From the category archives:

success

Uncertainty, Luck, and Talent

by Stephen Mills December 11, 2011

I submit the following points:

Most of the particular details of your situation came about by chance.
Most of your belief about your control of outcomes is simply an illusion of control.
People have different kinds and different amounts of natural talent
Despite all of the above, success is not just “dumb luck”. There is a reason why some people are successful and it has nothing to do with dumb luc

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Viewing Life as Packaged Deals

by Stephen Mills September 17, 2011

Life is made up of a whole set of package deals. It’s the nature of a package deal that you have to accept or reject the whole package, you don’t get to cherry pick the parts you want and reject the others. The good usually comes packaged with some bad. It’s part of the nature of the world we live in.

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The Key to Personal Effectiveness

by Stephen Mills July 20, 2011

What if there was one thing you could do to dramatically increase your effectiveness both personally and professionally? I believe there is. It’s an extremely simple concept, but not so easy to implement, because it is simply not ingrained in our habitual behavior. Our modern culture has mostly eliminated it from our mindset. Implementing it on a consistent basis requires some audacity and commitment that most people simply will not choose to develop. Regardless, I believe virtually everyone can improve their personal effectiveness if they are willing to develop this one habit to a much greater degree.

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Should You Become an Expert?

by Stephen Mills March 1, 2011

My gut instinct and personal experience says that to achieve the best life satisfaction, maybe being an expert isn’t the right choice. This is something everyone has to decide for themselves, but societal pressure seems to be on becoming an expert; being the best you can be and all that. I’m pretty sure that’s the way to high achievement in anything.

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8 Ways to Improve Your Focus and Control Your Attention

by Stephen Mills October 25, 2010
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These days there may be no scarce resource more valuable than your attention and no ability more important than being able to focus that attention. Success, however you define it, is dependent upon your ability to focus your attention.

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Waves of Activity and Renewal

by Stephen Mills June 9, 2010
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The way we work and live is not conducive to maximal effectiveness. In our rush-around modern lives we try to live by one long pulse during the day and then rest at night. We are working too long and too continuously. We are burning up our mental and emotional reserves without giving them a chance to renew.

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10 Ways To Be More Persuasive

by Stephen Mills May 21, 2010
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Everyone has a message. Everyone wants to be more persuasive. Whether you are an employee working for someone else, an owner of your own business, a student, a blogger, etc. you need to be heard. In that sense we are all marketers. The world is drowning in information and when you speak you need to make sure your message gets results.

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Limit Your Minutes

by Stephen Mills April 26, 2010
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Give yourself a specific amount of time to finish a task and then don’t cheat. Live with your time limit. When the time is up, stop. Allow what you’ve accomplished in the time limit to be good enough. Give yourself 30 minutes to clean a room and then let the result stand. Give yourself two hours to write the report and then let that be good enough. Forcing yourself to live with what was accomplished in your time limit will help you implement the 80/20 rule and overcome your perfectionist tendencies.

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Wishful Thinking

by Stephen Mills April 23, 2010
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You can find freedom in an unfree world or you can continue to try and change everyone else. You can waste years nagging your partner to be different than they are and make both of you miserable, or you can accept what is and move on. You can prosper in a bad economy or you can wait for a good economy (and still not prosper). You can find happiness without stuff or you can try to buy your way to nirvana. You can bitch about what other people do or you can control what you do.

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You Can Do as Much as You Think You Can

by Stephen Mills April 21, 2010

You can do as much as you think you can, But you’ll never accomplish more. If you’re afraid of yourself, young man There’s little for you in store. For failure comes from the inside first, It’s there if you only knew it. And you can win, though you face the worst, If you feel you’re [...]

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