1082 Posts Found

Fortune went through its archives for nearly a decade of collected wisdom that still holds up.

Content: Article | Source: FORTUNE | Subject: Personal Development

Most of the choices we make each day may feel like the products of well-considered decision making, but they’re not.

They’re habits. […]

Countless people, from Aristotle to Oprah, have tried to understand why habits exist. But only in the past two decades have neurologists, psychologists, sociologists, and marketers really begun understanding how habits work—and more important, how they change.

Content: Article | Author: Charles Duhigg | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Change Management, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development

Really smart people have the hardest time learning. They are so very smart that they are also very “brittle.” When something goes wrong, rather than reflect on what they might have done to contribute to the error, they look entirely outside themselves for the causes and blame outside forces — irrational clients, impossible time pressure, lack of adequate resources, shifts beyond their control. Rather than … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Authors: Chris Argyris, Roger L. Martin | Source: Harvard Business Review | Subjects: Learning, Organizational Behavior, Personal Development, Personality / Behavior

Those who conscientiously attempt to keep abreast of current thought, even in restricted fields, by close and continuous reading might well shy away from an examination calculated to show how much of the previous month’s efforts could be produced on call. Mendel’s concept of the laws of genetics was lost to the world for a generation because his publication did not reach the few who … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Vannevar Bush | Subjects: Education, Information, Knowledge, Learning

A manager’s effectiveness depends not only on using e-mail and other electronic communication, but also on learning to shut it down.

Content: Article | Authors: Henry Mintzberg, Peter Todd | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Personal Development, Productivity / Work Tips

Avoid your weaknesses. But do this without telling yourself that the things you can’t do aren’t worth doing. Don’t mask self-doubt with contempt.

Content: Quotation | Author: Zadie Smith | Source: The Atlantic Monthly | Subject: Personal Development

I believe that a life of integrity is the most fundamental source of personal worth. I do not agree with the popular success literature that says that self-esteem is primarily a matter of mind set, of attitude—that you can psych yourself into peace of mind. Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values and in no other way. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Stephen R. Covey | Subjects: Integrity, Life, Personal Development, Wisdom

The myth of personal freedom—the idea that you are at liberty to pick whatever path in life you want—is the unspoken agony of the modern person. It ignores the fact that life has order, and that order bears heavily upon your choices—on what makes sense to do with the time you have.

Content: Quotation | Author: Larry Ackerman | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Career, Personal Development

The most important skill for the next generation of knowledge worker is not learning what to do but rather determining what not to do, and instead focusing on key objectives. It’s only as we embrace the incredible volume of noise in our work and our lives that we can silence it—or at least reduce it to a dull roar. Ignore the noise. Conquer the critical. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Rory Vaden | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Career, Knowledge, Personal Development, Skills

People who are struggling with inaction invariably have one of the following three deep-rooted attitudes:
Fear: “I’m scared to do it.”
Entitlement: “I shouldn’t have to do it.”
Perfectionism: “I won’t try to do it if I can’t do it right.”
These all-too-common problems affect people across all professions, ages, and endeavors. You show me a person who is not achieving life at the level they … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: Rory Vaden | Source: ChangeThis | Subjects: Career, Personal Development, Productivity / Work Tips, Success / Failure

Numbers don’t lie, but a bad chart decision makes it extremely difficult to understand what those numbers mean. Before you put together another PowerPoint presentation, make sure your pick the right type of chart to clearly communicate the information you want to share. Here’s how.

Content: Article | Author: Alan Henry | Source: LifeHacker | Subjects: Free Stuff / Tools, Personal Development

These days, everyone’s always networking, calling, texting, and tweeting. They think they’re getting somewhere and accomplishing things, but they’re really not. That’s because they never stop to ask the one question that unlocks the door to everything they’re looking for.

That question is, “What do you think?”

Here are three real-life stories about the most important question nobody asks.

Content: Article | Author: Steve Tobak | Source: BNET | Subject: Personal Development

Seasoned presenters are able to announce a slide before showing it. At a minimum, they know their material so well that all they need to do is briefly glance at the slide to know what’s coming next. You can achieve this by doing simple memory boosting practices to remember your presentation material and, in turn, reduce your anxiety.

Here are nine tips to help you remember … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Bruna Martinuzzi | Source: OPEN Forum (American Express) | Subject: Personal Development

This commencement speech by Neil Gaiman is mandatory listening for anyone who hopes to be creatively successful. [Hat tip to Tim Ferriss]

Content: Multimedia Content | Author: Neil Gaiman | Subjects: Innovation, Personal Development

The biggest problem with a successful company is that you don’t learn from success. Learning from failure is so much easier.

Content: Quotation | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Learning, Organizational Behavior, Success / Failure

World-renowned innovation expert Clayton M. Christensen explores the personal benefits of business research in the forthcoming book How Will You Measure Your Life? Co-authored with James Allworth and Karen Dillon, the book explains how well-tested academic theories can help us to find meaning and happiness not just at work, but in life. This excerpt describes how marginal thinking can lead to personal, professional, and moral … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Clayton M. Christensen | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Ethics, Personal Development

Theory should … guide [the future commander] in his process of self-education, but it should not accompany him to the battlefield.

Content: Quotation | Subject: Learning

Every great leader begins with a great dream. Ambitious visions not only require a capacity for meaningful change, but also provide the energy and inspiration to engage others. These tasks — articulating a dream and rallying others around it — are the essence of leadership. The study of leaders in every field tells us that leadership is the residue of ambition… Great leaders have an … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Author: James A. Champy | Source: Leader to Leader | Subjects: Achievement, Ambition, Leadership, Success / Failure

In the end it is the quality and character, a leader’s understanding of how to be, not how to do, that determines the performance, the results.

Content: Quotation | Author: Frances Hesselbein | Source: Leader to Leader | Subjects: Achievement, Leadership, Success / Failure

Enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might. Put your whole soul into it. Stamp it with your personality. Be active, be energetic, be enthusiastic and faithful, and you will accomplish your objective. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Content: Quotation | Subjects: Achievement, Attitude, Success / Failure