banfi.

Now you might be tempted to argue with my specific product choices. After all, there are less expensive alternatives. Other products may even have more features. But so far, none have created the kind of overall customer experience that these have for me. 

Wow is also great for the bottom line. Current research indicates that 55 percent of customers are willing to pay more for a guaranteed good experience. And 86 percent will pay more for an upgraded experience. And they’ll talk about it. Seventy-two percent of consumers will share their positive experience with six or more people.

If you want more customers and hope to retain the ones you have, you have to get really great at creating wow experiences.

So, How Do You Create Wow?

It is not that difficult to create wow if you have a process for doing so. Here’s my five-step process. By the way, I’m going to use the word product to keep it simple, but this could also be a service.

Step 1. Pick a product: What is the product or service for which you want to create a wow experience?

Step 2: Clarify the outcome: What do you want your customers or prospects to feel as a result of their experience with your product or service?

Step 3: List customer expectations: What specific expectations does your typical prospect or customer have for this product before they encounter you?

Step 4: Understand failure to meet those expectations: What does failing to meet your prospects’ or customers’ expectations look like?

Step 5: Plan to exceed their expectations: What does exceeding your prospects’ or customers’ expectations look like?

Recently, Pete Vargas had me on his podcast, Inside the Green Room. It’s a podcast for speakers and event planners. He had just attended our Focused Leader event in Nashville and, in his own words, was “blown away at the level of excellence” he experienced. He asked, “how do you produce an event like that?”

I started by quoting Oprah, who once said, “Love is in the details”—and it is. When it comes to wow, every detail matters. I then explained how we applied my five-step process to this experience.

Step 1. Pick a product. In this case, it was our Focused Leader conference. (In my book Platform, I give the example of reengineering our office lobby.)

Step 2: Clarify the outcome. We always aim for transformation. Our goal is not merely transferring information. It’s not even facilitating application. No, we want people to experience transformation. Specially, we want people to leave the conference feeling certain they can lead with greater confidence, executing against their most important goals and doing so by actually spending less time working.

Step 3: List customer expectations. At this point, we wrote out a list of the specific expectations people have when they come to a conference like ours. For example:

They expect to be jammed together in seats that are too close together.
They expect to take notes on their laps, probably in their own planner or on a legal pad.
They expect infrequent breaks and bad coffee.
They expect poorly merchandised products at the back of the room.
They expect good, but not great presentations and mediocre slides.
They expect to have to figure out how to apply what they learn on their own.

Step 4: Understand failure. If we met those expectations, no one would have been disappointed. But they certainly wouldn’t have been wowed either. And worse, the likelihood of them going deeper with us in the customer journey would be unlikely.

Step 5: Plan to exceed their expectations. This was the fun part. We considered each of the customer expectations and brainstormed ways to exceed them. For example:

Instead of jamming together the seats, we made sure we had comfortable chairs and gave people plenty of space.
Instead of forcing people to take notes on their laps, we provided classroom style tables. We also provided a beautifully typeset, full-color conference notebook. It was designed to guide them through the learning experience, helping them apply what they learned, and facilitating the transformation we were after.
Instead of infrequent breaks, we provided plenty of “white space,” with breaks every hour. We also mixed up the learning modalities, including lectures, personal exercises, small group discussions, and open Q&A. We also brought in a specialty coffee vendor who provided excellent coffee and a variety of snacks.
Instead of poorly merchandised products at the back of the room, we created a Full Focus Store, which was like a high-end bookstore that was well-lit and well-staffed with people who know our products inside and out.
Instead of good presentations and mediocre slides, we did our best to provide great presentations and professionally designed slides.
Instead of letting our attendees try to figure out how to apply the content, we worked hard to create frameworks, models, exercises, and tools to enable them to internalize what they learned.

Again, this is just one example, I have used this exact same framework to write my books, plan our annual employee retreats, develop our courses, and even design our office. I’ve used it in my personal life too, especially for creating extraordinary experiences for my family.

How Can You Apply It?

So where could you create more wow in your business? How could you take a product or service to the next level and exceed your customers’ expectations? Where could wow make the biggest difference?

And by the way, this framework works for nonprofit organizations too. This includes churches, synagogues, healthcare organizations, and even educational institutions. Each has members, donors, or sponsors. In fact, in some ways, it can be easier in these industries because people often come with very low expectations. If you want to stand out, bake in the wow!

If you’re serious about creating wow, I suggest you schedule a couple of hours with your team and brainstorm the possibilities. Identify one product or service and purpose to take it to the next level. It’s worth the effort, especially if you want to ramp up the growth of your business and leave the competition in the dust.

How to Leverage a World-Class Assistant

Every leader needs an assistant to manage low-leverage tasks so they can focus on driving results. A world-class assistant can easily remove 15 or 20 hours’ work from your plate every week. But many executives aren’t used to the daily rhythm of working with a right-hand person. Others have tried it before and had a bad experience.

You may wonder if really need an assistant—or feel unsure about how to leverage one fully.

3 Reasons You Can’t Stop Working

I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts when the host  confessed he hadn’t taken a vacation in over a year. Admitting that he was on the edge of burnout, he said, “This has to change.”

I immediately thought, Why hasn’t it changed before now? How do you let yourself get into this kind of situation? I admit, I was judgmental.

Then I remembered my own experience. I was reacting a bit like an alcoholic who struggled to get sober,  then forgot what it’s like to be addicted.

When Gail and I were first married, we had the benefit of two incomes. It seemed like we had more money than we knew what to do with. We bought a new house, a new car, and a new motorcycle—all through the miracle of debt. (I’m being facetious, of course.)

Everything was fine until we started having children. Gail chose to be a stay-at-home mom, which I fully supported. Suddenly, we went from two incomes to one. Realizing we needed more money, I took a higher paying, albeit more demanding, job.

My new boss told me he couldn’t meet my salary requirements immediately, but if I did a great job he would give me a raise in 90 days. I was determined to get that raise, so I went all in.

I typically arrived at the office by 6:00 a.m. I made sure I was the first one there. I didn’t leave until 6:00 p.m. Then, after a quick dinner, I parked myself on my recliner and went right back to work. I’d go to bed at 10:00 or 10:30 p.m., then do it all over again.

In addition, I typically worked Saturday mornings. I wasn’t yet an executive, but I wanted to be one. So I imitated the behavior of the executives in the company. They all worked on Saturday mornings. Why? According to them, it was “the only time we have to catch up!”

As if that weren’t bad enough, I took on an additional job in order to meet our financial obligations. I became a weekend preacher for a congregation 81 miles from our home. As a result, I spent Saturday evening and early Sunday morning preparing sermons. We would leave for church at 7:00 a.m. After the service, Gail and I typically had lunch with one of the church families.

By the time we got home, it was usually 5:00 p.m. Did I finally rest? No. I spent Sunday evenings getting ready for the workweek.

It was brutal. I was easily working 80 hours a week, often more. 

The crazy thing was that I eventually got used to it. And, of course, I received lots of social reinforcement at work. My boss praised me for my “amazing work ethic.” He gave me the raise I needed, and I was soon promoted. Slowly but surely, I became addicted to work.

Even after the financial pressure subsided, I made excuses for working so much:

I need to get this project finished. 
I need to earn this next promotion.
I need to compensate for the vacancies in our department.
I need to get this new business launched.
It’s just temporary.

Even when I didn’t have a ready excuse, I could always fall back on this old line: “But I love my work!” In fact I did. It didn’t even feel like work!

Many leaders fall into that trap. One study found that the average CEO works 9.7 hours per weekday, which totals just 48.5 hours per workweek.  You may be thinking, That’s not too bad. It’s probably about what I work.

But consider this: the CEOs also worked 79 percent of weekend days for an average of 3.9 hours per day. And they worked 70 percent of their vacation days for an average of 2.4 hours per day. In all, the study found that CEOs worked an average of 62.5 hours a week. And remember, that’s the average. Many leaders work far more.

We all know this isn’t healthy. As the saying goes,  “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” There is real wisdom in that old proverb. If we don’t occasionally stop to sharpen a blade, it gets dull and requires more effort to achieve the same result. The same is true for us. I detail the research behind this in Chapter 3 of Free to Focus.

So why don’t we take more time off? I have observed, both in my own life and in my clients’,  that three reasons seem to surface.

Reason 1: You Haven’t Set Hard Boundaries

This is one of the hacks that finally provided me with the margin I needed. When I became the CEO of Thomas Nelson in 2005, it was the biggest job I’d ever had. At the time, we were a publicly held company. We were traded on the New York Stock Exchange. I had investors, a board, 650 employees, and thousands of customers to please. I quickly realized I could work all 168 hours in a week and still not get it all done. 

My coach at the time encouraged me to set three hard boundaries: 

Don’t work after 6:00 p.m. 
Don’t work on the weekends.
Don’t work on my vacations.

This forced me to make more efficient use of my work time. Prior to that, I would often get distracted, especially in the afternoons. Then I’d think to myself, If I don’t get this done before I leave the office, I can do it at home after dinner. But my self-imposed 6:00 p.m. work curfew made this impossible. I stayed focused and more easily avoided time-wasters during the day.

Reason 2: You Haven’t Culled Your Calendar and Task List

When you don’t have boundaries, it’s difficult to say no. Sure. Why not? you think. I can always squeeze this in somewhere. But if you set firm boundaries and intend to live by them, as I did, you have to take a machete to your existing lineup of tasks and meetings. As David Allen says, “You can do anything you want; you just can’t do everything you want.”

The truth is that not all tasks are created equal. Some move your goals or most important projects forward. Others don’t. They might need to be done (by someone), but they don’t have a huge impact. This is where the Freedom Compass comes in. If you are not yet familiar with this tool, I cover it in detail in Chapter 2 of Free to Focus.

Picture a two-by-two matrix with two axes: passion and proficiency. Passion is about what you love or enjoy doing. Proficiency is about what you are good at and also what drives the results you were hired to deliver. The intersection of these two axes creates four quadrants or zones. If you rotate it to the right by 45 degrees, you have a compass.

The Desire Zone. This is north on the compass, where your passion and proficiency meet. This is where you add the most value to your organization and where you should focus most of your attention and time. By the way, just because you enjoy this work doesn’t mean it’s easy or without significant challenge.


The Disinterest Zone. This is east on the compass, where you have proficiency but lack passion. Maybe you had passion at one time, but now it’s gone. You’re bored. Often, this zone includes tasks that need to be done. They just don’t need to be done by you.


The Distraction Zone. This is west on the compass, where you have passion but lack proficiency. Unfortunately, this is where we can go to escape the challenge of Desire Zone work. 


The Drudgery Zone. This is south on the compass, where you have neither passion nor proficiency. The key to great job satisfaction and more productivity is to eliminate, automate, or delegate this work to someone else.

The Freedom Compass provides a filter for whittling down your list of tasks and other activities. It also provides a means for evaluating every incoming request for your time and attention.

Reason 3: You Haven’t Cultivated Other Interests

When my friend Doug went through a health crisis, his doctor told him, “You need to take some time off. The stress of constant work is negatively affecting your health. You are not going to get well until you do.”

Doug protested. “But I love my work. It doesn’t feel stressful to me.”

His doctor went on to explain that our brains and our bodies are not designed for constant work. We need breaks. We need to cultivate an intentional rhythm of work and rest. He then asked, “Do you have any hobbies?” Doug had to admit he didn’t. 

This is one of the main reasons high-performing leaders don’t take time off. They simply don’t know what to do with themselves. All they know is work, work, work. Even when they do schedule time off, they usually drift back into work.

They key to avoiding this is to cultivate other interests and schedule time to pursue them. Literally, book appointments for leisure activities on your calendar.

For example, I’ve developed a love for fly fishing. I routinely have my assistant, Jim, book appointments with fishing guides so I get out on the river. This past year, my wife Gail has joined me on several trips and has fallen in love with the sport too. That’s made it even more enjoyable.

Not long ago, I rekindled my interest playing the Native American flute. I bought a couple of new flutes, hired a teacher, and now take weekly lessons. This forces me to schedule practice time in the evenings. I look forward to sitting down and making music every day.

The Proof Is in the Pudding

If you are going to be your most healthy, most focused, most productive self, you have to take more time off. You can’t keep procrastinating. And there’s a bonus: this will help drive your business results. 

Last year I took off 162 days. That equates to taking every weekend off, plus almost 12 full weeks of vacation. These were truly “off stage days” (another concept I discuss in my book Free to Focus). I didn’t do any work. In fact, I didn’t think about work. I didn’t talk about work. I didn’t even read work-related books or listen to work-related podcasts.

But here’s the kicker. Despite the fact that I took so much time off, my business grew by 62 percent. I don’t think that is an accident. I’ve been taking a similar amount of time off for each of the last four years. Yet my business has made the Inc. 5,000 list of America’s fastest growing private companies for each of the last three years.

Taking this time off has made my time at work more productive. And I’m not alone in that. Numerous studies confirm that those who take more time off achieve higher sales and productivity, experience greater happiness, and even get promoted more often.  

You really can achieve more by doing less. The key is to set hard boundaries, cull your tasks and activity list, and cultivate other interests.

Michael Answers Your Questions

Leaders are problem solvers, and that means coming up with the right answers. The problem is that you may have nowhere to ask your own questions. Sometimes you just need a little feedback.

The longer we’re in leadership, the more we’re convinced that asking the right questions is far more important than always having an answer in your hip pocket.

3 Truths to Help You Age Well

Recently, I decided to grow a beard. I had one for a few weeks in my early 30s, but shaved it because it was too prickly and uneven. I decided to give it another go while on vacation a month ago.

Just for the fun of it, I posted a selfie on Instagram and asked people to vote on whether or not I should keep it. Over 60 percent of my followers said, “Yes, keep it.” But the comments were even more interesting.

One person wrote, “Awesome! Love it! You looked young previously, but now . . . you’ve ‘shaved’ 20 more years off! Keep it!” Another wrote, “To be honest, it makes you look older. (Did I just say that? You asked for it.) Also, not a fan of beards at all. I personally like the clean look.”

The Quest for the Fountain of Youth

Whether people said the beard made me look older or younger, they shared a common belief. This idea permeates contemporary culture, namely, that younger is good and older is bad.

Modern culture is obsessed with the pursuit of youthfulness. As a result, we have a multi-billion dollar industry whose primary purpose is to roll back the years and make us appear younger than we really are. Consider, for example, 

Hair coloring to “wash away the gray,”

Skin treatments, botox injections, and even cosmetic surgery to eliminate wrinkles,
Body implants to reverse the effects of aging
,
Exercise programs, protein supplements, and even steroid use to build back our muscle mass and give us the sculpted appearance of a 24-year-old.

When I’m traveling, I occasionally come across someone desperate to hang onto their youth—a man wearing an ill-fitting toupee, a woman who’s had a little too much cosmetic surgery, or a middle-aged person sporting skinny jeans. 

Of course, not all aids of this kind are bad. I use skin lotion and have long touted the importance of exercise. I’m not in favor of aging faster; I’m just unwilling to live in denial. I am getting older—and that’s not a bad thing.

Ancient cultures almost universally esteemed older people. For example, consider these three verses from the Bible:

“Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:32, NIV)
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“The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old” (Proverbs 20:29, NIV)
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“Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness” (Proverbs 16:31, NIV).


According to this ancient wisdom, gray hair is a “splendor.” Rather than something to cover up, it’s something to be embraced, something glorious That’s still true in some places. But it’s the exact opposite of how our culture sees it.

The problem with this quest for eternal youth is that it makes us weaker, both as individuals and as a society. When we disdain aging and the effect that has on us, we feel a constant sense of discontent, failure, and even shame. The more we idolize youth, the more we dislike ourselves. No wonder Americans are the most medicated people on earth!

And as a society, we tend to miss out on the benefit of wisdom that comes with age. When we amplify the voices of youth but refuse to listen to those who are more mature, we lose decades of hard-won experience. 

So how do we reframe aging and make our peace with it? By recalibrating our belief system based on these three truths.

Three Truths About Aging

1. Death is inevitable. For many people, that is a scary thought. Aging is a reminder that they are moving toward the inevitable. Many cope by living in denial. 

Others aren’t quite sure about what happens after death, so they are desperate to prolong human life by any means possible. While I certainly want to live as long as possible, much of the longevity movement is based on the assumption that science will eventually “cure” death. It won’t, and the sooner we accept that fact the sooner we can be content with the aging process.

2. Aging is tolerable. Yes, we can slow the process. We can eat well, take supplements, and get sufficient rest and exercise—and I do. But at best these merely slow the process. We’re still going to age. For nearly all of us, wrinkles and gray hair are inevitable results.

But we don’t have to see this as a bad thing. Every life stage has its advantages. As the Roman philosopher Cicero observed, “Life has a single path and you travel it once. Each stage of life has its own appropriate qualities—weakness in childhood, seriousness in middle age, and maturity in old age. These are fruits that must be harvested in due season.” 

Sure, younger people usually have more energy, strength, and attractiveness. So what? Older people, generally speaking, have more experience, more money, and fewer obligations. Accept whatever life stage you are in gracefully, and enjoy its benefits. 

3. Wisdom is vital. The reason many cultures have esteemed the elderly is that, all things being equal, old age correlates with wisdom. This is the ability to choose a course of action based on knowledge, experience, and reflection. And that makes for a better life—both for us and for our communities.

While aging is inevitable; wisdom is optional. You have to choose it. This requires having the humility to acknowledge mistakes. We all make them, and that’s okay, provided we grow from them.

To do that, we need a disciplined practice of self-reflection. As George Santayana said, “Those who don’t learn from the past are destined to repeat it.” 

For me, daily journaling is the single best way to process my experiences in real time. In ensures that everything is processed, nothing wasted. It gives me a chance to wring the juice out of both the good and bad experiences. As a result, I can honestly say that I’m happier and living better than ever before. 

Reframe Your View

You view of aging matters because it determines whether you will become happier and wiser as you grow old, or be increasingly discontent and dissatisfied with your life. Having higher regard for old age begins by owning our own age. Stop denying it and trying to hide it. If we have wrinkles, awesome. Gray hair? That’s great. 

You get to choose what those things mean. You can listen to our culture and feel shame, or you can embrace them as signs of your increasing value to others.