Ever since I began blogging, productivity has been one of my most popular topics. But I’m convinced we’re not always productive for the right reasons. Maybe this is why many people are productive but miserable. Over my career I’ve been entrusted with a lot of responsibility. At one time, I was responsible for the well-being […]

Because it will take longer than two minutes to write the action down on your to-do list, organize it, get back up to speed later, and complete the task. … And it will keep your to-do lists much shorter. [smartads] Here are four ways to cut your to-do list in half: Understand the five basic decisions.

For years, I have used the concept of “templating” to improve my productivity. The idea is that you create a template for any task that you find yourself doing repeatedly. So instead of “reinventing the wheel” every time, you do it once, save it as a template, and then reuse it.

You know it’s time to declare email bankruptcy when you are experiencing the following four symptoms. If this is true of you, I provide a seven-step strategy for wiping the digital slate clean and starting over.

Recently, my wife bought me a Labradoodle puppy. I had wanted one ever since my daughter got hers. My grandson named him “Charlie Brown,” since his fur was a beautiful chocolate brown color. Though he was born in January, we didn’t get to meet Charlie until last week. He spent the first eleven weeks at […]

Several years ago, we had an English Setter named Nelson. He was gentle and patient. He let our grandchildren pull his tail and climb all over him. He only had one real fault. Whenever the door would open, he would bolt like a convict, drunk with his new-found freedom. It would often take twenty or […]

Evernote is one of those rare apps I can’t seem to outgrow. I am always finding new uses for it. In this post, I share twelve ways to use Evernote you might find useful, and perhaps, even surprising.

We’re about 50 percent short of our goal, Dad.” My oldest daughter, Megan, had just called to brief me on our recent new membership campaign for Platform University. It was day four of an eight-day promotion. My heart sank. I don’t like missing goals. Our campaign target was to add one thousand new members to […]

When I was young, a boy could get a copy of D.C. Beard’s American Boy’s Handy Book, and girls could get The American Girl’s Handy Book (though I knew less about that one for obvious reasons). Books like these and many others, including the more recent Dangerous Book for Boys, provide tons of information on […]

When I left the corporate suite at Thomas Nelson I planned to write and speak full time. And that’s exactly what I did at first. One year in fact I gave over 40 keynotes. It felt great! It also felt totally, utterly, completely exhausting. I had come to the realization that, even as an executive […]