Treating work like a game, timeboxing and other ways to trick yourself into improved productivity — If you’re reading this article, you’re probably not doing work that challenges you. I’ve been there — moving data from a spreadsheet to a database or transferring text from images into Word. You need to do it. It’s not fun. It’s not something to brag about. …

Understanding a typical vs. an atypical day and being realistic about what you prioritize — Laura Vanderkam, in her great podcast Before Breakfast, talked about a study done asking participants to describe everything that they did yesterday. …

Most people have an operational or personal network but are missing the third — “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together” — African proverb I’m often reminded of the above quote when I think about how to get ahead at work. No matter what you do for work, you likely need a network to succeed…

From someone that doesn’t like networking — Ten years ago, I didn’t like networking. Or rather, I didn’t like it because I’m not good at it. When I moved to the city I currently live in, I met a few people that Scott Gerber and Ryan Paugh call “superconnectors” — these are individuals that seem to know…

Looking at the aggregate and individual when looking at data — In Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath, the authors talk about how to zoom out and zoom in to make better decisions. Here’s how it works. Picking a restaurant Imagine it’s Friday night and you’re trying to pick a restaurant to go out to. So you do what everybody does, you look on…

A story of Roger Martin and the question he asked with Inmet Mining executives to get a strategy meeting back on track — In The Opposable Mind, Roger Martin shares a story of when he was working for the Monitor Group, a consulting firm. One of Monitor’s clients was Toronto-based Inmet Mining, whose executives were debating the fate of Copper Range, a struggling copper mine in the upper peninsula of Michigan. …