Posts Categorized: Tools

Happy Birthday, Smiley!

Thirty-five years ago today marks the origin of emoticons and emoji. Since tone is subtle and not always easily transmitted through pure text, Carnegie Mellon University Professor Scott E. Fahlman posted the smiley as a solution to signify humor within messages. On September 19, 1982 at 11:44 AM, he suggested the following on an electronic […]

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Focus on Systems, not Technology

Life Management should be system focused, not technology focused. Let me explain. I had a friend in high school who could never accept his limitations. In fact, anytime we played a game, and he failed to score, he’d make the claim that ‘he was the perfect athlete, just his equipment was bad.’ Of course, no […]

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Personal SWOT Analysis

The SWOT technique is credited to Albert Humphrey and has been utilized mostly by business teams for strategic planning; however, this tool can also be used by individuals for focusing on their personalized goals. Strengths: consider personal attributes which will be helpful for achieving your goals. Weaknesses: consider personal attributes that could constrain your likelihood […]

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Simple Delegation Formula

Delegation is a complex skill to learn, especially for individuals who are experts within their own field. It is sometimes hard to trust others to perform to one’s own high standards; however, this fear can limit everyone within a team, as the failure to delegate prevents people from learning as old roles are never properly […]

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Great Review Questions

I recommend the following three basic questions as a starting point to review the progress (or process) of any long-term project, goal, or dream. 1. What is working well? This is usually the easiest question to answer and I do recommend that listing recent successes at the beginning of any status meeting, performance discussion, or […]

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The Idea Box

Ideas! Everything initially starts with an idea. To really benefit from your mental fruits, it is vital that you systematically record and archive your thoughts. Of course, one excellent way to do this to utilize a daily journal. I do highly recommend journals as a way to capture your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Another method […]

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Analyzing Problems

“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” – Mark Twain I’d like to introduce you to the question toolkit for analyzing problems that I call Two Extremes and the Mean. When considering any major problem, it is useful to consider these three potential end-games. 1) What is the […]

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The Stop List

Many people create a daily task or ‘to do’ list; however, few use another essential tool which I call a Stop List. In many ways, this can be considered a ‘NOT to do’ list. Yet, unlike a task list, you do not need to recreate this document on a daily basis as it focuses on focuses […]

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