I just saw this video on motivation in the Twenty-first century. Daniel Pink makes a case that motivation with carrots and sticks only works if you are doing repetitive tasks with no creative problem solving involved. Instead, if you want an employee to be engaged and motivated to do creative problem solving, these factors are better motivators:
When I watched this, it brought reminded me why I thought the cliché of a starving artist is so much a part of society.
Carey Nieuwhof has a post on dealing with negative people.
How Do You Minimize the Impact of Negative People? | careynieuwhof.com.
While his focus is on ministry, this applies to business and entrepreneurs as well. I’ve seen firsthand how someone with a bitter, negative attitude can suck the air out of a room.
Carey is right that you have to take measures to minimize the impact of a negative person. Unfortunately, some people are determined remain in the muck. When that happens, make sure they don’t take you down too. Some pessimists just won’t rest until you are just as miserable as they are.
Clutter, clutter everywhere, and not one trash can could be spared! Do you ever get overwhelmed with clutter? It happens to me this time of year. In the United States, it’s tax time. There is so much paperwork to muddle through. I get frustrated trying to figure out what to pitch and what to keep.
I’ll look at a folder and think, “You never know when you may need that.” Rarely is that the case. I’ve finally come to the conclusion I don’t need those magazine articles from 1990. As much as I like that article on the exciting, new Macintosh IIfx, I don’t need it. Sometimes, I have to move on!
My desk at home and work has plenty of papers, but there is one product that has helped me get a handle on the paper clutter. Evernote is software for Windows, Mac, smart phone and tablets. You can also access it from their website.
It’s a handy program that allows me to take notes wherever I go. I can even take a photo of a handwritten note and the program will convert it to text. I will also clip web pages.
If you’re looking for something that will combat your paper Mount Everest, I recommend it. Now where did I put that shovel?
Cartoon of two women next to a wilted plant. One woman says, “It’s a valuable plant. When I complain, it wilts.”
Oh, it’s so easy to complain, isn’t it? Something doesn’t go the way I think it should, and the next thing I know, I complaining a blue streak. I get upon my throne and declare the way things should be. Naturally, the world would be a better place if everyone just listened to me!
But the world isn’t going to cooperate. Billions of people have billions of opinions. Many are legitimate concerns. When injustice and selfishness hurts other people, protests and complaints are legitimate.
But when things aren’t going to change, no matter how much I whine, there comes a point, when the complaining is as bad as the offense. Today, I’m going to look for one of those plants. Surely there must be one out there that will let me know when my speech is becoming less than helpful.
I found this originally through the blog, Drawn! Keri Smith is an illustrator, author and art professor with some good, pragmatic advice.