Category: Personal Development

If you don’t consciously watch out for ego, it can damage your relationships at work by coming across as arrogant, selfish, condescending, snobbish and superior. Considering your own ideas, thoughts and opinions as important while holding others in contempt, showing impatience or disrespect through eye-rolling, smirking or sighing or invalidating other people’s feelings, brushing off their suggestions or changing the subject to deflect attention away from an uncomfortable topic are some of the ways in which you may act when your ego feels threatened.

Personal Development / Productivity

The Subtle Ways In Which Ego Shows Up at Work

You may not realize it, but your ego plays out in many different ways. It quietly seeps into the decisions you make, the way you communicate and how you present yourself. It often shows up as defensiveness, insecurity, control and the need to protect image. When your goal is to raise your self-esteem, prove to others that you’re smart, intelligent and capable or projecting an image of strength matters to you, your ego gets involved in everything you say and do. If you don’t consciously watch out for ego, it can damage your relationships at work by coming across as arrogant, selfish, condescending, snobbish and superior.

Career slump is not a total failure on your part. Whether you’ve outgrown your current position, prolonged stress has depleted your energy or there’s lack of alignment between goals and opportunities, you can get out of the rut by recognizing the signs, understanding the root cause and identifying what needs to change.

Personal Development / Productivity

9 Signs You’re Stagnating at Work

Most career stagnations don’t announce themselves with a bang. The shift is subtle at first—you may not even notice the change in your work habits and routines that keeps you running on autopilot without forward momentum. You may ignore the signs that point to a sense of dissatisfaction and unfulfilment. You may still go about meeting your daily expectations, but there’s no excitement or a sense of accomplishment. You may feel unmotivated, unchallenged and disconnected. Work that was exciting at first now feels repetitive and draining. All your high aspirations, dreams and the desire to do something big seem like a thing of the past. Instead of getting close to the finish line, you seem to be moving further and further away. You feel stuck. You feel restless. You may believe that you have lost your spark.

The stronger are your work relationships, the easier it is to connect, collaborate and achieve goals. Relationships, built up over time, is the essential ingredient to be influential at work. People are more likely to engage with you when they feel a positive connection built using shared values, trust and mutual respect. Real relationships amplify your influence in meetings and decision-making processes.

Leadership / Personal Development

How to Build Real Relationships at Work

When you work with someone who doesn’t get you, there’s friction, misunderstanding, confusion and a feeling of lack of support. Conversations go around in circles, unnecessary disagreements pop up and the lack of camaraderie makes work feel like a slog instead of a pleasant experience. This happens when you don’t take the time to understand the other person, don’t make an attempt to find out what matters to them and don’t invest in building real relationships at work.

Smart people often struggle to build trust because they place too much focus on logic and data while ignoring other essential elements like care, warmth, kindness, patience and empathy. Brilliance alone is not sufficient to earn trust.

Leadership / Personal Development

Why Smart People Often Struggle to Build Trust

Smart people have great thinking abilities, passion for solving complex problems and intelligence to focus on details that others tend to miss. They’re sharp, driven and highly logical when tasked with a responsibility or challenges at work. They are quick to think on their feet which acts like a superpower when dealing with chaotic situations, fires to be put out or urgent demands at work. Their smartness will catch your attention within just a few minutes of interaction, but their intelligence instead of being inspirational can also be intimidating.

Habits make us or break us. They determine how we are perceived, whether we are valued and what opportunities land our way. When we ignore our bad habits or don’t pay attention to them, we make a choice to let those habits decide our future. These habits may seem small at first, even unharmful, but when repeated over weeks and months, they become part of our identity—we behave a certain way, make decisions and respond to situations without our conscious awareness. Our brain which has learned from our habits creates the wiring necessary to run on autopilot.

Personal Development / Productivity

10 Work Habits to Leave Behind This Year

Our habits define not only who we are today, but also who we can become. They shape how we act, what we achieve and where we end up. Consciously adopted habits empower us to feel in control at work—we can determine where to pay attention, when to act and how to manage emotions. We can decide, choose our reaction and respond with intention. We can take responsibility, solve problems and lead with better judgment. Habits make us or break us.

When people at work feel judged, micromanaged, unsupported or afraid of making mistakes, their default reaction is to deflect, justify, avoid or go silent. High workloads with constant pressure, multiple deadlines and great expectations can also shorten their fuse making people more reactive to setbacks, disagreements, feedback or anything they find alarming, frightening or unsafe.

Communication / Personal Development

5 Defensive Behaviors That Show Up at Work

When people at work feel judged, micromanaged, unsupported or afraid of making mistakes, their default reaction is to deflect, justify, avoid or go silent. Judging a defensive person by labeling them “difficult,” avoiding them or trying to correct them by pointing out their behavior does no good—it only makes them more cautious, watchful and guarded. Instead of judging, avoiding or getting pulled into a defensive person’s fight-flight-freeze tendency, mindfully and tactfully handle them.

Respect is the most valuable currency at work. Being respected not only makes you feel good, it opens new doors of opportunities and possibilities. But, respect can only be earned. You can’t demand it. You can’t force it. You can’t people-please to make others like and respect you. It’s created through small, daily actions—how you show up and how you act determines whether others hold you in high regard or disregard your presence.

Leadership / Personal Development

8 Behaviors That Make People Respect You More

Respect is impact—how others experience you, what they find valuable, which qualities appeal and what skills stand out. It can be in the steady tone of your voice, calm of your body language and consistency with which you act, listen and communicate. It can be in setting high standards, holding yourself accountable and not taking others for granted. It can be in valuing commitments while not letting anyone exploit your boundaries. Be mindful of how you’re representing yourself. These 8 behaviors can help you quietly and slowly build respect with people you work.

For meetings to be effective, there has to be a conscious effort from people who lead these meetings. Without focusing on what makes a meeting useful, it’s easy to suck into people’s time and energy. It’s easy to conduct discussions that don’t end in a conclusion or have clear action items. It’s easy to mistake silence for approval or lack of questions for clarity. Unprepared, unstructured and unplanned meetings can be a disaster. If you’re the one conducting it, you have to respect other people’s time.

Communication / Personal Development

How To Get Better At Leading Meetings

Meetings are important. Without them, it will be impossible to make good decisions, align on common goals and make progress on projects and tasks. Meetings can unlock productivity, make teams more performant and develop a strong sense of camaraderie that can make work less boring and more fun. They can prevent mistakes from happening, generate a diverse set of ideas and provide an opportunity to challenge the status quo. But for meetings to be effective, there has to be a conscious effort from people who lead these meetings.

Intelligence, knowledge, experience and skills are important to do well at work, but those things can only give you the initial thrust to get started, they can’t make you unstoppable. Being remarkable and outstanding at work requires a set of daily practices—habits that make you shine and puts you in front of the right people. These habits determine how others see you as a person—what makes them admire your skills, appreciate your knowledge and find your experience worthy of their time and attention.

Personal Development / Productivity

10 Work Habits That Can Make You Unstoppable

Intelligence, knowledge, experience and skills are important to do well at work, but those things can only give you the initial thrust to get started, they can’t make you unstoppable. Being remarkable and outstanding at work requires a set of daily practices—habits that make you shine and puts you in front of the right people. These habits determine how others see you as a person—what makes them admire your skills, appreciate your knowledge and find your experience worthy of their time and attention.

Rude people at work are inescapable—those frustrating, annoying and obnoxious people who may insult, verbally attack, curse, mock, threaten or use subtle gestures like rolling eyes, raised eyebrows, tense jaw, crossed arms, pointing fingers or a sarcastic tone to convey their displeasure.

Communication / Personal Development

How to Deal With Rude People Without Losing Your Cool

Rude people at work are inescapable—those frustrating, annoying and obnoxious people who may insult, verbally attack, curse, mock, threaten or use subtle gestures like rolling eyes, raised eyebrows, tense jaw, crossed arms, pointing fingers or a sarcastic tone to convey their displeasure. From being passive-aggressive to being openly dismissive, their remarks can make you feel small or irrelevant. Their words are often coated with a hint of sarcasm. They may appear to be helpful on the surface while trying to dominate or assert superiority.

Learning to solve complex problems on your own will not only enable you to do more impactful work, but also put you in front of people who have the power to allocate work, provide opportunities and shape your career.

Decisions / Personal Development

How to Coach Yourself Through Complex Problems

Most days at work require us to navigate and solve complex problems. These problems often come unannounced and don’t show up with a bang. They silently creep in and require you to navigate the unknowns, challenges and uncertainty they bring along. Getting paralyzed by these problems, feeling scared or waiting for someone to rescue you by showing you the way is a common response, but it also takes away the opportunity to stand out and show up strong. Learning to solve complex problems on your own will not only enable you to do more impactful work, but also put you in front of people who have the power to allocate work, provide opportunities and shape your career.

Your brain runs on autopilot for a large part of your decisions. When struck by feelings of self-doubt, feeding your brain with negativity makes it your default go-to strategy. Since the brain learns to make this decision beneath your consciousness, you may not even realize the harmful behaviors you adopt to deal with your feelings of inadequacy. They provide temporary relief but often limit your long-term potential.

MentalModels / Personal Development

How to Rewire Self-Doubt

When haunted by feelings of self-doubt, if you focus on negative attributes—things you have done wrong, mistakes you have made, skills and abilities you don’t possess—and respond to those feelings by telling yourself that you’re indeed a fraud, then that negativity becomes embedded in your brain. The more you adopt self-sabotage behaviors to deal with your feelings of self-doubt, the stronger those connections get. But you know what’s the good news? Your brain has this amazing ability to change. You can overwrite old brain pathways with new preferred attitudes and behaviors.

Moving from proving to improving gives you a sense of control over your decisions, actions and the way you want to lead your life. You no longer have to pretend or be someone else just to please others. You don’t have to worry about being judged or criticized when you measure yourself against an inner scorecard, not external pressures or ego.

Personal Development / Productivity

How You Can Move From Proving to Improving

What drives your actions at work—the desire to prove yourself or the desire to improve yourself? Proving yourself is about establishing your worth, raising your self-esteem and showing to others how knowledgeable, talented and skilled you are. People who try to prove themselves turn every moment into a contest—someone else must lose for them to win. Improving yourself involves measuring yourself against your own past self—how much are you learning, what’s getting better, are you evolving each day? People who focus on improvement turn every moment into a learning opportunity—it’s not about winning or losing, but progress each day.

Irrespective of how much you’ve prepared yourself mentally, knowing you didn't get promoted is a devastating experience. You’ve been doing all the right things—working hard, hitting deadlines, delivering results, staying away from conflict, helping others and even staying late when needed. What more do you need to do to prove you’re ready for the next level?

Personal Development / Productivity

7 Reasons You Aren’t Getting Promoted

Irrespective of how much you’ve prepared yourself mentally, knowing you haven’t been promoted is a devastating experience. You’ve been doing all the right things—working hard, hitting deadlines, delivering results, staying away from conflict, helping others and even staying late when needed. What more do you need to do to prove you’re ready for the next level? You feel stuck, under valued and unappreciated as others seem to move ahead while you’re being stalled in the same position. You blame the system and maybe even your manager for being biased and unfair. Instead of identifying what held you back, you adopt a victim mindset and fail to do work that will increase your chances of getting promoted in the next cycle.

If you take the time to notice people around you, you’ll find that they all have unique styles in the way they talk, how they work and what motivates or drives them. Each person has a distinct personality that may appeal to you because it’s relatable or bother you because you can’t comprehend the way they think, feel and act. 

Communication / Personal Development

How to Work With Different People on Your Team

If you take the time to notice people around you, you’ll find that they all have unique styles in the way they talk, how they work and what motivates or drives them. Each person has a distinct personality that may appeal to you because it’s relatable or bother you because you can’t comprehend the way they think, feel and act. Whether it’s the endless complainer, the interrupter, the credit stealer or the know-it-all, you can’t dodge these personalities at work. They come with the territory. The real skill isn’t avoiding them, it’s learning to navigate around their quirks, protect your peace and still deliver without getting dragged into the drama.

Staying silent instead of raising your concern feels safe—you don’t have to convince anyone to see things your way. But leaving issues unresolved consumes your mental bandwidth and energy which prevents you from being productive and performant at work.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Raise Concerns at Work

When you’re working, how many times do you get distracted by thoughts of unresolved issues or concerns? When you put aside issues that matter and don’t put in the effort to get them resolved, they keep consuming your mental bandwidth and energy that should be spent in doing actual work. Past experiences, biases and other such fears can prevent you from bringing up issues at the right time and suffer in silence instead of voicing concerns and putting them to rest. Instead of whining, complaining and sobbing about your problems, use that time and energy to achieve your goals. Speak up.

Words play a big role in your success at work. They determine not only how you’re perceived, but also how others respond to it. While weak phrasing can hurt your reputation and damage your credibility, strong language can showcase your leadership abilities and put you across as someone who can be trusted with higher level responsibilities.

Communication / Personal Development

Communication Phrases That Make You Sound Weak

We have the habit of throwing around words recklessly often using phrases that make us sound less confident, unsure and weak. The words we choose to communicate impacts how others perceive us—do they find us manipulative or genuine, rude or kind, aggressive or assertive and credible or untrustworthy? How you come across to others makes a big difference in the outcomes you achieve. Even small changes in your phrasing can significantly impact how others respond to you. Avoid language patterns that make you sound uncertain, passive and weak and replace it with stronger communication.

Your skills at work matter—not only the core skills that justify your designation, but also the ones that help you connect, collaborate, navigate challenges, solve complex problems and most importantly enable you to do impactful work.

Personal Development / Productivity

10 Skills That Matter Most at Work

Your skills at work matter—not only the core skills that justify your designation, but also the ones that help you connect, collaborate, navigate challenges, solve complex problems and most importantly enable you to do impactful work. While the more skills you have, the better placed you’re to get more responsibilities, more autonomy and more trust from others, not all skills are equally valued and trying to excel in everything will prevent you from being good at skills that actually matter. These skills can’t be assigned to you as tasks by your manager or improved by simply reading books. You need to practice them, gather feedback, adapt and keep applying them until they turn into a habit.

People who are good at producing high quality work may not be the most seeked, most valued or most appreciated. Despite having excellent knowledge and skills, their impact is limited because limited visibility around their work prevents them from getting the right opportunities.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Be More Visible at Work

People feel invisible at work when they aren’t recognized and appreciated, passed up for a promotion or don’t get the opportunity they think they deserve. Irrespective of how hard they work, they keep getting sidelined or ignored. Working harder than everyone else will never get them the visibility they want because no one ever gets noticed by simply doing great work. Keeping their head down and continuing to contribute will probably help them hit business targets, but they will miss out on areas where their knowledge and experience could have made a tremendous difference. Making yourself seen at work is important because when your work is visible, not only are you likely to land with better opportunities, you are more likely to get promoted too.

The ability to influence others is an essential skill to practice and master because the impact you create at work is directly tied to it. Influence not only increases your impact by enabling you to get more done, getting others to support your initiatives and adopt your ideas can build the confidence to try unconventional methods, explore unique possibilities and challenge the status quo.

Personal Development / Productivity

5 Ways to Increase Your Influence at Work

To do well at work, you need people on your side. People who trust you, listen to your ideas, value your experience and those who want to help you succeed. If you can’t sway people in your direction, if you can’t persuade them to see it your way, all the time and effort you have put into something can go to waste. The ability to influence others is an essential skill to practice and master because the impact you create at work is directly tied to it. De-escalating tension, creating win/win situations and uplifting others by encouraging them to take ownership of their responsibilities are highly valued skills that can draw attention from higher-ups and make you stand out at work.

Overthinking happens when a thought trapped inside your head goes in circles and you simply can't stop. Dwelling on or worrying about the same thing repeatedly distracts you from your goals and derails you from your path. Break the overthinking habit by taking small steps in the right direction.

Decisions / Personal Development

Break the Overthinking Habit With these 5 Simple Strategies

Overthinking happens when a thought trapped inside your head goes in circles and you simply can’t stop. Dwelling on or worrying about the same thing repeatedly distracts you from your goals and derails you from your path. Continuously analyzing, ruminating on past events, future possibilities, or present circumstances by playing the tape on repeat keeps you trapped in a cycle of worry, doubt, and indecision, which can lead to increased stress, mental exhaustion, and impact overall well-being. Break the overthinking habit using these 5 practices.

How you listen and respond to others has a significant impact on the quality of your relationships—be it workplace, family or friends. There's a cost to not listening—stress in the workplace, poor relationships, misunderstandings, errors, missed opportunities, arguments, stalled projects, avoidable conflicts, and wasted time.

Communication / Personal Development

10 Practices to Master the Art of Active Listening

How do you feel when you’re not being heard—frustrated, annoyed and angry at the other person? Do you feel like they don’t really know you or they don’t really get who you are? This is exactly how others feel when you don’t listen. Listening poorly limits your understanding of others which deprives you from bonding, building trust, learning, growing and most important of all, evolving as a human being. How you listen and respond to others has a significant impact on the quality of your relationships—be it workplace, family or friends.

Learning to navigate difficult situations is a skill that can be mastered by developing the right mindset and practicing the right strategies.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Navigate Difficult Situations at Work

Work is filled with difficult moments—a mean coworker, a boss who ignores your ideas, unrealistic demands from stakeholders and a problem that turns out harder than expected. Such moments often arouse strong feelings of anger, hurt, frustration, desperation, self-doubt, low self-worth and inadequacy. Instead of tackling the situation with a clear head, we let our emotions determine how we think and how we act. Learning to navigate difficult situations is a skill that can be mastered by developing the right mindset and practicing the right strategies.

Working with an aggressive manager has pros and cons. On one hand, they can teach you valuable skills (resilience, negotiation, excellence) that can help you excel in your career. On the other hand, giving in to all their demands can make you exhausted, resentful and may even lead to burnout.

Communication / Personal Development

How to Handle an Aggressive Manager

Aggressive managers aren’t easy. Working with them may leave you feeling overwhelmed, fill you with self-doubt and lower your self-worth. It is like running on a treadmill that just never stops. Just when you’re about to heave a sigh of relief, a new challenge is thrown your way. You dread coming to the office with the worry of what awaits you and how you’re barely going to make it through the day. While aggressive managers are difficult, they aren’t impossible to work with. With the right strategies, you can turn them around while also learning valuable lessons along the way.

Letting manipulators your life or giving them the power to overburden you with their mean demands is not only harmful to your well-being, it puts your goals on the back burner while helping them achieve their target. Manipulators are also hungry for attention—they eat into a significant portion of your time and energy by making you prioritize their needs and concerns over things that you value in life.

Personal Development / Productivity

5 Behaviors of Master Manipulators 

You will come across people at work with ill-intention—those who try to take advantage of you by acting as a victim and manipulate you into doing things that serve their interests while being harmful to your mental health and personal well-being. Manipulators are hard to spot because with the intention to cheat and deceive, they use tricks that are meant to influence, exploit and control you. They are quick in sensing your weak spots and smart to know how to capitalize on them.

Stress often signals that you’re doing worthwhile work, but letting it all in without learning to manage it can also be unhealthy. Left unhandled, it can spiral out of control making it difficult to live a happy and healthy life. You can manage stress by either changing your situation (avoid, alter) or changing how you react to it (adapt, accept).

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Be Good at Managing Stress

High workloads, major life changes, job insecurity, conflict with family members, financial instability and multiple other factors can be a source of stress for you. Poor lifestyle choices, negative thinking patterns or a tendency to worry excessively can exacerbate these stressors making it difficult to lead a happy and healthy life. You can’t avoid stress, but you can certainly learn to manage it well. To do this, you need to apply the right strategies by taking charge and acting before it’s too late.

Apologizing at work is necessary in certain situations. But what if instead of saying sorry when it’s needed, you say it way too often. Apologizing can become an unconscious habit if you let the ‘sorry’ word slip too often from your mouth and don’t pay attention to how often you use it.

Communication / Personal Development

Stop Over-Apologizing at Work

Apologizing at work is necessary in certain situations. But what if instead of saying sorry when it’s needed, you say it way too often. Saying sorry may seem polite, but apologizing even when it’s not required can hurt your image and credibility—you may come across as defensive, submissive, or someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. Over-apologizing hurts your career. Absolutely apologize when it’s necessary. Just don’t do it for things that don’t merit an apology in the workplace. Do it for the right reasons so that your apology is not only accepted, but also valued.

To excel in your career, some skills matter more than others. They put you in front of others, connect you to them, build trust and enhance your credibility. But building these skills is hard—unlike tasks that are assigned to you in which you’re expected to excel, no one gives the opportunities to practice these skills explicitly. The burden to learn and master them is on you. Build these skills and you won't have a problem standing out.

Personal Development / Productivity

5 Skills To Excel In Your Career

To excel in your career, some skills matter more than others. They put you in front of others, connect you to them, build trust and enhance your credibility. But building these skills is hard—unlike tasks that are assigned to you in which you’re expected to excel, no one gives the opportunities to practice these skills explicitly. The burden to learn and master them is on you. If you’re stuck in your career or putting in a lot of time and energy into your work, but not getting the desired results, spend some time building these 5 skills. You will not only achieve great success at work, but mastering these skills will bring a sense of pleasure and fulfillment that will make you perform even better.

how-to-become-a-master-thinker

Decisions / Personal Development

5 Habits of Master Thinkers

Navigating complex problems, generating insights and finding solutions that others didn’t know existed is the most admired skill at work. Yet, very few people are able to do it well—the ability to think critically is a rare skill. Most people lack thinking muscles because they treat it as a born gift instead of being an acquired trait. Not sufficiently exercising their mind by thinking through tough problems keeps them falling for cognitive shortcuts, quick solutions and outdated beliefs. Becoming a master thinker doesn’t require an extraordinary brain. You only need to embrace healthy thinking habits that keep your mental machinery working at its best.

You know what you need to do and yet you act exactly the opposite. Procrastination sabotages your chance of success—delaying or putting off important work robs you of the opportunity to do quality work and achieve excellence.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Stop Procrastinating and Get Down to Work

Procrastination is a silly habit—even when we know how important something is, we end up delaying or avoiding it. Procrastination wins when it over powers our sense of judgment—we know that not taking action is not right for us and yet that’s exactly what we do. Procrastination not only makes us fall through on our commitments, not being able to make progress on what we set out to do makes us feel powerless, helpless and ineffective. The constant guilt, shame and anxiety from not doing the work consumes us. We end up putting more effort and energy than it would have taken to do the work.

Work without boundaries can impact your productivity and harm your mental health. Exhaustion from being available 24/7, never saying no or tolerating bad behavior can impact you emotionally and make you ineffective in your job. Apply the right strategies to set boundaries at work.

Communication / Personal Development

How to Set Boundaries At Work

If you’re constantly irritated, feel demotivated or drained out, there’s a strong possibility that you’ve failed to set personal boundaries at work. Your personal boundaries involve setting limits and defining expectations on what you will and will not tolerate. Work without boundaries can impact your productivity and harm your mental health. Exhaustion from being available 24/7, never saying no or tolerating bad behavior can impact you emotionally and make you ineffective in your job.

Positive feedback from your team is essential for your well-being while negative feedback from them is critical to your growth. Learn to handle negative feedback well.

Communication / Personal Development

How to Handle Negative Feedback From Team

When our team appreciates our work or applauds us for a job well done, we feel proud, joy and inspired. Having a team that celebrates our wins and keeps us motivated to do even better is key to happiness and long-lasting work satisfaction. However, to grow in our career, cheer and admiration is not enough. We also need people who can point out our faults, highlight our flaws and help us see our imperfections. Negative feedback, however good it may be for our growth, is hard to accept.

We all have tremendous hidden potential waiting to be unleashed. Some people utilize their potential to achieve amazing feats while others never realize what they’re capable of as they let their self-limiting beliefs get in the way of their growth.

Leadership / Personal Development

How to Unleash Your Hidden Potential

We all have tremendous potential waiting to be unleashed. Some people utilize their potential to achieve amazing feats while others never realize what they’re capable of as they let their self-limiting beliefs get in the way of their growth. When you consider talent as the only measure of success and don’t give enough credit to effort, attitude and practice, you construct an artificial wall in your mind that limits your visibility and makes you believe you don’t have what it takes to reach the other side. It’s not your natural ability, but your attitude to learning that determines where you end up.

In all our endeavors, success is a desired end state. It brings a moment of exhilaration, joy and pride that’s hard to explain. Failure on the other hand is disappointing, frustrating and can even demotivate some people from trying to reach for their goals. There’s no playbook to success because it’s often a culmination of many different factors—depending on not only what you’re trying to do but also your circumstances, knowledge, experience and luck.

Leadership / Personal Development

6 Factors That Determine Whether You Will Succeed or Fail

In all our endeavors, success is a desired end state. It brings a moment of exhilaration, joy and pride that’s hard to explain. Failure on the other hand is disappointing, frustrating and can even demotivate some people from trying to reach for their goals. There’s no playbook to success because it’s often a culmination of many different factors—depending on not only what you’re trying to do but also your circumstances, knowledge, experience and luck. These 6 critical factors provide a blueprint to success to guide you in your journey towards your goals.

Learning to converse with others is one of the most important skills at work—we all need to learn and improve upon it. It requires conscious effort to hash things out, embrace uncomfortable conversations and desire to listen and learn from others. Use these practices to reduce communication gaps at work.

Communication / Personal Development

How to Reduce Communication Gaps at Work

Communication problems are the source of a lot of misery at work. They lead to expectation mismatch, misalignment, confusion and even friction between people. When communication breaks down, project deadlines are missed, stakeholders lose trust and business suffers. Poor communication makes it hard to get things done and achieve success. Learning to converse with others is one of the most important skills at work—we all need to learn and improve upon it. Reducing communication gaps requires conscious effort to hash things out, embrace uncomfortable conversations and desire to listen and learn from others.

Disagreeing with people above you is not easy. Fear of reprisal can make you nod in agreement even when you disagree. Holding back on your ideas and opinions keeps you safe, but it also means turning a blind eye to preventable mistakes. Practice courage and confidence to share your viewpoint without letting your fear get in the way.

Communication / Personal Development

How To Disagree With Someone More Powerful Than You

What do you do when you disagree with your manager or someone senior to you? Do you voice your opinion or do you choose to keep quiet? Speaking truth to power is a rare skill. Telling someone above you that they’re wrong requires courage and confidence. Holding your tongue and staying silent or nodding your head in agreement even when you disagree definitely feels safe.

Workplaces are filled with moments when it’s easy to lose your calm. Uncontrollable, sudden, and intense emotions that overwhelm you, can dramatically and unexpectedly lead to an emotional outburst.

Communication / Personal Development

Recovering From an Emotional Outburst At Work

Workplaces are filled with moments when it’s easy to lose your calm. Uncontrollable, sudden, and intense emotions that overwhelm you, can dramatically and unexpectedly lead to an emotional outburst. Negative emotions like anger, fear or frustration show up when your expectations aren’t met or people say or do things that conflict with your personal values and aspirations.

People refuse to give candid feedback to their managers because they don’t want to put their jobs at risk.This prevents most managers from getting an accurate picture of how others view them, often creating a huge gap between perception and reality.

Management / Personal Development

How To Give Feedback To Your Manager

People refuse to give candid feedback to their managers because they don’t want to put their jobs at risk. This prevents most managers from getting an accurate picture of how others view them, often creating a huge gap between perception and reality. Just like your manager is expected to share constant feedback to help you learn and grow, you also need to contribute to your manager’s growth.

Good sponsors can take you to the next level in your career by identifying where your work might be valuable and signing you up for it.

Communication / Personal Development

How To Find a Sponsor Who Can Advocate For You

To succeed at work, you need someone to advocate for you. Someone with the real power to shape your career by aligning your aspirations with the opportunities you need and making them possible for you. Good sponsors can take you to the next level in your career by identifying where your work might be valuable and signing you up for it. Finding the right sponsor can help accelerate your career.

We take things personally because it’s easy to do—it’s the default setting hardwired into our brain that gets invoked most of the time without our conscious awareness. Taking things personally evokes a strong negative emotional response—we feel hurt, rejected, insulted, disappointed and let down. Left unhandled, these emotions create a downward spiral of negativity and rumination which takes a toll on our mental health and personal well-being.

Personal Development / Productivity

How Not to Take Things Personally At Work

Human mind which is capable of achieving amazing feats isn’t without its limits. Out of thousands of thoughts that run through our mind every single day, 80% are negative. This tendency to give extra weightage to negativity makes our mind, which is a meaning-making machine, attach meaning to things that don’t even exist. We start taking things personally even when it’s not about us.

Value creation and appreciation of that value doesn’t happen by simply doing great work—you also need to promote yourself and make yourself visible. It doesn’t require being noisy or bragging about your knowledge and skills. Just the right intent and a few good practices will do the trick.

Communication / Personal Development

How to Showcase Your Value Without Bragging

There are two types of people at work—those who make a lot of noise and others who actually do the work. Loud ones get the attention and opportunities even though they may not have the skills. Quiet ones keep adding value behind the scenes silently but never get the appreciation and recognition they deserve. Value creation and appreciation of that value doesn’t happen by simply doing great work—you also need to promote yourself and make yourself visible.

Many people confuse likability with popularity, bias and favoritism. They’re not the same. Likability is not people pleasing or going out of your way to charm others. It isn’t about refusing to take a stand or avoiding actions that might upset others.

Communication / Personal Development

How To Be More Likable At Work

Who would you like on your team or choose to work with—someone who’s highly competent but unpleasant and difficult to work with or someone with decent skills but an amazing attitude? Likability plays a crucial role in your success at work. Because after all, everyone likes to work with people they like. Competence, knowledge and skills are important to get the right opportunities and additional responsibilities at work, but those things alike, likability gives people an additional reason to choose you over others.

When you keep playing safe, you fail to leverage the right opportunities to advance your career. Using risk strategically and managing it well can build credibility, increase your influence and open the doors to bigger and better opportunities. Here's how you can get better at risk taking.

Decisions / Personal Development

How to Get Better at Risk Taking

Some people have the nerve for taking risks. Give them a challenge and they’ll jump right into it. You’ll find these people leading some of the biggest initiatives, driving the most challenging projects, and making bold decisions at work. They’re admired and respected for their ability to step up when everyone else is trying to escape the risk. These people are the change drivers, thought leaders and visionaries who have a knack for solving tough problems, courage to step into the unknown and the skills to handle the uncertainty. But what makes these people such good risk takers?

Giving power to circling negative thoughts in your mind refrains you from contributing and sharing your valuable ideas and opinions. Staying silent inhibits you from making meaningful contributions to your team and organization. Being able to speak up in meetings is a very valuable skill. Sharing your perspective or contributing to the discussion even in small ways not only projects confidence, it also builds credibility.

Communication / Personal Development

How to be Bold and Speak Up in Meetings

Are you bold enough to say what you need to say in a meeting or do you feel knots in your stomach and refuse to speak up? Being able to speak up on the spot is a very valuable skill. Sharing your perspective or contributing to the discussion even in small ways not only projects confidence, it also builds credibility. But how do you find the courage to do so when your heart starts racing at the thought of uttering even a few words? How can you say something that can potentially make you appear silly, feel embarrassed or look incompetent?

Make the most of your todo list by turning it from a bunch of meaningless line items to a more meaningful action oriented list.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Make the Most of Your Todo List

Big or small, it’s impossible to remember everything you need to do. When you don’t actually write things down, it’s hard to prioritize complex, long-term, forward looking tasks over easy, short-term, time wasting activities. Not writing things down has another problem. Keeping track of all the unfinished tasks puts an unnecessary burden on the brain. To make the most of your todo list, you need to turn it from a bunch of meaningless line items to a more meaningful action oriented list.

Building credibility requires earning trust of people who work with you—your colleagues, manager, stakeholders and others. It requires more than just competence and knowledge. Being an expert in your domain or enthusiasm and motivation about your job can only take you so far when you lack credibility with your team and others.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Build Credibility at Work

What erodes credibility at work and what builds it? Most employees don’t think about credibility consciously which prevents them from taking the right steps to build it. They think that if they keep their heads down and keep doing the good work, someone will take notice and good opportunities will land their way. But workplaces aren’t designed to lift people with good intentions and good skills. Building credibility requires earning trust of people who work with you. It requires more than just competence and knowledge.

The difference between high impact contributors and typical contributors isn’t talent, competence or skills. They’re equally capable, have similar potential and the urge to do well. Yet, impact players consistently find ways to add value while others are simply going through the motions.

Personal Development / Productivity

Master These 5 Behaviors to be an Impact Player

What makes some employees rise through challenges, tap into opportunities, find a way to break through and make an impact while others are taken aback by a difficult circumstance and don’t know what to do or how to move forward? The difference between high impact contributors and typical contributors isn’t talent, competence or skills. They’re equally capable, have similar potential and the urge to do well. Yet, impact players consistently find ways to add value while others are simply going through the motions.

Mental health at work should be everyone’s utmost priority. Instead of relying on organizations to offer a perfect work environment that caters to your well-being, stay mentally healthy by looking inward to your own behaviors and actions.

Personal Development / Productivity

4 Shifts in Behavior To Be Mentally Healthy At Work

There are definite benefits of being part of an organization that promotes employee well-being and work towards building a mentally healthy culture, but they’re not enough. What if it’s not the work culture but your own behavior that gets in the way? Most people look outward when it comes to addressing mental health challenges, without paying attention to their own behaviors and actions. Master these 4 behaviors to stay mentally healthy at work.

As important as it is to apply the right strategies to manage your imposter syndrome, equally important is to know what constitutes bad advice. Knowing what isn’t helpful will not only save you time, it will prevent you from applying advice that can amplify your feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt. #impostersyndrome #selfdoubt #limitingbeliefs #growthmindset #successatwork #unconsciousbias #ownyourgreatness #womeninbusiness #badadvice #lifelessons #productivity #mentalhealth

Personal Development / Productivity

Bad Advice for Imposter Syndrome

As important as it is to apply the right strategies to manage your imposter syndrome, equally important is to know what constitutes bad advice. Knowing what isn’t helpful will not only save you time, it will prevent you from applying advice that can amplify your feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt. Don’t settle. Don’t look for shortcuts or quick wins. Don’t go after the fake it till you make it, positive thinking and pushing on through advice.

Beat feelings of self-doubt and unworthiness and build confidence by following this 3 step process.

Leadership / Personal Development

Bridge the Confidence Gap: How to Build Confidence That Lasts

When you fall for your mind’s thinking traps, you may assume it’s lack of competence that stops you from going after the things you want. But it’s not competence that’s holding you back, it’s your lack of confidence. When you lose sight of belief in yourself, no amount of competence can make you successful. Competence gives you the skills, confidence underpins your ability to actually get things done.

We all want to get the job of our dreams and stay in them forever. But the world is not fair and most things do not end up the way we expected. Instead of wasting time ruminating about the past, follow these practices to get hired in a job of your choice and create the future you deserve—be strategic about social media, prepare your sell pitch, use the STAR technique and don’t give up.

Communication / Personal Development

Want to Get Hired? Here’s What You Need to Do to Land the Right Job

With the uncertainty in the economy, many companies have not only announced a hiring freeze but are also downsizing their entire divisions and non-profitable initiatives. Whether you’re forced to find another job or someone who’s doing it as a choice, the process to find another job is never easy. Making mistakes by not following good practices reduces the likelihood of you landing a job on time, builds stress and may even hurt you mentally and financially. If you want to get hired in a company of your choice, follow these practices.

Good mentors help unlock your hidden potential. They may not only offer advice when you’re stuck with a problem but also help you get over your own limiting beliefs. They tell you things you may not want to hear which keeps you grounded in reality. They’re your sounding board to determine which ideas are feasible and practical and which ones aren’t worth pursuing. With the support of a good mentor, you can build a kick-ass career instead of simply dragging your feet. But how do you find such a person and why should they mentor you?

Communication / Personal Development

How To Find a Mentor Who Can Accelerate Your Career

Good mentors help unlock your hidden potential. They may not only offer advice when you’re stuck with a problem but also help you get over your own limiting beliefs. They tell you things you may not want to hear which keeps you grounded in reality. They’re your sounding board to determine which ideas are feasible and practical and which ones aren’t worth pursuing. But how do you find such a person and why should they mentor you?

When you’re having a bad day at work, your mind spirals into all sad things. It’s like someone dimmed the light around you and everything appears dark and gloomy. You’re more likely to lose your nerve or react poorly to even minor inconveniences. Healthy disagreements turn into personal attacks. Minor conflicts into major issues.

Personal Development / Productivity

How to Deal With a Bad Day at Work

When you’re having a bad day at work, your mind spirals into all sad things. It’s like someone dimmed the light around you and everything appears dark and gloomy. You’re more likely to lose your nerve or react poorly to even minor inconveniences. Healthy disagreements turn into personal attacks. Minor conflicts into major issues. While it is difficult for you to look for the bright side of things when your mind is stuffed with negativity, there are specific things you must do to prevent a bad day from turning into a bad week.

As you grow in your career, the cost of not putting your time to best use is significantly high. Applying the makeshift tactics can get you through the day, but they also hurt your productivity in the long run. Use these 3 productivity frameworks to do work that matters.

Personal Development / Productivity

Struggling To Be Productive? Use These 3 Productivity Frameworks To Get Real Work Done

As you grow in your career, the cost of not putting your time to best use is significantly high. If you’re serious about utilizing your time well, use these 3 productivity frameworks to identify what deserves your attention and what shouldn’t be done at all, give life to your goals by utilizing the right opportunities and taking action, and staying focused by avoiding distractions when you actually get down to work.

Is your manager not paying attention to your work? Use this 3-step framework to break your manager’s default pattern so that they start paying attention to the things you need.

Personal Development / Productivity

What to Do If Your Manager Isn’t Paying Attention

Your manager should know about the areas you’re doing well, where you excel, your strengths and highlights. Keeping your manager in the loop is essential for your success and growth. But what if your manager isn’t paying attention? Should you keep your head down and keep doing the good work with the hope that they will take notice someday or can you do the work to get into the spotlight and make yourself visible?

The gap between how you view your behaviors and actions and how others perceive you is always huge. You may think you’re a great team player or the job that you just finished was outstanding. But how you view your performance may not align with how your boss or team members view it. Want to bridge this gap? Ask your manager these questions every month.

Communication / Personal Development

5 Questions to Ask Your Manager Every Month and 10X Your Impact

Do you want to 10x your impact at work? Do you know what behaviors hold you back? What about your team—do they admire, respect and acknowledge you? Do they find you helpful? The gap between how you view your behaviors and actions and how others perceive you is always huge. Don’t let your manager decide where you end up. Don’t wait for them to share feedback that you need. Ask these 5 questions every month to take charge of your own growth and 10x your impact.

The constant desire to improve ourselves and our life situation, seeking a better life, or the pursuit of pleasure is what keeps the human race thriving. But it also sets us on a hedonic treadmill constantly chasing the next big target.

Decisions / Personal Development

Stuck on the Hedonic Treadmill? Here’s How to Escape It

The constant desire to improve ourselves and our life situation, seeking a better life, or the pursuit of pleasure is what keeps the human race thriving. But it also sets us on a hedonic treadmill constantly chasing the next big target. We set goals and expectations. We run to gain those things. But once we succeed or reach that destination, instead of being euphoric, the feeling is more of a relief.

Faking it by posturing, pretending to be confident, and ignoring those nagging feelings of self-doubts can offer some temporary respite from those feelings of self-doubt, but once you’re done putting on a show, being inauthentic to yourself negatively impacts your perceptions of yourself. Don't fake it till you make it, build genuine confidence through action.

Personal Development / Productivity

Fake It Till You Make It: Good Advice or a Setup for failure?

Faking it by posturing, pretending to be confident, and ignoring those nagging feelings of self-doubt can offer some temporary respite, but once you’re done putting on a show, being inauthentic to yourself negatively impacts your perceptions of yourself. Imitating confidence and competency has long-term implications. Don’t fake it till you make it, build genuine confidence through action.

Getting laid off and losing your job is hard. It not only hurts you financially, but also personally. Left unhandled or dealt with badly, a layoff can make you adopt harmful behaviors that destroy your self-confidence. Handling a layoff well is not only about finding a new job. More than the job hunt, it requires mental strength to deal with the emotions that are bound to run high.

Decisions / Personal Development

How to Bounce Back After Getting Laid Off

Getting laid off and losing your job is hard. It not only hurts you financially but also personally. Left unhandled or dealt with badly, a layoff can make you adopt harmful behaviors that destroy your self-confidence. Handling a layoff well is not only about finding a new job. More than the job hunt, it requires mental strength to deal with the emotions that are bound to run high.

What’s the one big difference between employees who stand out within the first few months of joining and those who struggle to fit in? New hires who do well at work stand out because they own their onboarding experience.

Personal Development / Productivity

7 Effective Practices to Onboard Yourself in Your New Job

What’s the one big difference between employees who stand out within the first few months of joining and those who struggle to fit in? New hires who do well at work stand out because they own their onboarding experience. Instead of letting the onboarding process in their organization determine where they end up, they get into the driver’s seat, buckle themselves up and get to work.

Busyness creates an illusion of productivity. Being caught inside the ‘busy trap’ makes it harder for you to see that productivity is not based on the number of hours you put in; it’s the time spent creating value.

Personal Development / Productivity

Are You Keeping Busy or Being Productive?

Busyness creates an illusion of productivity. Being caught inside the ‘busy trap’ makes it harder for you to see that productivity is not based on the number of hours you put in; it’s the time spent creating value. Instead of accepting busyness as a way of life, practice behaviors that will make work more meaningful and impactful without taking a toll on your mental health and personal well-being.

To succeed in life and go after the things you desire, you need to incorporate behaviors and practices that open your mind to new opportunities by viewing the world with infinite possibilities and unlimited options. With abundance mindset, you’re no longer operating within the confines and constraints of your own limitations. You no longer see the world as a limited pie but view it as an endless ocean where there’s enough for everyone.

Decisions / Personal Development

5 Practices to Shift from Scarcity to Abundance Mindset

Do you consider the limitations of a situation by focusing on the negatives or see the opportunities in every situation by focusing on areas of growth and improvement? When you’re not operating within the confines and constraints of your own limitations, you no longer see the world as a limited pie but view it as an endless ocean where there’s enough for everyone.

If you're making these career limiting mistakes, you may work hard but never get the success you deserve. Watch out for these mistakes so that they don't stand in the path of your growth and success.

Decisions / Personal Development

8 Common Career Limiting Mistakes to Avoid at All Costs

Do you recognize and pay attention to mistakes that limit your career? Those who succeed at work do not have special skills and abilities. They aren’t more intelligent or talented than others. What makes them stand out are the little decisions they make every step of the way. If you’re frustrated that your growth isn’t aligned with your effort, identify the career limiting mistakes you are making.

Are you getting angry at work? Are these significant issues that are making you angry or are you losing your cool over small stuff? An enraged mind is in no condition to think strategically. Staying angry makes you prone to poor judgment; it makes you say things you will regret later.

Communication / Personal Development

Getting Angry at Work? Here’s How to Use Anger in More Positive Ways

Do you get mad at work? Are these significant issues that are making you angry or are you losing your cool over small stuff? An enraged mind is in no condition to think strategically. Staying angry makes you prone to poor judgment; it makes you say things you will regret later. Emotional regulation is the key to mastering your negative emotions.

Instead of major victories with outsized expectations, target small wins. Small daily goals that give a sense of progress; work that moves you forward, is fulfilling and rewarding, where each step takes you closer to your destination.

Personal Development / Productivity

Instead of Those Lofty Goals, Go After the Small Wins

Big goals that are far off into the future can lead to procrastination, promote all-or-nothing thinking and provide momentary happiness without long lasting satisfaction. Instead of major victories with outsized expectations, what if you targeted small wins? Small daily goals that give a sense of progress; work that moves you forward, is fulfilling and rewarding, where each step takes you closer to your destination.

Out of hundreds of things a manager is expected to do, maintaining a healthy relationship with their people is just one of them. And it’s true that a good part of a manager’s job is to invest time in their people and their growth. But a relationship isn’t a one-way street. You can’t have a healthy relationship with your manager unless you are invested in your own growth.

Personal Development / Productivity

How To Create A Thriving Relationship With Your Manager

Out of hundreds of things a manager is expected to do, maintaining a healthy relationship with their people is just one of them. And it’s true that a good part of a manager’s job is to invest time in their people and their growth. But a relationship isn’t a one-way street. You can’t have a healthy relationship with your manager unless you are invested in your own growth. People who excel at work don’t blame a poor relationship on their manager. They’re willing to do the work necessary to make it work.

Imposter syndrome, though a commonly shared feeling turns out to be quite a unique experience. Its impact on each individual varies in not only how they feel, but also how they behave and act afterward. Look at these 5 types of behaviors to determine which one is your default strategy to deal with feelings of being a fraud. What type of imposter are you?

Personal Development / Productivity

What Type of Imposter Are You?

Although imposter syndrome is linked with feelings of inadequacy and thinking that nothing you do is ever good enough, how it plays out in your day-to-day life and impacts you varies from person to person. Acknowledging what you are feeling is important, but what’s even more important is to pay attention to the underlying behaviors and actions that such feelings tend to evoke. Your feelings of being a fraud can turn you into a procrastinator, perfectionist, overworker, people pleaser, or a self diminisher.

There’s no getting away with some amount of stress at work and we shouldn’t try to either. After all, all stress is not bad. But what if your stress is debilitating? What if it gets in the way of making meaningful contributions? What if instead of energizing you, workplace stress sucks into your energy and hurts your motivation?

Leadership / Personal Development

Workplace Stress is Costing You. Know How To Reduce It

All stress is not bad. Oftentimes, it signals you are doing worthwhile work. That you care about adding value and creating an impact. Stress can also energize you enabling you to put in the effort required to make something happen. But what if your stress is debilitating? What if it gets in the way of making meaningful contributions? What if instead of energizing you, workplace stress sucks into your energy and hurts your motivation?

What’s the difference between people who end up loving what they do and those who are on an endless pursuit looking for the one thing that will fulfill them only to be left disheartened, dissatisfied, and unhappy? What matters more - progress or passion?

Personal Development / Productivity

Progress Not Passion is the Answer to Loving the Work You Do

What’s the difference between people who end up loving what they do and those who are on an endless pursuit looking for the one thing that will fulfill them only to be left disheartened, dissatisfied, and unhappy? Progress and not passion was the answer I was looking for all along. 3 strategies that have worked for me over the years to love what I do while letting my passion grow behind the scenes for me.

People who like to keep commitments are careful about their choices. They understand that doing something always comes at the cost of not doing something else. So, they carefully evaluate their priorities and say “yes” to only a few things. Identifying what adds value to them and to others and taking time to actually fulfill their commitments builds trust, creates strong relationships, and makes the other person feel valued and respected.

Decisions / Personal Development

7 Steps for Keeping Commitments at Work That Leads to Growth

There are two types of people at work – those who like to make commitments and others who like to keep them. People who like to make commitments don’t pay much attention to how those things fit into their schedule. People who like to keep commitments are careful about their choices. They understand that doing something always comes at the cost of not doing something else.

A sense of control in our life not only rids us of the fear and anxiety that comes with feeling out of control, it’s the single most critical factor in helping us stay productive at work. Apply these strategies to regain your freedom and take back control of your life.

Leadership / Personal Development

How to Reclaim Your Freedom and Take Back Control of Your Life

A sense of control in our life not only rids us of the fear and anxiety that comes with feeling out of control, it’s the single most critical factor in helping us stay productive at work. It’s our internal sense of freedom to know that we have the autonomy to make corrections, drive to be persistent and the power to influence the outcome. Apply these strategies to feel in control, do more and achieve more.

If you are around one of those people who have the tendency to constantly complain, who turn a perfectly good outcome into an unsatisfactory one with their negative outlook, those who are overly critical or bring out the worst in others with their offensive comments, toxic behavior and pessimistic attitude towards everything, chances are these negative people are already controlling your emotions and limiting what you can achieve. Learn to deal with negative people in your life.

Communication / Personal Development

How to Deal With Negative People Without Going Crazy

Negativity can be contagious. It may not be obvious at first, but it’s easy to get trapped into a negative person’s way of thinking if you are not careful around them. Left unhandled, their cynical, gloomy, and defeatist behavior can emotionally drain you, impact your productivity, and turn you into the very person you hated at first. Learn how to deal with a negative person without going crazy.

Most people kind of assume that the complete responsibility of giving the right feedback lies with the feedback-giver while ignoring the role that they play in the equation as the person on the receiving end of this feedback. You aren’t getting growth-oriented feedback not because others are unwilling to share it, it’s because you are not willing to do what it takes to get it right.

Leadership / Personal Development

Are You Getting The Feedback That You Need?

Are you not getting the feedback you need because others aren’t giving it to you or is it because you aren’t taking the initiative to get it right? Getting the feedback that you need requires taking full responsibility with the belief that you have the power to drive your own growth at work as opposed to blaming someone else for not moving forward.

Delivering bad news to your boss is not exactly fun. Imagining how they would react, what they would say, and how they would judge you can be terrifying and reason enough to try to cover it up. But knowing that with the right strategies you can turn things around and even win their trust and respect, you can get over your fears and take the necessary steps.

Communication / Personal Development

7 Strategies for Delivering Bad News to Boss, Build Your Credibility and Still Look Good

Delivering bad news to your boss is not exactly fun. Imagining how they would react, what they would say, and how they would judge you can be terrifying and reason enough to try to cover it up. But knowing that with the right strategies you can turn things around and even win their trust and respect, you can get over your fears and take the necessary steps.

The person who makes it to the top isn’t the one who faces many hardships and obstacles along the way, it’s the one who persists and resists - persists in their efforts and resists the easy path to give up. In other words, it’s not our failure, but our reaction to it that determines where we end up. Failing to succeed requires getting over our fear of failiures to increase our chances of success.

Leadership / Personal Development

Failing to Succeed: Key to Success and Coping With Failure

The person who makes it to the top isn’t the one who faces many hardships and obstacles along the way, it’s the one who persists and resists – persists in their efforts and resists the easy path to give up. In other words, it’s not our failure, but our reaction to it that determines where we end up

The simple three-letter word “yet” is the sound of possibility, a positive intervention in our life to help us see straight. The nudge we all need to take control of our life by looking beyond the obstacles in the present to the opportunities of tomorrow. “Yet” carries with it the expectation that we can reach our destination. It creates an excitement into the future about all the incredible things we can’t do yet. This is the incredible power of yet.

Decisions / Personal Development

Incredible Power of Yet: Positive Intervention to Help Us See Straight

The simple three-letter word “yet” is the sound of possibility, a positive intervention in our life to help us see straight. The nudge we all need to take control of our life by looking beyond the obstacles in the present to the opportunities of tomorrow. “Yet” carries with it the expectation that we can reach our destination

Strategic thinking is a muscle that we all need to build because using it right at work can be a strategic advantage in your career growth as an individual. Much like a rubber band, you need to stretch and exercise your thinking. It requires crossing the boundary of the comfort zone to think about an idea to its extreme without mental guardrails to put it down. It requires uncovering new insights that moderate thinking would never surface.

Leadership / Personal Development

Embrace the Strategic Thinking Mindset: How to Develop Your Strategic Thinking Skills and Stay Ahead

Strategic thinking is a muscle that we all need to build because using it right at work can be a strategic advantage in your career growth as an individual. You need to cross the boundary of the comfort zone to think about an idea to its extreme without mental guardrails to put it down. You need to uncover new insights that moderate thinking would never surface

We spend a large part of our life at work, and yet when it comes to making a decision “Is this the right company for me,” most of us rely only on our expert intuition without any solid data to back it up. Data or intuition alone can’t help you make the right decision. You need both data and intuition to make an informed decision.

Decisions / Personal Development

How to Decide If a Company Is Right for You

When you meet a new person, you take time to decide if it’s a relationship worth investing in or not. When it comes to your job though, do you apply the same level of due diligence? Companies are after all in some sense similar to people. You can think of a company as a group of people with a shared identity. Spend effort into knowing this identity as you would with any new person. Determine if it’s a relationship worth investing

You do not need to go out of your way to get noticed. You only need to adopt a set of simple behaviors that can make you stand out at work and effective in everything you do.

Leadership / Personal Development

8 Powerful Behaviors to Stand Out at Work

Being good at what you do cannot make you stand out at work. How you operate and interact with others play a crucial role in your success at work. You need to adopt powerful behaviors that can make you influential, impactful and move you forward. Adopting and practicing these behaviors will bring about the biggest positive change in your work life

Effects of the role conflict can vary from person to person. While some learn to deal with the friction that comes with a role conflict and thrive by staying positive and seeking measures to counteract it, others stop functioning and stop being productive by choosing to stay with stress and resentment

Personal Development / Productivity

We Need to Talk: The Science of Productive Role Conflict

Effects of the role conflict can vary from person to person. While some learn to deal with the friction that comes with a role conflict and thrive by staying positive and seeking measures to counteract it, others stop functioning and stop being productive by choosing to stay with stress and resentment. Learn to increase your productivity and general well-being when dealing with a role conflict

How can you bring your best to every situation when you are dealing with the pressure of high expectations? Difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful one is their ability to mitigate the negative effects of pressure. Performing under pressure isn’t based on some innate talent. Anyone can learn to tackle the damaging effects that pressure can have on their performance. You can learn it too.

Personal Development / Productivity

Performing Under Pressure: 5 Mental Tricks to Do Your Best When It Matters Most

How can you bring your best to every situation when dealing with the pressure of high expectations? Performing under pressure isn’t some innate talent. Anyone can learn to tackle it. You may have all the expertise, skills and the knowledge to do well, but if you don’t know how to handle pressure situations well, pressure will make you do worse, and lead you to fail utterly

Goal setting helps us step outside of our dreams to execute in reality. It gives us guidelines and boundaries and keeps us on track. It gives us direction when we feel lost and helps us stay put and be resilient when we face challenges and setbacks

Personal Development / Productivity

Goal Setting: Get a Clear Fix on Where You Want to Go

Most of us have many desires at work. We fantasize about a positive future. But we are always too busy or too lazy to turn them into goals. Without defining what it is that we want, we let many opportunities slip by. We fail to make the best use of every situation and let distractions eat away into our mental energy and time. Goal setting mitigates the problem by helping us step outside our dreams to execute in reality

Managing conflict demands that we calm down and think clearly. Instead of letting our reaction slip through our unconscious, we need to take charge of it in conscious awareness. Instead of letting destructive patterns of behaviour be our default reaction, we can choose to engage in positive action. Seeing the conflict for what it is and not how it manifests at first

Communication / Personal Development

Managing Conflict: Abandon Overconfidence And Engage In Rethinking Cycle

Managing conflict demands that we calm down and think clearly. Instead of letting our reaction slip through our unconscious, we need to take charge of it in conscious awareness. Instead of letting destructive patterns of behaviour be our default reaction, we can choose to engage in positive action. Seeing the conflict for what it is and not how it manifests at first

Asking for help signals self awareness of our own limitations, humility to accept what we don’t know and the courage to ask for it. It’s a sign that we are confident in our abilities to tackle whatever is standing in our way to get to where we need to go.

Communication / Personal Development

The Right Way To Ask For Help At Work

Why are we so afraid to ask for help when we need it. Is it because we are worried others will question our intelligence and smartness? Asking for help signals self awareness of our own limitations, humility to accept what we don’t know and the courage to ask for it. It’s a sign that we are confident in our abilities to tackle whatever is standing in our way to get to where we need to go

Path to success goes through failure. It’s scattered with mistakes, big and small and when confronted with challenges, we emerge on the other side more confident than we began. We can learn from our mistakes by shutting down the siren song of self-justification

Decisions / Personal Development

Strategies For Learning From Mistakes: How To Beat Self Justification And Think Clearly

Path to success goes through failure. It’s scattered with mistakes, big and small and when confronted with challenges, we emerge on the other side more confident than we began. Instead of letting self-justification cloud our judgment, we can learn to embrace those painful moments that are essential for progress

Both big picture thinking using "why" and nitty-gritty thinking using "what" need to co-exist. Big picture thinking acting as the motivational force to guide decision making, encouraging clear thinking and reminding everyone of the benefits of sticking to larger goals of the organisation while using nitty-gritty thinking to achieve those goals by reminding people to focus on the task at hand

Decisions / Personal Development

What Matters In Goals: Big Picture Thinking or The Nitty-Gritty?

Greater achievement comes from realizing how our thinking impacts our goals. By adopting the right mindset and using the right mode of thinking, we can overcome the challenges that stand in the way of achieving our goals. Learn when to use the big picture “why” and when you need nitty-gritty “what” based thinking

Learned Helplessness leads to pessimism in which even minor failures can turn into catastrophic events while learned optimism leads to adopting an optimistic attitude in which setbacks are considered temporary failures

Decisions / Personal Development

Learned Helplessness vs Learned Optimism: How To Train Your Brain To Be More Optimistic

How do you deal with adversity? Are you an optimist who is briefly disturbed by the experience but soon bounce back and storms out of the phase with the belief that it’s only a rough patch or a pessimist who continues to be paralyzed by fear of failure and spirals into hopelessness with the belief in the permanent nature of their situation. Learn to shift from learned helplessness to learned optimism

Instead of placing all criticism into the same bucket, it’s usually useful to categorize them into four different types of criticism. Out of many who criticise your work for no reason, there’s usually one with valuable feedback and the uncomfortable truth you need to hear. You possibly don’t want to lose that nugget of wisdom.

Communication / Personal Development

How To Use Criticism To Fuel Your Growth

No doubt some people are bad at delivering criticism. But aren’t we far worse at receiving it? We don’t know when it’s useful to tune in to someone’s criticism and when it makes sense to politely shove it aside and move on. It is easy to ignore feedback with the attitude that it doesn’t apply to you, but accepting the uncomfortable truth, even if it’s painful at first is the only way to grow

Work life balance is not a state you need to achieve, it’s a journey to make right choices every step of the way. Don’t push aside your life waiting for a magical day when it would all come to you, take control of it now. There will always be some obstacles, something more to be done to finally get the life you want, but knowing that these obstacles are also a part of your life can help you start now, this very moment.

Personal Development / Productivity

How To Make Work Life Balance Work

Are your actions inline with the life you want to lead? The problem of work life balance isn’t about more work, it’s about staying productive in what you are doing. There will always be some obstacles, something more to be done to finally get the life you want, but knowing that these obstacles are also a part of your life can help you start now, this very moment

We can either lead with vulnerability and form meaningful relationships or hide behind our protective armor where others cannot see our true selves. Creating an image that we are perfect, we have all the answers and that we are never wrong stifles our own growth and those of others around us

Leadership / Personal Development

If You Dare To Lead, Lead With Vulnerability

Lead with vulnerability. It’s the courage to let your guard down, courage to be seen, courage to accept you don’t know, courage to acknowledge mistakes, disconnect your identity from your ideas, embrace discomfort and the ultimate belief that you are not perfect, you are always work in progress

What separates a good manager from a bad one is in the choice - do they accept vulnerability and commit to learning or put on an armor and try to save themselves?

Management / Personal Development

What Type Of Manager Are You?

Signing up to be a manager is an act of great courage. While the change demands letting go of our existing identity and embracing new one with openness and curiosity, it’s our mindset that determines what we make of it. What type of manager are you – do you accept vulnerability and commit to learning or put on an armor and try to protect yourself from the challenges that lie ahead?

With your decision making rooted in reward and punishment, you develop a strong tendency to be a people pleaser. People pleasing is not harmless though it may seem like it. You are not acting out of your sense of goodness for others but rather it’s deeply seated in your fear of rejection, feeling of helplessness, risk of failure, discomfort from displeasing others and not having the courage to receive their disapproval

Decisions / Personal Development

Stop Being A People Pleaser: Don’t Let Reward And Punishment Drive Your Behaviour

Do you act out of your sense of goodness for others or out of fear of rejection, discomfort from displeasing others and not having the courage to receive their disapproval? Being a people pleaser will trap you within the boundaries of your own limitations by seeking external validation instead of utilising your true potential. Learn to create value instead of doing work to satisfy others expectations

After being stuck in a spiral of feeling frustrated, you panic about the situation, add stress and anxiety to your life, feel powerless with your situation and then do absolutely nothing about it. Instead of wasting time overthinking through situations that cause you frustration at work, know that you cannot get rid of them, but you can learn to respond to them in a healthy manner

Personal Development / Productivity

5 Emotionally Intelligent Habits For Handling Frustration At Work

What do you do to deal with frustration? After being stuck in a spiral of feeling frustrated, you panic about the situation, add stress and anxiety to your life, feel powerless with your situation and then do absolutely nothing about it. Instead of wasting time overthinking through situations that cause you frustration at work, know that you cannot get rid of them, but you can learn to respond to them in a healthy manner

Decision fatigue leads to poor quality of decision making. We show reluctance to make trade-offs, fall back to easy choices and may even find it difficult to exercise self-control after making a series of decisions

Decisions / Personal Development

Decision Fatigue: Don’t Squeeze Out Every Bit Of Your Attention

Do you control the number of decisions you make by choice and dedicate your peak mental energy to those significant decisions that impact your life in a huge way? Learn to make active choices and design a systematic approach to reduce the effect of decision fatigue and maximise your chances of making the best decision

Striking up a conversation at work can be intimidating. We avoid eye contact, turn our heads away and pretend to be busy on our phones all in an attempt to save ourselves from the awkward moment of meeting someone and not sure what to say. Learn how to start a conversation by being curious about others, paying attention to them and trying to form a connection

Communication / Personal Development

How To Start A Conversation: Get Beyond Small Talk To Forming Meaningful Connections At Work

Striking up a conversation at work can be intimidating. We avoid eye contact, turn our heads away and pretend to be busy on our phones all in an attempt to save ourselves from the awkward moment of meeting someone and not sure what to say. Learn how to start a conversation that does not involve small talk and adds value to work without making you feel uncomfortable

Thinking big is not daydreaming or imagining a beautiful future, it’s a mental practice that allows us to take active control over our own life. Learning how to think big can shift us from being prisoners of our mind to finding freedom in our thoughts

Leadership / Personal Development

Thinking Big: Mental Practice To Achieve Success

The ability to think big is the first step to break out of our bubble of self imposed limits and channel our energies to explore a bigger and better future. Thinking big doesn’t end with the visualisation of a better future, it’s rather the beginning of commitment to think right every step of the way