NEWSLETTER

How You’re Shaping Your Identity – Without Being Aware of It The article “The Perils of Audience Capture” opens with the fascinating – and disturbing – story of the transformation of Nicholas Perry into “Nikocado Avocado”. You may wonder why I am sharing this article with you, as at first blush it doesn’t seem to be related to the world of how to work and live well, which is my usual area of focus. You might think that the idea of a “captive audience” has nothing to do with you. But, I think…

How to Kick Procrastination in the A$% Procrastination is something that is universal; we are all guilty of doing it sometimes. It is part of our nature. Learning to deal effectively with your tendency to procrastinate is a super-power, as you’ll produce higher-quality work – and feel better about it – when you aren’t constantly working under pressure to get something done because you’ve delayed starting for too long. The article How to Stop Procrastinating by psychologist and author Alice…

The Art Of The Level Up: Unlearning Who You Are You don’t need to learn more to be successful. Instead, you need to unlearn the things that are holding you back. As someone who deeply values continuous learning, this statement challenges my thinking. I’m always seeking new knowledge to deepen my understanding. However, sometimes you’ll find success by removing obstacles blocking your advancement. In a rapidly changing world, continuous learning is a necessity. To navigate today’s choppy…

Quiet Maverick: How To Secretly Craft A Job You Love Earlier this week, I met with one of my more junior team members to check in with them and see how things were going. During our meeting, he told me he was really enjoying his role on the team and he felt the team was making significant progress. But he also confided that he felt he wasn’t being fully leveraged and that he had more to offer. He expressed a desire to have more opportunities to apply his technical skills and contribute even…

50+ Timeless Rules For Living An Amazing Life I turned 50 last year, and to celebrate the occasion, my incredible wife took me on a surprise get-away to Quebec City. While we were on the train to get there, the urge to write out some of the life lessons I’d learned over the years struck me. I guess I felt that 50 years was a long enough time that I should have been able to accumulate some wisdom along the way. My 51st birthday was last week, and that reminded me of this list -and that I’d not…

How To Go From Drowning In Problems To Swimming In Success I’m so tired of people complaining. I get it; there seem to be a lot of things going wrong in the world today. Everything is in chaos, and institutions we used to trust seem to have lost their way. The list of problems feels never-ending; inflation is destroying savings and investments, and people are struggling to buy food multiple wars are happening at a large scale social media and the resulting instant dopamine hit have addicted…

Today, we’re going to dive in and explore how you’ve likely been tricked into following a path you’ve been told is “safe”, and why this safety is illusory. Let’s go! How To Turn The Dial On Your Career Kaleidoscope Specialization is dead. You’ve been duped. Chances are that your parents and well-meaning people in your life misled you into believing that the path to success in your career was to pick a domain of specialization, become an expert in it, and then work your way up the ladder in…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 The warmer weather has arrived, and we’ve planted the gardens! It’s a busy time of year, especially this year as we’re expanding our ability to grow more of our own food. While it’s a lot of work, especially during the expansion, it’s also a lot of fun. We all need interesting projects that we can enjoy outside of our work. It’s crucial to maintain an identity outside of what you do for a living. I hope you had an amazing weekend! This week, we’ll explore how making changes…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 I don’t know about you, but for me it felt like this week just flew by so quickly! Life can get so busy as we try to juggle all the balls. I’ve got my work out for me for the next few evenings as well, as I had a dump truck drop off 14 cubic yards of garden soil that I need to move to various gardens around the house. And I need to move it all by hand. I guess it’ll be a great way to get some exercise in! We are putting in some new gardens, as we keep looking to improve our…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 Spring is trying to show itself finally! I got outside this week and got some work done around the house. That felt great! I love being able to putter around outside. I even built a new raised vegetable garden bed, so my wife is quite pleased about that. Make sure you get some time outside this week. It is so good for the soul, especially in today’s age when we spend so much time in front of screens. This week, we’ll explore the idea of happiness. Let’s dive in!! Tim…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 I hope you kicked ass last week and are fired up for the week ahead! If you’re not excited about what lies in front of you, at least a bit, it’s time for a shake up. If you’re not excited, maybe even a bit nervous, you’ve settled in your work. Settling is what leads to stagnation. That’s what we’ll explore this week. Let’s go! Tim Turbo-charge Your Career 🚀 By Stepping Off The Comfort Treadmill Turbo-charge Your Career By Stepping Off The Comfort Treadmill Does your career…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 I just got back from a trip to Punta Cana, where I soaked up lots of sunshine and even more relaxation. ☀️🌴 It was good to get away and take time to just be. I didn’t need to worry about what needed to get done, or to think about how I could make things better, or whether I would be on time. It was just time to sit and relax. That time to relax and unwind does so much good for the body, the mind, and the soul. I already had an article mostly drafted and ready to share with…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 As this email is going out, I am likely laying on a beach in Punta Cana. My wife’s cousin is getting married, and we decided to join them to celebrate, as well as to enjoy some sun, sand, and quality time together. 🌴☀️ I hope you’re doing well, taking care of yourself and living your best life. I suspect you’re guilty of something: over-complication. Most of us are, and it costs us dearly. Let’s explore a powerful question that has the power to completely change your world,…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 We are fully into Q2 of 2024, and I hope you’re having success at making progress on your goals for the year. I’m doing great in most areas, but there are a couple of areas where I need to put some attention and focus. Knowing where to focus your attention is critical to success in our world, which is why I’m sharing thoughts on the importance of figuring out what you truly want. If you aren’t clear about what you want and what the trade-offs are to getting it, you’re not…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 While in theory it is spring, it certainly isn’t feeling like it here over the past couple of days! But I’ve been in this region long enough to understand that there’s always a last snow storm before spring truly gets under way. That’s a pattern that repeats across many domains of life; you are in a period of transition, thinking you’re well on your way, and then there’s an inevitable setback before you get to the other side. That’s where patience comes in, along with the…

Happy Easter !!! 🐣 I hope you had the opportunity to connect with family and loved ones to celebrate. The Easter weekend always feels like the real start of spring. It’s finally starting to warm up here and I’ve been enjoying puttering around in my yard. Excelling in your career and life requires you to overcome your tendency to procrastinate. It is a challenge that we all deal with. I found myself dealing with this last week, and my experience prompted me to share some thoughts on how to…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 Welcome to spring! While it may officially be spring, here in Ottawa, it isn’t feeling like it. Brrr. 🥶 On the plus side, with the shift to Daylight Savings Time, it now feels like there’s a ‘bonus’ hour in the day, with it staying light out much later. I’ve met a lot of people whose identity is so wrapped up in work, it’s like work is the entire reason for them to get out of bed in the morning. That’s dangerous. Let’s briefly explore why that is and how you might change…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 What a week! It’s been rock and roll for me, but I’m feeling great. Hope that you’re doing well. Let’s jump right in!! Kiss Complexity Goodbye: How to Assure Success Let me start off by saying something that may be controversial – success is simple. That goes completely against the story that most of us tell ourselves, most of the time. As silly as it seems, we want to believe that it’s complicated. Because if it was simple, we would already be successful, right? Success is…

Hello Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 What a week. It was a bit of a rough one for me, if I’m honest. The good news is that I demonstrated to myself that I’m resilient and I’ve got plans in place to protect myself when things go off track. Because they will go off the rails sometimes, that’s just a fact of life. Being able to respond to life’s challenges is a critical skill, and that’s what we’re going to explore this week. Onwards! Tim ⚡️Navigating Emotional Storms: How To Design An Emotional Safety Net…

Hey Reader! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 Welcome to March! I can’t believe that two months of 2024 have already zoomed by. It’s a stark reminder that our time is finite, so we should spend it doing things that we find meaningful. That’s not to say that everything should be fun and games; that would be a recipe for disaster. You need to have some meaning in your life, and this meaning isn’t something you’re going to “discover” by sitting around pondering your place in the universe. The need for meaning – and how…

Hey Reader!!! 👋🏻 Hope that you’ve enjoyed your weekend and are looking forward to the upcoming week. While the week ahead will almost certainly include a challenge or two, it will also certainly include some positivity and progress. Focus your attention on the progress and let go of the other stuff. Had an interesting call this week where someone flipped the table on me; instead of me asking the confronting questions, they were peppering me with questions about my experiences as a leader in a…

Hey everyone!!! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 I hope you had an amazing weekend and an opportunity to recharge. Time seems to zip by, but I’m having fun learning and building. Hopefully, you can say the same. The name of the game is continuous improvement, and measuring how you’re doing against where you were at. Don’t look at how far you’ve got to go; you’ll get depressed and not bother trying. Instead, marvel at how far you’ve come. “Measure the gain, not the gap.” I guarantee that if you’re trying, you’re moving…

Hey everyone!!! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 Sunday is my favourite day of the week, and this Sunday is extra special – Super Bowl Sunday!! I love everything about it. The game, the half-time show, the amazing snacks, and the sheer scale of the entire production. I find it so enjoyable and let myself get swept up in the madness of the event. I snack on foods I try to avoid, and inevitably end up binging on them and feeling awful afterwards. Me yelling excitedly at the television is a key part of the experience,…

Hey everyone!!! 👋🏻👋🏻👋🏻 Hard to believe, but January is in the rear-view mirror already. Hope that you’re making progress on your goals and dreams! Don’t let another month slip by without making progress. Part of making progress is ensuring you make time for play. Doing interesting and fun things will provide you with the energy you need to push forward. It’s a huge mistake to just keep your head down, continually grinding away. Last weekend, my wife and I got out for a little adventure. We…