Blog
How to Vanquish “Perfect is the Enemy of the Good”
I finally wrote and published my first article on Medium. Please take a look, share it, and/or CLAP!!
Pause. Breathe. Look Around.
Sometimes we need to pause along our journey, just breathe, and look around. Remarkable things to see we may otherwise miss if we only look ahead.
Which Path Should We Follow?
Which path should we follow?The one that others are on, as surely the wisdom of the crowd knows best?Perhaps an alternative, as opportunities abound where nobody else is looking?How about creating our own path, one that does not yet exist?There are no simple, clear,...
Solvitur Ambulando “It is solved by walking”
The notion of Solvitur Ambulando, meaning "it is solved by walking," has been used in many ways over the years. They all involve a form of active reflection, one that does not easily happen without taking some time away from our frantic daily routines and commitments....
Embracing Self-Care through Walking the Camino de Santiago
I just returned from a goal I have been working toward over the past 30 years, that of walking the ancient pilgrim path across the north of Spain known as the Camino de Santiago. Many have traveled what is now the UNESCO World Heritage Site routes of St. James for all...
Attend to Your Own Self-Care
I am working with a colleague who just finished a major milestone in a large work project, and is now dealing with the aftermath, clean-up, feedback, debrief, and preparations for the next steps. As can be expected, she is just burned-out from exhaustion and pressure...
Limitations in “Learn from your experience”
You have likely heard people (including me!) talk about how important it is to learn from our experience. When we experience something, it imprints itself on us in a way that study alone, reading alone, discussing alone, just cannot do. In this way, we who work in...
Does September remind you of new opportunities?
Do you remember when you were younger, and the middle of August arrived with that mixture of excitement for going back to school along with that awful reminder that somebody else was getting ready to spring our new schedules on us?Strange how the passion for learning...
Educational Transactionalism
When we explore the cost of learning, we often find ourselves focusing on the cost in a transactional way. I pay this, and therefore I should get that.Easy peasy, but is that a realistic assessment for how learning works?Is it really that simple, that if I buy this...
How do you navigate the cost of learning?
What sort of world would we have if we could improve ourselves in any way possible, at any time, without any limits? Want to get an MBA? Great, let's start today. Want to figure out how to fix those leadership challenges you face at the office? Fine, do this, and it's...
SMART Goals Prioritize Short-Term Success
Many of us have the experience of creating SMART goals, especially during that once-a-year time when organizations tend to focus upon them. You know, we set our goals for the next year, and while they are often organizationally-focused and based on the context we know...
SMART Goals Assume Contextual Stability
Continuing our exploration of challenges to the notion and practice of SMART Goals, after the one I recently wrote related to the goals being more for my organization than for me, we come to the ever-present conflict that all project managers face. How do we build...
Is the Organizational Focus a SMART Goal Challenge?
Yesterday I invited us to consider if anything seems somehow distancing or not quite right about how we perceive SMART Goals. One way of considering this involves being aware of when our eyes sometimes glaze over or we have an immediate reaction when we hear them used...
Challenges to SMART Goals
I spent 5 days last week exploring SMART Goals, those that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound, and how they can be applied to individual professional development needs. While SMART is not the only goal-setting framework available, it is...
Time-Bound Goals Give us Structure
Today is the fifth and final part of my 5-part SMART Goals series, those that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Basic information exists on what they are and how they are used, yet there are fewer resources for how to write and apply them...
Relevant Goals Matter
Today is part 4 of my 5-part SMART Goals series, those that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Basic information exists on what they are and how they are used, yet there are fewer resources for how to write and apply them to professional...
Actions that Help Us Develop are Achievable
Today is part 3 of my 5-part series on SMART Goals, those that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. While basic information abounds on what they are and how they are used, there are few resources for how to write and apply them as...
Measuring Professional Development Goals
Today is part 2 of my 5-part series on SMART Goals, those that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. While basic information abounds on what they are and how they are used, there are fewer resources for how they can be written and applied,...
Professional Development Goals must be Specific
This week begins a 5-part series on SMART Goals, those that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. While basic information abounds on what they are and how they are used, there are fewer resources for how they can be written and applied,...
You Learned Something This Week. Celebrate It!
Profound or apparent, you learned something this week. Celebrate it. That’s right, you learned. Something new that you did not have on Monday. Or Tuesday, or even yesterday. You now have more, enhanced, complex, or even clearer knowledge, skills, or beliefs than you...
