One of the most important things a person can do is stick his or her neck out and seek opportunity.
Just because you deserve a raise, a promotion, or a company car, doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. You have to make it happen. You have to put in the hard work, then go and get what’s yours. If we limit ourselves to what’s given to us, we are at the mercy of other people.
You're supposed to write an essay, but you procrastinate. The treadmill is collecting dust in your basement. You want to learn a language, start a business or change careers, but those ideas go nowhere. Inaction is something we've all experienced. Inaction, more than anything else, is the cause of our failures and our miseries.
Inaction is the biggest cause of our failures and our miseries. If we could consistently do the things we know we should do, we would be more successful, and our lives would be better. Yet w...
Some possible but weak reasons why action is hard:
Talent. But the world is full of brilliant stars that flame out and mediocre minds that build empires.
Preferences can explain our failure to try, but don't explain our inner struggles with inaction.
Capacity for effort. If your capacity for doing things is lower, it does not explain chronic bursts of activity with inevitable crashes in your goals and projects.
Motivation. Some people with the most reason have the hardest time taking action.
Motivation and expectation of success create a feedback loop:
Your motivation to complete a task depends on the value of the reward and your expectation of success.
Your expectation of success depends on your motivation.
If your projects tend to fail, your expectations are low, and motivation fades. If your projects tend to succeed, your expectations go up, and motivation stays strong.
Executive Summary Given that disengaged employees represent 87% of the workforce, chances are you will work with one at some point in your career. You will be more likely to succeed if you develop the skills to channel their lack of motivation into a productive force. First, don't get emotional.
Engagement at work is a sign of employee motivation and resulting productivity. Unfortunately, only about 13% of people globally are engaged at work, and disengaged employees cost the economy $5...
Do not make assumptions about a disengaged employee's performance. While statistically, such employees do underperform, there can be other reasons too.
Do not force an employee to be someone they are not. Everyone cannot be happy and optimistic all the time.
Do not get emotional, and stick to a transactional, formal, work-focused style. Do not expect to win their hearts or influence them by appealing to their emotions.
Do not assign employees tasks beyond their area of expertise.
"It is better to know how to learn than to know." - Dr. Seuss At no point in history were you more capable of teaching yourself anything than today. Picking up new skills has become as easy as firing up Google, doing some research, practicing in the right ways, and pushing yourself through the plateaus.
Self-education is the core skill for the 21st century.
Our ability to respond to changes in the landscape of work and technology will be dictated by how skilled self-educators we are, how well we can take full advantage of the information available to us to grow our skillset.