Inspired Project Teams

Audio: Just Say No [Time - 9:45, File Size - 9.3 MB]

In most of these Inspired Project Teams posts and podcasts, I’ve tried to focus on the positive. We’ve examined optimism, happiness, trusting your inner voice, embracing your work, joyfully taking risks, and generally saying “yes!” to the challenges you and your team face. However, while it might make sense for individuals to say “yes” to life as often as they can, there are critical moments when project teams have just gotta say “no!” Otherwise, your team could find itself swamped by chores that you never agreed to and that are not tied to the essential project deliverables.

As Stephen Covey says:

“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically, to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside. The enemy of the ‘best’ is often the ‘good.’”  – Stephen Covey in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Then there’s this from journalist Herbert Bayard Swope:

“I can’t give you a sure-fire formula for success, but I can give you a formula for failure: try to please everybody all the time.”

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[Note: As I said in my recent post, 25 Episodes! Time for a Break, I'm currently traveling, visiting family and friends, and recharging my inspirational batteries. In a few weeks, I'll return to the office and begin writing & recording more episodes. In the meantime, I'd like to share this "summer inspiration" with you.]

Abraham Maslow created the powerful construct, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, gave us the terms,  “self actualization” and did substantial research on “self actualizing individuals.” A while back, I posted a review on my just-for-fun blog, The Best Free Training, of a free MP3 audio download in which Brian Johnson reviews Abraham Maslow’s 19 characteristics of self-actualizing people and challenges us all to adopt some of these to be all we can be. This review summarizes the audio (including listing the 19 characteristics) and links to the LearnOutLoud download site.  Here’s the full review:

• Abraham Maslow & His Self-Actualizing Individual

Enjoy!

[Are you new to this blog? Check out the page Posts and Podcasts for a complete list of all Inspired Project Teams posts and podcasts to date.]

[Note: As I said in my recent post, 25 Episodes! Time for a Break, I'm currently traveling, visiting family and friends, and recharging my inspirational batteries. In a few weeks, I'll return to the office and begin writing & recording more episodes. In the meantime, I'd like to share this "summer inspiration" with you.]

Are you and some of your project team members sometimes overwhelmed by anxiety?  Here’s a post from my just-for-fun blog, The Best Free Training, that challenges you to rethink that anxiety:

• Anxiety or Rotting Fish? Retool & Give Something New to the World!

Enjoy!

[Are you new to this blog? Check out the page Posts and Podcasts for a complete list of all Inspired Project Teams posts and podcasts to date.]