Some tools for figuring out what “important” means and how to get it done. “We confess, quite apart from our sins, ‘we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.’” Charles Hummel, The Tyranny of the Urgent, 1967 Saturday…
Why SMART works, what might be missing, and what running can teach us about setting goals. “Hone” means both to smooth or sharpen something, such as a blade, as well as to refine or perfect. The two meanings are related – the reason to smooth and sharpen a blade is so that it works more…
Kicking a ball around a field with a bunch of friends is fun. Kind of. Add some aluminum posts and a polyethylene net at each end of the field, though, and you have a game that is not only more meaningful for the participants but is also an enjoyable spectator sport. Why We Need Goals…
I became interested in motivation when I worked with undergraduate students at a small, Christian, liberal-arts college. We had many conditionally admitted students (students whose high school grades or standardized test scores did not meet regular admissions standards). Some of these students did well in their classes once they got to college. Others struggled and…
Is “checking the boxes” the way to move past our fears? Many years ago, my mother-in-law shared her philosophy of housework with me. She told me that she mopped the kitchen floor every Tuesday, and if, immediately afterward, the kids (there were seven of them) ran across the room with muddy shoes, she didn’t care….
