If you want to reach your full potential you must constantly evaluate yourself. There are always obstacles. Sometimes, it might be a lack of skill, so you go back to school. At other times, it might be interpersonal skills that you need to develop. However, one of the biggest hurdles is something that doesn't get much attention. I'm going to call it a social glass ceiling. Whether we admit it or not, our ideas about what we can accomplish are very much related to the capabilities of the people we are around. It is as if we have an internal bell curve that we use to compare our performance with our peers. If you outperform everyone around you in a certain area, it is going to be … [Read more...] about Social Glass Ceilings
Archives for July 2017
How Much Time Do You Actually Have
Back in 2005 we wrote about the September/October 2005 issue of The Futurist where they examined Americans' use of time. According to the article, the common perception that there just isn't enough time isn't supported by the stats from a national study using time-diaries. Basically, the findings show that Americans average 35 hours per week of work time and 35 hours per week of free time. So how does that compare to today? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics people spent an average of 35.91 hours each week on leisure activities in 2016. The average time spent working was closer to 40 hours, but it isn't clear that the methodology is the same. Regardless of the exact numbers, it … [Read more...] about How Much Time Do You Actually Have
Red Butler Review
The last two years have been very busy and required a lot more travel than normal for me and my family. I'll typically book my own travel and call American Express when I have something more complicated than I can just book online. However American Express is a bit focused on their particular programs and partners. They will take your frequent flyer numbers and hotel program numbers and use them when they book, but they won't necessarily look at your situation as a whole and try to find the best place for you based on your status level. I started looking for other options that provide concierge/travel booking/executive assistant type services thinking that when we are spending a lot of … [Read more...] about Red Butler Review
Power of Expectations
If you are like me, you've probably heard enough about "positive thinking" that you tend to just ignore it. Today I read an article in the New York Times that reminded me just how powerful our expectations are--both positive and negative. The article talks about what is called the "nocebo" effect. You are probably familiar with the placebo effect. People who are given a sugar pill and think it will cure their ailment will often see improvements simply because they expect it to help. The nocebo effect is the tendency of people to get expected side effects even when they are taking a sugar pill. If they think that a pill may cause stomach problems, a higher percentage of people taking the … [Read more...] about Power of Expectations