Life is a beautiful path of stepping-stones — each experience can be linked to the next—much like stepping-stones across a stream. One of the best ways to assure defeat and depression is to approach life with an all-or-nothing attitude. That is, if you don’t get the whole cake — you won’t enjoy the party. Sure, I believe in striving for excellence, but there’s a difference…

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It’s human nature to desire success without effort. But unless you have a big inheritance (or a mask and a gun), that probably won’t happen. The ancient biblical proverb says, “The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” The most successful people put out the most effort. While the old saying “practice makes perfect” may not be literally…

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There may be five, 10, or even 50 different ways to accomplish a task. But there is always only one best way to do anything. Successful people are those rare people who understand that there is always only one best way to do anything. And, it’s those people who find that best way to do something, then repeats that process over and over and over…

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I call it “herd-think”…the tendency to do exactly what everyone else is doing. People fall into “herd-think” for various reasons: 1) They incorrectly assume that others are smarter. 2) They are too lazy to think for themselves. 3) They are afraid to take “the path less traveled.” Suppose I asked you to select a number between one and a 100. Then suppose I told you…

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Successful people tick differently from other people. They see things differently. They process data differently. They approach challenges differently. Here are 3 truths that successful people live by. Success Truth #1: Not Everyone Is Going to Like You—Get Over It! Successful people are true to themselves. They set high standards of performance and integrity. But, they don’t allow others to define them. Most of us…

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How many times have you gone away from a conflict feeling as though nothing beneficial happened? As an executive coach, I’ve found five important reasons why attempts at conflict resolution often fail. 1. Rabbit chasing. The easiest thing to do in a dispute is to get off message and begin chasing rabbits. If two account executives, Ron and Janice, are feuding over how to best…

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QUESTION: What do Microsoft founder Bill Gates; America’s undisputed king of talk radio Rush Limbaugh; and the late Peter Jennings, ABC News chief and anchorman, all have in common? ANSWER: None of them graduated from college. Some of the most successful people I’ve known are not the most academically brilliant people on the planet. Maybe this explains why many great leaders and achievers weren’t particularly…

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Today, I like roller coasters, but it hasn’t always been that way. They used to scare me. When the coaster would speed over the top and drop straight down, I would grab the bar in front of me hanging on for dear life. My knuckles were white, my eyes were closed, and my teeth were clinched. It would be an understatement to say that I…

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The 1950s were a good time for America. We had won the big war. The baby boom was in full swing. America liked Ike. We were feeling our collective oats. But not everything was as it seemed. In fact, we didn’t know that several decades later we’d look back on the 1950s as the Happy Days era. In reality, there was a lot of tension…

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I fly a lot. So, it doesn’t take me long to size up a flight attendant’s mood. This is an important skill because the flight attendant’s mood is a good predictor of how enjoyable the flight will be. Recently I was flying from Chicago to Nashville with an angry flight attendant. As a matter of fact, she bluntly announced, “I’m in a bad mood!”—and she…

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