Right Attitudes

Treat Employees Like Volunteers

April 20, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Treat your employees as volunteers—as if they’re free to leave at any time. Volunteers want to connect to a mission. They want to make an impact by investing their time and energy because they want to, not because they need to. Moreover, unlike employees, volunteers aren’t constrained by the command-and-control structure.

You’ll pay greater attention to the non-monetary needs of your employees, and you’ll better align your goals and their goals. You’ll be more intentional, preferring transformational motivation, not transactional motivation.

The Midday Check

April 19, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Do a midday review daily to determine how you’re progressing on the day’s goals.

Consider whether you’ve been scurrying from one project to another, constantly hustling to meet deadlines, or feeling like you haven’t accomplished much up to that point. Filter out low-value tasks and ruthlessly make time for what’s still important in the day. Set time limits for tasks—there’s no driving force better than a challenging deadline.

If you’re often derailed by side issues or significant changes that set your days askew, use this midday check to find extra time in your day merely by reprioritizing and reorganizing how you’ll approach the tasks that fall within your responsibility.

The Problem with Positive Thinking

April 18, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

When positive thinking is seeing bad situations in a favorable light, you can look for the good and make the best of life’s terrible blows. That’s OK.

The problem with positive thinking is the implication that if things don’t go right, you’ve failed yourself. That you’ve not believed in yourself enough. That you should blame yourself because there’s nowhere else to go.

Positive thinking so isn’t a temperament that works when things aren’t going well—that’s the real test as to whether a mindset holds up.

What you need is an attitude that radically embraces reality. It allows you to face the possibilities of negative encounters and not shun away from them. It lets you honestly appraise your circumstances.

The Upsides of Slowing Down

April 17, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Making faster and faster decisions can look like the proper response in a culture obsessed with speediness and efficiency that bleeds into the reckless and hasty. But as investment banker turned-law educator Frank Partnoy’s Wait: The Art and Science of Delay (2012) argues, while fast thinking—like fast food—hits the spot on occasion, too much speed can, however, be counterproductive.

Today we jump faster and more frequently to firm conclusions. We like to believe there is wisdom in our snap decisions, and sometimes there is. But true wisdom and judgment come from understanding our limitations when it comes to thinking about the future. This is why it is so important for us to think about the relevant time period of our decisions and then ask what is the maximum amount of time we can take within that period to observe and process information about possible outcomes. … The amount of time we take to reflect on decisions will define who we are. … Our ability to think about delay is a gift, a tool we can use to examine our lives. Life might be a race against time, but it is enriched when we rise above our instincts and stop the clock to process and understand what we are doing and why. A wise decision requires reflection, and reflection requires pause.

Time pressure, high stakes, and emotionally charged situations make it more likely that we will deviate from rational decisions and fall back on heuristics—caveman thinking indeed. Mental shortcuts may have their place for helping us to navigate quotidian risks like crossing the road or boiling a kettle. However, for every decision that can be made in a moment, there are many others where a considered and judicious approach may save you from calamity.

Idea for Impact: The next time you feel pressured to make a quick decision in the face of the unexpected, try to slow down, take a breath, and ask yourself whether your natural desire to get on with it needs to be tempered with caution.

Inspirational Quotations #993

April 16, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi

It is not a lucky word, this same impossible; no good comes of those that have it so often in their mouth.
—Thomas Carlyle (Scottish Historian, Essayist)

When public men indulge themselves in abuse, when they deny others a fair trial, when they resort to innuendo and insinuation, to libel, scandal, and suspicion, then our democratic society is outraged, and democracy is baffled. It has no apparatus to deal with the boor, the liar, the lout, and the antidemocrat in general.
—J. William Fulbright (American Politician)

There is only one way to achieve happiness on this terrestrial ball, and that is to have either a clear conscience, or none at all.
—Ogden Nash (American Comic Poet)

It is justice, not charity, that is wanting in the world.
—Mary Wollstonecraft (English Writer, Feminist)

All those things [meaning works of art] have given me the greatest satisfaction and contentment because they are not only for the honor of God but are likewise for my own remembrance. For fifty years, I have done nothing else but earn money and spend money; and it became clear that spending money gives me greater pleasure than earning it.
—Cosimo de’ Medici (Florentine Statesman, Banker)

Without all doubt, charity to the poor is a direct and obligatory duty upon all Christians.
—Edmund Burke (British Philosopher, Statesman)

You should never ask anyone for anything. Never- and especially from those who are more powerful than yourself.
—Mikhail Bulgakov (Russian Novelist, Dramatist)

Falling in love was simple; one had only to yield. Digesting another person, however, and sustaining love, was bloody work, and not a soft job.
—Hanif Kureishi (British Novelist, Screenwriter)

If you have the words, there’s always a chance that you’ll find the way.
—Seamus Heaney (Irish Poet, Playwright)

I will go anywhere, provided it is forward.
—David Livingstone (Scottish Missionary, Explorer)

Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (American Physician, Essayist)

Love points the way. Desire is its ignorant advisor.
—Elfriede Jelinek (Austrian Author)

Avoid Being Money-Rich and Time-Poor: Summary of Ashley Whillans’s ‘Time Smart’

April 13, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Stress and life dissatisfaction are often caused by being chronically “time poor”—having too many things to do and not enough time to do them. We equate time poverty with success and pay the physical and emotional price of rushing around.

Harvard academic Ashley Whillans’s Time Smart: How to Reclaim Your Time and Live a Happier Life (2020) shows that people with more free time are happier, healthier, and more productive than people who work all the time and make more money.

The effects and costs of time poverty are so stark that researchers now compare it to a famine—a severe, drastic shortage of time affecting all of society—that carries many of the attendant negative consequences that a natural disaster produces. … No matter our age, education, or income, we share the same reality: none of us knows how much time we have left. One day, time runs out and tomorrow never comes. … Chasing money is valuable to a point, but it’s an infinite errand. You can always try to get more—and research shows people do that, no matter how much money they have already. Given how precious time is, we should put it first.

Idea for Impact: Develop a time-centric mindset and work fewer hours if necessary. Consider time as currency and become more purposeful, dodging mindless tasks and unfulfilling chores. Ask how much time you will give up for more money or productivity. Money is a powerful tool that can buy you time and amplify your freedom to pursue your values and priorities.

What to Do When Your Boss Steals Your Best Ideas

April 10, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Be thankful that your boss is stealing your ideas or getting credit for your work because the best way to make your boss love you is to make her look good.

It’s surprising how well this ensures a steady and trusting working relationship. So suck it up, buttercup!

Your boss’s opinion counts more than anyone else’s in your career trajectory. So the last thing you want is to put yourself in an adverse situation with your boss.

Credit for ideas is way overrated, anyway. The core of your job isn’t to sit in a cubicle and think up ideas. It’s carrying out those ideas—that’s what you’ll list on your resume—projects done, money saved, marketing campaigns led–not your bright ideas.

Don’t go over your boss’s head and protest. Your boss’s boss doesn’t pay attention to who stole whose ideas. If your boss is mean and nasty, your boss’s boss will eventually figure it out without your help.

Idea for Impact: Is it that awful that your boss takes credit for your ideas? Think of it as unselfishly donating some ideas in exchange for a good relationship with your boss.

Inspirational Quotations #992

April 9, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi

In charity there is no excess.
—Francis Bacon (English Philosopher)

Ah, great it is to believe the dream as we stand in youth by the starry stream; but a greater thing is to fight life through and say at the end, the dream is true!
—Edwin Markham (American Poet)

Film as dream, film as music. No form of art goes beyond ordinary consciousness as film does, straight to our emotions, deep into the twilight room of the soul. A little twitch in our optic nerve, a shock effect: twenty-four illuminated frames a second, darkness in between, the optic nerve incapable of registering darkness.
—Ingmar Bergman (Swedish Film and Stage Director)

Leadership is an intense journey into yourself. If you can go to bed feeling beaten up and rise the next morning ready to keep listening and learning, then I believe you can lead.
—Jeffrey Immelt (American Businessperson)

Nor is it wiser to weep a true occasion lost, but trim our sails, and let old bygones be.
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson (British Poet)

It would be naive to think that the problems plaguing mankind today can be solved with means and methods which were applied or seemed to work in the past.
—Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Head of State)

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
—The Holy Bible (Scripture in the Christian Faith)

Develop purity in yourself if you wish to encourage others to follow the path of purity. Discover real peace and harmony within yourself, and naturally this will overflow to benefit others.
—S. N. Goenka (Burmese Mediation Teacher)

Life is doubt, and faith without doubt is nothing but death.
—Miguel de Unamuno (Spanish Philosopher, Writer)

Nothing succeeds like success.
—Alexandre Dumas pere (French Novelist, Playwright)

All Presidents start out pretending to run a crusade but after a couple of years they find they are running something less heroic and much more intractable: namely, the presidency.
—Alistair Cooke (British-American Journalist)

If you come to a fork in the road, take it.
—Yogi Berra (American Sportsperson)

All of us are experts at practicing virtue at a distance.
—Theodore Hesburgh (American Catholic Educator)

Pity makes suffering contagious.
—Friedrich Nietzsche (German Philosopher, Scholar)

When Implementing Change, You’ll Encounter These Three Types Of People

April 6, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

To successfully make changes in your workplace, you’ll need to have everyone on board. But don’t try to get them all to accept change at once. Not everyone responds to change similarly; some employees will not react well to it initially.

According to Hans Finzel’s Change is Like a Slinky Paperback (2004,) you must anticipate your allies and adversaries. Determine which of these three groups each of your employees belongs to and adapt.

The Innovators and Early Adopters. Some people love the challenge of change for its excitement and the opportunity to spearhead change. These employees can research the topic, develop prototypes, and act as “change ambassadors” to motivate people further down the hierarchy.
The Careful Majority. Most employees will support change once they’re reasonably confident it’ll succeed. Demonstrate to skeptics what the change will represent and how it will benefit them and the company. Acknowledge concerns—both the spoken and unspoken—and the discomfort of being in unfamiliar territory while focusing on what’s within their control. Eventually, the majority will follow the early adopters’ lead.
The Holdouts. A few employees may resist—and even sabotage—change because they feel uncomfortable about it, don’t believe in it, or can’t see any benefits in it for themselves. If their contentions are worth the time and energy to debate and discuss, make a fair effort to gain alignment on perspective and resolution on position, but be firm with your strategic direction. Get key organizational leaders to give these dissenters reasons and opportunities to get on board, but let them know the price if they don’t accept change.

Idea for Impact: The best managers understand that each employee has different skills, sentiments, wants and needs—and work to put each employee in a position to feel valued and contribute.

How to … Be More Confident at Work

April 3, 2023 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

If a lack of confidence is a significant factor holding you back in your career,

Appreciate your qualities and personality. Often, a lack of confidence stems from an accurate self-appraisal. Don’t dwell on the negatives. Celebrate what you’re good at. Record your workplace wins to identify the areas you’re strong at. Find ways to develop them even further. Knowing your strengths is also a great asset when considering asking for a pay rise or promotion.
Develop your brand of confidence. Don’t compare yourself to other people. Don’t ruminate on what others do and say (if their criticisms are accurate, stop blowing them off and consider changing yourself.) If you’re struggling with personal roadblocks, whether managing clashing personalities or dealing with work-life balance, develop methods or tools for overcoming them.
Say ‘yes’ to new challenges; they’ll take you out of your comfort zone. Expect to meet with problems—it’s the only way to keep growing. When you fail, know that you’ll survive—just move on to another challenge. (Losers fear failure so much they don’t bother to try, ensuring they’re failures.) Learn to be patient and to just enjoy the journey.
Find positive role models and personal cheerleaders. Many employers offer networking mentorships—they are the perfect opportunities to ask questions and learn directly from people who understand your situation and want to help you develop. Seek a few-steps-ahead peer-mentor, somebody who’s approachable and has a tad more experience than you do.

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