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Meetings that don’t suck

I work for the Federal government and I spend a LOT of time in meetings. I’m tempted to replace the “and” in that sentence with “therefore,” but I had just as many meetings when I was part of big industry, too.
Meetings can be frustrating and often have a pretty low productivity-per-minute, but the answer is […]

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Don’t do everything on your list

Here’s something that virtually no one will ever tell you. I don’t think anyone ever told me this, either, but I’ve found time and again that when I make real progress I’m following this rule: don’t do everything on your list. My rule of thumb is that 85% of all the things I have to […]

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Scientific evidence on balance

We’ve talked a bit on this web site about having a balanced life and the role that plays in keeping you creative and in preparing you for challenges and failure.
Reader Karen M. sent me a note pointing to a batch of new supporting scientific evidence in favor of balance. One form of it anyway: taking […]

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There aren’t many things you have to do

My organization, like lots of large companies and government agencies, has a required regimen of courses and training that I am required to complete as the career clock ticks. To say that these are usually unremarkable is being pretty generous, but hey, spring is in the air.
But I got lucky and did an exercise in […]

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Don’t do everything on your list

Want to kick your career up a notch? Then here’s something that virtually no one will ever tell you. I don’t think anyone ever told me this, either, but I’ve found time and again that when I make real progress I’m following this rule: don’t do everything on your list. My rule of thumb is […]

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Write well, even in email

Ok, so the reports and documents I write in Word and submit to my management are forever, but not email. That’s different…right?
Nope, that too, and this does mean you.
Casual email habits start early
Many of us spend a lot of time writing and reading e-mail, and most of us have our first experiences in e-mail communicating […]

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Notes from the field: e-mail

Between 75 and 100 emails get through my various filters at work and home every day. This isn’t a huge e-mail load, but still represents a problem. If every email consumes only two minutes of my time (read, trash or respond, and file) I’ve burned between 2 and 3.5 hours each and every day doing […]

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This is my parking place for the philosophy, tools, and skills that scientists, engineers, and technologists need to manage our own contributions, careers, and success.

Follow the links for a more complete introduction to the site and my point of view. To catch up, take a look at the Quick Study pages.

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