Aubree F.

Many people try to find the perfect productivity system, hoping that it will help them better manage their work and mental health. However, there is no universal productivity system. For example, a remote worker may need a different approach to someone commuting to work.

Everyone should intentionally design a system based on their needs by using existing systems and adding personal touches.

• It has been internalized in us since childhood that we should never give up, and that quitting is bad.
• Many of us are stuck in the wrong jobs and due to this idea of not quitting, we waste a lot of productive years.
• We don’t quit because of a cognitive bias known as the sunk cost fallacy, which basically means we continue to do something that is not helping us, but because we have already invested our time, energy and resources.

Example: We don’t quit reading a half-finished book even if the content is not helping us in any way.

When you are self-aware, you recognize the impressions others are forming about you.

If a manager is tasking someone with a leadership role, you need to be sure your skills and ability are on display effectively, but also ensure that you don't come across as too abrasive. The key to impression management is to be emotionally aware of yourself and your image.

1. Align to your vision. When you're clear about what you want, you're able to describe it in vivid detail and hypothesize how to get it. 
2. Ask questions. Ask yourself what are your vision, goals and resources.
3. Give it some thought. Find a quiet place and reflect. Write in detail your answers from the previous step. Set up a meeting with people from different backgrounds and discuss matters of strategy.
4. Plan. Identify your action items to achieve your short-term and long-term goals. 
5. Diagram. Diagramming, mindmapping, brainstorming, drawing pictures, mocking up graphs and charts… All of these techniques stimulate your creativity and can break you out of the box. 

As we climb up the corporate ladder, there are fewer options available, and a mid-life crisis of the corporate world comes. The reason is that the same skills that got a person hired as a young graduate are not sufficient for a senior job, in spite of the years of experience gained during the course of time.

The way out of this crisis is to be forever employable, a concept that involves continuous learning, sharing and re-purposing of one’s experience, expertise and skillsets to create a brand.

Peter J. Lawrence, whose 1969 bestseller “The Peter Principle” satirically provided many insights on the hows and the whys of incompetents working among us, is now being taken more seriously.

People are promoted to a job they are incapable of doing, based on their previous performance. This makes most employees rise to their level of incompetence.

Louis Pasteur is known as the father of microbiology. He is renowned for developing the germ theory of disease, creating the process of pasteurization, and for changing the way scientists develop vaccines.

Building up strategic partnerships is, for a manager, one sure key to success. According to one of the greatest movies of all time, creating a network is essential to your success as a leader.

Certain companies in the automobile and technological sectors experience a paradigm shift once a while, where once-dominant companies are usurped by the next wave of startups.

First-generation car manufacturers, once considered untouchable were rendered irrelevant by imported cars. Tech companies like IBM and Microsoft, which had a stronghold across the world for two decades, appear to be sidelined by newer players like Google, Amazon, and Apple.

Introverts, people who are relatively submissive, peaceful and reserved, have a belief that they might not be good or enjoy being in top management roles.

Not being an outgoing or social person can be seen by them and others as a behavioral trait which makes them unsuitable for leadership roles.