Posted on Monday, February 22, 2021

Client Relations: A Tale Of Two Tokens

Ever had an upset client? Here's how to have them say, “It’s no big deal.”

In the 1980s, an executive named Jean-Louis Gassée was chosen to head Apple’s operations in Europe. He quickly identified a flaw in their customer support: if a client reported an issue, it was usually blamed on the customer’s inexperience with new technology.

But dismissing people’s problems just makes them angry, and Jean-Louis knew that Apple couldn’t afford to have a bunch of disgruntled customers bad-mouthing his computers across the country. Apple had plenty of money to make things right for their customers—and the issues weren’t even really a big deal to fix!

Posted on Monday, February 8, 2021

Just Say No to Notifications

We’re all trying to get more things done. But the technology that’s supposed to help us be more productive is actually getting in our way.

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Has this happened to you? You’re trying to process paperwork, and suddenly your doorbell rings (in your house AND your phone), your watch dings and vibrates, and your dogs start barking.

You’re notified of a UPS package delivery by your email, your “smart home” app, your watch, AND your dogs!

Stop this madness!

There are SO MANY notifications that interrupt us all day long on our computers, phones, and smartwatches. These rings, dings, vibrations, and buzzes are impossible to ignore. It’s time to pick up your phone and put yourself back in charge! All you have to do:

Posted on Monday, January 25, 2021

Send Joy To Stay Positive

Chances are, you’ve met a few “Mr. No Joys” in your life. Here’s how to deal with them and stay positive!

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If you read my blog regularly, you know there’s a character who I mention from time to time. I call him “Mr. No Joy.” He represents all the mean, rude, or miserable types we all have to deal with, but he’s based on a real person I encountered years ago.

My experience with Mr. No Joy taught me some valuable lessons for how to deal with negative or disrespectful people, and how to protect and increase the joy in my life. In a nutshell, you need to:

Posted on Monday, December 14, 2020

Drowning In To-Dos

Get Your To-Do List Done with the 10-10-30 Rule

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How often do you get to work, dive right in to putting out fires, and come up for air around lunchtime only to realize you didn’t finish ANYTHING on your to-do list? Do you also have days where you don’t even know where to start?

One of the things my coaching clients struggle with most is sitting down at their desk in the morning and feeling like they have control over what to do first. An effective to-do list is just one piece of the puzzle; You also need to devote a little time every day to review and revise your to-do list and re-center your priorities. At Skillway, we created a simple method we call the 10-10-30 rule:

Posted on Monday, November 30, 2020

The Sales Promise You Can’t Keep

Scarcity Thinking Leads to Over Promising

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There’s a common trap in sales that good people are falling into, and it could be killing your business.

Abundance is an ideal trait that all top performers have. It’s critical to your success. Are you familiar with the idea of an abundance mentality?

Stephen Covey popularized this idea in his essential Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and it’s a valuable way of looking at how we interpret and interact with the world around us. An abundance mindset is one of my core values, and every day I teach my clients about abundance and its counterpart, scarcity.

Posted on Monday, November 16, 2020

Eliminate Distractions and Take Control of Your Time

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I talk about distractions a lot! It’s because many people feel like they’re losing control of their time. If you’re working from home, you’re probably experiencing more distractions than ever! The number one way to regain control over your time is to get better at eliminating distractions.

One study from UC Irvine showed that we get interrupted every 11 minutes on average, and it takes an average of 25 minutes to get back on task. All those distractions can add up to hours every day! Studies have also shown that interruptions and distractions increase stress and mistakes.

If you want to be productive and effective, you need to stay focused (no multitasking!). Here are my tips for getting rid of common distractions that keep us from “deep work” and add stress to our day.

Posted on Monday, October 26, 2020

Multitasking is Another Word for Half-Assing

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Do you ever brag about all the things you can get done at once? Do you think “multitasking” is an impressive part of your skillset? I hate to be the one to break it to you, but “multitasking” is impossible.

Sure, we can all do a simple task like washing the dishes while listening to the radio. But have you cut yourself in the kitchen while trying to have a conversation? Tripped up the stairs while you tried to balance something in your hands? Lost track during a Zoom call because an email popped up on your phone? It’s because we’re all human, and the human brain just isn’t great at paying attention to two things at once.

Trying to multitask is counterproductive, impolite, and inefficient. Here’s why: