Integrate!

We all procrastinate sometimes. Often, it doesn't mean anything except that we have something more fun to do than the chore we are putting off. But if there's an area where the only thing consistent about your performance is procrastination, then procrastination can hurt. It can hurt you, and it can hurt the people who are counting on you to get the job done. When procrastination hurts, it is because it is covering something else that hurts more. As long as you procrastinate, you are protecting some part of you that is sore and raw and vulnerable. You do this at a price, a price to your self respect (because you beat yourself up over not getting stuff done) and a practical price when there are consequences to procrastinating. Sore spots hurt. Sometimes they hurt more before they get better. People often endure surgery to end chronic pain even though they know that the immediate result of surgery is more pain. But no one does surgery on himself or herself willingly. They fi...

One of the trickiest areas in soft skills training is the problem of evaluating how well it worked. It's true that not all training is effective and it's equally true that the training that feels the best isn't always the most effective training. Here are three guiding principles to use when evaluating whether or not training has made a positive impact on you or your team. 1. Results trump experience. It's a little like boot camp. Some training hurts. It makes you uncomfortable. It tests your flexibility, strength and endurance just as boot camp tests you physically. When our bodies are uncomfortable, we know they are working. When our minds are uncomfortable, we tend to blame the trainers. Growth is uncomfortable. The way to know whether or not you are getting results is to know what results you want and to measure your progress. You can't tell anything by how happy you feel during training (except that you are unlikely to be pushing any edges if you are ...