Here’s something that doesn’t make much logical sense.
I imagine that, at some point in your life, you worked on a task that felt really “make or break” to you.  Maybe it was a project for an important client at work, or perhaps you were a student and preparing to take a test worth a big [...]

I do something kind of unusual when I’m writing.  (I know, shockingly enough.)  I keep a journal of what I’m feeling and thinking when I’m faced with writer’s block.
To an outside reader, this journal would probably seem painfully repetitive, because it talks about the same worries again and again.  Some common themes are:
* “I think [...]

I’ve written before about how it’s helpful, when you’re facing writer’s block, to just sit with that sense of creative emptiness, and allow it to pass away on its own — rather than beating yourself up for being uncreative, or distracting yourself from the emptiness by playing Minesweeper.  When we learn to just let the [...]

Ready to get off the “time management treadmill”?
You’ve tried all the usual productivity advice:  make to-do lists, reorganize your e-mail, color-code your folders, and so on.  You’ve probably bought more than enough books, CDs, planners, special notebooks, and “apps” as well.
So why do you still find yourself procrastinating, getting distracted, feeling anxious, and not [...]

I want to share a few videos from a talk I gave recently at a job-seeking group.  I’ve revamped my “Transcending Procrastination” presentation to add some more techniques and ideas, and these videos offer some samples of the new content.  I hope you find them useful and fun.
In this first video, I talk about how to [...]

I’ve just published a guest post at The Change Blog called “Letting Go Of Your Ego At Work,” which addresses the puzzling question:  why is it that, when we’re doing something that’s deeply important to us, we actually tend to procrastinate the most?
I hope you enjoy it and that you had a great weekend.

In the last post in this series (over at Urban Monk), I talked about some yoga asanas, or poses, that can help us restore our focus and motivation as we work — without even getting up from our desks.  In this article, I’ll speak more generally about how yoga helps us develop what I call [...]

(Yes, I couldn’t resist — if I wrote a post about self-control, I just had to pay tribute to the late, great Laura Branigan.)
Do you ever get the sense that some of your behaviors are beyond your control — that they “just happen,” as if you’re playing no part in them at all?
I know a [...]

I’m excited to announce that my new book, Inner Productivity: A Mindful Path to Efficiency and Enjoyment in Your Work, is now available in both paperback and Kindle format.
The book is a compilation of the techniques and perspectives I’ve successfully used to help people find—you guessed it—efficiency and enjoyment in their work.   The book approaches productivity [...]

I’m excited to share six short excerpts from my recent “Transcending Procrastination” talk at EastWest Bookstore in Mountain View, California.
The talk was about how you can use mindfulness and spiritual practices, like meditation and yoga, to stay focused and motivated in your work.  The turnout was great, and EastWest is one of my favorite bookstores, so [...]