My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened. I love that quote by Michel de Montaigne because I used to constantly worry about terrible misfortunes. I had a bad case of the What Ifs. Do you ever suffer from the What Ifs? Do you ruminate on questions like: What if
T.S. Eliot wrote what is widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century, “The Waste Land.” Even so, Eliot himself attributed much of its success to the support of his editor, Ezra Pound. Pound never held back when confronting Eliot with feedback on his writing, and Eliot appreciated that. In
A colleague recently made an important decision that affected me without asking for my input. It wasn’t the first time this happened and probably won’t be the last. It seems to be a pattern, to make decisions without involving others when the decisions impact others in meaningful ways. The question I’m wrestling with is: Should
Recently I worked with a group of struggling managers who have been under pressure to boost results within their teams. These managers care about their work, and they have several opportunities to influence the people they lead — meetings, leading by example, email/text correspondence. But none of these opportunities has the focus and depth of a
Last week I sat in an audience judging seven new business pitches from local entrepreneurs. With some combination of anxiety and excitement, each entrepreneur made their case in less than five minutes, hoping to get the audience to understand and buy in to a concept they’ve spent substantial time developing. Which entrepreneur got the most
My last article presented 10 forms of personal reactivity that everyone should carefully manage. Whether it’s anger, anxiety, worry, blame, insecurity or lack of boundaries, emotional triggers disrupt relationship health. While those reactions might be our default responses, awareness helps us interrupt the patterns and make different choices about how we behave, especially in challenging
Recently, I came on too strong with someone. My voice was a bit loud and aggressive. My words were harsh. I was right to be upset, but my reaction only escalated the situation, and the relationship was strained as a result. In the end, I’m not sure anything productive was accomplished. Perhaps I drove my
One summer while away at college, my roommate and I rode our bikes 10 miles through the city of Boston to the ocean. We randomly arrived to see streams of elegantly dressed people moving toward a large pavilion. “What’s happening?” we asked. “John Denver concert!” Wow, we thought. This looked incredible. To see John Denver
I wrote the following in January, 2016. Since then, I’ve exchanged diapers for youth sports. Pandemic restrictions have come and gone but full schedules and high demands remain the reality. Perhaps, like me, you need to re-establish your limits to enjoy greater clarity and connection with others. ***** When I started my day last Sunday,
Thanks to my wife, my kids have better homework habits than I had. They recently told me about how many kids in their class were “freaking out” about an upcoming summative test. “But we,” they explained, “are feeling pretty relaxed about it because we’ve simply been paying attention and grinding out the homework.” I couldn’t
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE