Are You Sick Of Your Job? It Shows!
Almost everybody, no matter how smart, ambitious, energetic, etc., grows tired of his or her job at some point. Usually, the feeling passes after a while. Sometimes, it lingers. It’s not much fun to work when you lack passion — and in case you are in any doubt, it’s not…
Setting And Maintaining High Standards of Performance
“The only way to succeed is to make people hate you.” – Josef von Sternberg If you read almost anything in the mainstream media about management or leadership, you’ll see lots of advice about making your employees happy.Listen to their problems and concerns. Create a positive atmosphere. Give them the…
5 Secrets of Good Writing
Below, you’ll find five of what I believe are the most important secrets of good writing. Apply these techniques and tricks to every sentence you write, and I promise you that your words will be more powerful, more persuasive, and easier to understand. RULE 1: DON’T WASTE verbs The verb…
How To Be A Great Houseguest
“Not many sounds in life, and I include all urban and rural sounds, exceed in interest a knock at the door.” – Charles Lamb (“Valentine’s Day,” Essays of Elia, 1823) Travel the world as you will, stay in beautiful places, eat great food, drink fine wine, and amuse yourself with…
Getting Tough With Troublemakers
“If you hit a pony over the nose at the outset of your acquaintance, he may not love you, but he will take a deep interest in your movements ever afterwards.” – Rudyard Kipling (“False Dawn,” Plain Tales from the Hills, 1888) Although KM doesn’t like for me to say…
Taking The 20-Something Factor into Consideration
Every once in a while, some bright young kid I’m mentoring does something really stupid or really shiftless — something so wrong that it causes me to wonder if I’ve made a mistake committing my time to him. This happened yesterday. PSG temporarily closed a profitable operation so he could…
Business 101: When Change is Bad
For as long as I could remember, the direct-mail publishing industry was serviced by a newsletter titled (very smartly) “Who’s Mailing What!” It was written by Denny Hatch, an old pro, and was full of the wise and pithy observations you’d expect from an experienced insider. Recently, it was sold…
Watch Only Good Movies
Whether you are taking the trouble to drive to the theater and wait in line or renting a movie from Blockbuster, you’ll improve your enjoyment of life immeasurably by watching only (or at least mostly) good movies…
Pop Quiz!
It’s that time again — time to see how much you remember of all the fun stuff we’ve been learning. The answers to today’s Pop Quiz will be posted at the end of tomorrow’s message and on “Speak Out” (www.earlytorise.com). Part I: Show Off Your New Language Skills. What do…
Living Rich: Read Only the Best Short Stories
“In anything fit to be called by the name of reading, the process itself should be absorbing and voluptuous; we should gloat over a book, be rapt clean out of ourselves.” – Robert Louis Stevenson (A Gossip on Romance, 1882) If you like to read, read short stories. Why? Because…
How Well Are You Spending Your Time?
Tempus fugit — and the sands of time keep falling. Faster and faster as you age. What you fail to do today, you may never have the chance to do again. How well are you living your life? How much are you putting off? Take a minute today to give…
Is Part Of Your Business Broken?
Jack Welch, GE’s famous CEO and the major media’s business guru of the decade, believes that “facing reality” is one of the most important “rules” of successful leadership. I agree. Many of the most gratifying and rewarding business experiences of my career were born with the recognition that things had…